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The Midlife Second Wife ™

~ The Real and True Adventures of Remarriage at Life's Midpoint

The Midlife Second Wife ™

Tag Archives: Cooking

Happy Thanksgiving! Please Don’t Pass the Canned Cranberries.

23 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Food for Thought

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cooking, cranberries, recipes, Thanksgiving

CranberrieseditedGrowing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I must have been one of the few children seated at the cousins’ table who didn’t mind eating jellied cranberry sauce from the familiar white, blue and red can. I have fond memories of my mother opening it with her handheld can opener, inserting a knife around the inside to loosen the gelatinous concoction, and the whoosh with which it slid out, shimmering and ridged, onto the plate. My mother was a terrific cook, and I must have reasoned that the least I could do was permit her this one convenience, especially when she stuffed and roasted the turkey at our home in Elyria, and then struggled to secure it in a box to keep warm while my father drove us to my grandmother’s house in Lorain.

Ironically, it was at my grandmother’s—one of the greatest cooks to come to America from Sicily—where I suffered through what I believe to be the most disgusting side dish known to any holiday table: ambrosia, prepared and served with great fanfare by my mother’s sister, who, it must be said, did not inherit the cooking gene. Aunt Helen’s ambrosia looked pretty enough, with its own bright red Jell-O shimmer, but its other ingredient was cottage cheese, something I’ve never liked. I could barely force the stuff down. As I think about it, the canned cranberry sauce was a winner by sheer comparison.

With the passing years, my palate grew more sophisticated. And although I never learned to appreciate my aunt’s culinary effort (the only recipe, actually, that she ever mastered), my disdain for canned cranberry sauce, with its heavy-handed tartness and slightly tinny flavor, finally blossomed into something like hatred.

Give me a dish with layered flavors! Give me subtlety and nuance! Give me, if you will, Ginger Cranberry Sauce. I clipped the recipe from an old Parade magazine article back when the late Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate fame was the food editor. I don’t remember how long ago the recipe was published; but I can no longer remember a Thanksgiving when I didn’t make it. In a line-up of labor-intensive holiday recipes, this is the easiest thing in the world to put together, and it can be made weeks ahead of time. I hope you enjoy it, and I wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

GINGER CRANBERRY SAUCE

—Serves 12

1 pound (about 4 cups) fresh cranberries, picked over and rinsed
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries pop open, about 10 minutes. (Don’t overcook them.)

2. Skim any foam from the surface with a metal spoon. Let cool. Refrigerate, covered, for up to 2 months. Freezes well.

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Unstuffed Peppers: A Scissor-Worthy Recipe

09 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Food for Thought

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Casseroles, Cooking, Food, One-dish Meals, recipes

UnstuffedPeppersNames are so important, aren’t they? Kim and Kanye naming their daughter North West was particularly cringe-worthy. (And what happened? Weren’t they going with a K-name? In which case shouldn’t she be called Knorth West?) But to my point: names matter. They are windows into the soul of its subject. Take this recipe, for example. When I clipped it from a newspaper decades ago and typed it on an index card, it was called “Texas Hash.” I no longer remember if the recipe originated from the Lone Star State, but most of the hash recipes I’ve ever seen call for potatoes. There’s nary a spud here! The taste, however, is so reminiscent of my mother’s stuffed peppers (a recipe for which I’ve never found), that I have taken it upon myself to rename the dish. I call it “Unstuffed Peppers.” It’s quick and easy and delicious. Inexpensive, too. Can’t ask for much more in a casserole (or a kasserole), now can you?

Unstuffed Peppers

— Serves 4 to 6

One pound ground beef
Three large onions (about 3-1/2″ diameter), sliced
One large green pepper, chopped
One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped
One-half cup uncooked rice (I use Basmati)
One to two teaspoons chili powder
Two teaspoons kosher salt
One-eighth teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Heat oven to 350-degrees. In a large skillet, cook and stir the ground beef until light brown. Drain off any fat. (If the beef is particularly lean, cook it in a tablespoon of canola oil.) Add onions and green pepper, cooking and stirring until onion is tender. Stir in the tomatoes (and the juice in the can), the rice, and the seasonings. Heat through.

Pour into an ungreased two-quart casserole. Cover and bake for one hour.

