Food Lush

Christmas Eve dinner

by Elsha

We don't have a set meal we make on Christmas Day. Often we have ham, but not always. In fact, this year we're having prime rib. However, we do have a set meal for Christmas Eve: soup in bread bowls. We usually make two kinds of soup, and we like to change it up, but we've been having soup in bread bowls on Christmas Eve for years now. 

I love this tradition. There's something about such a simple meal before all the celebrating on Christmas. We don't make any side dishes, or any dessert (although there are often cookies around), just soup and bread. It's an easy meal to prepare, (especially if you buy the bread bowls), which is definitely a good thing on Christmas Eve! It's a tradition I'm sure we'll continue for years to come.

What do you have for Christmas Eve dinner?

Wedding Food: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

by Maura

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I am newly engaged. (Yay!) My fiance, Will, and I decided we should keep things simple, so we are having three weddings.

I'll give you a minute.

Yes, three weddings. Theoretically, we are having an intimate (immediate family and a few friends) ceremony, and then two parties in our respective home states. In reality, there are three (!!!) events to plan. The two parties are going to be cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and after the ceremony we will have a sit-down dinner. 

"Yes, and?" you ask. I'm interested to know what you love and hate about wedding food. We are trying to avoid the rubber chicken dinner that we associate with large weddings, but we still want our guests at the cocktail parties to enjoy themselves and eat some good food. What was the best thing you ever ate at a wedding? Was something truly awful? (I'm a fan of wedding horror stories, so don't hold back.) Is wedding food something you even remember, or should we just focus on tasty, tasty booze?

I'm always a fan of the raw bar at weddings, although I only really eat the shrimp and maybe crab claws. I also am a huge, huge fan of cheese, so my plate is usually a teetering tower of cheese and crackers. Sliders are another favorite, and of course so are pigs in blankets. I can't think of any truly awful wedding food, although I tend to pass over the pasta stations because I can eat pasta at home. 

(Photos from Martha Stewart Weddings)

Dinner in a Pinch: Rao's Vodka Sauce and Cut 'N Clean Kale

by Caitlin

Weeknight dinners are hard, aren't they? There's always a push-pull struggle with how much time they take, whether they're planned in advance, what's on hand, what might need to be picked up from the store. I love a meal that can be thrown together with what you have in the pantry, and with the help of Rao's, I have an easy and delicious way of doing just that. 

I'm picky about my shelf-stable, pre-fab pasta sauces. It's hard to find one that doesn't have high-fructose corn syrup or a bunch of artificial ingredients. Harder still to find one with basic, whole ingredients that actually tastes good. But never fear, Rao's to the rescue. 

 

Photo from raos.com. 

This sauce is creamy, dreamy, and tastes like it should have far more than 80 calories a serving.

There's always a box of pasta in my pantry, but those of you living without gluten may also be glad to know that it's equally delicious over polenta (I also like it over quinoa). And for my vegan friends, Rao's other variations without cheese (such as marinara, or tomato and basil) are also delicious.

There's almost always a green vegetable in my fridge, but my favorite, bar none, is a tub of trimed, chopped, pre-washed organic kale from Cut 'n Clean.

Picture from kelli-abrahamian.blogspot.com.

Sautee some garlic, throw in your ready-to-go greens, squeeze a lemon over it (ala this post):

Then toss your pasta in the Rao's, and you've got yourself a cheap, tasty, healthy weeknight meal. 

Voilà!

What's your favorite weeknight meal in a pinch?

Eating Healthy on the Cheap

By Ariel

This is no way an original idea, but a friend of mine posted this to facebook about a week back:

So this is random, but I was thinking if you did a food blog, you should blog about meals that are both healthy and super cheap. All I read on health forums is how people complain that it costs a ton to eat nutritious food.

Anywho, it's been awhile since I've done a bare-bones grocery list and meal plan, so let me share what I came up with. This list is completely inclusive and basically assumes you have absolutely no food, spices, or condiments at your disposal except for salt and pepper. My friend who sparked this post also has something against cooking with flavor spices, so I'm pretending my spice cabinet doesn't exist. I'm also working under the assumption that you have a crock pot and basic pots/pans/baking sheet. I generally meal plan for two, so take that into consideration. For simplicity's sake, I've rounded up all the prices I've paid over the last month or so (I went recipt diving!).

