Yes, it does.

At 3am this morning, my 3 year old woke up. He wouldn’t let me put him back in bed.

Acting as if we weren’t in the middle of a tantrum, I said in a conversational tone, “Hey - lets make pancakes for breakfast.”

He stopped crying. “Can you put strawberries in them?”

“I don’t think I have any. How about Granny Smith apples?” (The green fruit forbidden to children we had bought for daddy when he was home. No squishy 99-cents-a-pound McIntoshes for him!)

“Aw, yeah!” he said, all tough, somehow unaware that he had tears on his face or that he had nearly woke up half the neighborhood or how deathly afraid he had just been of the dark.

“You gotta remind me when I wake up, though. I forget promises I make when I’m sleepy - just ask your dad.”

A few short hours later, I woke up to the “make pancakes, mommy” mantra x 5 x 1000.

Here’s my impromptu, “It Still Feels Like Monday Pancakes” recipe - because it does still feel like Monday. You see, one needs adequate sleep in between the days, or they just become a like long, extended hallway from one day into the next that can’t be traveled through without a headache.

Basic Bisquick Pancake Recipe (4 c. mix, 4 eggs, 2 c. milk)
1 lg Granny Smith, belonging to daddy and coming out of your allowance if you eat one, apple - diced
4 TB vanilla extract
1 TB maple syrup for giggles
1 TB sugar from the sugar bowl - because it’s right there and you don’t feel like opening a new bag
2 TB cinnamon

Scrape up the hardened macaroni noodles off of your burner from some time last week - days are irrelevant because they all blend together anyway - and cook your Monday/Tuesday pancakes on a griddle over medium heat. You’ll know they’re ready to flip when they’re bubbly. (No amount of magic will make the first batch perfect. I’m just sayin’.) Serve with just enough syrup (Tom, it’s pronounced Sir-Rup) for flavor but not enough to get in everyone’s hair when they aim for their mouths and miss. Enjoy!

So just what happens when you use American cheese in a quiche?

Watch my video to find out!

I’ve only tried about a dozen versions of kimchi in my lifetime. Obviously, I’m not a connoisseur - however, I do know what I like when I taste it!

When we were in Tokyo, we bought a container of kimchi from the Seven-Eleven. (Seven-Elevens are to Tokyo what Wawas are to the Philadelphia area - one on every corner.) By far, it was my favorite of the kimchis I had tried.

The ginger and garlic were well balanced, perfect for a light snack or a compliment to dinner. Fresh and simple, it tasted homemade.

The recipe below is reminiscent of the one we experienced in Tokyo. The only difference was that the one in Japan was redder in color - perhaps powdered red pepper was used instead of flakes.

Heat-wise, this recipe is just right. It’s spicy enough to make me reach for a beverage, but not so hot that it takes my breath away or ruins the flavor of everything else I eat for the next week!

Koreans possess a passionate fondness for kimchi, serving this spicy fermented pickled vegetable dish at most meals. While many other types of pickles—such as store-bought cucumber dill pickles—are fermented in a prepared salty solution, kimchi ferments in the vegetable’s own juices. Although there are scores of varieties, kimchi is usually made with cabbage.

• 2 1/2 pounds napa cabbage (if smaller, reduce amount of salt slightly)
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• a walnut-sized knob of ginger, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 bunch scallions, minced
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons crushed red chili pepper
• 2 jalapeños, minced fine

• a glass or plastic bowl
• 2 to 3 1-pint glass canning jars
• plastic wrap
• rubber bands

1. Wash the cabbage, then chop it coarsely. Toss it in a glass bowl with the salt and let it sit overnight.

2. Drain the water off the cabbage and rinse it very well to remove the excess salt.

3. In a large glass or plastic bowl (don’t use metal), mix together the ginger, chili peppers, jalapeños and scallions. Then, add the well-drained cabbage. Toss the ingredients thoroughly to coat the vegetables. Save the juice that accumulates in the bottom of the bowl.

4. Pack the mixture tightly in sterile glass jars and cover with the juice. Add water if necessary to achieve 3/4-inch headroom. Cover the tops of the jars with plastic wrap, secured with a rubber band. Keep the kimchi in the refrigerator for 3 days before eating.

