Spaghetti squash, part II, with marinara

Finished off the last of my spaghetti squash tonight, topping cooked strands of squash with freshly made, very simple marinara sauce, slices of fresh mozzarella, grated parmesan and chopped basil. Made for a nice, righteously healthy entree. Dave had seconds.

Spaghetti squash with marinara sauce

4 minced garlic cloves
Medium sweet onion, chopped
1 one-pound can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
Four slices fresh mozzarella, broken into chunks
Two spaghetti squash

In a large skillet, cook garlic and onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil until soft, about five minutes. Add tomatoes, basil and oregano. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While sauce cooks, cut two spaghetti squash in half. Place cut-sides-down in a baking dish filled with an inch of water. Bake squash at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove squash from shells with a fork to (magically!) form spaghetti-like strands. Stir strands into pan with the marinara sauce. Top with mozzarella. Cover pan for about five minutes to melt cheese. Serve with grated parmesan.

Expanding our universe: Spaghetti squash

I've been adding new elements to our food universe this summer, with good results. First eggplant, which I've cooked twice quite successfully in the last two weeks. And most recently, spaghetti squash. This is something I've never cooked before, and I bought three Saturday morning at the farmers' market, sort of by mistake. (I thought I had a recipe that called for this, and it turned out I needed butternut squash instead. I'll put that dish off 'til another day.)

The best way to stretch as a cook is just to buy something that's unfamiliar and figure out what to do with it. I asked around and looked up a few recipes, and tonight prepared a nice side dish of spaghetti squash with sauteed garlic, fresh basil and parmesan. It was great.

Lori Buselt at work told me how to cook the squash; she said to just cut one in half, spoon out the seeds, and place the halves cut-side-down in a baking dish filled with about an inch of water. I baked this for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees. I then used a fork to scoop out the squash so it formed spaghetti-like strands. While the squash was cooking, I browned 2 cloves garlic in about 2 tablespoons olive oil, and added about two tablespoons fresh diced basil. I stirred this into the pasta-like strands of squash. Then I topped generously with freshly grated parmesan cheese. It was yummy. We had it with grilled beef brats (also from the farmers' market) and a very nice eggplant and tomato salad I had made for yesterday's dinner party.

I still have two squash left. I may cook up a little marinara to top those off for dinner tomorrow.

Sweet: Rhubarb crisp baked in ramekins

We had friends over for dinner tonight, and for dessert, I served rhubarb crisp in my never-used-'til-now classy little ramekin dishes. I bought these little custard cups sometime back thinking that someday I would make creme brulee. Ha. Never gonna happen. But they came in handy tonight.

It turned out to be a memorable dinner party. It started pouring rain just before our guests arrived, so I thought instead of grilling, I would have to broil the marinated pork chops I'd prepared. But the power went out for some 90 minutes after we sat down to have appetizers, so Dave had to grill dinner in the rain, and we lit every candle we could find so we could see what we were eating. Note to self: Buy non-scented candles to have on hand just in case we need 'em for our next electricity-free fete. Dave notes that our house now smells like a French whorehouse. C'est dommage. Dessert was good.

Rhubarb crisp:

For filling, mix together 6 cups diced rhubarb, 1-1/2 cups sugar and 3 tablespoons flour.

For topping, mix together with pastry cutter 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and two tablespoons butter. Add 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 egg. Mix 'til topping becomes good and crumbly.

Spoon some of the fruit into four 1/2 cup ramekins. Spoon the rest into a 9-inch pie pan. Spoon topping evenly over the fruit. Put ramekin cups on a baking sheet. Bake ramekins and pan of cobbler for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. (Or, of course, you can make just one cobbler in a 13-by-9-inch pan. Bake for same amount of time at 350 degrees.)

Got extra dough? Make some rolls

For me, baking whole wheat bread is a thoroughly enjoyable weekend routine. My recipe makes two loaves, so I freeze one and we enjoy the other for several days. (It's rather amazing how many days this bread stays good unrefrigerated in a Ziploc bag-- nearly a week.) However, one problem with my recipe is that the loaves turn out just a tad too big to fit into a one-gallon freezer bag, so I've taken to pulling off a bit of dough before I shape my loaves, to make a few dinner rolls. I end up with loaves of bread just the size I need, and three or four delicious rolls to serve with whatever we're having for dinner.

To form rolls from bread dough, after dough rises first time, pull off a few small balls of dough and roll these by hand into 8-to-10 inch strands. Tie each into a loop knot, tucking one loose end under the roll and the other into the center of the knot. Brush with egg white wash and top with a few poppy seeds. Let rise second time according to recipe directions. I bake these at 350 in my convection oven about 15-20 minutes 'til they're nicely browned. My sandwich loaves bake for at least 15 minutes more. In the convection oven, I can bake the loaves on a top shelf and the rolls on the bottom shelf at the same time.

