It's Good To Have A Glazed Look From Time To Time

I made a rare family treat - deep fried French fries for New Year’s Eve dinner. We had pan filled with oil leftover the next day that was pleading with me to make some dounuts. I could not resist. The only problem is my son is allergic to eggs and the recipe I use has eggs.
I did a search and found a YouTube video that looked great and didn’t have eggs! So I gave it a try and here’s what I got:

Homemade Maple Glazed Donuts Without Eggs!

This Soup Is Wonderful!

This evening I made a butternut squash, chickpea and spinach soup which was wonderful! I got the recipe from a cookbook by Chetna Makan - Healthy Indian. I highly recommend you give it a try.

That’s greek yogurt dabbed on top - sooooooo good!

Also, there’s a video of it on YouTube.

Enjoy!

Atta Boy!!!

Since being diagnosed with diabetes, I’ve looked for foods that are flavorful and healthy. This lead me to explore Indian food.

One of the food types that intrigued me were flat breads, in particular chapati. When I originally made chapati I used my old stand-by King Arthur’s Whole Wheat Flour - this made for a flatbread that was flavorful but stiff.

Since then I discovered cookbooks by Chetna Makan. Chetna who became known the Great British Bakeoff Series 5 (I’m using the BBC/Channel 4 listing numbers). She has a recipe for chapati that uses Atta which is a very finely ground whole wheat flour - it made a very pliant flatbread that was just as tasty. There’s also a variation on this bread that includes chick pea flour and fenugreek leaves (which is good for fighting diabetes). Here’s a pic of that bread:

The burn marks make for some tasty bread!

All in all, this flour is a revelation and I look forward to using it in other recipes.

No Need To Take This Little One To The Vet

Kitty Frittata! Soppressata, pickled jalapeno peppers and cheddar cheese. The ears are made of homemade whole wheat bread.

Party till it's gone!

I made this appetizer twice so far and both times they were quickly consumed and enjoyed.

Break off a piece, dip and go at it till it’s gone!

It is called Khachapuri. It is a Georgian Cheese Bread Boat. And I tell you, no matter what the event is, this wonderous morsel will be completely devoured before the ice starts melting in your drink. Here’s a GREAT video that uses the recipe that I used to make this bad boy in the pic.

It is passed on...

I have been cooking dinner for my family for almost 30 years. I’ve made many varied dishes: spring rolls, tiger bread, sushi, leg of lamb, homemade mozzarella and a great deal more. Many of them at the request of my kids. This, of course, brings me great joy to provide food that not only nourishes the little buggers but also brings enjoyment to their lives (except maybe for the spring rolls).

Nevertheless, despite all of the excitement and fun I’ve had exploring new dishes, there’s been an unintended benefit to all this - my children have become good cooks! Apparently they were not deterred by my shouts and groans, my mishaps and failures in the kitchen. Instead, they’ve been inspired to try things themselves and at times, take over the reins for preparing dinner! As you can imagine, this brings me great delight - not only do I end up with some unexpected free time, but I find that my kids have surpassed me in many ways.

I doesn’t take a rocket scientist to project the effect this will have going forward - once my progeny bring some new sprouts into the world, one can see this pattern repeating itself - brining more new cooks into the world. And why not? My paternal grandfather was a chef and restaurant owner, my dad split the dinner making duties in my house and now here’s yours-truly cooking and writing a blog for ‘SingleParentChef’ with kids kicking butt and taking names in the kitchen. It follows.

Here I go, another day - a Saturday and I’m psyched to try out a new cookie press. With it there’ll be more shouts and mishaps and cooking shows blaring on the kitchen TV and some new morsels to share with the fam. I hope that they turn out well, that they’ll be gone quickly and maybe they’ll inspire my kids to try that press on their own.

Where does this all fit in our lives? Does it really makes a difference? The answer is most definitely yes! To my way of thinking, despite all we do to make a positive difference in the world - teaching, giving to charity, helping others, etc., perhaps passing on this legacy of cooking at home will have the greatest impact. I know it tastes good and is incredibly fun!

Mangiare!

