Category: Food and Recipes

This morning I woke up craving a bowl of steaming hot and spicy miso ramen soup. Not your usual Sunday morning breakfast of choice, at least in our part of the world.

When people think of soup, they think about familiar, comforting soups eaten when the weather turns colder or sick. 

Weather and temperature have nothing to do with soup eating; hell, it was already 81 degrees at 9 am when I made my small pot of ramen. 

When I was a kid, older people drank coffee during their lunch, even on the hottest day of the year. My dad and grandmother Mema always drank hot coffee and tea during the hottest part of a summer day. When I asked why they weren’t having iced tea, they told me the hot coffee cooled them off. Huh? 

This old wives tale does have some proven truth to it, under the right circumstances. Lots of studies have been done regarding the hot liquid on a hot day question. The results were mixed by 50%. It again comes down to the right circumstances. 

Eating spicy foods or drinking hot liquids on a hot day triggers a sensor as soon as you take the first bite or sip. The sensor makes you sweat. When you sweat, and it can evaporate, it cools you off afterward. 

My dad and his mother Mema were always on the heavy side, and they were both always hot. When I was a kid, I thought this was why they drank hot liquids. Then I saw skinny older people doing the same thing. The theory of a nine-year-old was wrong. 

So what are the right circumstances? The right clothing is one thing that helps with sweat evaporation. Wearing lightweight, easy to breathe clothing is key. What type of liquid also helps. 

A cup of hot tea will cool you off more than a cup of highly caffeinated coffee. Now I am wondering if my dad and Mema were drinking decaf? Did their savory lunch have any other effects along with drinking the hot coffee or tea?

This may answer my own question…hot, savory soups have a higher sodium content than a cup of tea, which replaces the sodium you sweat out while cooling you down at the same time. Mema and my dad were replacing their sodium and cooling off at the same time. They were smarter than I knew they were, I guess.

Marty still talks about his mother giving them salt pills in the summertime and then sending them out to play for the day. Interesting right?

Here is another piece of the cooling-off puzzle; as soon as hot spicy foods hit your tongue and the top part of your digestive tract, sweating begins. Think of India, Mexico, all of Asia; most of it is hot and spicy. That spicy food is cooling people down after they eat. I never thought about that before I started researching this piece.

Back to soup for breakfast, every country has its own. They eat congee in China, miso soup in Japan, menudo in Mexico, caldo de costilla in Columbia, pho in Vietnam, lablabi in Tunisia, mohinga in Burma, ezogelin cornasi in Turkey and kao tom goong in Thailand are just a few! 

Many of these soups like caldo de costilla have a super high-calorie content; the goal is to fill you up and keep you going all day. When we eat a protein-based breakfast, it will fill you up and keep you going longer than just a carby breakfast. Whenever I eat just toast or a bagel, I want to chew off my own arm. I am so hungry a couple of hours later. 

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My soup this morning made me sweat my ass off while I was eating it. It was so steaming hot it fogged up my glasses, plus I added a good amount of sriracha to it. I tried both the temperature and spice level for my research. I also was wearing lightweight clothing. 

About five minutes after I finished my bowl of soup, I completely cooled off. I am sitting on the front porch writing, which felt hot and sticky before I ate the soup; now, it feels cooler. Am I imagining it? I’m not sure since there is a gorgeous breeze blowing, and the sun has shifted a bit. 

The bottom line for me this morning was that I wanted a bowl of ramen, and it tasted so good. Did I prove the old wives’ tale? I have no idea and will have to do more research on the subject. If that means eating more delicious soups for breakfast and spicy foods all summer, I’ll take one for the team! 

I may be going out on a limb here, but when people hear the word shish kebab, they think of thin skewers with chunks of beef with peppers, onions, and other veggies. Am I right? 

I watch a lot of international cooking and traveling programs on TV. There are so many different series and shows to watch it’s staggering. I love the ones that showcase street food around the world. Some shows focus on the street food vendors and people who work at hawker stands for generations. 

Watching shows about cooking and different cultures inspires me to do research and search for recipes. Next, I decide what I’d like to try making, then hunt down the ingredients I’ll need. Sometimes I need to invest in kitchenware goods.

I made chicken shawarma a couple of months ago and wrote about it on my blog. It was delicious and tasted very close to the shawarma I had in Montreal. 

I wanted to make more Middle Eastern cuisine; this time I was going to make kofta. Kofta is a type of kebab with ground meat instead of chunks. 

The direct translation of shish kebab is “shish,” which means sword, and “kebab,” which means meat. So meat cooked on a sword. How cool! 

As long as there has been fire, people have poked holes in their food with whatever they had and cooked it over an open fire. It’s the most primal way to cook. 

