Shades of greens

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Always tardy to the party, I’m only just now trying out green smoothies. Today, in fact. Armed with a fantastic BlenTec blender that I bought in the winter plus a pep talk by niece Brea, I tossed in a cup of water, two handfuls of washed kale, a cut-up pear and a handful of frozen strawberries. And turned it on.

Oh my. It was so thick, smooth and delicious – and umm, so olive drab.

I realized it was probably a little thicker than needed for drinking (and the color really didn’t bother me), but using the same basic formula, for dinner I decided to try a cold soup, with an emphasis on making it look appetizing, too. Another two handfuls of kale, another pear, and this time a couple of kiwis. I’m not sure it’s possible to get a truer green than this!

As it was blending I wondered if I could freshen the taste with a squeeze of lime or a few mint leaves, but the kiwis gave it a little citrus-like flavor that didn’t need improving.

It’s served in my favorite tabbed soup bowl by Syracuse China (shown in the banner above) in the copycat Horn & Hardart pattern.

Berry happy

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It’s not that often we even allow ourselves to have biscuits, but here I am with back-to-back posts about them!

Eileen, a friend and neighbor, volunteered to go strawberry picking on Sunday to the only organic berry patch in our area – and that’s almost an hour away. She came back with 10 pounds of berries for each of us, two buckets each. So that’s how we spent Sunday afternoon: washing, hulling and freezing each berry individually on cookie sheets before packing them up in Ziploc bags.

But of course a few of those found their way into a separate bowl to be sliced and sweetened, ready for a rendezvous later on with biscuit shortcakes and whipped cream.

We couldn’t resist experimenting with presentation. The tiny blue compote (just 5 inches across) is the winner as far as I’m concerned. It’s Jackson China’s Delph pattern, sold frequently back in the day for service in Chinese restaurants.

We’re not sure where the Dairy Dell called home back in the Thirties, but filled with berries and cream, it captures that old dairy lunch atmosphere that we’re lucky enough to be too young to remember!

Breakfast for dinner

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Breakfast is probably our favorite meal, but it’s rare we sit down for a proper one. That’s why breakfast for dinner is always a popular fallback when we’re scratching around at the last minute, wondering what to have.

My mother made the best breakfasts. Fried herring roe cakes. Corned beef hash. Chipped beef on toast or biscuits. All with a side of buttered grits, topped with cheddar cheese if we were lucky.

I think all of us still dream about her chipped beef, hardly the SOS of Army infamy. She’d soak the salted beef to remove a little of the salt, and then fry it with butter till the edges frizzled. Next she’d add flour and cook it long and low, making a rich brown roux before adding milk to make a white sauce that was always tan, thanks to the flavorful roux.

(Note: As happens in families, one of my brothers has corrected me, swearing that it was our father who came up with the chipped beef recipe, and instructed our mother in its preparation. My reply is: maybe. But she still made the best breakfasts!)

But how to translate my memories of that saintly chipped beef to slightly healthier eating? The closest I can come on the satisfaction scale is to make sausage and gravy, made with Morningstar Farms sausage patties and a fat-free white sauce. I know: It sounds like white paste, but it truly is delicious!

I take several tablespoons of flour, put it in the bottom of a small nonstick saucepan and turn the heat on medium. As soon as it starts heating up, I stir it often, until the flour is thoroughly toasted and is an overall light brown.

Next I pour in skim milk – all we ever have in the house – and whisk it constantly so that there are no lumps. While continuing to stir, I add in a half teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce (you can get it vegetarian) and a small pinch off a vegetarian bouillon cube.

I never measure any of this. I keep adding milk until the sauce bubbles and is nice and thick. At that point, I taste to see if it’s salty enough, and if not, add a bit more of the bouillon. Once it’s done, I add a lot of black pepper.

Meanwhile, I’ve been microwaving the sausage patties until they’re overcooked. I don’t want them charred but do want them chewy; once they hit the gravy they soften up a bit. I slice each patty into about 20-25 cubes, add them to the gravy and serve immediately over split biscuits – the guilty part of the meal.

(And for anyone who hasn’t tried them, Pillsbury makes a line of frozen biscuits that are as good as any you can bake yourself.)

Also on the side are the ubiquitous sliced tomatoes topped with guacamole, and a poached egg topped with Beau Monde seasoning salt and pepper. And of course there’s another biscuit on the side, this one slathered with raspberry jam.

The featured china is Erwin, the popular stock pattern made by Carr China. I have to confess I always thought Erwin was pretty boring until we bought a big set of it recently – sold by the daughter of some folks who used to have a Virginia restaurant tucked on the edge of the Shenandoah Valley.

As it turns out, I’m now in love with Erwin. It has just enough of a clean Art Deco pattern but doesn’t overpower the food, and the brown goes with everything. We’re using platters from the set but have the fantastic grill plates and cups and saucers listed in the store.

Sliding between seasons

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Of course we’ve only been in spring for a couple of days, but with lots of intense thunderstorms this week and a couple of big, beautiful hothouse tomatoes lounging on the counter whispering ‘eat me’ every time I wandered by, I felt ready for a summer dinner. To me that means big flavor, quick preparation and not much cooking.

