Spa Cuisine

Indulging in what is often thought of as comfort food feels like the antithesis of what I have learned over the past two years on my path recovering from disordered eating.  The thought of comforting myself with food just does not fit anymore, but then it never did fit because I didn’t know that was what I was doing!  If someone had told me, you are eating for emotional reasons, I would have said, no, I’m not.  I eat because I am hungry, I have a big appetite, I love all kinds of food, I love to cook and it tastes good.  I did not know I was eating because something inside of me hurt so bad I grabbed food and it became my band-aid.

So what do I do now?  The band-aid is gone, but sometimes life hurts.  I have learned to comfort myself in many lovely and constructive ways.  Creating something or getting outside to let the world in are my current favorites.

Growing up in a household where eating to live was the motto has many disadvantages.  It also has a big advantage:   I have absolutely no cravings for, desire to recreate or fond memories of the food my mother cooked for us.  I have no desire to broil chicken until it is black and crisp, serve liver and onions ever, pork chops are iffy and I have a love-hate relationship with grapefruit and Lima beans.  There was no mac and cheese, rice pudding, mashed potatoes and gravy, chocolate milk, fluffernutters or chicken soup.  You would think there would be something, but there is not.  I am grateful for this, I do not crave any of the food some define as comfort foods.   My mother set a lovely table every night, we ate together as a family and talked about our day.  What sounds idyllic was not.  For me, mealtime missed the feeling of comfort.  I was uncomfortable eating what my mother prepared because all eyes were on me.  I was the chubby one and it was made clear to me the food on my plate was to nourish my body, not feed my soul.  She never changed her ways, never realized the “weight problem” I developed was in part created at her table.

We all have days when there isn’t enough comfort to be had and on top of everything else, it’s dinner time.  I might choose to go out for dinner.  Out of the house, with lively energy and people around me unwinding from their day, helps.  Other times I wold rather not be around a lot of people, I find comfort in the familiar, the small rituals of setting the table, chopping and sauteing; creating.

My criteria for comfort food is simple:  Fresh, healthy, easily prepared and quick to cook.  Appealing to look at, yummy smelling, baked in the oven, and most of all, leaving me feeling comfortable at the end of the meal.

A Frittata was just the thing last night.  Two small pans went on the burners with a little butter and olive oil in each.  I whisked 4 eggs and 2 egg whites with 1/2 cup of milk and a few snips of chives.  Half of the egg mixture got poured into the pans with the heat on low.  After the egg began to set I added the layers.  This is the fun part because you can really put in anything you want and mine were all leftovers!  I had thin slices of browned red potato, a sprinkling of raw onion, raw grated zucchini, crumbled goat cheese, sauteed mushrooms, a few pieces of crisp crumbled bacon and tomato slices.  After the Frittata had been on the burner for about 6 minutes I poured the remaining egg mixture over the top and popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  One Frittata was ample for my husband and I to share, served with rye toast and fresh strawberries.  An added bonus is the one left, lurking in my refrigerator, an instant meal over the weekend.

Is it taboo to call any food comfort food?  Would thinking of food in any way as comforting be the first step on a slippery slope backwards?  What is your solution when out of sorts and done in when dinner time arrives?

• I am a stickler at dinner.  Ask my kids, there are rules and they are to be followed:
• No one dare to eat even a crumb until the Mother/Hostess is seated.
• Napkin in lap.
• No talking or sipping with food in mouth.
• Platters are taken and passed even if you do not care for any.
• Pleases and thank-yous abound.
• Everyone engages in conversation.
• Lips are firmly sealed while chewing.
• One hand in lap.
• NO boarding arm reach.  (your tongue is longer than your arm!)
• When someone “under-age” is finished, they must ask, “May I please be excused”.

It is hard knock life around here.  These are some of the things we do, day in and day out as favors to our children.  So when they leave home they can dine confidently and I can breathe a sigh of relief.  Mine are grown and gone, but fortunately they come back, full of life and love and eventually, with children of their own.

I am learning things are entirely different with grandchildren.  For one thing, I am a lot older and no longer have the stamina to insist.  Secondly, I can leave all “that” to their parents, and just go for the fun.  Bend the rules, even at the dinner table.

