Just A Fun Weekend

Friday morning rough start.

Friday night Luke had a gig so the girls and I ate fish sticks and watched Pocahontas. 

Saturday: morning at the gym (swimming with the girls and my workout; Luke played basketball) and lunch at Smashburger. (Josie and I decided we wanted cheeseburgers - or 'hanna-bunnas wif cheese on it' as she calls them - the night before). 

Clem assembled a bag of accessories for our afternoon.






#1 dad

Princess Unicorn.

And Moana. (I was wearing a flower headband that Jenny wore as Frida Kahlo to Stachebash 2010.)

Beta testing Geordi LaForge costume.

Wearing the only pair of sunglasses in the car. (#1 dad)

Our first trip to Mid East Market in Ballwin. They have at least 3 kinds of rose water! I've never cooked with it but Bon Appetit had a recent article that inspired me to seek it out. I bought a bunch of sauces, pickles, and chutneys to try.

I made pizza dough, tomato sauce, and chocolate pots de creme for Sunday dinner and brown butter cardamom banana bread because there's always a bunch of overripe bananas on the counter. Saturday night: fish sticks and Pocohontas!

Sunday morning: an hour of swimming in the deeper pool, Luke and I paired with one girl as they swam and swam and swam. C is beginning to become a more proficient swimmer; Josie isn't there yet but can float well.

Swimsuits off - street clothes on - lunch of grilled cheese at the cafe - dance clothes on - street clothes on...

Dance lessons.

Jenny stopped by for a visit and dessert in the afternoon. Pizza for dinner

with Amanda and Cameron.

That night when I sat with Josie before bed I asked her about her favorite part of dance class. She answered that it is when they leap over the spot-holders on the floor "when we weep [leap] the stars."
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Kitchen Confidential

We moved into our new house! I'm looking forward to cooking again after a relative drought AND I've attended two four-day meetings recently (Charleston and Phoenix) -- too much/too frequent restaurant food makes me long for simple meals of fried eggs and bacon, lots of veggies, the iced coffee I like, and unfettered access to sparkling water.

Here is a list of food-related articles I've bookmarked or checked out recently:

Chewy.cheese.puffs.   Milk Street's pao de queijo. Though I am still somewhat upset over Chris Kimball's departure from ATK.


Slow cooker, Southern style  I want to try the Thai chicken soup and duck confit recipes from Hugh Acheson's new The Chef and the Slow Cooker.


Save the date for my first annual BYOM (bring your own molcajete) queso party inspired by Lisa Fain's new book Queso!

Best cooking advice from Epicurious

Been looking for a black sesame ice cream recipe after having it in Montreal and in Florence (still looking for an olive oil ice cream recipe - had that in Portland!)


Gadgets   I probably have all of these useful unitaskers (Serious Eats). You know what I ordered today? A jalapeño corer! How else am going to make bacon-wrapped, cream cheese poppers for the crowd at the queso party?


And gizmos aplenty  Getting closer to ordering that Internet sensation, the Instant Pot. Kenji Lopez-Alt wrote a review of multi cookers and the Instant Pot (available with Bluetooth!) is the best buy fave; the Breville is the best overall (but $100 more).


Spicy! Noodles!  Eager to find some time to make this Chinese noodle dish.


Pour-over coffee  Anyone have a Chemex? They and most everything else is 20% off at Sur La Table today. Luke returned from SATX raving about the pour-over coffee he had a friend's house.

New Favorite Cookbook

I've made several meals from Melissa Clark's Dinner: Changing the Game and they have been delicious! The flavor profiles are boundary-pushing for me and it's been fun to buy new spices and new products. What I've made so far:

Chicken & grapes with sherry vinegar. So easy and absolutely delicious.  I asked the butcher to butterfly the chicken for me - made even easier.

Sticky tamarind chicken with crisp lettuce. I Prime'd tamarind paste but I'm looking forward to going to the big international grocery store and looking around.

Cuban flank steak. Zippy marinade was easy to make and reminded me that I should use the Vitamix more often.

Peachy pork chops with charred onions. Loved this. Going to experiment with grilling instead of broiling due to our lack of good ventilation - smoke detector that always goes off.

Shrimp pad thai with sugar snap peas and basil. Too much tamarind drowned out the roasted peanut oil flavor. I resolved to prepare more shrimp in general (so easy -- if peeled and deveined) and tasty.

Fried halloumi with spicy brussels sprouts. Halloumi is a hard cheese with a high melting point and it's available at even my suburban grocery store which has a pretty paltry selection of uncommon ingredients (let's take a moment to say I MISS YOU, CENTRAL MARKET. I MISS YOU EVERY DAY). The brussels sprouts are roasted until caramelized and tossed with cumin, the halloumi is cubed and browned in oil. Toss together. I love this dish.

