Never underestimate the healing power of bacon

My therapist suggested that I could counteract the first-winter-away-from-home blues by engaging my senses with more things that sound/look/smell/taste/feel good to me, like happy music, scented candles, etc., etc. The idea is that by kicking up the level of positively-associated sensory stimulation a notch, you can distract your brain from focusing on whatever it's depressed about which, even if it doesn't solve the underlying problem, will hopefully help you get through your day without bursting into tears every ten minutes.

So, to that end, I have been eating more bacon. A lot more. And it's totally working.

It's true what they say: bacon really does make everything better. Even homesickness and seasonal depression.

Who knew self-medicating could be so tasty?

Popsicles...they're not just for breakfast anymore.

My kids are on a popsicle kick. They love popsicles right now more than any other edible thing on the planet. It's the middle of February and, as I'm typing this, they are sitting at the table shivering, mouths covered in popsicle residue and chanting, "more pops! More Pops!! MORE!!! POPS!!!"

For those of you who don't know me that well, I should explain that I am kind of a nutrition nut. I had a terrible relationship with food as a kid and as a result my health (both physical and mental) was not all that it should have been when I was younger. And here I am giving my kids popsicles for breakfast?!

You betcha!

I should also mention that my kids are extremely picky eaters. I have been beating my head against the wall for six years trying to get my oldest to eat her veggies. Well, it turns out my kids will eat almost ANYTHING as long as it's in popsicle form. The shape, temperature and texture are what counts, as far as they are concerned.

So here's what I do:

1) Get some sturdy reusable popsicle molds - I think the ones we have in the freezer right now came from Ikea, but you can find them lots of places. Do a web search for 'freezer pop mold' or 'popsicle mold' and you will find lots of information. If you can't find actual popsicle-shaped molds in the stores, ice-cube trays will work too.

2) Hit the local farmers' market - fresh, local, in-season fruits and veggies make the best-tasting popsicles. You can also find a wider variety of things at the farmers' market than you can at the supermarket, at least in Southern California. If you live somewhere with cold winters that limit the availability of fresh produce, you should be able to find packages of organic frozen berries, squash, carrots and the like at your local supermarket. And don't be afraid to experiment with things that don't sound popsicly...my kids love roasted pumpkin and butternut pops with cinnamon & ginger blended in, and they've unwittingly eaten greens, carrots, sweet potato and lots of other veggies blended in with apple or berry pops.

3) Round up some other ingredients - my kids like their popsicles creamy so I usually add yoghurt, peanut butter or sunflower seed butter to our popsicles for extra texture and protein. Other things you could add include cottage cheese, cream cheese, almond/cashew/macadamia/other nut butter, kefir, tofu or just about any other creamy, proteiny thing you want. Or feel free to skip that stuff if creamy pops don't appeal to you.

I don't add refined sugar to my pops because I prefer not to have to scrape my kids off the ceiling after they finish eating, but if I think a particular mix of ingredients would benefit from being a little sweeter I will add a squirt of agave nectar, which has a substantially lower glycemic index than sugar and therefore doesn't amp my kids up as much. You can also add supplements like flax meal, flax/borage/cod liver/other omega-rich oil, wheat germ, wheat grass and other stuff that you might want in your kids' (or your own!) diet but aren't that appetizing in their raw forms.

4) Get out the blender - mix all your ingredients thoroughly. If your mix is too thick, add a splash of milk, apple juice or other liquid to help soften it up. As a side note, my kids always like their pops better with a banana mixed in, regardless of what the other ingredients are.

5) Pour the mix into the pop molds - follow the directions on the packaging if you're using a set of molds designed for popsicles; if you're using ice-cube trays, just pour it into the compartments, wrap freezer-safe plastic wrap or aluminum foil over the top and insert toothpicks or wooden popsicle sticks through it. The wrap supports the sticks/toothpicks while the mix is freezing.

6) Pop them in your freezer and let them freeze for at least 4 hours, then...

Presto! Healthy frozen treats for everyone! For breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or snacks!

Oh, and if your kids are impatient and don't want to wait for their popsicles to freeze, you can always pour the mix in a glass, pop in a straw and call it a shake.

Basket case

It's official. I'm a basket case. I am totally, utterly, bat-poo, locopants cuh-raaaaaaazy.

For CSA organic baskets, that is. We've been members of South Coast Farms' CSA program - one of two organic farms in The OC offering CSA - off and on for the last three years and mere words can't express how insanely awesomely deliciously wonderful fresh, local, seasonal produce is. Check out the basket we picked up yesterday:

LOOK at ALL THOSE VEGGIES!!! And underneath those luscious greens were a whole bunch of oranges, grapefruits, kiwis and other fruits, all picked at or slightly before the peak of ripeness. And if you're still not impressed, remember it's still early in the growing season...by July my basket will literally be overflowing with organic goodness.

