Spicy Cauliflower Poblano Soup

I think the only good thing I can say about being in a cooking rut is getting out of it.  As frustrating as being in a rut is, that split second when you're standing in the grocery store and you spot that ingredient that triggers the avalanche of creativity almost makes it worth the trouble.  That happened to me at Wegman's recently.  The first Wegman's in Massachusetts opened back in October 2011 (same day as the premier of the second season of "The Walking Dead"..... I loved that day...) so yesterday I visited again.  Most of my 2,000 grand opening friends were absent, so I actually got a chance to browse areas I hadn't been able to get near that day.  I knew I had been in a rut.  Sure, I had cooked a few good meals, even a few new-to-me ones, but I hadn't "invented" anything in a long time.   I hadn't found myself inspired enough to do so lately.

The first thing I spotted when I walked into Wegman's this time was a display of huge, beautiful, snow white heads of cauliflower.  Funny, that was the first thing I spotted back in October, too, and now I will forever associate cauliflower with zombies.  It's not just me... in the book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", there is a reference to the carnivorous undead being tricked into feasting on heads of cauliflower instead of human beings.  So don't call me weird or crazy, okay?  It's a perfectly logical association, I assure you.

I remembered this amazing cauliflower soup I made once or twice and thought about making that again, but I really wanted to be inspired to make something different.   I picked one up...put it down....picked it up again...put it down again.  I decided to come back if nothing else piqued my interest, and started wandering through the rest of the produce department.  Last time I was here, I had picked up two poblano peppers - I had never cooked with them before - and promptly fell into my cooking rut, letting them rot in the bottom of by crisper drawer in the fridge.  I spotted them and thought about giving it another try, but passed with an empty basket and headed over to the cheese department.   Ah, to find something new (to me).

And there it was.... a small selection of cheeses I had never tried before!  Among them some Mexican style cheeses, like Cotija, a sort of sharp, crumbly goat cheese; and Queso Panela, a soft, white cheese; and Queso Blanco, a creamy white cow's milk cheese, kind of a fresh mozzarella texture and flavor, but it doesn't exactly melt, it just softens up.  The sign said it can be sprinkled over, among other things,  soups as a garnish....

Soup, you say?
Cauliflower....
Poblano....
Soup....

Egads! I think I feel a recipe coming on!

I grabbed some cheese, then retraced my steps through produce, snagging one of those gorgeous heads of cauliflower, a poblano pepper, a jalapeno, and some of my staple veggies, onions, garlic, red bell pepper and carrots.  I grabbed an avocado, too, because, well, it was there.

Once I got home, I chopped up the poblano pepper, minced three cloves of garlic and separated the cauliflower into bite-sized florets.  I tossed them with some olive oil and seasonings - salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and cayenne.

I spread this mixture on a baking sheet and roasted them, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

Meanwhile, I diced some onion, celery and carrots and sauteed them in a little olive oil.

When the onions were translucent, I added some diced red pepper.  I like red pepper to stay a little crisper, so that's why I added it later.

After that, I forgot to take pictures, but basically I added some chicken stock and seasonings to the sauteed onion mixture, then stirred in the roasted cauliflower.  I also added a minced fresh jalapeno pepper.  I made a roux out of butter and flour, whisked in milk and added that to the mixture and let it come up to a heavy simmer and thicken up.  I then sort of half-mashed, half pureed the soup.  I like to leave some cauliflower in floret form.  When serving, you can swirl in sour cream and garnish with cilantro, sliced scallions and/or avocado chunks. and maybe a few hunks of that queso blanco or even some shredded cheddar would work..   

Roasted Cauliflower Poblano Soup....Creamy, but light, with a bit of a kick.   Just enough to keep you safe from zombies.

The Recipe.....

Roasted Cauliflower Poblano Soup

1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets

1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp olive oil

Salt & pepper

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup diced onion

1/3 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

2 cups chicken stock

1 tsp Mexican oregano

1 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Sour cream

For garnish, crumbled queso blanco, sliced scallions, diced avocado and/or chopped cilantro.

Combine cauliflower, poblano and garlic; drizzle with 2 Tbsp olive oil and toss to coat.  Add cumin, chili powder, cayenne and salt & pepper, and toss again.  Spread on baking sheet.  Bake at 375F, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and tender.

Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in large skillet or stock pot.  Saute onion, celery and carrot until onion is translucent (about 7 minutes).  Add red pepper and cook an additional 3 or 4 minutes.  Add chicken stock, oregano and roasted cauliflower mixture to the onion mixture, and simmer 15 minutes.

