While everyone’s been baking their little hearts out; tempting readers with homey gingerbread cakes, elegant pavlovas, and every deletable cookie imaginable, I’ve been busy experimenting with low-sodium, heart healthy, savory side dishes that will flatter the main attraction at your holiday table.

Always mindful of making meals that delight your taste buds while nurturing your body, this is the first time I’ve had to prepare a holiday dinner that doesn’t include sausage, bacon, pancetta, or cheese. I know we’re not alone in our gustatory passion for cured pork delicacies, unfortunately, these foods have no place in a low-sodium diet! And cheese - it’s practically a food group in itself! Rarely have we met a cheese we didn’t like -  whether goat, sheep, or cow’s milk, fresh, aged, brined, herbed, rolled in nuts, or sprinkled with berries -  and all have been sorely missed as I master the art of flavorful, low-sodium cooking to keep my man ticking.

Baking is a real challenge as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and baking powder (calcium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate) are essential. But, together, we’ve found a number of low-sodium products at Trader Joes (including no salt added chips that aren’t half bad) and online, including baking powder and baking soda that contain no sodium, but rather potassium as the active ingredient, and many other products that I’ll talk about in future posts.

Bread has a surprising amount of sodium, anywhere from 160 mg in a slice of whole wheat to 320 mg or more in a piece of cornbread, focaccia, pretzel bread, etc. Naturally, so do bread crumbs, even if homemade. Fortunately, I’ve always preferred Japanese-style panko for a crisp coating on my coconut shrimp or baked chicken and I was thrilled that the sodium content of Kikkoman’s Panko bread crumbs is only 40 mg per 1/2 cup serving. Other brand name bread crumbs had to be tossed, but the panko is here to stay

Which brings us to this earthy mushroom, tart green apple “stuffing” made with panko bread crumbs that I’ve served up several ways. Brimming with seasonal flavors, it takes succulent baked stuffed pork chops to another level and has garnered rave reviews when presented as vegetarian  stuffed mushroom appetizers, redolent with umami, it was easy to forget the sausage Here, I stole the idea of stuffing red onions, instead of mushrooms, that I spied in November’s Martha Stewarts Living.

Ours is an intimate Christmas dinner -  just the three of us this year, no travel to visit relatives in blustery environs with hopes for a White Christmas or escape-the-madness golf weekend in sunny Palm Springs… and I’m not disappointed in the least. It’s been a virtually stress-free holiday season for me and I’m ecstatic!

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Happy Halloween !!!

From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us! … Scottish saying

Whatever you feel about the “holiday” – love it or hate it, costume or not, lights on or lights off – it’s an opportunity to revel in the pumpkin. Autumn is most definitely my favorite season: all apples, cinnamon and pumpkins, brisk mornings, cozy fires, and Halloween excitement. Last night I returned from a trip to Paris with pit stops in Pittsburgh and Boston. I was thrilled to witness the hills dotted with hints of the brilliant colors to come – that is, before the unexpected October nor’easter that blew in on Saturday with it’s heavy shroud of white.

With the first signs of fall comes a bounty of delectable pumpkin baked goodies to tempt us – I indulge vicariously and struggle to stick to my healthy regimen. So here is the recipe I promised earlier this month for a delicious, but also healthy and nutritious pumpkin recipe that’s a perfect buffer for all the chocolate, candy, and baked treats! I’ve added it to the parade of pumpkin recipes that Lora at Cake Duchess has in celebration of All Hallow’s Eve.

“Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.” William Shakespeare

 Better than eye of newt and toe of frog

Bring forth the raisins and the nuts- Tonight All-Hallows’ Specter struts Along the moonlit
way.
- – -John Kendrick Bangs

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Are you as thrilled as I am that fall has arrived? All apples, cinnamon and pumpkins, brisk mornings, cozy fires, Halloween excitement, the hills dotted with hints of the brilliant colors to come…

This past weekend I made a batch of sweet and savory baked apples for a little harvest party at Rustic Garden Bistro‘s patch of paradise to celebrate the completion of their kitchen remodel. Seated around their weathered farm table overflowing with everyone’s seasonal creations, gazing out over the hills of Orange; chatting, sipping, and supping with friends old and new, the hours slipped away.

