Cooking with Mom

My mom was here for about 3 weeks, and we really ate well around here.

One thing I’ve come to love about my family is our mutual interest in food. I had no idea that my parents were laying down some groundwork for making me a little foodie. I grew up eating Japanese food and my mother cooked nearly every night. She did not settle on the same recipes night after night or focus solely on convenience foods. I know we had some old faithfuls (clam sauce spaghetti and Japanese curry), but mostly she cooked what she knew (Japanese) and tried new things and even attempted some classic American stuff like Tuna Noodle Casserole.

I still don’t understand tuna noodle casserole, but that’s for another story.

When my family is on vacation, we like to focus on what good food we can get out of it. We went out a lot, we cooked a lot, basically ate ourselves completely stuffed. And then some.

My mom even brought a binder of her current fav recipes nicely printed out and put in sheet protectors. And left it here for me. We ate homemade breakfasts and dinners made almost entirely from these recipes, with leftovers for lunch.

I like that we cooked together and she seemed to trust my instincts for cooking. That was something I had to earn I guess. I can picture my own daughter and I continuing this tradition. Sharing recipes, cooking great food, and cleaning up afterwards. And let’s not forget all the fancy restaurants we’ll visit, on my tab.

  My mom and I made this Japanese Amazu Chicken out of her recipe binder. She had written her own rating next to it: 9 out of 10. I loved it too. Amaya liked the “worms” especially. It was one of the few meals we’ve had lately that she’s eaten every part of. This is not a weigh you down meal. And it is so simple and fresh. The outside is nice and crunchy. I’ve put in the slight variations that we used and I tried to make the instructions more user friendly. I also think that next time I make it I will marinate the chicken for an hour beforehand in a mixture of 2 T olive oil, 3 cloves minced garlic, 4 T soy sauce, 2 T mirin.

Japanese Amazu Chicken (makes 4 servings)

adapted from Marie Rizzio, Traverse City, Mich, grand prize winner in the 1999 national chicken cooking contest

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 C cornstarch
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thirds lengthwise
• 1/4 C vegetable oil
• 3 C fresh soy bean sprouts
• 1 Japanese cucumber
• 6 T minced green onions
• Amazu sauce (recipe follows)
• toasted sesame seeds

In a large bowl, mix together eggs and cornstarch. Add about half the oil to a large nonstick frying pan and heat over medium high heat. Dip chicken strips into mixture, coating well, one at a time and add to the pan (cook about half the chicken at a time).

Cook about 5 minutes or until browned, flipping once. Drain on paper towels and keep warm. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Break off the tails of the soy bean sprouts. You can use a different kind of sprout if you like, but I think the soy bean sprout tastes the best. Removing the tails is time consuming but worth it. Wash thoroughly and drain.

Blanch the soy bean sprouts in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain.

Use a vegetable peeler to peel thin lengthwise strips of cucumber. Arrange the soybean sprouts on top of a large plate that you will use as a serving dish. Place cucumber strips on top of that, then chicken, then green onions and sesame seeds on top. Drizzle with Amazu sauce.

Amazu Sauce

• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1/4 C rice vinegar
• 1 T sesame oil

In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and sesame oil. Whisk until blended well.

smart bowl

Baby girl wants to be a big girl. She wants to eat like we eat and fights us if we try to spoon feed her without her having her own spoon. I've been searching for dinnerware sets on my favorite online store. I wanted something that would accomodate our baby's needs and found this.

It's called the Dream Baby Stay Put Bowl and Cutlery Set, which is a cheesy name.  But anything that does stay put is my dream come true.

Horray for intelligent ideas!

Disclaimer: I received the product for free from CSN stores. And I stand by my word, cookware.com is the best online store for kitchen stuff. Their prices are excellent!

Quick Apple Strudel

We’ve been eating some seriously good desserts breakfast around here lately. My mom is in town, and she is a real cook, not just someone who wishes she cooked good food all the time, like me.

She’s incredibly good at making use of ingredients I have that I’m just waiting for to go bad so I can have an excuse to throw it away. I’ve had some apples on my counter for weeks because I don’t like apples that much. I get a lot of them from my fruit co op and I have to force myself to eat them. And, SURPRISE!, I don’t like apple pie either. I know. I’m in the minority here, but I don’t.

Apple strudel, however, is awesome. I ate almost the whole thing myself. I shared some with my daughter. She whined and didn’t want to eat it at first, but then I forced her to eat a bite, and then she wanted her own piece at the table. Then she wanted seconds. (she doesn’t like apple pie either, so I can see why she was skeptical.)

