First discovered in Europe’s Mediterranean region, celery has plenty of health and healing benefits. High in fiber, vitamin K, folate, and potassium, celery is good for digestion and lowers blood pressure. It’s a dieter’s delight with a mere 14 calories per cup.
Celery is delicious both cooked or raw, and we can eat it all, from the roots to the leaves. It’s used in salads, casseroles, and soups. In fact, along with onions and carrots, celery forms the famed Mirepoix, the French base that flavors soups and stews. Another favorite is celery stalks (& either ranch or bleu cheese dressing) alongside Buffalo-style chicken or cauliflower. And stuffing for a duck, chicken, or turkey would be foul without celery in the dressing mix. (Yes, pun intended.) Further, what’s a Bloody Mary cocktail without its celery stalk stir stick? Nada, Baby!
So, let’s get cooking!
Stuffed Celery
Try celery filled with peanut (or other nut) butter; as a dipper in place of (or in addition to) chips and crackers. Or stuff some celery sticks with a favorite hummus or softened cream cheese to which you’ve stirred your favorite herbs or some dry ranch dressing mix. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley, if you like. Or add a slice of turkey or ham to each stick.
Chicken Salad
Add finely diced celery and sweet onion to your diced cooked chicken, and mayonnaise to make chicken salad. You can also add favorite herbs, dried cranberries, halved seedless grapes, diced apples, pears, or peaches, various nuts, and sesame and poppy seeds to the mix. Let it all chill for at least one hour (& preferably overnight) before serving. Use in sandwiches or mounded atop a frilly lettuce leaf.
Creamy Celery Soup
2 T butter
12-16 large celery stalks, sliced crosswise in ½“ pieces (keep some leaves for garnish)
7-8 trimmed broccoli florets
1 lg sweet onion, chopped
1 medium baking potato, peeled and diced small
Kosher salt & ground white pepper
6 cups water
2 T fresh lemon or lime juice
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over med heat. Add sliced celery, broccoli, onion, and potato; season with salt & pepper. Let cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring a few times. Add the water; bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium. Let cook 15-20 more minutes. Process with an immersion blender till smooth, stir in citrus juice & season with additional salt to suit your taste. Serve, garnishing each bowl with celery or other leaves or a cooked broccoli floret with a dab of sour cream and a crispy bread stick.
Seafood Salad
To add a lovely crunchy texture, stir some finely diced celery into a favorite shrimp or lump crabmeat salad. And for color, try adding some finely diced or chopped sweet red or orange bell pepper, too. For seasonings, keep it simple. For example, a little lemon or lime juice and ground pepper work perfectly. For some extra zest, add some Old Bay seafood seasoning.
You say pancake. I say flapjack! They’re both the same. This is also true for hotcakes and griddlecakes, which are types of pancakes.
Because I am in the U.S., I’ll stick with pancakes on this day. Go for a traditional presentation with a pat of butter and some warmed, 100% pure maple syrup on top. Or try a sprinkle of confectioners’ sugar, a variety of fruits or berries, and whipped cream. A favorite of mine is adding blueberries and/or freshly diced peaches in the batter. Oh, yeah! Chocolate chips are pretty remarkable, too… with or without sliced bananas and bacon bits. Various nuts and praline bits also blend beautifully.
Mom always exudes a positive attitude. When, as a child, I was the most exasperating and driving her crazy, she could always manage to answer the ringing telephone with a distinct smile in her voice. When I questioned how she did that, she would remind me that the person calling was not the one misbehaving. Good point. Though I admit that I do not always succeed, she taught me well to claim the positive and put my best foot forward. Thanks, Mom!
If our furry, 4-legged friends had thumbs, I think they could paws-itively give us a run for our money when it comes to many skills we may presume are out of their range. They would change the TV channel to “Animal Planet” or “Woof World.” They could hold their water dish or reach for a goblet instead. They might choose to play the piano or the guitar. They could snap a selfie, send you a text message (with a few typos, of course), or speed dial the ASPCA if we held out on treats. I’m barking to the choir here… they’d simply open the box and take out their own treats.
Just imagine the purrrrfectly amazing new tricks they could do. They could hitch a ride, play poker, and thumb wrestle to see whose turn it was to walk the human.
A must-read for all dog fans, the “Miles-Mannered Man” dishes up “bone-i-fied” servings of poignant, relatable observations, hysterical antics, and purely canine philosophies we all can follow. Miles captures hearts with his first-paw accounts of Life as it is and always should be.
“I received a letter just before I left office from a man. I don’t know why he chose to write it, but I’m glad he did. He wrote that you can go to live in France, but you can’t become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Italy, but you can’t become a German, an Italian. He went through Turkey, Greece, Japan and other countries. But he said anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.”
If you love peanut butter, it can become its own food group! Enjoy it creamy or chunky straight out of its jar. Or add it to smoothies, snacks, sandwiches, or Asian stir-fries.
Anyone in New Hampshire in the mid-1980s may well remember local television exploding into a new era. New York television advertising executive, David Zamichow arrived as WMUR-TV’s new general manager in 1983. Smart, determined, and as visionary as they come, he then began orchestrating Channel 9’s transformation as skillfully as the finest symphony’s conductor. WMUR grew from a station that often had ABC wishing the network could disassociate completely into a station they touted as an example for all affiliates to follow.
David Zamichow launched many young careers into journalism and beyond, encouraged staff to be their best, and involved the station in many charitable and cultural endeavors. He sent teams to cover major events from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA, covering Presidents and Popes… and internationally, from the Panama Canal to the opening of the Berlin Wall and the Superpower Summit in Moscow. His tenacity and team leadership developed programming that lifted WMUR from 4th to 1st place in New Hampshire over the bigger Boston market stations.
