Summer Salads

Salad #1

It's only the beginning of June, yet the air here in Orlando is already beginning to take on that heavy, wet sauna-like feel, much like the sensation you get if you hold your head too close to the sink as you drain a pot of pasta. The time of year when running the oven for hours at a time can only be termed masochistic.

On the other hand, with produce stands brim full of lovely local selections, why not eat more food in its uncooked state? That's right, RAW. While the Raw Food Movement is certainly gaining momentum among many divergent groups, I'm not suggesting we forsake favorites that require some form of cooking to achieve their appeal, but that we make raw food the center attraction at more meals.

Salad #2

Fresh fruit smoothies for breakfast, salads for lunch, a glass of freshly extracted carrot juice for mid-afternoon break, and instead of accompanying the evening serving of animal protein with a starch: potatoes, rice, pasta, etc., serve a couple of raw veggies along with cooked ones. Take advantage of the fabulous flavors of fresh produce, get your 9 servings of fruit and veggies a day, increase your energy level, boost your health, and as an offshoot, perhaps shed a few pounds.

Salad #3

One of the things I like best about putting together a salad is—no recipe needed. No exact amounts crucial to the outcome. No precise ingredient needed to achieve success. Experiment. Use what's freshest, use what's on hand. Aim for a variety of nicely diced or sliced vegetables in an array of colors, a mix of textures, some soft, some crunchy. Add some bite with vinegar or lemon juice, some heat with fresh chilies or ground spices. A generous drizzle of your very best extra virgin olive oil adds an eye-appealing sheen and a must have luscious mouth-feel along with a depth of flavor that complements the crisp, fresh vegetables.

I often add a little something sweet. Raisins or some cut up fruit: orange segments, mango pieces, diced peaches, pineapple tidbits, sliced apple. Pumpkin seeds or nuts are a great addition to salads. Lightly toasting them in a dry skillet adds a wonderful layer of flavor, as well as packing in more nutrition. Walnuts, pecans, pine nuts are just a few suggestions.

Adding a bit of cheese includes some protein and calcium. Here's the bean and corn salad shown above with a little diced Monterrey-jack cheese with jalepeño. An added layer of zing! But feta or chèvre or sharp cheddar would be just as good. The bean and corn salad is sprinkled with Adobo seasoning giving it a Southwest touch. (I noticed that the Adobo seasoning in the supermarket, and I checked several brands, listed salt as the first ingredient. Avoid these. I purchase my spices and seasonings from Penzey's and the Adobo seasoning I use is made up of onion, garlic , black pepper, Mexican oregano, cumin and cayenne pepper. No salt. I add my own to taste.)

Salad #3 with Cheese

Salad combinations are only limited by our imaginations. Starting out conservatively is good. But with each successive salad, be a little more adventurous. Try different vinegars, various oils, for instance, if you have walnuts in the salad, try a drizzle of walnut oil. If you have fresh raspberries on hand, add a few to the salad and use raspberry flavored vinegar in the vinaigrette. The addition of different types of cheese gives the same old salad a different taste and look.

Tips: Use the freshest ingredients. Limp, tired, old veggies are not salad prospects. Buy small, young, firm veggies. Young vegetables are sweet and tender, the bigger they grow, the better off they are in a cooked dish. Keep fresh herbs ready to use. Grow some pots on the patio, especially basil and thyme. Buy parsley and cilantro regularly at the farm stands or market. Wash and spin them when you bring them home, then stand them in a glass of water and cover with a small plastic bag or plastic wrap then store in the fridge. They stand up well using this method and are crisp, clean and ready for mincing when you reach for them. Add a variety of olives to your pantry along with some interesting peppers. Roasted red peppers, pepperocini, pickled jalepeños, kalamata and niçoise olives, and pitted pimento stuffed Spanish olives.

Build a salad around a can of beans, that you rinse and drain. White beans as well as black and pinto beans make a great addition to diced vegetables. See the sautéed corn and black bean salad above. Open a can of tuna, drain and add it to a mixed greens salad with some sliced celery and onion (salad #2). Oil and vinegar replace the standard mayo and it's still called tuna salad. Tastier and healthier.

Enjoy the harvest, make life in the kitchen easy and fast without sacrificing flavor or nutrition. Make fresh, raw vegetables a regular part of each menu plan. They're great!

Until next time. . .keep on dicing!

Why Eat Organic ?

Mike Adams at NewsTarget.Com covers the latest in medical / health news, and entertains us regularly with CounterThink Cartoons. Check it out. . . great food for thought.

We each need to take personal responsibility for our health. The combination of technological breakthroughs, "better living through chemistry", coupled with product demand by an ever increasing population, we're living too long and being way too fertile, has resulted in the food industry being forced to find ways to meet the demand for food while faced with fulfilling stock holders' profit expectations. As a result, our grocery shelves are filled with colorful packages of 'stuff'. One quick read through the list of ingredients on any given package makes it very difficult to even call it foodstuff.

Eating whole foods, particularly organic whole foods, gives our bodies the best ammunition to do its job and do it well—maintaining a strong immune system and giving cellular regeneration the best chance of producing new healthy cells in each organ.

Some of Spring's Bounty

Fresh butter lettuce embraces a lively little salad of red bliss potatoes, hard boiled egg, celery, vidalia onions, and edamame. The dressing is a combination of equal parts Silver Palette Organic Wasabi mayo and regular mayonnaise. Quick, easy, tasty and healthy.

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BOOK NOOK

May reading was a major indulgence in popular fiction. But lots of fun reads!

Stuart Woods . . . . . . . . . . Fresh Disasters

Laura Lippman . . . . . . . . . . What The Dead Know

Every Secret Thing

Anne Perry . . . . . . . . . .We Shall Not Sleep

David Baldacci . . . . . . . . .Simple Genius

David Liss . . . . . . . . . A Conspiracy of Paper

James Grippando . . . . . . . . . Lying With Strangers

Till next time . . . Keep on Cooking.

Asian Noodle Bowl

Comfort food, fast, easy and oh, so good. This is a neat little bowl of Udon noodles in a spicy broth with vegetables. A few shrimp or some thinly sliced chicken could easily be added.

Udon noodles are Japanese wheat noodles that cook quickly and can be served hot or cold. Those pictured are Hakubaku organic noodles, made of 100% organic whole wheat flour and water. No other mystery ingredients. Udon noodles cook in about four minutes after being dropped into boiling water. Drain, then rinse well with cold water. They can be reheated easily by submerging them in hot water or in the case above, broth.