In small pan, melt butter; whisk in flour, then milk.  Whisk until smooth, bringing to a boil.  Add to soup.

Mash or puree soup, if desired.

Swirl sour cream into individual servings and garnish as desired.

Super Salads: Mango, Spinach And....

I had a GREAT salad for lunch the other day - got the original recipe from the Weight Watchers website, but naturally I had to make changes based upon what I had on hand. The salad part remained the same (plus cucumbers), but I think I inadvertently improved upon the dressing!

The original salad is Chicken, Mango and Spinach Salad - I used leftover baked chicken, seasoned only with salt and crushed red pepper, baked on a bed of vegetables and white wine. (That was another recipe!). This one caught my eye because I just happened to have two bags of baby spinach and two mangos, both looking to become a part of something edible before they became inedible themselves. That and the leftover chicken, along with my addiction to MySpiceSage.com, where I procured Maharajah Curry Powder, lead me to this recipe. The original dressing called for prepared honey-mustard - I had none, so I used 1 tsp. honey and 1 tsp Trader Joe's Dijon Mustard. That wonderful, spicy mustard really put this over the top, and as I sat at my desk at lunchtime, in the midst of a particularly bad, sad week at work, I found that the sweet, spicy, smoky, sour-y salad really hit the spot. Curry in a salad dressing is pretty unusual for me, but I really enjoyed this.

So this afternoon, I decided to have another helping for lunch - I was out of chicken so I used chick peas instead, and found that not only is this a super salad, it's a marvelous meatless light meal, too! So I think I'll be seeing more of this.... I do like it better with chicken, though, and I think next time I'll glaze it with some of the dressing before baking/broiling/grilling the chicken. This wonderful blend of flavors would also compliment a number of proteins - thinly sliced steak, grilled shrimp, tuna or salmon.

Here's the recipe (chicken version) with my tweaks:

Mango, Chicken and Spinach Salad with Mango-Curry Dressing

Salad:

4 cups baby spinach

2 small mangoes, diced

1 cup diced English cucumber

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces (or beef, or chick peas, or shrimp...)

Dressing:

Whisk together:

1/3 cup mango nectar (or puree half a mango with a little water)

1 tsp honey

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp grapeseed or canola oil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

Arrange salad on plate and pour dressing over top.

Enjoy!

(Chick pea version!)

Marvelous Meatless Meals - Potato and Tofu Vindaloo

It seems I have a little problem....

I have a thing for exotic spices in neat little resealable plastic bags....

Especially when the company that sells them offers free Madagascar Vanilla Beans with your order one month, then free Applewood Smoked Sea Salt the next. And when said company also happens to stock exotic or unusual items like Jalapeno Powder, Za'atar, Honey Powder and numerous varieties of curry powders, cinnamon, and cocoa, all reasonably priced and available in a variety of sizes, free shipping over $40....well, I just can't resist!

And so began my love affair with MySpiceSage.com. I think it's the "free shipping for orders over $40" that gets me. Regular shipping charges are pretty reasonable to begin with, but when I just need one more little nudge to buy items I gaze lovingly at on-line, that's usually the clincher for me!

And unlike some other promotions, I don't feel suckered when I do it (although, I have been on my BEST behavior lately - I refuse to buy anything new until I've opened at least a few more packages of spices!) I have actually delved into my stash and tried many new things, although a few of the more exotics have kind of scared me a little.

Since some of this stuff is a little "out there" for me, I've been kind winging it to find uses for some of these spices. So tonight, inspired by the "Meatless Mondays" craze (and the fact that my Meat-and-Potatoes husband, whose idea of spices is "salt" - not Kosher, not sea, and certainly not applewood smoked....just "salt") is not home tonight, I decided to open my overflowing spice cupboard and use whatever item fell out as part of a meatless meal....and the winner is:

Vindaloo Curry Spice! A fragrant blend of coriander, cumin, red pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves and turmeric.

I had heard of the term Vindaloo before - I think in an interview with Bon Appetit, actor Sir Anthony Hopkins listed his favorite dish as Chicken Vindaloo, an Indian dish but with the influence of those worldy sea-faring Portuguese. From Wikipedia: "The name Vindaloo is derived from the Portuguese dish "Carne de Vinha d' Alhos", which is a dish of meat, usually pork, with wine and garlic. The dish was originally modified in Mumbai by the substitution of vinegar for the wine, and the addition of red Kashmir chillies (not as spicy but abundant in colour). The dish evolved into the vindaloo curry dish in Goa, with the addition of plentiful amounts of traditional spice and using palm vinegar instead of red wine. Alternate terms are vindalho or vindallo."

