Bring on the Beets

As much as I want to be that mom that drives a hybrid and outfits my children in hemp and secondhand organic cotton, I spend a lot of time at Target. And Starbucks. And while I'm making confessions, sometimes I don't turn the engine off on the minivan while I'm waiting to pick up the kids. Yup. I idle.

But, I do buy organic as much as I can. Dairy and meat almost always, skincare most of the time, produce when it makes sense. I turn off the water while brushing my teeth. The kids color on recycled paper that goes back into the recycling bin. And we subscribe to a weekly CSA box from Angelic Organics. That's a whole share, people. No half-boxes here.

I adore our weekly CSA box. Opening the flaps of that waxy cardboard to a chorus of oohs and ahhs from dill-sniffing, lettuce munching munchkins is pure joy. But there is one problem. The beets.

That's one week's worth, people. There will be more to come in six days and counting. Another confession. I can't stand beets. Yes, I've tried them with goat cheese. I've tried them in salads, roasted, candied. And you know what? I still don't like beets.

But in all fairness I've been calling out the kids a lot lately claiming that they can't say they don't like something until they've tried it in every possible preparation we can find. So, I've got some work to do. Beet chips. It worked for the kids with kale chips. Let's go.

Okay, they are freakishly beautiful. If the chips don't go over well maybe I'll just use the next batch to make some natural dyes. I mean come on, look at those things.

Beet Chips with Curried Yogurt Dip*

4-6 beets, thinly and uniformly sliced on a mandolyn
Canola or vegetable oil for frying
1 tsp. salt
1 cup Greek yogurt (fat content of your choice)
1 tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. cilantro, finely chopped

1. Heat oil in a deep, heavy bottomed pot to 350 degrees. Add beet slices in small batches and fry until bubbling subsides and edges curl and brown. Interestingly I found different colored beats needed varying frying times with the dark purple beets taking the longest. I'm assuming this has to do with different water content but use your judgement. I recommend frying batches of one color at a time. Nobody likes soggy chips. Burned ones, I kind of dig, but the choice is yours. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt while still warm.

2. For the dip, combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix until well combined. Serve alongside the beet chips.

*My kids struggle to gain weight and I was really trying to sell these so I fried our chips. You could save yourself a heck of a lot of calories and oil by baking them instead. Just toss the beet slices in a little oil and place them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until crisp and nicely browned.

Verdict? They. Were. Awesome. I'm still not ready to dig into a bowl of borscht, but seriously, these were perhaps the most delicious chips I've ever eaten. The sweetness from the beets really enhances the salty crispiness we're used to in chips. Bean couldn't get enough. Roo, upon tasting his first chip, instructed me to make all of the rest exactly like the one in his mouth. High praise from a boy who fasts like a martyr much of the time. And Looly, well, she was the lone holdout but it's no surprise. She's a slow sell and she's finally coming around to kale chips so give us a few months.

Pineapple Mango Sorbet with Chili, Lime, and Salt

Digging through the freezer for a long lost package of onion bagels to go with my smoked salmon, I stumbled upon the ice cream bowl for the KitchenAid and realized we had yet to make ice cream this summer. Utter blasphemy.

With half a carton of Costco mangoes ripening on the counter and a fresh pineapple looking for a home, the recipe pretty much wrote itself.

It wasn't all tropical fruit and smiles, though. Blood was shed.

Relax. She's not doing what you think she's doing. Just an unfortunate incident with a vegetable peeler.

The kiddos loved theirs just like this. Icy cold, smooth, crisp, and pure. But I couldn't stop thinking about a summer long ago spent walking the waterfront in Veracruz crunching jicama and pineapple in copas de frutas coated with chili, lime, and a sprinkle of salt. Can you see where this is headed?

Vacation in a Cup Pineapple Mango Sorbet

1/2 of a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into pieces
3 mangoes, peeled and pitted (watch those little fingers with that slippery peeler)
1 cup sugar
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp. dark rum (optional)
chili powder (optional)
sea salt (optional)
lime wedges (optional)

1. Puree pineapple and mango in a blender until smooth. Add sugar, lime juice, and rum and process until well combined. The kids gave me a hard time about the rum, but 1 tsp. distributed throughout an entire batch of sorbet is not going to kill them and it lends a nice subtle counterpoint to all that fruity sweetness. Chill mixture in the fridge for an hour or so.

2. Pour cold mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the instructions (or pour into any freezable container if you don't have an ice cream maker and chill several hours until firm). Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

3. Top with a squeeze of lime and dust with salt and chili powder before serving. Voila! Your Mexican tropical beach vacation in a cup.

JoMo's Zucchini Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

My mom, aka JoMo or Nana, has been making this cake since before I was born. A site to behold, isn't it? It was the much anticipated payoff for hours spent weeding our massive vegetable garden and tolerating the plethora of beets it produced. Now, every year as soon as the zucchini harvest starts rolling into the farmers market, I get the craving.

