A Minimalist Approach

Not least among the reasons we moved to the Gulf Coast is our love of fresh seafood and the abundant access and variety we find in this little corner of the world.  It is easy to take for granted that the Gulf will continue to yield its bounty indefinitely and is impervious to human interference.  How wrong we are to think our actions and lifestyle choices as a region and as a country will not impact fragile ecosystems around the world!  Events over the past few months have reminded us how interconnected we are and how our actions have consequences. The easy path is to point fingers and lay blame at the door of careless business practices, but yet more difficult to identify the ways in which we (I) bear responsibility.  As the crisis in the Gulf began I attended a prayer vigil at our pubic pier.  One of the speakers that night encouraged us to consider both "corporate greed" and "our own unexamined conspicuous consumption" as we seek a path toward healing.

To give a critical eye to our own lifestyle choices will be a fruitful pursuit for each of us.  The Genesis narrative reminds us that God granted to men and women stewardship over all creation, conferring upon each of us both privilege and responsibility.  Earth care is neither a liberal nor a conservative issue.  It is a human issue, born of the role we are each called to play by virtue of creation.  The old adage that "less is more" has never been more relevant than it is today.  Community may be found close to home, but we have neighbors near and far who will thank us for choosing a minimalist approach to life.  In Genesis 1:31, God saw all he had made "and it was very good."  We have inherited a sacred trust as human beings to preserve that which God has declared good, to make thoughtful choices and live lightly on this earth.  I am painfully aware how far I have to go to uphold my end of the bargain, but grateful that more often these days, more of us are participating in conversations that contribute to change.  We have oh-so-much to gain!

Bayou La Batre, just across the causeway in south Mobile County is the epicenter of our local seafood industry.  You saw it in the movie Forrest Gump as the home of Bubba Gump Seafood.  One of the treasures of our Gulf by way of Bayou La Batre is the blue crab, whose tender sweet meat can be enjoyed a multitude of ways, but I think is best tucked into a tasty crab cake.  Again, less is more.  We have been experimenting over the past couple of years and have hit on a minimal number of additions we think enhance the essential loveliness of the crab without masking the flavor.  We think crab cake should taste more like "crab" than "cake," if you get my drift.  Give this a try the next time you can get your hands on about a pound of really good crabmeat!  (And thank you for letting me preach a little tonight!)

Minimalist Crab Cakes
(Makes about 8)
1 pound crabmeat
1/4 cup good quality mayonnaise
1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
dash salt
1/2 cup bread crumbs (Panko, homemade or other--NOT seasoned) for filling
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup Panko bread crumbs for coating

1.  Carefully prepare the crabmeat by picking out any small pieces of shell.  I recommend you take the crabmeat out of the refrigerator and put it in a colander to drain the juice.  Let it stand about 5 minutes before starting to work your fingers through it so it won't be quite so cold.  It hurts my delicate little fingers if I don't!


2.  Add the mayonnaise, Old Bay, mustard, salt and 1/2 cup bread crumbs to the crab.  Toss lightly until well combined without breaking up the crab too much.

3.  Fold in the egg.

4.  Here is the challenging part.  To shape the mixture into crakes, I use a half cup measuring cup that I fill to about 2/3 full, pressing the mixture down into the cup to shape it.  I spread the cup of Panko bread crumbs out on a wax paper lined plate.  I turn the cup upside down on top of the bread crumbs and give it a good thump on top to loosen the crab, then I remove the cup.  I toss crumbs on top and on the sides and cover as much as possible.  Then I use a spatula to lift it up and turn it over on the crumbs, being careful not to let it fall apart.  Inevitably, some pieces will fall off.  Just tuck them back in and shape lightly with your hands.  Use the spatula to transfer the shaped, coated crab cake onto a wax paper lined pan.  Good luck!  This gets easier with practice!!

5.  Place the pan with the shaped crab cakes into the freezer for about 15-20 minutes.  If you don't plan to cook all of the crab cakes, leave the ones you don't need in the freezer.

6.  A few minutes before time to take the crab cakes out of the freezer, heat an oven proof pan over medium to medium high heat and preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  This is a GREAT time to pull out a well-seasoned iron skillet.  Put a little oil and butter BOTH in the pan to melt.  When it starts to sizzle, remove the crab cakes from the freezer and place directly in the pan.  Allow to brown on one side, then carefully flip to the other.