It seems like lots of people have a favorite kale, garlic and pasta recipe, but I wanted to try something a little different and incorporate those tomatoes, too. I started with about 4 T of olive oil, 6 cloves of minced garlic, a pinch of kosher salt, a pinch of red pepper flakes and the zest of a lemon. While water for spaghetti was coming to a boil, I “warmed” them in a large saute pan on medium low heat. I wasn’t trying to cook the garlic as much as infuse the oil with the flavor of the garlic, lemon and pepper.

I also put pecans in to toast at 350 for about 5 minutes and after washing the curly kale, cut out the ribs and sliced it into about quarter-inch strands. (I did “massage” the kale with juice from the lemon, another pinch of salt and a T of olive oil, the same way I do for salads, but I’m not sure it’s necessary for this dish.) And I sliced the tomatoes and diced them into half-inch cubes.

When the pasta was almost cooked, I added the kale and tomatoes to the pan with olive oil and stirred everything together over medium heat for a minute or two. I added the pasta and tossed it all together, making sure that all the sauce, kale and tomatoes were well mixed with the pasta.

I added a little extra salt at the end, plus black pepper, and served it, topping with the pecans and a little Parmesan cheese. This is a dish I’ll be making over and over again!

Animal lovers will have immediately noticed the plate the pasta was served on, with that smirky kitty presiding at the top. It’s a hard-to-find pattern made by Iroquois China in the 1930s for Katz Drug Stores, a Midwest chain that originated in Kansas City, Mo. The company’s trademark, that turned up everywhere including on its large signs, was the black cat wearing a bowtie. To see better photos of the china, click here.

Morning miracle

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I am the antithesis of a morning person, and the only thing that can get me up at the crack of dawn is some manner of command performance, in writing. And once up, things need to move very slowly for at least half an hour so as not to interrupt my imitation of being awake.

But Ed gets up with determination to meet the day, putting the coffee on and tending to the dogs. He deserves a hot breakfast. Is it fair for him to have to make that every day, too?

A story on Huffington Post a year ago saved me. It extolled the virtues of steel cut oats and said they could be cooked overnight in a slow cooker. And more important, made in a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup in a slow cooker, so that the only cleanup required is to wash the measuring cup … sometime later in the day.

Since then, I’ve experimented with proportions and different milk products, and you can, too. But here’s what I’ve come up with that I like the best:

You’ll need a slow cooker, steel cut oatmeal and 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup.

Fill the slow cooker with about 3 inches of water. This will provide a water bath (bain-marie – the French term) that will gently cook the oats without lumps. You want the water to come up to about half the height of the measuring cup.

In the measuring cup, put 1 cup of skim milk and 2 cups of water. Add 1/2 cup steel cut oats (do not use any other kind of oatmeal!) and a pinch of salt. Stir.

Put the measuring cup into the slow cooker, making sure the water level around it is not too high. Put the top on the slow cooker. I use a slow cooker that has a few bells and whistles, most notably a high and low heat setting and some program options. I program mine to cook on low heat for five hours, and when it shuts off, the warmer takes over and keeps it warm till we’re ready to eat, usually several hours later.

In the morning, take the lid off and using a pot holder or several layers of kitchen towel, lift out the measuring cup. Careful, the water will be hot! Enjoy it like it is, or dress it up with more milk, butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, dried or fresh fruit, toasted nuts. The morning I took this photo, I added a little brown sugar, dried cranberries and toasted pecans.

Now that you know the secret, you’ll find lots of variations if you do a search for slow cooker oatmeal on the Web. We’ve used soy milk, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, Silk Pure Coconut Milk and skim milk, and my favorite is still skim. But that’s just me. I have to admit, though, that the morning I made it with the Silk Coconut and added fresh banana slices in the morning was kinda tropical and delicious.

This will make enough for two or three servings.

I hope while you’ve been slogging through this you’ve had time to notice the beautiful footed bowl the oats are in. It was made by Syracuse China and is known as the Katy Ornaments pattern by fans of railroad china. Syracuse called it Thebes. It was used by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas (MKT) Railroad (or the Katy Line), thus Katy Ornaments, especially when produced by Shenango China.

With its handsome Egyptian emblems, it was a popular early 20th century pattern and versions were produced by many commercial potteries.

Adding to the barbecue divide

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I'd consider Curls Stroganoff gourmet fare only if served on a camping trip. So sad.

I saw yet another hackneyed food story today that delineated the difference in barbecue, namely North Carolina’s east-west pork barbecue divide. This reminded me that I took some photos of a recent dinner when I tried out Soy Curls, topping these strange rehydrated soy bean protein strips with a thick and spicy ketchup and vinegar sauce and pairing it with a toasted whole grain bun and cole slaw.

Confession: After an attempt to make the Curls do duty in a faux Beef Stroganoff, right, I did realize that they are not the perfect meat substitute in all instances, but in this case, they were.

