Category Archives: Food and Recipes

5 January 2012

Taste Memory

By Nicki

We all have memories. The question is what triggers those memories. Yesterday, I had a taste memory. I have talked frequently about growing up with my grandmother. Holidays were busy times, as they are for most families. Yet, my grandmother would always bake.

I made the recipe for sugar rollout cookies this week (see my dilemma regarding the cookie dough). I had not made these cookies in over 20 years. I got to the point where no chill cookie dough was definitely a better option than dough that had to be made, then refrigerated, and then rolled out and cut and baked. Time is a commodity and I was making the most of mine.

I did finally roll out the sugar cookie dough and once they were baked, I was the first to have one. This is not because my children are not cookie monsters but because I was the only one at home while I baked. The taste, the slight almond, the texture – it all took me back to that kitchen on Liberty Street. I was a young girl or a teenager – I was always up for cookies – and my grandmother was the baker. The cookies were delicious. I didn’t put sprinkles on them or icing, something my grandmother did on occasion. I just baked the cookies.

I hope, that 30-40 years in the future, my children bake this recipe and have a memory about coming home to these cookies on the table. Taking a bite of today’s bounty definitely took me back in time and had me looking forward to the future.

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

4 January 2012

Cookie Dilemma

By Nicki

Have you ever had issues with what you are baking? I made cookie dough. I made two different kinds, both what I consider Christmas cookies. The first batch was sugar cookie rollout dough. It was my mother’s recipe and I use to hate using it as I am not a wait for the dough to get cold kind of gal. I like making my dough and my cookies and being done with it all. The second was a gingerbread recipe that also needed to be chilled.

The sugar cookie dough was done on a Saturday in December. My oldest daughter was having a party the next day and I was making these cookies for that party. I never got them cut out and baked. There is that chill the dough part coming in again. I left the dough in the refrigerator for some time but when I did decide I was going to make cookies, the dough was all crumbly. I added a bit more water and still was having issues. I re-wrapped the dough and put it back in the refrigerator.

I have several gingerbread cookie recipes. I have, though, lost my favorite one which did not require refrigeration. I cannot wait to find another not necessary to chill the dough recipe. In the beginning of December, I made one recipe. I refrigerated it and then got it all rolled out and made a gingerbread-mince roll. It also had ginger flavored cream cheese in it and was delicious. The roll had some issues in the oven but tasted fantastic.

The second batch I used a recipe that came with a Tupperware calendar I had years ago. The recipe was larger so I could do some cut outs and another roll if I wanted to do so. I refrigerated the dough and, sure enough, it was all crumbly. I do not know what happened. I added more water and re-formed several – four to be precise – balls of dough and put it back in the refrigerator.

I am ready to make cookies again. Now, will the two dough be good enough or will a crumbly-ness continue and will I eat the raw the cookie dough?

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Family, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

27 December 2011

Starbucks’ Breakfast Fare

By Nicki

What a pleasant surprise when I walked into my local Starbucks on December 20th to find that breakfast sandwiches were buy one, get one free. After having read Onward by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, I have steered clear of the breakfast sandwiches at my favorite coffee shop. I knew that changes had been made since they were originally introduced but I wasn’t willing to tempt fate. Vestal, New York may not be on the top of the list for Starbucks so I wasn’t going to order something that would smell up the small shop.

I figured if a lot of people were ordering these and I wasn’t hit with the smell of breakfast sandwiches when I walked in the shop, I was good to get a sandwich … or two as the case may be.

Let me tell you that the variety that was available floored me. I was excited to be able to order a wrap instead of a sandwich. My order was not adventurous by any means – two spinach, feta and egg wraps. YUM!

The wrap, which I expected to be on a tortilla type of wrap, was on flatbread. This means the wrap itself was thicker than just a tortilla. It was multi-grain of some sort. The reminder was delicious. Whoever prepared the wrap did so with perfection. I lost none of the insides as I was eating the wrap. I am a huge spinach fan and there was plenty of spinach in the wrap – fresh baby spinach it seemed to me without taking the wrap apart to actually see. The feta was the perfect companion to the spinach and egg.

The wrap tasted delicious. I was so full I even came home and ran three hours later without a growl in my stomach. I didn’t even manage to eat lunch as I was still full. I count myself lucky to have decided to work at Starbucks that morning as I had breakfast for five dollars and thoroughly enjoyed it.

2 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts, Product Reviews

20 December 2011

Spicy Almonds

By Nicki

Do you always wonder what you are going to give those “hard to give to” people? Here is a quick last minute gift or a great hostess gift. You can either reuse a container you have – I will explain how to decoupage a container later – or buy a cute holiday container at the dollar store.

