Salad Days

These two salads from Jane Brody's Good Food Gourmet are favorites from way back, and perfect for July. I've taken the Corn and Barley Salad to many a potluck for something just a little different, and people always love it. It would also be good with that quinoa you cooked and are not sure what to do with. Which reminds me, on the weekend I like to cook up a big batch of grains of one type or another---quinoa, barley, brown rice---as well as a pot of pinto, black, garbanzo or other beans. During the week these come together with some other ingredients to make many of our dinners and lunches, just by adding some freshly garlic-sauteed baby spinach and a crumble of feta cheese over the top of the grain; or adding a quick vinaigrette, some scallions, cumin, and parsley or cilantro for a lunch salad. It's a God-send to open the fridge and see bowls of grains and beans just waiting for you to do the tiniest bit of creative combination and prep. It also requires fewer brain cells, which are sorely lacking in my kitchen during the current heat wave.

Speaking of heat waves, Lucy and I are escaping off to Bermuda tomorrow via a big cruise ship leaving from the west side of Manhattan. One of the things we're most excited about, of course, is all the different restaurants on the ship. Melissa and Leslie, if one of them serves tapas, you'll know where to find us for the next 8 days! Bon Voyage.

Corn and Barley Salad

Salad:

• 3 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup barley
• 2 cups cooked corn kernels
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1 large tomato, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 to 2 seeded and minced jalapenos

Dressing:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 TBSP white wine vinegar
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup minced cilantro or fresh parsley

1. Cook the barley in a large pan of boiling salted water, stirring often until just tender---about 30 minutes for pearled barley, 40 minutes for unpearled. DO NOT OVERCOOK THE BARLEY. Drain in a colander, rinse it under cold water, and let it drain until cool.

2. Transfer cooled barley to a large bowl. Add corn, scallions, tomato, and peppers; toss well.

3. Mix dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pour dressing over salad, toss the salad well to combine ingredients thoroughly. Cover the bowl and chill in refrigerator.

4. One hour before serving time, stir the parsley or silantro into the salad, and allow to come to room temp.

Orzo Pesto Salad

Whole wheat orzo is my pasta of choice these days. Sometimes my quick workday lunch is room-temp orzo topped with chopped fresh tomatoes and a spoonful of store-bought pesto. That reminded me of this salad.

• 1 pound whole wheat orzo
• Boiling salted water
• 1 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, minced
• 1/4 cup minced parsley
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large sweet red pepper, cored, seeded, chopped

1. Cook orzo in boiling salted water for 8 minutes; drain.

2. While the orzo cooks, combine remaining ingredients except red pepper in a large bowl. Add the drained orzo while it is still warm, mix the ingredients well, and refrigerate the salad.

3. Just before serving, add the red pepper and toss the salad.

Polenta Pizza Crust

It's not possible. That's what I tell visitors here. It's just not possible to get bad pizza in New York, at least in my experience. Sister and I have our favorite place: Patsy's on 2nd Avenue. But you can walk into any Italian deli on the corner of East-where-the-heck-am-I and Get-me-out-of-here-before-something-really-bad-happens, and I swear you will get a tasty slice. Some may be a little greasier than you want, but the flavor and crust of every one of them will be super good. It just will.

But today I'm talking about homemade pizza. My own. I'm a leftover-eater, a behavior inherited from my mother. It's not that it bothers me to discard food (Lucy's the one who can't bear to throw it out, "But that would be wasting it!" Soooooo, it ends up in the fridge until I throw it out for her; what's wrong with this picture?). It's just that I love food so much, I want to eat every morsel of whatever it is. Pizza is a great "palate" for using leftovers. You can throw a few things together on a crust and end up with a piece of art that fully satisfies both your eyes and your (other kind of) palate.

Except for one thing. That crust thing I mentioned. Unless you happen to keep a ball of pizza dough in your fridge---which I have done at different times, mostly when I was extra fat, since my best shopping friend Trader Joe sells a great ball of whole wheat pizza dough for about a buck-fifty---you're kinda S.O.L. when the mood for pizza strikes or when just the right mix of leftovers present themselves. Being a WeWa member, I've been told all the low-cal, low-fat tricks for making a mini-pizza: use a split toasted pita; an English muffin; a multi-grain wrap. Yeah, yeah, I know. Some of them are ok, but not really. For one thing, I want a whole pizza, not some little fake mini thing. And I'm not willing to use the WeWa points for real dough. In fact, I am so stinkin' picky I want a real crust that costs me ZERO points. So what's a WeWa foodie to do?

