So, Thanksgiving has come and gone and now you are left with the aftermath.

The pounds of turkey and mashed potatoes, the cranberry sauce, the stuffing and the tighter feeling around your middle when you put on your pants.

While you know how to solve the latter issues, the real trick is what to do with all of those leftovers: Time for a pantry raid!

If you have been following Walla Walla Table since the beginning of the year and taking good notes you should have a well-stocked larder. One of the first things I reach for after the holidays is some serious comfort food, and for me that means Mexican.

Enchiladas are a favorite in my family. We love them, the kids love them and they are a fantastic way to use up leftovers. If you are not into making your own tortillas, good ones can be found in stores. You should have your ranchero sauce ready to go in your freezer, so this is a no brainer. Heat your sauce, dip the tortillas in for 20 to 30 seconds, add your turkey – cheese is optional – roll them up and place into a baking dish, cover with remaining sauce and cheese if desired, and bake for 20 minutes at 350. Voila! Dinner.

If you are feeling a bit adventurous, you can always add some of your stuffing into the center with the turkey. Feel free to add some ranchero sauce to your potatoes as well.

Turkey omelets are a bit passé for me, but if that is your thing, why not. What I REALLY like is Eggs Franklin (named for Ben Franklin, who wanted the national bird to be the turkey instead of the bald eagle). Basically it’s Eggs Benedict with turkey instead of Canadian bacon.

As for those leftover mashers, use them to make simple potato pancakes with a sour cream cranberry sauce instead of the traditional apple sauce (see recipe). For the sauce whole or mostly whole berry cranberry sauce or relish works best. I make mine with orange so there is already a good sour note to it. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of sour cream and stir. I like to add a little fresh ground pepper to mine.

Stuffing seems to be the one single item at my house that is never in short supply. Usually there is more left than we know what to do with.

Stuffing is basically a savory bread pudding, if you can look at it objectively. So make it so. To your stuffing you can add a savory custard and bake the whole shebang and serve with a sauce such as demi glace or a good reduction. You can even thin out your gravy and make a nice sauce as well. Consider adding some of the cranberry into this to add a nice sweet/acidic component.

Another option – and I realize it is nothing too adventurous – is to make Shepherd’s pie. Instead of lamb or the Americanized version using beef, just use up your turkey instead. You already have the mashers and probably some stock and gravy as well, so go for it. The kids love it and it keeps well and is easy to microwave the next day.

One of my other favorites is Hot Browns, made famous in the 1920s and most notably in Kentucky, where it originates. It started as late- night bar food meant to fill the belly and induce the “food coma” and help soak up the alcohol (ever wondered how Prohibition got started?) Basically it’s toast, turkey, Mornay sauce and bacon and tomato all served hot from the broiler (see recipe).

Cheers!

Mornay sauce

• 1 stick butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk, heated
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Nutmeg, freshly grated (optional)
• About 1 cup of cheese, Gruyere, Parmesan Reggiano or something tasty.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium flame. Add the flour and cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly until pale yellow and frothy, Do not allow the roux to brown. Slowly whisk in milk and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Allow to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. This is now called a béchamel sauce, and is one of the most basic and versatile of the mother sauces. Stir in the cheese and whisk until melted. If the sauce seems too thick, thin with a little milk. You now have a Mornay sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly. You may want to experiment with cheeses – a sharp cheddar can be fun, and so can adding a few different cheeses to make a more complex flavor.

Hot browns

While there are many different variations, this is pretty standard and includes some of my embellishments.

Toast. I like thick Texas style toast or good crusty baguette or batard for mine

Mornay sauce (see separate recipe).

Tomatoes, sliced or wedges. I like mine sliced thick, broiled and served alongside.

Bacon, several slices, thick and crispy. 2 slices per serving (or more if you are feeling particularly crazy, it is the holidays)

Turkey, sliced thin or shredded and a good amount.

Arrange bread on a baking sheet, brush with butter and toast in oven until lightly brown and slightly crisp. Add turkey and warm for a few minutes in the oven just to heat the turkey. Remove from sheet pan to plate, two pieces per. Add sauce garnish with bacon slice and tomatoes.

Potato pancakes

• Mashed potatoes
• 2 to 6 tablespoons of flour
• Cream
• Butter

Add about 1 tablespoon of flour to every two cups of mashed potatoes. In a saucepan heat cream to just warm and add ½ cup at a time to potatoes until you have a thick batter. If batter is too thin, add more flour or more potatoes. Heat butter to bubbling in a large non-stick skillet over medium flame. Add batter about 4 to 6 ounces at a time, just like pancake batter. Let brown on one side before turning. Cook through on opposite side and plate. Serve with apple sauce or cranberry sauce.

The best part about Thanksgiving is the turkey.

The worst part of Thanksgiving? The turkey.

It’s either dry and overcooked, or it’s spot on. The unfortunate thing is you never know what you are going to get, unless you have some know-how.

When I was a kid my mother did all of the major holidays, and she was really good at it. She would wake up at the crack of dawn and start cooking by 7 or 8 am. No joke. The turkey would cook all day. Most years it was really good, a few times we needed extra gravy … if you know what I mean.

When the time came for me to cook the turkey one year, I could not imagine myself standing in the kitchen all day long. So, like everything else I have ever done, I figured out a better way with this week’s recipe.

Cheers.

