Saturday, April 22, 2006

Cookie Marshmallow Cups in the Kitchen

Cedric just called to say he's almost done with his entry this morning and that C.I.'s holding the main entry at The Common Ills to include Cedric and Kat. He wondered if I might want to blog early so C.I. could note my site as well?

I will because I know C.I. feels like I get lost every weekend. C.I. did note this site later in the week and I ended up with ten e-mails from people who'd never written before so I want to stress that C.I. does note my site. I'm the newest community member with a site and I know C.I. tries to get the word out. I appreciate that but C.I. already gets the word out.

Cedric had two recipes to suggest in case I didn't have one in mind. I was weighing three and trying to narrow it down for tonight but I was happy to grab a suggestion. Cedric's first recipe was ruled out. I won't do strawberry recipes here because I don't use them in my kitchen. They're a wonderful fruit but my husband and three of my children are all allegeric. I have no idea why only three are, genetics, I suppose. But that's mean that we have blueberry shortcake instead of strawberry. I love strawberries and eat them outside the home. I do make a point to wash my hands afterwards because one time, at a picnic, I made the mistake of touching the side of my husband's face and just whatever juice alone was left on my hand (I had wiped with a paper towel) was enough to cause an allergic outbreak on that side of his face. For awhile, I did use frozen strawberries because it was thought that it was just the fresh ones that had a problem for family members with allergies. But I had to rule those out as well when one of the boys, when he was very young, ended up with an all body rash breaking out. So I love strawberries myself, but I won't post recipes with strawberries here since I'm calling the site "Trina's Kitchen" and strawberries never come into my kitchen.

The second recipe is the one I'll go with and when Cedric started dictating the ingredients (this is one his grandmother makes), my youngest daughter (who'd had breakfast not that long ago) was watching me write it down. As soon as I got off the phone, she said I should make it. I would have been fine with taking Cedric's word for it that it was a great recipe and noting here that I'd be making it myself, for the first time, tomorrow but since she was hungry and it was easy to whip up, I went ahead and made a batch. This is another "no cooking required" recipe.
You can use your kitchen to prepare dishes and not use your stoves or oven for those who are still a little nervous.

Cookie Marshmallow Cups
1/2 cup crushed chocolate wafer cookies
4 scoops chocolate ice cream
marshmallow creme
4 cherries

Place 2 teaspoons of cookie crumbs in 4 different cupcake liners. Top with a scoop of ice cream. Fill in around the cream with the remainder of the cookie crumbs and sprinkle some crumbs on top. Cover with foil and freeze until it is time to serve them. Before serving them, add a layer of marshmallow creme and a cherry to each one.

I didn't have chocolate wafers so my daughter grabbed the Oreos and crushed them. Tip: Put them in a freezer bag, zip the bag, then crush them. You could also use chocolate chip cookies or any other cookie you have on hand. I put the cupcake liners into a muffin pan before filling them and that made it easier for me. You could try it either way. I didn't freeze because my daughter was hungry and wanted one "now." But be sure not to put the marshamallow creme or the cherry on top before freezing, they will be frozen and you don't want that.

I'm flipping through the paper (Boston Globe) to figure out what else to write. (I hadn't planned on writing early today.) Yvonne Abraham has an article entitled "Questions of how far US crackdown can go: Analysts dubious on immigrant plan." This is from her article:

As part of the program, announced Thursday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the agency will dedicate 171 agents of its 2,500 nationwide to investigate and take action against employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
But effectively combating what has become a widespread business practice would require the government to hire thousands of more investigators, to streamline methods for checking workers' legal status, and to show a new willingness to stand up to business interests, the analysts said.
''Nobody has bothered in 20 years to enforce these laws," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.
''With the number of monitors they've got," Sum said, ''they can only monitor a tiny fraction of the employers." Nationwide, an estimated 7 million undocumented employees work for hundreds of thousands of firms, Sum said.

While I would prefer to see employers targeted (instead of employees), I do wonder about the whole thing. If an employer isn't paying minimum wage (at the very least) to all workers, he or she is breaking the law. Cracking down on that I have no trouble with.

But I am wondering why the immigration issue continues to be discussed in terms of employment? There are obvious economic policies that result in people leaving their countries of origin. (There are also frequently human rights issues.)

I'm not really sure what employment (if wage and other work place laws are followed) should have to do with it? I know Bill Frist is busy trying to introduce his harm to immigrants bill yet again. But I'm not sure why the focus is on economics?

If immigration is the issue, why do we focus so on employees and employers? Because it's an easy way to track people? Because employers are the ones (the business community) pushing for "reform" that will benefit them?

I just don't grasp the need to make working a crime.

Possibly, it's because if we focus on a job or series of jobs, we're not addressing the true economic factors effecting immigration? The trade policies that hurt so many nations?

I'm hurrying because Cedric called back to say he'd told C.I. he had posted and that I was attempting to put together a post as well.

But where I'm coming from is that I believe we need a more open and more streamlined program for citizenship. I have no problem with a written test. I've helped several friends study for it. The first time, my priest had asked me if I had time to help and I assumed, no problem. I was wrong. And have used that as an example since when helping friends. The problem was, just my being born here and going to school here did not mean I didn't need some help as well. (The answers, in the booklets we use, are in the back.) There were questions I didn't know the answer too. Now I do. And like I tell anyone I help, when you pass this test, you can be proud of yourself for a number of things including that you know more than most people and more than me before I started helping.

I can understand the need for a test to prove that someone has an idea of what the basic principles (and facts -- the number of members in Congress honestly seems useless to me, but maybe I'm missing something). It doesn't make someone a better person to know these things but it will help them grasp how something works. (Though in the case of everyone I've helped, they've been in the country for some time and already grasped how things worked. We mainly worked on memorizing the facts.) Why does that matter?

For the same reason that it matters to all of us, so that we know what our government can and cannot do. So if we're on the receiving end of government abuse, we know that's not supposed to happen. It also matters so that you can pass on the information to others, children, friends, other family members. It matters so that you can grasp how the government works, but, again, everyone I've ever helped has already grasped that before we began studying for the test.

Employment is very basic to life (especially with the destruction of various elements of the social net). I'm really not for targeting employees or employers on the issue of undocumented workers. People need to eat, they need a roof over their heads. I know very kind people who, in the past, would employee someone and look the other way because they knew the necessary documents weren't going to be forthcoming.

Now if an employee in that kind of situation is taken advantage of, there's a problem and that's where government should step in. Work safety laws also should be enforced. But instead, I fear, we're focusing on programs that will penalize employees and employers (and some are good hearted, I'm not talking about corporations -- though I'm sure good people exist in those as well). If you're a church member, you're a church member. I'm not looking for proof of where you were born or proof that you followed every requirement to enter the country. You're here now, you're someone I know and you're someone that has a right to work, to live and to dream.
If I can help you in some way, I should because I know you will do the same for me. That's how things work at my church. For all the 'faith-based' baloney from the Bully Boy, there's nothing church-based in the legislation the press keeps pushing.

What strikes me as ironic is the fact that immediately after 9-11, Bully Boy had a better policy than anything that has been offered. It was more open to immigrants. (Though there was a conern on the part of some in my church that this was really just a way to trick people into showing up to start the citizenship process so that they could be deported, that wasn't the case for anyone from my church. We were really busy then, going over the testing.) Someone down the street or across town may be Joe or Jose, Marie or Maria, but they're your neighbor. They have rights just as such. Maybe not "legal" ones, but societal ones.

Briefly, after 9/11, the process was streamlined. I would favor a return to that and more expanisve ideas as well. One proposed piece of legislation (I think it was the House bill) offered that you register, work X number of years, then you can apply for citizenship. If you think that's valid, my question to you is, "Do you know how long it takes for the citizenship process?"

With the exception of the brief period after 9/11, it's a long process. (Before that temporary policy, we had one church member who was in the third year of the proces.) I think the legislation that the press has pushed punishes people.

Why are we punishing anyone? That's my question. My parents were immigrants, my husband's parents were immigrants (do not trash Ireland to my son Mike, he will explode). If we're suddenly so worried about immigration, let's do the right thing then and turn the issue over to Native Americans. Let's allow them to decide who should be allowed to stay and who shouldn't.

