The Crab Chronicles

How to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables

I was the world's pickiest eater as a kid. I only really ate two green vegetables, green beans and plain lettuce. I would also eat green peas but in my mother's eyes that didn't count. Nor did green Jello. I tried to get her to bend the rules many times when we were at a cafeteria and her command "Get at least ONE green vegetable!" seemed really harsh and unfair.

I guess I was lucky, though. I had an aunt who helped her kids' plates until they were in high school. At least we had some choice in the matter.

My mother believed kids should eat vegetables, and drink a glass of milk at dinner every night, and we should eat meat. She told us there were four food groups and it was important to cover them all, every day. The four groups were meat, dairy, grains, fruits and vegetables.

Now, if Dad was out of town or there was some special occasion going on, she would bend the rules. If fish were being fried, she was okay with us eating fried fish and hushpuppies. Pizza didn't have to have veggies on it.

My brother would cheerfully eat almost anything. He was the opposite of me.

All this is to say that I am sort of puzzled by moms today who have conniption fits about their kids eating vegetables. It's not really a hard problem to solve. I was lucky because my kids came from countries where the attitude towards fresh fruits and vegetables was: wow, what treats! They didn't have the grocery stores filled with fruits and veggies in the dead of winter.

Adults give signals to their kids all the time and if the unspoken signal is Hey I know they are horrible but you have to eat your vegetables because they are good for you, so do that chore already...

Nope nope nope. Here are 3 ways to get your kids to eat veggies.

1. Parents, act like vegetables are WONDERFUL! They are AWESOME! What a treat!

That's the first step to getting your kids to eat veggies. Treat fresh vegetables as though they are highly prized. Forget about saying things like "eat your veggies or you won't get dessert!" Say IF you are good I will bestow upon you the magic that is fresh broccoli!

2. Quit giving them a bunch of choices. At any meal, tell them they need to eat up or go to bed empty. If they don't want to eat anything say fine. See you at breakfast. Then enforce it. let them go to bed hungry. It won't kill them.

3. Make the food they get delicious. Don't just give them veggies with no seasonings! My mother tried to get me to eat boiled brussells sprouts or boiled broccoli, without any seasonings. YUCK. I wouldn't eat them then and I still won't.

Buy fresh minced garlic in a jar, and garlic salt or powder. Buy onion powder if your kids refuse to eat anything with cooked onions. Find veggie recipes that involve seasonings, butter, and cheese. Remember: almost any veggie will be scrumptious if you add bacon and cheese.

Below are some ideas.

Make dipping sauces of ranch dressing and fresh parmesan and let kids dip veggies.

Spinach -- de-stem the fresh spinach leaves and toss them with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, dried cranberries, walnuts, and blue cheese crumbles.

Cauliflower -- boil until soft then mash it up and add a cup of mayo, a spoonful of mustard, and some cheese. 

Brussells Sprouts -- halve them and saute them in olive oil after dousing them liberally with balsamic vinegar, garlic (powder or fresh) and salt and pepper.

Green beans -- cook them in a skillet and add either balsamic vinegar and garlic OR barbeque sauce OR melted cheese

Cabbage -- buy what's called coleslaw cabbage and saute it in oil, then add soy sauce, onion powder, garlic powder

Pumpkin -- when fixing spaghetti or anything with tomato sauce, add a can of pumpkin puree. It will taste like tomato.

Squash -- saute in butter and throw in fresh garlic and/or chopped up bacon.

Broccoli -- see recipe below. I used to hate broccoli. I will eat this all day long.

 

Golden Broccoli Casserole

[Brenda Gantt recipe]

4 cups broccoli                                                                  1 cup mayonnaise

½ an onion, chopped                                                          1 cup grated cheese

½ - ¾ stick butter                                                             Ritz cracker crumbs [optional]

1 cup cream of mushroom soup                                           2 eggs

Steam or boil your broccoli to desired tenderness. Saute the onion in the butter until soft. When broccoli is done, drain it in a colander, then place it in a 9x13 pan or casserole dish. Add the mayo, soup, and cheese to the onion/butter mixture and stir well. I like to add minced garlic, seasoning salt, pepper, etc. Beat up eggs and stir them in carefully so they don’t cook. Mixture should just be warm. Spoon the mixture over the broccoli and cover as well as possible. Top with crushed Ritz crackers, or if you’re watching carbs you can do more grated cheese.

Bake at 350 until top is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

#freshvegetablesforkids, #veggieskidswilleat, #strategiestogetthekidstoeatvegetables, #veggierecipesforkids,

Not Mama's Meatloaf

As a child, you couldn't pay me to eat meatloaf. My mother loved green peppers and onions and every bite of her meatloaf was full of both. I wouldn't touch it. I would eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead.

