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. 

Breakfast is ....

Sage Derby cheese and an apple for breakfast.
 

... the most important meal of the day, right? I have mixed feelings. Often, when I eat breakfast, I'm hungry all day. If I don't have breakfast, I don't eat anything until after lunch. I'm not sure it matters just what I eat, either.
What I do know is that once I changed my thinking about what constitutes breakfast, I became more likely to eat something. Back when I was a kid, breakfast was cereal, toast, eggs or pancakes. Today, breakfast usually doesn't mean any of those things (unless it's a big weekend kind of breakfast). Today, breakfast is yogurt, cheese, fruit, smoothies -- even leftovers from last night's dinner.
I bring this all up because I was having the discussion the other day I was having a discussion about pie for breakfast. One of my coworkers was taking a break and she had eggs, toast, hot cereal and a piece of pie on her plate. I love the enthusiasm she has for food and she makes no apologies for what she eats. She is also about a size 4 .. so ... go figure.
Anyhoo, my understanding is that pie for breakfast was an old farm tradition. Fruit pies kept well without refrigeration so they were often served in the morning to the farmhands.
I haven't had pie for breakfast lately but I have a bunch of other stuff I like. This morning I'm having some cheese -- Sage Derby -- with a fresh apple. I love peanut butter smeared on a banana washed down with a cup of coffee.  I used to eat bananas and peanut butter on a rice cake for breakfast almost every day. I enjoy Greek yogurt, plain, mixed with a little jam. Sometimes I throw some fruit in a blender along with an instant breakfast drink. We like what we call "fake" sausage, the Morningstar Farms soy-based sausage patties and I always have hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator. Yesterday I had hummus and pita chips for breakfast.
Rather than worrying about whether or not it's a "breakfast" food, today I concentrate on what is healthy and appealing to me in the morning. Sometimes I get both in, like today. Other days, pie for breakfast sounds perfect.

The (other) thing I would do for free

This apple pie, topped with a crumbly granola topping,
is one of the recipes  I'm  using in a pie class next month
at Your Kitchen Store in Keene.

You may have heard this before: When we are trying to figure out a career, we should try and find something to do that we would do for free. The idea is that it will never feel like work.
After losing my job as a columnist earlier this year, I had to figure out what it was that I would do for free. But, truthfully, my job as a columnist was that thing. It was a little challenging to figure out something else ... other than sleep. I love to sleep; I'd do that for free. But I imagine it would be hard to make a living at it.
As it turns out, there is something else I would do for free: teach people to cook. Last fall, I had an opportunity to teach a few classes through the Keene Community Education program. I offered a course titled "Cooking for Scaredy Cats," designed for people who lacked confidence in the kitchen. We made appetizers, entrees and desserts. After those three classes, I was invited to teach a few more. And then last spring, the folks at Your Kitchen Store in Keene, asked me to teach a few classes there.
I'm a social person. And I'm not a shy person. And I love cooking and being in the kitchen. But mostly, I like to share that passion with others. For me, cooking is the easiest thing in the world. For others, it's a struggle. I like having the opportunity to bridge that gap.
I remember hearing a long time ago that if you can read, you can cook. I don't really believe that. I believe cooking requires a certain rhythm in the kitchen which is born of confidence. Gathering people together to share recipes, techniques and shortcuts is a way of boosting that confidence. And during the class, we always sample the food we are making. This "breaking bread" ritual is bonding for all of us; once you've shared food with someone, you have a connection.
In the next few months I'm teaching classes about pie making, using pumpkin in cooking, holiday gifts from the kitchen and several others. I am honored that so many folks want to come out and spend an evening in the kitchen with me. It is always fun. And I always learn something. I've made new friends, made a few mistakes here and there and had many of those lovely moments where strangers become friends through food and fellowship.
Today, I don't call this the thing I'd do for free anymore. Now I have a different (albeit cliched) name for it: following my bliss.

Okay, so maybe I'm a little obsessive about this ...

Nirvana!
 

Farm stand after farm stand, I heard two things: "No, not yet ... " or "Oh, we don't have that ..." Silver Queen corn was what I sought. It's white corn ... and it's harvested late in the summer. One friend said that's because they save the best for last.Silver Queen isn't always the sweetest corn and the kernels aren't the most plump. But to me, it's the most flavorful. And each year I go through the challenge of finding a stash of it before it's too late. My search reminds me of trying to swim in the ocean in New Hampshire in the summer. There's a very short span of time when you can actually swim without seeing ice cubes floating by. It's as if there is one day in mid-August, between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m. when everything lines up to make that swim tolerable. But if you attempt that same swim the very next day, your limbs will go numb and fall off.
Last year, I went out to find Silver Queen and heard several times "It's too early. Next week." But then the following week, they were all out.
Blink and you miss it.
Well this year, I swam in the ocean in New Hampshire (and I still have all of my limbs intact) and I found Silver Queen corn.


At last ...

I went to three farm stands to find it, a total of about six visits before I found the corn. And when I finally saw it, sitting in the corner of a farm stand in Harvard, Mass., I'm pretty sure I saw a light shining down from above and heard the angels singing.
I bought 18 ears of corn. We had some for dinner that night. I made corn chowder salad the next night (bacon, potatoes, red bell pepper, onion) and put the rest in the freezer ... sliced off of the cob, blanched and packed in freezer bags.
 I'm a very happy girl.