Funk Fixer: Warm Spicy Greens with Bacon and Eggs

Photo scraped from Taste of Home.com

I've been in a funk as thick and gooey as the oily turds that keep washing up on the beaches of Pensacola.

I know I should be thrilled that summer is here and since I get summers off from my shift at the brewery, I should be busy cooking up a storm, churning out all the complicated dishes that I can't find the time to make on work days, but for weeks all I've been putting on the table is Pasta And.

Like Pasta And diced tomatoes and oil and vinegar and left over grilled chicken.

Or Pasta And broccoli with lemon and left over grilled chicken.

Or Pasta And butter, with left over grilled chicken on the side.

Just last night we had company, and all I could muster was Pasta And shrimp with green beans, garlic and diced tomatoes.

To make matters worse, I have screwed up all of the memory cards I have for my camera so I haven't been able to take a single picture. Actually that isn't true. I can take pictures, I just can't save pictures. And yes I could go buy another memory card, they are all of 9 bucks, but the funk has prevented me from getting up the motivation.

Today for lunch I finally ate my way to happiness. This recipe, which comes undiluted and undoctored straight from Mark Bittman, is scrumptious. It's a good thing my kids wouldn't touch it at gun point, because I ate the whole bowl, standing at the kitchen sink. With a cold glass of Pinot Grigio because, well, why the hell not. It's summer vacation damn it!

Warm Spicy Greens with Bacon and Eggs
Mark Bittman; How to Cook Everything

Makes: 4 Servings (ha!)
Time: About 30 minutes

The salad for meat-eaters.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
About 1/2 pound of pancetta, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small shallot, chopped
4 cups torn dandelion or other bitter greens, like mustard or turnip greens or watercress
About 1/4 cup top-quality red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 poached eggs (see recipe below)

1. Put the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the bacon and cook slowly until it’s crisp all over, 10 minutes or more. Add the shallot and cook until softened, another minute or two. Keep the bacon warm in the skillet.

2. Warm a salad bowl by filling it with hot water and letting it sit for a minute. Dry it and toss in the greens. Add the vinegar and mustard to the skillet and bring just to a boil, stirring. Pour the liquid and the bacon over the greens, toss, and season to taste (it shouldn’t need much salt). Top each portion with an egg and serve immediately.

To soft boil an egg: bring a small sized pot of water to a bubbling simmer--about 2 cups in a small saucepan. Add a teaspoon of vinegar and a healthy pinch of salt. Crack the eggs individually into a small bowl and gently slide the egg into the water. Let cook for 3 minutes for a fairly gooey egg (my choice) or 4 minutes for a more solid center. Remove with a slotted spoon, let drain and plop on top of the salad.

New Frugal Feast Column Exclusively Today in The Concord Monitor

Photo by Ken Williams for The Concord Monitor

Quiches for Ken

If you enjoy this column even a little bit, we bet it's because of Ken Williams. Sure, we've had a decent recipe or two (chickpea burritos not included), and we really are glad to make our readers feel better about their lives by over-sharing about the nonsense that goes on in ours; but it truly is the photography that makes Frugal Feasts newspaper-worthy.

Every other Monday, Ken finds a way to tart up whatever we have cobbled together at the last minute and turn it into a beautiful image - and God knows that can't be easy, because most of the things we cook are brown.

Brown food may be nutritious, and brown food can be delicious, and brown food is nearly always frugal, but we've got to tell you, brown food isn't pretty.

Ken is the genius of the casual toss, working culinary and visual magic with a couple of bug-eaten flowers from the yard, or a sprig of parsley, a pair of tongs and nothing more than a click-click, and voila! Our homey dishes are elevated into works of art.

The other big secret is Ken's adherence to the first rule of Fru-Gal Kitchen: You don't talk about Fru-Gal Kitchen. He has heard it all, and at least as far as we know, has never spilled the beans on the state of our finances, marriages and children, bless his soul.

Here's how it works on a good day: Ken arrives with his camera and his lights and calmly goes about setting up the shoot. He is a Zen master, methodically working in the eye of the storm, connecting flashes and opening little white umbrellas and fiddling around with long complicated stands while chaos swirls around him.

Robin frantically roots around for the iron because Suzanne decided that green and white napkins would look better with the stew than pink and white ones, and Suzanne paws through cabinets looking for plates and bowls and platters in an urgent effort to get the right look - a look that Suzanne can picture in her mind but can't seem to convey to Robin, who just wants to get it done and go home.

