Eat a Still Life



Still Life by Paul Cezanne

The Augusts of my childhood were lazy days of reading under a tree, fresh tomatoes and corn from the garden and hours of swimming in the village swimming pool. It was our last month of freedom before the routines of school resumed. A bit of that August feeling remains at my core. August is not the month for new starts. I don't want to miss the August perfect days in the yard, at the beach, hiking the hills. There are books to read under the tree and fresh fruit - an abundance of fresh fruit - for snacks, salads and dessert, freeing kitchen time for movies in the evening, leisurely conversation with neighbors and daydreaming.

Last night I asked my granddaughter if she'd rather have a bowl of chocolate ice cream or a bowl of strawberries. No hesitation. A bowl of strawberries.

There were two lean, beautiful, athletic dancers in my 1970s college art class. They had that walk. Their ballet bodies turned heads. They were regal. I remember the blond one snacking on raw almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds and pepitas while she painted.  "How exotic", I thought.

These two examples have confirmed my conviction to suggest to our readers that for a day, (or a week, or a month), we substitute all snacks and desserts with fresh unaltered fruit and vegetables and nuts. It's August. Simple, portable, fresh is what I'm suggesting. And vegan.

Here are some images to tease you.

You are attending a lecture and you feel your brain begin to fog over. A couple of deep yoga breaths are not enough to revive you. You reach into your briefcase. You pull out a banana and stealthily peel it. It makes not a sound. You tear off a piece. Silence. Into your mouth and down the hatch, potassium, vitamins B6 and C. This is the perfect fruit for those times when you wish to replenish your energy undetected.

You are at the movies. All around you viewers are throwing popcorn, milk duds and gummy bears into their mouths, eyes glued to the screen. You brought a bunch of grapes. You pull them off the stem, one at a time and pop them into your mouth. Same action, different result. No tired, heavy aftermath for you.

You are leaving the gym after a big workout. You take an apple out of your gym bag and as you push open the door and head to your car, you take a big, loud, juicy bite. Sexy.

You are at work. It's break time. Everyone heads to the machines in the break room. You have an avocado and a little knife in your desk drawer. You expertly cut the avocado in half, take out the pit, sprinkle a little salt and pepper (who doesn't have a little salt and pepper in their office drawer) on one half. You look up. Your boss is watching you. You pick up the second half, this miracle fruit that comes with it's own bowl, offer it to your boss and say, "salt and pepper?" Points.

The family is gathering. You bring the fresh fruit. Oh-h-h-h-h.

At the end of a week, your taste buds will think a Snickers bar is a lot sweeter than they remember. At the end of a month, it's possible that the scale will show you've lost a pound or two.

There are other advantages to offering fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts for snacks and desserts. Children can help themselves. They are portable and are easy to clean-up. Most don't require refrigeration. There is an appropriate choice for every occasion - friendly, stylish or exotic.

This is August, the take-it-easy month before the kids go back to school, families come home from vacations and the freeways and shopping centers return to pre-summer flows. August is a month of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and nuts, straight out of the still life bowl. Now that's a memory to nourish.

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

It's that time of the year when you can't ignore the fruit. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, pears, bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, apricots etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Why even try?

At our house, where we have a 6 year old with a skeptical palate, a bowl of fresh fruit is never refused. I think she might turn down a cookie in favor of a bowl of strawberries, tho I admit, it's not been tested. The smells coming out of the kitchen today had her confused. Balsamic Vinegar Reduction crawls up your nose when it's cooking. I suggest you open a window or two before you get started.

Making this sauce is simple. The recipe I offer you today is just the beginning of what you might invent yourself. A balsamic vinegar sauce is good on fresh fruit, green salads, with quinoa, or potato salad (and meat).

Simple Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 whole cloves

1 tsp orange zest

Combine all of these ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil over med heat. Cook until you have 1/2 cup of liquid. If you want a thicker sauce, keep cooking until you like what you see.

This recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

Think about adding cumin, mint, basil, thyme - not all at once silly. If your meal has an Italian flare, basil and thyme might blend with the menu - like that. Let your nose be your guide. Balance the sweet against the bitter. Maybe an arugula salad with sweet fruit and SBVS. Like that.

Have fun with it.