Follow-up:

After this batch of Kimchi sat in our fridge for a few days and turned into fermented goodness, we decided to serve some with lunch this afternoon. Leah, my youngest, kept wanting more. When she came back for thirds, she made sure to blow on it before eating.

A question from Mamasource :

Hi everyone, I am going to be taking my baby to a few swiss cities in May. she will be an year old then. She still has no teeth and gums stuff ok but still eats mostly baby food. I was looking to try to avoid carrying jars of baby food with me. Can anyone advice me on baby food available in Switzerland? - A.P.

Dear A.P.,

Beechnut baby food is actually owned by the Swiss company Hero.

Gerber is owned by Nestle, also a Swiss company.

Just because these Swiss companies sell baby food in the USA doesn’t mean that these brands will be on the shelf, but it is a good sign.

Do you have any friends there you will be visiting? They might have first hand info about what’s available at their grocery store.

Or, you might consider sending an email to customer services departments at Nestle and Beechnut asking them directly.

When I was in Japan last year, I had no problem finding baby food for by baby. They did have more food combinations we aren’t used to seeing here for babies like fish with rice and onions, but I was also able to find chicken and vegetables, too.

Remember, just because the food combination isn’t one we’re used to seeing doesn’t mean that it’s unhealthy. Your baby is at an age where she is exploring new tastes - she might surprise you and like something new!

Here’s another tip: I brought along a Magic Bullet food processor (we had an apartment for the five weeks we were there) and made a lot of baby food while we were there. You may need an adapter if you are using American appliances. OR, you can get a non-electric food grinder if you plan on eating at restaurants or don’t want to have the hassle of using an adapter - these can be bought at Amazon.com or Babies R Us.

You can also stick with soft foods like soup or oatmeal, mashed bananas, mashed peas, potatoes, bread soaked in juice or milk, yogurt. Canned veggies are also pretty soft. Foods mash better if they’re warmed or if they’re soaked in a liquid and with a little work, a fork can be an effective a mashing tool.

Best wishes!

How to Cook a Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher, attacked my curiosity when I saw the title amongst the cookbooks at the local library.

(My faithful readers know that book titles have a strange power over me - sometimes with life changing results.)

First published in 1942, when wartime shortage were at their worst, the premise is learning to make due and, more importantly, be content with very little.

The “wolf” is a metaphor for the feelings of poverty, particularly the growling of an empty stomach.

Do you know anyone who lived through the Great Depression? Perhaps a mother or grandmother?

Reading this book is bringing back memories of my dear late grandmother-in-law, Trudy Seymour. My eyes well with tears even as I write her name. She was the queen of thriftiness. She scrimped, saved and rationed everything she had. Her basement was stocked with enough food to feed a small army, with everything from canned vegetables to Crystal Pepsi (that had been discontinued years before). She was also notably generous.

Maybe you have a Grandma Trudy in your life. This quote will make you love and appreciate them all the more:

There are very few men and women, I suspect, who cooked and marketed their way through the past war without losing forever some of the nonchalant extravagance of the twenties. They will feel, until their final days on earth, a kind of culinary caution: butter, no matter how unlimited, is a precious substance not lightly to be wasted; meats, too, and eggs, and all the far -brought spices of the world, take on a new significance, having once been so rare. And, that is good, for there can be no more shameful carelessness than with the food we eat for life itself. When we exist without thought or thanksgiving we are not men, but beasts.

For all the self-help books out there on the self-imposed woes of managing greed and excess, this book is convicting, refreshing and even freeing.

I’m only into the second chapter, “How to Be Sage Without Hemlock”, which deglamorizes the influence of *”slick magazines” on the housewife. Instead of making simple, hearty meals, wives are faced with the panic of trying to fashion a gourmet experience at every meal. Fisher writes about the expectation that it creates, even in our young children. She noted that children growing up with plenty say things like “what kind of pudding will we have after dinner?” as if they have a right to dessert.

