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Roasted Honeynut Squash with Za’atar and Pomegranate Molasses

November 6, 2014 By Karen

During my lunch break this week I finished watching the fifth season of Parenthood on my phone. I am one of those lucky people that is doomed to never upgrade on Verizon because I refuse to give up my unlimited data plan. It’s UNLIMITED for heaven’s sake. Which means that I get to indulge in Netflix binge-watching to my heart’s content and not think twice about it. It may be completely frivolous, but it makes me happy.

Don’t get me wrong, I tear through books constantly: the good old-fashioned kind, e-books, and especially audiobooks. (All three links are what I’m currently reading right now.) As a kid, I’d get in trouble for staying up too late with a flashlight under the covers, reading way past my bedtime. (I know, such a rule breaker….) It’s been my escape for as long as I can remember. I read when I have down time at work, I read with my kids, I read on my own before bed, and I listen to “my stories” any time in between. With a long commute every day, I have plenty of time to become absorbed in other people’s lives, real or fiction, and keep it playing while cooking, doing the dishes and even grocery shopping. I can’t imagine my life without books, or the library for that matter.

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Apple Cider Rum Punch

October 23, 2014 By Karen

June Cleaver? Betty Draper? Carol Brady? Any housewife from generations past that’s waiting at home at 6pm in full makeup and heels for her husband to come through the door, ready to mix his favorite cocktail?

I’m so not these women. I typically walk through my own door close to that time, trying to balance my work bag, my little guy’s lunch box, sweaters, my coffee mug from the morning, and the giant stack of mail, all while trying to get the key in the lock and the alarm off while reciting for the millionth time, “Please go right upstairs, use the bathroom and wash your hands. With soap. Now. Don’t make me start counting. One, two, three, four….” Tired and hungry, my makeup-less face attempts to hold it together. My shoes are kicked off and left in the pile of footwear covering our foyer floor, and I head straight to my room for pajamas. Pretty dress and heels to greet Brian as he returns home? More like an oversized grey t-shirt that says “Stanford Special Olympics ’95“ paired with pink and yellow striped drawstring pants. I’m so fancy, right? (Just writing that makes me think of one of the funniest songs I have ever heard: “Business Time.” I just re-watched the video, and I dare you not to laugh.)

So on Monday night, when I offered Brian a cocktail as he walked in the door, he looked at me confused. “A cocktail? Now???” I should probably mention that we’re not big drinkers, and I can’t think of a time that we have ever come home from work and just had a drink. Yes, I love having wine with dinner, or with girlfriends on a Friday night, but it’s not really Brian’s thing. And sadly, an open bottle of wine is going to sit around for weeks unless I throw it into something I’m cooking. And mixed drinks have always been for restaurants and vacation in my mind. (I know, such foolishness!)

But on Monday night I was trying to create a cocktail for our Caribbean themed cooking club that was happening the next evening, and I was taking my task very seriously. I was actually an “alternate” on the assigned rotation, so I was covering for the member on beverages. She had a business trip, and generously offered to supply the wine, so I only had to bring a fun drink. But if you ever look up Caribbean cocktail ideas, you’ll know the options are endless, which doesn’t help someone who has a hard time making decisions….

Sweet and Spicy Chili Shrimp

September 29, 2014 By Karen

Hangin’ in there.

Busy, but good. Trying to figure out the whole balance thing.

Those are the two standard answers I’ve been giving people lately when they ask, “How’re you doing?” And by lately, I mean the last eight years or so. (Yay! Parenthood!) Yeah, sometimes I want to say, “Do you really want to know?” But come on, that’s reserved for the close friends and family who already know I’m crazy. “Hangin’ in there” typically means I’m trying to remember that things aren’t that difficult and that I need to get some perspective on life, because really, I may feel exhausted or overwhelmed (mostly from my own doing, but that’s another story,) but I know I’ve got to get over myself. The second line is my more “upbeat response,” but even that gives away the fact that I don’t have it all under control. (Surprise!) So I’m working towards being at a place in my life where I spontaneously answer, “I’m great! How are you?” I’m getting there…I’m definitely closer than I have been in a long time, but it’s taking a conscious effort. It’s recognizing and being grateful for the little things, as well as the big ones. (The big ones are too many to list here right now, but being healthy is one at the top.) Little ones are more manageable: chocolate babka with a candle in it delivered bedside on my birthday. A rainy day that let me spend hours reading with my 7 year old. Hearing him cry, “It’s not fair!!!! Why does the library have to be closed on Sunday?!?!” Kids that finally sleep through the night. (Which is not such a little thing.) Watching my niece clap her hands and realize she can make a whole room laugh with her. Having a dance party before bedtime. Getting a card from a friend that says “Shitake Happens.” Being able to run two miles without stopping. (Again, not feeling little. Maybe even feeling a bit huge.) Getting a haircut. And color…because the grays…oh, the grays.
And this weekend I went on an adventure with my guys, even when the list of things to do at home was endless. We’ve lived in New Jersey for 8 years, but had never been to Grounds for Sculpture down in Trenton. An outdoor sculpture park, they’ve got an incredible exhibit going on that is a retrospective of the founder Seward Johnson’s work. It felt like a summer day, and we spent three hours traipsing around, amazed by what we saw, especially his life-like sculptures. If you live locally, choose a date and go. It’s really worth your time.