Otherwise, it strikes me as a lot of "I got mine" bluster that helps no one.

I also do not believe that targeting employment (or tying it in) on this issue helps. In the 90s, a church member quit his job (his wife was still working) because INS kept coming by his work and he was sure he was going to be discovered and punished. (He's a citizen now.) That's what will happen with this sort of focus. People trying to put food on the table will end up in even greater fear. Apologies to the almighty Bully Boy, but my religious beliefs come before him or any other elected leader. So, under one proposal, the things I'd done in the past (and will continue to do) with my church would be illegal. (No help, food or anything else, could be offered by individuals, churches or social workers to undocumented immigrants without it being illegal.)
If that became law, I guess I'd be arrested because our home is always open and if we're sitting down to the table when friends arrive, they're invited to sit down as well. I don't ask for "papers" before putting the food on the table and I never will.

C.I. just called saying Cedric had said I was hoping to post this morning, so let me wrap this up. I'll recommend four items from other sites:

Kat's "Both Sides of the Coin -- Ben Harper's Both Sides of The Gun vs. The Living Room Tour""
Elaine's "My pacificism isn't a cloak I wear some days and others put on war drag"
Cedric's "Law and Disorder addressed PBS and Armenia"
Wally's "THIS JUST IN! FREE SPEECH DIED TODAY!"

And I recommended it last week before it went up, but please read Ava and C.I.'s "Today, we're all cheerleaders."
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Saturday, April 15, 2006

Gazpacho soup in the Kitchen

Explanations. I took last weekend off because our daughter was staying over at a friend's and our son Mike was in California. It's rare that my husband and I find 'just us' moments. I had said before that I wouldn't post every Saturday and last Saturday seemed like a perfect opportunity to take a night off.

I checked the e-mail account and two people expressed disappointment that I'd taken two Saturdays off. I am posting tonight and I e-mailed them to let them know. I'm late posting because I was brought in on a piece for The Third Estate Sunday Review. Not to write it, Ava and C.I. have written it. But it's an epic and they were cutting various sections while Jim was reading the draft they were cutting from. Ava and C.I. write the TV commentaries themselves but, probably due to the interest in this one addressing the criticisms of Katie Couric, everyone had an opinion on what mattered most and what didn't.

I wasn't brought in as a referee but as one more voice offering a perspective. I honestly think the entire thing should go up as is but I do understand that they think it's far too long. There are a lot of points to cover (and they do it wonderfully). It was interesting to see which parts were favorites for whom. I recommend that you check out The Third Estate Sunday Review tomorrow and wait for the concluding paragraph which is one of my favorites in the whole thing. (It's also the one that women were fighting to include but some of the men were saying, "If you lose anything, lose the last paragraph.") (That's noted with permission.)

I offer my little bits and pieces here but I can, at least, take pride in being part of the community and reading Ava and C.I.'s latest TV commentary, I'm very proud to be a part of this community.

Let me do the recipe. Cindy provided this and Wally's mother and I both made it this week to wonderful results. It's spring and, as Cindy wrote, summer will be here shortly. For Cindy, and for many others, summer means gazpacho due to the fact that gardens are sprouting fresh vegetables. Gazpacho is a soup served cold and the perfect soup for a hot day.

46 ounces of tomato juice
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 small white onion chopped
1 small red onion chopped
1 cucmber peeled and chopped
2 green chiles chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1 table spoon of olive oil
1 table spoon of chopped chives (found in the dried spices section of the supermarket)
3 table spoons of red wine vinegar
1 1/2 a teaspoon of hot pepper sauce or full teaspoon of crushed red pepper
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
2 lemons sliced into wedges (for garnish, may be skipped)

Combine all ingredients with the exception of the garnish (lemon wedges), cucumber and bell pepper. Place this mixture in a blender and use the pulse option repeatedly for two minutes. (Repeatedly, start and then stop. Do not run the pulse option for two minutes without stopping unless you want a very creamy texture.) (If you do not have a blender, combine those ingredients in a large bowl and stir by hand to get a consistent texture.) If using a blender, pour the mixture into a large bowl. Add the cucumber and bell pepper (not the lemon wedges) to the mixture.

Additionally, you can chop two fresh tomatoes. If adding those, add them in the step where you add them in the step where you add the cucumber and bell pepper. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Let me remind you again that using the freezer for a lesser time will not work.

Serve in bowls and use the lemon wedges as garnish. As with my iced tea, I like to squeeze mine into the bowl before I begin eating the soup.

There is no cooking involved in this recipe which is why Cindy enjoys it. She writes that in August, she lives on it because she can come home from work, fix it, let it chill while she relaxes and then eat it "without ever having to stand over a hot stove."

Wally's mother has been playing with the recipe and has had success adding chopped celery. If you'd like to try that as well, add it the blender (or mixing) stage. Cindy loves gazpacho (try it and you will too) and noted that her mother used to make it two other ways. As she described it, I thought I had the recipes she was talking about. I was right about one and wrong on the other. This gazpacho recipe is from The Joy of Cooking and it's a blender recipe that serves one.

Blender Gazpacho
Blend together 2 or 3 minutes
1/4 cup pared, seeded cucumbers
3/4 cup skinned, seeded tomatoes
1/4 cup condensed consomme or water
1/2 teaspoon chopped red pimento

Add and blend for a short time:
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon olive oil

Add but do not blend, as the flavor would be too strong:
1 teaspoon chopped chives
Season to taste
and serve by pouring the broth over 2 ice cubes.
A good garnish is:
Garlic croutons

That recipe will give you one individual serving if you are pressed for time.

All I want to talk about is Ava and C.I.'s commentary. I keep stopping and telling my husband about it. So let me wrap this up quickly for fear of spoiling some surprises in that.

Seth has had some family health issues and took some time off from blogging. However, he is back to blogging and has done three posts this week. So, for anyone who wasn't aware he had returned -- a development I would've noted last week if I'd blogged, visit Seth in the City.

Be sure to read Ruth's Public Radio Report which went up today. I listened to WBAI's Law and Disorder this week and if you haven't had your interest peaked about that program, you're not reading Ruth's reports. One of the guests, it was announced, would be played by Halle Berry in an upcoming film (Venita Gupta was the guest). Maybe that will make you curious to hear what case the lawyer is working on?

My son Mike's "Kendall-Smith sentenced to 8 months & trip to California" describes the trip to California a number of community members made. C.I. has been covering the issue of Dexter Filkins throughout the week (not a new issue for The Common Ills) but the two entries I most enjoyed were "NYT: The Davids, covering Plamegate, long to be Rod Stewart" for the humor (and I'm an old fan of Rod Stewart's) and "And the war drags on . . . (Indymedia Roundup)" which is full of important items. Cedric's "2005's honor (Marian Anderson) v. 2006's shame" is not only strong commentary but also a topic (a new stamp) that I hadn't read or heard of so be sure to read that. Kat's "Music" was one of my husband's favorite posts this week (and he extends an open invite to Kat to visit any time and discuss and listen to music). Betty will make you laugh with "My 'caring' husband Thomas Friedman worries I don't have time to appreciate his 'genius'" and Wally's mother picked his "THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY GOT SOME HARD LEARNING DISABILITIES!" as her personal favorite this week. Rebecca's "flashpoints and indymedia" is a long commentary covering a number of issues. I wanted to highlight a piece by Elaine but she's going to add to it and asked me not to since she hasn't been able to. I'll grab it next week. "'What I Didn't Find In Iraq' by Bully Boy" was published last Sunday but, if you missed it, please check that out as well.
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Saturday, April 01, 2006

Tortilla Soup in the Kitchen

Tonight, the recipe is for a soup because most of the e-mails were requesting one. A soup can help stretch out a meal so you can serve this with the other Mexican dishes or you can serve it alone.