The apples were Gravensteins, which I had been searching for since reading an LA Times article about their precarious future, and finally found at Avila Valley Barn in San Luis Obispo. Naturally, apple pie is the first thing that pops into your head, but not being a confident baker or having the desire to peel a bunch of apples, I thought baked apples were perfect for the season and, happily, the choice validated with hungry enthusiasm and stories of childhood memories of baked apples.

But, you’re probably confused as the lead-in photo is obviously not one of baked apples. I will be sharing my simple recipe for baked apples soon, but today the seasonal fare involves that other autumn favorite: Pumpkin. And not just pumpkin bread or muffins, but pumpkin combined with layers of flavor from sweet carrots, luscious coconut milk, and hints of citrus and ginger. Please hop, skip,and jump over to see this versatile sauce to soup ode to autumn on my friend Lazaro’s site; Lazaro Cooks.

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With the heat of summer behind us, we welcome the balmy days and cool nights of autumn and harvest season! And, what better theme for September’s 5 Star Makeover Challenge and this beautiful time of year than cooking with wine!

But, I cannot tell a lie – somehow, over the past month, I got it in my head that the theme was a wine pairing dinner – don’t know exactly how that happened – maybe it was the wine tasting we did in Paso Robles on the way back from dropping College Girl off in Santa Cruz or the Girls Day Out in Temecula wine country that has been in the works for the past month, but it happened and I never thought to refer back to Lazaro’s email (or Facebook) to double check.

So allow me to introduce you to my new favorite wine: Grüner Veltliner [GROO-ner Felt-lih-ner] is a white-wine grape grown principally in Austria and is their most widely planted variety. This grape produces pale, crisp, light to medium-bodied, slightly spicy wines of good to very good quality. It can be fresh and lively to concentrated and intense and typically shows nuances of grapefruit and citrus, with a touch of fresh cracked pepper.

In my online reading, Grüner Veltliner was referred to as THE hip wine (a blog post from 2007) and my Total Wine Guide to Wine and Spirits noted that Austrian white wines have become the darling of sommelier’s across the country. Years ago a few sommeliers thought to offer it as a creative pairing with Asian cuisine – it’s now considered a classic pairing. Dr. Vinny at Wine Spectator says, “Grüner Veltliner’s bright acidity and appealing spicy quality pair it very well with all types of food. The most eye-popping match is how well it goes with Asian food—anything from Vietnamese to Thai to spicy Chinese flavors. Next, try it with seafood. Grüners also go very well with bitter greens and salads. Then have your favorite pork tenderloin dish. And finally, enjoy how that acidity can cut through salt and fat, like in a smoked ham.”

While there are many expert tips on pairing food with wine, a good basic rule that I’ve learned in various wine classes is that the wine of a particular region pairs well with the foods of the region. Sure there are other pairings that are more inspired and exciting because they bring together more unusual tastes, but if you’re a bit tenuous and still learning about the characteristics of wine, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to the classics.

As Ray Isles states in An Expert’s Pairing Advice:  “there’s a kind of default logic at work here: The wines of a certain region go well with the foods of a certain region because they’ re both from the region and everyone has always eaten and drunk them together. That said, climate and culture do seem to work together to create felicitous food-and-wine combinations; the rosé wines of Provence do taste awfully good with bouillabaisse, and Tuscany’s arista di maiale(pork loin roasted with rosemary and garlic) is a natural with Chianti Classico—the wine’s firm tannins and slightly herbal character just seem to go naturally with the herby roasted meat.

In part this is because these are regions that have hundreds of years of culinary and viticultural history, where the cuisine and the wine have grown up together, in a sense. Saying that the wines of Napa Valley are particularly suited to the cuisine of the Bay Area is, on the other hand, probably a bit more of a reach. But in general, it’s hard to go too wrong matching the wines of a region to the cuisine of that region.

