The Anti-Shopper Gets Ready for the Season - With Resolutions and Vegetarian Eggplant Parmesan

Everyone who knows me well knows how much I hate to shop. Thus, in more ways than one, I feel like what Temple Grandin terms "an anthropologist on Mars.” Just finishing watching Modern Family on TV frantically getting ready for Christmas on December 16^th, the only date available for their extended family to get together, I realized that it was that time of year once again. Since we’ll probably do the modern Jewish Christmas (movies, Chinese food, and some volunteering), I’m grateful that I’m not obliged to join in the Christmas season shopping fray. I hope this Modern Family and all the families they are an exaggeration of gets together and stops worrying so much about the gifts. They spent so much time shopping and wrapping and worrying about them that they must be exhausted to a frazzle by the time Christmas arrives. The way they’re celebrating doesn’t look like fun to me, but I’m on the outside looking in. As I said, I’ve always been the Anti-shopper. Fortunately, no one is depending on my shopping to spur an economic recovery. If they are, the whole free world is in even bigger trouble than it thinks.

Instead, I have already started contemplating what comes next – the resolution making for the New Year. While I’m hoping the powers that be make some important ones – To do what’s best for the people of this country even at the risk of making their opponents look good –for myself, I’m starting small. I already started power walking almost daily and eating healthy food. Let’s see how long it lasts.

In keeping with these resolutions, here’s a recipe for vegetarian eggplant parmesan. It’s less fattening than the one with meat and can be prepared in about 20 minutes. It serves 4.

                                                       Vegetarian Eggplant Parmesan
1 eggplant cut in slices
¼ pound Swiss cheese or mozzarella cheese diced small (I use the low fat cheese)
mushrooms
1 yellow onion sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic
oregano, basil, ground pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese grated

Preheat the oven to 350º Fahrenheit.
Put the sliced eggplant in a pot with water to cover. Steam until soft or about 10 minutes.
While the eggplant is steaming, slice the mushrooms and onion and sauté in the olive oil.
Put the tomato sauce in a pot and add the mushrooms and onions and the seasoning.
When the ingredients are ready, assemble as follows: a layer of eggplant, a layer of cheese, a layer of tomato sauce mixture, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Put in the oven on a bottom rack and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Happy Holidays everyone. Whichever way you enjoy celebrating, I hope you have a healthy and happy season.

The 99% And Some Recipes From the Great Depression

Today people in over 325 cities in America rallied to support the Occupy Wall Street protests. Unfortunately, I could only be there in spirit because I am getting over a cough. The wind/chill factor in Chicago was around 25º.  The Chicago protest drew several thousand people who knew I was important to get out there.

According to Rana Foroohar in the November 14^th issue of Time Magazine, the 1% that the 99% is enraged at takes home 21% of the country’s income and owns 35% of the wealth. He states that partly as a result of this plus several other factors upward mobility has been seriously eroded. No wonder people are angry.

When I graduated from Binghamton University in 1970, I left debt free ready to begin my adult life with no strings. My family wasn’t even close to the top 20%, but my parents were able to send me to a state university. At that time, the cost of a year at a state college including tuition, room, and board was about $1500. Now the cost of a year for undergraduate students at Binghamton University including tuition, room, and board is about $19,000 per year for state residents and it has been cited by Kiplinger’s Magazine for several years for being a great value. The cost for tuition, room, and board at other state universities can be as high as $25,000 per year. This is hardly in keeping with the rate of inflation. Students graduate from college laden with debt and then have great difficulty finding employment. That’s for the ones who are fortunate and/or determined enough to go to college. No wonder people are angry.

The Occupy Protests seem somewhat reminiscent of the Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. Why shouldn’t they? There was no safety net then and some would like to destroy our fragile safety net now.

With that in mind, I wondered if there were any lessons to be learned from the Great Depression. Certainly, there must be some good thrifty recipes so I asked my mother if she remembered what they ate then. This is one recipe she remembered from that era. My grandma must have made it often. They called it Jewish spaghetti. This should serve 4.

                                             Jewish Spaghetti

               a quart of water
               1 pat of butter

3/4 box spaghetti

               ½ pound grated cheese
               spaghetti sauce
               mushrooms, onions, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper

Preheat oven to 350º.