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And the Winner of the KitchenAid Food Processor Is …

15 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Giveaways

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cooking, giveaways, KitchenAid, Viewpoints

The Midlife Second Wife, Viewpoints, KitchenAidDrum roll, please! Viewpoints and I are happy to announce that the winner of the KitchenAid Pro Line Dicing Food Processor giveaway is Lorena from Chicago, Illinois. She was selected from all combined eligible entries in a random drawing that was held at Viewpoints. Lorena will receive her awesome prize in a few weeks.

Congratulations, Lorena! And thanks again to all who entered the contest!

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Enter to Win a KitchenAid Pro Line Dicing Food Processor!

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Giveaways, Product Reviews, What's the Buzz?

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Cooking, Cuisinart, Food, Food processor, giveaway, KitchenAid, product reviews, Viewpoints

The Midlife Second Wife, Marci Rich, KitchenAid, Viewpoints

Can’t you just picture this beautiful food processor in your kitchen?

This contest is closed. Watch this space for the announcement of the winner!

I’m thrilled to partner with Viewpoints, a leading product ratings website, on an exclusive giveaway. We are inviting you to try your hand at winning a KitchenAid Pro Line Dicing Food Processor—just like the one that I’ve reviewed for Viewpoints. With a suggested retail price of $599, this is by far the biggest, most valuable giveaway I’ve ever hosted on the blog. Yowza!

Viewpoints helps consumers make smart purchase decisions through the use of honest reviews. And as regular readers of the blog know, I’m a member of Viewpoints’ Blogger Reviews Panel. (You can read some of my other reviews here.)

Viewpoints sent me the KitchenAid Model KFP1642 (pictured above) to test for about six weeks, after which I wrote my review for Viewpoints’ website. Comparing KitchenAid’s Pro Line Dicing Food Processor to my trusty Cuisinart really wasn’t much of a contest; the Cuisinart came up short in more ways than one.

The Midlife Second Wife, KitchenAid, Viewpoints

In this case, size does matter. The KitchenAid Pro Line Dicing Food Processor, on the right—as big as a MINI Cooper—dwarfs my old Cuisinart, seen in the left corner. The KitchenAid food processor, along with the accessories shown in the center and the two additional work bowls, are included in what you’ll win.

My review addresses the pros (and a con or two) of the KitchenAid. You can read the full review here. (Viewpoints is giving the food processor that I tested to me in return for my six-week-long test and impartial review. The one you’ll receive is brand spanking new!)

The Midlife Second Wife, Viewpoints, KitchenAid

Revolutionize your kitchen! Enter to win this!

How to Enter:
If you’ve ever fallen in love with a product (or wondered how something inferior ever made its way to market), Viewpoints wants to hear from you. This is your chance to tell the world what you think—your opinion is your entry card! Here’s what you do:

  1. Sign in and register for a free Viewpoints account. Just head over to the  Viewpoints website and set yourself up with a username and password.
  2. Write two qualifying reviews on Viewpoints by Tuesday, August 6 in the Refrigerator, Freezer, Dishwasher, Microwave, Espresso Machine, Washing Machine, Dryer, Air Conditioner, Fan or eCommerce Website categories. Want to write more than two? Go for it! Each review is an entry, so the more you review, the greater your chance to win. Ya gotta write at least two, though.
  3. What qualifies as a qualifying review? Each of your two reviews must be at least 700 characters long to qualify. The character counter at the bottom of the review form shows your review length before publishing. Viewpoints is a stickler for quality, so write engaging reviews—as though you’re talking to a friend or a family member. Write about what you liked, what you didn’t like, and whether or not you’d recommend the product.
  4. Comment on this post (see the section for comments at the end of this article) with the links to your reviews and your Viewpoints username. If you’ve never commented on my blog before, please take a moment and register by adding your name and email address in the fields after you’ve written your comment with your review links and Viewpoints username.
  5. For good giveaway karma, be sure to like Viewpoints and The Midlife Second Wife on Facebook.

The winner will be chosen on Tuesday, August 13.

Here’s a short-hand checklist so you’ll remember what to do:

REGISTER on Viewpoints
REVIEW on Viewpoints
REPEAT on The Midlife Second Wife by posting links to your reviews, including your Viewpoints username, in the “Comments” section at the end of this post.

Got questions? Email support@viewpoints.com with Giveaway as the subject line. One of the gracious Viewpoints staff members will get back to you!

The Fine Print
As with any sweepstakes giveaway, there are a few rules and regulations. I strongly suggest that you read the Official Rules found on the Viewpoints website, noting the restrictions on eligibility. In a nutshell:

Employees of Viewpoints, its affiliates, agents (including Blogger Reviews panel members), and its advertising and promotion agencies, and their respective immediate family members (spouse, children, parents and siblings) and those living in the same household of each (whether or not related), are not eligible to enter.

