I promised I would…

no higher than 40 degrees predicted all week and Thanksgiving is on Thursday; it’s time to warm up with Fall in a bowl!

So here’s what I’ve used in my root veggie soup:  4 potatoes, 2 spring turnips, sunchokes, rutabaga, and kohlrabi.  I only had this odd combination on hand because I’d just been to the farm for a food share.

Veggie Notes:

• Smaller is usually better.  Smaller potatoes, smaller rutabaga, smaller turnips, you get the picture…
• If you can only find purple turnips, use SPARINGLY.  Their flavor is strong and so only use 1/2 of spring turnip amount.
  
• Peel off the outer layer of rutabaga, sunchokes, turnip, kohlrabi, broccoli stem.  And use only the flesh on the outer edges of the kohlrabi and rutabaga, as the inner section is very woody…

So easy to substitute any of the veggies above with what you can find at the grocery store anytime of year…you can add an extra potato if you cannot find sunchokes, a couple of turnips if you can’t find rutabaga, and a broccoli stem/stalk for the kohlrabi (save the florets/crown for an unbelievable salad I’ll tell you about at a later date).

 

Ready to start?  Ok, let’s prep!

You’ll need a medium onion, chopped, 3 carrots (yellow, white & orange from the farm!), chopped, and about 3 stalks celery, chopped…2 parts onion to 1 part celery and 1 part carrot.

This is what the French call mirepoix (pronounce ‘meer-pwah’) and is used to flavor stocks, soups, sauces, etc…yummy…

 

 

Speaking of flavor…BOOM!  How about 4-6 slices of hickory smoked bacon (or whatever you have on hand).  Chop this…

 

 

This is about the amount of rutabaga I use…not too much, because its flavor can be strong… maybe a 1/2 cup chopped

 

 

About a 1/2 cup of chopped kohlrabi…then chop up the peeled sunchokes, potatoes and turnips to approximately the same size as above.

Time to cook!

(I’m using a large stock pot.)

Ahhhhh, we start off by permeating the house with the smell of bacon.  That, to me, is the way any perfect recipe should begin…

Fry it up, scoop most of it out and lay it on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.  Smack your husband’s hand away when he tries to steal some.

Pour out most of the bacon fat into a little jar to reserve for later use, and believe me, there will be plenty of use for it later!

 

Add the mirepoix and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.

 

Add the remaining chopped veggies.  Cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring often.

 

What’s this you may say to yourself?  A little ‘oomph’ is what it is!  Add 1 teaspoon of this magic, cajun seasoning, to your caldron.

 

 

And now add plenty of salt and pepper, too.

 

Next is the liquid.  You’ll need 8 cups of chicken broth; whichever is your preference works great.

 

Bring it to a gentle, rolling boil and let it cook for 10 minutes, till the veggies are starting to get tender.

 

Next we’ll make a slurry which will thicken the soup beautifully.  We’ll need to put 3 tablespoons of flour into a medium bowl

 

 

with a cup of whole milk.

 

 

Now whisk it together to get out the lumps.  Perfect!

 

Add the slurry to the soup and stir it around to incorporate it.  Let it cook for another 5 minutes or so, to allow the soup to thicken.

 

 

Almost done!  Filling the blender about 1/4 of the way full at a time(not much more than that because since it’s hot it will expand when you turn it on and could burst out of the blender and burn your hand/body and splash all over the place…be careful!), blend all of the soup in the stock pot, until barely any little morsels of potato or vegetable remain.

Return all the soup to the pot and place back on the hot burner.

Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream, or 3/4 cup or 1 cup…depends on how velvety you like your soups!

Now season to taste with salt and pepper, and ladle into the bowls of your salivating guests and family members.  Amazing!

Serve as is for the healthier version.  Or sprinkle with the reserved bacon bits for a more decadent version.  You won’t be disappointed, either way!

 

Did your Mom repeat this to you over & over again throughout your life? Enough TV, enough video games, enough time on the phone…’everything in moderation’.

Was there a lot of eye-rolling involved after she’d said it?

But, isn’t it funny how wise you think your Mom has been, years after heeding that wisdom would have been most prudent?!