The List:
One whole chicken (frozen, as they're cheaper than fresh. I can usually find them BOGO at my local grocery store) - $10
Bag of regular sized carrots - $3
Bag of celery - $2
Bag of yellow onions - $3
Bag of potatos (5 lb. bag) - $4
Loaf of Italian Bread - $2
1 lb. ground turkey - $4
Garlic (three heads) - $1
Italian seasoning - $1
Dozen Eggs - $2
Bottle of light ranch dressing - $2
Block of Parmesan Cheese - $5
Cooking Oil - $4
Salmon (frozen, four pack) - $6
Plain tomato sauce (one can) - $1
Bag of fresh baby spinach - $2
Bow Tie pasta - $2
Head of lettuce - $1
Tomatos (three pack) - $1
Plain yogurt (32 oz. tub) - $2
Bag of apples - $3
Bananas - $2
Cucumbers (three pack) - $2
Turkey bacon - $3
Loaf wheat bread - $3
Light mayo - $3

With this list you can make:
Chicken dinner with mashed potatos - Throw the whole chicken (after removing the neck/gizards and whatnot) into a crockpot and cover about 3/4 with water. add in a stalk of chopped celery, a couple chopped carrots, about a head of chopped garlic, a chopped onion or two, and italian seasoning. Cook on low for 8 hours. Zap the potatos for about 4 minute sin the microwave when you get home and top those with a little ranch and parmesan.

Pasta with turkey meatballs, salad, and garlic bread - Cut your pound of ground turkey in half, reserve the other half for turkey burgers.  Mix the 1/2 lb. of ground turkey with a couple pieces of minced garlic, half a chopped onion, an egg, and italian seasoning.  Grease a baking sheet and cook the meatballs at about 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until cooked the whole way through.  pour the plain pasta sauce in a saucepan on the stove, mix in some more minced garlic and italian seasoning until it's tasty.  Pour this over about half of the bow tie pasta, reserving the rest of the pasta for another meal.  Take a few sliced of the frech bread, rub a little oil on both sides and sprinkle with a couple minced pieces of garlic and parmesan, bake for about ten minutes until golden.  Peel a couple carrots and toss with onion, lettuce, some fresh spinach, tomato and parmesan and serve with the ranch dressing.

Turkey burgers and parmesan potatos - Make up some simple turkey burgers with onion and parmesan.  Serve over wheat bread with mayo and parmesan potatos

Baked salmon with oven fries - Rub a little oil on the salmon and sprinkle with pepper and garlic, bake until fish flakes.  Toss thinly-sliced potatos with oil, salt, and pepper and bake until crispy.

Chicken soup with crusty bread - Make some chicken stock, add in some of that leftover baked chicken, carrots, celery, onion, some pasta, spinach, and top with some more of that parmesan if you're feeling feisty.

Chicken and turkey bacon panini sandwhich with baked potato - Basically make a grilled cheese sandwich with parmesan cheese, leftover chicken, bacon, spinach, and tomato.

Salad topped with broiled salmon and oven fries

Chicken salad (made with 1/2 yogurt, 1/2 mayo) over lettuce - Finally use up the rest of that chicken and mix with a small amount of yogurt, a hard boiled egg, celery, salt, pepper, and onion.  Serve on wheat bread or lettuce.

A few other meals:
Salad with hard boiled egg and topped with parmesan
Scrambled eggs and home fries
Omlettes with onion and spinach and a side of yogurt and fruit
BLT's on wheat bread with turkey bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo
In-season fruits make the best snacks, along with carrots and celery with ranch to dip.

For about $5 a person a day, you're pretty much set for a week with this list. I rounded up on everything so really this list checks in under $5 a day. The thing about eating healthy on a budget is that it is time consuming.  I have the luxury right now to dedicating a Sunday to prepping meals for the week, I don't have any kids and my cat is pretty low maintnance. That said, eating well is important and there's a lot of time saving tricks out there (like freezing your chicken stock for furture use!) I know I too-often choose convieniance over a healthier choice, and that has become a major goal this year. Less McDonalds! More carrots!

