Kids Dish

I’ve got a chicken defrosting in the fridge. It’s the last of the garage freezer stash of foods to be cooked. Everything else in there is cooked and ready to go for when this baby decides to make an appearance. I’m not due for a week, but I am ready to not be pregnant any more. I am cranky, sore and impatient and I’m finding it difficult to maintain the current level of organization in my house.

My thoughts have turned to things that are rumored to start labor. I’ve been using Evening Primrose Oil for two weeks and drinking lots of Raspberry Leaf Tea. The tea has brought on contractions but nothing that’s caused me to think the baby may actually want out. I’ve been walking up and down the stairs in my house repeatedly- usually with a very vacuum cleaner in tow, and aside from today when the weather just wouldn’t support it, I’ve been walking as much as I can. I’m not crazy enough to try castor oil but there are foods that are supposed to bring on labor.

Spicy foods are often rumored to jumpstart labor and today I ate the majority of a can of pineapple hoping that would start things. The eggplant Parmesan I made a week and a half ago didn’t do its job but I’ve heard great things about this recipe for Scalini’s Eggplant Parmigiana. Apparently 300 women have gone into labor within days of eating it. Sadly, I don’t think it will work until my due date has come and gone, but I may have to give it a try later in the week.

My garage freezer inventory:

* 1 9”x 13” pan of eggplant parmesan
* 3/4 of a large baked ziti in three portions
* 2 8-cup containers vegetable soup
* 1 3-quart and 1 4-cup container of beef stew
* 1 9″x13″ pan of rotini with goat cheese, spinach and red pepper sauce divided into individual servings
* 6 bean and sausage enchiladas (1 dinner and leftovers if Boyfiend doesn’t gorge himself)
* 1 tray (3 meals) chicken enchiladas
* 2 8-cup containers of chicken soup
* half a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough
* 6 cranberry muffins
* 6 strawberry mango muffins
* 18 blueberry pancakes

I’ve also got a bunch of chocolate ricotta muffins I baked tonight that still need to be wrapped and frozen, one more chicken defrosting in the fridge, and three more cups of shredded zucchini. I may just make zucchini cakes for dinner one night instead of more bread or muffins.

The chocolate ricotta muffins were not on the list of things to freeze. I had a huge tub of ricotta and ended up with a few cups left. I made yet another baked pasta dish to get us through dinner for the rest of the week and still had over a cup of ricotta that needed to be used by the 30th of this month, something unlikely to happen if this baby ever pops out. So I turned to Mr. Google and found a lovely recipe for Lemon Ricotta muffins that called for 3/4 cup of ricotta. The recipe called for blueberries which I have and lime zest, which I don’t, but would replace with orange. I was ready to make them but thought I’d quickly look for a recipe that called for a bit more ricotta. When I saw chocolate and ricotta together along with the phrase “chocolate cheesecake,” looked at the recipe and saw it called for more ricotta, I was sold and looked no further.

Chocolate Ricotta Muffins
from Joy of Baking.com

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.

I was really hoping the baby would come early so I could enjoy a Cinco de Mayo margarita but alas, it is not to be. Instead I will leave you with a few celebratory recipes for margaritas for the parents, sparkling limeade for the kiddos, and snacks for everyone.

The Perfect, Potent Margarita
3 oz Tequila
2 oz triple sec
1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
shake with ice until the shaker is frosty. Serve in a glass with a salted rim with wedge of lime. This is not a drink for amateurs. Serve in a glass with lots of ice and let it get melty before drinking if you’re unsure of your ability to handle it.

Sparkling Limeade
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
10-12 limes, juiced and strained
zest of one lime
sparkling water or club soda
lime wedges

To make limeade you’ll need to make a simple syrup. Bring one cup of water to boil and add two cups of sugar. Stir until dissolved then stir in the lime juice and zest. Let cool and set in the fridge.

For each glass of limeade you’ll need about half an ounce of syrup topped with the sparkling or fizzy water of your choice. Adjust the ratio of syrup and fizz to taste. Serve with a wedge of lime

Guacamole
3 ripe avacodos, halved, pitted and peeled
one small onion, chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
one small tomato, chopped
juice of 1 1/2 limes
slightly more than half a cup of fresh cilantro, cut into smallish pieces (Do not substitute with dried. Yuck. It is better to omit the cilantro entirely if you can’t get fresh.)
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocado with a potato masher or fork then add the remaining ingredients, mixing until everything’s combined. Serve with tortilla chips.