No-fuss perfect holiday bird

Here is what you are going to need, in no particular order:

• 2 half sheet pans, commonly called baking sheets.
• Roasting pan, about 2 inches deep, preferably with a rack.
• Paper towels
• Salt (kosher)
• Pepper (fresh ground — do this in an old coffee grinder and set aside in a pinch bowl)
• Ground sage, thyme, bay leaves, garlic powder
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Trifecta (onion, carrots, celery — rough chop on all, about 1 cup of each)
• Chicken stock
• Dry white wine (semillon or chardonnay)
• Flour
• Foil, whisk, wooden spoon, immersion blender, and most importantly a probe thermometer, preferably with a digital read out. Trust me this is THE most useful splurge you will ever make on things for your kitchen.

Rinse your bird in cold water inside and out. Remove giblets and “things” (yucky bits that are actually quite useful) and set aside in fridge to use later in stock for gravy. Set bird on one sheet pan and dry thoroughly, inside and out, with paper towels, changing frequently. Transfer to sheet the second sheet pan 2. Set your oven to 400-degrees F. Rub your bird down with olive oil on the outside. Season with salt and pepper liberally (see it’s not a bad word), inside and out, making sure to season the cavity. Once your oven is hot, transfer your turkey to the roasting pan rack; this will make it easier to remove later on. Insert your thermometer probe into the thickest part of the breast, being sure NOT to touch the bone. Set the temperature alarm for 161 degrees F. Make sure the probe wire is easily accessible so that you can plug it into the base. After about 15 to 20 minutes cover the entire breast only with foil to prevent it becoming overdone. Your turkey should reach optimal temperature in 2 to 3 hours, depending on the size of your bird. Don’t try to baste it; don’t try to fuss with it. Don’t even open the oven door to check on it, unless you smell burning. If you feel that it is cooking too fast and you want more time, reduce your oven temp to 350 degrees F. It’s that easy. Really. Just set the alarm and sit back and catch up on your beauty rest.

In a stock pot over medium flame heat some olive oil add your giblets and “things.” Brown evenly. Add your trifecta and brown, developing a nice color by not stirring too much. Add one clove of crushed garlic and two bay leaves. Add stock and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 30 minutes, at which point you may discard all of your solid matter leaving only a good rich stock. Remove from heat and let sit covered.

Once your temperature probe alarm in the bird reaches 161 degrees F., remove turkey from oven, then from the roasting pan and onto a platter or one of your cleaned sheet pans. Cover the entire thing with foil, being sure not to remove the probe thermometer. Let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes. In the roasting pan is all that great juice, fat and fond, which we are going to use right now to make gravy.

Remove the drippings from the roasting pan, especially the fat, into a 2- to 5-quart sauce pan, leaving any stuck on bits and solid matter. Begin heating stock over medium flame and, once simmering, lower to lowest setting and put a lid on it. Over a medium flame heat fat and juices and add about 2 tablespoons of flour, stirring with a wooden spoon to incorporate. Switch to your whisk and continue to stir flour with fat until all the lumps are gone, to make a roux. If there are still browned bits, not black, stuck on the roasting pan, deglaze with about 1 cup of wine and a wooden spoon. Reduce this by about a third to half and set aside. Once the roux is blonde and devoid of lumps (it should look like wet sand at first, then liquid and glossy) begin adding your deglaze from the roasting pan. Do this slowly so it won’t bubble up on you and possibly burn your skin. Once incorporated into roux, whisk to remove any lumps and lower flame to low/medium low. Begin adding stock. Once your gravy is at the correct consistency add sage, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. If it is too salty add stock and or wine or even a pinch of sugar. If it needs some acidity add wine. If gravy still is lumpy, use your immersion blender carefully to remove the lumps. If that fails run the whole thing through a fine chinoise (conical strainer) to remove the lumps.

At this point you are ready to go. Remove the probe and carve your bird carefully. By the way, it will not need the gravy — that’s for your mashed potatoes.

The closing of October marks the end of the Walla Walla Farmers’ Market for the year, so I made sure to attend the last Saturday market. It was a picture perfect autumn morning — brightly colored leaves, azure-blue sky and everyone dressed in warm hats and puffy jackets.

Off in the corner of the market, an old white truck had its tailgate down. Inside were beautiful giant green cabbages, larger than I had ever seen before. Alongside them lay gorgeous purple cauliflower, just as big and stunning.

“Better get some before they’re all gone!” Amiee, the market manager, told me.

I don’t know if you’ve ever actually cut up a cabbage and realized how a little bit goes a long way, but a standard grocery store cabbage in our house can last us a few weeks worth of soup, coleslaw and sauteing. And this guy, at least three times the size of a normal cabbage?! Well, I’d better have a plan for it before buying.

Then it came to me: I’ll make a batch of kimchi! Maybe some sauerkraut too!

Sure, a person can go out an buy jars of kimchi or sauerkraut, but a little lesson about the benefits of fermented vegetables will make you understand the difference between homemade and store-bought.

Before traditional canning methods, people in earlier times would preserve vegetables through the process of lacto-fermentation. Lacto-fermentation happens when the starches and sugars in vegetables and fruit convert to lactic acid with the help of a friendly bacteria called lactobacilli. They are found on the surface of all living things but they are especially prolific on the leaves and roots of plants growing in or near the ground.

The lactic acid they produce not only preserves vegetables and fruit perfectly, but also promotes the growth of healthy flora in the intestines. Kind of like yogurt. The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels, as well as producing helpful enzymes and antibiotic substances.

Lacto-fermentation is a craft that does not work well in industrialized manufacturing. Results are not always uniform or predictable. So mass manufacturing uses vinegar rather than a natural brining process, making a more acidic product that is not good in large quantities. Then they pasteurize it, killing off all the lactic-acid producing bacteria and robbing consumers of the beneficial effect on digestion and health.