SPC

Saturday Breakfast Files #01 - Quinoa w/Soft-Cooked Egg and Peppers

One of my most treasured moments during any week is making breakfast on the weekends. If you follow me on Instagram (@singleparentchef) you will see many frittatas, egg dishes, etc… It’s one of those times when I’m not under pressure to have a meal done by 6:30 (ha! when does that ever happen?) or in time for school (I’m a teacher; I’m usually late :P)

So, I intend to also post morning meals that stand out on my blog so you can see what I’ve made and get the process of how it’s made.

This particular Saturday - March 16th, 2019. I had a hankering for something grainy like oatmeal or rice and something savory. I thought, “hmmmm, perhaps some savory oatmeal with a soft boiled egg would be good” but I didn’t have any aromatics like green onions to cut that overly oaty flavor. I already had enough rice this week - ran out of potatoes early in the week.

Soooooo, I finally arrived at the notion of employing a pre-made Quinoa product made by Seeds Of Change - their Quinoa, Red and Brown Rice with Flax Seeds. I know, it’s not from scratch but this stuff is good and I woke up late; so despite my mention of Saturday’s being timeless, hell! I still have stuff to do - like this blog, for instance :)

To add to that, I had some red and orange mini-peppers, my constant friend sopressata and a lone organic egg (poor thing - don’t worry, your time has come!). I cooked the egg using America’s Test Kitchens’ Soft Cooked Recipe - sorry, you’ll need a subscription (pssst - 6.5 min in a 1/2 inch of boiling water - covered, run under cold water for 30 sec).

So here’s a pic:

Spring’s on the way!

And here’s the recipe.

PRINT version

Soft Cooked Egg with Quinoa and Sauteed Peppers

Software:

• 1 package of Seeds Of Change Quinoa

• 1 or 2 raw eggs (keep in fridge until needed)

• 2 mini-peppers - cut into match sticks

• 2 thin slices of sopressata - cut into match sticks

• Canola oil or similar oil with high smoke point

• Salt and pepper or savory spice blend of your choice

Hardware:

1. 10” cast iron pan or pan of your choice for sáuteeing.

2. small pot for boiling water

3. microwave

4. medium small bowl for puttin’ da food in.

5. tongs

6. mouth

7. digestive system

8. hunger (optional)

Process

1. Heat pan over medium heat until approx 375°

   1. add sopressata and sáutee for approx 2 min

   2. add peppers - sáutee for approx 3 min until peppers begin to wilt

   3. take of heat - season with spice blend

2. While sáuteeing, heat 1/2 inch of water over medium-high heat until boiling

   1. add egg(s) and cover

   2. cook for 6.5 minutes

3. While egg is cooking, prep Quinoa as per instructions on package - should take less than two minutes

4. Once egg(s) is done cooking, run under cold water for 30 seconds

5. gently crack egg all around perimeter against cutting board - DON’T USE A KNIFE OR SPOON OR ANY SUCH IMPLEMENT

6. carefully remove shell from egg - quickly rinse under luke-warm water to make sure there’s no shell pieces remaining - put aside

7. Place 1 cup quinoa in bowl

   1. place most of pepper/sopressata mix on top so as to make a ‘nest’ - leave a little for garnishing

   2. gently place egg in ‘nest’ butt-first (the ‘butt’ is the rounder part of the egg)

   3. slice the egg ‘north/south’ and ‘east/west’ almost to the base and open like a flower

   4. garnish with remaining pepper mix and season with spice blend

8. BOB-IS-YOUR-UNCLE!!!

enjoy!

Mission Accomplished!

Fellow home chefs, I'm writing to inform you that the cookies I intended to make on May 19th turned out wonderfully! I highly recommend them - just be sure you make enough because they will be gone rather quickly!

Made May 19th, 2018 - chocolate chip, pecan, coconut cookies!!! Too darn good!

Here's the recipe: Coconut, pecan, chocolate chip cookies from MyBakingAddiction.com

The only changes I made to this recipe were: instead of 2 tsp vanilla I used 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract AND I used a 1" ice cream scoop to make smaller cookies (watching my weight, don'tcha know) which took only 8-10 minutes to bake.

Moving forward... I used the same search process the week afterward, in other words, finding ingredients I had around the house and searching for a recipe that uses them. Unfortunately, the results were not as successful - I will not list the recipe here, thank you. You see, I had chosen a recipe that made a more cake-like cookie which my constituency, including myself, didn't enjoy it as much. Please be weary of cookies that have more than one egg in them! We want chewy, not poofy! Also, the balance of ingredients was not to my liking - please mark it here here: I like lots of coconut in my cookies, if I'm going to use coconut at all!!!