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Dishes I'm eager to try soon: harissa* chicken with leeks, potatoes, and yogurt; roasted sumac* chicken with plums; roasted hake** with crispy mushrooms; fried eggs with chiles, tamarind sauce, and crispy shallots; asparagus carbonara.

*already Prime'd
**probably will use cod or halibut

Each recipe has an introduction with a backstory/inspiration/substitutions but the recipes themselves have nowhere near the level of instruction or exactitude of an America's Test Kitchen book. For instance, ATK always specifies how far the oven rack should be from the broiler. This book, no. As a non-improvisational cook, Dinner: Changing the Game forces me to wing it a bit. There's also a tofu chapter that I should try but probably won't (but now I'm looking over Pomegranate Roasted Tofu with Eggplant and Toasted Cumin and, well, that sounds amazing) and some things that I definitely won't (Warm Squid Salad ... even seeing those three words strung together makes me queasy).

I checked this book out from the library before buying it from Novel Neighbor -- this has been a helpful way to get my peruse-fix without accumulating so many cookbooks. This one, though, this one is expanding my cooking skills and my palate.

Excited About...

Well it seems like everything is just a nationwide global dumpster fire and our president is still tweeting his infantile rants (I was hopeful someone would take away his phone, but no, we're all treated to a live stream from the commander in chief's limbic system). Off the cuff is a trait I value in dinner recommendations from a knowledgeable local when visiting a new city. Not the leader of the free world. Pushing that from my mind, here are some things I am looking forward to:

// Making this spicy noodle dish. Doesn't it look delicious?!

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// Ordering this tote - all proceeds go to the ACLU.

// Reading The Royal We to recover from the massive downer of Patient HM.

// Trying this new Paula's Choice primer with SPF that just launched.

// Buying these ice cream cone earrings because #whimsy.

// Taking advantage of a few days of vacation to

📷  order a photo book of our Michigan trip

✈  secure accommodations for our upcoming trip to Italy!!!

🍗 save the date for our next meal prep party

📺 watch at least one Oscar-nominated movie

👯  buy tickets for our next Dinner & Cultural Event

💭 think about how I can best take all the [horror, indignation, disgust, disappointment, etc] and direct it toward something effective and useful. Aghast --> active.

What are you looking forward to?

Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

My cooking is pretty simple these days - roasting meat and veggies, scrambling eggs, cutting up fruit, and some baking. Despite its simplicity I'm preparing more food more often and have a list of go-to gadgets and tools. Kitchen gadgets are a weakness of mine and I have lots - but here's what gets used week after week.


Thermapen // Game-changer, favorite, most useful. You can't spend $79 better in a more useful way. This was recommended by America's Test Kitchen and I finally bought it and my only regret is not purchasing it earlier. I used to fret about overcooking pricey steaks due to my old slow and inaccurate dial thermometer. Now everything turns out - HUMBLEBRAG - perfect.

Salad container // Handy for lunches al desko. I put greens in one compartment and goat cheese/salami/olives/sweet peppers/dried cherries/etc in the other and Tessemae's balsamic in the dressing container.

Cast iron skillet // I committed to getting rid of my nonstick pans after reading this terrifying NYT article on the evil and ubiquitous chemical PFOA and the coincident publication of an ATK cookbook Cook It In Cast Iron (ATK cookbooks are another weakness). I embarked on a multiday reseasoning process to restore mine to working order - a scrub, a stint in the auto clean cycle in the oven, and a warm/oil/bake cycle. Now I'm using it frequently to achieve a nonstick finish.

Vollrath baking sheets // Another ATK recommendation. These don't buckle in a hot oven and clean easily. I've used these at least 2-3 times a week for two years and they're still in great condition.

Frother // Jackie recommended this little gadget and we use it daily for bulletproof coffee (coffee + butter + oil, blended). A blender creates a better emulsion but this does a fine job (and quieter, if you creep around the house in the morning like I do).

Planet Boxes // I never use wasteful plastic baggies in the girls' lunches which feels awesome! These clean easily and dry quickly.

Garlic peeler // When I was cooking from recipes (RIP pasta), I used this a bunch. I never mastered the 'smash the clove with a chef's knife' technique because that sounds like a urgent care chief complaint if I've ever heard one.

All-Clad pots and pans // ATK recommendation. I gradually will replace my dark Calphalon cookware. These look great and clean easily (cleaning easily is a theme or maybe the sole criterion?) I like the light color which makes it easy to decide when the butter is browned, etc. Made in the USA!

What are your faves?

Low Carb

We've been eating a low carb diet for three months since Luke read Why We Get Fat after I read about it in Gretchen Rubin's Better Than Before. We wanted to lose some weight (like everyone else) and reduce our sugar consumption. Luke has gone on calorie deprivation diets before that made him (aaaaand those around him) grouchy and irritable. I was particularly interested as I'm cruising toward diabetes if I don't take serious measures - my A1c is elevated, I came close to failing glucose tolerance tests during my pregnancies, and I have a strong family history. Yikes.