Cultures around the world understand the importance of lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables and have made it a staple in their traditional diets. In Europe, the principle lacto-fermentated food is sauerkraut. In Russia and Poland one finds pickled green tomatoes, peppers and lettuces. In Korea, clay pots full of kimchi line kitchen terraces, as it the most common side dish of the country. In Japan, no meal is complete without a portion of pickled vegetable, be it radish, cucumber, turnip or carrot.

People in India traditionally ferment fruit with spices to make chutneys. Indonesians eat tempeh, a soy product, and in Africa people enjoy a porridge of fermented millet.

Even here in America, we have many types of relish — corn relish, cucumber relish, watermelon rind —all of which were no doubt originally lacto-fermentated products.

Scientists are mystified by the proliferation of new viruses and pathogens today. Even with today’s extreme sanitary practices, we have increase in intestinal parasites and maladies. Could it be that abandoning the ancient practice of lacto-fermentation and insistence in pasteurizing everything has compromised the health of our intestinal flora and made us vulnerable to a variety of pathogenic microorganisms?

Maybe. If so, a return to traditional ways of lacto-fermentation cannot hurt and might even be an answer. Give it a go and reap the benefits of a happy tummy.

If you aren’t as adventurous or just don’t have time or interest in making your own lacto-fermentated foods, there is hope. A local gentleman, Vince Booth is making lacto-fermented pickles, sauerkraut, and kimchi. His Booth’s Brine Co. products are available at Blue Valley Meats.

Or you can try including more active cultured dairy products into your diet. Yogurts, kefir, and raw milk all have active cultures and include similar benefits as those found in lacto-fermentated foods. Just make sure to read your labels to verify it says “active cultures”.

Lacto-fermented kimchi

• 1 roughly chopped head of napa cabbage
• 1 thinly sliced daikon
• 6 thinly sliced carrots

Add them to a large pot of salty water (brine). Let them sit, covered for a day.

After a day, removed the vegetables from the brine. Taste to test saltiness. If it’s too salty, rinse.

Then, puree together:

• 1 good size chunk of ginger
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch of green onion
• 1/4 cup red chili flakes
• 3 tablespoons whey (optional)
• A few squirts of fish sauce

Add this paste to the drained veggies and incorporate fully. Pack into sterilized mason jars and press down until the juices came to the top. Try to keep all vegetables under the brine. Cover with a plastic locking bag, press down, and place a smaller jar on top of the plastic inside the vegetable container. Fill the smaller jar with water to weigh down the vegetables. Let sit for a week, checking on them occasionally to change the water and pack the vegetables down a little more. At the end of the week, lid them and put in fridge. It will keep for many months.

After reading the last installment of the Walla Walla Table, a friend commented that she loved the article but now felt guilty about what she had been doing for her kid’s school lunches. This is always my fear, that someone will feel that I am calling them out on things. Well, I kind of am, but in a positive way (I hope). I promise to not raise problems that I do not have a solution to, if you promise to not take things too seriously. It’s just food, people.

I promised some better suggestions for your kid’s lunch, so here we go with several recipes that will allow you to create better choices and save yourself time and frustration in coming weeks.

First question: Does it have to be a sandwich? Sandwiches are very popular lunch items as you can usually eat them on the go with no utensils required. And that means there are no utensils for kids to lose. Isn’t that why we are afraid of giving our kids utensils? Then again, giving kids a bit more responsibility — like making them responsible for bringing eating utensils back home — can open up a wider array of lunches you can send them off to school with. Go to the second hand store and let them pick out a knife, fork and spoon, and make them pay for it. Their money, they will tend to be more responsible. If they lose a utensil, they get to buy another one with THEIR money again. Trust me, a few purchases will solve any forgetful child’s issues. ‘Nuff said.

We all get in that rut of not knowing what to make for our kids’ lunch, but usually the answer is so easy that it is too obvious. Leftovers. You don’t have to do what you did last night, but leftovers are a great way to get your kids to eat a better variety of foods than just sandwiches. And just to be clear a “wrap” is just a sandwich by another name. Soups, stews, pastas, salads and even proteins are great the next day, assuming proper storage and handling at the home kitchen. More on this another time.

Last go-round I gave you the simple vinaigrette recipe. Great on veggies, meats and salads. And even on couscous, a simple wheat pasta that is usually steamed or boiled and common in North Africa. It is a pasta, so note it has a good amount of carbs in it, but you can mix a bit with the vinaigrette and serve it cold like a salad, and it’s great with garden cherry tomatoes.

If your kids will eat the vinaigrette then you are golden. There are many different riffs you can use that on and embellish and improve upon as you wish.

For an Asian flavor, add sesame oil and Chinese black vinegar in place of olive oil and wine vinegar. This is great on a simple salad of grated carrots, thinly sliced mushrooms and cucumber. Add toasted sesame seeds and you have something very fun that almost any kid will eat.

Or take a boiled piece of chicken, let it cool, slice thin and toss it in the vinaigrette. Serve with some fresh sliced tomatoes from the garden while we still have them. Better yet, toss the tomatoes first, and the tomato water that collects in the bowl will add to the flavor, then toss the boiled chicken with that.

When you have to make sandwiches, don’t be afraid to reach into the “way back” machine for some great classics. I made my daughter egg salad one day, and when she asked what she was getting for lunch I heard the “eww gross” and “I don’t want that.” (Yes, it happens to me, too.) But when she got home she asked if she could have egg salad again tomorrow.

If you have a “Fancy Nancy” fan, how about high tea sandwiches? A little cream cheese and cucumber slices fancy things up a bit, frilly toothpicks and all. In this case, playing with your food is acceptable. But again, moderation and variation is the key, diversity is a good thing.

