Welcome to Miami

We are off to Miami for 4 days of fun, sun, and...oh yes. Work. For me, at least. DH will be spending his time at the pool and beach. Damn him.

With any luck I'll return with wonderful food inspiration. Have a great week.

Take Me Out for Take Out

We all have nights when we don't want to cook but can't be bothered to go out. For years my solution to those nights was a Chinese food restaurant in Chapel Hill called Charlie's. The Best. Chinese. Food. Ever. Just writing about it makes me miss it. Every week or so I'd call DH at work and suggest Charlie's for dinner, to which he would enthusiastically agree. I'd call in the order (Charlie knew me by name), DH would plan to get it on his way home, and we would spend at least 30 or 45 minutes happily anticipating it and 3-4 minutes inhaling it like a couple of wolves who hadn't eaten in a month. The egg rolls were so good DH could never make it home without eating his on the way, and we once almost got divorced when I discovered a bite out of mine (his was gone and he just couldn't resist one more taste before he walked through the door). One of my fondest memories from pregnancy (and I only have about 3 fond memories of pregnancy) is when I called Charlie, placed my unusually large order, and got the comment, "Ooooh my friend, you hungry tonight!"

Now, sadly, Charlie's has closed (not to mention we've moved), and I don't have a regular take-out place. What is yours? And more importantly, if you live in Savannah, WHERE is yours?

What's your go-to dinner? Part III

First, an off-topic comment. I hate folding laundry. I really, really hate it. Once upon a time, when I had my first baby, my parents didn't live in the same town as us. Instead, they would come to visit us for a week or two weeks at a time, and I fondly think back on those days as the laundry-fairy days. DH and I would go to work, and we'd come home to baskets of delightfully folded laundry, practically skipping its way to the drawers and closets. Ah, the good old days. Now my parents live down the street from us, and as it turns out, my mom has her own laundry and life to deal with. Damn.

Now, back to food. If there was ever a day when I needed a go-to meal, today was it. Late Friday afternoon we looked at the weather forecast, determined Savannah would be enduring yet another 3 days of rain, and tossed boys, dog, and bathing suits in the car to head north in search of sun. The good news - we found it and had a fabulous long weekend with my in-laws in Charleston. The bad news - we got home late Monday night, thus leaving me wandering around the grocery store early this morning with nary a meal plan in sight. (Why I couldn't use the 2 hours of drive time back Monday night to plan a few meals for the week I don't know. Listening to constant Wiggles and Elmo must have killed my brain cells).

But then - inspiration! After my first go-to dinner post, my Atlanta Mom friend called to tell me her go-to dinner is crockpot pork. Perfect. We had this tonight with blue cheese coleslaw, grilled corn-on-the-cob, rum and tonics, and ice cream sandwiches. Eat outside with plenty of paper towels. Is there anything better in the summertime? (Side note: my mom may not do my laundry anymore - sniff sniff - but she does make a mean blue cheese coleslaw on the fly)

Crockpot Pork

1 Boston Butt (I have no idea what the origin of that name is, but it's awfully unattractive)
Salt and pepper
Your favorite barbecue sauce
Rolls

Rub the pork all over with salt and pepper. Place in crockpot; add 2 cups water. Turn on high. Walk away and do whatever it is you do all day. Return in 7 hours, turn off crockpot, and remove pork. It should be fall-off-the-bone tender. Shred in a large mixing bowl, and toss with your favorite barbecue sauce. Serve on rolls. Seriously, could anything be easier?

Happy eating!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

When we bought our house, I was very surprised to learn it was not in a federally-designated flood zone, despite the fact that we live on a island. Right next to the ocean and intracoastal waterway. Surrounded by water. Requiring 2 fairly low lying bridges to access. Did I mention surrounded by water?

So today, which is day 6 of pouring rain, I am nothing but grateful that we bought flood insurance anyway, because I am certain our house is going to float away at any moment. And as long as it's floating to someplace sunny, it can take me with it, because I can't stand one more rainy day with 2 little boys to entertain. Really. Can't. Take. It.

The worst part is that I think our boating and picnicking plans for the holiday weekend have been scuttled. Even if the sun comes out tomorrow (cue Annie song), the marine forecast is for 4-6 foot waves all weekend. No thank you! I'll take my chances on the pool waterslide instead.

In the hopes that you have better weather and fun outdoor meals planned, here is my recipe for potato salad, courtesy of my mother-in-law. This is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.

