foodie – Page 2 – Peaceful Reader

Gratitude for us

I’ve been feeling all kinds of thankfulness and not just because tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I celebrate the coming together of family to dine together over a special meal that I’ve taken weeks if not months to plan and make. You hope it is one free of argument and that all the kids will like what you’ve created. This year I’m making cauliflower tacos, potato vindaloo, a lentil dish, mashed potatoes with Jaime’s vegan gravy, cranberries with oranges, naan bread, and Vegan for Everybody vegan pumpkin cheesecake. This is a mish-mash of Indian flavors and some old standby favorites and it probably will look nothing like most Americans more traditional turkey and stuffing. You do you. This is more us. We all have our own identities and the food we eat is part of that; a mish mash of flavors, personalities, likes, and dislikes, allergies, and food politics.

I’m glad my son is vegan because he’s in it for all the right reasons; he cares about animals and their rights. He’s empathetic and is doing his part for the environment. My husband is a meat eater but he takes care of that himself. I am a vegetarian and my daughter is allergic to tomatoes which is a fairly new discovery after her elimination diet this summer. That adds a kink into lentil dishes and soups but after some research I discovered this person’s blog, Delishably, and she has the same allergy and shared ideas about substitutes that will work for my lentil dish. Bravo!

I’m grateful my family pushing me in new directions for I love to cook and cooking the same way or things all the time is not me. I live by the motto “Try new things…whatever they may be”

I’m grateful for a husband who works hard to make our house up-to-date with fresh paint and new looks.

I’m grateful, especially right now, for our continued good health. It’s hard to say this with so many falling ill with Covid, like cancer, it comes in so many different forms.

I’m grateful for all my people that have kept me sane during this difficult time of lockdowns and crazy politics. I appreciate the friendship everyday.

I’m grateful for a job I love that is more passion than drudge work. I love sharing the love of books with my students even though some of them do not care for my love of books and enthusiasm. It’s okay. I love them anyway.

I finished an extraordinary book this morning, This is how it always is by Laurie Frankel, and I just marveled in her storytelling! She’s a person worth exploring more about and I plan to recommend this book to my book club. I was thankful that I had the morning to “laze” away reading so I could finish. I look forward to celebrating tomorrow’s Native American Heritage Day because for me it is far better to spend the rest of November celebrating in prayerful meditation the ancestors of our land that came before us.

In gratitude to my readers! Thank you.

Road Trippers

Café Mir is a special restaurant run by two brothers in a very small town called Fertile, IA. My mom introduced me to it probably about 3-4 years ago when she lived near Clear Lake. She asked my husband and I to meet there for dinner then because she read about it and one of the brothers bought some of her fresh herbs at the farmers market. Back then we drove the 1 1/2 hours to get there and took a walk around a bit before our reservation. The backyard of Cafe Mir sits on the Winnebago River and with a bridge that crosses over to a park making it a lovely place to walk before or after dinner. The restaurant is in a small storefront with the front and back rooms set aside for dining and the kitchen and host area lay in the middle. It’s quaint with an eclectic vibe; mismatched napkins and china that all look like they were pulled from various grandmother’s cabinets. The food is exquisite in this charming spot, making it worth the drive. It’s a little expensive but worth it especially for a special occasion. Because of all this I was determined to make it there again for dinner before winter is upon us.

(Charles City, Winnebago River view)

My husband is happy to plan day trips especially when beer is involved and I’m happy to ride along as long as there are patios. Saturday was a gorgeous day, lots of sunshine, too much wind but we didn’t blow away. We loaded the dogs into the car (patios are so perfect) and headed north to St Charles City Brewing Company where we shared a flight of beers and hard seltzers. A Filipino food truck was parked behind the brewery so we felt obliged to sample a plate of noodles and an egg roll which were delicious and a perfect snack to tide us over until our 6:30 reservation. We soaked up some sun at their outdoor picnic tables and then took a walk along the river before piling back in the car for our next destination.

Another 30 minutes or so we took a back road into Osage, IA to find The Limestone Brewing Company on Main Street. This place was a little more crowded but luckily most people were hanging inside which left the outdoor tables to us. There were a ton of fat tire bikes leaning up and down the street with most of the owners inside swigging beer, listening to live music, and eating pizza. Outside there was an eggroll food truck and two long picnic tables. While the patio situation was not the greatest at least we had a place outside because only staff were masked inside and the place was packed because the beer was good and there had been some major fat tire trail ride earlier in the day. We shared a flight here as well, bought two crowlers, and headed back to the highway.