Speaking of tortilla chips, I see no reason not to buy a bag (I’m not affiliated in any way, but on the east coast Tostitos brand are the lightest and crispiest), but if you’re by chance some health nut, feel free to bake your own. You’ll need a package of tortillas, some vegetable oil, salt and chili pepper

Cut the tortillas into 8 wedges, brush with the oil, sprinkle with salt and chili pepper to taste and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until chips are lightly browned.

Currently in the freezer I have a 9” x 13” tray of eggplant parmesan, three two-adult and a toddler servings of baked ziti, half a tray of black bean sausage and cheese enchiladas, half a dozen cranberry muffins, about a week’s worth of blueberry pancakes, chocolate chip cookie dough, and a quarter of a chocolate zucchini cake.

I have an unspecified amount of chicken stock in the fridge. I need to skim the fat from the top and decide exactly what I what to do with it. I’ll leave some out for risotto for tomorrow night’s dinner, but the rest is going to soup I’ll make and freeze for later. Also in the fridge, I have about four cups of shredded chicken, a by-product of the chicken stock. Two cups will probably go to another pasta dish- probably baked rotini with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. The other two cups might go towards more enchiladas. Or maybe I’ll just use it for chicken noodle soup so I don’t have to buy any more tortillas. It’s a tough call.

The good news is that I’m feeling prepared. I no longer fear that we’ll be forced to eat pizza and cheesesteaks for weeks after the baby is born. I still have three cups of zucchini to make bread or muffins with, a small 2 lb roast and two whole chickens I should cook in the next week or two to make more room in the freezer for meals.

I placed a fairly large meat order for May that included a 10 lb value pack of ground beef so we’ll have no shortage of ground beef for burgers as well as steaks, and a couple of whole chickens for when we run out of frozen dinners. My CSA starts in early June which means plenty of veggies.

Yesterday, in a quest to fill my freezer with some foods for when the baby arrives and use up the last of the fruits and vegetables frozen last summer, I spent a good portion of the day cooking. I made pancakes and muffins for breakfasts, a baked ziti with local sausage from Meadow Run Farm for dinners, and chocolate zucchini cake to eat, not freeze, just because I wanted to clear out the rest of last summer’s zucchini from my Red Earth Farm CSA. Of course no recipe calls for enough zucchini to clear out the stash in its entirety, and even after adding more than the recipe called for I still have three cups of frozen shredded zucchini ready to bake later this week, but the cake is just so good that I have to share the recipe.

The cake is so good that I think I may have accidentally eaten more batter than necessary, raw eggs and all, and everyone knows that you shouldn’t eat raw eggs, local or not, especially when you’re pregnant. But should you bake this cake you might want to throw caution to the wind and give the batter a little taste- just a little one because you may not be able to stop once you start. And perhaps by tasting the batter (and licking the bowl clean) you’ll be able to stop yourself from eating entirely too much cake once it’s baked, cooled and glazed.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Glaze: Mix together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoons milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth. If you really like orange flavoring omit the vanilla and add ½ teaspoon of orange zest.

This cake won’t last long. Now I need to find a good recipe for the last of the sour cherries.

Little by little I’m emptying my extra freezer of the fruits (and vegetables)of last year’s CSA share and the meat we ordered over the summer. I no longer have a deep, chest freezer in the basement. We sadly had to sell it after realizing it was costing us more than $30 a month in electric bills. We just have a regular sized refrigerator in the garage with a regular sized freezer. Our kitchen fridge is a side-by-side model, which I hate, so having the extra freezer space is a necessity. Without it there would be no frozen Trader Joe’s pizzas on hand, whole chickens, and a place to store freezer meals for when the new baby comes next month.

I don’t know when I’m going to be motivated enough to start cooking, or what exactly I’m going to cook. The meat pickings are slim right now, so I may have to stick to mostly pasta based meals, which is fine since they freeze well anyway. I do have a few whole chickens, so I can make some chicken dishes too. I think I’ll make lasagna, a dish of chicken enchiladas, eggplant parmesan, a baked ziti, and a chicken potpie. Other than the potpie, the other dishes can be cooked in advance then frozen in individual or smaller sized portions. That way we won’t have to defrost a lasagna then be stuck eating it for days in a row.