So this weekend our ingredient candidates are: bananas, either walnuts or pecans, or perhaps slivered almonds, some chocolate morsels, and our good friend coconut. My goal is to use only ingredients that I have currently in the house and let's see what happens. I'll keep you posted!

Spy Before You Buy

I know I’ve touched on the subject in a previous post, but I feel strongly about this notion, and hence am going to repeat myself for emphasis.

Very often I will stock my pantry with items I know I’ll want to use in the future. This often 'mindless' ticking of the boxes ends up providing me with a surplus of items. Just recently I found a superfluity of items such as coconut, chocolate chips, pecans and brown sugar. So, instead of choosing a recipe that suits my fancy, I chose a recipe that suits my surplus.

Thankfully, with a simple search using the ingredients that I have in an abundance, I was able to locate many recipes that made use of them. After vetting the ones that peaked my interest, I came up with a recipe that I will be making today. I’ll let you know how it turns out. If it’s any good I’ll post it here.

Wish me luck and remember, look to see what you have before you go out and buy.

This looks much more fattening than it is and it is DELICIOUS!!!

The other day I was all ready to pan fry a four ounce pork tenderloin steak in my frying pan and chomp away at its juicy goodness as is my wont. Unfortunately, the steak was still rather frozen and wouldn't be ready for awhile. I was in a hurry so instead, I cut the steak into thin 1/4” pieces, dotted them with salt and pepper and quickly seared these thin morsels of pork on my cast iron skillet.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, before putting the sliced pork to heat, I had concocted a sauce made of the following:

• 2 tbsp of gochujang (Korean red chili paste)

• 1 tbsp of soy sauce

• 2 tsp of honey

• 2 tsp of Dijon mustard

• Salt (dash)

• Pepper (to taste)
  

I then poured this sauce onto these mini-slabs of pork to my heart's content.

In addition to the pork, I oven-roasted some cubed sweet potatos which was seasoned with salt, pepper and garam masala - this is an Indian spice mix that kind of reminds me of a hopped up cinnamon. And I sauteed some kale with olive oil, sesame oil, chopped garlic, salt and pepper.

The resulting meal was memorable and I will make this again real soon. Here's what it looked like:

This dish was not long for this world (at least in this state)

For those of you what are calorie conscious, here's the stats:

• 3 oz pork loin (yes all that is only two ounces): 215 calories

• 3/4 cup Kale stir fry: 152 calories

• 3/4 cup oven roasted sweet potatoes: 146 calories

• Gochujang pork sauce (1 tbsp) : approx 50 calories

• Total calories: 563

Not bad as compared to the standard meals one gets from Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, etc, which can range from 600 - 900 calories.

So I highly recommend getting a tub of gochujang and buying a 5-7 lb pork loin, cut it into approx 20 steaks and freeze these bad boys so you can assemble a wonderful quick, healthy meal any day of the week.

By the way, even my son who doesn't like pork as a general rule gobbled this up!

Enjoy!

Living Healthy?

I don't think of myself as an especially healthy eater. In line with that I've been putting off having a blood test - y'know the standard stuff - cholesterol, triglycerides, blah, blah. I figured I had so many eggs, red meat and beers (high quality craft beers, mind you), that my numbers would be pretty nasty.

That being said, I needed to have those tests done. My health insurance that I had through my soon-to-be-ex's plan was going to stop and I wasn't sure how much this kind of thing would be with my new plan. So I dragged my fearful butt to the hospital and had the blood taken, expecting some bad news in a couple of days.

About five days later I get a call from my doctor. I'm nervous, I work hard not to end the doctor's sentences and I prepare to tell him that I'll make all these changes to my diet, etc...

Well, it turns out my cholesterol is 202. I say, "is that bad?" He said "it should be 200 - you're almost exactly there!" I'm like wha??? me??? He also tells me my triglycerides are a bit high - 299 on a scale of 0-1000. He tells me that I'm eating too many carbs - (sounds like beer, bread and rice to me). Oh, and I need more vitamin D in my life. Being a studio rat and living in front of a computer most of my life - I can see that I might have a deficiency with regard to sun light - one of the major sources of D.