I think there's so many reasons why even just the name appeals to me - Sir Anthony Hopkins is one of my favorite actors. Howard's End, World's Fastest Indian, Remains of The Day, Legends of The Fall...all movies I could watch over and over again. He's been in TWO movies that also starred a certain actor I (sigh) admire, Benicio Del Toro. Celebrity stalking (in my dreams) aside, I've always been intrigued by India, probably since my Dad served in the China-Burma-India theater of WWII. And Portugal has always been another obsession of mine - the food, the country, the culture, the music, the people....wrap all those things together and it seems only natural that the vindaloo curry powder would be the one to jump out at me!

So, after browsing around on-line, here's what I came up with for tonight's Marvelous Meatless Meal....

Potato and Tofu Vindaloo

Inspired by THIS recipe, here's the one I came up with, and it was wonderful! I made some changes based on what I had on hand as well as healthier, Weight Watchers-friendly substitutions and a weeknight-friendly process.

Ingredients:

1 14 oz. package firm or extra firm tofu

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp canola oil, separated

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

5 cloves garlic

1/2 cup finely diced onion

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp Vindaloo Curry Spice

About 2 tsp water plus 1 cup water

4 tbsp white vinegar

1 large sweet potato (about 1 1/2 c, diced small)

1 cup garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed if using canned

1 cup tomato sauce

Direction:

Slice block of tofu horizontally. Press between paper towels to remove excess liquid. (I place a pan on it for about 20 minutes to help squeeze the liquid out.) Cut into cubes. Mix garlic and onion powder with flour; toss with tofu cubes. Set aside.

In large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil. Add onions, garlic and ginger and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove to a blender or small food processor. Add pepper, salt, brown sugar and curry powder with about 2 tsp water. Blend into a paste. Add vinegar and set aside.

Add remaining tbsp of oil to skillet and increase heat to medium-high. Stir fry tofu until browned, about 5 minutes. Add diced sweet potatoes and cook another 4 or 5 minutes. Stir in vindaloo paste, tomato sauce, 1 cup water and garbanzo beans. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until potatoes are thoroughly cooked.

Recipe notes:

First, this is not a "true" vindaloo paste - for authenticity, use whole spice seeds, toast them in a pan and grind yourself (MySpiceSage has a lot of whole spices and seeds, too!) Then cook the paste mixture with the tomato sauce and additional oil until fragrant and reduced. But for a quick weeknight meal, I'm all for shortcuts!

This could be served with rice...but I'm saving my carbs for things like chocolate cake or brownies. So I opted to serve mine over steamed spinach. As is, the above recipe is more like 4 servings, but over spinach I can get 6 servings out of one skillet, at only 6 PointsPlus per serving (far anyone following Weight Watchers).

The Verdict: This was delicious! And very mild, as far as curries go. The Vindaloo Curry Spice is more along the lines of Garam Masala - fragrant, warm, exotic, with just a hint of heat, really. I could totally see myself adding some dried chili powder to this to make it more of a traditional spicy vindaloo. And I'm a wimp when it comes to spiciness!

Saturday Splurge - Grilled Spiced Peaches with Orange-Vanilla Mascarpone

"You had me at mascarpone....."

I love mascarpone. I love Italian, I love cream cheese, I love tiramisu. I love that cannoli place near me that makes mascarpone-filled cannoli.

I thought of those delectable things as I waited my turn at the deli today, and glanced over into the cheese case. Before I knew it, a cute little package of mascarpone had stowed away in my shopping cart. Over in produce, I noticed it as it winked at me and pointed to some beautiful peaches.

Hmmm...well, okay. You can come home with me. Peaches have to be healthier than deep-fried cannoli shells sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with chocolate, right?

So, here's what I had for dinner tonight....you might want to make this for dessert, but frankly it was so hot and humid today (again) that I wasn't hungry enough for actual dinner, so I skipped right to dessert. I mean, there's ALWAYS room for dessert...especially when you don't eat your dinner.

Along with peaches, you'll need some mascarpone, an orange (or a tbsp of orange zest and maybe 1/4 cup or so of orange juice) and some honey.

And ....

...some brown sugar, ground allspice, ground ginger and a vanilla bean pod. (Which I was very excited about....first time I've ever used one!)

Why do I not have a picture of this part?