Ok, so, now it’s my turn to impart those words of wisdom…

i think the important word to focus on in that sentence is EVERYTHING.

I think it would be hard to say that anything at all, done in excess, is a good thing.

Of course there have to be exceptions… the one that comes to mind for me is loving and kissing and hugging, showing affection for someone you love.  But I suppose that too could become too much if not done in moderation.  Perhaps you could turn that person off if you showed too much love…is that possible?!

But for everything else, it seems as though there are support groups for those of us out there that have a hard time putting a lid on it, whatever ‘it’ that may be.

There are support groups for people who have a hard time putting a limit to how much they drink, eat, gamble, diet, exercise, spend money, have intimate relations, work, etc…

There is a lot of merit in the statement and it is like having a little angel on your right shoulder whispering in your ear not to eat that third piece of cake.  And I think it does save you from becoming overly zealous, i.e. fanatical, about one particular thing…

For instance, in my community, my husband and I have noticed that there seems to be a pattern amongst mothers who have children from 0-10 years of age…most have become hard-core exercisers.  Something happens to them after childbirth and they seem to need to make exercise their focus.  Only it becomes almost obsessive, with mothers running every 5k in the area and pushing aside other responsibilities to fit in their yoga session.

And I believe that this is the point of this particular, annoyingly true, cliché:  to frequently stop and do a little reality check on your life.  Has anything become an obsession for you?  A thing?  A philosophy?  An ideology?  Have your days, thoughts, conversations, motivations become focused around this?

Whether or not this is the case, ‘everything in moderation’ should be the mantra in your head.

You’re about to add more butter to your baked potato,  buy another dish towel at HomeGoods, have one more Margarita at the restaurant…

but you don’t, because your conscience sounds like a broken record and you can’t help but hear it, loud and clear…

 

 

 

Everything you say can and will be used against you in…

life,

especially with children around.

You say something to them and either they incorporate it into their vocabulary or they repeat it in conversation, and usually to the parties that shouldn’t be hearing it…

be careful what you say about your family and friends in front of your kids.  They may repeat it or they may adopt your views or opinions of said person without giving them their own consideration.  You may cause them to dislike someone just because you may have been disgruntled with them and voiced it in front of your little one.

Find a way to tell a kinder tale or…

wait to talk about something unpleasant until after your little one is in bed or out of earshot.

One Saturday morning, my neighbor brought over some homemade beignets (fancy fried dough) from a Café du Monde box mix I’d given her. They were still warm and smelled cinnamony and I was thrilled to have one! Unfortunately, they were completely raw in the middle and absolutely inedible. I spit them out in the trash and my Beach Rose was a witness. She was all over it…’why did you spit it out, Mama? You didn’t like it? I love it!’  I told her that they were not my favorite because they were not cooked all the way through.

That Monday I had this same neighbor over for dinner & next thing I know my Beach Rose is telling her that I’d spit up her gift of fresh beignets into the trash!  The horror!  But, thank goodness I’d been kind enough in my description of how it wasn’t my favorite that when she repeated this, it wasn’t as harsh as it could have been…

It’s only natural that your day-to-day conversations with loved ones can involve venting about someone you know, ‘colorful’ language, and appalling details.  Be aware of your audience.  They absorb so much more than we sometimes give them credit for, understand plenty and look to you as a role model and therefore, your word is the be-all and end-all…

So, here’s a good one…should be winning ‘mother-of-the-year’ after yesterday…

My 4 year old Beach Rose is allergic to nuts.  But, it’s not that simple…

Not all nuts, and even the ones she does have allergies to, not all are scary reactions.  So, she’s not allergic to almonds or pistachios, but if she has a little bite of peanut or pecan, she’ll complain about her tongue being itchy.  However, if she eats a walnut she breaks out into hives, has trouble breathing & her stomach hurts her to the point where she screams out.

There are many schools of thought as to how to approach a child who may or may not have nut allergies. One allergist told me to stay away from ALL nuts.  One said to keep introducing a little bit every day to build up tolerance.

