Quiche for the Over-Extended Parent

I think that quiche is a quick, easy, nutritious meal that everyone can make.  I also think it takes no more time to make than going to a take-out place and waiting for them to make your food.  (Every time we go to a "quick" Chinese place, or order a pizza, we always have to wait.)  But I also realize that since I cook all the time, what I think is easy, may not be so for some one else.  I also know that many times I will make a recipe that takes me twice as long as what the recipe calls for.

So, I want to introduce you to Carla (her real name).  Carla is my friend.  She is a typical working mother of  today.  She helps run a small business, has two daughters for whom she chauffeurs around to their various activities, and helps take care of her extended family which includes her step-daughter and grandson as well as her husband's mother.   Rarely does she cook and cooking is not one of her many fine skills.  And I can tell you, she has NOTHING in her refrigerator or her pantry.  When she broke her foot I went to her house to make her some lunch.  It was not easy, and I can whip up something out of practically nothing.  (But it is hard to make something out of nothing.)    So if she can do this, anyone can.

Here is the recipe that I provided her.  We then went to the grocery store.  She prefers Whole Foods, just like in Top Chef.  I did not limit her time; however I did time her.  She got the ingredients and did her general food shopping in 30 minutes with no list.  (That gives you an idea of how much food there is in her house.  I spend an hour each week at the Farmer's Market alone.)

It took her an hour to assemble this.  (It took me 15-20 minutes.)  But she thinks that the next time she does it it will take her less time.  We made 4 quiches and fed 2 families for under $30!  My quiches are enough for 2 dinners, or 1 dinner and a few lunches or breakfast.

If you look at the time and think about it as 2 dinners, then even for Carla, it was efficient because it came out to 30 minutes per dinner.  Check out the next blog for pictures and our guest blogger who will be critiquing blindly the 2 vegetarian quiches.


Basic Recipe for QUICHE  (Read the recipe completely before starting.)

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2.  Assemble all your ingredients.  (see details below)
     a.  Frozen pie crust -  you find frozen, deep dish pie crust in the freezer section of grocery store where the frozen pies are (comes in package of two).  Check to make sure you get ones that are not broken in pieces.
     b.  Filling 
     c.  Any additions you chose to do
 
3.  Pre bake pie crust
Prick frozen pie crust all over with a fork about one inch apart.  Tightly mold the tin foil over pie crust .  Cook in preheated  450 degree  in lower-middle oven for 8 minutes. 

4.  Start making the filling until the timer goes off.

5.  When the timer goes off, take off tin foil.  Prick bottom again, particularly any bubbles..  If anything has sunk, push it up.  (use spatula if too hot for fingers.)  Bake another 3 minutes without the foil until just beginning to change color.  Take out of oven to cool down as you are doing the rest.

6.  FILLING for one pie crust (double to use both pie crusts)
5 large eggs
Add half and half or whole milk to make 2 cups
1/8 tsp of nutmeg and pepper
Beat with a fork or a whisk

ADDITIONS (choose one, or make up your own)
1.  Traditional quiche Lorraine - 6 slices of bacon cooked crisp
2.  Optional - 3 ozs coarsely grated Swiss or Gruyere cheese to your Quiche Lorraine
3.  Cheese - Whatever flavors you like - add about 3/4 - 1 cup
4.  Fish - Add 1/4 c. smoked (very flavorful) or 3/4 cup mild cooked fish with 1 tsp fresh parsley or dill
5.  Vegetarian - take whatever leftover vegetables you have in the refrigerator, saute 3/4 cup in butter (melt some butter in a pan and heat the vegetables in them)
6.  Frozen vegetables quiche - buy  a package of frozen vegetables.  Defrost in microwave.  Saute 1/2 chopped onion then add microwaved 1 cup of  vegetables.  You can also throw in cheese if you want. (1/2 cup)
7.  Ethnic Quiche - Use flavors and spices that are typical for a particular cuisine that you like.
    for example "Chile rellenos" quiche - 1-2 chiles (poblano or anaheim) and 1 cup jack cheese

 HOW TO ASSEMBLE
Take cooled crust.  Put "additions" in bottom of crust.  Add egg/cream mixture.  Put in oven.  Cook in 375 degree oven for 40 minutes until puffed up and brown.  Serve with french bread and packaged salad.

