Category Archives: Main Course

Theology and 5-Yr.Olds

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Our oldest granddaughter will be moving on to middle school next year (nooooooo, say it isn’t so!). It used to be so easy knowing which school your child will be attending, but now the multitude of options leads to the need for much more consideration about where to go. There are math magnets and science magnets and music and arts magnets, for example. There is also the neighborhood school where it is likely that most of her classmates will go.

Anyhoo, Addie spent much of yesterday shadowing a middle school student at the neighborhood school as part of her consideration process. In the morning, her mom and dad attended a parents’ meeting. That left the other three kids without rides to school, so Nana and Papa to the rescue! Bill took the two middle kids to their nearby school, and I took the little one, along with a neighborhood friend, to their kindergarten class which is a ways away.

Let me tell you, if you are in a bad mood, just drive two exceptionally bright 5-year-old girls to school and listen to their conversation. You will undoubtedly be smiling when you drop them off. At one point, my granddaughter was telling her friend about skiing Mt. Kilarest. Hmmm. Mt. Kilarest might be a mountain with the height and majesty of Mt. Everest and the volcanoes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Perhaps it’s located somewhere in Nepal? I don’t remember her being gone for that long. But she said it with such conviction that I certainly believed her.

I especially liked our theological conversation. My little Maggie tells me, “Nana, I have a dad who will never die.” I asked her to explain. “God,” she said, ever the good little church-going Presbyterian. Her little friend, not to be undone, says, “And Mary is our mother.” I nod enthusiastically, happy that they are absorbing their Sunday school lessons. Then Maggie’s friend asks me, “Nana Kris, is Mary dead?”

Now, I was in no mood to get into Catholic vs. Protestant theology. (As you may know, Catholics believe that Mary did not die, but instead was assumed body and soul into heaven.) “Well,” I said, “I am sure she is in heaven because she was the mother of Jesus. Now, Molly, have you ever skied Mt. Kilarest?” I am the master at changing the subject with kids.

Later in the day, Bill and I had a late breakfast at a neighborhood restaurant, where I had a rather pleasant experience. As we walked in, the hostess, who looked to be no older than 25 or so, greeted us with “Just the two of us?” Now, I am a big fan of vocal jazz, and one of my favorite songs is Just the Two of Us. Quite obviously, Bill Withers isn’t a big star amongst the 20-something age group (or really any age group, except those of us who like vocal jazz). Before thinking (which I am wont to do), I sang the first line of that song: “Just the two of us, we can make it if we try.” Much to my surprise, the young woman completed the next line: “Just the two of us, you and I.”

“Well,” I said. “I am surprised that you know that song. Are you a fan of Bill Withers?” She told me that she grew up in Iowa, and her mother would take her out for breakfast, at which she would invariably sing “Just the two of us, we can make it if we try…..” Her story seriously made me tear up. Here’s why. As parents or grandparents, we are never sure which of the things we say to our children or grandchildren have an impact. But it seems to me that it is usually those things that seem absolutely unimportant at the time. My new friend’s mother likely had no idea that her singing that song would be such a pleasant, and obviously lifelong, memory to her daughter.

It made me think back to my conversation with the two little girls in the car that morning. I rather doubt that anything I said will change their lives. But I must not forget that it’s the little things that my grandkids are going to remember about me, and they’d better be good.

And speaking of memories, one of my favorite memories is my mother making her delicious meat loaf. I am a big fan of the meat loaf, but this recipe is different than most meat loaf recipes. Perhaps the biggest difference is NO KETCHUP. That is in the plus column for me. I don’t particularly dislike ketchup, but I’m not nuts about it as part of my meat loaf.

I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you reading this blog have a favorite meat loaf recipe. Share it with me via comments! Even if it has ketchup.

Mom’s Onion Gravy Meatloaf

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1 slice bread, torn into small pieces
1 c. milk
1/8 t. celery salt
1 pkg. onion gravy mix
1 egg, beaten

Process
Place the bread in a small bowl and pour the milk over it. Add the package of onion gravy mix. Let it sit for 15-30 min., until the bread has absorbed most of the milk. Add the ground beef and the beaten egg, and mix just until combined.

Bake in a loaf pan for one hour at 350 degrees.

Nana’s Note: The resulting meat loaf is more moist than your typical meat loaf. I have played around with the recipe, decreasing the amount of milk, using bread crumbs instead of cubed bread, etc. I have never been satisfied, because it then doesn’t taste like the meat loaf my mommy made. I serve it with mashed potatoes and additional gravy.