I’ve made regular shish kebabs plenty of times; in fact, I did just a few Saturdays ago. The concept of kofta, forming ground meat on a sword or a one-inch wide skewer, intrigued me. I needed to make them. 

We found the one-inch sword-style kebab skewers on Amazon. I read up on what to do, the next thing I had to decide on was what kind of kofta I was going to make. 

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Almost every country and culture have its own versions of kebabs and koftas. I had to pick from Turkish, Persian, Moroccan, Lebanese, Indian, Pakistan. The list goes on and on. 

Next, I had to chose what kind of meat I wanted to use. Ground beef, lamb, chicken, or pork. I picked beef. The herbs and spices used in the different recipes from country to country were similar yet very different. I finally picked a recipe and went with it. 

I knew from my research that the meat should be mixed and chilled for several hours. The meat will adhere to the sword skewer easier if everything, including your hands, is cold. 

I followed the recipe, and we fired up the grill. Marty helped me since it seemed to be a two-person ordeal, especially when we were making kofta.

We didn’t initially lay the skewers on the grill grate because I wasn’t sure if they would stick. However, we found out quickly that the meat almost fell off the skewers with no safety net over the hot coals. Shit!

We put the grill grate on the grill, and it worked like a charm. The aroma was so exotic and smelled delicious. Noah was here for Father’s Day dinner, watching everything take place. 

Between you and me, I think he was unsure of what to expect and was dreading dinner. We decided if it sucked, I would make chicken. 

We kept rotating the kofta to get an even cook on the meat. We didn’t want to have them raw in the center or overcooked and dry. So we went with our gut when to pull them off. 

Earlier in the day, I made a Middle Eastern potato salad which was very lemony. I also made whole roasted Moroccan carrots. I found hundreds of recipes for kofta dipping sauces but made a tahini yogurt one.

Noah didn’t know what to make of the food. I put some meat on his plate and threw caution to the wind. Marty and I tasted the kofta and said, “Wow! What a flavor punch in the mouth.” The kofta was still juicy and really delicious. The sauce I made complimented the meat beautifully. 

The Moroccan carrots were also a home run. I will make this style of carrots from now on. I can already imagine all the different herbs and spices I could use to complement different proteins. Finally, the potato salad was meh. It was ok, but I’d make something different next time, like jeweled rice or gluten-free couscous.

I watched Noah take a nibble. Then a bite. Then he took some sauce and another bite. This was my picky eater as a kid, so this made my heart very happy to see him eat the meal. After we were done eating, Noah said the meal was flavors he never experienced before and liked it. He was happy he got to try something new. Yes! 😃

We had leftover kofta that Sam had the next day before his overnight shift at the hospital, and he liked it too. 

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Today I heated the leftover kofta, then thinly sliced it like gyro meat. Then, I made a wrap (gluten-free) with the meat, tahini sauce, thinly sliced baby cucumbers, and lettuce. It was even better than the original meal. 

Marty said after lunch that this was not food you eat at home; it was restaurant or food truck food. That, my friends, is exactly what I was going for! ✔️

The next time I make kofta, I will chill the meat mixture and put the skewers in the freezer for a few minutes to get them super cold. After that, they will go in the fridge until the fire is scorching, and we will use the grill grate right away. 

We live in a food desert here in Southern Vermont with very few choices of ethnic cuisine. I love trying all different kinds of ethnic foods. Like everything else, if we want to try something, I make it—end of story. 

Grilling season is upon us. I don’t really expect anyone to go online and order sword skewers like I did to make kofta. But…you can make kofta patties like a burger and get the same flavor and idea.

If your family is courageous when it comes to food, or if you are sick of eating the same old shit, try it. As a side note, I wanted to include that every time I wanted to type “shish,” my autocorrect changed it to shitshow! LOL!

Below is the recipe I used:

https://www.billyparisi.com/middle-eastern-kofta-kebab-recipe/

We haven’t rented a house for a week down the Jersey Shore for 19 years. We used to rent a home on Long Beach Island, NJ, right in Surf City every July. My parents went in 50% for the rental cost, making it affordable for us since I was a stay-at-home mom. We would all stay at the house and, because my father was still alive, we all got along. They didn’t like the beach, and we did, so we parted our separate ways during the day. At night, we would have cocktails and dinner together. Then we would sit outside for hours after the boys went to bed.

We didn’t rent a place in 2000 since my dad passed away in April and I was pregnant with Sam; I was due in August. We did scrounge money together to rent the house again the following year. I was working for a caterer part-time and put a little money aside every week all year. Our spending money came from our income tax return.

We had a great time at LBI that summer, even though all of our hearts had a hole in them without my father. He did let his presence be known that he was with us anyway. He was so much fun in life, and the signs we got from him made us all laugh.