I’ll probably make a few batches of muffins using the last of the grated zucchini and the sour cherries so I’ll have quick one-handed breakfasts. Pancakes also freeze well. If I keep making full-sized batches of pancakes over the next few weekends I’ll be able to build up a nice stash so I can pop them in the toaster oven and feed Sam without too much trouble.

What else do you make and freeze?

We’ve been eating a ton of noodles lately since I’ve been way too tired/lazy/pregnant/cranky to cook. Most nights we just toss the cooked pasta with a jar of store bought sauce. Sam, who has for reasons unknown stopped eating tomato sauce, eats his noodles with olive oil or butter and Parmesan. One night, on a whim I decided to go the extra mile and throw together a quick sauce that had a little protein, some vegetable matter, and considerably more flavor than a jar of store bought sauce. I warn you that this recipe is not the healthiest (though it’s not as bad as it could be), but it was delicious. The main selling point was that Sam loved it.

Pasta with Pepperoni, Spinach and Parmesan

*1/2 a box of pasta (I like a sturdy noodle for this recipe- rotini, penne, or farfalle will do) Make it whole wheat or use Barilla plus for more fiber
*2 tablespoons of butter
*2 tablespoons olive oil
*10 slices of pepperoni (turkey pepperoni isn’t quite as bad for you)
*2 oz Parmesan (from a wedge, not the stuff in a can)
*2 cloves garlic, minced (or more to taste)
*1 bag of pre-washed spinach (use baby spinach if you don’t feel like removing the stems

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. While waiting for the water to boil mince the garlic and prep the spinach if needed.

While the pasta cooks, pulse the Parmesan cheese in a food processor for a few pulses until it’s finely ground. Add the pepperoni and pulse a few times more until the pepperoni and cheese are combined and no large chunks remain. Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet or saute pan. Add the cheese mixture and stir to combine. Add the spinach and cook just until wilted. Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Drain the cooked pasta, reserving half a cup of water. Add the pasta to the skillet and stir until coated. If needed, add a small amount of pasta water to help distribute the sauce. Serve with fresh ground black pepper.

Disinterested as I’ve been, I’ve still got to get dinner on the table most nights. Dinner has primarily consisted of boxed pasta and jarred sauce with a boring, steamed vegetable, but that’s about all I can take these days. Last night Bob said he’d make dinner. I’d bought feta cheese last week so I could make zucchini and feta patties with the last of the zucchini from last summer but I figured that would be too complicated for him with the draining, mixing and frying. I had a package of organic spinach so I decided to have him make a quiche with spinach and feta instead. I had him pull a package of puff pastry out of the freezer to defrost before he went to scrape paint in one of the third floor bedrooms.

Close to two hours later I realized that if I wanted dinner on the table before 9 I’d have to make it myself. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, the temperature on the puff pastry package directions for a fruit dessert, and rolled out the puff pastry a little bit. I knew it was too late to make a quiche, so I wasn’t really sure of what to do with it once I rolled it. I decided to just cut it into squares and make little turnovers. I chopped an onion and sauteed it in a knob of butter. When the onion was soft and slightly browned I added a few cloves of garlic. About 30 seconds later I added the fresh spinach and stirred until wilted. I added about 4 ounces of crumbled feta, some fresh ground pepper, a few shakes of dried basil and oregano,and a pinch of nutmeg to the pan and stirred well. I put a spoonful of the spinach filling in each square of puff pastry and sealed the edges. I thought an egg wash would be nice, but didn’t feel like making the effort so I took out the Misto and sprayed each turnover with a little olive oil and stuck them on an ungreased baking sheet and baked for about 20 minutes, until the puff pastry was golden brown.

Aside from defrosting, the whole thing took about 30 minutes start to finish. The turnovers were delicious. Easier than spanakopita and much quicker.

Friday Food Meme

Which do you prefer?