 Although, I’ve been enjoying Gruner Veltliner since tasting several in the Wines of the World Class I took at UCI last winter, I decided to cook a classic Austrian dinner of Wiener Schnitzel to pair with a bottle of Heidel 2009 Grüner Veltliner  which was included in a wine tasting of German Rieslings  at Wine Lab Newport. For the makeover I served classic Wiener Schnitzel with a warm potato salad and a fresh, seasonal (apples) take on sauerkraut which added a bright acidity and lovely crisp freshness to each bite

Enjoy Thank you for visiting and don’t forget to check out all of the other cooking with wine creations done by the group by clicking the 5 Star Makeover link above.

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Since I started writing about food and cooking almost two years ago, I’ve only used what’s referred to as a P&S (point and shoot) camera – a Canon PowerShot SX200IS to be specific – and was damn proud of the photos I produced with my cute blue camera. I’ve always been a tiny bit envious of the sharp macro images and dreamy depth of field of images on other blogs, but was happy being the rebel

Well no more! For my birthday, the Don gifted me with the Canon Rebel T2i with a Tamron macro lens. I’m excited, but apprehensive about the learning curve. I’m trying not to wimp out and resort to Old Faithful, but it is a little exasperating, here you are witness to my first attempts. *sigh* Please, if you have any helpful tips, leave me a comment, I would really appreciate it!

Let’s get to the recipe for today: homemade ketchup. It may not sound very exciting, but making your own special recipe ketchup is all the rage now. Ketchup is the quintessential American condiment and, while there are some foods that my family must eat with ketchup – like the typical burger, hot dog or fries; we’re certainly not one of those people who like ketchup slathered on everything. Two things inspired me – actually three – to concoct a gourmet ketchup. (1) an abundance of tomatoes* – of the three varieties we have, I thought the yellow Tangerine tomatoes would be perfect because of their natural sweetness and low acidity, (2) Don loves ketchup and even the organic brand I was buying had more sodium than he wanted, and (3) an LA Times Food feature with a recipe for homemade peach ketchup from Sang Yoon of Father’s Office – notorious for not serving ketchup with their famous burgers.

I decided to impart a tropical twist by adding roasted mango, some heat with the red peppers we have growing, and a touch of the exotic with crushed cardamom seed. And, as the mixture was cooking down I decided that a sauce might be more versatile – that’s how I roll, subject to change at any moment The ketchup turned Tomato Mango Sauce has proven to be very versatile – terrific as a marinade for pork tenderloin and chicken, drizzled on salads, and as a dipping sauce – and, most importantly, Don loves it and is asking for more!

* Ketchup does not have to be tomato based, actually ketchup (or catsup) was brought to Britain in the 1600s by traders from China and Malaysia where the brine from pickled fish was used as a dipping sauce. Affluent Brits were served dishes with the rich brines from pickled walnut and mushrooms. Eventually, they began bottling these condiments, calling them catsup. Catsup came with British settlers to Colonial America and it wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that entrepreneurs began tinkering with the recipe to suit the American taste for sweet foods and sold catsup made with tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt. Its popularity took off when Heinz company added tomato catsup to their condiment line in the 1870s – so there you have your history of ketchup.

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When people ask me what is my favorite food, I’ve never been able to give them a straight answer because I love variety and the unique flavors of so many cuisines. But, if I HAD to pick a favorite, pizza is certainly at the top of the list, so I was really pleased when Natasha and Lazaro announced that pizza was the theme for August’s Five Star Challenge.

The true origin of pizza differs depending on the source and whether you’re talking about the etymology of the word “pizza” (Latin), or what culture was the first to start adding toppings to flavor bread (Middle East and Mediterranean), or who invented the edible plate (Greeks). Generally, its agreed that pizza, as we know it, came from humble beginnings; a Galette flat bread with a red sauce, it was a dish of the poor people and sold in the streets of Naples, Italy in the 16th century. Later, after tomatoes were brought to Europe by explorers from the Americas, the sauce was made from oil and tomatoes.