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We never ate out the years we rented the house, the kids were young, and we really didn’t want to spend a ton of money on going out. It would have been aggravating anyway since everywhere was jammed with families; the wait to get into most places was ridiculous. It was more enjoyable eating on one of the house’s decks; the kids could play after they ate and not have to sit still so and we could enjoy our food. Our kids were never allowed to get up from the table in a restaurant or bother a bunch of other diners.

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We brought groceries from home mostly for the kids, and we shopped each day at the corner store, butcher shop, bakery (we weren’t gluten-free then), seafood market, and pizza places. I loved to cook back then, and the kitchen was fully equipped, along with a nice grill. 

One morning when Marty and I walked to the bakery searching for the pretzel rolls we loved, we saw they had a bruschetta topped pizza crust. It was different than regular pizza. It was pizza dough baked in Sicilian style and was topped with olive oil, bruschetta topping, and pecorino Romano cheese. It was to be eaten at room temp. It was so good! I think we got it twice that week. I didn’t think I wouldn’t be able to find it anywhere again. It was so juicy and flavorful. 

That was the last year we could afford the house we rented for years. We were priced out by all the New Yorkers that flooded LBI, and the rent tripled in price. We were saving to buy a house and didn’t want to spend that much money; it was the end of going down the shore. Hotels near the beach were even further out of our price range. ☹️

Before we had to go gluten-free, I would look on the menu of every pizzeria to try to find that bruschetta pizza, but I never saw anything like we had from the bakery. I never bothered trying to duplicate the bruschetta pie since gluten-free pizza crust sucks. It took us 9 years to finally master a good pizza dough, so I decided to try tonight. 

I made a batch of pizza dough and rolled out one of the dough balls; I put it immediately on a sheet pan. I let it rise, covered with a towel. Meanwhile, I made the bruschetta topping and garlic herb oil to put on the dough while it baked.

After I made the bruschetta topping, I let it sit for a bit, then tasted it. Boom! It tasted just like the topping I remembered. I was halfway there. When the dough was ready to bake, I poured the garlic, herb, olive oil on the dough, sprinkled a little Parmesan on it, and threw it in the oven. 

When the pizza crust was done, I immediately topped it with the bruschetta topping and grated some pecorino Romano cheese on top. I let it sit for a few minutes so everything could come together. 

I cut it into squares just like the bakery did. Marty tasted it first and said, “You’re gonna love it.” I did love it. We both agreed that it tasted just like the one from the LBI bakery. Marty said he could see us having this a lot, especially when tomatoes are in season.

It was a perfect meal to have on the first day of summer. This bruschetta-topped pizza crust will always remind me of that summer at LBI. We really miss going down the shore for a week and the little house that was just a couple of short blocks from the beach.

I have lots of photos of the little beach house and LBI….I just have to find them.

I’ve written about food smell memories before, but the one that screams summer down the Jersey shore is sausage and peppers. 

Whenever I smell sausage and peppers, I think of the boardwalk in Seaside, NJ. The delicious smell of sausage, peppers, and onions mixed with Coppertone suntan lotion takes me back. 

I spent many summers down Seaside and walking the boardwalk. My friends and I would go to Seaside, smoke, drink, go to the beach, and walk the boards. It was always good times…fun, sun, and boardwalk food. 

Being gluten-free puts the kobash on eating sausage and peppers on a good Italian roll soaked with grease. Very sad and a major bummer. Like everything else, I make due re-creating delicious food memories. 

I am not sure why people call it “sausage and peppers” when onions are always in the picture. Hell, I do it too. I guess, like all other Jersey & NY lingo, it cuts down on the wordage. 

Cutting down on wordage? Let me give you a few examples. “Ddjaeetyet?” No, “Djew?” Did you eat yet? No, did you? I shit you not, it’s a real thing, and I still say it. 

We all know “Forgetabouit” or “Dontworrybouit.” Forget about it. Don’t worry about it. “Howyadoin?” It can be how are you doing or how are YOU doing? Think of Joey on Friends. 

“Howyadoin?” Is not a question, it is a greeting. No one really gives two shits how you are doing. It’s like saying “S’up” or hi. 

Back to sausage and peppers…in the cold weather, I make mine in the oven. I make mine on the outdoor flat top grill just like the boys do on the boardwalk in the summertime. 

The key to my sausage and peppers is that I marinate my peppers and onions with garlic, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. The salt in the marinate starts releasing the juices from the vegetables, softening them a bit before the cook. 

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I usually parboiled my sausage. I know some of my Italian friends are shaking their heads, saying, “ Whatdafaq?” I parboil it when I slice the sausage into pieces before putting them in with the vegetables to marinate. This is a hurry-up method, but it works for me.

