A good market will always get my attention. I think it goes back to my childhood when my parents and grandparents would take us to flea markets and we would walk all over, seeing the wares for sale. When we were young we would get tired and cranky, but as I grew older I started to appreciate the market and the bargain hunting, and I learned the fun of the negotiation by watching my dad. Then later when I was off on my own, some of my favorite and most vivid memories of my travels would include visiting indoor and outdoor markets and bazaars, such as the Qingping Market in Guangzhou; the Ladies Market and Stanley Market in Hong Kong; the outdoor markets in Bali; the little market that would set up on Sunday mornings just outside my apartment in Bogotá, where I could get great fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, as well as the mercado de las pulgas (flea market), where I could stroll around and find all sorts of neat things; the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar in Istanbul; and the flower market in Amsterdam.

Here in the U.S. there are many markets I would like to visit, and since I have a couple trips planned this summer, I want to do some market hunting. When Michael and I lived in Southern Maryland we frequented the market in Charlotte Hall, which had become quite vibrant, and I loved getting the fresh Amish eggs and butter. I’ve enjoyed the Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse, the Market Hall and Sheds in Charleston, and Eastern Market in DC, and I hope to take in some market action in Hawaii and San Francisco this summer! (Please leave me some good market tips for HI and SF in the comments! Perhaps I should bring along an empty suitcase on those trips…)

In Northern Virginia I’ve been scoping out the market scene since moving to the area last year, hoping to find some markets that represented the best of the area: great local produce, cheeses, breads, meats, dairy products, and maybe even a fun flea market to go along with it. I visited the Leesburg Year Round Market a few weekends ago and had a chance to meet some of the vendors and sample some of the goods. Up to eighteen vendors gather in a strip mall parking lot throughout the year and have a great variety of products. I tasted some really delicious award-winning cheeses (photo below) from Oak Spring Dairy, savored a hearty whole grain cookie from Quail Creek Farm while drooling over the beautiful breads, and sampled some tasty pizzas provided by American Flatbread in Ashburn. They were visiting the market that day to do some cooking demonstrations and talk about the relationships they have with the market vendors. The restaurant purchases meats, cheeses, and produce from local vendors and showcases those ingredients in their seasonal pizzas, and it all tasted great.

The market had several family operations participating, including the couple running Conicville Ostrich (eggs and meat seasonally), Chicama Run (eggs, grass-fed lamb, beef, pork, chickens), and Chef Eloy’s Kickin’ Salsa (some seriously hot salsa, Michael loves it). And since it was Easter weekend, the Easter Bunny paid a visit, there was a craft that the kids could do, and there was even a sheep for the children to pet and turkeys on display.

The market is currently limited to 18 vendors per day due to location in a parking lot, but who knows how it could grow? I would love to see the markets in this area continue to grow and flourish and become a regular stop for local residents and visitors. I was having a fantastic time until the freezing rain started and the temperature took a nosedive. I had to put the camera away and put my frozen body back into the car, but I will definitely be a regular for this market. Thanks very much to Sandra Stickovitch, the Winter Market Manager, for greeting me and talking with me about the market. For more information about markets in Northern Virginia, check out the links below.

Market Information for Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland

Loudoun Valley HomeGrown Markets Association (new site coming)

Virginia.org – Farmer’s Markets, Northern Virginia

Local Harvest – Virginia Farmer’s Markets

The Weston A. Price Foundation – Farmer’s Markets in VA, DC, MD, and WV

Thanks for reading Andrea’s Recipes through a feed! Copyright © 2005-2009 Andrea’s Recipes.

This is a story of chance meets opportunity, of how I went to a cooking demonstration thinking that I would just be a number in the crowd but in an amazing bit of luck got a three hour private cooking lesson with a famous DC chef! And it all happened this past Saturday in my own neighborhood.

Around the end of September, we received an advertising flier in the mail from Van Metre Homes announcing a big open house day on October 20 to promote their new home designs in several communities around Northern Virginia. What caught my eye was the announcement that the pros of DC’s famous Equinox Restaurant would be doing cooking demonstrations at the various sites, and Executive Chef/Co-Owner Todd Gray would be in my neighborhood only a few blocks away! Immediately I wrote the date on my calendar and made plans to attend.