Blood, Sweat and Prayers

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Bill and I are pretty religious about going to 24 Hour Fitness three times a week. We both do interval training on a treadmill for about 45 minutes or thereabouts. Neither one of us like to exercise. We often point out that we NEVER look forward to going to the gym and we NEVER enjoy the time during which we are working out. In fact, the only time we feel content is when our time is up – likely a combination of endorphins and knowing we don’t have to face the treadmill for another 48 hours.

But we have pretty good motivation. In 2009, Bill was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. PD has no known cause or cure as of yet. Surprisingly little is understood about it except that it just sucks to have it. Research is showing, however, that aerobic exercise can slow progression. So Bill and I faithfully exercise.

And I pray. I pray and pray and pray. Every morning I ask for Bill to be cured of his affliction. While doing so, I recognize there is no cure as of yet. Still, all three of Sunday’s Mass scripture readings remind us to pray relentlessly. In the Old Testament reading, you had the Israelites winning the war against the Amaleks as long as Moses’ hands were raised in prayer. St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy reminded him (and us) to “be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient….” And finally, and most obviously, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus uses the parable of the nagging widow and the judge to remind us to never stop asking God to answer our prayers. When I heard that, I thought, “Hey, if there is one thing I am good at, it’s nagging!”

A number of years ago I came across a quote about prayer that I never forget. Here it is: God answers all of our prayers in one of three ways – yes, not now, or I have a better idea. I will continue to nag, I mean, pray, and God will answer my prayer. In fact, I remind myself that he answers my prayer every day by making Bill’s progression blessedly slow. We help out by exercising.

On a side note, I recently was working out very hard on the treadmill, scarcely noticing who was on the treadmill next to me. I finished one of my fast intervals, and my neighbor says, “My, you really work hard, don’t you?” I looked over to see a really pretty white-haired woman. I’m bad at ages, but I took her to be a minimum of 80 years old. We began chatting about the importance of exercise. She told me she works out three times a week on the treadmill for a half hour, and then goes to a seniors’ weight class for an hour. I glanced down to see that she was walking at a speed of 3 mph. (For reference, my intervals are at 4 and 6 mph.) I complimented her on her diligence and she informed me that she was 92 years old.

Now that’s inspiration!

Recently Bill asked me to make pasta with Bolognese. I love cooking this sauce, first, because it’s yummy, and second, because it takes several hours to cook and I love the way the house smells while the sauce perks away. As always, when I make anything Italian, I bring out one of my old, red-sauce-stained Lidia cookbooks. Lidia Bastianich is my favorite Italian chef, and maybe my favorite anything chef, of all time. That’s why my Lidia cookbooks are wrinkled and stained. A sign that a cookbook is loved.

Meat Sauce Bolognese

Directions
3 T. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, minced (about 1 c.)
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely shredded (about ½ c.)
½ c. minced celery, with leaves
Salt
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
½ c. dry red wine
1 T tomato paste
3 . canned Italian plum tomatoes, with their liquid, crushed
3 bay leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
4 c. hot water, or as needed

Process
Heat the olive oil in a wide 3-4 qt. pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir in the onion, carrot, and celery, season them lightly with salt, and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent, about 4 min. Crumble in the ground beef and pork and continue cooking, stirring to break up the meat, until all the liquid the meat has given off is evaporated and the meat is lightly browned, about 10 min. Pour in the wine and cook, scraping the bottom of the pan, until the wine is evaporated, 3-4 min. Stir in the tomato paste and cook a few minutes. Pour in the tomatoes, toss in the bay leaves, and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is dense but juicy and a rich dark-red color. Most likely a noticeable layer of oil will float to the top toward the end of cooking. This will take about 2-3 hours – the longer you cook it, the better it will become. While the sauce is cooking, add hot water as necessary to keep the meat and vegetables covered. The oil can be removed with a spoon or reincorporated in the sauce, which is what is done traditionally.

Makes 6 c., enough to dress about 1-1/2 lbs. dried pasta

Nana’s Notes: Traditionally, a long, flat pasta is used, such as tagliolini. I frequently use spaghetti, but used penne this time and it worked very well. Also, I cut the recipe in half, and it worked great for the two of us. I had some left over that won’t go to waste! Just try not tasting it throughout the afternoon. I dare you.

Football Blues

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Don’t talk to me. I’m in a bad mood. My Broncos lost their first game ofthis season and I’m not happy about it. I guess pretty much everyone in Colorado is crabby today. For one thing, we got to bed late.

Well, actually, I didn’t get to bed late. I got to bed on time. In fact, I have to sort of shamefully admit that I didn’t even watch the second half of the game. I couldn’t stand myself and decided I would be better off upstairs tucked into my bed with my book in hand. I was reminding myself of my mother.

