The End of Summer (sniff,sniff)

Where did the summer go! Here we are on Labor Day weekend, and it seems like it was just last week that we were celebrating Memorial Day! Hope you all have a wonderful last hurrah of summer. For our family, we will be jamming the long weekend full of badminton, croquet, last minute school shopping, and cooking out!

Food, fun and friends(and probably some sore muscles too!)- those are all part of of our Labor Day weekend. What are your plans for ringing out the dog days of summer?! Are you travelling or are you hanging out at home?

Food for fighting a migraine?!

A weird shift of weather has brought several in our family to our knees with migraines for the holiday weekend. If you have migraines or know someone who has them, you know they can be extremely debilitating, and they are hereditary. Every one of my children inherited these from me and while there are new medications to treat and avoid migraines, usually insurance limits the numbers of pills you can have so if you run out of pills before you run out of low pressure systems in a month... well, you are out of luck.

There are certain things that seem to help migraines- one is iced coffee, heavy on the caffeine. There was a coffee shop nearby that had a drink they called a migraine special with double shots of espresso. Another thing that I seem to crave when I have a headache is something hot or spicy. Sushi with wasabi (or anything with wasabi, for that matter), or, as I am cooking tonight, Fricken' Chicken, a recipe that I have posted before and a family favorite. Also a real fountain Coke (not diet!) seems to help the nausea that often comes with migraines.

Some migraine sufferers' headaches are triggered by foods such as chocolate, red wine, or aged cheeses, however, mine are usually triggered by sleep changes (either more or less), barometric pressure changes, and bright light, and either I amso sick I can't thinkof food,or I go searching for something that will provide some relief (or at least diversion!) Are there any foods or things you crave when you are not feeling well?

Getting Close (but not too close) to Your Food - A day of Crabbing

Since I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, I am new to crabbing, but to my husband who spent many of his formative years in Annapolis Maryland, crabbing is a way of life, an experience that takes him back to a time that he remembers very fondly. For that reason, he really loves taking our kids (or even friends of our kids) crabbing. He wants to recapture those carefree, long summer days with sunburn,bay breezes, and mosquito bites and share it.

Crabbing is so much more fun than fishing, a lot faster-paced, and how can you not like something that gives you an excuse to enjoy sun and water, the fun of a treasure hunt, the danger of a creature who defends itself by pinching...hard. Oh, and then there are the steamed crabs, Old Bay and melted butter.

We are fortunate in that my old (meaning previous) boss has a house with a pier that is the perfect place for crabbing, and since he has a boat lift, it casts a shadow so that you are not in the blazing sun for the whole time.

We catch crabs the old-fashioned way- with a chicken neck tied to a string. You cast the chicken out (holding onto the end of the string attached to a piling and wait to see the telltale jerks that signal a bite. Then, ever so slowly (too fast and the crab will let go) you reel him in and then snatch it up in a net. If it is big enough, we put them in a crab trap until you have enough for dinner. If it is too small or a female (only males, or jimmies, can be kept), back into the water it goes.

So here is my husband's recipe for a great day crabbing:


1 fishing net
A package of chicken necks
At least two kids
A cooler with some drinks and snacks
Sunblock
A cool breeze off the water

Mix these together with some crabs, and you will learn what getting close to your food (and your kids) is all about!

Ribs- Wet or Dry...That is the question

One of the quintessential Southern foods is barbecue ribs and there are as many different versions as there are Southerners. Hot sauce, sweet sauce, secret sauces, charcoal grill, gas grill,oven...it seems here in the South everyone has an opinion about what makes great ribs.

For me, the best way to cook ribs is low and slow,whether in the oven or on the grill over indirect heat. For most of my life I ate "wet"ribs-my mother made them that way with barbecue sauce,I didn't know any other way. even when I began cooking them myself. It wasn't until we visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg back when they first opened and they served ribs with a dry rub in their New France Smokehouse. These ribs were cooked in slabs on an open fire and were perfectly seasoned and the meat almost fell off the bone. From that moment on I have been a dry rub person when it comes to ribs.

The most important thing to help make delicious ribs is pulling off the membrane that is on the underside of the ribs. That will make the cooked ribs easier to eat and will allow seasonings or rubs to permeate the meat. And cook low and slow to ensure tender, pull-apart ribs that are tender but not dry. You can make your own rub, which I sometimes do, or use a good spice rub like Penzey's Galena Street blend or Barbecue 3000. Then get out the napkins, and enjoy! And if you have to have sauce, serve it on the side.