I must confess that Michael and I have never been to Equinox, but it’s because DC is a little far away for us to go for an evening out, and well…there’s the boys. We take them everywhere we go because we think it’s important, and even though we have taken them to restaurants since they were only days old, the kids are still too young for a place as quietly elegant and genteel as Equinox. I can see it all in my mind…the baby dropping food on the floor, because gravity experiments are his favorite thing to do now; the 3-year-old standing up in his chair so that he can see something interesting across the room, or diving under the table to retrieve his spoon or fork for the fiftieth time; and my oldest, who is almost 5, loudly and proudly announcing that he pooped on the potty as he comes back to the table. Yeah, I’m sure the other diners would be thrilled with us! So for now we have to stick with restaurants that have a minimal noise level of around 90 decibels (equal to the noise produced by a lawn mower), but someday Michael and I are going to get a sitter and have ourselves a lovely, quiet time at Equinox.

Since I had not been to the restaurant but wanted to be prepared for the demonstration, I spent time on their website trying to learn about the Grays, the menu, cooking philosophy, history of the restaurant, and anything else I could pick up on. I read about all of their awards and Chef Gray’s five James Beard nominations, as well as their focus on fresh, local, organic produce, sustainably fished seafood, and certified humane meats. After all my reading, I felt that I would be able to fully enjoy the presentation and even ask a question or two if the opportunity presented itself. On Saturday morning I got ready and left early to get a good seat, because I felt certain that foodies from all over Northern Virginia would descend upon the place, but when I arrived I realized I had left my camera at home and had to run back. When I returned a few minutes later, Chef Gray and his wife Ellen were just arriving. They were very pleasant and greeted me as they came into the model home and started setting up in the kitchen. So far I was the only person in attendance other than the Van Metre sales and marketing people and the photographer.

A menu and recipe handout was sitting on a ledge, so I spent a few minutes reading and trying to prepare any questions I might have about the menu. It appeared that the plan was to serve a tasting of fall comfort foods throughout the afternoon. The menu included:

• Butternut Squash Risotto with Cippoline Onions and Sauteed Spinach,
• Tournedos of all Natural Beef with Madeira Peppercorn Jus and Potato Mousseline, and
• Warm Apple Cake with Ginger Ice Cream and Rum Caramel.

Chef Gray and Ellen introduced themselves and her parents (who had come along for the day) and shook my hand, and I did respond in kind, but I suddenly found myself all shy and tongue tied! I cannot believe how nervous I was! In a bit of bad luck, I’ve also had laryngitis since Wednesday and could barely talk, but I managed. The Grays finished setting up and then had a couple minutes to chat before the appointed starting time. Chef Gray asked me questions about my cooking blog and by then I was starting to relax. I asked if I could take photos, and he said of course.

Now it was eleven o’clock and time to start, but I was still the only person in the audience. I was shocked that no one else was there. Chef invited me to come up with him and get a lesson on how he would make the butternut squash risotto. I wanted to jump out of my seat and run to the cooktop, but I tried to look composed and casual, as if famous chefs offer to share cooking techniques with me every day of the week. I think I pulled it off.

He demonstrated how to saute the arborio rice for a few minutes in olive oil and onion, deglaze with white wine, and then add a clear vegetable stock and let the rice cook until the stock was absorbed. He added the vegetable stock two more times, stirring as he went. While the risotto was cooking, he sauteed some baby spinach in olive oil and shallots. He had brought along some cippoline onions to add to the spinach, but at the last minute decided to skip that. Lovely aromas were starting to drift and as visitors came through the house, he would turn around and tell his audience what he was doing. As the last round of vegetable stock was added to the pot, Chef added diced butternut squash and squash that had been pureed with heavy cream. He stirred that all in and let it cook until heated through. For the final touch, he stirred in butter, Parmesan, and salt and pepper, then plated it with the sauteed spinach on top and a sprinkling of Parmesan.