We pulled back into our neighborhood though at 4:30pm. Worn out and hungry, I knew that the fridge was pretty bare. Needing dinner and fixings for lunches, I braved a quick trip to Trader Joe’s. (Let me tell you, as much as I love grocery shopping, Sunday evenings are not fun there.) So even though it wasn’t a work day, I still had the mindset that I needed a fast and easy dinner, because nobody was going to wait patiently while I fussed in the kitchen. It’d been a while since I’d made this sweet and spicy chili shrimp dish, but I knew it took little effort and has a huge payoff in flavor. I grabbed a bag of frozen, pre-cooked shrimp that were already peeled and deveined, an extra knob of fresh ginger, and some limes. Twenty minutes after unpacking the groceries, we were sitting down to eat, that’s how simple this meal is. It’s a recipe that is only slightly adapted from one Mark Bittman wrote for the New York Times about street food in Singapore exactly nine years ago. I’ve been making it ever since, but I have adjusted the measurements for the sauce so that there is plenty of extra to spoon on top of the brown rice and broccoli I typically serve it with….

Applesauce with Vanilla and Cinnamon

September 11, 2014 By Karen

When I think “apple picking,” I picture cool fall days, sweaters, hot cider, and crunching leaves on the ground. I do not imagine 95 degree weather, storm clouds blowing in violently, and getting caught in a torrential downpour.

But remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about NOT taking the kids peach picking? Well, my mom was in town visiting last week, and when she’s here we have to up our game a bit. She’s not one to just laze around, so on one of the hottest, grossest days of the summer we decided to pack the kids in the car and drive an hour away to go…peach picking. Yeah, that didn’t turn out so well. If you hadn’t noticed, it’s September now and peaches should have been picked around a month ago. So to satisfy the 3 year old in our midst, we managed to pull around a dozen unripe green peaches from the fruitless trees, and my vision of homemade peach ice cream for dessert that night was promptly shattered.

But luckily there was a silver lining to this ridiculous outing. Honeycrisp apples are in season now in New Jersey! We hadn’t intended to apple pick this early, (in fact, I didn’t even know it was possible,) but it was the saving grace to our day, and we hauled out 13 pounds of gorgeous crispy tart apples. We’re an apple family, and Pink Ladies and the ones we got are our favorites. Because we go picking every October, we’ve always been way too late for Honeycrisps, which happen to be one of the earliest varieties available. So this really did feel like a bonus, and made our entire crew happy. (And let me tell you, we needed a dose of happy because there was a whole lot of crank going on.)

I want to tell you that my first thought was “Apple Pie!” But here’s my confession: I’ve never made one before. I know, you’re probably thinking, “how can I possibly be reading this woman’s food blog if she’s never made an apple pie? Isn’t that one of the most basic things people in this country make?” Well, yeah, it might be. And around a dozen years ago I marked a recipe for this amazing sounding Apple Pie with a Cheddar Cheese Crust, and went so far as to make the dough and stick it in the freezer, but I never actually got around to baking it. (It’s a bit embarrassing.) So no, you’re not getting an apple pie post here. I’m sorry.

My first thought was actually, “Applesauce!” Because applesauce is one of my ultimate comfort foods, and it takes such little effort to make it homemade. It’s something my mom loves, and so I’d frequently find it on her stove when I was a kid. Especially at Hanukkah, when it was mandatory to have sweet fresh applesauce to serve with the salty crisp potato latkes she would fry up. When my kids were first eating solid foods, I would make it all the time, but I admit that I buy the little pre-packaged cups at the market way too often these days to stuff in lunchboxes. There’s nothing particularly wrong with them. There’s no added sugar, or funky ingredients, but it’s a waste of money and plastic and I never feel really good about it.

