wednesday afternoons

From seventh through twelfth grade, Adriana and I went to an interesting school. Depending on where you're from, you might know the type. It was the sort of place where we were allowed to call our teachers by their first names, where art and foreign language were both core classes, and where you could easily fit our entire graduating class into one small classroom. With room to spare.

One of our school's many eccentricities was the Wednesday Half Day. On Wednesdays, we would only have half of our classes, and we would leave the squat building we called our campus at around 12:30. Adriana tells me this half day phenomenon was intended to give us time for the obligatory community service required by the school's founding principles. Most weeks, the two of us used it to fit in an extra study session. Cool we were not, but at least we got some really good grades.

And so it was that Wednesday afternoons constituted some of our first forays into trying to feed ourselves. If we were at Adriana's house, lunch might consist of Cheese Toast, spongy-sweet potato bread laden with Tillamook cheddar and broiled into open-faced sandwiches of bubbly deliciousness. If we found ourselves at my house, lunch often meant quesadillas we assembled in the microwave or Top Ramen boiled on the stove. While we've come quite a long way since then, both culinarily and nutritionally, there is one creation from that time that I am happy to reprise now: Rice noodles with peanut sauce.

Back then, I boiled the noodles and sparingly stirred in a few spoonfuls of the bottled gourmet peanut sauce I found in the fridge. I never lavished the noodles in quite as much sauce as I would have liked, as that stuff tasted so good to me, it might as well have been liquid gold. These days, I don't want to spend the money or the time seeking out the ideal sauce. I would much rather create one that suits my needs exactly. Throw in a little chicken for protein and broccoli florets to sop up all that flavorful sauce, and I have a delicious and nourishing meal. I love how sometimes, growing up is as easy as realizing you can make a sauce better than the one from the bottle. And serving a cucumber salad alongside your noodles.

Peanut Sesame Noodles

Adapted from Gourmet, June 2002

Peanut Sauce:

1/2 cup smooth, organic peanut butter

1/4 cup low sodium tamari

1/3 cup warm water

2 Tbs. chopped ginger

1 large garlic clove, chopped

2 Tbs. rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 Tbs. Asian sesame oil

2 tsp. honey

1 Tbs. crushed red pepper

1 tsp. dulse flakes

Noodle Salad:

3/4 lb. thin dried rice noodles

4 scallions, thinly sliced

3 cooked chicken breasts

1 head broccoli, lightly steamed or sauteed

3 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds

Whisk sauce ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until they form a thick sauce. Cook rice noodles according to directions on package (usually by boiling about 3 minutes), and drain water from noodles. Add chicken, broccoli, sauce, and most of the scallions and sesame seeds, reserving some for garnish. Stir until noodles, chicken, and broccoli are coated with sauce. Serve on plates or shallow bowls, and garnish with reserved scallions and sesame seeds.

Cucumber Salad

Adapted from Gourmet, October 2001

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. agave nectar

1 tsp. low sodium tamari

1 tsp. Asian sesame oil

2 medium cucumbers, sliced very thin on a mandolin

Whisk first four ingredients together until agave nectar dissolves. Place sliced cucumbers in a bowl, and pour in enough dressing to coat each slice (you will probably have some dressing left over). Toss the cucumbers to coat, let sit for 15 minutes in the fridge, and toss them again. Serve.

-Kylie

inclusive eating

I love a good, quality food challenge. Give me someone who's vegan, I'll want to whip her up a nice veggie meal. Somebody who doesn't eat sugar? Lemme at 'er, I'll show her the culinary time of her life. And then there are those of you who are sensitive to wheat, have Celiac disease, or just generally eschew gluten for any number of reasons. The number of you grows every day. More and more, people are realizing that their bodies might just not be meant to process gluten, especially when it's in the hearty wheats found throughout the United States. You should know that you're not alone. As those of you diagnosed with gluten and wheat sensitivities pop up, excellent resources appear every day to help you sort out your particular situation. Many of these resources will teach you to embrace life within your newly configured parameters, whatever they may be. They will teach you to be good to your body and to listen to it, and by listening to it and feeling it, to come to love it.

To pay attention to the way your body feels, to honor that, and to respect what it needs, is an act of subversion. Our society rewards bodies that fit a predetermined (and almost always unattainable) mold and normalizes the belief that one way of moving one's body and feeding it is superior to all others. The problem is this: Mainstream ways of eating are not conducive to the health and happiness of the vast majority of people in our culture. And in order to eat against the grain, you've got to be very brave and very strong.

