The Care Package: A Hug in a Box

My oldest child left for her first year of college in September.  It was a tearful rite of passage for both of us.  Many phone calls and texts have since been exchanged since the semester began, and my daughter has enthusiastically transitioned from a homebody to an active participant in the student body. While she is testing her wings of independence (and I am trying not to think too much about what she might be doing, as much as I trust her), I know that a package from home is a comforting reminder that we are thinking about her.

Who To Send It To

A Care Package was the original unit of aid distributed by the humanitarian organization CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere) during World War II.  Although “CARE Package” is a registered trademark, the term has since been widely adopted as a generic term for a parcel of food or supplies sent for relief or comfort purposes.  While I sent my care package to my college student, others that would also appreciate the gesture might include:

• A Soldier
• Students in boarding schools
• An elderly relative who does not get out of the house much or is on a very tight budget
• A friend or family member who has moved far away
• Someone who has been out of work for a while
• Children at sleep-away camps 

What To Send

For college students, it really doesn’t matter what you put in a care package.  What matters is that you keep something coming for them to pick up at the mailbox. It can be as simple as a funny card, but $5 or $10 (or in my daughter’s case a $20) is always appreciated!

Food items are a Care Package Staple:

• Ramon noodles, Asian noodles, popcorn, and Healthy Choice Mac and Cheese….all that can be prepared in the microwave.
• Oreos and snack bars
• Fresh-baked breads, cookies and cakes. (I found this great tupperware tube that’s easy to store cookies in and pop in the box. It keeps them fresh and it’s very hard, so the cookies do not get crushed)

Get Creative And Make It Personal:

• Old family movies on DVD
• New movie releases
• Articles from our local newspaper, magazines
• Copies of old photographs from vacations past
• A hand-written note from a younger sibling

A Little Extra Pampering

• Socks, t-shirts, pj bottoms from Victoria Secrets (little items that roll and you can tuck in a package and use as extra packing padding)
  Bathroom supplies, such as nice body wash, make remover pads and lip gloss
• Chapstick and sun tan lotion (not that we need that in the New England right now, but my daughter is in the south, so it works!)
• Gift cards to major retail and restaurant chains (Best Buy, The Gap, Chili’s)
• Gift cards to nail salons or a favorite restaurant that is local to them
• A pair of tickets to a concert (not during exams!!)

How To Send It

I love the Priority Mail boxes at the post office.  The small or medium is great and you can actually stuff a lot into these little boxes and the rate for mailing them is pretty inexpensive, especially if it out of state! The next time you’re at the post office, pick up a couple of boxes, and you can drop something in the box whenever you come across an item that would be appreciated. 

But at the end of the day, it’s nice to know that someone at home is always thinking of them as they venture into this new chapter of their life!!

Back To School….But Not Back To Boring

Yes, my friends, it’s time to start thinking about the annual tradition of Back-to-School planning. While we still have a few more weeks of unscheduled bliss, admiring fireflies, and eating s’mores in the backyard with friends and family, if you are like me, the To Do list for post- Labor Day is niggling in the back of my brain. 

One of the nearly universal routines that can become so, well, routine, is packing the snacks and lunches for our kids. As we wander the aisles of the grocery store, or stare blankly into our pantries and refrigerators, it is always a challenge to pack delicious and healthy choices.  So rather than sending my teens to school with pre-packaged, over-processed foods, I’ve come up with some really easy-to-prepare ideas that they enjoy and are even good for them:

Healthy ideas for school snacks and lunches

• Fresh fruit  packed in re-usable plastic containers (like the ones you get from the deli)
• Yogurt with granola
• Ceasar salad, pack the dressing on the side in small container, sliced chicken to top salad
• Peanut butter and jelly, an old stand by!!
• Turkey and ham roll ups (I pack just the meat, sometimes the cheese gets mushy!)
• Boiled eggs, sliced and ready to eat
• Egg salad with lettuce packed on the side, so it’s fresh and crispy
• Sesame noodle salad, great and packed with veggies, put chicken on side to add in,
• Ritz crackers with slices of cheddar cheese (swiss and gouda are also good cheeses to use)

When the kids get home from school, I always try to have healthy and fun snacks ready for them:

• A big fresh bowl of fruit
• Blueberry muffins, fresh out of the oven
• Tacos, chicken and beef (they love this one!)
• Quesadilla, cheese and chicken (if I have some leftover!)
• Granola bars, variety
• Cheese, crackers and grapes
• English muffin toasted with peanut butter
• Fresh Fruit Smoothies
• Yogurt

Once September hits, the schedules get crazy, but I always make the kids’ favorite dishes.  With three teenagers, that sounds more difficult than it really is, and I can assure you that by making one item that each kid loves, all of the sudden family dinners become a great time to decompress and to share what’s going on in school. I always look forward to dinner after school starts, because it seems like end of summer is crazy and we miss a lot of this time together!

