The Cleaner Plate Club

There’s a great article in today’s Times (”Don’t Point That Menu at My Child, Please“) about one of my biggest pet peeves: kids’ menus at restaurants. As a (slightly obsessive) parent trying to instill in my kids a love for good food — real food — kids’ menus make my job harder. Much harder.

Marion Nestle, who gives a separate quote in the article, is unequivocal about what kids should be eating (this via her great book, What to Eat):

Children are supposed to eat the same foods their parents eat. Dietary recommendations…apply to everyone over the age of two. Once children are past infancy and can chew and swallow foods without choking, they should be eating the same healthy foods that everyone else in the family is eating…

She also notes that the diets of up to 80% of today’s young children are considered “poor” or “in need of improvement.” It’s not surprising. What do we think of as “kid” foods? Mac and cheese. Chicken fingers. Grilled cheese. French fries. Cheeseburgers. Fish sticks. Almost all heavily-processed, with extremely limited nutritional value. If eaten only occasionally, maybe it wouldn’t matter. However, with 30% of American meals eaten outside the home, these items can form a huge percentage of a child’s diet. (and, thanks to “advances” like Kid Cusine dinners, more of this stuff is being consumed in the home).

I agree with the author of the Times article, when she says that while the children’s menu has depressing nutritional implications, she’s even “more rankled by its palate-deadening potential.”

Now let there be no doubt: my problem with kids’ menus is my own weakness. I hate to argue with my kids about food…especially when we’re dining out. I know. I know. It’s my job. I’m sorry. I just don’t want to argue. I don’t feel like that’s a healthy way to instill good food values, either. So, when the waitress hands my kid a colorful menu that features french fries, chicken nuggets, and more fries, my normal response is to grimmace, while silently fuming.

And, of course, to avoid that restaurant whenever I can.

Think you’re okay because you don’t visit the Golden Arches? Alas. Kids’ menus in sit-down restaurants may be no better than in fast-food joints.

I don’t want to be preachy about what you should do, so I’ll close with a little more Nestle:

It is perfectly possible to teach kids to like adult food. I’ve seen it done. It just takes some persistent action by adults who care about kids’ health and want to make a difference. The best way I can think of for you to get kids interested in real food — the fruit, vegetable, meat, and dairy foods that you buy along the peripheral aisles of supermarkets — is to teach them how to cook such foods. Even better, teach them how to grow vegetables; radishes growing in a pot on a windowsill can change a child’s relationship with food forever, and much for the better.

Hear! Hear!

A while ago, I mentioned that I wanted to try Kai’s Lemony One-Dish Dinner. Actually, Kai said the recipe comes from Real Simple magazine, and it was actually named something else, but I’d prefer to give the credit to Kai (and that, friends, is why traditional print media hates the blogosphere!).

Here’s what I did (note, it’s slightly different from Kai’s version):

Ingredients:
8 small red potatoes, cut into eighths (recipe calls for quartered, but I wasn’t sure they were small enough)
Big heap of greenbeans
2 lemons - 1 sliced thin, one juiced
Olive oil (about 6 Tablespoons worth)
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
Just under a pound of turkey cutlets (recipe called for chicken breasts, but I found some local turkey on sale)
Bunch of shakes Konriko Greek seasoning (my default seasoning of choice, recipe called for salt and pepper)

Spread about a Tablespoon’s worth of olive oil at the bottom of a pan. Cover with lemon slices. In a separate bowl, combine juice of 1 lemon, remainder of olive oil, garlic, and several shakes of seasoning. Coat greenbeans, and place them on top of the lemon slices. Then, coat potatoes, and put them around the side of the pan. Finally, coat poultry, place it on the greenbeans in the center of the pan. Pour the remainder of the lemon/oil mixture on top. Bake in preheated 450-degree oven until everything is golden brown and has that happily-roasted look about it, about 40 minutes. The recipe mentioned removing poultry and doing some additional roasting to the potatoes/beans, if necessary; thankfully, it wasn’t, maybe because I did cut the potatoes smaller.

