Spring Cleaning Your Diet

Now that Easter and Passover are over , it's time to Spring clean your diet. There are no more heavy calorie laden meals, desserts and treats. It's the season for lighter fare,not to mention lighter cooking and baking.

One of the best aspects of Spring is foraging. There is a wealth of healthy greens right outside your back door. Think about adding some of  your local woodland's best in a salad.One of the most traditional and most widely used is the dandelion. The slightly prickly leaves can be eaten on their own or with other greens. Dress with a tangy lemon -honey vinaigrette and serve with grilled chicken or scallops. Another woodland green to consider is the tongue tingling garlic mustard which can be made into a pesto or cooked with pasta similar to broccoli rabe.Mushrooms can also come from the parks and forests.Many home chefs are leery about foraging them and with good reason -half are poisonous.Buy a book on foraging (your best bet is Amazon) and read it cover to cover. Think about making your bounty in a light mushroom sauce spiked with garlic and onions. The mushrooms can also be pickled and served as a side to grilled chicken, steak or fish. Those dandelion greens can also be pickled and would be a light and interesting side.

With the weather growing warmer, it's time to get out the grill. This is chance to have delicious meats and veggies simply cooked. Don't stop at the proteins. Try a light meal of grilled asparagus with peppers and eggplants. Ramps from foraging can also be grilled . Spritz them with olive oil and cook on a grill pan until ready. A fun way to welcome in the warm weather is kabobs. Think cherry and grape tomatoes with scallops and shrimp. Or try marinated mushrooms skewers for something light and different. Climbing temps usually mean the taste for grilled burgers. These too can be lightened up. Portobello caps are a great sub in for beef patties.Marinate the caps in canola oil - which is lighter than even virgin olive oil - along with  chopped onions, balsamic vinegar and garlic.Instead of plopping it on a heavy bun, think an open faced sandwich on Italian and French bread. Gardein also has veggie burgers that taste like the real thing. Instead of the usual burgers and potato salad - just have the patties plain with grilled veggies .As for desserts, we're heading into blueberry and strawberry season. Finish the meal with a bowl of mixed berries, sweetened with dark honey and topped with Reddi-Whip's coconut or almond milk whipped creams.

It's Spring. Lighten up your diet. Go for fresh picked greens and kabobs. Get rid of the greasy burgers and try the ethereal portobellos or soy burgers. Invest in the fruits and veggies of the season. You'll feel better- and lighter. 

The Lamb Experiment

Since mid March  up to today I have baked and iced five lambs, using my Mom's Wilton Easter lamb mold, along with her cake and icing recipes.

What have I learned?

That greasing and flouring any cake pan is vital to having an easy to remove baked product. 

Dream Whip is crucial to producing a dense yet surprisingly light pound cake. I plan on making cupcakes with it.

Crumb coats are very important in creating a smooth first coat. You need this in order to create fancy stars squiggles and rosettes.

Vegan cakes don't work. This little lady's head fell off .Also the taste wasn't as great as the Duncan Hines mixes I used.

Variety is truly the spice of life. I made a chocolate cake with coffee icing for my friends who love chocolate. This is the flavor combination I will be flirting with for the next few months.

As for everyone else, it was vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.I also learned that it takes time to master Russian tips . Mine have come out like pink blobs.Also all lambs require seven cups of icing not five.

Another thing I've learned. Not to bake five lamb cakes and then ice them. It is a lot of work, well received but still labor intensive.

Your Own Tea Garden

A tea garden conjures up pretty images of an abundant garden, rife with a profusion of colors and scents. Anybody can grow this and then harvest leaves, petals and roots for a delicate brew. It's not as complicated as thought to be. A new book explains the basics.

Growing Your Own Tea Garden: The Guide To Growing and Harvesting Flavorful Teas In Your Backyard (Fox Chapel Publishing 2019) is the must have guide for tea lovers who want to create their own blends.Jodi Helmer, a freelance writer  who has written for The Guardian and  National Geographic has compiled the perfect tea and nature's lover's guide. This is a wonderful book, chock full of beautiful pictures and illustrations on gardening. Tea lovers will go crazy over the variety of different botanicals listed to make all sorts of brews.There is the history of tea along with the explanation of tisanes which are not surprisingly mistaken for brews. differences between white, green and black teas are explained (it has nothing to do with different types but the leaves at various growth stages, white is the leaf bud, green is from the tender young leaves that arrive in the Spring and black tea comes from the more mature ones). There are also suggestions on where to plant and recipes for various blends, from  a tasty hibiscus iced tea to a soothing tummy troubles tea made with echinacea and hyssop leaves. The back has growing season maps of the US and Canada along with where to get the seeds.

