Vegetable Yogurt Salad / Holloween

Halloween is the one day a year where children and child-like adults dress up, allowing their Id to shine where normally it is hidden.   As I dressed this morning my dreams turned to my daughter Candace, painting my face like one of the cats is the Broadway play of that title.  It would be fun, and cute, and sexy, all at once.  After careful consideration, my own Id lost out, and I decided to play it safe without the make-up.  As I walked into my British Literature class I noticed my professor, donning a bandanna with long braided gray hair.  I laughed, and made a comment about how comfortable he must feel dressed in the clothing of his youth.  On the way home from school, Candace and I stopped at the store to get candy to pass out to the kids of the neighborhood.  Gone are the days when your mother would pick up a costume of Deputy Dog, the eye holes too small, mom enlarging the plastic scratchy mask for a more comfortable fit.  Tonight, kids showed up in full costumes made of material and stuffing.  They will never understand what it is like to have the elastic of your mask pull your hair the entire time you are out begging.  (Brian hates when I call it begging, but I think it is a Detroit-ism from my youth.)  I remember pulling my mask off at night only to find an alarming amount of hair caught into a knot.  One year I solved this problem by cutting eye-holes in one of my mother’s white sheets. “Voila”, an instant ghost, with no pain to my eyes or hair, though if I remember correctly, my line of sight was quite limited and my friend Lori had to make sure I did not get hit by a car when we crossed the road.  Today, we do not have children at home to dress up, but we do have our little dog who sported his pumpkin outfit quite nicely as he took his walk this morning.

            Today’s crazy school schedule and passing out candy left me with very little time to create a fancy meal.  Tonight’s menu consisted of falafel, hamburgers and vegetable yogurt salad. I think the yogurt salad is a must when eating falafel.

            Vegetable Yogurt Salad

            Chop a quarter cup of cilantro, half a red onion and half a green pepper and place into a bowl.  Add one cup of Middle Eastern plain yogurt, crush one clove of garlic, one teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well and serve with the Falafel.  (Oh, and make some hamburgers, you know how!)  

Chicken with Coconut Milk and Parmesan / Christine’s Minnesota Lavender Honey Pie

            I love my kids, Amanda, Candace, and Ted, but also my adopted “extensions,” which includes my AQ kids. Tonight our family plus two sat down to a high energy meal which was entertaining in Rabourn style for our extra two “members,” as the Tree Full of Monkeys was in full swing. Today, my friend Christine from Aquinas College (hails from Land of 1000 Lakes, that is, Minnesota) devised a cleaver way of gaining entry to Club Rabourn for dinner:  she baked a lavender honey cream pie and called to invite herself over. (She already knows the secret handshake and did not need to bake the pie, but after tasting the excellent pie we won’t remind her that she doesn’t have to).  We were all amazed that anyone could even eat lavender, no less make a pie with it.  Christine knows.  After eating chicken with coconut milk and Parmesan cheese over ravioli, we cut the pie (you always have room for pie).  This Lavender honey pie reminded me of Old Fashion Cream pie with a twist. 

“Did we put on a feed, or what?”

“You bet.”

            Chicken with Coconut Milk and Parmesan

            Slice three chicken boneless breasts into small strips.  Place in a bowl and add ½ cup of flour, salt and a tablespoon of Italian seasoning; shake the bowl till all the pieces are covered.  Put three tablespoons of coconut oil in a pan and melt it; add chicken strips, cook them about 2/3 of the way and then add: 1 package of sliced fresh mushrooms, 3 sliced cloves of garlic, and one large onion.  Cook until all the chicken is completely cooked.  Add four cups of water, two chicken bouillon cubes, two bay leaves, one cup Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  Add some flour for desired thickness of liquids.  I served six ravioli each plate, and poured the sauce over it; make sure the plate has a lip, or use a bowl.  This would also taste great served with potatoes or rice.  Enjoy!