I’ve heard that staying away from all nuts makes the allergy worse.  Without any exposure to nuts at all, any contact, not just ingesting it, touching a nut, touching a doorknob which has been touched by a kid who had a peanut butter sandwich, can set off anaphylaxis.

And the other camp says that the more exposure to nuts you give to someone who’s prone to nut allergies, the more likely the allergy will worsen.

So, I’ve decided to give my Beach Rose a little tiny bite of peanut every day, and a tiny bite of pecan as often as I remember, or have on hand.

Yesterday I played with fire…unintentionally, yet due to my carelessness…

I decided to make apple caramel bars to bring to my Book Club that night.  It was a recipe one of the ladies had passed on to me, so I thought I’d thank her by filling her belly!

The recipe called for 1 cup of nut flour;  which you make by finely chopping 1 cup of any nut you have on hand (pecans, walnuts or almonds) in a food processor.  I used the pecans I had on hand, of course.

I made the bars while my little one was napping and I went to take a shower.

When she awoke from her nap and went downstairs, I followed her, set her up at the kitchen table with her snack and told her, firmly, that she was not allowed to touch the batter left in the kitchen mixer because it had nuts.

‘What kind of nuts?’ she wanted to know.

‘Pecans, and you can’t have batter with pecans.’

‘Ok Mama, I won’t.  I won’t.’

And because I trusted my 4 year old, with her beautiful, innocent, big eyes like a doe’s, I went upstairs to blow-dry my hair for 10 minutes.

My mistake…you can guess what happens next…

…as good as her intentions were to heed my warning, the temptation to get her chubby fingers on some sweet batter was greater than her fear of retribution, from Mama or the pecans.

Long story short, we ended up in the ER for half the night because she had a severe allergic reaction; hives, difficulty breathing & stomach pains.  Everything ended ok, but lesson learned!

as good as you think your child is and as much as you think you can trust them, you can…to a point.  Don’t be reckless and leave a giant bowl of delicious, dangerous batter sitting on the counter and expect your Baby to  turn down the opportunity to get some in her tummy while her Mama’s not lookin’.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy…and oh-so-very-scrumptious!

Serve with a salad, and some chips, or a bowl of soup and dinner is read.

 

Let’s get started…

Make certain that you find awesome sub rolls…like, run out to the nearest deli and make them sell some to you; that kind of awesome!

Then put them on a baking sheet and toast them for about 3-5 minutes at 350 degrees, until starting to show some beautiful golden brown color.

 

 

Next you’ll need these 2 items to send this over the edge…your favorite mayo and your favorite BBQ sauce.

 

 

Ok, now don’t be stingy with the mayo…there’s nothing worse than a dry sandwich…

 

 

A couple of glugs of BBQ sauce…

 

 

Smear all around…admire the mouth-watering marbled mixture…

 

 

Line the bread with at least 2 slices of provolone…

 

 

Add BBQ chicken or turkey breast, thinly sliced, then roast beef…

 

 

Oh, we’re not done…

 

 

Last layer of meaty goodness – smoked ham!

 

 

Have you tried these before?!  They make this sandwich sing!

 

Add enough banana peppers to cover the top of the meat and then add thinly sliced red onions…

 

Put back in oven for 5-10 minutes, just so that the cheese is nice and melty and the bread is warm.  Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper…

 

 

And here it is…sooooo tasty!

Do you have a house dressing?

I mean, a salad dressing unique to your house?  A “house” dressing?

Well, it’s time…

I’m going to let you in on the secret vinaigrette that I’ve adopted from all of my relatives in France.

It is the mother vinaigrette.  Meaning that from here, you can add, subtract, and make any variation of my dressing and call it yours!

 

This recipe will dress a salad that serves 4.  You can double, triple, quadruple this to meet your family’s, your friends’ and your hostessing needs!

Start with a vessel of your preference:  I am using a tiny canning jar, 4 oz.  Feel free to use a bowl, a salad dressing bottle, a mug, a sippy cup, whatever you have on hand…

 

 

Now add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and about 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

 

 

Next add a ‘smidge’ of mustard…not really a technical cooking measurement, but necessary to describe this tiny amount!  Emphasis on tiny.  There should just be a subtle hint of mustard in your dressing, or else if you add too much, it’ll take over and be very strong…

speaking of strong…this is the only Dijon mustard I use.  It’s the only one you’ll see on the shelf of a French pantry.  And it packs some punch!

