Summertime, and the living is eas(ier)
Somehow, it’s summer! Naturally, I’ve moved from complaining about bad weather to complaining about the heat, but other than that, it’s amazing how much better life is in this season. Entertaining a toddler is infinitely easier when you have a splash pad or a water table around, and the start of our weekly summer CSA from Red Fire Farm provides ample kitchen inspiration. And while this isn’t seasonally linked (in the calendar sense, anyway) I’m really enjoying this current phase of parenting. Diana talks more and more every day, has a burgeoning sense of humor, and is usually game for a cuddle on the couch with a good book. Yes, there are more tantrums (and I’m re-reading The Tantrum Survival Guide as a coping mechanism), but the frequent sparks of pure joy far outweigh the tough moments.
What we’re eating:
Potato chip fish with homemade tartar sauce. I used a piece of cod loin from New Deal Fish Market which was thicker and took a bit longer to cook through, but tasted amazing. Diana doesn’t like spice yet (boo) so we did the traditional tartar sauce, using yogurt instead of mayo, and she LOVED it. I served it with shelled edamame that I’d boiled and stick blended with some olive oil and salt, for a slightly higher-protein riff on fish and mushy peas.
Cottage cheese muffins.These are a one-bowl situation and very fast to pull together, especially if you use the dregs of a bag of Trader Joe’s pizza cheese blend in lieu of grating parmesan. I was skeptical of how almond flour would work in a savory situation but I couldn’t even tell! Don’t bother using the Good Culture type fancy stuff here, I used 365 brand full fat cottage cheese. If you have silicon muffin molds, definitely use them, but otherwise make sure to spray paper liners well as they stick!
Pad ka prao. It’s basil season, baby, and that means my favorite fast dinner is back in rotation! You can use any ground meat, we usually do beef, and while you should absolutely use holy basil if you can find it, Thai or regular Italian basil is still great. I leave out the chillies these days because toddler.
Shrimp scampi. Having a bag of frozen shrimp around is now non-negotiable; when I am in need of emergency protein I just defrost a bunch in some cold water (break it up with your hands after 5m or so, pour out the water, refill with more cold water, and it takes all of 10 minutes.) I reliably have the rest of the ingredients (lemon, butter, garlic, parsley desirable but not crucial) around and things pull together so fast.
Zucchini basil pasta. Another summer must-do - it’s a one pot dish and so creamy and satisfying! I just grate the zucchini and use more if I have it, and never both with the almond gremolata on top.
Pork tenderloin piccata. I have never piccata’d pork before but this turned out beautifully! The lemon-caper sauce cut nicely through the fatty pork flavor and the whole thing took barely any time at all.
Avocado chocolate mousse. Don’t let the avocado put you off; it basically subs in for the eggs and fat in regular chocolate mousse and you can’t taste it in the final product. Also, this takes like 5 minutes total to make in a blender! We used maple syrup and coconut milk because that’s what we had, and Diana LOVED it.
Soba noodle salad with tahini dressing. The original recipe calls for peanut butter, but since we’re managing a peanut allergy we swap it out for an equal amount of tahini and it’s great. Tossing in some cooked shelled edamame is an easy protein and color boost! If you are lucky enough to have access to good yuba, you can slice some up and use it to replace some of the noodles to delicious effect. (Pro tip: I’ve managed to find the Hodo yuba I loved buying fresh in SF via Weee! - thanks Vivian for the rec!)
Zucchini tofu fritters. The other day I found myself with no protein options but a block of firm tofu, and on a whim googled around and found this recipe. Turkish zucchini fritters (mücver) are one of my favorite foods so I was wary of how this would turn out, but they were delicious! Chickpea flour gives them a pakora vibe, which is always appreciated.
Okonomiyaki is a necessity whenever our CSA has Napa cabbage. You can be a little flexible about the batter here; in my last attempt, I added in a grated zucchini and doubled the eggs for a little more heft, and chopped, cooked and stirred in the bacon. I usually don’t have katsubuoshi or beni-shoga around so I just leave them out, though they’re excellent inclusions if you have them; I will say that keeping a little bag of instant dashi in the fridge is a very good life choice.
Strawberry cornmeal pancakes were a great way to use up my extremely soft and sweet CSA strawberries, no syrup required! I used Bob’s Red Mill polenta, which gave them crunchy edges that I found quite pleasant (hush puppy vibes, but not in a bad way??) but you can use a finer grind if you prefeer.
Other quick proteins & veggies we’ve enjoyed lately: the Sichuan chicken salad and ginger-scallion poached chicken from Every Grain of Rice, both made with rotisserie chicken; miso eggplant for a very quick broiler veggie; chickpeas fried in olive oil as emergency protein on top of salads, Trader Joe’s smoked trout mixed into grain bowls or pasta with pesto or Rao’s tomato sauce, Turkish carrots with garlicky yogurt and socca (a Niçoise chickpea pancake) which comes together in a flash!
Other things I’m thinking about:
This excellent piece on allergen labeling - did you know that statements on food labels like “may contain peanuts” are basically unregulated and give you very little information about how much allergen might be in there? That’s important because the threshold at which a given person reacts to their allergen can vary widely, and many people do fine with trace amounts. That means these foods may actually be safe for many people with allergies to consume! (Luckily my kiddo doesn’t seem to be sensitive to cross contamination, but navigating “may contains” statements was a huge mental load early on before we knew that.)
Can childcare workers help identify postpartum mood disorders? I wholeheartedly agree with the central issue here, which is that many people at risk of postpartum mood disorders aren’t screened for them. As the birthing person in my relationship I got the screeners constantly, from both my midwife and our pediatrician, whereas my husband - who, yes, hadn’t given birth, but was also incredibly stressed and barely sleeping! - was never screened even once.
I loved all of Dr. Agnes Arnold-Forster’s reflection on her own birth experience as a historian who’s studied childbirth, but especially this quote: “It is disorientating, dislocating to think you know something intellectually, but then being unable to apply quite the same critical faculties when it comes to your own life.” I went into my pregnancy with Diana fairly ambivalent about breastfeeding and knowing intellectually (and personally, as a formula baby!) that not being able to exclusively breastfeed wasn’t going to doom her; that didn’t prevent the overwhelming, irrational grief that ensued when I ended up with low supply.
Finally - I wrote a paper! The impact of brokers on ACA marketplace growth was published in Risk Management and Insurance Review last month. I’m thrilled to have gotten to work on this project about the past & present of broker-assisted enrollment in the ACA marketplace - it’s Open Access, so feel free to give it a read if you so choose!
That’s all for now folks! In the meantime, you can reach me by leaving a comment (or replying to this email, if this landed in yourr inbox.)
Hi Aleka, your food looks so great. Could you make some suggestions to busy parents about how to prepare kids lunch box and dinner? As a dad of 3yo, I felt I constantly make the same dishes for a while..