I love the book, not just for the recipes but also for the cornucopia of information on the different plants.Each root, flower and leaf comes with the scientific Latin name along with what growth zone fits it. The explanations are in depth and will show you how to plant a successful tea garden. Each plant also has a side bar For The Best Brew which explains how to get the best tasting cup of tea from them. What is surprising is that there are dozens of plants , roots flowers and even fruits that can go into a cup.I love the idea of a strawberry tea which is more of a pureed fruit drink over ice. There is also a persimmon tea with the  fruit being simmered with ginger root and turmeric for kick.  A black current tea, is not only healthy but tasty as both berries and leaves are simmered together.Some plants are a surprise. There is witch hazel, which I always thought was for cosmetic use (namely in skin toners)but can also have its leaves and bark made into a tisane to cure sore throats , colds and flu. The same surprise is also for stinging nettles which helps to ease muscle ache and infections.

Growing Your Own Tea Garden: The Guide To Growing And Harvesting Flavorful Teas In Your Backyard is the perfect guide for tea lovers who want their own special blends. It is informative and beautifully presented. Buy it and get started on your own fragrant tea garden,

The Truth About Marsala

Marsala wine has had a bad rap for the last century. Many people associate it with sauces and that's it. A few have even called it a sauce. That's wrong. This sweet , fruit dessert wine is so much more than just an ingredient in a main course.

Charlotte Druckman,a food writer and author of Stir, Sizzle,Bake : Recipes For Your Cast Iron Skillet, wrote an informative piece on this popular dessert wine in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Marsala is a  misunderstood wine. In its' native Sicily it's considered an aperitif and dessert wine where its' mixed notes of dried fruit, caramel, and nuts. According to cookbook author and importer of fine quality Italian products, Rolando Bermendi, "Marsala is still unknown in the US as a good wine. It has a bad connotation and the name has been destroyed." Another  view is from Roberta Corrodin, a Sicilian food writer and restauranteur likens the drink to olive oil. observing the low quality bottles found at the supermarket have become the standard. Maybe this feeling has something to do with the wine's beginnings. It came to America as early as 1773, thanks to English trader, John Woodhouse who docked his boat in Marsala on the island's western shore. He discovered that the wine was similar to sherry. He added brandy to extend its; shelf life along with must, the unfermented juice from whole crushed grapes. Americans and the English love the sweetness of it and it became an after dinner favorite.

By the late 1920s, Marsala lost its glam status . Knockoffs and cheap copies were in abundance. It was at this time that its' popularity took off. Ironically it was granted dispensation during  Prohibition where it was relegated to a medicine, Italian- American restaurants were also putting it on their menus, dousing chicken and veal with a mushroom based sauce. The 1980's saw it being added to the dessert of the moment tiramisu during a Northern Italian craze. Now the regional foods of Sicily and other areas of Southern Italy are being celebrated by chefs ,entrepreneurs and diners. Marsala is having a resurgence. Chef Amy Brandwein of Centralina in Washington uses the wine in a braised chicken ragu. New York eatery Don Angie  uses it  to flavor the dashi for a pink snapper crudo and to pickle the trumpet mushrooms that grace the dish. Marsala comes in three colors - ambra - amber, gold-oro and ruby - rubino. Baking calls for the sweet or dolci while savory cooking needs dry or seco. There are two recipes too. One is a spin on the classic chicken Marsala which also has cremini and shittake mushrooms while the other  is a strawberry Marsala cake. which is a vanilla scratch cake with a kick.

Try a bottle of Marsala , whether to finish a dinner or as a part of a recipe. It is a sweet interesting wine with a distinct flavor. It's worth adding to a kitchen arsenal.

True Texas Mexican

Ask anyone to name Tex-Mex dishes and they'll probably rattle off a Taco Bell menu. Yet the cuisine, which should be properly called TexasMexican isn't about fajitas and bean dip.It's much more. It's a cuisine that goes back for milennia, full of indigenous produce and rich spices.

Rachel Wharton, a freelance food writer and new to the paper, wrote an interesting piece for today's New York Times Food section. She visited Houston, a city thriving in this Texan-Mexican cuisine.  She spent time and interviewed cookbook writer and chef Adan Medrano who is also trying to get the story out there.Many Americans think Tex-Mex has fajitas and margaritas, finished with fried iced cream. That is far from the case. True Texas-Mexican restaurants such as Cafe Amiga in Brownsville and Maria's restaurant in McAllen serve chicken with striped green squash and corn along with a tomato noodle soup call fideo.There  also the beef and and potato stew called picadillo. Gulf shrimp is mixed with cacti in a stew of red chilis. The name came to Chef Medrano after he enrolled in the CIA - Culinary Institute of America in 2010. He didn't want to use the phrase Tejano which has the "J" from its' colonial Spanish rule. He came up with the description  after learning about the distinct regional cuisines of Mexico.

How did it evolve from Texas Mexican to Tex Mex? It started in the early 1900's when local Mexican-American home cooking was first made in restaurants by Anglos for Anglos.Yet it was in the Seventies when the cuisine was finally given a name, mostly from  food writers. There  it was refried beans, chili made with powdered spices and stock instead of chile con carne  based on whole red chiles and of course fajitas with anything other than skirt steak. Then there was the problem of cheese - cheese everywhere.Even on the other side of the Rio Grande the cuisine held with newer generations, unlike here.They are eating the same dishes their nomadic ancestors ate as they moved around both sides of the Rio Grande for generations.There are recipes with the article that demonstrate the natural ingredients. There is tacos de picadillo with ground beef with cumin and carne giusada with papas or potatoes.The last is laced with Serrano chiles and peppercorns.