Jazz up beans with potatoes and peppers

Tonight for dinner we grilled chicken with really fine jerk spice I received as a gift from Carrie Rengers some time back. You can buy it online: Walkerswood Traditional Jamaican Jerk Seasoning. It's great stuff. I mixed up just a tablespoon of the seasoning with a little olive oil and marinated two skinless, boneless chicken breasts in this for about an hour. We grilled the chicken for five minutes per side, also grilling corn and skewered onion wedges at the same time.

To go with that, I also made a very quick green bean salad with farmers' market green beans. (I bought way too much stuff today at the market! Does anyone have any inspired recipes for spaghetti squash???) Here's the very simple salad I invented, which I liked because the flavors of the fresh beans and peppers weren't overpowered by a heavy dressing:

Green bean potato salad with red peppers and feta

Two cups fresh green beans
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup red pepper, finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium-sized cooked, peeled potatoes, sliced
Juice from a wedge of lemon
2 tablespoons or so feta cheese
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Trim ends off green beans. Steam until soft but not overcooked. While the beans cook, brown garlic and red pepper bits in olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Add beans to the fry pan with garlic and red pepper. Mix well. Spoon into a small mixing bowl. Squeeze juice from a wedge of lemon over the mixture. Stir in the potato slices. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the salad with plastic wrap and put it into the fridge for about an hour. Just before serving, toss in a few crumbles of feta cheese.

Cook corn tortillas before veggies go south

Part of the rhythm of my summer is buying lots of fresh farmers' market food on Saturday morning, enjoying it throughout the week and then by Thursday night, needing to cook up what's left of my veggies while they're still fresh. Last night I decided to use the last of the week's bounty for fajitas.

It defeats the purpose of trying to use up what I have if I have to run to the store for something I don't. I was determined not to do that, but last night I had no tortillas on hand. So I decided to pull out a recipe a friend gave me some years ago and make my own. I mixed those up and fried them, then put them into my warming oven while I prepared my fajita filling. This really didn't take long, and it was fun.

To make filling for my tortillas, I sliced up two pork chops, one small zucchini and a small yellow squash, a sweet onion and a big red bell pepper. I browned a pressed clove of garlic in olive oil in my wok, threw in the pork meat on medium high heat, letting the meat cook for three minutes before turning, then cooking three minutes more, adding a shake of cumin and two shakes dry oregano to the meat. I also squeezed juice from a half a lime over the meat as it cooked. Then I set that aside and stir-fried the veggies in the same oil for about four minutes, squeezing the juice from the remaining half of my lime over those. I combined meat and vegetables, and scooped that over my tortillas. Served it with chopped fresh tomatoes, salsa, grated cheddar, lite sour cream.

Here's the recipe for the tortillas, from my friend Brenda Oreskovich in Missoula. Last night, I started out using two pans, a big fry pan and a crepe pan, but I gave up on the fry pan after just one tortilla, because the crepe pan worked so perfectly:

Cornmeal tortillas

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
3 eggs
Enough milk to make batter runny (about 1-1/2 cups or more)

Stir with wire whisk 'til smooth. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Pour batter into pan, tilting pan to spread batter evenly to coat. Cook about 2 minutes per side, or 'til lightly browned. Remove from pan, dabbing tortillas with a paper towel to soak up oil. Stack onto a plate and warm in oven 'til ready to use. Makes 8-10 tortillas.

Food Network tip: Jiffy corn muffin mix

I love the Food Network-- it provides great background noise when I'm cooking. However, yesterday during my lunch hour I was a little appalled when the lovely Giada De Laurentiis (of "Everyday Italian") started off showing how to make spicy Italian cornbread by opening up two boxes of Jiffy muffin mix! Good grief. I have nothing against using a mix in my own kitchen if I want to (though I never do, except when I make this really good holiday pumpkin cake that calls for a yellow cake mix). But can't we expect a little better from our food mentors on TV? Giada went on to throw into the mix chopped up sundried tomatoes, a couple scoops of chili powder, and she suggested throwing in a little creamed corn too. Sounds dandy, but if I try this, I'll start with my own recipe for the cornbread. It's only a smidge more labor-intensive than opening a box of Jiffy.

So, when will dinner be ready?

The pressure to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less, ideally by 6:30 p.m., when you're feeling rushed after a long day at the office, takes all the joy out of cooking. Obviously, that end-of-the-day panic is a big reason takeout and frozen entrees are staples of the American diet. It's why a lot of people don't bother to cook much at all.

I don't usually get home from work until after 7, and sometimes much later. It is oppressive to think about getting something ready for dinner right away-- quickly quickly-- when I get home.

So, often we don't eat 'til past 8. Last night we had steak and baked potatoes some time after 8:30. If I'm wanting to be creative with some dish, and end up being later than usual getting home, we won't eat 'til 9. I know I couldn't get away with this if I still had kids at home to feed, but for this moment in our lives, it works for us. And I like that cooking is my deal, not Dave's. I don't want to give that up just because I work long hours.

Timesavers for working people who do want to enjoy a home-cooked dinner early in the evening: 1. The slow cooker. With a little planning and few extra minutes in the morning, you can end up with something splendid 10 minutes after you get home. (Salsa chicken takes no time at all...) 2. A wok. Stir-fry is obviously pretty quick, if you shop ahead to make sure you have fresh veggies and easy-to-fry bits of meat or seafood. 3. Leftovers. On the weekends, get creative and cook in mass quantities to provide good meals for days.