What is your favorite way to cook ribs? And do you like them wet or dry?!

My Foodbuzz bag (and my family) Travel to Washington

I have used my Foodbuzz bag and my mini cards since they arrived, usually to carry books whenever we go on a car trip, but we recently took a little getaway to Arlington to attend a dinner party at the house of both a friend and a business associate. We stayed at the Embassy Suites at Pentagon Row, which was convenient to the dinner and easy access to the Metro and (important for my girls) the Pentagon Row shops and malls.

I will write more about our trip later, but here is my Foodbuzz bag in the window with the Air Force memorial in the background!

A Taste of Italy (at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg)

With my daughter in town and a week off, we were determined to do some fun and tourist-y things while she was here. Since we have season's passes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg,we decided to go there as a family and hit the roller coasters

Amusement parks no matter how good they are are not exactly known for great food (or reasonable prices!), and we ate lunch before we left so no one would be hungry, and we figured we would leave before dinner. But everyone was having a great time and the weather was awesome (warm but low humidity, nice breeze), so we decided to find something to eat for dinner and close the park down. As a park that is centered on countries of Europe, there are great opportunities for some fantastic food, however, when you are serving thousands of people of varying tastes, that can be challenging. We have tasted food at the Festhaus (Bratwurst, German potato salad, and mile-high sandwiches), at the Smokehouse where they have incredible ribs, but our favorite place to eat at Busch Gardens is in Italy, where they have homemade pasta (they really make it themselves-see picture of their chefs working, right). We always order one of the platters because there is plenty of food for two and a variety of things to try.

We ordered the Mamma Stella platter that had eggplant parmagiana, chicken parmesan, and spinach cannelloni,with more than enough food for two hungry people and at $10.49, one of the best food deals in the park. So we had our Italian Olympic meal away from home and then headed for the Roman Rapids - a fitting end, wouldn't you say?! So my recipe for good eating on a budget at Busch Gardens? Head to Italy... and mangia!

An Unexpected Guest!

My daughter is visiting from Florida and she brought her "significant other" (I never know what to call him - boyfriend, friend...) Holding your own in our family is quite a feat, and yet somehow he seems to do it. While he is a somewhat quiet and stoic young man, his humor showed through as he sneaked into the sunroom where my husband was napping, and sat down in the recliner. My husband was a bit startled when he saw who was only an arm length away.......

Potted Shrimp (or Dracula Shrimp)

As part of our British night for the Olympics, since I had made the beef and Yorkshire pudding before, I wanted to make something new and different, so I perused the available options in my Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price, and I was stopped by a recipe that the Prices attributed to their friends, the Karloffs (as in Boris Karloff),who served this dish for dinner. Once I read the story, I had to try this dish (I can't resist a recipe with a story).

Potted shrimp is apparently a well-known and common appetizer in England, served with crackers or bread. While the recipe called for tiny shrimp, I used regular shrimp and chopped it up fine. I think if I made this again I would grate a bit of onion into the shrimp as well. However, this dish will not be known as potted shrimp in our house. They immediately dubbed it "Dracula Shrimp" in honor of it's origin. Give it a try-it's devilishly delicious!!

Dracula Shrimp

1 cup tiny salad shrimp or regular shrimp chopped into small pieces
2 tablespoons grated onion
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 tsp mace
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Melt butter and add spices. Mix all ingredients together making sure that shrimp ar covered with butter mixture. Place in a small crock and chill in refrigerator. Spread on crackers or toast.

The Omnivore's Hundred - I've Got a Lot of Eating to Do

In checking out blogs this morning , I came upon this list at Chocolate and Zucchini that sent me to the website of Very Good Taste. There, a list has been compiled of foods that any self-respecting omnivore should try in his/her lifetime. You will see that I have a lot of work to do (I have bolded all the ones I have tried). I also have to admit, that some of these items were unknown to me (I have italicized those that I had to look up). I have also highlighted in red those things I think I would not try.

This is a fun way for bloggers to interact, so go to VGT and paste this list into your own post and let others know what you have, haven't and wouldn't eat, and then let VGT know you have posted the Omnivore's Hundred.