A Peak Into My Pantry

One of the life lessons in the kitchen that came to me as I raised a family is to always be prepared. Be prepared for that unexpected play date. For when the basketball team drops by.  For the off-the-cuff invitation to a picnic.  I discovered that by keeping some very basic ingredients in my pantry, I could usually whip up just about anything on a moment’s notice.  I took it for granted that everybody did this until just recently when I had several people state that they could never “whip up” anything the way I do because they weren’t cookbook authors. I whole-heartedly disagree.  Anyone can do this if you’ve got the basics on hand.  So, I thought I would offer a glimpse into my private kitchen sanctuary: my pantry. 

Basics for your pantry

These are the items that you would find in there, no matter when you dropped by:
Canned Artichokes
Canned tomatoes
Cayenne pepper
Chicken broth
Cinnamon
Creole seasoning
Cumin
Dry Rubs (Great when you don’t have time for a wet marinade)
Fish sauce
Flour
Fresh basil
Fresh ginger
Fresh rosemary
Freshly ground pepper.
Garlic
Lemon juice

Lime juice
Old Bay seasoning
Olive Oil (splurge on the good stuff if you can)
Red pepper flakes
Sea salt
Soy sauce
Sugar – White & Brown
Sun dried tomatoes
Teriyaki sauce
Thyme
Vanilla flavoring and vanilla beans
Varieties of dry pasta
Vinegars – Cider, Rice, & Red Wine
Whole nutmeg, grated
Zest – lemon, orange, lime
 
Also, always try to buy local. Local produce tastes far better than anything shipped 3000 miles, and it’s a great way to support your community.  Chop up raw yellow & zucchini squash along with a tomato or two, throw into a bowl of cooked rotini pasta with some oil, vinegar and spices, and you’ve whipped up an impressive pasta salad worthy of any unexpected guests.

Places to Go, People to Meet

After spending nearly four days dedicating my life to exhibiting at the New England Product Trade Show in Portland, Maine, I met some incredibly interesting people in that quaint

Greeter at New England Product Trade Show

New England metropolis: 

The Three Greek Amigos – After nearly five hours on the road, and then another three hours setting up the trade show booth, I was sitting at the bar, sipping on a much-needed cocktail with my colleague Joanne at the Armory Lounge in our hotel, the Regency. (this place is fabulous!)  Three friends ranging in age from mid-20’s to mid-50’s struck up a conversation with us. These guys were locals to the area, and after they found out that I was a cookbook author, shared some of their favorite local eating spots that they thought we would enjoy.  Self-proclaimed ‘foodies’, they were having their own lively debates among themselves as to which restaurant had the best bread/pasta/beef/desserts, including whose mother made the best Greek food.  Before departing for their next social engagement, they each promised to send a family recipe to me, and let me be the judge. 

The Chicken Farmer Girlfriend and the Moose Hunter Boyfriend – Wow! We definitely learned a lot from this couple that we met while eating dinner at The Corner Room, a casual Italian bistro with some of the lightest homemade pasta I’ve ever had.  This couple truly enjoyed seeing the shock on our faces as we learned about the ovulation life span of a hen (most hens will only lay 300 eggs in their life), that moose is a very healthy red meat (but cannot be sold commercially), and that between their chickens and moose (and home garden), they rarely have to go to the grocery store. I gave them my business card when he said that he would overnight a shipment of frozen moose steaks and a couple of recipes to use. I’m checking my mailbox every day.

Tom & Julie Moonlight – What an adorable couple! They were first-time exhibitors at the New England Product Trade Show across the aisle from us. Their booth showcased a beautiful assortment of jewelry that had been created with the use of domino or Scrabble tiles.  These young entrepreneurs also had “real” jobs (he is an engineer and she is a teacher) and two small daughters that they left with the grandparents for the weekend. What was so endearing about them to me was their passion for their product as well as their tenacity and determination to present themselves as professionals.  As the distributors stopped at their booth, Julie and Tom calmly deliver their presentation of the products and assist in the order selection.  Order form completed and distributor safely down the aisle, their exuberance for signing on a new store would bubble over and they would let us know the good news.  When it was time to break down our booths on Monday afternoon, we departed with exchanging of cookbooks and jewelry as gifts, and even more valuable, hugs. 

