Blogger's Block

I have no idea where the time has gone since my last post.  I could blame it on the October Nor'easter that left us without power for close to 3 days.  In fact, I could write about it and tell you how creative I was in cooking with only my gas stove and bottled water; but, it would only be a few lines.  After making roast beef sandwiches for lunch and nachos for dinner that first day, I realized that while I could still cook, I couldn't clean anything up.  Having no water is more challenging than having no electricity.  You really understand just how much water you go through doing menial tasks like washing dishes, brushing your teeth, flushing a toilet...it's a new appreciation for resources you tend to take for granted.  And not knowing how long we'd be without water, I decided not to waste it on washing out pans.  So fortunately, we were able to eat at restaurants.  I have no idea how the pioneers managed it...candles for light, fire for warmth and cooking, outhouses for personal needs...such hardships and yet, they survived.  We went two and a half days without electricity and running water and our biggest complaint was that all of our devices were in desperate need of charging!  I think we all lost some serious IQ points because we couldn't run to the internet to google the info that we either didn't know or had momentarily escaped our minds but was going to drive us nuts until we remembered it.  My kids resorted to finding a book to read as "something to do", an activity that lasted about 15 minutes.  Sure the pioneers survived...they weren't going without in their eyes.  Today, however, we rely on so many conveniences that to go without is borderline barbaric, even for a few days.  And yet, there are many places in the world...too many for this day and age...places even here in America where these conveniences are nonexistent.  Places without running water or clean, drinkable water...children without coats or hats...their luxuries aren't found in a glass front store with a genius bar or a brightly lit showroom.  They are actually found in the generosity of those who dedicate their time to making a difference, whether it's organizing the charities or donating to them.  This holiday season, as the notion of giving is present all around us, it's important to not only count our own blessings; but, also give someone else a blessing to count.  It doesn't take much to help make that difference.  Local food and clothing drives are everywhere this time of year.  It's a take on that pioneer spirit we've all heard about.  It's how they survived and it's just as important to our survival today.

"Not all of us can do great things.  But we can do small things with great love."  ~ Mother Teresa


Rather than include a recipe in this blog, I'd like to feature a few charities to consider.  Below are links to organizations dedicated to making a difference:


www.water.org   (clean water)

www.donate.goodwill.org   (accepts most household and clothing items)

www.ampleharvest.org   (involved in food pantries nationwide)

www.operationsmile.org (giving kids with cleft lip and palette issues a reason to smile)

www.toysfortotsliteracy.org  (accepted at UPS stores and Mailboxes, Etc stores...great for recycling books your child has outgrown)

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you find it so easy to count your blessings this year, that someone has to say, "Ok, ok...we get it...can we eat now???"

A Little Slab'll Do Ya!

