Happy Spring!As some of you know, I live in the country in Carroll County, Maryland.I love country living for so many reasons and in every season of the year, but in early Spring, it’s all about the promise of the beautiful things that are to come.The local family-owned orchard has hung out their “Opening Soon” sign and the jonquil and daffodil shoots have made an appearance all around our property…everything is right on the verge of coming to life.Fresh asparagus from our garden is not far off!
And very soon, I will be witnessing the annual explosion of color as every bulb, rhizome, shrub, bush and tree that was planted over the years on this property will get its show time over the next couple months.The progression from daffodils to tulips, to forsythia, to peonies, to lilacs, to dogwood blossoms, to azaleas, to iris, to the three fifteen foot rhododendron bushes all bursting forth at once with fuchsia flowers (to name but a few) goes on and on and on up until the last to appear crape-myrtle.It is as magical as it is predictable.And though we’ve added to this parade over the years we have lived here, I have my in-laws (who had owned and lived on this property) to thank for most of it.And though God/Spirit/Nature is the source, none of this beauty happened by accident.It took my husband’s family’s planning and hard work to craft it into this beautifully choreographed display.
Which reminds me of the wonderful story about “The Farmer and the Preacher” that Earl Nightingale recounted in Lead the Field.Here is a short version:A preacher was driving by a beautiful farm.When he spotted the farmer near the road, the preacher stopped his car, called to him and said, “God has blessed you with a beautiful farm.” The farmer stopped and thought a moment.Then he replied, “Yes, He has, and I’m grateful.But you should have seen this place when He had it all to Himself.”
And so it is with any enterprise we have created whether it’s a business, a book, a blog or a musical masterpiece.Though the vision of our enterprise originates in our minds and is born of our natural talents, it requires consistent work and a well-designed system to fully express itself in reality and in the marketplace.
Soon, my company Vivacity will be launching its rebranding and new website. Launching a new business at mid-life (hey, I plan on living to at least 105 years old) has been an exciting and exhilirating process. It has taken many hours of work on my part, as well as my webmaster’s and her designers. And once it’s all launched, that won’t be the end…making my business profitable will take constant tending. I feel up for the challenge!
The Recipe
Roasted Asparagus
There is nothing as delicious as freshly cut asparagus that is either steamed or roasted…it’s even good raw! This rhizome vegetable takes a couple years from planting to harvesting, but it is worth the wait. Try roasting as an altenative to steaming.
1 bunch of asparagus (preferably organic) - Try to get bunches that contain either all thick or all thin spears.
1/2 to 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Trader Joe’s (my home away from home) has a wonderful Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil that comes in tall, dark green bottles - a must as the dark green keeps out light that causes oxidation
Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Wash the asparagus spears and trim off the bottom part that is whitish in color. If the spears are very thick, make sure to trim enough off the bottom that is woody. (Actually, you’ll know what part that is if you grab hold of the spear with both hands and snap off the bottom…where it snaps separates the woody stem from the tender spear. Follow suit with the rest or use a knife to cut the rest at approximately the same place.)
Cut a piece of aluminum foil that will be long enough to house the spears and fold up the ends sufficiently to seal them in. Place spears on foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Fold up the foil the long way and make sure it is completely sealed, then fold up the ends. Place the packet on a cookie sheet and bake spears in hot oven for 20 - 40 minutes, depending on the width of the spears.
Drizzle with freshly squeezed lemon juice if desired. Serve immediately.
What a month! Mercury went into retrograde on January 28 and all heck broke loose! I’m not a big astrology follower but this is one phenomenon I buy into. Supposedly this is a time of a lot of personal misunderstandings, botched communications, breakdowns with communication and transportation devices, missed appointments and documents going missing. And I seem to have encountered all of the above as have several other people I know. As each new snafu occurrs, we commiserate and say “Well, after all, Mercury is in retrograde” and we all groan in agreement. It’s comical.
My Internet went down for 5 days and when one is running a business that is fairly dependent on the Internet, this is not a good thing. Though the main PC also went down, the hard drive survived…good news after the modem, router and a few USB ports got fried.
I was amazed at how disconnected I felt during these 5 days…and how utterly dependent I have become on technology. Having been born in 1950, I remember when computers took up entire rooms which had to be climate controlled. I remember keypunch cards back in college. What a difference almost 40 years makes. And despite being a newbie to technology, I am completely fascinated by it and find myself wanting to learn more.
Since returning from cyber-exile, I have been playing a lot of catch up. I have website revisions to write copy for, an eBook to finish, online audio and written coursework to download and work on, podcasts to record and edit. Since this Mercury retrograde thing won’t finally straighten out until March 10, I’m trying to work as fast as I can before another crisis erupts.
