Saturday, November 30, 2013

T'was the day after Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love gathering family and friends to celebrate life's goodness with good food and conversation.  Things have been remarkably different for us over the last few years.  The "Holiday Hens", as my brother in law called us, have been disbanded.  One moving out of state, another simply retiring from the planning and execution of big gatherings.  Last year found me in a tent with other volunteers cooking turkey dinners on donated gas grills after Sandy ravaged our community.

This year marks a new era for our family Holiday traditions.  My eldest daughter decided she would like to host this year and her cousin, not to be outdone, has decided Christmas will be at her home.  We have a new brood of "Holiday Hens."  And so far, they have proved very capable.  All of which helps me since I have taken on responsibility for managing our parish soup kitchen and the holidays require extra attention from me.

The Allrecipes Ambassadors were asked to prepare a casserole made from leftovers and Kraft Foods products.  I kept looking at the recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thanksgiving-leftovers-casserole/detail.aspx and thinking it could easily be adapted so I could serve a more festive meal to our vegetarian guests at the soup kitchen Thanksgiving dinner than the usual plate, stripped of turkey and gravy.

Since we would need about a dozen vegetarian meals we made two large pans, lining them with Stovetop Cornbread stuffing prepared with extra onion, celery and grated carrots.  We filled the cavity with chopped Portabella mushrooms, sautéed with garlic and onions and liberally sprinkled with shredded Kraft Italian blend cheese.  We topped this with mashed potatoes, piped into rosettes by one of our amazing staff and dusted with paprika.  After baking at 350F we presented our guests with as appetizing a meal as their carnivorous friends ate.

Thank you Kraft and WalMart for helping make this holiday a little happier for those in need.

Note: this is Kraft's photo as we do not permit photographs in the soup kitchen.



 Disclaimer

I am an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com. 

Products received from advertisers are only used for experienced-based reviews by BigShotsMom. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are the sole opinions of BigShotsMom.


Friday, November 1, 2013

Musings on November - Part I

November is far from my favorite month.  The days become so much shorter unless you are a morning person, the weather is unpredictable day to day, but leading inexorably to the snow and cold of winter.  Personally, I much prefer May with its promise of summer.  But I am basically an optimistic person so I look for the good things November brings.

There are two holidays in November, which are intertwined for me and many others.  The first is Veteran's Day and it makes me sad that we have so much hoopla over Halloween and just sort of gloss over Veteran's Day as another money maker for retailers.  Originally called Armistice Day, it commemorated the end of WWI.  In 1954 President Eisenhower was instrumental in renaming it Veterans Day to encompass WWII and Korean War vets.  In 1971 some bureaucrat decided to tidy the calander and move holidays to make long weekends.  That seemed to be when the respect diminished.  Then we had the country's distaste for the Vietnam war and those vets just got shuffled along, out of sight, out of mind.  Fortunately, good sense prevailed in 1978 and it was moved back to November 11th to be commemorated in the US along with UK and Canadian Rememberance Day.

Several of the men in my family served our country, despite being the world's most unlikely warriors.  They did it because at the time, it seemed to be the right thing to do.  My son is the only one still living and with his usual, nonchalant attitude, doesn't see himself as anything special.  I disagree.  While ALL my children are special, he went halfway around the world to have people he never met try to kill him and he them.  I understand war in a philosophical sense, but my head and my heart do not - particularly when my first born is involved.  I want the world to spend part of just one day reflecting on what our Veterans have done for us and at what cost.

Instead of shopping the mall take those few extra dollars and make a donation to Wounded Warriors or Team Rubicon.  Thank you on their behalf.




Monday, October 28, 2013

Grateful for Simple Pleasures

One year ago today life in this small city, just east of Manhattan, changed in such a surreal manner that I still can't wrap my mind around it.  Superstorm Sandy devastated the Tri state area, moving houses off foundations, sending 17 foot waves clear across the island, flooding all the infrastructure, and driving most of us from our homes.  I have shared some pictures with you in the past and so many of you reached out offering good wishes, moral support and help.

