In My Kitchen March 2024

Our Life In March 

Spring is coming, and this is the best reason to celebrate the end of March. We did have pie for Pi Day (but not home made) and we enjoyed St. Patricks Day (but no special food). It’s the end of the week and also the end of the month, so I’m sharing my thoughts and photos with Sherry’s In My Kitchen, Deb’s Sunday Salon, and Elizabeth’s Tuesday Tea Party. I wish everyone a very beautiful April with beautiful weather, no matter which climate zone you live in.

My Peeps in my kitchen: Happy Easter!

What we cooked

Here are some of the things we cooked in March. We each made some of these dishes.

This dish was a disappointment. We added several more ingredients
to the leftovers to give it more flavor.

Recipe from “The Kitchn”

Made from scratch (not from Ikea). Both wine & water to drink.

From Evelyn’s kitchen: Hamantaschen for Purim. I wish I had been there to eat some!

Fun Stuff in the Kitchen

New dish towel

One more good ready-made dish from Trader Joe’s.

And a good sweet thing, also from Trader Joe’s

Some of the enjoyable jam, preserves, jelly, etc. in my refrigerator.

Bread

Len’s latest rye bread was awesome!

New dough whisk that Len used when combining ingredients for the rye bread.

Remembering Four Years Ago

In the beginning of March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic seemed to be a distant rumor. By the end of March, there were cases in every state, and the government had shut down virtually all non-essential activity in businesses, schools, recreations, public performances, and many other areas. Emergency rooms were overwhelmed, and hospitals were overflowing with very sick patients. Essential commodities and those that people thought would become scarce were all out-of-stock as people hoarded shelf-stable foods, frozen foods, and household goods. The resulting toilet paper shortage lasted several months. 

The effects of the pandemic still echo through our society. From the New York Times this week:

“Elected officials, strategists, historians and sociologists say the lasting effects of the pandemic are visible today in the debates over inflation, education, public health, college debt, crime and trust in American democracy itself” (source)

Injustices became apparent as the pandemic left some people working at their own risk to do essential jobs, and left others without a livelihood. The situation is no better today:

• According to the Washington Post this week: “Nearly 1 in 5 people in the essential workforce — people who cleaned hospitals during the pandemic, who provided home health care and child care, who kept food coming to our tables, who built temporary clinics — do not have permanent legal authorization to live in this country.” (source) 
• The Baltimore Key Bridge disaster last week brought home how vulnerable immigrants work on our essential infrastructure. The bridge workers who were killed and injured were all immigrants from Central America. (source)
• Farmworkers are especially vulnerable: “According to data from Farmworkers Justice, there are an estimated 2.4 million farm workers employed on American farms and ranches, the large majority of whom are immigrants. Foreign-born workers make up 68% of the workforce (the USDA cites a slightly lower number at an estimated 60%) and approximately 36% lack authorized work status under current U.S. laws. (source)

The pandemic left us with a lot of thinking to do: one essential question is why we continue to deny legitimacy of residence to workers who are clearly essential to our nation.

From IMK, March 2020: What’s really important?

Reading my blog posts from the start of the pandemic is interesting: we decided to isolate ourselves, not knowing how long we would be without social contacts. Our isolation ended a year later when the remarkable vaccine became available to us. This is what I wrote four years ago:

“My food thoughts are not just with my own needs, but with the vast numbers of people who are fearing or already experiencing hunger. I'm thinking of those whose jobs have suddenly ceased, and who don’t know how they will afford food. I worry about children who were dependent on school lunch programs but whose schools have closed, and about college students without meals or shelter after dorm closures. I'm mindful that homeless people and refugees everywhere are subject to increased uncertainty. People already living in poverty in the US and throughout the world will be suffering even more now than in the past.

“Even more pressing than the challenge of getting food to those in need, our society has enormous problems with protecting health care workers and providing care for the sick. Compared to the vast numbers of people with limited resources, to those who are already suffering from coronavirus, and to those mourning the victims, I'm extremely fortunate and grateful, and I do not want to sound like I'm complaining.”

Graffiti on a park bench in March, 2020.

WE SURVIVED!

Blog post and photos © 2020, 2024 mae sander.

Fresh Local Produce

Argus Farm Stop, Ann Arbor, MI

Eggplant at Fusileir Farm Stand, Chelsea, MI.

 Blog post and all photos © 2023 mae sander

UPDATE: A comment on this post complained that Bidenomics caused food prices to rise. The Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman recently wrote an article on this exact subject titled  “Why Are Groceries So Expensive?” He specifically asked “Why? Can we blame Bidenomics?” His answer is, no we can’t blame the President or his economic policies. Krugman says:

“The key point to understand about food inflation is that it’s a global phenomenon, outside the control of any one government (except, in a sense, Russia’s …) and transcending the pricing policies of even the biggest businesses.”

 Russia’s role in the global phenomenon of rising food prices is twofold. First, the invasion and continuing war in Ukraine is preventing them from continuing to be a major grain supplier, which is a critical contributor to rising prices. And second, Russian policies have caused major increases in the price of fertilizer — they were a major source of this necessity for global agriculture.