Bon Appetit!

Sugar Primer

It's that time of year when sugar is everywhere and is also getting its share of bad press. (Sugar Hype) What's a parent to do?  To make an informed decision, it is important to understand that sugars, although simple, are actually  complex. I will give you the basics so you can make an informed decision about what to do with that chocolate Easter bunny (or chocolate-covered matzoh) the grandparents gave the kids. 

There are three main kinds of sugars:  polysaccharides, disaccharides, and monosaccharides.
1.  Carbohydrates (polysaccharides and oligosaccharides):
Many people do not think about carbohydrates as being sugar.  But carbohydrates are sugar molecules that attached to form large molecules.  That means rice, beans, potatoes, pasta, (including whole wheat), cereals, and breads are made from sugar molecules attached together.  Depending on how these bonds form, these complex sugar molecules can be used in many ways, including food (starch) or  fiber(cellulose).

2.  The most common disaccharides in food are:
Lactose (milk sugar) which breaks down into galactose and glucose.
Sucrose (sugar cane or beet sugar) which breaks down into glucose and fructose.
 In breast milk, also known as "The Perfect Food", 50% of the calories come from lactose.

3.  The monosaccharides (the smallest sugar molecules):
Are the final breakdown product in our bodies from carbohydrates and  disaccharides.  In nature, most commonly  found in:
  a.  honey -  a combination primarily of fructose and glucose, but also has complex carbohydrates, trace minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants (depending on the flowers used by the bees).
  b.  fructose (fruit sugar).

 4.  Manufactured sugars are the sugars that are manufactured.  They include:
   a.  Syrups - usually the sugar is sucrose, including maple syrup.
   b.  High fructose corn syrup which is usually about 55% fructose and 42% glucose.
   c.  Corn syrup - primarily glucose.

Only monosaccharides are absorbed through our guts.  That means only galactose, fructose and glucose get into the blood stream, assuming you have a normal, functioning gastrointestinal system.

One way to look at sugars is where they are primarily utilized and metabolized.  You don't have to eat any particular sugar.  The body is capable of making and storing the different sugars from food.  It is made and stored primarily in our liver and muscles.  Glucose, galactose and fructose are used and metabolized throughout the body.  We know this because there are people that have different genetic diseases that make it impossible for them to digest a sugar.  They then accumulate that sugar throughout the body, not just in the liver.  But glucose is the human's primary energy source.  Although we use the other two for energy, our bodies mostly use fructose and galactose to make them into other compounds that we need, and then will convert the extra into glucose, which becomes glycogen.  If you have an excess of glycogen, the body makes fat.

If you think about it, that means if you are a vegetarian, your diet is primarily glucose, fructose and galactose.
Yet, who (except for a few carnivores that I know) would declare that an adult who eats a vegetarian diet is eating unhealthily?  What makes a diet of refined sugar, or for that matter, high fructose corn syrup unhealthy?  By the time it gets to your blood stream it is all the same stuff as what the vegetarians are eating.

I don't have a definitive answer for you.  I do have some thoughts. 

Food is more than calories.  There is how those nutrients are delivered.  Diabetics are aware of the glycemic index.  A newer refinement of that is what is called the insulin index which may be a better measurement of the multiple factors that affect how those same sugars are seen by the body and how the conversion from one sugar to another occurs.  There is, of course, the whole issue of soluble and insoluble fibers, which do not come with a diet of refined sugar.  And finally, there is the interaction of micro nutrients.

There are also my whole idea about food and the research on it.  When people do research, they try to hold all the variables the same but one.  Humans are more complex than that.  The more research I read about food, the more convinced I am that it is rare that 1 "truth" will be learned.  We get small pieces of the puzzle and we get hints and on rare occasions, we get truths.  It goes back to my blog on Girl Scout cookies.  And my whole approach to food.  A little won't hurt you.  Moderation in all things.

