Birdie Bread

Several people at the Refuge have asked for my “recipe” for Birdie Bread, because Birdie Bread is the best way to trick fussy birds into eating their vegetables. I kept saying, “You just grind up some vegetables and toss them into your cornbread mix”. Apparently, this is not a satisfactory answer. So here we go:

Ingredients

1 Box Cornbread mix (I generally use Jiffy, but this time I used Martha White), plus mix ingredients
1 handful of baby carrots, washed
1 handful of cut broccoli, washed
1 handful of cut cauliflower, washed (optional)
1 container of sweet potato baby food (I used Gerber, Phase 2)

It should be noted that when it is on sale, I just buy a bag of cut vegetables. Today, broccoli crowns were on sale, so I grabbed one. Because Sigmund prefers the “tree” of the broccoli to the “leaf”, I cut the tops off the trees. Then I tossed them into my mini food processor. Next, I grabbed a handful of baby carrots from the bag and did the same thing. Tossed it all in a mixing bowl.  Then I poured the baby food on top.

Side Note:  The deal with the baby food is that sweet potatoes are really good for birds (and people) because they have a lot of vitamins. Karen, the volunteer director at the Refuge, swears that you can get any bird to start eating vegetables by mashing a sweet potato, mixing it with peanut butter and serving it in a cup.

Kiwi still won’t eat it.

But cooking a sweet potato for the purpose of making Birdie Bread annoys me, so I use baby food. But here is the trick – the baby food has water in it, so you have to be careful that you don’t have too much liquid in the cornbread mix. So what I did was poured the mix powder on top of the vegetables and then added milk until I was satisfied with the consistency. It looks like this:

Then I put the batter in cupcake cups, as a matter of portion control and ease of serving. I cook it according to the instructions on the box, but remember that the fresh vegetables have water in them, too. So I wait until the muffins are visibly golden brown before I am convinced they are done.

And here is Sigmund stuffing his face with the finished product. Kiwi feeds them to the dog.

Further notes:

African Greys are notorious for needing extra calcium, so I use milk in the batter even when the mix says water is ok. Also, if you use a powder calcium supplement, you can bake that in too. Rich, the Director at the Refuge, says that if the mix uses eggs (Jiffy’s does) you should grind the egg shell up with the vegetables and bake that in, too. Just make sure to gently wash the egg before doing so.

This recipe made 12 muffins and in my experience they will last up to two weeks if you keep them in the refrigerator. I don’t know whether they freeze well. I generally give a Grey one muffin at a time, broken into pieces. At least half of that ends up on the floor. I am considering getting a mini-muffin pan.

More Starbucks Substitutes

My mother bought herself one of those new-fangled coffee machines from Keurig around Christmas.  I imagine you have seen them.  They use little "pods" a bit larger than an old container of creamer and brew one cup of coffee at a time. 

Convenient, if you only want one cup of coffee.  Then one day, she got a really good deal from QVC or HSN or Kohl's or something and picked up a second one.  So that she has one upstairs and one downstairs. 

But only one cup at a time.

So I started to do some analysis.

I believe the machine retails for $90.  (It's on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond right now, but never mind that.)  Not a huge amount of money for an appliance, but still a commitment.  But you also have to buy those little pods.  BB&B has them.  $10 for a case of 18.  That comes to 56 cents a cup before you figure in taxes and the ubiquitous 20% discount coupons.  Not bad.

However.  I have been informed that you have to use bottled water, as opposed to tap water in the machine.  I presume that means filtered, but in my house, it comes out of my Culligan water cooler.  That is fine.  But assuming my mother isn't making stuff up, there is still some cost associated with filtering your drinking water to use in the machine.

I just saw there is some kind of water filter in the machine that has to be changed every once in awhile.  Perhaps you can call that an incidental cost.  I'm not sure.

So, is it worth it?

First, you have to be sure there is a flavor that you like.  I have seen Caribou coffee, Green Mountain and Gloria Jean's in my house.  No Starbucks.  There are also a few flavors of tea and hot chocolate.  I can confirm that the hot chocolate is acceptable.  Better than Swiss Miss, not as good as Starbucks or McCafe.

Second, understand that "one cup" is eight ounces.  As in half the size of a grande.  So if you are used to that 16 ounces, you will be brewing two cups.  And since only one standard size cup fits under there, you will end up pouring the first brew into your big mug and putting it back under the spout for a second run, with a second pod.  That's getting two dishes dirty.

There is a little filter pod for those that like the machine but want to use their own coffee beans. It costs $15 and can be reused.  I don't know how long it will realistically last.  It is probably more cost effective than the pods, but if you were serious about cost effective, you'd probably be brewing your own coffee for real.

So who is the target market?  Not the coffee snobs, or even mass consumers.  I shouldn't think it would appeal to the commuter crowd - since a travel mug doesn't fit in it.  I have anecdotal evidence that if you take it to work, your co-workers will start scamming your coffee right and left, and who wants that?  So I'm thinking it is mostly the gadget people, and those looking for a trendy alternative to Starbucks.

That's my take.

The Papaya Obsession

My first visit to Hawaii was a business trip to Honolulu. It was in September..2003, I think. We flew in on Tuesday and met for a group breakfast before the meeting Wednesday morning.


I was standing at the buffet with my colleague, Stu, who looked at my rather lame breakfast plate and said, “Try the papaya.”

“No thanks,” I said. “I’m not a big fan. I’ll take some pineapple, though.”

“Have you been to Hawaii before?” he asked.

“No.”

“Then you’ve never tried papaya.”