Drumroll, please. Enter POLENTA, wonder food of the world! Seriously, this stuff is freakin' amazing. Just ask Leslie if you don't believe me----she's like some kind of creamy polenta pod-person. I've already mentioned on here that when I make creamy polenta, I now make extra and use it for a replacement fried cornbread fix. That experience got me thinking about the possibility of using polenta to make a super thin pizza crust. I DID IT! And IT'S DELICIOUS! I made last weekend's pot of creamy polenta a little thinner than usual (it would have thickened up more if I had continued to cook it a few more minutes). The part we ate as a creamy base for leftover tomato sauce mixed with haricot vert, pork cutlet (mine), fake chicken (Lucy's) and freshly grated parm was as delicious as always. The difference was that what I spread out in an olive-oiled bar pan was super, super thin. After it was covered in the fridge for a day, it was time for Dr. Frankenstein's polenta pizza crust experiment. I put the bar pan of super-thin polenta into a 400 degree oven and left it to crisp up. It also shrunk a good couple of inches away from the sides, and browned around the edges. Then I flipped it over to crisp on the other side while I got toppings ready for Southwest Pizza. My half, in order from the crust up: refried beans spread on just as if it was tomato sauce, salsa, shredded chicken breast (cooked), lightly sauteed red onion with yellow and red peppers, and a sprinkle of cilantro. Lucy's half: refried beans, salsa, freshly grated part skim mozzarella, same onion and pepper mixture, and cilantro. I popped it into the hot oven just until the cheese melted. On my slice (OK, on my multiple slices, cause we both ate the whole thing) I added a dollop of Greek yogurt, another spoonful of salsa, and more cilantro. We both deemed the Polenta Pizza Crust a rip roaring success.

Now, if you're a normal person (i.e., not a chubbette like me) you can just use a regular pizza crust for your nice Southwest Pizza and forget all this polenta nonsense. But if you like really thin crispy crust, as I do, or if you're a Simply Filling/Core WeWa'er who wants to avoid the use of flour and use zero points on her pizza, as I am, this is a solution. The Southwest Pizza variation lends itself to the polenta crust especially well, of course, but this technique is a keeper for us. We've already decided our next one will be a Greek Pizza: feta cheese, tomatoes, spinach, and other mediterranean goodness. My own New York pizza success, thank you very much.

Stars, Stripes, and Quinoa

Quinoa and Tomato Salad

(recipe courtesy of WeWa)

Quinoa is a nutrition powerhouse. I used to not care for it, but now I have lots of recipes that are really tasty. I'm not sure I knew to rinse it before it's cooked, when I used to fix it. I had a hard time deciding whether to use fresh basil or cilantro (had no chives) in this recipe but finally decided on basil. Cilantro would have gone nicely with our pinto beans, roasted cauliflower, and fried polenta, but the basil was calling my name. By the way, it sounds like "keen-wah." I always try to make some extra quinoa, cause some mornings I like to stir it into my Greek yogurt for breakfast and add a little cinnamon spice blend and freshly grated nutmeg.

The stars and stripes part is at the very bottom of this posting.

Ingredients

	1 cup(s) uncooked quinoa
	2 cup(s) grape tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes, red and/or yellow*
	1 Tbsp olive oil
	1 Tbsp white wine vinegar, or more to taste
	1/2 tsp table salt, or more to taste
	1/4 tsp black pepper, or more to taste
	2 Tbsp chives, fresh, minced

Instructions

• Put quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve or fine strainer. Place under cold running water until water runs clear (this eliminates the bitter taste contained in quinoa's coating); drain well. (Or you can buy certain brands of quinoa that are pre-rinsed.)
  
  
• Place rinsed quinoa in a medium saucepan and cover with 2 cups of cold water; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the grains are translucent and the germ has come out of each grain, about 15 minutes. Cover and remove from heat; let sit for 5 minutes.
  
  
• Spoon quinoa into a large bowl and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, finely chop tomatoes, reserving 2 tablespoons of the tomato juice; set tomatoes aside.
  
  
• In a cup, combine tomato juice, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and chives; stir well.
  
  
• When quinoa is at room temperature, stir in chopped tomatoes; add tomato vinaigrette and toss again. Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.

Notes

• *If desired, substitute 2 large tomatoes for the grape tomatoes.
  
