Conquering diabetes: A gift to my family

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These three men: That's why I need to deal with my diabetes

Someone asked me recently why I have been so motivated to get my diabetes under control when so many people fail to take it seriously.

See the three guys in the photo above? They are the reason.

And it's not some kind of fluffy "I need to be here for my family." I mean, YES, of course I want to continue to live, and I want to live a healthy life, and I want to see my grandchildren someday and all that.

But there's a much more concrete reason I need to take responsibility for my health, keep my blood sugar under control and try to avoid the long-term damage diabetes can cause in my body.

I do not want to be a burden on my family.

No one does. No one wants their spouse or children to have to take care of them.

And sometimes it happens, and we get sick, and it's beyond our control. If we're lucky it doesn't happen until we're very old and we've lived a long, meaningful life.

But diabetes, if uncontrolled, can quickly lead to all kinds of awful and debilitating problems. Heart disease. Kidney disease. Infections that require toes to be amputated. Blindness.

And diabetes is something I can control, at least for now.

So if I choose not to control it...

...if I ignore it, eat candy (and other stuff), fail to exercise, and let my blood sugar run wild...

...isn't that me telling my husband and kids that I don't care about them?

Isn't that me putting a pretty big burden on them that I can choose to avoid?

Taking control of my health is my responsibility as a parent and a wife.

Celebrating our 20th anniversary

Over the past few months I watched one of my friends take care of her husband. Complications of his diabetes led to kidney disease, heart problems, and I think a stroke. He died recently.

I was and am extremely sad for my friend and her kids. Their loss is huge.

But watching the toll it took on my friend - who went from working mother and wife to working mother and wife and full-time caregiver in an instant, who saw her entire life turned upside-down - made me even more determined that I was not going to do that to my husband.

When I get on the elliptical every morning, I'm doing it for me. But I'm also doing it for Michael. If I keep my diabetes under control, maybe he'll never have to spend his afternoons driving me to dialysis.

When I avoid sugar, bread and pasta, I'm doing it for my kids. If I keep my blood sugar under control, maybe they'll never have to push me around in a wheelchair because I had to have my toes amputated.

To be clear, I know that some health problems are beyond all control. If I were to get cancer or some other serious, unavoidable illness (God forbid), I know my family would take care of me.

But diabetes is not beyond my control. There are things I can do, and am doing, to keep it at bay.

It's the least I can do for my family.

Copycat Starbucks hazelnut Frappucino

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My kids have always loved coffee.

My older son, now 16, developed a taste for coffee with milk (not milk with coffee) when he was a toddler. The Starbucks baristas gave him some funny looks when he ordered his own decaf before he could see over the counter.

My younger son, now 13, drinks his coffee black most of the time. Decaf, of course - we'll never know if the old wives' tales about caffeine stunting your growth hold water, but I don't take any chances in the height department given my five-foot-nothing stature.

Younger son, however, also has a sweet tooth. When he spent his allowance one too many times on a huge-ass blended coffee drink, with its many, many grams of added sugar, I decided to bribe him with a copycat version where I control what goes into the blender.

This copycat Starbucks hazelnut Frappucino tastes better than the original, in my opinion. I buy sugar-free hazelnut syrup via Amazon Prime. Not even the 13-year-old minds the lack of sugar.

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Copycat Starbucks hazelnut Frappucino

by Erika Kerekes November-16-2015

This hazelnut-flavored blended iced coffee drink has a fraction of the sugar and calories of the real thing. Trying to cut down on added sugar and trim your expensive coffee habit? This recipe is for you.

Ingredients

• 4 cups ice cubes
• 1 cup strong coffee
• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 2 Tablespoons sugar-free hazelnut syrup
• Dash of ground cinnamon
• Whipped cream (optional)

Instructions

Add ice cubes to blender. Pulse a few times to break the ice into smaller pieces. (If your ice maker generates crushed ice, use that instead.)Add coffee, almond milk, syrup and cinnamon to the blender. Blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds.Pour into two glasses, dividing evenly. Top with whipped cream if desired. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 4 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 5 mins Yield: 2 large servings

Deviled eggs with duck skin "cracklins"

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My younger son, a newly minted teenager, knows what he likes and wants what he wants.

And this week what he wants are deviled eggs.