My mom has used puff pastry like 5 times (okay, 3. Cinnamon rolls, chicken pot pie, and this) since she got here and I’ve been so happy to find more uses for it because I Loooooove Puff Pastry.

Quick Apple Strudel

• 5 small fuji apples (you can use other apples, just cut up about 4 cups of apples into slices)
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 C sugar (or more to taste, depending on how sweet you like it and how sweet your apples are)
• 1 C water
• 2 T cornstarch mixed with 2 t water
• 2 sheets puff pastry
• 2 C powdered sugar
• 2 T milk

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Set out a cookie sheet with 1 sheet of puff pastry on it.
2. Peel and cut up the apples into 1/4 inch slices (cores removed).
3. Cook the apples in a small sauce pan with the cinnamon, sugar, and water over medium heat. After apples soften (maybe 7 minutes) add the cornstarch and water and bring to a simmer to thicken the sauce a little.
4. When the sauce is of a stew consistency, remove from heat. Spread the apple mixture over the puff pastry but leave a 1/2 inch border on all sides.
5. Place the second sheet of puff pastry on the top, and pinch the sides together by pressing with the tines of a fork. Poke several holes with the fork in the top of the puff pastry and place in the oven. Let bake for 15 minutes or until browned on top.
6. Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk, adjusting as necessary for the right consistency. The frosting should be pourable, but not too runny. Put the mixture in a ziploc bag, snip the corner, and glaze the top of the puff pastry.
7. Cut into squares or triangles and serve.

Kellog’s Eggo Real Fruit Pizza

I have to admit. I really love it when a box that says “dry ice” on it shows up at my house.

I received 2 Kellog’s Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas to taste from Foodbuzz recently and it was a real production opening up the box and freaking out when my daughter almost touched the dry ice with her bare hands. Luckily no one’s fingers got burned off. ‘Cause I’m such a good mother. I put the fear of God into her about touching dry ice, which is a material that I’m sure makes no sense to a 4-year-old.

We popped the fruit pizzas into the microwave (they come with those nifty “crisping” trays that you see with mini frozen pizzas) and sat down to a snack. These have a wheat crust, topped with flavored yogurt, topped with granola, topped with berries. There’s a mixed berry flavor and a strawberry flavor.

I think the mixed berry flavor comes off better, as I think those berries aren’t totally ruined by being frozen, like strawberries are. Strawberries kind of turn into a mushy blandness and they’re really only good for smoothies when they’re frozen. I appreciated that this product was not too sweet. I was expecting pop tart candy pizza, but it seemed more like real food. (Hey, I would eat pop tart pizza. Totally.)

Amaya actually only liked the strawberry flavor. She turned her nose up at the mixed berry. I tried to get her to explain why, but she had no reason. I think her preference was only about color (pink vs. purple—I guess pink wins). She ate about half a pizza. But she’s 4. I think this is not enough for me for breakfast. Maybe because I’m really into breakfast. The person I think this product would appeal to the most is a teenager. I’m a teacher and I always see teenagers with trendy instant food products. One of their favorite foods right now (at my school) are those Smucker’s PB & J sandwiches. Yes. Those ones that are frozen, circular, and crustless. I think those are a major abomination to PB & J and I once had a bet with my student that I could actually make a better PB & J and I was dumb enough to bring sandwiches to school just to prove my point. So, yes, I think they would love Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas. Especially because teenagers are kind of anti-breakfast (they think it’s cool to say, “I’m not hungry” after not eating breakfast or lunch), so they have to be appealed to by eating some name brand promise of sweetness. But it’s way better than a Monster, which is what most of my students have for breakfast.

Bottom line: Great for breakfast avoiders like teenagers. Could use more fruit on top. Not too sweet and much better than a pop tart.

Storytime: Pigs Love Potatoes

Pigs Love Potatoes by Anika Denise and illustrated by Christopher Denise is a favorite of my daughter’s, even though it is extremely simple. Momma pig cooks potatoes for a dinner with family and friends. The book begins with the little piggies wanting to eat potatoes for dinner, and they end up helping their mom by peeling the potatoes. As guests arrive, she adds more potatoes to the pot. (Ten, for good measure… This book is as much about counting as it is about food.)

The actual food probably isn’t that appetizing (who eats plain boiled potatoes?), but for some reason it sounds perfect. We read this book at our house nearly every day. Amaya wanted to peel potatoes with me so I gave her some tips and she peeled potatoes all by herself!
The illustrations in Pigs Love Potatoes are super cute and the rhyme is not annoying at all. Bad sing-songy rhyme is a big pet peeve of mine with kids books. This one is short and simple enough to be catchy.