So here we have Lily, not at her own place set with the tiny fork that was her father’s, but sharing Elizabeth’s seat, and diving into Elizabeth’s plate.  I had been informed that Lily thinks fish is yucky.  So I bent the rules and fixed her plate with brochelli, corn and turkey instead of yummy red snapper.  Lo and behold!!!  “I love this chicken,” says Lily, chowing down on Elizabeth’s snapper!  No way were we going to do anything but let her continue.  We fixed another plate for Elizabeth and they continued to share the chair and giggle.  Lily can really put away the broccoli, and prefers lemon to butter on her corn.  Really she like squeezing the lemon.  Strawberries, blueberries and watermelon tickled her fancy, but “eeuw, I do not like bread”.   So, she didn’t say, “No I do not care for any bread, thank you.”  So, she got up from the table before we were done and wanted to watch a Disney movie.    So, she made it through a meal without a napkin.   So what?

And when she said to me, “Grandma, how many bites more do I have to eat?”  I asked her to show me with her finger on her belly how full she was.  Her finger landed at about 2 inched above her belly button.  I told her, no more bites at all, if you are full and your tummy is telling you to stop now, we will listen to it, because it is you who knows when to stop eating.

Finally when it was movie time she never gave popcorn a thought.  She wanted an orange.  “Peeled and sliced, not cut up.”  I believe if left to their own devices with healthy options, children will eat healthily.  Perhaps not all in one day, but on an average.  That said,  I watched an inordinate amount of rainbow sugar being stirred into someones teensy teacup this morning.  You gotta love a woman who knows her mind.

The warm days of last week jump started my thinking about cold suppers.  That got me researching the difference between dinner and supper, and I got thoroughly confused.  To me, the meal I serve in the evening is dinner, that is, unless it is quite early, say 5:30, or cold, then it is supper.  The research I did confirmed, supper is a lighter meal in the evening, harking back to when dinner was often served in the middle of the day.  A “cold dinner” just doesn’t sound right to me, where “a cold supper” has a pleasant  old fashioned ring to it.  I grew up living on the same property as my grandparents, they had their “big meal at noon” and supper in the evening. I am sure my thoughts on all of this were determined quite young while I watched (from afar) and was quite mystified why I never saw them eat lunch but did see them eat cottage cheese, fruit and dark bread while the rest of the world was having meat, potatoes and salad!

This salad serves 4 and calls for 1 pound of fresh tuna fillet to be divided. …read more on A warm evening, a cold supper: Grilled Tuna Tropical Salad

Crisp, cool and breezy at the the Riva Road farmer’s market in Annapolis this morning.  A few more farmers this week, two more of my favorites, a man who only sells savory jellies and the little Greek ladies who usually bake and have beautiful flowers.  New papa, Chris, had already sold the bread he was able to make this week by the time I got there at 8:30!  He consoled me, that her really didn’t get to bake much this week, and so innocently explained new baby took precedence this week.  I empathized while making a note to self, get up earlier next week so you can get some bread, it may be a while before Chris and Lucy are up to full production. …read more on Annapolis Farmer’s Market Bounty

Yesterday, most of these Magnolia petals were blossoms in the tree.  Today, they were a soft pink beckoning carpet.  In the middle of a busy Wednesday my husband and I took 30 minutes and a  hastily prepared “picnic” in the backyard.

The sunlight was dappled, the petals, soft like kid gloves with a faint sweet fragrance.  The red and white horse blanket, nearly 40 years old, nostalgically comforting.  The food, while good and nutritious, is not going to stay long in my memory.  The day, the company, the spontaneity, nourishment of all kinds, make the memories, and sweet ones at that.

Despite a cool gray morning the farmers were out and it was a joy to be at the market.  There was a lot more variety than I expected, but as I predicted there was an abundance of kale.  In fact one booth was only kale, mounds of it.  Next time I must remember my camera, there we many visual delights.

When I got home I thought what a pretty Easter basket I could create with everything I had purchased.  Clockwise we have dill, baby bok choy, arugula, and claytonia.  Claytonia is new to me.  It is a salad green, is pretty and delicious.  In the center is a bag of sprouted grains.  If I were planning on baking bread soon I would incorporate them in the bread, but I have no bread plans so will send them home with my daughter in law tomorrow and she can put them in her bread.  They are good on a salad or cottage cheese or in a sandwich.  In the middle of all that crunchy stuff are three iced sour cream cookies.  One of the sweetest farmers makes these himself.  Last year he shared the recipe with me, but his are always better.  I love the way he sells them 3 for a dollar, how the icing is always pink and the pride he takes telling me how, in the summer his 16 year old great granddaughter helps him bake.

