Faith and Begorah!

A Leprechaun named Seamus, left this lov-er-ly Green Shamrock Waffle on my plate!

 

I've found a four leaf clover at breakfast.

Faith and Begorah,

What a lucky lass am I!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Raising Cane's for the Fourth!

If you are in the Las Vegas area, Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers on Flamingo is doing something very special for the Fourth of July.  They are giving 100% of what they make today to support the troops, so go on in and order!  It's the patriotic thing to do.

The Family of Food had a great lunch of chicken fingers with Raising Cane's special sauce, crinkle fries, and texas toast.  They do catering too, so you can pick up a tailgate box for your Fourth of July picnics.

http://www.raisingcanes.com/

Raising Cane's 
Las Vegas, NV
1120 E. Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV, 89119

USA Bento

USA!  USA!  Are you in the mood for the 4th of July yet, how about Memorial Day? You could pack a few of these boxes on your weekend camping trip, or your all day beach outing.  I made it for lunch.
If you're worried about the twins, don't worry, I made two of these, I just didn't like the picture of the second flag sandwich that much.

So... We have watermelon, blueberries, with a flag shaped almond butter and strawberry jelly sandwich, on a bed of string cheese and tomato stripes.

A Gathering of Thanksgiving Posts

Thanksgiving Turkey Bento 

It is almost Turkey Day in America.  Are you cooking yet?  To help out, I've gathered some of our best Thanksgiving posts here.

Thanksgiving - Common problems, Simple Solutions
Advice from Father of Food .

 

Fresh Pumpkin Treats

This one has a Pumpkin Pie Recipe.

 

Whipper Info

 How to use a Whipper like this Isi Thermowhip.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes or Yams

A tiny recipe.

Family of Food Thanksgiving Food Drive
Donate to the LA Food Bank!

Passover Bagels and a look at a Vintage Cookbook

During the Passover, when we are bereft of bread, I find I am craving anything that is a facsimile of leavened food. Yes, I know, it seems like cheating, but Passover rolls and bagels are a time honored tradition. About day four I desperately needed something other than Matzo.

While looking for a recipe to quell my yeasty yearnings, I came across this lovely vintage cookbook, A Russian Jew cooks in Peru, by Violeta Autumn, published in 1973. Amazingly, it is Available on Amazon through 3rd party sellers. I am not sure where I got this book, Friend of Food Kelly maybe? If so, thank you, Kelly. This is a beautiful book

The recipes are lovingly illustrated and hand lettered.  Every detail is well thought out and preciously laid out on the page.

Even the dedication page is phenomenal.

Close to the end of the book, I found this recipe for Passover Bagels. 

If you click on the image a larger version of this picture will appear.

You can try this recipe for yourself. 

It is fairly quick and easy, especially when you follow these pretty directions. These bagels are pretty tasty right out of the oven.  They don't seem to last much beyond that as everyone eats them right up.  I have already made this recipe twice this Passover.

Busy Times

The holidays are always busy times. This year I have been blessed with more family time, a little freelance work (I am an Artist by trade), and the pleasure of living life. Yesterday we set up the Christmas tree, lit the candles on the menorah, and saw the Princess and the Frog; we are a multicultural family. We ate at The Counter,but more about that in a future post.
Husband of Food and I spent time with friends at their house in Torrance. I brought Muddy Buddies and found out who reads this blog regularly. I played a board game. I finished a book I could barely put down. If you are a parent with young kids, you may like it, too. I can't tell you how many times I laughed at this book thinking, "OK, so this happens to other people, too."

I chatted with Mother of Food. I let Husband of Food calm the overtired twins who were still up when we got home. I read an incredibly sweet post on the Mandicrocker Blog, featuring yours truly. Yesterday was a beautiful day. But enough about me... What's new with you?

Visiting Family in Vegas

OK, there were the holidays, we went away, and Father of Food is in the hospital. The family apologizes for not posting. I know you just can't wait to hear what we may be eating these days. Both Daughter of Food and Son of Food spent some time in Vegas this past week visiting Father. We tried some new things. Here's the quick report....

