What is Paleo? and 10 Reasons to Try Eating Paleo

I once read that if you take a break from blogging, you should never mention the absence, excuse it, or apologize for it.
Here I am, ready to do all three.

1) Hi. Nice to see you again.
2) Iʻve been on a diet and I kind of hate it.
3) Iʻm sorry.

If I didnʻt do those things, Iʻd be that douchey guy in the movie that knocks on the door, sits on the couch like its owner, like heʻd never left, when really he walked out on her three months ago without explanation. And if she said, "Hey, whereʻve you been?" heʻd roll his eyes like caring made her weak. (Yeah. Iʻve seen lots of terrible movies.)

Well, caring is what brings me back. Thank you for caring.

If you follow me on instagram then you probably know allllll about what Iʻve been eating, since thatʻs my record keeper these days. Please let me know if you have an account-- Iʻm all about seeing what youʻre eating too. I have friends that roll their eyes about this (caring about every day food makes you weak) but I really do want to see what deliciousness you had for dinner, even though Iʻd probably tear it out of your hands if you had it in front of me.

I get asked a lot, "What is Paleo?" and I always feel a little silly answering that question, because it sounds kind of crazy.

Basically, itʻs...

Protein (meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds)
A lot of vegetables
Some fruit

And thatʻs it.

I donʻt exactly buy all of the caveman theory behind it, so I wonʻt get into that, but here are my reasons for paleo.

The 10 Reasons You Should Try Paleo

1) You will probably lose weight. (I say probably, because if you eat ten pieces of bacon every day Iʻm sure you wonʻt, but in general, youʻll probably lose weight.)

2) You wonʻt be eating sugar.

3) Your normal cravings will slow down. You will probably still be hungry, but the "I need to eat this whole box of doughnuts to fill this void" kind of craving will slow down significantly.

4) You will be eating whole, real foods, which means youʻll feel better that youʻre not eating processed crap and chemicals. Thereʻs a big emphasis on organic as well.

5) You wonʻt feel full and sluggish after meals. I have this problem, where I eat until I am past full. When Iʻm eating Paleo, I NEVER feel that way. When you cheat and have a meal where you eat 4 pieces of pizza, something you didnʻt even think about before, you feel totally sick and you want to never eat pizza again (you will, of course, want to eat pizza again by the next day).

6) Bacon.

7) You will eat so many more vegetables.  I feel really happy with myself when I am eating tons of veggies. It just feels right.

8) Your eating will become more mindful. No more of this "Iʻll just grab a few chips..." only to eat the whole bag. Snacking is pretty much gone.

9) Less joint pains. Iʻve read a lot of accounts of paleo dieters claiming that their fibromyalgia and other significant diseases are cured. I even read one account that claimed her plaque was gone. Iʻm not about to believe all of that, but I have been dealing with achy joints for my whole life, and they always seem to flare up when I donʻt drink enough water and when I eat a lot of carbs or sugar. When Iʻm doing well with my Paleo diet, I donʻt have achy joints. Zip. At first I thought it was coincidental, but I canʻt deny it any longer.

10) Youʻre eating and youʻre eating good for you food. I am very wary of diets that just make me feel hungry and sick and I have to count calories all day long and youʻre still allowed to eat all of the boxed jello you want. Iʻm still hungry. Just not sick.

Now, it wouldnʻt be fair if I didnʻt list some cons. The biggest one is that eating is a very social thing, and Iʻm often feeling left out, even at home with my family. 50% of the time Iʻm making something no one else wants to eat and the other 50% of the time Iʻm jealous of what everyone else is eating. Itʻs very difficult to find a balance with that. Then thereʻs all the food I have to say No to, and it really makes it very clear just how much food is part of your social life. Mostly everyone thinks youʻre a bit weird and obsessed. Unfortunately, if youʻre on a diet, you kind of have to be. That can be dangerous too. Thereʻs dieting cross over into lifestyle cross over into eating disorder.

Another big con is that youʻre eating a lot of meat. I used to eat vegetarian and vegan most of the time. Iʻm still struggling with that. I donʻt really like that Iʻm eating so much meat, but I feel very weak and tired if I donʻt. I also donʻt believe that a lot of meat is good for you for the long run. Iʻm definitely going to add back in whole grains when I reach my target weight.

There are other cons, namely dairy, beans, peanut butter, and sugar. Those are huge. And boy, does that suck.

Iʻm not at 100% Paleo. Iʻve been kind of dancing around it because the cons are big ones and especially when I like to cook and bake, itʻs hard. Iʻve been eating about 85% Paleo which means I mess up for about 3 meals a week. I also exercise every day, and I think if you go Paleo you have to do that because youʻre eating so much protein it really needs to go somewhere. I donʻt think this is a sedentary lifestyle kind of diet.