When I became a mom and had to start cooking real dinners every night I figured out how to make meatloaf I liked, and my kids would eat. Below is that recipe. It's included in the little cookbook I published, What's for Dinner, Mom? -- which came out just a few months before Mom died. She had been after me to publish my own cookbook for several years and I'm so glad she got to see that done.

 

Meatloaf, Baby!

1 lb. ground sirloin                1 large egg

tablespoon Soy sauce             1/4 cup red wine or Sherry

1 cup breadcrumbs              tablespoon olive oil

Onion powder                         Garlic powder

1 Tbsp. Ketchup                    teaspoon baking powder

 

One of the keys is to NOT use cheap meat, like ground chuck. Use ground sirloin. Yes, it's a tiny bit more pricey, but it's worth it. One of the criticisms of beef is that animal fat is bad for your heart. I like to buy the leanest ground beef possible, and add some heart-healthy olive oil to my meat mixture.

Another key is if possible, let the beef sit out on the counter and warm up before you start making the meatloaf. I don't know why, but all beef should be room temp before cooking. Makes it more tender.

I like to get a mixing bowl and put my meat in it and leave it under a towel for a while to warm up, then I add my eggs and baking powder first, to be sure those ingredients are in there.

My mother's trick for making meatloaf great is to add in lots of flavorful liquids, until the meat is pretty soggy. You don't want dry meatloaf.

I recently started adding Italian seasoning to my meatloaf. Gives it more flavor.

Once the meat mixture is ready, I just dump it into the pan and form a roughly rectangular shape in the middle of the pan. I then cover the top with either ketchup, or toothpick in some slices of bacon. I bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes. 

 

Last night I made a version of meatloaf that used that same basic recipe, but improved on it a great deal.

I saw a recipe yesterday for a chicken breast stuffed with bacon and spinach and I thought yum, what a great idea, except I HATE handling raw chicken so we don't eat it that often.

So I made my usual meatloaf recipe, but then I set aside the meat mixture and started in on my filling. I cooked about 5 pieces of bacon in a skillet, then took the pieces out and put them aside. I took about 3 cups of spinach and sauteed it in the bacon grease, and added about 2 tablespoons of butter, lots of garlic and onion powders, and about 2 tablespoons of fresh Parmesan. (I should have chopped up some actual onion, but I was too hungry...)  I then chopped up my pieces of bacon and added them back in, stirring everything together. I took half my meat mixture and formed it as I normally would, and put the  filling on top. I then took the rest of the meat, formed it into what looked like hamburger patties, and carefully placed it on top of the spinach and bacon and kind of pinched the "burgers" together to form the top layer. The photo below on the right shows the meatloaf before it went into the oven.

I cooked it on 350 for about 40 minutes.

WOW was it delicious! I had some pre-made Bob Evans mashed potatoes and I ate a serving of 'taters, I must confess, but meatloaf just needs mashed 'taters on the side. I have been sick with pneumonia for a while so it was great to eat something that wasn't soup out of a can.

Here's a photo of the cooked meatloaf, and I must confess I had eaten a couple of pieces before I took the photo. I also included a funny photo of fresh spinach. I had left the bowl [piled high] on the back of the stove, forgetting how hot my stove top gets, and the spinach totally wilted. No biggie. I thought it was funny. I will still eat it.

#bestmeatloafever, #stuffedmeatloaf, #spinachandmeatloaf

Food Rants from a Major Foodie

As I've gotten older I've learned to be really laid back about most things. I just don't get worked up about most things the way I did when I was younger, and that's awesome. Keeps the blood pressure down. However, I must admit that my passion for food, menus, recipes, even cookware, also includes some rant-worthy opinions.

Buckle up, because when I rant, I like to go full tilt. Otherwise, why bother?!

I threw in some hashtags because, why not?! They are fun to write.

 

Chewy Pasta

I got into a ridiculous argument on social media recently with a guy who took issue with the fact that I believe that pasta should be cooked longer than the package directions say, because soft pasta is far more delicious than "al dente" pasta. He said the pasta would be mushy if cooked too long. He was guessing on that. He admitted he didn't know how to cook! He didn't back down even when I said my grandmother always cooked her pasta 3 times longer than the package said and her mac & cheese was out of this world delicious. I have eaten it many times. I actually wrote an entire guest blog about it, Mac and Cheese for Easter. Years ago I had incredibly wonderful homemade pasta at an Italian restaurant and it was very soft. So don't tell me it should be chewy. aldentepastasucks, #pastashouldbesoftasababyscheek, #chefsarewrong, #mymacandcheeserocksandyourssucks

 