Here is my version of the list-I can't wait to see yours.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich(Is this American street food?)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle(I hope I have the opportunity!)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes(One of my favorite Virginia wineries, Hilltop Berry Farm and Winery offers several!)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper(I love spicy, but not self-torture!)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (And I hopeto eat many,many more!!)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (I love these- actually anything with wasabi)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (A drink and a dessert-yum!)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (Do I have to have the cigar?!)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (Jello shooters!-I was young once!)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (Depends on the bug!)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (I have had this in sushi)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut(When the red sign is on!)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer (Can't wait to make my own)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores (These are required food when camping!)
62. Sweetbreads(I actually used to make these when Icould find them!)
63. Kaolin (Isn'tthis in Kaopectate?)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (never!)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie(in my school lunches!)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict(My favorite breakfast dish!)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.(I can hope!)
85. Kobe beef (As soon as budget allows!)
86. Hare(I wasn't sure I ever would after a traumatic childhood incident, but a couple of years ago, I tried it and it was great- can't haveit whole though, only pieces!)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (Don't think I could do it)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (As a young married on a budget!)
92. Soft shell crab(I have had this a couple of times, hoping to enjoy it, but it is not my thing)
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Pick a Country, Any Country!

Our little parade of nations is making its way around the world as the Olympics begin to wind down. We still have a few nations in the queue - Italy, Japan, Germany - but we have several days still to fill so I am asking, you, readers and lurkers alike to suggest a country or even a recipe that we can include.Remember, we cannot make anything heavy in carbs (unless they are complex), and you can check the list (or the picture of the bouquet of nations we have on our table) to see what countries we have already done. Can't wait to see your suggestions!!



Countries already featured: Greece, China, US, France, Spain, Korea, Thailand, Great Britain, Sweden, Mexico

A Great Dinner from the British Isles

With my daughter coming from Florida, I wanted to make something festive, but was not sure what country to go to, but then I found inspiration in one of my oldest cookbooks, A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price. I have written about this cookbook before, and it is one of my favorites since it was the first gift that was given to me by my in-laws. This cookbook includes recipes from many countries and restaurants and even homes that the Prices, avid world travelers, had visited.

Since we had had so many dishes that were either Eastern or Mediterranean, I decided to make food from the British Isles. We settled on a roast beef tenderloin and Yorkshire pudding with a salad (that deserves its own post). Now I know that traditionally British roast beef is made with a rib roast, but I had a tenderloin, so we were making due. Even though the Yorkshire pudding has some flour (verboten on the diet) I thought since these end up like popovers full of mostly air, it would be okay in moderation.

The beef was coated with coarse-ground pepper and just roasted until the mooing stopped. The Yorkshire pudding was very easy to make following the advice of Vincent Price to make the batter in the blender, and I made individual portions which cooked faster and were all nice and crispy.

All in all it was a delicious meal, with only a slice or two of beef left, and every Yorkshire pudding gone!


Yorkshire Pudding (from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price)

You must have all of the ingredients for this batter at room temperature or it will not turn out puffy!

7/8 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
2 eggs
1/2 water
1/2 cup beef drippings or melted butter (or combination)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour and salt together, then add to blender with milk. Blend until well combined then add eggs one at a time until batter is foamy,then blend in water until batter is light and full of bubbles. Heat muffin pan in oven until hot. Add enough beef drippings or melted butter to cover the bottom of each muffin cup, and divide batter between muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

Great Thai-ming!

Since last night was Friday and we normally do not eat meat on Friday (a hold-over from my husband's Catholic upbringing), besides finding an international dish compatible with the South Beach diet, it had to be meatless! I decided that Thai might be good and had looked up a recipe for a shrimp Thai curry on Epicurious as well as a Thai cucumber salad (I thought it would be fun to see the difference between the Swedish cucumber salad and a Thai version!)

I headed to Trader Joe's since I had a couple of things to pick up there that only they sell,and got caught in a severe thunder storm with 40 mile an hour winds and rain so heavy you could only crawl toward your destination. It took nearly 20 minutes to drive the less than 3 miles from my office to Trader Joe's, then I had to wait for about ten minutes in the parking lot before I could even attempt to get out of the car. Walking down the aisles with the other drenched rats, I picked up English cucumbers for the salad, some diet food, and since it was still pouring outside I wandered up and down the aisles as time ticked by.