Christine’s Minnesota Lavender Honey Pie

Honey Lavender Filling

½ c sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cornmeal
½ tsp salt
½ c butter (melted)
1 c honey
6 eggs
2 c heavy cream
2 tsp lemon juice
6 drops culinary lavender oil

1. Whisk together dry ingredients
2. Whisk in butter, honey, and eggs, then remaining ingredients.

Putting it all together

1. Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C)
2. Pour in filling
3. Bake for 20 minutes.

Pot Roast Sub

            Leftovers are the perfect meal for a busy day.  Our refrigerator is not a typical American fridge.  I will only eat leftovers one day old, rarely two; after that, the bear knows it is open season for him.  Recently we bought a new refrigerator.  I decided to get 14 cubic feet which is one of the smallest on the American market.  My reasoning was, “It is not healthy to have your fridge filled with old food!”  I can honestly say that I do not miss the extra room.  Ok, after living in Slovenia and having a fridge that was college size, mine sometimes seems big.  I remember the first day we moved there and I walked into the kitchen.  I open the cupboard door where the fridge was hiding.  Being an American, “fresh off the boat”, I thought we would starve with such a small fridge.  Quickly, I learned to cook without creating leftovers and the small crisis resolved itself into a better way of life.  Today, Brian and I ate leftovers from yesterday’s pot roast, and not just any reheated meal, but a masterpiece sandwich worth bragging about.

            Pot Roast Sub

            Buy a French Baguette, cut desired sandwich pieces for each person, slicing the bread down the middle.  Turn your oven to 350 F (175 C) and let it heat up.  Next, slice the left over pot roast into very thin pieces and place on the bread.  Add provolone cheese over the top of the meat.  I added two pieces that were cut in half; it just depends on how large of a sandwich you would like.  Remember the carb content in bread.  On the other half of the bread, place chopped onions and green pepper.  Place in the over for about fifteen minutes, or until the cheese is totally melted.  Decorate with mayo and real horseradish; some of you will use that yucky prepared horseradish sauce; if so, omit the mayonnaise and chow down.

Italian Pot Roast & Mushroom Gravy

This morning I looked around my kitchen in trying to figure out what I should cook for dinner this evening.  A nice three pound pot roast was hiding behind some packages of frozen burger and chicken.  Cooking a pot roast is an easy task for me, but today I pushed my standard recipe to the back of my box.  I started thinking, “What would make this meat taste special today?”  I decided to have my roast take a trip to Italy.  Knowing that I had a busy day ahead of me, I hauled out my crock pot and started preparing the meat.  When we opened the house door after school, we were greeted with a delectable Italian scented roast.  It was the perfect way to kick-off the weekend.

            Italian Pot Roast

            Place a three pound pot roast in your crock pot. (Mine is a rectangle so I am able to lay it flat.)  Add water so that the water line stops half way up the side of the meat.  Chop and onion and take three garlic cloves whole and add them to the pot.  Next, liberally apply twelve shakes of Worcestershire sauce over the top.  Now shake over the complete top of the meat: salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and Basil.  (Today my roast was frozen. I knew that I would not be home for hours and let the crock pot do its magic.  Do not worry about thawing if you’re using a slow cooker.)  Cook roast all day on medium.  You will know it is done, if the meat starts to fall apart with a fork.  No need to use a knife with this meal. Serve with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy.

            Mushroom Gravy

            Clean and slice on package of fresh mushrooms.  Place them into a pan with one tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil.  Chop one onion and add to the mushrooms. Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are a bit brown.  Add one quarter cup of flour and mix into the mushroom mixture, let cook for a couple of minutes stirring so that the flour does not burn.  Add three cups of pot roast liquid from crock pot.  Add two cups of water and one half cup half and half or cream, salt and pepper to taste.  Now it is time for dinner, enjoy!

