What a Relief

During a chat with someone today about projects that never see the light of day, I said that I would rather see a project be shut down early rather than proceed with a lack of resources.  And I had a lightbulb moment.  NaNoWriMo just isn't right for me this year.  I learned a ton from my week of writing, and I have a strong start on a novel that I fully intend to finish - at a less breakneck pace.  

But for now, I'm putting all of my efforts back into the cookbook.  What a relief!  First order of business: the visuals.  The interior layout was surprisingly painless.  The book interior .PDF is done and ready for upload.  (It was delayed at the last minute by an unplanned test of the pumpkin pie recipe, and the discovery of a mistake in said recipe.  The pie was ultimately tasty, however, and the recipe has been fixed.)

Today I waded into the upload process for CreateSpace, and I got a draft of the entire cover laid out.  Though to my disgust, I laid it out at the wrong size.  Ugh.  Redoing that tomorrow.

I also wrote up the back-of-the-book blurb, which I shall be posting next.  It gets its own post so I can use it to update the side-bar click-on-me-for-more-info widget.

I am VERY much looking forward to mailing copies of this book to large food banks across the counry!

Index done.

The cookbook is ready to go off to its first round at the printer.  The stats: 138 recipes, 164 pages, 46,566 words.

I'm limping along pathetically but consistently at NaNoWriMo, and it is unlikely that I will hit the 50,000 word "win" limit.  But it occurs to me that many Young Adult novels similar to mine chalk in at 30,000 words, so I may well finish the first draft of my novel within the month anyway.

Ironic to think that I may write a novel that is several thousand words shorter than my cookbook!

NaNoWriMo adventure begun. . .

Yesterday I successfully completed day 1 of National Novel Writing Month.  Here is what I posted at the NaNo forums:


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If I tried to write this as fiction, it would sound contrived. First, I've been cramming to wrap up a previous cookbook project by Halloween. I had to eat into time I had left aside as overflow time, but that's what the overflow time was for, and it looked like I was just barely going to make it.

I'm a stay-at-home mother of two. My writing time is at night, after the kids go to bed. Sustainably I can manage an hour; on a good night, two.

A couple of weeks to go and my husband brings home news of having to work late one month out of three for the foreseeable future, starting the last week of October. Great.

Three days before Halloween, my three-year-old has an epic round of diarrhea, necessitating that we put him back in diapers. Great.

Two days to Halloween, it snows. It's the worst October storm on record here in Massachusetts. The leaves are still on the trees, and the snow is sticky, so down go the trees. A third of my town loses power, including us. Okay. My husband chops wood. So we have a little camp-out in the basement by a roaring fire. I do some of my final cookbook work on battery power by firelight. It's cold and the floor is hard, but it's managable.

Then my son wakes up with another poop attack. My husband takes him upstairs into the cold house to clean him up; ten minutes later I go to see what all the screaming is about and find a scene that looks like the Blair Witch Project. Thank the FSM we still have hot water.

The next morning we find a coffee shop that still has power. After minor ordering mishaps, we all eat, and feel better, until my son has to make repeated restroom trips and has a meltdown over something inconsequential. No big deal. At least he was able to make it to the toilet. But when we get home, he starts to vomit. Thank goodness he waited until we got home!

Now it's Halloween. With the house warmed by the sun, and enough time to clean up and prepare for another night of cold, we were surprised and delighted when power was restored. Trick-or-treating wasn't even an option, because the town cancelled it. What a relief. We spent a delightful, warm night in our own soft beds. I got my cookbook wrapped up, and got a few hours of sleep before having to clean up the next vomit storm. Thank the FSM for electricity!

Anyway, NaNoWriMo Day arrived, my husband was hit with the tummy bug, and my son continued to erupt periodically. I hit my first night's quota of words. Took care of the sick kid in the middle of the night again. Almost failed my saving throw against actual caffeinated coffee this morning, which I reserve for emergencies. Going to call the doctor as soon as their office opens. . .

This is all just a speed-bump, right? I'm ready to get back to normal.


*********************


Someone liked my post style, so I thought I would save it here for later amusement.  Anyway, Gabe and Chris are on the mend.  The cookbook only needs a teeny bit more index work before I get it to the publisher.  And I am waiting for Kaylee to get tired so that I can have my NaNo writing time.  Pleas, baby, get sleepy now.  This is getting silly.

The revised intro. . .

This is the current, and possibly final iteration of the book's intro.

The Pantry Cookbook

How to cook nutritious meals from scratch, on a budget, when time is short.

by Michelle Clay

cover art by Martinique Fisher

This book and its cover are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. This means you are free to share (copy, distribute, transmit) the book, and you are also free to adapt the work, so long as you attribute the work to Michelle Clay and Martinique Fisher. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. However, you may sell copies of this book so long as all profits go to support food banks, school or community gardens, or similar programs that address hunger or nutrition issues.