Fruit is a great one to experiment with. Fresh pineapple, mangoes, kiwi. We had a babysitter who’d never eaten kiwi until I offered it to her. Said it was one of the best things she ever ate. Papaya, guava when you can find them. There are many different kinds of apples and pears coming on right now, too.

There are many places to buy local ingredients, many straight from producers listed at wallawallafarmmap.com . For eggs there is Andy’s Market, Salumiere Cesario, and local co-op programs. For Asian ingredients, most supermarkets carry some but the Asia Oriental Store on Isaacs Avenue has a good selection of hard to find items. Good bread made by human hands is readily available at John’s Wheatland Bakery and the Walla Walla Bread Co. Pickles and relish made from locally raised cucumbers and naturally fermented can be obtained at Salumiere Cesario, I hear they have good peanut butter, too. …

Don’t be afraid to try something new. If you don’t, your kids won’t either.

Cheers.

Classic Egg Salad

• 6 hard boiled eggs
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of pickle relish (sour or “dill,” not sweet)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Put fresh eggs in pot with cold water, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 to 20 minutes. Remove to an ice water bath and let cool. Chop and mashed with a fork. In a bowl combine all ingredients and mix together thoroughly, taste. Adjust seasoning if necessary. To this you can add celery or whatever else you fancy, just no sugar please.

Couscous

• About 2 quarts of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 medium onion, diced
• Couscous. I prefer the hand rolled to the machine cut you find at supermarkets

In a stock pot heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil medium/high heat, add onion (you should hear the sizzle). Sauté onion until translucent. Add stock and bring to a boil, covered. Once a good boil is achieved, reduce to simmer and add couscous in a stream through your fist until you have added about 2 cups worth, whisking the whole time. Reduce heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally until couscous has soaked up the stock. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Great with dinner hot, or let cool, add vinaigrette and serve as a cold pasta salad. Garnish with whimsy.

Tea Sandwiches

• Good bread (do not settle for the squishy soft, over-processed, mass-produced stuff), sliced, crusts removed if you must.
• Cream cheese or, even better, fresh goat cheese.
• Cucumber, English or common, peeled and thinly sliced. (Tip: split lengthwise and cut rather than trying to keep it from rolling while slicing.)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Dry the bread a bit by toasting it gently in the oven or toaster on the lowest setting. Bring cheese to near room temperature and blend together with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to soften. If the bread is soft and the cheese is cold you ain’t gonna have no fancy sandwiches, just a big mess. Spread toasted bread with cheese and layer on cucumber slices. Season with salt and pepper. Feel free to cut into cute shapes and such. This recipe can be adapted to many things, including blanched asparagus and prosciutto, or quick blanched green beans and prosciutto — whatever your little ones will eat, just be creative and get them to taste it, too.

Stepping outside this morning, ready to walk the kids to school, I felt a chill in the air and had to run back inside to get a jacket.

The first day of fall is right around the corner, and with it comes cooler weather and a new season of produce. Every year at this time, I begin to look forward to the new crop of apples, winter squash and pears.

Cold weather makes me crave warm soups and hearty dishes, something I wouldn’t have dreamed of in the peak of summer heat.

But there is a bittersweetness to the change: I will miss the summer produce, sweet and delicious from the heat of the sun.

Walking through the community garden, I see tomato plants as tall as I am, so full the cages can no longer manage the weight of the juicy bounty. More than enough for the gardeners, some overripe tomatoes fall to the ground.

In my garden bed, I have more crookneck squash than I know what to do with. I can’t seem to give it away; most everyone else is swimming in squash.

But I don’t want to take my harvest for granted and let it rot on the garden floor. I want to enjoy my produce past the sunny days of summer into and through the cold gray days of winter.

So this year, I’m looking at stocking my pantry with canning jars of my summer overabundance. Pickled green beans, zucchini salsa, chow chow, bread and butter pickles, antipasto relish and canned tomatoes are among items I hope to make.

With the thoughts of a stocked pantry, I feel ready to accept the fall produce with open arms. Apples -crisp, juicy and delicious – perfect for an anytime snack, packed in the kids’ lunch or baked into a pie.

If you pay much attention to apple season, you will notice that at a certain point during the year the only apples available are coming from far away countries like Chile and New Zealand. It just doesn’t make sense to me to buy apples at that time of the year, when they are being shipped so far. If we’re patient for a bit longer we can have locally grown apples, without the dirty carbon footprint of shipping across the world. Hence our excitement when fall apple season rolls around.

Not only apples, but autumn yields squash, pears, grapes, figs, pomegranates, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and cauliflower. Mother nature really knows what she’s doing as these wonderful produce items are all very warming and hearty, perfect for those chilly evenings. Baked, filled, sauteed or roasted to pull the sweetness out of them, fall vegetables make a lovely addition to the seasonal dinner table.

This week, I will pull out our summer garden to replace it with a fall/winter garden. I will harvest the last of the tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers and potatoes, and replacing them with foods that flourish in the cooler fall months: winter squash, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, chard, kale, kohlrabi and carrots.

The carrots, kale, chard and maybe kohlrabi will winter over well and can last us through the freezing months. Lucky to have a space to grow our own produce, it connects me to the seasons even more, getting my hands dirty and clueing me into what grows when.

The change of season is an important road marker along our path through the year. It becomes something predictable, something that we can look forward year after year and remind us of years past. Each year I meet it with melancholy, for the good times coming to an end as well as anticipation for what is soon to come.

Consider canning some of the remaining summer produce, planting your own fall garden, or maybe freezing some summer fruit. In dreary January, you’ll be happy you did.

Canned Zucchini Salsa

• 5 cups zucchini, peeled & shredded
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 green peppers, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1/8 cup pickling salt
• 1/2 tablespoon pickling salt
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 1/2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes

The day before, combine zucchini, onions, green pepper, red pepper and the salt in a large bowl. Mix together, cover and let stand overnight.