Now you know I am not much for convenience foods,usually they are filled with sugars and salt and fats to cover up the fact that they actually have not flavor. But given Trader Joe's reputation, when I saw their Green Indian curry, I thought, "Why not?"-if it was good it would save me time and since their ingredients listed lemongrass which I had almost no possibility of purveying anywhere within a 30-minute drive, I decided to give it a try.

After getting home, I made Thai green curry shrimp and Thai cucumber salad as part of our Olympic tour around the world, and I was very impressed with the trader Joe's curry sauce- it had a great melding of spices with a depth of flavor and seasoning with just the right amount of heat. And after the lengthy (and hazardous) drive, dinner was on the table in 35minutes, and most of that involved peeling the shrimp. Unfortunately for you, we are all too hungry to take a picture, so you will just have to imagine how wonderful it looked.... and tasted!

Trader Joe's Thai Shrimp Curry
1 pound shrimp, peeled
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 sweet onion cut into chunks
2/3 cup
1 tbsp peanut oil

Heat oil and toss in garlic. Cook onions until they just begin to caramelize. Stir in shrimp and toss until almost pink, then add the curry sauce and stir till shrimp is finished cooking. If you are not on a diet, this would be great over rice, but for us it was delicious as is with the cucumber salad recipe that I found on Epicurious (what else?)

Do you have a favorite Trader Joe's product that you use in your cooking when time is tight? Let me know (I might want to give it a try!)

A Taste of Spain and Serrano

Visitors to this blog may know that one of my new favorite food resources is La Tienda (thanks Veronica!), an incredible resource for authentic Spanish food that just happens to be about 20 minutes away from me. I have purchased several items from there and have shared some of their recipes, however until about a week ago, my budget had not allowed me to try their pride and joy- their Spanish hams. There are two primary types of Spanish hams- the Serrano, and the Iberico, the Rolls Royce of hams made from the famous acorn- fed black Iberico pigs. So far, Iberico ham has been way out of my prices range (I have to buy gas after all!), but recently, as a member of Club Tienda,I got an email that told me I could get some Serrano ham for the teeny price of $6.95, so with the Olympics looming, I thought this would be a great opportunity to try this ham at a bargain price. Serrano ham is aged for a full year, and has a deeper flavor and firmer texture than it's Italian cousin, prosciutto.

Now if you have children you know that no package is coming to your house in the summer without them calling and begging to open it, and in this case, since the ham was a perishable, I told them to go ahead and put the ham in the fridge. The ham was lovingly packed with two ice packs to keep it cold and the beautiful, paper-thin slices were vacuum packed. It had been a long day when I came home from work and so Spanish night was going to be a one-dish meal of spinach, chickpeas and Serrano ham, inspired by a recipe I saw on the great list of Spanish dishes that La Tienda has on its site.

When I opened the Serrano, I had to have a taste, and I have to say that it was everything that I had read and heard. I threw together a quick dish with garlic, chickpeas and spinach and added shreds of the Serrano and a bit of white wine, for a quick and delicious taste of sunny Spain that is quick, delicious, and healthy! I guess now the question is how can I go back to ham or even prosciutto now that I have had Spanish Serrano? Luckily, I won't have to find out since I have two more packets waiting for me in my fridge. Try it for yourself, it's a taste of Spain without an airline ticket (or the hairy guy next to you who burps throughout the flight!).


Spanish Spinach, Chickpeas, and Ham

2 tbsp olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced fine
2 bunches (or 8 ounces, or three large fistfuls, depending on the scale you like best)
1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
4 ounces of Serrano ham cut into strips
1/2 cup white wine
Red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in heavy skillet. Add garlic, being careful not to burn. Add spinach and stir in drained chickpeas and wine. let spinach wilt and add ham and pepper flakes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with thinly sliced Manchego cheese on top.

A Bit of Olympic Fun!

If you have been following my blog you know that the Olympics have been a part of our food and viewing focus since the opening ceremonies. We have had a quiz every night with prizes and consolation prizes for the participants. Today, my daughter sent me something fun for the Olympics and I wanted to share it with you in case your family is having an Olympic festival as well. Check out my video that stars an unlikely athlete, and then go to McDonald's Face the Glory, and make yourself (or your kids) an Olympic legend without even a moment of training or a 10,000 calorie per day diet.

