It is I, Captain Vegetable...

One day when I was in high school, I was home sick.  What did I watch when I was home sick?  The soaps, right?

Of course not.  I watched Sesame Street.  And what to my wondering eyes should appear that day, but a character I'd never seen before.  His name?  Captain Vegetable.

"It is I, Captain Vegetable!

With my carrot, and my celery!

Eating crunchy vegetables is good for me!"

I lay there on the couch, laughing until I cried at this crazy-looking Muppet, voiced by the incomparable Jim Henson himself.  

When I later told my friends about it, they thought I was making it up.  No one else had ever seen Captain Vegetable, and try as I might, I never caught the clip again.  He was frustratingly elusive, this superhero.  I began to question whether I'd ever even really seen it - had it been a fever-induced bad dream?  (You'll need to watch the video at Sesame Workshop to fully understand that question.)  My mum eventually saved the day (and my sanity), not with vegetables, but by finding a cassette of Sesame Street songs that included the Captain Vegetable song.

I preface today's recipe with this story because I, like several friends of mine, am trying to turn over a (well, another) new leaf in the ongoing diet battle.  My legendary sweet tooth has been well documented here.  As much as I love candy and carbs (again, go watch the video), I'm going to try to balance out the scale (all puns intended) a little bit, by including some healthier recipes.

Today we had one of those rare April days that feels more like June - it was sunny and in the 80s - so I was inspired to make a salad to go with our grilled pork chops.  This will be going into the regular rotation!

Potato, Green Bean, and Tomato Salad with Pesto

1 pound fingerling potatoes, quartered lengthwise  (petite golden or red potatoes may be substituted)

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 pound fresh green beans

Several handfuls grape tomatoes (about 25 tomatoes)

1/4 red onion

1/4 cup pesto (I used prepared - if you're ambitious enough to make your own, props to you!)

Preheat oven to 450F.  Toss quartered potatoes, olive oil, and salt in a mixing bowl.  Spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake 20-25 minutes, stirring once halfway through baking.  Remove from oven, and set aside.

Meanwhile, trim green beans and cut in half.  Bring salted water to a boil.  Add green beans, and cook until crisp-tender, 3-4 minutes.  Drain, and plunge into an ice-water bath to stop the cooking process. Let stand five minutes, then drain, and pat dry with paper towels.

Halve grape tomatoes.

Slice red onion into thin wedges.

Combine vegetables and pesto in mixing bowl, tossing to coat.  Serve at room temperature.

Yield: six servings

Walkin' on sunshine

Happy Friday! The sun is shining, and it's supposed to be sunny and warm - bordering on hot - all weekend!  Woohoo! 

In celebration of the gorgeous weather, I think we'll be dusting off the grill this weekend. To that end, I'm going to post a BBQ rub for beef or pork, given to me by my dear friend Linda.

What you need to understand about Linda is this: while she can cook (as proven by this recipe and by the fabulous Bolognese sauce I got to taste yesterday), she generally doesn't. It's a running joke within our circle of friends that when you ask Linda for her recipe for something, it's invariably, "You go to DeMoulas [a local supermarket chain] and buy a container/package/box of..." whatever it is that you want the recipe for.

Linda gave me a selection of seasonings and rubs for different kinds of meat at Christmastime, all of which she made herself. Take this one, fire up your grill this weekend, and enjoy!

BBQ Rub for Beef or Pork

Blend:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne (use more or less, to taste)

Apply liberally to meat and rub in well. Cook meat with indirect heat - coals or heat source should not be directly underneath. (This will help to prevent scorching, as the sugar in the rub will have a tendency to burn.) This is also a great rub for smoking meat!

Like a record player, round round round round...

Did you see that pictture up at the top of the page?  No, not the Swedish Chef, the one with the teapot, mugs, and my favorite cookbook?

That was taken in my kitchen.  Yes, that's actually my counter.

When we first looked at what is now our house, three and a half years ago, a couple of things stood out. Let me preface this by saying that our house was built in 1975, and was sold to us by the original owners.

1. There's a Kermit-green sink in the half bath.  

A minus? Perhaps. However, this Muppet fan says, "When life gives you a Kermit-green sink, turn the bathroom into the It's Not Easy Being Green bathroom," which I did.

2. The upstairs bathroom has blue everything. For now, we're dealing with them as long as they're functional.

3. That brings us to - you guessed it - the kitchen.




Somehow, when we first walked through the house, I made it through this kitchen into the family room beyond it without screaming. The spindles from the half-wall to the ceiling...the glaringly orange countertops...the floor that always looks dingy, even when it's clean...and the cabinets that had been painted a pale peach - to coordinate, perhaps, with the counter? I don't know. It does have a decent amount of space. I grew up in a house with a teeny-tiny kitchen with approximately four - okay, maybe six - square feet of counter space. Compared to that kitchen, this one is of majestic proportions.

Despite the faults of the kitchen, I fell in love with the house, and here we are. We've been discussing kitchen renovations pretty much since we moved in. However, we want to do them on a fairly small budget. Counters, floor, backsplash- no problem. Removing the half wall and adding an island? Check. It's always when we start talking cabinets that we hit a wall.

They're painted. Do we repaint, buy new doors, and replace the doors? That was the thought for a while. Can we put veneer on them and get new doors? Probably not over paint, and stripping the paint might make the plywood beneath delaminate. My husband could build them - but it would take months. (Then don't give me that as an option!) Around and around and around.

We have finally found a couple of potential solutions to the problem. IKEA cabinets are one possibility, and I'm on the trail of another company as well. Wish us luck. I feel like we're finally on the road towards saying a big "Buh-bye!" to the orange counters.

P.S. This is the wallpaper that used to be in the kitchen. I'm ever so grateful that it was gone when we came through for the first time!

Sweet dreams are made of this

When I was in junior high, I would often go to my friend Sarah's house for an afternoon, or for the occasional sleepover. On those occasions, we'd make clothes for the Cabbage Patch dolls or our stuffed animals, play with her cat, Burgertimes, play in the backyard or on her dad's cool new black-and-white Macintosh computer, or walk over to the store and debate for a half an hour over what kind of candy to get. (At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, I wish the eighth graders of today were as naive and unworldly as we were.)

We'd also stay up too late watching television; I believe my earliest David Letterman viewings were probably with Sarah. As we drowsily watched, we'd also munch on the last of a batch of the Toffee Cookie Squares we'd made earlier in the day. Sadly, I can't eat a half a pan of these anymore without having to worry about the caloric consequences, but they are still tasty. The original recipe calls for a half a cup of chopped nuts (which we usually just skipped), but a half a cup of Heath bits makes them even better.

Toffee Cookie Squares

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sifted flour
2 cups chocolate chips (approximately 12 ounces)
Optional: 1/2 cup Heath bits or chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a jelly-roll pan (foil-lined, if you wish), approximately 11x15.

Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, and egg yolk. Stir in salt, vanilla, and flour.
Pat into the prepared pan.
Bake at 325F for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot cookie mixture. When they are glossy, spread chocolate, and sprinkle with nuts or Heath bits. Cut while warm. Refrigerate to set chocolate.

Foolish

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