So I'm thinking - that he must be reading the wrong results, these aren't my numbers! But the doc assured me - my numbers were pretty damn good.

So now that it's been two weeks since I got that news, I've been thinking why is it that my numbers were as good as they were with all the 'bad' habits I thought I had. And then I started going though my daily eating habits and reviewing in my head what I eat habitually from day to day and I realized a some important things that I've been doing that are healthy:

1. I eat 90% home-made food or food that's not processed with tons of chemicals, etc... I do eat ice cream from time to time, but only the good stuff (Americone Dream FTW). I rarely eat fast food and if I do get take-out it's from a place that makes things from scratch.
2. I make my own bread. Since 2010 I have purchased store-made bread about 5 times. Every loaf of bread other than that has been made by yours truly with all natural - high quality ingredients. I'm very proud of this and I am certain that it goes a long way toward keeping my body healthy. BTW, I do not make white bread, I always make sure that my breads are at least 2/3 whole wheat.
3. I don't drink soda or energy drinks.
4. I don't put sugar in my coffee, I do put honey in it and for my tastes that is by far the better tasting sweetener.
5. I eat freakin' Triscuits for almost every lunch with a bit of cheese (not American) and some Frank's Hot Sauce or sriracha on top.
6. I drink high quality craft beers (Lagunitas Maximus and Founder's Dirty Bastard are my current faves). It's been determined that craft beers have the same effect on one's cholesterol as red wine, so drinking in moderation seems to be helping.
7. I only use EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil) or canola oil when I cook although I recently got some grape seed oil and it tastes great - might add that to my repertoire.

So I guess what I'm saying is that when I got my numbers from the doctor, it gave me pause to reflect and I discovered that I've actually been eating quite well and that I should keep up with what I've been doing although perhaps in smaller quantities. I do have to lose at least 20lbs.

Cheers - Rob Houghton

I Feel Like A Hypocrite (a bit)

Since I started this blog, I've been:

• single - check,
• A parent - check!
• making homemade meals almost every night - check,
• Cooking for three kids with a wide range in ages (21, 18 and 13) and tastes (don't even ask) - check!

But lately with my oldest still living with me, my middle child away at college and my youngest spending a lot more time with her mom, I don't feel so much as the Single Parent Chef as I feel like the Single Person Chef. Because of this, I've been hesitant to post any more recipes because I've not been making them as much.

Now, bear with me, I'm working this out as I type... So should I abandon this site, should I change the focus of the site or should I just continue on as before, calling on my twenty years of experience, cooking for my kids? The other wrinkle that's come up recently is that I've been counting my calories and have discovered that many of the meals I've put on this site are not ones that I would be eating now. Does that make me a hypocrite in yet another way? To quote Dr. Smith from Lost In Space - "Oh, the pain!"

So here I am, posting on a site dedicated to showing single parents the cooking basics and yet, I'm not sure I should.

I know, let's look at why I should continue 'as is'.

• I do have many years of experience cooking for my kids
• I have a better sense of nutrition and could lace that into some of my recipes
• I like helping others, especially those who've been through the trauma of getting divorced/widowed, etc...
• Hell, that's the name of the site!

Okay, I think I've worked it out. I will continue! I will make new recipes based on what I've done before with an eye on keeping the calorie count lower (whenever I can) and the foods healthy (with an occasional jump into extravagance land).

How does that sound? Let me know with your comments or send me an email from the contact page.

The Jury is adjourned!

A Change of Course

I must confess, I'm overweight. I've got your arch-typical middle aged belly and double chin in training. To give you an idea, on a good day I'm 5'4" and weigh almost 200 lbs. My weight is also the source of health problems - I have high blood pressure and have developed sleep apnea - YAY!!! I take three meds for my BP and am about to get one of those CPAP machines. 'What a drag it is getting old, and fat!"

If you've taken a gander at any of my recipes, you'll notice that I've espoused the Food TV approach of "damn the calories, this tastes good!" There's been little to no health compass in my choice of recipes. And for that, I'd like to say "yes, these foods taste great, but unless you run five miles a day, you will gain weight consuming them."

Recently, I've started using an app that I mentioned in my last posting - Lose It!. This app is great for keeping track of what you eat and how much you exercise. I've been using it consistently over the last 17 days and already it's easier for me to put my socks on.