If you are looking for a diet to reverse some of your bad habit eating and are trying to lose weight in a way that isnʻt about crash-dieting, I suggest you try Paleo. Try it for thirty days and see if you think itʻs worth all the hype. And then write to me and mourn all of the things we love to eat that we canʻt.

For now Iʻm all about eating whatever I can thatʻs delicious.

Paleo Fried Rice (serves 2)

·      2 tsp coconut oil

·      1 Cup Cauliflower stalk and leaves

·      1 red or yellow bell pepper

·      1 small onion

·      1 small carrot, peeled

·      3 cloves garlic

·      1/2 C ham (not deli meat—from a slice of whole ham)

·      3 slices bacon

·      1 ½ tsp coconut aminos (very similar to soy sauce)

·      ½ tsp sesame oil

·      salt and pepper to taste

·      1 medium zucchini, grated

·      2 eggs, lightly beaten

1.     Chop the cauliflower stalk, bell pepper, onion, and carrot into very small dice, about ¼”. Heat the coconut oil in a wok over high heat. Toss all of the vegetables in at once and stir fry, tossing around vegetables quickly with a wooden spoon. After a few minutes, the onion should start to become translucent and the vegetables start sweating.

2.     Mince the garlic and chop the ham and bacon in very small dice as well. Add the garlic and meats to the pan and keep tossing together. Keep frying until the veggies seem mostly dry, a couple of minutes more.

3.     Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper. Stir and then make a little pocket on the side of the pan for the eggs. Pour in the eggs and stir them around to cook like scrambled eggs. Once the eggs are cooked add the zucchini. Toss until the zucchini is just tender. This goes from fresh and light to soggy, quickly. Serve while still hot. 

Donʻt worry, Iʻm not going to become an exclusively Paleo blogger. Youʻll just be seeing a lot more Paleo for a while.

Bread Salad (Panzanella)

Don’t forget to enter my OXO Salad Dressing Shaker Giveaway HERE. It’s my new favorite kitchen toy.

I first heard about this kind of salad several years ago. I was intrigued by the idea but food blogs were still mostly non-existent and I didn’t have a recipe. I decided to just try to make a bread salad.

Well, I didn’t know what the helk I was doing. I ended up with a good flavored mushy salad.

Yesterday Jake said, “Remember when you didn’t know how to cook?”

What? I thought I could always cook!

Ok, so I made a mushy salad, a LONG time ago. It’s great what years of practice and lots of food blog reading can do for a person.

This is barely a recipe. I did not measure, and I don’t think you should either. Taste, taste, taste!

Bread Salad (Panzanella)

• Cut 5 or 6 Cups of hearty, rustic bread into 1” pieces. I cubed, but you can tear.
• olive oil
• salt
• 6 smallish, locally grown tomatoes (Roma sized) that have NEVER been in the fridge and are ripe
• 1 Japanese cucumber (less seeds/water, but you can use whatever) peeled and cut into half moon chunks
• Sherry vinegar (balsamic would be acceptable)
• fresh Mozzarella cheese, cubed (more than a cup)
• 3 large handfuls of Arugula
• Sunflower Sprouts
• Thinly sliced red onion
• More olive oil
• Minced garlic (if you can handle it raw)
• sugar
• pepper and salt to taste
• A few Tablespoons of thinly sliced basil

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and lay the bread cubes onto a baking sheet. Pour olive oil (lots, like half a cup) over the bread and toss, rubbing it with your fingers. Sprinkle salt over the top. Toast the bread in the oven for several minutes, tossing the bread once during cooking to toast both sides. Remove when they are crouton like and golden. Let cool on the sheet. They should seem too dry. They’ll soak up liquid and soften later.
2. While the bread is toasting, cut up the tomatoes and reserve the juices as much as possible. Put the tomatoes in a metal strainer/colander over a bowl. Toss the tomatoes with salt and let the juice seep into the bottom bowl for about 15 minutes. Put the onion in the tomato juice bowl.
3. Put the cooled bread pieces, strained tomatoes, cucumber, arugula, sprouts, and cheese into a large bowl. Whisk a couple of glugs of olive oil, garlic, and a few Tablespoons of sherry vinegar into the bowl of tomato juices. You may want to add a little teensy bit of sugar here. Your call.
4. Pour the dressing over the whole salad, add some salt and pepper, throw in the basil, and toss the salad lots of times. The bread should start taking up some of the liquid and softening. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve immediately.

Passion Fruit Dressing and an OXO Giveaway!

I only like salad if I have some real ingredients to put in, like roasted tomatoes, hearts of palm, steak strips, or Pammy’s Dressing.

