Mocktails, Shaken or Stirred?

Making sure that there are some non-alcoholic options is a good move for any host or hostess, because not everyone drinks. This time of year, AAA does a tremendous service: it promotes the "Great Pretenders" mocktail guide in time for the holidays.

There are people like me who, when they do drink, have what I call "fruity, girly drinks" because they don't like the taste of alcohol. I'd just as soon leave the alcohol out. Drinking a mocktail is more interesting than just having a pop, but I'm still assured that I can drive myself home safely. Non-alcoholic drinks often have fewer calories; they also are kid-friendly.

For the person who doesn't drink alcohol, regardless of the reason, see my prior blog post from just before the July 4 holiday, including some terrific links to mocktails. Additional links to check out include:

• Healthy High's Mocktails! Page
• A recent Info Barrel article
• Mocktails for the Sophisticated Non-Drinker by CultureMob

Food for a Happy and Healthy Hanukkah

There are two holidays that hold familiar favorites for me. Christmas is of course the obvious one; the other is Hanukkah. I have a number of friends and former coworkers who are Jewish; some of them are fabulous cooks who have brought in their extra Hanukkah treats.

My all-time favorite is Sheila's noodle kugel recipe. She doesn't make it regularly because it's somewhat fattening.

On Weight Watchers online site that there are some healthier Hanukkah recipes as well as a non-dairy kugel recipe made with coconut milk on About.com that I just might try.

Happy Hanukkah to Jeff, Sheila, Mara, Wendy, Stacey, Lance, Dale and Dorothy and their families!  

Holiday Recipes

You have my high school reunion to thank for this entry. One of my friends there mentioned he'd seen the blog online, which jogged my memory. Thanks, Tim.

Where's the blog been? you ask.

Thereby hangs a tale. Here are links to some work I've been doing for Patch.com, an online newspaper (in this case, the Hartland, MI edition). As some people do serve turkey and stuffing at Christmas, I am including links to two great holiday recipes from people I've interviewed for Patch.com in the past few weeks: stuffing and Roast Muscovy Duck. (The latter previously ran in the New York Times and is a good alternative to a turkey or ham, making a dinner for two to four people.)

Food as Idiom, or "In the Soup"

I don't know if you have noticed, but there are many food-related idoms that have made our way into the English language (many via the French channel, which isn't surprising, given the Norman invasion and the one-time supremacy of French cooking as a symbol of refined taste). The origins of various words and phrases simply fascinates me, so you're in for it now.

I've always thought it was interesting to state someone's "in the soup" to mean that they are in trouble. I had always supposed it was because the soup was scalding or they couldn't swim. See Barry Popik's The Big Apple for some interesting details about the phrase, which possibly originated in a restaurant or on the baseball field, but (quel suprise) was popularized in New York due to a controversial election year.  

Another descriptive (and similar) food metaphor is to say someone's "out of the frying pan and into the fire." According to Answers.com, it means "from a bad situation to one that is much worse. ... This expression, a proverb in many languages, was first recorded in English in 1528." The entry also notes similar idioms exist elsewhere. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire" also is a song title by Meat Loaf, circa 1993, a fact which I had forgotten.

For detailed comments about other common expressions, such as "the apple of my eye," "not worth his salt" and "a red herring," check out an August article in Smithsonian Magazine here.

You also could check out A Hog on Ice by Charles E. Funk, a wonderful classic on the topic of word and phrase origins, or the columns of my all-time favorite, Evan Morris, aka The Word Detective.

Putting Together a Healthy Potluck Lunch

One of the pitfalls of trying to eat healthy is to put together a healthy lunch. This is especially difficult in the world of potlucks ahead of us during the holidays.

Here are some suggestions.

Ask beforehand what's on the menu; even if you can't find out, you can bring a healthy main dish (or side dish that can serve as your main dish) to fill up on.

Take half a sandwich and fill up on the salad, fruit and/or a little soup, depending on what's available. You can have some of the cream soup in moderation, especially if, as happened today at our women's group, it's a creamy vegetable soup.