These two stops broke up the drive perfectly and we arrived at Café Mir 30 minutes before our reservation. Unfortunately the weather had taken a turn and it was pretty chilly walking the dogs around the park. It was toasty inside, the place was bustling, the tables were widely-spaced, staff wore masks, and I wore a mask it still seemed like the virus was a thing of the past for most others. I’m not of that mindset but I also have to live a little before we get totally locked down by the weather. I hope you did something thrilling with your weekend as well.

Groovy Girl turns 18…

(First trip to NYC)

which is a major celebration! This girl has been featured on this blog almost her entire life. I started Peaceful Reader when she was in kindergarten and now she is a freshman in college. We celebrated this major birthday with dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and there were gifts and delicious vegan desserts. She’s not vegan but her brother is and everyone wants to share in birthday treats. Because I spent part of the weekend visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Deephaven, MN I had the opportunity to visit a cool vegan bakery/restaurant Vegan East, and purchased a box full of treats to bring home. They have 3 locations and I stopped by the Uptown shop which took me through some familiar neighborhoods. I passed by Lake Calhoun, Lake Street, and Hennepin Avenue, and my favorite Walker Art Center; all places I loved hanging around when I lived in Mpls/St. Paul.

She is enjoying her freshman year even with it’s unusual Covid-19 restrictions. It’s a long list of negatives yet she is making it work and smiling! G.G. and her roommate spend a lot of time in their room and luckily they don’t seem to be getting on each other’s last nerve, which is fantastic. Most classes are on Zoom but she has two dance classes that meet in big studios. This is great as she is very used to being active and dance + Zoom is not a good combo.

(Dad ride)

All of our children are unique and inspiring and Groovy Girl, as the baby of the family, brings a level of happiness that is often infectious. She gets very excited and we love her enthusiasm for life. She cares about the world, is empathetic toward others, and will continue to make a difference as she grows. I appreciate that she loves many different styles of food, can cook a great meal, and is willing to experiment with spices and sauces. I’m surviving the empty nest but only because she and I talk at least every other day. She texts me when she needs to talk and we FaceTime when we need to see each other. Communication is so different now. My husband and I compared our experience of having one dorm phone on each floor! We had to take turns so I talked to my parents maybe once a week if that.

(Groovy Girl now (r) w/ her roommate Laurel)

When I began this blog I didn’t want to use her real name as it is unusual and over the years she has had readers call her “Groovy Girl” which made her feel a little like a blog celebrity. Even though she is a beautiful 18 as of last Saturday she will always be my Groovy Girl!

Christmas menu; save for future please

We always wish we had more down time with our three children; there never seems to be enough and often times when everyone was younger we didn’t always cherish the time because we were together more often. Now at best we are a family of five maybe twice a year and that seems not enough. Everyone has work schedules and time lines of their own and we haven’t even added more family into the mix. The blessing is that when we do get together everyone gets along! I’m happy they’ve turned into adults who care about each other. There is something very special about siblings because you have all this shared history; some good, some bad, some awesome experiences that all can relate to in shared conversation. We always have some moments of shared stories, “remember that time…” and it’s good to be able to laugh about even the bad times, the tough times we came through as a family.

That’s what Christmas has become to me. Add some fantastic food and a couple of gifts and I’m quite merry! The past three years my son and his girlfriend have been eating vegan and each year I’m a little more successful for creating a diverse menu that everyone will like. I don’t like a table where sides need to be separated; vegan/non-vegan. So to break it down we have one no-red meat eater, one mostly only chicken eater, one who eats everything but is allergic to garlic and shellfish, the two vegans, and myself, a flexitarian/vegetarian. We make it work.

This year I had three Alaskan sustainable-fished salmon filets, and three Beyond Burgers for our main course. And then my two friends helped with the sides: Jaime Oliver’s smashed potatoes and his make-ahead vegan gravy, and Giada’s Mediterranean couscous with apples and cranberry was a huge hit. Jaime Oliver says something like we all need to get used to a little more plant-based cooking because at everyone’s table there is probably a veg-head or two and a vegan, throw in a gluten-free cousin and you’ve got an amazing adventure in menu-planning. Everyone loved the smashed potatoes as an alternative to mashed; we loved how crispy the edges were and next time I think I’d leave them in even a little longer. Several of us loved the couscous and I would make this again especially for book club. Enjoy the above sexy food video for gravy recipe. When I heated our gravy back up the next day I added a bit more flour to get it to the right consistency. It was amazing. Jaime has about 40 vegan recipes on YouTube so if this is a food choice you are interested in take a look.

