I am behind on a lot of things lately: work piling up, overdue on cutting both our lawn and my overgrown hair, embarrassingly late thank you notes still waiting to be addressed, and neglecting this blog!

A few weeks ago, I managed to plant some greens in our garden so we will be eating our own organic salads soon. While tending to our edibles, I noticed that the rhubarb is already up and some stalks are nearly ready for harvest. It reminded me that I had a few bags of frozen rhubarb in the freezer from last year. I meant to enjoy the chopped rhubarb all winter in muffins and breads but the bags were buried and forgotten in my meager one-drawer freezer.

One of the simplest ways to enjoy rhubarb is in a sauce or compote. I emptied a bag of frozen rhubarb into a pan along with some fresh strawberries and a little sugar and let the stove do the rest. The bright red sauce is the perfect balance of tart and sweet. Spoon it over angel food or pound cake or atop ice cream. I’ve found it dresses up a dollop of Greek yogurt making a nice, breakfast treat.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

2 cups chopped rhubarb fresh or frozen
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon water
2 cups sliced strawberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)

Combine rhubarb, sugar, water and strawberries in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft, about 5-10 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract. Serve warm over cake or keep in the refrigerator for a few days and spoon over yogurt or ice cream.

I have not been posting regularly and haven’t shared many recipes. Every time I start a post, I end up staring at the screen, typing a few sentences, deleting them and then snapping my laptop closed. The past month delivered some major life changes and things have not been easy. I was reluctant to be overly personal on Whipped but our current situation is all consuming so it has proved impossible for me to post without acknowledging our circumstances.

In January, I wrote about some major life changes I was putting in place. I followed through and I slowed down my work, started writing more and truly found balance between motherhood, blogging and professional endeavors. That lasted about a month. And, because it was short lived, I think I will always put that month on a pedestal as one of the happiest in my life.

Mid February, things started falling apart. We had some trouble with schools that left us wondering if we would have a place for Mini Whipped to go next year. Then, on a random Tuesday after lunch, my husband found out that his job was being eliminated. He works in banking and his situation is not unique but it completely blind-sided us. For the past year, he worked more than ever, was succeeding at his job and felt like he had just hit his professional stride. Wrong industry, wrong time.

We’ve learned that the shock of such change is worse than the actual change itself. Because I had severed many of my professional contracts in an effort to balance my life, we found ourselves suddenly disconnected to the daily lives we were accustomed to. I was not tied down to contracts, school decisions were up in the air and my husband had no job. A roller coaster of emotions followed bringing writhing fear and panic followed by a vacant calm that things were out of our control. During breakfast I would feel deeply sad about losing the newly acquired, wonderful life I had just worked so hard to put in place and by lunch I was elated and free as I searched online for international house swaps.

Often people say that things happen for a reason and that something better is waiting for us. I was feeling SO happy in January that it was hard to see that something better was possible. But, as the weeks have passed and my husband has spent more time with the kids and we have explored new life plans, things are starting to fall in place and have meaning. He is looking more alive and has a sparkle in his eye that I now realize had been dimming due to his busy work schedule.

(This is where the story turns from a little sad to very hopeful.)

Just recently, we made a big decision to move forward with an entrepreneurial idea we hatched about a year ago. There were so many signs that we were meant to take action but our status quo was too comfortable to take the leap. Perhaps, just maybe, things DID happen for a reason? As my husband put it, “I guess we weren’t listening to fate so life gave us a big sock in the nose.”

It is a little early to divulge what our idea is because some initial steps could still turn up roadblocks that halt our plans. But, I feel a little tickle in my tummy as I write (and it isn’t because I am craving a doughnut.) We have done a lot of soul searching and no matter what happens this year and beyond, we have confirmed a few things. We accept that change is inevitable. We are not afraid of a little sacrifice and hardship, especially if it is needed to make change. We will spend energy on the things we can influence and we will not waste energy on things beyond our control.

So, there you have it. Now that I have been honest with you, perhaps I can begin blogging properly again. I waffle about how much personal information is appropriate to share on blogs. It is certainly a lot of fun to learn that people are expecting a little one (like Luisa and Molly both recently did!) But, it feels a bit awkward to share difficult news. However, I am learning that one of the satisfying things about blogging is connecting with other people. And, long ago, I chose to put myself out there and connect with all of you who are interested enough to spend time visiting my site.

From the outpouring of support we have received from friends, colleagues, family and neighbors, we have learned that most families have found themselves in similar situations at one time or another. Though shock and unexpected change can feel isolating, it ironically unites us all. Something is waiting for us and we are determined to use our energy to make sure that it is the “something better” people are talking about.