This deserves a gold medal for humor!

A Taste of Sweden , Ya!

After all the food we have had so far these Olympic Games, I wanted to try something that is not normally a part of our repertoire. When I am looking for inspiration, I usually head to Epicurious, but this time I pulled out a cookbook that my sister-in-law got me for Christmas, The Best of International Food from the editors at Cook's Illustrated.

I looked through the pages, going past Greece, and Italy and checked out Sweden. I found two recipes that grabbed my attention that could be replicated without taking us astray on our diet. The first was the retro Swedish meatballs, and the second was a cucumber salad with sour cream. So Molly posted the flag of Sweden and I used these ideas as inspiration to make my own Dowd Olympic version. Both dishes were a great hit. How can you fail with meatballs?! And the cucumber salad was all consumed offering a light, creamy and slightly sweet counterpoint to the rich meatballs. In fact,the girls said that they liked this cucumber salad better than the one I usually make with vinegar and mayo as a dressing so we will definitely do this one again!

Another country down,another gold medal for Michael Phelps and another late night- another night at the Olympics at our house!

Swedish Inspired Meatballs
These make a great appetizer or a main dish!

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
3/4 cup grated onion
1 egg
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper

For a quick and easy (and low-carb) sauce:
1/2 jar good quality prepared alfredo pasta sauce (I know, I know...)
2/3 cup light sour cream
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix meats, grated onion and egg and spices, mix well and form into small meatballs, placing them on a cookie sheet. Bake in oven about 15 minutes. Meanwhile mix alfredo sauce, sour cream, and nutmeg. Place cooked meatballs into a large skillet and brown outside until caramelized. Add sauce and stir until warm, being careful not to boil. If you want (and you are not on the South Beach Diet!) you could serve with noodles.

Swedish Cucumber Salad
This is a deliciously different cucumber dish, perfect for summer!

1 English cucumber sliced very thin (I did not peel mine. If you use a regular cucumber you may want to peel it)
1/2 tbsp salt
1 cup light sour cream
1 pkg Sweet and Low or Splenda
3 tbsp cider vinegar
1 small onion, sliced thin
1/2 tsp dried dill

Slice the cucumbers into a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Let sit for about 20 minutes, using a Ziploc bag of ice on top to keep them crisp. After 20 minutes, rinse cucumbers, put in bowl and combine with other ingredients. Enjoy this Swedish treat!

A Taste of China in Newport News (and a Review)

My family loves Chinese food, and they are spoiled. Takeout is not good enough for them. They are used to homemade eggrolls, dumplings made from scratch, twice-fried beans, shrimp egg foo yung and a myriad of stir-fries. Some of the most dog-eared cookbooks in my collection are the ones that focus on Chinese food, so of course I was not surprised when they said they wanted to add China to our parade of nations. Luckily, I put all those cookbooks to work in trying to find dishes I could make that did not rely on sweet sauces or piles of white or jasmine rice so we could stay on our diet.

Coincidentally, I had been sent a kit for Kung Pao chicken by Wangchai Ferry to try and review, and so I decided to incorporate that into our meal planning as well. So this is what our menu looked like:

Twice Fried Beans (aka hot beans,I have posted this recipe before)
Tofu dumplings
Wanchai Ferry Kung Pao chicken
Stir fry shrimp and vegetables
Bridget's Hot and Sour Soup (actually, her recipe came from Cook's Illustrated)

Sound good? It really was. We set our coffee table and sat on the floor with pillows and ate with chopsticks for a really fun experience. "Hot Beans" have been raved about on this blog before, and Bridget's Hot and Sour soup a la Cook's was outstanding- if you have never tried making this at home, give this recipe a try (I actually subscribed to CI online initially to get this recipe!), so I will focus on the new dishes we tried.

First of all, the tofu dumplings. We usually make dumplings, but since the wrappers are made with flour, I wanted to find some way to enjoy that flavor without the carbs, and I found the inspiration in Jeff Smith's Ancient Cuisines cookbook. Using extra-firm tofu that was drained and cut into large cubes, I prepared my usual shu mei filling, and cutting a slit into each cube, I filled the tofu with shu mei filling and steamed these tofu dumplings for about 30 minutes in a bamboo steamer. They turned out great!