I loved my mother (still do, though she died too young in 1995 and I miss her every single day), but I absolutely HATED watching a football game with her. To begin with, she went into it with a bad attitude. “Well, we are going to lose this game for sure,” she would invariably predict, even if her team (which was either the Nebraska Cornhuskers or the Denver Broncos) was playing St. Bridget’s Girl School for Quilting.

And then, during the game, well, oh my heavens. The refereeing was bad, the announcers were biased, the opposing players were cheating, her own players were stinking it up, and on and on and on until you wanted to take a walk instead of watching the game. Which is what my father often did. Watching his team (also either the Huskers or the Broncos) play a close game drove him nuts. I don’t think he ever saw the end of a Nebraska/Oklahoma game because he was either walking or in the kitchen playing solitaire.

Anyway, I heard my mother’s words coming out of my mouth and I empathized with poor Bill who was simply trying to enjoy the game. So I went upstairs, figuring the Broncos would win or lose whether or not I was paying attention.

And what they did was lose, and the world hasn’t ended. Next week we play the Washington Redskins and I’m sure we’re going to lose that game because RGIII seems to be coming on strong. (Mom, you would be proud of me.)

This week I’m going to provide a few recipes for dishes that I have been making for many years. What they have in common is that all of them are dishes that my husband has been asking me to make lately. Bill tends to eat dinner so that he can then have dessert. The main meal is simply a path to what he really enjoys – a chocolate something-or-other. But there are a few dishes he enjoys a lot. These tender pork chops are his personal favorite, and a snap to make on a weekend night.

The recipe comes from a book my husband bought many years ago at a political fundraiser. It is called The Congressional Club Cookbook, and was a compilation of recipes from Congressmen and Congresswomen serving at that time (which was 1998).

Golden Pork Chops

Ingredients
4 thick pork chops
Lemon pepper
Salt
Cooking oil
1 10-3/4 oz. can Golden Mushroom Soup
White wine
Fresh mushrooms

Process
Sprinkle chops with salt and lemon pepper, then brown slightly in oil. Put chops in covered casserole. Cover with soup and a little white wine (or chicken broth). Top with sliced fresh mushrooms. Bake at 300 for 3 hours or longer.

Nana’s Note: The recipe doesn’t call for an amount of white wine, but put more than you think since it cooks in the oven so long. The resulting gravy is delicious on potatoes, rice, or noodles. And this time I didn’t have any white wine on hand, so I used chicken broth instead and it was still good.

Lighten Up, Girlfriend

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When I commiserated recently with my sister that I was having trouble maintaining my Weight Watchers fighting weight, she pointed out that the majority of my blog recipes as of late have involved a great deal of butter. Humpf. She thinks she knows everything! Granted, I did have to start buying my butter at Costco, and I’m only cooking for my husband and me. But, really….

Anyway, in deference to you-know-who (and also to perhaps be kinder to my heart and ratchet down my cholesterol count), this week I am going to feature tasty, yet healthy, recipes.

I’m not great at cooking healthy. I’m much more like Paula Deen than Ellie Krieger (though I can safely say under oath that I have never used the “N” word to describe a person. Well, except when it used to be part of the “eenie, meenie, miney, moe” thing when I was a child. Wow. That’s weird to think about. You Baby Boomers know what I’m talking about.)

Anyhoo, back to cooking healthy. It’s just never really been my thang, doncha know. I love the taste of butter. I have always preferred chicken thighs over chicken breasts. Nothing tastes better to me than a really nicely marbled (read, FAT) rib-eyed steak. I know the BEEF: IT’S WHAT’S FOR DINNER people tell me a sirloin steak has the best flavor, but seriously?

But I have come to realize that healthy cooking doesn’t have to be flavorless, or even calorie-less. Weight Watchers has taught me that it’s about the combination of calories and fiber, protein and carbs in the right way. And furthermore, it really is about portion control instead of deprivation. So, unlike the olden days, pasta isn’t a no-go. And really, pan frying isn’t a no-go either. Just use a little oil instead of butter, or at least combine the two.

Some of the recipes I will feature for the next few days are recipes I have tried, and some are recipes that look good to me. We will see how it goes.

This is a recipe I plan to make tonight.

Greek Chicken Cutlets (from Martha Stewart, perhaps from prior to incarceration).

The recipe feeds four.