Hot Fried Chicken

My memaw made the best fried chicken in the known universe and my mama made the second best. I would smell it cooking in the electric skillet and inevitably burn myself trying to eat each piece before it cooled down. Now the trend is to make it so spicy hot that it sets your mouth on fire. WHY?!? Why would anyone want to eat like that?! If you want to do that to wings, knock yourself out. There was a place in Knoxville years ago where I liked to eat because they did hot and spicy wings, and their other specialty was ice cream, which I thought was brilliant marketing. After setting my lips on fire I was more than ready to slurp on some ice cream. Ruining a lovely chicken breast or leg with nuclear hotness is just wrong, though. #hotchickenisstupid, #memawschickenisbest, #friedchickenshouldnotmaimlips, #memawisflippinginhergrave

 

Shrimp Tails

I just watched a video of a delicious shrimp and crab dish on Facebook and the chef left the tails on the shrimp. OMG that's my pet peeve! I love shrimp. There is no reason to leave the tails on! Just because the "experts" on the Food channel say leave the tails on, guess what?! You don't have to leave the dadgum tails on! Every time I get shrimp at a restaurant and I find tails on I want to just throw a nuclear hissy fit. #shrimptailsareevil #notailsonshrimpever #banthetails #donotbeashrimptailslave #thinkforyourself #tailsonshrimpareacommieplot

 

Spinach Stems

I never liked spinach as a kid but now I love it. A local restaurant in Tucker makes a spinach salad I adore, with fresh spinach, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, red onions [which I pick off], gorgonzola cheese crumbles and a balsamic vinaigrette. Problem is they leave the stems on the spinach! I have to sit and se-stem every leaf or I can't enjoy the salad. Is it silly? Probably. The salad is world-class delicious, but sometimes I don't order it just because I don't feel like de-stemming. #stemsonspinachsuck, #donotruinagoodsaladwithstems, #popeyeneverdealtwiththis

 

Cheese

As I have gotten older I've developed a condition called lactose intolerance. I can do fine with a teaspoon of butter or 1 slice of cheese. I avoid heavy cream, cream cheese, ice cream, etc. I seriously envy people who don't have tummy issues after ingesting heavy dairy. Why is it so many food videos show heavy cream, cream cheese, etc.? Isn't there a better way? I've researched this a little bit. I refuse to grind up nuts. Coconut milk is a natural laxative so no thanks. Scientists need to get to work on this, asap.  Will skinny cows give lowfat milk? Why not?!? #lactoseintolerancesucks, #creamcheeseisevil, #heavywhippingcreamcankissmyass

It was hard to think of a good photo for this post, so I am going with an old standard. That's my great-grandfather William Dozier Hasty and his prize cow

 

 

Sharing Recipes

 

I was thinking the other day about how some cooks will not share recipes. Me, I love to share recipes. I get a great deal of happiness knowing I gave someone a recipe, they prepared it and served it, and it was a hit. My friend Judy recently took my recipe for Rocks [a sweet/savory nut and raisin cookie] and prepared the cookies and took them to a function in California, and the cookies were a big hit. That made my heart sing with joy. 

A friend of mine who bakes a lot of cakes told me recently she has used my Apricot Brandy Pound Cake recipe a lot and it's always a hit. That made me so happy, to hear that.

I am of the school of thought that recipes should be shared. After all, sharing good food is a joyful experience, and we all need more joy in our lives, right?!

Not everyone would agree with me, however.

A friend on Facebook posted photos of herself making an Italian dish called Caponata. I had never heard of it so I Googled it. According to the New York Times: "Caponata is a Sicilian sweet and sour version of ratatouille. Because eggplant absorbs flavors like a sponge, it’s particularly good in such a pungent dish. Like most eggplant dishes, this gets better overnight. It’s meant to be served at room temperature, and I like it cold as well. It makes a great topping for bruschetta."

I would love to try it. I dropped a comment and asked if she would share her recipe. She did not reply. Now, she has a job and two small children, so I am not going to jump to the conclusion she didn't want to share. Maybe she just didn't have time to sit down and write it out. A lot of times cooks have been shown family recipes and they don't share just because it's a pain to sit down and puzzle out exact measurements for other cooks. 

However, some cooks are just not going to share. They want all the glory. 

Or they are caterers and their recipes have to be secret, because that's their livelihood. I totally understand that. 