I don’t remember if he actually put the fruit on my plate for me, but that is how it felt. So I went back to the table with him and tried it.

Melts in your mouth.

Stu explained that the shelf life of papaya is distressingly short, so it is near impossible to get “the peak of freshness” at home. Apparently, they don’t even bother to try and ship papaya from Hawaii to the Midwest, so the best we can do in Chicago is papaya from Mexico. And even that is too far away to get it at the exact right time.

So yeah. I am eating papaya every day. There is a charming market down the road that has bowls of cut fruit and I am absolutely loving it.

I hope they restock tomorrow.

Not From a Box

Somewhere between the third and fourth touchdowns of the worst game ever played in the National Football League, I had to get up and do something.  I made cranberry sauce.  Although technically, the recipe came from the back of the bag, I can call absolutely call this cooking from scratch.

With a full cup of sugar.

My family was perfectly happy with the stuff from a can.  We would refrigerate it in advance and a true champion, like my mother, could get the lump of cranberry jelly to slide out into the dish in one unblemished lump.  I forget why I first tried making it fresh...but I remember my family trying it and saying, "Wait a minute.  This is good."  And being all impressed.

So.  Green bean casserole and fresh cranberry sauce.  That's what I can contribute to Thanksgiving dinner.  If we bother to cook at all.

P.S.  I am convinced that if I had been fed fresh cranberry sauce as a child, I would have found it lumpy and complained about the seeds.  I wouldn't expect Alex to eat this.

Cooking with Alex

The weekend before last, Scott brought his family over for lunch. We had originally planned on going out, then figured it was easier with the baby and the goofy weather to stay in and make something. Because I happen to eat like a four year old boy, I happened to have stuff to make pizza. And because I sometimes pretend to be a grown up, I had the stuff to make a chef salad. I thought I might talk Alex, age four, into helping me. And if not, it was easy enough to throw together myself.

He totally went for it. All “good listener” and everything. Once the pizzas were in the oven, he even helped put together the salad. When they were finished, he was all proud of himself. Then Scott and I debated using a cookie sheet versus dropping the pizza on aluminum foil for extra crispyness.

Ha. Aunt Anne wins.

Alex’s sister Ainslie is seven months old and Scott is finally taking his wife out for a date or whatever. They are bringing the kids back for the afternoon on Sunday.

Normally, I would throw Alex into the car and go to Noodles, because he loves it as much as I do. But two of them are not so easy to take out. Then I think I should do Cooking with Alex again. Eh. It is never going to work twice. But let’s ask The Internet:

Cookingwithkids.com had this:

Chinese "Barbecued" Pork

A Cooking with Kids Original Recipe

Preparation time: 10 minutes or less 2 hours or overnight, refrigerated Cooking time: 30 minutes Yield: 10 servings as a small main course; more when used as a seasoning

Seriously? Alex wouldn’t even eat that, let alone prepare it and wait two hours for it two marinate or whatever.

Childrensrecipes.com:

Make your own sno cone syrup.
Happy faced sandwiches.
Teddy bear sundaes.

I don’t think so.

Screw it. I’ll Tivo Backyardigans and make popcorn and he will be perfectly happy.

Anne's Chopped Salad

I made a chopped salad for dinner. My mother asked where I got the recipe.

"There's no recipe. It's a salad!"

OK, fine. For your amusement, here's the salad for lazy people that are also picky eaters:

1 bag of romaine lettuce - because I don't like that goofy "field greens" stuff

1 package Purdue Short Cuts (the pre-cooked and sliced stuff), oven roasted

1/2 package reduced fat blue cheese - I forget the brand

Some shredded carrots

One cucumber

Croutons

Craisins

Salad dressing of choice - I used reduced fat Hidden Valley Ranch

So. First I dump the bag of lettuce into my biggest mixing bowl. Then I cut up the cucumber the way my daddy taught me (before seedless cucumbers were invented). Use a carrot peeler to peel the skin-

I read somewhere that if you are not eating the skin of the fruit/vegetable, that organics are really unnecessary because the bad chemical-whatever doesn't get through to the actual vegetable. I just don't enjoy the texture of cucumber skin.

Then slice it in half, long-ways. Take the utensil of your choice and dig out the seeds. I once used a spoon, but am now too lazy to walk acroos the kitchen to get one. So I used the knife, making my mother happy about washing one less thing. My father would hate it because he is convinced that I am going to slice off a finger, the way I cut produce. Good thing he didn't see me with the chicken and the kitchen scissors. Once the seeds are out, slice in half long-ways again, then chop. Repeat for the rest of the cucumber.

Toss in shredded carrots. I just bought a bag, but I am not above using my baby Cuisinart for the job.

Add bag of chicken. After I used the kitchen scissors to open the package, I used them to chop up the chicken a bit further. Because it is a chopped salad.

Add blue cheese. I used less than half the container, in fear of overdoing it. But half the container would have been fine.

Add in some craisins. Enough so the pretty color stands out. Or something.

I mixed the salad up and then filled a bowl so that my mother could take some to work tomorrow. Before croutons and dressing.

Then I added croutons and dressing. The secret, for me, to the salad dressing, is use less than you think you need. Because you can always add more.

Then I mixed it all up and this is what it looked like:

Actually, it looks pretty pale. But that's what happens when you use ranch dressing. But I thought it was very tasty.

I had a bowl, my mother had a bowl, there was the one I set aside and there was some left over. So I am going to say this makes four bowls of salad. We also had some odd, but good pumpkin bread from a new bakery in town and it was a nice, light spring dinner.