Conceptually it’s easy: greenbeans, red potatoes, and poultry, baked in a single dish with lemon, garlic, and olive oil. Something green, something starchy, something protein, and only one pan to clean. Easy, breezy, just how I like it. It took a little longer than planned, though, I think because scrubbing/cutting potatoes, and washing/snipping the ends off the greenbeans can take a while. If you could find the really tiny new potatoes (so they didn’t need cutting), and if you had a better system for cutting the ends off of green beans (or if you used frozen green beans…though of course you can’t buy those at your local farmers’ market), you could cut the time down considerably. In which case it would be really, really easy.

It was pretty tasty. The lemon flavor was strong, and bits of roasted lemons mixed right into the rest of the food — so if you don’t actually care for lemon, this isn’t the recipe for you. Also, I thought it needed a fair amount of Greek seasoning, though I suspect that it was the salt I was after. Blair and I both had seconds, and the leftovers were even better 2 days later. The kids didn’t try this one — it was a dinner-in-front-of-movie-after-kids-are-sleeping kind of night. But overall, the ease-to-tastiness ratio was pretty good (and would be very good if you could cut down the prep work).

When I was slicing the lemons, I felt sort of stupid, because I wasn’t 100% sure how to slice them. I mean, I know how to cut lemons, but I wasn’t sure if I should leave the peels on, or if they should be wedges, or whatever. Anyhow, this is how I sliced them and lay them in the pan:

And here’s the finished product:

And, yes, that one pan clean-up is totally the way to go. Thanks, Kai!

Merrie was recently flipping through her Salad People cookbook, the one by Mollie Katzen, (a good review here and here), and was taken in by the recipe for Fruity Crunchy Granola. We made it for dinner last night.

I once read about people who made their own granola. They seemed so…hard core. So, totally…GRANOLA-ish. But it turns out it’s remarkably easy and waaaay less expensive than buying it.

Here’s what we did:

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats (bought in bulk, just $.99/lb for the organic version)
2 cups nuts or seeds (Merrie opted for cashews. That’s a little harder on the budget, but maybe you can get away with sunflower seeds? Which would be about a quarter of the cost?)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup canola oil (actually, we had run out of canola oil so we used…ummm…a stick of butter, melted. Mollie Katzen and Marion Nestle wouldn’t approve. Nina Planck would).
1/2 cup of honey (we used a mix of honey, maple syrup, and blackstrap molasses)
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1 cup of dried fruit (we used chopped dried mango and apple, Merrie’s choice)

Mix the oats, nuts, salt, and brown sugar in a big bowl. Go on, get your (carefully washed) hands dirty. Mix ‘em with your hands. In a separate large cup, mix the oil, honey, vanilla extract. Pour into the bowl and mix it up with your hands (be sure to lick your hands, as shown above!). Spread in a greased tray (or two), then cook in a pre-heated oven, 325 degrees, for about a half hour, stirring occasionally. Note: that’s just enough time to bathe a kid and get her into pajamas! When it comes out of the oven, scatter the fruit, like this:

It smelled decadent cooking, probably because of all that butter and sugar combined. I’d use the oil if you’ve got it, because it really was just a tad rich - as in, really rich. As in, you could put ice cream on it and serve it for dessert.

But, you know? It was pretty good nonetheless. Merrie gave it a “thumbs mostly up, but a little sideways” — I think she was a little disappointed that it wasn’t as sweet as it smelled when it was in the oven. She ate it, though, and she requested I put some in her lunch today to add to a yogurt.

Kymm has made it (and even has a print-friendly version of the recipe!). So has this gal (and her photos rock).

Me? I’m, like, tickled, that I’ve officially now become one of those crunchy granola types…for real.

Trish posted a comment that folks have reacted to her decision to go organic by saying “ew, yuck,” as if it were unhygienic, or no chemicals = dirty.

