BPA Blues …

It’s been so long since I posted anything I forgot my password to log on here!  Oh, well.  I’ll try to be more productive for a bit.  To start off with, here’s an interesting Kristof column from the New York Times about where else BPA is found besides in baby bottles and Nalgenes, which apparently is all that most of America seemed to care about.  Sure, nothing’s conclusive … but really — considering how many endocrine disrupters we’re exposed to on a regular basis from everything from pesticides on foods to the flame retardant in your kids’ PJs to the finish on your wood floor — why not avoid it as much as you can?

One More Item Off the Grocery List

The more I experiment with cooking and baking, the more I realize that I can make almost any of the “processed” foods I would normally find on the grocery store shelves.  It’s a blessing … and a curse.  I remember it being an epiphany back in 1999 or so when I first realized that a packet of Old El Paso seasoning was not essential for making tacos.  With the exception of an occasional bottle of Rao’s, we never buy tomato sauce for pasta; it’s so easy to make!  I never have bought flavored yogurts since it’s so much cheaper (and more delicious) to flavor plain yogurt myself with fruits and other ingredients from the pantry or freezer.  And more recently, I’ve had to add bread and crackers to the list of things I CAN make (although it’s handy to have Triscuits in the pantry!).  But here’s where the curse kicks in:   Who has the time????  Every time I realize I COULD be making something myself from scratch, I start to think that I SHOULD be making it myself from scratch, but … the fact is that we can’t make everything … unless we were all living in a happy, little commune where we would all be cooking all day while the kids all played around us together all day … and, um, we’re not.

So, the question becomes:  What’s really worth making yourself?

Luckily, I have the answer.  Granola bars.

Heating up the butter-honey-sugar mixture

Toasting the oats, sunflower seeds, and wheat bran

Smushing it all together (a.k.a., the fun part!)

OK, ignore the fact that I may have gained 5 pounds in the last month since I started making granola bars.  They are delicious and SO easy to make!  Spurred by a friend who said she’d recently made mushy granola bars, I started out by referring to this recipe.  Since I didn’t have wheat germ, I substituted some wheat bran, and I decided to use coconut and a cup of chocolate chunks (cut from a big bar) for the dried fruit and peanuts.

I realized my lapse in judgment as I was pouring the hot butter-honey-sugar mixture over the toasted oats and other ingredients:  How would the chocolate chunks be able to withstand the extreme heat to which I was exposing them???  And, as in all things relating to the kitchen, all’s well that ends well — even though I didn’t do it on purpose, I made me some mighty delicious chocolate granola bars.

And there you have it.  The hubby said it was the most delicious thing he’s ever eaten, but he’s prone to hyperbole whenever I use a decent amount of sugar in anything.  And Masher loves ‘em.  And they’re very portable, keep for at least a week on the counter, and use up dried fruit that we might not otherwise eat.  The perfect snack, you might say.  And you might be right.  So, one more item off the grocery list.  Not that I was purchasing granola bars on a regular basis.  But now?  They are quickly becoming a family staple.

Chocolate coconut granola bar

Fresh Flour Tortillas Make Anything Delicious

It’s a fact.  Whenever we go to Rio Grande, we always order 20 or so flour tortillas to pop in the freezer back at home.  Then, the next time I cook up something that really needs a tasty and edible container, we defrost them in the microwave or oven in a few minutes, and put together some almost-homemade taquitos deliciosos!  In this case, the contents were straight from our PVF farmshare:  red chard, red and yellow peppers (turns out some were spicier than I thought, so the whole thing was kinda ruined for Masher), fresh corn off the cob, and pinto beans.  Essentially chard maque-choux (a fave Louisiana dish) with beans.

Oh, yes, I’m afraid you read that correctly.  I did say that I put chard in my tacos.  A whole big bunch of it, in fact.  But that’s what I mean about fresh flour tortillas …  They can make an otherwise questionable ingredient into a culinary masterpiece.  There’s just something about the way the tortilla begins to almost melt into the hot filling …  I’m going to bet that might have something to do with lard or shortening, and God bless it, whichever or whatever it is!

I guess the next step in my journey should be making my own flour tortillas.  Hm.  Well, I guess that’s a possibility, so I’ll put it on the to-do list.  If I can manage to make something even half as good as these, we’ll have some very happy taco eaters here at home.

Tomatofest

In August and early September, our PVF farmshare rocks the tomatoes. And, frankly, who doesn’t love tomatoes? Even Masher has been known to eat a tasty tomato straight from the vine.

Obviously, since these tomatoes are freakin’ delicious as they are, I don’t do much to them. The hubby always requests panzanella, or tomato-bread salad, and I’m more than happy to oblige. Unfortunately, I don’t know whether Masher likes panzanella or not because we’ve never had any left over for him … Poor guy. So, to ensure some kind of tomato-ey leftovers, I made some fresh tomato sauce and pasta … Masher was very happy the next day. Here are the oh-so-simple recipes:

Tomato Bread Salad (Panzanella)

• Half a baguette (preferably from a day or two before)
• Some tomatoes (twice the mass of the baguette)
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste
• Fresh mozzarella, red onion, roasted red pepper, or corn, optional

Chop and toast the bread, chop the tomatoes, combine everything, and eat!

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

You could make this more complicated, but why?

Heat some olive oil in a pot, add chopped tomatoes with juice, cook for about 10-15 minutes, then add basil.  Combine with cooked pasta and serve with Parmesan grated on top.

… And Another!