Principal Misses Principle

A principal in Chicago has banned home lunches (home) because she wants to encourage healthy eating.  There is a better way to motivate kids and teach them long term healthy habits and you would think an educator would know how to do it.  Here is what I would do.

They now have a situation that lends itself to science, government, math and social science at a minimum.  They have a natural leader at that school, Fernando.  Get him to form a committee with his fellow students.  Obviously, with guidance from adults, they need to come up with recommendations on acceptable foods that can be brought from home.  Their first task will be a governmental one - get a task force.  It is not enough to protest;  if you complain that you don't like something, then you need to come up with an answer that works.

The next task is to learn some science and nutrition.  The students will have to come up with a list of what is acceptable.  They will have to justify why they think a food or drink is healthy.  They will solicit foods from their fellow students and then will decide if those foods are healthy and nutritious.

They will have to have an ongoing committee.  Because every year some student will come up with something new.  The students will have to continually research these new foods and then justify to adults  that their decision is a correct one.  If the adult on the committee disagrees then they bring it to a judge.   But that adult should make the decision based on the facts, not her/his own biases.  There should be  an appeals court outside of the school if someone on the committee is not happy with the judge's decision.  The appeals courts is THE final decision. The students will have to police themselves.    And then they can't complain.  And if the principal wanted to go one step further - she could have a science fair based on the science of nutrition.

This could also work in your school.  If you get kids involved in the decision-making it is more effective on many different levels.  They learn, obviously, but it tends to stay with them longer.  Because if you understand the why you are more likely to do something.  And children, like adults, prefer to do something because they decide, not because they are told to do something.


Finally, everyone loves rewards and parties.  So every once in awhile, for no reason at all, or just because, or to say what a great group of kids I got to work with, if I were the principal, I would declare that a particular day would be "Free Food Day" with no restrictions!

We can't always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. - FDR

CHOCOLATE!

-

When we were growing up in the 50's and 60's we were taught there were four food groups.  My husband maintains to this day that all the experts were wrong and that there are actually 5 food groups -  dairy, grains, fruits and veggies, proteins and CHOCOLATE!  Some recent studies are backing him up.

As a pediatrician I routinely advise others on how to feed their children.  I also know that my advice is just that:  advice.  Some of it is followed, and some of it is not.  When it comes to raising my own child, however, I feel strongly that my opinion should not be dismissed out of hand and there needs to be some discussion if my food "rules" are not going to be followed.

For many years, the pediatric party line was not to give a baby foods that were likely to cause allergies until after their first birthday; and more recently if you had a highly allergic child you should avoid the most allergic ones until the age of two.  Chocolate was one of those foods to avoid only until one year of age.  Allergies are rampant on both sides of the family.  Because of this, I did not want chocolate given to my daughter before the age of 1.  I do not think of it as a necessary food group.  At my daughter's first birthday I found out that she had been eating chocolate since 6 months of age.  My husband thought that chocolate chips made a "perfect" finger food.  I was not happy.

 In Dec, 2010, the recommendations about allergy foods changed.  Chocolate, as well as all fruits and vegetables, are no longer listed as allergy foods  to avoid.  And there seems to be no benefit to avoiding any allergy foods past 6 months of age.  One of my basic food beliefs has been challenged.  But I've looked at the studies, and they are good.  I am used to reading the literature and learning new things but rarely do I have to change my whole way of looking at a subject.  That is what has happened with my advice on allergy foods.  It is always difficult to change what one has done for years and recommend something different.   Yet, I always try to put it in perspective by thinking about leeches and how doctors of yesteryear would be amazed if they so how I practiced medicine.  So I now have to eat crow and state that there was no harm done that my daughter got chocolate from an early age.  I still, however, do not believe that chocolate is a basic food group and that babies should use it as a finger food!