First to go were pasta and bread. Buttered noodles and sandwiches were lunch and dinner staples and they were out. I started stocking the fridge with meals of meat + veggies or eggs + veggies. That eggs reheat well was a happy discovery. Breakfast is usually a bulletproof coffee or chilled coffee + a glug glug of chocolate milk (unbelievably delicious but has too much sugar).

In order to keep up with two (or more) meals for two adults a day, I've found I have to do a little bit of cooking everyday. To paraphrase Glengarry Glen Ross, ALWAYS BE ROASTING.

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I'll oven bake bacon and then roast veggies because it's tasty and less clean-up.

these are too crowded -- they'll steam not roast

Bratwurst and green beans, pork tenderloin and green beans, sirloin with vegetable kebabs.

Some favorite meals:

Broiled pork tenderloin - only clean up is the cutting board (recipe here if you're a member)
Bacon and eggs and veggies
Sausage cut into coins for easing of eating al desko
Sausage, acorn squash, onions
Flank steak
Chili
Veggies that hold up well in the microwave: green beans and brussels sprouts
Chicken is best eaten that day -- neither of us like it that much, particularly as leftovers, so I've given up on make-ahead chicken to decrease waste (exception: chicken salad)
Salads of spring mix, salami, olives, goat cheese. Umami!

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Takeaways

Luke has lost weight, I haven't. Boo. He is also much more conscientious about the diet which unfortunately isn't a diet with an expiration date but the way we plan on eating forever. The science backs it up. My meals are low carb but the treats remain... even so, I'm eating far fewer carbohydrates (50-100 grams per day - I track everything in MyFitnessPal) and less sugar.

Because of his strictness, Luke can perceive a difference in his mood and energy level when eschewing carbohydrates (stable) versus a high carb day (erratic). Even if some of it is a placebo effect, it's still powerful and motivating.

The girls eat fewer carbs too although they often manage to get two bananas a day apiece which is 28 grams of sugar! We feed them meat which they like, veggies (which C refuses), fresh fruit, hummus, cottage cheese. No more yogurt. Pasta is infrequent and usually reserved for those Friday nights when everyone is exhausted MACARONI TAKE THE WHEEL.

Meal prep has made me a much happier person. Dinner was always a stressful scramble - either trying to make something when I got home from work, reheating lasagna or enchiladas or some other 9x13 meal, or getting takeout. Now everything is already in the fridge. Oh - that's something else. If your family balks at leftovers this won't work. Neither of us mind reheated food so it works swimmingly for us.

The food is rich and satisfying. Who doesn't want to eat bratwurst? Incorporation of more chicken and fish is the next hurdle.

What's missing from the diet is CRUNCH. (Funnily enough, Quealy Watson just mentioned the extreme palatability of crunch in the ATK podcast I listened to recently). Luke and Josie love pork rinds (zero carb).

It's expensive. Responsibly sourced meat and eggs are expensive but worth it.

It's a little bit of work everyday to stay ahead.

Sauces are important - guacamole and sour cream are favorites. Store-bought sauces, especially barbecue sauce, are sugar bombs. I've been a diligent label-reader for years yet the insane amount of sugar in innocuous products has taken me by surprise. (My nutritionist set a maximum sugar goal of 38 grams per day; the WHO recommends no more than 25 grams. Guess how much sugar is in one Cadbury egg - 20 grams! One banana - 14 grams!)

Grocery shopping has become much, much easier. 1) I have some go-to items: pork tenderloin, chicken breasts + jar of salsa verde for the slow cooker, veggies, HEB ready-made jalapeño poppers and guacamole, lots of eggs. 2) I'm no longer zooming around looking for a can of this, a bottle of that. I shop the perimeter of the store.

Bulletproof coffee for breakfast is a breakthrough. Gretchen Rubin's book discusses how we have a finite amount of self control each day and the more decisions we can automate, the more we well up those reserves. Deciding to have the same thing for breakfast everyday is another decision I don't have to make. Forgoing the cinnamon roll* is easy because "I have bulletproof coffee for breakfast." It keeps me full and energized for three to three and a half hours until I'm suddenly STARVING. Then I'll have a mini meal of bacon and eggs and perhaps another mini meal at 2 or 3 (salad or meat/veg). When I arrive home I'm not ravenous. [This is an ideal day - most days are degrees of imperfect and sometimes it's birthday cake for lunch. Whoops.)

*I love to bake and still do but give everything away or freeze it. Like I said, the treats remain.

Carb-rich foods are better and luxurious now, perhaps because we hold out for delicious pizza or really great tacos or housemade pasta at a restaurant.

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This is our new low carb lifestyle! I have a long way to go in terms of cravings, better adherence, preparation of chicken and fish and leafy greens, and modeling healthy eating for the kids but I am encouraged by the strides we've made so far.

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