The next day, rinse, drain well and put into a large pot. Add mustard, garlic, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper flakes, salt, pepper and tomatoes.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Pour into sterilized jar and seal.

Water bath jars for 15 minutes if they have not sealed properly

Now that the kids are back in class, so are school lunches.

If you are a parent who makes your child’s lunch, bravo to you. And if you are a parent who wants to ensure your child eats a well-rounded meal with actual hot foods and pays for school lunches, bravo to you, too.

But there are a few things you should know about what it is that your kids are actually eating.

School lunches might as well be fast food, and for all intents and purposes, they are. It’s not the fault of the kitchen workers in our schools. It’s our fault, collectively, for allowing someone else to manage what our kids eat. Institutionalized, highly processed chicken nuggets, hot dogs and hamburgers, corn dogs, nachos and flavored milk with the much needed added sugar are the norm. And if you think that what you are putting into your kid’s “homemade” lunch is any better, think again.

Most of your supermarket “deli” meats or cold cuts are full of nitrites, corn sweeteners and freakishly high levels of sodium and fats, even beyond what is common in cured meats. See our blog www.thegrocersbag.blogspot.com for more info and ingredients on items you buy.

A typical lunch at my kid’s elementary school in Walla Walla has between 800 and 1,000 calories. Twenty percent of that is from fats, and not necessarily “good” fats. Sodium levels are more than 200 percent of recommended daily value in one meal, and if your kid also eats breakfast at school, watch out.

There is plenty of information out there if you want to do the research. The choices are yours to make. I’m here to offer ways to help you ensure your kids are getting proper nutrition and something tasty to eat during the school day.

So what can you do make lunches that are both nutritionally sound and actually eaten? Ask your children what they would want; you’ll probably be surprised by the answers. Then, take their “not so good” answers (chocolate cake, cookies, french fries) and drop those into the once- or twice-a-month category. Then look at things they suggested that make sense and use those: carrots, fruit and foods that are nutritionally dense but without the extra sugar, fat and salt. Finally, plan your kids’ lunches in a way that makes sense following some simple rules:

• Fill their tanks in the morning, not at night. Body metabolism regulates how much “fuel” is used up during the day. Those with a faster metabolism require more fuel (think gas guzzler engine) to get through the day than those with a slower metabolism (think fuel efficient engine). If a person gets 40 percent of his or her calories in the morning, 40 percent at lunch and 20 percent at dinner, the body will begin to regulate itself better (and you might actually see some weight loss, adults). Remember after dinner your biggest activity is sleeping for the next six to eight hours.
• Carbohydrates are complex sugar molecules the body breaks down into usable sugars for muscle fuel. Too many carbs can lead to a buildup of blood sugars or in the body — stored as fat — and can also cause insulin production to falter and possibly lead to diabetes. Carbohydrates combined with fats is the double whammy; think french fries, great once in a while but disastrous on a regular basis.
• Condiments should be used sparingly. They alter perception of flavors and add sugar, fat and salt in large quantities. Ketchup is high in sugar. Ranch dressing is heavy with fat. Salt, obviously, is mostly sodium.
• Remember that institutional foods rely on adding fat and salt to compensate for lack of flavor. Processed lunch meats should be treated like cookies and such, once or twice a month. Don’t assume that just because the package says “Turkey” that it was raised or processed in a way that would make you want to eat it. Smoked products have higher levels of carcinogens than non-smoked products. Skip the lunchables and boxed drinks.

So what’s left?

The best solution is to have a good menu plan set up. I know, it’s extra work, but here are examples:

• Monday — Cold steak sandwich from Sunday night’s steak. Garden fresh tomatoes or good cherry tomatoes. Fresh fruit. Carrots or celery with or without peanut butter.
• Tuesday — Cold pasta is a great lunch option, or it can be kept hot for hours if you have a thermos. Small salad with some quick vinaigrette on the side.
• Wednesday — Give them something they like, like a peanut butter and jelly or bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Include some veggies like carrots or celery, and something fun like popcorn, homemade, not microwave.
• Thursday — Again go with something from the leftovers drawer. Hot or cold it breaks up the monotony of sandwiches. Include something unusual like kiwi or mango as a treat.
• Friday — Knowing chances of having fast food is going to increase on the weekend, plan accordingly. Great day to add more veggies (cucumbers, bell peppers) and other foods (hummus, couscous) into the diet, even things like cheese, but not the overprocessed kinds.

Some things to avoid: Anything labeled “low fat” is an indicator the manufacturer might be trying to get one over on you. Also be wary of “Sugar Free”; chances are the items contain things worse than sugar to compensate for sweetness or flavor. Read the labels, and do the research. Knowledge is your best weapon.

Cheers.

Simple vinaigrette for salads and veggies

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of 2 or so lemons
• Salt and pepper

Wisk all ingredients together and taste for balance of flavors. Have you kid taste it, too; if they don’t like it they won’t eat it.

Chicken salad

• About 5 pounds of chicken thighs, on the bone, with skin.
• Mayonnaise, making your own is the best but there are good ones on super market shelves.
• Dijon mustard.
• 1 Apple, preferably Pink Lady or a suitably tart variety, diced (1/16-inch cube brunoise is best)
• 1 Walla Walla Sweet Onion, diced like apple
• 4 stalks of celery, diced as above
• Apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• Garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Boil chicken with bones and skin in a large stock pot with 2 tbsp. of garlic powder for about one hour until chicken is falling off the bone. Remove chicken, cool, then  shred into small pieces, saving skin and bones separately to use this again in your next stock (see note).  Combine chicken with 2 tbsp. mayo, 1 tsp Dijon, apples, onion and celery. In a small mixing bowl add sugar to vinegar and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Taste, if too sweet add vinegar, if too acidic add a bit more sugar. Add this 1 tbsp. at a time to chicken, tasting until flavor is where you want it. Makes a large portion of salad and will keep for several days to a week.

