chefs – Peaceful Reader

Weekend Cooking; Chef Love.

I’ve made several interesting recipes in the midst of our busy week. I had my heart set on re-making these amazing sweet potato black bean burritos and had even prebaked the sweet potatoes one night while I had the oven on for something else (green idea not to have to reheat the oven) and then my husband used those cooked sweet potatoes as a side for one of his meals. He makes dinner just ONE night a week of which I AM grateful for but he often uses something for his dinner that he thinks I am letting “waste away” in our fridge or cupboard, etc. He’s forgiven though because it is a joy to come home Thursday night and have dinner ready for me no matter what it is.

I easily rebought and rebaked those sweet potatoes and made the burritos the very next week. I also created the Mexican Casserole from Katie Workman’s The Mom 100 Cookbook., which was a huge hit at dinner.

My actual weekend cooking post is about this stack of cookbooks: like a great love affair I can’t live without them.

From top to bottom:

1. Deborah Madison is a queen and one of my first cooking crushes. Some people fell for Paula Deen or Rachel Ray-me it was all about Deborah. It stands to reason that my mother-in-law gave the book to me for a Christmas present about 10 years ago. The book now has a few food smudged pages showing my love. Love.

2. Giada D.L. my second crush helped me take pasta to a new level for my family. I learned to make pesto and a popping cherry tomato sauce through her tutelage. I’ve never watched her show but I’m sure it’s lovely. For me Everyday Italian will be my go-to for fun pasta.

3. Katie Workman is my latest crush. I picked her up at my Scholastic book fair and kept going back for more. Now her book The Mom 100 Cookbook is a staple for what I need. The Mexican Casserole I made this week will become a staple in my menu rotation.

4. The Grit (Athens, GA) Cookbook-okay I know this is a place not a person but if I could go work in one kitchen in the United States it would be at The Grit. Every time I open this book I find a great quote, a perfect recipe, or an idea I can use. I’ve never had the pleasure to eat there but it is on my food adventure bucket list. My mom gave me this one. (Truth: she bought it for herself and I talked her out of it.) Very crush-worthy. Anybody been there?

5. So Sweet! by Sur la Table. Again I know not a chef but just like #4 so worth the help this book gives me. My desserts leaped to new levels after I purchased this book for Groovy Girl. I’ve made many recipes from this tiny book and especially love the whoopie pie section. Yep, I’m crushing on the staff that put this little one together.

If you are looking for a new chef to follow or a new cookbook to love you would not be disappointed with any of these choices. This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme.

Be peaceful~

Weekend Cooking; One World Kids Cookbook

One World Kids Cookbook;

Easy, healthy and affordable family meals

by Sean Mendez

(2011)

“The most important ingredients in any meal are: Love, bonding and sharing.”

Great advice for families everywhere! Groovy Girl and I checked this book out from the library and browsed through it two days ago while we ate breakfast together. Many of the recipes included odd ingredients that made her not interested. We did love the photography and the sage wisdom sprinkled throughout made it a perfect start to our day.

“To the above, all you need to add is a dash of patience, a pinch of creativity and a heaped cup full of enthusiasm?”

Each two-page spread features a country with a map, facts and proverbs related to food or culture. This would make a wonderful tool for school as students research about another culture or country.

Russia’s food proverb:

“The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food.” (perfect moment for this conversation)

We settled on Rice with vegetables (like I need a recipe for that…) but this dish is from Somalia and we plan to try it soon. I have to admit adding the wide variety of spices to the recipe will make it very new for me. Groovy Girl liked the vegetable choices except she requested we use only 1 garlic clove not 3!

Rice with Vegetables (Somalia)

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 courgettes/zucchini, diced
2 peppers, any colors, diced
1 vegetable stock, cube
4 cardamon pods
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
2 1/2 cups water
4 T olive oil
salt/pepper

Heat half the oil in a large pot. Fry onion and garlic for about 8 minutes, stirring often. Add the cinnamon stick and spices, and cook for 3 minutes to release their flavor. Pour in the rest of the oil.