Amanda’s Store-Bought Rolls

I am an empty nester, that is, someone whose children are old enough to move out and either gets married or live on their own.  Don’t get me wrong; my kids are amazing and I love them to pieces, but when it is time to teach the little birdies to fly, don’t hesitate or they just might not survive.  My kids were the center of my world for twenty-one years, until Candace and Ted moved out; now it’s just Brian and me.  I have always thought empty nesters were lonely without their offspring, but now I know that is a falsehood, or at least sometimes it is.  Luckily for me, two of my kids live close enough to hear the dinner bell and often our small home is filled with family dinner chatter for about an hour or so, and then off the kids go, to do whatever it is they do when we are not looking or meddling in their lives.  One of my kids lives in South Carolina; my dinner bell is not heard across so many states.  Amanda flew back to the “nest” for a two and a half week visit this month.  I love when she and I get to spend long missed time together alone without any husbands to dictate our next moves.  One thing Amanda and I have in common is cooking.  This week I made a great pot of stew and Amanda ran to the store to buy dinner rolls.  With that package of rolls, she learned that they are not all created equal.  When a package contains thirty-six rolls, but they seem small enough for a Barbie, there must be an extra step to preparing them, other than just throwing them in the oven.

            Amanda’s Store-Bought Rolls

            If you buy frozen rolls, read the instructions before cooking them.  You might find your dinner lacking a fresh backed large roll and have a more golf ball sized one.  If you need to let the rolls rise for hours before baking, try putting olive oil in the bottom of the pan, then put the small frozen ball down.  Let them sit until the rolls have doubled in size.  Then follow the cooking instructions on the package.  You will be amazed at how tasty the rolls taste with the olive oil backed into them.  If you want a bit fancier roll, brush olive oil over the top and shake Rosemary seasoning over the top, or an Italian seasoning.  This easy tasty roll will be the hit of any party, not only because it’s tasty.

Grand Finale Stew

Today my sister Mary took Rita and me to the opera.  We saw the dress rehearsal of Il Trovatore, from Verdi.  From the very first scene, I was disappointed with the lack of volume from the lead singer.  I hope the sound people can adjust for opening night, which is tomorrow.  The next scene was repetitious, repeating the same thing over and over, with slight differences each time.  I gave my inner self a pep talk about being cultured, to relax and enjoy the music.  “Hey you know, in the olden days this was the highest form of entertainment.  Drink it in and appreciate what you are hearing.”  I started fidgeting and my bottom started hurting from sitting too long.  Next my upper thighs started to ache.  Yawns kept sneaking out and my eye lids started to feel like the shop keeper was closing up for the night.  Before the end of the opera, my sister and I were encouraging the main characters to die quickly.  Unfortunately, they did not.  I began to wonder how I could tie in opera with the stew that I made for dinner.  The only way I thought of is this:  even as the opera seemed to go on without ending, but sent heavenly strains of music upward, my stew seems like it’s never going to be done, but sends heavenly strains of fragrant scents upward.  Also, before it is over, the body is restless; at the opera for walking, at home for eating.  Some endings are worth waiting for, while others, not so much.

            Grand Finale Stew

            2 lbs stew meat cut into small pieces and put into a bowl.  Pour ¼ flour, salt and pepper over the pieces and shake the bowl up and down covering each piece evenly.  Pour olive oil on the bottom of a large pot that can go in the oven, add meat and lightly brown.  Add 2 soup bones (make sure the marrow is still in the middle), fill pot half way with water, 2 bay leaves, 4 sliced carrots, 2 (American) celery, 4 cubed potatoes, 1 onion, heaping tablespoon full of Marjoram, salt, pepper, 1 can kidney beans, 1 can of green beans, 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 cup frozen peas, and 28 oz crushed tomato sauce. Mix all ingredients completely.  Place in a 375 oven for at least 3 hours.  The stew is done if the meat is tender.  After serving, feel free to add a tablespoon of sour cream to each bowl.  One might put on a Verdi CD for the meal, but the stew is closer to Hungarian Goulash; perhaps something with an accordion, instead?