The most symbolic structure lost
was our boardwalk.  In the scheme of life not as important as our flooded hospital or all the uninhabitable homes but the one structure that everyone in the area regarded as iconic and ironic as it seems, the most easily restored.

Our hospital is still in limbo due to new requirements imposed by the DOH, but it is getting there.  About 20% of our homes are still uninhabitable, but I understand funding is beginning to trickle in and there is reason to hope they will all be restored, lifted, or replaced in short order.  The Army Corp of Engineers will be submitting plans to restore our jetties and bulkheads and dredge new sand to replenish our beaches and dunes and life has somewhat resumed for most of us.

I do not have the words to describe how grateful I am to have literally "come through the storm."  There is no way to adequately articulate the tremendous help we received from all across the country and how humbled we were.  The very simple joy I feel to be able to once again sit on my terrace contemplating the eternity of the ocean and admiring another wonderous sunset.  To appreciate the everyday, mundane tasks of grocery shopping and cooking is actually amazing to me when I look back.

Simple pleasures for us are family gatherings for brunch and football games and enjoying each other and good food.  Among the meals we ate were items from our sponsors, Johnsonville and Ore-Ida.  I didn't make elaborate, pretentious meals, just simple yummy food in keeping with our mood.  Take a look at what we ate:
 Chiliville Chili
Ore-Ida fries and Sriarcha Mayo Dip
MVP Chili over Ore-Ida fries

                                                        Easy Cheesy Hash Browns


    Creamy Pesto Gnocchi with Italian Sausage

                                                     Johnsonville® One-Pan Italian

 

                                                        Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms


 Disclaimer

I am a proud Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com. 

Products received from advertisers are only used for experienced-based reviews by BigShotsMom. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are the sole opinions of BigShotsMom.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Saying Good Bye to Summer.... sniff, sniff, sniff

The northeastern part of the country had a cooler and rainier summer than usual, so I am feeling like we got gypped, particularly since the temperature plummeted right after Labor Day. So as I pack away swimsuits and shorts, bemoaning all the summer activities we didn't get to, I am also looking forward to turning my oven on whenever I please and the aromas of cinnamon and pumpkin and beginning to plan for the holidays.


This month, Allrecipes was also saying goodbye to summer with 3 new challenges for us.  Bison, Butterball Turkey, and Sunday Supper.  



I am no marketing maven, but I would have to guess the Bison campaign was very successful.  All of the Ambassadors I interacted with really liked the bison meat product we tried, from Bison Bacon through roasts and steaks to Bison Pepperoni.  The most common comments were about how tender the meat is even though it has a lower fat content than the comparable cut of beef.  I was assigned the pepperoni and very pleasantly surprised.  I can take or leave standard pepperoni and if I take it is is in very small quantities.  The Bison Pepperoni was mildly spiced, but very flavorful, reminding me more of summer sausage.  I was assigned this recipe



And while we enjoyed it, I kept thinking Bleu Cheese would work better than Feta, so I remade the salad changing the dressing and adding more elements to make it a light meal.  



I saved some of the Pepperoni and have ideas for using it for football snacks.



Turkey is another thing I can take or leave.  I have been known to serve Leg of Lamb in its place for Thanksgiving.  But Butterball posted some recipes that make me rethink turkey.  I started with http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Maple-Basted-Roast-Turkey-with-Cranberry-Pan-Gravy/Detail.aspx



Now I know my family will only eat the white meat so I had my butcher pre-cut the bird for me leaving me with what is known as a hotel style breast roast, legs and wings for me to smoke and use in other recipes and the rest of the carcass which will make several soups.



The leftovers from my roasted breast made an unusually delicious sandwich, which left me wishing I had reserved a few more slices of meat for another, but I don't have to wait until I roast another turkey - I can buy it in the deli!  How neat is that?  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cranberry-Thanksgiving-Turkey-Sandwich/Detail.aspx


I also made a great luncheon salad from some of the leftovers.  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mediterranean-Turkey-Pasta-Salad/Detail.aspx





This was beyond a doubt one of the most economical purchases I have made recently.  Six of us dined on the original roast, I made 2 generous sandwiches, salad for two, and soup for two - a total of twelve generous servings, and I still have the rest of the bird frozen for future use.



