Home > Feeding Frenzy > Archives > 2008 > January
January 2008
Cooking for a Foodie
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The downside of being a food writer is, believe it or not, you don’t get asked over for dinner often. People just don’t want to cook for you, even if you swear you eat just like anyone else and lord knows, would appreciate a night off from cooking as much as the next guy.
Luckily, I have a couple of friends who are willing to have my family over, even if it’s just to share take-out pizza, like we did last weekend with my friends, Sue and Steve. Sue made a great side salad that I’m going to try and duplicate tonight to go with grilled hamburgers.
She combined bagged baby spinach with drained canned mandarin oranges and a homemade vinaigrette (equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar, seasoned with a little sugar and salt). The best part was the crunchy sugared almonds which crowned the salad. They added such a tasty crunch!
To make the almonds, in a skillet over medium-low heat, add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until melted. Add a 2-ounce package of slivered almonds and stir until almonds are golden and coated with sugar syrup. Remove from heat and let cool. Break up into pieces and sprinkle over salad. Yum.
So tell me, are you intimidated to feed someone you think is a better cook than you? Do you have a dish you turn to that you know is going to work every time? Or do you like to “walk on the wild side” and try something new, even if cooking for someone you want to impress?
Pizza Party brings the teens home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For years, according to my kids we were the “no fun” house. No play station, no Nintendo, no X-box, not even a game boy.
But this past Christmas when our 20-year-old TV died, my husband treated himself to a big plasma replacement. We realized if we didn’t get a matching one for the kid’s playroom they would never leave us alone. Suddenly my teenage son had something to offer his friends - a cozy space to watch movies, their favorite weekend activity.
For the past couple of weeks, he and his buddies had been meeting at a sandwich shop for dinner and then walking back to watch a video. With the recent chill, and to get to see his friends in action, I offered the one thing I knew would entice him. Free food - in the form of a make-your-own pizza night.
Before the party I made and rolled out dough for the kids to make individual pizzas (you can also buy dough at many supermarkets) and set out bowls of sauce, cheese and toppings. Then I got out of the way and let the kids create their own masterpieces.
I took a page from the recent Food & Drink article on slice and bake cookies by having chocolate chip cookie dough stored in the freezer. When the kids were ready for dessert, I had freshly baked cookies ready to go and offered ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream for cookie sundaes.
The kids had a blast and we even had enough dough for a family pizza night the following evening.
How have you used food to keep your older kids close to home?
Chips with that Crab Cake?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes you need a little enticement in the form of a favorite food to get your kids to try something new. At least that was the tact I took with this week’s 5:30 challenge recipe for crab cakes.
In an effort to get my family to eat more seafood, I thought crab’s mild flavor would be a natural lure. High quality crabmeat is definitely a splurge, but in my book, for purity of flavor it’s unbeatable. Even though my family spends part of the summer at my in-law’s home at the “Jersey shore” where crabs live abundantly in the bay across from their house, my kids have never taken to them.
As any aficionado knows, crab cakes are best when the flavor of the seafood shines through and they aren’t too gunked up with breading or other fillers. That’s why when I saw a recipe that used crushed potato chips as the binder, I knew I had my in.
I got my kids involved with the prep, crushing the chips with a rolling pin, allowing them to steal some crumbs along the way to whet their appetite. We ate them with tartar sauce on the side, but if your kids needed a little extra “encouragement”, tucking them in a soft burger bun might be all that’s needed. Imagine my pleasure when they asked for seconds!
Give them a try and let me know what you think.
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Let Them Eat Cake
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I was invited to join a potluck goodbye party for some neighbors about to move, I found myself assigned not only the dessert, but a specific dessert.
Several years back I tested a coconut cake for the food section which I served to these neighbors. Unbeknownst to me, they had shared their rave reviews, and apparently even a few bites, with other neighbors, and this cake had been the talk of the street.
When your job is testing new recipes, sometimes up to 10 a week, you rarely look back. There are days I can hardly remember what I made 3 days ago, let alone 3 years ago! But when they requested a coconut cake, I knew exactly which one they meant. I admit I had a brief moment of panic. Often “encore performances” are less rewarding than the originals, but as I set to work on this luscious layer cake I knew it would stand the test of time.
I had forgotten the beauty of this type of dessert. Too often relegated to birthdays only, these cakes have become relics. But I can assure you, arriving at a dinner party with a tall and regal white frosted cake, covered with shreds of wispy coconut, was a memorable way to make an entrance.
When’s the last time you’ve made a layer cake “just for fun?” What is your favorite variety?
