The Perfect Fruit Salad

It’s long been a family tradition to serve a tossed salad with dinner.  It’s easy to make, and you can get away with lettuce and tomatoes if need be.  I can’t count how many iceberg lettuces I cut up over the years before bagged greens came along. 

In my mind fruit salad is entirely different.  It requires planning.  If you don’t have at least five kinds of fruit, it looks anemic.  And it can’t really be just some cut-up apples, bananas and oranges.  Well, it can but no one eating at my table thrills to that selection.

Rescuing a Mistake

When I’m making a chicken dish, I always worry that I won’t cook it long enough and we’ll get salmonella poisoning.  I’m sure that sounds a bit neurotic, but it’s happened to several of my friends.  That’s why chicken should never be served rare. 

That’s also why I over-grilled some boneless chicken thighs the other night.  We each managed to choke down one thigh.  Unfortunately there were 8 left. 

For dinner the next night I decided to slice the thighs thinly, add a little water and lots of barbecue sauce and cook them for about 10 minutes more.  The chicken pieces softened right up, and I served them in heated buns.  Problem solved!

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Too Many Cherry Tomatoes

I love summer and the abundance of cherry tomatoes that flood farmer's markets and grocery stores. However, there is a limit to how many cherry tomatoes the family is willing to eat. What to do with the excess?

Mom Cooking Tip 149

Beet Greens

Eat your greens!  Those words ricochet around the table whenever our family starts reminiscing about the primary school lunches they were forced to eat when we lived in London.  We all laugh about those overcooked blobs of greenery.  Little does anyone realize that for variety and nutrition I’ve added raw spinach leaves, arugula and beet greens to the salad sitting right in front of them.  It’s my secret. 
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Mom Cooking Tip 148

Want your cookies to come out of the oven perfectly round?  Here’s a tip from my 17-year-old friend Ava.  Roll a portion of cookie dough into a 1-inch ball and place it on a greased cookie sheet.  Grease the bottom of a drinking glass with butter and then dip the bottom of the glass in granulated sugar.  Press the bottom of the glass down gently but firmly on the dough ball so the dough spreads out into a circle.  Repeat the process until all the dough is used up.  Bake according to the recipe’s directions. 

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Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons: What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

This is an easy question, and you probably know the answer. But I bet you don’t always use these cooking tools when you should.  I know I don’t, and sometimes the end result suffers.

When I don’t use them?

Easiest-Ever Summer Dinner

It’s 96 degrees outside, and we don’t have air conditioning.  It’s dinnertime, and my thoughts are turning to what would make the perfect meal: lobster rolls.

I first met a lobster roll about 15 years ago while visiting friends in Boston.  What I remember more than the actual lobster roll is the way we obtained the lobsters.  Our friends calling a local fisherman, and 30 minutes later he knocked on their door with several freshly caught lobsters in a crate.  These friends are not gourmet cooks, but they knew just how to crack open a lobster. 

Sour Cream: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

I grew up with tubs of sour cream in the fridge.  My mother sometimes served individual bowls of it for lunch.  She’d cut up a cucumber, some radishes and a few tomatoes, mix it all together and Voila!  I guess it was a forerunner to today’s vegetable yogurts.

Out of habit, I too keep a tub of sour cream in the fridge.  But I don’t eat it with cut-up vegetables.  I use it to make Baked Stuffed Potatoes, Chocolate Icing and Chocolate Cheesecake.  I put dollops of it in Salmon Chowder, Hungarian Goulash, Ground Turkey Stroganoff and Shrimp Florentine.   

Just How Popular Is Pizza?

Blaze Build-It-Yourself Pizza

I have been a pizza fan since I had my first bite in high school.  That was so long ago that frozen pizza and pizza rolls had yet to be invented. 

My small town had only one pizzeria, and it served pizza in rectangular shapes, not the triangles we usually eat today.

When I moved to New York, I discovered what was then called Sicilian Pizza, aka deep-dish pizza or Chicago-style pizza.  I loved every serving.  And then I moved to London, where pizza tasted like cardboard and was often topped with watercress.  

Mom Money-Saving Tip 97

My friend Rukhi gave me this tip, which can save both money and time.  When there’s a sale on onions or a glut of tomatoes from your garden, here’s how to make use of them before they spoil:

Cook several large onions (peeled and cut in quarters) with a similar amount of whole tomatoes in 1 cup water over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes, or until the onions have softened.  Pull off and discard the tomato skins.  Drain and discard the cooking liquid.

Make tomato puree by blending the cooked onions and tomatoes in a blender or food processor.  

Freeze the mixture in 1-cup amounts in plastic storage containers or small freezer bags.  When you’re cooking soups, sauces or stews, add a bag.

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