Put pot of water on the burner. When the water is boiled, cook the spaghetti.
Butter a casserole dish. Put the spaghetti in the dish. Add the spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, onions, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Mix with the spaghetti.
Put the grated cheese on top.
Cook for 40 minutes or until the cheese gets crisp around the edges.

 

Are You A Job Creator? Maybe You're Entitled To A Tax Break

When I was downtown the other day, I ran into an old friend. She had such a euphoric grin on her face that I wanted some of whatever she had. “Guess what!” she said. “My name came up on the waiting list. I’m on my way to Nordstrom’s to get my $9,010 Chanel sequined tweed coat. And just in time to claim it.”

“Claim it?” I asked.

 “Yes,” she answered. “Don’t you know that job creators have a special place in our economy? Think of all the jobs I’m creating by buying the coat. It should be worth some tax deductions.”

 “Congratulations,” I said.

 Since I hadn’t been in a store except for the supermarket in months, I realized that with the year almost over, I was falling down on my civic responsibilities. By contrast, my friend was inspired to go out and buy that $1400 pair of shoes to go with the coat. I felt ashamed. After all, we must all do our fair share. There must be something I could do to help. Here I was surrounded by stores. As I was pondering what to buy, a man selling Streetwise, the newspaper written and sold by the homeless, sold me a copy. Thinking that he was doing a worthy project, I paid him extra. Then I asked myself how he was contributing to job creation and hoped that they taxed him to the fullest. Yes, it was time for me to do my fair share, but I was not in the mood to shop so I got my hair done and then went to a restaurant to eat. Feeling that I had done what I could, I went home satisfied with my efforts.

By the time I got home, it was late and I needed to make something quick. Here is a recipe for low-fat enchilada casserole. Prep time is about 20 minutes and it feeds 4.

                                                         Low-Fat Enchilada Casserole

 2 14 ounce cans black or red beans drained of liquid

½ cup chopped onion
4 tsps chili powder
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
2 gloves garlic minced
1 cup water
11.5 oz jar mild taco sauce
6 corn tortillas
1 ¼ cup shredded 2% sharp cheddar cheese
2 green onions finely chopped
shredded lettuce
chopped fresh tomatoes
fat free sour cream for garnish

 Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit.

Saute the onion. Add chili powder, cumin, pepper, garlic and water. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Lightly cover bottom of 9x13” pan with half of taco sauce. Place 3 corn tortillas in bottom of pan cutting tortillas to fit. Spread bean mixture on top of tortillas. Sprinkle with ½ cup of cheese.  Drizzle with remaining taco sauce over cheese and top with remaining 3 tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.

Garnish with green onion, tomatoes, sour cream, and lettuce.  Serve.

Recipes and Comfort From the '50's

Is life in the 21^st century too complicated? Are the Occupy protests too much?  Are there too many choices for some people? Is there often a collective nostalgia for the ‘50’s or is the focus on that decade a multi-national corporate plot designed to encourage us to stop thinking critically? You be the judge.

This weekend we saw Maple and Vine at the Next Theatre Company in Evanston. Written by Jordan Harrison and directed by Damon Kiely, this satire poses many interesting questions. It is about a high powered young couple in Manhattan who are overwhelmed by their lives. When they meet two ‘50’s re-enactors, they decide to trade their success driven lives for a simpler era of casseroles and stay-at-home wives. Is it really simpler? This is what the two main characters must decide. I won’t play the spoiler because you should see this play for yourselves.

What interested me most was that the people involved in creating the play are all younger adults who never having experienced this period, seem to idealize it. This decade that gave us the McCarthy witch hunts, the threat of nuclear war, the murder of Emmett Till, and the Feminine Mystique [to list a few highlights] is remembered by most people as a time when all was well and nothing was complicated. I was 12 years old in 1960 so my memory of the period is hazy at best. Reflecting on it historically, however, I have to say that I'll stay in 2011 thank you despite the ubiquitous superficial electronic connections. What do you readers think?