Coconut Custard Fool

Tropical Fruit

1/2 of a large pineapple, chopped in 1/4 " pieces
4 kiwis, peeled, cut into large pieces
1/2 of a large papaya, peeled, seeded, cut into pieces
1 basket of strawberries, hulled, chopped

Syrup
3 cups water
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup dark rum

Coconut Custard
1/2 cup corn starch
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
2 cups coconut milk


Martha Stewart inspired me to fool around with her tropical fruit and whipped cream dessert. She tells us that the name came from England. You can go to her website (marthastewart.com) and browse many variations of Fools. With fresh fruit starting to show up in our super markets, I bought kiwi, pineapple, papaya, and strawberries. Along with dark rum...Bru ha ha ha. This was my type of dessert.

What to do about that whipped cream? Vegans don't imbibe cow juice of any kind. Honestly, I don't think that the non-dairy whipped toppings should be the type of food vegans put in their bodies. Yes, I've known the junk food junkie/vegan type before. If you are vegan purely to free the animals, then the thought of eating manufactured, unnatural, unhealthy substances might seem like a small trade off. Do I eat junk food? Of course I do. But I don't want to give into it here.

A vegan custard made with coconut milk pairs nicely with the fruit. I found this on a vegan recipe website, vegweb.com. It is so simple and quick to make. Also, if you have ever cooked milk with eggs in a sauce pan, you know how easy it is to burn the bottom and taint the flavour of your pudding or custard. I happened to be dual tasking. Well, let me just come out and brag about texting on my phone while stirring the coconut mixture on the stove...nary a scald!!! I hope people are impressed with my technical prowess. Although, it could be that this is just one fool proof custard recipe! Feel free to substitute the almond milk for soy milk.

1. Place each fruit in its own bowl. In a medium sauce pan, combine water, sugar, vanilla, and lime juice. Bring to boil, remove from heat, pour in rum. Pour syrup over each fruit and set aside for at least 2 hours. you may cover and refrigerate overnight too.


2. Whisk together the custard ingredients in a medium saucepan, Bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat until it thickens, constantly stirring/whisking to keep texture smooth.


3. Transfer to serving dishes and refrigerate until set.


4. Drain fruit but reserve syrup. Puree the kiwi and papaya separately, adding syrup if necessary for a consistency of applesauce.


5. Layer the fruit on top of the custard. Start with the pureed fruit, then pineapple and strawberries.

Yet Another Fruit Cake

I missed last Tuesday as I was up to my armpits in work and not feeling very much like writing or cooking. I do however cook almost every day in the interest of eating well and not busting the budget. It is ironic that when I am working the hardest that my diet suffers. Grabbing a bite on the run is not a great way to eat healthy at a time when you need good nutrition the most. I have discovered that eating vegan one day a week does not require as much forethought that I originally thought it would. I often find myself eating vegan without planning or knowing. By eating vegetarian it requires only small modifications to eat vegan.

I was listening to a local high school radio station the other day and the announcer was giving tips about eating at the holidays, more specifically not over eating. The way she tells it, is that the holidays are about so many more things than food. What a crock. The holidays are all about food. While we may not want to binge and bulge, food plays an integral part in holiday celebrations, fond memories and comfort once again. It does seem to me that we Americans have a lot of hang ups about food and that they do not serve us well. The anti carb craze, the grapefruit/high protein/liquid/pomegranate/white wine with a cracker and one grape diets give us a skewed view of what food is and should be. Remember the Fit for Life diet that wouldn't let you eat fruit with dairy? The high protein diet where you loose five pounds and your gall bladder too? We are afraid of food.

I'll admit to a few food hangups myself but I really believe that the holidays are a time you should relax a bit and enjoy family, friends and food. It is a bit problematic for me as I am a florist and am usually in a catatonic state by the time Christmas arrives. I do however resolve this year to stop and smell the roses a bit and enjoy some wonderful food. I am about to embark on a life changing change of venue and I need to relearn how to value some of life's simple pleasures. I need to relearn how to relax. It will be a challenge. I give my all to a job I love and stepping back is a concept I have a hard time with. All or nothing is my motto! Perhaps this blog and the resultant good food will help me to change my obsessive ways.

My last blog was about fruit cake and I encourage everyone and anyone to try the recipe. While I am fighting to limit bulge, the other half is on a twelve meal a day diet. So the thirty two servings were gone within three days. For the rest of the month I am going to experiment with holiday desserts, making them vegan and eating every one of them. Screw the fat and calories. Today, Pan Forte, an Italian Fruit Cake. It is more of a candy than a cake and is really quite healthy eating.Full of fiber and protein and WAY better than those protein bars that are all the rage. On Tuesday we substitute agave nectar for the honey (which I am still not sure why we are not eating). Next week we make Pannetone vegan and then I will try to make those thumbprint cookies that my mother was so great at baking. Talk about fond memories!