First, let me say that I advise eating whole foods, especially lots and lots of fruits and veggies whether or not you can afford organic. I do try to eat organic when I can, but the fact is, our budget doesn’t allow for $8 grapes, or $9 bags of beets. I recently passed up some beautiful organic chicken breasts, because the package was a whoppin’ $15.63. Yowza. We ate beans instead that night. If money were no object, you bet I’d be buying organic. But if I can’t afford it, or if you can’t, we can still all strive to eat WELL. And you can bet I’d recommend a conventional apple over organic Oreos any day of the week.

That said…

Trish, if you want to show people what dirty *really* is, then check out this article from Rolling Stone. It’s about the nation’s largest producer of pork…and it gives a great overview of why industrial agriculture is, really, just stunningly gross. I’ll warn you, though, it’s not for the faint of stomach.

Do not read while eating. Food and this article do not mix. Consider yourself warned: it’s just plain nasty.

It is absolutely fascinating, though, in a sort of science-fictiony, horror-flick, exploding-pig-sh*t-dripping-from-tree-tops, kind of way. And it’s worth a read, for sure.

It’s also worth remembering that organic agriculture bans using sewage sludge as fertilizer (conventional agriculture? Nope). Not to mention, organic agriculture has much tighter rules about how composted manure can be used as fertilizer…and it has inspections to make sure these rules are followed. Truth is, studies have tested whether there’s fecal matter on produce, and all produce, conventional and agriculture, shows some contamination (this per Marion Nestle). If that’s the case, my preference is for the contaminated produce from-the-farm-that’s-actually-been-inspected. Particularly if that farm is one run by a farmer that has to look me in the eye, and shake my hand. And if that farm is in this country, which — let’s fact it — has cleaner water and better sanitation practices than most developing countries (where an awful lot of imported agricultural products are grown).

You can also check out this review of articles from the University of Minnesota. It deals with leafy greens (particularly at risk for contamination with e. Coli), and it suggests that organic produce is no more at risk than any other produce, and some studies suggest that it’s less at risk.

But oh, you want gross? Read that article, and then we can all think about how “clean” industrial agriculture is. Or better yet, we could choose not to…

Well, it’s not surprising, but the blogosphere is indeed buzzing about Nina Planck’s Death by Veganism op-ed. Many vegans, like this one, make some great points — namely, there are plenty of neglectful non-vegan parents, so why single out this (rather extreme) case?

Nina is a savvy woman, though, if only because after reading her op-ed, and some of the responses, I did the very thing that she probably hoped I would do (and that the vegans probably feared I would do): I went out and bought her book.

I’m only a couple of chapters in, but so far I like it. In no means do I want to pick a fight with the vegans of the world — who is doing more to save this planet of ours than vegans? Who lives their beliefs more than they? Who is more likely to bitch-slap me for my diet help me improve what I eat?

(for a good review of Nina’s book from someone who’s actually finished it, check out this post from Tigers and Strawberries.)

But I like the book mostly because her definition of “real food” matches my own. Which makes me realize: although I declare myself a mama in search of real food, I never actually defined real food. But Nina did — and she provides facts and figures to back up what I arrived at by gut instinct.

Real food, for me and Nina, is:

1. Old: the kind of things humans have been eating for a long, long time. Which means butterfat, not margarine. Fruit, not “fruit” snacks. Eggs, not EggBeaters.

2. Not only should the food be old, but it should also be raised/produced the way it used to be (meaning, in the case of meat, for example, fed the diet that it evolved to eat, not crammed with e. Coli-creating corn…).

With this diet, and some budgetary restrictions, you’ll wind up eating heaps of vegetables, virtually no additives…and, yes, some animal products, but more healthful animal products. That’s my definition of real food. That’s what you find here. And I do believe you’ll be healthier for it. You bet I do.