What are your favorite home-cooked meals to make on a shoe-string budget?

What to do with canned pumpkin? (Hint: it's more than just pie)

by Caitlin

I grew up in New England where fall means apple picking, cider doughnut sniffing, leaves crunching underfoot, bales of hale sprinkled with pumpkins and potted mums, cozy early evenings, scarves and light jackets, and the re-emergence of boots.

I absolutely love fall. I love the weather, the colors, the crispness in the air, the fire roaring in our woodstove. And the food. Oh the food. By the end of summer I'm sick to death of tomatoes, zucchini, sweet corn, and my grill. I'm always happy to greet them in the Spring, but come Labor Day I am dunzo. Bring on the comfort food, the stew, the pie, the crunchy, juicy Honeycrisps, and the pots bubbling on the stove on chilly Sunday evenings.

Fall is also pumpkin season. Or really, in my opinion, pumpkin spice season. People are excited about the return of pumpkin spice lattes and the like, but how many of us really want to eat a big ole spoonful of plain pumpkin? (I have to thank Zach for the theory that it's the spice more than the gourd that draws people in.) I can't say I disagree with this notion (bring on the pumpkin bread!), but there are so many other wonderful things to do with pumpkin that I fear may be overlooked in our zealousness for cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Of course, last week I discussed my all-time favorite, but other than the lasagna, I've never experimented with savory pumpkin dishes. More on that in a minute.

To be clear, I love me some pumpkin spice. Fun fact: Zach and I got married in the fall, at a barn, and we had various kinds of pie (including pumpkin) instead of cake for dessert. YUM.

With that in mind I'd like to share a couple of pumpkin spice recipes. First, you need to know (and you may already) that The Best pumpkin pie recipe comes right on the back of the can of Libby's Pure Pumpkin languishing in your kitchen cabinet from last fall. It's simple, straight-forward, and in my mind cannot be improved upon. But if you use store-bought crust I will CUTCHOO.

(Also, please use the pure pumpkin not the pumpkin pie filling in a can. Because no.)

I also came across this delicious looking pumpkin latte recently. (It's vegan, but you could easily use regular milk instead of almond milk if you don't have it on hand.)

These Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are a fall staple (tip: make them smaller than you think you need to, otherwise they can get overwhelming.)

My favorite new breakfast combo lately is a variation of my morning oats. It goes like this: 1/2 cup oatmeal, prepared. Mix in as much vanilla AND cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice as you like. Mix in half a cup of pumpkin (only 40 calories, packed with fiber, vitamins, and magic). Top it off with some cashew or almond butter and a little flaked coconut if you're feeling wild. DELICIOUS. (Add sugar or sweetener of your choice if you're so inclined.) It's sort of like pumpkin pie for breakfast if you squeeze your eyes shut and pretend real hard. (And now that I've written that, I imagined some graham crackers or gingersnaps crumbled on top would indeed make it more pumpkin pie-y.)

Savory pumpkin recipes is fairly new territory. I've already written about my pumpkin lasagna. I've also been contemplating doing a variation on that recipe in the form of a risotto. I'm imagining adding some fresh sage while I sautee the onions at the start, then again toward the end for multiple layers of sage flavor. I'd add the pumpkin toward the end (to taste, since this is total improv), along with some sauteed greens, then top off with some big curls of parmesan reggiano. By the by, the Joy of Cooking has a great basic risotto recipe (and some variations) that I usually turn to to remind myself of the risotto basics as I don't make it that often.

Beyond that flavor profile, though, there are several other dishes I'm looking forward to trying. Perhaps a pumpkin curry? I'd like to experiment with adding canned pumpkin (because it's easy) to the curry base. Failing that, I think this Thai Pumpkin Curry looks pretty good. So the Pumpkin Pretzels and Smoky Pumpkin Hummus featured in this list of savory pumpkin recipes.

I'm so ridiculously intrigued by these soft pumpkin pretzels. I may have to make them this weekend. Photo from kitteekake.blogspot.com

Do you look forward to pumpkin spice season? Are there any savory pumpkin dishes you've been wanting to try?