We'll see what Sunday Supper looked like in another post.



Disclaimer: I am an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com. Products received from advertisers are only used for experienced-based reviews by BigShotsMom. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are purely that of BigShotsMom.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

The Spice in Life

I grew up eating about as bland and middle of the road as possible. We had good food, and plenty of it, but if you looked up WASP in the acronym directory you would see our diet. My mother thought she was being exotic by adding garlic salt to a meatloaf. Her mother only used herbs or spices when she made stuffing for a turkey.Our neighborhood was multinational though and my friends were Polish, Italian and Norwegian. And I accepted any invitation I received to eat at their homes so I knew there was more to food than met the eye. My mother-in-law to be was happy to include me when teaching her daughters, but while I learned sour cream heals all ills, there still wasn't much spice in my life.

Then we moved to California and I was introduced to Mexican food and Chinese food beyond Chicken ala King. I loved the flavors and aromas and ordered it whenever we were out, but never even considered I could cook it myself. Several trips to Baja and down into the southern regions of Mexico taught me there is a world of difference between Tex-Mex and Mexican and that regionally there were many differences, but generally corn products and peppers are mainstays, along with beans. The native cocoa is also used in many savory applications for richness.

Moving east again, we were starting to see Puerto Rican and Dominican food appear out of their enclaves and I learned to like plantains and discovered that here tamales were wrapped in banana leaves and called pasteles or pastelillo and bacalaitos (salt cod fritters) are amazing! The West Indies influence is obvious with the special rubs for chicken or roast pork and the spices that make beef stew exciting. Rice and beans turns into rice and pigeon peas and seafood is more prevalent. Peppers are not usually hot and flavors tend to be derived from sofritos and adobos and are more subtle.


Factor in Cuba, with the Chinese influence and now what seemed so simple really is confusing, especially if you don't speak Spanish.

Goya simplifies things for us with products for each different Latin palate. Now they want those of us who may have shunned the cuisine from lack of familiarity or unavailability of product, to try it. Which I did and I loved most of what I tried.  

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cheesy-Chicken-and-Yellow-Rice/Detail.aspx


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grilled-Pork-Chops-and-Onions/Detail.aspx


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Simply-Sensational-Chili/Detail.aspx

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

BEEF CAKE




OK, now that I have your attention....um, you over there, eyes on the written portion for now, please!

My grandfather's family business was butcher shops.  They owned a few and they provided a nice living, which included good meats.  I grew up eating the best quality chops and steaks and roasts and ground beef and learned a little bit along the way.  I got married and moved around the US with my serviceman husband and that meant I had to face the reality of buying meat in different geographic markets.  I knew the standard cuts of beef, shoulder, chuck, loin sirloin, rump, bottom and top round, flank steak and skirt steak and knew how marbling affected the grade.  I knew the difference between grass fed and corn fed and how the way meat is cut affects the tenderness.  So I was completely flummoxed standing in Lucky's Supermarket in Sacramento, Ca.  trying to figure out the difference between a NY strip, Kansas City steak and Chicago steak.  I stood there gazing at the diagram of the steer and trying to relate it to my mental map of the US.  
vs

That was in the early 1970s and things have gotten more confusing ever since.  Today, one is offered Tri Tip, Ranch, Club and Flat Iron steaks.  Ground beef used to be Ground sirloin, Ground Round, Ground Chuck or just Ground Beef and it was safe to eat it raw, because it had been properly processed and handled and ground right in the store a few hours or less earlier.  Today you get percentages of fat with no indication of the origin of the meat so it is like playing roulette on the flavor and you have to cook it way beyond the point of best flavor to be safe from food borne illness.  And if one can believe what is reported, someone with much too much time on his hands has managed to produce tasteless stuff purported to be ground beef in a petri dish!!!

