Fat danger zones. Sounds scary!

So I read this article carefully. It describes several different situations where people are likely to overeat and encourages the reader to avoid these situations or at least be aware when you are in one or more of them.

They didn’t even interview me and yet — there it was. My profile! My fat danger zone profile.

How did they know?

First situation: eating in front of the TV. Mmmmhmmm. Do that. Idle hands, you know. I can’t knit or do sudoku every minute.

Second: overboard at the buffet. Did that. Did I ever blog about the time Ed and I were at at hotel and Sunday brunch looked so awesome and smelled so wonderful and we just wanted a little taste of everything? Why do they serve brunch if we are expected to control ourselves?

Okay, we actually haven’t hoovered through a buffet in years, but we did, back in the day.

Third: indulging on the weekend. Do that. Because I am so good all week and eat the right things and then we go to a restaurant or to a friend’s for dinner and there’s the drink and the bread, plus the first course and then entree, with wine and then, because you’ve already blown the calorie count, you might as well have dessert.

Fourth: Dining out disasters: see above

Fifth: vacation eating: Done that. Three meals, but real meals, not yogurt/fruit breakfast, a slice of cheese for lunch then a healthy dinner. Though I have to say, in recent years, vacation lunches have dwindled to bits and snacks, like crackers or maybe an ice cream.

Sixth: Eating in the car: Yep. That’s when I go through my daily supply of pistachio nuts. And I don’t mean the suggested 1/4 cup.

Seventh: Emotional snacking: Oh boy! For me, stress means gobbling an entire bowl of popcorn.

Eighth: Eating on the job. That’s me. It may just be yogurt and fruit or my lunch cheese and fruit, but it is still mindless if I’m at the computer and don’t even know or taste what I’m eating. This kind of eating is just face stuffing.

Ninth: Being overtired. Well, they finally found a situation where I don’t eat. But apparently people eat when they need sleep. 

Anyway, these are good warning signals for anyone trying to lose or maintain weight, don’t you think?

Crepes with Orange Butter. I miss old fashioned French cuisine.

And that’s the reason why, the other day when I was in my car and listening to an NPR radio call-in show and the subject was “what do you miss?” I thought of several things, but the one that surprised me was “Old fashioned French cuisine.”

Crepes Suzettes and Onion Soup and Duck a L’Orange and Potato Galette and Filet of Beef with Mushrooms, Foie Gras and Madeira sauce. 

And I not only miss the food, which current day aficionados regard as heavy and too rich, I also miss the portion sizes. In the old days you could actually get a hunk of something in a great restaurant. Like a whole duck breast or two or three thick slices of meat. The trend today is toward tasting menus, with many courses but just a few tastes of each.

I like today’s style eating. In fact, I prefer the tasting menus and the new, more creative dishes and use of international ingredients and cooking styles. I am not knocking this more modern, and even healthier approach.

I’m just sayin’ … I miss the other stuff too. 

Does anyone remember going into a French restaurant and sitting down in a lovely room with tables that had crisp linens and bouquets of flowers but mostly the perfume in the air was caramelizing sugar because somewhere, in another part of the room, someone was having dessert and the waiter was preparing the crepes at tableside?

I miss that smell.

I could go for some Crepes Suzettes right now too.

When I get a chance I think I’ll make some crepes and freeze them, for the next time I get a Crepes Suzette attack. 

Of course, these days you can buy ready-made crepes. And if you do, or if you’re the kind of person who already has some frozen ones, you can make this wonderful recipe for Crepes with Orange Butter. It isn’t precisely Crepes Suzette, but is rich, buttery and citrusy and is a whole lot easier to make on short notice.

Crepes with Orange Butter

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons sugar

finely grated peel and juice of one orange

6 tablespoons ground almonds

12-18 crepes (depending on size)

1/3 cup unflavored brandy

1/4 cup orange flavored liqueur

Preheat the oven broiler with the rack about 6-inches from the heat. In a bowl, beat the butter with 4 tablespoons of the sugar until creamy and well blended. Beat in the orange peel, orange juice and almonds. Place equal amounts of the mixture in the center of each of the crepes. Fold the crepes in half, then fold them again so they become triangle shape. Place the filled crepes in a heatproof serving dish. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the crepes. Place the crepes in the broiler to cook for 2 minutes or so or until the sugar starts to caramelize. While the crepes are under the broiler, heat the brandy and orange flavored liqueur in a pan. When the liquid is hot, ignite it with a match, whirling the pan around until the flames die out. Remove the crepes from the broiler and spoon the hot liquid over them. Makes 6-8 servings

Ice cream: chocolate or vanilla?