{my brother and sister-in-law

I hope everyone else found merriment over the holiday. After a fantastic and relaxing two-day trip to Minnetonka to visit my brother and his family it is time to put the house back in order and get ready for our Iowa caucus.

New York Times Cooking

Cooking and reading seem to be always on my mind. This week I didn’t cook at all until inspiration hit me on Thursday. Sometimes after school I seriously have to take a 20 minute nap to keep going and while I was building up to get up I scrolled through my NYT cooking app to find a recipe for dinner. Lucky me, I found two. And I had all the ingredients – with a little improvisation thrown in.

Roasted Salmon and Brussels Sprouts was a very easy recipe to throw together and the results were very good. I didn’t have any salmon but I did have 4 pieces of frozen tilapia waiting for the right moment. In our vegetable drawer I had a leftover stalk or two of broccoli so I cut that into small pieces and added it to the brussels sprout mixture. While this was roasting I cooked a small portion of brown rice and we mixed it altogether. Quick, easy with a healthy protein. We don’t generally have any red meat here, a little organic chicken and fish now and then and we seem to be staying healthy through this long-ass winter.

Curried Cauliflower Soup from Martha Rose was pretty simple to assembly while I waited for the first meal to cook. This one I had all the right ingredients and I have it for backup meals this week. This soup is spicy and will taste great with some toasted naan bread. This next week will be very busy with our Spring (?) Scholastic book fair and conferences. Having a few meals prepared will help us get through the week and make it to Spring Break.

In the midst of more snowfall we are headed to Chicago for the first few days of Spring Break 2019! Road trips mean lots of uninterrupted time to read. I’m excited to shop on Devon Street – I need to replenish some spice jars and I love looking at the stores in this area.

This week more inspiration hit and I joined Book-of-the-Month Club because as my daughter said “Just what you need! More books” But seriously ~ I liked the idea of trying some new titles/authors and after showing the list to my husband we both agreed on Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I’m halfway through Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward and have to hurry to finish because my adult wine-drinking book club meets the Monday after our Chicago trip and our March read is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I’ve heard a lot of great things about this story so I’m anxious to get started.

Cheers to a good week!

Snow Day

I finished reading both An American Marriage, a decidedly sad tale, and Less, an uplifting tale of love and highly recommend both books. I’m now reading Front Desk by Kelly Yang, which won the ALA Asian/Pacific Award this year.

These week I made Khichdi which a friend posted on IG referring to it as comfort food. Mashed potatoes with a slice of real butter melting on the top has been my comfort food for years. I can picture it in the large bowl my grandmother brought to the table for many family meals. I can smell it; the creamy yellow potatoes mixing with the soft butter on top. Comfort food means different smells and feelings to everyone and I thought this lentil dish was definitely worth trying. All the spices made my kitchen smell amazing, maybe the comfort starts in the making, as I took lots of deep healing breaths while chopping and stirring. When it was finished we soaked it up with toasted naan and cleaned our bowls. It was a perfect dish for a freezing evening.

Last Sunday I made a tomato soup recipe I’d ripped from a food magazine. It was a very easy recipe to put together and it was delicious. Tomato soup pairs perfectly with grilled cheese and I used white cheddar with some yummy sourdough to fry up in my cast iron skillet. They were a perfect gooey mess to dip into the creamy soup. Here is the recipe for yourself.

Creamy Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

4 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced

4 large tomatoes, seeded and quartered

1 T olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 cup onions, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, diced

1 can tomato paste

32 oz vegetable broth

1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves, torn

Parmesan croutons *I didn’t make b/c no me gusta croutons

1/2 cup shaved Parmesan for topping

1. Add olive oil to large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, chopped red peppers and tomatoes and sauté until tender.

Stir in tomato paste and then add vegetable broth.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat .

2. Allow the soup to cool just a tad and then add in batches to a blender or use an immersion blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.

3. Ladle into bowls and add Parmesan shavings, fresh cut basil leaves, and freshly ground pepper to top.

The red peppers added an excellent flavor to the soup. Also I didn’t have 4 fresh tomatoes on hand but I did have a Mason jar of tomato sauce from this summer so I substituted that which worked fine. I even think you could substitute a good quality can of diced tomatoes for this. Fresh tomatoes in the winter are not as flavorful as the summer so it’s a fair switch.

Stay warm and drive slow. We are on our 8th snow day.

Freezing temps mean lots of delicious soups

The weather is still chilly here and this morning there were big fat flakes floating down. It looked lovely but I was too bleary-eyed to snap a photo. We made it through the week without one snow day though which will help us in June. We’ll see what this week brings with more snow predicted.