Because I know homemade applesauce, with just a touch of vanilla and cinnamon, tastes ten times better than anything you can buy in the store….

Corn and Black Bean Salad With Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette

September 8, 2014 By Karen

I love when I have time to play in the kitchen, but the truth is I don’t always make the time to play. I get wrapped up in my own drama, make a bigger deal out of my schedule than I need to, and sometimes become a deer in the headlights at the thought of everything before me. (How’s that for honest?) The truth is my life isn’t as complicated as I sometimes think it is, and I know that. But frequently I just need a reminder. So what if I work, have crazy amounts of commuting time, kids that need attention and piles of paper everywhere? So do most of the people I know. And really, I am lucky to have a career I love, lucky to have a car to commute in and audiobooks to pass the time, lucky as all get out to have my amazing kids, and that paperwork….well, that’s just life. And I am lucky that I am a healthy and competent enough person that if I choose to, I can get all those papers under control. (And someday, maybe I will.)

Just like everyone else, I often cook just to get food on the table or ready to pack in lunch bags. It can get repetitive and boring, unless I make a conscious effort to change things up a little. Taking a few extra minutes to make a big batch of something colorful and full of flavor can go a long way for my sanity and my happiness.

This Corn and Black Bean Salad is a perfect example of that. Adapted slightly from a recipe in “Cooking Light” from way back in 2003, my oil-stained, ripped magazine page is filed away in my “keepers” binder and is covered with notes of my alterations and who I’ve served it to. With garlicky corn, sweet popping tomatoes, a little heat from jalapeños, and a citrus kick, it’s versatile and easy to make. It reminds me of summer picnics in the park, and it’s something I’ve brought to potlucks for years, because it can sit out for a while and will taste better and better. You can follow a recipe exactly, or throw whatever vegetables or canned beans you have laying around into the mix. As you can see from the photos, I don’t bother stressing over getting everything diced perfectly. My peppers and red onions are any which size, and it doesn’t make any difference at all. I’ll make a big bowl of this to keep for the week, and use it to jazz up different dishes. It can be my side salad with a turkey burger, I can serve it as a dip with tortilla chips, it can be my filling for a burrito with some cheese and rice thrown in, or I’ll just take it to work in tupperware with some mixed greens. (And if you do the same, make sure to put the Corn and Black Bean Salad on the bottom of the tupperware with the greens on top. Right before eating, shake your container to mix everything around, and your greens won’t be all soggy!) It lasts in the fridge for a good five days, which makes life and meal planning so much easier. And we can all use a bit of easy in our lives….

Healthy Homemade Chocolate Milk

September 4, 2014 By Karen

As a working mom, there are days when I feel like everything I do is either for my family or for my career. Two things I love, right? So that’s not totally a bad thing. But I realized recently that I need to work on my life balance a bit more and do some things that are just for me so I don’t go crazy. Any of you feel the same way?Which is why I started Tasty Oasis. You already know about my food obsession, but what you might not know is that before starting this project my understanding of all things technical was stuck around 1997. I just hadn’t made the effort to catch up to the 21st century, but that was getting old. It was embarrassing that when I got my new camera I didn’t even know how to transfer the pictures to the computer! I decided I had to get it together and make some changes. So I’ve thrown myself into creating this website. I could easily have asked Brian to set it up (after all, he’s this guy who can just decide to make a podcast and within weeks get a website up and have hundreds of downloads on iTunes.) But instead I’ve done the entire thing on my own. Sure, I probably spend too many hours reinventing the wheel, but I’m learning so much through the process. Widgets and plug-ins, and search engine optimization, oh my! And it’s mine, and that’s something I’m proud of.

The other thing I started recently is running. Whoa… Stop the presses. Those of you who know me are probably thinking you misread that last sentence. Karen and running are not two words that typically go together, unless you count “Karen’s running around like a chicken with her head cut off.” The last time I ran for any significant distance was through Central Park when Christo’s “The Gates” were up, and that was 2005! I ran five miles on a February morning with white glistening snow all around and bright orange flags blowing in the wind, and I felt like I’d conquered the world….

Mint and Coconut Chutneys

September 1, 2014 By Karen

I called my mother-in-law, Ammini, as I drove to work the other morning for our standard review of the kids’ schedules. After telling me the story of how my older son fell off his bike the day before, she came out with the loveliest statement any busy mom can hear: “I just cooked Rava Kichadi and Dad is making Chicken Curry with Chapati, so we’ll leave that for your dinner tonight.” Okay, maybe that exact line won’t ring bells for everyone. And if you’re raising your eyebrows at the unfamiliar sounding dishes, just know the main point of that sentence was: “Guess what? We cooked so you don’t have to!” And that is a beautiful thing.