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

6 oz Udon noodles

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 cup broccoli florets, cut into bite size pieces

1 1/2 cups snow peas

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1 med jalepeño pepper, sliced (optional)

3 TBS chopped cilantro

2 TBS tamari, shoyu or light soy sauce

2 tsp grated fresh ginger (a microplane does a good, quick job)

1 tsp Asian chili-garlic sauce
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Boil Udon noodles for 4 minutes in a quart of dark vegetable broth, or chicken broth would be fine, too. Remove the noodles from the broth, rinse under cold water, drain and set aside. Bring the broth back to the boil and add the broccoli florets, red pepper and (jalepeño pepper, shrimp or chicken, if using). Cover and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Return drained noodles to pot. Add snow peas, green onion and cilantro, and remaining ingredients. Cover and let stand off heat for another 3 - 4 minutes until snow peas and onions are crisp-tender. Serve in deep bowls with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a sprinkling of chopped cilantro. Chop sticks make the noodles easy to grasp and a big spoon lets you slurp up the wonderful broth.

This will make 4 starters or 2 main servings.

Another easy meal, ready in minutes, fresh, fast, nutritious.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking!

Farmers Market Finds

A bunch of beets, a pound of green beans and three ears of corn were my goodie finds at the Farmers Market on Sunday. Remember, I'm cooking for one, so quantities are small. These fresh vegetables had been grown by a Belle Glade farmer, Jonathan Morris and his wife, Amy, and carted up to the Orlando Farmers Market.

I shucked the corn as soon as I got home, and washed, topped and blanched the beans. The beet greens had seen better days, unfortunately, so out they went. Had they still been fresh and perky, I would have used them immediately. The greens are fragile and don't have much of a shelf life once harvested. I stored the beets for another day. With $5.00 worth of vegetables, I proceeded to plan a few meals, starting with lunch on Sunday.

Corn off the cob is a less messy proposition to eat than corn on the cob, so I often slice off the kernels and sauté them in equal parts of olive oil and butter with a dash of thyme and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. The blanched green beans were sautéed in a little garlic infused olive oil with a sprinkling of dried red pepper flakes and once they had heated through and taken on just a little color, some salt and pepper and a dash of Pickapeppa finished them off nicely.
Before I started the beans and corn, I diced a juicy, ripe tomato and dressed it with a little salt and lemon juice and a bit of lemon zest and let it rest to absorb the flavors.

To appease the protein police, I tossed a couple of tablespoons of hummus on the plate (as if anyone ever heard of a protein deficiency in this country) along with some leftover focaccia. The result? A plate filled with colorful veggies, vegetable protein, white whole wheat flour and a little healthy oil. Imagine, filling all these nutritional requirements and it tasted wonderful and was ready in under 20 minutes from start to finish. My kind of fresh fast food.

One of my goals with this blog is to encourage the casual cook to stop buying convenience foods, fast foods and processed products and cook whole foods regularly with enthusiasm and confidence. One doesn't have to spend a fortune, slave hours over a hot stove, or have a culinary degree to enjoy healthy whole food meals. The few meals covered here, built around the beets, beans and corn, are a good example of simple foods prepared quickly and with ease—without sacrificing flavor.

The pale colors in this sweet and sour stir-fry belie the vibrant flavors. Perhaps a red pepper instead of the soft green of the cubanella would have been a better choice, but I used what I had in the veggie bin!

Here we have the green beans, leftover sautéed corn combined with onions, peppers, napa cabbage, bean sprouts and green onions in a sweet and sour sauce served with soba noodles topped with peanut dressing and crushed peanuts.

The sweet and sour sauce is a very unsophisticated slurry of equal parts: water, brown sugar, rice vinegar and ketchup. It tastes good, it's fast and easy, it didn't come in a bottle laced with synthetic chemicals, and it's made from items most folks have on hand. For this small batch of veggies, I used 1/4 cup of each item to make one cup of sauce. Taste for salt and pepper. Play it by ear. A bigger batch of veggies will need more sauce.
The buckwheat noodles (soba) provide both protein and fiber. The dressing is not homemade. Whole Foods' house brand organic peanut sauce works for me. Another item that's handy to have on hand.

And here are the beets, roasted and sliced, resting on a bed of sweet green leaf lettuce and peppery watercress. A few thin slices of Vidaldia onion, some crumbles of Gorgonzola and a few toasted walnuts all dressed in a light vinaigrette that includes a dash of fresh orange juice to complement the orange zest sprinkled over the salad.


Wash beets and place on a large piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil and fold up foil to form a packet. Place the foil packet on a baking sheet or small shallow pan and roast in a 400° oven for 40 - 50 minutes. They should be crisp tender. Pierce with the tip of a sharp knife to check. When the beets cool, peel, slice and toss with a little of the vinaigrette. Toss the washed, dried greens with enough vinaigrette to lightly coat the leaves then plate the items attractively, finishing off with some freshly grated orange zest (optional).

Citrus Vinaigrette: 4 TBS extra virgin olive oil (use the good stuff); 2 TBS red wine vinegar; 2 TBS orange juice; salt & pepper.

Then I was left with green beans. A pound of green beans is a lot of beans for one person! I decided to do a Thai red curry with the beans and a few other vegetables, influenced, I suspect, by Prik King. With a fresh supply of red curry paste on hand, coconut milk in the pantry and lots of compatible aromatics to accompany the beans, it was a winner. While I made the curry, I put some jasmine rice on to cook.

Thai curry is made from a curry paste, a blend of more than 10 seasonings and spices. As opposed to Indian curries which are developed from a wide selection of dried seasonings and spices. Yes, I know. We can buy a can of yellow powder called curry powder but it doesn't do justice to the authentic taste and aroma of an Indian curry made from whole herbs and spices that have been freshly roasted prior to using. But that's Indian curry.

My little can of red curry paste contains: dried red chiles, garlic, shallots, salt, lemon grass, kafir lime, galangal, coriander seeds, cumin and cardamon, all conveniently packaged together, ready to go for less than a dollar. Similar to an Indian curry preparation, the curry paste is first cooked in oil to bring out the flavors and the color, then the coconut milk is added in two stages. Thai cooks separate the thick, heavy milk at the top of the can from the thinner coconut milk at the bottom of the can. Do not shake the milk before opening, then gently spoon off the top portion of the milk into a small dish until ready to use.