  The simple ingredients in this recipe make it a perfect complement to spicy main dishes.
  
  Vary this recipe by using fresh basil, thyme, cilantro or oregano instead of the chives.

Here's an unpaid advertisement and a tip for you. Sometime while it's still July, the month of our nation's independence, get hold of the HBO mini-series John Adams and prepare to be entertained while you learn a ton about the Revolutionary War, our founding fathers, and how we became a nation. This is GREAT STUFF, and you get to feel all good about watching something historical, too. I have the cheap Netflix plan (one DVD at a time) and it's the first and only time I've been really sad that I have to wait to watch the next parts. I should have just purchased the set from Amazon (I think it's $39 there, quite a bit less than on the HBO site) so you be smarter and order it up so you can watch it again from time to time. I'm downloading the book, by David McCullough, to my iTouch Kindle app so I can read it on vacation. Let me know how you like it.

Where there's a will, there's ..... applesauce!

Don't you hate it when you think you have an ingredient, so you don't buy it while you're at the store, then when it's time to make your recipe you don't have it after all. Harrumph. Makes me want to do a Rumpelstiltskin and stomp my feet so hard. But, wait, happy ending after all, just like all those scary, weird fairy tales.

I wanted to make oatmeal muffins with shredded carrots---one of I'm sure a gazillion variations you could make with that oatmeal muffin recipe. But, alas, no applesauce. Too danged hot to think about going back to the store....lots of gala apples and one granny smith in the crisper....hmmmmm, I'll just make a little applesauce. I cored and cut up 2 gala's and 1 granny smith (I didn't peel them cuz I like the peel) into a heavy pot; added 1 TBSP sugar; about 1/2 cup water; tiny pinch of salt; put the lid on and cooked over medium heat for about 15 minutes, just until the apples broke down. I stirred with a wooden spoon a few times while it cooked. After it was done it was still too chunky to put in the muffins, so I used my handy-dandyPampered Chef Mix 'n Masher (the black stick thing in the picture) to mash it up in the pan. This is the little tool that Libby swears every parent must have as soon as a toddler starts to eat any table food----works like a charm, even though it's actually made to break up ground meat when you're browning it.

After I made the muffins I still had more than a cup of applesauce left, so of course I tasted it as I was putting it away. WOW! I forgot how good homemade chunky applesauce tastes, and how satisfying it is to take the 20 minutes to make it. I used to make this for Lucy when she was little, and as soon as I took the taste it made me remember how making that applesauce for her made me feel like I was the best mom in the world. I mean, even though I didn't have a clue of how to be a parent and still don't, anyone who would make homemade applesauce for their child couldn't be all bad, right? Heck, I saw Diane Keaton in Baby Boom at least ten times.

If you're making this for a brand new eater, you'll want to peel the apples and mash it up really good after it cooks, or even puree it. But for a sweet little three-year-old who is so precious and whose Tia misses him so much she can't stand it (but I digress, sorry) chunky applesauce made by his very own mama in 20 minutes will just reinforce that she's the very best mama and he's the very best big brother in the whole world.

Here's a real recipe in case you want to make a bigger batch, from America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook.

Old-Fashioned Applesauce

4 pounds Jonagold, Pink Lady, Jonathan, or Macoun apples (8 to 12) cored and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks

1 cup water, plus extra as needed

1/4 cup sugar, plus extra for seasoning

Pinch salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples begin to break down, 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Process the cooked apples through a food mill fitted with a medium disk. (Susan's note: huh?) Season with extra sugar or add water to adjust the consistency as needed. Serve warm or cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Susan's note: Just like with apple pies, I recommend that you use a mix of two different kinds of apples when you make this applesauce.

p.s. The muffins turned out really yummy, with 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1+ cup of shredded carrots. Oops, I forgot to add any sugar! Oh, well, they still taste good---all the better if no added sugar.

BIG ol' Costco

Do you have a love-hate relationship with the Big Box stores, Sam's, BJ's, Costco? Love 'em for the selection and savings. Hate 'em for the hassle and waste--when I end up throwing away half of that big huge super-duper restaurant size thing. Sister and I used to split on some things, but not working so well for me these days. No matter--- I'm currently in deep-love with Costco, due to the fact they are the ONLY place within 100 miles that sells Rotel. Fact. I checked the Rotel website regularly during months of deprivation from this flavorful staple. Then, lo and behold, one day while strolling the aisle of the top floor (yes, my Costco has two floors--see photo) I spied it...a box of 8 cans of Rotel. Thus, deep love for all things Costco, at least for the present.