As for veganism and the ethics of meat-eating: the most compelling arguments that I’ve read for veganism are in response to industrialized agriculture, not sustainable, local livestock. Environmentally, I’m not convinced that packaged soy products are really much better for this earth than, say, local beef, assuming that the cows were pastured and not trucked 1200 miles to your plate. And nutritionally, pastured meat just isn’t the same as its feedlot cousin. Should we eat less meat? You betcha’. But the difference should be not just in quantity, but also in quality.

O angry vegans, I certainly am open to learning more. But in the meantime, the (admittedly inflammatory) Nina makes sense to me. You?

Can you tell that my husband was out of town last week? My great respect to all you single parents out there. That is some hard, hard work you do. Anyhow, I’ve been gathering, but not posting much. Here’s a few things to mention:

1. Whoa nelly! If you missed it, Nina Planck, the author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why(a book I have not yet read, but plan to), wrote an op-ed in today’s New York Times that says that a vegan diet during pregnancy/lactation is extremely dangerous for the baby. It makes intuitive sense to me (we are omnivores, after all), but I predict that the blogosphere will explode with fury. I did a quick Technorati search on the article’s title. Though this morning, I got just 5 results, I’m guessing that the results will explode exponentially, and quickly.

2. That cauliflower recipe I posted? I’ve been making it around the clock. Four ingredients only, and it kicks butt. It turns out I can eat an entire head of cauliflower. By myself. (no, I’m not kidding). Even Merrie likes it — she’s a little tired of it now, but she gobbled it up happily the first time. These days, it’ll still work for her if paired with ranch dressing as “dip.” My advice? Cook it until the white cauliflower becomes just a tad golden. Don’t worry that some of the other parts get a little dark - they don’t taste burned.

3. Oh, yeah. Two new meat recalls. One for beef, and the other for chicken sausage. The chicken sausage you need to worry about only if you’re allergic to wheat (they don’t declare it on the label). The meat recall? That one’s trouble, as it’s a result of our old pal E. coli 0157:H7…the icky stuff. In case you missed my earlier post, I’ll just say quickly that the reason we have this nasty, fatal bug is because our nation’s meat is raised in huge feedlots, where cows are fed grain (instead of grass, which is what they evolved to eat)…the result is an acidic stomach, and hence bugs that can withstand stomach acid —including ours. That, and close quarters, plus lightening-speed slaughter that leads to crappy meat products (literally). I’ll say it again: yuck.

4. Are you like me? You love lobster, but can’t bear the thought of placing a live creature in boiling water? And perhaps you’d feel even more guilty doing so after Whole Foods banned sales of live lobsters for humane reasons? Well, if you’re looking to rationalize, this Ask Yahoo article says you needn’t fear hurting them; apparently their nervous systems are too simple to feel pain. I still don’t know that I can do it myself. But, you know, if you’re looking to rationalize…

5. So, you go to a coffee shop and are looking for a healthful alternative to all those chocolate chip muffins, or sticky buns, or sweetened danishes. So you order a bagel — a whole wheat bagel, naturally. What should you have on top? Cream cheese or peanut butter? This post from Cooking Light helps you compare the two options. If you’re going lower-cal, or don’t distinguish between good fats and bad fats, you’ll want the cream cheese. Otherwise, the peanut butter seems like the winner to me. One other advantage to the peanut butter, in my opinion, is that you can be sure it doesn’t come from animals treated with rBGH. On the other hand, it might come from ConAgra. Choices, choices.

Hey…pssst…you at work? Right now? What ‘cha doing, revising a spreadsheet? Or following up on that thing? You know, that thing, that really important, time-critical thing that your petty, micro-managing, steals-all-the-credit-for-your-hard-work boss told you was absolutely urgent?

Nah, don’t do it. At least not for the next five minutes. Visit some farms instead.