Note: Reserve stock broth and add bones and skin to make soup later. Just roast bones at 200 F until lightly browned, or brown them on the stove top in your stock pot with the skins.

What I am talking about is the beautiful bounty of summer stone fruits that should be hitting your local farmers’ markets soon.

When I was a kid I LOVED summer. Long days, no school and all the great things in the world to eat. We had several fruit trees at our house where I grew up. The peach tree was my favorite. Peaches the size of softballs (really) and amazingly juicy and sweet.

My dad and I would wait with anticipation all year long for the peaches to grow. Then came the torture. Day after day of waiting until they were ripe. Really ripe. It was a game. We would go out there and I always thought they were ready, and my dad would always say, “Nope not yet. I think we need to give ‘em a few more days.” It killed me. I wanted to eat that darn thing NOW.

Finally, I would walk out one day and gently squeeze one to see if it was just soft to the touch, and the peach would fall off into my hand. I freaked. I thought my dad was going to kill me for picking it early. I ran inside washed it off and waited for him to get home from work.

I explained what happened and he would give me that straight face. “Well, you can’t put it back on that tree now, can you?” He’d cut it open, juice running everywhere and hand me half. HEAVEN. So sweet and juicy. It would drench the front of my shirt just trying to eat it.

That tree eventually died as did the others, sad days for me. But I did managed to get burned in my mind how good a real tree-ripened peach, nectarine and apricot could be.

Now I have a peach tree of my own that produces a lot of fruit. But the birds usually are not as patient as my father taught me to be. Neither is my dog. He likes to hit the tree with his paws to make them drop and eats them green.

So the few I get are great, almost as good as the old tree but not quite as big. I love sharing them with my kids (and I think they enjoy it, too).

So other than the obvious just eating them straight from the tree — I love picking them on a hot day, when the flesh is still warm from the midday sun — what can you do with stone fruits you haven’t thought of before?

Well, there are many of you who have learned to grill them as a dessert, but there are many other applications. One is homemade preserves or just plain canning. There is something about a proper peach in the dead of winter that makes those bleak days seem more bearable. And let’s face it, you can buy the stuff from the supermarket, laden with preservatives and stabilizers and such things, or you can just make your own. And parents, what would you rather feed your kids, something honest or something preserved and stabilized? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

So for those of you who have never done canning, my suggestion is to get friends together and have a canning party. Great fun and a great way to tackle a big project and even share some of your excess. And who knows, your friends might have access to great fruits that you don’t.

There are many recipes out there for canning. I will share some of the basics but I encourage you to do your own research as there is no one right way.

The initial outlay for equipment is maybe $50 including lids and jars (which are reusable, the lids aren’t). The only catch is it’s a lot of prep work and some hot steamy business invoving boiling water. Other than that it’s easy and pretty fun. I did it back in my tiny apartment in college when I was dirt poor, so you should have no problem in your home. All of these recipes can be adapted to whatever stone fruits you have, just remember to check your flavor before finishing. Cheers.

Home canning essentials

What you will need:

1 large pot, paring knife, boiling water, ice bath, canning jars and lids, a large non-reactive bowl (glass is good), sugar, water, citric acid or lemon juice, peaches or other fruit. Grabbers for jars and lids. 

With your paring knife, mark a small X on the bottom of each fruit. Place fruit into boiling water for 30 seconds and remove to ice bath. Repeat for all fruits. Remove skin (it should just slide off). Cut peaches into size you want. I like halves. Into your non-reactive bowl add peaches and liquid (see note below for liquid). Assuming that you need about five or so peaches to fill a quart jar, adjust your measurements to fit your needs. Set aside your fruit. Your jars will need to be sterilized as will your lids, you can do this in your dishwasher or you can process your equipment in rapidly boiling water — 10 minutes for jars, five minutes for lids — then remove to a clean kitchen towel to dry and cool, opening down. Fill jars with fruit — it’s best to use a canning funnel here — and top with liquid. Wipe rim. Add lids, screw on tight but not over tight. Process full jars to seal them by immersing them for 15 to 30 minutes in boiling water.

For liquid: Combine water, citric acid and just a bit of sugar, usually 2 cups of sugar to 6 cups of water with ¼ cup citric. Set over low heat and once all solids are dissolved, remove liquid and cool. Make this one day ahead to save some time. This will make a bit over 7 cups of liquid.

••• 

Peach preserves/jam

So what IS the difference between jam, jelly, preserves and all that? That is a later episode. For now, here is what we are after: that summer goodness you can spread on toast, muffins, scones or even use as a pie filling in a pinch.

Peaches for however much you want to make, skins removed and cut into ½-inch pieces or smaller, depending on how chunky you want it. Into a large heavy bottom stock pot add your fruit and set over a medium to medium-low flame so as not to burn your fruit. Once the fruit begins to soften it will release its liquid. Once it boils add sugar, usually a half to 1 cup of sugar for every pound of fruit. I like mine less sweet. I usually add a bit of citric or lemon juice to the party to keep it lively. Reduce heat to low. Once sugar has dissolved remove from heat and cool slightly. Add to jars as above and process as before. Feel free to add cinnamon or cloves or whatever to your preserves. I like mine plain, but it’s your party, go nuts.