At the end of my Costco trip I always treat myself to a beautiful shrimp cocktail. I eat half of it after I put away my stuff, and take the remaining half to work for lunch the next day. I was just there today--here's a pic of some of my booty, and soon I'll blog ya on the wonder of Fage Greek yogurt--so I'm going to go nibble my shrimp now. (After I typed the word booty, I had to check the dictionary to make sure I was using it correctly as I know there are some other meanings currently in use that are not so appropriate. Relief: my usage was covered in the first and second definition in my Mac Widgets dictionary...I didn't even read further as I have shrimp on the brain now.)

p.s. The title "Big ol' Costco" is in honor of sweet Keely, who got what she called "Big Ol' Barbie" for Christmas when she was about 3!

Moroccan Vegetable Salad

I can't wait to make this...looks like a great hot-weather salad, and a change from my regular cucumber-onion-tomato mix. I'm cooking a pot of garbanzo beans today, so I'll have everything I need.

Ingredients

	2 large tomato(es), cut into wedges
	2 medium sweet red pepper(s), seeded and diced
	2 average kirby cucumber, seeded and diced
	4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
	1/4 tsp kosher salt
	1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
	2 tsp olive oil
	1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
	1/4 tsp ground cumin
	1 cup(s) canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
	1/3 cup(s) fat-free sour cream, or plain fat-free yogurt

Instructions

• Combine the tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, the salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Refrigerate, covered, until the flavors are blended, about 30 minutes.
  
  
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the cumin and toast, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.
  
  
• Puree the chickpeas, sour cream, and remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a food processor or blender; add the garlic mixture; pulse until combined.
  
  
• Divide the tomato mixture among 4 salad plates. Top evenly with the chickpea puree. Yields about 1 cup salad with about 1⁄3 cup chickpea puree per serving.
• (Recipe from WeWa)

My favorite flower

Mark Twain said cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. Boys and girls, now we know why a college education is important. Melissa must be a professor of cauliflower. She used to roast a whole head of cauliflower with a stick of butter and other goodness that I remember drooling over. But now she cuts up the flowerets pretty small, tosses with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, throws it on a bar pan, and roasts at high heat. The nutty flavor that develops is addictive ---let it cook long enough to have lots of good brown bits, and you'll start shopping for cauliflower sales like I do. It's been really expensive all summer, but the price has now started going down and I'm back on the twice a week cauliflower routine. It's high in vitamin C, iron, and, of course, fiber.

Oatmeal Muffins

Penny, I think you would like these. And a shout-out to Sharon Baker---these have your name written all over them. Bake them once a week and keep on hand (I store mine in the fridge in a flat Tupperware thing). A great grab-and-go breakfast, especially if you add a dab of peanut butter. Good snack any time. We only have these 3 left, so I'm making another batch tomorrow for the week but instead of the banana I'm going to add 1/2 cup applesauce and grated carrots, so that it's kinda like a carrot cake. I'll be sure to add some fresh nutmeg to that one, in addition to cinnamon spice blend. You could also use a cut up apple....whatever you like. Oooh, Libby, I think they would make a great healthy kids snack, too, since little chubby fingers tend to like self-contained things like muffins they can grab themselves.

But in thinking about what makes it easy for me to just whip up a batch of these whenever I want, it's cuz I have the tools that work and make it so easy. This is not an advertisement for my Pampered Chef business, but these things really make all the difference for me. My muffin-making kit includes a Batter Bowl with lid, Large Scoop (perfect size for muffins--you want them uniform so they all bake at same time), Mix 'n Scraper, and Muffin Pan. This muffin pan is new, and I love it so much. Great for mini meat loaves, my mini quiches, etc. It's professional quality aluminized steel and cooks beautifully, then the clean-up takes 2 seconds at the sink and it's done. In case you're a piglet like me (well, granted, nobody is a piglet quite like me) muffins are built-in portion control for anything you would normally bake like a cake or bread. If you decide you need any of these tools, just holler or go here: www.pamperedchef.biz/susanmurray

Oatmeal Muffins

2 c uncooked oatmeal (old fashioned or quick)
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 c fat free skim milk (or what you want)
2 eggs (or ½ c egg beaters)
1 mashed up banana

1/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I use P Chef Cinnamon Spice Blend)
1 tsp Canola Oil

Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin tin – makes 8-9 large.