Buffet at Asia is a busy Mixed Asian food buffet at the corner of Flamingo and Eastern. The selection includes Sushi, Dim Sum dishes, Crabs Legs, Shrimp, Mongolian Barbecue, Thai, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese fare. The food was decent, if you picked from the trays that were fresh. I liked the Crab Won Tons and the Shrimp tempura, but the Pad Thai was barely unrecognisable as Pad Thai. The meal cost $12.00 for dinner and the kids ate for free. I didn't flip over this place, but I would go back.
4090 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, NV‎ - (702) 650-0290‎

Another Buffet we had (it is Vegas after all), was the breakfast buffet at Boulder Station. Breakfast is breakfast, an amazing brunch this is not, however, and if you're hungry and your funds are limited, you should go. We took our family of four on Friday morning and ate all we could eat for under $12 including tip (3 and under eat free). It was a heck of a lot more satisfying than the Burger King meal we had the next day for $20. As far as breakfast buffets go, this one was fine, but I did not like the omelet I got, mainly due to low quality, stale cheese. The chunky applesauce was very tasty on my so-so potato pancake. The bacon was greasy. Did I mention the cost was less than $3.00 a person? In these economic times, it was fine, really.

The last place I'll mention was featured in a post last year and it's called Metro Pizza. We went to the Boulder Station location. The pepperoni didn't impress, but I would recommend the white pizza. We were not able to get the legendary salad Melissa mentioned in the comments of the earlier post. If you go on Friday night, you can "enjoy" the Kareoke at the bar across the way.

Boulder Station Buffet and
Metro Pizza at Boulder Station
4111 Boulder Hwy
Las Vegas, NV 89121

Family of Food Drive

We are so lucky at Family of Food, although times are tough for everyone this year, we can afford to eat. This is no small miricle. Many Americans are not as well fed as they used to be. People who may have gotten by in the past with a bit of scrimping are now slipping into poverty. The food bank demands in my home city, Los Angeles, are up 41% from last year.

As a gesture of goodwill towards our fellow Man, and a strong "Family of Food" desire to feed others, we are starting a Family of Food Drive. This virtual food drive will raise money to benefit the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. Los Angeles Regional Foodbank is a private, nonprofit, charitable organization that has been serving the disadvantaged of the Los Angeles community since 1973. They are at the heart of a charitable food distribution network that includes over 1,000 charities in Los Angeles County.

For every $1 you donate the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank can distribute enough food for 5 meals. Please join us in our attempt to give 10,000 hungry people a meal. If we beat that goal, even better. Any amount will help, even a dollar.


Please click on the Food Drive Link to give. This will take you to the foodbank. Then tell your friends to visit our site and donate. You can even join the family and become a fundraiser too. You can make a whole lot of real people less hungry this Holiday Season. Thank you.

*Donate to The Family of Food Drive

*Become part of the Family of Food Drive Team.

A Lighter Kind of Passover Recipe

I tried something different for one of my passover meals this year, a Weight Watchers recipe. There was nothing particularly Passover about this recipe other than it broke no Passover rule, but it works for the holiday, so why argue? It was fresh, simple, and low in calories.
I loved it and will surely make it again at any time of the year.

I am reprinting it here for convenience, but the original and many other great recipes can be found at:
http://www.weightwatchers.com/

Here's a direct link to the recipe:
Passover Chicken with Tomato-Mint Salsa

Ingredients:
2 cup grape tomatoes, halved (opt for small tomatoes)
1 small jalapeno pepper(s), cored, seeded and minced (do not touch seeds with bare hands)
1/2 cup red onion(s), finely chopped
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 1/4 tsp table salt, or to taste, divided
1 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste, divided
1 Tbsp mint leaves, fresh, chopped
1 sprays cooking spray, lemon-flavor recommended
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
1/2 medium lemon(s), cut into 4 wedges

Instructions:
To prepare salsa, in a small bowl, combine tomatoes, jalapeno, onion, vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper; sprinkle on mint and set aside.
Coat a large heavy-bottomed ridged grill pan with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute.
Sprinkle chicken with remaining teaspoon each of salt and pepper; place in a single layer on prepared pan. Cook until chicken turns white around edges, about 1 to 2 minutes; flip chicken and grill until chicken is cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes more.
Arrange chicken in overlapping slices on a serving plate; spoon on salsa and garnish with lemon wedges.
Yields about 3 ounces of chicken and 1/2 cup of salsa per serving.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Has Corned Beef and Cabbage turned me Green? No, I'm not sick, just enthused. In preparation for St. Patrick's Day dinner, I bought two shirts, one green, one with a shamrock. I wore the green to dinner and wore the shamrock the next day. Is that too much? Maybe I am carried away with celebrations of family that included three of the cutest Leprechauns I've ever seen (OK two of them are my own children, so I'm biased). Maybe I am lost in memories of a particularly good trip overseas. Maybe I'm trying to get my Irish readership up... Erik are ye there???