Tortilla Soup
3 cans of chicken broth
1 can of water
1 cup of cooked, cubed chicken
3 zuchinnis, sliced in rounds
1 white onion, chopped
1 package of frozen corn kernals or 2 cans of corn (drained)
1 can of of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes & green chiles OR up that to the entire can if you like your chicken tortilla soup tomato-ie.
1 ounce of shredded cheese of choice
1 bag of tortilla chips
3 avocados, sliced
a dash of salt (sea salt preferred but not required)
a dash of chili powder
1 fresh lime (optional)
chopped cilantro (optional)

Cook the chicken breasts by baking, frying or boiling. If you boil, boil them in water and use the water for the soup. After they have cooked, dice them into small cubes or you can pull the meat loose (small pieces) and have a different texture to the soup. Once they are cooked add them (and the water you boiled them in, if you boiled them) to a large pot. Add chicken broth and water and heat. Add zuchinni, Ro-tel (or other canned tomato product with chilis), onion, corn, cilantro and salt. Cover and simmer for ten minutes. Remove cover and add the chili powder. Squeeze the juice from 1 fresh lime into the soup pot. Cover and simmer an additional ten minutes. Spoon/ladle into bowls. Add tortilla chips (strips preferred) to the bowls, as well as 1 or 2 slices of avocado, and top with cheese.

Rebecca provided this recipe and we'll all be sampling it shortly. Rebecca said it was an easy version of the recipe and it certainly smells wonderful. Those watching their sodium count (or interested in watching it) should be sure to use low sodium broth. Rebecca, her ex-husband and Elaine are staying with us this weekend. (Rebecca and her ex treated us all to a play last night which was very kind of them.) So it's been a fun weekend of conversations, food, music and more. I think my husband has enjoyed selecting CDs with Elaine more than anything else. He'd asked her to pack some CDs and between those and his own large collection, there's been plenty of music. Right now, the Cowboy Junkies' Early 21st Century Blues is filling the house. My husband loves music and it's a huge treat for him to have someone here who loves music as much as he does.

I enjoy music, even love it, but not to the degree that my husband or Elaine does. I'm the sort of person who really needs to read a little before she goes to bed. That's just part of my routine, so I've always got a book on the end table by the bed. My husband is probably the same way with music which is something I've only grasped this weekend, after years of marriage.

Before the kids were born, and while the first few were little, music was played like this, I'm remembering, but it's only in the last few years that he's begun playing his music again the way he used to. Which does include "blasting it" and probably he avoided that when all the kids were living at home out of some fear of battling music blasts. He and Mike can both sit for hours in the living room and talk while they listen to music or just sit there silent listening to music. With Mike, it's more of a father exposing his son to music he enjoys. Mike will, however, bring his own CDs, especially the White Stripes, and play them as well. But with Elaine, he's found someone who can match him song for song, trivia for trivia. It's like Musical Jeopardy in there. He's even started pulling out his vinyl collection. And he is as obsessive about his vinyl collection as the character in Diner who gripes at Ellen Barkin for putting the vinyl back out of order. (Which is why I've always avoided his vinyl collection. Our oldest daughter, Kelley, and Mike have been our only children brave enough to explore the vinyl more than once and continue exploring it.)

I'm disappointed in the way the discussion of censuring the Bully Boy went yesterday (little courage in the Senate shouldn't surprise me at this late date but it can still disappoint me). I have also been disappointed in the way some of the mainstream press has echoed the attacks on Jill Carroll, the independent journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq and freed this week. Elaine's "The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation" and C.I.'s "Other Items (Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now! today)" and "NYT: Edward Wong tells you that questions about Carroll were raised by a video (as opposed to, say, the press?)" are must reads for that topic. Also worth reading, to restore your sanity with laughter, are Wally's "THIS JUST IN! CONDI SLAMS BULLY!" and Betty's "Thomas Friedman's Frostings and Facials" -- be prepared to laugh with both.
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Saturday, March 25, 2006

Mexican Rice in the Kitchen

I intended that we'd wrap up our Mexican meal tonight but there have been so many e-mails on this that we'll have another recipe next week. If you've forgotten or new to this site, we've made vegetarian enchiladas, seven layer dip, and charro beans. Next week, we'll offer a soup because a lot of you have asked for one. But this week, we're going to go over Mexican Rice.



Mexican Rice Recipe
1 teaspoon of salt
2 small chopped chillies
1 clove chopped garlic
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups chicken broth or 2 cups of water
1/2 cup of canned tomatoes or fresh tomato puree
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1 small chopped onion

In a skillet or pot heat the oil. Add rice and cook until golden. Add chopped garlic, onion and bell pepper. Stir frequently for 1 minute. Add the 2 cups of water/chicken broth and bring to boil. Add tomatoes and reduce to low heat. Cover the skillet or pot and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat by placing on another burner, uncover and let stand for five minutes. This will allow the rice to absorb the liquid.

Now Tuesday, as Ruth noted today, KPFA and KPFT will be covering the latest Senate hearings on the illegal NSA spying of American citizens. More Pacficia stations may cover it as well. Those two stations are confirmed. It will start in the morning and is expected to continue for half the day. On the east coast, it would begin airing at 9:30 a.m., I believe.

For laughs and strong commentary, read C.I.'s "NYT: SITE gives Dexy translations, he gives them play -- None dare call it reporting." I also suggest you check out Cedric's "THIS JUST IN! CONDI RICE HAS HER OWN SET OF RIDERS" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! CONDI RICE HAS HER OWN SET OF RIDERS." Same title? It's a joint entry that they wrote together and posted at both of their sites. (I listed them alphabetically in case anyone's wondering about the order.) I also enjoyed my son Mike's "Iraq, Iraq, Iraq" and hearing about the speech he made. (Which I would have loved to have seen but he said he was nervous.) And thanks to Ava and C.I.'s "TV Review: Don't call her Elaine" I did check out The New Old Christine this week and it actually is a funny show. I'm not much for TV watching but I do intend to try to catch it Monday. (My husband enjoyed it even more than I did. I laughed throughout but I might have laughed more if I could have heard more -- my husband laughs loud.) And if, like me, you've often wondered what it's like to take part in those marathon, all night sessions at The Third Estate Sunday Review, please read "Ava's entry."

We had a house party tonight to discuss the war with our friends and I'm tired. My husband, daughter and my son (Mike) helped me clean up and all I want to do is go to sleep so I apologize for two weeks in a row of offering not much in the way of commentary.

















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Saturday, March 18, 2006

Charro Beans in the Kitchen

I hope you did something today to make your voice heard. The war won't stop until we demand that the troops be brought home. I went to a rally with my husband, my son Mike, his girlfreind Nina, my youngest daughter, and my oldest daughter Kelly. I hope you're participating and making your voice heard.

I'm listening to RadioNation with Laura Flanders and you can think Ms. Flanders for energizing me enough to write tonight because I am pretty wiped out. Are you?

We'll pick up up on the planned dish for the Mexican meal next week; however, we'll go over a dish that can be served with that meal. It's a simple dish and you may want to make it by itself or use it in combination with other Mexican dishes we've made. I would suggest you purchase tortillas to eat with this dish.

I'm big on cooking for yourself. However, tortillas require a lot of practice. Fortunately, tortillas, freshly baked, are available in most grocery stores these days. If you're buying them in a plastic bag, several hours after they've been cooked, here's a tip: use the microwave.

There are several ways to heat them and, in fact, there's a tortilla warmer you can purchase. However, you don't need to purchase that. You can put them in a deep dish with a dampened hand towel on top or you can put them on plate with a damped paper towel over them.

When my youngest daughter warms tortillas, she likes to dampen each one before stacking them on a plate so you might try that as well.

Charro beans is the dish you can eat them with and there are numerous recipes for charro beans. This one is a very basic, very simple one.