A recent Harris poll of 2183 people showed that America’s favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate (28%).

It figures. I like vanilla better (26%). My husband Ed always says I am a great person to poll to figure out if a product will be popular or not. I always pick the thing that isn’t. Like the patterns of stuff I picked (dishes and so on) when I got married, which have all been discontinued because not so many people wanted them.

Even more to the point, my real favorite ice cream flavor is peach, with only 5% of Americans with me on that.

Apparently, Democrats prefer vanilla a little more than chocolate. It’s the oposite with Republicans.

They needed a poll to realize that the Democrats and Republicans would disagree? 

Well, this is an area on which we could compromise right? For example, wouldn’t everyone, whatever their political point of view, like a Black and White Shake? The perfect summer sweet “smoothie” made from vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and milk.

Black and White Milkshake

1 cup vanilla ice cream

1/4 cup chocolate syrup

1/2 cup whole milk

Place ingredients in a blender and blend for about one minute or until well mixed and thick. Makes one

I’d vote for this, wouldn’t you?

diner contracts...what?

sprinklefingers:

a new restaurant in washington dc requires diners to sign contracts upon making a reservation. what? thankfully the fine folks at eater have obtained a copy…

The best restaurants — like Per Se in NYC — make the diners feel as if they are welcome. They don’t make diners feels as if they got lucky to eat at the place. 

All I can say is that there must be something wrong with the water in Washington D.C. Even the restaurants have gone wacko.

Sunnyside Up Eggs

If you’ve never tasted a fresh farm egg you have been missing one of life’s wonders. Like a tomato you pluck from the vine or the cob of corn that just came from the field, an egg the hen laid within the hour is remarkably delicious. Intense and flavorful. What the ideal egg should taste like.

And does.

My daughter Meredith and I once had scrambled fresh farm eggs at an inn in southern France. I’d never eaten an egg that tasted better and after that never bought a supermarket egg again. I began to buy organic eggs, which taste closer to what fresh eggs taste like, but even so, they don’t quite make it flavorwise.

So when I can, I buy farm eggs at the farmer’s market, but where I live they don’t always have eggs and the farmer’s markets are only around during the summer.

My daughter Gillian and her family stayed at Kinderhook Farm last weekend. This farm is in Columbia County, NY (about 2-1/2 hours north of NYC). They had their first taste of eggs the chicken just laid. In fact, if you look at the photo you can see my granddaughter Lila’s hand reaching into the coop — they gathered their own eggs for breakfast. In the second photo you see her washing the eggs. 

They brought some home for us and we had plain old eggs. Tender whites, crispy edges, rich runny yolks.ohmyohmyohmy. These were really really good eggs.

They tasted like eggs. Like the fresh eggs I once had many years ago in France.

Get yourself some fresh eggs if you can. Then make some sunnyside ups for yourself.

You don’t need anything fancier. Or more.

Great stuff.

Sunnyside Up Eggs

1 tablespoon butter

4 large eggs

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, crack the eggs into the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes, piercing bubbles that appear in the whites. The eggs are done when the whites are set and look creamy but have crispy brown edges. 

To make eggs over easy, flip the sunnyside up eggs and cook for 30 seconds. Sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper. Makes 2 servings

Fried butter on a stick. Really? I'll take Potato Salad with Peas.

Apparently yes. At the Iowa State Fair. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the famous (at least in Iowa) butter-carved cow that’s the mascot of the event.

So people going to the Fair, and that includes Republican politicians who are in Iowa for the straw poll, can eat this hunk of cholesterol on a stick. In fact Sarah Palin said she’s looking forward not only to fried butter on a stick, but also fried cheesecake on a stick and fried twinkies. Go for it lady.

None of those peas for that woman.

For a truly funny take on the fried butter and stuff, take a look at this article. And for a bittersweet taste of why Palin would talk about fried butter on a stick, read this one.