You can set this cookbook up as a fundraiser for your organization! A digital file of this book is available, for free, online. If you have a non-profit organization that addresses hunger or nutrition issues, you may upload this book to CreateSpace or another self-publisher, for the purpose of publishing copies for your program's patrons, publishing copies for fundraisers, and/or selling copies through an online source such as Amazon for the purpose of collecting royalties for your organization. For more information, visit http://pantrycookbook.blogspot.com.

Or contact the author at pantrycookbook@hotmail.com. If you decide to use this book for your organization, I would love to hear from you!

0.00 Welcome to the Pantry Cookbook!

How to Use This Book

Welcome to the Pantry Cookbook! In this book, you will find recipes and information on how to cook nutritious meals from scratch, on a budget, when time is short. While this book has been written for the complete kitchen novice, it is also thorough enough that it can be a reference book to experienced home-cooks as well.

If you have little or no experience cooking from scratch, start by reading the rest of this this Welcome section. Continue on to the Basics of Cooking (1.01), Basic Cooking Equipment (1.02), and Cooking Safely (1.03). Then you may want to skip ahead to the chapter on Quick Meals (10.00). Other good places to start are the recipes for Boiled Grains (6.01), Boiled Beans (7.02), Sautéed Vegetables (5.02), Baked Chicken (9.02), and Pot Roast (8.06).

If you already know how to cook and you have the necessary equipment, then you can proceed to the recipes. Use the table of contents to find specific recipes.

You may notice that every recipe in this book has a number. Each section heading, such as Chicken (9.00), has a whole number. Subsequent chicken recipes are labeled with decimals: 9.01, 9.02, etc. Information on cooking is in the 1.00 section, and everything else is recipes. I used this method of numbering rather than page numbers so that the book can easily be printed in different page formats or with additional recipes.

We Eat the Wrong Things

Here in the U.S. we eat too many of the wrong sorts of foods. Fast food, restaurants, and pre-packaged foods leave out nutritious, whole ingredients in favor of cheap fats and sugars. Because these foods are so convenient, we eat too many empty calories, and not enough of the other nutrients that we need to stay healthy. The results are obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other serious health problems.

What Are the Wrong Things?

Sugary drinks: soda, fruit juice, energy and sports drinks, flavored water, etc.

Fast foods: hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs, French fries, etc.

Snacks: potato chips, corn chips, candy, etc.

Grain-based desserts: donuts, cookies, cake, pie, sweet rolls, etc.

Dairy desserts: ice cream, cheese cake, etc.

Pre-packaged foods: mac-n-cheese, canned pasta, frozen meals, etc.

Any of these foods would be okay in moderation, but the fact is that we are not eating them in moderation.

What is in these foods that is so bad? Fats, sugars, and salt.

Some salt is necessary to a healthy diet, and almost all food needs some salt in order to taste good. However, snack foods, pre-packaged foods, and food from restaurants, especially fast-food restaurants, tend to include far more salt in a single meal than is good for us.

Some fat is necessary to a healthy diet. Fats supply essential fatty acids, and help the body to absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K. In general, “solid fats” - fats which are solid at room temperature - are less good for you than “oils”. Food from restaurants, especially fast-food restaurants, tend to include far more fat in a single meal than is good for us.

Some sugar is necessary to a healthy diet. Sugar is a carbohydrate, and carbohydrates are what fuel our bodies. However, “added” sugars, such as white sugar and high fructose corn syrup, are not necessary at all. These added sugars are what make soda, sweetened fruit drinks, and desserts taste sweet. Refined carbohydrates from white flour and white rice are also bad for us in excess. Our bodies function best on “complex” carbohydrates, such as those found in whole grains.

Why Don’t We Eat the Right Things?

People used to eat more whole grains, until someone figured out that if the brown outer layer was processed off of the wheat or rice, then the grains had a much longer shelf-life. Similarly, salt, sugar, and oil were found to be excellent preservatives of food. Almost all preserved foods last longer at the expense of nutrition.

The ability to store food for a long time protects populations from starvation when crop failures occur. So over the centuries, we have likely survived by developing a taste for foods that are preserved: overly salty, overly processed, overly oily, and less nutritious. This is in addition to an ancient instinct to eat high-calorie foods when we can get them.

Restaurants and food manufacturers capitalize on our taste for fats, sugars, and salts, because it is cheaper for them to cook from preserved ingredients than it is for them to make food from fresh ingredients, and because the more extra salt, sugar, and fat that they add, the more we seem willing to pay for and eat what they cook. Additionally, most restaurants do not consider themselves obligated to cook nutritious and low-calorie meals. By contrast, when we cook for ourselves and our families, and especially our children, we must strive to cook and serve nutritious food, in order to be healthy.

What Are the Right Foods?

