Question for Mom

Onion Quiche

A lot of recipes say to preheat the oven before putting food in to cook.  Are there any dishes you can bake without preheating?  --Amy V.

When you’re baking cakes, pies, cookies, quiches, bagels or anything made with yeast, pre-heating the oven is very important.  Just a few days ago I put my pizza stone in the oven but forgot to turn on the heat.  When I was about to slide my homemade pizza onto the stone, I suddenly realized my mistake. 

So the uncooked pizza sat on the counter on the pizza paddle until

The Healthy Reuben Bagel

There’s nothing like biting into a Reuben Sandwich and having corned beef juice dribbling down your face and sauerkraut falling into your lap.  The Reuben Sandwich of my dreams is so stuffed with these ingredients, plus melted Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye bread, that I can barely get it into my mouth.

I happily dealt with that problem for years until I decided that too much fatty meat was not good for me.  So I gave up eating Reuben Sandwiches. But I never forgot the taste.

Then I bought a dozen mixed bagels and discovered a rye bagel in the bag.  “Aha!” I thought.  “Time for a Reuben Sandwich.”

Yet Another Way to Eat Chocolate

Chocolate Chip Bagels

I suppose it’s possible that chocolate chip bagels are not high on your bagel shopping list.  I understand.  I am a chocoholic, and even I would not like to have my smoked salmon on a chocolate chip bagel. 

Luckily a chocolate chip bagel doesn’t need any topping.  There’s something special about eating one fresh from the oven, when the yeasty bread taste sets off the warm, gooey chocolate.  Heating the bagel in a toaster will produce a similar effect.

Bread and chocolate have been an irresistible duo for me since I ate my first chocolate croissant.  Frankly, chocolate croissants are way too complicated to make, but making your own chocolate chip bagels is easy. So is eating them.

The Perfect Lunch

Smoked Salmon on a Bagel

Is there such a thing as the perfect lunch?  As a kid, I alternated between a deviled ham sandwich and a tuna salad sandwich.  Sometimes my mom made grilled cheese sandwiches on weekends. 

On special occasions, we would go to lunch at Isaly’s, a local delicatessen chain. You could get chipped chopped ham barbecue sandwiches—basically soft buns filled with hot shaved ham in a spicy tomato sauce.  (see recipe below).