Obsession: Iced coffee

Implements of destruction: Coffee, Nespresso machine, coffee maker, $20 take out cup, ice cube try. 

So yes, I'm a New Englander and yes, I love coffee. But somewhere along the line, the happy train has veered off the tracks and I've become one of those nutty people when it comes to iced coffee. Specifically, I've become one of those people who has to have the iced coffee made a certain way or I'm not interested. As I write this, I'm sitting in my living room at 8:20 a.m. without a coffee. Why? Because I don't have half and half. I have milk, but I can't drink coffee with milk, only half and half.
Here's the way it goes: I make a big pot of coffee using twice as much coffee as I would for hot coffee. I freeze some of the coffee into ice cubes and put the rest in a pitcher in the refrigerator. I then make several shots of espresso to add to the pitcher. This, in itself, was a bit of obsession. I tried a few different ways to make espresso before finally breaking down and buying a Nespresso, which makes us very happy. Nine seconds, and you have a cup of espresso.
In the morning when I go to have my coffee, I put some of the ice cubes in a glass, add the iced coffee and stir in some half and half. Oh, wait, I forgot ... it's not just any glass, it's a take out cup from Starbucks that I bought a little while ago. It's a $20 take out cup. Trust me, that's too much to pay. I thought it said $12.95. When I got to the register, I found out I was wrong. I bought it anyway. Turns out it was worth it. It keeps my iced coffee chilled for hours. 
To get my perfect cup of iced coffee every day, I need coffee, the coffee maker, the espresso maker, a pitcher, a take out mug, half and half and ice cubes made from coffee.
It's ridiculous.
And delicious.

Vegetarian, schmegitarian?

This Roasted Vegetable Pie features
a crust made from rice
and filled with vegetables, 
kalamata olives and fontina cheese.

The other night while describing what I was making for dinner, my boyfriend Barry said, "Is there any meat in it?" I made a roasted vegetable pie with a rice crust. But no, it doesn't contain any meat. You see, for the most part, if a meal doesn't contain meat, to Barry, it's not a real meal. He's a carnivore, as am I. But I can eat a meal without meat; it's more of a challenge for him. I had anticipated this and made some pork cutlets to go with the pie.
I did ask him if he could try to do "meatless Mondays" with me. He said that yes, he'd do it, no problem. I suspect it won't be a problem, but it might be a challenge ... for both of us. For him, it will probably be about embracing change. For me, it will likely be about finding good vegetarian options other than the usual suspects: vegetarian chili, quiche, pasta with some kind of sauce.
So, if it's such a challenge, why do it? Mostly because I'd like to eat less meat for health reasons. But I'd also like to stretch my culinary wings and learn to make more meatless meals.
It's an experiment. It may turn into a lifestyle change for us. Then again, Barry may be making himself a ham sandwich to go with our Monday dinners. 
I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, here's the recipe for the roasted vegetable pie. It's delicious. The recipe is from a Cooking Light magazine many years ago.

 

Roasted Vegetable Pie 

2 cups cooked jasmine, basmati, or long-grain rice
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
1 1/2 cups sliced yellow squash
1/2 cup (2 ounces) fontina cheese, divided
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb (about 1 small bulb)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
1 tomato, sliced

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine first three ingredients. Press evenly into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Increase oven temperature to 450°.
Combine zucchini and next 8 ingredients (zucchini through garlic) in a medium bowl; stir to coat. Place vegetable mixture on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove vegetable mixture from oven. Add olives and tomato; toss gently.
Reduce oven temperature to 375°.

The vegetables are roasted
with a little olive oil.

The rice crust is held together
with egg whites
and Parmesan ch
Fontina cheese
before the vegetables go in.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup fontina cheese over rice crust. Top with vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup fontina cheese. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes.

Hot days, cool food

I'm not one to tout the health benefits of packaged food. I am, however, one who detests being overheated and will become very grumpy when the sweating begins. Therefore, on those days when the heat soars past 90, I know how to prioritize. First, any food that does not have to be cooked -- by me -- is fair game. This means take out food, tuna fish and ready to eat meals from the grocery store. Second, all fashion rules go out the window. That means that if whatever I want to wear ... or not wear ... is fine. The priority is staying cool.
So, on those sweltering days, you might find me in my kitchen wearing a sleeveless, low cut sundress stirring up some macaroni salad and slicing a rotisserie chicken from Hannaford. Yes, yes, I know those things are chockful of ... stuff .. that make them taste good, principally salt, I imagine. And I am fine with that. And the macaroni salad? It's cold. Period.
Sometimes on days like this (when it's not only hot, but it's also really humid) I'll make a big salad and we'll have some cooked chicken in it. Or I'll throw something in the crockpot so that I can avoid turning on any burners.
Here's the thing: It's summer. Even if you don't have a vacation planned or any time off, it really is a more relaxing time. It's warmer, so it takes a little less energy to get ready for the day ... no shoveling, no scraping of the car, no layers of wool. And people's moods certainly feel a little bit lighter when there's more daylight and no snow.
So let go of those dinnertime rules. Order a pizza. Go out for Chinese food. Get a bucket of peel and eat shrimp. Make some sandwiches. 
Take it easy.

