What happens when I go into the grocery store...

As a personal chef, I spend a lot of time in the grocery store. For instance, this weekend I went to the store twice and the farm market once in only two days' time. Even if I didn't cook professionally, since I cook for my family, I would still probably spend more than my fair share of time in the store. Some days, the thought of running to the store can reduce me to tears. The thought of interrupting my flow to grab a vital ingredient that I didn't think to buy the first time is frustrating. You see, I used to work in retail. I was the bakery manager and then a customer service/cash office rep for the busiest store in a middle-sized chain. Retail is a tough industry. As we'd say in the biz, "Retail is a dog". After work, when I would shop it would never fail; even if I were dressed in chef's clothes, shopping in a whole different store, people would stop me as if I worked in that store and ask me where they could find such and such...If I was in a good mood, I'd help them. If I was tired, I'd point out that I didn't work there. Since owning and operating AngelFood, I've changed my perspective. I've learned that along the way my approachability factor has increased even more (!) and if I want to celebrate my life in the media then I've got to get used to seeing folks I know in the store and making new friends there is inevitable. Take this Saturday. Scene: the produce aisle where I get lots of "new friend action". The sweetest man in his late 40s said, "Ma'am, can you please help me? My wife sent me to the store with a wish list and I'm having trouble with a few items." How could I not help him?! He only wanted to please his wife. She wanted butternut squash, "but she wants the cut up kind." I hope he went home and pretended he found it all on his own. He deserves that much. A lady saw me piling 3 pounds of wax beans into a bag and asked me what I was going to do with the beans. We had a lovely 5 minute lecture on the beans. Turns out she sounds like quite a cook. She was hosting a party and serving roasted chicken with mango chutney. This was a perfect time for me to transition (albeit slowly) from summer vacation mode back to cooking/food media personality and come out of hiding. The new rule is that everybody who approaches me gets a business card because we all could use a little help in the grocery store. What are your grocery adventures like?

Casual Cake

Contributing something to share at potluck celebrations puts a chef between a rock and a hard place. Can't I be like every other guest? Can't I bring a new recipe that looks good, but is still in the experimental stages? What happens when I want to bring a delicious cake without getting out the cadre of pastry bags and piping tips to create the next cover shot of Martha Stewart's Living? Oh, no! The cake might even be a bit uneven and crumby around the edges (as usually happens with the chocolate cake). Well, I just take a deep breath and let it be.

Lately, I've been really enjoying recipes in which seasonal ingredients (mainly fruits) can be interchanged. I've also been experimenting with Splenda. I have realized that there is a chemical edge to Splenda that I'm not completely sold on. I have also been substituting Splenda for sugar at about 2/3 of the called for measurement. Splenda did pretty well in this recipe from epicurious.com. I made the recipe into muffins and left off the sugar topping (I would generally use turbinado or raw sugar for extra crunch). The fruit is definitely interchangeable and I would recommend this recipe for all seasons. If keeping buttermilk on hand is an issue, you can purchase powdered buttermilk or make your own by placing a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice in whole milk.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened 2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided OR

1/2 cup Splenda for batter only 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 large egg 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk 1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan (or prepare a 6-piece cupcake pan with paper liners). Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

Makes 6 servings (or 6 cupcakes).

Being a Primitive Gourmet

I heard, through a friend, about the wine berries and black raspberries growing wild in a local park, just waiting to be picked. Even though temps had reached the 80's by 8 am, I considered this to be a low cost, high yield adventure to take my daughter on. The bushes did not disappoint.

Upon arriving at the park, we found the grass was dewy and undisturbed. We kicked up a lot of bugs, sweated profusely, collected hundreds of tiny burrs that bejeweled our play clothes and got scratched numerous times traversing the brambles for the best berries. We had a great time. We're tough women. Our Pennsylvania Dutch foremothers have been delivering babies while picking potatoes for centuries. Between the lively conversation and delicious snacking, we didn't even notice the conditions.

We took with us our gallon-sized Easter bucket that has a plastic handle. We filled it half way, giving us a yield of 2 quarts, or 8 cups.