Alas, no era is all good - or bad. I think I’d like that camaraderie (bad word choice for that time period) among the women. The shared recipes and Tupperware parties sound somewhat comforting. That’s why it felt really good to share some of those things with my friend Janet Parker. She’s sharing this recipe for Potato-Fennel Gratin. It was really delicious. 

                     Potato-Fennel Gratin By Ina Garten from “The Barefoot Contessa”

2 small fennel bulbs

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 T. good olive oil
1 T. unsalted butter
2 lbs. russet potatoes (4 lg. potatoes)
2 c. plus 2 T. heavy cream
2 ½ c. grated Gruyere cheese (1/2 lb.)
1 t. kosher salt
½ t. freshly ground black pepper\

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter the inside of a 10x15x2-inch (10 cup) baking dish.

Remove the stalks from the fennel and cut the bulbs in half lengthwise. Remove the cores and thinly slice the bulbs crosswise, making approximately 4 cups of sliced fennel. Sauté the fennel and onions in the olive oil and butter on medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until tender.

Peel the potatoes, then thinly slice them. Mix the sliced potatoes in a large bowl with 2 cups of cream, 2 cups of Gruyere, salt and pepper. Add the sautéed fennel and onion and mix well.

Pour the potatoes into the baking dish. Press down to smooth the potatoes. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream and ½ cup of Gruyere and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 1 ½ hours, until the potatoes are very tender and the top is browned and bubbly. Allow to set for 10 minutes and serve.

           

One Community's Recipe for Dealing With the High Price of Clothes

Times are hard for many Americans. People are angry saying that wealth is inequitably distributed. Hence the rise of the Occupy Protests. Yet occasions still go on. Being unable to afford an outfit to wear to a wedding is a problem for many people.

I was reminded of a solution yesterday when I received a request in the mail for a donation from the Jane Webster Simcha Gemach. This organization fills a special need in the Orthodox Jewish community in Chicago. People donate outfits to the Gemach that are  appropriate for the mother, grandmother, sister or other significant family member in the bride’s life. Women in the community who need the outfits can borrow them after paying a small deposit. They must pay for any needed alterations themselves and have the outfit dry cleaned before returning it. The Gemach works with particular tailors who understand the needs of the Gemach and are able to make the alterations temporary enough so that they can be torn out and re-altered for the next user. The best part is that everyone can look well dressed while spending a minimal amount of money. The community has similar Gemachs that lend bridal gowns and give away used children’s clothes. I’m not Orthodox myself but a great idea is a great idea. I’ve often wondered why other communities don’t copy them and set up similar organizations.

The Gemachs don’t fix our country’s problems, but they help to address a need on a local level. Maybe people will become more inventive and learn to help each other more as they respond to need. If any of you know of other efforts, I’d love to hear about them.

In the meantime, I continue to search for economical, nutritious recipes to share. Here is one for mushroom-black bean curry. Preparation time is 20 minutes. It serves four.

                                                          Mushroom Black Bean Curry

 2-3 tbsp butter

½ pound fresh mushrooms chopped
1 onion minced
curry powder to taste (depending on how spicy you like it)
2 apples chopped fine
salt, paprika to taste
1 cup raw brown rice cooked in 2 cups of water
1 cup plain yogurt
1 14 oz. can black beans with liquid drained

     1.  Preheat the oven to 350º Fahrenheit.

     2.  Put the rice to cook.

     3.  While the rice is cooking, sauté the mushrooms in the butter. Add the onions and curry powder.   Saute for a few more minutes. Add the apples but don’t let them get mushy. Remove from the heat and stir in the paprika, salt, and yogurt.

      4. When the rice is cooked, assemble the casserole. First layer is the rice. Then comes the mushroom yogurt sauce spread evenly over the grain. Add in the black beans. Sprinkle paprika and more curry powder (optional) over the top.

      5. Cook for about a half hour or until the sauce feels more solid.

It’s good served with a green salad or vegetable and sweet potatoes.    

Recipes From Occupy Wall Street and Beyond

 

           

Protests supporting Occupy Wall Street are springing up all over America. In the past, working class and poor working people haven’t expressed outrage about the economic/political system that has contributed to their situations. Now, however, people are getting angry. 