[From Minimalist Baker}

I made two hearty dishes to keep us all warm and full this week. On Monday I whipped up Minimalist Baker’s Rich Red Curry with roasted vegetables. We played with the ingredients and added tofu and regular brown lentils and left out the cabbage. This I will make again – the red curry sauce was delicious and would pair well with many vegetables. I used a mix of broccoli and cauliflower and swapped yellow potatoes for the sweet. We love sweet potatoes here but Groovy Girl does not like them mixed in with other ingredients. This recipe made enough that we had leftovers for the next few nights and even added it with brown rice into a tortilla for an on-the-go dinner.

[Gimme some oven]

Yesterday I was craving fish and found some raised-in-the USA cod, fresh in the glass case. It’s very difficult to find quality fish-I don’t want my fish to come from China-sorry China but you’re not known for good fishing practices and I like my food to be a little more local. I already have issues about eating fish and pollution in the ocean and depleting numbers of fish in the ocean and for the most part have stopped buying fish and ordering fish when I’m out just for this reason yet yesterday I guess I was in the mood. I bought $20 worth of nice fat pieces of cod. It was delicious, tender and flaky with a little cracker crust and a lemon squeezed over the top. I loosely followed this recipe.

We had baked sweet potatoes with our flaky cod fillets plus I made this lemon lentil soup for an appetizer but we ended up eating all at the same time. I got held up making the soup as I scoured my kitchen for my immersion blender which is missing. I love my Hamilton Beach immersion blender and I’m confused as to where it’s gone. Anyway we used the big Ninja blender instead (more parts to clean) and this soup, Lemony Lentil Soup, was fantastic.

To match with my two new recipes I also I have two books to share. Cold weather always makes it easier to lay on the sofa and read, except lets be honest, any season has me sitting/laying somewhere and reading. I wouldn’t be adverse to springing ahead to some hammock-time soon.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer ( 2017): The comical tale of Arthur Less, an accomplished author, who feels less than all the time. His current lover has left to get married in Sonoma and he takes this opportunity to plan via a few author invites for teaching abroad and odd award ceremonies to get away from his current Bay Area life. What follows is a wonderful travel journey in much the same vein as Kerouac’s On the road but with planes instead of cars and gay lovers and wine instead of copious amounts of drugs. This is my first Andrew Sean Greer novel and I’m happy to be introduced. I can’t wait to discuss this with my book group.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (2017): Recently I was able to break away from dance mom week to see If Beale Street Could Talk which is a beautifully done film almost in an old noir style, slow and steady with great acting and a good background jazz beat. This book has a similar story line probably all too common in the racist world we live in. We have to realize this happens far more than we can ever imagine. Celestial and Roy, married for one year, find themselves separated by a prison door after one woman’s rapid complaint against Roy who is innocent. Jones’ writing is very easy to read and I’ll have to go back and read Silver Sparrow.

Stay warm where ever you might be. I have friends headed to Mexico today and friends who just came back from a cruise. All I can do is bask in the winter sunshine flowing through the library windows.

February Peace

It’s here and it’s brought warmer weather so I’m happy. I’m not foolish enough to think that the cold snap or #PolarVortex won’t return yet for now I’m happy to see snow melting all around us. Drip Drip

(Sally’s Baking Addiction)

I made cinnamon rolls for an event yesterday. Insomnia had me up at 5am and I thought “I should get up and make rolls” for the state speech event we volunteered our time at yesterday morning. We didn’t get to try the rolls as they were whisked off for the judges’ break room and making them was super easy so I plan to whip them up again real soon. Just maybe not at 5am.

Last week was a crazy school week; we had school on Friday only. I was pretty lazy and did a lot of reading. Some cleaning (Maria Kondo on Netflix is great motivation) but mostly reading. I have several books to recommend to you.

Heads of the colored people by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (2018): Excellent short stories that lifted me and educated me. Nafissa has an amazing array of characters in these 12 well-crafted tales including two mothers who sling insults at each other through notes sent back and forth in the backpacks of their daughters, Marjorie, a woman who tries therapy because of her anger issues, Riley, a young man headed to Comic -Con, a young woman obsessed with men who’ve become amputees, and a young woman struggling with social media likes and suicidal thoughts. Here’s a great article form Electric Lit highlighting these stories and an interview with Thompson-Spires. I enjoyed this book so much I’m going to order my own copy and probably give it as gifts this year. Thank you to Verda for bringing this book (and the next one) to my attention.