Emeril Lagasse’s Refried Beans Recipe

1 cup dried pinto beans, soaked overnight in a large bowl with water to cover by 2-inches, and drained
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup bacon drippings or lard
1 cup chopped yellow onions
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced, seeded jalapeno
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne
1/2 teaspoon chopped oregano
1/2 cup grated queso blanco
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro, garnish

In a medium, heavy pot, combine the beans, bay leaf, and enough water to cover by 1 to 2 inches. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours, adding more water as necessary to keep covered. When the beans are soft, mash in the pot with a potato masher or the back of heavy wooden spoon. Remove from the heat.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the bacon fat over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add the beans and any cooking liquid from the pot, and the oregano, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring with a heavy wooden spoon, until the mixture forms a thick paste, 5 to 10 minutes, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time to keep from getting dry.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a decorative bowl. Sprinkle with the cheese and cilantro, and serve.

We don’t eat many processed foods in our house. Though treats are plentiful, they are usually in the form of homemade baked goods. One regular exception is the famous blue box that lives in the lowest cupboard of the kitchen where little hands can reach it – graham crackers.

Not long ago, I discovered graham flour in a food catalog and the light bulb went off – I could make my own graham crackers! I ordered a few bags of organic graham flour and my research began.

I come from a family of educators. My parents were the type who encouraged us (as our eyes rolled) to “look it up.” Before the Internet, there were encyclopedias and ours got plenty of use, often finding its way to the dinner table. Because of this, I am in the habit of learning about the history or origin of a food before I seek out recipes.

My search into graham cracker history yielded an unexpected tale from the early 19th century. I learned that the crunchy snacks are named for a minister, Sylvester Graham, who created the biscuits as a healthy addition to a diet he preached to his devoted followers. The base of the cracker, graham flour, is comprised of ground white flour with coarsely ground wheat bran and wheat germ. Today, commercial graham crackers are made with refined, bleached white flour, which was precisely what the Rev. Graham valiantly opposed!

In my search for graham cracker recipes, I found a considerable amount of variation. Some include eggs while others do not, and sweeteners vary between molasses, honey and sugar. Many do not use graham flour, but I decided to stay true to the cracker’s roots and feature the flour for which it was originally named.

After three batches and a number of tweaks to the recipe, my 4-year-old daughter, and best critic, announced that this version was yummy and “just as good as the blue box.”

This recipe was developed for Spice Islands.
Find my recipe for Honey Cinnamon Graham Crackers here on their Flavor Explorer blog.

Last summer, I had planned to grow my own pickling cucumbers and “pickle” for the first time. It never happened. I placed a few small cucumber plants in my garden just before I traveled to Greece for two weeks. Though we had a pal watering for us, those poor little babies dried up and perished from neglect. The failure solidified my plans to make it work this coming summer.

While waiting for the summer sun, I’ve tried my hand at some quick, refrigerator pickling. I’ve always loved the floppy, pickled jalapeno slices often found on sloppy Mexican food – perched atop a heaping plate of nachos or sliding down the sides of a cheesy wet burrito. Fast (but ligher) Mexican fare is a weeknight staple at our house and I decided that home-pickled jalapenos would be a welcome accoutrement.

When I first prepared the jar pictured above, I didn’t have pickling spices on hand. I knew that the salty brine was key and I hoped that the spices added were flexible. I tossed in a few garlic cloves, whole black peppercorns and whole coriander (mainly because they resembled mustard seeds that are often used in pickling – my exceptionally scientific method of spice selection!)

I have had the jar of pickled peppers on hand for months and have not only been pleased when I remember that I have jalapenos at my disposal but have also found uses for a splashes of the spicy brine. Since my recipe is more “free form,” I’ll point you to a few sites for directions that can be properly followed:

Basic Pickled Peppers from Food in Jars that requires actual pickling.
A bit more complex but delicious looking  recipe on David Lebovitz’ blog.
Quick and easy refrigerator jalapeno pickled peppers.

Like many schools, my daughter’s preschool does not allow nuts in the snacks and foods served to the kids due to allergies. I decided to make my own nut-free snack mix and during the shopping trip, found myself staring blankly at shelves lined with packaged snacks. Wow, there are a lot of foods stamped into different shapes, colored, salted and packaged to catch little eyes’ attention.

As I was marveling at the hugely expanded family (or shall I say school) of Pepperidge Farm® Goldfish Crackers®, I had the idea to create a fishing-inspired snack mix. I was turned off by the new “colored” fish, which is a bit silly because it isn’t as if the traditional orange-colored fish are au natural. The “flavor blasted” varieties, though they promised to be explosively tasty and super-charged, did not make my mix either. I bought a bag of pretzel fish, graham cracker fish and the mini cheddar fish.