Wait. I don’t mean get up. You have to appear to be working, after all. Just click on over and check out these pictures of farms (you need to click on that sample gallery at the bottom of the page). Now, I don’t know this photographer personally, but I want to. He seems like my kinda’ guy - the kinda’ guy who digs farms, and dirt, and heaps of fresh vegetables recently pulled from the ground. His photographs aren’t just beautiful, they actually make me feel like I can smell the rich, earthy aroma of healthy soil.

(my favorite one may be the pig’s curly tail. I love them all, save for the one of the farmer’s foot - sorry, Jason - I think I’ve just seen one too many images of war; it looks to me like the foot of a dead body left in the dirt after some horrid ethnic cleansing. Now I’ve just ruined it for the rest of you, haven’t I?).

Seriously, if I were, like, Oprah? Or Martha? Or any of these lucky duckies, I’d hire this guy to follow me around and snap pictures of all the farms I visit. He’d be the official photographer of the Cleaner Plate Club.

So, your boss can wait. So can that spreadsheet. No, really. They can. They may not realize it, but they can. Go check this guy out. It’ll be like a mini vacation, and you won’t even stand up to go!

Okay, some of you, especially parents, may find what follows to be a little, well…depressing. So I’m going to start with the good news:

That kid you think you’ve ruined? It might not be your fault. Seriously, the 3-hour temper tantrum? The complete inability to put on her shoes, even though you’ve asked her SEVENTEEN TIMES? The insane, can’t-stop-jumping-on-the-bed-sorry-but-I-just-can’t hyperactivity? You might be able to blame food additives, instead of yourself. Phew! What a relief! You’re off the hook! Doesn’t absolution feel terrific?!

Well, not really.

Here’s why: A recent study from the U.K. reinforces findings that common additives could be to blame for a whole host of concerns:

Researchers at Southampton University have tested combinations of synthetic colourings and preservative that an average child might consume in a day to measure what effect they had on behaviour. A source at the university told the food industry’s magazine the Grocer last week that their results supported findings first made seven years ago that linked the additives to behavioural problems, such as temper tantrums, poor concentration and hyperactivity, and to allergic reactions.

When I first read the article, I looked at the additives, and thought “Oh, good. I don’t recognize most of them.” Turns out they’re just named something different in the U.S. And while a couple of the ones studied are prohibited in the U.S. (like Ponceau 4RL, Quinoline Yellow, and carmoisine), others are pretty darned common. Here’s the translation to the additive names that U.S. residents will recognize.

Tartrazine: E102 or FD&C Yellow 5

Allura Red AC: called many things, most commonly FD&C Red 40, but also disodium salt, Food Red 17, C.I. 16035, 2-naphthalenesulfonic acid, 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-, and disodium 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-2-naphthalene-sulfonate.

Sunset Yellow: FD&C Yellow 6

Oh, yeah. And sodium benzoate? Which is one of the additives they studied, and which is, like, one of the most common preservatives you’re ever gonna’ see? It may combine with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to form benzene, a known carcinogen. By the way, most sodas include that very combination.

Are these the only additives to be wary of? Nah. Just the ones that they studied. Want to really freak yourself out? Check out this list.

But wait. Don’t get too depressed. Or too freaked out. This is just a call (yet another!) to do things like drink actual orange juice instead of orange soda or Tang or Sunny D. And to avoid things like Kids Cuisine lunches and Lucky Charms if you can. And, oh yeah, to avoid non-food products like these.

(“What about birthday parties?” some of you are screeching… I can hear you. I can. “What about sleepovers and soccer team snacks and grandma’s house and girl scout meetings and my kids’ school cafeteria?!!!!” Okay. Hold on. Breathe deeply. Here’s the bad news: you can’t control it all. You just can’t. But there’s better news, as well. Remember that Mindless Eating book? It cites research that a family’s “nutritional gatekeeper” — if you’re reading this, it’s a good chance that’s you — influences an estimated 72% of what a family eats over the course of a year. It’s not 100%. It will never be 100%. But 72% is okay. It’s not bad. And not every bite of the remaining 28% will be horrible either. So do what you can do; do your best to bring positive change to schools and the soccer field, but focus much of your energy on that 72%).