The risotto was wonderfully rich and creamy with a hint of sweetness, and the sauteed spinach provided a nice earthy contrast with some salty Parmesan sprinkled on top. Chef kept the pot warm on the stove throughout the afternoon and would occasionally add some more stock to keep the risotto creamy and prepare warm plates for visitors as they came to visit the house.

The whole time he was cooking, Chef was very congenial and kept up the conversation asking about cooking blogs and how they are different from restaurant blogs, and also sharing information about a food blog multimedia magazine that a friend of his recently started (Cork & Knife).

The next course was the beef medallions, and I got another cooking lesson. He seasoned the medallions with salt and pepper and seared them in the pan for about 4 minutes per side. The sauce had been prepared offsite, a simple pan sauce made with shallots sauteed in butter with Madeira added, then reduced. Cream, veal stock, drained green peppercorns, and salt and pepper are stirred in and the sauce is warmed. The potatoes were pureed with butter, milk, heavy cream, and then seasoned with salt and pepper. It was all plated with the potatoes as the base, a slice of tender beef on top, and topped with the peppercorn sauce, then a few crystals of dark smoked sea salt was sprinkled on. The flavors were simple and comforting, great for a fall afternoon, and the smoky sea salt added a nice touch.

The final course was dessert, and all of the components had been prepped offsite, which turned out to be a good thing because the ovens wouldn’t heat up. Not unusual because many model homes do not make the cooking appliances functional until after the model is sold, but for the demonstration it would have been helpful to warm up the cake as Chef had planned. He took it all in stride and plated the dessert with the sauce drizzled over the top, a scoop of ginger ice cream on the side, and a sprinkling of crushed pistachios. The apple sheet cake was moist and tasty, but I think that the sauces and the ginger ice cream really made the dish. The ginger flavor was subtle and not overpowering, tamed somewhat by the sweetness of the milk and sugar.

I had such a fantastic time, and although I had a million questions I could have asked, I was still suffering from my attack of shyness. I did manage to ask questions about the restaurant and his upcoming venture, the Salamander Resort & Spa that’s being built in Middleburg, VA. He even asked me questions about my cooking blog and seemed quite pleased that I share my love of good food and cooking with my boys.

At the end of the demonstrations, I thanked Chef for the opportunity and expressed how enjoyable the experience was. He thanked me for staying throughout the afternoon and asked for my contact information and said that he wanted to check out my cooking blog (although he really doesn’t need any cooking tips from me!), then he presented me with a delicious gift: two beef medallions and some of the risotto. Guess what’s on the menu at the Meyers house tonight?

Chef Todd Gray’s Restaurants

Equinox Restaurant, Washington D.C.

Market Salamander, Middleburg, VA and Palm Springs, FL

Salamander Resort & Spa, Middleburg, VA (coming 2009)

Tips

Check out the Equinox and Market Salamander sites for information on Chef Gray’s monthly cooking classes.

Michael goes through phases in traveling with his job. Some months he’s only gone a day or two here and there, and others he’s gone for a week or more. Those weeks when he’s gone, like this one, I find myself dropping everything, including cooking, just to keep up with the kids. And this week it’s a real challenge since Mommy is sick with a yucky cold.

So what does a Mom who loves to cook do when she is sick and exhausted from keeping up with three little boys but still has to feed them and herself? First, I fix myself a nice hot lemon toddy several times a day! Then for our meals, I clean out the refrigerator, thaw stuff from the freezer, and prepare very simple favorites. The Day 1 plan is always to finish any leftovers in the refrigerator, and then the rest of the week we may have any of the following:

• Homemade soups stored in the freezer. We usually have chicken noodle soup on hand, which is always a favorite for the boys, but we may also have any of the following: beef barley, corn chowder, ajiaco, chicken tortilla, black bean, cream of baked potato, cream of roasted tomato, winter minestrone, and curried lentil and potato stew.
• Thaw out some spaghetti sauce and warm it up, then toss with cooked pasta or make a baked pasta if I’m feeling particularly daring.
• Make breakfast for dinner. It’s always a treat for the kids when we have pancakes, and I never have to worry about whether or not they’ll eat on those nights. Make them even more fun by adding bananas, blueberries, or cinnamon and raisins.
• Make fruit and yogurt smoothies.
• Treat myself to some sushi from the Wegman’s sushi counter.
• Desperate measures may call for pizza delivery from a local parlor that is pretty good. I reserve this for later in the week when I’m more likely to be absolutely worn out from chasing after my boys!