Again with a small quantity…this is perhaps a 1/4 of a garlic clove.  And I think I actually only grated about 1/2 of that into my dressing.

I grate the garlic into my dressing, because then it’s more easily incorporated and your guests or family don’t end up with a giant chunk of garlic on their lettuce leaf.

Add 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of water, 4 teaspoons vegetable oil.

 

Shake vigorously!  Wait, wait, wait!!!!!   Put the lid on first!!!   Aaaaaaaugh!  I hope that I didn’t cause you to make a mess over there…

Yummy…you’re all done.  Congrats!

You can now ask your guests whether they’d like Ranch, Russian, Thousand Island or House dressing with their salad!

Note:  You can make this yours in so many ways…add shallots, add olive oil, replace white wine vinegar with tarragon/champagne/red wine/balsamic vinegar, remove the mustard, replace the dijon with wasabi mustard, use smoked salt, etc…

Have you read any Jodi Picoult before?

Here’s a little homework…go to a store, pick up ANY of her books, read it and then let me know what you think.

I will be shocked, shocked, if you do not agree with me that her writing style gets you hooked!

Goodness this author can deliver.  Every book of hers, no matter the subject, is thoroughly researched, made accessible and engaging to the reader and transformed into a highly addictive read.

My husband can predict that when I start to read one of her books, I will be out of commission for 2 days.  I may pop my head up out of the pages to do a quick scan and check to make sure everyone is alive, but even that’s iffy.

Great book about religion, the love of a mother and self-confidence.

SPOILER ALERT:

Jodi Picoult’s books have the same formula.  Build up the story, end up in a courtroom and have the big reveal at the end that blows your sox off.  Nothing wrong that.

She didn’t disappoint in Keeping Faith.  After going through her parent’s traumatic divorce, 7 yr old Faith, starts to see God, perform miraculous healings, develops stigmata, etc.  Jodi attacks this from the angle of atheism, medicine/science, religion and the mind of a mother and child.  There is the inevitable custody battle in court, as expected, but what is unexpected is how she ends this story with realism…

after all the dust settles when the court reaches its decision about Faith’s custody, Faith seems to lose contact with God.  And yet, afraid of losing her Mother’s attention, Faith pretends to still have the connection, by fabricating a conversation with God.

So glad that Jodi Picoult is a prolific writer.  Looking forward to sinking my teeth into another of her page-turners.

Right before my wedding I got a brilliant piece of advice that you probably got, too…

“Throughout the day, stop, look around, absorb, feel, take it all in.  Be present.  Your wedding day will go by in a flash and if you force yourself to be in the moment, many times, you’ll enjoy yourself and cherish the memory.”

I took it.  As much as I could, because the day was a whirlwind.  And I can look back and feel and remember snapshots and I’m so happy I was present in my head.

Let your mantra be “TODAY”.  Say it to yourself multiple times a day, and do this daily.

I heard something the other day that really resonated with me. “Depression is focusing on the past and anxiety is focusing on the future.”

This isn’t saying that you can’t happily relive memories from your past and/or plan for your future (bills, retirement, projects,etc) without being mentally unbalanced!  I believe that it simply emphasizes the importance of living in the moment.

Be where you are.  Be in one, and only one place at a time.  And absorb it with all of your senses.

So have you taught your kids this one yet?

‘If you sprinkle while you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat.’

I think there’s a time and a place for everything and right now it’s time for potty talk…

There is, I think, or at least there ought to be, bathroom etiquette.  The ‘proper’ way to behave yourself when using ‘the little girls’/boys’ room’.