Now go forth and go for it, friends! I can’t wait to see which one of you will be the lucky winner!

Good luck!

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Dory’s New Year Strata

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Food for Thought

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Bread, Breakfast, Cheese, Cooking, Eggs, Food, recipes, Strata

Strata_MidlifeSecondWifeIMG_1956One of my favorite holiday recipes has absolutely nothing to do with dinner or dessert. I’ve had this strata recipe for years, and it comes from the kitchen of Anne Morse. My former husband and I enjoyed many gourmet dinners with Anne and her husband Andy as part of a couples’ gourmet club in the 1980s and 1990s. They hosted fabulous New Year’s Eve parties, too. The lucky ones who got to spend the night were treated to this the next morning. I don’t recall it being a cure for a hangover, but it certainly helps get one’s new year off to a good start. My tradition since marrying John is to serve this beautiful strata on Christmas morning, accompanied by crisp bacon, perhaps some fresh fruit, and steaming mugs of tea (for John) and coffee (for me). It’s a great stick-to-your-ribs breakfast on a cold morning. I use sharp cheddar rather than mild, herbs and seasonings from Penzeys, and for this particular occasion I bought good semolina bread from Whole Foods. Any white bread will do—I’ve even used baguettes—just so long as the bread is dense and has had a chance to get slightly stale. If it’s too soft you can slice it and leave it sit on the counter for a few hours.

The recipe serves as many as six, but if you’re feeding a crowd you can easily double it (using two soufflé dishes, of course). Just pay careful attention to the note about doubling that follows. And take special note of the timings. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

Dory’s New Year Strata

1 pound cheddar cheese, grated
1-1/2 Tablespoons dry minced onion
1 Tablespoon dry chopped parsley
4 eggs
Approximately 9 slices firm white bread
Salt and white pepper
3 cups milk*
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Grease a medium large casserole with high sides—I use a soufflé dish. Line the bottom with bread. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, followed by 1/3 of the onion, 1/3 of the parsley, and 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat this process two times. Beat eggs lightly, then add milk, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Pour the egg-milk mixture over the contents of the casserole.** Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in the refrigerator for 8 hours. In the morning, remove from the refrigerator and let rest on the counter at room temperature for 2 hours. Bake uncovered for 50 minutes at 375-degrees.

*If doubling the recipe to serve 12 instead of 6, use only five cups of milk.

**I find two tricks help avoid a mess when adding the milk mixture to the strata. First, poke a few holes in the top of the strata so the milk can more easily seep down into the bottom of the dish. Second, place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any overflow. Wipe away any drips and place the entire apparatus—soufflé dish on top of the baking sheet—in the oven.

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Viewpoints Product Review: The Panasonic Flash Xpress Toaster Oven

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Product Reviews

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Consumer products, Cooking, Home, Home appliance, Kitchen, Life, toaster ovens, Viewpoints

ToasterOven_TheMidlifeSecondWife_Viewpoints

The Panasonic Flash Xpress Toaster Oven, carefully positioned to do no harm.

Here’s how I roll: I use my traditional stove for cooking, my traditional oven for baking, and my microwave for reheating—usually mugs of coffee. When I want toast, I use my toaster. I never understood the point of a toaster oven just as I never understood the point of a rice cooker: both have always struck me as redundant kitchen appliances. (What? You can’t throw some water, rice, and salt in a covered saucepan and read the instructions on the label? Seriously?)

No, it’s just never made sense to me to dedicate valuable kitchen counter real estate for something that, to my mind, has little real utility. Don’t take away my blender or my mixer, and don’t you dare touch my coffee maker, but to a toaster oven I say, “Meh.”

Such is the preconceived bias with which I approached this product review as a member of the Viewpoints Blogger Panel. (You can read my review on the Viewpoints website, along with those of my colleagues on the panel.) I thought there might be a ghost of a chance that I could be convinced, thus becoming a zealous convert to the joys of toaster-oven-cooking. But after using the thing twice, I’m sorry to have to say no. That didn’t happen—the Panasonic Flash Xpress Toaster Oven has not made me see the light. (Although we’ll get to the oven’s light, and its potential hazards, in a moment.)

Let’s begin with first impressions.