Add the remaining vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rinse rice until water runs clear. Add rice and water to pot, crumble stock cube in and bring to a simmer. Cook rice according to package instructions.

Remove cardamon pods and cloves, if you can find them!

Tasty Tip: This dish is also nicely finished off with a handful of raisins or your favorite fresh herbs. For those addicted to spice, sprinkle some Tabasco over your dish and tuck in!

Directions include step-by-step photographs featuring young chefs which really adds to the kid appeal.

My favorite proverb comes from Spain:

“For wine to taste of wine, you must drink it with a friend.”

Countries included:

Russia, Brazil, USA, China, New Zealand, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Morocco, Columbia, Somalia, Spain, Philippines, Iran, Australia, U.K., Ghana, Greece, and Jamaica.
My favorite recipe hailed from Morocco-couscous with chickpeas and peppers. An extra section on smoothies is included plus lots of cooking tips.

Check out Superchef‘s review with another recipe, Chicken and Spinach Curry from India.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a meme hosted by Candace at Beth Fish Reads. Click to her site for many more food-related posts.

Holiday Traditions

Teenage Boy, Groovy Girl and two friends, after tree search.

We always get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving at a lovely tree farm, Kris Kringle’s, and they serve hot cider and have a fire in an outside pit. It makes for a lovely few hours and two years ago we invited another couple and their children to join us, so we’ve added to our celebration.

That is what I love the most about the holidays-it seems we make more time for friends and family. We are having friends over tomorrow night just because we ran into them recently at my husband’s play and decided we needed to get-together for dinner and before Christmas is really upon us. They are coming for dinner tonight and I’m making a chicken. If you’ve ever read my sidebar list it says I’m a vegetarian that eats locally-raised meat (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver changed my mind) but not frequently. I met a farmer (through a friend) who raises chickens and other cute farm animals as well. He started doing it 10 years ago for just the same reason I didn’t eat meat-he didn’t trust what was happening to our corporate- produced meat sources. I’ve only been back to eating meat about a year now.

I digress-this post is supposed to be about food and friends-not cute farm animals, who might be friends also. My mother used to make this rosemary and goat cheese chicken so I searched around a little last night, looking for something similar and came up with a roast chicken recipe at Jamie Oliver’s website. He, like Kingsolver and Alice Waters, is making a difference in how people eat and I admire the work he’s doing with the British school lunch program. That would be my dream dinner party-cooking together with Barbara, Alice and Jaime! Thrilling!!

Tonight will have the roast chicken, mashed (home grown) potatoes, spinach and feta lasagna, brussell sprouts and a small salad. Half the group is vegetarian thus the reason for the lasagna which comes from this fabulous cookbook from The Grit, in Athens, Georgia. We’re starting off with champagne, with pomegranite seeds tossed in and will move on to a lovely bottle of red, which I haven’t purchased yet or I’d mention its name as well. Thinking about wine makes me think I should check my old version of The Wine Trials to find a perfect (and reasonable priced) wine!

Could I mention any more food links? Well, most definetely Yes!, but I’ll stop there. This is how things go at my house-inviting two people, one couple, for dinner has led me to all these dining spots, recipes and brought up all these whirlwind ideas.Like now my mind is thinking about a post debating hard copy cookbooks vs. online. My mind on food. Don’t ya just love the holidays!! Tonight will be filled with good conversation and good (hopefully) food and my mind will chill.

Happy eating and reading! Cheers.

p.s. last week’s Morrocon-Style Lentil and Chickpea soup was a huge hit with my family. We ate it simply, soup and fresh-baked bread. Yum.

***This food-related post is linked to Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Pop over there and read about Crescent Dragonwagon, a writer of children’s books and cookbooks, and her new Cornbread book. My husband might need this for a Christmas gift. He loves cornbread but makes it from a box. Hmmm.

Seriously, Have a Happy Saturday!