I believe in turning out self-sufficient young men who can feed themselves - and a dozen of their friends, too. So I taught him how to make deviled eggs.

He has now made three batches on his own. Well, two and a half. The first time he didn't let the eggs come to a full boil and ended up with oozing yolks and wobbly whites. But the next two batches were terrific.

He's been seasoning his with herbs like chervil, chives and thyme. Truth be told, I like my deviled eggs a little more straightforward - mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. But I'll never turn down a bit of crunch on top, whether it's bacon, crushed croutons, or, as in this case, slivered duck skin baked to a crisp.

Admittedly, duck is a rare treat for us. I think the skin off chicken thighs would work - I'll try it and report back.

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Deviled eggs with duck skin "cracklins"

by Erika Kerekes March-9-2015

Simple, traditional deviled eggs topped with slivered duck skin that's been baked until crisp. A luxurious treat for a weeknight dinner at home or the fanciest of cocktail parties.

Ingredients

• 2 duck breast lobes, skins only (use meat for another dish)
• 1 dozen eggs
• 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• green onions, chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.Slice the duck skins into 1/4-inch strips and spread them out on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Slide the pan into the oven and bake until crisp, about 20 minutes (start checking after 10 minutes - do not let the duck skins burn). Remove the duck "cracklins" from the oven and use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels. Let cool, then chop roughly.While the duck skins cook, put the eggs in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the pot to a rolling boil, clap on the lid, turn off the flame, and leave the covered pot sitting on the stove for 25 minutes.Drain the water from the pot, add cold water, and let the eggs cool for a few minutes. Peel the eggs and cut them in half horizontally.Carefully remove the yolks from the hard-boiled eggs. Put all the yolks in a small mixing bowl and add the mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper. Mash with a fork or whisk until very smooth.Use a small spoon or a piping bag to refill the egg white halves with the yolk mixture. Sprinkle with the duck "cracklins" and the chopped green onions. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 40 mins Yield: 24 pieces

A Not Ketchup fruit ketchup #giveaway to celebrate the Not Ketchup Tour O' Texas

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I just flew back from the Not Ketchup Tour O' Texas, and boy, are my arms tired.

{ba-dum bum}

Seriously though...my arms are tired. As are my legs, my feet, my back, and my brain.

My 12-year-old son and I went to Texas to demo Not Ketchup, my new line of artisan fruit ketchups, at all nine Central Market gourmet superstores. Nine stores in five cities in 12 days. At each six-hour demo, we gave out between 500 and 800 samples.

I'm not great at math, but I'm pretty sure that adds up to four aching feet, 12 hours of staring into space and babbling incoherently, and three or four well-deserved naps this coming weekend.

The trip was a huge success. Central Market's customers loved Not Ketchup and bought a ton of it. My son Weston was the best sales associate ever - he charmed the pants off every customer we met. We got comments on Facebook from Central Market customers like this:

And this:

Now we're home and I'm catching up on client work, Not Ketchup work, and blogging. While I'm getting some great new recipes ready for you, I thought I'd share the Not Ketchup love with a little giveaway. There are a bunch of ways to enter - see the entry form below.

The lucky winner gets:

• A Not Ketchup 4-Pack Sampler, including one bottle each of Cherry Chipotle, Smoky Date, Blueberry White Pepper and Spiced Fig Not Ketchup (retail value $36)
• A Not Ketchup t-shirt (the same one the kids are wearing in the photo above, size XL)
• A nifty Not Ketchup squeeze bottle, good for squirting Not Ketchup decoratively onto your burgers, steak, chicken, sandwiches, sausages, cheese plates and more

Good luck to all!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Arianna Trading Company organic tomatoes: A "good news, bad news" story

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GOOD NEWS: Last week I got to see my friend George Menzelos of Arianna Trading Company. George has been importing the most beautiful single-estate organic olive oil from Greece for a few years now, and this year he's also bringing in organic tomatoes, currants, and a sesame herb salt. George left me samples of all his products to inspire my cooking and, we hoped, a blog post or two.

BAD NEWS: After George's visit, I got buried in work, both for a new client and for Not Ketchup. A few days after I saw George, I was stuck in my home office until after 10pm. I didn't even have time to make dinner for my family.