The most nutrient-rich, low calorie foods we can eat are whole grains, vegetables, eggs, low-fat dairy, lean meats, poultry, seafood, nuts, and seeds. When we cook with these things from scratch, the results are far better for us.

Isn’t it More Difficult to Cook from Scratch? Yes and no. Cooking from scratch can be very difficult, but this cookbook focuses on recipes that are easy to cook.

Isn’t it More Expensive to Cook from Scratch? Yes and no. This cookbook focuses on ingredients that are inexpensive and easy to find.

Doesn’t it Take Longer to Cook from Scratch? Yes and No. This cookbook focuses on three types of recipes: those that can be cooked in a hurry, those that can be cooked in advance and then reheated, and those which can be cooked in advance and then used as an ingredient in a quick recipe.

Additional resources:

Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate: an easy-to-read resource on what constitutes a balanced diet. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/

The World’s Healthiest Foods: a lexicon of whole ingredients, the nutrients they contain, and how to best cook them to preserve their nutrients. http://www.whfoods.com

How to Cook Everything, by food writer Mark Bittman. This inexpensive cookbook may be the only cookbook that you ever need. http://www.howtocookeverything.com/

The US Department of Agriculture's SNAP-Ed Connection recipe finder. This is a database of recipes for foods made from inexpensive whole ingredients. It includes nutrition information, cost per serving, and print options: http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/

Harvard Fixed the Plate!

Harvard has fixed the USDA's flawed plate image!  Thank you Harvard!  I have sent them a request to use it in the cookbook.  Hopefully I'll hear back from them soon. . .

Infested

Argh!  Last night we decided to kick up our heels and make something quick from a box.  So I dumped the mac into the boiling water, and up floated a couple of insects!  The next box in the cupboard had a lovely little worm hanging out in it.  Lovely.  Our cupboard is infested with Indian meal moths.

I should have caught on when the sunflower seeds clumped together.  I assumed they were just old and decomposing.  The dried mango that went yucky. . . I just assumed that it was a contaminated batch, and I hadn't looked too closely.

Now that I know what I am dealing with, I realize I have to strip out all of the cupboard's non-canned dry goods, and dispose, freeze, or eat them promptly.  And vacuum out the cupboards.  And hope like hell that there are no meal moth larvae lurking under the oven or in another room, because it appears that these bugs are hard as hell to be rid of.

The worst part will be the spice cupboard, but I've been needing an excuse to sort it and start over.

It's a damn good thing these bugs don't carry diseases.  They are disgusting; they eat your dry goods and poop in them, and web them up with silk, but they're edible; or at least won't make you sick other than at the thought of eating insects.

Refining the Pineapple Bread Pudding. . .

I made the pineapple bread pudding again, and refined the measurements. Alas, I forgot to throw in nuts! It would be so good with pecans. But I still need to confirm that it would be good made with canned peaches instead of pineapple.

I must include a snacks section in the cookbook, with spiced nuts included. And energy bars (a.k.a. fancy rice crispy treats.)

I have made an executive decision to leave casseroles out of the cookbook, because they represent such a stupid amount of work, followed by a stupid amount of cooking time. They are recipes designed for the 50's-era stay-at-home mom. And the "convenient" casseroles call for cans of this and cans of that. And, especially, cans of "cream-of-blah" soup that contain no actual cream. Yum, hydrolyzed soy protein! (Which is just another way of saying "MSG".)

And for a disjointed change-of-subject, this evening, for the first time, I cooked and ate lambsquarters. Most people know of this plant only as a weed, but it is, in fact, one of the most highly nutritious green plants a human can eat. I had hesitated to cook it, because it tastes pretty blargh when raw. Cooked, however, it was like an improved spinach! I need to see if there is more growing in the yard. Free greens!

Fruity Bread Pudding (dessert, make in advance)

This dessert bread pudding is pure comfort food. It’s as tasty as pie without all of the work. Eat it hot or cold, by itself or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This makes enough for about four hungry people.

1 20 ounce can of pineapple, peach, or other canned fruit, plus the liquid from the can

3 or 4 cups torn-up stale bread

2 eggs

¼ cup butter

½ cup sugar

(optional) 1 diced banana, apple, pear, or other fresh fruit

(optional) ½ cup raisins or other dried fruit, or nuts or seeds

(optional) pumpkin-pie spices, such as nutmeg and cinnamon

If the canned fruit is in large pieces, cut it up into bite-sized chunks. Beat together the eggs, sugar, and the liquid from the canned fruit. Combine this with the bread, fruit, and optional ingredients. If the bread is particularly dry, give it ten minutes to soak up the liquid, stirring once or twice. Then put the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350 until the pudding is firm all the way through, or when the center reaches 165 degrees.