I’ve been very busy since the “Mercury in retrograde induced Internet meltdown” and my cooking has been given short shrift. I’ve been resorting to lots of broiling and steaming vegetables to keep up our healthy eating but I did get to make my “world’s fastest chicken soup” on the days that the weather has been cold and blustery . This is a great recipe that takes no more than 45 minutes from prep to sitting down to eat it. And it’s especially good when you need the comfort of chicken soup when you’re coming down with a cold.
The Recipe
World’s Fastest Chicken Soup
3-4 boneless, skinless organic or all-natural chicken breast halves
2 quarts organic chicken broth (Wolfgang Puck, Trader Joe’s or Nature’s Promise Brands in waxed boxes)
3 large carrots
Salt and Ground Pepper
Thyme leaves , a good size pinch
4 ounces dried pasta (try Spelt, Kamut, Quinoa or Brown Rice Pasts for a change)
Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Put into heavy sided small stockpot or medium saucepan. Pour chicken broth over the meat. Heat over medium high heat until it comes to a boil, then lower temperature to maintain a good simmer. Skim off foam that develops. Cook for 20 minutes.
While cooking, prep your carrots by peeling and trimming off tops and root end. Slice very thin. Thin slicing will significantly reduce cooking time. I like to slice the carrots paper thin using my Pampered Chef slicer. I own every expensive piece of kitchen equipment you can name including a professional “mandoline”, but this is one piece of moderately priced equipment I really like and use a lot. This, along with their food chopper, make food prep easy and fast.
After cooking the chicken in the broth, add the carrots and the seasonings. The carrots, if sliced thinly, will be done within 10 minutes. Allow more time for slightly thicker cuts.
Add in pasta when carrots are starting to get tender. Cook until pasta is al dente.
Ladle into bowls and serve with grated Pecorino Romano on top if desired.
I read this well-worn saying again the other day “With age comes wisdom”. It was written by a very lovely person who was attempting to put a very nice spin on the fact that, for many of us in this age group, we are now in “the youth of our old age” and there’s gotta be some goodies that come along with that.
When I read it, my immediate thought was “If only it were true.” You can blame my skepticism on several things: a) I’m 57 and I still, on occasion, do some unwise things, b) I have a boatload of friends, colleagues and acquaintances who would say the same thing about themselves, c) I know from my professional training and experience that it’s really not age that makes us wiser but our willingness to recognize our mistakes and learn from them.
Not long after reading this saying, a quote from Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) came up on one of those “Sayings of the Day for Women Who Are Way Too Busy to Even Have Time to Read Them” calendars I seem to get every Christmas (I think my friends are trying to tell me something). It read:
“Wisdom doesn’t automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It’s true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.”
And I thought, “God I love that woman!” Nothing could have described it better. Aging really is about the “more so” theory…whatever we were in our youth, we will be come more so as we age. (I wish I knew the name of the person who came up with that so that I could give him/her the proper attribution.) If we were content, joyful people in our youth, we will probably attract experiences and relationships that will enhance our contentment and keep bringing us evidence that life is good. If we were discontented, grumpy, complaining people in our youth, we will more than likely find experiences and relationships that reinforce that belief and continuously bring us evidence that life is a struggle. And unless something major intervenes to change that, this is how maturation will go.
The work of Erik Erikson gives an excellent theory on this. If you read his Stages of Psycho-Social Development, you see that every stage of life presents its own “crisis”; how well each stage is resolved impacts on the next stage. His theory is far too rich and insightful to distill down into a blog entry, so when you have time, Google his work and you will ususally find a table of the stages that gives you a clear picture of how one develops socially and emotionally.
So that by old age, if all previous stages have gone reasonably well, you would be looking back contentedly on a lifetime of satisfying relationships and accomplishments and feel a sense of wholeness and peace (Integrity). Your view of the world by this time would have become global, i.e., you have a sincere wish to leave the world a better place for your having been in it.
From this you can get the picture of what the opposite would be. Erikson labeled this negative resolution of the crisis “Despair” - lots of regrets, lots of blaming of circumstances, lots of focus on what you didn’t get and what was taken from you. Opposite to the global view, the person in Despair has reduced life to a microscopic view.
As I am an idealist and not a cynic, I like to believe that there are always opportunities for growth throughout our lives. But I am also enough of a realist to know that it requires our making an effort to reach out, grab the opportunities and get the most out of them that we possibly can. Age can bring wisdom if we really work for it.
The Recipe
Here’s a recipe for a chili that improves wonderfully with age…it requires a little effort, but it’s well worth it. You will let this sit overnight before you enjoy it, so plan ahead.