Black Girls must die exhausted; a novel for grown ups by Jayne Allen (2018): “The day I turned 30, I officially departed my childhood. Not the pigtail braids, devil may care, ‘don’t get your Sunday church clothes dirty’ kind of childhood. At 30, I just knew it was the end of the dress rehearsal. I was officially grown.” So begins our journey with Tabitha as she navigates relationships with her friends and men, and the growing demands of her television reporter position and what it means to be the only one in the office with “black perspective” as she moves up into a lead position. I felt connected to Tabitha and held her pain throughout the book which most affected me when she argued with her girlfriends and when she was pulled over by the police car. The raw fear of what might happen juxtaposed against what actually happened was mind-boggling for me and for Tabitha. It made it very real and highlighted, even though her experience was pleasant, very easily can go the other way. good cops/bad cops situation. I loved this casual story and look forward to reading the second.

So make some cinnamon rolls and cuddle up with a good book as February brings us one month closer to Spring.

Freezing temps ` blowing snow `

It’s another snow day here in Iowa; a good day to get caught up. With all the bitter cold weather we’ve heated up the kitchen a time or two with some great recipes.

German Pancakes ~ delicious, a good mix between a regular old pancake and a French crepe. We covered ours with berries, syrup, and a little dusting of powdered sugar. Groovy Girl and I made it, baked it, and ate it in short order.

{NYT version}

Rhubarb Pound Cake ~ I made this for a small birthday gathering for our new minister’s wife. Baking is not always easy for me as you have to follow the directions perfectly. Unlike making dinner where a little of this and a little of that can work even with changing out key ingredients; baking not so much. I had rhubarb in my freezer so right away that changed the recipe and how it baked but really it turned out…better than expected! I will definitely make this again, maybe even in the summer time when I can use fresh rhubarb.

{my cake~half eaten}

Lentil white bean Chili ~ By the way it has been a very cold winter so my slow cooker is living on my countertop. I whipped this chili up last weekend to keep us warm. I specifically looked for a chili that had lentils and bless the internet this one popped up. This was a delicious recipe with lots of flavor ~ I opted to make this meatless and it was still great! My family, used to eating many meatless meals, didn’t feel like anything was missing.

Brown Rice Risotto ~ I made this for book club because I wanted something new and different for a beautiful butternut squash I had. I would make this again but I would alter it a bit by roasting the squash first and adding it in after the rice has cooked through. The squash was pretty flavorless after soaking with the rice. I’d also add in more goat cheese.

I got up early this morning, even though it was a snow day for us, because it was the BIG American Library Association award announcements at 8am (Pacific time) only to realize that meant 10 am our time. I curled up and went back to sleep for a little bit before watching the official webcast live. I always just look at the announcements after because it takes place while I’m teaching so this was a treat. I was happy to note that I had quite a few of the award titles already and will order the few that I don’t have over the next few weeks. Good books, good food – this is how we survive winter. Plus a roaring fire helps.

Just do it!

I’m happy to share that I’ve made it to a yoga class the first Saturdays of January. State Street Yoga has a new teacher, Corinne, on Saturdays at 10:30, which is a very good time for me, because I can’t roll myself out of bed too early on a day off. Corinne is slightly unconventional, with a very soothing voice, good energy, and I’ve learned some new poses from her. New learning is always good. So I’m happy to have started again and found someone interesting in that process.

I’m reading several books right now, trying to read more than watch, which is a struggle especially because Groovy Girl introduced me to Grey’s Anatomy. I didn’t pay attention when the show aired originally but now I’m genuinely interested in the characters and what’s going on. It’s a bit like watching General Hospital while I was in college.

Books I’m reading:

The Library by Susan Orlean – so beautifully written, would not have thought I’d enjoy a nonfiction book about a library fire.

Endling by Katherine Applegate – I am just about 6 chapters in and curious about where the story is going. This morning I had the book in my arm at church and a precocious 10-year-old reader told me she thought the story was great. That recommendation alone should keep me going…

Code Girls: the untold story of the American women code breakers of WWII by Liza Mundy – This is for book club and I’ve cracked the cover twice and read a total of one page. I’m not encouraged to read this whole (572 pages) book. I’m a fiction girl at heart and struggle with titles like this. I’ll take a fiction book about this topic any day. If you loved this title, let me know…

My hands (and the house) smell all spicy from chopping onions, garlic, and ginger for a big batch of chicken korma. Friends are coming over for a beer tasting first and a bite to eat after. I’d already planned the korma dinner for family; I just had to double the batch. It smells delicious.

Namaste…