There are some interesting studies about chocolate as a health food.  First thing to remember is that chocolate is made from the seeds of the fruit of the cacao tree.  Gram for gram, the antioxidant content of cacao bean powder is higher than acai, blueberry or cranberry powder.  Thus, it can be classified as a "super fruit".  It looks like a daily consumption of a small amount (1 oz) of dark chocolate decreases the risk of inflammation which is associated with many diseases, including heart disease.  It also decreases high blood pressure as well as helps insulin resistance in pre-diabetics.   It improves mood (no great surprise there), but also helps mental processing during sustained intellectual effort.  I particularly like that last finding.  To make standardized testing something that my daughter would look forward to (!), we would always give her dark (her preference) chocolate bars to have during the breaks between tests.  We felt that they gave her a "boost" of energy and helped her concentrate.  I loved finding a study that supported our unscientific beliefs.

There can be too much of a good thing.  And this can happen with chocolate.  As Easter approaches, a holiday that places an undue commercial emphasis on chocolate, it is everything else that is added to the dark chocolate that takes away its label as a health food and gets it into the unhealthy column.  There are many things that you can do with chocolate to keep it in the good column.  Eat small amounts.  Make sure it is dark.  Drink it as cocoa without the excess sugar.  And here is a recipe:

                                CHOCOLATE-COVERED
                                     STRAWBERRIES

Ingredients:  strawberries, molding chocolate.
Melt chocolate over double boiler.  Dip strawberries.  Let dry on parchment paper (or waxed paper).  Eat.

One of the most elegant and easy desserts to make.  I use 70% dark chocolate.   If you are going to any functions you can bring these and actually feel virtuous!

Food Dyes and Hyperactivity

I have been hearing about food dyes causing all sorts of problems in children since my training days, chief among them hyperactivity.  I have read myriad of studies on this subject.   The studies that show a relationship suffer from poor study design, small sample size, subjectivity and atypical intervention protocols.  As a result, the vast majority of the medical community does not accept their conclusions.  I also have heard from a number of my parents that swear that diet intervention has made a tremendous difference with their children's behavior. 

Now, this topic has again come to the forefront because a consumer group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, wants the government to ban artificial dyes.  Manufacturers state the dyes are safe.  A government advisory panel, after reviewing the available studies, stated that at this time the foods do not need any special warning labels.  They also recommended that the  FDA should further study the issue because it appears that there may be some problems in children who already have hyperactivity.  The ball is now in the FDA's court.   To mix my sports metaphors, I find this topic more controversial than getting in the middle of a discussion between two fans on who has a better team: the NY Yankees or the Boston Red Sox.  I do know that until well-designed, double-blinded studies are done, it is hard to make scientific justifications for taking certain positions on the dyes (and that this LA girl will always be a Dodger fan!)

That does not mean I cannot take a reasonable position.  I try to be practical in my approach to life.  I don't feel I have the answer on whether or not artificial dyes cause children to be hyperactive.  But looking at food with the dyes objectively, I know that I don't want to give children many of those foods.  If we look at the blog I posted on Experimental Eating, I doubt anyone would give their children to eat, never mind spend money on, dirt.  It just does not seem like a natural foodstuff to me.  I do understand why a child would put some of the things I have pictured here in their mouths - that is what they do.  But is there a reason you are serving those worms or yellow "sticks" to your kid?

There are alternatives to artificial dyes.  Sure, kids like snacks.  And yes, I did buy my kid snacks.  I didn't always have time to make them.  (although see below for a story about a snack I made and the dye I put in!)  Yesterday, I went to the grocery store and I scoured the shelves.  I found a number of things that fit into the criteria of junk food and no artificial dyes.  In each picture I have one with no artificial dyes and one with artificial dyes.  I recommend that if you are going to buy this stuff, get the one without the dyes.   If we all start doing this, then whether or not the studies are ever funded, perhaps the manufacturers will have a financial incentive to stop using artificial dyes.  It can be done. 

I don't need the FDA to ban dirt to tell me not to feed dirt children.  If I find things that look unnatural, I do not need the FDA to tell me it is not food.  So how did we start believing that these things were edible?  Why have we lost our common sense?  Any ideas out there?