GOOD NEWS: My 15-year-old son Emery decided to make dinner. He cooked up penne pasta with a rich tomato meat sauce. Emery even brought a bowl down to the office for me.

GOOD NEWS: That was the most delicious bowl of pasta I've ever eaten - not only because my child made it for me (what mother could resist the charms of that?) but because the tomato sauce was sweet, thick, and intense.

BAD NEWS: A few hours later I realized that I might have heard Emery say something like "I decided to make pasta because you had all these tomato products." I went to the refrigerator. George's tomatoes were gone. And on the drying rack I found this:

BAD NEWS: I hadn't taken any pictures and we'd eaten all the pasta. Hard to write a blog post without pictures.

GOOD NEWS: I found some leftover sauce in the refrigerator, so I photographed that instead. It was so delicious that I ate it the next day straight from the plastic container with a spoon. Cold.

GOOD NEWS: See the line above about "the most delicious bowl of pasta I've ever eaten."

Arianna's organic strained tomatoes will be available very soon - and when they are, I suggest you run right out and get some (keep an eye on the Arianna website to find out where to buy them). Here's what George says about his organic strained tomatoes:

Our organic heirloom tomatoes are hand-picked ripe from the vine, then peeled, seeded, and strained by mechanical means in an allergan-free facility. These GMO-free "true breed" tomatoes have been cultivated by the Gousiaris family in the village of Ilias in central Greece for over 100 years. It takes 5 kilos of tomatoes to produce about 1 kilo of our strained tomatoes, which are pasteurized in the jar the old-fashioned way. They are tomatoes your grandmother would love.

CONCLUSION: Emery's pasta was indeed a happy accident. I'm thrilled that I'm no longer the only cook in the family, but clearly I need to get better about labeling the food in the refrigerator if I need to keep it for blogging!

California Sunshine breakfast sandwich with pesto and peppers

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For many years I made my boys a hot breakfast every single day.

But as they've gotten older and I've gotten busier, I've left them to their own devices in the mornings more and more.

They're pretty self-sufficient on school days. Neither kid loves cereal, but between leftovers, toast, smoked salmon (the elder), Nutella (the younger), and the Keurig, they do pretty well.

One morning not long ago, I saw my older son rummaging dejectedly through the refrigerator and took pity on him. While he got his stuff together, I threw together a quick open-faced breakfast sandwich: a Stonefire Mediterranean Pocket Pita with pesto, a fried egg, and a quick saute of colored bell peppers. It tasted great and looked even better.

Every time I see this photo it reminds me of mornings in our Santa Monica kitchen: sunny, bright, warm, and cheerful, with a pure golden light that slants in through the southeast windows. Thus the name: California Sunshine Breakfast Sandwich. May it bring sunlight and warmth to all of your kitchens too.

Disclosure: Stonefire sent me their flatbreads to try. I have to tell you - they're fantastic. The pita bread is soft, pillowy, with just the right amount of chew, and it's not dry at all. We also enjoyed the naan and pizza crust, but the pita was the hands-down winner. Other than the free bread, for which my family was very grateful, I got no compensation for this post. We ate the samples faster than I could photograph them. Luckily, Stonefire pita is now available at my local Costco, and possibly at yours too. 

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California Sunshine Breakfast Sandwich

by Erika Kerekes April-9-2014

Pesto, a fried egg, and sauteed tri-color bell peppers top a soft pita bread for this delicious breakfast sandwich that looks like California sunshine.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup mixed color bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 pita bread round
• 1 Tablespoon basil pesto sauce
• 1 egg
• chives, for garnish
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

In a small nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and peppers; cook until wilted and starting to brown around the edges, 3-4 minutes. Put the pepper mixture on a plate.While the peppers are cooking, put the pita in the toaster. Toast until warm and soft. Spread the pita with the pesto sauce.In the same skillet in which you cooked the peppers, crack the egg. Fry the egg until it is done to your liking.To assemble the sandwich, slide the fried egg onto the pita and top with the pepper mixture. Garnish with the chives and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 15 mins Yield: 1 sandwich

Canned salmon salad with dill pickles

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I hear a lot of complaints from parents who hate packing lunch for their kids.

Actually, I don't mind packing lunch. It sure beats having my high schooler eat crappy public school cafeteria food or having to shell out $8 each day for the catered lunch at my younger son's private middle school.