Combine wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients. Spray muffin tins, or coat with Pan-Eze. Bake 35-45 minutes (until golden brown)

You can change these muffins up; use 1/2 cup applesauce instead of the banana (probably increase sugar to closer to 1/2 cup if you use unsweetened applesauce); 1 pureed unpeeled apple. Another variation - Along with the applesauce, add 1 small dry package of either vanilla or banana instant sugar free fat free pudding mix. This is also good (I’ve been told) using pumpkin pie filling (unsweet) or just pureed pumpkin in place of the applesauce. Be sure to spice to fit whatever add-in's you're using.

What's that orange stuff?

I was way too tired to even think about dinner tonight, much less cook it, so I charged my minion with rustling us up some grub. After a minute of obligatory grumbling ("Oh, you mean I need to fix something for YOU, too? Cause I was just gonna eat cereal.") she did her usual vegweb search and found this recipe that we both loved. It's amazing how much flavor a touch of olive oil, garlic, and red onion can impart. This recipe as shown is probably only one serving. The carrot ribbons make a perfect "pasta." We topped lightly with marinara; don't use too much sauce so the other flavors come through.

Carrot Spaghetti


3 medium carrots
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 of an onion, diced (optional)
3 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup of your favorite pasta sauce

Directions:

Wash the carrots well, especially if they are not organic. With a vegetable peeler, peel the carrots into long thing strips and sprinkle with salt. Finely dice the garlic and onion (if desired).

Coat the bottom of a large pan with the olive oil and heat on medium-high heat. When hot, add the carrots. Toss frequently (this works well with tongs). When the carrots start to soften, add the garlic and pepper (add onion here too if you like). Keep tossing for a couple of minutes until some of the carrots get brown around the edges (don't burn!) and the garlic is golden.

Serve with your favorite pasta sauce (tomato based, I really can't vouch for alfredo or other fancy sauces).

The nice thing is that it can be twirled with a fork the same way as regular pasta!

Beet it!

When I was a kid I loved to eat two things way past the point of overkill: Polish dill pickles, and Grandma's home canned beets. I loved the pickles so much that Grandma's usual birthday present to me was a card, a $5 bill, and a big jar of pickles. For the beets, I remember once when she still lived on the farm I ate a whole (quart, I think) jar of her beets at one sitting. Let's just say I have NO controls about food I love---lest you wonder why I'll have to stay on WeWa for the rest of my life.

Every few weeks I buy beets at my veg market...they come in a bunch of 5 to 6, with the tops still on. I don't know anything to do with the tops so I just throw them away. Trim away right at the bottom of the stems, without cutting into the beet itself. Then just lightly scrub the beets with a veg brush and dry them off. Wrap each beet individually in a piece of foil just large enough to cover it all, and put them on a sheet pan. Roast them at 400 degrees until soft enough to feel quite a bit of "give" when you squeeze in the foil---the last ones I fixed took about 45 minutes, but it depends on size. Remove from oven (if some smaller ones finish roasting first, remove them and leave the rest of the pan in the oven) and let them set for a few minutes, then just open up the foil a bit and let them cool down until cool enough to handle. Then I put on my food prep gloves, or else hold a damp paper towel in each hand and peel the skin off each beet. It peels easily, but will stain your hands terribly without gloves or a towel. Now, you might read this and think it's not worth it to go to "all that trouble." I would probably think that. W.R.O.N.G. These are a must-have food, and the ease of everything else far outweighs the hassle of a few seconds of peeling off a little skin. And the taste--------YUM. These are delicious warm, at room temperature, or cold.

One Potato, Two Potato

Crash Hot Potatoes

(recipe from The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients
12 whole New Potatoes (or Other Small Round Potatoes)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt To Taste
Black Pepper To Taste
Rosemary (or Other Herbs Of Choice) To Taste

Preparation Instructions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender. (I take the lazy route and "steam" the potatoes with a little water in my Pampered Chef large micro-cooker---easy, breezy).
On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.
With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.
Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available. (I like mine "bald," with just kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper).
Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

This will become a favorite recipe, I promise.

Another day, another omelet

Today was a pretty typical eating day for a Sunday spent mostly at home, so here's what went down.

Breakfast was a 3-egg (1 whole + 2 whites) omelet stuffed with spinach, sauteed mushrooms and red onion, sharp cheddar and feta, and fresh tomatoes. Lucy had a pre-run wheat bagel with cream cheese and a banana.