It’s not a whole pound of butter, by the way. The vendors cut a 4-tablespoon hunk, dip it in cinnamon-flavored batter and fry it in a barrel of fat. The outside gets crispy and the inside is, well 1/4 cup of melted butter. Sort of a sweet version of Chicken Kiev without the protein.

I’ll stick with peas. Like in this terrific potato salad.

Potato Salad with Peas

2 pounds small red bliss potatoes

1 cup thawed frozen peas (or briefly cooked fresh peas)

1/4 cup olive oil

5 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped chives

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes in lightly salted water for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain, and when cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes if desired. Cut the potatoes into bite size pieces and place in a bowl. Add the peas. While the potatoes are still warm, mix the olive oil, wine vinegar and mustard together and pour over the potatoes and peas. Toss ingredients to coat them with the dressing. Add the parsley and chives and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving. If you refrigerate the salad, remove it from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings

Boiled Corn on the Cob with Compound Butters

If you feed them they will vote.

So hurry on out to Iowa where the political barbecue is making a comeback. The candidates for the Iowa Republican straw poll, which takes place this weekend, are campaigning in the Hawkeye state and among the incentives to bring voters to their tents is: BARBECUE.

Potential voters (and who knows who else) will be given free tickets to attend the events, to listen to some entertainment, to listen (or not) to the candidates’ speeches and vote (or not).

They are also invited to eat.

The bet is, if you feed people for free they might vote for you.

But just in case you think this is some sort of new political game, you should know that the politician who perfected the political free-barbecue-for-votes was William Henry Harrison, way back in 1840. One of his barbecues attracted about 30,000 people. 

He trounced incumbent President Van Buren.

Was it the food?

Maybe. Maybe the food helped him win but it didn’t help much in the long run. Harrison died 32 days after his inauguration.

So, onward. To this year’s first set of real election nonsense: what will they serve?

My bet is there will be lots of chicken and ribs, boiled corn, maybe pie.

The corn has been good lately, we’re coming right up to the height of the season. So don’t bother going to Iowa. Vote at home for a good dinner. Get some fresh corn (preferably at the Farmer’s market) and boil it up just before you serve it for dinner. Serve it plain, with butter or a flavored butter. Here’s how:

Boiled Corn on the Cob

6 ears fresh corn

4 quarts water, approximately

1 cup milk, optional

Just before cooking, remove the husks and silk from the ears of corn. Bring a large pan of water (about 4 quarts) to a boil. Add the milk if desired. Immerse the corn and let the liquid come to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and let the corn sit in the water for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Use tongs to remove the cobs. Serve plain, with butter or one of the flavored butters below. Makes 6 servings

Flavored Butters: Blend ingredients thoroughly. Makes enough for 6 ears of corn.

Chili Butter

4 tablespoons softened butter

1 teaspoon chili powder

Scallion butter:

4 tablespoons softened butter

2 tablespoons finely chopped scallion

Horseradish Butter:

4 tablespoons softened butter

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons prepared white horseradish

Lemon-Herb Butter:

4 tablespoons softened butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh chives (or scallion greens)

Orange Blueberry Tea Bread

I’ve been in a blueberry mood lately. It’s a summer thing and not just because blueberries are the juiciest, sweetest and tastiest in the summer but also because they remind me of some good old things in the good old days.

Like my parents’ blueberry bush. My Dad planted that bush and every day, year after year, from about May through August, when my Dad came home from work he would go out to the garden and watch the berries grow from tiny green pebbles to goldenish-greenish little nuggets to rich, navy blue rounds that looked as if they were about to burst open. It made him so happy to see those berries thrive, as if he were watching his children.

It was only the one bush though so there weren’t that many berries. When our harvest came in we would eat them within the hour, usually with sour cream and a sprinkle of sugar.

Oh yum, I could eat a bowl of that now.

Even the best store or market bought berries don’t have that just picked taste of the ones from a bush in your own garden. But I don’t have a blueberry bush, so summer market blueberries are the best I can do. I eat them now with yogurt (non-fat Greek style) because sour cream has too much fat.

And no sugar. Because, well, you know.

How the mighty have fallen.

I usually buy boxes and boxes of berries when the price is right, and I make a pie or three to freeze. 

But the price isn’t pie-buying yet. I only bought 2 boxes this week. I made some soup with some (see my post for the recipe) and this tea bread, which I made for the Tea for cancer patients and their caregivers that our local Hadassah holds every two weeks. 