However, the most famous example in my family of not sharing a recipe is my aunt Ceph [rhymes with "beef"]. She was the one who devised the original recipe for Rocks. They became her signature. She became famous in her small southern hometown for making these cookies, and she was certainly famous for them in the Henderson family. Rocks are delicious, and they are sort of unique. They meld the pecan and raisin flavors so beautifully, even a person who doesn't particularly care for cookies will likely love Rocks. [the recipe is below]

Ceph almost always had a tin or Tupperware container of Rocks in her house but she was miserly about sharing them. I recall one time when I was a small child going to her house and she pulled my father back into the kitchen and gave him Rocks -- his favorite cookie, which she well knew. For me and my brother, small children? No Rocks. After practically begging we got a glass of tap water and some stale Saltines. 

Ceph was likely related on some level to the Soup Nazi, made famous on Seinfeld.

Ceph didn't want to give up her recipe but my aunt finally got it. I'm not sure what cajoling she had to do, but it has become the go-to cookie for the holidays in my family.

ROCKS

NOTE FROM MY AUNT: I copied this directly from either Cordelia or Ceph. I still have the original which I wrote on the back of a card asking voters to support W.R. Loflin and Frank H. Turner for Board of Education Election to be held on November 2nd, 1954! Frank Turner was a friend of theirs so I got this card from one of their houses and jotted it down as told. - Diddy

1 t. soda                                                      1 t. cinnamon

2 egg yolks                                                   1 t. cloves

3/4 c. butter                                                1 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour                                                1 t. to 1 T. water

1 1/2 c. sugar                                               1 box raisins [the large box]

1 c. chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, well beaten. Sift flour, spices, and soda together, and blend well with butter and sugar. Add water, nuts, and raisins. Mix well. Drop by teaspoon on cookie sheet and bake in 350 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes. I use part butter and part margarine, and rarely add water unless the dough is too stiff after testing a few in the oven first.

left, my grandmother Cordelia, her sister Annie, and her sister Ceph [there were a total of 7 sisters] I don't know why, but Ceph was famous for sticking her tongue out in photos, which was actually ironic since in most ways she was a properly dignified, matronly person

 

 

 

A few years ago I compiled a recipe book of recipes famous in the Henderson family and below is Aunt Ceph's spice cake recipe, which sounds pretty similar in flavor to the Rocks recipe. I am sure Ceph is blessing this blog from on high, happy her recipes are getting shared. 

 

Aunt Ceph’s Spice Cake

Recipe of Cephia Henderson Adkins, Courtesy of  Elaine Zachary McElyea and Julia Embry

1 cup butter (2-1/2 sticks)                                         2 cups sugar

3 cups self-rising flour                                              4 eggs

2 cups pecans                                                          1 box raisins

1 tsp. Vanilla                                                           1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Sprinkle one cup flour over pecans and raisins…set aside.  To remaining flour, add cloves and cinnamon… then add to first mixture, one tablespoon at a time.  Add vanilla.  By hand, mix in pecans and raisins.  Bake in tube pan at 275 deg. For 1-1/2 hours or until cake test done

Twenty Questions With Teresa Smithmyer of Bulls Bay Saltworks

Teresa Smithmyer loves the deep South, and it’s not because she was born or raised here. Living in McClellanville, she is outside of but near Charleston, South Carolina. Teresa gets to experience the rural south, but she can head into Charleston for more urban/cultural activities. She often participates in food gatherings and festivals, promoting the line of smoked salts she makes at Bulls Bay Saltworks.

Teresa was born in Papua, New Guinea, to parents working with Catholic missionaries. Her dad is an electrical engineer and her mom is a nurse. Although her early years were spent in New Guinea, most of her childhood was spent in Maryland. 

Before harvesting salt from the sea, Teresa spent her professional life working in the tourism industry. She lived in between Florida and Alaska, seasonally for 8 years, and hiked and kayaked through the everglades. In southeast Alaska she worked as a river rafting guide for a company that took cruise ship passengers out for the day and lived in the small town of Haines.

When Teresa and her husband were searching for a place to move, years ago, they felt the southeast offered the best proximity to water and family, and they liked the climate.

“When we first moved here in 2011, I was growing vegetables and selling them to a small CSA and to a couple of restaurants around Charleston. We raised chickens, rabbits, and hogs, just for ourselves. Part of the impetus behind that was to grow as much of our own food as we could. I hadn’t been eating meat for many years because I don’t want to support factory farming. Part of that includes taking them to the slaughterhouse. We decided if we could raise a couple of our own hogs and process them ourselves we would feel good about that meat. Once we had the first hog butchered I wanted to have a gathering of people from the community that bought vegetables from me. In the spring of 2012, we invited everyone we knew and said bring a chair, friends and a dish. We collected some sea water from the bay to brine the hog with, for ten hours. We had some sea water left over. We thought well, why don’t we try to boil this water, and season the hog as it cooks. So we boiled about 5 gallons of water, and got salt. We smoked the hog for about 12 hours. The smoke made its way into the salt, so we took that smoked salt and put it on the table. People were taking spoonfuls of it and asking if they could take some home, and if we would make more and sell it. We thought, that was kind of easy. We should try it again.”