Lunch was whole wheat orzo topped with barely sauteed fresh spinach in garlic oil, lots of freshly grated parmesan, and a few fresh tomatoes. Mine was also topped with a leftover grilled pork cutlet, and Lucy's with a Quorn (fake) chik'n patty. It was good, but needed a little something more---not sure what. Maybe just cooking the orzo in broth rather than water would have provided what I was looking for.

Dinner was stuffed peppers. The stuffing was a cumin-seasoned mixture of the leftover orzo, vegetable broth, Ro-tel, black beans, shoepeg corn, a little parmesan and some soy cheddar/mozzarella/jack mixture. And a side serving of roasted beets---more about that another day.

Snacks today were dry-roasted chickpeas, more roasted beets, and a Skinny Cow dulce de leche ice cream cup. Oh, and a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. It's good to have teenage girls around who like to bake cookies on the spur of the moment.

Mini Quiches

Fast and easy does it for me! And healthy is way up there on the list nowadays, too. I make these every couple of weeks with whatever I have in the fridge and freezer---you can use just about anything. I keep a few in the fridge to throw in my lunch bag--they're great at room temp; freeze the rest and take out as needed. They also make a quick breakfast or a good protein snack any time. Southwestern style seems to be my go-to variety, but maybe because I tend to always have those add-in's on hand; every variation I've made is delicious. Another combination not mentioned here is when I throw in left-over breakfast potatoes, center-cut bacon crumbles, tomatoes, a little onion, and whatever cheese I have on hand. Just look for whatever dibs and dabs you have left over and give it a go. Your lunch box or late-night snack monster will be so glad you did.

Kippy's Mini Quiches

(A filling foods WeWa recipe that is definitely NOT only for WeWa)

Start with: 1 c egg substitute or 4 large eggs and add-in choices such as:

• SPINACH QUICHE: 1 (10 oz) package chopped frozen spinach (squeezed dry); 3/4 c FF or soy cheddar cheese, shredded; 1/4 c diced red/green peppers; 1/4 c onions
• QUICHE LORRAINE: 1/2 c Canadian bacon, chopped, cooked until crispy; 1/2 c FF cottage cheese; 1/2 c FF or soy swiss cheese, shredded; 1/4 c roasted peppers; dash of ground nutmeg
• CHEDDAR BROCCOLI: 1/4 c chopped onion; 1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped broccoli (squeezed dry); 1 c FF cottage cheese; 1/2 c FF or soy cheddar flavored cheese, shredded
• SOUTHWESTERN: 1 c FF cottage cheese; 1 small can green chiles; 1/2 c black beans or Mexi-corn

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350* F. Spray the cups of your 12-cup muffin tin or stone with cooking spray. Beat the eggs or egg substitute; fold in the add-ins. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Fill the foil cups with the mixture. Bake at 350* F for 20 minutes, testing so that a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from cups to serve.

Note: these are freezable, microwaveable, portable, full of protein (and fiber when veggies are used), and contain no artifical sweeteners.

Cornbread Mojo

When our little mama died last year, a bunch of our old Lake Creek/Willow/Granite, Oklahoma friends gathered to visit with us. It meant the world to Sister and me. (And, Sister, just forget what that ol' mean Opal said to you!!!!) Linda Dillahunty wrote a note in the book about coming home with us (meaning with Melissa) after church one Sunday. That was our biggest socialization time when we were growing up---someone coming home with you after church on Sunday morning, and then going back to church Sunday night from where they would go back home. Anyway, Linda said that our mama had cut up pieces of cornbread and fried them, and that it was the best thing she ever ate. She went home and asked her mother to do the same thing. Now, isn't that just a silly thing to write about in a funeral book? To the contrary, that is the BEST-EVER remembrance! What Linda said in that little note captures the essence of my childhood in so many ways. And, truly, Mother's fried cornbread was a delicacy that I enjoy to this day----but I thought everyone did. I am a cornbread nut (thanks a lot, mama) and am on the never-ending quest for the perfect cornbread. By the way, anything with sugar DOES NOT COUNT, thank you very much. If God had meant for cornbread to have sugar in it, He would have called it cake. Leslie and I both have Crescent Dragonwagon's cornbread cookbook, courtesy of a visit to the Clinton Presidential Library gift shop, and I love to read about cornbread almost as much as I like to eat it. But, alas, my foodie loves, healthier eating forays, and Weight Watchers adventures all evolve. Enter the Wonderful World of POLENTA. Ahhhh, this is a food that makes Leslie's mouth water. She went through a phase where she would text me almost daily what she was serving on her creamy polenta that night: swiss chard, spinach, dog-poo......doesn't matter, it all tastes good on polenta. Thanks to mama's fried cornbread, I now fix a double batch of creamy polenta (it's just coarsely ground corn meal, salt and boiling water, folks; whisk, whisk, whisk; cook it a tiny bit longer than you think you should) and spread half of it out flat in an olive oil-sprayed bar pan, let it cool on the counter, and then cover it with plastic and put in fridge. After it's set, or even after a day or two in the fridge, I cut it in wedges and lightly fry it in a little olive oil or spray in a skillet. Just until golden brown on both sides. It's got the crunchy nuttiness of Mama's fried cornbread on the outside, and its own creamy polenta-ness on the inside. H-E-A-V-E-N with a bowl of pinto beans. So, here's to ya, Mama!