Unless.....you locate a local butcher shop where you get to know the people handling your dinner and can rely on them to offer the best they can because they need you in order to stay in business.  Or a local farmer who raises his own stock and can tell you what they had each day for breakfast.  

Then you are in for a treat.  It is absolutely possible to get lean ground chuck with all its inherent flavor or ground sirloin safe to serve as Steak Tartare!

So be good to yourself, spend a little more and invest in the healthy, tasty goodness of beef.




Sunday, May 26, 2013

A Thank You Note

I have the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time with a rather precocious 8 year old, who often makes me stop and examine things I accept as status quo. She had been telling me about what she learned in school about Memorial Day and how she was going to find a soldier to thank for his service and I promised I would take her to the parade so she can do just that. I then forgot most of the conversation except the promise. We ran several errands and then I settled her down in the living room while I started dinner preparations.

When I went to join her I found her staring at a triple frame that holds pictures of "my soldiers" my son, husband and father. All in their dress uniforms, all looking proud and serious and all heartbreakingly young. My father flew 32 missions over Germany during WWII with the Army Air Corp (now the USAF), my husband served in Vietnam with the Marines, and my son served in the First Gulf War in the Army. After we discussed who each one was and her relationship to them, she asked that age old question. "Why do we have to have wars?" Because she is only 8 and I do have some sense of age appropriate conversation, I fobbed her off as well as I could without actually answering her question.

As I lay in bed that night I started thinking about my soldiers, and the other soldiers
and sailors in our family and others and wondered if they ever felt appreciated. I know the welcome extended to Vietnam era veterans was deplorable and WWII vets were feted, but I doubt anyone but our family even noticed my son's return from Kuwait. Communities seem to be doing a bit more for the current dischargees. But 6 months after discharge, when they can't find a job, do any feel appreciated?

From there I thought about the men I see at the Soup kitchen here in town, most of whom have substance abuse issues, many of whom are also veterans and several of whom are the best read, nicest people you would ever hope to meet. And it hurts my heart to know how badly they have been destroyed. Somewhere there is a frame for each, a family member or friend who remembers what a goof he was in high school, a girl who dated him, a mother who raised him.

Clearly, I have no answers. I can't change things. But to the men and women who have served this country, I offer my thanks and continued appreciation and my prayers that good will come of your sacrifice.





Sunday, May 5, 2013

CINCO OMYO!

For April Allrecipes asked the Ambassadors to use and evaluate two new products and I am happy to report that both exceeded my expectations.  The first was Herdez's new line of cooking sauces, which I will say more about later since the project continues in June.  The other was Sauza SilverTequila, who asked us to show how we celebrated a girl's night in with our girlfriends.

Try as I might, I couldn't get a group of my friends together for this project due to schedule conflicts, illness, and other obligations.  So I hit on the idea of entertaining my daughter and son in law, son and his girl friend, and niece and her husband for a pre-season afternoon at the beach.  It was a tough sell, but they proved themselves troopers!

Even though I only have to take the elevator down to ground level and turn left from the front door to get there, this required logistical planning NASA would have envied.  You see, alcohol is strictly forbidden on any public beach in town, one of the few laws religiously enforced.  I have never felt the need to skirt that particular ordinance before and really have no idea why I chose this occasion.  Perhaps it had to do with it being late April and still only in the high 40s, when all of us were ready for warmer weather.  I enlisted my son as my bartender since he actually has experience at that endeavor.  He concocted several Margarita recipes cleverly hidden in Thermoses.     

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-simple-sauza-margarita/detail.aspx


Now my family can't socialize for more than 10 minutes without food so I assembled goodies to tide us over until dinner.  Another AR member, named Zevon introduced me to Buffalo Cauliflower Bites through her blog

Cat Hill also inspired me with her warm dip

And I whipped up my son's favorite cross between guacamole and hummus

We were bundled up against the wind, but we enjoyed a few hours on the almost deserted beach, eating, drinking, catching up and just enjoying each other's company.  In my opinion, this is the best way to entertain.