That was the beginning of Bulls Bay Saltworks. [To learn more, read here.]

Business at Bulls Bay is brisk. They sold out of their inventory over Christmas, so they are not encouraging sales right now. However, the business is expanding and very soon they will have plenty of product.

She is a friend of my buddy Jon Jackson at Comfort Farms. “Jon and I met at a boucherie in Wadmalaw last October.” [As you may know, I've written about Comfort Farms. Now I am making a documentary about Comfort Farms .]

Great food, grown and harvested responsibly, is important to Teresa.

It was delightful to talk to Teresa and learn more about her and about her unique business.

 

What is your full name? Teresa Smithmyer [she just got divorced but her ex is still a part owner of the business]

Where would you live, if you could live anywhere in the world? I’m pretty happy here. I love the southeastern United States. I’ve travelled to every state except Hawaii. The last time I was looking to move, I missed the culture and the heat from this region. Charleston really stuck out in my mind from travelling here years before. I was looking at places close to a city but not one in one, and also as close to the coast as possible. I actually live in McClellanville, which is about 36 miles from downtown. It’s perfect because I can pop into the city really easily any time, but retreat back into country life.

What is your favorite movie and why? I don’t have a TV. I don’t watch a ton of movies. My current favorite is a documentary called The Eagle Huntress. I thought it was wonderful.

What was your least-favorite subject in school when you were a kid? Math.

What was your nickname when you were a kid? My brothers and sisters call me Tee.

Do you believe in God? I don’t believe in a Christian God but I do believe in a higher power.

What sound or noise do you love? I love the sound of the ocean waves crashing. That’s kind of my favorite place, when you need to decompress. That’s where I go to reset. Although I live two miles from the water it is all barrier islands so the closest beach for me is Isle of Palms.

If you could do anything other than what you do, as a profession, what would it be?  I would probably be a travel writer.

If heaven exists, what do you think it is like? I don’t believe in heaven or hell, but I do believe that our energy goes somewhere collectively.

Do you have siblings? I have 5 sisters and 2 brothers. One of my sisters was adopted from South Korea.

What is your favorite memory of childhood [something specific]? Going to my uncle’s farm in Pennsylvania every summer and spending time with my cousins – taking care of the farm animals and milking the cows and exercising the pigs…for 4H shows

If you had to choose between one week traveling around the USA by car, or one week traveling around Europe on a train, which would you choose and why? I would travel around Europe on a train because that’s not something I’ve done before. I’ve traveled across country in a car more than eight times.

What inspires you? Other people’s passions inspire me, I think. At this age in my life (42) it’s fascinating to me to talk to other people who are really passionate about what they do and to be able to have deep connections around those conversations.

Which holiday do you prefer, Christmas or July 4th? I would say I don’t like the commercialization of Christmas but I would choose Christmas because it’s such a time of wonderful family gatherings.

What project or idea are you most passionate about, right now? I’m consumed with this expansion of the business right now and I wish I had time to pursue small pleasures. That sounds terrible but true. Sometimes you just have to double time it to get on to the next stage. This has been a project for 8 months. We just bought an acre next door and the business is expanding.

Do you know how to cook? I love to cook. I’m okay at it.

What is your favorite thing to cook/eat? I love to cook Asian dishes, particularly Thai or Vietnamese.

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, for 2-4 weeks, all expenses paid, where would you go and why? I would go to Papua New Guinea because I was born there, and I’ve never been there as an adult. If all expenses were paid I could have a really good travel guide which is kind of necessary in that region. My parents went as part of a Catholic mission. My Dad worked as a teacher and Mom was a nurse. They lived there a little over 5 years and one of my brothers was also born there. My parents moved there with a 4 and a 5 year old.

What question has nobody ever asked you, but you wanted to answer? Do you want to run away with me? I just think that that’s a dreamy romantic thing..

Dee's Taco Salad

When I worked full time and had to come home and help kids with homework and get a meal on the table and do housework and try to find 5 minutes to myself (which is a typical weekday evening for most working moms) all between 6 and 7 p.m., I devised a recipe that has become one of my "go to" recipes. Taco Salad. 

No, it's not like what you get at a Mexican restaurant. It's my hillbilly gringo version -- but it's still tasty, y'all. And best of all, quick. Usually only takes me 20-30 minutes, depending on how much chopping I do. Although my kids are grown, I made this tonight. So yummy. 