Oh, and someday remind me to tell you about Grandma Lucy Murray's skillet hoecakes. Sadly, I never learned how to duplicate them, but I figure that can be a retirement project. I do know that Grandpa liked to have one crumbled up in a big tall glass of cold buttermilk, with lots of pepper sprinkled on top. I like that, too. Oooooh, another way to eat polenta!

Black Bean & Poblano Dip

Thank you, WeWa, for another easy go-to recipe. For a little more heat add a fresh jalapeno or a little chipotle chili powder. It's great as dip, or on top of pork chops or tenderloin. I don't think Jakey is interested in feeding it to Baby Noah...in fact, maybe not much interested in him at all.

Ingredients

	2 cup(s) poblano chile, fresh, seeded, deveined, chopped (about 4 medium)
	14 1/2 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
	1 cup(s) cilantro, fresh, leaves
	1 tsp table salt
	1 cup(s) scallion(s), chopped
	1 cup(s) tomato(es), chopped
	2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender; process to desired consistency. Yields about 1/4 cup per serving.
• The other way I fix a quick black bean dip for either my home-baked tortilla chips or for carrot sticks, is to just throw a can of rinsed black beans, a palmful of cumin and related seasonings, a big handful of fresh cilantro, and a cup of plain greek yogurt into the food processor. Sometimes I also include a can of diced green chilies. This looks beautiful in a hollowed out red or green bell pepper if someone is coming over to munch with you. Add some Coronas and limes, and you're set. Hey, if you'll come over I'll fix it NOW.

Grilled Flank Steak with Onions

This Weight Watchers recipe has turned me into a flank steak lover. I cook mine a little more than shown in this photo. Let me know if you try it this weekend. Just be sure to buy extra flank steak....or you'll be sorry.

	1 Tbsp olive oil, 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
	2 tsp dried oregano
	2 tsp minced garlic
	1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
	1 1/2 pound(s) lean flank steak
	3/4 tsp table salt, divided
	1 large red onion(s), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
	2 spray(s) cooking spray

Instructions

• Mix vinegar, oil, oregano, garlic and pepper in a ziploc bag. Add steak; turn to coat, making sure steak is coated with vinegar mixture. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
  
  
• Heat outdoor grill. I used my grill pan on the stovetop.
  
  
• Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Coat onions with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.
  
  
• Grill steak, turning once, until medium rare, about 15 minutes, or longer for desired degree of doneness. Let steak rest for 10 minutes. Do not even be tempted to skip the resting part.
  
  
• While steak is resting, grill onions, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and tender, about 7 to 9 minutes.
  
  
• To serve, thinly slice steak against the grain and place on a serving platter; scatter onions over top. Yields about 3 1/2 ounces steak and 1/3 cup onions per serving.
• 
  
• (If you're wondering what the green diamonds mean in the ingredient list, it's a Weight Watchers thing to show those are "filling foods"---something I should eat lots of and don't have to count points for. It's a GOOD THING.)
• 
  
• Hey, why are they called red onions when they're really purple?

The Best Meal Will Ever Made

Borracho Beans

The day Will was born, I went to the hospital in Russellville, Arkansas to see him and was met in the hallway by his daddy---who could hardly talk for being so busy puffing out his chest and strutting around like a banty rooster: "Yep, I got me a boy." Randy was one proud papa. Fast forward to Ft. Worth (aka Cow Town for you non-Texans) and a military pilot who can cook as good as he can fly. He thinks this might be the best meal he has ever made. His mama Leslie has raised a foodie, and she says it will be a lucky girl who latches on to him (I'm so sorry, Will, but she really did say that). He credits Homesick Texan for the basic recipe, and Will's own tweaks are at the end. There is nothing better than a pot of pinto beans, and these look about as good as they get.