I used a medium Vidalia onion cut into wedges, a sweet red pepper cut into strips, a jalepeño with the seeds removed, cut into strips, two young carrots sliced on the diagonal for quick cooking in the stir fry and the rest of the blanched green beans. The veggies were sautéed in olive oil in layers starting with the onion and peppers then adding the carrots and green beans. when the veggies are crisp tender (just a little under done) remove them from the pan and stir 2 TBS of red curry paste into the oil in the hot pan, press the frying paste with a wooden spoon to blend it with the oil. Be careful about breathing too deeply close to the pan. The chiles and spices are very pungent. After frying the curry paste in the oil, spoon the thick coconut milk into the pan and bring it to a boil mixing it carefully with the paste. Continue cooking the paste and coconut milk, letting it boil very gently until the oils in the pan start to separate. Little oil droplets will appear on the surface of the sauce. Do not boil too rapidly as the oil won't separate. Once the oils separate, add the remaining thin portion of the coconut milk, 1 TBS Asian fish sauce, 1 TBS lime juice and 1 tsp sugar and the sautéed ingredients. Thinly sliced chicken or pork could be included and sautéed with the veggies. Simmer gently for another 10 minutes or so until the oil separates out again. A rich color and tiny droplets of oil in a curry means it was made correctly.

The veggies ladled over jasmine rice with a generous portion of sauce, served piping hot makes an exotic, spicy one dish meal.

A few selections at the farmers market, corn, beans and beets, inspired these dishes. All quick, easy, tasty, attractive and a little out of the ordinary. None requires exact proportions, all reheat beautifully.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

Lasagna - An Elegant One Dish Meal

However you choose to spell lasagna, ending it with an e or an a, this layered noodle dish is a popular Italian specialty. The big debate arises over what is nestled between the layers of tender sheets of pasta and whether the provenance of those structural noodles is fresh from an Atlas roller or slipped from a blue box. I've gone both routes, and if all the other elements are done to perfection, the choice of pasta is almost irrelevant. In my opinion, fresh pasta should be showcased with minimal adornment, lasagna has too much going for it to highlight the pasta.

Then there is the faction that stubbornly adheres to the dish's old world origins with the meat layers separated from the pasta layers with a rich, creamy béchamel sauce. Given that Louis de Béchamel, attributed with originating the white sauce, was French, the debate rages on as to what constitutes an authentic lasagne(a). I choose to go all the way with red sauce and save white sauce for other applications. Though there's nothing wrong with the way my Italian friend, Melina, makes a lasagna, believe me! Despite the prevalence of white sauce.

My personal choice is simple layers of pasta with fresh ricotta cheese that has been mixed with beaten egg, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, minced fresh parsley and salt and pepper. Each layer separated from its brother with a light coating of red sauce and thin slices of whole milk mozzarella cheese. The entire dish laced on the bottom, between layers and over the top with a perky fresh tomato marinara sauce. I love vegetables, but keep them out of my lasagna and I prefer a meatless rendition, if I'm having my druthers.

I have friends who are partial to a rich ragù that I've adapted from The Frugal Gourmet. They've indicated that the combination of layers of ricotta alternating with layers of ragù is a winner in their book and to please everyone, about once a year, I put one of these meat and cheese combos together.

This was the week. My friends, Paul and Betty, were celebrating their first wedding anniversary and I wanted to offer a toast to them for many more happy years ahead.

We started the meal with shrimp cocktail. The large, sweet, fresh shrimp recently off the boat from Key West. Followed by an adventurous little salad of torn green leaf lettuce, thinly sliced Vidalia onions, diced vine- ripened tomatoes, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and spicy hot, toasted walnuts. The pan-roasted walnuts dusted in sugar and ground chipotlé were a bold companion to the piquant cheese and the two somewhat brash components lent just the right character to the sweet mild greens that had been lightly dressed with a mellow Asiago dressing.

Foccacia, warm from the oven, with rosemary and kosher salt, was good for mopping the zingy cocktail sauce (fresh horseradish is a must) with the shrimp, the dressing on the salad and any traces of red sauce from the lasagna. The dense, cake-like crumb, sweetened by a heavy dose of olive oil within and served with herbed olive oil for dipping, could have been dessert by itself.

But we ended the meal with a simple presentation designed by a clever chef in Treviso. Freshly churned lemon ice drizzled with vodka. The light fresh tart taste of the lemons was a fitting end to a rich meal. And the unexpected appearance of the ice cold vodka, straight from the freezer, lent just the right air of decadence to the finale.

The meal was complemented with a feisty young red Zinfandel and a pleasantly mellow Cabernet. Rich French Roast coffee added the final touch to an extremely enjoyable, casual meal with good friends.

Get-togethers like these are rich rewards for spending a day in the kitchen. As you might have guessed, this was not a 30 minute meal!

Ragù

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 rib celery, finely chopped

1 med carrot, peeled and finely chopped

1 med yellow onion, finely chopped

1/4 lb pancetta, finely chopped

1 pound ground sirloin

1 pound ground pork

1/8 cup chopped parsley

1 1/4 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup dry white wine (I use dry vermouth)

1/2 sm can tomato paste

3 TBS butter

1/4 cup heavy cream (I use half & half)

1 tsp chopped fresh sage of 1/2 tsp dried ground sage

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat a large, heavy bottom stainless steel dutch oven or kettle. Add the oil, garlic, celery, carrot and onion. Sauté until the onion is transparent, about 10 - 15 minutes. Add the pancetta and sauté 5 minutes. Add the chopped meats and brown until crumbly. Add the parsley, chicken stock, white wine and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer gently partly covered for about 2 hours. When all is well homogenized, add the butter, cream, sage and cheese and simmer carefully for another 5 minutes or so. Skim any accumulated fat from the top of the sauce then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ricotta Layer

one pound ricotta(approx 2 cups)

one egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

dash of 1/2 & 1/2

Salt & Pepper

In a medium bowl mix all ingredients to spreadable consistency (add cream or 1/2 & 1/2 to thin as needed).

Assembling the Lasagna

In addition to the fillings (meat and cheese or just meat or just cheese) and the pasta sauce you will need a generous 4 - 6 oz hunk of whole milk mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced. Or you can grate it, if you prefer, and an additional half cup of grated mozzarella and a 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese for the top.