1 bag of dry pinto beans
6 slices of bacon cut into pieces
4 to 5 serrano peppers
2 garlic cloves; more if you're not using bacon
1/2 onion
4 roma tomatoes or 1 can of diced tomatoes




Directions:
You need to "sort the beans." Connie wondered why that was a few weeks ago when she was attempting to cook some dried black eyed peas? Because sometimes you may have a pebble or something else in the dried beans. So sort them by emptying the package. I use a collander to do that but some people do it on a counter or table top. After you sort them, you need to soak them. The directions for soaking are on the back of every package of dried beans. Quick soak is fine; however, for people who have gas problems especially, you will want to do the overnight soak or purchase some sort of gas relief product.
After they are soaked, you need to drain them. This is a step a lot of people skip. Don't skip it. Drain them. I use the collander for that as well.
After you drain them, you will begin cooking them (with fresh water).
You are following the basic directions on the bag.
However, these are not pinto beans, these are charro beans, so you'll need additional ingredients.
If you're using the bacon, you need to cook it first. I use a skillet. However, my children love bacon and I would not let them fry anything until they were familiar with the oven/stove and I was sure they were responsible enough to handle frying.
Mike grew tired of waiting. At ten, he was allowed to cook cookies in the oven. One summer day, he decided to cook bacon that way. If I'd known he was doing it, I would've stopped him. He did it on his own. And the bacon turned out great.
So I learned something new. And when his youngest sister was able to use the oven, she was allowed to cook bacon in the oven as well. If you're doing that, you'll need a baking sheet. I'd recommend you line it with foil to make clean up easier. Temperature? Anywhere from 350 degrees to 425. It's a matter of how long you want to cook it and how you like your bacon. (I continue to use the skillet, myself.)
After you've cooked the bacon, let it dry on a paper towel. Once dry (and cooled) you can slice it or crumble it. Add that to the beans. (You can being boiling the water before you add the bacon.) You will also add the sliced tomatoes or can of diced tomatoes, the peppers, the garlic and the onion.
If you're not using bacon, double the garlic (or more if you love garlic). If you're not able to get serrano peppers, any pepper will do. In a pinch, you can use jalepeno peppers in a can or jar, but fresh is better.
If using fresh peppers, have vinegar on hand. Depending on the pepper and yourself, dicing them may make your hands burn. Vinegar will stop the burning. (Water will not.) You could also wear gloves. I've never had a problem with any pepper, even fresh jalepeno, however, I do know people who do end up with burning when handling freshly sliced peppers.
One more time, vinegar is the only thing that will stop the burning. You can pour it over your hands or you can soak your hands in it. Water will stop it for a second but as soon as the water dries, the burn comes back.
Now you can put the beans through a food processor or blender after they're cooked to make them smoother. Or you can serve them as they are.
Some people add the ingredients at later stages to the pot of beans simmering in water. That's your call. With fresh tomatoes, I usually do wait until the last ten minutes. But that's your call and the easiest way is to just add the ingredients as you go along.
This is an easy dish and only one way to make it.
You can also add some chopped cilantro to the dish.

They can be eaten as they are or you can wrap them in tortillas.

I hope you are using your voice this week. It appears that the latest air raid was an attempt by Bully Boy to change the news focus. On the radio tonight, that appears to have been the way things worked out. Regardless, we need to bring the troops home now.

There's an effort to push the conversation into the area of "strategy" on what we should have done. Like C.I., I see this as a revisionist tactic that is being pushed to convince Americans that "we just made a few mistakes, now we can win it." We can't win it. We can't win in an illegal war and we can't win an occupation. It's time to stand up and make your voice counted.

Michael Gordon is one of the people pushing the coulda-woulda-shoulda argument. And Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales refused to play along Friday on Democracy Now! The report can be watched, listened or read online if you missed it: "New York Times Chief Military Correspondent Michael Gordon Defends Pre-War Reporting on WMDs."

You should also check out C.I.'s "NYT: Can't own up to mistakes, be it the paper or Michael Gordon" which ties in Gordon's refusal to admit his mistakes with those of the paper he works for (New York Times). Also, read "And the war drags on (Indymedia Roundup)" for C.I.'s commentary. It is powerful and my husband's here, in the kitchen, asking if I mentioned that yet? That was his favorite thing online this week. There were many wonderful things written by the community this weekend. I'll note my son's "Feingold, crimp in the war on Iran, jealousy and more" because Wally's mother and I really enjoyed it. We also laughed and discussed the topics raised in Wally's "THIS JUST IN! WHITE HOUSE LAP DOG FROTHS AT THE MOUTH!" so let me recommend that. Again, there were many wonderful entries, but I'm just trying to finish this post. I don't know how everyone does the all night marathons for
The Third Estate Sunday Review -- I'm ready to crash and Laura Flanders' show is still on.













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Sunday, March 12, 2006

Seven Layer Dip in the Kitchen

I'm late in posting tonight because my husband and I had old friends over and it was a long evening, a nice one, but a long one.

The reaction to last week's recipe? The e-mails spoke of being thrilled to have a meal and not just a dish. Connie wrote wondering if we could have another one? We exchanged e-mails all week on this. She likes Mexican dishes. Since we can now serve an Italian meal, a Mexican meal seemed like a good idea. This will be three dishes but don't panic, one of the dishes we've already gone over.

The dish tonight would be the appetizer for the meal. However, it can be served as a stand alone snack or meal. There's no cooking involved so hopefully that will help anyone nervous over "three dishes." It's a dish known as seven layer dip. There are many recipes for it and Connie had two favorites. We're going with one because it uses refried beans. The other used a can of bean dip. For those in a hurry, you can use prepared bean dip. But in terms of nutrients and sodium, you'd be better off going with the recipe below.


LAYERED NACHO DIP
1 (16 oz.) can Old El Paso refried beans
1/2 pkg. McCormick taco seasoning mix
1 (6 oz.) carton avocado dip
1 sm. can chopped ripe olives
1 sm. can onion, finely chopped
1 sm. can Old El Paso chopped green chilies
1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream
2 tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 c. shredded Monterey Jack
Mix beans and seasoning mix. Spread bean mix in 8x12x2 inch dish. Layer remaining ingredients in order. Serve with nacho chips.

That's a very simple recipe and it's from Cooks.com. I have a recipe that I use which requires a little more work so we'll go with this one and bring up the other one at a later date. You can use low-fat or no-fat sour cream if you prefer them to regular sour cream and you don't have to use McCormick's taco seasoning mix, any taco seasoning mix can be used.

Now this would be the appetizer you'd serve to guests before a meal if you were using it as one dish in a meal. You can combine it with vegetarian enchiladas. Connie's had success with it and those who've e-mailed have as well. You could, in fact, make a meal of just the two but if you're planning to entertain, like Connie is, and wanting various dishes, we'll have a recipe up next week to complete the meal.

What will the recipe be? Connie, Wally's mother and I are trying to figure that out. There are a few simple dishes that can be made. One of which is a wonderful soup but with spring staring down on us and summer quickly to follow, we thought a hot soup would be a recipe better saved for another time of year.

Speaking of time of year, the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is almost here. I hope you talk about the war as much to your friends as you do in the e-mails you send. The only way the war will end is if we use our voices. My husband asked Mike to post the following and I'll assume he's wishing I would as well.

"MediaChannel, UFPJ and Partners Call For National Media Action"
The national day of local media protest announced last week on MediaChannel.org has received such a positive response that the organizers of United For Peace And Justice, the country's largest anti-war coalition, decided to change the date from March 21st to March 15th. The media protest will now kickoff this years week-long "spring offensive" against the war, just before the third anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.
Organizers were so excited about the prospect of bringing media activists and anti-war activists together, to challenge media outlets to tell the truth about the war and report on the anti-war movement, that they decided it should begin the week and not end it.
"The media helped make the war possible," charges UFPJ National Coordinator Leslie Cagan. "It's time to call for more coverage and better coverage."
The protests will also pay tribute to journalists and media workers killed in the line of fire, kidnapped, or jailed without charges. Most recently, on February 23rd an Al-Arabiya media team was gunned down in Iraq. We have to honor those who have lost their lives to get the story out.
MediaChannel.org is taking the lead in reaching out to media and peace groups to encourage a series of media actions on March 15th.
"All of us are media consumers," says MediaChannel editor Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector." "We can all take part by monitoring media coverage, writing letters and emails to media decision makers, and protesting against a pro-war media tilt in much of the coverage. If you have ever complained about the coverage, now's the time to do something by speaking up."

Hopefully, you've already seen it at the other community websites. If this is your first time seeing it, please consider taking part. If it's not for you, please find some way to make yourself heard that is.

We need to use our voices. Staying silent means giving your consent.

I spoke to Ruth this morning on the phone about her latest Ruth's Public Radio Report which I enjoyed and believe you will as well. While we were speaking, she asked if I'd noticed that I don't really spotlight Mike's writing? I hadn't noticed that. I do try not to mention him all the time because I'm sure everyone would be bored reading me going on about my son. However, I do read his site and am very proud of him. One of his best things was this Friday, so I'll recommend that you read "Guantanamo, Spying and why it's important to get the word out ."