Wow, this month’s Parents is pretty good!  A few pages past “Beans on Toast” was a recipe similar to my green hummus, but PINK!  Fun stuff.  It uses white beans and beets and sounds great.  I’m liking the Weelicious blog it came from as well.  Although it makes me jealous that Catherine McCord is definitely a better food photographer than I am …

My Slacker Secret Hits the Big Time

Does anyone out there get Parents magazine? I thought so. Of course you do! Heck, I don’t even know why I get it, but I guess my OB-Gyn probably sold my name, address, and fertility information to the highest bidder because the world of direct mail marketing certainly knew when the stork visited our house nearly 19 months ago! Anyway, I was flipping through the mag while sipping a delicious Oskar Blues Brewery Mama’s Little Yella Pils (you’ll need to scroll all the way down the linked page) when I came across my slacker secret in a segment about after-school “pick-me-up” snacks. I call it “Beans on Toast.” Parents calls it “Toaster Treats,” which I’ll admit sounds more appetizing. But it’s the same gosh-darned thing: Whole-grain toast topped with canned fat-free refried beans and shredded cheese, heated in the broiler. And to think I was embarrassed about my legume sandwich … Just remember, even if you didn’t hear it here first, you should have.

Fresh Basil Pesto, How I Love Thee

I guess it’s pretty much the case with any pasta sauce — tomato, bolognese, alfredo for sure — but I think it’s especially true for basil pesto: what you make fresh is a WORLD away from what you pull off the grocery store shelf, even if you’re lucky enough to be shopping at an Italian specialty store. Stripping basil leaves off the stem and throwing them into the food processor with some olive oil, garlic, and walnuts … It couldn’t be easier or more delicious. I usually don’t even add parmesan, except freshly grated on top of my pasta, and I prefer walnuts (after a quick run under the broiler) to pine nuts, but however you prefer to make it, make it now!

Last night we enjoyed it on spaghetti with some crispy pan-fried jamon serrano (unconventional, perhaps, but utterly delicious) on top and accompanied by a salad with cherry tomatoes, roasted beets, and ricotta salata.  Mostly local farm ingredients, with a few Italian accents, I guess!

Taste Test #1

I decided to do a taste test of some broccoli pancakes at playgroup with Masher’s “friends” the other day.  Unfortunately, Masher ate most of them before more than two other tots could take a few bites.  The verdict?  50-50.  One other toddler loved ‘em, the other wasn’t too sure what to think.  But that’s not bad, and I think the second would have come around the next time they appeared in front of him.

And in the realm of funny photos …  Do you think Masher enjoyed his spaghetti with meatballs this weekend???

So What DO Sasha and Melia Get For Lunch?

Everyone has surely heard by now about the uproar over the ads in the metro that mention “President Obama’s daughters” in the context of their school lunches being healthier and involving more choices than most public school lunches.  The White House, according to Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s president Neal Barnard, would like the ads removed immediately to protect the girls’ private lives.  But regardless of which side of the privacy debate you’re on, the real question is “What are the Obama girls eating for lunch?”  Well, per a TMZ.com January 2009 posting, Sidwell Friends does have a pretty good-looking menu.  Check it out:  

The descriptions of the food are almost poetic in some cases, I agree.  Cheese tortellini with garden marinara, fiesta rice, all natural nacho bar (as opposed to an unnatural nacho bar?), vintner’s salad …  Wait!  What the he** is a vintner’s salad?  A quick Google search reveals it to be a salad with watercress and gruyere (here’s a link in case anyone wants to make one).  Hm, OK, that does sound a bit fancy.  But is the menu really all that different from a regular public school menu?  Let’s compare it with a menu from Barcroft Elementary in Arlington, Virginia:

Honestly, at first glance I thought these menus were intrinsically the same.  Each includes “healthy” options like fruit and vegetable, each ensures all food groups are represented, etc.  But on closer inspection, I’m not so sure they are equal at all.  Here are some differences I identify.  Can anyone point out others?

1. The Sidwell Friends menu includes organic foods.
2. The Sidwell Friends menu includes local foods, which would likely imply that the school cafeteria actually prepared from scratch (or close to it) the meals containing those foods as opposed to purchasing the meals ready made.
3. The Sidwell Friends menu has no (count em, zero!) fried foods.  The Barcroft menu includes several, such as corn dog nuggets, chicken tenders and chicken nuggets (I’m assuming), crispy chicken patty, and “fish treasures.”  (Did I mention that the Barcroft menu uses poetic elements, too?  Just not quite as deftly as Sidwell Friends.)
4. The Barcroft menu could easily be described as “kid food.”  That’s not really true for the Sidwell Friends menu.  I would be very happy with a meal from the Sidwell Friends menu.  This point is important because–while many kids are able to escape obesity throughout their childhoods regardless of what they eat–training future adults to consume corn dog nuggets, crispy chicken in various forms, italian subs, and pizza for lunch is not helpful to their waistlines in the long run. 
5. The Sidwell Friends menu makes vegetables seem like (a) part of the normal meal and (b) something you’d actually want to eat.  Tomato basil soup, roasted butternut squash, garden vegetable pie, and garlic green beans?  Yum, yum, and yum!  On the other hand, on the Barcroft menu, the vegetables are generally shoved to the end of the menu and seem to fall into two categories:  raw veggies or veggies straight from the freezer bag (peas and carrots, corn, steamed spinach).  Sure, yeah, they’re veggies all right, but you’re not going to get anyone excited about eating them … or even interested.

So, it seems as though those ads may have a point.  Too bad that mentioning the Obama kids reportedly gets the White House to “hate” and “punish” you, according to some Republican political consultant interviewed for the Post story on the issue.  Wait a second, does that mean they’re going to come after me for this blog posting?  Did I just hear a knock on the door?  Gotta run!

A Little Mercury in Your High-Fructose Corn Syrup?

It’s the story of a whistleblower whose whistle got clogged by the powers-that-be.  No matter what you think about big business’s relationship with some parts of our government, it’s an interesting story to read.  Check it out:  http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/07/corn-syrups-mercury-surprise.