But whether you plan ahead or not, turn off the stopwatch that's ticking inside your head while you're getting dinner ready. It pays to enjoy what you're doing and forget what time it is.

Breakfast smoothie goes down easy

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but for me, it's just kind of a chore in the morning, something I'd skip if I could. On weekends, I like to cook a big breakfast for Dave as if I'm running some kind of B&B, but on weekdays, breakfast is just something I gotta get down the hatch, something healthy, whatever. Most often that is a piece of wheat toast, maybe some yoghurt. Sometimes it's a cardboard-flavored hi-protein energy bar I eat in the car.

Today I got uncharacteristically creative and blended a fruit smoothie, with a banana, 1 cup of frozen raspberries, two 6-ounce containers of low-fat, low-calorie yoghurt (one vanilla, one mixed berry), a splash of milk, and (for protein and fiber) a scoop of wheat germ. It was yummy. Made enough for two 8-ounce glasses, a nice cool breakfast on a July morning. First chore of the day, accomplished.

Worth a little risk: Eggplant Parmesan

For me, eggplant is an unfamiliar commodity. I love the way it tastes, I'll order it sometimes in a restaurant, but I have almost no experience cooking with it. I fried some up once many years ago and didn't cook it through-- it was all wrong, and I didn't try again after that. But I'm beginning to realize now that braving the world of unfamiliar ingredients can be good exercise.

The French word for eggplant is aubergine, and I've always thought that if the English word were so beautiful, Americans would eat a lot more of it. It is a very beautiful vegetable, such a deep near-black color, so smooth and substantial. Saturday at the Farmers' Market, I hestitated as always when I saw perfect eggplants piled there, then decided, hmm, I'll bet I can figure out what to do with one of these, and I brought one home.

So for Sunday dinner, I made eggplant parmesan, and it was exquisite, if I do say so myself. Dave was skeptical beforehand, being even more unaccustomed to eggplant than I am, but he'll try anything, and I gotta tell ya, he raved about this meal.

This isn't a complicated dish, though frying up the eggplant is a little labor-intensive. My sister tells me that her Italian mother-in-law slices and peels the eggplant, salts it, then drains it several hours in a colander under the weight of a heavy pan to get out all the extra moisture. I didn't do this, but we were happy enough with my results.

Eggplant Parmesan

One or two large eggplants, washed and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds (use enough eggplant for at least 16 three to four-inch circles)
Seasoned breadcrumbs
Flour for dredging
3 eggs, beaten
Olive oil
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano
1/4 cup red wine
Half a medium sweet onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
8 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

In a large saucepan, cook garlic and onion in olive oil for five minutes. Add tomato sauce and tomatoes, basil, oregano and red wine. Let simmer for an hour.

Put flour into a pie pan, breadcrumbs into a separate pie pan and mix eggs in a bowl. Dip eggplant slices into flour, then eggs (letting excess drip off) and then coat in breadcrumbs. Stack on a plate until you've coated them all. In a large frying pan, heat a 1/2 inch of olive oil. (I used two fry pans at a time to finish up more quickly.) Brown eggplant slices 3 minutes per side over medium heat.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish and coat with breadcrumbs, shaking off excess. Arrange a layer of eggplant slices. Cover with sauce. Top with half the mozzarella and parmesan. Repeat layers, topping with cheese. Top with chopped parsley. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil, bake 10 minutes more.

Hot machine for cooking hotcakes

My sister Molly in Seattle has a new toy; she calls it her "girlie grill" and loves it.

It's a Breville Professional Indoor Grill, and she uses it for grilling meat, veggies, making panini, grilled cheeese sandwiches and a lot more. It sounds quite a bit more upscale than the George Foreman grill I bought some years back when we lived in our Philly apartment. The George was fine to cook just a chicken breast or pork chop for myself when Dave was working late (as he always did back then) but too small for a lot more than that.

This Breville machine sounds cool. Though it's big, with a cooking surface the size of half of a newspaper page, it folds up flat for easy storage. And, unlike my George, it's versatile enough that Molly can use it to quickly cook pancakes or French toast for her whole family.

We're competitive, we sisters. I may have to get me one of these.

Molly also sent me a very excellent summertime tip that she got from a vendor who sells her fresh strawberries. Use an egg slicer to make perfect strawberry slices. I love that idea. What a beautiful way to top a big stack of freshly cooked pancakes.

I asked Molly how she made her pancake batter. Topped with fresh fruit, this sounds like a very healthy breakfast:

2 cups Bisquick HeartSmart™ Mix
1 egg
1 1/4 cups skim milk

Stir ingredients until blended.
Pour by slightly less than 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle.
Cook until bubbles break on surface. Turn; cook until golden. Makes 14 pancakes.

Grilled corn makes for cool salad on a hot day

We've been eating grilled Kansas corn on the cob almost every day lately. Today I mixed it up a little (the corn), with fresh-picked garden tomatoes (purchased today at the farmers' market), beans, a little cayenne pepper and some chopped onion to make a colorful salad to have with dinner tonight.