And in that 72%? You really might want to avoid those creepy, allergy-inducing, hyperactive-making, cancer-causing, who-the-hell-thinks-they’re-a-good-idea additives. Seriously. That apple-and-peanut butter snack that my mom used to give me never looked quite so good.

(hey…does that mean that I’m off the hook for my daughter’s temper tantrums after she ate those Disney princess Fairytale Flakes when we visited grandma? Excellent.)

Some of you know that I’ve been troubled by the vast and widening gap between the foodie, vote-with-your-fork culture (think Whole Foods, heirloom tomatoes, artisanal cheese) and those who struggle to buy boxed macaroni and cheese. The last time I posted on this, there were some terrific comments on the issue — some from folks who were struggling to eat better despite the costs, some who reminded me that lentils cost less than feedlot meat, and some who reminded us all why it’s important to vote with your forks if you can (even if it means wearing 20-year old clothes).

I don’t mean to get all John Edwards “two Americas” on you again, but there is a terrific article in today’s Times on an unlikely place where the two worlds meet: the farmer’s market. The article looks at a part of one of my favorite topics these days, the farm bill, and how we might restructure it to make our citizens, rural economies, and environment a whole lot healthier.

Here’s the gist of the article:

• In the past five years, the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. has increased by 64%, from 2,750 to nearly 4,500. (this is good).
• The existing farm bill currently includes 2 programs — the $15 million Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program and the separate $25 million Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, both a part of WIC — that allow food aid recipients to buy fresh produce at farmers’ markets. As a result, the poor have been some of farmers’ best customers, and farmers have incentive to bring their produce to communities that otherwise would see nary a carrot. (this, too, is good).
• The USDA and the Bush administration have both proposed rules that would increase funding available for food aid recipients to buy fruits and vegetables, thereby encouraging poor people to eat more healthfully (a very, very good thing, although…)
• The way things are going, most of those purchases will likely be made with the debit card technology, meaning that farmers’ markets will could lose the business to corporate grocery stores. If that happens, then a bunch of those other benefits (strong local agriculture, decentralized food systems, healthier local economies, etc.) could get lost — and many of the small farms who are the backbone of the “real food, not processed junk” movement will be shut out.
• A solution would be to support small farms in such a way that they can join the 21st century with card-reading technologies (a boon to credit-card-wielding foodies, as well), and to continue to support small farms with what the article’s author calls “other ingenious projects to help small farmers thrive.”

Stepping outside the idea of policy and health for a moment, I also like the idea of having people of different backgrounds come together at farmers’ markets, because it means that people will come together as a community. As a community! Think about it. Most of us live on streets where everyone nearby earns roughly the same amount of money, has roughly the same “toys,” is in more-or-less the same lifestage. How often do we really come across people of vastly different means? Of vastly different educational backgrounds? Understanding where we are in a community — the wider community, where not everyone looks like us and drives the same car and thinks about things in the same way — helps to humanize us. And we could all do with a little more humanity.

So how about we all meet at the farmer’s market? Let the two Americas become one, and everyone become a little healthier. What do you say?

Soapbox over. Well, almost.

One other fact that the article mentions is that “only 56 percent of people eligible for food stamps get them, and most of those recipients don’t know that the stamps can be used at farmers’ markets. A reason often given for the great success of the WIC farmers’ market program is the nutrition education that comes with it.” Seriously? Only 56%? When it can help families buy food that wasn’t made by Popeye’s? I’m surprised. Or maybe not. I guess there’s a stigma there, that’s not there with the fast food meal. Which is a shame, especially when the food assistance can be used buying healthful foods that make our communities and our world a little better.

