Mason Jar Salads and More book giveaway

During the busy back-to-school time, don't forget to pack yourself a healthy lunch. Julia Mirabella's new book about grab-and-go layered lunches in Mason jars can help -- and you can win a copy.

Unless you've been living under a very large rock on the South Pole, you know it's back-to-school time.

And you don't know that simply because the calendar page flipped to September: You know it because it's being crammed down your throat everywhere you look, whether you have school-aged children or not. Major retailers have been working hard since practically July to sell you oodles of backpacks, lunch bags, plaid skirts and Number 2 pencils.

(Is there even such a thing as a Number 1 pencil? I imagine it being all uppity, like "I'm Number 1! I'm Number 1!" What a prick.)

And yes, I realize I'm dating myself with the calendar page and pencil references. Should have been an iPad reference, I guess. Whatevs: I'm still pretty analog.

Food bloggers are also guilty of riding on the coattails of the back-to-school fever. Packable snacks, cutesy lunchbox options and "kid food" boards are popping up all over Pinterest.

(Don't get me started on "kid food." Really, if I get started, I'll get all ranty and won't be able to stop.)

But while we're all focused on getting the wee ones back to school with the right supplies and a good lunch, we may have forgotten about ourselves. At least in the lunch department.

Bringing your lunch to work is a great way to reduce your dependency on fast food, processed food or other less-than-healthy food options -- and you know that helping you do that is pretty much The Ninj's raison d'etre. So put down that nasty-ass frozen Lean Cuisine because The Ninj wants to talk about a better, healthier lunch option that is still yummy and portable: Mason jar salads.

Artichoke hummus (and a book review)

I came upon this recipe for artichoke hummus in an unusual way. Knowing that The Ninj enjoys cooking and living in a generally healthy way, a college friend of mine asked me if I'd like to review a lifestyle book to which she had contributed. Since she herself is an awesome writer, of course I agreed to check it out.

So what does this have to do with hummus, you may be asking? Don't worry, I'll get there.

The book turned out to be Vibrant Living by Molly Shattuck, a health and fitness advocate and philanthropist from Baltimore who has designed a program to help people embrace a healthier lifestyle in 21 days.

Now, bear with me – I, too, was skeptical. I'm not an advocate of fad diets or “fix your life in 3 easy steps” kind of crap. You know me by now. My motto is everything in moderation: I think we often sabotage our efforts to be healthier and fitter by shunning every single “bad” food or by only eating restrictive, special diets that are too difficult to maintain, as well as setting unrealistic fitness goals.

I'm happy to report that Molly's ideals are quite similar (good thing, or it would have made for some awkward email exchanges with my college pal). She, too, embraces the idea that being fitter and eating better involves a fundamental lifestyle change but that need not be difficult or require you to subscribe to a packaged meal plan or to eat crazy-ass food. Her program emphasizes taking 21 days to establish a new routine of daily exercise (she includes easy-to-follow workout plans that don't require more than a pair of sneakers) and, my favorite part, eating “real”, unprocessed food.

Hellz yeah, Molly! High five from The Ninj.

Which brings us, at long last, to the artichoke hummus (See? I told you I would get here).

Watermelon soda (for the blog's anniversary)

It almost passed me by without my realizing it but today marks the third anniversary of The Ninj. Well, not exactly. I personally am way older than three. WAY older. But I've been publishing the blog, in all its glory, for exactly three years.

Certainly a lot has changed in three years. Most noticeably, my photographs (thank god). I think my goal for the next year needs to be to remake all the recipes from Year 1 and rephotograph them. There's some good stuff back there but the photos do nothing to make you want to make or eat it. Really: NOTHING.

Also, I no longer refer to myself as between careers. I'm happy to have settled into the content producer role and am even happier that I've taken on some gigs that involve more in-depth writing about food but also about other topics as well (you'll hear more about that soon).

But, of course, other things haven't really changed at all. My dogs are still nuts, I'm still doing battle with the deer (there are TWO MORE THIS YEAR, for cripes' sake!) and I am still loving trying out new recipes to share with you, best-girlfriend style.

Which brings us to the watermelon soda. Holy crap, this stuff is awesome!

I'm not exaggerating. I have never tasted such a refreshing, fizzy drink. And, mind you, I am not a soda fan. I gave the stuff up many, many years ago and don't miss it one bit. Sure, I'll have the occasional natural soda every once in a while, but I wouldn't miss it if I never had another one.

However.

I could seriously become addicted to this watermelon soda. It's fascinating to me because the combination of watermelon with a little mint and some lime juice actually makes it taste a wee bit like grapefruit (I know, right?). It's almost like getting two flavors, watermelon and grapefruit, for the price of one.

Foodist (a review)

I was asked to review another book: Darya Pino Rose's Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting.

