I will likely share more when I have composed my thoughts, but my beloved Grandma Ana passed away this afternoon. When I googled "foodmomiac and Grandma Ana," I found a bunch of posts that I thought I'd share here for those who are interested in reading more about one of the most instrumental women in my life:
Grandma Ana hits the airwaves!
Grandma's recipe for Brickle Brot
I am stealing this idea from Linda, but I thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite holiday decor.
First, I have to share a photo of our menorah. I LOVE our menorah. It's from an art gallery in Ann Arbor, and I never get tired of it.
Next up are some of my favorite ornaments on our tree. I love this old photo of Dylie (with our funny
Starbucks ornament in the background):
Michael loves skulls, so this ornament is a favorite. It's next to the awesome Pat the Bunny book that actually opens up to reveal a fluffy bunny just like the real book:
Toledo is Michael's hometown and we lived their for seven years. It is also known as the "Glass City" so we have lots of blown glass ornaments from our time there. This sweet bird is one of my favorites:
I have a set of five of these Norman Rockwell papier mache ornaments. I don't know why I love them, but I do. :-) They are from Big Lots of all places!
Many of our most beautiful ornaments come from my sister-in-law Megen. This is an antique glass bell that she got us one year:
Megen also got us these glass baby-themed ornaments when Dylie was just a few months old. They are so sweet:
And of course we have lots of food and cooking-related ornaments. This KitchenAid one is my favorite of the lot:
What's your house look like?
This is my dear friend Lisa. Our husbands have known each other since Kindergarten (!!) and when we lived in Toledo, Lisa was a constant in my life. I remember calling Lisa and Todd just a couple of days after they brought their oldest son home from the hospital to tell them that we, too were going to have a baby! Now Ty is almost 11, and Dylan is 10, and I feel like an elderly woman, but that's a story for another day.
Lisa is the friend who introduced me to Bunco (which I greatly miss - why don't people play Bunco in Chicago??), and the person who brought over food after Dylie and Max were born. And the one dish that was ALWAYS included with this delivery was Baba Rice. Baba was Todd's grandma, and she was from Bulgaria. I love Baba Rice, but I could never make it properly no matter how many times Lisa walked me through it over the phone.
This has always been a source of frustration for me, so when we visited Todd and Lisa Thanksgiving weekend, I watched her make it and took very detailed notes. I am happy to report that I have now made Baba Rice twice and was successful both times. Woot!
And now I am sharing with you. Enjoy.
Baba Rice
2-1/2 cups Uncle Ben's rice (the brand is important here, so don't try to get all fancy. You need the original Uncle Ben's converted rice)
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
5 cups chicken broth
freshly ground black pepper
1 Tb. dill
1 Tb Spike seasoning or summer savory (Chubritza is the Bulgarian word for this)
1 tsp chicken bouillion paste (I use that Better than Bouillion stuff from the supermarket)
1/4 cup canola oil
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the rice in a 9x13 Pyrex dish. Add the celery, onion, broth and spices. Break the bouillion paste up into smaller pieces and distribute throughout the dish. Pour in the oil and mix everything well. Cover the pan with foil and place into the oven for an hour. Remove from the oven and mix up a bit with a fork. Enjoy!
A friend of mine sent me a tweet the other day asking for non-gimmicky gift ideas for kids who love to cook. I was a kid who loved to cook, and both Dylan and Max follow in my foot steps, so I had a lot of fun coming up with some fun ideas and figured I'd share them here too.
A Personalized Chef's Hat and Apron
In the picture above, Dylan is wearing the set that my mom got her a couple of years ago for Hanukkah. She loves it! Her name is embroidered under the apron pocket.
(Edited to add: The above hat/apron is actually from MICHAEL'S mom. Dylan has a pink set from MY mom.)
A Subscription to a Food Magazine
I taught myself to cook watching cooking shows (Frugal Gourmet was my FAVORITE) and reading food magazines. For kids who are ages 9 and above, a food magazine is a great idea. If they are anything like me, they'll instantly start cutting out all of the recipes that they want to make someday.
A Blank Recipe Book
I still have the recipe book that I got as a kid. It has recipes that I cut out and glued and handwritten recipes that I got from my mom.
Cooking Classes
We have a lot of options for kids cooking classes here in Chicago because it's a big city, but I think these types of programs are really starting to spread, so do some research. Maybe you can even find a local food blogger or private chef who will do private lessons in your home.
This year things will be pretty mellow in the household for Thanksgiving. We had originally planned to go to NY to celebrate with my dad, but my brother is living with us now (as I've mentioned), and he has to work both tonight and Friday, so we wanted to stay here with him.
Anyway, it will be just the five of us as well as our old au pair Vivi and two of her friends (Vivi is now living with another family in Chicago, but they are traveling). Despite a total guest list of eight, I am cooking enough for 20. I'm not sure if this is denial or psychosis, but I just love making Thanksgiving dinner, and scaling back is no fun at all. I am legendary for being a total beast about letting people cook with me. The only one who is typically allowed in my kitchen is my sister-in-law Megen, but since she'll be home in Kentucky, I have made the decision to let Dylan help me. She is now officially 10 years old, and that seems like a good age to start learning Thanksgiving meal prep, no?
