staceylynn Food Journal

The mental & emotional kind, not the kind that gets x-rayed at airport security.

I have baggage. Everyone I know has baggage of some sort. Among my friends it is religious or cultural mostly, but educational, athletic and economic bags also sit on the luggage cart was well. We all have things that our family made us do, or wouldn't let us do, or were inflicted upon us by our peers. We swear these things will not happen to our children. We will do it differently. We will do it right .

My baggage is food related (with a carry on of organized sports issues). There was little variety in the meals in our house. I was labeled a picky eater at an early age, but never really encouraged to try new things. No one in my family ate new things either, at least not in front of me. I assume when my parents were in Japan and the Philippines my dad, at least, tried new foods. My mom I know existed on Mc D's french fries & milkshakes. It was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. But as a child I could not see that. I now realize that the limited variety of foods in my house was due to my parents own baggage. Dad had issues with things he would not eat from his poor childhood. Mom just lacks a desire to try new foods. So we were left with what what my dad was willing to eat of what my mom was willing to eat. Ground beef, pork chops, ham steak & the occasional grilled steak. Chicken was expensive when I was child, so we had something called 'city chicken', which was breaded pork kabobs. There was also spaghetti, lasagna & tuna noodle casserole. Vegetables were canned green beans, canned corn, canned succotash, frozen broccoli & cauliflower, both smothered in a cheese sauce. There may have been carrots, but I think not. My dad doesn't like peas. There were no other vegetables in my world, apart from iceberg lettuce

So really, looking back it is not surprising I was a reluctant eater. I can't stand canned green beans. Loathe them, always have, but as they were the veg of choice they were on offer 2 or 3 times a week. Limiting my already limited menu caused me to be labeled a picky eater. I never turned my nose up at zucchini or kohlrabi or asparagus. I was never offered them. Maybe I might have liked them. Maybe if I had seen my parents trying new foods from time to time I would have as well. Maybe not. Maybe the list of foods I refused to eat would have gotten longer. But I know now I was not and am not a picky eater. I like different things than my parents do.

Even knowing this on an intellectual level, I still carry this big bag labeled picky eater with me into every kitchen, grocery store, market & restaurant. "What's that thing?" a suspicious child's voice in mind wonders looking at a star fruit. "Eww, that's yuck." the voice says looking at the okra. "Are there onion chunks in that?" it ponders, looking closely at the stir fry on the plate. "You haven't even tried it yet."the adult me asserts. "Give it a chance." I seem to spend as much time trying to convince myself to try things as I do trying to convince my children. I succeed with myself only because the guilt of being a good example tends to overcome the reluctance. I have lived outside my parent's home for 22 years. I have made my own food choices for longer than I had to live with theirs. But the early training is still there. The reluctance to step outside the known, the encouragement to stick with the familiar. "What if is is yucky?" is the question in my mind.

I don't want that for my children. I want them to look at new foods and ask "What if it is wonderful?" So I eat the slimy okra & find other ways of preparing it. I eat the starfruit and the stir fry. I try my best to range outside my own food comfort zone & provide them with variety. And when people say my child is a picky eater I say "He isn't picky. He just doesn't like everything we do and that is ok."

(Promoted from the diaries - K)

The universe has been telling me to make deep dish pizza. I haven't made or even eaten deep dish pizza in about 4 years. Last week I read a blog post about a deep dish pizza crust and I thought "Mmmm deep dish pizza! I haven't had that in years". The next morning while waiting for an appointment and flipping through a random old magazine I came across an article about making deep dish pizza. "Odd coincidence" I thought. That night, I looked up from reading to see deep dish pizza being made on the TV. Apparently there was a whole show devoted to it on the channel I had chosen 2 hours earlier & then ignored in favor of a new mystery by John Maddox Roberts. At some point in the book the sleuth bought a 'loaf' of bread stuffed with olives, sausage & eggs and I shouted "OK already! I get the point! I'll make deep dish pizza tomorrow" and my startled husband said eagerly "Oh, you haven't made that in ages. I'd love some."

I couldn't find my crust recipe or the one I had just read on a blog, so I ended up googling for it and working out a consensus of ingredients and amounts from the widely divergent recipes that came up. Unfortunately I failed to write down what I did, so I can't recreate the crust or share the recipe. It involved 5 or so cups of flour, 3/4 cups of corn meal (I think), 4 teaspoons of yeast, a cup of water and an indeterminate amount of oil. Let it rise for an hour twice, then divide it in 2 and roll each out into a circle large enough to cover the bottom & sides of a greased cast iron skillet, with some overhang. This is a pizza pie with a top & bottom crust.