Anyway, cut around the peaches to cut them into halves. Twist gently but firmly and they should come apart, leaving the pit in one side. Carefully pry that out.

Zest the orange and set the orange zest aside. (That sounds strangely redundant, but I can't think of another word for orange zest....or even just zest)

Squeeze the juice into a bowl and add the brown sugar, allspice and ginger. Place the peaches into a bowl or, better yet, plastic zipper-type bag and pour the orange juice mixture over them. Seal and let them marinate a bit - just a few minutes will do!

Meanwhile, you can make the topping. Whip together the mascarpone, orange zest and a couple teaspoons of honey. Split the vanilla pod and scrape the inside with a sharp knife. Blend that into the mascarpone. Cover and refrigerate it.

Lightly oil your grill and preheat it to medium. Place the peaches, cut side down, on the grill. Cover and grill about three minutes, then flip them and grill the skin side another 3 to 4 minutes.

If you sampled that orange juice marinade (like I did) you'll notice it's pretty spicy! The spice flavors are really subtle once the peaches are grilled, but it smells divine.

To serve, arrange one half peach on a plate, top with a dollop of mascarpone and garnish with some fresh berries.

There you have it! A lovely dessert! Or you can eat this, then take another grilled peach half, dip it in more mascarpone topping and call it dinner on a hot summer night!

Grilled Spiced Peaches with Orange-Vanilla Mascarpone

2 large firm peaches

1 large orange

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

6 oz. mascarpone cheese

2 tsp honey (or to taste)*

1 or 1/2 vanilla pod

1 cup berries for garnish (blueberries, raspberries, black raspberries or any combination)

*For a slightly firmer and sweeter mascarpone topping, add about 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar and beat with an electric mixer

Directions press "ENTER" after each step

Add Sections

Cut peaches in half, twisting to separate halves and remove pit.

Grate about 1 tbsp of orange zest and set aside; squeeze the juice from the orange into a bowl.

Add brown sugar, allspice and ginger to the orange juice and mix together. Place peaches into large Ziploc bag and pour orange juice mixture over peaches. Seal bag, tossing to coat peaches evenly with mixture.

Place mascarpone in a bowl. Split vanilla pod with a sharp knife and scrape the inside - add to the mascarpone and discard pod. Add orange zest and honey and combine well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Preheat lightly oiled grill to medium heat. Place peach halves, cut side down, onto grill and close cover. Grill about 3 minutes or until you get good grill marks. Flip over and grill skin side another 3 minutes or so. Remove from grill.

To serve, place one peach half on plate and top with a dollop of mascarpone filling. Garnish with berries and serve.

Lovely Leftovers - Mediterranean Fish Tacos

The other night, I was in the mood for fish and in the mood for something "Mediterranean"...tomatoes, basil, mint, kalamata olives (which I suddenly have found myself suddenly loving after despising for many, many years...), so I stopped by the local fish market and splurged on some halibut and set off to find a recipe that would transport me to Greece or Italy.

While I went back and forth between creating a recipe or finding the right one, I decided to play around with a couple ideas I had...

First, a bulb of fennel had been sitting in my refrigerator for almost too long, and I needed to do something with it. I decided to roast it with some other veggies, add some chopped tomatoes and seasonings and call it a Mediterranean salsa of sorts....

I love when experiments turn out successful!

The end result was Roasted Fennel and Tomato Salsa. I roasted fennel, onions, garlic and red pepper, and mixed it with fresh tomatoes. You could leave everything raw, too, or you could roast the tomatoes. But I love the sweetness of roasted fennel and onions, but not mushy overcooked tomatoes, so I went half and half. This really came out well! I can see it as a side for fish or chicken, or even as a dip for toasted pita wedges or a bruschetta topping.

Next up was something to make with this gorgeous bunch of fresh mint I bought at Davidian Farms - it called to me from between the cilantro and parsley. I was getting ideas for uses for my new "salsa" so I decided to make this with half the mint...

Zesty Mint Pesto.

Half mint, half parsley, garlic, shallot, toasted walnuts and olive oil. I honestly don't eat a lot of mint, but I have found that I enjoy it.

So, since I spent so much time being creative with my condiments, I was running out of ideas for my fish dinner. I ended up finding a perfectly lovely halibut recipe on Allrecipes, Easy Mediterranean Fish...halibut baked in foil packets with tomatoes, onions, kalamata olives, capers and seasonings. It was DELICIOUS!!!!

In the background is another fabulous side dish from AR, Herbed Greek Roasted Potatoes with Feta Cheese. Oh, my! I highly recommend that one!