Named 1988’s Broadcaster of the Year, David Zamichow led Channel 9 into a solid first-place NH viewership that soon topped all Boston stations’ combined viewership in the Granite State, and ultimately into 3rd place in Boston itself, previously unheard of from an “out-of-town” station. After a decade in New Hampshire, he then charged full steam ahead for the next 2 decades transforming Toledo, Ohio’s WTVG to similar success.
“Believe it is possible to solve your problem. Tremendous things happen to the believer. So, believe the answer will come. It will.”
For National Tortilla Chip Day, I decided to share my Super Simple way to make nachos. I love them to be extra cheesy, and I will gleefully eat them at any hour of the day or night. Yes, nachos for breakfast are superb!
Hubby is a huge fan of bananas. When he has a few bananas that did not get eaten before turning too soft, I turn them into banana bread for him. On this occasion, I made him 2 loaves… one plain and one with blueberries, which go very well with bananas.
KISS Tips: I always replace sugar now with granulated monkfruit or coconut sugar, which work beautifully in breads. For a yummy topping, crush a favorite streusel square or nut cluster, such as those with pecans, mangos, coconut, etc. Also, if you need more bananas, you can substitute applesauce, sour cream, or even yogurt for the moisture. Try spooning half the batter into one loaf pan and adding ½ c add-ins to the other half of the batter before spooning into a 2nd pan. If using blueberries, frozen ones work beautifully. Simply keep them in the freezer until you a ready to use them to prevent your batter from turning blue.
On this day in 1950, a remarkable man was born. He grew up as an only child, but never lost his childlike love of life. He loved sports, from tennis, golf, and baseball to hockey and football. Boats, particularly sailing, became a passion that lasted into his adulthood. Music became a powerful theme in his life, and he played in bands when he went to college. Then he settled down… as much as a man who lives in the moment possibly can. Sometimes deep and brooding, often crass and over-reactionary, this emotional soul has a heart of gold. The father of 4, I met him later in life. We were engaged to be married 5 months later. Being a step-Mom for his children became an immediate learning experience… and an utterly fulfilling portion of my life.
Unwind today, National Drink Wine Day, with a glass of your favorite vino… with or without alcohol… with or without bubbles.
Celebrate National Almond Day with the timeless Almond Joy candy bar. Or a snifter with some Amaretto. (Or perhaps both.)
On the 15th day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar, Lantern Festival is celebrated. Usually falling in February, it signifies the last day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. Lanterns can be very simple or elegantly complex. But this would be a lovely day to light a lantern, even if we cannot see hundreds of them flying into the night sky together.
Because this is Superbowl Sunday, it’s also National Pork Rind Appreciation Day.
Okay, potato fans, let’s talk taters! Any style will do… one favorite crowd-pleaser is the basic Twice-Baked Potato. Trust me, they merely sound fancy, but they are Super Simple! And dinner guests always revel in the flavors.
These make ahead to this point beautifully and can be refrigerated or even frozen till you want to serve them. Before serving, bake (after thawing, if frozen) at 350°F for 20 minutes to warm through and to crisp up the cheese on top a bit. It’s also fun to add all sorts of other goodies inside… from some dried onion soup mix or thinly sliced green onions to cooked bacon bits.
Invented in 1908 by Italian restauranteur Alfredo di Lelio, this celebrated dish is simply noodles tossed in butter and parmesan cheese. Of course, we have a great many adaptations, many including adding a decadent alfredo sauce for more creaminess. We also toss in chicken or shrimp… or both. I also love alfredo with bacon, baby spinach, or mushrooms… or all of the above. However you choose to adorn your fettuccine alfredo, enjoy a hearty dish today!
“I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else.”
Stuffed mushrooms first appeared as a food item sometime between the mid-19th to early-20th Centuries. Culinary experts widely agree that they most likely originated with the Italians, as they are very much like the Italian stuffed zucchini, which has a much longer history. However, the French were the first to widely cultivate mushrooms for consumption. The brown cremini mushroom soared into popularity, followed by more gourmet varietals, such as shiitakes.
Cathy’s Mouth Watering Stuffed Mushrooms 2003
KISS Tips: Garnish the tops with bits of fresh parsley for a pretty finish. For great variations, consider additional protein additions, such as crabmeat or chopped chorizo sausage. Stuffed mushrooms also soar to a whole new level when you wrap them with pliable, but partially cooked strips of bacon before baking. Ohhhh, yeah!!!! I also like to pre-cook the mushroom caps to release some of their excess moisture. After removing stems, simply place them open-side down on a plate lined with a couple layers of paper toweling and microwave 2-3 minutes. Use paper towels to dab out extra water inside, which continues to emerge as they cool.
The famed Québécois dish called Poutine forms the center of a week of Food Festivals, especially in Canada, where the dish originated. French fries, topped with cheddar cheese curds and brown gravy started in the province of Québec, Canada, but the popularity of the interesting flavor and texture combinations has spread internationally. Some add fried chicken tenders; others add a generous sprinkle of crispy bacon crumbles.
This is our day to get super silly… leave someone a goofy message… a prank! Just be sure you tap in the correct phone number first! Just makeup something utterly senseless. “Mr. Ed may have had horse sense, but that doesn’t make Sponge Bob wear square pants.”
If you crinkled your mouth or furrowed your brown upon reading that word, you likely look like a curmudgeon! (Better to look like one than to behave like one.) Think of the stereotypical “grumpy old man.” A curmudgeon is a mean-spirited, nasty “buggah!”
