Summer’s Last Kiss

It has been a long time since I have posted and I refuse to give up this blog because I am too busy. Sometimes I have so much to say and little time to say it, but I am going to indulge because I need practice and just because.  I think one reason that I have not written is because my foodie philosophy is going through yet another overhaul.  It is hard to explain really and some things about how I view food are still the same, but I am more forgiving of some health issues and more critical of others especially in terms of not having power over our food and water or for those who do have the power, refuse to realize that these are basic needs and not privileges.  Food insecurity is unjust. I am reminded of this daily, but some events make this injustice much more tangible and shamefully obvious. 

On the last Saturday in October I was out of the house at 6:30 am. We had our first freeze of the season in Albuquerque.  Yup summer is over.  We had just decorated the school garden as a graveyard for the Harvest Festival we have at our church.  I woke up in a panic because I remembered that the sprinklers for the garden were scheduled to go on at 7:00.  So my eyes pop open, it’s still dark and before I even bother with a cup of coffee, I head out to turn off the sprinklers in my pajamas. It is only 28 degrees.  Tired and cold, I drive to the school and see the parish office parking lot is full of cars and full of people in blankets waiting.

I was totally thrown off by this. Who could be here at this hour in this cold? Waiting for what? Waiting for food.  Some of the people were entire families waiting for food boxes that was on a first come, first serve basis. Now I felt much colder.  Part of the goals for our garden is to help feed these folks that none of us even see unless it is the wee hours of the morning. They are a hidden population that venture out in the dark cold so they can feed their families.  What a privilege it is for us to try and help yet we don’t even know who they are and what they have to do to eat.  They are people who brave the cold weather for hours to hopefully get food.  Yes, summer is definitely over. 

I think about this at breakfast and how lucky I am that I have a power to be picky about where I get my food. As I swirl my jam and yogurt together.  I can buy it and make it the way I want.  I see that we have this real food trend really happening and I for one am not going to get to preachy about what you choose to eat, but I think all of us should realize that we can actually choose.  

Sugar Plum Jam

2 ½-3 lbs of plums (It really makes a difference to get them ripe and in season, which is during the late summer) chopped w/peels

1 cup maple syrup

2 cinnamon sticks

5 star anise

1 tsp lemon juice

A few whole cloves

Put everything in a pot and boil for like an hour or more.  If the syrup coats the back of a spoon, it’s done.  Put in sterilized 8 oz jars, leave 1/8 inch head space and cover with tops and bands.  Process in a boiling water bath for about 15 minutes.  Remove and make sure that it is vacuum sealed. Repeat the water bath if not sealed after 20 minutes or so.  I use my gut for this. 

A Lick of Salt in Moderation

Ick. Ick. Ick.  This will be a short blog because I caught my first and hopefully only cold this season.  My head is cloudy so my ideas are nilch.  However, I do want to post something including a recipe and a menu plan.  I want to try a menu plan again so I can remind myself of what recipes are good, bad or just plain ugly.  I may do a review of them, but I am not sure at this point.  I am happy to say that I have an order to make a gluten free and dairy free chocolate cake for a birthday next week.  I would love to do this more often so I hope to make the best chocolate cake.  Right now I just want to sit here and either sleep or knit in my pajamas.  I don’t have either kid around at the moment so I am resting.  

In the last couple of weeks, I had a family member who was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and with treatment, I hope she will feel much better.  It made me think about how much of our foods are loaded with salt. Now we do need salts, but on average we consume a lot more than our recommended daily allowance of sodium (no more than 2300mg) and not near enough potassium.  This is especially bad for those with high blood pressure and any cardiovascular issues who should consume no more than 2000mg or even less.  Last week I made my meals without salt and instead added a couple of dashes or none at all depending on what already had salt in it.  I have never been one who needs a ton of salt or even likes salty snacks.  My weakness is Fritos. I love those, but I don’t have them around too much.  

Last week, I made a list of kitchen must haves and I want to include a recipe with rice, but not a typical rice dish for dinner or lunch, but for breakfast. It is naturally sweet, modifiable, and of course super easy.

Breakfast Brown Rice (Serves 4) 362 mg of sodium, 8 grams of fat, 5 grams saturated (the coconut), 71 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber, 5 grams protein. Almost all of your vitamin A for the day

2 cups of apple juice or spiced apple cider

1 cup of instant brown rice

½ cup nonfat strained (Greek) yogurt

A couple handfuls of raisins

1 grated carrot

¼ cup of unsweetened coconut (this contains the most sodium, but it has potassium too) you could use any nuts

½ tsp cinnamon (don’t need if you are using apple cider)

A dash of ground cloves (optional)

A squeeze of lemon juice (optional) this helps instead of adding salt

A sprig of lemon peel (optional) instead of salt

Menu for the week

Monday—Shredded Pork Loin red chile enchiladas and pinto beans

Tuesday—Pureed Brocolli, Cauliflower, and Potato soup with light cream, gf teff bread