Pan Forte

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 cup almonds toasted, whole or slivered

1/2 cup hazelnuts toasted, whole

1/3 cup figs, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup prunes, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup golden raisins

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup agave nectar(or honey)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

confectioner's sugar for dusting

vegetable oil spray

Combine nuts, fruit and spices. Mix in flour.

Bring sugar and nectar or honey to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for two minutes after the sugar is dissolved. Stir into flour/fruit mixture quickly with a wooden spoon and then quickly spread into an 8" cake pan that has been sprayed with vegetable oil spray and lined on the bottom with parchment. Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for thirty minutes and then cool on a rack in the pan for two hours or overnight. Take out of the pan, dust with sugar, slice and enjoy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.


Observations:
I considered making this with maple syrup as I had some grade a that I got as a gift. I think it would have been lovely and is probably easier to get in some parts of the country than agave nectar. I do not have and 8" pie pan so I used a 9" pan and I baked it five minutes less. It turned out thinner but still tasted great. Some recipes I found include chocolate. I think it would be a great addition. Who does not love chocolate? Don't expect it to taste like an English fruit cake, it does not. It tastes much better!

Who are you calling a Fruit Cake?

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to feast, say thanks, deck the halls, wrap the gifts and tell Aunt Agnes with a straight face that yes, you really do love receiving her leaden, citron filled fruit cake every year. No, it's wonderful, really! On the flipside, it does taste better than what you buy at the local grocery store or from those fancy boutique bakeries that all seem to be headquartered in Virginia and who just happen to sell hams, peanuts and petit fours as well. if you are lucky, Aunt Agnes made it at least a month before you got it and it has been soaking in rum or bourbon since then. My mother made hers right after Thanksgiving, soaked them in rum and set them out on the enclosed porch to soak up that rum for three or four weeks. I attribute my early fondness for alcohol to those fruit cakes. Or perhaps it was all that wine I poured as an altar boy. No matter, back to fruit cakes.

Information regarding the origin of fruit cake is all over the Internet as are a plethora of recipes. All of them incorporate nuts and fruit and a lot of sugar to sweeten and preserve. Jokes there are aplenty including Johnny Carson's assertion that there is really only one fruit cake that was given as a gift and just keeps circling. If you are in the area in early January, Manitou Springs, Colorado hosts the annual " Great Fruit Cake Toss" where the record is 1,420 feet, set by a group of Boeing engineers who built a mock artillery piece named the "Omega 380" to propel the fruit cake.

I have been hauling around a fruit cake recipe for the last fifteen years or so from Cooking Light magazine. It is attributed to Shawna Chapman of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. I have not made it for some time as it makes thirty two servings. Of course you can freeze it. Or, you can bake it in twenty mini loaf pans and give it as gifts. I have never had the courage to give fruit cake as a gift. I am just not ready for the inevitable jokes. However, this is the best fruit cake I have ever tasted and nothing like those cloying,sweet, heavy cakes that are in abundance. It does have maraschino cherries (never liked em) but no preserved citron. It is fluffy and light and when made with eggs it has one third fewer calories and two thirds less fat than the traditional fruit cake. It is even lower in fat if made with egg substitute. The Tuesday Vegan made it with ENER G Egg Replacer that I bought at Whole Foods, with wonderful results. It is light and fluffy and the egg substitute combined with the baking soda leavened it nicely. It was finished ten minutes sooner than the recipe states. I have no idea if the egg replacer had anything to do with it or it was my fancy new oven. As oven temps vary, I would suggest you check on it after being in the oven for an hour.

3/4 cup maraschino cherries undrained

1 16 oz jar ready to serve prunes in heavy syrup undrained

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

4 eggs (or equivalent amount of egg replacer)

1 cup chopped walnuts

3 tablespoons whiskey

1 15 ounce box raisins

1 15 1/4 oz can of crushed pineapple, undrained

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

vegetable cooking oil spray

Drain cherries, reserving 3 tablespoons juice. Cut in half. Drain prunes, reserving 6 tablespoons syrup. Pit prunes.

Cream sugar, shortening and eggs or egg substitute at medium speed of a mixer for two minutes. Stir in cherries, reserved cherry and prune juice, prunes, walnuts, whiskey, pineapple and raisins. Combine flour and dry ingredients, add to creamed mixture and stir well.

Spoon batter into a 10 inch tube or bundt pan coated with cooking oil spray. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick or wooden skewer comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack, remove from pan and let cool completely. Store in tightly wrapped plastic wrap. Slice and enjoy.

I hope your holidays are happy and that you have plenty to be thankful for. I know I do.

" I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, old and new."

Ralph Waldo Emerson