Texan Mexican cuisine has been around for centuries. It is making itself known as  vibrant  and flavorful. The colorful dishes will be the true taste of Texas.

Your Guide To London Bars

London is the place for summer vacations. It's a witty, polished town full of style and taste. It is also a sophisticated city laced with bars for the thirsty tourist and native. Yet , like other international cities, there are so many to choose from. Luckily there is a guide to help .

 Travelers need to pack London's Best Cocktail Bars :The Most Popular Hotspots (Lifestyle Books 2019). The author , Susan Cohen, a Londoner herself, has written this extensive guide to the city's best bars. She is the expert on all things British,usually writing on where to go for a proper British tea  and uniquely English subjects such as midwives and the Women's Institute. Travelers and Anglophiles may be familiar with her first guide London's Afternoon Teas:A Guide To London's Most Stylish and Exquisite Tea Venues. This may be good for who else - tea totalers . The new guide is perfect for those who want to try a variety of different quaffs along  being seen in the capital city's trendiest night spots. This is a beautifully crafted book, full of lovely pictures of the bars and their seating areas. One interesting note is that Ms.Cohen also includes recipes for some of the cocktails mentioned. Readers could try them out at home, especially at an at home cocktail party. A big plus is that the author includes dress codes - very important  - and lists the places of interest nearby.

The bars mentioned range from the ultra fun to the classic ones. Those with kids - yes kids - should check out Belowzero Ice Bar, located not far from Trafalgar Square.The seats and sculptures along with the glasses are made from ice. It's a perfect respite if London suffers from yet another scorching summer. Couples or groups may get a kick out of the whimsically named Sexy Fish. It also has the bonus of being within distance of Fortnum and Mason, one of the world's oldest food purveyors and a foodie's dream come true. Their drinks are unusual and the bar offers patrons a flavor map to help them decide what to order. There are also the typically English sort of bar such as The American Bar at The Stafford Hotel.It's the kind of place where you could see upper crust sorts enjoying an after work drink or internationals taking advantage of Tanqueray or Dubonnet cocktails.It was also a hang out of Elizabeth , the Queen Mother.Ms. Cohen also includes the famed and sophisticated Connaught Bar at the world famous Connaught Hotel. Visitors will love the martini trolley along with the drink Fleurissimo, a tribute to Grace Kelly,one of the hotel's famous guests.

London's Best Cocktail Bars: The Most Popular Hotspots is the guide book to have for any one with London vacation plans. It is a must pack and must have when visiting this amazing cities. Like the cocktails themselves, it's full of spark and sparkle.

Your Green Kitchen

Today is Earth Day, a day when we wonder how to reduce our carbon footprints and heal our planet. One way is "greening our kitchen'  making this energy sapping room into an environmentally sterling area.If you think it's hard, think again.It's simple to go green.

One of the easiest way is recycling kitchen waste. This is a good time to start a compost heap since planting season is only a week or two away. You can buy compost bins or buy them at any big box home improvement store and even Walmart. Keep the compost far away from the house  because t does give off  a funky kind of stink. To create what's known as a green compost, start with veggies and fruit. Use any leaves such as what you find on the top of strawberries along with banana peels and grape stems. These break down quickly and won't attract rats and raccoons the way baked goods and meats do (I wouldn't even put in cleaned bones because that still would attract critters. Egg shells can be added. They add much needed calcium and mineral to the blend. You can also us the shells in the soil around peppers and tomatoes. too.Coffee grinds also should go into your heap. They are loaded with nitrogen which helps the dirt. Also toss in the filters if they're biodegradable and made from natural fibers.

Another way to make your kitchen greener is by buying Energy Star appliances. Consider an Energy Star fridge if you're shopping for a new one. Make sure you get a traditional freezer top one. Fridges with freezers on the top won't suck up that much energy. Also size matters. One that is energy efficient should be between sixteen and twenty cubic feet. What about the old fridge? You could get rid of it or use it for storage in the basement or the garage. Your choice of stove also can affect the environment.Gas stoves consume less energy than electric ones.There are three types of gas burners: conventional burners with standing pilots,conventional ones with electric ignition which is the most common, and sealed burners where the burner is fused to the stove top.Another aspect to consider is the self cleaning oven. This sort is saves energy more the non-cleaning ones.What about microwaves and toaster ovens. Both  are vital to  a home chef.A microwave , surprisingly , is more energy efficient. However it doesn't toast or crisp up such leftovers as pizza and french fries. The best bet is buy both and use them sparingly.

It's easy to green your kitchen. Recycle the scraps and leftovers. Buy energy efficient appliances. You may think it's not so big a dent in healing the earth but it is. Keep on doing it for a somewhat better tomorrow.