Parboiling does remove some of the flavor and fat. Sometimes I fry it first, and other times I throw the sausage in the marinate raw. Doing it on the flattop goes fast, and I don’t want to dick around worrying if the sausage would be cooked through. 

Since I can’t have my sausage and peppers on dope ass rolls anymore, I add yellow potato cubes. The same people are shaking their heads and think it’s sacrilege to add potatoes. But I happen to like them, so I put them in. “Oh yeah? Your sista’s ass!” Another favorite of mine.

People can fight about what you put or not put on your sausage and peppers. The purists will say nothing. Others will say yellow or spicy mustard. Some people add marinara sauce. I say no to that one…big time. I like yellow mustard. It’s the needed acid that cuts through all the grease. 

I only learned about how acid balances out a dish a couple of years ago when I watched on Netflix the show called Salt. Fat, Acid. Heat. It changed my life..seriously. Now condiments make sense and actually serve a purpose. 

Last night I made sausage and peppers with garlic cheese bread. The guys could make sub “samiches” if they wanted to; I just ate mine on the side. 

Will I make it to the Jersey shore this year? I’m not sure. Can I eat the sausage and peppers of my food memories? No….damn gluten. Can I make something that is a great runner-up? You bet your ass I can. If there’s a will, there’s a way. 

I had a nice dinner prepped for Sunday evening. I mise en place all the ingredients in the morning so dinner would be quick and easy later on. It was going to be a gorgeous day, perfect to be spent at the “pool.” 

I got a text from our chef friend Martin mid-afternoon asking us to come for dinner. As I mentioned before, Martin is a widow and doesn’t enjoy cooking for himself like most people. Whenever he asks us to come, we always say yes. For me, it’s such a treat having someone else to cook, plus whatever he is making is something he’s been craving. 

I decided to make Sunday dinner on Tuesday night. I was making grilled glazed pork tenderloin with wild rice pilaf along with green beans almandine. Why green beans almandine? Well, I felt like pulling out another lost old-school recipe. 

Green Beans almandine has been around since the mid-nineteenth century. It became a very popular holiday or dinner party side dish. All the white tablecloth fine dining restaurants had the dish on their menus as well.

Green beans almandine is basically green beans and toasted almonds. The correct name is almandine, but it was dumbed down in America and appeared in American cookbooks as almondine. Whatever! 

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It’s such an elegant and simple dish. I wanted to share it with you since it’s almost green bean season. I looked at a bunch of recipes; some were good, some were very good, and some were bad. 

The basic recipes had blanched fresh green beans, toasted almonds, and butter. The more elevated recipes included sautéed shallots and garlic with fresh green beans, almonds, and butter. The recipes that made me say, “WTF,” used frozen green beans. Frozen? Frozen for an elegant dish? 

Listen…I am not a food snob; frozen vegetables are fine for certain times and occasions. I use frozen peas all the time, but when writing a recipe for “dinner party” food, don’t tell people to use frozen green beans. Capice?

Here’s the recipe I used from the website A Beautiful Plate

Green Bean Almandine

•  1 lb French green beans (haricot verts), trimmed
•  2 tablespoons unsalted butter
•  1/4 heaping cup raw sliced almonds
•  2 medium shallots, finely diced
•  2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced
•  zest of one small lemon
•  2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
•  kosher salt
•  freshly ground black pepper
  

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season the water liberally with kosher salt (it should be very salty to taste). Salting the cooking water aggressively accomplishes two tasks: it ensures that the green beans will be seasoned properly inside and out, and also helps them retain their bright green color after cooking. 
2. Blanch the green beans for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until they are crisp-tender and slightly squeaky between your teeth. It is important that the green beans be slightly undercooked as they will be transferred directly to the skillet and will continue cooking during this time.
3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat until lightly bubbling. Add the sliced almonds and sauté, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes or until they are starting to turn golden brown. Reduce the heat to low and add the chopped shallots and garlic. Sauté for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant and lightly caramelized. 
4. Using a large slotted spoon, tongs, or kitchen spider, transfer the blanched green beans from the boiling water directly to the skillet. Sauté briefly, gently tossing the green beans with the almond mixture until evenly combined and the green beans are tender. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice, toss once again, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately.

I hope if you haven’t made or had green beans almandine in years, you put it on your make-it list this summer. If you’ve never had it before, I hope you will try it. Old school food classics are that, for the very reason, they are delicious. They are just forgotten about.

There is such a huge difference between cooking, baking, grilling,  barbecuing, and smoking meats. 

Cooking…anyone can cook if you can read a recipe, follow directions, or have a natural instinct what flavors go with what. 