She writes about meal planning rituals, “You read magazine articles filled with complicated charts and casual references to thiamin, riboflavin, non-organic nutritional nutritional essentials and International Units. You try to be serious about them all, and with a dictionary and a pencil you fill in at least the first week on a monthly chart, putting little circles, triangles and arrows for minerals and vitamins and such, until you see practically the same chart in a rival magazine and realize that it has switched symbols on you.”

While her words may seem harsh and even cynical, I do think they are a wake up call. How true are her words! I confess that I have been brought to tears while hiding behind my stacks of magazines and cookbooks, wishing that I had more free time. I do believe that women should strive for excellence as they serve their family - but as I read this, I am convicted that it may not have to involve a trip to both Wegmans and Trader Joe’s to find expensive, rare ingredients for each everyday meal on the menu.

Her answer is to create simple, healthy meals (for which she provides recipes throughout the book) and to have so much simple food on the table that people can concentrate on the fellowship and not on being amateur food critiques.

Better is a dish of vegetables where love is
Than a fattened ox served with hatred. - Proverbs 15:17

* This is unbelievably funny to me - at the same time I was writing this, my husband was upstairs making this comment on my Martha Stewart magazine collection. And no, dear, if you’re reading this, it does not necessarily follow from the above epiphany that I will be canceling my subscription any time soon

How often when they find a sage,
As sweet as Socrates or Plato;
They hand him hemlock for his wage,
Or bake him like a sweet potato!

-from Taking the Longer View by American humorist Don Marquis

Dinner this evening will be at Pietro’s Prime in West Chester, PA.

As I preview the menu from home, everything looks quite scrumptious!

All steaks at Pietro’s are served with a choice of one of the sauces listed below.
Click on the name of each sauce for a recipe to make your own version:

Béarnaise

bā-är-ˌnāz (sounds like the word “bear”)
Etymology: French béarnaise, feminine of béarnais of Béarn, France
Date: 1877
: a sauce of egg yolks and butter flavored with shallots, wine, vinegar, and seasonings

Hollandaise
hä-lən-ˈdāz
Etymology: French sauce hollandaise, literally, Dutch sauce
Date: 1907
: a rich sauce made basically of butter, egg yolks, and lemon juice or vinegar

Demi Glace
de-mē glass
Etymology: French, half cooking stock, literally, half-ice
Date: 1900
: a highly concentrated reduced brown sauce often used as a base for other sauces

Au Poivre
ō-ˈpwäv
Etymology: French, with pepper
Date: 1953
: prepared or served with a generous amount of usually coarsely ground black pepper steak au poivre

It looks like Béarnaise sauce has been around the longest!

I hope these sauce ideas inspire you the next time you serve steak - or, in a pinch, you can always sprinkle with blue cheese… unless you’re Susan Whimsy, of course

BTW, you might like to know that the word “Saucy” predates all of the sauces above:

\ˈsȯ-sē, ˈsa-\
Date: 1508
1: served with or having the consistency of sauce
2 a: impertinently bold and impudent b: amusingly forward and flippant : irrepressible3: smart trim a saucy little hat

This year, we ended up with two “free turkeys” gifts from our local grocery store - one was ours, and one was given to us by a friend.

Needless to say, by this time in the year, the novelty of the Turkey-Gravy-Potatoes-Cranberry Sauce dinner has worn off.

Below are two recipes to add some variety to your turkey repertoire.

The first is for the most delicious Turkey Pastrami I’ve ever tasted. It is so flavorful - delicately spicy and sweet, similar to corned beef - and juicy, if you resist the urge to cut into it until it’s cooled to room temperature.

You could eat it warmed or more traditionally, in a deli sandwich on rye with mustard and dill pickle spears. The first time I made this was a few years ago, post Thanksgiving, and I brought it to my father-in-law’s house, where it received many appreciative ‘ooo’s and ah’s’. The best part is that it’s EASY to make!

Let me also say that every single recipe we have tried from Raichlen’s book has come out restaurant-quality fantastic, and if there is a grill-master on your Christmas list, this book would make a perfect gift. I would recommend the hardcover edition as the pages in our soft-cover version quickly came unglued — although, to be fair, we did “crack” the spine and the book has accompanied us to a number of barbecues.