We had a feast of traditional Irish Cooking for St. Patrick's Day, thanks to Mother In Law of Food. The dinner was a late arrangement, yet to her credit, it came together quite well. As is the recent household trend, the Corned Beef was cooked in the slow cooker. Potatoes and cabbage accompanied the meat. I don't usually go for cabbage of any sort, but the simple steaming of it made a nice sweet crunchy compliment to the tasty salty beef. An off the cuff celebration inspired by a hunk of meat, bought for the holiday, caused an evening that was really fun. It is a powerful joy when Family and Food combine.

Eggs as Art

It is almost Easter and that means EGG ART is here! At work our "Craft Club" spent a fun lunch break decorating eggs with very modest supplies. The top left egg was made with drippy craft paints, the flower egg was sharpies, and the one on the lower right was crayon resistance with paint. Mine is the one on the lower left, drawn on with Sharpies. You won't recognize her yet, but if you check back on this blog next year, you may be able to identify the character. Here's a hint, she would look more like herself if we had white eggs. The great thing about this project is it's simplicity and freedom. You can do whatever you want with your egg, if it doesn't work out, it's fun to smash the shell. C'mon, how often do you get to smash an egg? Thanks to Craft Club President Eva for blowing out the eggs.

I can't wait for an Easter Egg Hunt!

Merry Christmas

Now that the Christmas Dinner is done, you still have family staying over and you are exhausted. What will you do with the leftovers? What will you serve for Breakfast the next day? Make a strata! You can add parts of your Christmas dinner right into the mix. Here’s a Christmas gift to you, an easy strata recipe for the day after Christmas. This recipe is mix and match, so don't stress if you are missing an ingredient or two. Play and enjoy.


Mini Strata

Loaf pan (Pyrex if you have it)
1 roll Ciabatta or French or Italian bread
5 eggs
¼ cup milk
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
Dash of fresh Rosemary or Basil
3/4 cup cheese
½ cup broccoli, green beans, or asparagus
½ cup diced tomatoes
½ cup of cooked Turkey or Ham

Cut up bread into cubes to line the bottom of loaf pan.
Pour ½ cup of cheese over bread.
Add cooked Turkey or Ham
Mix up eggs, milk, salt and pepper, maybe fresh Rosemary or Basil.
Pour mixture over bread and cheese and meat.
Pour on veggies.
Cover with remaining cheese.
Refrigerate 2-24 hours.
Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Sweets for Dinner

It's 4:40 in the morning. I've been up for a while. One cupcake, two cookies, chex mix, two spiked hot chocolates, and a glass of wine do not make for a pleasant evening. Tummy aching holidays.

Hammy Hanukkah or (Chanukah)

Last week one of the great gourmet markets in NYC - Balducci's offered a sale on delicious Chanukah hams. When the mistake was discovered (Jews don’t eat pork products unless it's Chinese or BBQ)). It was rumored that Balducci's offered those offended an invitation to a free brunch on Yom Kippur day.

Happy Hanukkah!

It's Latke Time!

The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is here and along with the candles and the dreidles come Latkes. Latkes are a potato pancake fried in oil to celebrate the miracle of the oil that kept the lights burning for 8 days in the Holy Temple.

My Mother in Law told me that her family used to have a traditional German meal of Potato Latkes for the Christian Holiday of Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. The way she described those potato latkes was just like the way good Hanukkah latkes are made.

The cultures of humanity are intertwined in so many ways. People are always looking for the differences in each other, but we are so much the same. Let us celebrate this holiday season by remembering that we are all family. Let us celebrate with a potato.


Classic Potato Latkes

Ingredients

1 – 1½ pounds potatoes, cleaned and peeled.
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 medium onion, finely grated
Salt and black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying

Directions

Grate potatoes into long strips, over a large bowl of cold water. Transfer grated potatoes from water into another bowl. Pour off water from first bowl, reserving potato schmutz (residue). Add residue to potatoes.
Add eggs and onion. Add salt and pepper to taste (but don’t actually taste it because it has raw eggs). Mix well by hand.
Fill a large heavy-bottomed frying pan with about 1/2 inch of oil and heat until very hot, about 385 degrees.
Drop about 5 or 6 heaping spoonfuls of potato mixture into the frying pan. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Turn latkes over, and cook on the other side until golden brown, about another 3 minutes.