 Disclaimer


I am an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com.


Products received from advertiser are only used for experienced-based reviews by BigShotsMom. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are purely the sole opinions of BigShotsMom.






Saturday, April 20, 2013

Mother Earth

EARTH DAY  

Monday, April 22, 2013

After the sorrowful events of this past week, I was blessed today by the opportunity to see major corporations and everyday people working hand in hand to improve this little corner of the earth.

Long Beach, NY was one of the most heavily damaged communities by Superstorm Sandy.  Even today, 5 1/2 months after the storm, over a third of our residents have yet to return.  Houses must be raised from ground level to a minimum of 8 feet above.  No living areas will be permitted at ground level.  It may be used for garage and storage space or workshop, but however it is used, raising a house is an expensive proposition.  Insurance carriers have been slow to make reimbursements and banks even slower to forward the funds to homeowners.  Many people just do not have the wherewithal to advance the type of money necessary, so it becomes a Catch 22 for them.




Today, however, in celebration of Earth Day, Home Depot, Viacom, Starbucks, the NY Islanders NHL team, JetBlue, and many local and regional businesses donated materials and employees to help the residents bring back our "City by the Sea."  They cleaned up sand that still seems to be everywhere, built raised beds and planted flowers in fresh soil, sent teams in wet suits to clean debris out of the canals that line our north shore, helped homeowners make the front of their property a place of pride.  It seemed as if everyone was involved, from the local scouts and elementary classes to teams from nearby colleges and neighbors who formed teams to ensure whole blocks were attended, not just the houses with inhabitants, so young couples with small children were working next to senior citizens.

Now, just as an army runs on its stomach, volunteers must feel appreciated.  What better way than by offering them something to eat and drinks to keep them hydrated.  Since there were four areas of intense concentration somewhat distant from each other, there were different "feeding stations" for lack of a better name.  Folks working in the west end were fed by a BBQ restaurant, run by the most civic minded couple I have ever met, who also happen to serve excellent food.  The folks working in the center of town were treated to pizzas supplied by our city manager in conjunction with our oldest pizzaria.  East end and canals workers were fed at our soup kitchen courtesy of our smaller, family owned supermarket and a local deli.  We offered 6 ft heros, cold salads, coffee, tea, soda, and water.  And we will all be back tomorrow to do it again.

Once again, I have been humbled by the willingness of total strangers, with no personal connection to Long Beach, to give up their time and money to help us get back as close to normal as possible.  I have also had my eyes opened to the generosity of Home Depot.  They have been a presence here since the storm with truckloads of donated materials and staff who know how to use them.  And as long as I'm sounding like their PR man, I might add, they are not even a Long Beach business.  Their nearest store is located in another town that was as badly damaged.  They have done the same for the other town.

So celebrate Earth Day.  Plant a flower or vegetable, even if it is in a pot for your window.  Pick up a bit of trash you may see on the ground, it won't kill you.  Be mindful how you use water.  Try to minimize your carbon footprint.  We only have one earth.


 



Tuesday, February 12, 2013

                                           

Hello AllRecipeeps, I'm BigShotsMom and BigShot is the lovely feline who frequently poses as my avatar and is never far from me and the possibility of food.

I think I started using AllRecipes almost as soon as it became something Google recognized, back when Google was starting out.  As the owner of enough cookbooks to start my own library, I hardly needed a website full of recipes, right?  But it was convenient if I was at work to direct my daughter to s specific recipe and she could start it before I got home.  I was not a member and really never paid attention to all the other tabs.  Then I stopped working, daughter left for college and to stave off boredom I decided to overcome my fear of yeast and learn to make bread.  That is when I discovered the Buzz, which back then was called Recipe Exchange.



In addition to help with baking bread, I found entertainment, camaraderie, and some truly amazingly warm caring friends.  We have laughed together, mourned together, worried over one another's health and familiy, supported each other and become more than a community.  I think of this as a large, noisy, warm, inviting kitchen.  And we have produced some really good food!