I know what you're thinking: The Ninj? Reviewing a diet book? Despite the title, it's not really a diet book. To use the author's own term, it's about developing a new "healthstyle", a new relationship with food and movement that can eliminate the need for fruitless dieting.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Foodist is that it really doesn't contain anything revolutionary, anything that couldn't be found in multiple other sources. However -- I mean that in a really good way! Rose has synthesized the thinking behind many current food theories -- eating real food, embracing sustainable and local food sources, rejection of processed food -- and put them all in one place, with a how-to element to accompany it. This is great news for those who might not yet be of a mindset to sit down and read The Omnivore's Dilemma and try to change their lifestyle but who would pick up an apparent "diet book" and learn the same information.

Savory supper muffins

 
I have a confession: I fell off the whole-grains wagon this month.

For the past few months, I have been featuring recipes from Liana Krissoff's Whole Grains for a New Generation, from which I am cooking as part of the From Scratch Club's virtual book club. Every two weeks, the group is assigned a different grain or set of grains from which we can choose a recipe or two to make, then share our results with the rest of the group.

I've had a love-hate relationship with this book. Well, hate is too strong a word: more like a love-annoyance relationship. Love, because I have found many great new recipes (the roasted butternut squash with quinoa and greens is seriously amazing) and annoyance because some of the grains are just too obscure: I don't want to have to visit three natural foods stores to find one cup's worth of a grain I'll never use again. Which is why I wound up skipping one of our last assignments. Just plain skipped: didn't even ask for an extension or an incomplete.

Vermont potato chowder

 
Earlier in the week, I posted my review of Tracey Medeiros' new book, The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook: 150 Home-Grown Recipes from the Green Mountain State. (Spoiler: I loved it.)

As I noted in my review, while the book includes the expected recipes from chefs at Vermont's most celebrated restaurants, it also offers favorite family recipes shared by the farmers who provide many of the key ingredients to those same food professionals.

(And Oliver Parini's accompanying photographs are a feast for the eyes.)

As part of the review process, I have been cooking my way through the The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook, based on seasonality, and I've come across some new favorite recipes.

Case in point: the Ski Vermont Farmhouse Potato Chowder.

According to the accompanying story, the recipe was created by chef Gerry Nooney of Timbers Restaurant at Sugarbush Resort, as a way of helping Vermont farmers sell more potatoes. (Again, I love the connection between the food professionals and producers that the book highlights.)

The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook (a review)

Have you ever wanted to eat your way across the entire state of Vermont? Or get a first-hand taste of real farm-to-table eating?

Well, now you can, in your own home, via Tracey Medeiros' new book, The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook: 150 Home-Grown Recipes from the Green Mountain State. 

(photo courtesy of The Countryman Press)

Medeiros' book, supplemented with gorgeous food and Vermont scenery photography from Oliver Parini, is refreshing in that while it includes the expected recipes from chefs at Vermont's most celebrated restaurants, it also offers favorite family recipes shared by the farmers who provide many of the key ingredients to those same food professionals.

Additionally, Medeiros offers a profile of each contributor or the backstory behind the recipe, which makes each feel like one you received from a friend or relative.

Roasted butternut squash with quinoa, sausage and greens

Roasted butternut squash with quinoa, sausage and greens

Yes, the recipe is a mouthful -- both in name and in flavor.

Regular readers know that I'm continuing my participation in the From Scratch Club's virtual book club, in which a group of home cooks selects a cookbook and then makes and discusses some recipes from each chapter or section. We're currently cooking our way through Liana Krissoff's Whole Grains for a New Generation (we're lucky enough to have Liana participating in our online discussions, too!).

Our last grain topic was rice. This time, it's quinoa.

I've become a huge fan of quinoa over the past few years, in large part because it is easy to prepare while also being one of the few good-for-you grains that Mr. Ninj doesn't hate (See? No kids, yet I have my own picky eater to deal with).

I chose this recipe from Liana's book because I love butternut squash. Since I, too, often pair it with sausage, as is called for here, I knew I couldn't go wrong. Added bonus? Liana included a recipe for making your own quick sausage, which was easy and awesome.

Cranberry rice and book clubs

Cranberry rice

Are you part of a book club?

I joined my first book club in 1991, just after graduating from college. This was pre-Oprah, so the concept was new to me. Get together with other book lovers to read and discuss books? Oh, happy day: it was like college lit class without the term papers.

I was hooked.
 
Even though we move around a lot (every five to six years, historically), I have been in one book club or another almost continuously since that first one.  Right now, I'm in two clubs: one physical, one virtual.