I just looked at the forecast for the rest of this week and it looks as though any hope of an Indian Summer is long gone (I know it's late anyway, but I can dream can't I?).  More rain...dipping down to the 30s at night...chance of snow???  OK, that chance occurs around 2am, but still!!  Autumn went by so quickly that it makes summer seem nonexistent!  Ah, summer...I miss your warm, sunny days.  I miss the light and easy meals, the "let's just have salad for dinner" casualness of a warm evening (ok, we never just have a salad...but again, the dreams...).  I miss the no-muss no-fuss of throwing everything on the grill!  Well, actually, that still happens.  We are seasoned BBQ-ers and by that I mean we will grill in even the most inclement of weather.  Rain, sleet, snow, wind, temps of 115+...no postal worker has anything on us when it comes to getting the job done.  But there are those times, when the snow is piled 4 feet upon the deck and you can't even open the sliding door to get out to the grill, when Mother Nature forces us to stay in and cook.  And for most foods, you can get away with it, especially with all the cookware available.  Grill pans give you that "fresh off the grill" look, but there is still a flavor quality that's lacking.  That smokey, cooked over a fire flavor that satisfies our deepest cravings.  I think we are predisposed to that craving...somewhere in our cave people ancestry we developed a taste for food cooked over an open flame.  It's as inherent as our need for salt or sugar or Starbucks (pretty sure some of those cave drawings are baristas holding up milk frothers).  And the grilling experience is just as primal...why else would men try to claim this as "their job"?  But sexism aside, the grilling experience is so commanding because of the attention devoted to it.  The perfection involved is astonishing, really.  You need a good grill, the best utensils, the perfect temperature (which fluctuates and therefore demands that you constantly keep an eye on it...preferably with a beer or glass of wine in your hand while you do just that), the right cut of meat (marinated just long enough for tenderness and flavor), the most flavorful rubs, seasonings, and sauces...all of this, combined with exquisite skill, transforms food into art.  And not only is it visual art, but aromatic art.  What does the chef say upon opening the grill hood, smoke billowing  in a giant exhale as though sending an ancient message to the rest of the neighborhood that "someone's cookin' something"..."Mmmmm, smell that?" and "Smells good!"  And when the food is plated and brought to the table, everyone remarks on how good it looks...perfect grill marks, glistening sauce..."Oh man, those look good!"  It's food as art.  Why else would the cave drawings depict people with skewers and tongs?    Grilling, it's the only way to go in the summertime.  Come fall, you can still enjoy it on those crisp autumn days, especially in a parking lot of a stadium, surrounded by fellow fanatic (haha...get it?) grillers.  But as those days turn colder and the snow keeps you chained to your oven, you longingly look out the window at your grill.  You hope it survives out there in the cold, wrapped in only a vinyl cover, and you make a silent promise to fire it back up as soon as the first thaw arrives in spring.  In the meantime, those cravings stir within you and you know you can't ignore them for much longer.  Someone says the word "ribs" and you respond with a Homer Simpson-like response..."Mmmmmm....riiiiibbbbs"!  But the grill!  It's covered up!  And it's snowing outside!  And as warm as your NorthFace gear can keep you, everyone knows the key to fall-off-the-bone ribs is sloooooowwww grilling!  Well, before you put your house up for sale and look to relocate to a never-snows-here state, let me offer this suggestion:  oven baked ribs.  I know, I know...it's practically blasphemous to even mutter that phrase and I will give you time to recover by holding a bottle of BBQ sauce beneath your nose; but, when the hickory chips are down and hunger pangs are up, what choice do you have?  I admit there is a matter of timing involved in this recipe...you really do need to marinate overnight...but the rest is a cinch and the result is tasty and delicious.  So tasty and delicious, you'll wonder why it's even necessary to grill ribs!  I mean...you'll like them, but prefer your husband's grilled ribs MUCH, MUCH more!!!

APPLE CIDER MARINATED RIBS

(Emeril Lagasse)

Ingredients

• 2 racks pork baby back ribs
• Salt 
• Essence*** (or your favorite rib rub)
• 3 C. apple cider
• 1 C. light brown sugar
• 
  

Directions

Season both sides of the ribs with salt and Essence. Place the ribs in a large glass rectangle baking dish. Pour 3 cups of the cider over the ribs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove ribs from the refrigerator and discard the marinade. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the flesh side of the ribs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then wrap in aluminum foil (be sure to cover all the plastic wrap with heavy aluminum foil).  Place on a baking sheet and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Preheat the grill to HIGH (if the weather permits, otherwise preheat the broiler to 500 and place the rack about 4-5 inches from the heat source).

Remove the ribs from the plastic wrap (be careful to not leave behind any of the wrap). Place the ribs on the grill, flesh side down, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, turning the ribs every 2 minutes, or until the ribs are nicely marked.  If broiling, place the ribs flesh side down on a baking sheet or broiler pan. Broil until a nice color appears.  Turn the ribs flesh side up.  Broil until ribs are browned, careful not to scorch.  Lower the baking rack or temp to allow for browning without burning.  (The ribs are fully cooked, the grilling or broiling afterwards is to reheat the cooled ribs and give them a beautiful color.)

***

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Yield: 2/3 cup

These ribs are so tender and tasty that they do not require BBQ sauce.  But if you prefer, feel free to slather on your favorite brand.  If you can find an apple-based sauce, that would be delicious.  I would warm the sauce to serve with the ribs rather than apply before grilling or broiling.  I like to serve these ribs with baked sweet potatoes (scrub and dry the potatoes, place on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment, and bake at 400 for about an hour--depending on the size of the potatoes...serve with butter and brown sugar or chipotle powder, or both) and apple salad (Granny Smith apples--peeled and cored, with aged white cheddar--cubed, and glazed walnuts...toss with chopped romaine and dress with any slightly sweet vinaigrette such as white wine, raspberry, or other fruit-based dressing).  Hope this tides you over until the spring and grilling season begins again!!

Martha! Martha! Martha!