Spicy Almonds

INGREDIENTS
1 cup almonds
1 ½ teaspoons canola oil
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Dash fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. Roast almonds in oil, stirring frequently in a skillet over medium low heat until slightly browned and crispy. You will be able to hear the nuts hissing.


2. Toss nuts with spices until evenly coated.


3. Spread out on aluminum foil to cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

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14 December 2011

Two Flavored Fudge

By Nicki

I am posting several of my favorite holiday recipes. Once you see what is in this recipe, you will understand why I only  make it at the holidays.

With us in the grasps of the holiday season, I know, as well as you all do, that a lot of celebrations center around food. In that vain, I am going to share several of my family holiday recipes over the next few days.

My grandmother always made a lot of goodies for the holidays. My favorite recipe is the one for Two Flavored Fudge. I have to admit that fudge is hard to make. I will also admit that I have made this one time when it did not set and we sat at my other grandmother’s table and at the soupy mess with spoons.

Two Flavored Fudge

2 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. evaporated milk

½ cup butter

1 7-oz. jar marshmallow cream

1 6-oz. pkg. butterscotch morsels

1 6-oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate morsels

1 c. walnuts, chopped

1 t. vanilla

Preparation Instructions

In a saucepan combine the first four ingredients.

Bring to a full boil over moderate heat, stirring frequently. Boil 15 minutes over moderate heat, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat. Add marshmallow cream, butterscotch morsels and chocolate morsels. Stir until morsels are melted and mixture is smooth. Blend in walnuts and vanilla. Pour onto a greased 9x 9 inch pan. Chill until firm. Makes about 2 ½ pounds.

1 comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Family, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

17 October 2011

Uncle Sam’s Cereal: A Product Review

By Nicki

I have the good fortune to follow Attune Foods on Twitter. There is a weekly chat that they sponsor but better than that, I was approached to try some of their cereal and to share with you what I think about it.

When the box arrived at my doorstep, I could not figure out what I had ordered. I was really excited to find two full boxes of cereal – this strawberry one and the original variety. Lots of times when you get “samples” for review you only get small portions, maybe one serving. While anyone could review on that amount of cereal, I like to be able to eat it on different mornings or mix it in with my yogurt. Anyway, two full boxes so I was very excited.

I have always liked strawberries in cereal. I have tried other cereals that have strawberries in them so I opened the Strawberry box first. I am a bit OCD about cereal. Actually, it has just been so damp lately that I do not like to open more than one box at a time to keep the contents fresh. So I started trying the Strawberry.

 

The first bowl was delicious. One day I had a bowl as an afternoon snack after a mid-length run. I found the whole wheat berry flakes to be delicious. The strawberries added a touch of sweetness to the cereal. Unfortunately, while I understand the benefits of flax seed, I was not likely the little seeds in the cereal. Overall though, I loved the cereal.

I tried the Original. While the sweetness the strawberries added was absent, the Original variety tasted great. I can also see using this variety in yogurt. I also could see trying it instead of oats in a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies so I guess the new ones would be wheat berry raisin cookies.

 

Now onto another other thing I liked. I absolutely love the letter on the inside of the box.

You can find out more information about these two Uncle Sam’s cereals and other products from Attune Foods by visiting their website. They are currently running a contest which can be found under the community tab. You can also follow them on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/attunefoods.

As always, I want you to realize I was sent free product for review. The opinions on the product are mine own, though.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts, Product Reviews

5 September 2011

The Harvest is Plentiful

By Nicki

From an outside window looking in, the big item missing from many food programs is fresh food.  Because of the perishable nature of fresh fruits and vegetables, it is hard to get them in food programs.  Enter an elementary school leadership program and the enterprising teacher who knew a garden could provide many lessons for students.

Molly Goosman approached a local dentist who had some additional property around his office about three or four blocks from the elementary school where she teaches.  She secured some land and then the work and the teaching began.  The plot, now known as Spartan Garden after the school’s mascot, had to be tilled and seeds planted.  Worse, the harvest comes during summer vacation.  Who would be doing the weeding, the watering – and this July was unbelievably dry here locally, and the harvesting?  Enter the school’s leadership club.

Last summer the group painted murals on the walls of the school.  This year the group watered and tended the Spartan Garden.  The beneficiaries of the garden: the district’s food programs M-EALS (M-E Assisting Local Spartans) and the local population in general as the students have held two sale dates so far.

The M-EALS program provides food to local families in need.  An application is available on the school’s web site.  Last year, on average, the program served 60 families a week.  Over the summer, the program was supplemented, once harvest came, by the fruits and vegetables from the Spartan Garden.  On top of that, proceeds from the sales the students held of additional items – zucchini grows plentiful in any garden – helped fund the M-EALS program.