I learned this about being a Primitive Gourmet: I believe that a certain satisfaction was removed from food preparation when full-on grocery stores became prevalent. My whole day was filled of thoughts regarding these berries; getting them, treating them (I gently placed them in a metal colander in a sink full of water, twice and gently swished to remove as much debris and bugs as I could), using them and then eating them. We take our food for granted nowadays.

Profoundly Satisfying Turnovers

4 cups of berries, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup sugar, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch. Mix together.

1 package puff pastry dough, cutting each sheet in 4 or 8 pieces (squares). Using a slotted spoon, put a spoonful of the berries on the lower half of each square. Fold top over bottom and seal with the tines of a fork. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 450 degrees until golden and puffed. We topped ours with leftover icing while still warm.

Juicy, rustic, fantastic. Slow down and love your food.

Put Your Eggs in One Basket

I would eat them in a box. I would eat them with a fox. I would eat them here and there. I would eat them anywhere. Yes, those eggs are green. They come from my sister, Carol's hens in Indiana and they were delicious.

Eggs are the perfect food and they are even more perfect in the summer. Simmering them does not heat up the whole kitchen and they come in their own container. Egg salad makes a terrific summer dinner, cool and creamy, packed with protein. Deviled eggs make you the popular guest at any picnic.

Here's the basic recipe, which can be increased easily:

Deviled Eggs

6 peeled, hard-cooked eggs, cut in half ,lengthwise, with the yolks removed. Mash yolks with fork. Stir in 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 tsp. ground mustard. Salt and Pepper to taste.

We gas up our eggs at home with vinegar, horseradish and sometimes Wasabi. We top them with freshly chopped parsley or crisp, homemade bacon bits, as seen on the photo on the left.

What's the secret to those pretty piped eggs? Mashing the yolks when the eggs are freshly cooked, still at room temperature. Also, using a large pastry tip will prevent any yolk lumps from getting lodged in the tip's decorating edges. We've never seen pre-cooked, cold eggs produce lump-free filling.

One more tip: Keep the whites clean by placing the garnish in the palm of one of your hands and sprinkling the garnish with your other fingertips, like fairy dust.

A Moooooving Experience

In observance of Earth Day, my Express-Times assignment was to write about making your home menus more Earth Friendly. Through various channels, I was connected to local farmers and experts on sustainable food. My favorite, by far, was Farmer John Place, owner of Keepsake Farm in Northampton, PA.

While the newspaper interview only contained a bite of the conversations I had with Place, the information he provided in order to educate me, has reached far and wide. I extended our conversation to a radio interview, which will be broadcast on May 30 at 8 am on WNTI and I even went to Keepsake for a visit just to try raw milk for myself.

The important piece of the puzzle is that I have been skeptical about the safety of raw milk for years. It is illegal to sell raw milk in New Jersey but I have friends that either cross the border into PA (easy for me) or go underground to get their supply, exercising loopholes and keeping the farmers' names and locations under their hats. But Farmer John was convincing. He described conditions that he was privvy to in the corporate farming world that disagreed with raising healthy animals and food supplies. So, he raises his animals differently, is smart about it and is open to speaking about the experience and the resulting benefits. He's putting a new face on farming.

Millie and I took a sunny Saturday morning to drive about 35 miles to his farm. His own mama, Mrs. Place, mans the dairy store on the weekends and is a perfect hostess. An educator by profession, Mrs. Place was warm and welcoming and had answers to our many consumer questions. In the photo below, Mrs. Place introduces Millie to Walter, one of the luckiest milk-drinking cats in the world.

Here are some of the things you notice about Keepsake Farm: You notice the smell of grass and cows, just enough to let you know you're on a farm. The store is spotless and well-labeled. The window from the store into the milking room displays an immaculate salon full of happy cows who have the most beautiful coats you could imagine.

The best part about Keepsake (in my opinion) is that Farmer John keeps calves and mamas together from birth on. In the past two weeks alone, he's had 5 births on the farm. The calves all stand outside the pasture gate waiting for their moms to "get off of work" and come out and play in the pasture.

