Heat Wave Cooking

I wish I'd been able to spend more time with Duane while I was in town. Trips always go by too quickly, and somehow are over right when you're just getting into things. I definitely agree about Katie being a fabulous hostess- any visit to their house became an Event with themes and costumes and adventures in The Indian Room. In fact, it was at their house that I first decided zucchini may not be so bad... She melted cheese on top.

As for now, it's been hot- too hot to cook everyday. I still insist upon having a home cooked meal on the table (almost) every night, and much to the dismay of my poor husband, I do not consider microwaved nachos a meal. Midnight snack, maybe, but not dinner. (Especially when the tortilla chips are topped with St. Andre's brie and a dill pickle. Yeah. It's an uphill battle.) So what's a girl to do?

It's freezer time! Yes, I have jumped on the "freezer cooking" bandwagon. What's not to love- I've got a freezer full of convenient food, but it's all homemade and I know exactly what's in every single thing. I tweak it to my family's tastes and I can portion it into whatever sizes I want, from a big bag of pancakes (individually frozen between layers of waxed paper before being tossed in a Ziplock) ready to be heated up and slathered with peanut butter right before school, to homemade chili with roasted Anaheim peppers and both sausage and ground steak, because that's just how we roll. And all those organic eggs I bought for 99 cents a dozen? Quiche! (I just forgot to make sure I'd stocked up on foil bakeware before I got started. Oops!)

So now when I don't feel like cooking or it's too hot to have my kitchen turned into a sauna (or in this weather, a steam room), I just pull something out and heat it up. Tonight was super simple because I was running late getting home from work. I just pulled out a bag of chili and made chili dogs, threw together a compound butter for some corn on the cob, and sliced up a watermelon.

Here's my super simple chili recipe:

1 lb ground beef, preferably sirloin 
1 lb sausage (I like to find one with a bit of spice to it, a Cajun or Andouille), casings removed
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Anaheim chiles, roasted, skins and seeds removed, and diced
1 large can of tomatoes, either diced or crushed
1-2 cans of kidney or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
salt, pepper
seasonings to taste (cumin, cayenne. I usually start with 1 tsp each and adjust accordingly)

1. In a large pot, brown the onion with the sirloin and sausage. Drain off the fat. 

2. Add the garlic, chiles, and tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

3. Add the beans and season to taste. 

I love this recipe for it's versatility- it's so easy to substitute whatever I have. You can use hotter peppers (jalapeno, or for the truly brave, habanero. Just don't rub your eyes!) or substitute ground beef. Double or triple the recipe to feed a crowd or to freeze for later. Eat it with tortilla chips and a big dollop of sour cream,  or turn it into chili dogs. I usually make my big batch very mild for the picky eaters in my house and add the real spice to individual servings. And even though you can substitute ground beef, I really prefer the sirloin/ sausage mix. The sirloin is leaner than most hamburger so it balances out the additional fat from the sausage, while the sausage adds extra complexity and is a simple way to add seasonings. (Along that line of thinking, choose your sausage carefully. Obviously breakfast sausage is out, but I find Italian sausage doesn't quite work either.)

Chili-lime Butter

2 sticks salted butter, soft but not melted
juice and zest from one lime (my lime was fairly dry- you may only need half the juice)
1 tsp chili powder (today I used ancho chile powder for it's mild heat and smoky flavor, but if you want a bit more kick, use cayenne.)

1. Mix 'em up. It's that simple. Use a fork, a pastry cutter, the back of a spoon, or whatever seems to work best for you. Make it a cohesive mass- the more you mix, the better your butter will be. Taste it to be sure the flavors are balanced.

This will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Just make sure it's wrapped tightly.

Besides topping the ubiquitous summertime corn on the cob, you can use this butter on a toasted piece of bread for a turkey sandwich, or spread it on a biscuit to eat with corn chowder. And you can switch up the flavors however you want; compound butters are one of the easiest ways to add extra pizazz to a dish. Just mix in whatever seasonings you have that will complement your dish, from spices to finely minced fresh herbs. (A dill and lemon butter is excellent atop grilled fish.) Get creative and use whatever you have on hand!


Kate

The Power of Food



Cover of book by Susan Schwartzenberg

Since starting this blog with my daughter, I’ve become more aware of food. Not the taste of food or the smell of food but the role food has in relationships and the power it can have as a catalyst of change.

I was looking at a book the other day.  It’s called “Becoming Citizens; Family Life and the Politics of Disability”, by Susan Schwartzenberg. The author of this book was commissioned to tell the stories of four women who, in the 1970’s, fought for the educational rights of their children. These children, according the State and other professionals, were severely disabled and could not be educated (code words for we don’t want them).

The mothers refused to believe what they were told. Refused to believe what the authorities said about their children. They believed what every mother believes. “My child is just as important as your child.  My child has a right to an education just like other children.  

So these four mothers and two law students from the University of Washington set out to change things.  How did they do it?  With food!  Yes, with food.  They invited their congressmen to a lunch of homemade food – home cooking! Not cafeteria food, not food from a hoity-toity restaurant, but home cooking; food from their own kitchens.  

The mothers knew a simple truth. A cook gives more than food to the guest. One cannot accept a home cooked meal and reject the cook. Acceptance of the meal requires relationship, calls for dialogue and breeds understanding. That’s why family meals are so important, they help us see our interconnectedness with each other and the world.






Signing of HB 90 (Washington State's Educatio for all Bill) left to right
Janet Taggart, Katie Dolan, Cecile Lindquist, Governor Daniel Evans, Evelyn Chapman, George Breck, and William Dussault (insert)  from the Book Becoming Citizens, page 73



The Congressmen took notice and listened.  And the mothers accomplished the unimaginable. They, with the two law students, wrote the law that put Washington State on the map as the first state in the country to provide a free education for every child between the ages of 3 and 21. Eventually this law was the basis for Federal Law 94-142 that guarantees all children in the United States, regardless of disability, the right to a free education.

For the past 25 years my family has lived with the son of one of these women. Unfortunately, by the time the law passed he was too old to take advantage of the free education his mother fought for but, millions of other children have attended school because these four mothers had a mission and used good ole’ home cookin’ as one of the tools to accomplish their goal.

I hope that as I continue to learn about food and relationships that I will see that each meal I eat has been given to me as a gift – even if I am the cook.  For, even if I eat alone, I can never eat a meal in isolation - because each bite I take is really a statement about how I choose to live my live on this earth with you.

Blessings and health in 2012

Cheryl