An Eclectic Mind

Bake your own fleet. They’re good to eat.

Today, I made sugar cookies in the shape of helicopters for my cherry drying clients. It was a lot of work, but worth it. The cookies came out great and I think my clients will get a chuckle when they see them.

The recipe is my grandfather’s recipe for sugar cookies. He owned a bakery in New Jersey when I was growing up. My mother got the recipe from him and passed it on to me years ago. You can make the cookies in any shape you like.

Here’s the recipe. It may be doubled.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• white of 1 egg, beaten (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cream butter and sugar in mixer.
3. Add egg, vanilla, and milk. Beat well.
4. Sift together dry ingredients and add gradually to butter mixture.
5. Knead in extra flour if necessary to produce a firm batter.
6. Roll batter out to 1/4 inch thickness on floured board.
7. Cut with cookie cutters and place on cookie sheet.
8. If desired, brush tops with egg white.
9. Bake until golden brown (not more than 10 minutes).
10. Cool on wire rack.

Yields 2 dozen cookies or fewer (depending on shape and size of cutter).

I added sprinkles before baking. My helicopter is red and I wanted to make the connection.

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A lower calorie, lower carb, healthy alternative.

Here’s a recipe for folks trying to cut calories or just eat healthier. It’s basically a mashed potato substitute — made with cauliflower.

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower. Make sure it’s not green. (Image from Wikipedia.)
• 1/4 cup milk or cream. Obviously skim milk will make it lower fat and calories, but cream will make it more like real mashed potatoes. Use either or anything in between.
• 3 tablespoons butter or butter substitute. Butter is better, but go with the substitute if you’re trying to keep calories or fat content down.
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Trim off cauliflower stem and greens and cut into flowerettes. (My spelling checker says I spelled that wrong, but how else would you spell it?)
2. Place in a microwaveable bowl with a lid, add about 1/2 cup water, and cover.
3. Microwave on high for about 10-12 minutes. (Times may vary.) You want it completely cooked through. (If you have a fear of microwaves, you can steam it on a stovetop.)
4. Drain.
5. Combine milk or cream and butter or substitute in a microwave safe cup or bowl.
6. Microwave milk/cream/butter/substitute mixture on high for 30 seconds or until hot and butter is melting. (Fear of microwaves? Use a pan on the stove.)
7. Using a potato masher or electric handheld pureeing tool (my tool of choice for this job), puree the cauliflower. (You might also be able to use a blender or food processor, but I think that’s taking things too far.)
8. Add the milk/cream/butter/substitute mixture and stir well.
9. Add salt to taste.
10. Serve.

This should make 4 normal sized servings.

I made this the other night with some heavy cream left over from the holidays that has still (by some miracle) not gone bad. It tasted unbelievably good with the steak Mike grilled up for us.

Skeptical? Don’t knock it until you try it.

And yes, I do use my microwave extensively for cooking vegetables.

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Easy dinner.

Here’s what I had for dinner tonight:

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2-3 lbs. of chicken. I used chicken breast fillets tonight, but I usually use thighs. I trimmed off all the excess fat before cooking and cut into large cubes.
• 1-1/2 large onions, cut up. I slice them, but you might prefer them chopped.
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup dairy sour cream
• 2 tsp. curry powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground cumin

Instructions:

1. Lightly brown chicken in oil. If necessary, drain off fat. (If you use lean chicken or trim it like I do, you shouldn’t have any fat to drain off. Just nice chicken juice.)
2. Add onions and salt.
3. Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through. This should take 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how small you cut up the chicken.
4. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl.
5. If there’s a lot of liquid, drain off all but about 1/2 cup.
6. Stir in sour cream mixture.
7. Heat through.
8. Serve with rice and mango chutney.

This should serve 4 or 2 with leftovers.

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My way.