5 lb bag yukon gold potatoes (no other kind!)
1 vidalia onion, finely diced
4 celery stalks, finely diced
8 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup Helmann's mayonnaise
1 cup Miracle Whip (I know, I know. Crazy, right? Who really uses that stuff? But trust me on this one, it gives the potato salad a little tang that makes such a difference. You can adjust the proportions if you'd like, but I find a 1:1 ratio of mayo and Miracle Whip gives the right flavor)
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

The night before (and this key to the recipe): Boil the potatoes with skins on until fork tender. Put in fridge overnight.
The next day: Peel and cube the potatoes. Mix gently (don't mash up your potatoes!) with celery, onion, and egg. Add mayo and miracle whip, beginning with 1/2 cup of each and adding more as needed to get the salad to the consistency you like. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle lightly with paprika before serving.

Note: this is even better when made a day ahead, which requires boiling and refrigerating the potatoes 2 days ahead. If you make it a day ahead, check it before serving to see if you need to add a little more mayo/Miracle Whip; it may dry out a smidgen in the fridge.

Happy Memorial Day!

Eat Your Veggies

I love to eat dinner at other people's houses. And not only for the obvious benefits like their delightful company, the instant festiveness of a little dinner party, and the fact that they get to do all the prep work and cleaning up. I also love to be inspired by things they make all the time that have never occurred to me. (This is also why I love Junior League cookbooks - they're full of recipes that people actually make for their families). I particularly love new ideas for vegetables, because I get so tired of the same things I make all the time. Both of these veggie dishes come from Attorney Mom (who will soon be guest-blogging the best recipe for red velvet cupcakes you've ever had).

1) Roasted Potatoes. (Yes, I know what you're thinking. You roast potatoes all the time. But have you ever roasted red potatoes and sweet potatoes together? It's brilliant. So easy and so delicious, not to mention the boost in nutritional value.)

6 large red potatoes
2 large sweet potatoes
Olive oil, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper

Cut potatoes into medium bite-sized pieces, toss with olive oil, rosemary leaves, salt, and pepper. Roast at 425 until fork-tender. Fabulous. In a nod to the ridiculously cold weather, we are having this tonight with turkey meatloaf and peas. (Okay, maybe "cold" isn't the right word for a grey 65 degree day, but anything below 70 constitutes cold to me).

2) Asparagus and zucchini.

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into medium sized pieces
1 zucchini, medium diced
Olive oil, salt, pepper, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Toss asparagus and zucchini with olive oil, salt and pepper. Saute over medium high heat for approx 3-5 minutes, until just cooked. Serve hot sprinkled with a handful of parmesan cheese. Excellent accompaniment to salmon.

Happy eating!

Under 10

My friend Leigh recently sent me this link to a story on NPR about meals that can be prepared for under $10. I started reading the recipes with great enthusiasm, then slight confusion, then mild annoyance. Here's my beef (Get it? Food pun! I crack myself up!): while most of these dishes look like they would be a delightful and inexpensive way to feed 4 polite adults, all of whom would graciously accept small main-dish portions with no sides and no seconds, and murmur about how clever the cook is while secretly wondering how long they have to linger at the table before scurrying home to eat a more satisfying bowl of cereal, almost none of them will sufficiently feed a family of 2 adults and 2 growing boys at dinner time.

So here's the amended question: If you had $10, and had to feed your family a homemade dinner tonight with just what you could buy for that and the basics in your spice rack, what would you do? I spent WAY too much time this morning wandering around the grocery store pondering this very question, and came up with this:

Homemade pizza
2 packages fresh pizza dough ($2.19 each)
1 6oz can tomato paste ($0.50)
1 16 oz package shredded mozzarella (woo-hoo: this was on sale today for $2.00)
3 slices good salami from the deli counter ($1.00)
Package of Arugula ($3.99)
Total: $9.68 (not including tax)
Note: I didn't need to buy a lemon ($0.50) or garlic ($0.50) but checked the prices on them, just in case. Total with those, not including tax: $10.68.

Follow instructions on pizza dough for rising and rolling out.

For the kids' pizza: make a quick pizza sauce by putting the tomato paste in a small sauce pan, heating it over low heat, and slowly adding water until it gets to the right consistency (you'll know it when you see it). Taste - does it need a little salt or pepper, maybe oregano? Add it if so. Spread over pizza dough. Cover with mozzarella cheese. Finely chop the salami and sprinkle over pizza. (Or, using tiny cookie cutters, cut into fun shapes and spread over pizza).