 

TACO SALAD

1 onion

1-2 bell peppers

1-2 cups beef stock or broth

1 lb. ground beef [i use sirloin] or ground turkey

1 package Taco Seasoning mix [see photo below]

Fritos

shredded Cheese [any kind]

 

1) Now, if you are in a hurry, you can skip this step, but I urge you not to. Chop an onion, and if you want, chop bell peppers. 2) Saute onions/peppers in the skillet until tender. Add the beef broth, plus salt and pepper to taste. Open the taco seasoning and add a little bit. Cut it on low, cover, and cook 10-20 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like your onions and peppers.

3) In another skillet, brown your meat. Add the meat to the skillet with the onions and peppers after the meat is thoroughly cooked. 

4) Add the rest of the taco seasoning mix. Stir. Stir a lot. Add more beef broth if necessary - you want a mixture with lots of liquid.

5) To serve, take a soup bowl and put a layer of Fritos, then a layer of the beef/onion/pepper mixture, then as much cheese as you like.

I usually serve this with my version of guacamole -- mashed avocado with lime juice and sea salt -- on the side.

Party Foods for Kids

This is the time of year when a lot of folks have holiday parties and invite the entire family. Kids don't always have any interest in "grownup food" such as raw veggies with dip, but you want the children to enjoy themselves and eat. It's been a while since my kids were small[ish] but I wanted to share a few ideas for tried and true party foods kids will like -- already tested and approved. 

The last party we hosted here was my mother's 80th birthday bash and I made Apple Dip and put it on the table and man, it went FAST -- grownups and kids both love this one. I first had the Apple Dip at an office Christmas party years ago and when I watched my friend mixing up the dip I thought, that looks WEIRD. I don't think that will be good. WOW was I wrong! It's addictive. 

Grownups usually love the meatballs, too, fyi.

These first two recipes are not really for tiny kids [under 5] unless they are being supervised by a grownup.

Apple Dip

8 oz. Cream cheese

¾ cup light brown sugar

pineapple juice [sometime this is hard to find at a grocery store, but check a good liquor store]

½ pkg. Bits o’brickle toffee pieces

3-4 Granny Smith apples

Take out the cream cheese to soften. Wash and slice apples thinly without peeling. Set slices in pineapple juice and refrigerate. [Juice keeps the apples from browning.] Put toffee pieces, sugar, and cream cheese in a sturdy bowl and mix well -- can microwave the cheese if necessary. Just before the party, arrange the slices around the bowl of dip.

TIP: Check on this a lot because people tend to mess it up.

 

MEATBALLS

Years ago a cousin of mine told me this recipe and I thought it sounded.... weird? Gross? Sort of like cheating? I was dead wrong. This is always scarfed up quickly. You have to put it in a crock pot or chafing dish to keep warm, but it rocks. Basically, you just make meatballs [ground beef, breadcrumbs, an egg, soy sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powders, mix and saute in skillet], put them in the crock pot or chafing dish, and dump in a bottle of barbeque sauce and a jar of grape jelly. I usually use less than a full jar of jelly, and I add garlic powder and onion powder so it's more savory, but just taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Mix it around well and coat the meatballs. Put toothpicks nearby.

 

PB&J Bites

This is sort of ridiculously easy and obvious, but I'm going to include it anyway. Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and cut them in fourths. Little kids especially eat these well. If you want to be creative, use a small cookie cutter and cut out shapes of sandwich so they look more festive and like hors d'ouvres.

 

OTHER TIPS

Another thing little kids love: cheese cubes 

Best punch recipe: Sprite mixed with white grape juice [save some out and freeze it in a plastic bowl, then put it in the punch bowl to keep the punch cool]

Kids party table -- take a small table, and pile with PB&J bites and cheese cubes, maybe some Goldfish crackers

 

This is the table at our last party -- notice lower right the Apple Dip!

Kitchen and Cooking Advice

I recently joined a Facebook group for people who love to cook and it's always fascinating to post on that and see what folks say. I posted this last night:

I really like non-stick skillets and I use my skillet every day. The latest one is now not non-stick. That always happens. Anyone ever buy a non-stick skillet that STAYED that way?!? I would use cast iron but I don't think I could ever season it properly...

So far, more than a hundred people have replied to that! Lots of opinions. The most-given advice really surprised me. Lots of folks use cast iron skillets. They season them with oil, but never wash them with soap and water. Sounds un-hygienic but it's really not -- once you heat something to at least 200 degrees any germs are not going to survive.

I have two cast iron skillets that were used by my mother and possibly my grandmother, and Mom brought them when she moved here in 2005. The big drawback? They are super heavy. 

This morning, though, I threw out my Calphalon non-stick skillet and said so be it -- I'm going to use cast iron. I can always get my son to lift it when I need to move it far. I can lift it off the stove with two hands. I made Michael an egg and it stuck a little bit, but thirty minutes later I cooked myself two eggs and they didn't stick. Yay!