You will need 5 - 6 cups home-made marinara sauce or pasta sauce of choice. Spread about a cup of sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Cover bottom of dish with lasagna noodles (I like to soften hard ones by placing them in simmering water until they are slightly pliable - no need to pre-cook). You will need 9 lasagna noodles for a 9 x 13 dish (3 layers of 3 noodles). If using fresh pasta sheets, cut the sheets to fit the dish, allowing for 3 layers of noodles.

Whether the first layer is meat or cheese is a personal preference. It doesn't make any difference in the finished product.

Gently spread the ricotta over the layer of noodles. Then layer on thin slices of mozzarella, then add a thin layer of sauce before adding the next layer of noodles. Place a layer of the ragù over the second layer of noodles, add a layer of thin slices of mozzarella, then a thin layer of sauce and top with the final 3 noodles. Carefully cover the top three noodles with sauce. The dish can be prepared up to this point, covered with foil and refrigerated until ready to bake. If refrigerated, let stand at room temperature for at least 45 min before baking in a 350° oven for 55 - 60 minutes. Bake covered with foil for the first 45 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and evenly spread a mixture of 1/2 cup of grated mozzarella and 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan over the top. Return to oven and finish cooking uncovered. Dish should be bubbly with the cheese taking on a little color - don't overcook as it will be dry. Let stand at least 15 minutes before cutting. Serve with additional sauce if desired. A sprinkling of freshly minced Italian parsley makes a lovely finishing touch.

This is a special occasion item. The more often you prepare one, the easier it becomes. Be sure to allow enough time to enjoy the process. Being rushed and/or stressed not only puts undue pressure on the cook but inevitably ruins the final dish. The best food is simple food prepared with joy and love.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

The copycat rides again . . .

It should be no surprise to my readers that I'm an unapologetic member of the Heidi Swanson fan club. If Heidi proposes a technique or ingredient that appeals to me, be sure, I'll be right behind her, trying it out or performing my own riff. No surprise then that her recent posting of David Lebovitz's frozen yogurt recipe from his new book, The Super Scoop, was high on my list of must do's!

Heidi made vanilla and so did I—the first batch. It was so good, I had to have more and of course, I had to add my own little fillip. With fresh strawberries available at unheard of low prices, $1.67 for a quart in the market, why pick your own? And I love strawberry ice cream but I've not been happy with commercial frozen ice cream or frozen yogurt laced with big hard rock-like berries. To offset that, I prepared a generous cup of strawberries by giving them a few whirls in my mini food processor and added a couple of teaspoons of Polaner's all fruit strawberry jelly. This added some juicy body to the crushed berries and sweetened them naturally at the same time. I mixed the crushed berries with the balance of the washed, hulled berries that had been sliced.

I followed Heidi/David's instructions for allowing the organic, full cream, plain yogurt to drain overnight in the fridge, then added a teaspoon of vanilla and a half cup of sugar. I let the vanilla base process in the ice cream maker until it was almost finished (about 15 - 17 minutes) then I began adding the sliced berries and their juice, a tablespoon at a time, until I liked the ratio. I was looking for a light pink color with well balanced flecks of berries. This step becomes a matter of preference: add more; add fewer.

Ice cream, sorbet, or Italian ice made in these convenient electric appliances, is done when it reaches a stage very similar to soft serve ice cream. It continues to harden when placed in the freezer, and is just right for making picture perfect scoops after about 3 - 4 hours. Then it tends to get very hard. No mystery synthetic chemical stabilizers to keep it soft. A very reliable method of preventing it from turning into an iceberg is to add a little alcohol at the very end of the mixing. Vodka is best as it has no flavor to conflict with the ingredients or you can use a liquor to complement the flavor. I had no vodka on hand, but I did have some triple sec. I mixed in two generous tablespoons just as the frozen yogurt finished setting up. If the alcohol is added too soon, it will prevent it from freezing properly in the ice cream maker. There was no noticeable orange taste in the finished strawberry yogurt.

If you have an electric ice cream maker, I'd certainly encourage you to try your hand at frozen yogurt. What pleases me most about this is the purity of ingredients. This is nothing more than organic whole milk yogurt with a little flavoring and a little sugar. Read the labels on the commercial products. They sure have to use a lot of strange stuff to produce the end result, don't they?

Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

On the cheap, again . . .

Here I go with another bargain meal. Couldn't help myself. I had this lonely little eggplant in the vegetable bin. When I bought it the other day, my intention was to make a small batch of caponata. I love the sweet and sour flavor of this wonderful relish to eat on rustic bread or toss into a mixed greens salad. But it didn't come to pass. Instead, I made a petite portion of eggplant Parmesan on the fly.

With no tomato sauce made up, and only a couple of fresh tomatoes on the sill that were still a bit on the hard side, I really had to improvise. I tossed a 15 oz can of organic diced tomatoes into the food processor with two cloves of garlic, whirled that around until it was fairly smooth and then poured it into a saucepan with four of my stash of frozen veggie broth cubes (1/2 cup) and a generous sprinkling of a Penzey's blend of Italian herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Then let it all simmer very gently. I didn't want it to cook down too much, but wanted it to have enough time to develop a little depth of flavor while I prepared the sliced eggplant.

I used the standard breading technique. Dip in flour, then egg wash, then panko (gives a much crustier finish than standard dry bread crumbs). Now here's a little trick I learned from the good folks at Cooks Illustrated. Instead of frying the eggplant slices, while I was slicing and breading them, I preheated the oven to 425° and placed a baking sheet in the oven to heat up. As the eggplant slices were breaded, I set them out on a wire rack. Once the oven had reached temperature, I removed the hot baking sheet (carefully) and swirled on a tablespoon of olive oil, then placed the breaded eggplant slices on the sheet and into the oven. The slices will brown nicely in about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on them and turn them over after about 20 minutes. If you are doing a larger batch, use two sheets, switch and rotate them about halfway through the cooking time.

To assemble, spread a generous layer of the tomato sauce in the bottom a baking dish. Layer on the eggplant slices, dollop each with a little tomato sauce and then sprinkle with a combination of grated mozzarella and Parmesan. Return to the hot oven and bake until bubbly and the cheese has browned. About 15 minutes of so.