Serve with Applesauce and Sour Cream.

Thanksgiving, the Gorgefest that is an American Tradition.

This year several little ones have brought together a fresh configuration of family members that are usually scattered to the winds. The gathering was a treat and the wee ones, a joy. The meal was strong on the traditional with a bit of adventure, too. For the first time, we had a Heritage Turkey, a bird much closer to those found in Pilgrim times than the ones we buy at the supermarket today. I found this turkey to be really tender and juicy. The meat was served with a cognac reduction sauce which complimented the poultry completely. This was the best part of the meal for me. It took a lot of will power to keep from taking a second helping. I tried to be modest in my gluttony this Thanksgiving. A Sweet Potato Soufflé in individual ramekins and an excellent Mushroom Dressing stood out as pleasant twists on the standard dishes.

For my part, I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake, another slight deviation from the regular fare. Never having made any kind of a Cheesecake before, I was pretty pleased with the results. Here are two things I learned about Cheesecake that you may be interested in; one cheesecake is made of entirely too much cream cheese, and two, cheesecake can be sliced with dental floss – preferably not mint.

Topped off with some exceptional wine (Sea Smoke), this Thanksgiving was superb. I hope a meal this good becomes a long standing tradition.

Thanksgiving - common problems - simple solutions

problem

You know that you have more requests for white meat than dark and would like to have beautiful slices of turkey breast to serve when you bring out the platter

solution

Make a turkey breast the day before. Refrigerate overnight and it will be very easy to slice. Warm in oven after other turkey is out and resting.

problem

Should you cook stuffing inside the turkey?

solution

Most professional chefs don't. Some feel there could be health concerns. The bird's cooking times will vary. They cook the stuffing separately where they have more control and usually warm it just before serving. Instead stuff the turkey with chopped aromatic vegetables ( onions, celery, carrots) maybe some garlic cloves even things like cut up lemons and oranges.

problem

How do I cut calories or make the dishes lighter? Some people seem to always be on a diet. How do I satisfy these people?

solution

Forget about it! Let them diet on the other 364 day's.

Day of Atonement, Night of Plenty

This weekend I gave up food for one day, Yom Kippur, The Jewish Day of Atonement. Now, if you’ve been following this blog, you know by now, that I love FOOD, so a day without is a rough undertaking at best. I am not going to go on about the difficulties of forgoing sustenance; I just want to set up the joy that is The Breaking of the Fast!

Like the first light-jacket appropriate spring day after a grey down-parka requiring Cleveland winter, the first taste of food after a fast is an event at which you rejoice. At this time, I especially appreciate the Jewish prayer called the HaMotzi, where one gives thanks for bread. I was lucky enough to get an invite to a friend’s post Yom Kippur Dinner, where the each few guests brought some part of the delicious meal. Everything was wonderful, but I want to make mention of a few specific parts of the meal which were outstanding. First, I will give thanks for the bread. It was bakery bread, I believe, but in a town not known for its baked goods, a decent Challah is a blessing of its own. The hostess made her own hummus which was one of the best I have had. I would love the recipe if that friend of food happens to read this post. Then there were two excellent kugels made by that hostess, a cheese square casserole and a shredded potato dish which was addictive. At dessert we had, among other yummy treats, an excellent apple strudel made by a fellow guest. I won’t ask for a recipe for this one, just more strudel. As for my part, I brought a selection of desserts including one of my favorites, “The Cleveland Bar” from Solley’s in Sherman Oaks. Funny thing… I’m from Cleveland and when I first saw this treat in the deli case at Solly’s years ago, I asked if I could get one of those “Coconut Bars” in the case. “Coconut Bars” are what they are called in Cleveland. They had no idea what I was talking about. Now I just ask for the Cleveland Bar to avoid the confusion. Thanks to all who participated and thanks to my hosts who made for a terrific evening.

You can find Cleveland Bars at:
Solly's Deli & Bakery
4578 Van Nuys Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
818-905-5774
818-905-7445