Death of a Great Mom

My mom died last Thursday and I've been home helping my family through their grief and planning the funeral. Seven years ago, my mom fell about 10 feet onto a concrete floor and spent months in a hospital and rehab facility. She made it home and we've enjoyed her company, happy that she survived falls, respirators, multiple surgeries, and struggles with macular degeneration and persistent internal bleeding that would sometimes result in late night trips for transfusions.

While mom is a small person, her survival skills amazed us and we thought of her as "supermom" but age and medical problems finally wore her down - age was her kryptonite. Our whole family made to the hospital last Thursday to say our tearful goodbyes. My dad drove 200 miles, from Bradford, PA to Erie, PA, nearly every day to be with her.

The week before her death my wife and I visited and each spent time talking to mom, telling her stories of how she helped us out of jams and made us smile over the years. About 15 years ago, I started collecting Beanie Babies (I am not sure why I started collecting them :-)) and my mom joined me in that hobby and each time I visited home, we would discuss the latest Beanie gossip like the time I went to a MacDonald's in Andover MA only to find that there had been a riot over new mini-Beanies and the police had closed the restaurant down. Mom will be buried in two days with small mementos from friends and family. Today I write her obituary, probably with many tears.

White Whole Wheat/Corn Meal Pancakes

A colleague at work told me about white whole wheat flour so today I tried it out. I made pancakes from a combination of corn meal and white whole wheat flour. Here is the basic recipe:

1 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour.
1/2 cup of yellow corn meal
1 1/4 cups skim milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted and cooled butter
1 large egg

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Mix the skim milk and egg together and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until the ingredients are well mixed, but don't overstir.

The corn meal gave the pancakes a tiny bit of crunchy texture that was surprisingly tasty. Overall, the white whole wheat flour was just as tasty to me as white flour.

Reptile Recipes

My wife has been away for a few days so I did some experiments with reptile (she is not a fan of reptile :-) Here is a quick summary of my recipes:

Experiment 1: Crocodile egg and cheese sandwich (See Picture)
This morning I sauteed a thin slice of South American Crocodile, fried an egg, and made a crocodile-egg-cheese breakfast sandwich. The ingredients are:

• 3 ounces of South American crocodile
• 1 ounce of sliced Derby with cheese sage
• 1 whole wheat bun
• 1 fried egg over easy

Experiment 2: Open face crocodile sandwiches (See Picture)

Carmelize about 1/2 of a small onion
saute some thin slices of crocodile under medium high heat, but don't overcook; add some salt and pepper and a touch of Emeril's Essence.
Slice several pieces of sharp cheddar cheese
Heat some marina sauce

Put the cheddar cheese on each piece of rye bread and toast until the cheese is melted. Place the carmelized onions over the cheese toast and then add the sauteed crocodile. On the second piece of toast do the same thing, but add some hot marinara sauce.

Experiment 3: Breaded frog legs

This was simple. I just coated some frog legs with egg and then dipped the legs into breadcrumbs. I broiled the frog legs (turning once) and they crumbs were nicely brown.

Experiment 4: Frog legs with chopped spam and tomato sauce over spinach

I sauteed about 6 frog legs and some chopped spam. I heated some frozen spinach, drained the water, and spread the spinach across a plate. Then I spread the chopped spam over the spinach, put the frog legs over the spinach and poured warm tomato sauce over the meaty portion of the frog legs.

Crawfish Salad

I purchased some frozen crawfish awhile ago and decided to make crawfish salad (similar to chicken salad). Since my wife is recovering from an ulcer, I opted for a mild mixture that would let the flavor of the crawfish come through - nothing hot here.

Ingredients:
1 pound of crawfish meat, thawed and drained thoroughly
1 small shallot finely chopped
1 stalk of celery finely chopped
1/2 cup of light Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Juice from 1/2 squeezed lemon

First, I thawed the crawfish in the refrigerator and then washed and drained them several times. The crawfish seem to retain water after being washed so I put them in some paper towels and pressed gently to remove as much water as possible. I put the thawed and drained crawfish aside.