Best Cooking Magazines

By Leslie

This weekend one of my friends made a really amazing spicy thai soup.  It contained shredded chicken, rice noodles, curry, ginger, sriracha, and fresh herbs.  She mentioned that she found the recipe in the most recent Cooking Light magazine.  It got me thinking about the best magazines for recipe and meal ideas. 

While I use the Cooking Light website regularly, I had almost forgotten about the actual magazine.  The only one I subscribe to is Real Simple, which is FULL of easy, healthy recipes and inspiration.  (I also love it for the other topics like organization and random cleaning tips.  Who doesn't like Real Simple?) 

In the past I have subscribed to Everyday with Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart Living.  One was a gift, and the other arrived for free with another magazine we receive monthly so I never actually continued my subscriptions. My mom has received Better Homes and Gardens for years and I've found some excellent recipes in there as well.  

I like a magazine that covers recipes, restaurant reviews, tips and tricks, some basic food education...and of course pretty food pictures.    

Some others I've heard good things about:

Food and Wine

Bon Appetit

Food Network Magazine

Saveur

Readers - what are you favorite magazines for meal and dining inspiration?  Do you suscribe to any, and if so, which ones? 

You Offered To Bring A Meal, Now What?

By Kristin 

My sister had back surgery last week. She’s basically out of commission for a month. She can walk and move around, but she can’t lift anything or bend or twist. This is kind of an issue seeing as she has two kids – a one year old and a 10 year old. 

Since I don’t really have any vacation time from my job, I offered to help her out on weekends when she needs it. I was over there this past weekend and in a moment of brilliance, decided I would make her some meals for her and the family. 

The only stipulation I had was that it could be freezable and it would be easy enough for my nephew or my sister’s boyfriend to throw in the oven so as to avoid my sister bending. 

I ended up bringing enchiladas and this baked pasta. They were easy and tasty and something the whole family can enjoy. 

But then I started thinking about other possibilities. Besides lasagna, I can’t think of any good one-pan dishes or casseroles that are good to bring to people. 

What dishes are your staples to bring to friends/family in need?

{Photo credit: mexican-barbecue-recipes.com}

Feeding the Masses at a Family Reunion

By Natalie

For the 4th of July weekend we are having a family reunion. There will be about 30 people there. My parents have rented 2 large houses for all the families to stay at. My cousin and I were put in charge of meal planning and the shopping. 

What I want to know, is how would you divide the labor and purchasing of food?  My cousin came up with a color coordinated schedule of which house will prepare what. But, does that mean I'm going to be standing in front of the stove most nights, and who's going to man the grill? How would you do it?

Here's the schedule we came up with:

Day 1:

• Lunch: travel 
• Dinner:beer can chickens, beans, squash, corn on the cob

Day 2:

• Breakfast: smoothies and omelets  at our house, and monkey bread at the other house
• Lunch: sandwiches
• Dinner: ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, beans, chocolate ice cream, key lime pie ice cream, red, white, and blue cake, and banana pudding

Day 3:

• Breakfast: breakfast casserole at my house, waffles at the other house
• Lunch: hot dogs and sandwiches
• Dinner: BBQ pork loin, mashers, salad, ice cream, and peach cobbler

Day 4:

• Breakfast: muffins (prepared ahead of time and frozen)
• Lunch: travel

What's your go to meal for feeding the masses?

How would you prepare your shopping list?

What would you make ahead of time?

Tales of Adventure in the South: Chicken Fried Steak

by Caitlin

Three years ago, I moved from Boston down to DC. Though I've lived in a few different states (and even one other country! Can I get a what-what for study abroad? Nerd high five!), I'd never lived below the Mason-Dixon line. 

There are a lot of things I love about living here, and even though much of the DC metro area is made up of transplants (including a shocking number of people from Massachusetts), it is still definitely the south. And the further away from the city you get, the more southern it becomes.

How is it southern? Well, the summers are swampy with humidity, and merely stepping outside makes you feel like you're wearing a wet wool blanket.(Refreshing!) People say y'all non-ironically. Sweet tea exists here. Grits are on menus. People don't look like they suspect you're going to rob them if you are kind/considerate to them in public. Coming from Boston, which is a rather hard city, this was shocking to me. In fact, early on I suspected many strangers of wanting to rob and murder me merely because they smiled and said hello when we passed by each other. It was very disconcerting, and made me feel I should hold tightly to my purse as I ran screaming down the street. 

