Pet Parent Recipes

 Our furbabies are everything to us.We fret and worry orver them>we wonder if thye're eating right and what we can do to make their diets better. One way is cooking for them.  This ensure that they're eating the right foods for better lives.

As any cat parent will tell you cats can be both finicky and demanding. They may love one brand of cat fodo that's bad for them while compeltely ignoring what's good for them. Feline "junk food" can have everything from ground fish bone to dyes. Cats are like kids. They love junk food  - both theirs and human! This unfortunately can lead to obesity on both sexes and bladder stone in toms or males. What can you do as their parent? Prepare dishes with  fresh healthy meats, Cats are carnivores and will run to cooked poultry , beef and fish.  You will need a lot of meat thoug. A chicken one requires five pounds of chicken thighs along with such vitamins as B complex and Vitamin E. Taurine is a must. It helps them, to maintain that keen eyesight they're known for. Taurine is also essential for heart and digestive help and is a must for pregnant mama kitties.  You can buy it on Amazxon or Chewy which has one of the largest selection of animal companion foods and items. Keep in mind to add the chicken livers and heart for a truly nutritious meal.  You can also add rice too. Grains are good for feline digestion. A HUGE reminder - keep garlic , onions and other alliums out of the recipes. These are deadly to cats. Their food doesn't need flavoring. They love that meat taste plain.

Dogs are a tad easier. They're not as fussy as cats and you can feed them almost anything. They do  need fat, carbohydrates and protein for a balanced diet. That means also adding eggs, grains and even veggies to the recipe. They also need calcium and fatty acids. Start with either white or brown rice (if you want a healthier  food)cooked with lean ground sirloin and hard boiled eggs mashed for more protein.  You can add some carrots too for variety. You can also create ground turkey and broccoli mixed with dried rosemary . Dogs can have some herbs such as rosemary ,peppermint, dill and turmeric. Homemade dog biscuits are another treat you can make for your pooch. Some companies like King Arthur  flour sells dig biscuit mix along with cute bone shaped molds. Their mix has beef broth and carrtos added or for a sweeter mix try pumpkin and apples (canines can have these fruits without any side effects). the biscuits are like homemade cookies as opposed to storebought ones. They come out bigger and wider. You can also make your own dough using one of fido's favorite foods peanut butter along with honey and whole wheat flour.

Herbs Ahead

 Everyone is busy taking the last of the tomatoes and turning them into sauce. They're looking at those newly picked apples and thinking butters. Yet what about herbs. They're one of the most important ingrdients and the easiest to keep for fall and winter cooking ahead.

Herb drying has been around since the beginning of time. Home chefs and healers dried them in the sun or in their homes. The last was one by tying them in bunches and hanging them from the rafters. This not only provided flavor for their stews and roasted meats but also scented the main rooms. You can do this too, but preferably in a cool dry room like a pantry basement  or attic.Make sure the area is well ventilated otherwise the leaves will be soggy, damp or even rotty.  Can you dry herbs in the oven? Absolutely! You can even dry seeds ike pumpkin too this was too. Place the leaves on a cookie sheet in a low oven  - less than 180 degrees Farenheit for two to four hours.The leaves will be crumbly when they're fully done. Keep in mind that you should pick your herbs early in the morning and take the leaves before the plant begins to flower. This is when their flavor is at its' strongest. You can prolong harvesting by snipping off any buds that appear.Also remove dried , sickly or wilted leaves at this time too.

What can you do with dried herbs? Everything!!! Dried rosemary is used in many Italian dishes.It graces foccaccio, adding color and flavor to this famed bread. A truly tasty side dish is rosemary potatoes. This s taking red potaotes and sheet pan roasting them with rosemary and sea salt after tossing them in olive oil. They're roasted for 350 degrees Farenheit for thirty to forty minutes. You can also use the herb in homemade sauces and part of a pizza sauce. Basil is another incredibly popular herb that most gardens have. This too is versatile. Dried basil is a definite must for homemade tomato sauces what about pesto? Yes it's usually and traditionally made with fresh leaves but you can use the dried ones. Keep the same ingredients ,lemons, olive oil and walnuts and blend everything in a food processor or blender. Again you use the pesto as a plain sauce or add a teaspoon of it to sauces and even dressings. Sage is another herb that's great to dry.It'll be used in stuffings for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It imparts a slightly minty and pepepry taste that offsets the mildness of the bread. Also try it in minestrone soup too.

Keep those garden herbs going in delicious recipes for the entire year. They're a smap to dry and fun to use.  You'll have that fresh flavor well into fall.

Still Producing Late Summer Harvests

   Backyard gardens and farmer's markets are still going strong even as summer's waning. Home chefs can still pick a few good tomatoes or find a cucumber or two. It's the second raspberry season too, which means plenty of fun desserts too. There's an ongoing abundance of fresh picked abundance despite  the seasom.