While the eggplant was in the oven for its final bake, I sliced up some of the ciabatta I baked the other day and toasted it over medium heat in a little garlic infused olive oil and a sprinkling of those same Italian herbs.

This meal did take a little more than 30 minutes, but not more than an hour and most of that time was baking time,waiting for the eggplant to brown, and then for it to heat through with the cheese.


It was a dandy supper, concocted on the fly with a .99 can of tomatoes, a 79 cent eggplant, about a 3 oz piece of store brand mozzarella and a perhaps a quarter cup of grated Parmesan, and let's not forget the leftover bread. Granted this was dinner for one or two, but it wouldn't take much more to make it dinner for three or four. Just buy a bigger eggplant.



Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

With a little planning . . .

What fun I had recently, mixing up my first batch of Ciabatta dough. Ciabatta is a rustic-looking, light textured oval loaf, perfect for splitting lengthwise to make a pan bagna—stuffed Italian sandwiches or panini—grilled Italian sandwiches.
I've been a novice bread baker for over 40 years. I remember standing in the kitchen after putting the boys to bed, mixing and kneading a cool rise white bread that rivaled Pepperidge Farm. I thought that was an accomplishment. Little did I know that there were far better, chewy, dense, fragrant artisan breads, lovingly kneaded then baked in brick ovens. I led a sheltered life growing up. White air bread was the norm in our house.

Americanized Italian Rustic Bread

After several bread baking classes at Harriet's Kitchen, in the early '90's, and after studying and practicing the methods and techniques of Nancy Silverton and The Village Baker, Joe Ortiz, I was well on my way to producing rustic, full flavored loaves with crunchy crusts and soft, moist interiors. Faithful to each episode of Baking with Julia on PBS, I watched pros measure, mix, knead, shape and bake a wide variety of the basic food that has been with us since man discovered fire.

Bread is served at every meal and in between. When there is nothing else to satisfy, a slice of bread, plain or toasted, slathered with everything from suet, to baked beans, to peanut butter and jelly have provided a fast, nourishing meal or snack. Man probably could live by bread alone, as long as it's made of whole food ingredients and not filled with air and synthetic chemicals. My bread doesn't have a very long shelf-life. It's eat it up or freeze it. Both are easy to do.

There is something so relaxing, almost therapeutic, about working with yeast dough. Is it the aroma or the sensual touch of kneading soft, yielding dough? Is it the miracle of putting together a little flour, salt, yeast and water and watching this blob of dough rise to the top of the bowl? Or the fun of poking a finger into that light airy bowl of dough and watching it deflate like a balloon that has lost its air? Or is it the sense of pride, the soul-satisfying accomplishment as we pull that handmade baked loaf from the oven, the whole house delightfully perfumed with a hot, yeasty aroma?

Millions upon millions of home bakers have mastered the art of baking bread. Some for the sheer joy of doing it; most to keep body and soul together. In this day and age, with so few healthy shelf choices, we bake bread for the sake of our health, but the sheer joy of accomplishment is in no way diminished.

Hot from the oven, Ciabatta dipped in first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil with Italian herbs and freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano, vine-ripened organic tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden is perfect for a light lunch or makes a great starter.

Two steps are required — plan ahead.

1. Starter, (sponge, biga) is mixed up the night before: Combine 1/2 tsp instant yeast; 1/2 cup of tepid water; 1 1/2 cups of King Arthur Organic Unbleached All Purpose flour or White Whole Wheat flour, in a mixing bowl (I used the bowl of the Kitchen Aid mixer). Cover the bowl and allow to rest 12 hours or overnight.

2. Dough: To the biga (above) add: 1 tsp instant yeast; 1 1/2 tsp salt; 3/4 cup + 3 TBS water; 1 TBS olive oil; 2 cups King Arthur Flour (same type as used in the biga).

Procedure: Mix/knead all of the dough ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer (10 minutes), a food processor (90 seconds), or a bread machine (dough cycle). The dough is much too slack to knead by hand, so you need to use a machine. Once mixed, let it rise, covered, for about an hour, it will easily double in size. Then flow the sticky dough into a rough 10 x 15 oval on a lightly greased baking sheet. Let it rise, covered, till very puffy, about 2 hours. Bake the Ciabatta in a preheated 425°F oven for about 25 minutes, until it's golden brown. Cool it in the turned-off oven with the door cracked open.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

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BOOK NOOK

Here's the list of books I read (finished) in April.

Burning Bright . . . . . . Tracy Chevalier

One Hundred Year Lie . . . . . . Randall Fitzgerald

The God of Animals . . . . . . Aryn Kyle

Deep Storm . . . . . . Lincoln Child

Obsession . . . . . . Jonathan Kellerman

Daddy's Girl . . . . . Lisa Scottoline

The Watchman. . . . . . Robert Crais

Sick Puppy . . . . . . Carl Hiassen

Body Surfing . . . . . . Anita Shreve

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Rice Bowl

I ran across a new veggie variety at the produce market yesterday, a golden zucchini, not to be mistaken for a yellow squash, or summer squash as we northerners call them. This was the identical size and shape of the familiar green zucchini but it was vibrantly yellow, not the pastel yellow of the familiar summer squash with its thin, tapered neck. Varieties of this yellow squash are called Golden Dawn or Golden Girl and I just had to have some.

Late in the afternoon, I was pleased to find a new posting from the top of my Blog Favorites list, Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks. Heidi had made a great, fast rice bowl featuring the convenience food, frozen brown rice to which she added asparagus, slivered almonds and a piquant tahini dressing. Check it out.

And do check out Heidi's newly released book, Super Natural Cooking. It's a beautifully rendered compendium of information and easy to follow recipes that puts to rest the misconception that natural, whole foods taste like cardboard. As if any of us actually know what cardboard tastes like. When was the last time you had some for a snack?

Treat yourself to a copy of the book, and broaden your repertoire with whole food dishes that are fast and fabulous. It's only $13.60 at Amazon. The images, layout, information and recipes will provide big dividends for your small investment. Great for gift giving, too.

Spurred on by the lovely image of Heidi's rice bowl, I ran downstairs to the kitchen, intending to replace the rice with quick cooking quinoa, but when I opened the kitchen cabinet and saw several jars of different Lundberg Farms rices smiling back at me, I chose to cook a cup of Japonica (black & mahogany) rice, in two cups of homemade vegetable broth, even though it would take the best part of an hour. I was in no hurry actually, and the deep, rich aroma wafting through the house as the dark rice cooked, was an added bonus.