The key, though, is to use it consistently over a long period of time. I'm not going to reveal my long term plan but suffice it to say that it will be over a span of months, not one of those "eat this for 10 days and lose 50 pounds!" diets. 

So here's the thing that I've discovered that's working for me in terms of staying on task - I've made a game out of it - 

For example: I like pan popped popcorn a great deal, I have it as a snack a lot. Sometimes when I've had a bit too much food during the day, my popcorn's calories will interfere with what I was planning on having for dinner. So out comes the calculator, the web and the scale and I whittle away, swap out and come up with some surprisingly tasty results. AND I can have my popcorn! This has become a game for me, an enjoyable one at that!

Apparently, I'm not the only one who likes to make games out of life affirming pursuits. In fact, now that I've watched her video again, I suppose that what Jane McGonigal had to say probably stuck in my head and helped engender my calorie game. Her TED talk about her concussion and the game she played to help her out of her life threatening condition is very inspiring and here it is: "The game that can give you 10 extra years of life" Perhaps this will inspire you to come up with games that work on areas of your life where you'd like to grow or improve.

I am not an animal!

So, my friends, as of today I am still playing this game - making sure that I'm totally honest about what I enter into my Lose It app and have hopes that perhaps in the future I won't have to take all those meds, that I'll be able to put my socks on with abandon and not look like and elephant when I go to bed.

Cheers!

Some New 'Discoveries'

Well hello! It's been awhile, hope you all have been well! I've been busy writing music and tending to issues with my job. I'm a teacher so I end up being very busy once September rolls around. Never the less, I've still been cooking. In fact, there's something about the Fall months that get my cooking juices flowing. As soon as that first brisk Autumn day arrives, my mind is drawn toward making casseroles and baking. I figure its part of the hibernation impulse that we inherited from our out-in-the-wild forefathers.

So here's some things that I've happened upon that are making my cooking life a bit more interesting.

I like to take pictures of breakfast for some reason, or maybe I like to take pictures on Saturday morning, not sure...

1) Sopresseta Salami - you can get this at your local grocer. I usually get a loaf that is approximately 1.5 to 2" in diameter. There are many, many brands and types but the basic idea is that it is a dry Italian salami made from pork. What I've discovered is that when sliced thinly and fried for a few minutes on medium heat, you've got a wonderful alternative to bacon for your breakfast. It's almost like Canadian Bacon or Taylor Ham on steroids (not literally, mind you.) In addition, I use it sliced match-stick thin in salads for that little porky-spicy surprise (sounds like my wedding night) Oops! did I say that?

2) Lose It! - this is an app for the Internets, Android and IOS that helps you keep track of your calories and if you're so inclined, your fat and carb intake also. I've been using it for the last two weeks to help lose weight, mainly because I was approached by an employee of a local aquarium, asking why I had escaped the Whale Pool.

There's some cool things about this app that keeps me using it:

A) any entries I make on my Android phone will show up almost immediately on any other device that uses that app, including the website LoseIt.com.

B) You can create your own foods and save them for reuse.

C) you can use previous meals that you've taken the time to painstakingly enter into the system for that day's log. In addition, you can deselect foods from that meal if you're not eating that particular item that day.

D) It also keeps track of your exercise and subtracts those calories that you've burned from your intake that day. Rode your stationary bike for 30 minutes? You've now made room for that Almond Horn. Yum!

3) Sortedfood.com - my daughter turned me on to this web site/YouTube channel and these guys from England are not only funny, but they show how to make great food! Although I'm on a diet, I'm going to be making their version of the Cronut real soon. What's great is that one of their presenters is actually a trained chef so it adds a level of credibility. Of course, that doesn't mean you should stop coming to this site...hey! WAIT! STAY!!!!  ;)

See, they have nice teeth too!

So that's a bit of what's been going on in my food world. If you have any thoughts about great food sites, please let me know so I can check them out too - Best!

Gimme Dat Recipe!

View fullsize

Get me the Lysol!

I've been collecting recipes off the web for almost 20 years now (can you believe it?) and I have a large collection of crusty pages from over the years that are becoming unmanageable and I have to throw them out. Unfortunately, the recipe sometimes isn't available any more which requires transcribing the recipe while wearing a haz-mat suit or attempting to find a suitable replacement.