The temperature hit 100 degrees in Wichita today, at least according to our front yard thermometer, so I decided that if I needed grilled corn in the middle of the day to go into this whim of a side dish, I owed it to Dave to grill it myself. (After all, he'd already done outdoor duty mowing the lawn.) So I lit the grill and stayed outside to turn my corn in the summer heat while Dave drove off to do errands. I was only too happy to get inside my air-conditioned kitchen to finish making this salad. Grilling the corn was worth it, though. I love how it tastes. (Note to self: Next time we grill corn for dinner in the relative cool of the evening, throw on a few extra ears to use the next day for whatever I might feel like doing.)

Grilled corn, tomato and two-bean salad

Five ears of fresh corn, husked
2 medium-size garden tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, finely diced
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce black beans, drained and rinsed
Juice from three lemons
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (a dash of Tabasco would work too.)
4 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

Brush corn with a little olive oil. Grill for 10-15 minutes, turning often, 'til beautifully browned. Let cool. Use a sharp knife to cut corn from husks into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk lemon juice and the 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large bowl. Add corn and all remaining ingredients. Stir with wooden spoon . Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Simply elegant: Pasta with lemon clam sauce

Tonight I decided to take a break from our summer grilling routine and cook up a pasta dish that has been in my family forever. I'm fairly certain this recipe originated with my Aunt Katie, as did many of my family favorites. My mother used to make it all the time, and since I was in college, I have done the same when I've wanted to serve something up quick, for family or for guests or for just myself.

I've experimented trying to make this healthier by using olive oil instead of butter, but in all honesty, I gotta admit, butter is better. I love this because I can cook the sauce in less time than it takes to boil the pasta.

Pasta with lemon clam sauce

16-ounce package pasta (spaghetti, linguini, rigatoni, penne, rotini, whatever you like the best)
Juice squeezed from 2 lemons
3 6.5-ounce cans minced or chopped clams
3 cloves garlic
1 cube butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 fresh chopped parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a saucepan, melt butter. Press garlic and add to butter. Strain clam nectar into a small bowl. Add drained clams to butter in pan. Heat for 5 minutes. To clam nectar, squeeze juice from lemons. Mix nectar and lemon juice into saucepan with butter and clams. Add wine. Let heat through while pasta cooks. Drain pasta. Combine sauce with pasta and top with fresh chopped parsley. Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Savory walnut bread: Five loaves in one

One thing I love about baking bread is making it look beautiful. I like to mix it up between topping with sesame seeds, parmesan, poppy seeds, coarse salt, brushing with egg wash vs. egg white wash vs. milk wash vs. no wash. Sometimes I put a pan of boiling water into the oven while my bread bakes to make for a crunchier crust. Sometimes I don't. I find it a very artistic undertaking.

The Family Circle Cookbook: New Tastes for New Times (not so new by now, and maybe not available in stores, but you can still find a copy on Amazon) has a recipe that allows me to put lots of different toppings on one loaf of really lovely bread. This bread is terrific to take along when someone invites you over for dinner. Works great for sandwiches.

Walnut Bread with Five Toppings

1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 envelope active dry yeast
1-1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons salt
4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use half white all-purpose and half white whole wheat)
1/3 cup ground walnuts
1 egg white, slightly beaten
Toppings: Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, caraway seeds, grated Parmesan cheese, coarse salt

Combine 1/4 teaspoon sugar and water in small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over top; stir to dissolve. Let stand 'til foamy, about 10 minutes.

Heat remaining sugar, milk, butter and salt in medium saucepan to mel butter. Pour into bowl of standing mixer; let to 105-1115 degrees. Add yeast mixture. Stir in 2-1/2 cups flour and ground nuts. Beat until smooth. Stire in enough flour to make soft, sticky dough. Knead dough with bread hook for 10 minutes. Place in large buttered bowl, turn to coat. Cover. Let rise until doubled in volume, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

Punch dough down. Pinch off one-third. On floured surface, pat remainder into 8-inch circle. Sprinkle with chopped nuts; press in gently. Fold edges to meet in center, shape into ball. Flatten ball. Push fingertips into center, gently pulling to form a 2-inch hole. Place on parchment-paper-covered baking sheet.

Divide reserved dough into five equal pieces. Roll each into thin 12-inch rope; fold each in half; twist together to form braid. Arrange on top of loaf from center to outside edge, spacing evenly, like spokes on a wheel. Tuck ends under loaf. Cover. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Brush loaf with egg white. Sprinkle each section marked off with the braids with a different topping. Bake in 400 oven (375 if using convection, which of course I recommend) for 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature by 25 degrees. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped with fingertips. Makes one elegant loaf.

Turkey tenderloin sandwich, fast as I can

Most of the time, I love the recipes in Bon Appetit magazine. They're elegant but in most cases pretty simple. That said, I was struck by the cover photo on the latest edition. It's a picture of a sandwich. A simple BLT at that.