My friend Pam has a salad on her table every night, and more often than not it’s dressed with her special homemade sauce. I’d drink the stuff if no one was looking.

I really dislike store bought dressing. I keep one bottle in my fridge for emergencies, but generally I’d prefer to pour it down the sink than in my salad bowl. I try to pilfer Pam’s dressing when I can but now I finally can make a bottle of my own. The last time I made it I didn’t have orange juice concentrate, so I improvised with some Lilikoi. I went to salad dressing heaven.

Thanks to OXO, I now have a salad dressing shaker in the fridge at all times.

My favorite, truly functional features:

1) Flip top lid, no drips with a tight seal. Plus a spout that ensures you don’t have salad dressing dripping over the side.

2) Liquid measurement tick marks

3) Screw top, so you can clean it easily.

I love it. And now you can have one too.

OXO sent me an extra salad dressing shaker so I can pass it on to you.

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me about your favorite salad or dressing ingredient(s). If you have a link to a recipe, I’m always looking for inspiration!

You can get up to two extra entries for tweeting and/or following this blog.

Passionfruit Dressing (Lilikoi Dressing) (slightly adapted from Pammy’s recipe)

• 2/3 Cup olive oil
• scant 1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp no salt seasoning
• salt to taste
• 3 Tbsp lilikoi puree
• 1/2 tsp honey or more to taste (I like mine sweeter)
• 1 Tbsp water
• pinch of dried parsley
• 2 Tbsp dijon mustard (not Grey Poupon)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1. Whisk or shake all ingredients together until uniform. You may need to shake again before serving.
2. Tip: If your dressing gets very cold, it may separate or be difficult to pour. Wait until it warms to room temperature again, or put it in the microwave for a few seconds and shake.

OXO sent me this product for free. All opinions are my own.

Red Curry Noodles

This recipe is crazy easy and delicious.

Just make sure you make enough, or your munchkin will finish it off for you.

Even if she just lost a tooth.

(in fact, this recipe is probably good for people with a loose tooth.)

Sometimes I do long for an evening with the rain hitting softly against the closed windows, and a sweater. We don’t get those in Hawaii too often (rainy evenings I mean. I suppose there are sweaters for rooms with too-much air conditioning.). I can’t remember the last time I was inside my house with the windows closed.

This bowl reminds me of the comfort in a warm dinner.

Make it your dinner. Adjust the flavors. Don’t be afraid of tasting and testing. I had to try a couple of times to get it right, but I think I’ve hit the right combination of ingredients that will make this a success at your house. The first time I made it I used yellow curry paste, but I think the red is better.

Use whatever vegetables you have. This could be great with snow peas, carrots, mung bean sprouts… Add some cilantro if you are so inclined. Chicken if you’d like an omnivore option.

Try some different types of noodles. I know this would be delicious with rice noodles. I think thicker is better.The first time I made it I used regular ramen noodles, but they just were too soggy. Chinese noodles with egg as an ingredient just stood up better to the curry, and were a little thicker. The noodles clung to the sauce so well. I love that velvety soup. I could drink it.

I did.

Here’s my fake instagram picture. ‘Cause I’m jealous of those ihappy people.

Red Curry Noodles (serves 2-4) print this recipe!

I used a fairly mild red curry paste. I used more than 2Tbsp of the paste and just had a hint of spice. I’ve had very spicy pastes as well. If you don’t know the strength of your curry, start with less than 1 Tbsp and work your way up. Or make your own. Then you’ll know how spicy it will be.

• 1/3 Cup coconut cream (can be scraped from the top of an unshaken can of coconut milk)
• About 2 T Red Curry Paste (I used Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste)
• 1/2 onion, halved and sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 1/2 Cups broccoli, cut into pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp, or more, fish sauce (if you don’t like the taste of fish sauce, use less. I like that little bit of funk, myself)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 Cup water
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• salt to taste
• 1/2 Cup tofu, cubed (optional)
• Sriracha sauce, optional
• 2 packages dried Chinese noodles (16 oz each package) or other kind of noodle

1. Heat up 2-3 quarts of water in a large saucepan for the noodles.

2. Heat 1/3 Cup coconut cream in a fry pan over medium heat. When the cream starts bubbling and glistening, add the curry paste. Stir it with a wooden spoon until mixed well.

3. Toss in onion, bell pepper and sauté until softened and just slightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, fish sauce, coconut milk and water. Stir. Add brown sugar and broccoli and bring up to a simmer. Cover but stir occasionally as it cooks.

4. While the curry cooks, cook noodles in boiling water until al-dente and drain. Run cold water over them.

5. Add water to make it the right consistency (should be more like soup) and adjust the seasonings, adding more salt or fish sauce or brown sugar if needed. Add the tofu, if using, in the last couple minutes of cooking. Stir it in gently. If you want it to be spicier, add sriracha sauce to taste and stir.