Tip: I make up a large stock pot of veggie broth on a day when I'm tackling other projects that keep me in the kitchen for a while. Then when the broth has cooled, I mete it out into one and two cup portions to freeze. I also fill a couple of ice cube trays (one tray, 16 cubes = 2 cups) and when the cubes are frozen, transfer them to plastic freezer bags. These are great when you need a couple of tablespoons of liquid to deglaze a pan, finish off a sauce, or thin down a stew or chili. I do the same with lemon juice when local lemons are plentiful. I have plastic bags of lemon cubes and broth, tucked away in the freezer to use at a moment's notice. Shortcuts like this make cooking a pleasure and give the most humble dish a professional finish.

To round out my rice bowl, I chose to include a cup of edamame, lightly blanched in salted water, to add color and protein, and a sliced yellow onion sautéed along with the diced Golden zucchini perked up its sweet, mild flavor. A handful of toasted, slivered almonds and a little freshly minced cilantro rounded out the dish.

and then I had to make a decision about how to dress it.

Let your imagination flow. I chose to use the juice and zest from half a lime, a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, a couple of teaspoons of the juice from a jar of pickled jalepeños, for heat, and a tablespoon of Penzey's Raspberry Enlightenment, a magic potion that can add a je ne sais quois to a sweet or savory dish.

When the rice was cooked, I tossed it with the edamame, the zucchini and onions, and the dressing, then sprinkled the toasted almonds and minced cilantro over top.

This is the type of dish that lets your imagination run rampant. There are no right or wrongs. Quantities are arbitrary. Use what's on hand. Think color, not only for presentation, but to assure a variety of nutritional benefits. Use rice or bulgur or quinoa or even couscous or a whole grain pasta. Vary the herbs or use a combination. Use colorful veggie additions based on what's fresh at the market. Then experiment with different dressings from simple olive oil and lemon juice, to Heidi's suggestion of a tangy tahini dressing, to peanut sauce. Don't drown the ingredients. Use a light hand with any dressing, let the myriad of flavors from the grain and veggies shine through.

The choices are endless. Different combinations will provide a whole new dish and practice will form the basis for some super one dish entrées that come together quickly, yet give the appearance of hours spent slaving over the hot stove. Presentation is important in any dish, but the real treat is in the eating. Here's a wonderful windfall of flavors and textures combined with vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Healthy whole food eating at its best.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

Tropical Delight!

My friend, Helen, gave me a papaya from her neighbor's yard the other day. It was a big piece of fruit and still a bit hard. So I kept it on the counter for a few days to let it ripen.

To give you some perspective, the mango on the left is really a good sized piece of fruit, but look at that papaya! Wow. Some papayas grow to upwards of 20lbs. Among the different varieties of fruit, the papaya is known as a nutritional masterpiece. It's rich, not only in Vitamin C, but folate and potassium. The papaya actually contains a higher percentage of Vitamain C and potassium than oranges. It's also a good source of fiber as well as an excellent source of papain, which acts as a natural digestive aid, breaking down protein and cleansing the digestive track. Even the seeds are edible and will add a little peppery bite to salads, sauces or salsas.

As the days went by, I thought of several interesting things to do with this marvelous piece of fruit. The sweet, ripe flesh could star in a fruit or vegetable salad. Or I could purée it and serve over a rice or tapioca pudding. In the end, I puréed half and blended it with a frozen banana for the ultimate smoothie!

A ripe papaya has a golden yellow outer skin and the flesh is smooth, silky and a deep pinkish-orange color with a sweet musky flavor. It's easy to peel with a paring knife or a vegetable peeler works well, too. Scoop the seeds out with a spoon and the fruit is good to go, however you choose to eat it.

Mother Nature certainly does provide a feast of fabulous foods to tickle our palates and keep us healthy. Using a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables gives us the best shot at staying healthy.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking!

Lite Bites

It's been a week for quick, light meals. Even with a busy schedule, with limited time for kitchen duty, it's still possible to eat well. Any of the following makes a great light supper, a super lunch, or any one can be part of a larger repast.

Tomato Basil Soup

This is one of those 30 minute soups that requires very little culinary expertise, few ingredients and very little attention once everything is in the pot. The fresh, clean taste, lack of synthetic chemicals, preservatives and miscellaneous flavor enhancers makes it a sure-fire winner over canned soups any day. This recipe makes six generous portions.

Ingredients:

1/2 T olive oil, 1 large carrot, finely chopped; 1 celery stalk, finely chopped; one large onion, chopped, 8 - 10 ripe plum tomatoes, halved (or 4 tomatoes and one 14oz can diced tomatoes. Preferably Muir Glen fire roasted.) Salt and pepper to taste; 1 bay leaf; 1/4 tsp dried oregano; 3 cups vegetable broth or filtered water; 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves; 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the carrot, celery, onion and
tomatoes, season lightly with salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes.
2. Add the bay leaf, oregano and broth or water and bring to a boil quickly over high heat.
3. Lower the heat and simmer until the vegetables are completely tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove the bay leaf and puree the soup in a blender. Strain if desired.
(I like a bit of texture so I don't strain it).
5. Serve the soup with a dusting of Parmesan and a sprinkling of basil strips or add the cheese
and basil to the pot, stir and then serve.

Salad Can Be Fun

Incorporating some novel ingredients makes a salad far more interesting. This salad starts with a base of dark green Romaine leaves and some slivered Vidalia onions. Then diced mango, diced avocado and a few raisins lend color and a bit of sweetness to offset the mildly hot Peppadew pepper. A few raw sunflower seeds add a bit of crunch as well as additional nutrition. The salad is lightly dressed with a tablespoon of ranch dressing thinned out with a drizzle or two of raw apple cider vinegar. There is no added oil in the dressing to compensate for the high calorie avocado. This salad would make a great first course, or a great lunch with a bowl of soup.

Salads with protein make a wonderful one dish luncheon or light supper meal. This salad incorporates tuna and edamame to provide an ample portion of protein along with an interesting combination of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Again, there is romaine, both dark and lighter leaves, a small stalk of celery, sliced and slivers of sweet onion along with some diced mango. To add a bit of crunch and a salty tang , a few roasted peanuts are sprinkled over top. This salad is very simply dressed with a little olive oil and rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Pastabilities

Nothing could be more versatile than the many shapes of pasta. And nothing could be faster than a one dish meal that comes together as quickly as a pot of water can boil and the pasta cooks.