Another Food Bank Cookbook

Hey, I found another food bank cookbook! And it's sequel! This one originates with the Oregon State University's extension service, and overall it looks pretty darn good. The spread of recipes looks excellent, and tasty, and doesn't rely too much on unnecessary gadgets or disposables. There is a heavy focus on nutrition, which is excellent! The food safety tips are excellent. But the nutrition info is flawed, thanks to the government; see below. Additionally, the book has the typical cookbook fault of featuring individual recipes, rather than teaching techniques. (As Alton Brown would put it, the book gives driving directions rather than a map, which makes getting lost a tragic ordeal.)

I will have to steal their idea of having a page of ingredient substitutions. That's highly useful.

About that nutrition info:

It's not the cookbook's fault, but their use of the food pyramid makes me sad. This is because the food pyramid is deeply flawed. Thanks to Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food, I now know that the nutritionist who was responsible for the design of the pyramid originally made the bottom of the pyramid vegetables - I repeat, vegetables! - while diminishing the grains section to a much smaller slot, and specifying that the grains be whole grains. Then politics got involved, and lobbyists undermined the eating habits of a generation of school children by making it sound as if refined grains, and lots of them, were a required part of a healthy diet.

I remember when that food pyramid was enshrined in our school cafeteria food line. It seemed so helpful! So friendly!

Barf!

This pyramid that replaced it was not much of an improvement. Look, all of the food fell off! I am deeply suspicious of those proportions, but that's irrelevant anyway, because it's impossible to read.

Finally, it seems like the FDA has realized the error of trying to squeeze too much info into one image. This is much clearer. But it also makes one glaring fault stand out: a major swath of the population can't digest milk. Clearly, dairy is not necessary to a healthful diet, at all, and yet our government persists in telling us that it is, thanks to dairy lobbyists.

Moo.

Whole grains are SO EASY!

Draft 2 - here is the chapter on boiled grains. I tried Bittman's grain recipe this afternoon with barley, with perfect results, and much more control than I have with the rice cooker. I almost can't believe that I used to routinely burn rice on the stove top. Why don't people normally cook rice this way? Any other way is just asking for trouble. Bittman is my hero.

I have yet to try many of the combinations that I have suggested below, but grains with greens are *excellent*, grains with nuts have a nice crunch, and I just made a small pot of barley with cheese sauce, onion, and grated beet root that was not only yummy and filling, but also the color of Pepto Bismol.

Boiled Grains - Rice, etc.

Most home cooks only ever cook one type of boiled grain: white rice. However, there are many types of grains, most of which can be used in place of rice, and all of them are nutritionally better than white rice.

White rice is the same plant as brown rice, but in white rice, the brown outer layer of the seed has been removed. This outer layer is more prone to spoilage, but it is also where the fiber and other nutrients are. When removed, all that is left of the rice is carbohydrates. Which is to say, white rice is nothing but empty calories.

All grain should be rinsed before cooking, to remove dust - *except* for white rice that was grown in the US. Like white flour, white rice is “enriched”, which is to say some small part of the nutrients that were stripped off have then been added back in the form of a powder.

To rinse grain, put it in a bowl and pour water over it. Stir the grains around with your hand, and then pour off as much of the cloudy water as you can without also pouring out the grain. Repeat until the water runs clear, or until you are bored. (I always give up after about three rinses.) Whatever water remains can go right into the pot along with the grain.

Whole grains can be cooked in a large batch and then refrigerated for up to a week. These grains can then easily be used to make various side dishes (recipe #), used as filler in balls, patties, and loaves (recipe #), added to soups or stews (recipe #), or just reheated in a little butter or oil (recipe #). Cooked grains can even be frozen for longer storage.

In Mark Bittman’s fabulous cookbook “How to Cook Everything”, there is an all-purpose recipe for cooking almost any type of grain. The recipe is as follows:

Boiled Grains (quick side dish, or make in advance)

This recipe yields perfect rice, barley, whole wheat berries, rye, wild rice, or hominy. The cooking time varied from 10 minutes to over an hour, depending on the grain used. (White rice is quickest, unhulled grains take the longest.) The amount of cooked grain this makes depends on the type of grain and the amount of water they have been allowed to absorb, but in general grains double in size when cooked. (The big exception is barley, which triples in size.)

6 or more cups water

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cup rice, barley, whole wheat berries, rye, wild rice, or hominy

In a medium or large pot, boil the water, and stir in the salt. Rinse the grain (see above for info on rinsing grain) and add it to the boiling water. Continue to gently boil the water, without a lid, stirring occasionally. Add more water if it looks like there is too little. Taste the grain every ten minutes or so. When they have reached the desired tenderness, drain them in a colander, and serve or use in another recipe.

If you want to move the grain straight to the refrigerator, cool them first by running cold tap water or ice water over them.