So, I had leftover halibut (that they don't exactly give away these days, so you KNOW there was no way the dogs were getting their chops on this one) and a couple of interesting condiments. Whatever shall I do?

How about Mediterranean Fish Tacos? After all, when you think Mediterranean, you think tacos, right?

If I was the kind of girl who planned ahead, I would have had some nice sundried tomato and basil wraps to use, but I used plain old flour tortillas, warmed slightly in the microwave. A little reheated fish, along with the toppings, some Roasted Fennel and Tomato Salsa and a dribble of Zesty Mint Pesto....

Fold it over and enjoy!

I totally forgot feta cheese! I meant to add some, but I just couldn't restrain myself any further! These were really, REALLY tasty! So good that I might not wait for leftover fish to have them again!

And my two new concoctions have lots of promise...I'm planning on using the pesto on some pasta, a marinade and to toss some roasted potatoes in. The salsa will be a great side to chicken, fish or maybe I'll do that bruschetta type appy I was thinking of. Maybe even use it - or both - on some funky new pizza!

Sunday Morning ...And The Consequences of A Noisy Blender

Well, my little scheme for enjoying a Sunday morning smoothie kind of fizzled out, didn't it? :)

Honestly, I love the idea, but I also love the peace and quiet I get when I'm the only one up on weekend mornings...my blender, on the other hand, thinks that if IT has to be woken up at 7:00 AM on a Sunday morning, then EVERYONE has to wake up at 7:00.

It's very, very...VERY loud.

So this morning, when I woke up (first...yeah!), I really wanted a smoothie, but we were all up past our bedtimes last night and the man and the child needed to catch up on sleep. They don't drink coffee. I do. Sleep? Schmeep! Just pour me another cup, Martha! So I started looking around for something quick, but good and different...something that would be a splurge, but not extremely decadent, like oh, I don't know...Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy? Nah, that's not decadent at all.....

Luckily, I remembered a pancake recipe I came across on Allrecipes recently - Peanut Butter and Jelly Oatmeal Pancakes. Oatmeal's good for you, right? :) Actually, it's not a bad recipe, nutritionally, and I replaced the eggs with egg substitute to further improve it. I wish I had taken pictures while they cooked, but alas, the dogs, Martha and Merlin, and the human child had awoken....they are a tag team, you know. One distracts while the other two maneuver within snatching distance. So I sort of had my hands full! Some of the reviews on Allrecipes indicated the pancakes were thin...not so here! Not sure if it was the egg substitute instead of eggs, if that makes any sense, or the fact that I do not know the meaning of "until just blended" and I mixed the crap out of my batter, but then let it sit while I refereed a game of touch football between two dogs and a 4 year old in the dining room. Whatever mystical chemical reaction happened in my kitchen this morning, it resulted in very thick, beautiful, golden brown pancakes that, when topped with melted raspberry preserves and a few banana slices, looked like this:

The pancake recipe, which you can find HERE, only calls for a teaspoon of sugar, so the cakes themselves are not very sweet at all...a good thing if you're going to microwave some fruits preserves and drizzle them all over. Chocolate syrup wouldn't be bad, either! I mean, it would be bad, but in a good kind of way...I can picture this as a birthday special request breakfast or maybe a morning after sleepover breakfast with maybe chocolate chips in the batter, a dollop of marshmallow fluff and some chocolate syrup...

See, I knew I'd lead myself back to Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy!

Which reminds me! I am flattered to receive this from The Ordinary Housewife:

and

It was she who introduced me to Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy on her blog - make sure you stop by and visit her if you're not already a regular like me!

I'm horrible at doing this, but I do want to share these with a few other blogs:

First my new bloggie buddy, Angeltastic at Full Circle...she's not only a friend, but she's like a blood relative to me. Probably because...SHE IS! Her mother and my mother are sisters! Yes, I have mentioned my sweet cousin before, perhaps when I had a little too much to drink at a certain cocktail party at my dear friend, Willoughby's place, This Stop Willoughby. So, stop by her brand new blog and say hello to "Beth" (not her real name, she just likes to be called that...tee hee!).

I also wanted to mention Bella Della - she lives on a farm that to me is a little piece of heaven and I just love her photography and stories! I stumbled upon her blog looking for information on Texasware bowls, and I keep coming back for more!

And finally, a shout out to MySweetCreations - I've been an admirer of her photography and talent with all things sweet over on Allrecipes, and I'm so happy she decided to start a blog of her own. You'll like it, too!