Long, skinny snack sticks became the “fishing poles” and one gummy worm was curled up under each pile of fish as “bait.”  I was excited about the concept and it seemed like a good sign that I had numerous interruptions after assembling the first snack cup in order to take a photo:

Perhaps a piece of candy was not an appropriate addition to the preschoolers’ mid morning snacks. But, I just couldn’t resist. I set up the twenty-eight cups at the mini tables and left before snack time, so I was unable to witness the kids’ reactions. Hopefully, the gummy worm surprise caused more excitement than mayhem and did not garner too much disapproval from the teachers.

Gone Fishing Snack Cups

Fish Snack Crackers
Gummy Worms
Pretzel or Bread Sticks

Put one gummy worm at the bottom of each cup. Fill with mixed fish crackers and add the sticks as fishing poles.

Mangoes and avocados seem to be available year round, flown in from far flung, magical, tropical fruit producing lands. Though they can be pricey, they offer a little taste of something different when the local produce selection starts to become more and more slim and less colorful through the winter months.

Our daily cuisine has been all about ease lately. This month has been one of the busiest on record. Though I feel like I am always saying that, we have truly reached a new level of craze. I often have some slow-cooked, shredded pork or beef in the freezer, which I use to whip up easy tacos or nachos. Even frozen fish fillets or fish sticks taste good snuggled in a fresh tortilla. Add a can of black beans (doctored up with a little cumin and oregano), top with some shredded cheese or sour cream, and you have a decent meal.

If you want to take the easy, decent meal to the level of what I consider somewhat impressive weeknight fare, all you have to do is whip up this mango avocado salsa. Just five ingredients, that is all. (Okay, six if you count the salt)

A spoonful of this colorful salt-sweet blend will crown any taco elevating it to a new realm. Make plenty because you may want to eat it by the spoonful, or by the “chipful,” mounded high on a salted corn tortilla chip.

Mango Avocado Salsa

1 mango, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 avocado, peeled and cut into small chunks
1/2 cup of chopped red onion
Cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
Salt

Put mango, avocado, cilantro and red onion in a bowl and gently stir to combine. Squeeze juice over the mixture and sprinkle with salt to taste.

Thank you to those who continue to visit despite my infrequent recipes and ideas. I have been cooking, eating and photographing with the intention of posting. But, as often happens during summer, I choose to spend all extra time outside playing in the yard, gardening, swimming or drinking cold beer on the porch rather than working on the computer.

Today, I come to you with a quick tip. Do you have a fruit fly problem? I seem to have brought an entire community of them into the house last week on some extra ripe bananas I bought for making baby food. Luckily, I remember a trick my dear friend Stephanie taught me. Remove the fruit that is causing the problem or put ripe fruit in the refrigerator. Leave a cup of apple cider vinegar on the counter for a day or two. Done deal. Fruit flies go for the last swim and your kitchen is fruit fly free.

I’m baaaack… After returning from vacation, one of the many recent thunderstorms in Chicago seemingly broke our modem/router disconnecting us from the internet for a number of days. I never realized how much I rely on “being connected” for recipes, weather reports, maps and working at home. After hours on the phone with customer service, a trip to the ATT store and some reconfiguration, we have returned our household to the 21st century.

Due to excessive summer heat and wonderfully fresh produce, we are eating a lot of simple, cold foods. The above photograph turns up the corner of my mouth as it is the product of three wonderful friends. Last summer, we spent an evening at my friend Jessica’s house enjoying her lush back yard. She is a fellow food aficionado and served up a mouthwatering spread. That evening, Jessica introduced me to this simple delight – radishes on buttered bread with salt.

About a month ago, my friend Kathy was leaving for a culinary escapade in France (which you can read about here.) Kathy’s footprint is all over this blog as she introduced me to this almond tea cake, these pecan rolls, she makes these mini cookies and her coup d’etat, THE Flag Cake. Before she skipped town, I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of her kitchen “overstock.” She delivered some passion fruit simple syrup she had been using to make a friend’s wedding cake (we made it into passion fruit mojitos), a few loaves of bakery bread and a bunch of deliciously spicy radishes still dirty from her garden. Yes, it is good to be Kathy’s friend.