The thing looks like a toy. The Kenner Easy-Bake Oven I played with as a child surely had more heft and substance. The toaster oven is ten-and-a-quarter inches high, thirteen inches deep, and twelve inches wide. It weighs a mere seven-and-a-half pounds. This is all fine if you’re short on space and upper body strength, but as I said in my first paragraph …

I must add that I found the oven’s numerous disclaimers slightly alarming, especially this one:

Do not use the toaster oven near wall or cabinet.…Keep the toaster oven away from flammable materials (wooden wall or cabinet) as follows: Rear: more than 10 cm (4 inches) Top: more than 15 cm (6 inches). Side: More than 10 cm (4 inches).

I carefully (and nervously) measured the area around the oven before I determined it was safe to proceed.

Infrared ray heating elements heat the surface and inside of the food efficiently. But the cautionary bullet points in the owner’s manual include this advice: “Do not stare at the near-infrarde [sic] ray heater for a long time. It could cause injury to your eyes.”

I felt like Carol Anne in The Poltergeist, being warned to STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT.

After regaining my composure, I began my test. I purchased all-natural frozen whole-wheat waffles, and decided upon a three-tiered experiment. First, I prepared the waffles in the toaster oven according to the package directions on the waffles. Ten minutes? Really? Okay, Van’s. If you say so.

ToastingWaffles_TheMidlifeSecondWife

The waffles are toasting. Don’t look at the light!

Ten minutes were clearly too long. And I cannot blame the toaster oven for this; I followed the package instructions. The waffles looked like hockey pucks and tasted like shredded twigs.

PreparedWaffles_TheMidlifeSecondWife

A couple of mornings later, I prepared the same breakfast, but this time I followed the toaster oven’s directions instead of relying upon the waffle’s cooking instructions. I placed the waffles on the rack, same as before. (I never did use the oven tray; perhaps one of my colleagues on the Viewpoints panel did.) This time, I pressed the button for “waffles,” stood back (not looking at the light), and let the product do its thing. I had waffles in about four minutes. Nothing could have been simpler. And I have to admit, they were nicely browned, with a nice exterior crispness. My eating experience was as pleasant as one could expect, considering I was eating frozen waffles. (I do own a waffle iron, by the way. Guess I’m old-school.)

The results of test number two? I used less energy by cutting the cooking time in more than half, and I ended up with tastier waffles. So what did I do for my third test?

You guessed it!

I popped two frozen waffles in my toaster, set the dial to a medium setting (I referred to the package instructions for toaster cooking), and in two minutes—two minutes, people—I had delicious waffles. Warmth being a matter of personal preference, I put the plate of waffles in the microwave and zapped them for an additional 15 seconds. Perfection. Lightly crisp on the outside, moist and tender on the inside…

The prosecution rests.

I’m in the midst of preparing for our relocation to Ohio, so unfortunately I had to sit out the discussion with my colleagues on the panel. When Viewpoints posts it I’ll add a link so you can see if I’m all alone on this toaster oven limb. I’m donating the toaster oven (with reservations, given my less-than-stellar review) to the Safe Harbor Shelter of Richmond, Virginia, with the proviso that they give it to a deserving family without small children.

I give the Panasonic Flash Xpress Toaster Oven two gold rings.



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My Gift to You: A Chance to Win ‘The Digest Diet’

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Special Events, The Healthy Life, Transitions, What's the Buzz?

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Cooking, Diets, Food, Health, Readers Digest, Weight loss

The recipes in this book are delicious and fun to prepare.

Thanks to the good offices of Reader’s Digest, I’m happy to announce that I have a beautiful, jacketed copy of The Digest Diet to give away. Here’s how to enter:

Visit the round-up post about my Digest Diet journey and leave a positive comment. That’s your “entry form.” Just a few caveats, however:

  • You have to live within the contiguous United States;
  • There has to be a way for me to get in touch with you to notify you that you’ve won. If you’re not sure that I have your email and postal addresses, please go to the contact page (found above the masthead in the drop-down menu under ‘Who is the Midlife Second Wife?’), and send me an email with that information. (There’s no form to bother with, but that’s where you’ll find my email address.) I do not and will not share your information with any third party;
  • If I am unable to reach you by email to notify you that you’ve won, I will draw another name;
  • And of course, you need to enter by leaving a comment on the round-up Digest Diet post. (“Enter by leaving.” I like that. Think I’ll start a meme to that effect!)

I’ll pick the winner sometime this weekend, and announce it next Monday here on the blog. Good luck, everyone!