The shrimp stir fry included a sweet red pepper, onions, broccoli, and turned out to be a light and delicious dish with a good blend of flavors.

The big surprise was the Kung Pao chicken kit from Wangchai Ferry. Since I cook Chinese from scratch I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but was impressed when I opened the box to find whole dried peppers (we call these the devil's toenails) along with jasmine rice in the kit. I followed the directions, substituting boneless chicken thighs for the breasts called for. I have to admit that I did remove the seeds from the peppers because I thought it might be too spicy. The dish came together easily and everyone in our family really liked it-it was at least as good as the Kung Pao I had gotten as takeout. This is a great alternative to take-out when you don't have the time to cook from scratch, and I will definitely try the other kits for Spicy Garlic Chicken, and Sweet and Sour Chicken, or Cashew Chicken. If you want to give the Wangchai Ferry Chinese Dinner kits a try in your own kitchen try this e-coupon to get $1.00 off the retail price of $4.79.

If you are inspired to take a side trip to China, here are the recipes for my own dishes. Don't be intimidated by a long list of ingredients or prep time (I usually make Chinese on the weekend when I have more time), making good Chinese is as easy as falling off the balance beam!!

Tofu Dumplings

1 block extra firm tofu drained and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 lb lean sausage
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sherry
A quarter-sized slice of ginger chopped fine
3 scallions in fine slices
1/2 of a small beaten egg

1 tbsp of soy sauce for brushing

Mix all the ingredients except the tofu cubes together in a Ziploc bag. Close the bag and massage the ingredients together. Cut a slit in each cube, being careful not to cut all the way through, and fill with a small spoonful of filling. Place in a bamboo steamer in a single layer, brush with soy sauce and steam for about 20-30 minutes (I sometimes steam my dumplings on top of the pot I am cooking my rice in). Serve with a sauce made of 1/4 cup soy sauce with Chili-garlic sauce added to taste.

Stir Fry "Drunken" Shrimp
1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined
1 red pepper cut into chunks
1 onion cut into chunks
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger

1/2 cup rice wine or sherry
1/4 cup soy sauce
dry red pepper flakes to taste
1 tsp sugar or Splenda

peanut oil for stir-frying

Marinate the shrimp in the rice wine or sherry while you chop vegetables. Put oil in pan and heat till just smoking. Add garlic and ginger and stir quickly, then add the rest of the vegetables. Stir for a moment or two until the sides of the veggies just start to caramelize, then add drained shrimp. when shrimp start to turn pink add soy sauce, sugar or sweetener, and dry pepper flakes. Stir until shrimp are just cooked. If you are not on a diet you could serve this with rice or noodles.

American Food, with a side of Michael Phelps!

Last night, we had only Gavin, Molly and I at home so we decided to do American food for our Olympic feast, but we were challenged. The All-American cheeseburger (sans bun, of course) was going to be the centerpiece of this meal, but so many of the foods we associate with America (French Fries, Corn on the Cob, Watermelon, Potato Salad...) are carb heavy and not an option for us as I try to break the 9 lb weight loss plateau, so I struggled .

As I put together a menu that included blue cheese mayo made with Danish Blue cheese and Duke's mayonnaise, the leftover Horiatiki Salata from Greek night, Polish baby dill pickes, I worried that my menu really wasn't representing American food, except for the American cheese on the burgers. But then I realized that this is American food, and America! We take the best of the many ethnic foods that make up our population and incorporate it into our cuisine. Our citizens can preserve their own culinary traditions, or become part of the melting pot of foods and ingredients that makes up our American culinary tradition. It is what makes our country great.

So while we have our own American food traditions like Southern fried chicken, or pulled pork barbecue, pumpkin pie, macaroni and cheese, and corn on the cob (can you tell I am really missing summer corn?), Americans equally enjoy burritos and enchiladas, lasagna and spaghetti, eggrolls, sushi, fondue, and quiche. You might argue that too often American's "bastardize" dishes for the American tastes, but that is part of being a nation of immigrants. Just like our colors begin to meld together, so do our cuisines.