Of course I met dozens of wonderful and interesting people over the course of four days in Maine.  It is just a reminder that I don’t have to go to a trade show (or travel out of state for my cookbook research) to meet these kinds of people. In the rush of our everyday lives, it’s easy to overlook how many fascinating people we are missing out on when we don’t take the time to talk to strangers, even if it’s just for a few minutes out of our day.  I have a bunch of errands to run today in town…..I wonder who I will meet?

Chocolate Fondue: Party in a Pot

There is something so decadent about Chocolate Fondue that most of us are compelled to reserve its selection for only the most special occasions. But the reality is that it’s so easy to make, it’s a great ‘go to’ menu selection, whether hosting a fancy dinner party, or bringing the sweets over to a friend’s house to watch an afternoon football game. It really should be called “FUNdue” because it’s sure to bring a group of people together faster than just about anything else. 

Chocolate Fondue is most definitely a party in a pot!

There are dozens of terrific (and easy) recipes for the chocolate dipping part of the fondue. (I have included my favorite below).  But I have found that the hardest part of serving fondue is narrowing down the selection of items to be dipped!  The options are endless so I make my selection depending on who will be indulging with me, and how much time I have to reserve for cutting the dipping items.  If I’m short on time, I stick to items that can be eaten whole, like strawberries, Oreo cookies, and doughnut holes. More time allows me to cut up more fresh fruit or make Rice Krispie Treats. 

Easy Fondue Recipe

• 1/2 cup heavy cream, extra if needed to thin out chocolate
• 1 1/2 tablespoons real vanilla flavoring
• 10 ounces white semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips*
  Heat heavy cream at a low temperature until starting to thicken.

1. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until melted.
2. Add vanilla flavoring and more cream if mixture is too thick.
3. Pour into a fondue pot and keep warm as serving.  So easy!!

*You can substitute with regular milk or dark chocolate chips.

The Dippers

The Fruits

• Bananas
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Pineapple (Dried or Fresh)
• Dried Mango
• Dried Apricots
• Apples
• Cherries 

The Carbs

• Angel Food Cake
  

  Be adventurous!

• Pound cake
• Cheesecake
• Biscotti
• Oreo Cookies
• Gingerbread Cookies
• Peanutbutter Cookies
• Brownies
• Marshmallows
• Doughnut holes
• Rice Krispie Treats
• Caramels

For the More Adventurous Foodies

• Crispy Bacon Strips
• Hard Salami chunks
• Potato Chips
• Corn Chips
• Pretzels
• Spicy Curly Fries

So, this weekend, splurge on a little decadence. And if it’s a special occasion, all the more reason to indulge.

What Causes Garlic Breath?

With all the extra cooking that I did over the holidays, I realized that many of my recipes included generous portions of garlic.  The aroma of garlic as its being sautéed in mountains of butter is nearly impossible to resist, no matter what form the final recipe will evolve into. Crushed garlic in home-made salad dressing adds an extra punch that no bottled dressing can rival.  And a couple of whole cloves thrown into the boiling potatoes, for the mountain of mashed potatoes, bring another layer of flavor to a traditional side dish. 

But the end result can be deadly to anyone who comes within a foot or two of whoever enjoyed my cooking.  So, why is garlic breath so brutal?  According to experts (as reported by bathroomreader.com), the chemicals in garlic are called “thiols”, which are related to the chemicals in skunk spray! And if you eat too much of this close relative to the onion, even your skin will smell like garlic.

What gets rid of garlic breath?  Browning enzymes – the same things that make apples or peaches turn brown.  These browning enzymes can be found in lettuce, blueberries, mushrooms, and basil.  Good to know if you plan on socializing after a meal at my house.

“Magazine Mahem”

 If you are a foodie like me, then you probably subscribe to at least one food magazine.  I personally have my four favorites that appear in my mailbox every month: “Food & Wine”, “Bon Appetit”, “Every Day with Rachel Ray”, and “Gourmet”.  Oh yeah…..I still look longingly into my mailbox hoping the news that Gourmet was shut down by its publisher was just a silly rumor.  I will forever cherish the 135 issues that grace the shelves of my pantry.  But I digress. 

So, you slowly pore over every page of your magazine, salivating over the beautifully staged photo (which is, of course, perfectly paired with the ideal wine), practically tasting every savory ingredient listed, and thinking about how the recipe would be just perfect for your next dinner party/brunch/Thanksgiving/picnic at the family reunion/etc.  How do you keep track of all those recipes that you swore you were going to try for that special occasion?  Do you tear them out of the magazine?  Or maybe you go so far as actually getting the scissors out of the drawer?  Drat!  That recipe runs on the backside of the page of the other recipe that you wanted to cut out!  And once you cut them out, now what??!!  They almost never fit onto a standard size recipe card, and forget about seeing the picture of the recipe.