6. As soon as the broccoli is cooked through, take it off the stove. Serve the noodles in a bowl and ladle the curry over the top of the noodles. Serve immediately.

Vegan Pesto Pizza is Real

One too many people I know consider vegan food

weird,

or something only skinny people eat.

I’ll tell you, I could get downright plump on vegan food. Especially this pizza. I go through phases where I feel the need to balance out my proteins with vegan foods, like when I’m on this ridiculous South Beach diet (currently on hold, indefinitely) and I just hate eggs and meat of all kinds, passionately (but just right now, promise).

I’m a fan of this girl’s recipes. I have never once been disappointed by her ability to make vegan food real. As in, Real tasty.

I made her pesto pizza (click to print) and I have some suggestions to make it the number one pizza on the planet, against all other kinds. I know this because I’ve made this pizza three times in the last two weeks.

Use This crust recipe.

Throw a diced eggplant into the roasting pan for the topping if you like. Roasting these veggies before actually making the pizza was a genius move. I’ve always been a purist in the pizza making—I always just thinly slice raw vegetables and make a very scant topping in favor of cheese. This recipe proved that whole idea wrong. Load those roasted veggies on there, please.

Variations for the pesto: add a roasted jalapeno for spicy pesto, or a handful of sundried tomatoes for a sweeter one.

A slice is delicious for breakfast too. Yes, I did. Three times.

The pizza tastes fresh, sweet with roasted tomato and onion, and crispy crackly garlic oil crust under a savory pesto. I was sure that the pesto wouldn’t live up to my standards, but I can honestly say I like this vegan version better than the original parmesan standard. That is saying a lot.

I had been craving pizza like crazy, since I wasn’t supposed to eat any, which is completely torturous. I was totally convincing myself that I was starving. Riiiiight, you’re saying. My hunger was eating up my soul, or so I told myself when I started making this pizza.

Being hungry is really, really distracting. It's hard to concentrate on anything. And please. I was just on a diet. I am one of the luckiest people ever to consider myself deprived while on a diet. The fact of it doesn’t escape me. I try to count my blessings, even when I’m being an angry witch and hating everyone who is allowed to eat carbs.

I want to tell you, before you go out for your weekend, that Foodbuzz is partnering up with Yahoo! to support Share our Strength, an organization I really care about. They create food programs for hungry children in smart and effective ways. Yahoo! will donate $20,000 to Share our Strength on behalf of Foodbuzz and their community of readers and bloggers.

Here are two things you can do raise awareness about this important cause:
1. Make Yahoo! your homepage now to let them know you like what they’re doing to help Share Our Strength.
2. Share the campaign with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

I’ll be talking about Share Our Strength during the campaign, and in return for my participation, Foodbuzz is going to donate some $ on my behalf to Share Our Strength, too.

Win-Win in my book.

A salad you’d invite to dinner.

I’ve been writing for the Star Advertiser, Hawaii’s newspaper. I have a column once a month in the Wednesday food section.
You can read about and get the recipe for my kale salad in the on-line version here.
I was happy the way the column and the picture turned out and more importantly, I loved the recipe. I was really excited about this salad and I ate it for days. And then made it again. I kind of hate making salads, usually. I love when someone else makes me a salad. I love to eat it. But I really feel like I’m wasting my time when I make one myself.
Like, shouldn’t I be cooking or something? I just chop all the vegetables and then throw them in the bowl? It’s extremely anticlimactic for me. Assembly is so not the same to me as cooking. I feel like I should be sautéing the lettuce or something.
This salad, I think, could make some reappearances. We could even be life-long friends. I’d definitely invite this salad to dinner.
Writing for the newspaper has been a challenging genre change for me. I’m learning—slowly. I wonder if you guys have any suggestions for columns you’d like to see.
Pretty Please?

Bacon Wrapped Enoki

Or: “Attack of the squid people!”

They do look a bit freakish.

Their pink striped bondage just accentuates those little bobbly heads.

Even so, who can resist that bacon flavor clinging to that velvet stem?

Not I. Not I.

(Apologies to my vegan friends. I promise to stick to untied and free vegetables in my next post.)

The hot pan sears the bacon belt. No toothpicks or handcuffs necessary.

The daughter who swears she does not like mushrooms, could not keep her hands off of these.

Two days ago she wanted to chop mushrooms, just for fun. I said, “Ok, if you eat it too.” She did. Raw. And then asked for more.

She so definitely does not like mushrooms. No way. And don’t try to tell her otherwise.

P.S. Thank you, thank you, for your love and sympathy for my whining. I’ll try not to subject you to it. Often. Being a parent is character building in whole new levels.