Reheated Grain (quick side dish)

1 tbsp butter or oil

1 cup cooked, cold grain

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the butter or oil in a pan on medium heat. When the butter is melted, or the oil hot, add the rice. Stir occasionally for about ten minutes, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Grains with Greens (quick side dish)

Try reheating a cup of grain with the addition of a cup or so of chopped raw or frozen greens, such as chard, spinach, kale, collards, or beet greens. Because the greens shrink so much when cooked, this is a great way to get someone who doesn’t much care for greens to eat a decent quantity of them.

Add the greens once the rice is hot. Softer greens will be cooked instantly; tougher greens may benefit by spending a couple of minutes over the heat.

Grains with Roots (quick side dish)

Try reheating a cup of grain with the addition of ¼ or ½ cup of grated or finely chopped sweet potato, yam, carrot, onion, or beet root. (Beet is particularly fun, because it turns things hot pink.) Add the roots to the pot when you add the grains.

Grains with Nuts (quick side dish)

Try reheating a cup of grain with the addition of a quarter cup or so of chopped or smashed nuts, or seeds such as sunflower, pumpkin (the ready-to-eat green kind), or chia. It doesn't matter when you add the nuts to the pot.

Creamy Grains (quick side dish or main course)

For a heavy and decadent side dish, or even for a main course, try adding a cup of cold grain to a cup of freshly-made cream sauce (recipe #) or cheese sauce (recipe #). To make things even more exciting, add greens, roots, or nuts!

Draft 2

I am now compiling recipes into chapters of what is officially Draft 2. I also semi-successfully made a lasagna-type casserole, and ruined another attempt at a cheese sauce when trying to make potatoes au gratin. What is it with me boiling the %&$*ing cheese sauces?

I have decided that instead of page numbers, recipes should be numbered in a more biblical chapter-and-verse arrangement, since I may not have much control over the number of pages the final book is printed at. The numbers will be added at the end, when I finish adding and removing recipes.

The first two chapters, revised:

Eggs

For the beginner, eggs are simple and gratifying to cook as a breakfast food. But eggs are more than just a breakfast food. Egg is the glue that holds together balls, patties, and loaves (see recipe ###), stuffings (see recipe ###), pancakes (see recipe ###), and other baked goods (see recipes ###). Egg is also an important part of the custard found in French toast and bread pudding. (see recipe ###)

Eggs can be kept, refrigerated, for several weeks. Older eggs are particularly good for hard boiling, because they can be peeled easier. Do not eat an egg that is damaged. Handle raw eggs as you would handle raw meat, because raw egg, like raw chicken, can carry salmonella. Eggs and egg dishes much be cooked to 165 degrees to be safe to eat. Technically, this means cooking the egg until both the white and yolk (the yellow part) have become solid. However, many people consider it worth the risk to eat runny eggs and raw cookie dough.

Scrambled Egg (quick meal)

Put a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, and melt over medium heat. Break the desired number of eggs into a bowl. Add a dash of salt and pepper, and then beat with a fork until evenly mixed. Pour the beaten eggs into the skillet, add stir with a rubber spatula until the eggs are cooked.

Fried Egg (quick meal)

Put a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, and melt over medium heat. Break one or two eggs directly into the pan. Sprinkle on a dash of salt and pepper. Once the egg white has solidified, either put a lid on the pan to cook the top of the egg, or use a spatula to ever-so-gently flip the egg. Serve promptly for a runny yolk, or leave in the pan a little longer for a cooked yolk.

Fried egg with solidly-cooked yolk makes a great breakfast sandwich. Toss some grated or sliced cheese on top of the egg while it finishes cooking, or some greens (try leftover cooked spinach or kale!), and then serve on toast.

Omelette (quick meal)

Put a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, and melt over medium low heat. Break one to three eggs into a bowl. Add a dash of salt and pepper, and about a tablespoon of milk or water per egg. (The milk or water make the omletter puff up a bit.) Beat with a fork until evenly mixed.

Pour the beaten eggs into the skillet, and do not stir. When the egg mixture is almost cooked through (which you can judge by jiggling the pan) sprinkle grated cheese on top, or other fillings such as chopped greens, cooked vegetables, or cooked meats. Use a spatula to fold the omlette in half, and continue to cook until the cheese begins melting out the sides of the omlette.

Hard Boiled Egg (ingredient or quick meal)

Hard boiled eggs are great as egg salad (see recipe ###), or chopped and added to a salad of leafy greens (see recipe ###). They also make a fantastic breakfast or lunch finger-food for small children.

Hard boiling is a great way to use up eggs which are approaching their expiration date, because older eggs are easier to peel. Kept refrigerated in their shells, hard boiled eggs can be kept for a week.

Quick Method: Put the eggs in a sauce pan and cover with water by one inch. Heat until boiling. Boil for about six minutes on medium heat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs into a bowl of cold water to cool them down.