Also let me say thank you to C.I. Everyone's working on the latest edition of The Third Estate Sunday Review right now. Mike came downstairs with his cell phone and handed it to me. C.I. was wondering if I had any problems because I hadn't posted? I was just late in starting tonight; however, since I had C.I. on the phone, I asked for help with some links for the list of suggested sites on the left. I'd been meaning to add Democracy Now! for some time and I also added two other sites as well. I know they're all busy and trying hard to finish as quickly as possible. I also wouldn't dream of asking Mike because I'd feel like I was putting him on the spot. But since C.I. was on the phone and asking about my site, I didn't feel too bad getting a walk through on how to do the links.











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Saturday, March 04, 2006

Pasta Timbale in the Kitchen

Here's where we put together our knowledge to make a meal. You can all do this and the recipe tonight is a simple one that I've tried to simplify even more.

You'll find that your oven is your friend after this recipe, trust me. But remember that oven temperatures are not always what the dial says they are so please check your oven with a thermomenter and, if that's not possible, keep a close eye on the dish as you cook.

Pasta Timbale
12 ounces string pasta of choice
12 ounces sweet Italian sausage, crumbled (vegetarians may omit this)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 medicum onion, chopped
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded (1 cup)
1/4 cup chopped parsley (optional)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a pan (butter, olive oil, spray) an 8 1/2 to 9-inch pan.
Boil water and cook pasta according to package directions. I prefer "string" as opposed to shells. I think it binds the dish better. Angel hair is my preference but you can use whatever is your favorite.
While the spaghetti boils, use a medium skillet to heat the sausage. Stir until the sausage is no longer pink (this step can be dropped if you're going for a meatless dish).
Drop garlic, onion into skillet and stir until onion is tender (approximately 3 minutes).
Remove from heat, drain juices and set aside.
Pasta should be done cooking (or nearly). Turn off the water and drain the pasta.
Now you need to mix the cottage cheese until it's smooth. You can do this by hand. If you have a food processor or blender, you can use that. Add the sour cream, eggs, oregano, nutmeg, salt and pepper. If using you a blender or food processor use the "pulse" button.
You need a big bowl or you can use the skillet that you cooked in. Blend what you cooked (pasta and what you cooked in the skillet) with the cootage cheese & sour cream mixture. Add 1/2 of the cheese and parsely (if you're using parsely) and mix.
Put this mixture into the greased pan and and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 of cheese on top. Cover pan will foil and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 minutes more.
Remove dish from oven and allow to stand for five minutes. (Place it on stove burners but never on a countertop.)

That recipe is from my friend Anna and we've adapted it here. She uses the broiler for one step. We're skipping that because the dish is fine without it and we're using our ovens. We're also not flouring or using a spring foam pan. This is a delicious dish and we've simplified steps to make it more user friendly but we haven't simplified the taste.

All you have to now is slice and serve.

For entertaining, make the Brushetta from last week as appetizers and serve the timbale as the main dish with a green salad on the side.

For those who are worrying about oven space, you can make the Brushetta and put the mixture in the fridge to chill. You can set the (cooked) bread aside. Then begin cooking this dish. Once you have it in the oven, you can pop the bread in the microwave in a bowl with a damp hand towel on top of it. Then you serve the bread and mixture as an appetizer. When the bell goes off letting you know the timbale is done, you're ready to begin the main course.

That's called "putting it all together." A meal doesn't just emerge, you add to it. The big picture.
What was the big picture this week?

I'm afraid that it was while Bully Boy reached new lows in the polls, Democrats still couldn't stand up collectively. They didn't stop the Patriot Act, they didn't do a very good job in the NSA hearing Tuesday.

So what's it going to take for them to put it all together? That's what missing. A vision. They're serving us side dishes and we're craving a meal.

For more on the hearings, see C.I.'s "NYT: Republicans seek a 'bridge' (Brooklyn, so they can sell it to you?)" and let me also encourage you to read Kat's latest music reviews "Kat's Korner: Cat Power's Greatness" and "Kat's Korner: Nina Simone -- Golden"

Next week? I haven't thought that far ahead. I'll probably decide based on the e-mails.






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Saturday, February 25, 2006

Brushetta in the kitchen

Remember last week when we made American Brushetta? I had four e-mails from people willing to try using their ovens if it would, in one person's words, "really get me ready for a real recipe." In addition, the young woman whose e-mail had inspired Bonnie and I to put our heads together for a simple, get to know your oven recipe, made it three times and feels she can handle the oven.

A "real" recipe? Here we go, but note that you put more into the oven with last week's recipe than you will with this week's (where all you will be cooking is sliced bread).

8-10 slices of bread
1/3 cup of olive oil

Topping ingredients:
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 cup chopped Romaine lettuce
1 tablespoon of basil spice
1 garlic clove, minced or chopped
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/3 cup crumbled cheese (feta or blue cheese)


Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush olive oil on both sides of bread slices. (I prefer Italian bread but you can also use French bread.) Don't have a cooking brush? Use the back end of a large spoon. Remember, you are dampening the bread, not soaking it. Put bread slices on a baking sheet. Place in the oven. After seven minutes, remove baking sheet, flip bread slices over and bake for seven more minutes. (Remember, oven temperatures may vary. As a guideline, the bread should look the same as you prefer it for your toast.)

While that is going on, take the topping ingredients and put them into a bowl. You can add any left over olive oil to the bowl as well. Stir the ingredients.

When the bread is done, guess what? You are done cooking. Turn off the oven. Now spoon the mixture onto each slice, about 1 tablespoon per slice.

Warning: You can cook the bread in a toaster oven following the same directions; however, I would not recommend that you brush the bread with olive oil and then attempt to cook the bread in a standard toaster.

This is a "real" dish, with a real "name," that is cooked and requested. Wally's mother and I were talking on the phone this week and she prefers to serve it on bagel chips she's bought at the bakery in her local grocery store. For that, or if you don't have an oven and use a standard toaster for the bread, you can brush with olive oil after.

If you are using the oven, congratulations because you've cooked a "real" dish in your oven. You'll find that it wasn't that hard. Marci e-mailed saying she had eaten Brushetta and she looked forward to the recipe but what would really help her would be a "meal." She'd like to serve the Brushetta on small slices as an appetizer and would enjoy having an easy to cook main dish. Which meant I was on the phone with Elaine, Rebecca and Betty checking to see if the recipe I have planned for next weekend was as easy for others as it seemed to be to me. Betty's concern is time because she has three small children. Elaine's concern is "easy" and time because if it's too much work, she's just as likely to stop on her way from work and pick up something instead of cooking. Rebecca feels she's a so-so cook unless she's got someone in the kitchen or on the phone walking and talking her through each step the first time she makes a dish. They helped me pick a recipe that they found easy. Then I ran the idea past Cedric. He's more apt to toss something frozen in the microwave but he's started using the recipes here and is getting comfortable with "cooking more than eggs." Cedric listened to the steps required and said that not only could he handle that but that he could cook it for the woman he's dating now and have a romantic dinner.

So thank you to Marci for the e-mail and next week's recipe will be baked dish to ensure that we're still using our ovens. It will also involve boiling water on the stove and, for some, browning meat in a skillet. If that has some of you excited, great. If it worries some of you, wait until next week and you'll see how easy all the steps are. (Those who don't eat meat or would prefer to skip meat for that dish will just be using the oven and boiling water on the stove.)

I saw something in Ruth's Public Radio Report today that I wanted to pass on:

From KPFT in Houston:
Program Preemption on Tuesday, February 28 - 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Senate hearings on the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program.
I do not doubt that other Pacifica stations may carry this but this morning only KPFT had a note up about it on their main page. Eight in the morning until five in the evening are Central Time Zone times.