7.  When nicely brown on each side, put the pan with the crab cakes into the oven.  Leave for about 10-15 minutes as you toss a salad, sautee some veggies or set the table.  Serve with your choice of sauces, either store bought such as a remoulade or a tartar sauce, or try one of these simple sauces.

Mock Remoulade:  Mix two parts mayonnaise with one part creole mustard.

Lemon Caper Aioli:  Mix 1/2 cup mayonnaise with the juice of 1/2 lemon and 1 teaspoon capers.

A clean plate, every time!

Note:  These freeze really well prior to cooking.  Really!  Here's a tip.  Freeze them until solid before wrapping.  When they are frozen, use a vacuum sealer and toss in the freezer.  Or place in a plastic bag with excess air squeezed out.  But in general, you really should get a vacuum sealer.  My good friend J.R. turned me on to the joys of food vacuum sealing.  You can find these "FoodSavers" stashed on the top shelf at Tuesday Morning, if you keep an eye out for one, or instantly available at Amazon.  They are great for leftovers AND the packaged food takes up less space in your freezer.  Plus, they are kind of fun.  Your husband will like doing this because it involves a machine.  Make sure you label and date whatever you vacuum seal, because things tend to look alike once you suck the air out.  You'd hate to be all geared up for crab cakes only to realize you had thawed out the ground veal instead.

What to do with your frozen crab cakes:  Use them to make Crab Benedict!  Thaw them slightly.  You want them still to be firm and hold their shape for frying.  Top each with a poached egg and homemade Hollandaise sauce.  Sprinkle with a few capers and serve with a side of fruit and you have a lovely weekend brunch.  These pictures are funny!  I think the capers make the Crab Benedict look a little like little crabs themselves, eyes peering out suspiciously at their surroundings.

Just So You Will Know...

Just so you will know, even though my last few postings have had a healthy bent, don't be deceived.  There is still plenty of activity afoot in my Fairhope kitchen producing edibles with little nutritional value.  I just want you to be absolutely clear.

Caramel Chocolate Chunk Pecan Ice Cream

After making about 5 or 6 batches of peach ice cream, I decided to branch out and try a new flavor.  I have been convinced that the possibilities for my base recipe are endless, so I have been pondering the plethora of flavor combinations available to me. Not a chocoholic myself,  I will say that I have great respect for all of you who are.  I empathize with your enjoyment of--shall we say obsession with--all things chocolate. Some of you are aficionados of silky dark chocolate, others like a semi-sweet sliver here and there, and still others would have nothing other than a creamy milk chocolate. I will not turn those down, but given a choice, I will gravitate toward burnt sugar, i.e. caramel, any day.  Give me toffee or heath bars or pecan praline and I am happy as a pig in slop!  My favorite local ice cream purveyor, Mr. Gene's Beans, sometimes (way too rarely) has a flavor I love called Caramel Turtle Fudge.  It is actually a good thing he doesn't carry it all the time, because I am not known for my ability to withstand temptation when it comes to ice cream.  Naturally, one of the first recipe morphs I considered was a caramel ice cream melange of sorts.

One of my favorite food bloggers is The Amateur Gourmet and he has waxed poetic about a Barefoot Contessa recipe for caramel ice cream.  I read through the recipe he was featuring and noted he mentioned how soft it was when it came out of the ice cream maker, showing a picture of the results looking downright soupy.  My hunch was that I could make caramel (basically burned sugar) and mix it into the same base I use for my peach ice cream and come up with a fairly creamy frozen dessert right out of the ice cream maker.  No doubt it would be better after spending a little "time out" in the freezer, but I would put money on my chances at getting a pretty good version right out of the ice cream freezer.  Just to keep you hooked so that you will read to the end and perhaps try it yourself, it was outstanding!  Here is how it works:

Caramel Chocolate Chunk Pecan Ice Cream
1 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tsp. (1/2 package) Knox gelatin
1 egg
1-1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 cups cream
1 Tb. vanilla
1 3-1/2 ounce bar of chocolate
2/3 cup chopped pecans

1.  Whisk the buttermilk and gelatin together and warm on top of a double boiler or in a stainless steel bowl placed over a small saucepan until gelatin is dissolved and buttermilk is steaming.

2.  Whisk egg in a small bowl.  Mix the hot buttermilk mixture into the egg a little at a time until about half of the buttermilk is mixed into the egg.  Pour the egg mixture back into the pan with remaining buttermilk and warm until it is thickened, about 5 minutes, whisking constantly to keep the mixture smooth.  Remove from the heat.