Most of the time I strive for Roo-safe baking. It's not always easy due to his egg allergy. The texture on this baby is so perfect, however, that I couldn't bring myself to use Egg Replacer, which made the whole ordeal scandalously indulgent. Roo helped grate zucchini and mixed in non-egg ingredients but he couldn't eat the finished product. Luckily I had plenty of Divvies Choco-lot Brownie Cookies in the freezer.

Of course you could forgo the frosting and bake this in bread pans for a more traditional breakfast style quick bread but don't do it! The voluptuous curves, thick dribble of cream cheese icing weeping down the sides, and a sprinkling of citrus zest elevate this humble quick bread to an entirely different plane.

JoMo's Zucchini Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 and 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups raw, unpeeled, grated zucchini
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 cups flour, sifted

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl beat the eggs until foamy. Gradually beat in oil and sugar. Add grated zucchini, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix well. Gradually blend in flour, mixing well after each addition.

2. Pour batter into a greased 3-quart Bundt pan and bake for one hour or until the cake tests done and begins to leave the sides of the pan. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn onto a cake rack to cool.

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. lemon zest, divided
3 cups powdered sugar

1. Beat the cream cheese, vanilla, lemon juice, and 1tsp. lemon zest in a large bowl. Gradually mix in powdered sugar stopping at your desired consistency. For zucchini cake I like to keep the frosting thick but just little runny so it will drip down the sides.
2. When the cake is completely cool, spoon icing on top, letting it ooze and drip down the sides. Sprinkle with remaining lemon zest.

Frozen Banana Sundae Pops and Chocolate Pretzel Coconut Bark

Given the recent slew of triple digit temperatures, we can't eat our ice cream fast enough. After losing one too many scoops to the deck monster who yanks them off cones every time I turn my back, we decided to give frozen bananas a try. Slower melt time, nice creamy texture, a few additional nutrients, dark chocolate coating and we could choose our own toppings!

I skewered bananas, froze them for a bit, dipped them in melted dark chocolate and handed them off to the troops who slathered them in crushed pretzels, freeze dried strawberries, rainbow sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs, and flaky coconut. I meant to take pictures of that part but a giant bowl of melted chocolate and six little hands didn't lend itself to a leisurely photo shoot. So, you get the finished product instead.

Frozen Banana Sundae Pops
(serves 10)

5 large, firm bananas
1 10-ounce package chocolate chips
10 skewers or Popsicle sticks
Assorted toppings of your choice. We used rainbow sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs, crushed pretzels, freeze-dried strawberries, and flaked coconut but the options are endless (M&Ms, white chocolate chips, crushed cookies, mini marshmallows, candy corn, popcorn, nuts, crushed saltine crackers, hot cinnamon candies, crushed candy canes, you  name it!)

1. Peel the bananas and cut them in half crosswise. Skewer the bananas and place on a parchment lined baking sheet in the freezer for an hour so they'll be nice and firm for dipping. Crush graham crackers, cookies, or pretzels in plastic baggies using a mallet (great kid job) and lay each topping out on a plate.
2. When the bananas are firm, pour the chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20 second intervals, stirring often, until melted. Carefully dip bananas one at a time and coat with desired toppings. Return to parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until hard, about 2 hours.

The coconut was a revelation for the girls who up to this point had flat out rejected it on top of granola, in cookies, and anywhere else they encountered it. Suddenly they couldn't get enough and emptied our topping bowl before the bananas were done. For a minute there Looly truly believed she'd discovered the epic combo of coconut and chocolate.

Roo, for the record, did sample a coconut flake but the texture was too much for him and he spit it out. And sadly, we had another sprinkles incident you can read about here. For few moments, though, he was totally digging his banana.

All tasty indeed but the real star of the show turned out to be the frozen chocolate pretzel coconut bark I made with the leftovers. As tasty as any candy bar and so incredibly easy!

Chocolate Pretzel Coconut Bark

1 bag chocolate chips (we used Ghiradelli Bittersweet Baking Chips)
1 cup pretzels, any shape, crushed or chopped
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, heating in 20 second intervals and stirring in between until just melted. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle half the pretzels on the parchment. Pour chocolate over the pretzels. Top with remaining pretzels and sprinkle coconut on top. Place baking sheet in the freezer for an hour or more. Remove and break chocolate bark into pieces. Store in the freezer for an extra refreshing summer treat.

No Sprinkles on Top

We made frozen bananas this week. They were fun and tasty and overall things were going great until Roo tried a couple of bites...

Exactly two bites in he started complaining that his stomach hurt. Ten seconds later he threw up his  dinner. Don't worry, I haven't lost my mommy vomit mojo. I caught most of it in my bare hands.

Ten seconds after that he was completely fine again and asked for a popsicle. No gagging, no stomach flu, no runny nose, nothing. So, clearly he's reacting to something, right?

This is at least the fifth time he has vomited after eating rainbow sprinkles, which would be incredibly useful information if he hadn't also eaten rainbow sprinkles a hundred other times and not reacted at all. What gives?!