First layer sliced provolone and then fresh spinach

Then layer the toppings one at a time - in this case sausage, artichokes & chicken. After each topping add a layer of mozzarella or provolone

Do not fill this to the top of the skillet, stop about 2/3 of the way up. Place the other crust on top & press it down so it is below the top of the skillet, but the side crust still reaches the top. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough edges off of the skillet to seal the crust. Make a few vent holes. Top this crust with about 16 ounces of sauce. I covered this with shredded Parmesan. This was a mistake. It is better to do that when there are 15 minutes left to bake.

Bake at 475 for about 40-45 minutes & then let cool for at least 10.

This is why I say wait for the Parmesan cheese. It formed a hard crust and dragged itself & the sauce off the crust. It was still delicious.

We call it the Great Pie because of my older son. The boys watch a show called The Backyardigans & their favorite episode is Samurai Pie. It is set in Japan & the main character is apprenticed to the Empress' master pie maker. To complete his apprenticeship he has to make "The Great Pie" while holding off ninjas who want to steal the pie. The show never specifies what the Great Pie is made with and my sons always speculate about it. When I took this pizza out of the skillet my older son looked at and said with awe in his voice "Mommy, you made the Great Pie."

I only hope I can do it again.

(Promoted from the Diaries - Kate)

'Interesting' is not a word I prefer to have applied to my cooking. Not in the first few sentences anyway.
"That certainly smells..interesting"
"What an..interesting combination of spices."
"Interesting texture you have here."

These are not things I want to hear from people sampling my latest attempts to add variety to my routine dishes. Not right off, and not with that dreaded pause before 'interesting' that signals they don't want to say 'eeewww'. If, after telling me it tastes good & you like it, you choose to continue with 'interesting' observations, that is fine with me. It is also fine with me if you say you don't like the food and then continue to tell me what you find 'interesting' about it. Once I know whether you like it or not I can better understand your use of 'interesting', but if you start off with that word, I'm left wondering. Negatively wondering at that. If you thought it smelled good, you would have said so, wouldn't you? If you like the spice combination or the texture, you would have said so, right?

I can take being told you don't like something. Many times I'm not too fond of the result myself & would welcome a second opinion on just what went wrong. Too much curry powder? Over blending? Wasabi cabbage soup just a bad idea all around? If ask "What do you think?" I truly want your honest opinion - whether we are speaking of soup, what color to paint the living room or whether my butt makes these pants look big - I really do want to know. Tell me if it is good or bad first. Please don't tell me it is interesting.

I made my favorite variant of vegetable soup last night. It's green because it has spinach in it. I make other varieties of vegetable soup from time to time. They might be green because of broccoli or peas, or they might not be green at all, depending on what is in them. My youngest son always asks for 'green soup'. I only just learned tonight that he means this version of soup specifically. I have in the past agreed that I was making 'green soup' when asked, if I was making pea soup or cream of broccoli. He does not care for these soups & has always been somewhat upset at being served them. I did not realize, until I was cross examined this evening, that he had a specific soup in mind when he said he wanted green soup.

him: dat green soup?
me: yes it is green soup
him: de green soup dat I wuv?
me: yes the green soup you love
him: de green soup we always have?
me: yes, the green soup we always have
him: wif 'pinach? (while looking suspiciously at the pot) no broccli?

Apparently the spinach is the defining element.

Green soup is a spinach & potato soup. It also includes leeks, onions or garlic, depending on what I have on hand - normally leeks. Sometimes I add carrots, parsnips or turnips in various amounts. Often I make a sort of loaded baked potato soup, which is what I made last night.

I don't measure anything. First wash & chop up the white part of a leek. Then melt some butter in your pot. Saute the leeks until soft. Add the potatoes. I had a couple leftover roasted potatoes & added a third non-roasted one, peeling all of them & chopping them in bite sized pieces. Then I added a pile of frozen spinach (As much as fit in a pyrex ramekin)and chicken broth to cover. Bring to a boil & simmer for 30-45 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Remove from heat. In a seperate pan make a mornay sauce with cheddar. I removed a ladle or so of broth from the soup pot, the potatoes should be standing in broth, not floating in it and then used my immersion blender to puree the soup. Once it was the right consistency (we like thick soup)I added the mornay, stirring slowly. Sometimes it needs thinned a bit with the removed broth after this step. reheat until it warmed through. Serve with a sprinkle of shredded cheese & diced cooked bacon.