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The Digest Diet: Day 18 and Wow! The Loss I’ve Seen!

27 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Food for Thought, The Healthy Life, Transitions

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cooking, Digest Diet, Food, Gazpacho, Health, recipes, Soup

This is more than a diet book. It’s a food book.

I know what you’re thinking. The Midlife Second Wife has really done it now. She drank the Kool-Aid. Have you not been following this? Kool-Aid is not allowed on the Digest Diet. But yes, I agree with you. Two exclamation points in one headline is a tad zealous. In my defense I could not help myself. Why? I weighed myself this morning and since starting this diet 18 days ago, I have lost nearly nine pounds. (Eight pounds six ounces, for the sticklers among you.) I am less than one pound away from my implicit goal: to get my weight under 200 pounds. Put another way, I began at 209 pounds four ounces, and I now weigh 200 pounds eight ounces. I have lost eight one-pound packages of butter, for crying out loud. Can you blame me for expressing a bit of fervor?

How is this even possible? I have rarely felt hungry, I haven’t had a single craving for anything I used to consume with such abandon, and I really enjoy preparing the foods in this diet book. To call it a diet book, however, seems wrong, somehow; I think—and I hope the coming weeks will bear this out—that this is really a food book. A book on the best food to eat, how to eat it, and how often.

Collateral benefits? I’ve had a few. My knee joints are not as painful as they once were. I have more energy. And my skin has much more clarity than it did two-and-a-half weeks ago.

Let me tell you what I had for lunch recently. No wait. I’ll show you first.

Gazpacho served with five-grain whole wheat bread and skim milk

Here’s how easy it was to prepare this lunch. First, go to the market and buy a small
boule (French for ball) loaf of five-grain whole wheat bread and a carton of skim milk. For the gazpacho, which is served cold or at room temperature, grab a couple of plum or Roma tomatoes, a cucumber, a small red onion, and—if you don’t already have some stored in your refrigerator—flaxseed meal. You probably have the rest of the ingredients in your pantry (red wine vinegar and Cayenne pepper). Then, do this:

Spicy Blender Gazpacho
—Makes One Serving

Coarsely chop two plum tomatoes, one-half of a cucumber (peeled), and one-eighth of a small red onion. Throw ’em in the blender. Add two tablespoons of flaxseed meal. Then, to your taste, add cayenne pepper and red-wine vinegar. Blend for about as long as it takes you to pour a half-glass of skim milk.

And that, my friends, is that. Delicious. And as I’ve found so often with these recipes, I couldn’t finish the entire serving. I’m going to have the one-quarter cup or so of gazpacho for lunch today with a tuna, egg, chickpea, and arugula salad (with buttermilk dressing, if you can believe it) that I made for lunch yesterday.

I’d hang around and tell you more about all of this, but it’s time for my mid-morning snack. What am I having, you ask? It’s a dreamy little concoction that reminds me of a prune Danish without the pastry. I stir two chopped organic prunes into one-quarter cup of low-fat ricotta cheese and add a pinch of cinnamon to taste.

(The book calls for dates but I don’t have any; I do, however, have a package of organic prunes in the fridge. It also asks for fat-free ricotta but I wasn’t able to find that.) Even using low-fat rather than fat-free ricotta, I’m on a roll. And it’s better to be on a roll than to have one around your middle. My roll, dear friends, is deflating as we speak.

Other than providing me with a copy of The Digest Diet, Readers’ Digest is not paying me to blog about my experience on the program. (If I lose the weight I hope to lose, that will be compensation enough.)

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The Digest Diet: It’s Day Eight and I’ve Lost Weight

17 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in The Healthy Life, Transitions

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Cooking, Digest Diet, Food, Health, Life, Weight loss

Bell peppers cut into short strips are sautéed with fennel and garlic in this delicious dish.

I won’t leave you hanging. So far I’ve lost five-and-a-half pounds on the Digest Diet.  This is amazing to me, not because I’ve never lost that much weight so early in a diet before, but because, with a few rare exceptions, I haven’t felt hungry or starved. I’m eating well—good, wholesome, healthy food—and it’s mostly been delicious. I wasn’t wild about a snack of green pepper boats stuffed with low-fat Ricotta cheese and sprinkled with pepper, but then I’ve never been a fan of raw green pepper. I love Ricotta. I’m half-Sicilian, for goodness’ sake. All of the meals I’ve prepared, using recipes from the Digest Diet book, have been superb. Take a look at this photograph, for example. Yes, those happen to be green peppers. They’re accompanied, however, by red and yellow bell peppers and sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil with fennel and garlic. Delicious.