One Pan Three Part Dinner

Enoki mushrooms in buttery soy sauce.

Pan fried pork with garlic tones.

Swiss chard with plum tomatoes, the bitter greens sweetened by that pop of acidic tomato.

One pan.

(Did I mention One Pan?)

A few weeks ago Damaris and I went to my current favorite Japanese izakaya and we had some enoki mushrooms to die for. The waitress gave up the secret when she said, “No one ever thinks of pairing soy sauce with butter but it’s delicious.”

You’re right, Miss, I never thought of that, but I’m thinking of it now. I’ll still be going back to that restaurant (not sure I can duplicate their pork belly; I’m willing to try my mother’s), but enoki mushrooms in butter and soy sauce are now a common delicacy in my house. 

Have you had enoki mushrooms?

Their white and almost shiny long stems and caps are so tiny that you eat many at once. They always retain a tiny bit of crunch under their velvety tenderness. Their flavor is light and since they have more surface (and space between mushrooms) they pick up other flavors well. Enoki are common in shabu shabu and sukiyaki, kinds of Japanese hot pots, for lack of a better explanation. Their stems and roots stick together. Once the roots are removed the mushrooms should be cooked in a bundle rather than separated, as their texture and flavor will be lost amidst a stir fry or stew. They cook very, very quickly.

Amaya was skeptical of the mushrooms, and I readily served her a tiny portion and left more for us, but then we had to share with her. I was almost wishing that her pickiness was going to keep us from wrestling over the last mushroom.

I’m always making too many dishes when I cook, and then I take much too long to put dinner on the table. In addition, I’ll spend the whole time making one dish and our meal is monotonous and missing a balancing component. There’s so much variety here I could call this an actual and complete dinner.

Since everything in this meal is cooked almost the instant it hits the pan (plus a few minutes for the chard), you can put dinner on the table in 20 minutes or so. I didn’t measure anything, and you won’t need to either. It will taste good even with approximations.

One-Pan Three-Part Dinner (enoki, pork, and chard)

serves 3-4

• butter
• soy sauce
• two packages enoki mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1/2 lb or more thinly sliced pork (sukiyaki style cut, or you can cut a chop thinly if it is slightly frozen—it won’t be exactly the same but definitely cheaper)
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 slice of ginger (optional)
• sake (or other dry white wine—optional—you could use water or a bit of white grape juice here if you like)
• 1 large bunch swiss chard (or kale), chopped (about 6 cups)—stems trimmed and sliced again.
• salt
• plum or cherry tomatoes
• vinegar (any kind, really)
• hot cooked rice to serve with

1. In a large saute pan (you should use a stainless steel pan or a cast iron if that is not available) heat a few tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When the butter melts and foams a bit and just begins to turn brown, throw in the mushrooms. Stir them around a bit and splash a tablespoon or so of soy sauce. Cook for another minute and then remove to a plate, letting most of the butter soy sauce liquid over the mushrooms.
2. In the same pan, add the oil and turn to medium high heat. Salt the pork on both sides, lightly. When the pan is very hot (but the oil should not be smoking), place the pork in the pan and brown on both sides. If you are using sukiyaki cut the pieces will be cooked almost instantly. Pork will toughen if you over cook it so don’t leave it too long in the pan. Stir around the garlic in the last 30 second of cooking with the pork. Remove the pork to a plate.
3. Splash a few tablespoons of sake into the pan and the slice of ginger. Simmer and scrape up the browned bits with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat to medium, add the swiss chard, season with a bit of salt, and stir again. Throw in a handful of plum or cherry tomatoes. Cover with a lid and let cook down for about 4 minutes.
4. Remove the lid and stir, cooking until the liquid has mostly evaporated, maybe 2 minutes more. Sometimes, if I can tell the greens are a bit too salty and bitter, I put a spin of honey in there.
5. Put a small spoonful of vinegar (if desired) and stir around. Serve.

Baby food Avocado Popsicle

As a first grader, adults were the only people I knew who could have sugar at will. When I first met a diabetic, I believed she was a rock star because during recess she could go to the playground teacher and get a piece of hard candy any time.
I told her my favorite food was ice cream and I asked her what her favorite food was.
“Avocado,” she said. “I could eat avocados all day.”
“Oh yeah,” I said, “I love that stuff.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but that fruity word just simmered through her second grade lips like sexy tropical moisture. I was hooked on avocado.
When the dentist asked me about my favorite food, I answered “Avocado.” His surprise was clear and he complimented me on keeping my teeth cavity free. I had answered the question correctly. “I could eat avocados all day,” I told him.
It wasn’t until the next year that I actually tried avocado.
I dug my spoon into its hard pudding. The piece coated my mouth and melted at the same time. The eggy flavor lingered. It was a taste I couldn’t quite call offensive, but it certainly wasn’t overly friendly like vanilla ice cream. Maybe a bit stand-offish.
It wasn’t love at first taste. Or the second. Probably not the third or fourth, either.
So seeing this face on Mozely after his first lick of avocado doesn’t surprise me.