If you're not familiar with the concept of Community Supported Agriculture, read this. I'm not here to explain what CSA is, I'm just here to explain why it's the single best thing ever to happen in the history of cooking and eating. Or at least in the recent history of cooking and eating.

If you're a fellow Gen-Xer, you probably ate a lot of fast food as a kid, and your exposure to vegetables was probably limited, like mine, mostly to the frozen and canned varieties. That's because your parents, like mine, grew up taking nutrition for granted. It's not their fault; when the pre-boomers and baby boomers were growing up, they weren't exposed to the same levels of sugar, additives, artificial ingredients, pesticide residues and commercial messages glorifying blatantly unhealthy foods that members of Generation X (which, incidentally, is a term I haven't heard anyone use lately...are we called something else now?) were exposed to as kids. They didn't think a whole lot about what to feed us beyond cost-effectiveness and possibly some vague sense of food groups because when they were kids you just ate what you ate and it was good enough.

I was in my mid-twenties before I discovered what really fresh fruits and vegetables tasted like. And by "really fresh" I don't mean fresh off the grocery store display after being picked green and sitting in the back of a hot truck for several days on their journey from some distant field in another state. I mean actually FRESH fresh, as in straight out of the earth...the difference is enormous. I recently read a biography of Alice Waters in which she is quoted as saying something to the effect of "gourmet cooking consists of taking the freshest, ripest, most delicious ingredients and doing as little as possible to them." And it's absolutely true. If you have the freshest, ripest, tastiest fruits and veggies, they will taste amazing no matter what you do to them, and that's where CSA comes in.

Picking up a basket of fresh-picked vegetables and fruits every week or every other week ensures that you ALWAYS have the freshest and ripest available. It also provides the opportunity to learn about new stuff you might not have worked with before. For instance, I never would have discovered the joy of fennel bulbs sliced thin and roasted with potato wedges without the CSA program. CSA baskets get more credit than anything else for turning me into a gourmet. Or at least setting me on the path to gourmet-ism.

Also, local organic baskets keep organic farming alive and well right here in the local economy. Here in The OC! A region that is, despite the economic downturn, still trying to sell itself as the Silicon Valley of SoCal and where, consequently, agriculture has given way to industry and most of the fertile farmland has been paved over and built into office parks. More organic farming means not only better produce, but also better soil and less environmental toxicity. It also means less toxic runoff and therefore healthier waterways and beaches, which are a big deal here in The OC. So the farmers support the local ecology & economy, I support the farmers and my family gets fresh fruits and veggies all the time. Everybody wins! Yaaaaaaay!!! The whole arrangement makes me so happy I want to jump up and down with glee just thinking about it.

I encourage all of you to look into your local CSA programs. Do some web searches using the terms "CSA," "organic farming" and the name of your city. If you love to cook, sign yourself up! Paying for an entire season up front (if that's what your local CSA's do) might give you sticker shock, but when the cost is broken down per basket, it works out to about the same price or a little less than buying the same organic produce at your local grocery store, assuming you can find any organic produce at your local grocery store. If you like your fresh salads but don't want to mess around with the other stuff, find a friend to split the cost and the contents of your baskets with. If you just aren't into vegetables, think about giving a season of CSA membership as a gift to a friend or relative who likes to cook...they will probably invite you over for a home-cooked meal to say thank-you. Or if you're feeling charitable, find out if your CSA program donates baskets to any local orphanages, soup kitchens or similar organizations and sign up to support them for a season.

Do it for your health, your community, your local ecology and your gourmet sensibilities. Whatever the reason, do it! Pretty soon you'll be a basket case too.

My big idea for today...

Yesterday was 3/14, celebrated as Pi Day by nerds everywhere, including myself, so I baked a spinach frittata to celebrate (get it? Pie for Pi day?). Today is the oft quoted Ides of March, so I'm planning to make a Caesar salad to serve with supper. That got me thinking: I've seen a lot of "365 Days of Blahblahblah" cookbooks and I've seen a couple of different guides to holidays for every day of the year (albeit mostly obscure and/or commercially fabricated ones), but I've never seen anyone combine them into a cookbook of holiday recipes for every day of the year.

Holiday recipes! Every day! OMG!!!

It would have to include any traditional recipes associated with major religious and secular holidays, of course, plus more obscure and whimsical fare for those lesser known and recently adopted holidays that may not have evolved their own cooking traditions yet.

Is it just me or is that the awesomest idea ever?!

Okay, yeah, I'm pretty sure it's just me. But it's a potentially entertaining source of answers for the eternal question of what to serve the family on any given day. Plus it's a different angle to try when I'm pushing new stuff on my picky eaters, e.g. "hey, kids, it's World Paleontology Day! Let's celebrate with a bowl of velociraptor soup!" (since you can't get velociraptor at the store these days you'd just substitute chicken, which IS descended from the therapods, after all). At any rate, it's an idea I plan to keep playing with.

Happy Ides of March, everybody!