And what a wonderful feeling to use salt again. I always cook with Kosher salt, using sea salt as a finish when a recipe warrants. The recipe for Peperonata with Fennel called for a generous pinch of fine sea salt. I buy coarse-ground, but since I have a mortar and pestle I simply ground the salt to the desired consistency and keep it nearby for later use.

I served this dish with a 4-ounce grilled boneless pork chop for Saturday’s dinner. And guess what? I enjoyed it with a 4-ounce glass of red wine—a robust Zinfandel. If this is what losing weight tastes like, well, I do believe I can keep this up for the full 21 days!

The recipes in this book are delicious and fun to prepare.

Everyone will tell you that it’s not enough to eat mindfully; it’s important to exercise, too. Monday through Friday last week, I walked one mile each day. I took the weekend off, and probably shouldn’t have. But this focused commitment to walking regularly is not in character for me. When I was walking regularly, it was only three times a week. (I wrote a post about the health benefits of walking last year. I’m disappointed in myself for not keeping the momentum going, but I’m trying. I really am.)

So this morning, after drinking a mug of hot lemon water (that’s not in the Digest Diet, but actually a regimen a good friend recommended years ago, when I was recovering from surgery for a broken leg), I walked a mile in my favorite park.

Here’s a picture, taken last year, of my favorite place to walk. (It’s too early in the season to make way for goslings.)

I like to listen to French music when I walk. I wonder: if I continue to lose weight thanks to the Digest Diet and regular, brisk walks accompanied by the French chansons of Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet, do I have to count my weight loss in kilos?

Other than providing me with a copy of The Digest Diet, Readers’ Digest is not paying me to blog about my experience on the program. (If I lose the weight I hope to lose, that will be compensation enough.)

 

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Blossom’s Cleveland Orchestra Pasta Salad

25 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by themidlifesecondwife in Food for Thought

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Blossom Festival, Cooking, Food, Pasta, recipes, Salads, Severance Hall, The Cleveland Orchestra, WCLV

From the name I’ve given this recipe, you’d expect to see edible flowers or musical notes dotted throughout the bowl, wouldn’t you? Actually, the name comes from the recipe’s original source—the Blossom Seasons Cookbook. The spiral-bound book’s title, in turn, comes from the summer home of the glorious Cleveland Orchestra. Ranked among the top ten orchestras in the world—a fact to which I can attest, having heard the orchestra many times not only at the Blossom Festival, but also at its exquisite main venue, Severance Hall, the Cleveland is a must for lovers of classical music. If you can’t get to northeast Ohio to experience their incomparable sound live (or to Miami, where, like so many snowbirds, they winter in residency), by all means get your hands on one of their many recordings. Or listen on the web via WCLV, Cleveland’s classical FM station. The beauty of listening at home is that you can crank up the sound while you prepare this delicious pasta salad.

I’ve owned this little book for what seems like forever—sticklers for the truth will want to know that “forever” in my chronology harks to the early 1980s. The actual title of the recipe, found on page 32, is “Judy and Ann’s Antipasto Salad.” But since I don’t know who Judy and Ann are, and the world has heard of the Cleveland Orchestra, I’ve taken the liberty of retitling it. The person who contributed this particular recipe to the book appears to be one Marilyn Heinl of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the one-time assistant treasurer of the Blossom Women’s Committee. Ms. Heinl, wherever you are, thank you for sharing this delicious salad. It’s one of my favorite summertime recipes. I should point out that although the original recipe calls for 3 or more tomatoes, I omit them in my version. (You don’t mind, do you Ms. Heinl?)

Blossom’s Cleveland Orchestra Pasta Salad
—Serves 6 to 8

1 pound small macaroni shells (I use fusilli pasta)
1/2 pound provolone cheese
1/4 pound hard salami
1/2 pound pepperoni
1 onion
1 green pepper
3 stalks celery
1 small can pitted black olives
1 small jar pimento-stuffed green olives
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon crushed basil
1 teaspoon pepper

Cook and drain pasta. Cut cheese, salami, pepperoni, and vegetables into small pieces. Place all ingredients (except tomatoes, if you are using them) in a large bowl. Combine oil, vinegar, and seasonings. Pour over salad and toss. Chill for 24 hours and add tomatoes (if you are using them) just before serving.

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