3.  In another saucepan, mix the sugar and water and begin to heat over medium high heat and bring to a boil.  Watch this sugar mixture very carefully.  It will take up to about 7 minutes to caramelize.  It is ready when it takes on a deep amber color and that will happen quite quickly.  Remove from heat.

Not Ready

Amber and Ready

4.  Off the heat, begin to pour the cream into the caramelized sugar.  The sugar will seize up as you do this.  Don't be alarmed.  Just return to medium heat and whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the cream is a lovely caramel color.

5.  Now, mix the buttermilk/egg/gelatin mixture together with the cream/sugar mixture.  Add the vanilla.

You will miss a golden opportunity
if you don't grab a spoon right now and sample!

6.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very, very cold.  Plan ahead!  This step will take about 3 hours.  To speed the process, you can place it in the freezer for awhile.  But whisk it around often so it cools evenly and doesn't freeze around the sides.

7.  Chop chocolate into small pieces.  I used Scharffen Berger semi-sweet 62 percent chocolate.  Next time, I will probably try milk chocolate.  The ice cream and semi-sweet chocolate are both so rich, I think a milk chocolate might mellow it a bit.  But if you LOVE a darker chocolate as I do, go for it!  Do use a high quality chocolate.

8.  Toast the pecans on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees until they are lightly browned.  Let cool.  Combine the chocolate and the pecans in a plastic bag and place in the freezer until ready to use.  (Don't combine these two until the pecans are completely cool or it will melt the chocolate.)

9.  When cream mixture is very cool, process in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.  When ice cream is in its last few minutes of churning, add the chocolate and pecans.

When it is done it will be very creamy and quite ready to eat as is.  As a matter of fact, I ate it just like this with a spoon right out of the container.

It will benefit from a few hours in a freezer container and be quite good for at least a week or so.  It won't last that long, though!

More Veggies, Please

Meatless Monday has been a revelation to me.  Or perhaps not so much a revelation as a reminder--I LOVE VEGGIES!  The discipline of choosing non-meat alternatives one day a week has spilled over into the other six.  I remember now how much I truly enjoy vegetables, the taste, the texture, the variety, the versatility.  When you direct your meal planning in the direction of vegetarian alternatives for just one day, your brain more readily includes and considers these options EACH time you think about what's for supper--or for lunch--or on the restaurant menu.  Over the past 2 weeks since I dedicated myself to more meatless living, I have cooked eggplant Parmesan, grilled portobello sandwiches, pasta with chunky marinara and bread salad.  And just yesterday when dining out with a friend, I gravitated toward an eggplant-filled panini as my lunch choice.  In nary a meal did I miss the meat, nor has my significant one.  (I speak on his behalf.  At least he hasn't complained in range of my hearing. He has made lots of yum-yum noises, which is always a good sign!)

One of the tricks is to keep vegetables on hand and actually USE them before they go bad.  We all hate to feel wasteful and one of the greatest guilt inducing moments for me is when I have to clean out the vegetable bin and find myself throwing out things that should have, could have been eaten and enjoyed--if only I'd been more inventive, worked a little harder, decided to cook supper instead of accepting Paul's invitation to dine out.  It is sometimes hard being a cook with a conscience--and a budget!

Earlier this week, I made a quick stop at Hazel's Market in Daphne to stock up on some of summer's bounty.  I came out with these:

If you spy something in the bowl that doesn't quite look like it was picked from a tree or pulled from the dirt or plucked off a vine, you would be the astute one.  That is a nice chunk of hoop cheese packaged in Chickasaw, Alabama, so if it isn't completely local, at least it has cousins who are.  I couldn't pass that up!  It is the cheese of my childhood, the cheese we all ate before there were other options.  The Italians may have their Parmesan and mozzarella, but in the South, we have hoop cheese.  I didn't have a plan for it at the time, other than to make sure I ate it quickly so I wouldn't have to share.

I bought small quantities of the things that would spoil.  Just one zucchini, one yellow squash, several tomatoes (tomato sandwiches equal easy vegetarian lunches) and 3 cloves of garlic which will last in my garlic keeper nearly forever, or at least until I use them.