Origins aside, pizza has evolved to gourmet status with a place on the menu of many a fine dining establishment. The pizza’s appeal transcends borders and its versatility knows no bounds – you can have pizza for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert now!

The pizza I created for this challenge speaks to my roots in the South (the S in SXSW), my love of Southwestern flavors (the SW), and the bounty of tomatoes from our garden. This year we planted three varieties of tomatoes: Organic Beefsteak, Heirloom Black Krim, and Sweet Tangerine Hybrid and I used each one in this delicious vegetarian thin crust SXSW Pizza.

We’ve been having a problem with the Beefsteaks developing “blossom rot”, so have been picking them before they mature into their biggest, brightest, beautiful selves – this is the variety I used for the fried green tomatoes. The Black Krim’s have a dark maroon skin with red flesh, they grow to a medium-size which is perfect for bites of pizza, alternated with slices of the extra sweet, golden orange Sweet Tangerine Hybrid. With Marcella Hazan’s dough recipe (thank you, Angela of Spinach Tiger), a sprinkling of aged Asiago cheese and the delightful crunch and Southwestern flavors of toasted pepitas and smoky roasted corn – this was a garden fresh, gourmet pizza bursting with flavor that I think you’ll love and that I’ll be making again and and again.

Besides being a catchy acronym for the South by Southwest flavors in this fabulous pizza, SXSW also makes reference to the annual  SXSW in Austin, Texas, the mega happening of interactive, media, music, and film festivals that one day I’d like to attend

Cheers to pizza in all its incarnations!

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Drumroll…. here’s the third recipe in this year’s Zucchini Throwdown and I’m dedicating it to Roxana of A Little Bit of Everything because of her kind comment urging me to keep them coming on my previous post where I declared an end to zucchini season Don’t get the wrong impression, just because this humble dip is third isn’t an indication of it’s overall popularity. In fact, based on ease of preparation and popularity, it should have been first! I’ve made this dip for my family at least 5 times so far this summer, it was a hit with The Young Baker and her college buddies at a recent pool party at our house, and was devoured at a recent monster graduation party that one of our close friends had for their lovely daughter.

Dips are instant party food; always popular with kids and adults alike this one’s much healthier and lower in fat than the traditional heavy on the mayo and/or sour cream dips – especially if served with vegetable crudites or tortilla chips. I loved these colorful red, white, and blue tortilla chips from Trader Joes which I first bought for the 4th of July for the pool party. They still have them in some of the stores, if you like them too.

I adapted this recipe from Everyday Food (January/February 2011) edition that I downloaded on my iPad, substituting goat cheese for ricotta because it’s lower in sodium and, IMHO more flavorful, and added a welcome tangy bite to the delicate flavor of zucchini.

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It’s a darn good thing that I’ve always been committed to cooking healthy, nutritious meals for my family since Day 1, because now it’s a life or death call to action. If I hadn’t been interested in health and nutrition since I was a teenager eating brewer’s yeast (what teen does that?), been eliminating processed foods, sugar, and salt from our diet for over a decade, and making home-cooked meals nearly every night, then the recent turn of events would seem like an almost insurmountable task.

(To qualify the overused and often misused words “healthy and nutritious”, I mean balanced meals that include protein, carbs with fiber from whole grains and lots of fresh vegetables – many from our garden – and fruits with very few foods from a can, box, or jar.)

The reason why it’s a darn good thing is it’s making the adaptation to my husband’s cardiologist-mandated strict low-sodium diet a little less brutal than if we were in the habit of drive-through breakfasts, fast food lunches, or takeout dinners on a regular basis. And, it’s still been tough because, although I diligently read labels, its amazing how insidious sodium is until you’re trying to consume less than 2,000 milligrams a day! A few slices of deli turkey (920 mg) with low-cal mayo (125 mg) between two slices of whole wheat bread (320 – 160 for each slice) with NO cheese, sounds pretty healthy, but has a whopping 1365 mg of sodium, nearly all of his daily recommended allowance of 1500 mg, and that’s just lunch! Fortunately, I discovered Low-Sodium Ezekiel bread which has 0 sodium and The Don is enjoying avocado, tomato, and cucumber veggie sandwiches several days a week.