•••

Stone Fruit Chutney 

• Peaches or other stone fruit with skin removed, cut to medium dice, about 3 cups.
• ½ med. Walla Walla Sweet Onion, fine dice.
• 1 clove of garlic, mashed.
• 1 tsp. grated or finely chopped ginger.
• Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Optional items: coriander seed, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, Dijon mustard.

In a large, wide sauce or sauté pan over medium flame add olive oil and onion. Sauté until translucent, add garlic and ginger until soft. Add peaches. When peaches give off liquid and begin to simmer, add a few turns of pepper and salt to taste. If it is too thick add some stock, chicken or light veggie stock. At this point you can add the optional mustard and ground spices to your heart’s desire. Even a little lime juice to brighten the flavor wouldn’t hurt. Remove from heat, cool and store up to two weeks. I like to make it a day ahead so the flavors marry a bit better. When reheating make sure to taste before serving and adjust as necessary.

This is great with pork, lamb or chicken. Yes, you could do it with beef, but isn’t that just kinda wrong?

Who wants to cook — especially when it’s 100 degrees outside?

Not that we have been having a heat wave (I’m not complaining, 85 degrees is fine by me), but when it’s still light out till 9 at night and warm, who really wants to spend hours in the kitchen getting a big meal ready?

Not me. I want to get out and enjoy it. So I have several recipes I keep on hand for those times when I need something quick or just a night without the stove or oven on.

Italians –and many other immigrants for that matter — are very frugal people, especially the Italian immigrants who helped settle the Walla Walla Valley.

Let’s face it, the onion is a very humble vegetable and so are those who farm them. It is only fitting that those who have little save much and know how to use up every last ounce of goodness from something.

How many of you remember being taught how to peel an apple or potato? Do you remember being taught to keep the peel really thin so you could almost see through it? Do you remember what happened when you didn’t?

Well, I do and our punishment was a thinner slice of pie or a smaller helping of potatoes.

I remember my grandfather saying to me, “Well, if there had been just a little bit more apple in that pie you could have had a bit more, but we have to make it go around.

Each time I worked a bit harder on making sure I got that peel nice and thin.

So I am going to share with you some great recipes that will make your life that much easier when you just don’t want that stove on.

Parents, you can get your kids involved in the meal preparation this way as well. Studies have found that kids who prepare their own food are less likely to go “ewww, gross!” to whatever it is you put in front of them.

Who remembers our pantry list from a few months ago? We are going to be using up some things from your larder this week so get ready. We are also going to show you how to use up those “lost” items that would otherwise be added to the compost or trash.

One of our first recipes is for Panzanella, or bread salad. This is one of those recipes that just makes sense. Using up your old crusty dried out baguette or batard that you might otherwise toss, and scraps from the pantry and garden to make something really special.

I love a good bread salad in the dog days of summer with a great dry rose. It just makes it all worthwhile. A salad from left over steak and potatoes is another dog-day favorite. They can be combined easily with a vinaigrette and some other garden veggies.

Cheers.

Steak and potato salad

• 4 to 6 oz. cooked cold steak, sliced thin.
• 8 (or so) medium Yukon gold or other waxy potatoes, boiled and cooled. I prefer the ones left over from last night’s dinner.
• 1/2 Walla Walla Sweet Onion, medium diced.

Here’s where it gets complicated. You can combine the ingredients and toss with a vinaigrette — extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice is my favorite — a little salt and pepper and you are set. Add arugula or other lettuce, whatever you want. This will be light enough for “salad” and still have enough meat to satisfy your local carnivore. I usually like to embellish mine with cherry tomatoes, chives or green onions and garden lettuce, usually arugula.

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of two lemons, seeds and pulp removed
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Panzanella (Tuscan bread salad)

• 1 loaf of 3- to 7-day-old crusty artisan bread. (Italian, French or sourdough). Cut or broken into half-inch pieces.
• 4 tbsp. capers, preferably packed in salt, rinsed.
• 3 cloves garlic, mashed and minced.
• 1 bunch Italian parsley.
• ¼ cup caperberries, stems removed
• ½ onion (the sweeter the better) finely diced
• 1 Meyer lemon, for juice and zest.
• ¼ lb. arugula
• 4 to 5 tomatoes, the best you can find, chopped.
• 1 cucumber, peeled seeded (optional), chopped
• ½ cup olives, (nicoise, picholine, lucques, work well), pitted and roughly chopped.
• Extra virgin olive oil, preferably olio nuevo.
• Red wine vinegar, (the best you can find)
• Balsmic vinegar, condiment style (thick syrupy and sweet).

Soak bread pieces in water for two minutes. Drain and squeeze out excess water, set bread aside in large mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients except lemon, oil and vinegars. Combine ingredients in bowl thoroughly. Add olive oil until all ingredients are lightly coated. Add 1/8 cup red wine vinegar and mix again (add more vinegar if necessary to taste). Juice the lemon into salad and add 2 tsp. of zest (finely chopped) and mix. Add pepper and salt to taste. Drizzle with condiment style balsamic just prior to serving. Makes 8 servings.

This recipe can be embellished as you see fit. Try experimenting with other items that are sitting in your fridge or pantry — bits of salami, cheese, other vegetables (radishes, celery, herbs). Don’t be afraid to experiment when you cook, but don’t experiment on your guests!

My bookshelves are stuffed full of cookbooks, many of them expressly devoted to baking. And yet, for a few years now, I haven’t been able to find a recipe among them for a really classic coffee cake, the kind you imagine women sharing over afternoon coffee in the kitchen, while their children play and their husbands are away at work. I didn’t want some fancy coffee cake with all kinds of crazy fruit or flavors like cardamom or Chinese five-spice powder. I wanted something that would reach that Platonic ideal of coffee cake flavor, something moist and dense and just a little bit hinted with cinnamon. But search as I might, I couldn’t find just the recipe I was looking for.

