Banana Crumb Muffins /illustration by Alison Kuczwara, Chicago

Just stumbled on the web site, Theydrawandcook.com – fun! For all of you who like having pictures of your dishes or simply learn by seeing with the right brain, this site’s for you. My graphic illustration buddies will love it, too, as will type fiends – there’s some wild typefaces going down in many of them.

Ruby Lamb /illustration by Ilaria De Emidio, Berlin, German

Recipes are submitted from artists around the world, shared for free here. The styles are unique – from stick-figure funny to gorgeous works of art that happen to teach you how to cook something. If you’re handy with a brush, pen or the computer, and cook, submit your own.

Polpette di Lenticchie (Lentil Balls) /by Viola di Peitro, Rome, Italy

The plus – get recipes from around the world you may not have considered otherwise. These illustrated recipes are simple enough to appear (usually) in one panel – no heavy lifting. Call up a metric conversion chart for measurements, and start cooking.

For fig enthusiasts: You could win $2000 in their Year of the Fig recipe contest – enter by March 21 on their site.

Avial (a feasting dish) /Illustration by Charutha Reghunath, Kerala, India

One more – it’s lovely:

Pasta al limone /illustration by Wendy Edelson, Bainbridge Island, Washington

Garbage is money — and food

It’s a horrible statistic. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture reports that Americans from the farmers to the consumers, throw away 11 billion pounds of edible fruits and vegetables every year. Another study focusing on consumers only, shows that 12 percent of everything we buy as food is thrown away. It’s incomprehensible and should give most of us with a brain just a little pause.

Almost all of us over-shop, especially when shopping for a specific recipe. But others of us over-shop when doing the normal grocery-buying. Why? Because we shop without a menu or a plan, whether we do it weekly or daily or somewhere in between.

Enter the 7-Day Meal Planner

Nicholson is a dietitian and a food writer from Atlanta and can knock out a gourmet dinner for 20. But her real strong suit is knowing intuitively how “real” people eat. They do buy fresh fruit and vegetables – more and more – but sometimes eat frozen and canned vegetables. They buy meats on sale and sometimes rely on the cheaper cuts. They use bottled pasta sauces, dried pastas and shredded cheese. They buy frozen stir-fry vegetables in combination packages.

Most cookbook authors are hopeful you’ll find one or two recipes in a book to justify its expense. Many have egos involved and don’t offer suggestions for substitutions, short cuts or budget-friendly foods. They write for a gourmet cook – in reality, a small percentage of the population. Many of those buy books to read – not to actually cook from.

But Nicholson writes for busy mothers juggling a family of four or six. She writes for the fixed-income retirees, looking to stretch their food dollars. She writes for the crazed professional who eats out of take-out cartons for three days and goes out the rest of the time, or the newlyweds who haven’t got a clue where to start planning and cooking every day.

In short: She writes for everybody who has a kitchen and wants to make it more efficient, more cost-effective and as a bonus, healthier.

How to plan meals

Nicholson

First, Nicholson walks the reader through meal planning and explain why it’s so beneficial. In her casual, witty style (she refers to her husband throughout as “the Virgo”) she explains her formats – most of her recipes go together in 30 minutes or less. She teaches the readers how to come up with their own menu plans that fit their households, food preferences and budgets.

The premise behind meal planning is to make a dinner become more than one meal, a few times a week, either by making two of something or using leftovers differently. She combines not just homemade foods, but those supplemented with store-bought things like desserts or salads.

In Part 2 of the book, she offers an entire year of weekly menu plans, with her tested recipes. She describes it as “365 days of no-stress menu planning.” The menus are arranged seasonally – making best use of what’s in the market and likely on sale. It’s smart and thrifty to pick the week that corresponds to the real calendar year, or one near it, to cook from.

Recipes are short, smart and have nutrition information for every one of them. There are plenty of meat-based recipes, but just as many vegetarian ones – and all can be converted either way with her suggestions.

Part 3 details all the tips – from cutting back portions, to substitutions for ingredients that make it all come together, shopping in bulk, during sales, buying generic, and buying the correct amounts. She then lists foods for better health. Also here are great last-minute recipes that she calls her 10 “emergency” recipes. Finally – for our cooks across the pond, she gives a metric conversion chart for measurements and cooking temperatures.

From a newspaper column

The book is based on Nicholson’s popular 7-Day Meal Planner newspaper column, sadly, circulated in fewer papers today because of the print media’s decline. It was one of the most popular food features that appeared in The Palm Beach Post. Readers continue to email me to find back recipes that appeared in that column.

The book pulls all 52 weeks of recipes in one place, and the reader can pick and choose and combine to their tastes, time and budgets. It’s almost a guarantee that cooks of all types can find recipes here, and if they follow her advice and plans, they’ll save enough from their food budget to make up the cost of the book and put money in the bank.