Baking is a science of exact measure. That’s where baking sort of loses me, the exact measurements. I rarely measure anything unless I am writing a recipe. I can bake but quite honestly isn’t something I enjoy doing. 

Grilling is when you cook smaller cuts of meats, poultry, or vegetables fast and hot. High temperatures sear the outsides of the proteins and quickly cook the insides to your desired temperature or doneness. 

Tender cuts of meat that have been marinated, dry-rubbed, or just seasoned with salt and pepper can be cooked in minutes. Steaks, pork tenderloins, chicken breasts or parts, kebabs, or burgers are to name a few. 

Barbecuing is the opposite of grilling using tough, big cuts of meats. It is a “clear your schedule” type of cooking method or activity because it takes hours…easily 12+ hours depending on the size of meat. This is where the term; low and slow comes from.

Barbecuing is also considered by some diehards an exact science not with measurements, but with temperature, cuts of meats, what side the piece of meat is from the right or the left, rubs, injections, type of wood, type of smoker, wrapping, and cook time. 

Pitmasters keep logs of their cooks and take things very seriously. Every pitmaster has their own techniques, tricks, and secrets. Barbecuing a way of life for people and is the oldest form of cooking. 

Smoking is some serious shit. This cooking method doesn’t just take hours; it can take weeks at very low temperatures. Smoking is not for the faint of heart and is not something you can wing. 

All winter Marty and I watched different barbecue shows, tutorials, and a bunch of different series on television. We would drool while watching and couldn’t wait to get started as total beginners to the bbq world. 

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Today we are barbecuing an eight-pound brisket. We are using the simple central Texas seasoning of choice, coarsely ground black pepper, and kosher salt. 

I got up at 5:30 am on my own since I was dead asleep at 9 pm last night. I pulled the brisket out of the refrigerator, patted it dry with paper towels, and checked to see if I needed to remove any excess fat. In the photo is the meat side of the brisket, not the fat side.

I sprinkled the brisket from high above with salt and pepper using a shaker container filled with 50/50 salt and pepper. This ratio is different for everyone, but we are using BBQ guru Aaron Franklin’s method. 

High above? The higher up you season your food you can get a larger and even coating on the protein. Next,  you pat the seasoning into the meat not rub. Dry pat sounds stupid, but basically, that’s what it is.

After I dry rubbed the brisket, I made some coffee and snuggled on the couch with Klaus waiting for Marty to get up. The first thing he did when he came downstairs was light the fire in our ceramic cooker. 

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Today we are using hardwood lump charcoal. Marty got the temperature up to 225-degrees and threw the brisket on at 7:20 am. We will keep a close eye on the temperature making sure it doesn’t get too hot. We’ll check on the meat two hours into the cook time to see how things are going. 

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We checked on the brisket after 2 hours, then again at 4 hours into the cook. It needed one more hour before we wrapped it. We decided to let it go for one more hour because the bark wasn’t developed enough, and the meat was still very firm. 

We wrapped our brisket in aluminum foil 5 hours into the cook. We set the timer for two more hours. The whole time Marty has been able to keep the heat below 250 degrees. 

At 3:40 pm…7 hours into the cook, we tested the brisket’s tenderness by pressing on it. We shut down the smoker and left the brisket to cool down slowly and rest.

While the brisket was cooling, I made a scrumptious Bourbon Barbecue Sauce. I wanted to make a bbq sauce from scratch; we took so much time and care with the brisket, to use a bottled sauce just felt sacrilege.

I made corn pudding and spätzle mac and cheese as sides earlier in the day—comfort food for sure on this raw, cold, rainy day. We need food that is easy to reheat this week, so this meal fits the bill nicely. I also quick pickled some red onion to balance all the richness of the meat out.

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Ugh! Ok, so hold your horses. Before I go any further with this, I want to remind myself and you guys that I will always be honest and authentic on this blog. The brisket sucked! We ruined it, and I am so pissed!

I know all you bbq gurus out there are shaking your head at us. When you fuck up and learn something from it, it becomes a lesson. If you do the same thing again, it’s a stupid mistake. I always learn lessons the hard way. We already know almost everything that went wrong.

First off, the cut of brisket was wrong for bbq. It was only a flat cut without a lot of fat, a brisket that my Jewish friends would use to make for Rosh Hashanah or Passover. It would have been braised with veggies, succulent and juicy, just like the one on the Netflix series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Midge made.

We obviously kept the meat on the smoker too long before we wrapped it. At first, I wanted to punch out the guys in the videos I watched making their 8 lb briskets. I listened to them and watched closely while making mental notes, but those videos were wrong for our type of smoker and brisket.