Deceptively simple, it turns out. Reading through the recipe, I realized the photo didn't quite convey how complicated this sandwich really is. It requires cooking pancetta slices for six minutes, then soaking tomato slices with basil, oregano, olive oil and fleur de sel for 30 minutes to an hour, and layering with arugula and burrata cheese on toasted bread. Sounds good, and it's not complicated, but as much as I like to cook, I draw the line at spending up to an hour making a sandwich.

Here's the gourmet sandwich I prepared in five minutes for my lunch today: Thin-sliced grilled turkey tenderloin (left over from dinner last night. I tell you, turkey tenderloin is a great summer grilling option) heated in the microwave with a few crumbles of gorgonzola, topped with fresh tomato slices, a little fresh basil, a little light mayo and Dijon mustard. On my homemade wheat bread-- all I really need for a gourmet sandwich. It was delightful. And it didn't eat up my lunch hour.

Broiled tomatoes with basil and parmesan

Tonight our dinner was all farmers' market fare: beef bratwurst, corn and tomatoes that I bought yesterday morning. Dave grilled the corn and brats, but to prepare the tomatoes, I dug out a recipe from "Family Circle Cookbook: New Tastes for New Times," a cookbook I bought in the early '90s and still love. I adapted Family Circle's recipe for "Broiled Tomato Slices Provencale," and here's what I did:

In 2 tablespoons butter melted in a saute pan, I browned 1/4 cup chopped onion with a diced clove of garlic. I cooked this for about three minutes. In my food processor, I chopped half a can of pitted black olives with 3/4 cup bread crumbs and a handful of fresh basil leaves. Then I spooned this into the saute pan with the onion and garlic, and added to this about 1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. (I like to buy parmesan in blocks and grate only as needed.) I cut my large farmers' market tomatoes into thick slices, put the slices on a cookie sheet, and topped each with a generous helping of the crumb mixture. I put the topped tomatoes under the broiler for about 8 minutes.

The broiled, breaded tomatoes turned out to be a perfect compliment to the sausage and corn Dave cooked up. There is much to love about summer in Kansas.

Gourmet fare: Chicken with apricot sauce

Some people are more creative in the kitchen than I am. When our nephew, Mike Knadler, was stationed in Bahrain, he used to have weekly dinner parties that would begin a day in advance by throwing a dart at a world map to decide what kind of cuisine to cook. He tells me he's invented hundreds of recipes. He's adventurous. He loves mixing it up, and he knows what he's doing.

He sent me his recipe for chicken in apricot sauce, and I was very grateful, because like a lot of excellent cooks, he's not much for sharing his secrets. What's even better is he didn't object when I said I wanted to try it and then write about it here. I was a little worried that the gorgonzola might be a little overpowering, but it wasn't at all. Though decadent, this is an absolutely delicious and elegant dish. And it's easy to make, too.

Gorgonzola chicken with apricot sauce

2 whole boneless chicken breasts (butterflied are best)
10 strips of raw bacon
1 cup dry white wine
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese (Stilton is also good. Or if you prefer something milder, use mozzarella, swiss or provolone. Avoid any high oil cheese, such as cheddar.)
1 small jar apricot preserves (not sugar-free!)
4 dried apricots, sliced thin

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Wash the chicken breasts and cut a small pocket into the flesh. Insert cheese into this pocket. Wrap each chicken breast in strips of bacon, covering completely, making sure you have an even layer of bacon and that chicken is not showing through. Place into a glass baking dish (Note from Tess: I lined baking dish with foil for easier clean-up.) Spoon a few tablespoons apricot preserve in a small bowl, stir, brush onto bacon. Place oven rack at second highest position. Cook for one hour. (Another note from Tess: I browned under the broiler for an additional five minutes.)

While chicken is baking, blend wine and remaining preserves in a small saucepan. Bring to boil, simmer 10 minutes to create a medium-thick syrup. (Here's where Mike likes to get creative. He says you can throw in a few grains of ground chili pepper to spice up the sauce, or even a small slice of bittersweet chocolate to create a mole effect.)

To serve most artistically, cut each breast in half against the grain of the meat, cleanly cutting through bacon as well as chicken. Pour syrup on top and drizzle onto the plate. Top with slices of dried apricot. Mike recommends serving with steamed asparagus with lemon zest.

Shopping for produce? Market forces vary

What I love about the Saturday farmers market in west Wichita goes beyond the truckloads of fresh zucchini, corn, onions and tomatoes, pork chops and tender steaks I can buy out there. I like the pragmatic Kansas atmosphere. Vendors are there to sell stuff, and buyers are there to buy stuff and then get on with their weekend. I don't feel like I need to wear a loose floral-print dress or a campy straw hat. I don't need a rustic woven basket to cart home bouquets of flowers (though yes, I can buy nice bouquets out there.) There's not an espresso cart anywhere near the place. Yeah, there was a little musical ensemble out there playing gospel tunes today, providing a low-key soundtrack. But nobody's putting on airs.