Longer Method: This method of making “hard boiled” egg supposedly results in a better quality result. Put the eggs in a sauce pan and cover with water by one inch. Heat until almost boiling. Then turn off the heat, put a lid on the pan, and let the eggs sit for about 15 minutes. (If you have extra large eggs, add a couple of minutes. For small eggs, subtract a couple of minutes.) Use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs into a bowl of cold water to cool them down.

Soft Boiled Eggs (quick meal)

The perfect soft boiled egg has cooked whites and a runny yolk. Soft boiled egg can be eaten straight out of the shell with a spoon, or can be scooped out onto torn-up buttered toast, and served with a dash of salt and pepper.

Put the eggs in a sauce pan and cover with water by one inch. Heat until boiling. Boil for about three minutes. Use running tap water or ice water to cool the eggs. Serve at once.

Egg salad (quick meal)

To make egg salad, follow the recipe for tuna salad (see recipe ###), substituting about two eggs per each can of tuna.

Frittata (quick meal)

A frittata is basically a family-sized omelette, and it can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Like soup, frittata is a great way to use leftover ingredients. You can throw in leftover cooked vegetables, cooked meats, raw chopped greens, or cooked pasta. If you do not have leftover cooked meats or vegetables to use, you can first cook some in the same pan that you will then cook the frittata in. The exact number of ingredients used depends on the size of the pan. This recipe assumes that you are using a small pan (about 12 inches in diameter), and the results feed about three people.

Frittata can either be cooked entirely on the stove top, by putting a lid on the pan and cooking at medium-low heat, or the frittata can be cooked in an oven-proof pan and finished under the broiler. Broiling results in a nicely browned top, and can be used to melt some additional cheese on top, if you desire.

Serve frittata by itself, or topped with a sauce (such as marinara or cheese sauce) or you can make sandwiches from slices of frittata.

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup grated cheese

Salt and pepper

1 or 2 cups cooked vegetables, cooked meats, raw chopped greens, or cooked pasta

2 or 3 tbsp butter

If you are starting with raw meats or vegetables, first cook these in a tablespoon of butter or oil until cooked. Set these aside and use the same pan for the frittata.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in the pan on medium low heat. Tilt the pan to butter the sides. In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Pour this mixture into the pan, and do not stir. After a minute or two, sprinkle the veggies and/or meats into the egg. Put a lid on the pan and continue to cook until the frittata is solid all the way through. Or, cook without a lid until just the surface remains runny, and then place the pan under the broiler until the frittata is browned on top and solid all the way through.

Store-Bought Bread

This section covers things that you can make with bread bought from the store. For recipes that use stale bread, see stuffing, recipe ###; for bread pudding and French toast, see ###.

Most commonly available breads are made from wheat flour. Wheat flour comes in two varieties: white, and whole wheat. White flour and whole wheat flour are made from the same plant, but the outer portion - the bran and the germ - of the wheat berries have been stripped off to make white flour. This gives white flour a longer shelf life, but unfortunately also removes more than half of the nutrients that are found in whole wheat. So, white bread contains a lot of empty calories. Use whole wheat bread when possible.

Did you know that sliced bread freezes nicely? Buy more than you need when it’s on sale, and put the extra away in the freezer. Frozen slices can be thawed in the microwave, or put directly into the toaster. A frozen loaf can be moved into the refrigerator to thaw.

Frozen bread doesn’t work well for instant sandwiches unless you like your sandwich bread toasted. However, if packing a lunch, you can make a sandwich in the morning using frozen bread, and by the time lunch rolls around, the bread will be thawed and ready to eat.

One slice of sandwich bread torn or cut up makes about a cup.

Remember that when cooking anything under a broiler, but bread in particular, you will need to stand and watch, ready to pull the food out of the oven. Bread is particularly tricky, because when it starts to brown, it will then quickly start to smoke and burn. Always pull out the oven rack to get to the bread. Do not reach under the hot oven element.

How to make a Lot of Toast (quick meal)

You can make a lot of toast at once by broiling the bread in your oven. This technique can also be used to toast multiple slices of frozen bread.

Put the oven rack as high in the oven as it will go. Then put your slices of bread either on the rack directly, or on a cookie sheet. Turn the oven on broil and push the rack in, but do not shut the oven door entirely.

Flip the slices over as they reach the desired level of done-ness.

Toast topped with Southern Breakfast Gravy (recipe ###) makes a wonderful (if high calorie) hot meal. Or top toast with bruschetta (recipe ###) for light summer fare.

Cinnamon Toast (quick snack)

This is a great treat for children. First, lightly toast your bread. Then put the bread on a cookie sheet, and top with butter, sugar (white or brown) and a sprinkle of cinnamon (or other pumpkin pie spices). Broil until the butter and sugar bubble. Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

Pizza Bread (quick meal)

You can make your own pizza at home as a quick meal using bread or English muffins. This is a great meal for children, especially if you get them involved in making the pizza.