So, Paul is traveling and I needed dinner for one last night.  I decided on a veggie quesadilla.  If you have been reading this blog at all, you may have come to the conclusion that I can make a taco or a quesadilla out of most anything.  You would be correct.  And that is truly a way to make a quick meal that will satisfy even the picky eaters at your table.  If you have enough fillings, you can customize the meal a bit without feeling like a short-order cook.  For me last night, a tortilla filled with a smattering of hoop cheese and a heap of veggies was a healthy choice and amazingly tasty.  This is not so much a recipe I offer you today, but a meal suggestion that you can customize according to whatever may be reaching its prime in your vegetable bin.

Let me add that we have a new grill.  We've been biding our time on sub-par grills until we permanently install one in the little cottage up the street that we are renovating.  Model "C" purchased from the corporate behemoth finally rusted out.  We upgraded to a slightly better model that we hope will tide us over until we're ready to throw some serious cash at an outdoor cook space, sometime in the future when we win the lottery.  Here's the newest addition to our outdoor kitchen here in our little rental, only a slight upgrade from model "C":

Grilling is a great way to cook vegetables.  You can choose whatever vegetables you have in the food prep queue in your kitchen.  I chose these from my trip to Hazel's.

I sliced about half of the squash and zucchini, about a quarter each of the onion and tomato, and all of the little red pepper.  I use the same "technique" for a veggie quesadilla as I do for my roasted tomato salsa, spreading the veggies on a sheet of foil in a single layer directly on the grill rack after I have tossed them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Here is a secret ingredient I've been using lately:

This is smoked kosher salt.  I ordered it from Amazon and it will probably last forever.  I heard two chefs  proclaim its glories as an ingredient in two separate cooking classes and decided I needed my very own supply.  This is a good addition to vegetables cooked on the grill.  Use sparingly as it can get overwhelming if you use too much.

Anyway, I digress.  Back on the grill, we have veggies hanging out on a sheet of foil getting nice and happy!  Grill them with the lid closed over medium high heat until they begin to soften and brown on one side.  At that point, use long tongs to toss them about so they can brown and char a bit all over.  Don't let them get too soft.  A little crunch adds a lot to the taste of the finished product.  When they are done, use the tongs to lift the foil by all four corners, capturing the juice with the veggies. I empty mine into a bowl so they will be easier to work with.  They will look something like this.

Now, heat a non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  Add a bit of olive oil or cooking spray.  While it is heating, grate about an ounce of cheese per person.  You don't need a lot of cheese, but the cheese becomes the glue that holds the rest of the ingredients together.

Put the tortilla in the pan and spread the cheese around on it so it can begin to melt.

When the cheese begins to soften, add your vegetables on top of the tortilla.

Since I was cooking for one, I just doubled the one tortilla over.  Because I used lots of veggies, they squished out around the sides of the tortilla.  I liked it that way.  Any veggie that escaped the tortilla just got dumped on top of the quesadilla after I removed it from the pan.  If you are feeding several people or if you are very hungry yourself, you could top this with another tortilla instead of doubling one over on itself.  I think it is a bit more manageable to flip a tortilla that is doubled over rather than two stacked together.  But I am not the boss of you in your kitchen!

Cut it into quarters (or whatever.)  Serve with sour cream, salsa, jalapeno peppers, guacamole--all your choice.  This is a most flexible way to prepare a meal.  Some broccoli would have been good in this, as would mushrooms, roasted corn or spinach.  I wouldn't put spinach on the grill, I don't think.  You could just toss the spinach into the hot veggies as they come off the grill and the heat would wilt it adequately.  You could also toss a little cilantro into the hot veggies.  Lots of possibilities here to add a few more servings of the good stuff into your diet, and not be wasteful.  If you don't have a grill, do not despair!  You can accomplish the same thing with a baking sheet lined with foil under the broiler.

So, I was the one making the yum-yum noises last night, all by myself, congratulating myself because I had eaten a home-cooked, healthy meal and made good use of things on hand.  Go check out your vegetable bin right now.  You could be feeling satisfied and pious in no time!

The Tomato Farmer

I suppose many women think their fathers can do anything.  The truth of the matter is, my dad really could.  He could single-handedly build a new room on a house, re-upholster furniture, hem his own pants, re-plumb or re-wire a house, change the oil or spark plugs in a car, execute a perfect swan dive from the high diving board, turn a somersault on a trampoline. Of all the things he COULD do well, perhaps the one he loved the most was farming.  Some of his happiest days, I believe, were probably the years of his retirement when he and my mother built a house on thirty acres and bought a tractor.  Every year after they moved to their new home, he cultivated a productive little garden plot growing the best tomatoes I have ever tasted.