Chili con Pollo y con Frijoles
Chicken Chili with Black and White Beans
3 pounds of organic or all-natural chicken breast meat, cut into 1-inch cubes (When I have time, I buy split, skin on, bone in breasts which I de-bone and de-skin myself. I then make stock out of the bones and skin. In my more hurried times, I use skinless, boneless breasts)
2-3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic, chopped fine (we grow our own, but I buy organic when I run out)
4 to 6 Tablespoons of Chili Powder (I use Frontier Seasoning Blends from the health food store…they are all natural)
2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin
3 Tablespoons of Flour (Try Whole Grain Organic Quinoa or Spelt for a change)
1 Tablespoon Mexican Oregano
1 Quart of Chicken Stock (I make homemade or I prefer Wolfgang Puck’s Organic stocks or the organic stocks I find at Trader Joe’s - my “home away from home”. They come in tall, waxed boxes not cans.)
1 Teaspoon Salt but this is pretty much to your taste
Several Grinds of the Peppermill - use black or a mix of peppercorns (at least 1/4 teaspoon)
1 15-oz. Can Organic Black Beans, drained
1 15-oz. Can Organic White Kidney Beans or Cannelini, drained
In a small bowl, combine the flour, the chili powder, the cumin and the oregano; set aside.
Heat the oil in a large kettle or heavy sided stock pot over medium heat.
Add the chicken and stir it around frequently. Let it turn color but don’t let it brown. We want the meat to absorb the chili and if the pieces get seared, it will prevent that from happening. This will take about 10 minutes of patient watching over and stirring.
Lower the heat a little and add in the garlic. Garlic turns bitter if it its cooked at too high of a heat, so let it cook with the meat for about 5-7 minutes and let the flavor develop slowly. Patience and stirring required.
Now sprinkle on the flour and seasoning mixture you had set aside. Stir until the meat is evenly coated. Pour the stock in slowly, mixing as you go. Add in the salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, stirring from time to time. Then reduce the heat, simmer with a lid partially on, for about an hour. During that time, revisit your chili frequently and stir gently.
Now add in your two kinds of beans (if you prefer dark kidney or pinto beans you can use these instead…or if you prefer no beans at all, leave them out and enjoy just a Chili con Pollo. You can leave a 1/4 cup of liquid out is this is the case.).
Let simmer gently from 15-30 minutes. The meat will have started falling apart by now…this is a good thing!
Now for the part that requires more patience. Let the chili cool and then refrigerate it overnight or at least 8 hours. This will bring all the flavors together beautifully. When you want to heat up some for dinner, it is recommended that you do so in the top of a double boiler so that you will not scortch it But if you don’t own one, then once again, patience will be required. Take out as much as you need, put it in a heavy sided pot and cook very slowly over low heat, stirring frequently…this will probably take 20-30 minutes to get it heated through.
In the tradition in which I grew up, Christmas was considered a season…one that extended from the first Sunday of Advent through the feast of Candlemas on February 2. There were many lovely rituals to mark this holy season.
The celebration of Christmas proper in my childhood started on Christmas Eve and lasted through the 12 Days of Christmas…Twelfth Night being January 5.. and ending on the Epiphany (Feast of the Three Kings) celebrated on January 6. Every day of these 15 days was filled with church related activities and family gatherings. We visited the homes of relatives to see their trees and decorations and eat what seemed to be endless wonderful foods and baked goods. These same relatives would in return come to our home. My memories of childhood Christmas seasons are plentiful and joyful. I maintain many of the traditions as they are so wonderfully ingrained in my psyche; it is almost painful to not celebrate them.
I attribute most of these happy childhood memories to the magical world my parents, grandparents and extended family created around Christmas. And though over the years of my childhood there were the inevitable illnesses that usually manifested on Christmas night (dutifully tended to by my parents who by then were themselves worn out from all the activity) and the usual amount of holiday stress, my memories of Christmas Past are happy and cherished. And they can still make me smile, laugh, and also get teary-eyed.
My favorite part of Christmas was and remains Christmas Eve day. The excitement of these hours is palpable…the anticipation of something wonderful to come. This is probably due to the fact that in my ethnic heritage (Polish), Christmas Eve was the highlight of the celebration. We always observed the lovely custom of Christmas Eve vigil dinner Wigilia (for a good description of it, search for it in Wikipedia). The dinner always began with my father standing, holding an “oplatek” wafer (the same as Communion hosts-see picture above) in his hand, wishing each of us a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. Each of us in turn, starting with my mother, would break off a small piece and consume it; then each of us would make the same wishes. Part of the custom was also to exchange presents after Wigilia. Later that night, we often went to Midnight Mass. Our parish was made up of primarily Polish expatriates and Polish-Americans, so carols were sung in Polish before the Mass. I still prepare the Wigilia dinner every Christmas Eve…I couldn’t imagine Christmas being complete without it.