It is fabulously moist and has a distinct but gentle flavor of orange. It makes a terrific snack with tea or coffee.

Orange Blueberry Tea Bread

5 tablespoons butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup orange juice

1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan (or 8-1/2”x4-1/2”x2-1/2”) and set aside. In the bowl of a mixer set at medium speed, beat the butter and sugar together for 1-2 minutes or until well combined. Add the eggs and orange peel and beat them in thoroughly. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk and orange juice and beat ingredients to blend them thoroughly. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes (depending on the size of the pan) or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one bread

Blueberry Soup

Deception wins. Or so it seems. If you tell people something often enough they might eventually come to believe it’s true, even if it isn’t. At least that what some of the food companies think.

I just watched this video which shows that those blueberries pictured on boxes of various products of General Mills, Kellogg’s, Target and Betty Crocker boxes have no real blueberries at all, or barely any. What they do have is red and blue food dye, hydrogenated oil and lots of sugar.

See for yourself. Read the labels.

But anyway, why would anyone pay extra in the first place for sugared cereal with fake blueberries? If you like sugared cereal with blueberries why not get plain cereal, add your own sugar and fresh blueberries?

I don’t know if it would be cheaper. But it would be better.

I remember, as a kid, when one of my favorite cereals had a new variety — with strawberries! I made my mother buy the box and was really really disappointed when there were no real strawberries inside. Had my mother warned me? Did she ask me how it could be possible to put fresh fruit in a box?

I don’t remember.

But I am even more disappointed today when we know so much about deception in the food industry and we buy this crap anyway.

I don’t know about anyone else but I feel that if I buy this stuff I am actually paying the food industry to lie to me. I resent that. 

If you agree, please reblog this post so people you know can at least think about not buying (and paying for) fake food and encouraging food manufacturers to keep deceiving us.

Fresh blueberries are out there in abundance folks! Now is the time. You can’t get them in a box that’s been on the shelf for ages and ages. Blueberries in your cereal. Blueberries in muffins and pie. Fresh, juicy, tart-sweet blueberries. Even in soup. Like the recipe below, which makes a good first course for summer dinner on a hot day. You can’t make this with fake food.

Blueberry Soup

2 cups blueberries

1-1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons maple syrup. honey or agave

2” piece cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

2-inch strip lemon peel

3/4 cup plain yogurt

1-2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

slices of lemon, optional

Combine all but 2 tablespoons of the blueberries, the water, maple syrup, cinnamon stick, cloves and lemon peel in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes. Remove and discard the cinnamon, cloves and lemon peel. Puree the ingredients and refrigerate until cold. Add the yogurt and Balsamic vinegar and whisk ingredients until thoroughly blended. Serve topped with lemon slices and reserved blueberries (a mint sprig if you have one).

Makes 4 servings

Pizza is always welcome, is't it?

Whether you are Jewish and observant, preparing to fast (from Monday at sunset through Tuesday at sunset) for Tisha B’av, or whether you like to follow Meatless Mondays in order to cut down on meat consumption, or whether you would simply like a light, easy-to-make dinner that everyone will love, think pizza.

Is there anyone who doesn’t like pizza?

When I was a kid the only pizza we could get was Pizza Margherite, with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Still my favorite.

We’ve come far far from the classic. You can buy — or make — pizza with any topping you like these days. 

But for a meatless meal that is substantial and filling, yet light enough for a summer dinner, try this recipe for White Pizza with Spinach. It’s from my book, Hip Kosher. Substitute any vegetable you like.

White Pizza with Spinach

1 pound pizza dough

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and dried

1 15-ounce package ricotta cheese

8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)

1-1/2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. (Preheat a pizza stone if you have one.) Lightly oil a large cookie sheet. Stretch the pizza dough into a 12-15 inch circle and place it on the cookie sheet or pizza stone. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the spinach and cook for 3-5 minutes or until wilted and all of the liquid has evaporated from the pan. If necessary press the spinach in a sieve to extract the liquid. Chop the spinach coarsely. Spread the ricotta cheese evenly over the pizza dough. Top with the spinach. Spread the mozzarella cheese on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and oregano. Drizzle with the remaining tablespoon olive oil. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the crust is crispy and the cheese has melted and is golden brown. Makes 8 pieces (4 servings)