There is a lot of yelling. Not to mention eye rolling. And dirty dishes. Loads and loads of dirty dishes. When the photo shoot is done, Ken is happy to share a cup of coffee, offer a tidbit or two of parenting advice and take home a plastic container of whatever we've been cooking.

Ken Williams is our honorary Fru Guy, the one who makes the Fru Gals look good. Or at least the one who unfailingly covers up the truth behind every photograph.

Here are the top five reasons we love Ken Williams:

1. Ken is not our husband.

2. Ken is a gentleman. No cursing, ever.

3. Ken appears genuinely happy to see us.

4. Ken never seems to mind standing in a dirty kitchen taking pictures of stew, even though he has photographed presidents and Paul Newman.

5. Ken eats our food.

After Ken's putting up with our nonsense for nearly two years, we decided that the least we could do would be to send him home with a tub of something he might actually enjoy sharing with his wife.

It took weeks of prodding and cajoling, but we finally were able to pry a favorite dish out of Ken: quiche. We offer two - perfect for a summer supper or lunch, or a thank-you gift for your favorite photographer.

A note on quiches: Since no two pie plates are ever the same depth, and ingredients vary, the best way to make a perfect quiche is to follow Julia Child's foolproof ratio for the custard. She determined that one egg, plus enough whole milk to make ½ cup, is the rule. To make enough for the average 8-9 inch pie plate whisk 3 eggs into a 4 cup measure and add milk to the 1½ cup mark.
Add a half-teaspoon of kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and a drop or two of hot sauce. Whisk again and pour over the ingredients in the pie shell. If you think you need more liquid, start again with one egg and add milk to the ½ cup mark. A little more salt and pepper and there should be plenty of liquid. We also recommend putting the pie plate onto a baking sheet on the oven rack before adding the liquid in an attempt to prevent a big goopy spill.



Basic Quiche Recipe
1 package pre-rolled pie crust (2 crusts)
Custard (for 2 quiches)
6 large eggs
2 cups whole milk, approximate
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
3-4 drops Tabasco or other hot sauce, or to taste
1 ½-2 cups filling of your choice
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line both pie plates with a pre-rolled crust and pinch the edges. Place a square of foil or parchment paper over the bottom of the crust and pour in dried beans to cover the bottom. Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and the beans, and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Bake for an additional 10 minutes, until the crust is dry and light brown. Cool before continuing with the recipe.


Basic Custard
Crack the eggs into a large measure. Whisk well and add milk to the 3 cup line. Whisk in the seasonings.

Arrange the filling in the bottom of the prepared crusts. Place the crusts on a baking sheet, and pour in the custard to within a half inch of the top of the crust.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the custard is set but still a little wiggly in the center. If the crust seems to be getting too brown, cover with a long strip of foil. Cool before serving warm or at room temperature.

Suzanne's Italian Quiche with Bruchetta Sauce

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 mild green Italian pepper, seeded and chopped
1 hot Italian sausage link
1 cup shredded mozzarella

While the crusts are blind-baking, prepare the ingredients: Prick the sausages with a fork and place in a small saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Cook until the sausages are no longer pink in the middle. Drain, slice thinly and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and the peppers and cook, stirring frequently until all is limp and glossy but not brown.

Spread half of the onions and peppers in the bottom of the crusts. Top with the mozzarella, and arrange the sausage slices on top.

Add custard to within ½ inch of the top of the crust. Bake as directed, and serve with the bruschetta sauce below.

Bruschetta Sauce
1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes, well drained
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil, finely chopped

Stir everything together and let sit at room temperature for at least a half-hour before serving with the quiche.

Trash Pick Make-Over

"Before"

Oh how I love black spray paint. It makes everything look good. Even the random assortment of ratty old wicker chairs I've trash picked over the past couple years to populate the ridiculous number of little porches that stick out all over the big gray battleship of a house we live in. At least until either the board of health or the mortgage company shuts us down. Could be either one. Today I'm feeling more like it's going to be the mortgage company, but that is probably because I'm outside and can't see the disaster area aka the kitchen.




Here is one of the better chairs part way through the painting process. By better I mean one of the ones you can park your ass in without worrying that you'll fall through. Even though spray paint is supposed to be easier than painting with a brush it takes me a long time because I wind up spray painting a lot of non-wicker items-- including my hands, my feet, my hair and the grass. And then there is all the time wasted listening to my DH bitch about the grass. Like it won't grow back. He gets so angry I wonder if he has the lawn confused with his head.