Have you ever wondered why thus far, the working poor have been using their hunting rifles to shoot themselves in the foot at the ballot box? Frank Thomas tried to explain that phenomenon in What’s The Matter With Kansas. Barbara Ehrenreich described the problems with which working poor contend very eloquently in Nickeled and Dimed. Nevertheless, both authors as members of the middle class wrote from outside of the world of hardship and bare survival looking in.

For a look from inside the world of the working poor, Deer Hunting With Jesus by Joe Bageant is much more enlightening. I just finished reading it and I’m still shuddering. Learning about how the religious right has grown, multiplied, and seized power is enough to scare most of us “urban educated liberals” to death. The author, Joe Bageant, grew up in Winchester, Virginia, a small town near the West Virginia border, and then lived in the west for 30 years, working mostly as a journalist. After 30 years away, he returned to his home town where many people that he knows are members of an unacknowledged underclass of white uneducated poor people. He does a great job of explaining how the people in his town view the political situation and how they are being screwed by the current economic-political system. He also talks about how liberals and Democrats have failed to address many of the concerns of this group. Since he wrote the book before Barack Obama became President, he does not comment in it about the Affordable Health Care Act or Occupy Wall Street. At any rate, Deer Hunting With Jesus is a must read for all of us urban educated liberals who are concerned about America’s future.

Many more than the power elite care to admit worry about when they’ll have their next meal. During this next year, I’ll try to stick to recipes that are economical as well as quick. This week I’m including one of my daughter Brina Gonzalez’s recipes. Preparation time is 15 minutes. Adjust the amounts to how many you’re feeding.

                                                         Mexican Chicken Stir Fry

 Leftover chicken cut in 1” chunks

White rice
Vegetables cut up
Canola oil
Salsa dip
Limes cut in slices
Cilantro leaves
Garlic powder, onion powder to taste

1.Cooking the rice according to directions.

2.While the rice is cooking, heat a large skillet with canola oil. Saute the vegetables for 2-3 minutes. 3.Add the limes squeezing the juice into the skillet.Add the seasoning and the chicken and cook for another 5 minutes.

4.Add the cilantro.

5.Mix with the rice and serve.    

Joining the 99% at Occupy Chicago

                                                                        

    As those who know me can tell you, I am not part of the 1% of the population that is cornering 37% of the USA’s household wealth. Therefore, it was about time that I joined the other 99% in a long overdue moment of rage. With that in mind, I headed over to Occupy Chicago to see whether or not the outrage that has been inexplicably absent until now had  finally come.

Yesterday, October 12^th, was the 20^th day of Occupy Chicago. In solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, people have been occupying many cities throughout America. A few hundred people have been occupying the area outside of the Federal Reserve Bank on LaSalle Street, the heart of Chicago’s financial district. I think that people are coming together to say that they are serving notice that they will no longer allow an oligarchy to control America’s wealth. It belongs to all of us and needs to be distributed more equitably than it has been.

While the majority of the people appeared to be young, the crowd spanned the age spectrum. It was exciting to see the crowd being overly considerate of one another. I asked one woman why she was there. She said that this was the first protest that she had ever participated in her whole life and she was doing it for her grandson to insure that he had a world of opportunities in his future. She proudly carried a sign that said, “I am doing this for you.”

A middle aged woman from Indiana said, “This is the eleventh hour. If the middle class is destroyed in America, there will be nothing to hold up democracy.”

I spoke with a college student from Florida who referred to herself as a college dropout. When I asked her if she had dropped out for lack of funds, she said yes, that her family is very poor and can hardly feed themselves. She hopes to resume her studies someday when she can find the funds to continue.

Many ideas were suggested for resolving America’s financial crisis. One that I found interesting was for Illinois to establish a state bank. Another was for a one-time-only progressive net worth tax to reverse the widening distribution of wealth. The person who suggested this had even set up his own web site to discuss his ideas. http://path2prosperity4all.us.

Although everyone was united in a feeling of anger against the 1% whose noose is tightening around the rest of us, there were no concrete demands made. Maybe that will come soon. When it does, I hope they can stay organized enough to press those demands forward. In the meantime, I share the sentiment. I hope that it can be translated into some concrete political action soon. As was said before, we’re in the 11^th hour.