An interview meme is making it’s way around the food blogs, but in this one you don’t get tagged, you ask to be interviewed by someone who has already gone through the process. So I’ve brought this on myself, but I thought it would be fun. After you read my responses, you’ll have an opportunity to be interviewed by me, if you wish.

My questions come from The Passionate Cook herself, Johanna, who gave a great interview last week. She asked me some very good questions! I think it would have even been more fun if we could have done this in real life over coffee or tea, but we’ll have to settle for some virtual tea.

1. You’re a wandering soul, it seems: which destination has influenced your cooking the most? What are you missing the most?

It’s a toss-up. I was born in the southwestern tip of Virginia but grew up in the Midwest, so I have Southern cooking roots blended with a heart-of-the-US style. As an adult, I worked overseas for eight years and had many opportunities to enjoy foods from Asia and the Pacific Rim, South America, the Middle East, and Europe. I spent four years in Saipan, so the Asian/island influence is strong, but so is the Hispanic influence from Colombia. I try to incorporate a variety of Asian and Hispanic foods in my cooking, though I don’t think I have a fusion cooking style as I tend to enjoy each on its own.

There are things about each place that I miss. From Saipan, I miss the island barbecues, the subs from Mike’s Restuarant in Garapan, Diamond Chinese, China House, and the Sunday buffet at Pacific Islands Club. From Colombia, I miss the big pots of Ajiaco Bogotano, the best grilled meat I’ve ever had at Andres Carne de Res in Chia, and the little arepa restaurant near my apartment in Bogotá. From Saudi Arabia, I miss the excellent shawarmas and flat breads.

2. Having three kids myself, I know what strain family life can put on one’s kitchen. Are you an always-share-a-meal kind of family or do you end up cooking various meals a day?

I have to laugh because not too long ago my two preschool-age children were both good eaters and would try anything. Then somewhere between two and three years old, both of them went into a picky phase where even the foods that they loved were now despised. My oldest is finally outgrowing that phase, but our three-year-old is still pretty picky. I have observed through trial and error that they are more likely to eat something that they helped prepare, which I try to use to my advantage!

As a general rule, we serve the boys whatever we have cooked, and we encourage them to try at least a taste of everything. Some days that works really well, other days we have to fall back on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

And in spite of what people may think after seeing some of my posts, we don’t sit around eating lush desserts every day! Most of my daily meal preparation is light and healthy. Because the boys and work keep me hopping, I try to prepare three meals a week and then have leftovers the other nights. We save big cooking projects (the fun stuff) for the weekends.

3. With your background in education, do you think good eating and the love of food can be taught? Should it be? And how?

The love of food is taught every minute of every day. From the time we are babies our tastes are shaped by our environment. The region and culture in which we grow up has a primary roll in defining what we think is good food, which is why some people grow up thinking that sea cucumbers are a delicacy and other people don’t even know what one is or how to prepare it.

I believe the best way to shape diet is at home through example, and that’s why we talk about food with our children and why I have my boys help with cooking at such a young age.

4. If you could travel back in time, where would you go?

I would like to see my parents and grandparents as teens and young adults, B.C. (before children), because it would allow me to see a side of them that I never knew.

5. If you were confined to a desert island, which three books would you take along and why?

Assuming the island does not have a well-equipped kitchen, thus rendering my favorite cookbooks useless, I would take the following books:

• My hard cover copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy that Michael gave me for Christmas a few years ago, because it’s been my favorite story ever since I first read it at 12 years old;
• Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Every Day Life by Judith Lasater, because I understand more about myself every time I read it; and
• Some kind of desert island survival guide.