Not having to buy a new non-stick skillet every year or two will be a joy. Sometimes old ways are the best.

I got to thinking, what other tips/tricks/ideas help make my cooking life easier?

Before I adopted my kids and moved into this house I didn't cook a lot, except when friends came over or I did holiday baking. Now, I cook every day. So I have learned little tricks and bought appliances to make life easier. 

My son is reluctant to look in plastic containers and see what leftovers I've put away. So I started covering everything with foil and writing with a sharpie on the foil. So if he is looking for cookie dough or fried chicken or whatever, he can find it easily, by reading my labeling. It's helpful, since he is now 21 and though he lives at home he often comes in after I am in bed at night, and he forages.

Another trick I use all the time: I stopped washing skillets in the sink with soap and water. That ruins the seasoning on any skillet. What I do is put some water on the bottom of the skillet and heat it up on the stove, then wipe it out with paper towels. Then I pour in some olive oil and put the gas on low and let it re-season for 30 minutes or so. 

If I put something really messy in the skillet like tomato sauce I will just wipe it out more carefully, use more towels.

When it comes to appliances, I use my electric tea kettle every day. It's brand, Krups. It was pricey in 2005 when I bought it. I remember feeling wicked to spend the money, something like $50 or more, but it's WORTH EVERY PENNY. I can make my tea in about 90 seconds. 

Here's one way the kettle comes in really handy. When I cook pasta, I put a full kettle on and in just a few minutes it's boiling and I pour it on the pasta. Then the water boils on the stove much more quickly. There's a myth that you have to use gallons of water to cook pasta. Not so. Throw some olive oil in the water, stir it around, and watch it a bit, then throw in tea kettle water and some salt. Works much more quickly. 

Now, I HATE pasta that's "al dente." I like it soft. I usually cook it 2-3 times longer than the package says. Still don't need to use gallons of water. 

Since my 83 year old mother lives with me I have learned to cook for an old person with bad teeth. Nothing in this house is "al dente" any more. Meat cooks low and slow, in the oven on 200 for HOURS and HOURS. Beef or pork roast, ribs, even chicken -- low and slow. Crock pots are good too, but a pain to clean. 

When I cook veggies for Mom I boil the hell out of them, then add in some seasonings and go to work with the immersion blender. Cauliflower is the best, done that way. Usually I just throw in about a cup of mayo, a spoonful of mustard, some Colby Jack cheese and onion and garlic powders, and it's delicious. 

A note about olive oil: don't use anything else. Seriously. Nobody in my household has cholesterol issues, thank goodness, but we stopped using anything but olive oil years ago. It has the good cholesterol you need, and all our good cholesterol is always VERY good. 

I keep sesame oil in the fridge and occasionally use it in pasta salad but 99% of all my cooking is done with olive oil.

Now, I don't use margarine. I use real butter, and have for years, since I realized margarine is like one molecule away from plastic. I grew up with a Dad who had awful cholesterol issues so we switched to margarine and skim milk when I was tiny. I never knew better until I grew up and tried real butter. YUM. My brother who loves milk (I hate it) discovered WHOLE milk, and it was a revelation to him. 

Now my brother loves to cook as much or more than I do. He walked in a few years ago with a brick of Plugra, a French butter his friend the professional chef told him to buy. WONDERFUL stuff, Plugra! It can be heated much more than regular American butter, too. I find it at Publix and try to always have some on hand but I only use it for special occasions.

Speaking of Brother, years ago when he was married his wife decided to stop using all salt in cooking and not to even have salt in the house. They didn't have high blood pressure or edema issues so I didn't understand it but Brother put up with it... until they divorced [a very happy day, for me, for a lot of reasons]. They found out that un-salted food is generally AWFUL. Makes food inedible. DUH. I feel so sorry for those truly in medical need who have to restrict salt -- but then again there are lots of herbs and seasonings.

Even people who don't know how to use seasonings should at least use salt and pepper. Turn on the cooking channel or Food network and watch some cooking shows. Professional chefs ALWAYS use salt. It makes food edible, particularly meat. 

I cook with lots of garlic and onion powders, and Lawreys seasoning salt. Are fresh garlic and chopped onions better? Sure. One doesn't always have that kind of time, though. I've also seen professional chefs use garlic and onion powders so they shouldn't be considered cheating or wrong, IMHO. Many times I will saute onions and then throw in onion powder, to deepen the flavor.

A final thing, probably the most valuable cooking advice I can give you is this: TASTE while you cook. Taste and adjust seasonings. SO important. 

above, my brother in my kitchen recently

Asian Green Beans the Southern Way

When I was a kid, I love my Memaw's green beans. So did my daddy. We would eat the tender, delicious "snap beans" flavored with fatback and cooked until they fell apart. Heavenly.