I do love it here, but I'm a New Englander through and through. I believe strongly in things like 40 degree temps in July, Yankee stoicism, lobstah rolls on picnic benches by the ocean, wool cardigans with leather elbow patches (worn in July), and real maple syrup.

Speaking of maple syrup, we need to have a talk.

I have tragically come to accept that south of, maybe New Jersey, no one understands what "real maple syrup" means. Which means I also accept that, sadly, if I ever want to eat pancakes, waffles, or french toast again it's going to have to be in the comfort of my own kitchen. This is not syrup: 

 

Any institution that also generates something called "sugar free syrup" will never be okay in my book. What is even IN sugar free syrup?! Nothing good, that's what. [Photo credit Amazon]

Corn syrup with maple flavoring, aka Aunt Jemima and Log Cabin, is not maple syrup.

Do you hear me? Imitation syrup is a travesty of nature, is what it is, and I will not eat it, no I will not. It is unnatural and wrong. And it's so GROSS! I mean come on, does that actually taste GOOD to you? Do you really LIKE it, or do you merely eat it because you feel like you're supposed to, because it's what GOES on pancakes, waffles, and french toast?

Here is the thing. Maple syrup actually exists. Aunt Jemima and Log Cabin are imitation products because they are in imitation of a real thing. And you deserve better than a lame imitation that tastes like an afterthought. No one should have to drench their delicious breakfast sweets in corn syrup and fake 'maple flavoring'! Maple syrup is a product of the maple tree, wherein the sap is collected, someone boils the shit out of it, and you are left with a delicious, delicious natural sweetener. If you have never tried it (the very idea of which makes me recoil in horror), then you must. You simply must. 

When you do try it, please don't make the mistake my Mom did in the early to mid-90s when she combined real maple syrup with some leftover Aunt Jemima (the origins of which remain a mystery. How did that ever get IN our fridge?). Let me repeat: She COMBINED fake maple syrup with real maple syrup. In order to get rid of a bottle and make more room in our fridge. There is no forgiving that. It's against the 10 commandments of being a Yankee. I checked. (Mom, if you're reading this, and I know you are, I love you a lot and I do forgive you. But I only forgive you like 87%, as I have sustained significant emotional trauma from this incident. Perhaps you can make it up to me with some of your delicious French Toast when I see you next month.)

My point, if I have one, which I often don't, is that I had no idea Maple Syrup was a regional thing until I moved here. Up north we HAVE fake maple syrup, but if you're out in a restaurant you can ask for the real thing. And, here's the key, they know what the real thing IS! Down here, every time I have asked for it, they bring me the fake stuff. Every time. Which is why I've given up. 

I forgive the south though, much like I forgive my mother, because much like my mother, the south has many other lovely and redeeming qualities and is also beautiful, which has nothing to do with food but is nevertheless true. 

The south has shrimp and grits, which I have fallen madly in love with. The south has Sonic, which I finally got to try for the first time when I moved down here. If you're a New Englander, you understand the pain that is growing up with Sonic commercials on the teevee when the nearest Sonic is actually about a 1000 miles away. The south has actual seasons, beyond just winter and July. The south has the beautiful Shenandoahs, and charming accents, and delicious biscuits with fried chicken on them. The south also has something that, until this past weekend, I had not tried: Chicken Fried Steak. 

We had some cube steaks from the local, grassfed cow that is in our freezer, and my husband had been itching to make this for me for a while. My husband is also a Yankee, but he's a chef and had picked up the knowledge of the meal somewhere along the way. 

He used Alton Brown's recipe as a guide, and served it alongside perfectly mashed potatoes, cornbread, and steamed green beans with the requisite cream gravy. I am still uncertain about what is in cream gravy and the name terrifies me a bit, but it was delicious and ignorance is bliss. 

The whole thing was delicious in fact. Chicken Fried Steak tastes like two of my favorite foods -- burgers and chicken fingers -- got together and made a delicious baby. And it sure is hard to argue with that.