Since I never know what to do with awards, I'm also breaking the rules a bit! So please accept these awards - pass them on if you like, play along if you feel like it, but just know that I wanted to give you a shout out because I enjoy your blogs! ,I think you're supposed to share seven things about yourself...but what don't you know about me?

1.) I own a noisy blender

2.) Nearly all of my food photos are taken in the bay window of my living room

3.) I often wonder if Gene Simmons (if it was him) ever thinks of that weird girl he saw at Logan Airport circa 1979...

4.) I want to own a farm some day...meanwhile, I'm keeping Baker Creek Seeds in business with my insanity.

5.) I'm still looking for a Texasware bowl to replace the one that broke several years ago

6.) I haven't set foot in an antique shop in almost five years (the perils of having a four and a half year old!)

7.) We had Martha shaved down yesterday because her coat was just incredibly matted....If I can stop laughing at her long enough, I'll post some pictures soon!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

F is for...Fennel

Finally, I get to share my favorite recipe that utilizes fennel seed!

But first, a story...or maybe a song...

"There was a farmer had a pig, and Thelma was her name-o...."

When I was a kid, we ate whatever was placed in front of us. Fortunately, aside from her penchant for canned green beans, my mother was (and still is) an excellent cook. We did occasionally have Hamburger Helper or frozen pizza, or other hurry up meals like mom's creamed salmon over mashed potatoes (so very ugly, but oh so good!), but she knew her way around a somewhat frugal kitchen and usually there were no complaints about what was on the table come dinnertime. Not like today, when a four year old usually knows that burgers come from cows or ham comes from pig or chicken comes from...well, chicken. I guess that one's pretty easy!

We were animal lovers, yet even though Uncle Frances owned a hobby farm with ducks, chickens, goats, rabbits and three pigs, we always knew which animals it was ok to make friends with and which ones to maintain a certain emotional distance from.

So, despite the fact that I adored Uncle Franny's giant pet pig, Thelma, it never crossed my mind to think of her as we dug into grilled Italian sausages or pork chops or ham. Until one day, several years later, when we had Uncle Franny and Aunt Betty over our house for dinner, serving the best lasagna I ever made - loaded with beef and Italian sausage - salad, homemade rolls and chocolate cream pie for dessert.

At least, not until my mother asked, "Do you still have those pigs of your's, Frances?"

"Oh, no....we slaughtered Willie, but no one could eat him. We sold the other one. And Thelma.....we had to give her up a few years back," my uncle responded with more than a hint of sadness.

Gulp. A mouthful of suddenly sausage-laden lasagna stalled at the back of my throat. Turns out, Thelma got so big (Aunt Betty said she was just under 1,300 pounds, although maybe that could have been a generous estimate....she DID weigh in at over 800 the last time I had seen her...) that she could not be restrained by any man-made pen. Day after day, Thelma broke loose and had to be tracked down and lured back home by a loaf of Wonderbread dangled in front of her snout. It wasn't until Thelma was long gone that I realized, I mean, REALLY realized, where pork came from. And it was at that moment that I developed a bit of an aversion to it. Soon, the subject turned to other matters and memories. But the next time my mom served pork chops for dinner, I couldn't bear it to think of Thelma, and all the other Thelma's out there. It's different when hogs are raised as food, but when you're standing at the meat counter, how do you know that at some point a family pet didn't just got too darn big?

Never say never, but I kind of shied away from pork.

Pork chops??? "Ewwwww...."

Roast pork? "Nuh-uh..."

Italian sausage? "Waaaaah!" (Double whammy - not only is it pork, I was eating it the moment I was told of Thelma being lured up that ramp into the waiting trailer with a loaf of Wonderbread)

Bacon? "Oh gross! Wait a minute....that smells goooooood."

Yeah, I did not suffer from a TOTAL aversion to pork....just a lot of heavy guilt, I suppose, to the point that sometimes it just wasn't worth it.

Flash forward several years...my sister was a new mom, married into a wonderful Italian family, and we were invited over for dinner. On the menu was this thing called....porketta.

I could tell I would be eating a lot of vegetables that day. "Porketta" sounded like some sort of cutesy nickname one would perhaps give to their pet pig. But when I arrived at Sue's house, this amazing aroma of roasted meat and garlic and some new spice greeted me in the kitchen. Soon a platter of sliced meat, roasted potatoes and carrots was placed upon the table and I was too tempted to resist. And that first taste was divine! Moist, succulent pork with a crisp, spicy, savory crust. I had never even heard of "fennel seed" before, but recognized the whole seeds as what I had seen before in Italian sausage.