Civilizing kids: How do you sell them on using a fork?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At dinner the other night, I was talking with my kids about the recent discussion of icky food habits. I told them how a reader had been grossed out watching a chef on a cooking show lick a spoon and put it back into the soup to re-stir it. I was marveling how people’s responses to that concern varied greatly. One person heartily agreed, adding that talking with your mouth full was another of her personal pet peeves. On the other side of the coin, another person thought the reader’s “germ-ophobia” was a symptom of “what is wrong with this world.”
We started kidding about icky kitchen stuff when I happened to look over at one of my 13-year-old son, who at that exact moment, was using his finger to lick sauce off his plate of curried chicken. Not the most appetizing sight.
It was one of those serendipitous moments of life imitating art. In our family, the discussion of what constitutes “finger food” is one that seems to have endless incarnations. While I am the first to agree a burger and fries qualifies as finger food, I have to say, I don’t see rice or pasta falling into that category. My kids and I also seem to have divergent views of the difference between using a finger instead of a knife to help guide food onto a fork. The concept of “transitioning” to utensils, even as we enter the teenage years, still seems to be a befuddling one for my kids - and certainly one issue that I didn’t expect to still be tackling.
What about you? Are there still some mealtime skills you just can’t get through to your kids about?
While you’re pondering that, try the easy Thai Curry Chicken which inspired our foray into this discussion.
Kitchen Gross-Outs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I had to laugh when I read the Food Goddess column in the latest AJC Food & Drink section.
A reader wanted to know how to contact someone at the Food Network. It seems a show’s chef’s practice of tasting while cooking…and then returning the same spoon to the pot was totally grossing him out. While I think many of us are guilty of the same misdemeanor, at least it’s in the privacy of our home.
I began to think of all the foul occurrences that take place when we think we are unwatched in the kitchen. The first to come to mind, as the Food Goddess mentions, is glugging straight from the milk and juice containers while standing in front of the open fridge. In addition, I’m sure at one time or another, most of us have been guilty of some less than hygienic washing practice, whether it involved foods, cutting boards or our own hands.
Which kitchen sins are you guilty of? What turns your stomach? Have you ever caught someone else doing something that was not to be believed? Write in and let me know.
How do you handle bad service at restaurants?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the benefits of being a food writer married to a former bartender is you know your way around a restaurant. Or so I thought…
This past Friday, when both kids unexpectedly ended up having dinner plans, Rich and I giddily realized we had a couple of hours to catch a quick dinner. We decided to live it up and headed to a swanky place near our home. Without reservations, we were fully prepared to sit at their new bar and share a couple appetizers and a glass of wine. I even changed into my new Banana Republic sweater and put on make up to look restaurant worthy.
We slid into our seats at the semi-empty lounge and somehow, turned invisible. Don’t get me wrong, I could see Rich and he me, but for some reason, to the bartender our existence seemed non-existent.
After 10 minutes we managed to get his attention long enough to order a drink. It took 20 more before he looked our way long enough for us to quickly blurt out our desire to order food and we apparently vanished again. We both checked our teeth for spinach and found them good to go.
After another wait, he brought us silverware, but still seemed uninterested in the fact that he’d need to take our food order for us to make use of those shiny pieces of cutlery. At that point, my normally patient husband reached his breaking point and announced to me, “We’re leaving.” When he asked for the check, the bartender looked at us incredulously, “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for food?”
As we passed the hostess stand, my husband mentioned the inexcusable treatment. He recounted the many great experiences we’d had in the dining room over the years. She quickly found the manager who listened, found us a table, provided a server who took our order and got us in and out in the 45 minutes left of our two hours of freedom. It was a textbook lesson in good vs. bad service.
It’s still shocking that at upscale restaurants, guests can be treated so inhospitably. What do you do when you get in that situation? Do you suffer silently or let them have it?
The Houseguest Who Never Left
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My friend, Linda, is one of the most gracious hostesses I have ever met. Her home is always neat and tidy, and she makes everyone feel warmly welcome — no matter if they are stopping by to drop their kid off for a playdate or coming for an extended stay.
That’s why I was shocked when she told me about her sister-in-law who came for Christmas…and still hasn’t left. To make matters worse, this normally independent soul seems to have forgotten not only her manners, but also how to remove food from the refrigerator, put crockery in the dishwasher and otherwise help out around the house.
Linda admits, she might have initially been an enabler by her desire to make her guest feel wanted, but even she had reached her breaking point.
As we chatted in the parking lot outside our local Publix, we plotted ways to make the situation more tolerable. I advised Linda that the next time she inquired whether her sister-in-law needed anything to eat or drink, when she responded in the affirmative, (as she always seemed to do) for Linda to reply, “Well, by now you surely know where everything is,” and leave it at that.