 Regular contributor David Tanis knowss this and put in three delicious recipes in Wednesday's New York Times Food section,.Home chefs can use their own backyard bounty - and those without head to the Farmer's Markets.These will still be going until mid October to early November. They have plenty of bounty from summer harvests. There are still golden ears of corn, ripe, juicy tomaotes and bright peppers. Fruit also abounds and not just apples. You can still buy stone fruit as well as raspberries. Some carry fresh herbs , perfect for adding more flavor to any recipe. Take advantage of what's there. Mr. Tanis suggests three recipes bell pepper salad with capers and olives, followed by the unusual combination of shrimp with pasta and corn.  Dessert is a boozy Prosecco slush, topped with raspberries and spiked with Meyer lemons. It's the perfect late summer weekend meal. You could also get creative and vary the recipe too. 

The bell pepper salad is made with an anchovy dressing, reminiscent of a Piedmonrese favorite, pepe e acciughe, except this version doesn't roast the peppers. It's combining them with  cherry tomatoes and Castelvetrano or Morroccan olives.Anchovies come in the dressing.They're first pulverized with a mortar and pestle and then redwine vinegar, olive oil and red wine vinegar are whisked in. The main course is shrimp with linguine or spaghetti. The shrimp is cooked in a mix of olive oil garlic and scallions. The shrimp is cooked first then the corn is added (you could actually use canned corn for this as opposed to cutting the kernals off the cob). red pepper flakes gives the dish zing, but you can omit them if you find it too spicy. A boozy Prosecco slushie      -  which can be made for just on its own  finishes off the meal. Use a cup of the Italian sparkling wine with a cup of Meyer lemon juice and a teaspoon of lemon zest. freeze for fifteen minutes and then scrape with a fork like granita. Freeze and repeat. Serve with a topping of raspberries and mint leaves if you have them.

There's still a good bounty out there. Take advatange of it and enjoy the taste of fresh fruit and veggies. Go to your farmer's market or  garden  for the best.

Of All Foods British

 It is aad day for the world and for Britain. The Queen reprsdented the epitome of English resolve and the enviable fortitude. She truly persisted. It's time to honor her and the foods that made her beloved country great.

The British Isles are just that isles, surrounded by the English Channel and the North and Irish Seas. Is it any wonder that fish plays an important part of their diet. One of the most popular is the internationally loved fish and chips. How did battered cod and the English version of fries come into being? Through  Spanish and Portuguese Jewish immigrants by way of the Netherlands. Thye fried battered  fish on Friday night and could eat it cold on Saturday, their Sabbath. Charles Dickens mentioned it in Oliver Twist while  Alexis  Soyer, a French chef recorded it in his cookbook, A Shilling Cookery For the People in 1845. Deep fried "chips"of potatoes started around this time too.fish and chip shops started around this time in London thanks to eastern European Jewish immigrant Joseph Malin while in Lancashire, John Mossley began his.In Edinburgh Scotland,a Belgian immigramt Edward de Gernier introduced them to the city. Surely the Queen loved a good Yorkshire pudding. This savory , heavenly tasting popover accompanies another English favorite roast beef.It came about in the 1700's and was then known as dripping puddings. These buttery sides are made with the roast beef drippings and is served with huge slabs of beef and generous helpings of gravy.

Thanks to The Great British Baking Show  everyone knows about British goodies and tea time delights. The Queen undoubtedly enjoyed Victoria Sponge named for her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria, the second longest reigning British monarch. The recipe is a buttery sponge food cake one baked into two layers and filled with a whipped cream frosting and raspberry jam. A fun dessert is Eton mess. This is a tasty mash up of broken meringues, whipped cream and fresh cut fruit such as  strawberries and peaches. It's a favorite of her grandsons William and Harry. Her Majesty probably also enjoyed jam roly poly's or shirt sleeve pudding. This is another Nineteenth Century creation, first made with a dough using suet or beef fat. Butter replaces the suet in this steamed pudding.It's kind of like a Swiss roll but filled with either plum or raspberry jam. Custard is ladled on the steamed rolls. One of the most famous British desserts is the Christmas plum pudding. Again this is a steamed cake , made with breadcrumbs and rich with eggs. spices are added  as is port wine for color and sweetness.It's then topped with a spring of holly or lit on fire.

Queen Elizabeth made an impact on the world as did British cuisine. Like her it will be forever in our hearts and history. Rule Britannia.

A New Take On Tasting Menus

 Tasting menus took on the feeling of a Gilded Age dinner party with too many formal courses. Then the exorbitant prices for them was also off putting. However a new generation of chefs is changing all that. The portions are smaller and the prices are affordable.