Limit everything you eat to a total of 1 to 1 1/2 C. of food. This will ensure you don't have the "stuffed turkey" feeling you might get at a potluck or Thanksgiving.

Don't hang out by the food; if possible, serve yourself and go sit away from the serving platters.

In other words, don't do everything I did today, such as getting an eggnog latte on the way and going back for another serving of chicken salad croissants. It is, however, an improvement upon my funeral luncheon forays in April. Taking half a bowl of the creamy soup, eating extra spinach salad and limiting the dessert portion were some of the better ideas I implemented.

Crustless "Apple Pie" for One

As I was already cooking Swiss Steak in the oven today (I called Mom, because I wanted to make her recipe, which I still couldn't resist tweaking), I decided to bake something.

My eyes lit on the Honey Crisp Apples I bought late last week at Colasanti's. I wanted something similar to apple pie without the crust, for several reasons. It's nearly Halloween and I'm entering the mad scientist/experimental cook stage again. How appropriate.

1. I am crust rolling impaired, so the crust always ends up with thin spots
2. Making a crust is too time and labor-intensive at this precise moment. If I attempt it, it will be on a day I'm inspired to bake.
3. Pie is eaten for the filling, as far as I'm concerned. I really don't care for most pie crusts

— whether from a mix, ready-made or scratch — that is, aside from cookie crumb or graham cracker crusts. (This preference has nothing to do with the fact that I don't have to roll those crusts. Really.)

4. I don't need the extra calories.  


Crustless "Apple Pie" for One


Ingredients
1 large Honey Crisp apple
1/4 C. apple cider
1 T. real maple syrup
1/2 T. Smart Balance® Light Original Buttery Spread with Flax, cut in little chunks
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Take one large Honey Crisp Apple. Wash, peel if desired (I felt safe leaving the peels on because my apple is organic), core and cut apples. (I left them in long, slender pieces as though I were going to eat them raw.)


Place washed apples in a baking dish with a cover (I used the smallest of the glass Pyrex casseroles we have; probably a 1-qt. size.)


Pour in 1/4 C. apple cider over the apples (enough to keep them from burning in the bottom of the dish). 


Sprinkle apples with 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Dot with the small chunks of Smart Balance® Light Original Buttery Spread with Flax.


Drizzle 1 T. maple syrup over the top. Toss the apples with the apple cider, rotating the apple pieces so all are coated with a bit of the maple syrup and spices.


Bake at 325 for about an hour and 15 minutes  ... until the apple slices are tender, almost breaking down but still identifiable as apples. The amount of cider in the bottom should be significantly reduced.


Depending upon how much liquid you have left, you may want to take the lid off the glass dish to reduce the liquid for the last 15-20 minutes of cooking time. (Very juicy apples may "sweat" out additional liquid, and if you don't take the lid off, you may up with sweet apple soup.)

My apple slices were fairly thick and I left the peel on; if you like your slices thin, it may cook more quickly. Check the dish at about 45-50 minutes if you made your apple slices thin and/or removed the peel.

Remove the apples with a slotted spoon and serve warm.
Serving suggestions: Serve topped with cider sauce; it's good over light vanilla ice cream. Or top apples and sauce with low-fat or fat-free lightly-sweetened whipped cream.

Yogurt Crème with Berries

Did you ever decide to put something together that seems like such a simple idea, you're not even sure it qualifies as a recipe?

I did that today and decided that it doesn't matter; I'll share anyway.

Yogurt Crème with Berries.

Take about 1/2 cup to 2/3 C. fat-free yogurt,depending on desired tartness (I used Dannon).

Add several drops (to taste) of SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia (any flavor you like, but I used Valencia Orange).

Stir in 1/4 C. of raspberries (or your choice of berry) until they are incorporated into the yogurt mixture but are still chunky. Yogurt will be tinted by the berries.

This dish reminds me of the whipped cream mixture in trifle; it'd be great over angel food cake.