• And then there’s ridiculously controversial subject matter of whether or not to put the toilet seat down after you’ve used it, if you are of the male persuasion. How it’s a controversy is beyond me!  I believe that the other side of the argument out there is that we females should consider leaving the toilet seats up for men.  Can you imagine how many little kids out there would be falling into the toilet bowls if we took up with that side of the matter!                                                                                                            Put the toilet seat down, pretty please. For my sake & more importantly for yours. Even if it’s in your own home, even if it’s ‘your’ bathroom. First of all, it is really quite revolting to see the underside of a toilet seat & that much of a toilet bowl, don’t you think? Secondly, imagine yourself, or your 5 year old, or your significant other, sleepily padding through the house at 2 am to the bathroom and falling into the toilet bowl. Does not bode well for the unsuspecting spouse who is jerked out of his sleep by an angry lashing.
• And, I’m sure you’ll agree that we should start by making sure that none of us out there is forced to sit in a puddle when the time comes for us to go about our business.
• Put the toilet lid down, too.  Nobody wants to stare into that thing when they walk into a bathroom.  And it’s the sensible thing to do.  The last thing you want is for the cat or dog of the house to be found lapping from the bowl…nothing will turn your stomach more.  And if a lady just wants to step into the bathroom quickly to check her hair & makeup, she doesn’t want to be reminded of the last person in there and what their business was!
• Don’t be the one who leaves an empty roll of toilet paper on the toilet paper holder. Always replenish with a new roll.
• Might I suggest a foolproof way to avoid the humiliating catastrophe of clogging up a bathroom at someone’s house & causing a very disgusting overflow.  Easy. Wipe 3x and then flush. If you need to continue wiping, do so, but again, throw only 3 wipe’s worth of toilet paper in the bowl and then flush.  Repeat as necessary. There. Enough said on that subject matter!
• WASH your hands after you flush! Two times!!  With soap! Then use the napkin or bath towel that you used to dry your hands to turn off the faucet and to open the door on the way out. You do this because there are quite a few people who forget to wash their hands after they use the bathroom…..ewwwww!

Hey, this all needs to be said.  And if not by your Mama, then by whom?!

Mmmmmmm……..Apple Crisp…..

What could be better on a cool, crisp autumn day than to walk into your house to the smell of apple crisp baking in your oven?  Well, maybe if it was apple pie, or apple brownies, or apple cake, or apple bars baking in there…

…can you see a recurring theme here?

That’s because, believe it or not, I am still up to my eyebrows in apples from when my Mom & Dad dropped off bags of them from their apple orchard in the beginning of October!

I have been baking at least 2 apple recipes per week!

Not like I’m complaining of course, nor my hubby, nor my little girl, neighbors, librarians, family, friends, mailman, etc.

Today, I thought I’d share my classic apple crisp recipe.  The one that I’ve been baking since I first learned how to peel an apple.  And it is divine.  And a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside sends this dish over the moon!

Start with about 8-10 apples, depending on the size.  (I’ve got 10 here because they’re medium-sized.)  Don’t worry about the perfection of the apple.  If they’ve been not-so-gently dropped on the floor, or their skin appears to be ‘aging’, or they have any other blemishes, they are superb for baking!  Keep the beautiful, firm, flawless ones for eating as a snack…

Peel, core and slice.

Place in ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan.

Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons flour on top of apples.

Add 1/2 cup packed brown sugar…

Gently mix this together using a rubber spatula,

till the apple slices are beautifully coated and you’re sitting on your hands in order to stop yourself from eating them all.

Now, we start making the crisp…yum!  You’ll need 1 1/2 cups of old-fashioned oats in a large bowl.

Add the same amount of all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups.

2 cups packed brown sugar go in next…

and 2 teaspoons cinnamon…

mix ingredients with a fork…

cut up 2 sticks of cold butter into 1 inch chunks…

and use your fingers to incorporate or smush the butter into all the yummy brown sugar, oats, flour & cinnamon,

resulting in a mound of clumps that slightly resembles a pile of rubble!  Which is exactly the look you’re going for.

Pour this flavorful ‘rubble’ onto the apple slices, place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the smell permeates every room in your home!

Serve warm, serve cold.  Serve with ice cream, serve without.  Serve to others or hide it in the pantry and just serve yourself!

This recipe was actually doubled to accommodate a larger crowd.  It can absolutely be cut in half and baked in a 8 x 8 pan for 30 minutes or so.