These days our Christmas dinner tradition is not turkey or ham or roast beef. It's porketta. And I may go a whole year without eating a pork chop, roast pork or slice of ham, but when December rolls around I start imaging the scent of toasting fennel seed and garlic wafting through the air, and the yummy caramelized goodness of oven roasted vegetables. Sue usually orders her's prepared from a small family-owned Italian shop, but I always wanted to try to make my own.

And finally, I did....

First, you'll need to make the seasoning rub - grab some fennel seed, along with some onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, and dried rosemary. You might as well wrestle up some fresh garlic and rosemary, too!

Then, dust of that cool looking thing you bought for five bucks, hoping for the opportunity to some day say "Poppies....poppies will put them to sleeeeeep!"

They tell me it's called a mortar and pestle.

Or if you have better restraint than I do and don't own one, you can grind the rub ingredients in a coffee grinder or just stick 'em in a heavy duty plastic bag and smash them with a meat mallet.

But I got no movie quotes to go with that, so I dusted off the mortar and pestle.

There are no real measurements. I was making this for my parents, so I actually went a little light. If you like a little more heat and spice, doubling everything would work well, and would probably be a better representation of the porketta we enjoy every Christmas...it's pretty spicy around the edges!

So, start out with a heaping tablespoon of fennel seeds.

Add to that, 1 tsp. onion powder, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or mix of oregano, basil, thyme & marjoram), a couple shakes of crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, 1 tsp. kosher salt and about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced.

The moisture from the garlic and the texture of the salt crystals will help blend everything together into a somewhat dry paste as you mash and grind everything together (and cackle about poppies).

Set that aside and prepare your meat. You'll want a 3 1/2 to 4 lb. boneless pork butt...

heheheh...you said butt!

Yeah, well, it's actually part of the shoulder, dude. You might find it labeled "Boston butt" or something. If you can't find it, a pork loin roast will do nicely.

This is my butt...oh shut up!

You can trim some of the fat away, or not. I chose not.

Then make an incision along the side of the roast so you can kind of open it up like a book.

Drizzle on a good tablespoon or so of oil, and rub that all over the meat. You might notice below that I made a few small cuts into the meat and inserted whole cloves of garlic. I highly recommend it!

Then take about a third or so of the mashed up rub blend and spread it evenly on the two open "pages" of your pork book.

Close the flaps and repeat with another tablespoon of oil and the remaining rub on the outside. If you want, you can use some kitchen twine to tie up the roast, but it's really not necessary.

Plop that hunk of meat into a nice big roasting pan, one that leaves enough room for these...

...and these....

Scrub the potatoes and cut them into big chunks - not too little or else they'll cook to death before the porketta is even done. These were kind of large, so I cut most of them into eighth's, the smallish ones into quarters.

Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss into the roasting pan.

Peel and slice up those carrots, again into kind of thick slices. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper and add them to the pan.

If you think you haven't seasoned enough, or heaven forbid haven't used ENOUGH OLIVE OIL, feel free to add a little more. I chose to just sprinkle a little dried thyme over the whole shebang.

I also added in a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Roast in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until a meat thermometer inserted into a thick area of pork reads 160 to 165 degrees. You'll want to stir around those veggies a few times so they brown evenly and don't burn.

And here it is.....

Let the meat sit for 10 or 15 minutes before slicing and serving. I give you permission to pick on a few of those yummy vegetables while you wait!

Oh my...and it's not even Christmas!

I do think of Thelma when I dig into this meal. I imagine she's 37 years old, weighs 3,000 pounds and is lounging in the sun on that farm she went to live on all those years ago.

*************************************

Italian Porketta Roast

The Meat:

1 boneless 3 1/2 to 4 lb pork butt roast (or loin)

The Rub:

1 1/2 Tbsp. fennel seeds

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp kosher salt

4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

The Rest:

4 or 6 additional cloves of garlic, peeled

About 3 tbsp olive oil

3 lbs. potatoes

5 or 6 big carrots

Salt & Pepper

1 tsp dried thyme

2 sprigs fresh rosemary.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mash together rub ingredients until paste-like.

Cut slit in meat so you can open it up like a book. Make a few incisions in the meat and insert whole cloves of garlic. Drizzle with about 1 Tbsp. olive oil and rub into meat. Slather with about 1/3 of the rub mixture. Close flap, and if desired, tie roast with kitchen twine. Drizzle another tbsp. of oil on the outside of the roast and rub in; coat the outside with the remaining rub mixture and place in a large roasting pan.