That's this coming Tuesday. You can listen to Pacifica radio over the internet if you don't live in one of the areas that broadcasts it over the airwaves. Ruth's noting the 10th anniversary of Democracy Now! in her latest report. That is a program we watch in my house. I get more useful news and information from that program than I do from our local paper. As local TV news becomes more and more a crime watch and focused on the petty misdeeds of city workers, as opposed to the city's elected officials, I've found my desire to watch it has decreased. But Monday through Friday, I make a point to watch the hourly broadcast of Democracy Now! If you've never caught a show (which also airs on the radio and online), take a moment this coming week to check it out. I think you'll be impressed. For her report, Ruth called a number of us and asked us to select a report from the show that has stayed with us. I was impressed with various choices and it brings home just how much the show has covered. If you want to know what's going on in the world, watch or listen to Democracy Now! (and online, you can also read transcripts).























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Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Headlines

Mike here. Not a recipe, scroll down for Ma's latest. I'm posting something (with her permission from earlier today so chill everybody :D) a number of us worked on tonight/this morning that I'm calling Headlines.

In the United Kingdom today, over 200 people gathered at St Nicholas and Writhington Church, in Radstock, Somerset for the funeral of Corporal Gordon Pritchard who died in Basra on January 31, 2005 becoming the 100th British soldier to die in Iraq. 101 British troops have died in Iraq, official count. Gordon Pritchard, who was 31 years-old, is survived by his wife Julie-Ann and his children Stacey, Harrison and Summer.

Alexander Panetta, of the Associated Press, is reporting that Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay maintains that "latest intelligence" indicates that the four memebers of Christian Peacemaker Teams are still alive. The four members, kidnapped in November, were last seen in a January 29th videotape. The four members are:

James Loney, 41, of Toronto;
Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a former Montreal resident;
Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., and
Norman Kember, 74, of London [. . .]

Sunday's upsurge in violence continued on Monday. Reuters is reporting that bombings in Mosul and Baghdad today killed "at least 19 people." The Associated Press reports that in Karbala one American soldier was killed in a bombing and that in Mosul, a bomber killed himself in a "restaurant packed with policemen eating breakfast, killing at least five people and wounding 21, including 10 policemen". The Department of Defense has identified Capt. Anthony R. Garcia of Fort Worth, Texas as one of the 34 US military fatalities this month. Garcia died of from gunshot wounds after a February 17th shooting that took place on a military base in Tikrit. Garcia is survived by his wife Doris and his children Kelly and Garrick.

Brian Zimmerman, of Gannet News, is reporting that questions still surround the shooting death of Army Reservist David Douglas who died two weeks after returning to the United States from a one-year stint in Iraq. Commenting on the violent deaths of many returning veterans, National Guardsman Alfonso Williams told Zimmerman:

You have a whole lot of built-up anger from being over there. . . . You can't explain (what it's like) to anybody. And to them, what they may think is screaming and hollering to you is a normal tone.

In 2005, the military reports that 136 active duty personnel committed suicide. No figures are kept for those who are inactive. The current number for US military fatalities in Iraq stands at 2276.

As Jane Mayer reported in The New Yorker, early warnings were ignored by the administration about the environment created for abuse of prisoners in Guantanamo. Noting that "Human rights are under threat," Amnesty International is calling for the closing of Guantanamo. Tuesday, Amnesty International will host a live online discussion:

Live chat with Moazzam Begg, ex Guantánamo detainee, on 21 February, 6-7pm GMT

Moazzam Begg, British citizen, was held for "nearly three years," as noted on Democracy Now!. Amnesty International's call echoes the call of the UN investigation team as well as the prime ministers of Germany, France, England and Malaysia. U.S. Charm Minister Karen Hughes, speaking to Al Jazeera, rejected calls to close Gitmo and reportedly maintained that not only are the people imprisoned in Guantanamo wanting to kill Americans but that some released "have gone back to fighting and killing Americans." If the report is accurate, it is surprising that such an assertion would be made by the Minister of Charm and not Bully Boy himself.

In this country, the Associated Press is reporting that Republican governors George Pataki (New York) and Robert Ehrlich (Maryland) have joined the chorus of voices objecting by administration plans to turn over control of "six major U.S. ports" to Dubai Ports World. Senators Robert Menendez (New Jersey) and Hillary Clinton (New York) are also objecting to the proposed plan. Speaking out against the plan involving the Arab company, Mendendez stated today, "We wouldn't turn over our customs service or our border patrol to a foreign government. We shouldn't turn over the ports of the United States, either."

Feminist Wire Daily is reporting that CWIG (Center for Women in Government and Civil Society) has conducted a study on "the percentage of women in policy-making positions - such as state legislators, elected officials, high court judges, department heads, and top governor's advisors" for the years 1998 to 2005 and found that the rate of growth for women in those positions increased by only 1.6% -- "from 23.1 percent to 24.7 percent." FWD notes:

Slow progress for women in state government has national implications, says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers. State and local office serve as a "pipeline" to draw women into national politics. Not to mention, adds Walsh, state legislatures themselves are "making a tremendous amount of policy" –- in 2005, 48 state legislatures considered over 500 anti-choice bills.

On the national level, NOW notes, that although "almost nine million more women voted than men" only fourteen women serve in the United States Senate and only sixty-seven in the House, while of the fifty governors in the United States, only eight are women.

As noted on Sunday's KPFA Evening News, Saturday Feb. 25th, a Counter-Recruiting workshop will be held, open to the public, from 2 to 5pm at the Veterans' Memorial Building, Room 219, 401 Van Ness Ave. March 1st is the National Law Student Day Against the Death Penalty (SDADP).

In other news, Philadelphia Indymedia is reporting that Governor Ed Rendell vetoed the Pennsylvania's Voter ID bill. Rendell, who spanked Casey Junior in the 2002 election race, stated, "I see no reason to enact laws that will result in voter confusion and disenfranchise legitimately registered voters." Member of Protect the Vote had successfully fought against the proposed legislation and were on hand for the veto ceremony.

In other civil liberties news, following what BuzzFlash has called "Just Your Average Week of the Bush Administration Betraying America," the ACLU features a snapshot of governmental spying/snooping in the form of Betty Ball who states:

It is true that I have become more motivated to work for justice and social change knowing that the government is abusing its powers like this. But I am worried about how far the government will go to squelch First Amendment rights and silence dissent. Will we all be rounded up and incarcerated? Already so many people have been frightened away from participating in our events, and have asked to have their names removed from our mailing lists, for fear of the consequences of associating with us. I hesitate to call people to discuss plans for rallies or protests because I don’t want them ending up in an FBI file labeled as a "domestic terrorist."

Meanwhile, author and activist Diane Wilson remains in a Victoria County jail in Texas. Wilson was arrested for unfurling a banner that read "Corporate Greed Kills--From Bhopal to Baghdad" at a Dick Cheney attended fundraiser in Houston on December 5, 2005. Wilson's banners are apparently too much for the delicate sensibilities of the foes of democracy. She is currently serving a 150 day sentence for a 2002 action where she climbed a Dow Jones tower and unfurled a banner which read "Justice For Bhopal." CODEPINK is calling for Wilson's release.

In other take action news, MediaChannel.org is asking you to Take Action: Demand Coverage of Able Danger (more info on the Able Danger program can be found at Able Danger Media Monitoring).

Finally, Monday's Democracy Now! featured:

"Readings From Howard Zinn's 'Voices of a People's History of the UnitedStates:'"
Today we spend the hour with readings from a Voices of a People's History of the United States edited by historian Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. It is the companion volume to Zinn's legendary People's History of the United States ­ which has sold over a million copies.We will hear dramatic readings of speeches, letters, poems, songs, petitions, and manifestos. These are the voices of people throughout U.S.history who struggled against slavery, racism, and war, against oppression and exploitation, and who articulated a vision for a better world. Performances include Danny Glover as Frederick Douglass, Marisa Tomei as Cindy Sheehan, Floyd Red Crow Westerman as Tecumseh and Chief Joseph, Sandra Oh as Emma Goldman and Yuri Kochiyama, and Viggo Mortensen as Bartolomeo de Las Casas and Mark Twain.

This entry was compiled by:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim;
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man;
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review;
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills);
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix;
Mike of Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz;
and Wally of The Daily Jot.
