And now in keeping with the meme, it’s your turn! If you would like to be interviewed and post your responses on your blog, please leave a comment on this post in which you say, “Interview me!” I’ll come up with five questions for you and email them to you within a few days.

New home, new kitchen, new blog design.

We’ve been in our new home for a little over two weeks. At first we camped out while waiting for our worldly possessions to be delivered. The kitchen felt so empty without my cooking gear and dinnerware, but of course it wasn’t empty—the appliances, counter tops, and cabinets were all here, waiting to be filled and used. We ate with disposable plates and utensils while sitting on the floor since we didn’t have a table and chairs, but it was fun, like a picnic.

I took time to plan where everything would live in the new space. The Kitchen Aid mixer would fit nicely in the corner next to the sink. The toaster oven would work next to the wall ovens. A coffee/espresso/tea station would be nice next to the hand painted coffee plates near the frig. The polish pottery would go into the cabinet with the glass doors. Cutting boards and small appliances would live in the island. Wine would go in the dining room. Cookbooks would fit perfectly in the shelves in the mini office. I had a plan.

Then came the movers and everything descended into chaos. Boxes were everywhere at first, then everything was out of the boxes but all available counter, table, chair, and floor space was clobbered with kitchen gear. Getting the kitchen up and running has been quite a project. We’ve pretty much dug out of the chaos and have only a few things left to figure out, and the kitchen is now functional.

Like many other foodies, the kitchen is the center of the house for us. Much of our day-to-day living occurs in this room, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s more of a “living room” for us than the living room itself, and each day I learn more about how to live in our favorite room. For example:

• We’ve ordered a cooktop cover. My boys are very curious about the knobs, and I don’t want them to accidentally light a burner. I’ll write a review after it arrives.
• Stir frying makes a real mess on the cooktop (glass under gas burners), and it isn’t easy to clean up. I may permanently move all stir fry operations to the gas grill side burner out on the deck.
• Turning on the oven lock function was not immediately apparent to me, but I learned how to do it very quickly after one of the boys unintentionally started the oven cleaning cycle.
• The western sun streaming through the breakfast room window is beautiful in the afternoons, but it makes reading the oven display almost impossible.
• Swiffer pads do not work well on highly textured ceramic tile. I had to buy a sponge mop to clean up the really sticky messes for which my boys are famous.
• The island is the center of the kitchen, and it’s also the center of my boys’ attention. The like to chase each other around it, then turn off and make a run through the breakfast room and go around the table, giggling all the way.

We’ve said several times that this is the house where we want to spend the rest of our lives. That should give me plenty of time to adapt to our new kitchen.

UPDATE 3/28/07: My 16-inch round pizza stone is too big for the oven! The door won’t shut!

There’s no escaping bugs when you have two little boys in preschool. They bring home an amazing assortment of bacteria and viruses, some of which leave them feeling awful for days or even weeks on end. I usually manage to avoid catching their miseries, but this week it’s my turn. We’ve been working overtime prepping the house to sell, as well as researching towns, schools, and homes in the DC area. Plus the baby still wakes up to be fed once or twice each night, and sometimes he just wants to party instead of going back to sleep. So when I woke up Thursday a week ago with a sore throat and a headache, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. It did make our house hunting trip last weekend a bit tougher, though.

This is not my typical cooking post, but it’s cold and flu season and I got to thinking about it over the last few days, wondering about other possible remedies for the common cold. Stores stock their shelves with a huge assortment of cold medicines, many designed to cover a range of symptoms, but I’ve found that I have trouble using anything that has “decongestant” or “antihistamine” on the label. No matter how much I push fluids, I still seem to shrivel up like a raisin when taking those types of medication, and forget about trying to stay awake. If a medicine label says that it may make you sleepy, you can bet the farm that I’ll be out for several hours. So unless I am desperate, I try to use home remedies as much as possible.