That unassuming authenticity is something I also treasured about Philadelphia's Italian Market. That's obviously a very different scene-- I loved going there to buy not only vegetables, but provolone and salami at DiBruno Brothers and pignoli cookies at Isgro's bakery a few blocks away. But the market in Philly never seemed like a tourist draw. It was kind of run down. Not a place to hang out. Just a great source of good, uniquely Philadelphia food.

When I lived in Missoula, I'd never miss the farmer's market at the north end of Higgins Avenue either, but I'd often leave without having bought much. There the market is a Saturday morning social scene, a place to buy a latte and a croissant and run into a dozen Teva-clad friends, and maybe spend 20 bucks on a baggie of huckleberries. People bring their big dogs, and the dogs have red bandannas tied around their necks. Parking is a problem.

We're going to Paris in the fall, and what I expect and hope still exists there (I haven't been in 25 years) are the city's street markets, where every day, shoppers fill string bags with camembert, brie, pate, perfect sugary strawberries. The neighborhood marche is just the place to pick up everything you need before catching the train for a picnic excursion to Versailles.

Funny how this morning's routine trek to west Wichita brings back memories of so many places I've lived. Tables heaped with fresh food tend to have that effect, I guess.

Here's a recipe I picked up this morning from a vendor who sold me a righteous K.C. strip steak (grain-fed, of course) and a package of beef brats:

Beef marinade

1 tsp. onion flakes
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 clove garlic
Pepper

Mix everything together in a zip-lock bag. Marinate meat 2 hours or overnight. (From Meng Farms, Pretty Prairie, Kansas)

Summer in Kansas: Corn in our own backyard

Before we moved to Kansas a couple years ago, we spent many years in an apartment in Philly, where a backyard cookout involved hauling paper plates, napkins and a bottle of wine up and down a back stairwell (the stairwell where we and our neighbors stashed our garbage) to a shared courtyard. Then we'd dig into freshly purchased Wawa Italian hoagies or meatball sandwiches.

Our first purchase after we bought our patio-enhanced, single-family home in Wichita was a gas grill, and we've been learning to use it ever since. We're making progress. The trick seems to be timing things carefully so meat and veggies and potatoes are all done at the same time.

The July issue of Bon Appetit has a veggie grill guide that's a clip-and-save keeper, featuring instructions for grilling bell peppers, onions, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and corn. And just in time-- the season of sweet corn is upon us.

The magazine says to brush husked corn with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill for 15 minutes, 'til slightly charred and tender. I also like to butter ears of husked corn and wrap them in foil to grill for 15 minutes. We had those tonight with foil-wrapped catfish fillets I'd coated with lemon juice and dill. A pretty nice dinner, and I didn't have to haul anything down two back flights of stairs so we could eat outside. As much as I sometimes miss Wawa sandwiches, I'm digging the heartland.

Cooking is fun ... when it's optional

I enjoy cooking most when I don't have to do it, when no one is depending on me to keep 'em fed.

It's one thing to feel duty-bound to bake cookies to feed a child's soccer team or an entire parish at church coffee hour-- quite another to get an out-of-nowhere yen to bake cookies, knowing I can freeze 'em to share I don't-know-when with I don't-know-whom. Obligation is the great sapper of creative energy.

Dave likes what I cook, but if I don't feel like cooking anything, no problem, he'll cook, or (more likely) we can order out. Consequently, I almost always feel like cooking.

I got home after 8 last night, so we went out to dinner, to Bella Luna, a favorite neighborhood restaurant. The meal was dandy, but I think we both enjoyed tonight's dinner at home so much more. I tried a parmesan chicken recipe I found on Alanna Kellogg's excellent website, and it was delicious.

I altered her recipe a little, just because I didn't have all her ingredients on hand. I used Sauvignon Blanc instead of white wine vinegar, and prepared breadcrumbs instead of ground English muffin crumbs. I also used chicken thighs in addition to boneless, skinless breasts. I served with left-over baked potato pieces fried in olive oil, and fresh steamed broccoli. Yum. And it was fun.

Best blueberry lemon muffins

I've always loved the concept of muffins. Bake up a dozen and serve breakfast to a crowd-- with none of the tedious short-order cooking that distinguishes family breakfast as a big chore for the cook. But my family's always been like, 'Yeah, whatever, your homemade muffins are OK,' while somehow giving me the feeling they wish I'd made French toast or pancakes instead.

Happily, I think at last I've figured out how to make muffins they'll like. "The Best Recipe," one of my favorite cookbooks, amazingly does provide exactly what the title offers up-- the best recipe for any number of things you'd want to cook. And I'm very happy with that cookbook's muffin recipe, which I tried for the first time Saturday. I took a dozen plus two blueberry lemon muffins on our weekend fishing trip (along with a dozen guaranteed-to-please chocolate-chip-orange scones) and they were a hit. They were moist, beautiful, sweet. Here's the recipe, adapted a little:

Blueberry lemon muffins

3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 and 1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Vegetable cooking spray for the muffin pan

Heat oven to 375 degrees (350 convection) Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in mix until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of the yogurt. Add two teaspoons grated lemon zest. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with yogurt, until incorporated. Coat blueberries in 1 tablespoon flour; fold into batter.

Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or coat lightly with butter. Divide batter among cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes (20 or so if using convection). Cool muffins in pan five minutes. Remove muffins from tin to cool on wire rack.

While muffins are baking, heat 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice in small saucepan until mixture forms light syrup, 3 to 4 minutes. Brush warm syrup over muffins and serve.

Rainy day pesto pizza

Pizza was not my original plan for supper tonight, but I got caught in a crippling summer deluge driving home from work. I had to take a long detour to avoid being washed away in rushing water along my usual route. The rains kept coming, thwarting the plans we'd had to grill steaks for dinner. Quick homemade pizza was a fine alternative, on a night when I doubt any pizza delivery could have made it to our house. This crust takes just 15 minutes to prepare:

Pizza crust
(from the little cookbook that came with my Cuisinart, circa 15 years ago):

1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup warm water
1-2/3 cup flour (I use white whole wheat flour)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
1-1/2 tablespoons cornmeal for the pan

Stir yeast and sugar into warm water. Let stand 10 minutes, 'til foamy. In your food processor, mix flour and salt. Pour yeast mixture into work bowl through feed tube and process 45 seconds, until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Add oil through feed tube and process 60 seconds.

Roll dough on floured surface, add more flour if it's sticky. Roll dough to a 14-inch circle. Oil a pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Put crust into pan, folding at edge to create a rim.

Topping

Spread crust with about 3/4 cup packaged pesto sauce. Cover with spicy capicola (thin-sliced, spicy ham) or prosciutto, fresh tomato slices, crumbled goat cheese, paper-thin slices of sweet red onions and chopped, fresh basil. (Or you can make a traditional pizza with canned tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni slices, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, anything you like. )

Bake at 375 in a convection oven for 20 minutes or until rim is golden brown. (In a conventional oven, bake 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees.) Let pizza cool 5 minutes before slicing.

Catfish are biting ... at Krogers

Spent hours today on a pontoon boat in north central Kansas fishing for catfish. I love catfish. I grew up in Washington state, where salmon is king. Moved to Montana, where restaurants feature rainbow trout on their breakfast menues. We never ate catfish 'til we moved to the Midwest. I remember years back taking my kids on the train for a day trip from K.C. to the Missouri State Fair, and what I loved best about that hot day was eating fried catfish fingers and sweet potato fries. Elegant, exotic fare for us Northwesterners.

That said, I had never fished for catfish 'til today. I'm no angler, and I shouldn't judge from just one excursion perhaps, but geez, what a stinky, miserable enterprise that was. These bottom feeders go for bait which is starkly similar to what you find inside a baby's dirty diaper. Ten of us and a couple of guides sat on this boat putting our lines deep into the water, waiting as our glops of stinkbait washed off our hooks, then we'd rebait from big buckets of this sticky, foul-smelling goop, inadvertently smearing it on ourselves, yuck, before we put our lines back into the water. Again and again. And every once in awhile somebody would pull up a fish. (Not me, however. Maybe I'd feel better if I'd caught at least one damn fish. Dave did. Nearly everybody else did. But in all, it was a slow day at the Glen Elder reservoir. Fish weren't biting much at all.)

It was a fun outing, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the beer. I enjoyed hanging out with our friends. I enjoyed snapping a bunch of pictures. And at the end of the day, we pooled our catch to freeze for a big fish fry to be scheduled later, and that I'll enjoy a lot. I'll contribute spicy corn pudding and fresh baked rolls. That I will enjoy.

We got home and I went straight to the grocery story to buy some catfish fillets for supper-- a perfect fishing expedition. I'll fry 'em up in cornmeal coating and make a nice Caprese salad to go with. No fuss, no stinkbait.

Bring some substance to the party

I had a nice note from Alanna Kellogg, a food writer from Missouri, who echoed my sentiment that a lot of people are too reluctant to cook these days. She says the way to get over that is to cook something "substantial" every day. At least one thing. I like that. That's a great charge for every household in the country.

But it' a tall order for most Americans, who eat out ALL the time. Every family in the country (except I guess those who own restaurants) would be better off if we all reduced the number of times we eat out each week. When I had kids at home and a full-time job, fast food especially was such an easy way to go. Now I regret every drive-thru meal I ever bought them. I always meant to orchestrate my weekends so I would cook good casseroles and side dishes ahead of time for us to enjoy throughout the week. I never got into the groove. And now I realize it's not that hard a groove to get into.

I say that, but, sigh, yesterday I cooked nothing-- lunch was leftover Fourth of July potato salad, and we had dinner at Il Vicino, our neighborhood pizza joint. We don't eat out often, but this weekend is shaping up to be a shaky foundation for a solid week ahead of home-cooked meals -- we're going fishing with friends and won't get back to town 'til tomorrow afternoon. I need to make sure I do a thorough shopping trip when we get home and plan some menus. For now, I need to bake some scones for our fishing trip. (That'll have to count as "cooking something substantial" for today...)