What’s your advice for “housebreaking” houseguests? It’s not always easy to do, especially if they are related by marriage.
Getting Back on Track
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Getting eating habits back on track after holiday excess is tough enough for grownups, but even harder for kids. Between pre-Christmas cookie-fests, stockings filled with sugary treats and New Year’s Eve party-hopping, it’s been weeks of “cares-to-the-wind” eating, with desserts galore.
With two growing sons, it’s hard to make the return to “regular” eating not seem punitive. With chocolate-covered pretzels (my elder son’s weakness) and other goodies from Santa still filling up my cupboards, it’s a tightrope walk from formerly “just saying yes” to suddenly “just saying no.”
A good way to ease into the new year is to return to the best of the basics…good wholesome meals to fill you up and the occasional post-dinner treat to prevent mutiny. I want my family to feel the same pleasure, or at least some pleasure, from their dinner as they do from dessert. So it’s back to the kitchen for me, culling their absolute favorite recipes and rolling up my sleeves to make them.
I decided to start with homemade Chicken Pot Pie and hit a winner. Jack, my 9-year-old helped with the crust while I did the rest (a few pulses on a food processor and some muscle power with a rolling pin is a perfect way to involve kids in cooking). I have to admit, dinner was a hit and enough of a distraction that they forgot to even ask for a post-meal sweet.
Getting kid’s excited about eating good-for-you filling meals is the first step towards the return to everyday dining. What’s your guaranteed kid pleaser? Let me know.
Long day in the soccer taxi? Start with the Crockpot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every parent has that day. You know, that day when you are supposed to be in three places at the same time.
For me it’s Tuesdays. Somehow the planets aligned so my kids’ three sports practices all ended up scheduled within 30 minutes of each other on the same day. Inevitably, a PTA meeting or school concert seems to sneak in as well.
So, Tuesdays, I turn to my Crockpot. On other crazy days, I can try to wing it with a salad or other light dinner, but not when it’s a solid sports day. After an hour or more of running their butts off, my kids want real food, not rabbit food. And they want a substantial amount of it to carry them through the hours of homework ahead.
To be honest, I am not by nature a slow-cooker enthusiast, like many other stressed-out moms. But this recipe for barbecue pork is worth the cost of the Crockpot. If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself making it over and over again. Tender and low-fat pork tenderloin cooks with barbecue sauce to make a gooey, delicious pulled-pork dish that always garners praise.
I buy some good quality, deli coleslaw (you know, the kind that actually has cabbage, not just mayonnaise) and really fresh buns, and I am mother of the year!
What do you do on those crazy activity-filled days? Does a slow cooker get you out of a jam or is another method easier?
Slow-Cooked Barbecue Pork
In a Crockpot, place a chopped or sliced onion and top with 1 to 2 pork tenderloins (figure about 1/4-1/3 pound per person). Cook on low for 7 to 9 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours.
Remove pork and onion and discard the leftover juice. Shred the pork and return to the crockpot. Cover with enough of your favorite barbecue sauce to coat it well and cook on low for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until heated through, stirring occasionally and adding more sauce if necessary.
Serve on sandwich buns. Add additional bbq sauce if desired and serve with coleslaw on the side or, if you’re like my husband, pile it on top of the pork.
Meet the blogger
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In addition to her weekly reporting, she is also the author of four cookbooks including the recently released, award winning “The Great American Eat-Right Cookbook”. Her previously published cookbooks include “The 5:30 Challenge”, “The First Book of Baking”, and “Working Mom’s Fast and Easy One Pot Cooking” (reprinted as “Working Mom’s Fast and Easy Family Cookbook”). Besser has cooked on the Food Network in addition to appearing on a multitude of regional and television shows.
A graduate of Brown University, Besser decided to use her fancy Ivy League English literature degree to describe how to get dinner on the table quickly and deliciously instead of penning the next great American novel. Her parents are still hoping that one day she’ll become a “real” writer.
She is aided at home, by Rich, her charming and very tall (6’6”) husband of almost 15 years. She sleeps well at night knowing Rich, a pediatrician by training, now keeps us safe as a coordinating office director at the CDC. She has two sons, Alex, who at 13 is officially taller than her and beats her at all games involving math and logic and her on-the-go sports addicted 9-year-old, Jack.
During the seven minutes she isn’t working at her computer, trying things out in the kitchen, driving carpool, volunteering at her kid’s schools and trying to avoid household chores like laundry and emptying the dishwasher, you can find her in the yoga studio, on the tennis court or curled up with a good book.
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