Halloween Frosting
One Halloween I did not buy an artificial, chemical black dye in time to frost the cookies I had made.  All the stores were out.  So I ended up with a natural substitute that worked better.  I have given toddlers activated charcoal for years for all the poisons that they have eaten.  It is tasteless, but it turns everything black.  I put a small amount in my sugar cream frosting (much less than I would give a baby at one sitting).  I frosted 60 cookies.  It worked great and was much safer than what I had done in the past.

Nana's Vegetable Soup

   We have comfort foods - those foods  we want to eat to feel better.  They often are the foods we had when we were young and our parents (usually our mothers) gave us.  This often means there is a strong cultural element to a comfort food.  Also, as humans are programmed to prefer sweets (breast milk is incredibly sweet) it is not too surprising that many comfort foods are often sweets.

When I was an intern in pediatrics I often worked for 40 days in a row, and was up for 36 hours every 4 days.  Some of those nights I would feel VERY sorry for myself and found myself reaching back to my childhood for a favorite comfort food.  Since I worked on a pediatric ward, we kept snacks that kids would like.  Many a night around 3 AM I would find myself raiding the kitchen for whole milk (which I had stopped drinking years ago) and graham crackers.  I would break up the crackers, pour the milk over them, eat them like cereal and go back to work, feeling energized.  (The adult wards had coffee and saltines; definitely not comfort foods in my book.)

Another huge category of comfort foods for me is soups, which is healthier and the comfort food category I passed on to my daughter; the one I would recommend over graham crackers and milk for your children.  Whenever it is raining, as it has been in LA, I start to want to make and eat soup.  My first choice is chicken soup.  (I found out as a married woman that my chicken soup isn't really chicken soup, but that is a story for another blog.)  But all my mother's grand kids love her vegetable soup so I decided to make minestrone this weekend.

I don't remember my mother making vegetable soup for me as child.  But for some reason, every time one of her grand kids comes over, she got into the habit of making them vegetable soup.  So they all see Nana's Vegetable Soup as a special treat.  Since my mother is Milanese by birth, I assumed she made a minestrone.  When my daughter was in elementary school I decided to make a minestrone soup, something I hadn't made before.  I went to the Farmer's Market, got fresh vegetables and served it for dinner that night.  I was informed it was not as good as Nana's.

 For years I bugged my mom to give me her recipe.  I finally got it and it is below.   I have also included mine.  I (of course!) think my is far superior.  It is also a lot more work.  All the grandchildren think hers is the better of the two.  My suggestion would be to start giving your infants hers from an early age instead of mine.  It's easy to make, good for them and a great comfort food for them to continue to want to eat, and make,  when they are adults.  However, the picture above is my recipe which is what we had this weekend.

                                                      NANA'S VEGETABLE SOUP
Put the following ingredients in a pot:
1 cup raw rice
1 can small, white beans
1 package frozen broccoli and cauliflower
1/2 package frozen green beans
1 package frozen carrots and peas
!/2 head of cabbage sliced
2 diced zucchini
1 cubed potato
                                                      1 stalk of celery, sliced
                                                      1 tomato, diced

Add 2 quart cans of chicken broth, 1 quart can of beef broth.  Cook for about 1 hour and serve.  If there is any left over, you can put it in the freezer where the frozen foods were.


MY MINESTRONE
(It takes about 1 hour to prepare and then 3-4 hours to cook with occasional stirring.)  I make a huge pot and then freeze the extra so this recipe makes about 2 gallons.
Add the following ingredients.  I add them in the order listed; as the one I added is cooking, I  prepare the next one.  It saves time.

Coat the bottom of your largest soup pot with olive oil and add 2 tbsp butter to it.  Add:
2 thinly sliced onions
1 leek, white part only (if available)
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 parsnip (if available)
1/2 cup diced green beans
1 bunch bok choy sliced thin (if available)
3 zucchini, sliced
2 lbs waxy potatoes, diced (liked red potatoes or Yukon)
3 tomatoes
1 cabbage (savoy or Napa)
1 cup peas
1 cup cannellini (white) beans

You can add or subtract vegetables as you like.   The amounts are all approximations.   I only use fresh vegetables available at the Farmers Market.  Because you cook it for so long, the flavors blend together.  There are a few things that are important.  You do need some form of cabbage and potatoes. It gives the soup substance.  And I recommend beans and/or rice which then makes it a meal.  You can use canned beans which you add towards the end, or if you can remember, soak them the night before and cook with the soup.   If the vegetable has a strong taste, use if sparingly.

