Tag! I'm it!

This morning, I opened my blog to check for posts and comments (lurkers, please come forward!) and found that I had bee tagged by Natalie over at Gluten-Free Mommy with the "8 random things" meme. Early in my blog I responded to another similar meme, but I think I have come up with 8 other random things, but if any of these are repeats, I apologize.

1. I appeared on the old Family Feud (the one with Richard Dawson), and our family won for 5 episodes in a row. I even got to kiss Richard Dawson (who didn't?!) It was great fun and I got to see Rodeo Drive, and the famous Coast highway.

2.I love music, almost all kinds. You might be surprised that my musical taste is as diverse as George Michael, Enya, and Rage Against the Machine (usually on the way home at the end of a bad day!)

3. I was the founding Drill Team captain at my high school in Winchester VA. I loved it because I got to march in the huge Shenandoah Apple Blossom Parade.

4. I once got Lucille Ball's autograph (she was the Grand Marshall of the Apple Blossom Festival one year, and she signed mine and said to me "that is the color hair I was going for!")

5. While I grew up in the Woodstock and heavy metal era, my sole live concert experience was taking my girls to see Hanson (of MmmBop fame)

6. I have started a list of things I want to do before I die (you need this before you get too old to do them!)

7. I have never dyed my hair (I have had some high- and low-lights added, but of all the things about myself I have wanted to change, my hair color has never been one of them)

8.I delivered a neighbor's baby (that baby is now 24!) at home when she waited too long to go to the hospital (My own son was only weeks old at the time). It was an awe-inspiring experience and for years I wanted to be a midwife.

I know that this meme has traveled around quite a bit, but if you read this and would like to participate, link back here and bare your soul!

Camping, Episode 3: Adventures, Culinary and Otherwise

One of the most important ingredients of a successful camping trip, besides the weather is the food. When you head to Crabtree Falls there are lots of food and wine resources to draw on in addition to what you bring yourself. In the heart of Virginia wine country we have visited a number of the local vineyards such as Wintergreen Winery, Veritas Vineyard, Mountain Cove Vineyard, and one of my favorites, Hill Top Berry Farm and Winery, where native fruits are turned into wines and meads. I have to say, for fun, while the other vineyards have more traditional wines, Hilltop Berry Farm and Winery is a family business and has some of the most enthusiastic and welcoming emissaries for Virginia fruit wines that there can possibly be. I learned a lot about mead and who can't like a place where they make persimmon wine?

For food, there is our favorite Thai restaurant Thai Siam (pictured right), where we stopped for a delicious lunch. Some friends of ours who travel to Wintergreen have been known to drive all the way to Thai Siam and take a night at Wintergreen just to enjoy what they call the best Thai food they have ever had! Another favorite place is the Colleen Drive-In which serves hamburgers and some of the best onion rings that I have had. It is an old-style type of drive-in (the kind I remember from my youth), that also serves real milkshakes (okay, so I'm not watching my diet when I go camping, setting up camp burns a lot of calories).

Since we anticipated it taking longer to set up camp, we planned for hot dogs for dinner, Nathan dogs to be exact, roasted on sticks over the wood fire. They turned out great and we ate all but one. After a walk to the river and many trips up to the camp store to catch up with Sue and Dave's news and for the girls to play with baby Jonathan, and several card games (including BS and Speed), we went to bed. Normally, we wake at first light, but we were so relaxed we slept in until 7:30, and Gavin made the fire and played some rounds of speed to let the girls sleep in. By the time we started breakfast, Andrew arrived with his girlfriend, who was about to enjoy her first camping experience. I had planned pancakes, breakfast sausage that Gavin and "good David" had brought back from Cibola Farms, and a fruit salad of cantaloupe, mango and other mixed fruit. The sausage was great and we had fresh maple syrup with our stacks of pancakes, and amazingly everyone was out of appetite before I was out of food.

The rest of the day was spent walking to the second overlook at the Falls (with temps in the 90's we decided not to make the trek to the top this trip), and a trip to Saunders Brothers to stock up on the delicious produce and products that they carry (you can see what we came home with right). We got a peck of Mr. Carson peaches, some hot chow chow, some Bing black cherry cider, some raspberry chipotle sauce, and some caramel corn puffs and peach gum balls for the kids. We cooled off by going for a dip in the chilling waters of the Tye River (see Andrew, Bridget and Molly hamming it up, left).

Our dinner was flank steak that I had frozen in a marinade of red wine and italian salad dressing, Feta potatoes, and green beans with bacon and onions. By the time I got food on the table, it was a struggle to keep everyone out of the food long enough to get a picture (you can see that clearly at right!)