Another childhood tradition of which I have fond memories is baking cookies for the holidays. As we would have to have enough to last through January 6th, I can remember baking being done for weeks prior to Christmas. I come from a long line of bakers so I have many recipes from talented aunts, one uncle, family friends, the hometown newspapers, the Weckerle Dairy (a now-defunct local dairy) and the Millers, local TV personalities in the 1950’s who had a daily show “Meet the Millers. And as I am an avid recipe collector, I probably have hundreds of Christmas cookie recipes but my favorite recipes are still those that I helped make as a child. The following recipe comes from my Aunt Clara Dembinski, the sister of my maternal grandfather (my maternal grandmother’s sister Clara was also a fabulous baker - I’ll share her recipe for Placek - another Polish favorite - around Easter time). For those of you who celebrate it, I hope you will have the merriest of Christmases and enjoy recreating old traditions and beginning new ones.
The Recipe
Coral Island Cookies
2/3 cup margarine (I use butter and prefer Organic Valley Unsalted Cultured Butter - this award-winning butter produces fantastic results)
1/3 cup sifted brown sugar (To sift, put through your fine wire mesh strainer - not a good idea to put through a flour sifter)
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg yolk, unbeaten
1 1/3 cup sifted flour
Red Jam or Jelly (I use raspberry preserves)
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
(I use all organic ingredients and buy all of them at the health food store or Trader Joe’s)
Let margarine or butter soften in mixing bowl. Add brown sugar and almond extract and cream thoroughly (at least 2 minutes). Add yolk and beat well at lower speed. Add flour and blend, adding more flour if necessary (dough should not stick to your hands when you roll it into balls).
Shape into 1″ balls. The original recipe says to do the following: Place on greased cookie sheets . Press thumb into each ball, making wide imprint. Fill imprint with jelly, jam or preserves, brush cookie with egg white, sprinkle with chopped nuts. I think I must have lost patience with this process, because I always roll the one inch ball in the egg white, then in the pecans, then I put on Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet, then make the imprint, then fill. As a result, you may have to use more egg white and nuts than called for but I think they are better this way. You can multiply the recipe as much as you would like. If I remember correctly, the recipe above makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes approximately. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks.
Back in February 2006, after an enjoyable Networking Breakfast for Women sponsored by my company Vivacity and a productive meeting with a colleague, I happily headed home in a Winter Wonderland of falling snow. I had not scheduled any clients at my practice that afternoon and looked forward to getting home early and having the late afternoon and evening to spend with my husband.
At the same time I was just about ready to turn left off the busy main road onto the narrower road that leads to my home in the country, someone else was turning right from the lane next to me onto the road opposite mine. The simultaneous turns distracted the driver of the pick-up truck in back of me who was traveling at a fairly good rate of speed given the road conditions. By the time he realized I had slowed down to turn, stopping in time on the snowy road was no longer an option and his truck rammed my car pretty hard. Hard enough to blow out all the rear windows of my much-liked Saturn station wagon as I skidded across the midway point of the road. Hard enough so that the back of my head hit the head rest so hard that the resulting pain was all I could focus on for many minutes afterward…until the pain in my neck and back started in earnest.
I was a minute from my home where my husband had just arrived thinking I’d be right behind him. After being taken to the ER via ambulance where I spent 5 hours - mostly waiting - I was discharged with instructions to rest, stay off of work for several days and see my physician at the earliest convenience. So ended the nice evening at home. But I was grateful for many things that day…that there was no oncoming traffic where I surely would have been hit again with who knows what result, that I was not terribly injured, that headrests had been invented, that there had been people kind enough to stay with me (without my asking) until my husband - called from my cell phone - arrived back, that there were people who checked on me asking if I was ok…one telling me “I have to leave to get to my job, but I saw that whole thing and I wrote all my contact information down and gave it to the EMT”, that my husband was right there a few minutes afterwards to handle my upset and the aftermath, like the towing of my car. I was thankful for the volunteer EMT unit of the Pleasant Valley Fire Company who were superbly expert and professional.
I had much to be thankful for that day and as today is Thanksgiving Day, I like to count the blessing of not being seriously hurt and being surrounded by caring people among all my blessings, which are abundant.
As I said before, I love living in the country and had dreamed of it for many years. But having grown up in city and suburban settings, it meant that I had to make some accommodations in my way of thinking and doing things. There are some downsides to living here: poor cell phone reception being one. People speeding down the roads with the result of way too many accidents occurring being another. Then there is the conservatism that I wasn’t used to and had to learn to navigate (e.g., note to self: never ever discuss politics). And there was also the differences in eating habits. I always joke that before coming to live here I thought that gelatin molds were only for dessert (and on rare occasion). Little did I know that they were a staple and considered a main course in country life. Several years ago at a large event at a church, gelatin molds of all kinds and colors lined the center of the long dining tables. It was amazing to behold.