Here's some pappardelle (or wide egg noodles) with frozen peas, lightly sauced with a bit of butter, some crumbles of goat cheese and a generous portion of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and for a bit of color, as well as a little acid to offset the butter and cheese, a bit of fresh tomato, roughly diced. Fast and fabulous.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil, then salt generously adding 2 cups of wide noodles (or pasta of choice). Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, defrost 1/2 cup of frozen petite peas and add to pasta in pot 3 minutes before pasta is done. Drain pasta and peas reserving a bit of the water.

Return pasta and peas to pot and stir in one tablespoon of unsalted butter until melted. Then add 2 -3 tablespoons of goat cheese crumbles and 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. If pasta is dry, add a little of the reserved water to obtain the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Peas and tomatoes are a nice combination, but asparagus and corn are another pastability. Use your imagination and come up with some quick pasta and veggie combinations of your own - fast food the healthy way.

Till next time. . . keep on cooking.

The Dollar Lunch

Not long ago, an article that was featured on the cover of a Family Circle magazine came to mind. The headline read: How to Feed A Family of Four For Forty Dollars a Week. That was in 1968 or 1969, I think. I tag these random memories based on where I was living at the time, or how old my kids were, or some unrelated bit of flotsam.

One of the thrifty suggestions was to have the stay-at-home mom split a can of Campbell soup for lunch. Eating half one day, the other half the next day. But when the dad came home, meat appeared at the table. I do remember chafing at the chauvanistic choice of having the protein appear with the bread winner.

The retail price of that same twenty-five cent can of soup is close to a dollar now. And it's not on my list of SuperFoods, by any means. Canned soup, in most cases, is a prime example of processed foods laden with synthetic chemicals, shelf life extenders and even sugar. Yet eating for pennies and eating well, at that, is not something that belongs only to the past. It's easily achievable with a few fresh ingredients and a well stocked pantry.

On a trip to the produce market the other day, I spent a dollar on 3 small ears of yellow corn, grown in South Florida. The silk was still moist and fresh prompting me to eat it right away. It would be the focal point of my lunch. I've been sautéeing the kernels instead of steaming or boiling the full ears. It only takes a few moments to cut the kernels from the cob and toss them into a little heated extra virgin olive oil, and dust them with a bit of French thyme, salt and pepper. The kernels cook up quickly over medium heat and are ready when they've browned a bit and have lost the raw corn taste but haven't become soggy - about 6 to 8 minutes.


The fridge offered up a leftover baked potato, which I peeled, sliced and fried up in a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter. I carefully turn the slices over until each side is brown and crispy. Then I spied half a Ruskin beefsteak tomato sitting on the counter, wrapped in plastic, unused from the night before. I diced it up, and sprinkled it with a little lemon zest, some salt and pepper and the juice from a wedge of lemon.

TIP: Have at least one lemon and one lime on hand in the vegetable bin. A little fresh citrus juice will tweak the flavor of everything from fish or chicken to any vegetable.

Within 10 minutes, I had a very tasty lunch, using my freshly purchased dollar's worth of corn and a left over potato and a half tomato. When the idea came to me to share this meal with you, I added a little cilantro to the plate to round out the colors. The flavor of each vegetable was unique and plated together provided a satisfying lunch for just a bit more than a dollar.


I read an article written about the illustrious retired chef, Frédy Giardet, that stressed, “What’s important to him is to amplify the flavors, not hide them. With nothing, he is able to make something exceptional. It’s easy to make something impressive if it’s complicated. It’s much harder to impress people with something simple.”

Using the best quality, fresh, natural ingredients, simply prepared is doable by the most modest of cooks. Not only is it economical and healthy, but it's fast and delicious. Try a few simple whole food combinations of your own. When you think there's nothing in the house to eat, there usually is plenty. It just takes a little imagination.

Till next time. . . keep on cooking.

Not Too Sweet

It's fun to tinker with recipes that have proven practically foolproof in their printed version. One gets far more cocky, canny and creative with the confidence that our little modifications will be as successful as its mother. And in this case, it worked.

Ever since I watched Mark Bittman whip up the savory dark loaf, leavened with the unique chemical reaction of baking soda meeting the acidity of buttermilk, I've been making light and dark loaves for myself and for gift giving.

The dark bread gets its deep color from molasses which also provides some sweetness to offset the robust whole wheat flour and corn meal. The molasses also assures a moist crumb. The light bread is made with white whole wheat flour. An egg and honey replace the molasses.

I recently baked a dark loaf for a neighbor's birthday, adding a dish of raspberry butter* to go with it. That was a hit. With another birthday to celebrate, I decided to experiment with the lighter version. I added a half cup of mini chocolate chips, a half cup of slivered almonds and a 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract. The sensuous almond flavor intensified as the loaf baked and the kitchen sooned smelled better than any commercial room deodorizer could offer. Natural's always better.

Both breads freeze well and toast beautifully in a wide slotted toaster. The dark bread is delicious with an herbed cream cheese and both are a treat with fruited compound butter.

* Raspberry butter. Cream together a quarter pound of soft(room temperature) unsalted butter with a half cup of defrosted frozen raspberries and a tablespoon of raw, unfiltered orange blossom honey. Once blended, works beautifully in a food processor, either scoop the pretty pink butter into a ramekin and chill or form into a roll using waxed paper, then chill. Once cold and solid, the roll makes slicing little pats simple and gives the servings a professional finish. Either way, the butter tastes the same—delicious.

Next gift giving time, think about giving a gift from the kitchen. It's much appreciated and sends the message that you care.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

Raw Almonds — An Endangered Species

A lot of us purchase raw, unprocessed almonds for snacks, to make nut milk or even almonnaise, a healthy substitute for egg based mayonnaise. Raw almonds are a source of superior nutrition. They provide an excellent source of plant protein, B vitamins, essential minerals, unsaturated fats and fiber. They have no cholesterol, are relatively free from pesticide residue, and are NOT PASTEURIZED.

Now comes the news from the Almond Board of California (ABC) that almonds will soon be pasteurized, subjected to heat, which makes them 'cooked' but the packaging will still proclaim them to be RAW. Excuse me? How can they do that?