Daddy grew up in a farming family.  He did truck farming, among other odd jobs, to put himself through college.  It is no surprise he got a degree in Agriculture from Alabama Polytechnic University, better known these days as Auburn University.  He worked in the poultry industry from the time he graduated from college until his retirement in 2000, but most summers, he cultivated a small plot of vegetables in our suburban back yard.

I remember distinctly one summer when I was a teenager, Daddy turned the whole of our yard into a garden.  When the tomatoes began to ripen in earnest, he would work his square job all day long traveling across north Georgia servicing poultry farms, only to come home in the evenings and work in the garden until dark.  My mother was in graduate school that summer and had little time to help.  My sister and I must have been pretty useless when it came to farming and canning, because I don't remember lending much of a hand in the effort.  When I think about that summer, I remember Daddy donning an apron in the kitchen and canning tomatoes.  There were so many tomatoes coming in that he turned to odd-ball recipes like homemade ketchup to help use the surplus.  Today I would probably consider his ketchup a gourmet treat.  When I was fourteen or so, I just remember thinking, "What the heck is this?"  Oh the glorious hindsight of middle age!


I sure have missed his tomatoes this summer!  There was nothing like them.  They weren't perfect.  As a matter of fact, most of them were down right ugly to look at with a craggy exterior and the occasional odd appendage.  But somehow he could grow a tomato with just the right amount of acidity and sweetness, both juicy and meaty at the same time.  The ultimate summer treat was a sandwich made with one of Daddy's tomatoes.  Just some good bread, a nice swipe of mayonnaise, a few layers of sliced tomatoes and a judicious sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Nothing better!

A couple of years ago, the weather was just right and we were still eating fresh tomatoes at Thanksgiving.  As good as they always were, Daddy was an awful critic, complaining about blossom end rot, aphids and fluctuations in the rainfall that played havoc with their growth.  But no matter how they looked on the outside, when you cut into them and caught a whiff of what was hiding within, you knew you were about to eat something special.


All this talk about tomatoes--it's just a smoke screen.  It's not the tomatoes I miss so much, it's my dad. It's just easier to talk about the tomatoes. Daddy died August 19th last year at the height of summer when the tomato harvest was in full swing.  In those days that followed, I felt closest to him every morning when I would grab a basket and help my mom gather the wealth of tomatoes hanging heavily from the vines.  There were about 15 plants thriving there, all as tall as me.  You'd think those plants would have taken a break as a courtesy of some kind, but what Daddy put in motion as he prepared the soil for planting early that spring had a momentum all its own, producing dozens each day by late August.  We finally put a table up in the garage with plastic bags available for family and neighbors to come by and take what they wanted.

I think we sometimes tend to idealize our loved ones after they are gone, making them super-human in our memories.  I sure don't want to do that or then the pressure will be on to become super-human myself and that would be an awful burden to bear.  But although, like his tomatoes, he may have had a "wart" or two, what he was to me as a father is more than I can describe.  I may be my mother's daughter, but the nut didn't fall far from the tree with my dad, either.  I learned to "measure twice and cut once" at his feet and can aptly apply that adage in most any arena of my life, becoming overly analytical and hyper-logical when a good approximation might do.  If I have confidence in my own abilities it is because Daddy gave his wife and daughters wings to reach for their dreams. And occasionally when I'm deep in concentration, I realize my tongue is sticking out just like Daddy's used to.


We've determined not to mope around this week counting what we've lost.  As a matter of fact, my mom is at church tonight leading a grief support group, helping other people walk through their own loss.  We all plan to eat tomatoes every chance we get this summer.  You'll understand, though, if in our lack of objectivity they all fall a little short of the tomatoes we remember.


I offer this recipe in memory of my dad, Gene Lambert, "the Tomato Farmer."

Roasted Tomato Salsa
4-5  tomatoes, the uglier the better, cut lengthwise in quarters
1 small onion, peeled and cut lengthwise into quarters
2 jalapeno peppers, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
olive oil
A good handful of cilantro, chopped
juice of one lime
a splash of balsamic or other vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Preheat grill to medium high.  Put a large piece of heavy duty foil over the grate.  Splash a little olive oil on the foil.  Spread the tomatoes, onion and peppers across the foil in a single layer and use tongs to roll them around in the oil a bit.

