It’s pretty obvious that I really love Souen – I have been there 3 times in the last week (brunch, dinner). Practicing a macrobiotic lifestyle can be difficult at times, but it pays off (I’m not macrobiotic but I strive to incorporate it in my daily life). I know I’ve linked to these things before, but here we go again (just cuz I think they are good resources for macrobiotics)…

• Becoming Whole, by Meg Wolff (book review)
• 2-week wrap-up
• 1-week thoughts
• Lessons learned

Here are some more tips for a DIY Macrobiotic Lifestyle…

Tip #1: Don’t stress. Chill out. Do the things that make you happy, not the things that make you sad/angry/depressed/anxious/etc… So many people forget that stress is probably the number one cause of disease. So don’t stress!

Tip #2: Don’t exercise too much. Incorporate movement into your daily routine, but don’t overdo it. I like to get my movement through walking – I aim for about 2 miles a day. Last week I walked to work every day (I think), so that was 2 miles a day. Then yesterday I didn’t really walk at all, and Today I ended up walking about 4 miles because Bobby and I went out to enjoy the lovely weather we’ve been having in New York. Central Park was beautiful today. Anyway, it all balances out.

Tip #3: Keep your meals simple. Souen has very balanced dishes – the Macro Plate, the Planet Platter (different names for the same dish at different locations) – that incorporate squash (kabocha), veggies (broccoli or kale, carrots, diakon, and hijiki seaweed), beans (pinto I think), and rice (brown). The dishes come with a great dressing (lots of healthy fats) – miso tahini. I cannot get enough! So I had to make something similar for myself.

This was my attempt at recreating last week’s brunch for lunch: kabocha, broccoli, and carrots, topped with a black sesame seed sauce. After this shot I packed it into a tupperware to eat at the office.

The sauce is so simple, and so good. I have been having it on everything this week.

Black Sesame Seed Paste/Sauce – Ingredients

• 3-4 tablespoons black sesame seed powder (probably just ground toasted black sesame seeds)
• 2 teaspoons agave nectar or other sweetener (maple syrup or brown rice syrup would also be good)
• splash of soy sauce (<1 teaspoon)
• water, as needed (for thinning)

Black Sesame Seed Paste/Sauce – Method

Mix the powder, sweetener, and soy sauce. Add water to thin, if needed. Add more powder to thicken, if needed. Adding more agave will make it creamier, which is how I like it.

Hope you enjoyed these macro tips… I’m off to watch more of the Oscars. Go Sandra Bullock! (I loved The Blind Side.)

Who are you rooting for?

While making this recipe I felt like I had transplanted myself to another era. This is a recipe of the 50’s (60’s? 40’s?). I could see my grandmother mixing these ingredients on a late fall afternoon, preparing a semi-homemade dinner for her family and waiting to hear about her husband’s and her children’s days.

I like to think that I’m going to be a good wife and mother some day. What this means exactly I’m not sure. I hope to cook good food, take care of Bobby (and eventually kid(s), God willing), have a nurturing home, and in general have a “normal” and healthy life. Being happy and healthy are probably my top priorities.

Coco asked today how you would rank the following: family, friendship, love, health, and career. My response was: love, family, health, friends, and then career. I consider love and family one and the same. As much as I enjoy working, I would probably be just as happy making a home (provided I could get over the guilt of not using my degrees) as I would working an exciting and demanding job. I would actually be happier as a homemaker, to be honest. What is your ranking?

One reason that I love cooking so much is that it brings up memories for me. Sometimes it brings up memories that are not even mine – I suppose I’d call them fantasies, or daydreams (like imagining my grandmother in the kitchen). So I’d like to share this inspiring recipe today, not because it’s particularly healthy or unique, but because it brought me a special happiness that I don’t always find in other parts of my life.

Maggie’s Cornbread Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 package of Jiffy cornbread mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 container of 2% Greek yogurt (mine was 7 oz. of Fage; I’m sure that any ~1-cup container of any yogurt would suffice)
• 1 can of yellow sweet corn (drained)
• 1 can of creamed corn

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a baking dish. I used what I think is called a “loaf pan”. It’s about 9 inches by 4 inches and it’s maybe 3-4 inches high. It was almost full.
3. Bake for 40-60 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean. Baking times will vary depending on what pan you use and how your oven bakes.

Enjoy with a friend or loved one. Make a memory and savor the moment.

Does cooking evoke memories for you? What other activities are particularly meaningful for you?

Yesterday I gave you a teaser about my gingerbread house adventure – you get the full story today!

A week ago (last Sunday – when I blogged about exercise) I took the subway out to Flushing to visit my (Bobby’s) aunt and uncle. Auntie Jo had offered a while ago to teach me how to make real gingerbread houses – the recipe was from her German housekeeper (I think she said it’s from 45 years ago). I jumped at the opportunity – Auntie Jo is so sweet and I love learning new things about baking.

