Eating Local ... from the Williamsburg Farmer's Market

I feel a lot like the fisherman who tells about the one that got away. I actually took some decent pictures of the dish at the end of this post, and it turned out phenomenal, and I was so excited about this post, but my USB cord to transfer my pix to my computer is still MIA. So I have decided to post anyway and I will insert the pix later to prove that I actually can take a decent picture (playing around with some features on my digital camera really made a difference!)





Eating local is always a good idea, for the environment, for flavor, for culinary variety, for the local economy, but also for fun and a good time. We experienced this just this past Saturday when we braved Memorial Day weekend crowds to go to the Williamsburg Farmer's Market on Colonial Williamsburg's Duke of Gloucester Street. While there is a lot to choose from food, to flowers to baked goods to bison, what makes the Williamsburg Farmer's Market special is that it is less a market than an event! Each week besides the incredible local food and plant vendors, there is always live music and a guest chef serving food samples and handing out recipes and answering questions. This week the music was supplied by the Runaway String Band, who provided a toe-tapping soundtrack that temporarily distracted both lookers and buyers from the wares all around them. The Catering Company prepared a variety of cold salads perfect for the heat of the day. While I can't mention all the vendors there (a complete list is on the website linked here), I can tell you that we bought some delicious oriental greens and Korean radishes from Evergreen Springs Farm (they don't have a website but they can be reached at evergreensprings1@yahoo.com), and a bouquet of beautiful roses that are gracing my dining room table. But believe me, whatever you might want from hydroponically grown vegetables to heirloom tomatoes to honey, you can find it at this market! You want to grow your own (really local)? There are vendors selling all manner of plants, and herbs for your home garden.





Whether you are looking to buy or just looking, the Williamsburg Farmer's Market provides a fun and unique experience. Well-behaved dogs on leashes are welcome, and there are always animals to see (my favorite this week was a pair of Mini-Pins whose owner couldn't walk two steps without getting stopped!) If you feel the need to duck into real retail (and AC in the summer heat) there are shops that line the street that provide an experience of their own.





On our way back home we stopped to check on our friend and fresh vegetable supplier extraordinaire "Tractor Joe" (I wrote about him in an earlier post) where we purchased some freshly pulled (from the ground while we stood there!) beets, and spring onions, and some freshly cut spinach.




Needless to say, dinner had to include the bounty of the day. A chicken recipe I got from a Southern Living provided the protein for the meal but the stars were a salad I made with roasted beets, honey goat cheese, and walnuts on a bed of oriental greens with a mild dijon vinaigrette, beet and Korean radish greens sauteed with garlic and olive oil. I know from blogging that a lot of people don't like beets but this salad was incredible and I would have been happy to have paid for it in a restaurant. All in all, a successful day of playing with (local) food, and I swear I will have the pictures to prove it!



Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

(made two large salads for beet lovers, you could stretch further with fewer beets per person)



6 fresh whole beets with greens

2 1/2 inch slices of honey goat cheese broken in chunks (I bought this at Costco and the slight sweetness was great with the beets but you could use plain or herb goat cheese instead)

2 tablespoons walnut pieces

1 handful of salad greens per salad (we used oriental greens but baby spinach or other baby salad greens would be fine too)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt to taste



Dijon Vinaigrette



1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons dijon mustard




Wash the beets well and cut off the greens about 1 inch from the top of the beet, and cut beets into quarters. Toss with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, and roast in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until tender. Let cool to room temperature. Mix ingredients for dijon vinaigrette.



To Serve: place greens on plate, add roasted beets, sprinkle crumbled goat cheese over and then add walnuts. Dress with 1-2 tablespoons of vinaigrette. Eat and learn to love beets!

Tapas Night with Evil David- Part 1

Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know that the Dowd family has two Davids in its circle of friends- "good David" whom you may remember from my post about Good David's Pam warning, and "evil David" our globe-trotting friend who started tapas night, which has become a weekly event in our household (how he got his name is another post, but suffice it to say, he got this moniker from Molly, my youngest). Several commenters here have asked me to post about tapas night and I am finally getting around to it! How did Dowd tapas start? One Wednesday, I came home from work to find Evil David at our house cooking (how you can call any man who is cooking at your house evil, really makes no sense to me....), determined to introduce us to tapas (when tapas wasn't cool!) Tapas has evolved so that David and I each make two or three dishes, and coordinate so we have a good mix of meat, seafood and vegetables.