For the past few years there has been a young couple at the market selling amazing breads and granola.  Chris and Lucy.  There table was set up today in it’s usual place, and Chris was there, no Lucy, no bread.  Instead, was a beautiful photograph of their newborn, Julia Augusta Jane and a sign, “Dad is taking the day off”.

Buckets of daffodils, stalks of cherry blossoms, little mossy rock gardens, organic honey and eggs, it’s all happening at the farmer’s market.  I would love to hear about your marketing.

The opening of the Farmer’s Markets are something to really cheer about.  It is a delightful experience to meet the people who have grown the food you are going to enjoy all week.

Of course it won’t be the glorious array shown above from last August yet, but there will be something wonderful this Saturday, and new things every week.  Shopping the Farmer’s Markets keeps us in tune with Mother Nature, and living from the ground up.

The opening of the Farmer’s Markets are something to really cheer about.  It is a delightful experience to meet the people who have grown the food you are going to enjoy all week.

Of course it won’t be the glorious array shown above from last August yet, but there will be something wonderful this Saturday, and new things every week.  Shopping the Farmer’s Markets keeps us in tune with Mother Nature, and living from the ground up.

The change of seasons always comes along at just the right time.  Trading hot dinners for cold, soups for salads, hot cereal for more fruit and yogurt revitalizes my interest in meal preparation.

These in between days are really a fun time to mix it all up.  Not long ago I had the best ever oatmeal in a restaurant.  Not what many people would order when our for breakfast, in the middle of Manhattan to boot!  At Sarabeth’s http://www.sarabethscps.com/ I say, order the oatmeal.  Mine was called the Big bad Wolf, I guess all the oatmeal dishes had a Goldilocks theme, do not be put off!  Go to Sarabeth’s, order oatmeal.  It was January, and my steaming bowl arrived with brown sugar, milk, a plop of wheat berries and lots of fresh fruit. It was  sublime experience!

I set about coming up with my own version.  For the first time ever I cooked myself some wheat berries.  I also whirled regular long cooking oats in a mini prep for a few seconds.  This enabled me to get the oatmeal to a creamy consistency with some oats remaining whole, rather than my usual, oat flakes and  oaty water. I also totally upgraded to fruit rather than a sprinkling of raisins.  I know, they are fruit, but I’ll take a strawberry over a raisin any day!

These days, that start cool and warm up,  are no longer really hot cereal days to me.  Yet, it seems a bit early to transition,  I am cooking a small portion of oats and topping with a large portion of fruit.  I guess you could say the oatmeal has become the topping.  Something about the hot and cold together fits the time of year in a very delicious way.

When I was growing up one of our family traditions was to have a fancier dinner on Sundays than the other nights of the week. I carried on this tradition as we raised our family. Cooking a roast of some sort or a turkey or ham seemed festive and provided leftovers for another meal or sandwiches.
We no longer enjoy that heavier food and I prefer now to only cook that way on holidays and maybe not even then! I began to define Sunday night dinner in a new way. Yes, I wanted it to be more special, I wanted to punctuate the week, light the candles and linger over a delightful meal. I did not want to spend lots of my Sunday cooking, have lost interest in leftovers and did not want to begin a new week feeling weighed down.
The festive feeling I am looking for comes from a pretty table, ingredients for the dinner that are a little more unusual and a bit more of a treat for us, and having everyone at the table relaxed because no one was overextended preparing the meal!
A recent Sunday night dinner was Chilean Sea Bass, oven roasted sweet and white baking potatoes and a combination of steamed baby bok choy and broccolette.
In thirty minutes, a memorable meal. …read more on Reinventing Sunday night dinner

I was about to head out for a walk late this morning and realized I was slightly hungry. I did not want to stop my walk plans for lunch so decided to make a quick snack. Why would I set out for exercise without fueling my body? I topped 1/3 cup of skim milk ricotta cheese with a handful of blueberries, one lone sliced strawberry and a sprinkling of almond slivers. It was delicious! I got my sweet and fresh from the berries, creamy and tangy from the ricotta and the thing I crave the most…crunch, from the almonds. I was satisfied all around and really enjoyed my walk.