Came out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. New cushions straight from the TJ's don't hurt either. Don't tell Petey but there was nothing wrong with the old cushions. Except I bought the purple ivy geraniums and didn't think the cinnamon paisley would go so well. Anyone need 4 chair and 1 bench cushion in a nice cinnamon paisley? I could let them go cheap.

"After"

OK these two are definitely for show only. The cushions are spanning a great big square of air and are balancing precariously on the edges. I snatched these up from two different houses further down on School Street and since they sort of match, it makes me think that someone took one of them, got a load of the deplorable condition and put it back out on the street. Not sure what that says about me, but I know my parents would be proud.

It took Peter about 10 years to embrace the whole "OH MY GOD, PULL OVER, LOOK AT WHAT THEY ARE THROWING AWAY " method of furnishing our home. The damn kids still try to scrunch down so that no one can see their crazy mother hoisting three legged tables and wooden card tables into the back of the van. They'll learn. Or at the least have some great things to discuss with their therapists.

On another topic: I wonder how the paint would work on my thighs....

Sweet Treats: Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting

I'm no mathelete but I know this: coffee + chocolate = delicious.

I had all this worthless chocolate batter left over from the graduation cake I made last weekend when inspiration struck. I spooned the batter into a dozen hole cupcake tin and created the most delicious coffee frosting ever in the history of the world.

And you know I never, ever exaggerate.

Here is the key:




Instant Espresso Powder. Sue Chandler sells this brand--they might also stock it at one of the Non-Market Basket grocery stores in town, who knows. It is dark and rich and delicious. I like a couple spoonfuls in my brownie batter (dissolve in the liquid ingredients). I have no idea if it makes a decent cup of espresso, I'm happy just adding it to other things.

Coffee Frosting:

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder disolved in 2 tablespoons heavy cream that has been nuked for 15 seconds
3 sticks unsalted butter at warm room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 2 pound package confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream, more or less as needed

Beat the butter and the espresso/cream mixture until smooth and light brown. Add the vanilla and half the sugar. Beat until all is smooth and creamy. Add the rest of the sugar and beat until well incorporated. Add heavy cream by the tablespoon until frosting is of smooth spreading consistency. It should be soft, and will firm up in the fridge after the cupcakes are frosted.

Makes tons but keeps very well in the fridge for at least a week. Bring to room temperature before using.

Note: for the cupcakes I used the chocolate cake on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box--it makes about 24 cupcakes. Make sure not to fill the wrappers no more than half full-and a little less than half is probably better- and bake for 20 minutes or so at 350 degrees. Tops should be springy.

Cell Phone Connection

Ok , I am embarrassed to say we own many many cell phones with 8 children you can just imagine. We as parents want to stay in touch with them, and we figure even for the college kids we are paying a pretty price to able to converse with them at a moments notice.


For the younger set, high school and middle school age ,it is completely necessary for us to reach them, even more important a way for them reach us, should they come upon some danger while out in the world.


As parents, we want and need the instant contact, as a matter of fact we can not live without the ability to reach out and touch them anymore. We are addicted. Our phones have become are life lines and my cell phone bill proves that.
My cell bill is almost as much as... well I really don't want to talk about it , let's just say to much money.

But the truth of the matter is , the only child that answers my call each and every time I ring is the one child I longer supply with a cell phone. How ironic is that.

For some reason the phones I provide my children seem to have malfunctions.

They shut off by themselves, can't hold a charge and never can get service when they are out of the home..interesting,

I wonder, maybe progress is not really progress after all, Kids are going to do what the kids are going to do, and we are more than likely not going to be able to reach them while they are doing it.....

Garlic Lovers Take Note

Wonderful Garlic Dish for all Garlic Lovers, but please be advised you may only associate with folks that have eaten this dish with you. Just a little bit of advice, you will thank me later

A Garlic growing friend of mine Agent Wiley ,handed me a bag of these crazy looking greens ropes on Sunday

with the words , if you like Garlic you will love these, go home and make pesto and you will not be disappointed, Agent Wiley was right, mild garlic flavor, beautiful color it was a show stopper.