01. CHEESE or CHOCOLATE? both
02. BLUEBERRIES or STRAWBERRIES? whichever is perfectly ripe, local and in season
03. COFFEE or TEA? Coffee, definitely
04. CORN MUFFIN or ENGLISH MUFFIN? English Muffin
05. PANCAKES or FRENCH TOAST? Pancakes- I only like French toast if it’s perfectly crisp on the outside, which it never is.
06. YOGURT or CREAM CHEESE? cream cheese
07. RICE or PASTA? pasta
08. CAKE or PIE? cake, no contest
09. GROUND BEEF or GROUND TURKEY? ground beef
10. HOT DOGS or HAMBURGERS? hot dogs, gross as they are
11. JELLY or MARMALADE? I’m not really a fan of either
12. AMERICAN CHEESE or SWISS CHEESE? American, processed as it is.
13. DIET SODA or NO SODA? None. I can’t drink diet.
14. LEMONADE or ICED TEA? Iced tea
15. CHERRIES or GRAPES? cherries, but only if they’re perfectly ripe
16. CHOCOLATE QUIK or STRAWBERRY QUIK? chocolate
17. WAFFLES or PANCAKES? Belgian waffles
18. WHITE BREAD or WHOLE-GRAIN/WHEAT BREAD? Whole grain
19. PEAS or CARROTS? Peas
20. PUDDING or FRUIT-FLAVORED GELATIN? Pudding
21. COLD CEREAL or HOT CEREAL? Cold
22. KETCHUP or MUSTARD? Ketchup
23. MUSTARD or MAYONNAISE? Mustard. I can’t stand mayo unless it’s homemade.
24. MAYONNAISE or KETCHUP? ketchup
25. BLACK OLIVES or GREEN OLIVES? not a fan of olives
26. ONION or GARLIC? both
27. PLAIN BARBECUE or BARBECUE WITH SAUCE? Sauce
28. SCRAMBLED EGGS or FRIED EGGS? Fried
29. EGGS or EGG REPLACEMENTS? Eggs
30. MEAT or VEGETABLES? Depends on my mood
31. CHINESE TAKE-OUT or PIZZA? Pizza
32. SUSHI or DELI SANDWICH? Deli
33. WHITE CLAM CHOWDER or RED CLAM CHOWDER? neither
34. KEY LIME PIE or LEMON MERiNGUE PIE? Key lime
35. PIE & ICE CREAM or CAKE & ICE CREAM? Cake, definitely
36. WHIPPED CREAM or CAKE FROSTING? Frosting
37. HONEY or MAPLE SYRUP? Maple syrup

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not so great at baking chocolate chip cookies. For some reason they always come out flat and pancake-like, more crispy than chewy. They always taste fine and get eaten quickly, but they never look the way I want a chocolate chip cookie to look. I stopped trying to bake them myself and switched to an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan cookie instead.

Then I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen for Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies. For some reason it called to me and I couldn’t resist. The first time I made it I used a tiny cookie scoop and came out with more tiny, perfect looking, delicious cookies than I could count. The second time I made them I froze half of the cookie batter and made regular sized cookies with the other half. They were eaten so quickly I had to bake the other batch the next day. Since then I’ve made the recipe a few more times and each batch has been just as perfect as the first. Attractive and tasty. They don’t last long around here.

Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies
from The Great Book of Chocolate

Makes 20 cookies, or more if you use one of these tiny cookie scoops.

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt or 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt (Deb option)
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.

Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

In addition to the links that tie food dyes to cancer, I’ve read a number of opinion pieces and advice columns that have suggested that artificial food colorings can be harmful to children in subtle and not so subtle ways. Ask Moxie, an Internet parenting advice guru, has recommended that parents eliminate artificial colors and flavors from their children’s diets if their kids suffer from sleep disturbances, strange rashes, or are just plain loopy or fussy. Though right now, when I should be the most careful, my habits haven’t been so great, I usually avoid foods with artificial colors just because the colors freak me out.

A British study has found that food additives can be just as harmful as lead and cause tantrums and damage intelligence. Officials are calling for the additives to be removed from the food industry.

The advice, which will be put before the FSA board next week, would be voluntary. However, manufacturers would be expected by the regulator to remove the additives, replacing them with natural alternatives if possible. Some sweetmakers have unilaterally agreed to remove the suspect colours following the latest scientific evidence.

A Philadelphia-based study targeting grades four through six found that changing the school environment cuts the rate at which children become obese in half.