Easier than pie: Apple cobbler

A shout out to Erik, my youngest, who will be 23 tomorrow. I remember well our Fourth of July celebration 23 years ago that ended with a middle-of-the-night trip to Community Hospital in Missoula. I remember I had made red, white and blueberry cupcakes and homemade potato salad with fresh dill that we took to a potluck picnic where we watched fireworks with friends in the neighborhood (before our baby's-on-the-way fireworks began.)

Back in those days, we lived in a little house with a tiny kitchen and no dining room, no dishwasher, a workspace I hated for its lack of counters and impossible-to-clean indoor-outdoor carpeting (a decorating trend that died a well-deserved death.) Yet we were always having people over; I would cook ambitious things and make huge messes in the kitchen and then dread cleaning all those dishes by hand.

Today I'm happier with my kitchen-- I have better stuff, and most of the time a better idea what I'm doing when I set out to cook anything. I do miss Erik today, of course. He's not only a great son, he's become an excellent cook, having cooked (including singlehanded mastery of fabulous desserts) at The Depot in Missoula for the last few years. If he were here, he'd no doubt show me how to make something more ambitious than the apple cobbler I'm cooking up today-- especially easy thanks to the food processor I couldn't have afforded 23 years ago, and the garbage disposal we didn't have back then to quickly make an apple-peel mess disappear. (Erik's on a vacation getaway to Portland with his girlfriend this week, so I know he'll have a wonderful Fourth and birthday. )

I've been making this cobbler for years and years. It's adapted from "The Deep River Community Cookbook," which I think my father picked up on a road trip through Iowa decades ago. It's a cinch, and the topping is like crunchy sugar cookie crumbs. Excellent with rhubarb, but I could not find any at the store this morning, so I substituted Granny Smith apples.

Fruit cobbler

Mix in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish: 4 or so cups diced apples, 1/3 cup sugar and a teaspoon cinnamon with 2 tablespoons flour. (If using rhubarb, use 1 cup sugar, no cinnamon) For topping, mix together with pastry cutter 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and two tablespoons butter. Add 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 egg. Mix 'til it becomes good and crumbly. Spoon over the fruit. Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cooking for two? Hash it out

I have no interest in "Cooking -for-two" recipe books aimed at empty nesters. I figure if I order one of these from Amazon, AARP will start sending me even more solicitations than I'm getting now. I'd rather cook up enough for six at a time, knowing that Dave and I can then eat lunches and dinners for two or three days.

Of course, I need to overcome my tendency to forget about leftovers once I've packed them into the fridge. Tonight I done good, throwing three nights worth of leftovers into a pan to create hash-- nothing fancy, but a good way to cook up a decent meal and make use of what we had on hand.

Use-up-the-leftovers Hash

In a skillet over medium-high heat, I browned a diced sweet onion in olive oil with a pressed clove of garlic, added three of yesterday's boiled potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I always cook up more potatoes than we need at a time), threw in a big, chopped fresh tomato, last night's leftover steak, chopped up with a couple small chunks of a teriyaki beef roast I prepared on Saturday night. To this I added a big handful of chopped fresh basil, and a couple generous shakes of chili sauce. I heated this on the stovetop 'til cooked through. Good eats, and now the fridge is cleaned out.

Flat Iron Steak, cumin up

For the Fourth of July, try grilling a flat iron steak. It's billed as a new cut, very tender. We'll see. We're having some for supper tonight once ol' Dave gets home from work to fire up the grill.

I suppose it's kind of backward that I don't know how to start or operate the gas grill. I have no interest; I've got a nice salad made, potatoes cooking, the steak all rubbed down, ready to hand to my man to cook up when he gets in the door after a hard day at the office. Yes, when it comes to grilling, we have an undeniably '50s-era division of labor -- though we share in all other aspects a sane and progressive partnership (and for the record, I nearly always get home from work much later than he does.) I don't care. Here's the rub I made for this steak, the recipe for which was on the package:

Southwest Rub

2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespooons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Combine in a small bowl. Press and rub evenly into steaks before grilling. Grill steak on medium heat for about 4 minutes per side (for medium rare.) Turn occasionally to avoid burning.

Addendum posted after supper: The flat iron steak was excellent. Melt-in-your-mouth tender. And the rub was very good. Check out what Wikipedia reports about this "new" cut of meat. And I managed to buy a one-pound steak that'll provide at least two hearty meals for the two of us for just $6.

Lose the bamboo skewers

Best investment I've made this summer: a couple dozen stainless steel skewers for grilling veggies. It's nice to be able to throw kabobs on the barbecue at the last minute without having to soak bamboo skewers for that requisite 30 minutes. (I don't even know if all that soaking was necessary, but I followed package directions on this, and that just slowed me down.) The heavier skewers are easier to handle than bamboo, too.

If we're grilling chicken tenders or pieces of steak, I put the meat on skewers separate from the onions, peppers and mushrooms, because generally the veggies take less time to grill than the meat. What I especially like are grilled Vidalia onions. Today I bought sweet red onions. I skewered 'em, brushed a little olive oil on 'em, and Dave threw those on the grill about 10 minutes before our pork chops were cooked. They were cooked to perfection, soft, a little translucent and not blackened-- sugary, just delightful.