Wednesday—Leftover Cioppino, salad, and bread

Thursday—Plum tomato Pot Roast with brown rice pasta, green salad

Friday—out

Saturday—Broiled Salmon, Potato and Zucchini soup, sautéed lemony peas

Sunday—Naked baked chicken wings with honey bbq and hot sauce, crudites

Tamales and Wine

Every year, my mother, aunt, two sisters and I get together to make tamales before Christmas.  This is such a popular event with Hispano families throughout the entire world around Christmas.  We have made tamales for many years and in our region, the most familiar tamale is red chile corn masa stuffed with simmered and shredded pork shoulder marinated in more red chile (or for some, chile colorado) all wrapped together in a corn husk.  We made these and got creative with a few others.  One of which, I will be sharing its recipe.  At first, I thought I would not share it because some things should be kept within the family.  However, tamales are such a worldly food, it is really the basic elements that we keep and their ingredients continuously change.  In fact, tamales have popped up in the Mississippi Delta, so really here in NM, we are not reinventing the wheel, but I am not claiming this to discredit any cultural context of Latin American countries but instead I want to impress how strong this cultural event has influenced the entire world to embark on tamale making.

Early tamales were traced back as early as 8000 BC in Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and Mayans are believed to have used them as a food for necessity for travelers.  It was a portable, starchy, and had some kind of protein element.  Later around 1200 BC, tamales were used as a food commemorating important feasts and status—including and excluding certain members of society (LeCount 2001).  This might be why I don’t want to share the recipe. You know, keeping it within the family.  Well thousands of years later, the tamale is still a food commemorating a feast although in Mexico City, tamales are a comfort food staple for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are made with a variety of ingredients.

Our little group makes tamales by the dozens and has a great time doing it.  We have never referred to it as a tamalada, but in essence that is exactly what it is.  After we prepare them, we steam a few for us to eat and this year we had quite the selection. Of course we made the traditional and regional pork marinated in chile Colorado.  My mom also made a green chile chicken style.  My aunt made a few stuffed with calabacitas and cheese.  I made two sweet varieties:  Dark chocolate, with a coconut, almond, mocha filling and a white chocolate anise with dried fruit and walnut filling.  One of our biggest surprises is that they paired up with a red wine really well.  We had a great time sipping wine and eating tamales, kids playing peacefully, and laughing about how my stepfather has an uncanny resemblance to Foghorn Leghorn.  Until next year. Merry Christmas!!

Don't hate me because I drink box wine

References:

LeCount, Lisa J. 2001. “Like Water for Chocolate: Feasting and Political Ritual among the Late Classic Maya at Xunantunich, Belize.” American Anthropologist 103 (4) (December 1): 935-953. doi:10.1525/aa.2001.103.4.935.

and Wikipedia.

Elements for white chocolate anise tamales with dried fruit filling (I have only made this once and did not use measuring cups so all of this is approximately done by purely eyeballing it. Good Luck) As I make this, my measurements might change. Please let me know if you run into problems.

For the masa

4 cups of Maseca

1 tbls of baking powder

1 tsp of salt

2 tsp of anise seeds

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

2 cups of milk

1 cup of half and half (you could use cream, but this was all I had)

2 cones of panocha sugar (find in Mexican food stores, ½ cup brown sugar if you can’t find it)

5 star anise

3 oz of white chocolate chopped

1 tlbs vanilla extract

For the filling

1 12oz bag of dried apricots (chopped)

2 cups of toasted walnuts

6 oz of dried cranberries

1 tbls cinnamon

1 jar of apricot preserves

2 shots of whiskey (optional)

1 cup of brown sugar

1-2 bags of dried corn husks

Method

Fill sink with hot water and place husks in to soften.  Warm milk, cream, panocha sugar, and star anise over low heat. Do not boil.  When panocha is dissolved and milk is hot to touch, pour over white chocolate and mix until melted. Add vanilla and discard star anise.  Let mixture cool. Meanwhile, blend dry ingredients together.  Add butter and mix with mixer or hand.  I smoosh it around with my hand.  Add chocolate mixture and mix until it becomes pasty.  Set aside.

Combine all the ingredients for the filling until it becomes a sticky mess.

Once corn husks are softened, wipe off excess water. Spread about 1 heaping tablespoon of masa onto lower half portion corn husk. This takes practice, I use my hand, my sister has more skills and uses a spoon.  Fill it with another heaping tablespoon of filling.  Fold up husk around it.  If you cannot fold the husk, then you have put in too much filling or spread the masa too thick.  Improvise. 

Steam tamales for about 45 minutes or until firm.  