Two years after schools adopted a healthy nutrition intervention, just 7.5% of students had become overweight compared with 14.9% in schools that did not have the intervention, Gary Foster, Ph.D., of Temple University here, and colleagues, reported in the April issue of Pediatrics.

Given the more than 7% increase in new overweight cases even in the intervention schools, there is much room for improvement in the effect, dose, and range of interventions, the researchers said, and those interventions should start even earlier in a child’s school career.

I’m on a cranky and pregnant cooking strike so you may see a bunch of food memes until I’m ready to start freezing meals for after the baby comes.

1. How do you like your eggs?

For breakfast they have to be cooked well, preferably served on bread with cheese and bacon.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea?

Milk and sugar

3. Favorite breakfast food:

Croissants, though I rarely get a chance to eat them.

4. Peanut butter - smooth or crunchy?

Crunchy if it’s natural, smooth if it’s the junky kind.

5. What kind of dressing on your salad?

I usually make my own vinaigrettes.

6. Coke or Pepsi?

Coke. No ice

7. You’re feeling lazy. What do you make?

Something from the freezer.

8. You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order?

Regular or pepperoni.

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make? A big meal?

A recipe I’ve been eyeing for a while. Sometimes it’s big, other times it’s just something that requires planning.

10. Do any foods bring back good memories?

Not really.

9. Do any foods bring back bad memories?

Luckily, no.

10. Do any foods remind you of someone?

Not that I can think of.

11. Is there a food you refuse to eat?

I won’t refuse to try it but I don’t like seafood.

12. What was your favorite food as a child?

Chocolate ice cream.

13. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now love?

I don’t know if there were foods I hated, but there were foods I refused to eat.

14. Is there a food that you loved as a child but now hate?

I didn’t love it, but I liked ham. Now it grosses me out.

15. Favorite fruit & vegetable:

Black cherries & broccoli

16. Favorite junk food:

Salt and pepper kettle cooked potato chips

17. Favorite between meal snack:

Crackers

18. Do you have any weird food habits?

I move the cheese from my pizza to the crust, eat the triangle part with the sauce first and the cheese and crust last.

19. You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on?

fruit and vegetables

20 . You’re off your diet. Now what would you like?

bread and butter

21. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai?

Medium to hot depending on my mood or who I’m sharing with

22. Can I get you a drink?

Margarita please.

23. Red wine or white?

Red, unless it’s hot and I want something chilled.

24. Favorite dessert?

Just about all of them, but I don’t like jellies, jams or preserves as cake filling.

25. The perfect nightcap?
Whiskey or wine

Woo-hoo! It’s National Something on a Stick Day. Straying from our usual frozen vegetarian corn dogs, I’ll leave you instead with a recipe for something only slightly healthier, Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Thai Chicken Satay
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast

Marinade:
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp nam pla (fish sauce)

Combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, red chili paste, brown sugar, and lime juice in a food processor or blender. Puree to combine. While the motor is running, drizzle in the hot water to thin out the sauce, you may not need all of it. Pour the sauce into a nice serving bowl and garnish with the chopped peanuts.

Some day I imagine I’ll bake and decorate rolled sugar cookies with my kids. It just seems that since I enjoy cooking, it’s the proper thing to do. Unfortunately I don’t particularly like eating them. I much prefer Ricotta cookies, another Easter cookie treat served at my in-laws’ house at their annual Easter extravaganza. These little cookies are soft, fluffy and sweet and kids love them because of their pastel-colored frosting.

ITALIAN RICOTTA COOKIES

1/2 lb. butter
2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. Ricotta
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
4 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

Cream butter; add sugar and continue creaming until butter is fluffy and light in color. Add egg and Ricotta and vanilla; beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt; add to batter. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Drop about a teaspoon of dough on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven about 10 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool. Frost with icing of your choice or the recipe below.

FROSTING:

2 c. confectionery sugar
1/4 c. butter
3 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix well. Color with food coloring if desired. Or top with sprinkles, colored sugar, or other Easter confections.

To make the cookie a little more grown up, add the zest of one orange to the batter. A teaspoon of Almond extract is another good addition. A teaspoon of lemon extract in place of the vanilla gives the icing a little zing. Almond extract can also be usied in the frosting.