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Saturday, February 18, 2006

American Brushetta in the Kitchen

I had an e-mail from a young woman who wrote that she can't make anything but mashed potatoes (instant) and if there was "an easy recipe" using that, she would try to cook something.
Well there's an easy recipe for mashed potatoes but let's stick with instant mashed potatoes for a moment. Bonnie is a community member that I've exchanged e-mails with for about six months now. (Since she wrote a wonderful guest column in the gina & krista round-robin.) She's someone who enjoys cooking. So I called Bonnie and we discussed mashed potatoes. There are actually a number of things you can use them with. But if you're someone who's scared of your oven, as the e-mailer was, we felt this was the easiest thing that could get you used to using your oven. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
Instant mashed potatoes
4 slices of bread
1 fresh tomato
cheese
pepper

Make enough instant mashed potatoes for four servings. Set aside. Heat oven to 400 degrees. (You can use a toaster oven for this recipe but we're trying to get the e-mailer used to using her oven.) Place four slices of the bread of your choice on a cookie sheet, pizza pan, glass pan . . .(whatever you have). Spoon mashed potatoes on bread. Use spoon to spread the mashed potatoes on each slice of bread. Slice your tomato. I prefer slices but Bonnie says that she's made this for her kids with chopped tomatoes as well. Place tomatoes on top of the mashed potatoes. Pepper the open faced sandwiches in the normal amount you would use. If you don't like pepper, skip this step. If you add salt, add it here. Now top the open faced sandwiches with cheese. I always grated cheese when I made these for my kids but Bonnie said that when her eldest turned 12, he started fixing them for his siblings and he would use cheese slices. So use whichever you prefer, grated cheese or a cheese slice you would use for a sandwich.

Place the cookie sheet into the oven. You want the cheese to bubble. When that happens, you're done. Here's where cheese slices might work better because they will trap the heat and make sure the mashed potatoes are warmed as a result. If you overcook, you will burn the bread on the bottom. So watch the sandwiches (it shouldn't take more than five minutes).

Now what do you have? I don't know. I've never had a name for it. My grandmother would make them for us. I asked Bonnie if she ever knew a name for this and she didn't. So we'll call it American Bruschetta. If the reader will work on that recipe and let me know if it turned out, next week, we'll do a recipe for bruschetta.

This recipe is one that probably became popular when kids were hungry and a mother (of a father) was looking through the fridge and trying to figure out what to fix. It is wonderful on a cold day. You've got a warm sandwich that tastes good. It's an easy recipe. (You can probably make it even easier by purchasing already made mashed potatoes.) So I hope the reader will try it and anyone else who is nervous about using their ovens. It will get you over the hump and we'll go a little further with next week's recipe.

I don't see this as a place where I'm going to say, "Cook this! I do! So you should too!" I see it as a place where we can see that cooking isn't difficult. If you're reading this and you can identify something as the reason that keeps you from cooking (either than, "I hate it!"), please let me know and we'll see what we can do about it. Every recipe here will not involve cooking and I was tempted to do another recipe that didn't require cooking after I read the e-mail. But the reader stated she wanted to use oven but she just felt that everything was beyond her. We've exchanged e-mails and she's been using it on frozen pizzas this week so she's less nervous. But hopefully this recipe will make her even less nervous.

Are you a renter? If you are, your rent money pays for the oven. May as well use it. I want to thank Brady and Cedric because they both passed on that they tried last week's recipe (which required no cooking) and it turned out great. If it hadn't, I would still have wanted to note. C.I. mailed an issue of The New Yorker to me this week with a note to read a story inside. The note just said the essay started on page ninety. I was curious as I opened the magazine and discovered Nora Ephron's "Serial Monogamy: My cookbook crushes."

The essay isn't available online but it is still is onsale and you can also check your libraries for the February 13 & 20, 2006 issue. (It's a double issue.)

In "Serial Monogamy," Nora Ephron provides her usual straightforward and humorous commentary. She explains how she began her own cooking life and the various cookbooks that she learned from or was enthralled by. She also points out that, in Heartburn, she "included Lee's recipe for baked lima beans and pears (unfortunately, I left out the brown sugar, and for years people told me they'd tried cooking the recipe and it didn't work) . . ." My point in including that detail is that I love Heartburn (we talked about it two weeks ago) and I've made all the recipes in the book including the lima beans and pears. The first time I made that baked dish, the kids loved it. It was sweet and syrupy. My husband thought it was runny and wasn't interested. But the kids kept asking for it again and anything that gets kids to eat lima beans and pears is a good thing. So I made it a few times when it hit me that brown sugar would probably make it less runny.

That's where you should be in a perfect world. You try a recipe and it doesn't work out so you figure out how you can make it work for you. Cooking is like democracy, you don't just follow what's on the page, you participate.

You shouldn't live in fear in your kitchen (or of it) and you shouldn't live in fear in your country (or of it). When you explore your kitchen, you get comfortable in it. You should explore your country as well. The Patriot Act is being pushed through for renewal with little opposition (Senators Russell Feingold, Jim Jeffords and Robert Byrd were the only exceptions) and Bully Boy has set the terms for the debate on the warrantless spying of Americans because the press has allowed him to do so. It's about "national security." Illegal spying on Americans is not about "national security." If someone is suspected of something, you go a regular court or the FISA court and get a warrant. That's how it works in America.

If someone came in and told you that before you served lasanga, you needed to take the cooked dish, douse it in Palmolive and run hot water over it, you would know they were insane. But that has to do with knowing how things work. You need to know how things work in the kitchen, you need to know how they work in this country. This is your democracy. Use it.







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Saturday, February 11, 2006

Chilled Dill Peas in the Kitchen

Joanie e-mailed that she enjoys reading the recipes but there's been nothing here for her to make. Why? She swears she burns everything on the stove top or in the oven. We're exchanging e-mails and for others, who may have problems with their ovens, let me make this point, because you put the dial on, for instance, 400 degrees does not mean that's what it's cooking at. You can purchase an oven thermometer at most grocery stores. You'd be surprised at how many ovens are cooking at a lower or higher temperature than what the dial says. So if you're having a problem with your oven, please consider doing that. If you know someone who cooks often, you can probably borrow a thermometer from her or him. After you figure out the difference between the dial's temperature and the actual temperature in the oven, you can make a point to add or subtract as needed when cooking.

But Joanie's concern is one that many people sometimes have. I know as my own children have moved into their own homes, any recipe that required little to no cooking seemed to be greeted with a sigh of relief. So here's a recipe that requires no cooking and it's one that my friend Margaret passed on to me in the eighties.

Chilled Dill Peas
1 16-ounce can of peas, drained and rinsed in cold water
1/4 cup fresh snipped dill
1/2 cup fresh snipped chives
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 cup sour cream

Mix dill, sour cream, chives and curry powder. Add peas to the mix and stir. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Now for some substitutions. First, you can use frozen peas but you'll need to cook them first. On dill and chives, it's always best to use fresh ingredients whenever possible. But the whole point of building up a spice rack is to have seasoning on hand when you might otherwise not be able to get fresh. I have dill and chives on my spice racks. If this is something I'm throwing together at the last minute, I won't have fresh dill or chives on hand. If you're using dried dill or chives, use a tablespoon of chives and a half tablespoon of dill. (Taste it and add more if you'd like.) We always have sour cream in the fridge. Mike and my husband both pour it on their baked potatoes. It's like milk or eggs, a staple in our home. But you can substitute a cup of plain yogurt for the sour cream in this recipe. (And you can use plain yogurt as a substitute for sour cream on baked potatoes.)

You can build a meal around one dish or many dishes without cooking. Many a picnic has proven that. As I said, Joanie and I are exchanging e-mails and we've figured out her oven issue and now are attempting to figure out what's happening on her stove top. But if you're have discomfort with the stove or oven, there are recipes for you. I'll try to note at least one each month and remind me if I forget to. Hopefully, making dishes that require no cooking will give you the satisfaction and comfort to tackle cooking dishes. If you do, and if you're successful, you may find that you prefer making dishes that require no cooking. That's up to you but don't cut off your options out of fear or a belief that you can't do it.

When I got married, I knew a few dishes. And my biggest fear was what happened after I cooked all of them? Was I a failure in the marriage if I didn't learn more? The reality is that most people repeat the same dishes. 365 days doesn't have to mean 365 different dinners. But when I was just married, I was creating this huge problem for myself that didn't exist. I talked about Elaine and my love of books last week and I'll note that one of the things C.I. and I talk about is cooking. C.I. is so much more practical than I was then. Each year, C.I. learns a few new dishes. I would have loved it if someone had given me that advice years ago. So let me pass it on now because it's practical. Purchasing a cookbook and trying to create every recipe in it is something that novices and cooking geniuses attempt (and probably both have the same rate of failure).