Our excitement for the evening was a quick pack up of non-essentials to avoid an evening thunder and lightning and rain storm. After the worst of the lightning was over we retired to our tent (covered by the rainfly and a huge tarp) and got a good night's sleep (except for Andrew who slept in the car (we only had one extra tarp and we used that to cover Jess's tent). We began packing up and I fixed a steak omelet and made hash browns out of the leftover feta potatoes, and browned some turkey bacon. Along with our percolated coffee (that could be smelled all across the campground), it made a perfect meal.

We were on the road back home by 11 AM, and after a stop at the Charlottesville Whole Foods, we made our way home. Despite the heat and rain, it was a great weekend and we are already planning for a September and October trip to the mountains.

Feta Potatoes

2 lbs potatoes with skin, cut in chunks (red or yukon gold are best, but any will do)

1/2 stick butter

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup feta broken into pieces

3-4 tablespoons fresh chopped chives (yes, I carried cut fresh chives with me to the wilderness!)

Boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and add butter, salt and pepper and feta. Stir until feta is distributed then sprinkle chives over and mix in. Enjoy!

Banana Boats

1 banana for each person served

chocolate chips

mini marshmallows

On the inside curve of the banana, pull a strip of peel down, but do not disconnect. using a teaspoon, scoop out a trench from the banana, and fill with a mixture of marshmallows and chocolate chips. Cover back up with peel. Wrap in foil and put on perimeter of fire for 10 minutes, turning periodically until chocolate an marshmallows are melted. Eat with a spoon (with Redi-whip, if desired). Great alternative to s'mores as a camping dessert!

Camping Episode 2- On the Road Again...to Crabtree Falls!

As I stated in my last post, a successful camping trip depends on two things- preparation, and the weather. We have developed a fairly organized method of packing that we have perfected since we downsized from a mini-van to a "cross-over" vehicle to save gas (Making final preparations, right). We use a Sears rooftop car carrier that we have now had for about 12 years, to give us more room inside the car. The rooftop carrier holds our tents, air mattresses and sleeping bags and our camping chairs and tarps (for the appearance of any inclement weather). In the car goes a plastic container with locking lid for all our packaged food ingredients, another lidded box called the "chuckwagon" that holds all out camping pots and pans and food preparation equipment, and then another container that holds all the camping related gear (tent stakes, lanterns and flashlights, camp axe, matches, etc.) The last thing to be packed is the cooler which holds frozen bottled water (cools food and provides really cold water for hiking, excursions), all food ingredients and meat (frozen) and staples like butter or cream cheese, and snacks like hummus and pimento cheese all sealed with my Foodsaver (keeps air and water out). Our fully packed car is pictured left.

Over the years, we have developed a list of must-haves for packing- PAM makes cleanup of camping pans much easier, different sizes of Zip-Loc bags (for leftovers), extra batteries (for everything), a hammock (we have a great Mayan hammock that we ordered from Hammocks.com and tree-straps that allow you to hang it wherever there are two trees), and our luxury item, a queen-sized camp bed that folds up to a 12x12x36 case with wheels (the older you get the harder it is to get up off the tent floor). We have a propane camp stove that is almost 12 years old, a propane lantern (great for lighting up the entire camp site area to minimize chance of falling over the many trip hazards in the wilderness) and a bag full of water shoes essential if you want to traverse creeks, streams rivers and lakes with slippery rock bottoms! We also have a tent that is a large cabin tent with clear skylights that give you the feeling of sleeping under the stars without the bugs!

We packed up the rooftop carrier the night before and only had the car to pack early Friday morning with a target of leaving by 8 AM to get to Crabtree Falls Campground by noon (we were out of the driveway by 8:30!). As I stated in my previous post, we have been going to CTFC since Molly was about 2 years old (she is now 12!), and going there is like going to visit family. Their motto "Just west of nowhere, straight south of heaven" pretty much captures camping at Crabtree Falls Campground. Dave and Sue Mathes are the owners, and they treat their campers like family. The campsites there put the emphasis on the natural beauty on the banks of the Tye River, with trees preserved in favor of concrete pads to provide campsites that surround you with greenery rather than concrete and satellite dishes. Sue and Dave have a camp store, a game room (pictured left-very popular during bad weather), restrooms, a playground for kids and a bathhouse, but there are no swimming pools, or satellite TV, or organized activities (except Sunday chapel for those who want to attend). But frankly, who needs them? There is Crabtree Falls to hike, rock-hopping on the Tye River, sitting around the fire, great places to go about 30 minutes away like Saunders Brothers orchard and farm market (home of the famous peach slushie!) or if you want company, you can go up to the camp store and talk to the proprietors or their daughter Christy and her son (he's the little bald one with the really cute smile!) They can tell you the best places to go, how to get there, tell you all about the area, and funny (and some not so funny) stories about their experiences as the owners of this family campground.

