Best Diet Ever

Why other peoples' diets invade my mind I DO NOT KNOW. However, if for some bizarre reason I decided I needed to become a diet "guru," this is all my diet would be:

Only eat it if you make it.

There would clearly need to be a few rules, since tossing a Stouffer's Family Size Mac 'n' Cheeze in the microwave counts as cooking to some.

So to start the diet, all the food you make needs to start from items that are only one ingredient themselves. So you can have a sandwich, but you would need to make the bread. (Flour, water, yeast, salt, maybe a little honey?) See, bread has several parts, but I am willing to concede flour is 1 ingredient. Heck you could even have mustard and mayonnaise... you'd just have to make them.

Once you get a handle on things you could then eat things already prepared for you that you COULD make if you had the time or wanted to. Like frozen foods where you read the label and recognize every single thing as food. But not where the frozen food lists processed derivatives of food substances you have never heard of, or can't get your hands on as a home cook.

And that would be it.

Farmer's Markets Make Everyone a Better Cook

Just like we are all more beautiful swimming in the waves at the beach, we are all better cooks at the farmers market. The air smells like food... REAL food. Food that has barely had time to realize it's not still planted, or whatever.

It is, AT LAST, northwest tomato time (did 'ja blink? Mighta missed it.) Fortunately we also get Yakima tomato time which is twice as long. And for those of you with diligent souls, having your own back yard tomato time is lovely.

My favorite super-duper-fresh tomato recipes are all raw. If you need to cook a tomato, use an inferior one. (Or go nuts if you are luck enough to have a bumper crop). But in my little corner of the world, the local, ripe tomato is a rare gem. And unless I get it together and grow my own (not currently likely), I will continue to savor them as rare delicacies.

To enjoy the first fruits, just wait 'til your tomato is pleasantly warmed by the sun (on the vine, or -sigh- on my counter, and bite in. Maybe sprinkle on a little fine salt (this is an indulgence, remember). Enjoy the captured sunshine.

Never EVER refrigerate a tomato. It loses all of it's deliciousness. There is actually a chemical that sort-of "turns off" below 55˚F and all the tomato-ness is lost. Cooked tomatoes don't suffer this, but raw ones do.

A warning - whatever fabulous new combination I have recently uncovered is my new favorite... and then I move on.

So my new favorite raw tomato salad:

*Sliced Tomatoes with Herb Pesto*

To Find:

2-3 large ripe tomatoes (they smell like tomatoes, and they feel like you might squish them)

1/4 C balsamic vinegar

about 2/3 C loosely packed fresh basil leaves

about 1/3 C loosely packed other herbs (oregano, chives, parsley, a little mint - whatever you have)

1 large garlic clove

1/2 C toasted pine nuts

salt to taste

a good olive oil - just use the amount you need to get the right consistency (see below)

To Do:

Slice tomatoes about 1cm thick, or about as thick as your thumb. Lay them out in a large, non-metallic tray or dish or plate. Pour the vinegar over them, cover them and leave them overnight somewhere cool, where they won't get direct sunlight. (You don't have to leave them out overnight... but if you can, do.)

To make the pesto - break out the food processor or a mortar and pestle. Like the name says, we are making a paste. Put the nuts and garlic in the work bowl with the chopping blade, take it for a spin, just for about 5 seconds, until you have little pieces. Then throw in all the herbs, a splash of oil and let every thing spin until you have what starts to look like a paste. Stop and taste. Add a pinch of salt, spin and taste again until you have what tastes almost right.

Finally, press go, and add oil until it is just right (maybe another tablespoon or 2, it depends on SO MANY things).

When it is just right, spoon over the tomatoes and serve. Garnish with a few herb leaves if you are feeling artistic.

Pretzels are Good for the Soul

So the last time I had my son's friends over to make pretzels one was floored by the procedure of getting oil all over his hands, and then, On Purpose, spreading it on the (glass) table top. Making such a slippery, sticky mess of oil and dough on purpose seemed completely out of bounds to him. He HAD A BALL! And he is over the moon to come do it again.

I love it when I can open doors like this.

Need to make pretzels? This is my favorite way:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html

Barely Food Related Detour

Why are so many Americans travelling abroad, "embarrassed to be American?" In all my travels, I freely confess to have gone through that phase too. And yet as I continue to take what amount to mini-trips abroad (to the Asian, South Asian (Indian) and Middle Eastern/North African markets) to get my freaky-freaky ingredients, I wonder at the wisdom of this approach.

By law, I, and the owner of a given store are most likely Equally American. When I go abroad why can't I be American too? Why can't MY version of "American" be proclaimed as loudly as the one, "I-am-embarrassed-about."

Why can't it be, "Why Yes, I am an American! I'm just embarrassed that the other version is too." After all we are admonished from grouping and prejudging members of other nations, religious groups, races, etc... why do we do this to ourselves?