So, for instance, if you decide to try this recipe and it's the only one you're willing to try, that's wonderful. You've got one recipe under your belt already in the second month of the year. If you add two more this year, you've got three recipes. That may not seem like much to you; however, if you keep up at that rate, in five years, you've got fifteen recipes you can use with ease.

When we were in DC in September for the rallies, C.I. made two wonderful meals and one of them included a pasta and a sauce that I have permission to share. However, that recipe requires cooking and some may see it as a lot of work. So we'll work up to that recipe.

But fixing a dish or a meal shouldn't scare you. If it does, find a recipe that looks easy to you or a recipe for something you love. It being easy or something you really want to eat will help you get over your discomfort. When we learn that it's not that hard, the fear tends to lessen.

If I seem focused on "fear" this weekend it's because the Bully Boy tried to scare America again with what seems to me a phoney story about a phoney terrorist threat that he falsely claims was averted. Americans were asking hard questions about the NSA spying and you had Michael Brown testifying to Congress on Friday that while the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was to do nothing, they did in fact know how bad it was.

When difficult questions surface, the Bully Boy plays the fear card thinking that if he can scare us, we'll all stop thinking. Fear can be a huge barrier. Don't let it be a barrier to you in the kitchen or in your own life. That's my message for this weekend. And let me thank my son Mike for posting my entry here last weekend. I could not log into my account here at Blogger so I used The Common Ills mirror site. Mike offered to transfer the post over (and did) for me if Blogger started working again. And thank you to C.I. as well for allowing me to use the mirror site. I'll probably cross-post this at the mirror site.





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Sunday, February 05, 2006

Mashed Potatoes in the kitchen

Mike here. Ma couldn't get into this site. She used The Common Ills mirror site to do her post tonight and I'm reposting it here because I'm such a good son. :D Here's Ma:

Trina's Kitchen

C.I. asked me to note that at the top because I'm using The Common Ills mirror site.
I can't pull up the main site or any community website. Mike suggested that I attempt to pull up other sites that use Blogger but no luck there either.

Last Saturday, I did a post and I'll be using the same recipe for the post that never posted. My message, error message, was something about a link not being closed. C.I.'s told me that if that happens again, I just need to click on a box by the error message and I'll be able to publish.
Mike has hounded me, as only one's child can, for not interrupting him and the gang working on the latest edition of The Third Estate Sunday Review to ask for help. They all work so hard and are trying to so hard to just get the editions completed and up so they can get some sleep. I did wait in the kitchen, I was on the computer we have in our kitchen, hoping Mike would come down at some point for a snack or drink. I also stood outside his door several times listening to see if it seemed calm but I could hear him speaking loudly in the phone so I knew they were all hard at work.

My plan was to ask the next morning and I left the computer on since I couldn't save to draft or publish my post. However, my husband was the first one in the kitchen Sunday morning and he assumed I'd forgotten to turn off the computer. He did turn it off and the post was lost.

Kat has told me that's the best thing that could happen. Her opinion is that I've stated I post only on Saturdays and that I might not post every Saturday so not posting, for whatever reason, early on got my point across.

If so, it wasn't a point I intended to make last Saturday.

It's been an awful week for the country. We've had Alito confirmed to the Supreme Court and we've lost Coretta Scott King. I'm not sure which tragedy wiped me out more.

For mashed potatoes: Put 1 large (or 2 small) potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for at least 20 minutes, until tender. Drain and place the potatoes back in the pot and shake over low heat to eliminate excess moisture. Peel. Put through a potato ricer and immediately add 1 tablespoon heavy cream and as much melted butter and salt and pepper as you feel like. Eat immediately. Serves one.

That recipe is from Nora Ephron's novel Heartburn which I'll discuss in a moment, page 127.
First, let me discuss the recipe. I don't use it. I have a number of recipes I used for mashed potatoes but that's not one. Cedric wrote asking if I had a simple recipe for mashed potatoes. I think I do. However, my oldest daughter, after she moved out, wanted a recipe for mashed potatoes. I gave her mine and she had no luck with it. I gave her several others and still no luck. In desparation, I remembed this one and suggested it to her. She still makes mashed potatoes with this recipe, increasing the number of potatoes depending upon how many servings she needs.

So it may work for you as well. You may have to adapt it some, for instance if you don't have a potato ricer. Here's how I make mashed potatoes.

Wash potatoes, unpeeled. Peel potatoes. (I never use less than a pound but I'm cooking for a number of people. If it's just for you, I'd suggest two large potatoes or four small ones. One large one? If you're as thin as Ms. Ephron, go for it.) As you peel potatoes, bring water to boil in a large pot. (I usually use a dutch oven or, if I'm making a huge amount, a stock pot.) I usually spread out the day's newspaper and peel over that so that when I'm finished, I can just roll up the paper and the peels with it. Wash your hands. Though you've washed the potatoes before peeling, you will usually have grit of some kind on your hands.

After washing your hands, begin slicing the potatoes. How? However you want. Big chunks, little slices. They don't need to be sliced in a pretty manner. Whatever's easiest for you. (I go for big chunks.) Your water should now be boiling. You can place them in the water or dump them in. I dump them in because I know to move back to avoid the splash (the water will be hot). I let them boil for at least twenty minutes. No simmer. Once the potatoes are in the water, the boiling stops, and I count my twenty minutes from when they're dumped in, not from when the water starts to boil again. If you're cooking additional items, this is the time to start to work on them. If this is all you're cooking, gather your other ingredents: butter, salt, pepper and milk.

I don't salt the water. You can if you have no sodium concerns.

Once twenty minutes have elapsed, I drain the potatoes. You can use a strainer or a collander. WARNING: The water is hot. Watch your hands. I don't rinse the potatoes after draining, they've just boiled -- they are clean. I use a collander so I then dump the potatoes back into the pot I was cooking them in and add butter. Using a potato masher, I then mash them in the pot adding milk as I go along.

Use the milk sparingly. Add a little each time or you may end up with too much milk, in which case, you're going to end up with a soup and not mashed potatoes. Once you're content with the consistency of the mashed potatoes (I don't care for lumps, but some people do), you can add salt and pepper if you choose. I do add both. You should add sparingly, stir with a large spoon and taste as you go along to avoid getting too much of either. You can always add more, you can't take out what you've added.

Once you're content with the taste, they're done.

For me, that's the simplest recipe. You may prefer Nora Ephron's recipe. Use what works for you.

When Mike helped me work on my profile awhile back, e-mails started coming in asking if I just read literary books? No. I read all forms of books. I do enjoy the books I listed. Elaine is the first person I've encountered in a long time with whom I can exchange books and discuss literature. I'm reading some Satre books currently that she passed on to me. (She also said that when a Democrat's in the White House, I should know that C.I. reads and discusses novels. But when a Republican is in the White House, C.I. is in research mode and that's always been the case.)

Heartburn is a wonderful comic novel that I've read many times. Nora Ephron's main character is Rachel who isn't a cooking expert but writes cookbooks. Her husband Mark is a columnist and is always looking for a topic for his latest column. One topic he doesn't write about is the affair he's having.

When Rachel finds out about the affair, she leaves Mark. There are many complications and a lot of humor so if you haven't read Heartburn, that's a book I would highly recommend. If you've seen the film of Heartburn, you may want to avoid the book. I wouldn't blame you for that. Other than Carly Simon's song "Coming Around Again," there was nothing worthy of note to me in the film Heartburn. But the book is much more enjoyable.

There were many enjoyable posts this week and I'd hoped to highlight a number of them. With the sites not displaying, I'm unable to. But Cedric, Rebecca, Elaine, C.I. and my son Mike did fine work all week. If I'm able to, I will carry this post over to my own site later tonight. I should also note that one of my sons will be getting married this month and February's posts may be spotty as a result.

This was a difficult week for the community and today's problems with Blogger probably don't provide much comfort. But we made it through the week. If mashed potatoes aren't your idea of comfort food, and they may not be, fix or purchase something that is. And enjoy your weekend.








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