Like so many of us who have given up meat, I was raised on it, and its taste and texture are still part of my culture. And it is a joy to have such a healthy alternative that fills exactly the right niche and most of all, tastes exactly right.

And how about the plate dinner was served on? Hand-painted Italian pottery, right? Maybe Vietri? Nope, it’s a Shenango China mystery pattern, produced somewhere around the mid-Fifties to mid-Sixties and still completely contemporary.

Every time I meet someone who truly knows Shenango, I’ve asked about this pattern (and a close cousin who might make an appearance one of these days). Each time, the collectors have said, yes, they’ve seen the pattern, and no, they have no idea what it was called or who might have ordered it.

I’m still waiting for that elusive Shenango catalog to show up that will reveal all.

Shenango China “Italian” Plate

Lusty chili

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This meal took place a few weeks ago, back when winter had more of a grip on us. But in glancing at the photos and the pagan sculpture that frequently graces the table, it seems like a good one to post now, what with the current branding of women as wanton sluts if they have the good sense to practice birth control.

I think I’ve lost my appetite.

But the meal was a good one, with the warmth and brightness of the three-bean vegetarian chili and oranges tempered by the blue of the Syracuse bowls and plate. With the exception of the tab-handled soup bowls by Syracuse in the same blue, all the other dishes are the Oakleigh pattern.

Oakleigh is one of our favorites. It looks like winter, with its sky blue and snow white oak leaves, but it is a welcome, cooling sight on the hottest days in summer. And it was popular, and popular usually means that it’s possible now to find a variety of pieces. You can always find the plates and platters to start a collection, and with patience the bowls, egg cups, creamers, sugar bowls and mustard pots will come your way, too.

I’ve been nosing around the pinterest.com site, as it seems most of my friends are, too, and I found the recipe for the Multi-Grain Batter Bread. It makes two loaves, requires no kneading and a single rise. There’s whole wheat flour in there, oatmeal, corn meal and unbleached white. It was yeasty good, down to the last slice of the last loaf.

Taco night

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Even though we’re both now retired, we still cling to the young children within us. When we’re under the weather, we predictably reach for the red-and-white tomato soup can and make grilled cheese sandwiches. The bread might be artisan sourdough now and the cheese not so plasticky, but it’s still those tender kids, not yet grown, who need the comfort.

And so it was when we found perfectly ripe avocados in this week’s organic veggie and fruit delivery that our inner children reflexively yelled for tacos.

Now we make them with whole grain shells, MorningStar Farms crumbles, a lower sodium taco seasoning that I mix myself (Alton Brown’s Taco Potion #19) and our own Spanish rice that’s no longer out of a box the San Francisco way.

(This might be the last time I use the crumbles as a meat substitute. I’ve never been wild about the flavor and it is way more salty than it needs to be. Prepare to be inundated in future posts with references to my new BFF Soy Curls!)

Kiwis – also from the week’s box and so close in color to the avocados – and extra sliced tomatoes rounded out the feast.

The tropical platter is Tepco’s Palm pattern, also found in brown. Tepco China was located at Point Isabel on San Francisco Bay and closed in 1968. No one ever praises the company’s quality control, but their striking graphic patterns are still much in demand more than 40 years later. Here’s a nice story on Tepco, complete with photos.

The bloodhound

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Sunday night supper was quickie leftovers from having some family stop by earlier in the day for lunch. What we had left was deviled eggs, potato salad and mock tuna salad sandwiches, with a lonely bloodhound sitting vigil at the top of the plate.

I believe this pattern was used at the K-9 Club in Chicago – a popular hangout for artists. It was made by Greenwood Pottery (located in Trenton, N.J.) between 1910 and 1915. So this plate is 100 years old, and yet as a tribute to its enduring quality I don’t hesitate to toss it in the dishwasher and use it over and over. Wouldn’t you?!

The recipe for the mock tuna is in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s book The Vegan Table, available everywhere online. If you choose this link at amazon.com, search for tuna, and you’ll find the recipe on page 72: Better Than Tuna Salad.

The only change I’ve made is to add some finely chopped onion, because that’s what my mother put in tuna salad, and that’s what I’ve always done, too. It has a fresh flavor and lots of satisfying crunch, and amazingly, it looks like tuna salad. How good is it? Good enough that Ed has been requesting it every week.

Hot chocolate and cold house

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Another gloomy and cold day here, and the heat pump is being repaired. What to do this afternoon but haul out what I consider to be my finest china – even finer than our Lenox Autumn – and make cocoa in hot chocolate cups from The Biltmore in Los Angeles. These are almost 90 years old and are just as beautiful as when they were new! They are German, made by Fraureuth.

Even holding them in my hands I can’t believe the design of those handles. A little whipped cream and a grating of chocolate and we stole a few moments of elegance before the dogs started demanding their dinner.

The chocolate chip cookie on the side is from the night a month ago when we needed cookies and we needed them now. Instead of chocolate chips, I used dark chocolate-covered almonds that I chopped roughly, plus a handful of pecans. I swear they were better than using chocolate chips, and they froze beautifully.

Biltmore Hot Chocolate Cups