Below a recipe I have adapted from a wonderful Blog by Dorie Greenspan in the kitchen and on the road with Dorie a beautiful blog,

GARLIC SCAPE AND PESTO
Makes about 1 cup
10 garlic scapes,
1/3 to 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (to taste and texture)
About 1/2 cup olive oil
Sea salt
Put the scapes, 1/3 cup of the cheese, half the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor (or use a blender or a mortar and pestle). Whir to chop and blend all the ingredients and then add the remainder of the oil and, if you want, more cheese. If you like the texture, stop; if you'd like it a little thinner, add some more oil. Season with salt.
If you're not going to use the pesto immediately, press a piece of plastic against the surface to keep it from oxidizing. The pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days or packed airtight and frozen for a couple of months,

Enjoy!

Sweet Treat: Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Another good one from our friend Martha Stewart, who proved that nothing needs to stand in the way of becoming rich and successful-- nine months in jail didn't put a dent in her earning power, damn her.

How cute are these? I'm headed to a going away party for a couple who are moving to Bermuda, and since we sort of live in the Boston area, I thought these would be pretty appropriate.

I'd like to say that I never use a box mix but I would be lying. I usually doctor up the mixes to give them a little more substance.... I did make the pastry cream and the chocolate ganache glaze just as Martha dictates, but you could use instant vanilla pudding and well, I actually can't think of something to use instead of the gananche, least of all canned chocolate frosting, but do what you will.....

Mini Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

1 box Jiffy Yellow cake mix
1 large egg plus one egg yolk
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 24 hole mini muffin tin.

Follow the directions on the cake box, substituting the egg and a half for the one egg called for on the box, and replacing the water with milk and adding the vanilla.
Pour into the prepared muffin tins and bake for about 15 minutes until golden.

Remove from the pan and cool completely. Using a serrated knife, cut each in half horizontally. Spread 1 teaspoon vanilla cream on each cupcake bottom. Sandwich with top. Spoon glaze over each, and serve immediately.

Vanilla Cream:

Makes 1 1/2 cups
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk yolks until smooth. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add milk in a slow, steady stream. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble and thicken, about 5 minutes. Pour 1/3 of milk mixture into yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until thick, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Pass vanilla cream through a fine sieve into a bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

Chocolate Ganache

Makes about 1 1/4 cups

2/3 cup heavy cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

Twitter Fail Whale

It's pretty hard to be mad at Twitter for being over capacity when this is the graphic that comes up when they can't process your tweets.

so much better than that bitchy monotone robot who tells you that all circuits are busy.

New Frugal Feasts Column: Today Exclusively in The Concord Monitor

Photo by Ken Williams for The Concord Monitor

We are officially T minus ten to summer vacation and we are gearing up to wage a sustained assault on the summertime axis of evil: salt, fat and sugar. We will be fortifying our position with state of the art weaponry: apples and celery in the crisper, low fat granola and baked chips in the snack cabinet, cheese sticks and yogurt in the fridge. We will go all out to win the hearts and minds of our junk food craving children. It won’t be easy: empty calorie snacks and meals enjoy an entrenched position in the summer diet, and a carrot drenched in ranch dressing is still a vegetable and everyone over the age of 4 knows it. We may win a battle or two as we try to get our kids to make healthy choices this summer, but we fear we will lose the war.

We are prepared for the long and bloody siege, but seriously, what are our odds? How on earth can veggie trays and fresh fruit compete with the constant barrage of television commercials filled with dancing candy and the salty allure of ramen noodles? Oh how we hate the ramen. Delicious and quick, yes, and at $2.25 for a case of twelve packages, a frugal wonder, but the amount of sodium in one of those little foil flavor packets is enough to shrivel all the slugs on the block. And still we find ourselves sliding that giant valu-pak under our carts every week at the grocery store. As General MacArthur famously rationalized, “we are not retreating; we are advancing in the opposite direction”.

Here are our tips for getting some healthy foods into our kids this summer:

1. Farmer’s Markets are Fun: Bring the kids downtown on Saturday mornings. It’s great fun and we’d like to think that seeing all of nature’s splendor will encourage them to eat some things that aren’t an unnatural color and don’t come shrink wrapped.

2. Make your Own=Empowerment. Kids are so weird. They don’t want to actually help in the kitchen but at the same time they seem to eat things they have a hand in making. So we have expanded Taco Tuesdays to include all sorts of ingredients: grilled chicken piled high on a whole wheat tortilla with an assortment of chopped veggies; small strips of lean roast pork with a drizzle of barbeque sauce and low fat coleslaw; tuna with lime and cilantro. They are all good and fast and fresh. The key to making these sorts of meals healthy is to balance every high fat/high calorie ingredient with two low-cal ones: for every bowl of shredded cheese or ranch dressing offer two vegetables: shredded carrots, chopped tomatoes, diced beets, thawed peas and drained chickpeas are all colorful and healthy choices.