2.  Allow the tomato mixture to soften and blacken, turning occasionally with the tongs.

3.  When the tomatoes are softened and juices are bubbling on the foil, pull the foil up and together by all four corners to contain the contents with their juices.  Put foil and all into a bowl and allow to cool.
4.  When cool, dump all into a blender or food processor and puree.
5.  Add the lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, along with just a splash of the vinegar.  Taste and correct seasoning.  Serve with tortilla chips. 

Pickling Day

I know for certain I imprinted on my mother as surely as a mallard chick imprints on Mama Duck.  I can envision how it must have happened some 50 years ago.  My dad had waited patiently for hours as I took my sweet time coming into the world.  Finally, the doctor sent him away to get some lunch, assuring him it would be awhile.  But while he was away, things began to happen rather quickly and I made my entrance.  My mom says back in 1960 they anesthetized the mother so completely she just woke up and was handed a baby, somewhat unsure of how it all came to be.  My mother may have been a little woozy when she was handed her first born daughter, but I am sure I was wide awake when they put me in her arms.  I can imagine that when I looked into her face, all the synapses fell into place.  Something must have been birthed in me at that instant that would compel me to follow her, watch her, learn from her and begin to develop an affinity for all the things she did and loved.  As soon as I was old enough to stand, my favorite place to be was on a chair beside her in the kitchen watching her cook.  Or in a chair behind her with my hands on her shoulders as she sat at the sewing machine.  I loved all her "motherly" pursuits and began to putter alongside her as soon as I was able.

Fifty years later we are still puttering side by side.  Today, it is pickling day.  I bought a big sack of cucumbers at Allegri Farm Market before I left Baldwin County, thoughts straining ahead anticipating the aroma of warm sugared vinegar spiced with cloves and allspice and cinnamon that would soon fill my mother's homey kitchen. She makes what she calls "Summer Crisps" about this time every year, a small batch recipe for refrigeration.  I simply adore eating them with sandwiches or burgers, and truth be told, I am most happy to lob them onto my plate as if they are a side dish unto themselves.  Needless to say, a quart or two won't last very long with my appetite for this sweet sour concoction.


And just as I love sweet sour pickles, Paul put in his request for a kosher dill version.  And to help things along, he found a recipe with his name on it in this month's Men's Health Magazine.  So now we have three quarts of pickles beautifully made, just waiting on a taste test.  Unfortunately, they have to mellow in the brine for awhile before we can issue our report.  The Summer Crisps are tried and true, but the dill pickles will have to be duly sampled before we can declare them a part of our regular repertoire.  Tonight, I offer these recipes and pictures for your perusal.  Check back tomorrow to hear whether or not they are an unqualified success!

Quarts 1 and 2 are Summer Crisps; on the far right are the Dill Pickles

Cucumbers in salt and ice bath

Summer Cucumber Crisps
12 pickling cucumbers or 7-8 regular cucumbers
1/1/2 Tbs. table salt
1 pint white vinegar
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbs. whole cloves
2 Tbs. whole allspice
2 bay leaves
2 sticks cinnamon
2 Tbs. celery seed
1 Tbs. peppercorns
1 tsp. ground ginger


1.  Thinly slice cucumbers and put in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and toss with some ice.  Cover with water and allow to soak for about an hour.  Drain. 
2.  Combine all other ingredients (vinegar through ginger) in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Cool and strain.
3.  Pack sterilized jars with cucumbers (makes about 1-1/2 quarts.)  Cover with strained marinade.  Let stand for an hour and refrigerate.  READY TO EAT!!

Note:  After an afternoon of pickling on Meatless Monday, we found ourselves starving at about 8:00 pm and loathe to heat up the kitchen again.  Served alongside egg salad sandwiches, these were perfection!

Basic Quick Dill Pickles 
6-8 pickling cucumbers, cut in quarters lengthwise
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups white vinegar
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tbs. Kosher salt
1-1/2 Tbs. sugar
1-1/2 Tbs. pickling spice
15 peppercorns
5 sprigs dill


1.  Place cucumbers in a bowl sprinkled with salt.  Add some ice and cover with water.  Let stand for an hour and drain.  Pack cucumbers into a sterilized quart jar.  
2.  Put next 6 ingredients (vinegar through peppercorns) in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
3.  Pour over cucumbers.  Add dill sprigs, pushing down into jar.
5.  Let cucumbers come to room temperature and refrigerate 24 hours before serving.