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I am a perfectionist, so this makes me aggravated, but I did call this 101 in the title since it was the first time we attempted barbecuing a brisket, so I shouldn’t have gotten as mad as I did. I wanted to throw the meat out and not even bother slicing it or tasting it. Marty likes burnt ends but had to admit this was beyond dry; it was splintered in some areas. Apparently, I was being nothing but negative at the dinner table and acted like an ass, Marty pointed out to me. Imagine that? lol

I cursed while he sliced it; I cursed more when I nibbled on a piece. “It’s not that bad with the bbq sauce you made.” Oh yeah? It was drier than a buckwheat fart. I watched poor Sam try to swallow it and needed to gulp water to wash it down. I don’t eat things that aren’t good, so I picked at the corn pudding and mac and cheese; not really eating much of either. On the bright side, the bourbon bbq sauce was stellar, at least.

Next time we try, again we will look for the right cut of brisket appropriate for bbq. We know our ceramic smoker cooks much hotter than we thought, and we can’t go by the thermometer on the smoker. We also know that the heat is under the meat and not above it like other smokers; we have to cook the meat for less time. The seasoning, the 50/50 blend of kosher salt, and coarse pepper were correct.

We got an F today in barbecue brisket. Damn it! I hate really failing, but we learned a lot from today’s lesson.

Two years ago, I tried parsnips for the first time; our chef friend Martin made a parsnip purée as a side dish with steak. It turned out to be the best bite of 2019 for me. 

I always thought parsnips were just white carrots.  They are related to carrots and parsley. Parsnips are a root vegetable harvested in the fall. They are cream color and shaped like carrots but wider at the top. They have the sweetness like a carrot but a distinct flavor. Parsnips can be eaten raw or boiled, grilled, baked, or fried. They become sweeter when cooked, like a sweet potato.

Soups and stews are some popular ways people prepare parsnips. Others roast them like potatoes or fry them thinly sliced to make chips. I cook mine slowly in butter, cream, milk, garlic, and some salt & pepper. I purée them in the food processor until they are silky smooth. 

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When harvesting parsnips, gloves should be worn since the leaves can irritate the skin. The tops should be cut off and scrubbed well before use. Parsnips are high in vitamins and minerals. They are different, and we love them now that we know how delicious they are.

In Vermont and other parts of the country, we have a problem with poisonous parsnips. The wild parsnip is a tall plant with yellow flowers. Although the roots are edible, the plant’s sap can result in burns. 

The burns are actually a reaction between the plant’s sap and your skin. The reaction is triggered by sunlight. It isn’t an immune or allergic response but rather a sun-sensitive skin reaction due to the plant substance. Weird right?

Our son Noah brushed up against poisonous parsnips while riding on a four-wheeler back in middle school. Before he got home, his left arm and leg were covered in painful second-degree burn blisters. I freaked out! We quickly went online to see what to do. 

We gently and carefully bathed the blisters with cool water and used a hydrocortisone cream along with Tylenol. The blisters took a long time to go away and left scars that eventually faded.

Wild parsnips line the roadways here in Vermont. The yellow flowers look like Queen Anne’s lace that is white in color. Wild parsnips are flat on the top, while Queen Anne’s lace is curved. Both are considered invasive plants.

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Wild parsnips also grow in fields. It is poisonous to livestock; they instinctively know to stay away from it. A rumor I heard a few years ago was that wild parsnips were planted along the roads to prevent wildlife from going into the road. I thought it was genius, but I have since read that some animals like deer nibble the leaves. Oh well, so much for a great idea. 

The next time you get the urge to jump out of your car to either pick wildflowers or take a pee, check for wild parsnips. It definitely would not be fun to get burns on your ass or private parts! Can you even imagine? Yikes! 😖

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When I decided to make parsnips for dinner tonight, I didn’t think I’d be writing about them. Like other blog posts, the words basically formed themselves: I found out that I knew a lot more about parsnips than I thought.

If you’ve never tried parsnips, you honestly should. There are lots of recipes online. Here’s my recipe for parsnip purée. I’m not going to lie, this is not a low-calorie dish, but eaten with lower-fat proteins, it all comes out in the wash. I season mine in the pot while cooking the parsnips since I already know what taste I am going for. Wait until the end, taste the puree, then season to your own taste.

Parsnip Purée

1 lb parsnips, peeled and cubed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cream
1/2 milk
2 TBSP butter
Kosher salt & pepper to taste

Bring the cubed parsnips, garlic, cream, milk, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer on low until parsnips are soft, 10-15 minutes.

Uncover and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, 5-10 minutes. Keep your eye on it; it can scorch and burn if you aren’t paying attention. Let cool slightly, then carefully purée in a blender or food processor—season with kosher salt and pepper. Serve.

Parsnip purée can be made in advance. Reheat over medium heat, stirring often, until hot.

Great substitute for mashed potatoes!