But if we’re related at all, when he’s grown up I’ll have to lock up the avocados just to keep them for myself.


notes: I made this popsicle with formula and avocado. It will eventually turn brown but I gave him a few licks a few days in a row. Babies don’t eat much at first and I didn’t want to give him brain freeze. He started getting very upset when I took it away after a few tries, so I guess he likes it now.
Where were you when you first tried avocado?

The Pumpkin One

Pumpkin? you ask? Why are you doing Pumpkin even though you are not in PFB 2010 anymore?

Because, dang it, I've been thinking about pumpkin for WEEKS but trying to hold off because I didn't want to ruin any surprises.

(No snickering, now.)

We caught the end of Punkin Chunkin and although I didn't get the whole story, I did gather that there was a guy who had been 2nd place against the same team for 20 years or so and had just finally launched the most awesome pumpkin launch ever, finally beating that team, and everyone was so super happy about it until a different team just inched them out of 1st place. Again.
I may have part of that story wrong but I think the point was, that sucks. Big time.
I have nothing to complain about.

I had some fun with Project Food Blog, but I'm about to have fun with this pumpkin week challenge I've cooked up for myself. Since Jake doesn't like pumpkin and I love it, I think I'll just over do it while I'm hanging out with my parents for the week and Jake doesn't have to be my taste tester. So I'm going to show you 7 pumpkin recipes (will I stop there?) in a row. You're probably pumpkin-fied already. If you're not sick of pumpkin, come back tomorrow for the sequel.

I've mentioned before that I've found a new love in Dorie Greenspan, and she has a stuffed pumpkin recipe that I tried and loved. It was so easy and good. But I did feel like it wasn't quite right for me. I've had some trouble finding a pumpkin that I liked as much baked as I like from a can. Really. Usually they come out quite bland, in fact, even though I've tried several varieties.

Deciding to switch this dish over to a kabocha and add a couple of flavor notchers seemed natural. Kabocha is my favorite pumpkin. It's much sweeter and has stronger flavor than pumpkin. Plus you can eat the skin. I don't want to deal with the peel when I bake a pumpkin.

Amaya actually likes kabocha, but she and every other 4 year old out there likes to play the this-does-not-look-right-to-me-I'm-going-to-hate-it game. After several minutes of trying to explain to her that this is the kabocha she knows and loves and everything in it is also a known and loved tasty item, I resorted to time out and afterwards she ate her food. Happily.

People talk a lot about not forcing kids to eat food, and they'll eat if they're hungry, but my kid, at least, is just super cranky when hungry and doesn't really make logical conclusions regarding food and hunger and behavior in that state. Usually if I can get the first couple of bites past her clenched teeth she'll be happy enough to chew and swallow.

I have to apologize for the pictures. In Oregon it gets dark at 4 or so and I don't have the right lights. I was just saying to Da that food pictures have to be good, and here I am posting a not-so appetizing one. In my defense I'd say that Dorie's one isn't totally delicious looking and I still tried it.

Kabocha Pumpkin, packed with Bread, spinach, bacon and Cheese
(Stuffed Kabocha)
(adapted from Dorie Greenspan)
My main tip for this recipe is that you can stuff a lot more bread in this than you think. Just keep pushing it down there until it's full and kind of packed together. Amounts vary HUGELY depending on the size of your pumpkin. Once you pack all the bread in there and are pouring the cream in, get a chopstick and poke down through the top a bunch of times to help the cream soak into the different areas. keep putting the cream in until you obviously can't pour in any more (this is only right if you actually really pack the bread in there).

• kabocha pumpkin (probably works with butternut squash or acorn squash as well)
• bacon, chopped
• gruyere, cubed (you could use another, but I love the gruyere. Don't you?)
• spinach, sauteed and squeezed until dry and chopped (I think Kale would be good here)
• good crusty bread, like ciabatta, french, or sourdough, diced into 1/2" pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• garlic, minced
• cream

1. Turn the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cut the top off the pumpkin, around the stem. Remove the seeds and strings inside, scraping until smooth on the inside.
3. In a bowl, toss bacon, gruyere, spinach, bread, salt and pepper. Ratios of the ingredients are like this: Bread 2:1 gruyere, bacon a few to several slices (depending on your tastes, really) and probably about a 1/2 Cup of spinach to 3 Cups bread. 
4. Once tossed, throw the mix into the pumpkin, packing tightly into all the spaces.
5. Pour cream into the pumpkin and keep poking holes into the filling until the cream is soaked in and seems to be at the top.
6. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet and bake until the pumpkin is tender when pierced. Check after an hour. My pumpkin in this case was a 3 lb pumpkin and it took about an hour.
7. Cut into slices and serve, or scrape up the insides of the pumpkin into the filling and serve that way. Both ways are good!