 Regular contributor  and restuarant critic Brett Anderson wrote about this new generation in today's New York Times Food section. Tasting menus, especially around metro areas like New York and Los Angeles were expensive affairs where diners got tiny plate after tiny plate of carefully arranged food. The idea became a bit too stuffy - until young chefs grabbed the idea. They ran with it, creaing a new sort of dining, fun and flavorful. It does pay off and it's more cost effective for these young restauranteurs who are watching their budgets. A big advantage is they they encourage thrift, Because they tend to require reservations and compel diners to pay in advance for the meals, tasting menus allow chefs to estimate exactly what they want and the cost of these ingredients. Food is purchased with precision which reduces the waste of ala carte eateries. another plus is that only certain ingredients are bought and not a wide variety of meats, and produce.Fixed meals also require less steps which makes for less staff needing to be hired.Since the places also tend to be tiny , less space is needed hence lower rents.

These are reasons for any new chef to consider opening a tasting restaurant. It also gives them space to highlight their dishes. They could be creative takes on classics or updated family ones. At Southern Soigne in Jackson, Mississippi, chef Zacheus Golden uses t dishes like lump crab cakes and spices it with whipped Creole cream cheese frosting. and rabbit porch cheek terrine with strawberry jam, pickled mustard seeds and bread lace.It's also a fraction of the cost of more formal tasting menus at only $95.Amanda Shulman has opeend up Her Place Supper Club in Philadelphia takes advatnage of the season and the fact she has good fresh Jersey and Pennsylvania produce at her fingertips. Her tasting menu includes tomato panzanella and corn and truffle profiteroles.Her Place puts the food on the table family like the famed New Orleans Mosquito Supper CLub. They have a tasting menu for eleven months of the year, shutting down in August. Theirs is pure seafood, celebrating the area's shrimpers and fisherman with such recipes as  raw oyster with mignonette sauce and  fried shrimp boulettes.

Could tasting menus be the next food trend. Most certainly. They're now new and innovative with recipes bursting with flavor.

Home Chefs In The Making

 One of the best gifts  parents can give ther kids is a love of good food and cooking. Sometimes, though , you can't do it on your own. That's where a new and fun cookbook comes in. Kids Can Cook Anything : The Complete How To Cookbook For Young Chefs with 70 Kid Tested Kid Approved Recipes (America's test Kitchen  Publishers 2022).

This is not your typical kid's cookbook, Yes there are recipes for cupacakes and cookies but that's where it ends. It's an international mix of all sorts of recipes from Greek to Korean. This will give any young home chef a broader and worldier palate. where it does resemble a traditional children's cookbook is in the hwo too. This being from the great PBS TV show America's Test Kitchen. There are how to and hints. I commned the how topictures which show young cooks chopping and cutting with curved fingers to preven any serious wounds. There are pages about fresh herbs like basil and rosemary  and how to use them as well as a step by step prep process (which includes tying back yoru hair!) Another plus is a pictorial guide to kitchen gadgets and apppliances. This is very handy and helps kids to differentiate what's what. There are videos that they or parents can key into their phones to show them how to test to see if butter has softened or how to properly cut avocados.THere's also secrets to kitchen success too, like allow yourself to make mistakes and read focused and stay focused.

Again the recipes are for the sophisticated palate.The sections are breakfast, snacks,lunch dinner, sides and sweets, Breakfast and the sweet section are the most traditional. Breakfast starts with yummy buttermilk pancakes and fancy scrambled eggs, fun treats that would be great in a weekend brunch. The sweets range from scratch chocolalte cookies to red velvet cupcakes with creamc cheese frosintg. There is the interesting English posset, a rich cooked cream dessert and a fruit crisp. Yet' it's the main and side dishes that are different. Kid home chefs can learn how to make the famed Greek chicken soup,avologemo. There is sizzling beef zinged up with sriracha and soy sauce , and stuffed into lettuce leaves. Quick pickled cucumbers are served with it for an Asian vibe.Little foodies will get a kick out fo the rosemary socca or chickpea flour pancakes, orginally from Genoa. It's a nice alternative to foccaccia, There's a yummy mashed potato gnocchi made with instant mased potatoes kids can whip up instead of spaghetti. They may like the ramen with kimchi recepe too along with the roasted carrots.

Kids Can Cook Anything: The Complete How To Cookbook For Young Chefs with 70 Kid Tested Approved Recipes is the perfect book for baby home chefs.It's the equivalent of lessons at a Cordon Bleu school. Add it to their library of important books.

Extending The Gratitude

 Labor Day reminds us to be grateful of all those relted to the food and grocery industry. We need, however to extend that feeling to the rest of the year, epsecially with the upcoming holidays.

Remember to always give extra when tipping waitstaff. The extra money is always appreciated and is most certainly used for food and rent. It's used for toys and clothes for their kids around the holidays. Remember to always include the mom and pop eateries in your rota of places to eat.Again the business will be appreciated.

Also always thank your local grocery store workers too. If's a small market, think about giving them a gift card to a local restaurant to thank them for all their service. This can also apply to your local butcher , green grcoer and fishmonger too. Support your local farms too, Buy from them. If you have a pond or lake on your property don't think twice about sharing the water with  drought stricken farmers,especially in New Jersey.

You should be grateful to all laborers this Labor Day. entend that gratitude to the entire year. It'll will be greatly appreciated.