Today I would like to gently remind you that our bodies, like our personalities, are all different. As my first grade teacher, Mrs. Rice, said, "We are each like snowflakes. No two of us are alike."

It has taken me a very long time to be able to say all of this to you. In fact, it has taken approximately 24 years of life, about three years of gender studies classes, and countless articles and books read that focused largely on food and bodies and their intersections in our lives.

What I'm trying to say is that if you've recently realized that you need or want to change the way you eat, you might be overwhelmed. You might feel alone and even afraid and like nothing in this culture of ours is going to help you attain health. So take a moment. Breathe. I am here, digging through resources and finding ways to eat and live that include you. And you, and you, and you. Adriana's here, too. And I'll bet that if you sit down for a chat with a really good friend, the kind who is always available for midnight talks and movie nights, that she or he will be there for you, too.

This recipe is another one for peanut butter cookies. I do realize that I posted a similar recipe a few weeks ago. But that one was for the vegans out there, and this one is for the gluten-free folks. Even if you have no food allergies and don't know anyone who does, I urge you to try recipes such as these, to see what you think.

-Kylie

Little Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Shauna James Ahern

1 cup natural peanut butter (creamy or chunky, though I used chunky)
1 cup sucanat

1 teaspoon

1 egg

1/4 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a sturdy wooden spoon, cream the peanut butter and sucanat in a bowl. Stir in the baking powder, then the egg. Stir until it is well combined.

With clean hands, roll a ball of dough about the diameter of a quarter. Roll the ball in white sugar, then set it on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Repeat until you fill the cookie sheet (about 24 should fit on one sheet, depending on size).

With the back of a fork, gently press down on the cookies twice to form the signature peanut butter cookie crosshatch.

Bake them on an upper rack in the oven for 9 to 10 minutes. You'll want to be careful not to overbake them. The undersides should just be getting slightly brown when they are done. Pull out the baking sheet and let the cookies rest on it 5 to 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Makes about 30 itty bitty cookies.

P.S. Today's post is for all of you with special dietary needs. It is also for the incredible bloggers, especially Shauna James Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl, who act as resources as readers learn how to eat and live healthfully, happily and inclusively.

cookies for sharing

I got lucky this weekend.

I had been jonesing to attend WAM! 2009 (that's Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Activists, Journalists & Everyone) for a couple of months now. Due to the generosity of some dear friends who offered me a bed for the weekend, I got to go. It was, by far, one of the best weekends of my life.

Have I mentioned that I'm a Feminist? That's right, I am. The kind with a capital F, thanks. In my free reading time, I devour cookbooks and feminist fiction, throwing in a healthy dash of pop culture critique to taste. Sometimes I'm not sure how to fuse my immense love of artisanal cheeses and farmers markets with my adoration for feisty feminist blogs that challenge the gendered status quo. This weekend, those two seemingly separate worlds collided in me, and I don't think I can look back. 

This weekend was filled with swiss chard sauteed with sweet onions and eaten straight from the pan with Jess and Yoana, my incredible hosts. It included a lunchtime discussion on the immense barriers that prevent residents of low-income communities in cities like New York and Chicago from accessing fresh produce like that I had gleefully enjoyed the night before. On more than one occasion, I found myself confronted by the issues at play when I consume meat and other animal products; the workers whom I affect through my own culinary choices, for better or worse. 

I'm still reeling from all the learning I did this weekend, from all the accomplished activists and writers and people I met. I won't bore you with my glee. Instead, I'll share with you some delicious cookies to make when you visit your favorite vegan friend. Or anybody, really. Try them. You'll like them.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks

2 cups all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or spelt flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. sea salt

1 cup organic, natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth, depending on your preference)

1 cup agave nectar (or maple syrup)

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place one rack in the top third. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a larger bowl, combine the peanut butter, agave nectar, canola oil and vanilla. Pour the flour mixture over the peanut butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it's all barely combined ("still a bit dusty looking", as Heidi says). Let it all sit for five minutes, and then give it one more stir.

Throw the bowl in the freezer for 20 minutes or so. Take the bowl out, and shape tablespoon-sized cookies into rough balls with your hands, laying them on a well-oiled baking sheet or Silpat. Wet a fork slightly, and then press the cookies down with its back, in different directions to make a criss-cross design. If the cookies start to stick to the fork, just wet it again. 

Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies just start to brown. You really don't want to overcook these, as they get crunchier in the hour after they bake, as they cool. Let them sit on the baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer them gently to a rack to cool and harden.

Enjoy with old friends, new acquaintances, your family and/or your favorite snuggle buddy.

-Kylie

Diversifying your assets: a lesson on recession-proofing your kitchen

Well, look at that. The long-foretold recession is here. I know this for several reasons. 1) My most recent Vanguard statement showed that my IRA Roth has gone from a juicy plum to a dour prune, 2) NYtimes.com told me so (many times), and 3) everyone's abuzz with how they "should have diversified, oh man, why didn't I diversify?"

As someone who nearly failed the one economics class on her college roster (and who needed explanation), I called in the big guns...my roommate with the ivy-league economics degree. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey, um, so what's 'diversifying your assets' mean?
Roommate: It's part of managing your portfolio. Basically you don't want to have all of your eggs in one basket in case something fails, so you put your assets into a variety of stuff.
Me *brows furrowed with intense concentration*: I see......so you're saying that if I really want something to do well, I need to spread the risk out....or...'diversify'....yes, I think I see it now....
Roommate: ...er, glad to help

That afternoon I put my new-found economic knowledge to the test; I made birthday treats.

But did I make just one type of treat? Heavens, had I learned nothing about risk management that day? Did I made just two types of treats? No self-respecting economist would ever accept those odds. No, I made three, yes three, types of birthday treats. And it was darn lucky I did (since I forgot about the popcorn-aversion of one good friend). So here's a quick economics lesson from me to you: when baking birthday treats, never forget to diversify, diversify, diversify!

Keynesian Popcorn Caramel Crisps
Adapted from Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, by Lorna Sass
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
5 cups plain popped popcorn
1 cup almonds, coarsely chopped

Step one: Spread out a length of waxed paper or saran wrap to make a stick-free working space. Pour sugar in a heavy saucepan with the lemon juice and 1/2 cup water. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue boiling and stirring until the color begins turning from light to dark amber (about 8 minutes of boiling). Continue cooking and stirring for another two minutes, or until the mixture is a few shades darker, and then immediately stir in the butter and baking soda. Lorna Sass warns that at this point you should stand back because the mixture may splatter, but I found it just frothed up and turned bright red (and yes, I did cackle like a mad scientist).

Step two: Turn off head and work quickly to stir in half the popcorn and nuts, coating them evenly before stirring in the other half. Continue to work quickly as you set heaping tablespoonsful of the mixture onto the waxed paper. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, shape each mound into a ball, and let them cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.

Stagflation Spanish Peanut Saucers
Adapted from Great Cookies by Carole Walter
Ingredients
2 cups salted Spanish peanuts
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
5 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Step one: Preheat oven to 375 and cover two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Take 1/2 cup of the peanuts and chop them into small pieces using either a food processor or a knife. Combine with flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.

Step two: Place butter in a saucepan and melt slowly over low heat. Cool to tepid before blending in the peanut butter with a whisk. Stir until smooth and creamy and then stir in the sugar. Add four of the egg whites and vanilla and mix thoroughly to blend. Add the dry ingredients but mix just enough to combine.

Step three: Whisk remaining egg white in a small shallow dish with 2 teaspoons water. Place the remaining 1 1/2 cups peanuts in a wide, shallow dish. Take a 1/4 scoop of dough, and then tap on the counter to release it. Dip the top side of the dough into the egg white and then into the peanuts, covering the surface generously. Place the dough, nut side up, on the cookie sheet and press the surface gently with the heel of your hand, flattening the ball into a 3-inch disk. Place cookies three inches apart on the baking sheet, and sprinkle the top of each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining sugar.

Step four: Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until the sides of the cookies begin to brown and the tops are set.

Federal Deficit Fudge
Indredients
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
5 oz. evaporated milk
1 Jar marshmallow fluff
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 oz. semisweet bakers chocolate

Step one: Take a 9-inch square baking pan and line with tin foil. In a large saucepan, combine the first 5 ingredients. Stir over low heat until blended. Heat to a full rolling boil, being careful not to mistake escaping air bubbles for boiling. Boil slowly, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.

Step two: Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and chocolate until chocolate is all melted. Pour into the lined pan, and allow to cool for at least 4 hours before cutting into 1 inch pieces.

-Adriana