I was in New York City many years ago, a senior in college, and a friend my of dad's had invited me to eat lunch with her at a very chi chi restaurant. I wore pantyhose to the lunch date -- that tells you how long ago it was. I ordered some chicken or fish and it came with green beans on the plate. The beans were just slightly warm, and I tried to eat one and nearly spit it out, in horror. It was barely cooked. It was crunchy. I called the waiter over and told him to please take the beans back to the kitchen and cook them. He looked very puzzled.

It's not my fault that chef had no idea how to cook green beans.

This year I planted a TON of green bean seeds, Blue Lake variety. I didn't realize any were ready to pick until day before yesterday, and then I picked what you see above. Hallelujah!

My brother and I love the green beans we get at Asian restaurants. So he set out to re-create their green beans and I took his ideas and added my own twist. I posted on Facebook about it and I think everyone was sort of amused that me, a born and bred southerner, would go nuts over green beans cooked a very non-southern way. Tasty is tasty, though.

My green beans were not crunchy. Lord no. However, they weren't cooked until they fell apart, like Memaw cooked them. There IS a happy medium

I cleaned these, boiled them for about 15 minutes to soften them up, then in a skillet sauteed two cloves of fresh minced garlic in olive oil. I then threw in the beans, and liberally added soy sauce, sesame oil, a little bit of balsamic vinegar, a pat of Plugra butter, and salt and pepper. You will need to taste and adjust seasonings to your taster. That's the best way to cook.

My brother would have added some hot chili oil. I did not.

I had to restrain myself from eating the entire skillet full of beans.

We've had a lot of rain the last few days so I am hoping my bean plants will continue to keep me in fresh beans all summer. There is no comparison -- fresh from the garden just taste 100% better!

Cooking Steaks

We don't eat steak much around here because we're on a budget, but the other day I found steak on sale and decided to splurge a little bit. I got two large strip steaks for under $8. Score!

Last summer I had a guy out here repairing the dryer and he smelled gas outside and cut off some doohickey and months later I found my gas grill wouldn't work. I called him up and asked him politely to come back out and hook up the gas grill, and he said he couldn't do it. The dryer fix was fast and cheap but I hate not being able to use my very nice grill.

So I had to cook the steaks in the oven. I took great care to try and get them as soft as possible because 1) Mother's remaining teeth are not great so she cannot chew tough meat and 2) I don't like tough meat. I can chew it but I don't want to. Years of cooking soft foods for Mom have left me very intolerant of chewy anything. On the plus side, I am perfectly prepared for cooking in old age right now, at 54.

I thought this Aldi meme was very funny.

It reminded me of a story my dad told me years ago.

Above, my father's oldest brother, Lewis, who served in the Pacific in World War II.

Lewis came home after the war and had some extra cash money and told Dad, then about 15 years old, they were going to eat steaks for dinner. Lewis went to a grocery store and bought steaks for the family.

Now, steaks were rarely eaten at Dad's house in the 1930's or early 1940's because money was tight.

Also, nobody grilled anything back then.

Lewis went out in the yard and dug a hole and built a fire in it. They found a grate somewhere, possibly a shelf from an old fridge, and placed it over the fire and grilled the steaks. Dad said he had never eaten anything so good. He raved about that steak decades later.

Of course, the novelty of eating a grilled steak with his older brother who had been gone a long time might have colored his opinion. Or not - I remember visiting Lewis and his family and he was excellent at grilling steaks.

Dad was not a great griller of steaks. They were often tough and sometimes tasted like gas because Dad often didn't have lighter fluid but he always had a can of gas for the lawn mower.

Dad liked to cook, but his efforts were... well let's just say he was enthusiastic but not skilled. On weekend mornings he liked to cook breakfast and his omelets that were tough as leather are legendary..

Dad was a banker and sometime when I was a kid the bank got a new customer, a company in Knoxville that supplied steaks to restaurants. They were very high quality, filet mignon deals. The owner let Dad buy steaks at wholesale prices, so we often had a box of those steaks in the fridge. We started eating steak once or twice a week. Dad got really upset one night when I complained about eating steaks. A child of the Depression, he thought I was awful to say I was tired of steaks.

My brother, who is more like Mom's side of the family, is a terrific steak cooker. He can make steaks in the oven or cooked on the grill that are perfect. Unfortunately, I take after Dad when it comes to cooking steaks.

I make excellent lasagna, pork roast, country fried steak, etc.

I told Mom that next time I will just put her steak in the blender.

me and Dad, abt 1991, in front of his grill that was made from industrial pipe