Another thing we really like about Crabtree Falls is the weather. Usually you can go in August and the nights will be cool enough to sleep comfortably and the Tye River is still bracingly cool. However, this weekend was supposed to be unseasonably hot, with chance of the tyope of afternoon thundershowers that come with those temps. Yet we were not deterred. The chance to relax in the mountains was just too appealing, and unless they were calling for a constant deluge, by God, we were going!

The drive was relatively uneventful, we were on the road before Friday tourist traffic was bad, so we made good time. We stopped at Saunder's to get some hot pepper jelly (it turned out that they had mild pepper jelly and peach-jalapeno (we opted for the latter to go with our goat cheese on crackers) and Asian pears, and then hit Thai Siam on the way up the mountain for lunch (incredible authentic Thai food in the middle of nowhere) and we at the campground by 11, and had camp set up by 12, thanks to exceptional camp set-up specialists Bridget and Molly. While Gavin gathered wood, unpacked the car and got the fire going (maybe a bit redundant at 90 degrees, but a tradition, all the same) the girls and I set up the tent, inflated air mattresses, set up the camp kitchen, and otherwise made our home away from home. It was a great start to a well-earned vacation, and while a bit later in the season than usual, a great first chapter of our 2007 camping experiences.

Coming next- Adventures in camping (and of course, the food!)

Camping- Episode 1: The Preparation

Finally, the work on our rental house is done, our new tenants are safely moved in, and we can try to salvage what is left of the summer. Usually by this time we have been camping 3 or 4 times, but this summer has not been typical. Now before I talk about how to prepare for camping, let me tell you how we got started. About 15 years ago when we had 5 children at home, we could never afford to go on vacation because we needed to rent either a suite or two rooms because fire codes would not allow us to stay in one room, so even going someplace overnight was prohibitively expensive. When Costco (the Price Club) first opened here they had a whole aisle of camping gear and we thought, "wouldn't this be a great way to take an affordable vacation with the kids?" And so we bought a cabin tent, sleeping bags, a propane stove and lantern, with the very best of intentions. And these items (except the sleeping bags) sat boxed in our garage for almost 3 years. The problem? While I camped a lot as a Girl Scout and my husband had camped before, it was mostly pup tents and hot dogs on sticks, but when you are taking children, there is so much more involved.

Luckily, some friends of ours who at that time had no children told us about a great place to go and invited us to go with them... and a tradition was formed. We have been going to Crabtree Falls Campground for over 11 years (Molly was a young toddler when we went the first time), and we have adopted its owners (and they, us) as part of our family. Right there by the Tye River, there are no phones, no TV, (even no wireless) just the people you love , good food and great scenery. It makes for a great vacation that helps recharge your batteries.

Now , back to the preparation. If you think stocking your pantry and planning meals at home takes time, camping, unless it is near a metropolitan area (and then what is the point?!) takes some planning. But careful planning at the front end will make you trip and camping meals very enjoyable. There are lots of sites you can go to that will help provide packing lists for what you need and suggestions for food and recipes for camping. I created my own on the computer based on what we like to take and what we need to enjoy a long weekend in the wilderness. A car-top carrier holds our cabin tent, camp chairs, air mattresses and sleeping bags. The cargo area of the car holds a container for food, cooler, the camp box with equipment (lanterns, camp ax, matches, etc) and, our luxury item - a queen sized folding camp bed (the older you get the harder it is to get off the ground!)

Since this trip is just the Core Four (seen left, camping last fall), we don't need as much gear, or as much food. We have planned meals and snacks, and what we plan to do (hike Crabtree Falls, go to Saunders Brothers nursery, and spend lots of time rocking in the hammock reading a book!) So, the bottom line is that I will not be posting for a few days, but when I get back I will post pictures of our adventure, and share the recipes and how-tos for a successful foray into the wilderness!

Dinner and a DVD (WCC)- "How do you like your grits?"

When I saw that Paige over at Chef-girl was hosting WCC and her theme was Dinner and a DVD, I knew right away what movie I wanted to feature. It is one of my family's favorite movies, one that you can see over and over again, and still it makes you laugh - My Cousin Vinny. While it does have some raw language, my kids understand that there is "movie language" and "our language", and if you are really concerned, a family friendly version can be caught on TBS or ABC Family from time to time. And this movie is a classic comedy based on the cultural differences that can occur right here in our own country, classic fish out of water comedy.

There are so many hilarious moments in this movie - the famous interaction between the Judge (The Munsters' Fred Gwynne) and Vinny (Joe Pesci) when Vinny asks about the "two yutes" seen leaving the scene of the crime, to Marisa Tomei's insistence on finding good Chinese food in backwoods Alabama, to to comedy of misunderstandings that occur when Attorney Vinny first meets Billy Gambini's friend Stan Rothenstein in their jail cell. It is easy to see how Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for her performance in this movie, since she is touching and hilarious all at the same time!

