Good morning, readers. Today your words include help wanted, memories shared, advice offered and two ways to stuff a mushroom.
VIEWS ON HEALTH
Some of our recent conversations have centered on a reader's comment about the healthfulness of the recipes offered here. Elsie Keith wrote to agree with Mr. and Mrs. Sunday's assertion that "healthful eating, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder."
"I had never thought of it that way," she wrote, "but a healthy diet depends on an individual's health situation."
Individuals are valuable, nevertheless, in shaping others' healthy views on what we eat.
Rose Secrest has actually written cookbooks herself, and this is her analysis of what this column is up to. "Fare Exchange is not a health column. It is a meeting place for folks to discuss food and cooking; specifically, it is about memories, the further back the better. Back then, there wasn't much talk about healthful recipes."
Ms. Secrest got my attention with that comment. At any age or stage, we read about food for many reasons, and remembering is a large part of that. I turn now to the younger generation, the ones who are making memories instead of recalling them.
Talk to the rest of us about the food in your kitchen, your best recipes and your standards for healthful eating. What are you and your roommates concocting? How are you feeding your little ones? What have you figured out on your own as opposed to what has been passed down through generations? Your elders need your fresh approach.
MEMORY MEALS
Italian Cream Cake stirred the conversational pot with memories, and the traditional recipe was printed last week. A chocolate version is on the horizon for next week. Martha Eaves and husband Doug fell in love with the cake at Litton's Restaurant in Knoxville, "and it was like eating pure joy." They liked the recipe so much that they had it baked as a layer of their wedding cake. Some added hints from Ms. Eaves: The recipe makes 30 cupcakes, and cake or cupcakes are best served at room temperature.
Teresann Provenzano Sentell treasures her recipe from her grandmother Anne, a Greek who married an Italian. "We lived with my father's parents for many years, which was the custom for the son - to take care of his parents."
And she treasured grandparents.
"My mother fell in love with my grandmother, spending many years cooking and laughing with each other. I loved being the kid raised with grandparents always around. It instilled some pretty strong traditions, ties and love."
In a similar vein, Roseann Strazinsky wondered "if any of your readers have their mom's special cookbooks. I have my mom's and going through the pages you can see her children's artwork tucked in, and you know her favorite recipes by the spots on the page. Some books had to be reglued from heavy uses over the years."
She describes such cookbooks as "a family love story of recipes."
'SAD' DIETS
This letter came from an anonymous expert who studied nutrition for personal reasons. She wrote, "I have studied integrative nutrition and medicine for the past 15 years in an effort to heal myself. I have seen many fads come and go, as well as a variety of diametrically opposed opinions."
She proceeds with compassion. "It's so hard to say what we should/should not do in the midst of the pandemic when so many people have lost their jobs or are dealing with a much lower income through no fault of their own. We know, however, that inflammation caused by the Standard American Diet (SAD) is the root of so many diseases that afflict us. So, here are the basics." (And stay tuned next week, readers, for her list of what to avoid and where and how to shop.)
Here are what she calls "Healthy Eating Basics From One Student of Integrative Medicine":
1. Meats: Grass-fed/grass-finished beef, organic chicken, wild-caught fish, pastured pork, organic eggs from pastured chickens supplemented with organic grains.
2. Dairy: Milk, cream, butter, cheese, ghee and yogurt from grass-fed cows.
3. Grains: Organic flours, organic whole-grain breads, pasta, rice, crackers, etc.
4. Vegetables: Organically grown fresh or frozen vegetables that provide your family with many colors at each meal; organic dried beans.
5. Fruits: Organic, fresh fruits and some dried fruits in moderation.
6. A variety of nuts and seeds, dark chocolate and cocoa.
7. Sweeteners: Organic raw honey as well as organic sugars (the darker and less processed the better), real maple syrup and maple sugar for those times you just have to have something sweet.
8. Healthy oils: Organic ghee, organic olive oil, organic nut oils, organic coconut oil.
MUSHROOMS, 2 WAYS
Betty Domal has had plenty of requests for this recipe from Dream Home Cooking Show in Huntsville, Alabama.
Simple Stuffed Mushrooms
8 ounces cream cheese or less-fat Neufchatel, softened on counter about 2 hours
3 cartons (8 ounces each) whole mushrooms
1 pound pork sausage (Jimmy Dean) or Italian
Paprika
Chopped chives (optional)
Heat oven to 350 to 375 degrees.
Place room-temperature cream cheese in a medium-size bowl, and set aside.
Clean mushrooms gently with a slightly damp paper towel. Place on paper towels to drain. I mist with water from a spray bottle, then pat dry with paper towels
Remove mushroom stems, then scoop out some of the inside with a melon baller. I chop up some of the really clean stems and add to the sausage when browning.
Brown sausage in a cast-iron or other skillet, about 10 minutes or until all the pink is gone. If needed drain on paper towels. Remove with a slotted spoon, and place in the bowl with the cream cheese.
Stir vigorously until cream cheese is melted and mixed well with the sausage. Using a small spoon or baby spoon, stuff each mushroom. Be careful; they are delicate. Place in a 9- by 13-inch oven-safe baking dish (If you want to broil them at the end, use a broiler-safe dish. Don't use glass.)
Sprinkle with paprika, and bake about 20 minutes. If desired, at the end broil 2 to 3 minutes, watching carefully, then remove from oven. Transfer them to a serving dish, and sprinkle with chives.
You can bake right away, or assemble and keep in fridge, unbaked, then bake later. I usually assemble a day ahead. You can bake, freeze, then when ready to use, thaw and reheat later.
As to number of servings, there was always enough for several for each of my family of seven.
Here's a vegetarian version of stuffed mushrooms, from Jon McKeachie.
Vegetarian Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
4 large portabella mushroom caps, washed and gills removed
8 ounces Brie cheese
1/8 ounce fresh minced basil
1/8 ounce fresh minced garlic
1/8 ounce fresh minced tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste
After washing and removing gills from underside of cap, set aside.
Mix together cheese, herbs, salt and pepper. Place mixture inside of mushroom cap, and place another cap on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes until soft and cheese is melted.
Next week we can promise more of same, plus some brand-new. I hope you will join in.
REQUEST
* Younger generations' fresh approaches to mealtime
TO REACH US
Fare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send.
Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750
Email: chattfare@gmail.com
Jane Henegar