*** If you are enjoying my recipes and blog, please tell a friend or two. I’d love to increase my number of readers! Once again, if you can, please consider supporting my blog, I am still far away from being able to professionally update and improve my page with things to simplify the content. For example a print button for recipes, and a recipe archive would be so helpful to readers. Every little bit counts and thank you to those who have supported me, you don’t know how much it means to me. 💜

I cook a lot of food, some photo-worthy, some not. Some of my food I actually style for a photo; some just happen. Last night we made burgers on the grill. We also made hot crash baby potatoes along with charred green beans with butter and garlic. After I made my burger, I looked down on my paper plate and thought, “Holy Shit, that is a gorgeous burger!” It tasted as good as it looked. It was simple…a little yellow mustard and raw onion on the bottom grilled bun (GF) with melted American cheese, dill pickles, and Heinz ketchup.

My burger wasn’t stylized or set up to look perfect. I just built the burger quickly, exactly how I like it. It mimics the Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonald’s. I haven’t had Mcdonald’s since 2010. Do I miss it? Yes. Am I happy that I can’t eat it? Yes. It used to be easy to pull through a drive-through and order anything my heart pleased, mostly not things that my body should be eating in the long run. If I could eat, gluten McDonald’s would not be one of my top 10 things I would choose for sure.

It depends on what type of burger we are craving is the deciding factor between a smash burger on the flat top or the grill. The toppings are another story. We make blackened bleu cheese burgers or jalapeño cheese-stuffed burgers. Patty melts or thinly smashed double double animal burgers with In and Out sauce. Last night it was classic grilled cheeseburgers with a variety of toppings.

We cook burgers on the grill outside all year long, but there is something about sinking your teeth into a juicy, meaty burger eaten outside on a warm night with your favorite toppings that is better than any fancy meal you can think of. That’s why $18-20 dollar burgers exist on menus in some restaurants.

We grilled pizzas tonight and plan on smoking an eight-pound brisket on Sunday. Tomorrow the forecast calls for 51 degrees and rain; I have some type of stuffed chicken breast in mind with parsnip puree and asparagus. I have prosciutto and provolone cheese plus some fresh baby spinach on hand, so that might go in the stuffing unless I am inspired by something else. I love that the weather dictates my menus, which makes menu planning a little bit easier.

Saturday, we are on the road at 5:30 am and won’t get home for 12 hours from our farmers market and a couple of deliveries afterward; what will we have for dinner that night? I have no clue…yet.

Have fun planning your kick-off to summer holiday weekend menus. Let whatever you feel inspire you, whether it’s hotdogs and hamburgers, bbq chicken, grilled meats and veggies, or a pot of chili. Meals can be eaten on the beach, backyards, state parks, rooftops, or dining rooms.

This year, we can unite with friends and family members to have cookouts, picnics, BBQs, and sit-down dinners. This last year has taught us all to appreciate those around us, the food we have available to us, and the ability to be together again. Who would have thought that a terrible pandemic would bring back the simple things in life?

Sunday night, we went over to our friend Martin’s place, and we usually drink wine. Martin said he just made himself an Old Fashioned and asked if I wanted one. 

Did I want one? Come on! I love bourbon and whiskey, so sure. Martin is a chef but has also spent plenty of time bartending as well. I think the two go hand in hand.

I watched how he made his Old Fashioned and took mental notes. He added a small amount of fresh orange juice in his version that he squeezed with his hand. A little sugar & 2 dashes of bitters. He added ice and bourbon, then stirred it. It was delicious! 

I duplicated his recipe last night because I wanted to put it into my memory. Ok, who am I kidding? I wanted one. I had a bottle of small-batch bourbon that I just picked up and wanted to try. 

My Old Fashioned was also delicious and almost identical to Martin’s. I added a maraschino cherry to mine. My love for maraschino cherries is one of my dirty little secrets.

The Old Fashioned originated from the Whiskey Cocktail that was popular back in the early 1800s. Louisville, Kentucky, claims the Old Fashioned to be invented by a bartender in 1880 at a private social club called The Pendennis Club. Many people disagree with this, but Louisville isn’t giving up this claim to fame. 

The original Old Fashioned consisted of a teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of a rocks class. A little water and a couple dashes of bitters were mixed in with a small spoon to dissolve the sugar. Ice was added, and the glass was given to the customer with a bottle of bourbon to pour their own. Can you imagine that today? 

Over the years, the drink has had so many variations. The first variations started during and after prohibition. It was said that bartenders started adding muddled fruit, orange, and cherries to help cover up the taste of lousy bourbon available at that time. 