But what does this movie have to do with food? Well, one of my favorite scenes is when Vinny and girlfriend Lisa go to a local diner for breakfast. They look at the menu only to find the choices are Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Then there is their culture shock when they try to find out what the white substance on their plate is (grits). That scene is the inspiration for my entry- I made Breakfast a la Vinny Gambini by way of Ala- f-ing- bama (Vinny' words, not mine).

I pulled a recipe for grits from my Entertaining on the Run cookbook by Marlene Sorosky, a really great go-to cookbook with ideas for events for everything from kids' birthday parties to Sunday football suppers to elegant company meals. I have made many dishes from this cookbook, and they have all been big hits. I did tweak the recipe a bit adding some chopped sauteed onions and bacon bits and some prepared con queso sauce.

If you are a Northerner, or otherwise not knowledgeable about grits, you can either watch the diner cook explain to Vinny what they are or check out the Wikipedia entry on grits. Suffice it to say they are very similar to polenta, and are versatile as a side dish.

Breakfast consisted of cheese grits, eggs over easy, and bacon, much like what Vinny and Lisa ate in the Beechum County diner. However, in deference to Vinny's concern in the movie of the "ongoing cholesterol problem in our country" (when he sees the diner cook putting a fist-sized blob of lard onto the griddle), I used turkey bacon.

My Cousin Vinny's Cheesy Breakfast Grits

1/2 medium onion chopped

2 cups chicken boullion
1 cup quick grits (not instant)

2 tablespoons Goya Cilantro Sauce (My husband bought this without knowing what to do with it, but we love ethnic ingredients and it added a great taste to the grits)

2 tablespoons Con queso sauce (I know, its a cop-out but delicious and easy!)

2 slices bacon, crumbled

2 tablespoons butter

Two tablespoons flaxseed meal (optional)- Note: we are adding this as much as possible to boost fiber and raise the "good" cholesterol- and it adds a nice texture without masking the existing flavors of a dish- great to add to cereal, pancake batter, etc.

Put butter in pan, add onions and cilantro sauce, stir until onions are soft and then add chicken boullion. Bring mixture to boil and stir in grits, lower heat and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in con queso sauce and bacon bits until smooth and cheesy. Serve with breakfast meat and eggs for a real southern meal.

Note: Grits are very versatile, you could also serve these with shrimp for dinner or with barbecue or roasted chicken. Also you could mix in a couple of eggs, put in a greased casserole, top with cheese and bake for a side dish casserole or a delicious breakfast casserole.

The 21st century hunter-gatherer

Not all great experiences with food involve cooking. There is the joy that comes from planting tiny seeds lovingly in the ground, tending them carefully and watching as sun, rain and time yield tantalizing tomatoes, or fresh basil, or whatever crop you have been adventurous enough to plant.Whether you plant the back forty, or a windowsill pot of herbs, or a patio tomato, nothing tastes better than food you have grown yourself.

For those who hunt, they enjoy the pursuit and preparation of the perfect prey.

Carefully tracking and hunting a wild turkey, or a white-tailed deer, whether using a hunting rifle or bow and arrow, there is a special pride these people take in being able to pit themselves against nature and winning (I speak here about real hunters, who hunt for food, not just sport).
However, modern life for most of us does not require the same physical work that it did for our ancestors to find and and accumulate food, but there is still something very primal and satisfying in the modern equivalent of hunting-gathering...grocery shopping. Today, after two months of focusing on the renovation of our rental house, when we just ran out to get the bare necessities and ate out of our freezer, and our pantry began to look like Old Mother Hubbard's, we made a shopping list, grabbed the checkbook and became 21st century hunter-gatherers. An essential pre-shopping ritual is the cleaning of the refrigerator and pantry. Throwing out the questionable or unidentifiable, organizing the scores of condiments and making room in my produce drawers, is necessary (and, in a sick way, rewarding!) to make room for the bounty to come. While this can be a time-consuming (and disgusting) job, there is something so nice about seeing all the clean jars and containers organized- cheeses and dairy together, eggs neatly installed in neat rows in the egg-keeper, meats in the freezer separated by pork, beef, seafood, poultry and game (buffalo and venison, primarily). Besides making the fridge look better and making room, it helps to see what we need and what we still have plenty of for planning purposes.