A few days later, we shared a summer evening with my pal Ebony’s family. They are not only food lovers but much better chefs than I am. Culinary experiences with these two, whether a pancake brunch or chili that took 24 hours to make, are always a unique pleasure. I put Ebony to the task of buttering the bread and slicing the radishes. Perhaps it is the talented designer in her that led the way to this beautiful result. She sliced and placed the radishes on the bread just so before sprinkling them with Australian pink flake salt. Had I prepared them, it would have most certainly been a more haphazard heap. Aren’t they gorgeous?

A simple piece of bread with butter, radishes and salt will forever please my palate and remind me that I am fortunate to be surrounded by big-hearted, food-loving friends.

Some years ago, I received a Barefoot Contessa cookbook for my birthday. A quick flip through the pages revealed recipes that looked simple and easy to follow. When I dug a bit further, I noticed that a number of the side dish recipes were so easy, there was nothing more than a vegetable, some olive oil and coarse salt. Initially, I scoffed, feeling that the multiple roasted vegetable recipes were just page fillers.

It turns out that Ina Garten knew something long before I did. The best thing to do with fresh vegetables at their peak IS to toss it with a bit of good olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and roast it. This easy preparation lets the flavor of the vegetables shine.

We arrived in Greece a few days ago to visit  my in-laws and all of our cousins. Usually, we plan our annual voyage in September but because Mini Whipped will be starting preschool, we altered our routine and will spend the first two weeks of July on the island of Corfu. Though I was worried about the heat, we have been pleasantly surprised by temperatures that peak at around 90 degrees accompanied by light breezes and comfortable evenings.

July has also surprised us with colorful and bountiful growth. Most things grow happily and vigorously on this island. Magenta bougainvillea are climbing everywhere, pink and white blossoms are bursting from every bush and roses are peeking out from unexpected corners. Though we always enjoy some vegetables from the garden, we are witnessing the height of production from the plants. Most exciting for me are the fruit trees. White-fleshed nectarines are waiting to be plucked in the front yard and the soft, green figs are nearly falling from the trees.

To make an easy side dish last nights, Mini Whipped walked through the garden with her grandparents, plucking tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. I followed Ina Garten’s lead and cleaned them, cut them, tossed them with olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and roasted them in a 375 degree oven for about half an hour. The flavor was remarkable.

Since many likely do not have the luxury of a garden like this, find your local farmer’s market and ask the farmer’s what is at the freshest and at its best. Keep preparation to a minimum and enjoy the finest of the season.

I suppose it was my bragging around town about my explosive garden of backyard greens that awarded me this recipe. During a visit to a client, my new pal Emily and I digressed from the work topic at hand and began talking gardening and chard.  She excitedly jumped to the edge of her chair as she recommended this recipe from Fine Cooking. By the time I had returned to my office, I found the link in my inbox. One glance through the ingredients and I knew it would taste good. The end result delighted me even more than I expected.

After my multiple bunches of northern lights chard were planted in the ground (you can see by the gorgeous stems where it gets its name), I learned that Mr. Whipped did not like chard and wouldn’t eat it. It could be that he had expressed such feelings before and I blocked them out when planning the garden. Admittedly, the sleeplessness of Baby Whipped has my listening skills at an all-time low.

Because I found this recipe so intoxicatingly delicious, I insisted that he try a bite. He liked it! So, here you have a magical recipe that can turn a chard hater into a chard tolerator. I followed Emily’s suggestion and skipped the butter at the end mostly to show an ounce of restraint in honor of my weight loss goals. I am sure that the tablespoon of butter would only have further elevated the experience. Though the recipe suggests you serve the dish immediately after cooking, I found that it made a delicious cold salad for lunch the following day.

Go ahead chard haters… I dare you.

Rainbow Chard with Pine Nuts, Parmesan & Basil
from Fine Cooking

13 to 14 oz. Rainbow chard (about 1 large bunch)
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbs. pine nuts
Kosher salt
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves (8 to 10 large)

Pull or cut the stems from the chard leaves. Cut or rip the leaves into 2- to 3-inch pieces and wash and dry them well. Rinse the stems and slice them crosswise 1/4 inch thick.

In a 12-inch nonstick stir-fry pan or skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the pine nuts to a plate, leaving behind as much oil as possible.

Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the chard stems and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrunken and beginning to brown lightly, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the chard leaves and 1/4 tsp. salt. Toss with tongs until just wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. (If using a skillet, you may need to add the chard in batches, letting the first batch wilt before adding more.) Remove the pan from the heat, add the cold butter pieces and stir just until the butter has melted.

Using tongs, immediately transfer about half of the leaves and stems to a serving plate and arrange. Sprinkle on half of the Parmigiano, basil, and pine nuts. Layer on the remaining leaves, stems, and pan juices, and garnish with the remaining cheese, basil, and pine nuts. Serve immediately.