Food Stratification

My husband told me a story about being at a friend’s for a dinner party.  He was standing in a line waiting to serve himself some food and another guest said that the food being served was “peasant food.”  The food being served was traditional food here in New Mexico.  He was really offended.  I don’t blame him.  What is so terrible about peasant food aside from the word peasant which does entail some derogatory meaning?   The food on the other hand is probably some of the smartest food this person was going to eat.  When I was a kid, “peasant” food was pretty much all we ate and for the most part it was pretty darn healthy.  It was mostly vegetarian and low in saturated fat, high in complex carbohydrates and micronutrients.   Not all our food was this healthy.  I drank loads of Kool-Aid, ate salami and bologna regularly and cookies with whole milk were often the snack of choice.  However, at dinnertime, my mom would definitely conjure up something creative and healthy and really tasty.   On the occasion we did go out, it was a treat.  Convenience foods that were easy to make and overly processed were too expensive and I think my mother knew better.   I know that some of these foods would have made my mom’s life a bit easier. 

The weirdest part about convenience foods while I was growing up was that they were more expensive.  Only the more affluent people could afford them and they were extremely unhealthy.   I can remember schoolmates teasing me about what I ate.  I ate wheat bread instead of white bread.  I ate the crusts.  I didn’t eat the school pizza.  I ate vegetables.  It seems that this trend is still around because my son gets some flack from the kids at school, but the opposite is true.  The convenience foods are less expensive and more available and it is the more affluent that can eat healthier.  I am really interested in this shift and I think that I am going to have to research it more to find out why the change and why do so many people still choose to eat the convenience foods despite their income level?  I know a lot has to do with taste preference, and there is a way to change it, but it is an investment that so many of us are unwilling to commit to and I can understand the reasons why.  That is why I am committed to posting whole food recipes on this blog, most of which are gluten-free and whole grain.  I am going try something new and I need your help. I am going to post a daily menu for the meals I make that are whole and healthy.  You can try the recipes or give me your ideas of what you make and I can adapt them for my family to eat.  Here it goes, your suggestions are appreciated.  Meanwhile, I am going to research the shift in class eating habits.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Hazelnut Mocha Oatmeal	Grape Nuts w/skim milk, raisins and almonds	Blue cornmeal blueberry pancakes w/pinon, butter, and maple syrup, skim milk	Choco Cherry oatmeal w/almonds and skim milk	Tropical Oatmeal w/lite coconut milk, pineapple and orange juice	Grape Nuts w/skim milk, blackberries and almonds	Egg Scramble w/corn tortillas, salsa and cheddar
Lunch	Ice Cream (bad)	Peanut butter and Jelly w/Milk	Leftover Rice and Ice Tea	Asparagus, tomato and Swiss pizza on puff pastry, green salad and ice tea	Some kind of veggie sandwich from Which Wich and Ice Tea	Leftover red pepper pasta, salad and ice tea	Birthday party so who knows
Dinner	Fried Bologna sandwich, hot peppers, Watermelon and Fritos	Pinto Beans w/ Cheesy Spanish Rice, including bell peppers, lean grass-fed beef and tomatoes	Grilled Chicken sub w/spicy mustard, lettuce and tomato Apple, celery waldorf salad w/walnuts	Roasted Red Pepper Pesto w/GF pasta. Whole plant salad Wine and water	Fresh caught stuffed trout W/garlic bread crumbs and veggies, parsley lemon pesto, salad and skim milk	Going out	Chicken bratwurst w/sauerkraut and mustard, sweet potato fries, corn on cob, milk
Snacks	Homemade gf Chex mix	Banana smoothie Bing cherries	Cherries and Larabar Homemade PB rice krispie treat	Peach Bowl of Choco Pebbles	Cottage Cheese and Pineapple Grape and melon slushie	Grape slushie yogurt	PBJ on wheat bread w/skim milk Snow cone

Notes: 

It is a big week for us due to my son’s regional track practice and events so finding time to cook will be challenging.

On Monday, we had just returned from Colorado so this day was a bust.  No more cheat days for the month.

Grocery bill this week was about $150 which is $25 over what I try to spend

Exercise included pulling weeds every day and watering, running for 30 minutes 3 times this week

What are your goals this week?

Recipe of the Week

Blue Pancakes w/Pinons

1 ½ cups of blue cornmeal

½ cup brown rice flour

1 ½ cups of blueberries

½ cup pinon nuts

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp xantham gum

2 eggs

1 ½ cups of milk or a mixture of buttermilk and regular milk or any milk of choice

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbl melted butter or oil

2 tbl softened butter reserved w/2 tbls of pinon nuts

Roast pinon nuts and combine dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients and adding more milk for your desired consistency. Add melted butter, blueberries and pinon nuts.  Heat griddle to 350 degrees and start cooking.  Meanwhile, smash pinon nuts and softened butter together, serve w/maple syrup.