Over Thanksgiving, my aunt Cathie handed me an old tin recipe box full of yellowing index cards. These recipes were my Grandma’s, a woman who died years before I was born, and in that tin box was the exact recipe for coffee cake I’ve been looking for. It’s simple, but full of flavor. Even better, it’s easy enough to make that you can always have a dish ready in case a friend decides to drop by at the last minute, for a cup of coffee and some gossip.

I made these as miniature coffee cakes, to give away as gifts, and they were just as delicious as a full pan. If you do make them in smaller pans, they will need to bake for a bit less time. You’ll want to fill the miniature pans only half full, because the cake rises in the oven and will spill right over the top of the pans if you’re not careful.

Grandma Joan’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake

For the cake

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (Grandma’s recipe calls for margarine, but I much prefer real butter)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (Grandma calls for cake flour, but I never have that on hand, and all purpose works just fine)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the topping

Cream together the butter and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Stir in the sour cream and the vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. Add the flour to the creamed butter mixture, mixing until smooth.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 inch by 8 inch baking pan, and pour the batter into the pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Stir together the cinnamon, the remaining two tablespoons of sugar, and the walnuts. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the batter in the pan, and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean.

Let cool and serve, preferably with a cup of coffee and a side of conversation.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 pound of elbow macaroni or penne pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (choose something flavorful—Monterey Jack or Mozzarella aren’t going to be your best options here)
• a pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs

Bring a large pot of water to boil, and cook the pasta. If you’re going to bake your macaroni, don’t cook the pasta all the way; drain it a minute or two before you would normally, and it’ll continue to cook in the oven. Otherwise, cook the pasta until it’s al dente, then drain.

In a small saucepan or a microwave-proof bowl, mix the cream and milk. Heat on the stove or in the microwave until it’s warm to the touch, then set aside.

Put the pasta pot back on the stove, and melt the olive oil and butter together over medium heat. Add the shallot and saute for about three minutes, or just until it softens and begins to become translucent. Add the garlic and the dried herbs, and saute for another 30 seconds. Then sprinkle the flour over the garlic and shallot mixture, and use a whisk to quickly blend the the flour into the melted butter and oil. Whisk until you have a smooth paste, and cook for a minute or two, whisking continually, until the mixture (which is called a roux) begins to lightly brown and smell a bit nutty.

Slowly whisk in the milk and cream, stirring continuously. Keep whisking until the sauce is warm through and just beginning to boil, then whisk in the cheese. Keep whisking until the cheese is melted and the sauce is thickened. Add salt to taste, then stir in the drained noodles.

You can serve it just like that, and it will be creamy and rich and delicious. If you’d like to bake the mac and cheese for added crunch, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the mac and cheese out in a baking dish, and sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs. Bake the mac and cheese for about 20 minutes, then finish it off under the broiler for about three minutes to brown the breadcrumbs.

We are smack in the middle of squash season, without question. They are overflowing in the produce departments of every grocery store in town, and if you’re lucky, you still have a few leftover from a late summer harvest. I love winter squash because they keep so well, and can provide a nice reminder of summer, when things weren’t frozen and vegetables came out of the ground, rather than from the supermarket. However, finding something new to do with winter squash can be challenging. Most of the time I turn to the tried and true: They end up stuffed, baked, or pureed into a soup. But I started to get bored with these options, and I wanted to try something new.

I’ll admit, when I first started making this, I really wasn’t sure it was going to be any good. But it is. It is wonderful. Using pureed squash as a sauce gives the pasta that creamy comfort food feeling, but is much lighter than your standard Alfredo sauce. The sliced almonds give the dish texture and crunch, and the tomatoes brighten the whole thing. Good tomatoes, of course, aren’t very easy to come by in the middle of December. I hate to use fresh tomatoes in winter because their flavorlessness is just so disappointing. Winter is the reason sun-dried tomatoes were invented. I actually used had some oven-roasted summer tomatoes in my freezer and I used those, but if you don’t have them on hand, you can use sun-dried tomatoes. Oil packed will work best, but if you have dried, they’ll work fine. Just soften them first by soaking them in very hot water for about 20 minutes.

This recipe is one I know I’ll come back to again and again this winter. It’s fast and easy, and is a unique way to liven up occasionally tedious winter vegetables. The only part that can be a bit time consuming is roasting the squash, but it can be done ahead. Which also makes this recipe a great use for leftover roasted squash.

Winter Squash and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

• 1 medium winter squash, like acorn, butternut, or kuri squash
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of Boursin cheese, or another soft, garlicky cheese like Alouette
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 box of whole wheat penne pasta
• a handful of slivered almonds

First, you have to prepare the squash. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice the squash in half and remove the seeds. Place the squash, cut side down, in a roasting dish filled with about an inch of water. Roast the squash for about 40 minutes, or until it’s soft and easy to puree. Once it’s soft, remove the squash and let it cool off before you scrape the squash out of the shell. If you need to, use a blender to puree it, but the squash should be soft enough to mash with a fork. You can easily do this ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready.

Put a large pot of water on to boil, and cook the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, make the squash sauce. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet, and add the chopped garlic. Saute for about 30 seconds, then stir in the tomatoes. Saute the tomatoes and garlic together for about five minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft and warm through. Then stir in the squash puree, and about a quarter cup of water from the pasta pot. Stir the mixture until the squash sauce is smooth. You can add more or less water to reach a texture you like.

Stir in the Boursin cheese and mix well, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Drain the pasta and stir it into the squash sauce. Serve garnished with sliced almonds.