If I still had a bottle of Japanisches Heilpflanzenöl, I would have started using that right away. A tour guide told us about it during our honeymoon in Germany, so we went to the pharmacy and bought a bottle to give it a try, and it literally saved our trip. Michael dubbed it “magic dust,” although it’s not a powder—it’s a very strong minty oil that you add to hot water and drink. It only takes a few drops, and it opens the head up right away, but unfortunately our bottle of magic dust is long gone and I don’t have any on hand.

So this week I’m doing all my favorite home remedies to ease the discomfort. When I feel a cold coming on, I start eating chicken noodle soup to try and ward it off. If my throat starts hurting, I drink hot lemon toddies (without alcohol). I usually hold the mixture up to my face and breathe it in for a few minutes, and the steam helps to clear my head. The lemon juice helps break up the stuff in my throat and the honey and hot liquid soothes nicely. Steamy showers are also great for opening up a stuffy nose.

This leads me to ask, what do you do to take care of yourself when you have a cold? What is your favorite home remedy? Is it something that your mother made for you when you were a child? Do you eat or avoid certain foods? Have you tried jala neti? Feel free to share in the comments, and maybe we’ll all pick up a few new tricks to help survive the cold and flu season.

Get Well Hot Lemon Toddy

6 ounces water
1 lemon wedge
1/2 teaspoon honey

Put lemon wedge and the water in a microwave safe mug. Cook in microwave on high for 60 seconds or longer depending on your microwave. Just get it hot enough to drink, don’t burn yourself. Using the back of a spoon, press the lemon wedge against the sides of the mug to release all the juices. Stir in the honey.

Variations

Alcohol is a common component in hot toddies, such as whiskey, brandy, or rum. If my grandfather were still alive, he might suggest adding a bit of his “home brew.” It would clear up anything, but it could also clean your carburetor.

With over 100 cookbooks on my shelf, it’s easy for some to go unopened for a while. Our busy schedules keep us from being as creative with our meals as we would like. So the cookbooks languish with disuse and our meals tend to start repeating with ever-increasing frequency. Does this sound familiar, or am I the only food blogger that gets into occasional food ruts?

To avoid a rut, I opened two cookbooks recently that have sat forlornly on my shelf for a while—Great Good Food and Fresh Start, both by Julee Rosso of The Silver Palate fame. Very appropriate considering I’m in another watch-what-I-eat swing. Baby #3 arrives in early September, and I’ll be in my third trimester during the hot summers months. Knowing my luck, it will turn out to be the hottest summer on record! And since school will be out, I’ll have a toddler and a preschooler running around all day. Then when baby #3 arrives, I’ll have three little boys under the age of four to chase after. Time to find more light, healthy, quick, and easy meals to fix. Of course the doesn’t mean that I won’t have an occasional devil-made-me-do-it meal or dessert, I’m just trying to keep our meals simple and healthy for the coming months.

I spent a couple hours reviewing some of my favorites from the two books. Great Good Food has over 70 Post-It flags for recipes that I like or want to try and Fresh Start comes in a close second. Probably my favorite recipe from GGF is not even for a meal, but for an ingredient. Rosso’s Low-Fat Blend makes a great substitute for sour cream, heavy cream, or mayonnaise, and you can even make it non-fat. I find it very convenient because I always have the two required ingredients on hand—cottage cheese and yogurt. I use it in our Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Sugar-Topped Coffee Cake instead of sour cream, and they taste delicious.

Equipment

blender
16 ounce container with a pouring lid

Ingredients

1 cup low-fat or non-fat cottage cheese
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt

Preparation

Pour the cottage cheese and the yogurt into the blender and put on the lid. Blend on low to medium speeds until the mixture looks smooth and creamy. Pour into the 16 ounce container and store in the refrigerator.

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Source: adapted from Great Good Food, by Julee Rosso

I have a relatively small collection of fundraiser cookbooks. One is from my grandmother’s church, two are from hospital auxiliary groups, two are from elementary schools, two are from overseas women’s groups, and one is from a law firm that donated the proceeds to charity. I would really like to have more fundraiser cookbooks, because these books are treasure troves of all the great regular kinds of foods that people eat. The recipes are contributed by moms and grandmothers—veterans of the kitchen who know what it’s like to try and put a meal together while juggling kids, job, and everything else. So when I go hunting for a recipe, I almost always start with these because there’s a good chance that I’ll find what I’m looking for, or at least something very similar.