In a world where food production is becoming more big business, students learned to garden and what is provided by such gardening.  The students also learn compassion as they are helping others in the community.  We cannot underestimate the value of education that occurs outside the classroom.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Board of Education, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

31 August 2011

Good Bye , Summer!

By Nicki

Here in upstate NY we sort of go by those age old adages that summer starts Memorial Day weekend and ends Labor Day weekend.  Kids here do not even start school until the Wednesday after Labor Day. Best we not discuss when they get out of school as I am sure that would astonish some of you out there.

 

Today I am sitting here with tomorrow being the first day of September.  Labor Day is this weekend.  I am thinking that I do not know where the summer has gone.  Thankfully, I am not ending the summer the same way I started it.  We had a horrible storm the end of May and I spent Memorial Day weekend without power.  I am very reminiscent of that and also very grateful that I am not one of the thousands in NYS that are still without power from Irene.

 

I spent a good hour yesterday chatting with the new superintendent of my school district.  He and I had known each other in a parent-principal relationship in his former position as the principal of the high school.  Now, we have a new relationship as I am a school board member and he has been hired as the superintendent.  Today, I saw that September is National Hunger Action Month so I was very happy that our conversation dealt with the overwhelming need to get more families to fill out forms for reduced or free meals in the school district.  As I opened the page for www.hungeractionmonth.org, I was told that 13.5% of the people that live in the same upstate county as I do are food insecure.

 

My discussion with the superintendent centered around how the district in which I live and he works has always, until very recently, been very homogeneous.  This is changing drastically and quickly.  Building administrators talk about transient populations.  Students come to school without the ability to learn because they are hungry.  There are many support systems available.  The major problem is that the waiting lists to access some of the help are enormous.

 

Need causes creativity to create a program to meet the needs of those who have this challenge.  The first creative answer was begun by one of our high school teachers who started a weekend program to support those in our community that need help.  The Food Bank of the Southern Tier has a backpack program where students get food for the weekend but there is a waiting list to get into this program.  Enter the Participation in Government class and what has, over the course of a year, fed between 50 and 70 families and become an incorporated 501(c)3 not for profit organization – the M-EALS program which stands for Maine-Endwell (school district) Assisting Local Spartans (mascot).

 

Another method to help those who may have need is to be sure that families apply for free or reduce priced meals through the food service department at the school district. This involves government paperwork which a lot of people prefer to not fill out.  What it does not involve, any longer, is a huge stigma attached to the student.  Because the school district uses a pin-based system for meal payments, the free or reduced pricing is just figured into the system.  A student enters a pin and no one, including the child behind him or her, knows what that student is paying for lunch.

 

The biggest issue, in my mind, is communicating to parents to fill out this paperwork.  If a student comes into a district and had either free or reduced meals in a previous district, the family has to fill out the paperwork again.  While this is tedious and time-consuming, it is in the best interest of the student that it be done.  Studies have long shown that being hungry affects a student’s ability to learn.  As a school board member, if I filter what we as a district are doing as what is in the best interest of the student, we then MUST find a way to be sure all who qualify take advantage of the free or reduced priced meals as this is what is best for the student.

 

Please look for a second part to this, “The Harvest is Plentiful,” which will highlight an elementary school’s way to address hunger in our community.

 

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Board of Education, Family, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

16 August 2011

Leftovers

By Nicki

Even in this time of harvest and abundance – summer, it is hard to cook just what is going to be eaten.  Then, try to convince a teenager or even a 20-something adult that leftovers are what dinner is going to be.

I knew there were plenty of leftovers that needed to be eaten when I decided, instead of grilling, I would make a stir-fry for dinner.  I have no set recipe for making stir-fry.  I just use this as a frequent way to not waste food.  Generally, this means that we will have stir-fry on Monday evening as the garbage goes out for the week on Monday nights.

I had some corn, cut fresh off the cob the day or so before.  I also had the ever present zucchini and a summer squash.  I had picked up some snow peas at the farmers’ market.  Also thrown in to go over some brown rice was carrots and sweet peppers – red and green.  Then, there was a ribeye that someone didn’t finish and was suddenly deemed a “leftover” and a chicken breast.  While not something I would normally serve together, they made for good protein in the stir-fry.

3 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

4 May 2011

School Vacation

By Nicki

Back in the second week of April, my youngest – the only one still in school – had his spring break.  This break was at an odd time – not the week before or the week after Easter but two weeks prior.  The timing was inconsequential as we were not traveling but the youngest was.  He left on Wednesday of that week to head to Syracuse for three days, returning home on Friday, to compete in the NYS SkillsUSA competition.  Below is a slideshow from the competition.  I have photos mostly of the culinary arts and baking competitions but there were 69 different skills displayed within the competition.  The BOCES that he attends had three students take first place in their respective areas and will be heading to Nationals in June.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Family, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

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