Our first stop- Costco. We were out of not only food but essentials like paper towels and toilet paper, so armed with our Costco card, we braved the savage hoards on a Saturday, making our way through aisle after aisle, picking our way through the lines at the sample tables. At Costco we buy staples like EVOO,peanut butter, bottled water, salad greens, pine nuts, and lots of cheese. We also buy meats like flank steaks, and ground beef, and fish like today's fresh catfish or their fresh wild salmon and smoked salmon. I have to say that I love Costco- they have great prices and carry a lot of the staples you need to have a well-stocked pantry, including really good balsamic vinegar (Kirkland brand) at a great price.

After bringing all out booty back to the house, I had to cut and vacuum seal my big blocks of cheese (makes them last longer, limits mold) and vacuum pack my fish and meat into portions for meals. For this I use one of my favorite gifts from my mom - my Foodsaver. This great for preserving foods, particularly if you shop in bulk, and you can seal steaks or chicken in marinade and freeze to add more flavor.

Enough of a break. Now time to head to the supermarket for canned goods, etc. We really like Kroger for these type of pantry-fillers. They have a great selection, and fabulous prices, and when they run their 10 items for $10 sale, I love to stock up on pantry needs like chickpeas, beans, canned tomatoes and all manner of frozen veggies. They also have a buyer's reward card, that almost always saves us about 20% on our groceries. Luckily the Kroger near us is a much more relaxing shopping experience than Costco (but no samples!) After filling our cart with beans, frozen veggies, Neufchatel, and other assorted items, we headed home again.

What is left? A trip to Tractor Joe to get some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and beets (if he has any left), and to the Entenmann Bread thrift store to pick up Oatnut, pita and rye bread (they carry Arnold bread products) and some Boboli crusts.

This evening, I can open my pantry, my fridge (both of them) and my freezer and see the fruits of my hunting-gathering adventure. Shelves and shelves of choices that will fuel my food play for the weeks to come. While we are lucky enough to never be hard up for food, there is something very special to me about the promise of a full pantry, and the many combinations and new dishes that are waiting on my shelves just waiting for me and my family.

How about you - is food shopping a challenge or a chore? Would you rather shop every day or many time weekly or do you do "the big shop" a time or two a month? Is it a comfort or confounding to have a full pantry and fridge?

Really convenient convenience foods

Since I wrote about a Wall Street Journal article pointing out the myth of convenience foods, I was surprised to see a post over at Food Fetish stating essentially that I might frown on her buying and using bagged salad as a time-saver, based on my recent post about convenience foods and the fact that they really don't save enough time to make them worth the extra fat and calories that they usually include. Her post made me think about what the definition of convenience foods should be and which ones I couldn't live without.

When I started looking at it, almost everything we use today is a convenience food of sorts, if you define that as a food that is already premade or pre-prepared. Are all canned foods convenience foods? I certainly use my share of canned tomatoes, canned beans, and even pasta sauce on occasion. While I love homemade bread, I don't bake for everyday use. So, if you consider processed foods as convenience foods, I don't use that many, but if you count pre-prepared foods, they are staples in my pantry and freezer, and they are the building blocks I use to play with food.

What convenience foods could you not live without? I think that you may find drawing that line a little more difficult than you imagined.

Coming together for one of our own

It hasn't been that long ago that I started this blog, and yet I feel like I have known many of you forever. I fully expected blogging to be fun, a release, a creative outlet. But what I didn't expect was the sense of community that comes from blogging. I (and my children) have received birthday greetings from all over the world, I have been part of weddings, oohed and aahed over new babies and commiserated with people from all over as part of my blogging experience. And I have been overwhelmed with the heartfelt responses to posts all over the blogosphere. It is amazing to me how bloggers reach out across the miles to offer congratulations, comfort, humor, and thoughtful insight. It is our goal as bloggers to reach out to readers and touch them, strike a chord, inspire nostalgia, to make others laugh or cry (or scream) with us, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we develop relationships that are deeper than you would imagine based on keystrokes and cyberspace.