For those who may not know what tapas is, it is a tradition that started in Spanish street bars and cafes, when restauranteurs used rounds of bread with toppings to keep flies from landing in their after-work glasses of sherry. It started out with the Spanish equivalent of bruschetta, olives and other tidbits, and graduated to dishes like marinated cheese, little savory meat pies and fried sardines. Our first tapas was an incredible meal... and the start of a Wednesday night tradition in our house. While tapas started out authentic, it has become a night to experiment, to try a new dish or cuisine. We have had Spanish, Turkish, Korean, Chinese, Indian,French, Moroccan, African, Italian, and Thai dishes to name a few in the name of tapas night. We have enjoyed, shrimp, clams, mussels, venison, rabbit, tuna cheeks, grilled sardines as part of tapas menus. We have had as few as 5 for tapas and as many as 20 (on the Mother of all Tapas night- definitely another post!) In the fall and winter, tapas requires wine, but often in warmer weather, we have cold tapas dishes, salads and a pitcher of red or white sangria.

Whether you want to explore Spanish food or not, it is great to have this type of family event midweek- it gives you something to look forward to in the middle of the week, provides a platform for playing with food of other nations, encourages experimentation, makes memories.

Since tapas is a regular part of our lives now, there will be many more posts and hopefully pictures (my cable to transfer pix from my camera to my computer is "temporarily misplaced") of future tapas nights. I will share a few easy and quick tapas dishes that you can use to start your own tapas tradition and you will see other dishes spread throughout other posts (See my herb-stuffed fish, one of my favorite summer tapas recipes in the post Fear of Fish).

Easy Smoked Salmon with Capers

4 ounces smoked salmon, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons capers, drained
Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon of dill

freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together, and let set for at least one hour in the fridge. Serve with crackers, toast rounds, or belgian endive.

Ploughman's Sandwich (each sandwich makes 4 tapas servings)

2 slices of "heavy", dense multi-grain bread

1 tablespoon of fig or quince jam

Thick sliced Manchego cheese

Spread jam on one slice of bread. Cover jam with sliced cheese, top with other slice of bread. Cut sandwich into quarters and serve.

Shrimp with Garlic and White Wine

1 pound of shrimp(I often use flash frozen deveined E-Z peel shrimp, but fresh are great too!)

3-6 cloves of garlic (or more depending on your taste)

1/2 cup white wine (any semi-dry or dry)

Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste(or Red pepper flakes if you like heat!)

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

Put olive oil in pan and add garlic, being careful not to burn. Throw in shrimp ,and toss to coat with olive oil. Add wine, and cook shrimp just until pink (1st cardinal sin with any seafood is cooking too long!). Add salt, pepper or pepper flakes as desired. Serve with toasted baguette or ciabatta to soak up the delicious juices.

Grilled Sardines

Fresh sardines (if you can get them) or canned sardines packed in olive oil

Coarse salt

1 lemon, cut in quarters

If using canned sardines, drain oil and rinse lightly. Place on preheated grill on oiled piece of foil. Salt with coarse salt. Turn once until heated through and a little crisp on the outside. Serve with lemon squeezed over.

Note: I was never a sardines person, but these are surprisingly delicious, particularly with the lemon! David eats bones and all, but I eat away from the backbone!

Other Suggestions: Herb stuffed fish, Hummus with pita chips, artichoke dip, bruschetta....more to come!

Playing with...oven fried vegetables

Today was one of those days when I came home from work, and just wasn't into cooking. Bridget was headed out for her senior prom, Kate was out for a movie, Molly was making her own tuna salad, the weather was dreary and I wasn't feeling inspired. However, my husband had different ideas. He was craving some fried vegetables we had made before from Giada's Everyday Italian (He always underestimates how much trouble a recipe is). I couldn't find the recipe, and frankly neither of us needs the kind of fat involved (kind of negates the health effects of having veggies in the first place!), so I sent him outside to smoke his cigar, and decided to play with food to make some oven-fried veggies (less trouble for me and less fat- there's a win-win situation!)

Since man cannot live by oven fried vegetables alone (despite what my husband says!), I needed to think up an entree and so I made a shrimp primavera with whole-wheat spaghetti. Both were fairly easy and turned out really good so I thought I would share. While most of my recipes have a story, this is a great example of an experiment that went well, so here it is. If you like fried veggies, you will love this lower fat version that turned out crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. This time I used mushrooms, zucchini and broccoli, but next time I think I will try some Vidalia onion petals.

Play with Food Better-than-Fried Veggies

Veggies that can be sliced thin (Zucchini, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, cauliflower);I sliced them about 1/4 inch and made them as uniform as possible. For tonight's meal for two I used 1 medium zucchini, 1 small head of broccoli and about 5 large mushrooms.

PAM vegetable spray

1 cup panko crumbs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

1 cup buttermilk

Mix crumbs, parmesan, salt and paprika in a shallow plate or Ziploc bag. Spray baking sheet with Pam and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dredge veggie slices in buttermilk and then coat in crumb mixture and place coated slices in a single layer on Pam-sprayed cookie sheet. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (I have a convection oven so check periodically until the slices are crisp and brown). Serve with marinara or any other sauce you like!