Or, do you tear out the entire page, and try to keep it in some sort of office folder or file.  Maybe you went as far as getting one of those accordion folders.  But this too is not a fail-proof method. 

I have discovered a great way to keep track of all my magazine recipes, and it’s so easy.  When I find a recipe that I want to try, I get out a blank recipe card and this is what I write:

Summer Squash Pizza with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

Food & Wine, October 2009

Page 90

Comments: 

I don’t have to write out a long list of ingredients, or complicated instructions.  I then file the recipe card in my recipe box, and chronologically file the magazine in my pantry.  Done.  This system allows me to keep everything nice and neat, and filed in an easy-to-research format.  It also allows me to look at the pictures and refer to wine pairings.  

When I finally have an occasion to make the recipe, I then enter comments on the card, such as:

• Really easy, great for weekdays
• Add more garlic
• Allow extra time for a lot of chopping
• Aunt Mary loved it but Uncle Joe hated the walnuts.
• Really good with Thai Green Salad w/ Duck – F&W, 10/09, p. 202

Recipe Card for to keep track of your Magazine Recipes

 If I make the recipe, and it was a bomb, then I throw out the recipe card altogether.   

I suppose some day I’ll transfer all my recipe cards to some sort of electronic data filing system to make it even easier to search.  But let’s not get too crazy. 

DiGard Events

Wine & Chocolate: The Perfect Pair

Chocolate and Wine: Heaven on Earth

Now that I have just released my third cookbook “What’s Cooking in New England?”, I am in the midst of all the chaos that goes with actually getting people to buy the book.  So, that means that I am out

Diane's 3rd Cookbook

pounding the pavement with interviews, book signings, and cooking demonstrations all over the six New England States.  And in between all of that comes the oh-so-glamorous administrative tasks of delivering cases of books, confirming orders, and generating invoices.  Not that I’m complaining.  I absolutely LOVE what I am doing nearly every minute of the day.  I just need about 360 more minutes in each day!

My first promotional stop of my book tour was in early October at The Savory Grape in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.  This is a cozy wine shop about 25 miles south of Providence that not only has an outstanding selection of wines, but also features a surprisingly large selection of exquisite stemware and gifts.  Combining my book signing with a wine tasting made for an event that was festive, delicious, and educational.  It was the perfect pairing for us all.  Which got me thinking….

How would a wine connoisseur pair my two favorites – wine and chocolate?  I mean, how does a mouthful of ‘Death By Chocolate’ cake get any better as it slowly caresses the tastebuds and releases staggering amounts of endorphins into our brains?  Patrick Barberet, Wine Sales Director of The Savory Grape, indulged my curiosity and compiled this list of wines that will take your chocolate experience to an entirely new level:        

Top Five Wines to Pair with Chocolate

2007 Chocolate Box Shiraz, Australia.  Aromas of chocolate, blackberry and spice are supported by sweet vanilla flavors in this wine. Silky smooth, this wine is round, yet bold.  ($18.49)

2007 Layer Cake Primitivo, Puglia, Italy.  This Primitivo, also known as Zinfandel, a lovely purple color with a nose of jammy black cherry and blackberry fruit. Warm and rich in the mouth, the blueberry fruit and chocolate jump out at you and coat the mouth nicely. ($16.49)

2006 Eos Estate Zinfandel Port, Paso Robles, CA.  Prunes, molasses, roasted walnut and maple syrup fill the nose palate shows rich plum, berry and espresso flavors.  A different and unique wine.  ($32.99)

Ferreira Ruby Port, Portugal.  This is classic ruby port.  Intense fragrance of very ripe fruit, full-bodied and rich with great balance between sweetness and fruit.  ($16.99)

2007 McManis Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, CA.  This rich California Cabernet is full of dark cherry, raspberry and chocolate oak flavors. The finish is full of dark fruit and soft, smoky oak from aging for seven months.  ($11.99)

Now, for all you die-hard ‘gotta have a glass of milk with my chocolate’ fans, I’m not discounting the pleasure of a gulp of ice-cold creamy milk to wash down those last crumbs of a chocolate-frosted chocolate cake.  But I now have a couple of options that will most certainly take me and my chocolate to a near-transcendental state of mind.   

The kids are away for the weekend, and my husband is at a conference.  Who needs dinner?  I’m going straight for dessert tonight……