There are several notable examples that I have seen in my short time on the blogosphere- the outpouring of love and excitement of readers about Shauna's wedding- so much so that readers felt they should be invited to her wedding. A fellow blogger was so touched by reading Shauna's posts that she sent her red cowboy boots (you'd have to read the posts) to wear for her wedding. When my doughter was sent to Columbus for a rotation in her Nurse Anesthesia program, Columbus Foodie and Restaurant Widow provided recommendations for places to eat and things to do, and even invited Katie to be part of their Columbus food blogger get-together! While there are instances of nasty comments, food bloggers are a caring community, who put a human face (and feelings) on the phenomenon of food blogging.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post. Many of you may know Anne, of Cooking with Anne and Cookies to Caviar. She was one of the first regular visitors to my blog, a sweet and amazing woman with seven children (who still has her sanity). Anne's husband, an iron worker, suffered a serious fall (26 feet) and was very gravely injured. He is in a hospital away from Anne and the children, and while recent news has been encouraging, he has a long road to recovery ahead. Anne has posted updates and asked for our prayers to help her family through a very dificult time. But bloggers are a practical bunch. Several fellow bloggers(Lots of Kids, White Trash Mom) have brought Anne's plight to readers' attention on their blogs and suggested that people who want to help can make a donation via Anne's webpage through Paypal to help Anne and her family have one less thing to worry about. To me it made perfect sense. If I were near to Anne, I would cook food, or offer to babysit, or drive her back and forth to the hospital. But distance prevents me from offering much physical comfort beyond prayers and encouraging emails. While money will not alleviate Anne's worries about her husband, it can help ensure that money is not an additional worry when she has so much already on her mind. So if you have been touched by a post, laughed out loud or shed a tear over something you have read, I would ask you to make a donation, however small, to show Anne how much we care for her and her family and support her during this very difficult time. An outpouring of even small donations (whatever you can afford) will provide not only financial support, but will demonstrate to Anne the power of this community, and the love and support that we can offer to one of our own.

A really inconvenient truth

Someone who has recently come to my blog (our new tenant- Yeah!, and welcome to Hampton Roads!), sent me a link to an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal regarding convenience foods and the time they really save in the kitchen, which turns out to be... very little. As Tara Parker-Pope reports, convenience foods are not really used by families to prepare meals in less time, but instead provide a way for families to eat more intricate meals, often at the expense of nutrition and healthful eating.

The cooking habits of 32 middle-class Los Angeles families with two working parents were monitored by UCLA researchers, who knew they were part of a study, but they didn't know the use of convenience foods was the focus of the study. Researchers found that meals with little or no convenience foods took between 26 and 93 minutes to prepare, while meals relying on convenience foods took between 25 and 73 minutes to prepare, yielding no significant difference in preparation time.

Convenience foods did save about 10 minutes of preparation time-the time spent cutting, chopping, and stirring ingredients, but did not result in the food getting to the table more quickly (isn't that the point of convenience foods?) The only significant time savings was the time saved grocery shopping, where it took much less time to grab frozen entrees than to shop for the several ingredients to make a from-scratch meal.

This just confirmed my feelings when I began this blog - that way too many busy people thought they didn't have time or energy to cook a great meal for their family, and therefore were not developing, or fostering in their children, healthy attitudes toward food and eating. Now, I would be the last person to say that you should never have convenience foods. I am not above pulling out a Stouffer's lasagna or a canned soup once in awhile, but by relying routinely on convenience foods, you are not only filling up on foods with more sodium , fat and preservatives than you need, you are depriving yourself and your family of the fun that comes from working hands-on with fresh ingredients, herbs, and the tools and techniques that make them into something not only healthy but memorable.

Another interesting finding of this study was that families who prepared their own meals from fresh ingredients made simpler meals than those who relied on so-called convenience foods. You will see from many of my own posts and many of the best cooking sites on the Web that a simple meal can be fast and delicious. What time do you save by buying Hamburger Helper? You can just as easily brown ground beef (or meat substitute) with onions, cook whole grain macaroni, and stir in grated cheese with some milk and by doing so save tons of fat, sodium, and ingredients with names you haven't hard since General Chem class. And guess what? It will take the same time (+ or - 5 minutes) and it will taste better!

The article offer some sites to go or tips on cooking from scratch, and many food bloggers offer advice on stocking a pantry so that you can throw a quick and healthy meal together that is economical, healthy and delicious. You can find similar posts and features on the sites of many of our fellow bloggers, as well. So plan ahead, prep ahead (keep staples like chopped onions in the freezer in a ziploc), and you will be eating healthier and happier (and almost as fast) by playing with food. You won't be sorry.

Mix and match, hot or cold quick pasta dinner

This is more a formula than a recipe, so use this as inspiration and whip up a great meal in less time than it would take you to heat that frozen meal.

1/2 pound cooked pasta, any variety (I like longer noodles for a hot dish, and shorter pasta shapes for cool dishes

3 cups mixed chopped veggies (red and green peppers, chopped up broccoli, sliced mushrooms, zucchini, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, or even leftover veggies are good- saute in a bit of oil while the pasta is cooking if you want a hot pasta dish, just chop if you are serving as a cold pasta salad)

If you are serving Cold: 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar, fresh herbs (thyme, dill, chives are all good; or if you don't have fresh, use dried Italian seasoning)

If you are serving Hot: 4 ounces neufchatel cheese, 1/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, parmesan, gouda are all good choices) and 1/4 cup fat free half and half.

Mix sauce ingredients together and toss with pasta. Enjoy with a green salad or melon! That's food that is convenient and delicious!

Happy birthday to...me!