This is a two-thumbs up book.

Meatloaf for everyone

Nicholson includes this recipe as one of her emergency go-to ones – based on her own mother’s recipe. It freezes well – make two or more at a time!

Mom’s Meatloaf

• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey or vegetarian substitute – or a combination
• 1 whole egg
• 3 egg whites
• 4 cups flake cereal (bran, cornflakes), crushed
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 8-ounce cans no-salt added tomato sauce

Microwave the bell pepper and onion in a small glass container on high 4 minutes. Drain; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the onion, pepper, ground meat, whole egg, egg whites, cereal, pepper and 1-1/2 cups of the tomato sauce. Mix thoroughly but lightly.

Divide the mixture into two round loaves with an indentation in the center (use a glass or your fist, pressing into loaf). Brush both tops with remaining tomato sauce.

Wrap one loaf in heavy duty foil; label and freeze for up to 3 months. (To defrost, remove from freezer and place in refrigerator the day before cooking.)

Place the second loaf in a shallow glass baking dish with a rim; cover with with waxed paper. Microwave on high 9 to 12 minutes or until internal temperature is 160 degrees. Let stand 5 minutes. (Alternately, bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until done throughout.)

Makes 2 meatloaves; 4 servings each.

Per serving: 310 calories, 28g protein, 14g fat, 5g saturated fat, 16g carbs, 103mg cholesterol, 163mg sodium, 3g fiber.

Beater Blade for 6-quart KitchenAid mixer

The coolest “gadget” to come out this year is this year is the new Metro Design Beater Blade for KitchenAid mixers. One of the chores that’s mean is having to scrape down a bowl of a mixer while adding other ingredients, etc.

Red Beater Blade for 5-quart KitchenAid

This new paddle blade, with silicone blades – much like a windshield wiper – takes care of the job.

It comes in sizes – and a variety of colors -  to fit the smaller 5-quart, tilt-head mixers as well as the bigger lever-lift 6-quart KitchenAids. Any cook who uses a KitchenAid regularly would love one of these – thank me later.

Extra cookies for you, Santa, if there’s one under my tree!

Of course, there are always more….!!

To his list, I’d add these:

A small food chopper. You don’t want to haul out the Robot Coupe or Cuisinart for 10 garlic cloves and a handful of basil and a few drops of olive oil, but you don’t want to stink up your hands either. The Sunbeam Oskar is my favorite small chopper.  I’ve given them away (sometimes, unintentionally, ahem). Get ‘em for $5 at thrift stores – they’ve been around since the ’70s and are still running strong. They make them new, too; find ‘em at Amazon or a kitchen gadget store near you.

Zyliss peeler. I swear, it’s still my favorite of all I’ve tried. Fruits, to hard stuff like rutabega – this does it all and curls chocolate to boot.

Dough board scraper. Used by bakers to scrape up flour, etc. from surfaces, it’s great for hand chopping chocolate, nuts, veggies and what have you, then scooping it all up to put in the bowl or pot.

Winged corkscrew. Unlike Citara, I favor the wine opener with wings. I don’t have to worry about centering the wine cork and risk pulling it from one side or breaking the cork; the ring on the top of this corkscrew centers the worm before you start screwing it in. The handles go up as the worm goes down, and you simply press and pull. For tired hands, it’s simply the best bottle opener and cheapest, out there.

Safety lid manual can opener: Don’t like the electric can openers – I’ve had too much trouble with them and they clutter an already covered counter. The Kuhn Rikon version I have is a can opener that runs around the top of the can, lifting off the lid in a rolled edge – no sharp edges on that lid, and it’s a perfect pour out of any can. It’s tricky to use, but once you know how and figure it out, then learn to lift the lid with it’s prongs, you’ll love this thing.

Your Favorite Tools?

OK: I’ve shown you mine – now show me your fav kitchen tools.

Zyliss Soft-Skin Peeler

But I recently played with a bunch of tools for the heck of it – I had a mess of things to peel, from cukes to potatoes to apples, so decided to test-drive my peelers and knives.

The winner and all-around champion for a dozen reasons is the Zyliss Soft Skin Peeler.

Jan's apple pie - photo by Jan Norris

It was great to hold for long periods, skinned apples as sweet as the pie they were headed for, and handled the eyes of potatoes beautifully with the gouger built into its tip.

Its razor-sharp, serrated duo-blade works with either hand, and comes with a snap-on blade guard.

It’s $8 or so and money very well spent.
(Editorial disclosure: Zyliss doesn’t even know I wrote this and in no way was I paid to write it. I bought this peeler myself with my own money. If you click on the link that shows its picture in Amazon and buy it from them, I get 30 measly cents or so.)