Now after almost 10 years of living in the country, I’ve adjusted quite well. I no longer ask my husband why perfect strangers are waving to us. I wave back and now am often the first to wave. I know that people will sometimes just show up without calling first. I have learned to accept that though my beliefs are frequently radically different from those of my fellow country dwellers, we all really want the same things…love, caring, respect, loyalty. And though I never have learned to like most of the gelatin salads, I learned to like one and will be making it today.
Happy Thanksgiving.
The Recipe
Orange CarrotGelatin Mold
2 small boxes or 1 large box of Orange Dessert Gelatin (I use a vegan one made by Natural Desserts, available at the health food store)
3 large carrots, finely shredded (I use organic)
14 - 15 ounce can of Crushed Pineapple, drained well (I get an organic variety made by Native Forest),
11 ounce can of Mandarin Orange, drained.(I also get these in my local health food store)
Boil the amount of water directed on the package of gelatin dessert, but as this is a mold, only use the boiled water and not the additional cold water. If using the natural variety, it only calls for boiled water, so only use half the amount stated.
Mix the water into the gelatin making sure it is all well-dissolved (use a fork or a whisk to mix). Put in the well-drained fruits and the carrots and pour into you favorite gelatin mold or into a Bundt pan. Refrigerate until set. The natural gelatin sets more quickly than the traditional kind.
To unmold: Dip mold into warm water for a few seconds. Remove from water. Loosen edges with a pointed knife dipped in warm water, place serving plate over mold, turn upside down, shake gently once or twice, then lift off mold.
I live in the country…it’s something that I’ve wanted to do ever since I was in college. And my fantasy of living in the country always included raising chickens. Thirty-seven years later, I sit looking out at our chickenyard and chickenhouse from the home office of my company Vivacity, which also houses my Internet Radio Station, Viva Radio…Internet Talk Radio for Women and I feel a sense of happiness and satisfaction (I admit…I’m easily pleased and amused). By the way, the chicken house, built by my husband, is no ordinary one…it’s modeled after Martha Stewart’s Palais de Poulets and it is quite palatial. If I look out the other window of my office, I look out onto my neighbor’s hayfield . I like these views. The country is peaceful and beautiful and when I have the opportunity to work from home, I seem to be the happiest.
I look out at the chickens we’ve had for over five years and I smile at their antics. We have babied and spoiled them and they know they are our pets. They in turn provide us with incredibly delicious fresh eggs. The chickens like our attention, “talking ” back to us when we talk to them. They follow us around the yard and will “work” alongside us in the garden. They can move around mounds of dirt with incredible intensity and speed. Problem is, we usually never want those mounds rearranged. They’ve eaten plant tops down to the dirt (thereby ending that plant’s ambitions of making it to a vegetable) and have dug up an entire crop of shallots that were not yet ready to be dug up. We finally learned that fencing was our only recourse if we wanted to harvest any produce. We shake our heads and smile ruefully but we enjoy them, their destructiveness not withstanding.
Then I look at the new small flock that we started a few months back. Sadly, we lost three of the six we started with, but the remaining ones are plump, beautifully feathered and lively. These three have made it to “henhood” and have just begun laying, but they seem like adolescents because of their frenetic antics. For example, all three will suddenly take off at breakneck speed running in unison from under one shrub or tree as if on a mission only to abruptly stop under another and stand and do nothing . They are definitely attached to us, follow us around, seek our attention, “talk” to us (even more than the older flock) and will let us pet them. In a very short time, they have made it to pethood.
It’s alongside the older flock that I see the upside and downside of maturation. The difference in girth is the most prominent - the older chickens look scrawny in comparison to the new fat hens. Their feathers are not quite as luminous and they don’t run with the same wild abandon as the new hens. That’s where the downside ends. We have yet to incorporate the new flock in with the old. There is a good reason why we haven’t put them in the chickenyard and house that the older chickens and rooster live in (they have temporary separate smaller quarters within the chickenyard). In chickendom, they are on the bottom rung of the pecking order. The older chickens would not be kind to them. The older chickens don’t take any guff from the newer ones and remind them frequently when they are all out in our yard just who is really in charge. The older chickens will chase the younger ones away from the food when they decide it is time for them to eat. They will harrass the younger ones away from choice nesting spots in the soft dirt (where they also take their dirt baths). The advanced years in chickendom seem to mean something.
Now as a Baby Boomer Woman who just turned fifty-seven several days ago, I kind of like this arrangement. I have heard that society tries to make women who are beginning to age invisible. And yes, our culture does place a high premium on youth. That’s the downside of getting older. The upside, as I was just discussing today with a colleague of mine, is that once you do reach maturity, you begin to not care so much what others think. Others perceptions no longer shape whether we will or won’t do something. It’s the process of self-actualization…one of the tenets of it being that “one is independent of the good opinion of others.” The other great upside I am seeing is that so many women in their fifities, sixities and older are reinventing themselves…starting a new career, starting to write, starting to paint, starting new businesses, taking old businesses to higher levels of success, and much more…it’s breathtaking to witness. I feel in good company with these women and deeply appreciate their accomplishments as well as my own.