My purchases included 2 gallons of whole, raw milk, the most delicious honey vanilla drinkable yogurt, a pound of hamburger, a few dozen eggs, a chicken and some chicken backs for soup. On my initial swig, the milk had a more natural taste, which quickly dissipated (much to my dismay). Because it contains the natural cream, the milk must be shaken. The texture is wonderful and my appetite has never been so satisified as it has in the weeks since I've been drinking raw milk.

We enjoyed the hamburger on Mother's Day. I think I could have made 5 3-ounce patties, instead of the 4 4-ounce patties I grilled. The meat, while extremely low in fat, tastes very rich and satisfies quickly. I also enjoyed eggs for breakfast. The shells are super-durable and the yolks are rich and flavorful. I can't wait to prepare the chicken.

Since I've become a raw milk devotee, I've been surprised by the number of my Jersey friends who get a hopeful look in their eye when the ask where I get my supply. It has more of a following than I imagined. Thanks, Farmer John.

Use it or Lose it

There are times when my freezers (2) and my refrigerators (equal to 3) are so full of food and ingredients that extreme measures must be taken. Last week was one of those times. I told the Mister, "I have so much food available that I am not even going to the grocery store. You may need to stop by for cold cuts for your lunch and we may need a milk, but I even have fruits and vegetables." Stored or hoarded food ingredients are just like other stuff. As they accumulate needlessly they sap our energy and it gets easier and easier to lose focus of what is really available just in front of our noses. So, we just go out and buy more. The problem with food is that it rots and that's very wasteful, which really grates me. So, when the time comes that we need a flac jacket to open refrigerator doors, here's what I do. I either pick ingredients that I can identify or choose a whole shelf and see what I can come up with. If the packages are mysterious and unidentifiable I select about 4 or 5 and hope for the best. Last nights UILI meal (my dad joined us) was Beef Tenderloin for 3, Chicken Parm for the kids, sauteed yellow squash and zucchini (fresh-I do not freeze summer squash because it gets too watery), bruschetta and crackers and fresh strawberries and cream for dessert. Tonight's meal looks like it's going to be Tilapia topped with creamy spinach and Green Beans with Thyme, Bacon, Shallots and onions. I even have some fresh rolls to go with it. At first I was concerned that my family would whine about UILI meals. The reality is that they kind of dig it. It's gotten to be an adventure we all embark on together and the meals usually turn out well. And there was even the one night we thought we were going to be eating Black Bean Soup and it turned out to be Chocolate Icing. What kid complains about THAT?! What great meals have you created from surprises?

Going Green

I had to train myself to eat vegetables in the first place. I have a well-trained sweet tooth, which often does not lend itself well to vegetable consumption since many vegetable have a complex flavor profile with clear bitterness. But for the sake of raising children with well-rounded palates and for the countless health benefits vegetables offer, I did it. I bought the veggies, I prepared them and I ate them. The best news is that I really got to love them. Not in a "Boy, I'm craving some lima beans right now" kind of way, but I love their flavors and textures and the way they make my body feel after I eat them. Plus, they look really pretty on a plate. As winter moved into spring, I felt it was time to get back on the semi-abandoned vegetable wagon and I chose to embark on an adventure with baby bok choy. Bok choy (in this case I have chosen mini-size so an entire head is as long as an extended hand) is a mild flavored Chinese cabbage with ever-so-slightly better leaves and crunchy, ever-so-slightly sweet stalks. It's an ideal flavor profile for someone like me whose grown up tastebuds do not need anymore sweet encouragement and are not quite bitter lovers. Bok choy always makes me think of hydration since the stalks and leaves are full of moisture that just seems to drench my tongue. I slice the entire vegetable in stir-fry. It can also be used in soups or simply steamed. You can also braise it in broth and it will neither lose its shape or flavor nor lend any harsh flavors to the broth you're preparing. This is a dish I threw together for dinner last night using bits and pieces of food from my freezer and refrigerator: Shrimp stir fried with bok choy, snow peas and mushrooms. It was satisfying and delicious. What vegetable please your palate?