On tap for pre-prep today is:
The turkey arrived yesterday from Gilt Taste. It is an Amish heritage turkey and it looks BEAUTIFUL.
and then she ate his brains: 
My favorite dish lately has been baked Acorn Squash it is SO delicious! It is fun and easy to make! I was able to make it all by myself, actually. Today we had it with chicken and a nice little salad! It is such a great comfort food and it adds a little sweetness to your dinner! I guarantee that you will LOVE this dish! Acorn squash is probably the best fall dish you can ask for! Today my Dad built a fire in the fireplace so it was really nice and cozy in our house.
I could eat acorn squash forever! You HAVE to try this dish!
Here is the link to the recipe I used:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_baked_acorn_squash/
The title of this post is no exaggeration. Shortly after declaring it, "the best meal you have cooked in five years," Michael told the kids they should give me a round of applause. And then Dylan stood up on the bench in the kitchen to turn that round of applause into a full out standing o. This is NOT the norm in my household, but damn, it was definitely satisfying.
Dinner was an old favorite that I hadn't made for years (mujadarah) along with a new dish that I tried for the very first time (lamb meatballs). The lamb recipe has a gajillion steps, so I am just going to link to it rather than adapt it and repost here. Click here for amazing lamb meatballs.
I will, however, share with you the recipe for Mujadara. This recipe comes from David Rosengarten, a chef who was a very big deal on the Food Network back in 1996 when I worked there. (He also wore a ridiculous amount of makeup when recording his shows, so when he'd swing by the cubicles to talk to the "little folk," we always ended up laughing over his oompa loompa face as soon as he left.)
Mujadara
1 cup green or brown lentils
1 quart cold water
3 large white onions, sliced into thin half moons
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup basmati or jasmine rice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. allspice
Bring the lentils to a boil in the cold water and then turn the heat down to simmer. Let them cook for about 25 minutes or until they are just about tender. Reserve 1.5 cups of cooking liquid (you likely won't be able to reserve this much, but you can just make up the difference with fresh water), and drain the lentils.
While the lentils are cooking, cook the onions in olive oil until they get nice and soft (the original recipe calls for five minutes, but this took me at least 10). Pull out 1.5 cups of the onions and set them aside. Cook the rest of the onions until they are caramelized and verging on crispy (again, they say five minutes, but it was more like 10 or 15). Drain these on a paper towel and set them aside.
In that same saucepan, add the cooked lentils, the reserved liquid, the softened onions (not the caramelized ones), the rice, salt and allspice. Cook this over low heat, covered, until the rice is tender, which should happen in about 20 minutes. Serve topped with caramelized onions. Sit back while your family applauds your efforts.
I actually meal planned this week - whoo!
Here's what's on tap:
Sunday (last night): pot roast, cheesy mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts and french green beans
Monday: Mujadara, lamb meatballs, greek salad
Tuesday: Staff Chicken, salsa verde, brown rice
Wednesday: Baked fideo, fresh veggie TBD (CSA delivery is Wednesday)
I'll need to figure out the rest once we get our delivery of veggies. What are you guys cooking this week?
Yesterday, we took a little family trip to our new grocery store, Mariano's Fresh Market. I am a little bit embarrassed by how excited I was to have this new store open up in our neighborhood, but there you go. I was VERY EXCITED! It's a supermarket, so you can get all of your household supplies, but they also have a terrific bakery, deli counter (they sell Creminelli salami - my former client and maker of the best salami ever), and they feature a nice amount of local produce, with the farm called out clearly on the signage.
Anyway, I'm also a fan of the meat counter. They have some really great looking stuff, including the insane hunk of meat pictured above. Michael grabbed this while I waited for my number to be called at the deli counter. It is called a volcano veal shank (linked here is a great primer on veal shank cuts) and he asked me to make Osso Bucco. Normally, as you'll see if you click that link, you make Osso Bucco with small slices of the shank, but I figured the recipe would work just as well with the mongo one he bought. I was right - SO good.
The recipe came from Epicurious, and was adapted from Tony Bourdain (link here to naughty picture of Mr. Bourdain for those who appreciate that sort of thing). Osso Bucco is a great meal if you are entertaining, because it can all be made ahead, it tastes amazing, and it is really impressive. We served it with some little roasted potatoes, but I would actually recommend serving it over polenta - I think that would be a much better receptacle for the yummy sauce you'll have.
Osso Bucco
One enormous veal shank or cut up, osso bucco style shanks (one per person if you do the small guys)
flour
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups dry red wine (we used a pinot noir)
2 cups veal demiglace or chicken stock (i used one cup of each - I found the veal demiglace at the supermarket in the freezer department)
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, smushed up a bit (i used a quart jar of homemade canned tomatoes from my father-in-law)
1 bay leaf
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly dust the shank(s) with flour and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven (I used my trusty Le Creuset), and brown the shank(s) on all sides over medium/high heat. This should take about 10 minutes total. Remove the browned shank and place on a plate. Add the butter. As soon as it melts, add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Saute for about 8-10 minutes until the onion softens up. Add the red wine, stirring up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Then, add the stock, tomatoes, and bay leaf and place the shank(s) back in the pot. Bring up to a boil, then cover, and place into the oven for 2.5 hours.
Remove from the oven when done and take the shank out, placing it on a platter to rest (cover it with foil). Place the pot with all of the sauce in it on the stove over low/medium heat and let it reduce for about 15 minutes. If there is a ton of fat, you can skim some off at this time.
Serve the meat with sauce spooned over top. Enjoy!