Thankfully, I've found a way to store my recipes without relying on printed pages or web browser bookmarks. This boon to cooking-kind is Evernote!

Evernote is an app that can run on your desktop, in your browser and on your phone or tablet. It's got versions for Mac, PC and Andriod (haven't checked Windows Phone yet). In addition to Evernote proper, I'm particularly fond of an add-on app called Evernote Web Clipper. This little gem will take a web page and parse out all the unnecessary stuff and leave you with a nice, clean presentation. It then archives the clipped page it in your Evernote cloud storage (free of charge) - available whenever and wherever you need it. And you can print it out too!

Here's and example of what this beauty does:

• Here's a screen shot of a recipe I'd like to snag (notice all the promos, etc... - 

• Article Clip: here's a picture of the page grabbed with just the main article. Notice the extra junk is faded out but there's still that annoying promo stuff in the bottom left in the black box.

• Slimplified Article (best): Here's the simplified article. This is the one that I usually grab - don't need that other stuff. Beautiful, is it not? (note: the screen capture that I used for this doesn't show the entire recipe. Trust me, you get the whole thing when using Evernote Web Clipper)

• Full Page Clip: There's a full page grab which I'm not going to bother showing you. The whole point of this process is to separate the wheat from the chaff and the full page view is full of chaff - natch?
• Bookmark Clip: Here's what the Bookmark grab looks like. This one would not work if the page was taken down, so I'm not a big fan of this type of 'clip'.

• Screenshot Clip: Lastly, this is the screenshot clip. This isn't useful unless the whole recipe is on one screen or if you use multiple screenshots. What is cool about it is that you can markup your screenshot with highlights, arrows and the sort. Also, if you have a pic of someone stirring their gumbo in the nude, you can pixelate their nasty bits with the pixelator tool.

Oh, those naked tortellini! What's this world coming to? But seriously, check out the helpful arrows and highlights. I might find this useful somewhere along the line.

So this is a taste of what Evernote and it's Web Clipper can do. Now-a-days I store all my newly found recipes in Evernote; all pared down into the needed content and it's always available whenever and wherever I want.

BTW, basic use of Evernote like I've described in this article is totally free. You can upgrade to a premium account and that's less than $7/month.

If you already use Web Clipper and Evernote and have some cool uses for it, please let me know.

When You're Alone...

For some of us, we're seldom by ourselves. We have accepted the responsibility of taking care our kids most of the time with occasional breaks in the action. As your kids get older, 'me time' will happen much more often. Regardless of how much time you've got to yourself, you need to take advantage of it.

This can be both enjoyable and miserable at the same time. I know that when I am suddenly alone there's an initial pang of sorrow. I get so used to being called on to help with the myriad activities of my kids that the vacuum left by their disappearance leaves a void. Thankfully, I have learned that this feeling quickly passes and I realize this time is a valuable space to recharge my batteries and believe it or not - HAVE FUN!

SPOIL YOURSELF (occasionally) - For me, that fun often comes in the form of making a meal that I wouldn't necessarily make for my kids. I'll go out and buy a nice juicy steak, saddle up with some fresh Brussel sprouts and concoct a luscious, over-indulgent meal that if made on a regular basis, would both bankrupt me and eventually kill me!

Believe it or not, these meals will become memorable events and guide posts for how one will be able to pay more attention to our own needs in the future - a future that will eventually arrive, trust me, it will!

SELF EXPRESSION - Another thing that I've come to enjoy when alone is this blog! You may notice that I've been contributing on a more regular basis as of late. This is a byproduct of my youngest (12 years) spending Saturdays with either her Mom or friends. Blogging allows me to reaffirm thoughts that I've had and share them with others who might be going through similar situations. Kind of like an exhibitionist's diary.

What you might be able to glean from this is that taking time to write down whatever is going on inside your head is an extremely powerful form of expression. Even if no one reads your words, simply expressing them in this form is very healthy. It's a kind of pressure valve that keeps one on an even keel.

If you're not a 'words' person, then get your sketch pad out or play your guitar...do something that expresses yourself and do it for yourself and no one else.

So let's see... indulging yourself with a fantastic meal, self-expression, what else is there? Oh, friends! I forgot all about them.