Put the chopped shallot and celery in a medium mixing bowel. add the mayonnaise and mustard and mix thoroughly. Mix in the drained crawfish and gentley mix the ingredients. Add the salt and paper and lemon juice and mix a bit more. Taste and add the salt, pepper, and lemon to until it has the right amount of seasoning and fresh lemon flavor.

Lightly toast some small finger rolls (don't let them get too brown) and then add the crawfish salad. Don't overpack the rolls.

Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Pepper and Fennel

Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Pepper and Fennel

Ingredients:
Cooked and diced dark and white meat from a 3-4 pound chicken.
2 Tablespoons of finely chopped fennel
3 Tablespoons of chopped roasted red sweet pepper
1/3 cup of finely chopped celery
1 Small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of finely chopped carlic
1 1/2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
3/4 cup of low-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup of seedless green grapes (sliced in half)
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the chopped onion and fennel using medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Toss in the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Do not allow the onion, fennel, or garlic to burn.

Get a medium size mixing bowl and add the diced chicken, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, roasted red sweet pepper, celery, and sauteed vegetables. Add the Parmesan cheese, grapes, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix carefully. Decide whether you need a bit more mayonnaise.

I put the chicken salad in finger rolls and served it with roasted cauliflower and a spinach salad with goat cheese and cherry tomatoes.

Wild Boar Bacon Hash

This morning I made wild boar hash. The wild boar bacon used in the recipe came from www.exoticmeats.com, an excellent source of high-quality wild game. The recipe was simple and very tasty. This recipe is for two.

You need:

• 3-4 ounces of wild boar bacon, cut into a small dice
• 1 medium onion, medium chop
• 8 small young potatoes (I used Yukon gold)
• Butter (or corn oil)
• A few ounces of cheese sliced thinly (I used Chutter)

1. Warm a medium size pan (that you can put in the oven) using medium heat. Add a few tablespoons of corn oil, vegetable oil, or butter (I've used all of these with good results). Chop one large onion while the pan and oil or butter is heating.
2. Dice about 3-4 ounces of wild boar bacon.
3. Put the 8 small potatoes in the microwave for about 3-5 minutes (the time will depend on your microwave). Let them cool for about 5 minutes then cut each into quarters. NOTE: don't overcook these little potatoes in the microwave or they will turn to mush.
4. Put the onion in the hot pan and cook for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper at this point.
5. Add the wild boar bacon to the onion and cook for about another 2 minutes.
6. Turn your oven broiler on High broil.
7. Add the quartered potatoes and cook until the mixture for several minutes until you see just a bit of brown forming on the potatoes.
8. Remove the pan for the heat and place the cheese around the mixture. Put the pan under the broiler until the cheese just barely starts to turn brown.
9. Turn the broiler off and let the pan sit for a few minutes while you fry two eggs, over easy (don't break the yoke!).
10. Remove the pan from the oven and slide the hash onto a serving platter. Put the two eggs on top of the hash and serve.

We had this for a Saturday breakfast and it was wonderful. You could substitute thick cut bacon for the wild boar bacon, but if you have never tried wild boar bacon, you might want to give it a try (check out local gourmet stores that have wild game or have it shipped from www.exoticmeats.com).

Chauncey

French Toast Chunks

This Sunday morning I took some semi-crusty dinner rolls, cut them in bite-sized chunks, and dipped them into a bowl of Egg Beater, poured some egg liquid on top of them and tossed them gently for a minute or so. Then I took the chunks out and let them drain for a few minutes. I put some salt and pepper on the drained chunks. I While I was preparing the chunks, I heated a skillet (medium high) and put some olive oil and butter in the pan. When the pan was hot, I dumped the chunks in, let them cook for a few minutes then tossed them so both sides would be cooked. Then I put the pan in a 400 degree oven and baked the chunks for about 10 minutes with the goal of a toasted exterior and a warm but soft interior. While they baked, I melted some butter, warmed some maple syrup and sauteed some mushrooms. My wife likes maple syrup and I like butter and we both enjoyed this variation on french toast. I stacked the chunks for an artistic effect.