So I don't feel so bad about my ragtag American dinner, but it did bring up another issue for me. Of all the wonderful cheeses there are, why is America known for processed cheese slices? Don't get me wrong, on top of a burger, melted American cheese is something special, and American cheese makes a great grilled cheese, but can you really eat American cheese uncooked? I don't think so! And what foods are there that are distinctly American? Hot Dogs? Burgers? Ribs?
I actually have a book called Street Food that has foods from many cultures and yet the only entries from the US are corn dogs and hush puppies (and the quintessential burger). So I am asking you- What are your favorite foods that are uniquely American? Pull them out and cook them up and share with the rest of us. You can reach me right here, where I will be cheering for the Redeem Team and Michael Phelps!

Opening Ceremonies- A Salute to Greece

The long-awaited Olympics are here and our family is gathered around the table and around the TV (see left, a huge new plasma I got for my birthday!) to celebrate and enjoy that mix of excitement, anticipation and pride as we watch the athletes from around the world parade into the Bird's Nest stadium to begin the Games.

As I wrote earlier, our tribute to the games in the foods around the world starts traditionally with food from Greece to honor the birthplace of the Olympics(you can see from the picture that we are adding the flag of each nation we cook from each night to the Olympic flag) Since we are on a diet, our usual pastitsio would not cut it, so it was time to hit the internet and get some inspiration. I did a search for Greek food and was lucky to find several sources, including About.com and Matt Barrett's Travel Guide which had a great guide to Greek dishes and ingredients. I thought I wanted to make lamb, and when I read about a dish called paidakia, which is to Greeks as baby back ribs are to Southerners, I knew that was going to be the centerpiece of our meal.

Paidakia (right) are little lamb chops seasoned with ground pepper , broiled and squeezed with lemon. So now, what to have with it?

Trending toward a Greek salad, I found a recipe for Horiatiki Salata, a salad of chopped vegetables with feta cheese.

I needed to round out the meal and remembered seeing a Greek zucchini on Kalyn's Kitchen and so decided to recreate that as well.

For dessert, Greek Yogurt with honey and fresh fruit.

Our first Olympic meal was a great hit. The Paidakia was everything I had read and more - simple ingredients combined to make the lamb the star. The salad was light and delicious accompaniment and a great use of tomatoes and cucumbers from the farmer's market, and Kalyn's zucchini was a hit even with those in my house who usually don't like zucchini (Molly,of course). Olympics or no, I will definitely be making these dishes again. And you should give them a try, they definitely are worth a gold medal!


Paidakia (Inspired by Nancy Gaifyllia at About.com)

2 lb of small lamb chops (If budget is a concern (I got my chops at Costco), I think this technique would work just as well with boneless chunks of leg of lamb), my chops were about an inch thick

Coarsely ground sea salt

1 tablespoon of coarsely cracked peppercorns (I had a 6-pepper blend that I used, but any combination of cracked peppercorns would work)

Lemon wedges

2 tbsp olive oil

I put the chops in a Ziploc bag, added the other ingredients, and massaged together and let come to room temperature. Spray broiler pan with olive oil or nonstick spray and place chops in single layer. Broil for about 3-4 minutes (watch carefully), flip chops and broil 3-4 more minutes or until desired doneness is reached (we like ours pink so about 3 minutes per side worked for us). Remove to platter and squeeze with juice of 1/2 a lemon. Serve with extra lemon wedges.

Horiatiki Salata (Also inspired by Nancy Gaifyllia from About.com-frankly, I want to show up at her house for dinner!)

1 large red onion sliced

1 English cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly

1 red or yellow sweet pepper (I had the little mini-peppers from Costco and used 6 or seven of the them) cut in small chunks

2 large ripe tomatoes (don't make this salad if you do not have really good tomatoes!) cut in chunks

1/2 tsp Greek seasoning(I used Penzey's)

A handful of greek olives

1/3 cup good red wine vinaigrette

3/4cup of feta broken into chunks

Again, I combined all ingredients in a gallon sized Ziploc bag and let chill in the fridge while I made the zucchini and lamb- Easy and it made an outstanding salad that was a change of pace from the usual greens!

Check out Kalyn's site for her recipe for her recipe for Georgette's Greek Zucchini.
It was a big hit, healthy and simple.

What is on tap for tomorrow night? We are thinking of American food with a side of Michael Phelps!