I ran out of ... popcorn?

SO, it's Sunday night and my sister is visiting from New Jersey. We are supposed to attend a Rihanna concert in Boston but it was cancelled.
We had a lovely day nonetheless: massages at the mall, shopping at the mall, laughing at the same things, trying on clothes in the same dressing room. I adore my sister, and we have a blast together.
At the end of the day, we hit Il Camino in Leominster for dinner with Barry, the best boyfriend ever. We had chicken picatta, a big antipasto, homemade pasta and salads. This is one of our favorite places in the area. The food is wonderful, the prices are reasonable and the service is always very good. The sauce on the chicken picatta is spoon worthy.
We came back to our house after dinner and settled in to watch a movie ("The Giant Mechanical Man" ... and it was a lovely film.) About a half our into the movie, I got up to make popcorn. And I was out of popcorn. I looked everywhere. I was sure I had some, somewhere. But there was none. Well, there was a package of Jiffy Pop that Barry had given to me when we first started dating, but I felt reasonably sure that it would be a mistake to eat that.
I don't normally have microwave popcorn in the cabinet, I use regular popcorn in a microwave popper. Unable to find any popcorn, I just sat down to watch the move. We debated taking a trip to the convenience store down the street, but it was 10 pm at that point and really cold out.
I surveyed other options in the cabinets while my sister remarked that Jenna Fischer's character in the  film did nothing but eat through the whole movie.
We had about a half a bag of animal crackers, a half a jar of Bischoff Spread, 15 jelly beans and some raspberry frozen yogurt. I wanted popcorn, preferrably caramel corn. But a nice soft peanut butter cookie would do. Or a piece of white chocolate. Or kettle corn.
I found a half a bag of mini marshmallows in the cabinet and at some of those. I offered them to my sister and told her they were delicous. She said, "When did marshmallows become delicious?" She ate some though, and we got a little sugar fix. It wasn't the sugar fix we wanted, but we made it through the night.
First stop this morning? The grocery store to buy popcorn. I vow to never be caught in the no popcorn zone again. It was hell.

First, let me apologize for not posting more often. Sure, the holidays were hectic, but there were lots of food things going on that I should have written about. But the problem wasn't just my busyness. I couldn't access my blogger account. The website made a change and all of the sudden, I couldn't log in, post, change photos, etc. And if you've ever dealt with a big website such as ... Google, you know how challenging it can be to get answers.
Anyhoo, I figured things out and am back in action.
I did get caught up in the craziness of the holidays, but had a nice, relaxing visit to Florida for a week to visit Barry's family. For those of you married to the idea that Christmas has to involve freezing temperatures and snow, I beg to differ. Christmas is perfectly fine in warm temperatures. Eating appetizers poolside before Christmas dinner is lovely. Going for a swim on Christmas Eve is wonderful -- rejuvenating. And wearing sandals for a week in December works for me.
Okay, back to food.
We arrived in Florida on Christmas Eve (yes, we flew out of Boston and into Miami on one of the busiest travel days of the year ... and it was seamless!) and went to Barry's mom's house, where we stayed for the week. Viola is 93 and doing pretty well. She doesn't cook like she used to but she has certainly done her share: a lifetime of eggplant parmigiana, lasagna, spaghetti, meatballs and the like. Viola is a wonderful cook. Shortly after we arrived, she handed me a recipe and asked me if I would make pizzelles. In case you don't know, pizzelles are thin cookies that are made using a press, kind of like a waffle iron, flavored with anise. I had only made them once before, for a friend's wedding. And that experience was old school. My friend, her mother, her aunts and her sister all got together to make 500 pizzelles and various other Italian cookies for the reception. And we used the family pizzelle irons, which made one cookie at a time.
So when Viola handed me the recipe, I blanched a bit. I'd just gotten off a plane, I was aching to go out to the pool for a swim and I wasn't sure I had the wherewithal to use a hot iron to make cookies for the next day. But then (cue the angels singing), I found the pizzelle maker. Viola had upgraded to a Cuisinart pizzelle maker. This new gadget makes two cookies at a time, really fast.
I set out to make some pizzelles while Barry and his mom visited. I brought the first batch into the dining room and they loved them. In fact, they loved them so much, I had to make another batch so we had enough to bring to Barry's sister's house the next day. And I made more before we left to head home so that Viola had some to enjoy.
Perhaps it was serendipity that I had a $50 Visa gift card in the mail when we arrived home, a rebate from buying a phone. It was exactly enough to buy my own pizzelle maker.