Fare Exchange: Chastised for fat, plus naan, tzatziki and two desserts

Jane Henegar

What happened to January? Did it melt in ice? Did we while it away with post-holiday abandon?

We do have these four remaining days, just right for cleaning up and digging out missing things. In particular today we are searching for precise directions for Easy Toffee, for chili without beans for the crockpot, and a breakfast sausage casserole with a base of refrigerated crescent rolls.

Isabel McGraw saved an October recipe for Easy Toffee, hoping it would work for Christmas, and it just didn't work, period. She did discover, "If you put the candy on a silicon sheet in the pan, it will come right off and the pan is clean." Can you send us a foolproof Easy Toffee?

The shared comfort food of January brought requests from two readers whose initials are S.S.T. and P.M.W. Ms. T. would like a chili recipe that does not depend on beans of any kind; she prefers a recipe she could make in the crockpot. And Ms. W. loved the tasty casserole she sampled at a baby shower.

"The recipe begins with crescent rolls laid in the bottom of a casserole dish and then you add either hot or mild sausage. I don't know the rest, and I want to know."

'AWWWW'

One has to carefully read a letter that begins, "Awwww Jane"

Valerie Bowers graciously continued, "Just when I thought your column seemed slanted a little more often toward healthier fare, I read Wednesday's column entitled 'Crisco Battle.' Your last sentence stood out: 'As we choose our fat we are choosing our result.' Yep, that explains the overwhelming number of Americans who battle obesity, diabetes, heart and degenerative diseases."

We all either want to eat more healthfully or at least want to want to, so read on.

"The ingredients in Butter-Flavored Crisco include soybean oil (almost all of which is genetically modified and contains inflammatory omega-6 fats), fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil and soybean oil (hydrogenation increases shelf life - you may recognize it better if I mention that partially hydrogenated fats are trans fats - and they increase 'bad' LDL cholesterol while lowering 'good' HDL cholesterol as well as contributing to inflammatory diseases), mono- and diglycerides (also for increasing shelf life, made from fatty acids and containing trans fats as well), natural and artificial butter flavors (they don't say which artificial butter flavor is used, but a common one called diacetyl has been linked to Alzheimer's), Tbhq and citric acid as preservatives. Tbhq is toxic and used to preserve many things - including varnish - but labeled by the FDA as safe in small amounts in foods). And beta-carotene.

"Your last sentence obviously referred to the fluffy, puffy cookie results with Crisco versus a crisper, flatter cookie made with butter.

"I plan to make Valentine cookies with my 3-year-old grandson next month, who is the light of our lives. Can you guess which form of fat we will use?"

Sure enough, once again, cooking is all about love. And love, of course, has opinions. If you have an observation about healthful cooking, please join in.

NAAN AND TZATZIKI

Clifford Burdette supplied both the tzatziki sauce and naan bread we were searching for, explaining, "I have made both bread and sauce and they are all good."

Tzatziki Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons red wine or white vinegar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or chopped celery leaves

1 clove minced garlic

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Salt to taste (about teaspoon)

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients but salt. Stir or whisk to combine. Season to taste with salt.

Refrigerate 3 hours or more to marry flavors. May be made a day or two in advance if stored in an airtight container and refrigerated.

Homemade Naan

1/2 cup warm water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting and rolling

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 egg, beaten

Oil for frying

In a large bowl, mix together water, yeast and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes or until foamy. Add flour, salt, oil, yogurt and beaten egg. Stir until you have a dough that's easy to work with. Add more flour if needed.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a large, greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size, about an hour.

On a floured surface, divide the dough into 6 to 8 pieces. Roll out each piece very thin and set aside.

Heat oil (not too much; just a little for each piece) in a large skillet or griddle. When hot, add the naan and cook until blistered and golden brown. Flip and cook until golden on the other side.

Repeat with remaining naan.

Stay tuned next week for a Burdette recipe for naan made without yogurt.

FINAL DESSERTS

Today's final touch, appropriately, is on the dessert table. We have Carolyn Fox to thank. Ms. Fox explained, "My mother made these back in the '50s and they are great."

Peppermint Rice Krispies Dessert

1 bar German's sweet chocolate

3 tablespoons butter

2 1/4 cups Rice Krispies

Peppermint ice cream

Peppermint hard candies

Melt chocolate with butter. Add Rice Krispies.

Butter a pie pan and use this mixture to form a pie crust in the pan. Pat it down well. Fill with ice cream and put in freezer to harden.

When ready to serve, crush peppermint candies and sprinkle on top.

Easy Lemon Ice Cream

1 cup sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Rind of 1 lemon

1 pint half and half

Rub lemon rind into sugar. Add lemon juice. Add half and half gradually. Add more lemon juice if necessary. Put in freezer at least 4 hours to set.

JUST A DASH

We asked for more Just a Dashes and you sent two, right away. Keep that up.

Lucy Boyd wrote, "When you're browning a pound of crumbled hamburger meat for a recipe such as spaghetti, stir in a teaspoon of beef bouillon granules halfway through the process. This is my own discovery to take the blandness from the meat."

And this just in, from Lynn Carroll, who credited, as she often does, her cooking mentor Uma Potdar.

"Here's a quick emergency chutney. In a small bowl, mix equal parts of Herdez brand salsa verde and Smucker's apple butter. If you want sweeter, add more apple butter; if spicier, add more salsa Verde."

We will watch for you in February, so please come.