Bradford Schmidt, The Meatist's alter ego

If you read the Broward New Times food blog (Clean Plate Charlie) for which I write, occasionally, you’ll be missing Bradford Schmidt – a/k/a The Meatist.

He wrote about meat. Really – meat! And, he’s funny.

Things happen – and so he’s parted ways with them, and launched his own The Meatist website.

About Brad

He’s become my new little bro of sorts, because I like the guy – one of the nicest Yankees I’ve met in a long while, and he’s got great stories I wish I had lived. I don’t have any male siblings by birth (that’s adoption in my case), unless my sister is getting even weirder with that middle-aged-crazy thing and heading to Sweden; one with a palate and youthful cynicism is a welcome addition.

Brad lives near me, so we do the occasional meat-based lunch for one or other of our columns and yap about food and music and more food. He’s still exploring this new home of his in SoFla (he still calls I-95 exits by their numbers – totally confusing me), but is cheerfully open new territory.

Meats, eats, writes

Get over there and read him today and leave him a comment or two. Whether you like meat doesn’t matter. He’s funny, sometimes R-rated, always irreverent, loves his long-suffering wife though he teases her unmercifully, and eventually, wholly satisfying.

He has great recipes (love a man who cooks!) and plenty to get fired up about. (To wit: pulled pork – in the oven – not over a fire!!! Acceptable only in the rain – and only if it’s The Flood.)

Hot dogs taste-test

You Yanks out there will be interested in his hot dog shootout - I won’t tell what brand landed on top at Part One – but here are the Clues: Col. Mustard. In the kitchen. In a skillet.

I will concede that great hot dogs are a Yankee thing and one food they get right in the City. We Southerners call ‘em weenies, and eat them boiled (eww),  and one-handed on a folded piece of  “latt bread.” (Translation: light bread – white spongy stuff as opposed to biscuit or corn bread, the real breads.) With sweet tea, of course.

Look for the occasional back and forth on our blogs. I’m ready for some new meat.

Toucan can opener

Maybe I was in a fun mood, or they just hit me right, but I was laughing out loud at the kicky designs of the Animalhouse line of kitchen tools I found at Pier 1.

Monkey vegetable peeler

Octopi dish scrubbers

Priced from $5.99 to $19.99, they’re both fun and functional. Not all will be available at all stores; I found some of those shown here in Delray Beach at the Pier 1 on U.S. 1, where the gals there were super friendly as well. (Disclosure info for FCC: I paid for them.) Others come from their catalog online. They’re also available at Amazon.com.

Shopping for bridal shower?

Bee glass brush

Take a look – and if you’re shopping for shower gifts, or a cook’s birthday, a basket of these, or even one or two with some ingredients (pack them into a colander) would be a fun gift.

Ibis garlic press

Designs include several animals and tools, including a toucan can opener, ibis garlic press, veghog veggie brush, monkey peeler, flying fish whisk, shark bottle opener, alligator and hippo head clips, ladybug cutting board, woodpecker scissors, piranha pizza wheel, mouse cheese grater, whale ice cream spade, and beaver flat whisk.

They almost make kitchen chores bearable.

Piranha pizza wheel, mouse cheese grater

I’ve been making a lot of soup lately — the holidays give me a lot of leftovers and bits to use in stocks and such – and they freeze so well, they make a quick meal with a salad for our small household.

 The late Mathias Radits of The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach was adamant about no waste in his kitchen, and constantly complained about how much food Americans throw out in their home kitchens. “They can always just put them in the soup pot,” he’d say, shaking his head and tsk-tsking.

Soup’s easy on the cook

Aside from a bunch of chopping that you might need to do, soup’s one of the easiest things to cook and requires very little. But one task – dipping out bones, herb sachet bundles or vegetable peels and ends you’ve used in stock, can be made so much easier with this neat Straining ladle by Amco.

It will strain if you hold it left-handed, or ladle normally from the right-hand pour. Good for soup, or if you cook greens – it strains out the pot likker. It’s got a generous bowl, and is sturdy, clean stainless steel that’s dishwasher safe.

At $14.99 suggested retail, I consider it a good buy.

Wrap it with Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook

To present it, wrap it in a kitchen towel, and include either a Mason jar full of dried beans and spices for making soup or chili  — and the recipe, of course — or a good soup cookbook. I recommend Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon, and have used several recipes from it.

Bonus: The bread recipes are as good as the soups.

Orka Silicone Mitt

My sometimes cycling partner Ken Steinhoff watches Woot – a web site that offers deals on some product or another once a day. He’ll occasionally throw one my way that I might bite at – early in the morning because they go fast - since it’s a one-day-only-till-they-run-out sale, so he says.

He teased today’s sale to me: “Any interest in silicone cooking mitts?” he asked.

Today’s Woot deal is for Orka Silicone Mitts — $14.95 for two. It’s a good buy. (Note:You can get them from Amazon if you miss Woot’s sale.)