The recipe:
This is a recipe that I have made for most of my networking breakfast events. It has always been well-received. I have to warn you that it is not a low calorie, low fat, low cholesterol or low anything dish. But it is over the top delicious and great when you want gourmet comfort food once in a great while.
Cheese Quiche a la The Frizzellburg Hens
(Frizellburg is the name of our town)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2 defrosted frozen deepdish pie shells (there are good whole grain versions at the health food store too)
Prick pie shells sparingly with a fork (just a few along bottom and side) and place in hot oven for 10 minutes. This is called blind-baking. If you don’t do this, the crust on the bottom will not bake through once you have added the egg mixture. Take out of oven and place on cooling rack. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
In the meantime, combine in a medium-to-largebowl:
3 whole eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch white pepper (you can use black or mixed peppercorns instead)
Pinch grated nutmeg
Whisk together. Then add:
2 cups half and half
Whisk together well.
Place in each of the pie shells:
1/2 cup shredded Swiss or Gruyere cheese (1 cup total for recipe which is about 4-6 ounces)
Pour the egg/half and half mixture into the pie shells, evenly dividing between the two.
Place the 2 quiches in the 375 degree oven and bake for 3o - 40 minutes or until set. Baking times may vary so if after 30 minutes you are not sure if the quiches are done, check to see if they are puffed up and browned on top. If so, they are done. Once they cool, they will deflate and be level. Let sit for 10 minutes and serve hot.
I have also made these quiches using a combination of different cheeses and added ingredients. For example, you can use goat cheese instead of the Swiss and sun-dried tomatoes. I like to rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes by putting them in a small bowl and pouring a little boiling water over them, letting them sit for 10 minutes, then draining off the water. Cut them up and place them on top of the cheese. Then pour on the egg mixture. You could also use cheddar cheese instead and slightly steamed broccoli (make sure it’s well drained & patted dry as it can throw off water and make the quiche not set well). You can also add sauteed mushrooms (not fresh as they will not cook well in the egg mixture) in addition to the cheese you use.
I’d like to start this first blog posting with a story about how this blog “One Baby Boomer Woman’s Guide to Life…Recipe Included” came to be.
Some back story: I am a product of the Baby Boom and came of age in the ’60’s. After 12 years of a parochial school education, I went on to a very liberal university in my hometown. Throughout my 4 1/2 years in college I lived at home…which is a story in itself. After the initial culture shock of that first non-parochial year, I began to fancy myself a hippie, except that I was really more of a hippie “wannabe”. When my parents said no to my pleadings to go to Woodstock, I petulantly took this as the final word but secretly, I was relieved.But when I looked at the photos from Woodstock in the newspapers, I felt that tinge of sadness that I didn’t have enough courage to be so free.
And if I could best describe how I lived most of my early adulthood, it would be as a “wannabe”.I dreamed of many things, wanted to be, do and have many things, but I really didn’t have the courage, self-esteem or self-confidence then to realize these dreams and wants.Though I achieved some success, it was almost in spite of myself.It was in mid-life that I finally began coming of age and all the years since that actuarial midpoint has brought me increasing realization of the things that made up my dreams.Maybe I should rephrase that…”brought me” sounds like the years just kept depositing the goodies in my lap.It’s been a far more active process (a.k.a. struggle) than that.Truth is, I no longer believe that age automatically brings wisdom.I now know that the willingness to grow, to be teachable, and to apply hard-won knowledge in a focused way brings wisdom.
Back to real time: The idea for this blog was born during a particularly challenging week. My husband had gotten some “bad news” about his health…a worsening of a cardio-vascular issue that erupted onto the scene ten years ago.After an additional rough patch not long after the initial episode, the news from each of his quarterly then semi-annual visits to the cardiologist in the last decade brought nothing newly worrisome.Just lots of “Lose weight, exercise, here’s a new med, additional med, med increase.”
Then three years ago, we were blindsided by my husband’s diagnosis of melanoma.He had an atypical lesion…not at all the kind you see in the textbooks or on the information card at the dermatologist. But I knew in my gut that that “pink thing” between his shoulder blades wasn’t right and nagged for almost a year until he had a biopsy and we learned the news that it was indeed cancerous.