As grilling season is over here in PA, we made our pastrami in a 325 degree oven.

Turkey Pastrami
Recipe from How to Grill by Steven Raichlen, adapted by me for the oven

Rub (double this recipe to better cover a larger turkey):

In a blender or food processor, pulse until coriander and peppercorns are broken into bits:

3 tablespoons coriander seeds
3 tablespoons black peppercorns
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sweet paprika (like Hungarian)
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground mace

Cut the breast-half off of a small to medium sized turkey using poultry shears, leaving the breastbone in, but trimming off the ribs. (The remaining parts can be used for stock.) Rinse the breast and pat dry.

Sprinkle and pat the rub on the turkey, over the skin. Cover as much surface area as possible. Place the ‘rubbed’ turkey in a covered container, or in a casserole dish and cover with plastic wrap, meat side up and chill in the refrigerator for 24 hours. (If it goes a little over 24 hours to adapt to your cooking schedule, it’s okay.)

When you’re ready to bake the turkey, redistribute the rub. It will be much more moist after sitting in the fridge, and will spread more evenly to make a flavorful crust on the meat. Notice the juice in the bottom of the pan. This is because the salt has partially cured the meat.

Place on a roasting rack with a drip-pan and roast until a meat thermometer registers 170 degrees.

My tip for juiciness: Leave the temperature probe stuck in the meat (or else juices will run out in the hole it creates) and let the turkey sit until it is cooled to room temperature. Juices have fat in them. Hot fat will run out of the meat. Cooled fat (think of congealed gravy after it’s cooled) stays in the meat, keeping it from drying out.

HOT FAT! I just had to say that again…

Um, anyways… so as not to waste the rest of a perfectly good turkey, put the remaining turkey parts in a large stock pot. Add water until it covers the meat. Add 1 onion, 2 stalks of chopped celery, 1 carrot, and 2 bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until the bones are soft and the meat is falling off the bones. Strain the mixture through a colander (to get remove the meat and cooking vegetables) and then through a cheese cloth to strain out the smaller particles. Cool the broth to room temperature, and then place it in the fridge over night. Skim the fat off the top. You can freeze broth for later use. A tip is to freeze the broth in large muffin tins, which yield about a cup of broth for each section. In the mean time, pick over the turkey and reserve the meat for turkey-mayo salad or soup.

Here are some yummy looking soup recipes:

Turkey Soup with Herbed Dumplings
Southwestern Turkey Soup(I’d use the turkey stock instead of vegetable stock)

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup (Don’t skip the Sherry! It adds a distinctive woodsy flavor…)

We were out of commercially made Play Dough so we made our own:

* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup boiling water
* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
* 1 1/2 teaspoon oil
* 1/4 cup salt
* assorted food colors

In a stand mixer with a sturdy paddle attachment, mix together the dry ingredients. Then, add boiling water and oil. (You can add a few drops of essential oil at this step, if you wanted to make it smell nice. I added vanilla oil). Mix until until smooth.

If you want to make the dough all one color, add the food coloring.

If you want to create multiple colors, remove dough from mixing bowl. Roll into a log and divide the dough into lumps according to the number of colors you want to make. To avoid getting your hands stained, put each lump into the mixing bowl along with the food coloring. Mix till color is thoroughly worked through the lump of dough.

Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

If you need to mix colors to achieve new colors, here’s a color mixing wheel to help. My children enjoyed watching this step and it was a memorable, tactile lesson on colors.

Butternut Squash, a winter squash which is in abundance and often very inexpensive this time of year, is a staple for fall menus. It is an excellent source of fiber, vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, vitamin A and potassium.

The problem is that it’s often just served rather plainly as a pureed soup or mashed with pine nuts sprinkled over top. After awhile, one can only take so much of the same squashy flavor over and over again — which is why I set out to find something a little different!

These recipes went well together. They are adapted from ones found as allrecipes.com. I like the “ingredient search” for when I have random ingredients on hand and am curious what I can make from them.