We get into a rhythm with school lunches. On a typical day each boy gets a sandwich, two pieces of fruit, and a chocolate milk box (one kid gets soy, the other regular). If I've baked muffins or cookies, each kid also gets a small treat.

I always keep canned salmon in the pantry to make this simple, flavorful salmon salad, one of the boys' favorite sandwich fillings. The secret: I mince petite dill pickles in the mini-processor and add them to the salmon salad. The pickles add a little tang and a little crunch, balancing the richness of the salmon perfectly.

(Why not celery, you ask? My husband hates it, so I'm out of the habit. And why salmon instead of tuna? The mercury thing.)

A note on ingredients: Costco has excellent wild Alaskan salmon in cans, as well as large jars of petite dill pickles. As for mayonnaise, I am a Hellman's girl, although of course it's called Best Foods out here in California.

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Canned salmon salad with dill pickles

by Erika Kerekes September-14-2013

Minced petite dill pickles add crunch and a little tang to this easy salmon salad. Perfect for lunchbox sandwiches.

Ingredients

• 3 6-ounce cans salmon (preferably wild Alaskan salmon)
• 10 petite dill pickles, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (or a little more or less, to taste)
• 1/2 small fresh lemon

Instructions

Drain the canned salmon and empty the cans into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the pickles and mayonnaise. Squeeze the lemon over the ingredients in the bowl, taking care to fish out any pits. Mix everything together with a fork, flaking the salmon as you mix, until the salmon salad is well combined. Serve chilled.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 10 mins Yield: approximately 4 cups

Breakfast at work: Egg drop soup with bean thread noodles

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I may have to change the name of this blog.

"In Erika's Kitchen" is no longer accurate. Both my boys - Emery (14) and Weston (11) - now happily spend time in the kitchen turning out delicious creations the whole family enjoys.

Emery carried this bowl of egg drop soup with bean thread noodles down to my home office this morning. The tiny bowl on the side held black vinegar. I mixed the vinegar into the soup and slurped it down.

I have never had a more delicious bowl of soup.

I love summer vacation. And I love having big kids.

By the way, they also take out trash and recycling, put away laundry, carry in the groceries, and sweep when asked.

Signed,
The Luckiest Mom In The World

Broccoli fritters

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I try not to get my kids hooked on fried vegetables, but some days I figure fried vegetables are better than no vegetables.

My husband's book club met at our house and left us with half a tray of roasted broccoli. I chopped it up, added some eggs and flour, and fried away. Hot Dog Boy downed a dozen. Mission accomplished.

How do you use leftover vegetables? I'd love to hear your ideas!

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Broccoli fritters

by Erika Kerekes July-10-2013

Leftover cooked broccoli morphs neatly into crispy broccoli fritters.

Ingredients

• 4 cups roasted or steamed broccoli, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1/4 cup parmesan or Romano cheese, grated
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (may need less if the broccoli is already salted)
• grapeseed or canola oil, for frying

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together the broccoli, eggs, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, cheese, and salt.Heat about 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, start frying the fritters, using about 2 Tablespoons of the broccoli mixture for each fritter and flattening the patties gently with a spatula. Pan-fry until golden brown on both sides, then put the finished fritters on a sheet pan lined with paper towels to let some of the oil wick away.Continue cooking the broccoli fritters, adding more oil to the pan as necessary, until all the broccoli mixture has been used.Serve the broccoli fritters hot.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: approximately 2 dozen 4-inch fritters

Weston and the whipped cream

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What do you do when your sensible, responsible, self-motivated, self-sufficient 10-year-old son asks to do something crazy?

I said yes.

The crazy thing in question involved a hot summer Saturday, two cans of whipped cream (did you know about chocolate-flavored whipped cream?), a plastic bowl, the backyard, and Weston's face. And then, later, the hose.

We had fun.

Cooking tips from Food Network chef Ming Tsai

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Me with TV chef Ming Tsai at the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival

Those of you who have perused my celebrity chef posts might have concluded that I am a celebrity chef groupie.

Okay. It might be a little bit true. I rarely pass up an opportunity to go one-on-one with a famous chef. I'm still trying to figure out the formula: What makes some chefs so much fun to watch on TV? What does "star quality" mean for a chef?