(might you be eligible for food assistance? In Massachusetts, where I know lots of you are located, the income eligibility is roughly $26,000 annual income for a family of 4, but I’m pretty sure that you can qualify during temporary periods — like after a baby is born, when you’re relying on just one income). You can find out where to call to learn more about food stamps here.

Okay, first: I’ve been a little distracted recently. Here’s why:

Her name is Hazel. She was rescued from a NYC shelter, and we agreed to foster her for a little while. We might decide to keep her. Don’t know if you can tell from this photo, but she looks like a drug dealer dog. Don’t let her looks fool you, though; she is goofy and friendly and a total spaz. If someone wanted her for protection, they’d be surely, soundly disappointed, for she is just a giant, licking love muffin. She may be beyond our ability to care for, though, as she might have some special health needs. We’re trying to figure that out, but in the meantime, she’s pretty darned loveable.

Anyhow, we’ve been eating more microwaved meals than I’m proud of. I’m surprised how tasty some of those microwaved meals can be, frankly. And I was very happy to discover this site (one of my competitors on the best food blog competition; have you voted for me yet? Please do. It would make my mother very proud). By the way: my rule for frozen dinners? They should contain only ingredients that can be easily recognized as food and which non-chemists can pronounce. And ingredients should never be followed by a number.

But I have managed to find some recipes that I want to try, because they fit my criteria of Meals I Feel Good About. Those criteria, if they’re not yet clear:

1. They can be made more or less from scratch (real ingredients!).

2. They don’t require ingredients that are too fancy or hard to find (for real people with realistic kitchen cabinets!).

3. They won’t be a complete flop if you don’t use the precise quantities of ingredients (for really lazy cooks like me!).

4. They can be made while a baby clings to your leg and a 5 year old goes running through the house shouting “look at me! look at me!” as she pulls tissues out of the box and throws them up in the air like confetti and a dog vomits in the corner (real simple, for the harried cook).

5. There must be a chance that your kids will eat them, or at least some easy variation of them.

These recipes meet those criteria. Here you go:

1. Kai’s Roasted Lemon Chicken and Green Beans. What I like about this recipe is that it gives you chicken, a vegetable, and a starch all in a single pan. Plus, it looks pretty easy. I’d make sure those potatoes are cut pretty small (or you’ll have overcooked green beans, or undercooked potatoes). The only thing that I might do to modify this is to add some of the Konriko Greek Seasoning that I’ve mentioned before (you can probably find it in your grocery store, but you can get a good look at it here).

2. Roasted Cauliflower, from the Blue Plate Special. She says it is “addicting as McDonald’s French fries and without the guilt. I refuse to understand why this dish isn’t on every menu in every restaurant all across the world. You just haven’t lived until you’ve eaten this dish. I don’t think I could put this any more plainly: make this. Tonight.” And it’s simple: just four ingredients, including salt and pepper. If you want a slightly more complicated, but still not too difficult version, try this one, which includes broth and white wine. Or, better yet, try ‘em both.

3. While you’re on the Simply Recipes site, checking out that more complicated recipe, you might want to make a variation of this three bean salad. We’re a big fan of beans in our household - Merrie eats them happily, they’re mighty inexpensive, and if they come from a can, they’re easy (I’ll say it again, though: rinse those beans before you use them, if you don’t want to be bloated and gassy). I like this recipe, because it feels like early summer today, and a bean salad seems like just the thing. I’ll probably set aside some of the bean salad without the onions for Merrie, though.

4. If you like risotto, but fear making it in your kitchen, check out This asparagus risotto, which Mark Bittman adopted from Mario Batali. I wouldn’t ordinarily put in a risotto recipe, but Bittman swears that you don’t have to stir this one the entire time. The ingredients are all ones that you can easily find, and it doesn’t seem terribly complicated. Plus, it features asparagus, which you might even be able to find in-season. This one is from the New York Times, so they might ask you to register (for free).

I’ll have more for you later, I promise. In the meantime, I’m going to go walk a huge, sweet, friendly, possibly-special-needs dog.