I joined the From Scratch Club's virtual book club at its inception last year. The first book we read and discussed was Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal.  While we all enjoyed the book and Adler's gorgeous prose, the book club members were ultimately more interested in a "cookalong" type of book and format. The second book we tackled was Alana Chernila's Homemade Pantry; every two weeks we read and cooked recipes from two chapters in the book and shared our stories and creations through Good Reads and Facebook. It was great fun, made even more enjoyable by the author's participation in the discussions and willingness to give feedback and answer questions.

We're now into the third book: Liana Krissoff's Whole Grains for a New Generation; again, we're fortunate enough to have the author joining us our journey. This book will be bit of a challenge for me, as I'm fairly grain-ignorant. Because of the nature of the book, instead of cooking by chapter, we are cooking by grain type.

This week, it's rice -- a nice, easy introduction to the world of grains.

Maple walnut crackers

Maple walnut crackers from The Cracker Book

Late last year, I was asked to review and test some recipes from a new book entitled The Cracker Book: Artisanal Crackers for Every Occasion.

I love self-explanatory titles, don't you?

Burford Books thought I might like to try out some of the cracker recipes from this new book by Maine author Lee E. Cart. I immediately agreed because Lee's book promises that "making your own crackers is surprisingly easy."

Now, you know about my penchant for recipes that are wicked good but also wicked easy. And easy is the key word for these cracker recipes: mix the ingredients together, roll out the dough and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

That's it! You're practically a Keebler elf.

I love the idea behind this little book: starting with a basic foundation recipe, you can add a variety of ingredients to create interesting artisanal crackers. The book includes recipes for more than 50 different kinds, including the unique and delightful-sounding

• Bacon crackers
• Carrot and ginger crackers
• Cocoa and whole wheat crackers 
• Green tea and brown rice crackers
• Guacamole crackers
• Rosewater crackers
• Tequila and lime crackers

Black Friday turkey sandwich buns

Homemade sandwich buns, perfect for burgers or day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches.

Sandwich buns

We still have two days to go before the big day and I'm already thinking about the Thanksgiving leftovers.

Via some Facebook chatter, I learned I'm not alone in cooking way too big a bird every year just so I can have tons of extra turkey. Nor am I the only crazy that has actually cooked an entire second Thanksgiving meal after the big day because on the main day I was a guest in someone else's house and needed to create my own carcass to make quarts of turkey stock.

Leftover obsession can become unhealthy, though. True story: a few years ago, one of my friends left her relative's Thanksgiving table starving and had to microwave a Lean Cuisine once she got home because the aforementioned relative had preemptively put "leftovers" aside before serving the meal, leaving not enough food to feed her guests.

Just so we're clear, I'm not that obsessed with leftovers. Cripes, I didn't think anyone could be that obsessed with leftovers. That's just bat-shit crazy, not obsessed.

Anyhoo...

Nutella toaster pastries

Nutella toaster pastries

Regular readers will know that I've had some fun taking on cooking challenges this year.

For example, I've been cooking along each month with Grow It Cook It Can It's Cook It 2012 challenge, in which each month we're challenged to create a pantry staple and then use it in a recipe.

Additionally, I recently joined the Secret Recipe Club, which means I get to pick and cook a recipe from another blogger each month.

So when the From Scratch Club announced that its revamped virtual book club would be not only reading and discussing but also cooking from Alana Chernila's Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making, I knew I was up for it.

This book is cleverly divided into chapters based on supermarket aisles: dairy, cereals and snacks, canned items, condiments, soups, baking needs, frozen foods, pasta, breads and crackers, drinks and candy and sweets. Each chapter includes a few recipes for making your own version of things normally found in those aisles. Every two weeks, the FSC book clubbers read two chapters and are encouraged to test out one of the recipes (member's choice).

This is the first "meeting", so we are focusing on dairy and cereal and snacks.

For me, I found quite a few of the same (or similar) recipes that we've been tackling in the Cook It 2012 challenge in these first chapters (ricotta cheese, butter and buttermilk) or that I've already made on my own (cereal bars).

But I haven't made toaster pastries.

(Which I guess we can't call pop tarts without some kind of trademark infringement, right?)

And certainly not Nutella-filled toaster pastries!

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: Put 'Em Up

I received this Major Award in the mail yesterday; I can't wait to start making some of the great recipes.

I think I'll start with Cucumber Aqua Fresca...

Pasta with leek pesto: a recipe

Mark Bittman's pasta with leek pesto

I don't care if you say you hate pesto. I don't care if you say you hate leeks. I guarantee you will love this dish. Trust me.

Ninjas don't lie.

This is another recipe from Mark Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook. I've been cooking from it all week and I can't hype it enough. Every recipe I've tried has been straightforward and delicious.

Go buy it. Seriously.

Bittman calls this "pesto" in quotation marks because, while it may look like pesto, it's so much more: thick and creamy, with just a hint of sweetness from the carmelized leeks.