Toasted bread slices or toasted English muffin halves

Pizza sauce or marinara sauce

Mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced thin

(optional) pepperoni, chopped greens, cooked sausage, onion, or any other pizza topping that you like!

On top of the toasted bread, add the tomato sauce, cheese, and optional toppings. Put the little pizzas in a casserole dish or on a cookie sheet. Cook them under the broiler or bake at 350 degrees until the cheese melts.

An even simpler variant of this is “cheese bread”, which is just toast with cheese melted on top. Cheese bread goes well with soup or salad.

Grilled Cheese (quick meal)

Grilled cheese is one of the first things that most people learn to cook from scratch. Quite simply, it is a sandwich made with bread and cheese, cooked in a little butter or oil in a pan over medium heat. The trick is to let the sandwich cook slowly, at a low enough heat, so that the bread doesn’t start to burn until the cheese has melted.

Grilled cheese can be made both more fancy and more nutritious by adding other things to it. Try tomatoes, fresh spinach, leftover cooked greens, pickles, cooked meats, deli meats, sprouts, or grated carrot.

Sauce Fail

The beef stroganoff I made for dinner this evening was just about perfect, and I managed to get it cooked in time for Chris to eat before running off to the community garden meeting. And then I added Worcestershire sauce, because that's what Chris likes, and he puts it in his stroganoff. So I dump some in. . . and my milk sauce curdles. Dang it!

It turns out Chris adds the Worcestershire sauce while he's browning the meat. And then I'm not even sure if he uses milk or just sour cream. And he can't remember, either.

Grumble grumble stupid curdled sauce.

At least Gabe liked the buttery noodles, and the orange he pilfered while my back was turned.

Turnip Fail

I just attempted to make baked French fries from turnip. They came out soggy, AND burned, AND tasting like raw turnip. Triple fail.

Turnip in soup, however, came out indistinguishable from potato. I guess that was a win, because raw turnip flavor is pretty blargh.

Gabe got points for tasting one of the fail fries, at least. He then handed me the uneaten half.

Some Reading

"Only 26 percent of the nation’s adults eat vegetables three or more times a day, [the Center for Disease Control and Prevention] concluded. (And no, that does not include French fries.) These results fell far short of health objectives set by the federal government a decade ago. . . only 23 percent of [American] meals include a vegetable. . ." From this article. Says one person interviewed: "'I’m not afraid of zucchinis, but I just don’t know how to cook them.'” "Women, as well as people who are older and more educated and have higher incomes, tend to eat more vegetables." ". . .students who gardened ate one and half servings more of fruits and vegetables a day than those who [didn't]."

"All of this raises the possibility that those cafeteria ladies, with their hairnets and their soup ladles, may be doing more to change the way America eats than all the independent documentaries and Michael Pollan books and Whole Foods markets combined. It’s an astonishing fact considering they operate on a food budget of $1 per meal." I'm glad to hear that some schools are getting lunch right. But wow, that's a small amount of money to work with.

"Diet and exercise do matter, they now know, but these environmental influences alone do not determine an individual’s weight. . ." " "Struggling against the brain’s innate calorie counters, even strong-willed dieters make up for calories lost on one day with a few extra bites on the next. And they never realize it. “The system operates with 99.6 percent precision,” Dr. Friedman said." From this article. I haven't read enough to support this, but my theory is that the body has two goals: given that the body has a target number of calories, it likely also has target nutrition levels. If a body is consistently getting fewer nutrients than it needs, perhaps that is what causes it to consistently demand more calories. And on top of this, I doubt a body can emit the proper urgings to eat genuinely nutritious foods, such as kale, if it never gets a first taste of it to begin with.

Are You Testing My Cookbook?

I am a scatterbrain! I can't remember who all I have sent draft 1 of the cookbook to. If you are testing for me, please be aware: the recipes I had marked as "needs testing" are the ones that I haven't tried cooking yet. It is the recipes I have tested and revised that I most need feedback on! Thank you so much.

Potato Recipes

I suppose the advantage of organizing the cookbook by food type is that when the food bank is given a crate full of potatoes, they could easily print out the potato section, and make copies available to anyone who goes home with potatoes.

Chris told me a depressing story of bok choy sitting at a food bank until most of it rotted, because so few of the patrons knew what to do with it.

Potatoes

Mashed Potatoes

(quick side dish)

You will need about one large potato per person. The potatoes may be mashed with the skin on, if you like it that way. If you leave the skin on, be sure to scrub the potatoes thoroughly under running water with a scrub brush. You may want to trim the eyes off of your potatoes even if you leave the skins on.

You can speed the cooking time by cutting the potatoes into pieces. The smaller you cut them, the faster they will cook.