Mommy Lunch

I hear lots of theories for getting picky kids to eat. Really, I know of only 4 things that really work, and none of them are about having them cook with you.

I’ll share one of them now.

Make food for yourSELF.

This will always invite curious looks from 4-year-olds who not-so-sweetly grill you on what you’re eating. Pretty soon there will be little fingers or pushy forks in your lunch.

I never make Amaya eat something she doesn’t want to for lunch. Lunch is hands off for picky eaters. She eats chicken nuggets (gag) or frozen burritos or nachos or similarly unhealthy easy lunches. I don’t like battles at lunch time.

We wait until dinner for that.

But sometimes I like to cook for myself at lunch, especially things that my family doesn’t like very much. I scored some beets at the farmer’s market and the attached greens were going to wilt. 

Soon I had some sautéed greens with tomato, garlic, and bacon, with a fried egg and buttered pan toast. I cut the toast into pieces as to sop up the juices.

Even though she had already eaten lunch, Amaya was sticking her fingers in my meal before I was even finished taking pictures. At one point she said, “Can I have the rest?” and I still had half a plate of food. I ended up making her own egg and toast but I finally claimed the rest of the greens for myself. Since that was my favorite part. She had already had several big mouthfuls so I counted my experiment as successful.

If you’ve never had bread fried in a pan with butter rather than toasting it and then buttering it, you’re in for a treat. Melt salted butter in a pan (the one you just used for cooking is fine—no need to use a clean one) and then throw the bread on top. Cook over medium heat until toasted then flip—should be browned on both sides. Just try to keep it for yourself because otherwise your kids will never go back to the toaster.

  Sauteed Greens (works with kale, beet greens, turnip greens, or chard)

• 1 slice bacon
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 large handfuls of greens, stems removed and leaves chopped (you may wish to use the stems—just cut them more finely—halve the stem and chop into 1 inch pieces)
• 1/4 Cup water
• 2 small roma tomatoes, chopped (about 1/3 of a cup)
• salt to taste
• 1/8 tsp of vinegar (cider or red wine vinegar is preferable to white, but white works too)

1. Fry your slice of bacon in a skillet over medium heat. When done, remove to a cutting board and chop.
2. Throw the greens into the pan and stir around with a wooden spoon. Once all the greens are slightly wilted, pour in the water and put the lid on. Let the greens cook until just tender (time varies depending on the green—beet greens take only a few minutes). Remove the lid.
3. Add tomatoes, garlic, and salt. Sautee until water evaporates, about 5 minutes. Toss in bacon and stir for 15-20 more seconds. Stir in vinegar and remove from heat.

Serve with toast and an egg, or as a side dish to dinner.

The Bap’za

“Mom!” Amaya yells when she walks in the door.

“What?” I pause, mid-click in my bibimbap pizza photo shoot.

“I want to try your ‘best pizza ever’,” she tells me and immediately starts reaching for a slice of meat.

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I guess I’d been talking about it a bit too much. When I started looking ahead to Challenge #5 of Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog, I immediately started thinking pizza. Pizza is something I dream about. It’s like the culinary canvas.

I’ve had pizza in every country I’ve ever visited, and everyone makes it their own. That’s how versatile it is. Don’t get me wrong—I love a perfect Neapolitan slice. But, me, I can’t leave well enough alone. I make pizza often, and I usually subject everyone to my experimentation.

When our friends came over for dinner last week, one said, “Yep, this is Mariko pizza.”

The combinations that I’ve come up with will last me several good posts into the future. But one idea was my favorite. The one I kept calling the “best pizza ever.”

Amaya picked up on my vibe very quickly. She knows when I’m on the trail for food. I buy my ingredients, make notes in my book, bounce wacky ideas off Jake, and announce my food-making schedule.

When she got out the kid’s set for our “afternoon tea”, she handed me a slice of wooden bread. Animatedly, she offered, “Here you go. This is spicy corn on bread!”

I made a face. “I’m not sure if I want spicy corn on bread. That sounds nasty.”

“Try it,” she answered. “You’re going to love it!”

Hmmm. Is that really how I sound?

If kids are a pretty honest reflection of yourself, then my interest in food is definitely rubbing off on Amaya. As picky as she is, she gets that there is a world of taste out there, and she wants it. She gets that meals don’t have to be static repetitions of weeknight canned casseroles and eating out is a chance to try something new without having to do the dishes. She gets that being excited about food is an extension of the pleasure of taste.