Note:  I will add an update tomorrow night with a taste test report on the dill pickles.


Update:  I had one of the kosher dills after breakfast this morning.  Although not the best time to stick your hand in the pickle jar, I couldn't wait any longer to taste.  These are quite good!  Very crunchy and garlicky and dilly.  Just bought more cucumbers at the market to make another batch.

Meatless Mondays: I Think I Can Do This!

I lived for one year as a vegetarian.  Then I met my husband and two stepsons and realized we were going to become a family.  As the four of us began to merge our lives, there were many, many accommodations we ALL had to make along the way.  Two young boys, already juggling living between two households, now had the added challenge of this crazy woman in the mix who didn't eat meat.  I had only just begun to navigate successfully for myself the waters of living meatless in a world designed for carnivores.  Now, in our new family unit, I was the lone rower trying to move us upstream when everyone else on board was flowing with the current.  I did the easy thing and caved.  It wasn't hard to do, either, because I really like meat myself.  I had committed to a vegetarian diet in an effort to eat healthier, to include more fruits, vegetables and whole grains into my diet.  I was not and am not ideologically opposed to eating meat, as long as that choice is made responsibly and from a perspective of good stewardship.  I realize now, though, that I fall into the trap of allowing the meat in my diet to displace some of the things I need so much more.  I also am beginning to understand the cumulative toll mass production of meat is taking, the harm done to the environment, the inhumane practices of industrialized livestock production, the massive amounts of water used and the fossil fuels consumed.  The impact in our own community of the recent Deep Water Horizon oil spill should awaken all of us to the need to live simpler and closer to home.

This information is from the Meatless Monday website:  "Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. We provide the information and recipes you need to start each week with healthy, environmentally friendly meat-free alternatives. Our goal is to help you reduce your meat consumption by 15% in order to improve your personal health and the health of the planet.

"Presidents Wilson, Truman and Roosevelt galvanized the nation with voluntary meatless days during both world wars. Our intention is to revitalize this American tradition. We’re spearheading a broad-based, grassroots movement that spans all borders and demographic groups. By cutting out meat once a week, we can improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint and lead the world in the race to reduce climate change."


I can do this!  This is one small step I can take and I embrace the challenge of seeking out meatless alternatives that are filling and fulfilling. (If it doesn't taste good and isn't fun to prepare, I don't want it!) I am approaching Meatless Mondays from the ovo / lacto perspective, so expect to see some dairy products make an appearance in the Meatless Monday recipes I provide from time to time.  I didn't get on board the "movement" until Tuesday of this week, so I practiced with one of my favorite go-to meatless recipes for dinner that night.  Maybe you'd like to give it a whirl next Monday!

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas
(As printed in Prevention Magazine, February 1999.  See my notes and modifications below the recipe.)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 19 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (see note below)
1/2 cup mildly spicy bottled salsa
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
Eight 6- to 8- inch flour tortillas

1.  Heat one teaspoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute 3 minutes until onions are translucent and slightly soft.

2.  Add beans, salsa and cumin; cook, mashing beans slightly, until combined, about 2 minutes.

3.  Remove mixture from heat; gently stir in the goat cheese and cilantro.

4.  Place 4 tortillas on a flat surface.  Spread some bean mixture over each one; top with another tortilla.  In a large skillet, use remaining oil to cook the quesadillas one at a time until golden, about 2 minutes per side.
5.  Garnish with good stuff:  salsa, sour cream, guacamole, more cilantro, you know what to do!

Just after adding goat cheese and cilantro...

After adding cheese and cilantro--trust me, it tastes better than it looks!

Dinner for One

My preparation notes:  I've been making this recipe for a long time, and I don't think I generally find a 19 ounce can of beans in my supermarket.  The can I had in the pantry this week was 15 ounces.  That will work fine!  You may want to add slightly less salsa to keep it from being too liquid and you may only get three hearty quesadillas instead of four.  Also, I never use the whole 4 ounces of goat cheese.  Goat cheese is very tangy and goes a long way for me.  Put in about 2 ounces, and then dip your spoon in and give it a taste test.  Use your judgment.  This is a great recipe for one person.   As one whose husband travels during the week, this is a recipe I can prepare that will feed me for several meals.  Just use however much you want for one meal and refrigerate the rest.  When your significant other gets back in town, warm the leftover bean mixture in the microwave and serve with tortilla chips as a dip.  It ain't pretty, but it sure tastes good!