Watch out – when boiling the potatoes in water, if your pot is very full, the water may suddenly boil over the top, due to the starch in the water. If your pot starts to boil over, reduce the heat and stir the pot.

about 1 large potato per person

salt and pepper to taste

(optional) milk, cream, or butter

(optional) garlic powder

Scrub and/or peel the potatoes. Slice them into medium chunks into a pot, and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil. In ten minutes or so, stick a fork into one of the potato chunks. When the fork slides easily into the potato, it is time to drain and mash.

Drain the potatoes using a colander, or by holding the potatoes in the pot with the lid while pouring the water in the sink. Add some salt and pepper, and a little of the optional milk, cream, or butter, and garlic powder. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Taste, and add more seasonings and optionals as necessary.

Serve as a side dish with gravy, ketchup, or butter.

Leftover mashed potatoes can be used to make Cheesy Potato Soup.

Cheesy Potato Soup

(quick meal)

This soup can be made from scratch, or can be made from leftover mashed potatoes. For one serving of soup, you will need:

1 large potato (or about a cup of mashed potatoes)

½ cup grated cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

(optional) milk, cream, chicken stock, beef stock, etc.

(optional) some cooked sausage, cooked chicken, or other leftover cooked meat, or ham

(optional) other herbs and spices

(optional) chopped vegetables

The basic soup is made by slicing the potato into rough chunks, covering with water (just like mashed potatoes), boiling until a fork easily slides through the potato, mashing with a potato masher, and then adding cheese and seasonings. If starting with mashed potatoes, add water to the mashed potatoes and heat until boiling; then add cheese and seasonings.

Using just potatoes, cheese, and seasonings, you can make a hearty soup. However, this recipe is a blank slate waiting for other things to be added to it! Here are some possible variations:

Italian Potato Soup. Start by browning the meat from one or two Italian sausages (squeeze the meat out of the casing like toothpaste, and discard the casing) and a chopped onion Put the cooked sausage and onion aside, and cook the potatoes. Drain off half of the potato water, mash, add grated parmesan cheese, and then add chicken stock until the desired consistency is reached. Add the sausage and onions, and Italian seasonings. Salt and pepper to taste.

Potato Soup with Carrots and Ham. Sauté some sliced carrots in the pan, then put the carrots aside while the potatoes cook. When the potatoes are done, drain off half of the water, mash, add cheddar cheese, add the carrots, add diced ham, and add milk until the desired consistency is reached. Salt and pepper to taste.

Potato and Greens Chicken Soup. Cook the potatoes in chicken stock, along with a few peeled cloves of garlic. Mash; add cheese, cooked chicken, and chopped greens. Salt and pepper to taste.

Home Fries

(quick breakfast or side dish)

You will need about 1 large potato per person.

1 large potato, diced

½ an onion, diced

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel or thoroughly scrub your potato, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Cut the onion into pieces of about the same size. Heat the butter and oil in a pan on medium high heat until the butter melts; then add the potato and onion. Stir to coat with the butter and oil, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. (Go easy on the salt and pepper - you can always add more later.

Stir often, browning the potatoes, until they start to stick to the pan, at which point, turn down the heat to medium low. Continue to stir about once every 45 seconds. After about five minutes, test a piece of potato (by tasting it). When the desired tenderness is reached, remove the pan from the heat, add additional seasonings to taste, and serve.

Possible variations: add ham. Add curry spices. Add hot pepper flakes. Toss grated cheese on top when the potatoes are done cooking. Serve with Southern style gravy and sautéed greens, and call it a meal.

Some Failures

Work on the cookbook has slowed a little because I have largely run out of recipes that I can recite from memory. Now I'm into new territory, cooking old dishes for the first time with a measuring cup, and trying entirely new things. This evening I cooked rice on the stove top for the first time in almost a decade, and I cooked cabbage, plain and simple, for perhaps only the second time in my life.

Some memorable out-takes: I tried a recipe for parsnip-peanut-butter French fries that was a total flop; somewhere in that combination is a tasty dish, but my version turned out so very unlike the promised results that I won't be tinkering with it. But the bonus is that I know now that parsnips are delicious. Forget the cooking, I'll take 'em raw.

And not for the cookbook but for me: I made pot stickers from scratch. The filling was tofu, minced cabbage, and some Chinese sauce from a jar. The wrappers came in a package; I filled 'em, closed 'em, and cooked 'em. I absolutely nailed the fry/steam technique that a Chinese friend told me about a few years back, causing none of the pot stickers to stick to the pan, and they were beyond delicious. And, of course, the picky toddler rejected them. I think the purple filling was just too scary. I'll have to try again with a meat filling, or something else less colorful.

For the time being, I am giving up on photographing the cookbook foods. I just have too much else to do if I want to complete this project.

Speaking of which, I need to go write down what I learned this evening. . .