I am always surprised by my unending variations of naïveté about life – “Wait a minute, we already have one serious chronic health issue…we can’t have another!!”Once I got through that denial, I hurdled over the other stages of grief right into ACTION and I have been the “melanoma watchdog” since.My husband’s oncology surgeon (who is excellent) refers to himself as “my second opinion” when I am in his presence.Melanoma is tricky…and deadly…and requires vigilance….you have to stay ahead of it…even a “pre-cancerous lesion” is not acceptable.Ten years worth of vigilance and all negative biopsies and we are home free!Three years and counting…
Maybe the melanoma had sapped all my vigilance and nurturance.Maybe it was the ultra-concentration my busy career and my new business venture required (designed to provide me residual income which my self-employment profession does not…something I need if I am pressed into service as a caretaker).Whatever it was, when my husband came home with the news that the chamber of his heart damaged long ago now needed a new level of care (blood thinners) and vigilance in order to prevent a clot from going to his brain, that old naïveté about life came flooding back. And rather than leaping hurdles to acceptance and springing into ACTION, my brain decided to take the slow route through the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and hopefully and ultimately acceptance.
I was just departing the bargaining “station” and boarding the train for depression, when the reason for this blog’s existence began.As a result of the “bad news”, I decided that my husband and I needed to take an alternative – i.e., nutritional – path to better health in addition to the path laid out by Western medicine.I may have been resisting the bad news but I wasn’t going to take the news “lying down” either(one of the nice by-products of hard-won self-awareness and self-confidence).Our new way of eating is not a fad diet, it is a way to optimize our health.It is by no means the cure…it will not reverse the damage that has been done.Though the metaphorical/spiritual heart is forgiving, the physiological one is not.But I hope that optimizing the rest of our bodies’ functioning will alleviate the stresses on the areas that are not functioning well.Having committed myself to buying organic foods exclusively in the last year, going the extra distance wasn’t too hard.But it is time consuming, expensive and requires much planning (which is not my strong suit).
One day, I was devoting a lot of time to working on a project for my new business venture and failed to pay attention to the time, which meant that I was not going to prepare dinner for that night before I left for my practice.I had time to “julienne” the carrots, leeks and shallots that would top the flounder filets and give some quick instructions to my husband for finishing the fish off in foil packets à la the “Reynolds Wrap Ladies”.It was just after 8 pm by the timeI left my office and started on my hour ride home.I called my husband on my cell and asked how the fish turned out.He said “The fish was kind of mushy”.“Mushy?” I replied.“Yeah, but it tasted pretty good!”.I arrived home from the office hungry and tired ( mental note:new way of eating requires regular feedings to keep blood sugar levels cranking along…leave time to prepare food).I opened the serving dish waiting to be reheated, blinked a couple times not really certain what I was seeing.I poked a newly washed finger into the off-white mass in the dish (I recognized the leeks, carrots and shallots) and thought that though I’d never been to Hawaii and had never tried poi, this is probably what it looked like.There was no shape that even reminded one of a fish filet…it was paste.I moaned a “Yuck” (hunger and tirednessmakes me cranky) and my appetite suddenly left the building.My husband hearing my “Yuck” called out “But it still really tasted good!”.Ms. Cranky-pants shot back “I CANNOT eat this!” to which he replied “Well that’s what you made me eat!” (oh, did I mention he’s in his own grief cycle with the loss of the old way of eating?).
Ah…now this was one of those moments in marriage where you know that what you say next could lead you down the path to an argument.I chose the high road and just said “Men are such selfish jerks” in my head, grabbed some hummus and veggies and went to read email.I never like when our marriage hits an inevitable bump…this new health related news was putting us both under stress and the new way of eating was putting a lot more responsibilities on my already full plate which also caused some stress.But emotionally, I was also feeling distant from him and I don’t like that feeling.I know it comes from self-protection, but it never feels good.I love my husband and he loves me.I don’t like the term “soulmates” because it always seems to imply this spiritual lockstep that I just don’t agree with.I like Dr. Wayne Dyer’s description better (and this is my paraphrase):your “soulmate” is someone who gives you reason to grow and that usually comes from the ways in which you are not alike.So it’s not from the melding but from the colliding that the opportunities for growth come and my husband is truly one of the forces in my life that have precipitated my growth (and I think he feels the same).I’ve learned over the last few years not to take these collisions so seriously…we would be humming alongside each other soon, usually without even knowing we had cleared the hurdle.But that night I went to bed on a train that was unwillingly heading south into depression.
The next morning after my husband left for work, I started my daily ritual of yoga stretches, deep breathing, reading my goals and then 20 minutes of meditation.Somewhere in the meditation, I had this random, fleeting thought “You know what the French would do with that fish paste, they would make ‘soupe de poisson’”.(By the way, I had been a French major in college, taught some high school French and have extensively studied French cuisine and pastry work just so you know that the thought wasn’t completely random.)One eye shot open and I thought “now here’s a clue” – I have learned to trust these thoughts as something more than random.When I began the practice of meditation I was seeking relaxation…I never expected to get some of my best ideas when meditating. When I got up from that particular meditation, I felt the happiness and excitement that were absent the last several days returning.And I got cooking!Now, cooking and baking relaxes me…I know, I know, I get the same look on my face when someone tells me that running long distances every day relaxes her.But cooking and baking does relax me and like meditation, when I am cooking or baking, I get some of my best ideas.