Easy Shrimp Pasta Primavera

1 tbsp butter or olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

2 cups peeled shrimp (I used the peeled flash-frozen ones)

1/2 cup baby peas

1/2 lb pasta, whatever kind you like

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 jar prepared alfredo sauce

Saute veggies in butter or oil until transparent, add wine and peas and let cook down until all but a little liquid is left then add shrimp and alfredo sauce. Stir until shrimp turns pink. Drain pasta and stir in sauce. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Everybody has a mother and most everyone of us thinks ours, of course, did a great job. Moms are there for us, believing in us when nobody else does, ignoring the worst in us, and always helping to reach for the best in ourselves. Most of all, our mothers teach us the lessons we need to become good and productive and happy people. Since my own mother is hours away and circumstances do not allow either of us to travel to the other for this day, I want to tell you a few of the lessons my mother taught me.

My own mother is going through a lot right now, but that has been the story of her life. That is the first lesson I learned from her- be prepared, and take whatever life throws at you. You can't change it, so deal with it. My mother had three children under four when her husband, my father was killed in an accident. A high-school graduate, she had to work full time to support us, she had to be both mom and dad to three little children while dealing with her own grief. Her success is measured by the fact that while that time must've been tough for her and for our family, I really have no bad or sad memories of my childhood. However her experience drove home to me that a woman should always be prepared to make a living, because life can change in an instant.

My mom's second lesson that she taught me was to make good decisions. One of the best she made was to marry my stepfather who treated my brothers and I like his own flesh and blood, even after they had my baby brother. My mother always put family first - she has always been there for her mom and sisters, us kids, my dad, her friends. She went to the hospital so many times, staying with my brother when he was young and sickly, she stayed up late waiting for us to come home. She baked treats for school, drove carpool, helped with long division, cheered in the stands at countless little league games and when I was on drill team, helped sell boxes of Girl Scout cookies, all while holding down a full-time job. She saw all of her children march across the stage and graduate from high school, quite an achievement by today's standards. As I get older and my own kids grow up, I have a real appreciation and respect for all she did. As I get my own daughter ready for prom, I marvel at how my mom found the time to make me a green velvet dress for a winter formal (although I recall that the project involved a number of bad words!) and a dress for my prom that was the hottest trend that nobody else had. I hardly find the time to fix a button, or sew up a seam, much less make a dress!

Growing up my family was not one where feelings were discussed a lot. We were not huggy people. My mom did not have to tell us that she loved us...she showed us everyday by being there for us. She was the glue that held us together no matter what. And I guess that is the final lesson that I learned from my mom... that actions speak louder than words. Now that I am a mom myself, I take this lesson to heart, but have also learned to be more comfortable sharing my feelings (good and bad) with those I love. My mom doesn't have a computer, but I know my brothers do and I hope that someone will show her this post (I will be sending it too!) And so I abandon food for the day... or maybe not, because all the things my mother did for me and showed me are food for my soul. This post is for my Mom, my way of reaching across the miles to say thanks for all that you have done and continue to do for me and our family. Happy Mother's Day Mom, I Love You!

5 childhood food memories - a meme

Okay, so nobody tagged me , but when I saw the childhood memories meme by Daniel over at Cook's Journal, I was overcome by the desire to warm myself (and hopefully you) with a few of my food memories. So here are my five top childhood food memories (in no particular order):

1) Being at my Grandmother Knighting's little home when her house was full of the smell of her applesauce cake (which as those of you who have read previous posts know is my Holy Grail of recipes). I can remember like it was yesterday the smell of black walnuts, the cinnamon and cloves, the heavy feel of her cast iron bundt pans even before they were filled with batter and baked. And the result... the dark moist cinnamony cake with plump raisins and the precious black walnuts... I know these smells and tastes will be waiting for me if I ever get to heaven.

2) My mom's fudge. Chocolate-y with nuts(unlike the ones pictured), creamy without even a hint of graininess. I could eat a whole pound. This memory makes it impossible for me to pass a case with fudge in it without stopping (and buying... and eating...)

3) My stepdad's tolerence of my cooking experiments. No matter what I made he could find something good to say about it. I will never forget one time I made a hamburger stroganoff that was to be served over biscuits. I thought it would be really dramatic to make one big biscuit, and so I did. It was heavy, and still doughy on the inside, but still my dad oohed and aahed. I am sure that his tolerance helped give me the confidence to play with food. My stepdad (and actually my biological father whom I barely remember) is in heaven now, and I know that he is not eating any more food experiments, and I hope that he has a moment of pride in the woman and the cook I have become...