Another reason I like this book is because Amaya doesn’t actually like potatoes that much. Whenever she doesn’t like something I will fall back on her storybook characters’ adventures, “But potatoes are good! The pigs like them!” or “Spongebob goes to the dentist all the time!” I’m not sure it works, but she does look like she’s reconsidering.

Salmon Ship Sandwich with Crispy Cheese

My son loves salmon. Last year he loved talapia but now he loves the red fish, the more expensive fish, but I guess it's also the healthier fish.

The great thing about salmon is that it's easy to make. Heck, I let him make it.

This is what I do. I put about 1 cup water in a cast iron skillet and then I let Enzo season the fillets. This is his favorite part. I get all the seasoning out of the cupboard and I let him have a go. This last time he insisted on using cinnamon. I was happy with the flavor, but most importantly he was happy with the flavor.

Then I simmer the fillets in the skillet for about 5-10 minutes. Don't over cook salmon. Just don't. If you do the texture ends up being rubbery and way off. If you don't it becomes flakey and moist. We want flakey and moist.

We usually eat it right away with some rice and salad.

With the left overs I make salmon sandwiches. I mix salmon with cream cheese for the filling and then stuff it in pita bread. My family is obsessed with crispy melted cheese so I recently started melting cheese on a skillet until crispy and then breaking off the pieces and serving that in sandwiches. This time I assembled Enzo's sandwich to look like a sail boat. I know. I'm so nice to him. He does appreciate it, though, which is good.

Forget the Meat: Black Bean Burgers and Vegan Creamy Pesto

My girl is a total meat eater. She’ll eat turkey without the sandwich and ribs without the potatoes. She could make a meal entirely out of meat.

I think many people don’t consider a meal to be complete without meat.

I challenge myself at least once a week to eat a vegan meal. I always feel better about my eating habits when I do. Amaya loves beans so it makes things easy at dinner. I get tired of making them the same way so this recipe from Veganomicon is very handy. You can make these in 15 minutes if you have canned black beans.

I had made some vegan pesto the day before for pasta and did the whole thing to taste in my cuisinart. Pesto isn’t really an exact science anyway so I’ve approximated measurements here. I’m not afraid of tasting and adding as I need anyway. I dipped my finger in there more than once. Sauce is good on sandwiches and the pesto kept me from slathering on the mayo.

Vegan Creamy Pesto

• 1/2 block firm tofu
• 1/2 C nutritional yeast
• olive oil (probably about half a cup)
• salt
• big handful of pine nuts
• 4 cloves garlic
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 C basil leaves (not packed)

1. Blend together in a cuisinart, adding olive oil slowly as you blend. You may have to scrape the sides a few times. Blend for at least a minute for an even consistency. Makes more than 2 cups.

Black Bean Burgers (adapted from Veganomicon)

• 2 C black bean (canned is fine) (a mix with some garbanzo beans is good too)
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 C and 2 T vital wheat gluten
• 1/2 small onion grated on a box grater
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 t cumin
• chili powder to taste
• 2 T cilantro finely chopped
• 1/4 C water
• 2 T tomato paste
• olive oil

1. Mash the black beans in a medium bowl with a fork until most beans are mashed—some half beans still visible. Add the following but do not mix yet: garlic grated with a rasp grater, grated onion, wheat gluten, water, salt, cumin, chili powder, cilantro.
2. Mix with a fork and then with hands to knead ingredients together a little. Shape into 6 patties by pressing mixture very firmly together into a ball then pressing into patty about 1/2” thick. Spray both sides of the patty with nonstick spray.
3. Heat large fry pan over medium heat. Pour in a thin layer of olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the pan is hot, put 3 patties into pan. As bean burger cooks, press firmly with a spatula. Flip when first side is browned, about 6 minutes. Cook other side in the same way.

A Perfect Food

I’ll have to apologize for not posting regularly. I had a bad case of watermelon in the belly. Now I’m blaming it on this:

Doesn’t he look like a time waster? I mean, who can get anything done around here?

This is my second baby and I’m doing the déjà vu dance in my head. Probably the biggest piece of it has to do with nursing. Mother’s milk is supposed to be the most perfect food there is. Why, then, is it so difficult to prepare?

How many other recipes out there have entire books dedicated to them? Professionals to help mothers with the serving of it? An entire gamut of products dedicated to the best possible dining experience?

There’s latching and engorgement and cracking and let down and don’t eat too much of this and switch feeding and on-demand and please, please, please don’t wake up yet.

You may be lucky enough to be a professional at this recipe right off. I’m still studying technique and serving it charred.

It may be the world’s most perfect food, but the imperfect chef is tearing her hair out in the kitchen.

The customer, however, is still pretty perfect. And (mostly) keeping his criticism to himself.