3. A little Work Saves a Lot of Money, and calories too: It sounds a little ridiculous but if you scrape a bunch of carrots in the morning and leave them in the front of the fridge, your kids might actually reach for that to nibble on while foraging instead of tipping back their heads and guzzling the canned whipped cream. Ok maybe not but we really only had two good tips and that didn’t seem like enough for a column on healthy eating. You should try it though; maybe it will work on your kids.

4. Cut the Carbs: Try just serving protein and vegetables a couple nights a week. If you don’t make the mashed potatoes they won’t be able to eat them. It’s all about balance and one carbohydrate free meal will even out the ramen. And two carb-free dinners might make you feel a little better about fried dough at the fair.

5. Indulge occasionally. It’s summer, and summer without ice cream is not worth celebrating.

This week we have two fresh and frugal dishes that might help get your family to eat healthy. We take watermelon and turn it into a salad and the perfect side dish to anything worth grilling. We also feature an excellent recipe from the Moosewood collective. These people know how to entice with vegetables, and we dare any kid to try to resist something called Navajo Stew, especially when it is this colorful and flavorful. For more frugal favorites, including killer coffee cupcakes, check us out on line: frugalfeastsblog.com




Watermelon Salad
12 servings @ $.85

3 pounds seedless watermelon, cut into wedges
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
½ a medium red onion, sliced thinly
1 bunch watercress, chopped fine
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
¼ cup olive oil

Lay out the watermelon wedges on a platter. Toss together the remaining ingredients and layer over the melon on the platter. Serve chilled.





Navajo Stew
Adapted from The Moosewood Cooperative’s Simple Supper Cookbook

8 Servings @ $1.40 each
2 tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup olive oil
3 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
3 large red or green bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large onion, peeled and slivered
1 28 ounce can tomatoes in puree
1 bunch cilantro
2 tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, more or less to taste
1 26.5 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

Sour cream and whole wheat tortillas for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl. Place the potatoes, peppers and onion on a lightly oiled baking sheet and toss with the cumin and oil mixture. Roast for 15 minutes. Stir thoroughly and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender but not mushy.

Meanwhile blitz the tomatoes, cilantro and chipotle peppers in the food processor until smooth. Set aside. When the vegetables are done, move them and their accumulated juices to a lightly oiled 13x9 inch baking dish. Toss with the black beans and add the tomato sauce. Stir well. Return to the oven for 15 minutes or until mixture is hot and bubbling. Serve in tortillas with a dab of sour cream.

Pulled Pork Perfection

I bet if you polled 100 rando housewives an overwhelming majority would tell you that they dish they make most often in their crock pots is pulled pork.

It is cheap, and easy and everyone can choke it down, but I've never been happy with the wetness of the finished product. Slimy is how I'd actually categorize the texture, but it would be rude to mention that here.

So I devised a solution. Yes it involves another step and another pan, which I realize sort of defeats the one pot wonder that is crock-pot cooking, but by putting the cooked pork into a baking dish and slathering it with more barbecue sauce and roasting it uncovered for another 25 minutes, this meal goes from acceptable to heavenly.

I'd serve this to company. In fact I think I'm going to the next time I have people over who don't mind a little food impeding the rapid absorption of alcohol from their tummies.

OK so probably not this weekend. But soon.

Suzanne's Extra Fussy but Totes Worth it Pulled Pork

3-4 pounds Boston Butt (which is actually the lower part of the shoulder)
2 regular sized jars of barbecue sauce--any flavor you like or is on sale
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with the flat side of a knife
1 onion, sliced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Rolls for serving
coleslaw for serving

Slice the onion into the bottom of a large crock-pot. Add the pork and the crushed garlic and slather with a jar of sauce. Cook on low for 8-9 hours.
Remove the pork from the pot, pull apart with two forks and layer into a lightly oiled baking pan. Ladle another cup or so of sauce (from the second jar, or the remainder of the sauce from the first jar if you bought the gigantic bottle of Open Pit that is on sale this week at Market Basket) and roast at 350 degrees, uncovered for 25 minutes until bubbly.

It should look something like this:




Stuff some rolls with this, and add some coleslaw so you can feel marginally healthy.

Here's my coleslaw recipe, which I have probably run before but can't find right now...