I wanted to respond to this comment because I think this understanding why things are the way they are is crucial to understanding these price issues. I don’t blame the farmers who charge high prices for local produce, and I don’t blame the government for what they can’t control either.

Frittata and A Recipe Using Better Than Boullion

Always in my refrigerator!
I use this chicken base for everything.
It was a great addition to curry-roasted vegetables.

This frittata with the leftover vegetables was quite delicious!

Usually I do not copy other people’s work, but I recently found a recipe for curry-roasted vegetables and liked it. Since this recipe was in an advertisement for the ingredient Better Than Bouillon, I thought the owner would even appreciate it if I reproduced it! I am very fond of Better Than Bouillon products (and they don’t reward me in any way for saying so). 

The original recipe calls for potatoes, but I added onions, bell peppers, carrots, and one hot pepper, all in good-sized chunks. And then I used the leftovers to make my very nice frittata, topped with cheddar and Panko bread crumbs.

Curry Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

2 tbsp	Better Than Bouillon®Sautéed Onion Base [OR Chicken Base]
¼ cup	olive oil
1 tbsp	curry powder
1 tbsp	tomato paste
1 tsp	paprika
2 cloves	garlic, minced
2 lb	potatoes, chopped

Directions

• 1

  Preheat oven to 425˚F. In large bowl, stir together Roasted Onion [or chicken] Base, vegetable oil, curry powder, tomato paste, paprika and garlic until blended. Toss with potatoes until well coated.

• 2

  Transfer to 2 large parchment paper–lined baking sheets. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and tender. [I used Silpat sheet liners.]

Tip: Serve with a dollop of yogurt or tzatziki sauce if desired. My tip: serve with chutney!

Source: https://www.betterthanbouillon.com/recipes/curry-roasted-potatoes/

What we have been eating

The Famous Sabich Sandwich

Carol made us a beautiful Israeli meal with Sabich sandwiches and mujedara.

Sabich sandwich fillings, to be eaten in puffy pita bread, include hard-boiled eggs, sliced potato, fried eggplant, Israeli chopped salad, tahini, hummus, and the wonderful condiments called Zhug (peppers, garlic, and green herbs), and Amba (a type of mango chutney). Carol made it all from scratch, so it was especially good. And Nat made a wonderful blueberry tart for dessert.

The legend is that the Sabich, an Iraqui breakfast or lunch sandwich, was popularized in the 1960s by a food vendor in Ramat Gan called Sabich Tsvi Halabi. It's now very widespread in lunch counters and small diners, and even featured on the menu at the roadside chain restaurants, often inside gas stations, called the Aroma Café. Carol's Sabich was MUCH better than that!

We enjoyed our Sabich dinner after kayaking at the lake...Nat shared this beautiful video:

Frittata

Ingredients for a vegetarian frittata.

Finished frittata with onion, garlic, bell pepper, mushrooms.
Topped with cheese, bread crumbs, and dried parsley.
Instructions say to bake this in a cast-iron skillet, but I just use a baking dish.

On the Grill

Mushrooms brushed with olive oil.
Lamb chops coated with crushed garlic and rosemary.

Fish Tacos

Blog post © 2021 mae sander.

Wordless Wednesday: Topped with Cheese!

If this is too wordless for you, the photos show some cheese-topped foods that I've cooked recently: stuffed baked potatoes, cornbread (two views), and a frittata with two kinds of cheese. 

New Recipe for Frittata

For 2 to 4 servings, depending on what else you are eating:

3 or 4 eggs
1 or 2 egg whites
1 to 2 cups chopped cooked broccoli
2 roasted peppers from a jar, cut in dice
Salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. smoked Spanish paprika or other paprika
1 Tb. butter
4 to 6 slices ham (one oz. slices), cut up
3 to 4 oz shredded cheese (like KerryGold Irish cheese or cheddar)

Beat eggs with salt & paprika; add broccoli and peppers. Melt butter in large oven-proof frying pan and add ham; cook briefly on high. Add egg mixture, turn heat to low, cover, and cook 5 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.

After the eggs are cooked but not entirely set, sprinkle with the cheese (which can be mixed with another 1/4 tsp. of paprika). Place under broiler as illustrated above, and cook until cheese is brown and bubbly. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn -- it takes around 5 minutes.

Allow the fritatta to set for a few minutes, cut in quarters, and serve:

Experiment: Broccoli Frittata

Are you shocked to learn that this is the first time I ever made a frittata? Well, it's not that different from a tortilla espanol or a crustless quiche. Eggs, parmesan, milk, beaten up, mixed with steamed chopped broccoli; poured over some butter with a bit of lightly cooked garlic, genoa salami, and red pepper; baked at 375 for 40 mins, browned under the broiler .... I just haven't ever done it this way. As everyone knows, it's very convenient for using up the vegetables before we go away for the weekend.