Spanish tapas is a favorite of mine. I love the strong flavors in small bites. I am constantly struggling with my weight and have decided that small servings of highly flavored foods is the way to go. That doesn’t always happen, obviously, but….it’s a plan! These will certainly fit the bill, and pastry is always good. Pie, pie, pie…all the time!!! (I often think a soup and pie restaurant would be what I ‘d do…if that ever happens.)
This is one of my son’s favorites! He is 10 months old. I normally hold him with one arm and cook with the other. He watches with great interest and knows it is for him. As soon as it is ready, he is eager to get in his highchair and take his first bite. As he gobbles it down, I know I have created something wonderful and tasty. Success!!
Now some people would have a problem with the idea of broccoli being called tasty. I adore broccoli. I adored it as a child until one momentous day. My mom had grown broccoli in her garden and proudly placed a big bowl on the table. I dug in with relish, and then I spotted them…
A little extra effort on your part can create a lot of extra fun for the kids.
I have some awesome cookie cutters that I use quite frequently for my kids. I cut their sandwiches, toast, or tortillas into delightful shapes. The ordinary food somehow transforms into something so much yummier when cut into a Valentine heart or a Christmas tree in the middle of the summer.
Okay… I am not a chef… I went to art school – not culinary school. Though, I guess when it comes to creativity, they are both very similar. The end result is to achieve something pleasing, whether for your tummy or your eyes, it depends on which school you are in. I do know that I always liked to cook. Note: I said like, not love, which is probably why I chose to go to art school.
There is always too much zucchini in the garden. Everyone knows about that, if you are a gardener, or live next door to one. Beware of big bags of zucchini lurking at the back door. It’s kind of like the May Day event…leave the zucchini and run. I love zucchini. I even buy it at the grocery store, all through the year. I roast it, sauté it with mushrooms, cook with tomatoes, make it into bread, and add it to pasta dishes. This could be one of my favorites…in an omelet.
It’s been a cool and damp summer here in Galena. Someone said to me, “it’s not even been warm enough to enjoy a good salad!” I don’t know about you, but I always enjoy a good salad, be it a breezy 70 degrees or 110 in the shade. When asked by a customer to make some Asian dishes for her family party, I was reminded of how good these were, and especially on a hot summer day.
I returned from a week out of town and made a tour of the garden. It had been a hot week and the window boxes and pots were in dire need of a thorough soaking. The tomatoes had started to ripen…finally, and the potato barrel was looking dreadful. Then I realized it was time to harvest! Only a couple of the plants had any green left on them, so I started pulling out the yellowed and withered plants.
The first time I had spinach served this way was at Rose Pistola’s in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. I was amazed at how sensational spinach could taste. It was spring, and the leaves were the freshest possible, lightly sautéed with fruity olive oil, garlic, and finished with a squeeze of lemon. So simple and yet so amazing.
I had lived my life hating spinach. Crazy…isn’t it? The big problem was grade school. Almost weekly we were greeted with “that smell” as the lunch ladies opened giant cans of overly cooked slime that they passed off as being good for us…just like Popeye ate. My mom didn’t even try to get us to eat it. I suspect she didn’t much like canned spinach either.