By the time you get as old as I am, birthdays are really not something you feel like celebrating much (except that they are much better than the alternative!), Another year older, more wrinkled, another pound(s) heavier...less energy, more aches and pains... need I go on? This summer has been a particularly difficult one - the ongoing renovation of our rental house has left no time for camping (which we love) and our usual week vacation at the beach (which is my life preserver all year long at work!) Honestly, I don't know where the summer went. Which brings me to my birthday, which is August 5. I was expecting to spend the weekend finishing up he last touch up painting at the house and maybe have a nice dinner on Sunday. With Colleen in Florida, Young Gavin in Rockville and Katie in Columbus for her pediatric rotation, I could not have the thing I wanted most, which is my family all together. With a big family, a birthday is so special when everyone is around- lots of laughing, teasing, extreme badminton or board games, off-key singing, and tons of food.

Well, we started Saturday by hading over to the rental to finish up some work, but we were determined not to spend the whole day, so by 1 PM, we headed home. We have a family wedding coming up this week so the afternoon was spent looking for a dress for Molly (not only a notorious picky eater but a notoriously picky dresser as well!). When we got back, we took Bridget to work at the restaurant, and came back to the house to figure out dinner.

My first hint that something was awry was when Andrew came and picked up my big crab pot, saying that he was cooking crabs at his house for his friends. Then, when I asked my husband if I should pick up the hamburger rolls for dinner, and he said no. Now, usually anytime from 3PM to 6 PM on any given day Gavin will ask what's for dinner at least 2 or 3 times- it's his way of hinting that he is hungry. But since he was totally nonchalant, so I sat in the family room, and looked through some cooking magazines, and enjoyed not having to do anything... when in walks my daughter's boyfriend with a bouquet of flowers, and behind him... Katie! All the time, my kids and husband had conspired. Andrew and his friend came in with a box of crabs they had steamed, Katie brought a beautiful carrot cake that she made totally from scratch (Pictured right, from Alton Brown's recipe with her own orange-zest cream cheese frosting), and there you are... while we weren't all there, my house was full of the noises that make me really want to celebrate my birthday - laughter, joking, teasing, hugs, too loud conversation. So instead of an elegant, candlelit dinner, with crystal , and pressed linen napkins, we ate off newspaper littered with piles of blue crab carcasses, passing a roll of paper towels.

I could write that I saw the sunset off a sailboat on my birthday, or had dinner in a Tuscan villa, or fresh-caught fish at Fisherman's Wharf. I could have climbed a mountain, or jumped from an airplane, or played baccarat in Monaco to celebrate that milestone (it would make for more interesting reading, and prettier pictures). But my birthday was not about being in the most exciting place, or sophisticated place, or exotic place, but instead, being at the best place... with love, and laughter, and fun, and family.... and the greatest of these is love.

Above: The perfect burger that we finally had on Sunday with fries and fresh corn (This one is Bridget's)

What to do with leftover...duck!

Leftovers... they are becoming a fact of life in our house as I adjust from having 8+ at my dinner table to having only 3-4 for dinner most nights. Now I have had lots of suggestions about things to do with the reserved duck fat from my roast duck dinner on Sunday, but I couldn't bear to waste any of the duck meat so after dinner I threw the two duck carcasses into Ziploc bags, sure I could think of something to do with the bits of delicious meat clinging to the bones. The ducks stayed in my fridge until last night when I knew I had to do something with them or deliver them from their purgatory in the netherworld of my meat drawer. But what to do?

Once removed from the bone, there was about a cup and a half of duck meat to feed four people, but then I had an inspiration based on one of my favorite dishes-Peking Duck. I took flour tortillas, spread on about 2 tsp of hoisin sauce, added a handful of mixed baby greens, 2-3 tablespoons shredded duck meat, and some crumbled honey goat cheese (Costco), some julienned scallions, and rolled it into a neat package. They were delicious! Very light, and the flavors of the goat cheese and duck meat was tempered by the greens and scallions added a bite... a perfect dinner for a hot summer day. And a dish worthy of leftover duck. However, if you don't have duck, I think this dish would be equally good with any leftover poultry. I know I will definitely be making this again, and I hope you will give it a try when you need to rescue a bird carcass from your own fridge!

Peking-Style Duck (or chicken, or turkey) Wraps

1 pkg flour tortillas, warmed

4 scallions cut into 2-3 inch julienne pieces

4 cups mixed salad greens, baby greens or butter lettuce

1-3 cups leftover roasted poultry, shredded (duck, chicken or turkey)

4 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 ounces honey (or other) goat cheese

For each serving, spread 2 tsp hoisin sauce on a warm tortillas (I used the microwave to warm mine), add a handful of baby greens, spread 2 tbsp-1/4 cup (depending on how much leftover meat you have!) poultry over the greens, add julienned scallions,then about 2 tbsp goat cheese broken into small chunks. Roll tightly into a bundle (a la burrito). Cut in half and serve. I think these would also be great with sliced plum added (but alas, I had none).

