Eating towards a goal

A month in and it is also time to double down on the commitments we have all made for the New Year. For me promising to keep my office organized, folding the laundry the day it is done, and stop using the dryer as a dresser are not huge life changing undertakings but they make life at home a bit easier. For many keeping to that New Year new-you-diet is a bit more admirable than my folding the underwear and putting in the dresser in the bedroom.

In our home keeping to a “program” is not really an issue as I am the gatekeeper of all things bought and consumed, and you could say I am a tad militant (tad!) about what comes in. While I am the local food police I am not without a heart. And, since my husband proclaimed he wanted to get back to spinning everyday and shed some holiday cookie weight, fueling his body with clean, supportive foods became the parameters by which I made our meal – and was I was more then happy to oblige. I will confess that the majority of what we eat fulfills what he exactly needs. Really, what I was being told was sugary treats need to be kept a bay since he has no will power around a chocolate cake, pints of ice cream or any dessert item for that matter. I am no fool, and know if all things indulgent got cut off cold turkey the side doors of his car would be stuffed with crumbled up M&M wrappers, and I just cannot have that. Better I make truffles for him to quell that rising feed-me-sugar cry. I prefer to know the quality and hopefully quantity wont go awry. In truth diets don’t work a shift in consumption does and finding old pleasure in the new.

Chocolate Bark

6 ounces chopped semi-sweet chocolate

1-teaspoon rose water

1/4-cup chopped almonds

2-cup puffed rice or millet

Melt the semi-sweet chocolate with the rose water over a double boiler that is on a medium flame.

Line a 9-inch cake pan with plastic wrap so that it hangs over the sides.

Once the chocolate has melted remove from the double boiler, and thoroughly mix in the nuts and puffed rice to completely combine.

Push the chocolate mixture into the cake pan, and gently spread it out so that it is even and smooth. Refrigerate the chocolate from an hour so that is re-hardens.

Remove for the cake pan, and break into pieces.

Naughty or nice

 I want to be naughty!  But, really what does it serve? I doubt the women in front of me at the market will find her wallet any faster, oblivious to the fact that line winds down aisle 8, as I give her the evil-eye. The un-orchestrated flow of pedestrians and motorists looping across a shopping mall parking lot is a flip-of-the-bird and merry Christmas from both parties. Then the dreaded dinner you have to attend, as the obligatory plus one that your are, when really all you wanted to do is stay home and watch the Survivor Finale.

There are moments in this frenzied time of year when you are given pause. How touched you are by a handful of change that is getting passed along from customer to customer. Not that anyone was in need; a kind recognition that the strangers around us are not so strange.  And the most warming spot this time of year is the post office. A queue that on first impression guarantees to be over an hour and a muffled, shit, slips from your mouth, but everyone’s arms are hugging envelopes and boxes stuffed with words and expressions of appreciation and love.

It just really seems impossible to be naughty no matter how much I just want to order in Chinese, binge on Orange Is The New Black and not answer a single text. Nothing about this time of year resonates for me on a spiritual or religious level – we were absolutely forbidden to have a Hanukkah bush.  However, message of joy has a way of seeping in and you just have to smile at the madness. Eateries and homes sing with clanking silverware and a cacophony of conversations fill the room. Finally, Christmas morning stillness when all is eerily quite and peaceful, until the next day when everyone is wound up returning gifts.

Naughty Nut Squares – yields 30 pieces

4-ounces unsalted butter – melted

1¼-cup ground almonds

1-tablespoon all-purpose flour

1⅓-cup unsweetened shredded coconut

6-ounces white chocolate – roughly chopped

½-cup chopped macadamia nuts

½-cup chopped pistachio nuts

1-can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

Pre-heat the oven to 350-degrees.

Pour the butter into an 8-1/2 inch by 8-1/2 inch pan.

Mix the ground almond and flour together, and then sprinkle over the butter.

Then distribute the coconut over the almond mixture. Then scatter the nuts and white chocolate over the coconut. Finally drizzle the sweetened condensed over the nuts. Do not mix the concoction.

Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack, and cool completely.

 Cut into approx. ½-inch squares.

And, they continue to come

The start of this summer has been a scorcher punctuated by four straight weeks of not a drop of water falling from the sky. When the dry spell finally broke, it rained across the road but not a drop managed to find its way into the backyard. The large elm or oak, I am not sure what it is, has dropped its leaves in reaction to this starvation and much of the lawn crunched under foot. However, down by the garden a ring of verdant, healthy grass continued to grow as it syphoned off water from the daily dosing I gave the garden.  Amazingly, I lost nothing though I will admit to a less than prolific cucumber output, which is a disappointment to my pickling jars.

I think the tomato plants might have preferred a more consistent water supply though I wont complain about its output. It is the other “tomato” in the garden that is overwhelming me – those husk tomatoes clearly loved this summer. Their generosity has been felt by almost everyone I come in contact with as I foist upon them a bag full of these giftwrapped gems. And, I still find I have a more than I can eat on any given day.

In the cupboard are preserves and conserves; the chest freezer has a few gallon-sized bags filled, suspended for when there are just a memory, and dinner has featured them in salads and desserts.

I think even if I planted them with a bit more thought toward succession harvesting I would still be dazed by its daily volume.

Husk Tomato Bread – yields 7x3 loaf 

½-cup canola oil

3-eggs

1-cup sugar

2-teaspoons vanilla extract

2-cups husk tomatoes

2-ounces chopped white chocolate

2-cups all-purpose flour

2-teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.

 

Butter and flour a loaf pan.

In a work bowl whisk the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla together until thickened and pale. Stir in the husk tomatoes and white chocolate.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix the flour into the eggs to combine. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake in the oven for 35 t 45 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. 

Cool on a wire rack, and invert once cooled.