4) At my Grandmother McKinney's house when she baked pies she would take the leftover dough and we would spread it with peanut butter or strawberry jam and roll up, cut into pinwheels and bake. Nothing ever tasted as good as those tidbits of flaky dough...

5) My mom's macaroni and cheese... Creamy and cheesy with real cheese not processed. Even though my kids don't see her often that is the food they remember most!

I'm not tagging anyone (I learned my lesson before!), but if you feel like taking a trip down memory lane, consider yourself tagged!

Stress Eating and other curses...

Stress is a part of everyday life, but there are times when it gets the better of you. When I was younger (much!), and the stress in my life was tests and presentations, a date (or not having one), a bad haircut or a breakout, my body reacted by not eating. I had little or no appetite and the less I ate, the less I wanted to eat. Before eating disorders were "extreme dieting", I didn't eat because that was one of the few things had control over in my life.

Food is more for humans than just survival and sustenance. It is comfort, security, nostalgia, and love. We use it to fill other holes in our lives, to stop pain, to relive better times. It is a way to celebrate, to share good times, create friendships and cement family. It can even help win over enemies. Breaking bread together has been a way to build alliances since Biblical times, and sharing a meal is a universal way of showing mutual respect.

We live in a world now that glorifies thin-ness over healthiness, where bony protuberances are preferred over gentle curves. We are a nation of extremes- home to both obese children with growing diabetes rates and young women starving themselves to meet an ideal they can never attain. There must be a middle ground... a place where children can enjoy a variety of foods, an occasional snack or dessert or guilty pleasure, where we can all enjoy bacon, or a juicy cheeseburger, or a potato chip without overindulging. This is one of the reasons I started Play With Food, to encourage families and young people to get over their fear of food and cooking, to help people to use food as a part of a way to meet their needs for fun, community and family as well as nutrition.

Which brings me back to where I started- stress and eating. Contrary to my teen years I find the older I get, the more my response to stress (6 kids, 2 jobs, 3 mortgages, 2 dogs, 1 blog...) involves junk food. When I am down or overwhelmed I crave a can of Pringles or a bag of Cheese Doodles or a box of Fiddle Faddle no matter how much peanut butter and celery and carrot sticks are in my fridge. I don't know if it is the trans fats, the sugar, (the crack!) that draws me, but I honestly don't know of anyone who eats healthy food when they are stressed! Whether it is cookies, french fries or Ho-Hos, it is junk food that stressed people crave. How does stress affect your eating habits and what calls to you when you've had a bad day (week)? I've fessed up.... now it's your turn!

Boy Scout Chicken

We have been having some wonderful weather here in Hampton Roads and it is the kind of weather that makes you want to fire up the grill and cook outside. But what to fix? I decided to make an old favorite (and I do mean old!) that I call Boy Scout Chicken. It got this name from back in the day when I was a Girl Scout and we went camping and needed something easy to cook that also did not require much clean up (who wants to wash dishes in the woods!) We (Girl Scouts, of course) heard that it got its name from being something so easy even Boy Scouts could make it!

We used to make this dish with chicken parts but this time I used my old standby- boneless skinless thighs. Whether you are grilling in your own backyard or camping in the wilderness, this is easy and delicious and all you need for a full meal is fruit salad, a melon, or a green salad (hard to carry if you are backpacking, but for car camping - perfect!) This is also a great dish for playing with food. Once you have the "formula" you can play with the recipe a bit based on your own personal taste. This is also a great recipe for kids - except for handling raw chicken, the rest they can assemble themselves... and no pots and pans to wash!

So whether you are camping for real or planning on toasting marshmallows over the grill or backyard firepit, try this recipe... even a Boy Scout can do it!

Boy Scout Chicken

For each serving:

1 piece of heavy duty foil (about 12-18 inches long to allow room to fold- you know how much stuff you are putting in!)

Pam or other cooking type spray

1 chicken thigh (If small, you could use two)

1-2 potatoes sliced uniformly thin (you could use white or sweet or a combination)

3-4 slices of onion (sweet or red is great)

Salt and pepper

1 pat butter

Spray inside of foil with Pam. Place potatoes in center of foil. Salt and pepper lightly. Place chicken on top of potatoes. Place onions on top of chicken and fold foil into a pocket that encloses all the ingredients tightly. Place over campfire on grid or on grill. Cook for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time. Remove from fire or grill, cut open foil and enjoy!

Note: You could play with these ingredients, adding garlic, your favorite herbs and spices,even additions like mushrooms, olives or artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, olives, whatever you like. Instead of butter, try a glug (technical culinary term!) of Italian salad dressing on top of the chicken. The formula is the same, so be adventurous... and play with food!