And she definitely gets that I am going to make her try my pizza. She doesn’t get out of trying anything when it comes to the dinner table.

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“I love your ‘best pizza ever’, Mom,” she says, as she picks through the toppings she wants, and leaves the rest behind.

The Bap’za

This pizza is a recreation of bibimbap in pizza form. Bibimbap is a Korean dish of vegetables and meat on rice which is tossed and mixed with hot bean paste and a barely fried egg. It is a mix of flavors that work, however odd it sounds. The snap of vegetables, sweet sesame, spicy gochujang, salty meat, sour pickles, and soft rice each offer their individual and distinct treasures to your tongue and teeth. I am a huge fan of (read: obsessed with) stone bowl bap. In a stone bowl that has been heated, the flavors kind of cook together and sizzle while the rice becomes crisp on the edges. The rice crust I made on a pizza pan imitated that perfectly. The pizza sauce is a sweetened gochujang (hot bean paste) that mimics Korean fried chicken sauce recipes I’ve had. It brought the pizza together well. I stuck with common bap toppings and made my own namul (seasoned vegetables) to go with the bulgogi beef, egg, mushrooms, and cucumber. Baking the egg in the oven on the rice crust and sauce made it just right, as the yolk was hot and still able to mix well with my toppings as I loaded them on. The pizza sliced nicely and held together, but with all the toppings, you’ll want to eat this one with a fork, because you are likely more civilized than me. I still ate it with my hands and made the crust into a tool to wrap up the toppings, just like folding a New York slice.

View and Print the recipe(s) here:

• The whole recipe: The Bap’za
• Crust
• Gochujang Sweet Pizza sauce
• Namul (soy bean sprouts and daikon/carrot)

If you want a slice of this pizza, vote for me by clicking my profile icon on the right sidebar starting on Monday the 18th. Thanks for visiting.

How to throw a Little Foodie dinner party

voting is now open! If you liked my dinner party you can vote HERE. Thanks!


For Project Food Blog Round #3 (woo hoo!), we were challenged to throw a luxury dinner party. Ha. I would love nothing more than to have an adult dinner party. But where would we get all the baby sitters? No matter. This is a food blog about feeding little foodies. Here’s how in 12 easy steps.

1. Plan a menu around finger foods in a cuisine you totally know. Make exotic foods seem somewhat normal, like, say, cheese as an option in sushi rolls. And then maybe they will try it.  Luxury means nothing to a kid. I mean, they will eat candy corn before they touch your food.
2. Invite some kids. And their parents. Then invite some single people, because it’s a good idea to have a ratio of 4 adults to 1 kid. It’s also a good idea to invite different ages of kids, because older kids are way better at entertaining younger kids than any adult. As you can see, I got it backwards.

3. Invite too many people. Because half of them will say they’re coming, but then won’t be able to come, because they have KIDS, and kids are unpredictable. They might all come down with the most horrible pukey virus ever known to man an hour before the party. And then you’ll have to clean up puke instead of going to a party.

4. Cook all day long, running around like a wild woman with no time management skills, make your husband hold the baby, cook during your turn to hold the baby, and tell your daughter to go clean her room. If you’re lucky, she’ll play in there the whole afternoon, but don’t actually expect her to clean anything.
      

5. Get out your finest china.

6. Don’t stress out when everyone shows up more than a half hour late, because they have kids. (see #2). Also DO not clean while you are waiting. You will be happy you didn’t.

7. Serve the kiddies first.


8. Play “pass the kiddies”.
   

9. Don’t worry about the fact that your kid is only eating the rice on the plate. And drinking root beer. It’s a party. And at least it’s the fancy, good kind rice. It’s even sushi rice. Your kid is practically eating sushi. You can brag about it to your friends.

10. Have lots of toys for the kids to play with so the adults can finally eat.

11. Serve cupcakes, and even if the food was bad, the kids will only remember the cupcakes.  11 and a half: Remove wrappers before eating. 

12. Because you are all party animals, expect everyone to stay until at least 7:30. Then they will leave to put the kids in bed. After everyone leaves and you put your kids in bed, ignore the dishes. They will totally be there the next day (and the next). They’re reliable like that.
The Recipes:

• Garlic and Sesame Edamame
• Roasted kabocha: Cut into chunks, salt and EVOO, roast at 350 until soft
• Temaki sushi: I highly recommend CHEESE. Even I like it. SPAM is good too.
• Chicken with sesame seeds from Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking
• Gyoza
• Fried Cheese Wontons
• Mochi cupcakes (I just made them cupcakes instead of cake) with the best frosting ever. PW is not messing around here. Eat your heart out.