And further... as embarrassing as some of the activities of other Americans are, doesn't the fact that they are known of and exist, Prove what an open society we have? Even the stuff we don't like about our country is out there for all to see. No society is ever neat and tidy, some are just presented that way. Anytime you look into the glory days of any past "perfection" anywhere or when, the white washed misery always seeps out. That, after all, is why these periods never last. And because it is often misery that forces change... that is why the transition is always so chaotic and painful.

So, next time I put my passport in my bag, no more of this trying to pass over that I am an American (Most non-Americans can tell anyway. To be honest, we DO have a way about us.) Be proud of what you are... including the seething mess left at home. It is our mess after all. And we have the power to change it. The Naive Hopefulness that marks us, has changed the world an awful lot.

We also have the power to enjoy Tamarind Lhassi with Cayenne and Caramelized Shallot Bengeit with a Jalapeno Remoulade. For I know of NO WHERE ELSE where we can crisscross cultures so thoroughly - or tastily.

My fridge - I despair... sorta.

I will never ever ever have one of those spare, deserted... and well... easy to find stuff in fridges. Too much
marmalade and "better than boullion" and left over cole slaw, salad dressing, olives, salsa (3 kinds I think), simple syrup, maple syrup, and 1/4 rack of ribs for BBQ quesadillas, the sauce of course, seaweed, 3 kinds of juice, thawing tortillas... Well, you can see for yourself!

And don't get me started on what a crazy cat circus my pantry is.
Let's just say it is not unusual to find 5 kinds of rice. I have a
really good reason for every single one. Really!

My husband proposed I stop experimenting on dinner (and them), but the thought of no BBQ quesadillas caused a direction change.

My consolation? Having everything on hand for scratch baked ginger shortbread and green tea.

2 sticks (1 lb) butter - room temp... creamed together (in a mixer) with

3/4C powdered sugar

1 Tbs vanilla

Gently stir together -

2 C AP Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1.5 Tbs dried ginger (And 1/4 to 1/2 C finely chopped diced candied ginger -soft if you can find it, crystallized if you can't. Add this at the very end.)

Slowly pour the dry stuff (flour etc.) into the creamed butter and sugar. Then the chopped ginger goes in. Stop as soon as stirred in. Cover and chill 30 min.

Preheat oven to 35o˚F. Grease 2 cookie sheets, or line with silicone mats/parchment paper.

Divide dough in half. Form each into rectangles about 1/3" (1 cm) thick. Use a metal spatula to cut into long thin rectangles (dimensions are up to you). Spread them about 1 inch apart. Bake about 12 minutes. When they are light brown around the bottom edge pull them out and let them cool.

If you want cookies that are even more rectangular, re-chill another 30 min and put them straight into the hot oven out of the fridge. They will have less chance to spread.

Savory Zucchini Muffins?

This could be good, I thought.

And the idea IS good. It just needs some work.

The recipe is from _A-Z Muffins_ by Marie Simmons.

It is a fairly standard muffin recipe, but with very little sugar, zucchini, extra back pepper and Romano cheese.

And sadly it was BLAND. The cheese (I used parmesan instead, because I had some in the freezer, dying to be used up) and the pepper were there... but it wasn't enough. Needs something else... I figure next time, garlic + thyme, and a little crunchy salt on the top with the cheese would make all the difference in the world.

Hmmmmmmm

Mexican Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Mexican Chocolate Zucchini Bread! (At last)

(This is for 2 - 9x4 loaves, or LOTS of muffins)

Grease your pans, muffin tins or break out the cupcake papers.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F

Ingredients:

3C grated zucchini that has had a trip through the salad spinner (especially if recovered from frozen.)

3.5 C all purpose flour

1/2C cocoa powder

1C granulated sugar

1/4C packed brown sugar

5 tsp baking powder

1 Tbs ground cinnamon

1/8 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (up to you - HOW spicy do you want the bread?)

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 C milk

1/4 C oil (nothing highly flavored)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs lightly beaten

(Optional: 1C semi-sweet chocolate chips or 1-2 disks Mexican Hot Chocolate chocolate hammered into little chunks)

In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, both sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, cayenne and salt. Stir gently to combine. Make sure there are no islands or lumps of any one thing.

In a smaller bowl, stir together milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Add zucchini and gently stir in.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use a spoon to fold the dry ingredients over and around the wet. Stir until just combined. Lastly, quickly fold in the optional chocolate pieces.

Pour or spoon into desired baking vessel (pan, muffin tin)

Place your bread on the center rack of the oven. Done means muffins spring back at a light finger poke. For bread, check the center with a toothpick. It should come out clean or a little crumby. Not Gooey. If you hit a chocolate chip, try another spot.

For tiny muffins, this means about 12 min

For regular sized muffins, about 22 min

For giant muffins, try 35 - 45 min

For the larger loaf pans, check at an hour, though 1 hour + 10 - 15 min is normal.

Let cool at least 5 min before taking out of the pan/tins. Then let cool the rest of the way on a rack.

If this weren't good enough on it's own, feel free to make a quick topping of softened cream cheese or mild goat cheese, orange zest, ginger and honey (maybe a little salt... depending). Use your own taste buds to find the most delicious combination.