From Kerala, (the southernmost state in India,) my in-laws are both fantastic cooks, and their traditional dishes are mouthwatering. Customarily, it’s often just the wife that cooks in an Indian household, but because Brian’s mom was a nurse working the night shift, his Dad had to make his way into the kitchen. Granted, since they both retired she’s back to doing 95% of the cooking, but Dad will jump in to make certain favorites. And I’m lucky because not only do they cater for our family on a frequent basis, but they’ve also been generous in sharing their experience and techniques so that I can make Indian food on my own. Before we got married, I remember going over to their house and I walked into the kitchen to find on the counter two cutting boards, two serious chef’s knives, and two whole chickens waiting to be broken down. I had mentioned in passing that I wanted to learn how to do it, and all of a sudden I had my own private master class waiting. (Okay, to be perfectly honest, it was fun and manageable at the time, but I still find myself buying already cut up pieces at the store. At least it’s something I know how to do!)

These days my lessons are more informal, and what just happened is a perfect example. After Ammini told me she was bringing dinner, she continued, “But the Rava Kichadi needs some chutney. So can you make that?” Chutneys are typically thick sauces that are made with fruits, herbs, spices, sugar, and acids like lemon juice or vinegar, and are used as condiments in Indian meals. They don’t require hard to find ingredients, and you don’t need to serve them with Indian food to enjoy them. And it’s a great way to use up fresh herbs that may be dying in your crisper. But truthfully, instead of just using the cilantro I had at home like any smart person would do, I decided I was in the mood for the mint and coconut chutneys that my favorite South Indian restaurant serves, so during my lunch hour I ran to a local farm-stand and picked up some fresh mint….

Roasted Peaches with Basil and Ricotta (in the toaster!)

August 23, 2014 By Karen

I really want to tell you these peaches came from a trip to an orchard with my angelic kids or the local farmers’ market, but that would be lying. Because although I had every intention of going to the farmers’ market the other night after the camp and daycare pickup, the 5pm meltdown I was faced with in the car made that… unappealing. Dragging tired, cranky kids with me so I could fawn over gorgeous produce just seemed foolish. So luckily I had stopped during my lunch hour the day before at some random grocery store for a quick fruit run, and I scored a few peaches carted in from a state far away. Ideal? No. But real life? Yes. And the basil, you ask? Growing freely in big bunches in my yard? Ha. It too came from the store in one of those dreaded plastic clamshells. I may see myself as the CSA box girl, creating wild creations from whatever lands in my neighborhood pickup every week, but the honest truth is that year after year I keep forgetting to sign up. So in the meantime, I make do with what I’ve got. Lunch hour peaches. Welcome to my world.

The Six Stages of the Roasted Peach

But look at these peaches!!! They were pretty perfect on their own, because it is summer after all and it’s prime season for them. Straight up, they’re delicious. But with a little extra effort, they become heavenly. Halved and filled with a buttery brown sugar and basil concoction, they’re roasted for just 20 minutes and transform into a simple summer dessert that makes everyone happy. Okay, you’re shaking your head because I said roasting and summer in the same sentence, and you remember me just telling you about my ancient hot house where the last thing I want to do is turn the oven on in August. But wait! I have something that may blow your mind… You can just use your toaster oven!

I started making this recipe nine years ago, when I saw this life changing article in the New York Times by Melissa Clark. (I know, my version of life changing might not be yours, but go with me on this.) It was called “No One Ever Slaved Over a Hot Toaster Oven.” I was living in my tiny Manhattan apartment at the time, which barely had a kitchen to speak of. My actual oven served as my version of storage, and all of my pots and pans and baking sheets made a home there. The idea of emptying it out to cook anything small seemed like a waste, and the risk of heating up my apartment during a New York summer was beyond me. (Confession time: today my oven still is filled with muffin trays and baking sheets, even though I technically have room elsewhere for them. So I continue to face the same self-imposed obstacles. Please tell me I am not alone in this!) But Melissa turned me on to using my toaster oven to cook real food, and not just make frozen waffles and cinnamon toast in it. It was revolutionary. I started baking chicken, and roasting vegetables and making these amazing peaches all on my counter top. I haven’t looked back since….