This weekend at the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival I sat through chef Ming Tsai's cooking demo. I've been watching him on PBS and Food Network for years. Guess what? Tsai is just as borderline geeky in person as he is on television. Which, frankly, makes me like him more. He's not a rock star wannabe like Guy Fieri. He's not pretentious. He's not super polished, either, even after all these years in front of the camera. You get the sense, watching him, that he's actually kind of nervous to be cooking in front of a live audience. Sweet.

Of course, he's learned to mug for the audience a little bit. I guess I wasn't as inconspicuous as I thought when I crouched down in the center aisle to take photos, because chef Tsai stopped what he was doing and struck a pose:

A good cooking demo always includes kitchen tips. Here are the tips I picked up from chef Tsai:

• Taste everything. "I've made this a million times," he said as he sipped the passionfruit mai tai he'd just mixed, "but I haven't made it today."
• If the pan gets too hot, pull it off the stove and wait a minute before adding oil. Smoking oil gives food a bitter taste.
• Rub crushed lemongrass stalks on your skin to keep bugs away.
• That fancy one-handed technique for tossing food without a spatula? It looks slick and it's easy. Practice in the backyard with a frying pan full of dry beans or uncooked rice.
• If your meat sticks to the pan, it's not done yet. Wait until it's fully seared and it will release itself.
• Eating spicy food? Pair it with wine that's got a hint of sweetness, like a Riseling, Viognier or Gewurtztraminer.
• Use kitchen tongs to squeeze the juice out of lemon or lime halves.
• Look for "naturally brewed" soy sauce, where the only ingredients are water, soybeans and the bacteria that ferments the mixture.
• Chef Tsai prefers cooking with canola oil because it's flavorless, has a high smoke point and is cheap.
• Want to get your kids to eat vegetables? Skip the steamed broccoli and saute it in garlic oil instead. "Kids love flavor," he said. "They'll eat vegetables if you make them taste good."

Chef Tsai's kids are about the same ages as my boys, so when I caught up with him after the demo I asked him what he likes to cook with his kids. Watch the video below for his answers!

Postcard from Florida: Baby food at Club Med Sandpiper Bay

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One of the things I love about the family-focused Club Med resorts: homemade, gourmet baby food at every meal. Today's brunch at Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Florida featured pureed roast turkey with mashed potatoes. I saw several babies sucking it down with every evidence of enjoyment.

Swiss chard and feta pie ("chardikopita")

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I have a teenager who loves to cook vegetables. Particularly greens. Give Emery a bunch of kale, a pile of chard, a bag of spinach, and he's a happy boy. He makes Asian greens soup, spinach fried rice, mustard greens with garlic and soy sauce. When our friends around the corner clean out their organic garden and give away trash bags filled with huge chard leaves, Emery is first in line.

As it happened, I was the one who made the chard and feta pie in the picture above. Emery darted in and out of the kitchen, interrupting his homework a little too often to poke his nose into what I was doing. "It's chardikopita!" he said as he watched me add feta and dill to the lightly sauteed chard.

I love this rustic press-in crust. I tell people it's because the olive oil gives the crust a terrific flavor. The truth, however, is that I love this crust because I'm terrible with a rolling pin. Don't tell. It's a feature, not a bug.

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Swiss chard and feta pie

by Erika Kerekes March-22-2012

Lightly sauteed greens flavored with onion, dill and feta make a terrific pie filling. I eat this for breakfast, but it makes a nice light supper too.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tsp olive oil, divided
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 large bunch Swiss chard, leaves and stems, roughly chopped (about 8 cups)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
• freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.Put the flour in a medium-sized bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together 2/3 cup of the olive oil, the cream, and the salt. Pour the olive oil mixture into the flour and stir together with a fork to make a crumbly dough. If the dough seems too dry to hold together, add water 1 teaspoon at a time until the dough is workable.Tip the dough into a 9-inch pie plate or shallow baking dish. Press the dough over the bottom and up the sides of the baking dish with your fingertips to make the crust. Set aside.In a large saucepan, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion 4-5 minutes until it's softened. Add the chopped chard and saute a couple of minutes; the chard will wilt and shrink down considerably. When it's just wilted, remove the pan from the heat and pour the chard into the bowl that held the dough mixture - might as well not get another bowl dirty, right?Let the chard cool about 10 minutes, then add the eggs, feta, dill and a good amount of ground pepper. Mix thoroughly. Pour the chard filling into the waiting crust and pop the whole thing in the oven. Bake about 45 minutes, until the pie is set and the top is starting to turn golden. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving to let things firm up a bit - otherwise the whole thing will collapse when you cut into it.

