Easiest Lunch Ever!

Starting in 7th grade I ate the same lunch almost every day for six years—a homemade tuna salad sandwich.  Strangely I never tired of it.  Recently I have returned to this lunch, although I may substitute a tortilla or whole wheat toast for the white bread.

Why Not Try an Antipasto Lunch Plate?

Whenever my brother decides it’s time to lose weight, he does two things.  He eats less, and he makes himself an Antipasto Lunch Plate.  When he first told me about his routine, I asked for the Lunch Plate recipe.  I wasn’t looking to lose weight, but I liked the idea of having something new to eat in the middle of the day.

Here is what’s on the plate in the above picture: lettuce, a sliced hard-boiled egg, slices of salami, several large olives, anchovies, cut-up cheese, a cucumber, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and Italian dressing.

For those not dieting, some French bread would be a handy addition.

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Appreciating the Corn Tortilla

If you want to get my attention at the grocery store, you have three options:

1) Put up a big sign that says SALE.

2) Place the item prominently near the check-out.

3) Put it next to something I am likely to buy.

Using Up Wine

Boeuf Bourguignon 

Back in the Dark Ages when I was teaching myself to cook, I stumbled on a recipe that called for a cup of wine.  Innocent that I was, I went to my local Bohack, a now defunct New York grocery chain, and consulted with one of the checkout clerks.  She told me what aisle had cooking wine. 

My Love/Hate Relationship with Cauliflower

Sometimes when I see some nice-looking heads of cauliflower, I’ll put one in my shopping cart and start thinking about one of my early favorite dishes, Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce.

Once I get home I put the cauliflower in the vegetable bin.  At least half the time I forget it’s there, and three weeks later I discover it, along with all the mold that has appeared on the florets.

Money-Saving Tip 101

Need 2 cups grated cheddar cheese and you have only a block of cheddar?  Cut a 1/2-pound piece and grate it.  How big is a 1/2-pound piece?  Use a food scale, if you have one.  Otherwise, just keep grating until you fill a 2-cup container with grated cheese.

Budget-wise you’re way ahead if you grate your own cheese. Consider this:

A 2-pound block of cheddar cheese (which is 32 ounces) costs $5 or $6--or 16 cents per ounce.  Two cups of packaged grated cheddar cheese weighs 8 ounces and can cost as little as $3--or 32 cents per ounce. Thus, packaged grated cheese costs about twice as much as cheese you grate yourself.

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Cheese Fries Finally Come to My Table

Where have I been for the last 20 years?  I had never eaten a Cheese Fry.  In fact, I hate to admit it but I’d never heard of Cheese Fries.

Eggs, Bread, Cheese and Pasta

If I were alone on a desert Island for a week, I’d want eggs, bread, cheese and pasta, plus some olive oil, garlic, salt and black pepper, if possible.  Whenever I’m cooking just for myself, these are the foods I turn to.  I may supplement them with salad and chocolate, but I could survive just on these four basics.

A New Use for Mozzarella String Cheese

Looking back I think my first mouthful of mozzarella cheese came from pizza.  Then I was introduced to lasagna and other Italian dishes that featured this somewhat bland cheese. 

Mozzarella string cheese recently entered my life when a nutritionist recommended it as a snack.

Quiche Lorraine Sounds So Sophisticated

Back when I was a new cook, I didn’t know much of anything.  Every recipe I looked at impressed me.  When one of my sophisticated friends invited me to dinner and made Spaghetti with Garlic Sauce, I was enthralled.  Only when I dared make it myself did I realize how easy it was.

My first taste of Quiche Lorraine came at a cocktail party.  By then I was slightly more ambitious in the kitchen.  I liked the bacon-y flavor of the quiche but had no idea what was in it.  There was no Internet then, so I went to a bookstore and searched through cookbooks.  That may be when I bought my first copy of “Joy of Cooking,” which included a Quiche Lorraine recipe. 

Mom Cooking Tip 150

Here’s a new use for Boursin, the soft, flavored cheese that people love to spread on crackers.  I had about 1-2 tablespoons left from a dinner party.  Instead of gobbling it down, I mixed the leftover Boursin into a pasta sauce, where it provided extra creaminess and a delicate flavor.
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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?

Goat Cheese – How to Use It

 Occasionally my bargain-hunting outruns my common sense, and I buy way too much of an ingredient because it’s on sale.  About a week ago an irresistible double package of goat cheese landed in my shopping cart.

Once I got it home I began to wonder what I was going to do with 20 ounces of this soft white cheese.  I took one package to a dinner party.  The other sat forlornly in the cheese drawer for a week until I remembered a quiche recipe an English friend sent me.  Conveniently it called for goat cheese.

The directions said

Feta Cheese: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

When I was growing up, the only cheese regularly in my family’s refrigerator was a block of processed Cheddar.  It felt like modeling clay, and it was fun to play with.  I ate it and liked it because I didn’t know what else was out there.

Occasionally my father would ask my mother to buy Swiss cheese, but I never really cared for it.  Then I spent a summer in Greece as an exchange student and discovered feta cheese.  It was very salty, but it was the perfect accompaniment to a dish of sliced ripe tomatoes.

When I came back to my Pennsylvania small town,

Mom Cooking Tip 132

Cheese tastes better at room temperature, so let it sit out for about an hour before serving.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 88

Be creative with leftovers.  Six uneaten French fries from last night’s dinner became the basis of today’s lunch.  First I warmed up the fries in the microwave.  Then I heated up a flour tortilla in a frying pan, flipped it over, placed the fries in a rough line down the middle and added some cheddar cheese.  I covered the pan with a lid and continued cooking for about 30 seconds, or until the cheese melted.  Voila!  Cheapest lunch ever.

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Comfort Food

Blintzes with Pumpkin Butter, Blueberry Jam and Sour Cream

Most children give up their blankies, teddy bears and other childhood comforts as they reach adolescence.  But they often continue to be partial to certain foods that remind them of happy times.  For some, Mashed Potatoes are their comfort food.  Others want Chicken Soup, Fried Chicken, Spaghetti Bolognese, Chocolate, Chips and Salsa, Ice Cream or, as my friend Ilene says, “A cup of hot tea with a really good cookie.”

Mom Cooking Tip 73

Cold Grated Cheese

Cheese is easier to grate when it’s cold, so grate it straight from the fridge. If it’s been sitting out for a while, chill it in the freezer for 20 minutes. That way the grated slivers won’t stick together.

Warm Grated Cheese

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Question for Mom

Ricotta (left) and Cottage Cheese (right)

When should I use ricotta instead of cottage cheese? –Tom P.

I bought my first tub of ricotta not long ago after someone criticized me for using cottage cheese in a lasagna recipe.  I have to confess that although I’d heard friends speak lovingly of ricotta, I was perfectly happy with cottage cheese.  I’d eaten it since I was a kid and was used to its taste.

Finally I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Are Cooks Born or Trained?

Cheddar Potato Soup

How did you get started in the kitchen?  Curiosity?  Necessity?  A cooking class?

For me, it was necessity.  A newly minted college graduate sharing a one-bedroom apartment in New York, I had a low-paying job and a large appetite.  To keep from going hungry, I had to start cooking.  But I didn’t know how to make anything.