I will always be a Yank in my heart, but bit by bit that heart of mine is softening toward the south. That right there should tell you all you need to know: Yankees don't have soft hearts. It's against our very nature. I'm sorry, New England. I still love you.

Do you enjoy eating Fake Maple Syrup? Have you never tasted the real thing? What regional specialties have you been wanting to try?

PS: Seeing as my Dad is a regular commenter on these posts (which my Mom also reads) I'd like to take this opportunity to give my lovely parents a Happy Anniversary shout-out. As of today they have been married an astounding 38 years, AND still actually like each other. They like each other quite a bit in fact. 38 years is a really long time, and 44 years is even longer: They started dating 44 years ago. Doesn't that seem CRAZY? They've been together since they were teenagers: they've been together for most of their lives. I think that's pretty wild, in a wonderful way.

And so here is a picture of the lovebirds. As you can see, they are quite happy indeed. (And now you can put a face to Dad's comments.)

Reader Question: Birthday Party Menu

 by Jen L.

Reader Tara has a party coming up and wrote to the Lushes for some advice:

My baby's birthday is 3 days before Christmas so we have decided to
celebrate her half-birthdays each summer. Her first half-birthday party is
June 26 and, like an idiot, I scheduled it at 5 pm on a Sunday. So the hors
d'oeuvres need to be substantial since many of the attendees will be
 skipping dinner. We are expecting around 20 people. We also have several
dietary restrictions to take into account, including: picky kids, diabetic
grandparents, and my vegan brother, so I need options for those people. And,
to top it all off, our budget is not very big, so I need stuff that will not
be super expensive. Thanks for your help!

We're so glad you wrote in, Tara!  Kids' parties are always a bit tricky, considering you have a lot of people with a lot of food quirks to please.  Here's how I planned a menu for my son's last birthday that made everyone happy and didn't break the bank!

*Skewers are your friend.  Poke just about anything with a bamboo skewer and it automatically becomes party food!  I like to use the short ones and skewer fresh fruit, chunks of meat, veggies, even candy.  For a very affordable meat offering, try making tiny hamburger patties and skewering them with onion, bell pepper and a cherry tomato. They grill up great in no time!  You can also grill up a bunch of food ahead of time on skewers, then pop it in to the oven while you get dressed for the party to reheat it. You get that great grilled flavor without having to slave over charcoal the day of your party. Please vegans by skewering fresh fruit and veggies, or even some grilled tofu.

*Set out plenty of snack bowls.  I like to use martini glasses to hold nuts at parties. They're a filling snack and provide a satisfying crunch.  Try using a salt-free or low-salt variety so your guests don't get too thirsty.  For the diabetic crowd, consider sugar-free jelly beans or other sugar-free treats. Be sure to use a cute card (cut out of scrapbook paper, maybe?) to label these snacks as sugar-free.

*Hot dips.  You cannot go wrong with queso. It's satisfying, delicious and super simple to make.  Toss some cubed Velveeta and a can of Rotel tomatoes into your crock pot, give it a little stir every so often and voila! Dip!  To make it heartier, add browned ground beef or sausage. If you've got vegetarians to please, add spinach. 

*Bottoms up. Drinks are what always throw me for a loop at a party. Do I buy one of every kind of soda manufactured? Demand everyone drink sweet tea? Gah.  Let's steal an idea from one of my friend's weddings, shall we?

 

What's better in the hot summertime than a cold glass of water?  These dispensers are adorable and I love the fact that they used a variety of garnishes--cucumbers, lemons, limes, mint.  You could, of course, skip any or all the add-ins, but aren't they festive? And refreshing? I love this idea. Plus, what's cheaper than water?!?

*Think heavy.  I know I've already talked about hot dips, but cold ones can go a long way, too.  Think of making a seven-layer dip, which can be done the night before (just add any lettuce right before you serve it to prevent wilting).  Spinach dip in a bread boule is also a crowd-pleaser. Heck, I often eat that for lunch!  And how about some Deconstructed Antipasto? (Ahem...shameless plug...ahem)  Heavy hors d'oeurves will make people feel like they've had dinner and won't cost you a fortune.

I hope these ideas help you plan your menu, Tara.  If anyone else has any advice to offer, go for it in the comments section!

Photo credit: eteletours.com