Details

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour 15 mins Yield: 8 servings

Duck fat roasted potatoes

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At one point I remember saying to my boys "You haven't lived until you've eaten potatoes fried in duck fat."

Now, whenever I pull out potatoes, they're disappointed if duck fat isn't involved.

I walked away from last week's Food Bloggers Los Angeles meeting with about 10 pounds of mixed yellow, red and purple fingerling potatoes courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission. When I put them on the counter and saw the boys' hopeful faces, I knew what I had to do.

No frying this time. Oven-roasting works just as well. I put a few spoons of duck fat on top of the cut potatoes, stuck the pan in the oven for a few minutes, and then tossed everything around on the baking sheet with a spatula as soon as the duck fat melted. Even a little bit of duck fat gives the potatoes a rich, savory flavor and ultra-crisp shell. We tried to use our forks but mostly failed.

There were no leftovers.

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Roasted potatoes with duck fat

by Erika Kerekes March-11-2012

My kids have learned one lesson well: You haven't really lived until you've eaten potatoes cooked with duck fat.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds fingerling potatoes, any color, scrubbed, unpeeled and cut in 2-inch pieces if necessary
• 2 Tbsp rendered duck fat
• 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Scatter the potatoes on the baking sheet, then spoon over the duck fat and sprinkle generously with salt. Put the baking sheet in the hot oven for a few minutes; once the duck fat has melted, pull the baking sheet out of the oven and toss the potatoes around with a spatula or large spoon so they are all evenly coated with the duck fat. Return the pan to the oven and bake 35-40 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through and golden brown on the cut sides. Sprinkle with additional salt if desired and serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 4-6 servings

Mustard greens with garlic and dark soy sauce

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Today's Superfood: Mustard greens
Vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C, folate, manganese, fiber, calcium

Few things make this mother happier than having her 13-year-old son help with dinner.

Depending on the day.

Here's the thing: I'm territorial in the kitchen. At the end of a long or particularly frustrating day at work, I prefer to make dinner by myself, in silence. It calms me down. Poor Emery, my older son, my budding chef, who's always willing to help, often gets growled at when he offers his services.

I'm trying to be better, more accepting, more tolerant. I'm trying to make space for Emery at the stove. Which is why today, when a huge care package of pre-washed, pre-cut, ready-to-go Cut 'n Clean Greens showed up at the front door, I let him pick a container and got out of the way. (Sort of. I did backseat-saute a little bit.)

Emery is a big fan of greens. In fact, he grativates toward greens. The first dish he ever made on his own was Anita Loh-Yien Lau's Asian greens soup. And have you seen his spinach fried rice with furikake? We've been eating that one a lot lately.

Emery's cooking style runs more Asian than mine. Tonight's mustard greens got a few cloves of garlic and a healthy dash of dark soy sauce, plus a pinch each of salt and sugar. He fried the garlic nice and brown, which I love. These were mustard greens after my own heart.

The lesson (mostly talking to myself here): Relinquish control and let your kids cook. Let them experiment. And teach them to clean up after themselves. In all respects, they'll probably surprise you.

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Emery's mustard greens with fried garlic

by Emery Kerekes February-21-2012

Sturdy mustard greens take a trip to Asia with fried garlic, dark soy sauce and a pinch of sugar. Dark soy sauce adds a rich flavor without too much liquid, but if you can't find it use regular soy sauce. Recipe created by Emery Kerekes, my 13-year-old son (and a very respectable chef for a teenager).

Ingredients

• 1 tsp grapeseed or canola oil
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, chopped (not too small)
• 1 7-ounce package prepared Cut 'n Clean mustard greens (or 1 bunch mustard greens, leaves only, washed and chopped)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce (substitute 2 tsp regular soy sauce)
• pinch of sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the oil and the garlic and stir-fry the garlic until it starts to brown, about 1 minute. Add the mustard greens, water and soy sauce. Cover the pan and steam the greens about 3-4 minutes. Uncover the pan, add the sugar and salt, and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: 4-6 servings

Baked tofu sticks

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On the rare occasions when I work at home, I try to have a healthy snack waiting for the kids after school. I cut up fruit and vegetables and put them on the table because I know if the good stuff is sitting right in front of them, they're more likely to eat it.