They say the first step on the road to recovery is admitting you have a problem.  So here goes:  Hello, my name is Kari and I'm a Marthaholic.  I admit it.  I don't know how it started.  I am in no way a perfectionist.  I'm more of a semi-perfectionist.  Sure I want things done right, but if there's a shortcut, I'll take it.  Just take a peek into my closets and drawers and you'll know this is true.  Stash and Dash!  Martha would faint if she saw our junk drawers (that's right...drawers...with an s).  I think of this whenever I wedge my hand into one and try to mash down whatever it is that won't let me open the drawer past 2 inches.  But I'll clean that out another time.  I mean, I'm not Martha for crying out loud...I know I'm not.  My brother and sister would have you believe otherwise, though.  I get the eye-rolls and the here-she-goes-again nods between the two of them as I mention that I am making a shark-shaped birthday cake for my nephew or painting a wall of horizontal stripes in my son's bedroom.  Yes, I make a lot of things from scratch and do a lot of things myself.  Not everything, though.  Homemade frosting, taco shells, table runners?  Yes!  Am I out harvesting wheat, hand-dying fabric, and forging my own cookware?  No!  And yet...could I?  If given the opportunity, wouldn't I try doing all of those things?  Yes, yes I would.  And it's all because I saw Martha Stewart do it.  She makes it all look so easy, so natural...like everyone's doing this, why not you?  I mean, isn't everyone's calendar filled with to-do's such as "defuzz sweaters", "clean the washing machine's rubber seal", and "buy organic chicken feed".  You have the time.  In between doctor appointments and school schedules, there's time to depill your sweaters.  And if you had taken the time back in the spring (like Martha advised) to depill them, wrap them in tissue paper, and nestle them in a cedar chest designed for only sweaters, you wouldn't have to risk wearing one of those lint-balled disgraces come autumn.  It was one afternoon.  Time well spent.  And now look...people are embarrassed for you, really.  Martha knows these things.  Through her magazines, books, and tv/radio shows she is trying to teach us the "good things".  Need a Halloween costume for your pet iguana?  Martha's got a no-sew pattern for you.  Want to know the best way to clean all of your electrical outlets?  Martha knows just the solution.  Hungry for pate brisee with pommes?  That apple pie recipe is on her website.  Sure, some might think she's overblown and pretentious.  She does pronounce the h in herbs, but that's just good diction!   In a world where we are constantly developing technology to do things for us, Martha is urging us to be more hands-on.  Be a little bit more resourceful, more creative, more self-sufficient, more...Martha.

YOGURT PARFAIT with GRANOLA, RASPBERRIES, & CANDIED GINGER

(from Martha Stewart)

5 C. granola*

1 C. dried cherries; coarsely chopped*

2 T. finely chopped candied ginger*

6 C. low-fat Greek yogurt*

1 1/2 C. fresh raspberries*

Honey*

Mix together granola, dried cherries, and candied ginger.  Spoon yogurt into a 1-inch thick layer in bottom of  a 4-qt. trifle dish or if you must, a plain ole serving bowl.  Scatter 1/2 cup raspberries over yogurt.  Drizzle with honey.  Sprinkle 2 1/2 cups granola over berries.  Repeat layering once and end with a layer of yogurt.  Mound remaining 1/2 cup raspberries in center of final yogurt layer.  Garnish with thin strips of candied ginger and drizzle with honey.  Serve immediately.  Yields 8-10 servings.

*Admission...I did not husk or steel cut the oats used to make the granola, hand-pick and sun-dry the cherries, candy the ginger, ferment the bacteria to make the yogurt (and ultimately reduce its fat), grow the raspberries, or collect the honey by using a bee smoker on some hives I have out back.  I WISH!!  I found all of these ingredients at my local grocery store.  And there is absolutely no shame whatsoever in buying store-bought....at least, that's what I keep telling myself...and it IS a "good thing".

Breakfast for dinner!!!

Breakfast...it's not just for breakfast anymore!  I don't know about you, but I love breakfast foods...eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns...even toast somehow tastes good.  Yes, dried up bread, but slather on some creamy butter and top it with some yummy jam and somehow it's a meal-completer!  And don't even get me started on pancakes and French toast!  The downside to breakfast, though?  It's MORNING!  Full on pots and pans cooking before a decent cup of coffee is enough to make me want to stay in bed until lunchtime.  But those buttery eggs, the smokey bacon, the crispy hashbrowns...good God, the hashbrowns...they beckon to you!  They make crazy thoughts pop into your head.  Thoughts like:  "It's ok to cook in your pajamas!" and "Who cares if everyone likes their eggs different ways and you have to use at least 3 frying pans to make this meal and then be the last one to sit down to eat as everyone else is finishing, leaving you with maybe a few bacon strips (cool or soggy from being on WARMHOLD in the microwave) and a pile of dishes in the sink, ketchup congealing with egg yolk because it's easier to leave them stacked on the counter than in the sink with some water.  Who cares?  Isn't breakfast worth all that?"  SIGH!  It is...until one day when you are at a loss for what to make for dinner and those thoughts that you've tried to bury deep within you resurface and say, "Hey!  Why not eggs?  And bacon?  And hashbrowns?"  And you consider yourself a genius because it's a meal everyone likes.  And you've had enough coffee to get you through the day.  And you were most likely going to use several pots and pans for dinner anyway, so this is nothing new!  And when you are asked that inevitable question, you proudly answer, "Eggs!  We are having eggs for dinner!"  And your children look at you in wonder as they open their mouths to say what you can only imagine is going to be the highest of praises and you hear:  "Is Dad not home for dinner?"  And so yes, they see right through your genius to the cop-out that it really is...breakfast for dinner...because you've run out of ideas.