Coleslaw

1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon sugar
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 bag colorful coleslaw shreds
1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Whisk together the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Add the coleslaw mix and toss well. Sprinkle with the celery seed and refrigerate until serving time.

Note: Alert Reader Tenley says you should always take the coleslaw shreds and blitz them in a food processor first to make little pieces. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure she is right. She always is.

Nana, continued.....

Well,
in a previous post we were able straighten Nana out on her bra size.

I think now we need to talk to her about her choice of socks.

Life with Nana is good :)

Tortellini Salad for a Crowd

You can tell it's summer at Frugal Feasts because the pasta salad recipes are all I've got to share...


I have made this salad exactly one bazillion times over the past 25 years. It is fool proof, which is such a plus for moi, everyone loves it and it is cheap. It also looks good, another plus for moi. Is there anything worse than an ugly pasta salad? I can't think of a single thing.

To serve 15

4 bags store brand frozen cheese tortellini
2 big heads fresh broccoli, tediously cut into small bite-sized pieces
2 cans small black olives
1 clam shell of grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 block mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks about the size of everything else

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over medium heat. Add the tortellini and cook just until they float, gently stirring to break up the clumps. Cook these any longer and they tend to open up and get messy. Scoop out of the water and dump in the broccoli. cook for 2-3 minutes just until the turn technocolor green. Drain and add to the tortellini. Add the drained olives and the grape tomatoes. Toss with most of the vinaigrette and refrigerate until serving time. Add the mozzerella and add additional dressing if needed.

Good cold or at room temperature.

Creamy Basil Vinaigrette

Handful of fresh basil cut in a chiffonade (which is just a fancy word for stacking the leaves, rolling up tightly and then slicing into thin shreds)
Or 3 tablespoons basil pesto
2 cloves finely minced garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
loads of fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 cup olive oil

Whisk together all but the olive oil until thick and creamy. Slowly dribble in the oil while whisking. Taste and correct the seasoning. Basil will turn black but tastes delicious.

Now I know Why It's Called Freelancing....

Recently The Concord Monitor has thrown me a couple of freelance assignments separate from the work I do with my life partner Robin. One, creatively entitled Fish 101 was all about well, I think you can figure it out. By the time I bought and prepped all the food for the photo shoot, I think I netted about 50 clams, if you'll forgive the continuation of the seafood meme.

Today I submitted another piece on surviving houseguests and other summer pests. On the plus side, the only prep work I needed to do for this one was clean my guest room so that they could snap a few shots to accompany the piece. On the negative side, it took for fricken ever to write. On an hourly basis, I think I earned about 3 bucks.

I have another assignment to write a piece for the ongoing Reluctant Movie Goer series they are running this summer. Maybe that will flow more easily. Sha right.

I don't mean to be so negative--I love to write, it is an honor to be published and the fact that anyone is paying me anything is pretty hard to believe, but....back to my original point: freelancing is just about the perfect term.


This Bollywood piece is as clear an illustration of what happens when my synapses fire and I come up with a half decent idea....

Yummy Cake

On my second day of work Faye brought in the most fabulous five layered cake.

Why? Just because.

She shared it with us all and made a work day super sweet!

The bottom layer is a moist chocolate cake.

I so covet moist chocolate cake, and begged her for the recipe.

Please note her commentary--so delightful and oh so Faye.

Of course I had nothing to make frosting with so I covered with Light Cool Whip.

That makes it low cal, right ?

Faye's Black Magic Cake
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
¾ cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
Dash of salt
1 cup of savagely strong coffee
1 cup of sour milk(in a measuring cup put 1 tablespoon cider vinegar then fill to the one cup line) or buttermilk
½ cup oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (if you have it, if you don’t just don’t tell anyone it’s missing )


Mix wet stuff with dry, batter will be thin, bake at 350 degrees till done.

Try not to harass the cake i.e., if you have a 10 inch pan set the timer for 35 minutes and leave it alone. This cake does not like to have tooth pick stuck in too early. If you stab it will get pissed off and fall. This in no way diminishes the taste but it looks funky. The original cake called for one and three quarters cups of flour and the two cups of sugar, this made it even thinner and it worked for years but now I own this expensive-ass stove and if I don’t increase the flour to two cups the cake falls almost every time .
Go figure.

I hope you have good luck with this, if not please bring it in to work anyway... all failures (no matter how badly they look) will still taste good and it is still CAKE and we love cake.

See ya, Faye