Loving Leftovers

I love leftovers more than the original Thanksgiving meal. The past few days I have enjoyed leftover mashed potatoes for breakfast with my toasted molasses sourdough oat, cornmeal whole wheat bread spiked with cashews and raisins.

For lunch we've been eating slices of leftover turkey on toasted whole wheat sourdough bread topped with horseradish, mayo, and Bob's home made cranberry chutney.

I'm fantasizing about making a Frank Lloyd Wright gingerbread house!

Frances Moore Lappé

I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.
-Frances Moore Lappé

My whole mission in life is to help us find the power we lack to create the world we want.
-Frances Moore Lappé

The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the earth.
-Frances Moore Lappé

Hope is not what we find in evidence. It is what we become in action.
-Frances Moore Lappé

Recent science shows that when we observe an action it affects our brains, via "mirror neurons," as if we ourselves were acting. It literally changes us. So, in a basic sense, seeing courage in action can actually makes us braver . . . one person's courage has such unpredictable power.
-Frances Moore Lappé

Loretta LaRoche

This Thanksgiving celebrate the now of chow! Lets take ourselves a little less seriously and lighten up!

-Loretta LaRoche

Woonsocket Dynamite Recipe

Woonsocket's Winning Dynamite Recipe 2008

By Lynne Leroux and Michelle Marcotte

Brown: 5 lbs. of Hamburger (70/30); drain fat

Add: 12 cups of diced green peppers
12 cups diced onions

Cook: 15 minutes

Add: 1/8 cup oregano
1/8 cup basil
1/8 cup Italian seasoning
¼ cup granulated garlic powder
1½ tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
¾ tablespoon crushed red pepper
1½ tablespoon of hot sauce
2½ cups tomato sauce
2½ cups tomato paste
2½ cups crushed and concentrate tomatoes
½ cup of sugar

Simmer until peppers are tender
(Do not cover)

I found this recipe for Woonsocket's most famous food and used it as a guide for making a smaller quantity. I added celery because I had some on hand, and skipped the sugar and added leftover red wine in it's place. I also added more red chili flakes. You can't go wrong with this universal soul food. Make a pot of pinto beans to add mid week and turn the leftovers into a chili. Enjoy and consider sharing with your neighbors. World peace happens one meal, one song and one story at a time.

Coffee

I've discovered I LOVE generic coffee! Stop and Shop breakfast blend for 2.99 a can, the Tetley Tea equivalent of coffee. Sadly, I can't enjoy tea anymore. For some reason (histamine allergies?) it tumbles my tummy. But I am lovin' simple coffee - no sugar and skim milk so you can taste the coffee. I told Bill it's the kind they make at McDonald's, Burger King, all gas stations, and all the Cub Scout & PTA & AA meetings. What some people call bad boring coffee I love!!! To me it tastes like hot cocoa but better because it's not sugary.

Coffee

Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and as sweet as love.
-Turkish Proverb

Gerardo's Espresso

Our pal Gerardo showed us how he lovingly makes espresso every day using Israeli Turkish coffee he found at Job Lot. Now I am making one tiny cup of it each day too. I mix the hot coffee with a cup of hot milk in a big white ceramic mug. To me, it tastes like hot cocoa.

Apple Butter

When I was sixteen I had this fantasy of making apple butter for Bob Dylan. I loved his music and imagined making him this gift. Last night I fell asleep with a vat of apples simmering on the stove top. When I got up I added cloves, ginger, sugar and a bit of apple cider. Then a few hours later when all the liquid was gone, I strained the reduced apple mush through the ricer. I filled four small jars with apple butter!

Farm Life

There’s nothing better than raising your family on a farm. The kids develop a love of the land; they all have responsibilities; and they learn first hand about life and death with the animals. It prepares them for things to come.
-Ed LaPrise, Rhode Island

Gingerbread Hermit Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix all of the dry ingredients ingredients together in a big bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together and then combine them. You can test the batter by tasting it before baking. I decided to bake these gingerbread hermits like brownies - I spread the batter into one greased 9 by 12 inch Pyrex baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a test skewer comes out clean. Let cool. They taste even better the next day.

1/2 cup shortening or oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup warm coffee
1 egg
3 cups whole wheat or white flour (add more if needed)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (less salt if using white flour)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cloves (optional)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 tablespoon of cocoa (optional)
1 cup raisins (add more if desired)

Soup Season

This time of year I love to get out my vat-sized stainless-steel soup pot. Last week I combined two bunches of chopped kale, four chopped sweet potatoes, chopped stalks of celery, a few gigantic chopped onions, chopped cloves of fresh garlic, and a pound of precooked beans. It all went into the pot along with water, extra virgin olive oil, salt, my neighbor Armand's dried oregano, freshly ground pepper, and cumin. I simmered the chopped vegetables for a few hours. We lived on this fabulous soup all week, accompanying it with cooked brown rice on some nights, and serving it with corn muffins or sourdough wholegrain bread on other nights!

Sold!

Last night my painting "Eggs" sold at the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative Ten by Ten show.

You can view this painting here.

Corn Muffins

I've been on a corn muffin bender baking these muffins every morning to warm the kitchen. They are fast, wholesome and delicious and a great lunch box food. I have a love of baking in cast iron pans but any muffin tins will do.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 or 400 degrees. Mix up all ingredients into a batter in a big bowl and pour into greased muffin tins. Fill the muffin cups half way to allow room for expansion.

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup corn oil
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoons baking powder

Bake muffins for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 or 400 degrees.