Ingredients
1-1/2 lb. thin chicken cutlets (about 8)
1 pint grape tomatoes
½ c. fresh mint
1/3 c. Kalamata olives, pitted
Salt and pepper
2 T. olive oil
4 oz. feta cheese

Process
In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, olives, feta, mint, and 1 T. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat a grill pan or outdoor grill. Season cutlets with salt and pepper. Grill, working in batches, until chicken is cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Top chicken with tomato mixture and serve.

Nana’s Notes: Instead of grilling the cutlets, you can use a large skillet over high heat, adding 1 T. olive oil per batch. Also, I will use basil instead of mint because I prefer the flavor and it might annoy Martha Stewart should she stumble on this blog. That’s a good thing. By the way, the image is courtesy of Martha Stewart’s website. I really shouldn’t be so mean to her.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

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So that you know that braising roasts until the meat falls off the bone isn’t the only thing I like about the fall months, I want you to know that I also look forward to autumn because of the World Series.

I am not a baseball fan. Baseball, like gardening, is one of those things that I want to like, but simply don’t. My sister loves baseball. She enjoys spending a day at the ballpark. She understands why the catcher is making funny hand signals and what they might mean. She knows what the bullpen is. I, on the other hand, have trouble sitting for three hours watching a sporting event that isn’t football.

My dad, who is now deceased, also loved baseball. Well, to be honest, he loved any sporting event that involved a ball. But especially in his later life, he loved his Colorado Rockies. And he loved to talk baseball with anyone who would listen. He would try with me, but I just didn’t know or care what a ground rule double was. So he would talk baseball with my sister, who does know what a ground rule double is. He always did like her best.

But even not being a baseball fan, I recognize that there is something special about the World Series. It’s the culmination of an entire summer of seemingly endless baseball. It has all that history and legend and controversy. I remember even in Catholic grade school in Nebraska in the 60s that the nuns let the boys listen to the World Series on their transistor radios during class because, well, it was the World Series.

One of the best things my sibs and I ever did was pool our money and buy Dad tickets to a World Series game back in 2007 when the Rockies played the Boston Red Sox. Dad was already unable to get around much without a wheel chair, but my stepmother accompanied him to the game. One of my sisters and I dropped them off at the ballpark. We parked the car illegally, and hustled them to the gate. We watched as my stepmother gamely pushed my dad through the purple throng, and we both agreed we felt much the same as we had when we watched our kids go off to kindergarten. Gulp. Later, my stepmother said that despite the crowd of excited fans, as they made their way towards the elevator, the “crowds parted like the Red Sea.” The fans were so kind, as only baseball fans can be.

The Rockies lost that game, and lost that series, but my dad never forgot that he got to attend a World Series game.

And in memory of my beef-loving dad, here is my fall recipe of the day:

Ree Drummond’s Perfect Pot Roast

Ingredients
Salt and pepper
One 3- to 5-lb. chuck roast
3 T olive oil
2 whole onions, peeled and halved
6 to 8 carrots, cut into 2-in pieces
1 c. red wine (optional)
3 c. beef broth
2 or 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme

Process
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
Generously salt and pepper the chuck roast.

Heat the olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions to the pot, browning them on both sides. Remove the onions to a plate. Throw the carrots into the same very hot pot and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so. Reserve the carrots with the onions.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pot. Place the meat in the pot and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.

With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 c) to deglaze the pot, scraping the bottom with a whisk. Place the roast back into the pot and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway. Add in the onions and the carrots, along with the fresh herbs.

Put the lid on, then roast for 3 hours for a 3-lb. roast. For a 4- to 5-lb roast, plan on 4 hours. The roast is ready when it’s fall-apart tender.

Kids’ Whimsical Cooking

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My mother didn’t teach me to cook.

Don’t get me wrong. My mom was a very good cook. She just didn’t teach me to cook, or my siblings either. She probably thought it was simply easier to do it herself. She prepared the meals; we did other things. As a result, I was a terrible cook when I first got married. Rice that could have doubled for wallpaper paste. A pie crust that was so hard to roll out that I ended up throwing it on the floor. You get the picture.

As the years went by, I must have learned through simply watching Mom how to do some cooking. I got better as time went on. Now I hardly ever throw a pie crust on the floor.

My 10-year-old granddaughter Addie likes to cook. She has liked to cook since she was a really small girl. She has a patient mommy who has allowed her to cook, and who has taught her a thing or two about cooking!

As I continue with this blog, I thought it would be fun to give Addie the chance to blog on occasion as well. She can talk about cooking from a 10-year-old’s perspective. As part of the process, Addie cooked dinner last night, and man! it was delicious.