So as I prepared the fish soup using the almost discarded dinner from the night before (it was as fabulous as I had remembered), I felt a great deal of satisfaction that this wasn’t all for nothing.And inexplicably, I felt that I had cleared that hurdle with my husband and his health issue.And as I ate the soup I thought: “This is what I have learned life to be - lots of challenges, lots of opportunities for growth, lots of opportunities for small pleasures we can create when we allow ourselves.When life hands you mushy fish, make soup.”And I knew there was an idea for a blog in there.One in which one Baby Boomer woman tries to make sense out of life…and throws in a recipe to boot.
I love to cook and am good at it.I cook from scratch for the most part and I love to use organic and natural foods.I like to think of myself as a cross between MFK Fisher and Rachel Ray.I have a deep respect for the wholeness of well-grown and well-prepared food and will rhapsodizeabout an artichoke if you’ll let me.My idea of beauty is going to the organic market and seeing all the wonderful produce, untouched by chemicals, artfully lined up.I have planted, harvested and preserved my own vegetables and fruits when I had more time to do so (and hope to do so again).I compost like a mad woman.The whole cycle of food is organic to me.But I am also a realist…I take shortcuts and buy certain things ready made to keep on the shelf and whip out when I feel like whipping up something (or don’t feel like it and have to for our new way of eating).Fortunately, there are so many wonderful prepared things that can make cooking a lot easier.
So in this blog, I will share my perspective on life.I’m no expert or authority, but I have my view of life that comes from having put a lot of effort into working things through.It usually will come out in a story… one that I hope will also include humor (which is as important to me as cooking and baking) and will make you smile or laugh.And you’ll always get a recipe I’ve come up with or one I’ve put my own spin on.
The Recipe:
Given I can never leave a good enough idea alone, I came up with a recipe for “Mock Crab Soup” from the serendipitous fish soup I prepared.
MOCK CRAB SOUP
Will make enough for 4 nice sized servings
1 large leek, julienned (use only up to where the light green ends)
4 carrots (not too thick around), cut into 2-3” lengths, julienne or slice in ¼” rounds
1 bulb of shallot, peeled, cloves separated, julienned or
1 small onion, cut in half and sliced thinly (1/4”)
Enough olive oil to thinly cover the bottom of a small soup pot or large saucepan
Leeks are tricky!They are beautiful pearly white tubular creations that turn from white to light green to a darker green as you ascend from the root…but deep inside the pearly white lies, at times, a whole lot of “dirt”…as in soil.If you know how to and are going to julienne, no worries…you can just wash the julienned pieces in water repeatedly until the dirt is gone.If you do not know how and will just slice in to thin rounds, do the following first:barely cut off the root tendril, cut off the part above where the leek turns light green (discard), then carefully cut the leek in half lengthwise.Take each half and run it under water, fanning the layers and exposing the dirt to the water.Then place the washed leek half, cut side down on a cutting board and slice into ¼ inch thick half moons.
Heat the oil and throw in the vegetables.Sauté low-med. heat for about 5 minutes, do not let brown.
2 cloves of garlic, mashed and chopped
1 28-oz. can Organic Diced Tomatoes (Del Monte now produces one as do others like the Nature’s Promise line at the Giant, Trader Joe’s are great or find at health food store)
Add garlic and tomatoes; stir in.Raise heat to medium and cook for another five minutes.
A couple good pinches of thyme
A small pinch of fennel
(or instead of thyme and fennel separately, use scant ½ tsp of Herbes Special Poissons(Herbs Special Fish) that comes in a little clay colored pot, available in specialty stores
1 pinch of saffron
1 Tablespoon of chopped parley
1 Bay leaf (small)
Salt to taste
A few grinds of the peppermill (I like to use a mix of different colored peppercorns)
1 - 32-oz. container of Organic Vegetable broth (I love Wolfgang Puck’s Organic Vegetable broth or Trader Joe’s brand – they come in tall waves boxes, not cans)
8 oz. water
1 ½ pound of flounder fillets (I buy Frozen The Great Fish Co. Arrowtooth Flounder Fillets) or whatever firm-fleshed fish you prefer, fresh or frozen.
Add the vegetable broth and water, seasonings and fish to the pot.Cook uncovered.Let boil moderately for 30-40 minutes.
Serve in bowls and top with Pecorino Romano if desired.
By the way, if you are a Marylander, feel free to add some Old Bay seasoning to taste.It’s quite good and adds some zing.