Named for a shark

The Orka mitt is named for a killer sea creature with a big bite. The “mitt” part is shaped like a shark’s mouth – and it grips stuff like crazy. Hot and wet stuff, we should add — the wet part being the thing that always gets me burned. Picking up a wet pot-holder is frankly dumb — yet I have done it without thinking too many times to count.

The mitt is made of silicone, and heat-proof up to 480 degrees. It’s a long “sleeve” length at 17 inches — thank you, Orka, for that design. It’s not my fingers that usually get burned when I’m baking and cooking, it’s my forearms or the backs of my wrists. Smaller versions are made in 11-inch lengths.

I like this mitt for a few kitchen and grill tasks– removing racks from the hot oven to readjust them or take them out all together, and picking up grill racks on the outside grill. Perfect. You can pick up a whole roasting pan, or lift the turkey or roast from it, and forget flimsy forks and tongs and hot pads. You can un-pan hot breads, holding the pan in one hand, and catching the hot bread in another.

But stiff is not always good

But this is a case where some flexibility would go a long way. The mitts are too stiff to give you confidence in picking up something thin, such as the rim of a cookie sheet, or a long-handled spoon you’ve left in a pot to overheat, or even a delicate loop on a pot lid. The whole big “mouth” of the mitt tries to grab and you can’t get a “finger” grip on things. It results in your dropping things, or approaching a pot lid with a rim grip – not always smart.

They do work at keeping out the heat — you could stick your hand in a pot of boiling water or frying oil and pick up a packet of food  if you wanted to (note the liquids still would drip), but a bamboo-handled skimmer sold for $2 in an Asian market works so much better – and its handle never gets hot.

Still, great for the grill and building fires

I keep a pair of these puppies under the grill and use them for cooking out there. If I built fires on the beach for a clam bake, or in a firepit somewhere, I’d probably welcome them there, too.

Otherwise, for indoor stuff, I think OXO’s Good Grips version is better. They’re silicone, too, although shorter, but still give a more flexible grip.

Robyn Kalajian

One of my new favorite food web sites is The Armenian Kitchen, written by Robyn Kalajian and her spouse, Doug. Robyn is a retired high school cooking teacher; Doug and I were colleagues at The Palm Beach Post. That was a huge family with many good cooks; Doug was among them.

The Kalajians are Armenian and have incredibly wonderful stories about their cuisine. Not only have I learned a lot – through their videos and recipes – I’ve got a true sense of what family means to them through their foods. That connection is the reason I write about food and Florida and the South, so I appreciate their passion for their traditions.

Here’s a little about the site:

Fans of Armenian food — meaning, just about anyone who has ever tasted Armenian food — will delight in discovering TheArmenianKitchen.com, a Web site and blog devoted to the age-old but still evolving cuisine.

The site features recipes Robyn has gathered from friends and family over the years, many of them written down for the first time. Preserving these recipes and the techniques involved in preparing them is a work of love for Robyn and her husband Douglas, a retired journalist who shares her passion for cooking and for their shared ethnic heritage.

“Food is portable culture,” Douglas said. “Armenians scattered across the world by tragedy brought their prayers, their songs and their pots. Keeping these recipes alive is our way of preserving that culture.”

Robyn’s interest in Armenian cooking began as a child, helping her grandmother pick grape leaves from their yard in Clifton, N.J.

“Armenian food is as richly diverse as the Armenian people,” she said. She noted that Armenian dishes share many ingredients with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, with an emphasis on fresh vegetables and whole grains.

In addition to recipes, TheArmenianKitchen.com features how-to videos as well as tips on nutrition, kitchen tools and food safety.

—–

I asked Robyn to share one of her favorite recipes with my readers. This is a typical one, she writes, that’s a great comfort food.

Tass Kebab

(Lamb cubes made in a pot)

Serves 5 to 6

• 3 pounds stewing lamb (see note), trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground coriander seed
• Salt, pepper, paprika to taste
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• Dash sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons butter

Place lamb cubes in a large bowl and season meat with coriander, salt pepper, and paprika.

In a large, non-stick skillet, sear the lamb, in small batches. After searing the last batch of meat, add the onions to the skillet and cook until soft and slightly caramelized.

Place meat and onion in a large pot.

Dilute the tomato paste in 2 cups of water. Pour over the meat. If it looks too thick, stir in more water, a little at a time. Continue to add more water, if needed, during cooking. Stir in the bouillon cube and sugar.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cook, with the pot lid slightly tilted, for 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until the meat is fork-tender.

Just before serving, stir in the butter to mellow the tomato sauce.

Note: If stewing lamb is not available, stewing beef or veal can be substituted.

Serve with rice or bulgur pilaf, or wide egg noodles, and a green vegetable or tossed salad.