My active, growing boys also need a little protein to get them through the rest of the day. Last week I experimented with some extra-firm tofu. I was trying to imitate the marinated tofu I sometimes get at Whole Foods. Frankly, I liked my version more. I cut it into smaller pieces, which meant more marinade-glazed surface area. And it was a lot less salty.

One kid liked it, one not so much. I loved it. Hello, new lunchbox snack.

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Baked tofu sticks

by Erika Kerekes February-4-2012

The longer you let the batons of tofu marinate, the more the flavors will permeate the tofu. Serve at room temperature for the best texture.

Ingredients

• approximately 1 pound extra-firm tofu
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated or minced
• 3 Tbsp hoisin sauce or plum sauce
• 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Instructions

Line a plate with several layers of paper towel. Place the tofu on the plate and cover with several more layers of paper towel. Put a baking sheet on top of the covered tofu, then weight the baking sheet down with a can or two from your pantry. Let the tofu drain for an hour, changing the paper towel once or twice if it soaks through quickly. Pat the blocks of tofu dry and slice them into batons about 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch thick. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, ginger, hoisin or plum sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Add the tofu and toss gently so all the tofu is coated with the marinade. Leave to marinate at room temperature at least 30 minutes and up to several hours, tossing occasionally.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, then spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.Lift the tofu pieces from the marinade and lay them in rows on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake about 40 minutes, turning the tofu slices over halfway through the baking time. Let cool on the baking sheet. Serve at room temperature.

Details

Prep time: 1 hour 40 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 2 hour 20 mins Yield: 4-6 servings

Superfoods Month: Spinach fried rice with furikake by Emery

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Today's Superfood: Spinach
Vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium

Erika says: Today's guest post comes from a wonderful cook whom I adore - my 13-year-old son Emery. Furikake is a dry Asian condiment containing seaweed, sugar, salt and sesame seeds, meant to be sprinkled on rice.

So it all started one day when I was reading The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook by Jaden Hair. I saw a recipe called Furikake French Fries. I thought, Hm - this furikake stuff sounds good. I mean, it's just a seasoning blend. What could be so bad about that?

Now, fast forward about two years. Mom had come home from a date with Dad with an array of weird Asian groceries. [Yes, this is what we do on our dates - go grocery shopping.] I was looking through them, as I always do, and I found...furikake! I wanted to use it right away, but alas, there was nothing on which to put it.

Now, fast forward another week. I told Mom I was hungry - we were out after our weekly farmers' market run. She said, "Have a salad." I said, "If I'm going to have a salad, I want spinach." Naturally, she said we didn't have any. I managed to wangle a trip to the 99 Cents Only store to get some bagged baby spinach, and on the way home we constructed this recipe using leftover rice from takeout Chinese, the spinach and the furikake. We added a few more things we happened to have around the house: garlic, red chili flakes, ponzu sauce. It turned into a masterpiece. I've made it a half-dozen times since then, at all hours of the day and night.

Erika again: This photo shows white rice, but Emery usually makes it with precooked brown rice. I like the brown; Emery will take white rice when he can get it.

Click here for a list of all the recipes in this Superfoods Month series

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Spinach fried rice with furikake

by Emery Kerekes January-21-2012

An incredibly healthy snack created by my 13-year-old son Emery. Use more spinach than you think you need - it shrinks a lot as it cooks.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 cup cooked brown or white rice
• 1/8 tsp red chili pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 5-ounce package baby spinach
• 1 Tbsp furikake seasoning, or to taste
• 1 Tbsp ponzu sauce

Instructions

Heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, rice and chili flakes. Stir-fry until the rice is starting to crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and spinach and continue to stir-fry until the spinach is wilted. Remove the pan from the heat, turn the spinach mixture onto a plate, garnish with the furikake, and sprinkle over the ponzu sauce. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 7 mins Total time: 12 mins Yield: 2 servings