Add chicken pieces, beef soup bones, salt to taste (start with 1 tbsp) and cover with water.  If you have the rind of a piece of Parmesan cheese, throw it in now.
Cook for 3-4 hours.  You can serve it the day it is made, but it tastes even better the next day.

Experimental Eating

As I started to become more serious about cooking, I wondered why humans tried some of the ingredients that they did.  Was it hunger?  Was it fortuitous?  I mean really, who in their right mind would follow a pig who is grubbing through the dirt for truffles and take something that smells that musky and pungent from that pig and put it in his mouth?  Well, now that I have been both a pediatrician and a mother I no longer wonder - we eat what we do because of toddlers.
What got me thinking about this, again, is the recent posting of a friend of mine on Facebook.  His child decided to eat not one, but SIX laxative strips.
Over the years, I'm not sure if I have had more phone calls from parents because their children have eaten something inappropriate or because they refuse to eat at all.  I have never been able to figure out why this is so. But I know that in the picture above the last thing thing most toddlers would eat is the broccoli.  (I think the first thing would be a toss-up between the pills and the rocks in the dirt, but that is not an experiment I will try.)
Can parents take advantage of their children's natural curiosity to put odd things in their mouths to get them to try different foods?  I'm not sure.  I have noticed that they do tend to try things that are bland,  like dirt and paper, and usually spit out "spicy" leaves that they find in the garden.  For some reason they prefer their non-food items to be muted in color.  (I base these observations on the calls I get from parents about what their children have eaten.)
One of the things I used to do with my daughter and her friend Mollie is to let them experiment in the kitchen, with close supervision.  They would invent their own concoctions of edible items taken from all drawers and shelves.  Of course, because my daughter was raised with the  understanding that she always had to take "one bite", she insisted that I try everything she made: "Just take one bite, Mama!" she ordered.  Lucky for all of us, this is before the two of them could write, so none of their recipes were kept for posterity.  (I will say her cooking skills today are great and Mollie is no slouch in the kitchen either.)
Can you take advantage of children's love of non-food products?  Again, I'm not sure.  But I do know that I am not a believer in the recent fad of "hiding" foods found in a number of cookbooks on how to get kids to eat.  My reasoning is:  1)  I don't have time to cook a separate dish for each family member  2)  It is important to learn about different tastes and textures  3)  Most importantly, my job as a parent is to teach my child how to eat properly and hiding food is a cop-out.
Which is not to say that I do not take into consideration different likes and palates.  My daughter hates asparagus.  I love them. I did make my daughter take "one bite" multiple times when she was young because I cook them frequently.  But I was finally convinced that she really does not like them and because she eats so many other vegetables when I make them for me I am willing to make something else for her.  And then we are both happy.

Here is a recipe that I've found that most ages, including toddlers eat.  It is easy to make.  It is not spicy, not identifiable as a specific food to a toddler and is versatile.  You can eat it hot or cold.  You can send it in a lunch.  You can bring it to a potluck.  And you can change some of the herbs depending on your family's preference.  Your toddler may even choose it over rocks and other non-foods!.

ZUCCHINI PIE

Ingredients
4 c. grated zucchini
4 large eggs, slightly beaten (or 7 egg whites or 5 oz of egg whites)
1 c. Bisquick
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 small onion chopped
1/2 c. oil (preferably olive)
1/4 cup fresh herbs (parsley or cilantro) or 2 tbsp fresh basil or rosemary (stronger flavors)

Mix together in a bowl.
Grease a 9x9 inch pan.  Put in pan.  Cook in 375 degree oven until brown (about 50 min.)

Serve hot, warm, cool or the next day!  I hope you try it and your family and friends enjoy it as much as the many people I've given this to, both already made, and as a recipe.