KARI'S DO-IT-THE-NIGHT-BEFORE BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

(and hashbrowns)

1 pound pork breakfast sausage; cooked, drained, and crumbled

8 eggs; slightly beaten

6 slices white bread; cubed into 1-inch cubes

2 C. milk

1 C. grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 tsp. dry ground mustard

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

Place the bread cubes in a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish.  Mix the remaining ingredients together and pour over the bread cubes in dish.  Cover and refrigerate at least 12 hours or overnight.  Bake in a 350 oven for 35-40 minutes or until browned and set in the middle.  Serves 8-10

HASHBROWNS WITH ONIONS & CHIVES

2 pounds russet potatoes

2 medium onions; halved lengthwise and cut into thin strips

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 C. unsalted butter

2 T. olive oil

2 T. finely chopped chives

Cover the potatoes with salted cold water by 1 inch in a large pot.  Boil until just tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain and cool completely.  Wrap potatoes in plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

Quarter the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch pieces.  In a skillet over medium-low heat, cook onions with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in 1 T. unsalted butter; stirring occasionally until pale golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.  Place onions in a bowl.  In the same skillet, heat 1 T. unsalted butter and 1 T. olive oil over medium-high heat until foam from butter subsides.  Saute half the potatoes with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.  Stir until golden, about 8 minutes.  Add half the onions and saute 3 more minutes.  Transfer to serving dish.  Repeat with remaining potatoes, onions, 1 T. unsalted butter, and 1 T. olive oil.  Return all potatoes and onions to skillet and toss gently with 1 T. unsalted butter and chives.

***These dishes are great for breakfast since you make them the night before (and just cook the hashbrowns while the casserole is baking), but they're also good as breakfast for dinner.  If you wake up early enough, have your coffee or whatever gets your day rolling, and prepare them, you can put them in the fridge and bake them up that night for dinner!  I still say it's a genius move...genius!!

Welcome!

Welcome to Flung Spaghetti!  I decided to create this blog because I realized that I am just not spending enough time on the computer.  Don't get me wrong, I do my share of facebooking (it's a word, look it up...webster's online) and I have a website (cardsbykari...another good one to look up).  I am constantly looking up recipes, food substitutions, local pizza delivery places (don't judge me); but, it just didn't seem to take up enough of my time.  So I started a blog...about food...because a good majority of my time on the computer revolves around it, as does my life.  Three kids and the first thing they say to me in the morning (or afternoon as they are just waking up) is "What's for dinner?"  And that's when the panic sets in.  If I suggest what I had in mind for dinner that night, I will get one of the following responses:  a) "Is that the one with the peppers in it?", b) "You know what we should have...", or c) A blank stare...and you can already tell they're mentally reviewing the leftovers in the fridge as alternatives.  I can think of 3 meals offhand that will please all 3 of them:  nachos, pizza, burgers.  If you can dip it in ranch or ketchup, they might eat it.  If there's any sort of colorful ingredient in it, it's suspect and likely to be pushed around on their plate.  So I am challenged.  Oh, and I have to consider my husband's tastes.  But really, that's easy...he'll eat anything, basically.  I've been married to him for 20 years now and Lord knows he's been through better and worse when it comes to my cooking.  Let's just say I set the bar REALLY low when we were first married.  Hockey puck pork chops...doesn't get any lower.  What did I know?  The only trick I knew was how to tell if pasta was cooked enough and that was to fling a piece against the wall and see if it stuck.  It didn't say this on the box.  I don't even know where I heard it from (a cartoon?  tv sitcom?)...but that's how I made pasta.  And that's how I learned to cook.  I flung spaghetti.