Today’s recipe is a good variation on the layered bean dip. It’s called “Walking Tostada” and it’s from the ClearGourmet fundaiser cookbook, submitted by Lana Crist and Elsbeth Simon. This dip is great for parties, poker or Bunco night, or just whenever the mood strikes.

Equipment

9 x 13-inch glass dish

Ingredients

1 (28 oz) can refried beans (I use black refried beans.)
1 pkg powdered taco mix
8 oz sour cream
2 jars marinated artichoke hearts
1 (2.25 oz) can sliced black olives
2 green onions, chopped
16 oz grated cheddar cheese
8 oz chopped tomatoes
shredded lettuce
guacamole (optional)
1 can green chilies (optional)
corn chips or tortilla chips for dipping

Preparation

1. Mix together the refried beans and the taco mix. Spread in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch glass dish.

2. Add layers of ingredients in the following order: sour cream, artichoke hearts, black olives, green onions, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. Garnish with guacamole and green chilies if desired.

3. Serve with corn chips or tortilla chips.

Variations

I often use cilantro leaves instead of the lettuce for an extra bit of flavor.

I prefer to put the tomatoes on top for some nice color. I also remove the seeds and juices so that the dish keeps a little longer, which is helpful if you prepare this several hours in advance.

You can also use about 8 oz of a chunky salsa instead of tomatoes if you want a different flavor.

You can cut the recipe in half and serve it in a glass pie plate.

If you do not keep taco mix on hand, you can make your own using the following recipe.

Taco Seasoning Mix

1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put all spices in a bowl and stir until combined. Makes the equivalent of one pouch taco seasoning mix.

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Source: ClearGourmet; the variations are from Andrea Meyers

So in honor of my 40th birthday (today), I thought I would have a good laugh while looking back on my worst culinary flops. I’m sure that I have many more flops coming in the years ahead, but here is my top ten list to date. Enjoy, and feel free to share yours!

10. My early attempts at pie crust. It was a horribly painful experience. I couldn’t roll it into a circle, it was too dry, and it was falling apart as I tried to move it into the pan. And when it baked it was tough as nails. I kept trying, but many tears were shed and I swore off making my own pie crust for several years. I trudged the aisles of local grocery stores buying frozen crust. Yuck. Especially when we are talking about frozen crusts that have been shipped to far away, overseas locations. After much cooking therapy, I started making pie crust again a few years ago. And I no longer look upon it with the same dread. Lesson learned: Making pie crust is good therapy in itself, as long as you have an open mind and leave the Type A personality at the door.

9. My first attempt at my mother’s Stroganoff, a family institution. Slimy stroganoff is not exactly bon appetit. Lesson learned: Some recipes must be followed exactly.

8. The pound cake. Doubled pound cake ingredients, then got distracted by kid (while pregnant with second kid) and forgot to put mixture into two cake pans. It did not have enough room to rise. The cake overflowed into the bottom of the oven where it burned to a crisp, setting off the smoke alarm and filling the house with an acrid smell that hung around for days. Lesson learned: Pregnancy is a great excuse for being forgetful!

7. Got distracted by kids while baking Sugar-Topped Coffee Cake. Accidentally used the wrong kind of flour while prepping and then became entangled in diaper changing and missed the timer signaling end of baking time. Coffee cake is not supposed to be tough and chewy and have a charred flavor. Lesson learned: Don’t try to bake with little boys underfoot pushing their trucks around the kitchen.

6. The sugar free pumpkin pie. Once again, I was pregnant and this time not feeling so well. But family was arriving the next day for Christmas, and I needed to get this pie done. In my fog of all day morning sickness, I forgot to add the sugar and baked the pie without any sweetener whatsoever. It was a very savory pumpkin pie that we ate with lots and lots of whipped cream. Lesson learned: See #8.