But let’s get to today’s recipe which I found online at L.A. Times Food after reading a very interesting article on how restaurants are cutting back on salt and hoping you won’t notice it. I was looking for a creative recipe for the kale that I picked up when shopping for ingredients for my Farmers Market Makeover entry and this was a unique take on kale salad. I loved how crispy the charred edges were – kind of like eating kale chips, and the tangy yogurt dressing was deliciously refreshing with a satisfying crunch from the hazelnuts.

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With kids at home and everyone preoccupied with exciting summer vacation plans, June’s 5 Star Makeover was extended to June/July 5 Star Makeover. Thank you to our benevolent leaders, Natasha and Lazaro, because there was a lot of stuff that went down in my humble abode in the past two months, unfortunately none of it involved a vacation. The theme was befitting of the season: a farmers’ market challenge to create a dish with ingredients purchased from a farmer’s market and, even though there’s a plethora of courgette (the French word for zucchini – sounds more gourmet, yes?) recipes out in the blogosphere right now, I was compelled to use that which is abundant in my garden (you can’t more locavore than that) along with peppers, nuts, and cheese from the farmer’s market.

A tian is a typical hearty Provençal vegetable dish which is baked in an earthenware casserole called a tian, it can be served hot or cold – making it an ideal picnic or backyard party dish. Rather than a standard baking dish, I decided to use two small baking/serving dishes for individual servings and my daughter and I enjoyed a lovely poolside lunch.  I hope that this sensationally simple tian with the freshness of summer squash, roasted peppers, and essence of mint will please your palate. A lemon and pistachio gremolata adds a bright and delightful crunch.

With this tian I declare Zucchini season officially closed. I experienced an “ah ha” moment reading a gardening article lamenting about people who complain of a glut of zucchini when all they have to do is harvest the delicate blossoms and enjoy them in their own right. Duh! So, that’s exactly what we did on Saturday. Alongside this lovely tian, we savored crisp, lightly battered zucchini blossoms, and I smiled inside

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In May, I began contributing my Travel-Eats articles at Honest Cooking along with  “70 of the world’s most interesting food & beverage writers, bloggers, photographers and Chefs featured on Honest Cooking”. I’m proud to be considered one of the 70 and join several esteemed food bloggers that I know: Nancy at Spicie Foodie, Alisha at The Ardent Epicure, and Joan at Foodalogue and, through my reading, getting to know many others as well. Each day, I’m amazed at the depth and breadth of the articles – Honest Cooking strives to become the leading and most inspiring place for serious culinary debate, salivating recipes, interesting food news and international food-fun, I urge you to take a few minutes to visit their site and see what you think . You can see all my articles on my contributor page.

Segue to the recipe…  Last week I posted Zucchini Keftedes, the first of three recipes from the Zucchini Throwdown that’s been going on in my kitchen. I think you’ll love the second, too -  a versatile zucchini side dish with a south-of-the-border twist, Mexican Zucchini and Corn from Nancy (Spicie Foodie) the writer and recipe developer behind the column “Mexico On My Plate” at Honest Cooking.

With zucchini fresh from our garden and the first of this season’s corn from the farmers market, this was the perfect healthy side dish for the pulled pork sandwiches that I made on 4th of July weekend. Pulled pork is one of our family’s  favorite summertime eats. Sometimes I make it all authentic with a dry rub and slow grilling the meat, but most of the time I make my pulled pork the no hassle way -  in the slow cooker. In my mind, the slow cooker is highly underrated, I relied on it heavily when I was working an 8-5 (hellooo, where did 9-5 come from anyway, I’ve never had a 9-5 job!) and still use it frequently in the winter months for stews, chili, and braised meats.

Enjoy

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