When I got there we got breakfast (see this post for my New York bagel). Auntie Jo had made the dough the night before (you have to chill it) so when we got back, we started with the baking process. Here is the recipe (hand-typed from Auntie Jo’s recipe book):

It says…

GINGERBREAD HOUSES (from Cookie Cookery)

Mix together until smooth:

• 1 cup shortening (2 bars)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup molasses

Stir into above and mix well:

• 1/2 cup hot water

Beat 2 eggs and stir into the sugar mix.

Sift together, adding slowly:

• 5.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon

Place dough in containers and freeze or chill. Roll to 1/8 – 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out with a pointed knife following a cardboard patter: 2 each of front, side, and roof. Chimney is optional.

Warm oven to 350. Bake 10-15 minutes. Let cool. Put together with Royal Icing. Decorate.

ROYAL ICING

Add 2.5 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar and 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar to 2 egg whites.

Heat, stirring, in the top of a double boiler until warm and smooth. Remove from heat, beat in electric mixer at highest speed for 5-6 minutes, until icing stands in peaks. Cover bowl with damp towel and put into refrigerator. Can tint with food color, or may squeeze through a pastry tube with decorating tip.

Use to cement house together. When sides are secure, use to place ornament candies on house.

<—End Recipes—>

This was the baking station: a beautiful recipe book (handmade), a cutting board, cardboard cutouts (for making the house shapes), flour, a rolling pin. The dough is in that metal bowl.

First, you flour the cutting board. Then you roll out the dough (with a rolling pin) until it’s about 1/4 – 1/8 inches thick. Use the cardboard shapes to cut out the pieces for the house.

Auntie Jo showed me how to scoop under the dough before cutting it out so that it comes off the cutting board more easily.

I had fun cutting out the pieces! Mine were not as nicely shaped as Auntie Jo’s, but she has more practice than I do (I’ll keep trying).

Duke (Ellington) kept us company:

(He didn’t get any gingerbread.)

After we did the houses, we still had dough left, so we did some cutouts – that’s a carrot cookie cutter. It is so cute. The house pieces came out and we put them in the garage to cool:

While they cooled, we took a break…

…To eat cinnamon toast with butter and hot tea with milk and sugar.

Uncle Morris DJ’d and played us some lovely jazz music while we baked that afternoon.

Then it was time to make the icing. We didn’t use a double boiler; we just boiled water in a pan and put the metal bowl with the icing batter inside.

And we beat the icing in the mixer – beautiful. We used a pastry tube thing to squeeze the icing (like glue) and put the houses together.

The roofs go on last. We actually ended up with an extra base, so I put a heart on it and gave it to Bobby.

After I put on the roofs, I packed up the houses and took them home to finish decorating (it was late). I just decorated them yesterday (Saturday), and this is how they came out:

I used gummy bears and chocolate chips.

I’m giving them to my coworkers and my cousin (in-law-to-be). I think they make great gifts – I’ll definitely be making them next year too.

Thank you Auntie Jo for teaching me! And to Uncle Morris for great company

I’m actually on my own now… Bobby is en route to Miami (should touch down in about 25 minutes) and I miss him. But I’ll see him on Wednesday. I’m still missing the cats, too.

Have you ever made gingerbread houses? Do you give baked goods as presents? What are your favorite things to make?

Back when I first arrived in New Jersey (for new readers – I just moved to New York city from California, but on the way I stayed in NJ with my parents for a few days) I hit up Whole Foods for some awesome prepared foods, like this butternut squash with baby spinach recipe:

Then the other day Sue sent me a link to the recipe on Wegmans’ site and I knew I had to try it. I didn’t really have many of the ingredients – I only had butternut squash, actually – but what I made was great. The original recipe had butternut squash, baby spinach, red onions, and dried cranberries (craisins). My recipe was…

Roasted Butternut Squash with Broccoli and Raisins

Ingredients (serves Maggie and Bobby got a few bites)

• 1 butternut squash, chopped in 1-inch cubes (probably 2-3 pounds) (optionally peeled – I never peel squash though)
• 1.5 cups of broccoli
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste
• a few shakes of garlic powder (to replace the onions I didn’t have)
• handful of raisins ~ 1/4 cup (optionally chopped up – I chopped mine in small pieces)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Chop the squash and broccoli. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Spread them out on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 50 minutes.
3. While the veggies are roasting, chop up the raisins and soak them in water. Drain them.
4. Take the veggies out of the oven and mix in the raisins.
5. Serve hot or room temperature. I put PARMESAN on mine.

Along with this I had a nice salad with organic rotisserie chicken on top. Delicious!

What’s your favorite squash recipe? I love ROASTING squash as well as steaming kabocha.