For the adults' pizza: melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small sauce pan. Add 2 garlic cloves finely chopped. When the garlic has cooked just a bit, squeeze in the juice of half your lemon. Whisk in one more tablespoon of butter, and then brush over your pizza crust. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake both pizzas according to directions on your pizza dough package. While they are baking, make a quick vinaigrette of juice from your remaining half of the lemon, 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss with the arugula. Top the adults' pizza with the arugula as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Voila! A real dinner for 4, and you might even have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Happy eating!

Pot of Herbs

I am not much of a gardener. Since I never even owned a yard until two years ago, all of my experience has been with things that can grow in pots, and it's been completely hit or miss. One year we had more tomatoes growing on our back deck than we could possibly eat (which is saying a lot for this family), and another year we barely got 1 or 2 each week. One year my petunias grow like wildfire, and another they shrivel up and die (okay, that might have been the year I had my first baby and forgot to water them, and hung them on a covered porch where nary a raindrop could fall, but you get the picture). The only real consistency is my indoor plants, which die pretty much the minute I bring them home, and then remain in their dead and shriveled state as a warning to all other plants that might think this is a good place to call home.

This year, however, I've struck herb gold. The boys and I planted rosemary, thyme, parsley, and basil in pots on our back patio, and they seem to be thriving under my well established system of benign neglect. Which means now I am scrambling to find recipes to use them up - they are so gorgeous and fragrant it seems a sin not to. Here's one I tried last night, adapted from Barefoot Contessa's recipe, and it was fabulous.

Goat Cheese and Basil Chicken Breasts

1 split chicken breast for each person you're feeding (look in the organic section of your meat department, you're more likely to find chicken breasts still on the bone there, and I swear organic chicken tastes better - it actually tastes like chicken, not just bland meat that could be anything)
crumbled goat cheese
4-6 basil leaves
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Wash chicken and pat dry. Gently use your fingers to separate a little bit of the skin from the chicken breasts, making what is essentially a pocket that runs the length of the chicken breasts. (It occurs to me inserting a picture would be helpful here, but I am not that technologically advanced. I would need my friend Leigh to walk me through it, but it's 7:30am her time, so I'm sure she has better things to do right now, like get two children to school and run her company. Plus I already ate the chicken, so I don't have anything to take a picture of.). Be careful not to remove so much that you end up with a flap of chicken skin waving around - that won't do you any good. In the pocket put a basil leaf, then a spoonful of goat cheese. Repeat 3 times, or until your pocket is full of basil and goat cheese. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and pop it in the oven for 40 minutes. Happy eating!

Foodies We Are Not

My husband and I consider ourselves decently sophisticated people. We've traveled and lived abroad, we subscribe to 3 newspapers, we even have a couch upholstered in fabric available only to the the trade (and one of us knows what that means).

That said, my family does not have very fancy food tastes. I know it's terribly unposh to admit it, but our favorite foods are things like spaghetti and meatballs, macaroni and cheese, roasted chicken, lasagna, beef stew, cheeseburgers, grilled seafood, pasta salad...you get the picture. My eyes tend to glaze over if I read a recipe that contains an ingredient followed by the words "you can find this at your local _____ market" (e.g., Asian market, specialty foods market, etc. - trust me, if it isn't "farmer's market," I'm not going to find it in Savannah).

And so I share with you my summertime equivalent of tuna noodle casserole. There's nothing fancy or foodie about it, but on a hot summer day at the beach there's nothing better than pulling this out of the cooler along with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and an ice cold diet coke. If I'm serving it at home for dinner I put it on top of mixed salad greens and serve with sliced tomatoes.

Tuna Pasta Salad (serves 6-8)

1 16 oz box of sea shell shaped pasta, cooked and drained (note - salt your cooking water well so that you don't have to add salt to the salad later)
5 cans tuna (if I wanted to annoy my mother, I would write "5 cans tuna fish," but since yesterday was Mother's Day, I'll restrain myself), drained
6 hard boiled eggs, diced
8-10 celery stalks, halved length-wise and diced
1.5 cups Hellman's mayonnaise (for my West Coast readers, it's Best Mayonnaise)

Combine tuna, eggs, celery, and 1/2 cup mayonnaise. Mix well. Add pasta and remaining mayonnaise, mix well. Serve chilled.

Could not be simpler, and so good.

Dinner tonight: chicken breasts with goat cheese and basil, salad. Happy eating!

Signs of Summer

What is your favorite summer drink?

Summer has officially arrived in Savannah, and I've done my happy dance. There is nothing I love more than hot weather and all the accompanying activities (which distilled to their essence are Boat and Beach - I'm very easy to please). So of course, my thoughts have turned to summertime foods. And drinks. Nothing says summer to me more than a rum and tonic, sipped in a sweaty glass while sitting in my front porch rocking chair, waving at mosquitos and watching my boys run around like wild animals. Summer in the South - you can't beat it.