Frijoles a la charra
Ingredients:
6 cups of cooked pinto beans still in its juice.
4 slices of bacon, chopped into 1-inch pieces
2 cups fresh chopped tomatoes or one 14 oz. canned, diced tomatoes with sauce
3 jalapenos, chopped
2 chipotles in adobo, chopped
1 cup of chopped cilantro

Method:
1. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp.
2. Add tomatoes, jalapenos, chipotles and cilantro to the skillet, and cook on medium for 10 minutes.
3. Let tomato-bacon mixture cool, add one cup of bean juice (or water) and then puree.
4. Stir puree into beans and let simmer together for 20 minutes.
5. Alternatively, if you prefer a chunkier texture, you could skip the puree step and add the tomato-bacon mixture straight to the bean pot.

Borracho beans
Ingredients:
1 big pot (6 cups) of frijoles a la charra (see above)
1 12 oz. bottle of dark beer, such as Modelo Negro.

Method:
Add bottle of beer to pot, stir and cook for ten minutes.

Will's notes:

Stage One. I used salt pork. One fresh Jalapeno with seeds. Soaked beans for over 24 hours.

Stage two. Cooked beans for one hour. In other pan, 4 pieces of thick bacon split longwise in half, then about 8 times up the length. When the bacon was crisp, added 3 fresh jalapenos diced w/o seeds, one can of regular rotel, and two chipotles in adobe chopped. I found these in a can in Central Market. Added that to beans for 10 minutes and then added one Shiner for an additional 10.

Jake

Jake. Jakey. Jacob Sebastian. Ricky Bobby, Jr. "Hello, I Johnny Cash!" Sweet Jake. The Jakenator. That's all. Just Jake. Just because.

What Goes Around

Ten years ago I moved from New York to Texas. When the moving truck was about three-quarters loaded I realized that 1) some things were maybe not going to fit, and 2) I would pay dearly for every ounce over whatever the moving company's estimate had been. And you know how on moving day you finally reach a point where you just don't care anymore? It's all too much by that time. When I reached that point, I called my friend Arlene and told her I was leaving some things in my apartment, and that she should come see if she wanted anything. Then I went off to the airport, where Lucy sat in the middle of the floor and peed---if anybody ever tries to tell you moving isn't stressful for grownups and kids, just send them to me to be set straight. Seven years later when I moved back to New York (yes, I'm a slow learner) Arlene, who had herself moved to Connecticut by then, pointed out a nice butcher block table in her garage: the very one I had left seven years earlier. Husband Artie (known as Saint Arthur for some reason I'm sure I don't understand by all who know Arlene) had sanded the top and it looked GOOD. Today, the second hottest day of the year so far at only 100 degrees, Arlene shows up at work with the table in the back of her beautiful new Hyundai. She and I unloaded it from the car, and then Lucy and I dragged it up the stairs, and now we have extra work space and extra storage in our big kitchen. And you get to see Arlene and her sweet grandkids, Caitlin and Jake. Thanks a bunch, 'Lene.

A Titanium Spork

Since I know you've been wondering for ever so long, please be advised that Lucy definitely intends to bring a titanium spork in her pack when she hikes the Appalachian Trail in a few years. Whew, aren't you glad to have that little detail worked out? My friend Kay Killgore did half of the AT, from Maine to West Virginia, when we were in our 20's (or, hell, maybe it was our 30's; those decades are all a blur now; the only thing I'm ever sure of is if it was B.L. or A.L). It took me several years of asking Kay questions about it to get that she really, truly did that. Seriously. A little difficult for a slug of my ilk to take in. But, once I looked at a map and saw what she did and heard enough answers to my dumb questions, I was in awe of her accomplishment. I still don't understand the how (I mean, it takes months...of walking, carrying everything you need on your back, sleeping outside...animals....heat....cold...) but I get the why for certain people---people like Kay, and maybe my very own Lucy. Mostly I shake my head in amazement. And then I grin.

(The back packing photo is Lucy on a 5-day hike last year in Vermont during Farm & Wilderness Camp. All camp and hiking supplies courtesy of MaMere & Poppy.)