Maclaren Recall

Just wanted to get this news out there to help protect those little fingers.

Maclaren is recalling all of their umbrella strollers -- about 1 million of them -- because their hinges pose a danger to kids. Apparently 12 children have had the tips of their fingers amputated by these hinges. They are going to supply everyone who owns one of these strollers with hinge covers that should solve the problem. But it's probably best to keep your little ones away when folding or unfolding the stroller.

You can contact Maclaren through their web site at: www.maclaren.us/recall

Of course, when I went to look at it, the site was down. Probably has something to do with the fact that a million people have these strollers.

Potato Leek Soup

The other day I made chicken stock and one of the reasons was because I have been craving potato leek soup and chicken stock is a main ingredient. So, now that I have a freezer and fridge filled with it, I am ready to go.

I used an Emeril Lagasse recipe and it turned out pretty well. I guess I was hoping for a slightly creamier version so next time I might add more heavy cream to the mix. But, this recipe does include bacon and we all know that, really, anything that contains bacon is guaranteed to be delicious.

And it's pretty easy to make, if you have the chicken stock handy. You can always buy the canned kind. So, without further ado:

Potato Leek Soup (inspired by the Food Network, Emeril Lagasse recipe)
1 large leek
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs of thyme
1 teaspoon of peppercorns (I used a multi-colored version)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 strips of bacon, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup of white wine
5 cups of chicken stock
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper (white if you have it)
3/4 cups of heavy cream (or creme fraiche)

Cut of the green part of the leek and use two of the larger leaves to make a bouquet garni. Simply fold the bay leaves, thyme and peppercorn into the leaves and tie it closed with cooking twine or cheesecloth (which I luckily had on hand thanks to the cheese-making kit my brother and sister-in-law sent me for my birthday a few months ago.) Set aside.

Split the white part of the leek down the middle and rinse well since leeks are notorious for holding sand and dirt in between their leaves. Then slice both pieces thinly.

In a large pot, melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until the bacon is soft and it's "rendered most of it's fat" as Emeril says. This takes about 5 minutes. Then add the leeks and cook until soft and wilted which also takes about 5 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Now add the chicken stock, the potatoes, the salt and pepper and the bouquet garni you created. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Remove the bouquet garni and, in batches, use a food processor to puree the soup. Return the puree to the pot and stir in the heavy cream. Yummy.

This is best served immediately but is still very good left over if stored overnight in the refrigerator.

I served this as an appetizer last night followed by my chicken cordon bleu which I made a little bit more traditionally last night with ham and swiss cheese. Things are starting to pick up again for work, so I wanted to have at least one fancy-ish meal before we get back to it. We topped things off with a couple of pieces of Halloween candy.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture again : (

Red Light with the Ladies

Last night a couple of my girlfriends and I met for dinner at an organic diner/restaurant called Red Light. The three of us all had our first babies within months of each other so every once in a while we like to get together without the babies -- there are plenty of time when they come with us too -- and talk about how things are going.

The Red Light is a pretty cool spot on Biscayne Boulevard. It's nestled between a dingy motel and a strip club right on the Miami River. The place is pretty small but it's got a great retro diner feel and hipster wait staff. I liked it. The food was...okay. Two of us had the warm spinach salad which I really liked (it has bacon in it), while the third ordered a vegetarian plate that they specially put together for her. We also shared an artichoke appetizer and a fish dip that was pretty tasty. Unfortunately they brought a butternut squash soup way too late so we didn't even eat it.

But the best part of the night was definitely catching up with my new Miami mom friends. I may not have known them for long, but we've been through a lot together in this limited time. God, this whole motherhood thing has just been insane. It's not only introduced us to a new part of ourselves, but it's changed who we are as career women, as wives, as friends. So every once in a while it feels really nice to get together and hash some things out.

Chicken Stock

Today, I decided to try and make chicken stock since a few recipes I have been looking at recently required this ingredient. I have used canned or boxed stock in the past, but I would imagine that freshly made chicken stock is probably so much better -- and better for you.

Since today was a slower day for me -- or at least I thought it would be -- I undertook the challenge. I bought an organic whole chicken from the Publix Greenwise section and bought some celery and leeks to add to the carrots and onions I already had.

I looked at several different recipes and decided to just wing it based on what I read. This is sort of an all day undertaking so take that into consideration before you start. Here is what I did:

Chicken Stock
1 whole chicken
2 carrots
2 onions
2 stalks of celery
1 leek, the green stems included
4 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs parsley
1 teaspoon peppercorn (I used a multi-colored mix)

Put the chicken in a large (and I mean really large) pot. Cover the chicken with water (about a gallon) and bring to a boil. Remove the foam that accumulates on top.

Chop up the vegetables into big chunks (the pieces should be about an inch). Add the vegetables and the herbs to the pot and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium low and let the mixture simmer for 4 or 5 hours.

Strain the liquid through a sieve to remove all of the other ingredients. Chill the stock in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, remove the fat that has accumulated on the top. Refrigerate or freeze.

I am chilling my stock now and will let you know how it goes tomorrow. I also saved the very, falling apart, moist chicken and hope to use the meat somehow. We'll see though. It wasn't looking very appetizing after soaking for 4 hours.