FRIENDS - Many of us are so involved with our day to day family adventures that we can loose touch with our friends. Making a point of getting together with them is one of the most important things you can do. Especially if one or more of them have been in a similar situation. Talking it out is incredibly healthy. And outside of that, just hanging out and having fun is crucial to a happy self.

I'm sure I've missed many things that we can enjoy when we're alone. The main idea, though, is to make sure you take full advantage of your time by yourself - you deserve it!

Shishka Wow!

Just a quick one regarding my posting on Shish Kabob.

I had some leftover uncooked kababs in the fridge one morning and I didn't want to go to the trouble of firing up the grill pan, etc.. So, instead I simply unsheathed the kabobs into my 10" cast iron pan on medium high heat with some olive oil to coat, sprinkled some of my favorite paprika seasoing and let it fry until the chicken was done and the lightly veggies browned.

I then put the ingredients into a bowl, doused lightly with soy sauce and crumbled some 4 cheese Cheez-itz over the top. Let that sit.

Then I quick fried an over-easy egg and put that on top with some sriracha sauce. Be sure to break the yoke right away so it mixes with its friends underneath.

OMG!!!

Give it a shot, it's GOOD!

Money Money Money!!!

Ok, first off, suffice it to say I'm no Donald Trump. Not only do I not have a teased out guinea pig on my head, I don't have poop loads of money. In fact, as time progresses, I have less and less money to throw around let alone spend on fun stuff.

I also have a feeling that many of you are in the same boat. As one's week progresses there can be unforseen expenses that can throw off your budget. 

This is where creativity comes in. This is where thinking outside the box occures. This is where help from others comes into play.

For this posting I'd like to show you some of the resources I use to get through the week when things are tight. This is where I've gotten many of my all time favorite and inexpensive recipes.

1) Allrecipes.com - this site is great for finding many work week recipes that don't need exotic ingredients that cost an arm and a leg. From here I've found some of my favorite recipes that are both quick to make and inexpensive. I recommend that you make an account so that you can have their recipe box to store any recipes you might want to try.

2) MyFridgeFood.com - this site is fantastic! I've just recently found it so that I'm not completely familiar with all of its features. Never the less, with just a few visits, it has been very useful.

The whole idea here is that you check off ingredients that you have in your Fridge (actually you whole kitchen) and then ask the site to find recipes that use all or most of those ingredients. In addition to your results, you can filter it with regard to calories and budget. I particularly like the "College Corner" filter. It gives me recipes that are both age appropriate for my kids and inexpensive.

3) Cooks.com - Although not as cloud friendly as Allrecipes.com, it has many simple recipes that work great if you're in a hurry. It doesn't take a lot of searching to find a recipe with a few ingredients that works great. You'll have to bookmark the stuff you like since it doesn't have any account features. Never the less, definitely worth searching.

4) MountainMommaCooks.com - this site has great recipes. I use her bread pudding recipe often and its the best bread pudding recipe (not to mention the home made caramel sauce) EVER! She's also got a great sense of humor and seems to care a great deal about health and fun. It's nice to have a human attached to recipes. Take that, algorithms!

 You know something? I think that's enough for now. Chew on those sites for a while. I'd really recommend going to MyFridgeFoods.com now if you're tight on money and you need to use what you've got on hand.

Keep on keeping on and be the best Single Parent Chef you can!

Cheers!

I Like Alton Brown (doesn't everyone?)

I have been a fanboy of many TV cooks/chefs over the years. My first fandom occured back in the late 60's/early 70's with Graham Kerr. I simply loved his sense of humor and his deep love of food. His infectiously fun-loving manner has reinforced my approach to cooking, music and teaching.

Then there was Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet. Although his memory is somewhat discolored by events that came to the fore near the end of his life, I never-the-less enjoyed his show and his love of food and community. Many of his recipes are still part of my repertoire.

And then came Alton Brown. What can I say? The man loves technology, as I do, loves food, as I do, loves humor (not to mention Monty Python) which I do and loves the intellectual, investigative aspect of food and it's history - something that I didn't know I love, but do now.

I'd have to say my fandom of Alton rivals that of Graham Kerr. Although imprinted with Graham as a young duckling, Alton's volume of work and variety of approaches to food on TV has pretty much sealed at least a tie.