Tomato and bread soup with fennel and fish: a recipe

Mark Bittman's tomato and bread soup with fish and fennel...
and apparently a big piece of basil

You must believe me when I say that this soup tastes so much better than it looks.

(You will also be happy to know that I have signed up for a food photography and styling workshop later this month, so perhaps I can dish up some slightly more appetizing photos in the future!)

The soup -- really, more of a stew -- comes from Mark Bittman's new Food Matters Cookbook. In a nutshell, Bittman's philosophy is that we can improve our health and help save the planet by changing the way we eat: focus on eating more plants and fewer animal products and processed foods. (Bittman is, first and foremost, a journalist, so if you want to learn all about the facts and figures behind this argument, I'd urge you to check out his book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating -- it makes a whole lot of sense to me).

For me, this philosophy fits in very nicely with not only Detox January but also my efforts to eat locally and sustainably.

Stuffed pumpkin: a recipe

Wow. All I can say is ... WOW.

In promoting her new cookbook, Around My French Table, Dorie Greenspan showed Michele Norris of NPR how to cook what she calls "stuffed pumpkin with everything good" (well, as much as you can "show" someone on the radio, right? For all we know, they were standing around pretending to cook).

She is NOT kidding with that name.

And I am not kidding in saying that this is one of the best dishes I've eaten in a really, really long time, either at home or in a restaurant.

Imagine bread pudding tucked into a creamy roasted pumpkin -- holy crap. And did I mention that it's easy to prepare?

Cooking from Mr. Latte, or, beet salad and carrot-fennel soup: two recipes

As a food writer wannabe, I love to read real food writers' stories. As I've mentioned before, what really appeals to me is being involved in an engaging, well-written story while also scoring some great new recipes.

Earlier this year I read Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte, the story of her courtship with her now-husband, replete with recipes for things they ate along the way. I pulled out my much-dog-eared copy this week and tried my hand at a couple of her recipes (some of them come across as pretty snooty, so I focused on the ones that seemed more accessible ... you know, the ones that can be made with ingredients that don't require that you live in New York City and shop only at obscure multicultural markets).

Never-fail popovers: a vintage recipe

I love books. Maybe too much -- just ask my movers.

(And yes, this is in fact a post about popovers, complete with a recipe -- but there's backstory first.)

I also love poking around in antique stores for books or any other little treasures I can find. Maybe it's the musty smell, or the fun of finding a reasonably organized store or booth, or trying to imagine the people that once treasured these treasures, but I'm a sucker for that ubiquitous red, white and blue "Antiques" flag. (I recently tried to share my interest with my 17-year-old stepson. His reaction to his first visit to an antique store? "Sometimes old junk is just old junk.")

So my visits are usually solitary, which gives me a lot of unrushed time to thumb through the books. Since beginning my ninja adventures, I've been drawn to the old cookbooks. It's a hoot (and wicked gross, frankly) to see calls for ingredients such as oleo, lard, saccharin, crisco and other yummy gems. However, I recently came across a whole collection of Vermont Grange cookbooks -- you know, those fundraiser recipe books, often produced by churches or schools, to which members contribute their favorite family recipes. Well, given that the Grangers were (are?) originally all local farmers, I figured that I might find some good eatin' in there. I was honestly prepared to see lots of versions of ambrosia salad but was pleasantly surprised to find instead some really interesting, tried-and-true, no-weirdo-ingredients recipes.

(Here come the popovers, I swear.)

Reading is fundamental

I couldn't agree more. What have you been reading lately?

(seen on our morning walk around Burlington)

Welcome ... and some book recommendations

Thanks for visiting. If you want to know more about why I've decided to blog, you can learn a bit more about me.

I've had quite a bit of time lately to read, which has always been my hobby. I used to think it was lame to call it a hobby -- skiing, rock-climbing, stamp collecting -- now those are hobbies. But, given not only how much enjoyment it gives me but also how often I do it (not to mention how much less aggravating it is than golf), I now think it officially counts as my hobby.

I'm currently hooked on the whole memoir-cum-cookbook genre -- start with Orangette blogger Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life if you're interested.  I loved loved loved Kathleen Finn's The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: recently out-of-work IT-type decides to focus on her passion for food and cooking. Can you guess why I was drawn to it? ;-) I love the combination of ongoing story interspersed with mouth-watering recipes. Speaking of which, Finn's got a completely wicked recipe for a hearty, meaty bolognese sauce that I can't wait to try, once it gets a bit more snuggly outside.

My only dilemma with this genre has actually been where to keep these types of books -- living room book shelves, alongside John Irving and F. Scott Fitzgerald, or kitchen cabinets, next to The Joy of Cooking and umpteen copies of Cooking Light? The kitchen always wins.