If you like Peking duck, you will love this light and easy version, especially since you won't even have to heat up your stove on a hot August day!

Beach Food (sniff sniff)

As any of you have been reading this blog recently know, my family has not been able to go to the beach for our annual vacation to the Outer Banks this year due to lengthy (and expensive) renovations on our rental house. Frankly, we haven't been able to do anything fun that we usually do, or that we planned for this summer. However, I see from other blogs that some of my compatriots are headed to the beach and I thought maybe that by posting about beach food and the fun my family has had in the past, I might fell a bit better about my lost vacation (Not!) Well, at least I can share with the rest of you some things that I have learned about eating at the beach.

1) Planning- I usually plan what we are going to eat for the week, with the goal of using all of the food by the end of the week. This has been especially important for us since we take most of the food for the week with us. Why, you might ask? Most importantly, grocery stores in resort areas are notoriously crowded, especially at the beginning of the rental week, and for me, I am not willing to give up two hours of my anticipated vacation time standing in line or elbowing my way down aisles in a grocery store. Secondly, chances are, prices and selection of staples and meats are much better where you live. Thirdly, you can make hamburger patties, freeze flank steak in marinade, other short cuts that will save you time in the kitchen that could much better be used lounging under a beach umbrella (or by a pool with a drink with an umbrella). We can then hit the little farmer's and roadside markets (with much shorter lines) for fresh produce or local specialties. One tip - if you must shop in a resort community, take food for the first day or two so you're not caught up in the Saturday/Sunday mad rush for groceries, and shop early in the morning or late at night to avoid the crowds and lines!

2) Participatory- Vacation is a great time to make food memories, and my family enjoys helping in the kitchen, since cooking is not something they do every day(Katie and I in the kitchen to the left). Even the youngest child can mix pancake batter, stir up a fruit salad, or assemble lunch time sandwiches. Let you older children choose a dish or dessert they want to try, and make it for everyone. Vacation is a great time to play with food. Usually we have a breakfast and dinner planned, but lunch is every man for himself, with lots of deli meats and cheeses, salad fixin's and of course, anyone is welcome to eat leftovers. Since we don't want to carry food back, we try to use leftover meats and veggies in salads or omelets. I have used leftover steamed shrimp to make a shrimp salad for shrimp rolls at lunch, and leftover flank steak for sandwiches or a main dish salad.

3) Easy- You're on vacation, so select meals and snacks that preserve your time as much as possible. I usually make a batch of pimento cheese (posted) and hummus to take with me for easy snacks. We take a precooked spiral ham for the first night that gives us an easy meal the first night when you are busy unpacking, checking out the rental house and heading down to the beach to remind yourself that for an entire week, you will be living like one of the "haves". Then you have leftovers for sandwiches, omelets, ham salad, and eggs benedict. Some our other favorite beach meals are flank steak, hamburgers (with lots of local corn on the cob!), taco or chef salad, "graduation chicken", steamed shrimp. We use lots of local fruits and vegetables, with fruit salad to go with breakfast or as a light side with dinner. Since it is hot, and you are spending lots of time in the sun, go for light meals since heat suppresses your appetite, and fruits and vegetables are a great way to supplement your fluid intake.(Bridget and Molly in the kitchen at John and Cindy's elegant beach house kitchen last year!)

4) Flexibility and spontaneity- Don't be afraid to stray from your planning, if you see something great you want to try. Order a local specialty pizza or barbecue. One of our best beach food memories was a couple of years ago when we had a couple of uncharacteristically cool evening (in the fifties) We went to a local seafood restaurant and ordered two quarts of their clam chowder (who would have thought for a summer beach meal) and had steamy mugs out on the deck watching the sunset!

So for those of you lucky enough to head to the beach in these closing weeks of summer(Above are all the Dowds the last time we were all there at the beach, year before last!) , make the most of it and take the opportunity to use food to make great vacation memories (and post your pix so I can at least live vicariously through you until next year!)

"Graduation" Chicken (for a crowd-we made this for Katie's college graduation party)

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 15 thighs)
Greek seasoning mix or garlic salt
1 cup your favorite Italian salad dressing

Season chicken with seasoning or garlic salt. Place in Ziploc bag. Add dressing. Marinate overnight, or if you're heading to the beach or camping, freeze and carry with you. Grill thawed chicken until done (can be broiled in oven if you prefer!). I serve this with some artichoke hearts blended in the food processor with mayo and some lemon juice to make a sauce, and it is great!