The perfect rum & tonic:
Fill crystal double old-fashioned with ice. (Yes, crystal. Trust me, it tastes better that way. You wouldn't drink wine out of a coffee mug, would you?)
Squeeze 2 generous slices of lime over the ice.
Pour one shot of Mount Gay rum (not any other kind!) over the ice.
Pour tonic water (FRESH tonic water, not the opened one that's been sitting in the fridge for a week) to fill the glass.
Sip and enjoy.

If you're really organized, set out cheese, crackers, olives, salami, and some spiced nuts to nibble while you sip. Life is good!

A Fish Tale

What's your easiest WOW recipe - the one that makes people say wow, this is really good?! I recently found one for pan-fried flounder, and it's truly so easy you'll never again say you can't make good seafood at home.

I am slightly embarrassed by this discovery, however, because when DH and I used to live in Charleston, many years ago, we would go to our favorite restaurant for this very dish at least a couple times a month. If I had any idea how simple it was to make at home, I could have saved us some serious money. (Or if I'm honest - I could have spent more money on shoes, less on eating out)

Note - I've made this with tilapia as well as flounder, and it comes out just as good.

Pan-Fried Flounder

4 flounder fillets
salt
pepper
flour
3 tablespoons butter
1 lemon

Wash flounder in cold water, pat dry. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in heavy-bottomed, stainless pan (no non-stick, it won’t brown properly) over medium-high heat. Dredge flounder in flour, shake off excess, and place in melted butter. Cook approximately 3 minutes. Lift gently to check underneath - is it nice and brown? Flip and cook approximately 3 minutes on the other side. Remove to plates. Turn the heat off and quickly whisk in remaining tablespoon of butter and juice of one lemon, getting up all the nice brown bits with your whisk. Drizzle sauce over the flounder, serve immediately. Delicious with rice, crispy salad, and a nicely chilled sauvignon blanc. Happy eating!

Spring Cleaning, Part II

I've made fantastic headway cleaning out my freezer. Green beans and lima beans got fed to the dog. Frozen biscuits turned into chicken biscuits with leftover oven-fried chicken. Unidentifiable ground meat was tossed, frozen fruit turned into smoothie popsicles, and freezer-burned ice cream...well, we ate it anyway.

I'm down to my last 2 items: a bag of frozen corn that will make an appearance in tomorrow's Cinqo de Mayo dinner, and a bag of frozen pearl onions. The onions will be thawed, chopped, and used tonight, in one of my all-time favorite dishes (courtesy of my Mom).

Down-Home Chicken and Onions

8 chicken thighs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 large onions, halved and sliced (or, if you have a random bag of frozen pearl onions, use those)
8 oz package baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup water

4-6 servings cooked brown rice (cook according to package directions), place on the bottom of a square casserole dish.

Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, and cook 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken; keep warm.

Add onions and mushrooms to skillet, and sauté 10 minutes or until tender. Return chicken to skillet; stir in 1/2 cup water, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes or until sauce thickens and chicken is done. Place over rice, sauce and all. Travels beautifully if you're taking dinner to someone. Makes 4-6 servings.

Happy eating!

Beach Boys

Is there anything, anything cuter than little boys on the beach (other than little boys in pajamas)?? I think not. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow's adventure with my Attorney Mom friend. Since both of our husbands are working, we've gotten it into our heads that taking a preschooler, two toddlers, and a newborn to the beach would be a great way to spend the morning. And it will be. As soon as we're finished packing the car.

I started to make a list today of the things I want to remember to take with me (keep in mind, this is the first beach trip of the season - I'm out of practice!). So far, it looks like this:

Kid sunscreen
Mommy sunscreen
Bathing suits
Swim diapers
Regular diapers
Wipes
Ziplock bags
Dry clothes
Towels
Beach toys
Hats
Sunglasses
Crocs
Wallet
Blackberry
Camera
Apple juice
Diet coke
More diet coke
Goldfish crackers
Blueberries and strawberries
Sandwiches

Seriously, how am I going to get all of this stuff from the car to the actual beach, plus my two boys? I used to scoff at the people who practically had rolling luggage with them, wondering what you could POSSIBLY need besides a towel and a magazine. Oh, how little I knew...Lucky for me, Attorney Mom was also an Army Wife, so she has experience in major deployments. With her direction, we might just make it.

Happy weekend!