Scrub and cut potatoes into large chunks. Peel and cut carrots into thick sticks. Drizzle with olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place around the roast in the pan. Adjust seasonings if desired, and sprinkle with 1 tsp, dried thyme. Add a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Bake, stirring vegetables occasionally, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until meat thermometer reads 160 to 165 degrees F. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Healthy Choices - Revamped Egg Salad and More

One of the cards that has always been stacked against me in my quest for a slimmer waistline has been the fact that in general, I just don't like fat-free foods...things like dressings, cheeses, mayonnaise. Things like that. I've always said they seem to try to overcompensate for the lack of fat by adding too much sweetness - in the form of either sugar or artificial sweeteners. I don't know if it's the non-fat part I hate, or the sickeningly sweet part!

On sandwiches, I am usually perfectly happy with mustard, but then comes that craving for one of those mayo-based sandwich fillings - tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad.... and as much as I've tried to like the low fat or fat free versions of those, I just don't, and I walk away from my plate feeling let down, somehow, and looking for something else to appease me.

Usually something chocolate.

When my daughter asked for hard-boiled eggs the other day - she LOVES them, but will only eat the whites! - my mind immediately thought "When was the last time you had egg salad?" I'm not a huge egg salad fan, but when the craving hits I really, really, REALLY want it! As the eggs were cooking on the stove, I browsed through the refrigerator, reading labels, calculating "points" (I'm doing the Weight Watchers thing again, and kind of in the WW Zone, so to speak!) I tried looking at alternatives for the big gob of mayonnaise that would have historically found its way into my egg salad. I know people use yogurt as a mayo substitute, but the thought of yogurty egg salad didn't appeal to me. What did I have on hand that could maybe cover up that yogurt flavor? Whatever it was, it would have to be good, because I was already hell-bent on making a healthy egg salad using one whole egg and a couple whites only. Not only would it have to cover up yogurt, it would have to cover up the fact that a couple rich, creamy yolks were missing, having been sacrificed to the dogs. (Insert dog burp and happy tail-wagging here)

This came to my rescue.

A nice spicy dijon mustard which would add flavor as well as a hint of yellow, tricking the eyes into thinking there were more egg yolks in the egg salad.

Dijon had an accomplice, too!

One of the most under-utilized items in my cupboard. I've never actually been sure if I liked them or not, but I always seem to have capers on hand.

I went on, measuring out some non-fat yogurt, a spoonful of mustard, and I did add a spoonful of mayonnaise for a little bit of luxury, then capers, scallion and salt and pepper. Stirred in my one chopped whole hard-boiled egg, and two hard boiled egg whites, pulled out a nice low-carb, multi-grain wrap and some fresh veggies, and this was my lunch:

And it worked! I really didn't feel like I was being cheated, and there was very little of that "diet" taste.

Here's my new egg salad recipe - even if you want to use whole eggs, this ended up being a great way to cut back on the mayo:

Lighter Egg Salad Wraps (2 servings)

Ingredients

1 whole hard boiled egg

2 additional hard boiled eggs, yolks removed (if doing the lighter version)

1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1 tsp dijon mustard ( a nice spicy one)

1 1/2 tsp capers, drained and chopped

1 scallion, chopped

1 Tbsp. mayonnaise ( I use a canola-based mayo)

Salt & pepper to taste

2 8" multi-grain low carb tortillas (or other bread item)

Lettuce

Cucumber Slices

Chopped fresh dill or paprika (optional)

Directions

Chop eggs.

Mix together yogurt, mustard, capers, scallion, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Stir in eggs.

Arrange sliced cucumber and lettuce on each tortilla and top with half the egg salad. Sprinkle with dill or paprika, if desired, roll up and serve.

But wait! There's more!

Yes, the whole inspiration for this egg salad actually came from something I had made the weekend before to use up some leftover salmon. Here's my Salmon Salad recipe (the dressing part actually makes a nice tartar sauce, too!)

Dijon Salmon Salad With Lemon and Capers

Ingredients

4 or 5 oz. cooked salmon (about 1 1/2 cups, flaked), chilled
1 1/2 tsp. capers, drained and chopped
1 1/2 tsp. fresh dill, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1/4 cup non-fat yogurt
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, mayonnaise, dijon mustard and lemon juice.
Stir in capers, dill and scallion.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
(This can also be used as a nice tartar sauce)
Fold in flaked salmon.
Serve on top of salad greens, in a sandwich, on a toasted English muffin, as a spread for cracker, etc....