Lentils, an ingredient in the recipe below, have many health benefits, too. The squash and lentils lend a delicately sweet, earthy flavor to this recipe while the curry, cayenne pepper and exotic coconut undertones made for a complex mouthwatering dish.

Butternut Squash & Lentil Coconut Curry

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup dry lentils
1 cup butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
3 cups water
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
6 cups Cooked Basmati rice

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the onion, ginger, garlic,until onion is tender.
2. Mix the lentils, squash into the pot. Stir in the water, coconut milk, and tomato paste. Season with curry powder, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, or until lentils and squash are tender. Stir in fresh cilantro just before serving. Serve over Basmati rice.

The fish was good by itself, but was delicious served with this salsa. The cilantro perfectly balanced the sweetness of the mangoes, the spice of the cayenne, the pungency of the red onions and the bitterness of the lime:

Curried Tilapia with Mango Salsa

1 mango - peeled and diced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice (2 tablespoons for rub; 2 tablespoons for salsa)
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon garlic pepper seasoning
4 fresh tilapia fillets

DIRECTIONS

1. For the mango salsa, combine the mango, red onion, cayenne pepper, cilantro, 2 tablespoons lime juice and salt in a glass bowl. Set aside.
2. For the tilapia rub, mix together 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 2 tablespoons lime juice, curry powder and garlic pepper in a small bowl. Rub this mixture onto both sides of the fish fillets.
3. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the fish for about 3 minutes on each side or until it flakes easily with a fork.
4. Serve with the mango salsa.

I served the dinner with plain yogurt (to mix in with the curry to lessen the spice for the children) pre-packaged Naan. For dessert, Rasgulla(also pre-made - I just had to add the sweetened milk) sprinkled with chopped pistachios. Dessert would have been even tastier with Chai Tea - maybe next time!

This recipe is inspired by the Georgia Pork and Peanut recipe in the Chili Nation cookbook by Jane and Michael Stern.

My Mods: I made some changes to the intensity of the heat and added a few ingredients (beef, cilantro) and changed the way the peanuts are added - I reserved some to be added whole for texture and also added the onions toward the end to keep them al dente.

Flavor: Before I tried this, I was scared it would taste like a Thai peanut sauce with meat chunks over rice! But, not so. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the delicateness of the peanut flavor. This chili is mildly sweet, like a curry dish, only spiced with cumin instead of curry paste. The heat is intentionally mild, as I tweaked it for my spice-sensitive picky eaters. Heat-lovin’ mommies and daddies might be compelled to add hot sauce to their bowl!

Texture: The ground peanuts make this chili very thick and hearty - more filling than other chili recipes I have tried.

Random fact:It might seem weird to add peanuts to chili, but peanuts are actually a legume… yeah, as in they’re in the “bean family” alongside beans you’d normally expect to see in a chili recipe.

Sarah Joy’s Nutty Chili Recipe

2 lb cubed London broil (1/2 in. cubes)
2 lb cubed pork (1/2 in. cubes)
4 dried chili peppers (about 4 in” in length)
2 14oz cans unseasoned tomato sauce
1 chopped onion (about 1 cup)
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes with juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp canola oil (can use other cooking oils)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups chicken broth (or 1 14 oz. can)
2 2/3 cups unsalted, roasted shelled peanuts (save out 2/3 cup)
1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro

steamed short-grained rice
hot sauce
sour cream / plain yogurt
cheddar cheese

Note: This recipe can be halved and frozen for later. This made enough chili for two hearty meals for our family of seven.

1. Place the chilies in a large, heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes, until soft. Then, seed and stem them.
2. Place the prepared chilies, 2 cups peanuts, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce in a food processor. Puree thoroughly.
3. Sauté the onions and set aside
4. Sauté garlic
5. Add the meat to the garlic and sauté some more
6. Add the spices, puree, broth, onions and sugar, remaining 2/3 cup peanuts
7. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or until thickened and peanuts are softened
8. Add minced fresh cilantro just before serving

Serve over steamed rice.
Top with hot sauce, sour cream (or plain yogurt) and cheddar cheese as desired.