God, I really hope it works out. That was a lot of food to use up. But, how could it not work out? It's just that I was so distracted trying to get this done with my newly mobile and very enthusiastic adventurer, Balthazar. Well, first it was his sleeping that really tripped me up. I mean, I put that kid in the car and he is out for an hour at least. So, first I sat in the parking lot at Costco and then again at Publix letting the little guy catch some z's. It was such a waste of time. But, I have to let him rest because when he's awake he is a MANIAC. He's standing up against the table, the refrigerator, the oven. He pulling down pots and pans, screaming when I won't let him leave the refrigerator door open or when I insist that the knife is off limits. Ugh, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

But, the stock finally got simmering and then I made some Penne alla Vodka for dinner.

I also booked myself another video today. So it looks like this "hiatus" was a short one. I guess that's good.

Full report of the stock tomorrow. Oh and if anyone has made a good chicken stock before and sees that I have made some terrible errors, please let me know. I would really appreciate it.

Yankees Suck Meatloaf

I'm gonna have to write this quickly. My power supply doesn't seem to be working properly. Then I remembered that I found Baz sucking on the end of it today. I hope it is not another casualty of Baz the drooling electronics fanatic. We've already lost a Blackberry and a couple of remote controls.

But, I am back at it today. After taking Baz to his 9 month doctor's appointment, and waiting out an hour nap in the parking lot of the Surfside Publix, I went food shopping and then came home and cooked a nice meal.

I was in the mood for meatloaf. So, I sort of made up my own recipe and added a glaze that I liked from a Food Network recipe. It turned out pretty well.

Here's what I did:

Yankees Suck Meatloaf
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed or diced
1 small onion
1 small carrots
1/2 green pepper
1 small Roma tomato
4 small mushrooms
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon bread crumbs
1 slice of bread
1 pound ground beef (I used organic ground beef after the New York Times article)
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Finely dice the carrot, onion, tomato and mushrooms. Put the olive oil in a large saute pan and heat over high heat. Add the garlic and saute until it starts to brown. Add the rest of the vegetables and saute until soft and the onion is translucent. Set aside to cool a little bit.

Combine the dry ingredients and put in a large bowl. Add the ground beef and break up the slice of bread and use your hands to mix it with the meat and spices. Add the sauteed vegetables and egg. Mix all ingredients together with your hands.

Form the mixture into a loaf either using a loaf pan or your hands. Put the loaf in the middle of a baking sheet and put it in the oven.

After ten minutes, add this glaze which I got from Alton Brown on the Food Network site:

Combine 1/2 cup of ketcup, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of hot sauce. Mix well.

Cover the meatloaf with this glaze and continue cooking until a meat thermometer reads that it is 165 degrees in several places. This takes about 1 hour of cooking.

I served it with mashed potatoes and some steamed broccoli. It was really good.

Oh and I call it Yankees Suck Meatloaf because the Yankees suck.

Supper Sum-Up

I was unusually busy this week finishing up this video for The New York Times that is running on the homepage today (check it out!). So, I didn't really do a lot of cooking. In fact, I can barely remember what I ate. Luckily, I have an awesome husband, who despite having to finish the article that the video accompanied and another piece about the world's largest rubber band ball being moved out of Lauderhill, FL, kept me fed and hydrated.

So, I thought I'd do just a quick run down of what we did for dinner this week in hopes that maybe it will inspire some ideas and distract people from the fact I have been such a blog slacker.

Saturday: One of my mom's frozen Chicken Parmesan meals with a side of penne.
Friday: Filet Mignon with wasabi mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. (I put a rub on the filet mignon of olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin and cooked in a cast iron skillet to medium rare -- with no fire alarms set off this time)
Thursday: Shrimp Scampi (that I made, thank you very much)
Wednesday: Damien made this excellent Cashew-encrusted chicken dish from the Miami Spice cookbook we recently picked up at the Bookstore in the Grove. I'll post the recipe soon.
Tuesday: Cafe Prima Pasta for the early bird 50% off special. I had the mushroom ravioli special and Damien had the Seafood pasta.
Monday: Rotisserie chicken dinner from Publix with macaroni and cheese and steamed broccoli on the side.
Sunday: Our usual Sunday night pizza order from Pizzafiore.

This week I should be back to cooking so I'm hoping to come up with some new recipes. Any suggestions?

Oh and Happy Halloween!

The Carnivore’s Dilemma

An interesting New York Times "food for thought" column here. I have several friends who push their vegetarian/vegan views and this op-ed piece offers another perspective.

I'm more of an "everything in moderation" kind of girl so I'm not really likely to give up meat anytime soon. But when I can find it, I have been trying to buy only organic or farm raised products. Apparently, it's even better for the environment that eating tofu since so much soy comes from the handful of Brazilian international agribusinesses that are big culprits in the deforestation of Brazil.

I found this paragraph pretty interesting too:

And it should also be noted that farmers bear only a portion of the blame for greenhouse gas emissions in the food system. Only about one-fifth of the food system’s energy use is farm-related, according to University of Wisconsin research. And the Soil Association in Britain estimates that only half of food’s total greenhouse impact has any connection to farms. The rest comes from processing, transportation, storage, retailing and food preparation. The seemingly innocent potato chip, for instance, turns out to be a dreadfully climate-hostile food. Foods that are minimally processed, in season and locally grown, like those available at farmers’ markets and backyard gardens, are generally the most climate-friendly.

No! Not potato chips!

So, take a read and if anyone has any suggestions for where to buy organic meat, let me know. I already get Verde Farms organic ground meat at Costco.