Month: August 2014

Donuts. Beer. Sandwiches that fell behind the radiator weeks ago. Homer Simpson would do almost anything for his family, but his love of food knows no bounds.

To celebrate the fact that we’re about to watch every “Simpsons” episode ever, we decided to…

There’s always that moment in late summer (BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!) when you look in the fridge and discover you have way more vegetables than it’s possible to eat unless you do something drastic…like make soup.

This vegetarian soup is so easy and delicious that you’ll feel quite proud of yourself for making it–and healthy, too. The most work is in chopping up the vegetables, but don’t fuss over it. You’re not making soup for a five-star restaurant! You’re making soup that you will eat and enjoy, soup that will make you a healthier, happier person.

Great news, too: You don’t have to add any vegetables you don’t like! The choice is YOURS! For example, in this soup, I was not feeling like having onions or garlic (although I do love them) and so, this soup has NO onions or garlic. But if you can’t imagine a soup without them, go right ahead and add all you want. Isn’t freedom fantastic?

Maria’s Gluten-Free Summer Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• All sorts of chopped organic vegetables, such as carrots, zucchini, cabbage (napa or savoy are especially nice for soups), celery, greens, tomatoes, corn, potatoes… whatever!
• Water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Romano cheese

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a soup pot.
2. Add the chopped vegetables and sauté lightly (general rule is add the harder vegetables that need to cook longer first, and the softer, smaller vegetables last).
3. Add water until the vegetables are covered.
4. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. EAT! (I like Romano cheese for a savory topping, but you can add whatever the heck you want. The important thing to remember is this is an easy way to get heaps of vegetables into your diet. My teenager, who says she HATES tomatoes in soup, ate a bowl for breakfast and a bowl for lunch. Oops!)

For more from Maria Rodale, visit www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com

I’m so excited to share this three-ingredient dressing! Your search is over…This is the most amazing, easy to make, skinny ranch dressing!!! Each 2 tablespoons serving has just 30 calories, 1.8 grams of fat and 1 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS. So delicious as a dressing, dip, topping for potatoes and more. The possibilities are endless. I always have some on hand in my refrigerator. It’s a must try!!!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Chill Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1¾ cups buttermilk

½ cup Best Foods (Hellmans) light mayonnaise, see shopping tip

1 oz package Hidden Valley Ranch Original Ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, add all ingredients. Using a whisk, mix together until completely blended.

2. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to thicken, before using. To thicken quicker, place in freezer and set timer for 15 minutes. Store dressing in refrigerator for at least 2-3 weeks. The shelf life depends on the expiration date of your buttermilk.

Makes 2¼ cups total, each serving 2 tablespoons

Shopping Tip
Best Foods Light Mayonnaise (Hellmans) is the brand I like for this recipe. If you can’t find it, use your favorite light mayo.

Weight Watchers (old points) 1
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 1

SKINNY FACTS: for 2 tablespoons of skinny ranch dressing
30 calories, 1.8g fat, 3mg chol, 1g protein, 3g carbs, 0g fiber, 208mg sod 1g sugar

Note:
1. The nutrition facts were calculated on Spark People.com: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
2. The Weight Watchers POINTS were calculated on CalculatorCat.com: http://www.calculatorcat.com/free_calculators/weight_watchers_calculator.phtml

I have developed a serious dining pet peeve.

Actually, it was Kim’s pet peeve, but being the dutiful husband, I have immediately taken up the cause, right after 25 years of not noticing it was going on. It goes like this: We go out for dinner, are greeted by the host(ess), then we’re seated, a busser brings us water, and then our server approaches, about three minutes later, welcomes us and asks us, “Can I start you off with something to drink?” or the slightly more annoying, “Can I get you something to drink besides water?”

Setting aside for a moment that my eighth-grade study hall proctor, Mr. Truman, would have answered “Well I’m sure you can …,” the real problem is more insidious, and more steaped in classical chauvinism and “Mad Men” machismo than almost anything remaining in modern American restaurant culture. The real problem is that at least one of us, more likely neither of us, has chosen a glass of wine, or a beer, or a cocktail.

The conundrum is compounded if we have guests with us, and no, it is not merely that we only had three minutes to choose. It’s that there was only one wine list.

This wine or cocktail or beer list usually is placed in the center of the table: neutral ground as it were. Once upon a time (and still occasionally today), it always was handed to the senior-looking male at the table.

This is the 21st century, so the “neutral ground” placement is meant to show that we no longer live in a male dominated society and the lady is perfectly capable of choosing the wine — which of course, she is. But the point at which women’s liberation crossed a time line with the ability to serve wine — and again, beer and cocktails — by the glass was the point at which restaurants should have begun handing lists to every of-age person at the table.

Then maybe, just maybe, we might all have made our choices in the 180 seconds we’ve been allotted.

The one-wine-list convention harkens back to before the 19th-century creation of the modern restaurant concept, and as mentioned has everything to do with patriarchy. At Spanish dinner tables, for example, the head of the table (read: the father) would be given a traditional Spanish carafe of wine called a Porrón, which sported a long, tapered spout that facilitated reach and aim as he poured wine, at his sole discretion, directly into the mouths of his sons.

You’ll note I said, “sons,” because the mother and any daughters were not at the table — they were serving the meal.

Later, as haute cuisine took hold in France and then in America, stuffy maître d’s in long white aprons would present the head of the table with a menu and a wine list, and the lady would receive a food menu with no prices listed (she presumably should not worry her pretty little head about such things). Times have changed, of course, but sadly in most restaurants this outmoded convention persists. Even if the lady is allowed to know the prices of the food, at least 50 percent of the people at a table are forced to wait to choose a drink. This cannot stand.

I call upon all restaurants everywhere to shell out the extra couple hundred bucks to print more beverage menus. I promise you’ll get it back in increased orders, and in server efficiency when he or she does not have to return to the table after learning that not everyone has chosen a drink yet because, well, you know.

And patrons! You must do your part as well. Insist that your host seat you with enough lists for all at your table. Just because you want an Old Fashioned, doesn’t mean you need to be old fashioned.

My restaurant already follows this new convention. Let’s try to get all the others to do so as well.

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