Here is her first post:

Hi my name is Adelaide Grace McLain (I go by Addie for short). I am 10 years old and I will be doing blog posts about kids cooking on this blog. I have a passion for cooking and that is why my nana (the one who owns this blog) asked me to share my recipes. I have 3 siblings and so my family is a total of six. My favorite color is yellow and my favorite food is mango. I would have to say that my best dish is fettuccini alfredo which is coincidentally my first blog recipe.

I started cooking when I was about 6 years old. My mom was cooking fettuccini alfredo and I said, “Can you teach me how to cook?” After that, I started making breakfast for my siblings many mornings and coffee for my parents that I would bring up to them in bed.

I hope you like my blog posts.

Fettuccini Alfredo

Ingredients
1 stick of butter
¾ of a pint of cream
Enough Parmesan cheese to make the sauce thick.

Process
Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the cream to the butter, stirring the whole time. Add the Parmesan cheese until the sauce is thick (probably around ¾ – 1 c. of cheese). This is what it should look like:

Cook your pasta, and pour the sauce on top.

Old School

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My husband and I like to watch the Food Network television show Restaurant Impossible. In this show, Chef Robert Irvine goes into a failing restaurant and in two days and with $10,000, transforms it into a new, improved eatery with a hip interior and a slick, cool new menu. We are then to assume that the restaurant goes on to be successful, though we never know that for sure.

The thing that amuses both Bill and me is that at the end, all of the restaurants look basically the same, and the menus are pretty much interchangeable. Oh, there might be a few differences if the themes are different – Italian, Greek, hamburger joint, etc. But in the end, most of the restaurants are very much the same. We recently had the occasion to dine at Irvine’s Nosh restaurant on Hilton Head Island, and yes, you guessed it, it looks just like the restaurants on the program. Funny.

I thought about this recently when Bill and I went for pizza at one of our favorite Denver-area dining spots, Bonnie Brae Tavern. Bonnie Brae has been in business for 75 years, and I have been eating pizza there for almost 35 years. In that time, the menu hasn’t really changed much and the pizzas are just as delicious now as they were the first time I ate there. Yummy crust and fresh, delicious ingredients, but nothing fancy. No fancy white sauces, no clams, not an arugula leaf to be found.

Likewise, the décor is about the same as it has been for at least the 35 years I have been eating there. I’m sure the turquoise leather has been replaced a time or two, but it nevertheless, remains turquoise leather. The wall is lined with beer neon signs with the cords exposed as they snake over to the plugs. It feels like home. (Not that I have beer neon signs in my kitchen, but you know what I mean.)

I contrasted this to another restaurant where I ate today with a niece who is visiting from LA. Sassafras American Grill is in the beautifully gentrified Highlands area of Denver, and the restaurant is located in a lovingly and beautifully remodeled old Victorian home. While not the fresh, contemporary look typical of, say, Robert Irvine’s restaurants, it still is beautifully hip (and quite delicious, I might add). The Cajun-flavored offerings are absolutely yummy.

Still, Bill and I are definitely old-school. As such, I feel very much at home sitting on the turquoise leather seating that makes Bonnie Brae a favorite. Oh, that and the crunchy crusts on the scrumptious pizzas!

Speaking of pizza, here is how I make a grilled pizza that tastes almost like the pizzas we got in Italy.

Preheat your grill while you prepare your ingredients. Divide pie crust into individual portions and roll it out as thin as you can. I generally buy my crusts at Whole Foods, but you can certainly make your own.

While your grill is getting hot, warm some olive oil in a pan, and throw in a crushed garlic clove. Let the oils from the garlic flavor the olive oil, and then brush the olive oil on both sides of your individual crusts.

Put your ingredients in bowls and take them with you out to the grill, along with the crusts. I recommend very simple ingredients. Maybe you will want to brush a little tomato sauce on the crust after it has cooked on one side. Perhaps you will put on a little cheese. You can add some garlic or maybe a little prosciutto or few slices of pepperoni.

Once your grill is preheated, carefully place the crusts (on which you have brushed some garlic-infused oil) directly onto the grill rack. One web site recommends that you put your crust on a piece of aluminum foil that you have floured and slide it from the foil onto the grill. I have generally just used my hands. However you do it, this is probably the trickiest part. But you can do it!

At this point, don’t walk away from the grill. Keep your eyes open as you watch the crust begin to bubble. It really only takes a minute or so. Once the bottom of the crust has gotten a little charred, turn the crust over using tongs. Brush more oil onto the crust, and quickly put on your ingredients. Close the lid and let the pizzas cook and the cheese melt (if you used cheese) for a few more minutes – probably no more than five. Keep your eye on the pie. Delicious.