Food dye intolerance? Before I get a verbal pistol whipping on the dangers of food dyes, I realize they are nutritional super-villains but honestly when your kid can't eat a normal egg-laced cookie at a party, sometimes skittles and lollipops are the way to go.

Now we're looking at Betty Crocker versus CK Jimmies (definitely not so good for Roo), comparing ingredient lists and studying up on Blue 1 dye verses Blue 1 Lake. And of course, swearing off sprinkles for a while. Roo is not pleased.

Summer Reading List

I am easing into the Kindle revolution. More accurately I've succumbed to reading most books and magazines on my iPad. It hasn't been easy but my back enjoys the lightened load in my bag. 

Cookbooks are another story. I appreciate the weight of them. More than that I like splattering grease all over the pages. So, instead of clearing shelves and edging toward a new digital clean, I keep amassing more. I can't stop myself. There are so many great food books out there. And they keep coming! Here are a few I'm especially digging right now.

For your own guilty pleasure...

Masala Farm by Suvir Saran
Shout out to my fellow Upstate New Yorkers: buy this book now, unless you are on my Christmas shopping list in which case you will probably be receiving this book as a gift. Sorry to spoil the surprise.

Suvir Saran is my new hero. I might be a little biased here by the whole Indian chef moves Upstate from Manhattan to raise goats and heirloom chickens, cook seasonally, and give back to the community. Masala Farm reads with the ease of a well written novel and has tons of local relevance to the Saratoga Springs-Salem-Battenkill area. Perhaps most thrilling, the book features eastern Upstate NY in a uniquely bountiful and inspiring light without ignoring the social and economic woes that are still very real there. It's bursting with beautiful photos of good food and the fields and animals that provide it. The recipes are unique, running the gamut from Ginger-Soy Fresh Ham with Roasted Garlic to Chaat Masala Fries and Pakoras and to Upstate Apple Butter. The flavor spectrum here is vast but the recipes are totally accessible, like this Chunky Eggplant Dip I made for the 4th of July...

Yummy Roasted Chunky Eggplant Dip from Saran's Masala Farm Cook Book

The Preservation Kitchen by Paul Virant
Who makes canning sexy? Paul Virant, that's who. Following my success with Balsamic Strawberry Jam with Cracked Pepper, I ventured beyond the pages of Better Homes and Gardens to this gem. Seriously, if a giant pot of boiling water and a few dozen Ball canning jars doesn't get your heart racing, it will after you flip through this book. Grilled and Pickled Hot Peppers, Cherry Mostarda, and Pear and Vanilla Aigre-Doux are all on my agenda. Better still, the entire second half of this book is devoted to recipes featuring the items you preserved in the first half. Brilliant!

Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables by John Peterson
This is technically out of print but amazon.com looks to still have a few copies. Farmer John just happens to be the man behind Angelic Organics, the farm where we get our summer CSA vegetable share. His organic vegetables are a true summer treat to behold and this book is invaluable when you just don't know what to do with all that rutabaga, or the third bunch of beets. 

and one to share with the kids...

Fanny at Chez Panisse by Alice Waters
If you cook at all with your children, or you take them to restaurants, or you have seen them eat food, you need this book. Originally released in 1992, the story of Alice Waters's daughter, Fanny, and her adventures at Berkeley's legendary Chez Panisse restaurant, is as relevant today as it was twenty years ago. This is the rare book that the kids request repeatedly and I never tire of reading. It is a literal and visual celebration of fresh, flavor-packed, nutrient-rich foods and the many interesting characters who make it all possible. The book includes 46 recipes for real food...no cupcake chickens or smiley face pancakes here (though I have a soft spot in my heart for those as well). This is real food, for real people, that kids can relate to.

So that begs the question, what are your favorite cookbooks? 

Cherry Berry Gazpacho

After the tuna event earlier this week I felt I owed the kids a gimme. Typically cold soups aren't my thing. On a sweltering day I'd much rather fight fire with fire with spicy tortilla soup than chilled tomato gazpacho. But fresh berries and a blender? That sounds like a smoothie in a bowl.

Berry Cherry Gazpacho.

Cherry Berry Gazpacho with Honeyed Mascarpone
adapted from Cooking Light July 2012

For the soup
1 pound purple seedless grapes
1 pound sweet cherries, pitted and stems removed
8 ounces fresh blueberries
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tbsp. honey
2 tsp. lemon rind, grated
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
fresh mint leaves to garnish

For the Mascarpone
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp. honey

1. Remove stems from fruit, wash, and pat dry. Put grapes, cherries, and blueberries in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add apple juice and honey. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender (or process in batches in a food processor or blender) until nearly smooth. Strain, discard solids, and chill at least 2 hours. Stir in the lemon rind, juice, and salt.
2. In a small bowl combine room temperature mascarpone and honey. Mix well.
3. Ladle soup into bowls and top each with a dollop of honeyed mascarpone. Garnish with fresh mint leaves and additional lemon zest.