5. Zucchini bread. I was on a quest for a healthy zucchini bread. My mother’s recipe, while absolutely delicious, is a traditional recipe with lots of sugar and oil. Not exactly good for the waistline, and my boys don’t need a sugar rush to give them extra energy. (But wait! It has zucchini, so it’s healthy, right???) So I searched long and hard and found what I thought sounded like a good, whole wheat recipe with lots of good stuff in it. And it looked beautiful as it was baking. It rose up tall and smelled so nice. It was a big loaf. Once it cooled I cut a piece…it wasn’t too bad. Not my mom’s, but not too bad. I could smear a little apple sauce on a slice and the boys would eat it. So I wrapped it up and stuck it in the frig and cut off small pieces for a few days. Then I started getting to the middle, and the foulest odor you can imagine came out. The middle had never quite finished cooking, the loaf was so big, and it had started to rot. Lesson learned: Stick with the family recipe if it’s really that good, and use a bamboo skewer to test a loaf of sweet bread for doneness. A toothpick might be too short for a tall loaf.

4. While experimenting with a homemade oatmeal recipe for my son, I blew up a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave. Lessons learned: Need to stir after two minutes to prevent eruptions, and also need to cut slits in the plastic wrap to allow steam to escape. Oatmeal is very sticky and completely coats the inside of a microwave.

3. Jambalaya and Pecan Pancakes with Butter Pecan Syrup. We love those dishes, and I planned to make both while my aunt and uncle were visiting from out of town. I called my aunt early in the week and asked about food preferences, allergies, etc. She said they eat just about anything. So the day that they were supposed to arrive, my husband asked if I had called them about the menu. I said that I had, but he insisted that I call again. Good thing! My uncle answered the phone and he told me that he’s allergic to shrimp! Not a big deal, he said, he just swells up a bit. Oy. So I went about planning two separate pots for jambalaya. Make it all together, then move some into a separate pot before I add the shrimp to the main pot. Should be ok, just keep the shrimp far away from his pot and don’t mix up the ladles. Everything went fine, they loved the jambalaya. Breakfast the next morning. Got up early to make pancakes, one of our favorite recipes with pecans and butter pecan syrup. Pancakes were nearly done when my aunt and uncle came downstairs and saw the bag of pecans. Turns out he can’t eat pecans either! Guess I don’t know my uncle very well. Lesson learned: Always check with ALL the guests when planning a menu.

2. The melted bowl and flaming towel. Was making pizza with my husband. The dough had been rising inside the slightly warm oven, and we cranked the oven up to 425° F, the rising dough totally forgotten. By the time we pulled the bowl out of the oven, the sides of the plastic bowl had melted and the towel that had covered it was burning. Mmmmmm, nothing like the smell of burnt plastic. Lesson learned: Never rise dough in the oven. There’s probably a lesson about using plastic bowls as well, but they really are useful as long as you keep them away from heat.

And the #1 culinary flop (so far)…

1. The dropped birthday cake. I was making Carrot Cake for my husband’s 41st birthday. Time to remove the cake from the pans. The first layer came out fine, but the second one stuck a bit. I ran a plastic knife around the outside edge to help release it, but it still wouldn’t come out. My mom said that she knew a little trick, so I let her take a stab at it. She took the pan firmly in both hands, cake facing up, and held it about waist high. Then with a snap of her wrists she gave the pan a good firm shake. The technique obviously works, because the cake literally popped out of the pan and landed on the floor! The stunned looks on our faces was something to behold. I was shocked and immediately started trying to figure out plan B, but I was in a bind because it was late and I didn’t have time to start over and I didn’t have enough ingredients. My mother couldn’t stop apologizing while I bent down to pick up the pieces. Unbelievably, the cake was relatively intact. It had broken into three large pieces with some crumbs laying around it. I picked up the big pieces, blew on them to make sure they were clean, and then stuck them together as best I could. Then we frosted it and used the frosting like mortar to hold the pieces together. My wonderful husband wasn’t the wiser, at least not until we told him on his 42nd birthday.