Good Eats first came into my world in the early 2000's. At the time I was a full time teacher and stay at home dad the rest of the time. That meant that especially during the Summer, I found myself glued to the TV watching Food Network. I had been used to the usual cooking show format where the chef/star would do a small lead-in and then get to cooking. The production values were mediocre at best, particularly in those days, and your knew what your were going to get.

Emeril Lagasse has broken that mold to a certain extent by making a talk-show/party out of the format. But it still was: set-up, cook, taste, bye bye! format.

And then came Good Eats. First off, the procudtion values were big-network quality, or very nearly, there was obviously some good writing as the backbone of the show and time and effort was made to get a point across along with showing us how to cook - very often in creative ways.

I was excited. This was a cooking show format that transcended the usual and blazed new territory for cooking shows to come (or at least I thought so). Over the years I have watched almost all of the shows except for the last season, I can't seem to bring myself to watch the last few shows...weird, huh?

Many of the techniques and approaches that Alton has taught are now part and parcel of my kitchen - wooden cutting boards for veggies, plastic for meats - multi-taskers only in my kitchen (fire extinguisher excluded, thank you) - doing things from the ground up where possible so as to avoid unwanted ingredients and invite good taste - the list goes on.

And then there's the Feasting series! I have watched all three repeatedly. Along with the DVD's of Feasting on Asphalt I I have my cherished DVR copies of Feasting on Waves and Feasting on Asphalt II. Alton's approach to and embrace of the home-grown cook is on full display here not to mention his motor cycling skills. BTW, does anyone know why the second and third series aren't available on DVD? Oh, well.

Since Good Eats has come to an end, Alton seemingly has moved up to NYC to do Iron Chef and his new show Cutthroat Kitchen one which shows off his food knowledge and the other his propensity for being a mischeivious mixer. Both are entertaining but neither smack of the kind of ground breaking genre busting fun that came from Good Eats.

That being said, I still am excited to see where this giant of the TV food world will go next. He's currently touring with a one man show about food - The Edible Inevitable Tour. In it not only does he do comedy and cooking, he SINGS and plays guitar. I have yet to see this show and don't know if I'll get out to it this time around. Hopefully it'll be a success and we'll see more from Alton on Broadway in the near future.

Who would have thought that all this would come from a film student that decided to change careers in mid-stream? Rarely does the world cough up such a talented, driven, inspired artist, yes, artist as Alton Brown. But boy am I happy that it did!

Deconstruct and Declare Victory!!!

With three kids ages 19, 16 and 10; one finds that there's a wide variety of appetites and palettes.  It's virtually impossible to come up with meals to make all three happy.  As I continue to explore the possibilities for a solution, I've come upon an approach that works. 

 The basic idea behind this approach is you make a base food, usually a starch like rice, spaghetti, mashed potatoes and then make groups of foods from which your kids choose.  Often I'll make a deconstructed stir fry.  What this entails is making rice.  I then make a sautéed veggie blend of some onions and peppers with chicken broth which is thickened with corn starch in soy sauce which makes an Asian 'gravy'.  Lastly, I prep the protein, usually steak or chicken, sometimes pork.  Then it 'soup's up' time - the kids simply choose which 'topping' they want in their meal and job's done.  A variation on this is with spaghetti.

Also, the way you separate the prepped foods depends on what combinations your kids prefer.  If I were to describe what foods my kids like and don't like and how they intersect, I be tempted to draw a very complex Venn Diagram.  Suffice it to say that through the years, a parent knows darn well what food which kid likes and this system does cut down on the level of effort compared to making three separate meals.

 

Another approach which is closely related but does require a bit more effort is to make two of the usual components of dinner - a starch and vegetable that all three will agree upon and then prep different proteins.  This usually ends up as rice or linguine with peas, corn or broccoli and the girls getting the more adventurous food (fish, shrimp, etc...) and my picky boy getting some kind of chicken or beef entrée.

 

Again, this is not as streamlined as preparing just one meal for all three and some folks may suggest that I'm making unreasonable concessions to the demands of my 'spoiled' children.  I think otherwise and say that as long as the growth of their palettes of is on the upswing, and it is, I'm willing to accommodate them from time to time. I don't regard the dinner table as a place to make some kind of stand, rather its a place where we all can be nurtured and reconnected from the day's often fragmenting influences.  So if you're so inclined, deconstruct a meal or two and see if your kids end up enjoying  what would otherwise be a dinner disappointment as a supper surprise.