The Old Fashioned remained popular and held on with other classics like the Martini & Manhattan for a long time, but took a dive during the second half of the 20th century. Drinks like 7&7, Rum & Coke, Sex on the Beach, Cosmopolitans, Alabama Slammers, B52s, Red Deaths, and Mind Erasers became people’s new favorite cocktails. BTW…they are all very good too!

In the last decade, speakeasy-type drinks have made a massive comeback and are now crafted by bartenders or mixologists. Local, small distilleries making small batches of whiskey, bourbon, rum, and gin is all the rage. At each of our farmer’s markets, at least 8 local distilleries are selling their versions of different types of liquor. 

Each bartender or mixologist has their own way of crafting the Old Fashioned. Some use simple syrup; others use maple syrup. Some muddle fruit or set an orange peel on fire and throw it into the glass. Purist will still make or order the classic original version. 

I love making, drinking, and appreciating a good cocktail, just like a good bottle of wine. Good doesn’t always mean crazy expensive, world-renowned or fancy; small, local distilleries and wineries can produce it. 

People suddenly became aware of where their food was coming from during the pandemic. It became important to many people who wanted local meats, produce, and other products. Knowing where your booze comes from and supporting small local businesses is also a great thing to do. 

Cheers! 🥃 

I am the queen of mini desserts…they are easy, look cute, and there is nothing to cut, slice or scoop after dinner. For only the two of us, we each can have a mini dessert for a few days.

In February, I made those mini black forest cakes for Marty’s birthday, and they came out better than I thought they would. He had one every night for the rest of the week. 

Today, I made mini strawberry shortcakes. I baked a very simple white cake that I cut into small squares. I opted for cake over biscuits just because GF biscuits turn to shit after one day. It’s a eat it or lose it type of thing.

This morning I requested one of Marty’s infamous dishes that he makes…German pancakes. I figured since I always cook, I’d have him make me breakfast on Mother’s Day. 

I had my German pancakes the French way, which is with sugar and fresh lemon. Marty’s pancakes came out perfect as always. They were extra yellow today since we used fresh eggs from my friend Nicky’s chickens. 

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Today we mulched the property. The mulching project went true to Irion form. Whenever we tackle a project, we always run out of whatever it is we are doing. We underestimated when we bought 30 bags of mulch last week; Poor Marty had to go back for 15 more bags to finish the job. I used to be stingy with the mulch and couldn’t understand why it washed away and weeds popped through so fast. Now we add a nice thick layer every year with great results.

This morning I planted basil, thyme & sage that I got at the farmers market from our friend Danny at Crimson Valley Nursery. The way I plant my basil is how this old guy, The Basil Guy, used to plant his. He sold his basil plants at the farmer’s market and were only $6 bucks.

The Basil Guy used to cram 18-20 basil plants into a medium-size container. His instructions were to take it home and transplant it in the biggest container you can find. Our basil was gi-nor-mous that summer! I copied what he did last year and was pretty successful. This year we got a bigger container like the guy said.

I woke up to a sweet text from my son Noah this morning. Sam called me later in the afternoon. They both thanked me for being their mom, which is so nice it makes me cry. I tried really hard to be the mom I thought they deserved; I guess I succeeded. 

As I type, we are sitting on our front porch having a cocktail while I have a pork tenderloin in the oven. We have blankets on because it’s so damn cold, but it’s where we want to end another hectic week. 

Pork tenderloin is a go to dinner when I want something Sunday dinner-ish but short on time. I trim off the silver skin, rub the tenderloin with olive oil, then season with kosher salt, pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder and a little paprika. Bake at 400-degrees for 30-35 minutes or until it reaches 140-145 degrees. I cover with foil while I make a quick pan gravy. Mashed potatoes and glazed carrots completed the meal. One of our favorite Sunday dinners.

The upcoming week will be jam-packed. We have to have all our deliveries and production done by Thursday. Friday morning, we leave very early for Delhi, NY. Our youngest son Sam has his nursing pinning ceremony. As of right now, we can’t go into the college gym for the ceremony; we have to stay in the parking lot. 

Standing in the gym’s parking lot is very hard for me to understand when there will be only 48 nursing students in a college-sized gym. Parents can’t go in even if everyone follows all the COVID guidelines. I get it, but I don’t understand it. Here is another thing I don’t understand; if we can’t go in, why can’t the pinning ceremony be held outside?

Sam’s official graduation is on Saturday; it will be done virtually. Sam said he and his friends consider the pinning ceremony in person their real graduation and the virtual one is no big deal. We are coming back late Friday night and will head back to NY in the morning for our market. 

Time is flying by, and Memorial Day is only three short weeks away. Hopefully, the cold weather will pack its shit and leave by then. I know I mentioned that it did snow on Memorial Day before; please, Mother Nature, spread a little warmth and sunshine on us. Pretty please?