Countdown to the Olympics- One World, One Dream

One of the reasons that I started this blog was to encourage families to use food as a way to bring them together, to make occasions out of everyday events. I have written in this blog about football Sundays and Chinese New Year's Eve, and now, as the Olympics approach, while the athletes are training and the broadcasters are putting together vignettes on the athletes, the Chinese government is trying to clean up the air for the games, and the torch is making its way to the Bird's Nest Stadium, I am collecting Olympic Trivia and looking for new recipes for the Dowd version of the Olympics! I started doing this years ago when my children were young and now, even though they are older, they look forward to the Olympics as a family event.

What makes this so special? Each night of the Olympics we have food from a different country. Our tradition is to begin on opening night with Greek food, paying homage to the site of the first Olympic games, and we always end the games with the food of the country of the next Olympic games. Between these two we choose a country for each night including the host country. It is a great way to experience different cuisines, to learn about different cultures, and make an evening of TV viewing into a family event. We post the country by flag each day of the Olympics on the refrigerator, and we have contests throughout the games- questions about Olympic sports, the ancient Olympic games, geography, history and culture of the host country, with the winners getting small prizes that I get. We each post our predictions for the country bringing home the most gold medals and predictions for the number of US medals in the games on a chalkboard that hangs in our kitchen. I makes for a fun time and often attracts friends and neighbors who want to be part of the Olympic dream (without the intense training and sore muscles!)

Sound daunting? It needn't be. Have pizza or spaghetti for Italian night, hamburgers and hot dogs for American night, order out Chinese to honor the host country, or bring home sushi for Japanese night. Fussy eaters? Choose traditional foods and translate your menu into a foreign language using one of the many internet translation tools. Eat with chopsticks, open fortune cookies, make curry, and boboti, and quiche, and souvlaki. There is a world of dishes and you can pick something challenging and complicated or something simple- it is all about the experience.

This year our Olympic fest is a little more challenging since my husband and I are on the South Beach diet. Our normal Greek meal has in the past been pastitsio made from the Jeff Smith book on three ancient cuisines (a great source of recipes, by the way). I love pastitsio because of its no-nonsense combination of pasta,meat and tomatoes topped by a creamy custard with a hint of cinnamon. This Friday though, we are shunning pasta and will have a dish of marinated lamb served with tzatziki, and a Greek Salad. And for each night after that we will be making our way around the world in both food and sports. I will try to post recipes and pictures throughout the games and I hope you will be inspired to join in the Olympic spirit as well. It is a great way to bring your family, and the world, together on common ground. One World, One Dream.

My New Favorite Salad

Working crazy hours, and following the South Beach diet has taken a toll on my blog posting,and my visits to other blogs, but I have come up for air and wanted to share my progress and a great recipe.

We have really been trying to stretch and be more innovative within the confines of our diet, but I have to admit that I have taken some license. while Phase I of the SBD calls for the use of low fat cheese, I am not a big believer and since cholesterol is not a concern for either my husband or myself, I am incorporating real cheese. To me it is better to control the amount of cheese and have something that tastes really good, and despite our consumption of the real cheese, we continue to lose. As we moved to the Phase II, we could add back some fruits, and I have to admit we have gone a bit berry-crazy. Our local Harris Teeter has recently had a berry sale that allowed us to indulge my love of raspberries and blueberries even within the rising prices of food. What have we been eating? Steak, chicken and fish are our protein staples, with a smattering of white and black beans, lots of greens- in salads and cooked, roasted asparagus, smashed cauliflower, shrimp salad in avocado boats. Instead of pasta or potatoes we have used zucchini ribbons to create a veggie, pasta-free lasagna that tasted delicious.

Now anyone on a diet can tell you that after awhile, you can really get tired of green salad in all its incarnations, and so I am always looking for something new and different. With the addition of berries to our diet, I came up with a quick and simple and really delicious that is a great salad, but could also serve as a decadent dessert that is both delicious and compliant. Whether you are on a diet or not, give it a try, it is a great way to use berries that are so plentiful in the summer.


Decadent Berry and Goat Cheese Salad

2 pints berries (strawberries, raspberries , blueberries or blackberries work great), rinsed and tossed together

2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar (I use Kirkland brand)

1 thin slice of plain goat cheese per serving

Toss vinegar with berries. Put goat cheese in a small bowl and ladle berries over. Enjoy!