Beginning this fall, pasteurized almonds will be packaged as raw. ABC can see no difference between a live food and one that has been depleted of its life force by being heated. Worse yet, an unsuspecting consumer will be duped. The world-wide hue and cry to "read the labels" loses all meaning when the labels lie.


Whether you eat raw almonds or not, speaking up about this disgraceful proposed practice is imperative. Today, almonds; tomorrow, who knows what? I don't want my almonds pasteurized, but more importantly, I want to know what I'm buying. The label can't lie.

Take a moment to send a comment to the Almond Board of California shaming them for thinking they can scam the buying public and no one will notice! Here's what I told them:

I've been using raw almonds to make almond milk for over 20 years. I purchase a lot of raw almonds, and I cannot understand the thinking involved regarding the plan to pasteurize almonds and continue to sell them as 'raw'. Where will all the nutrition be? Up in steam? No, thank you. If this is a CYA tactic because of an isolated case of contamination, it's extreme. Is big business so married to the bottom line that it has lost all sense of morals? Don't tinker with what nature intended us to eat! Leave my raw almonds, raw. Don't cook them, but if you do, don't tell me they're still raw.


Food industry giants have played around with our food supply, substituting synthetic chemicals for real food to the detriment of our health. The selection of live, whole foods dwindles daily. Unless we speak up for ourselves, corporate greed will continue, unchecked, cutting one corner after another. It's our food, our purchasing power and our lives at stake. Statistics show that the increase in debilitating and fatal diseases has risen to near epidemic proportions since we've allowed our grocery shelves to be filled with products devoid of nutrition and laden with synthetic chemicals, with all the life force cooked right out of them, all in the name of profit.
To blatantly deceive the consumer by mislabeling a product, as in the case of the almonds, is criminal.

Some Dare Call It Pizza

As I rummaged in the freezer compartment, moving various mystery packages, I must learn to use labels, I came across a ball of pizza dough. My little creative light bulb lit up like a beacon and I set about caramelizing onions, mincing olives and pre-heating the oven to a toasty 500°.

The French call it Pissaladiere (Provençal Pizza). I watched the crew at America's Test Kitchen prepare this a good while ago. I guess, stuff on a crust qualifies as pizza. This version calls for niçoise olives and anchovies. I hate to disappoint my readers, but I had to forgo the anchovies for lack of supplies! I didn't have any niçoise olives either, but I did find four Calamatas floating in a jar, a half dozen colossal blacks and a few tiny Spanish salad olives. What a way to clean the condiment shelves! I minced up all the olives together and had a generous 1/2 cup to use as topping.

Meanwhile, the onions were giving off a wonderful rich inviting aroma as they caramelized in extra virgin olive oil, salt and a teaspoon of brown sugar to speed the process along. I used one fist sized sweet onion and two medium yellow cooking onions, sliced thinly and sautéed in a tablespoon of good olive oil over medium heat and sprinkled with a half teaspoon of kosher salt and the brown sugar. Once the onions have released their liquid, lower the heat and keep an eye on them, giving them a good stir from time to time, scraping up from the bottom to release the fond (that's the browned bits). See, in no time, we can all begin to speak like an experienced chef!

Instead of rolling out the dough to a thin disk, I stretched it gently into a 12" stoneware dish that I normally use for baking foccacia. This seemed to be foccacia-esque enough to qualify. I brushed the dough with olive oil and then layered on the minced olives,* followed by the caramelized onions and then sprinkled on a couple of tablespoons of crumbled goat cheese. I distributed a generous pinch of Herbes de Provence over the top (just thyme will do). Gave it a good grind of pepper and popped it into the hot oven on the very lowest rack for about 25 minutes.
*If using anchovies, chop 8 fillets, and scatter over the olive layer. Use a few whole fillets to garnish, if desired. I never desire anchovies. But that's my provincial Provencal taste. Cosmopolitan types will want the depth of flavor these little fishies afford.

This was the perfect accompaniment to a salad, rounding out the meal with just the right mouth feel of chewy crust, and salty topping.

The salad has a marvelous variety: hearts of romaine, unwaxed cucumber, sweet onion, grape tomatoes, roasted beets, toasted walnuts and crumbled goat cheese. It's lightly dressed with a drizzle of very good olive oil and a sprinkling of unfiltered apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Eating healthy isn't hard — you just have to be determined.

Till next time . . . Keep on cooking!

Where Have All The Farmers Gone?

I headed out for the Orlando Farmers Market on Sunday, filled with excitement and packing several canvas bags to cart my wares. I arrived to see this sparse setting. Few vendors; fewer patrons. So much for buy local!

The sole vendor with produce had a nice selection of healthy looking products, allegedly from Plant City. I didn't want to challenge the bananas with the familiar label. Certainly doubt those were grown locally. But the strawberries, peppers, cabbages and oranges were at least grown within a 50 mile radius.

The DelMonte produce boxes neatly stowed underneath the display tables made me slightly suspicious that local might apply more to the vendor's supplier than the actual source of the produce.

The floral and plant people had some great bargains that the enterprising vendors had nursed from seed and seedlings. But you can't eat these.

I'm trying to support the local farmer. I'm trying to eat locally grown foods which are not only better for me, at least in theory, but purchasing items that haven't had to be transported all the way down this long peninsula is saving on petroleum usage, too. But the elusive farmers are making it difficult.

I spoke with the manager of the market, she wasn't very encouraging. She said there are very few local farmers to begin with and fewer still who are interested in carting their wares to this venue. I would add, this market has poor attendance. That, coupled with market day being Sunday, may have a big influence on the lack of interest by the farmers. The poor attendance may be because it's Sunday.

The Orlando Farmers Market not only moved from Heritage Square to Lake Eola about a year ago, but changed market day from Saturday to Sunday. The move and day change does not seem to have been a successful decision.

This was the produce selection at our Farmers Market

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BOOK NOOK

March reading included a lot of favorite authors and a couple of new ones, new to me, anyway. These are the books I finished!

Mercy Among the Children. . . . David Adams Richards

Bad Blood . . . . Linda Fairstein

Money As Sacrament . . . Adele Azar-Rucquoi

Nineteen Minutes . . . . Jodi Picoult

Whitethorn Woods . . . . Maeve Binchy

Christine Falls . . . . Benjamin Black (John Banville)

Till next time. . . keep on cooking!