Mike and I love creamed spinach. Although we can buy it frozen in a microwaveable bag, we both prefer it fresh. Here’s my microwave-friendly recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Butter (or margarine)
• 1/4 cup chopped onions or scallions
• 12 ounces fresh or frozen spinach (fresh is better, of course), prepared for cooking. When using fresh spinach, I usually use the bagged spinach. (I can’t be bothered washing, cutting, etc.)
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk (skim is okay)
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

1. In a saucepan or microwave-safe, covered bowl, melt the butter.
2. Add the onions or scallions and saute until done, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, lightly cook the spinach. I use the microwave, without added water, but you could steam it if you prefer. If you added water, drain when done. Keep warm.
4. Sprinkle the flour in the butter/onion mixture and stir in. Cook for about two minutes.
5. Add the milk slowly, stirring and cooking until thickened.
6. Add the cooked spinach and blend well.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Serve hot.

If you use a microwave to prepare the sauce, cover until the flour has been added to prevent splattering. Zap the mixture for one minute at a time, stirring after each minute.

This recipe can be multiplied.

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Comfort food from my childhood.

I find that the older I get, the more I look back with fond memories on certain aspects of my childhood. And since eating has always been high on my list of life priorities, it’s no wonder that I think back about food.

Last month, Mike and I went to the New York City area where I grew up to be tourists and spend Thanksgiving with our families. I took the opportunity to buy some of the foods I enjoyed as a kid that simply don’t seem to be available in Arizona.

One of these is Pastina. I bought two boxes of Barilla Pastina, which is the only one I could find. (I think we used to buy Ronzoni.) The Barilla Web site, where I found this nice box shot, has a good description:

There are few children in Italy who do not grow up eating Pastina, the classic tiny pasta stars that parents first serve as a child’€™s introduction to the delicious world of pasta. Here in America, parents choose Barilla Pastina for their young children because it is made from 100% highest quality durum wheat; is enriched with essential nutrients, such as thiamin, iron, riboflavin and niacin; and is easily digested. And grown-ups love the deliciously nutty flavor of Barilla Pastina, too, especially in soups and simple broths.

When they say “tiny,” they’re not kidding. Pastina makes rice look huge.

We ate Pastina for breakfast many times, usually at my grandmother’s house after a sleepover. My mother’s mother was second-generation Italian; her parents had come to New York with the wave of Italian immigrants in the early 1900s. My mother was born in the Bronx and lived in a true Italian neighborhood until she was 8, when my grandparents moved to northern New Jersey. The Italian influence was pretty heavy on that side of my family, although my mother was fully Americanized. Her brother, who was 16 when they made the move, stayed more Italian. He married a second-generation Italian woman who tried hard to keep the family as Italian as possible throughout the subsequent years.

I’m the product of a third generation Italian mother and second generation German father. I don’t consider myself either nationality; I’m American — whatever that really means.

Back to Pastina. When my grandparents made Pastina, they didn’t follow package directions, which called for the usual boiling and straining of the pasta. Instead, they used far less water and let the tiny pasta soak it all up in cooking. Then, before cooking was done, they dropped a raw egg into the pot and stirred the mixture until the egg was cooked. They served it in bowls with butter. I’m not sure if this is how everyone served Pastina to kids, but it’s the way we had it.

My grandparents are gone now, so I couldn’t call them for a recipe. Instead, I sort of winged it. What I came up with works and is very tasty. Here’s the recipe/instructions for one serving:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Pastina
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

1. Combine Pastina and water in a large, deep bowl.
2. Cook on high in microwave for 2 minutes.
3. Stir, add butter.
4. Return to microwave and cook on high 1 minute.
5. Stir, break egg into mixture and stir again to scramble and mix it in.
6. Return to microwave and cook on high 1 minute.
7. Stir one more time.
8. Return to microwave and cook on high 1 more minute.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Please keep in mind that my microwave is 21 years old. I think it’s only 700 watts. So you might have to adjust the cooking times shown here.

After about 3 minutes of cooking, the Pastina should have soaked up most of the water and be tender. (Remember, this pasta is really tiny.) The last two minutes are primarily to cook the egg.

I really like this — it’s true comfort food. If you give it a try or have had it in the past, please share your comments about it here. Use the Comments link or form for this post. I’d love to hear from you — especially if you grew up in an Italian household and enjoyed this for breakfast, as I did.

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