Around the Table with the Burkes: Survival is the Main Ingredient

Meal planning is a really useful tool for making sure we don’t have McDonald’s every day, but sometimes my ambition on Saturday doesn’t match up with my energy level on a Monday evening. Flexibility and a Plan B helps.

Crib rails and baby gates are merely training devices for the youngest’s future Ninja Warrior career.

Greetings Beacon readers! After a short hiatus Around the Table has returned with more tales of survival and food from the Burke household, survival being the key ingredient these days. I have been suffering from an overdose of tired lately. A death in my family, whirlwind travel, and major changes coming to my household have caused my brain to short circuit. Additionally, my youngest child (2) has decided that a.) he’s never going to sleep again, and b.) crib rails and baby gates are merely training devices for his future Ninja Warrior career. Meal planning is a really useful tool for making sure we don’t have McDonald’s every day, but sometimes my ambition on Saturday doesn’t match up with my energy level on a Monday evening. Flexibility and a Plan B helps.

Last Saturday I had a meeting all afternoon and was out later than I planned, so we ended up ordering pizza. Highlight of the evening was my food allergy kid getting his first slice after months of trialing different pizza components. He was so excited! Can I just serve pizza every day and still maintain “Okay Mom” status?

Sunday I planned on Beef Stew for “Hearty Superb Owl Man Food.” I was going to go with my quick and easy McCormick packet cheat, but that only works if you actually have a packet on hand. So I took to googling recipes and made a bit of a FrankenStew using my Instant Pot. Positives: delicious stew beef from the Farmer’s Market made ultra tender by the Instant Pot. Negatives: waaaaaaay too much tomato paste, and not enough beef broth. Not my finest dish, but not entirely inedible.

My good friend got chickens last weekend. The live, future-egg-laying variety. They’re pretty cute, and I am a bit of an animal nut, so hanging out with chicks instead of working was how I spent most of my days this week. Monday evening rolled around and I threw together some baked pork chops, noodles, and corn. Some days the most basic home cooked foods are a win. Tuesday’s dinner was leftovers. Thank goodness we had some.

Wednesday I shocked my husband by making “real” food – chicken chili and biscuits.

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White Chicken Chili:

• A pound and a half of chicken cut into bite size chunks (I use breasts, thighs also work)

• 3 cans of white beans, drained and rinsed

• Seasoning mix (per pound of chicken, I double this for 1.5 pounds):

  • ½ tsp sugar

  • ½ tsp corn starch

  • 1 tsp garlic powder

  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper

  • 1 tsp cumin

  • ½ tsp oregano

  • ½ tsp cilantro

• 1 cup frozen or canned corn

• 2-3 cups water

Brown the chicken on all sides, then add water, seasoning mix, and beans. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Add the corn and cook another 6-10 minutes. Serve with something you can use to mop sauce!

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Thursday I shocked Travis again with meatloaf, squash, and spaetzle. I also did dishes. Travis thinks I might be very sick.

As for tonight, I’m at a loss. I see turkey burgers on my plan, but that seems like a lot of effort. In all likelihood we’re going to end up having pancakes and French toast for dinner. Plan Brinner.

One of these days I’ll head back to the Farmer’s Market and one of these weeks I’ll have myself back on track with my goals for the year.

Around the Table with the Burkes: Super Spouse Dinner Takeover

“Tonight we’ll be roasting hot dogs over a campfire with friends. The side will likely be s’mores and chances are good there will not be a vegetable in sight.”

Photo by Norah Burke

Photo by Norah Burke

This week seemed to fly by, didn’t it? I didn’t get to the Farmer’s Market last Saturday thanks to a migraine, fortunately winter vegetables have a delightfully long shelf life so I still had cauliflower from the week before as well as some meat in our freezer to create our meals this week.

On Saturday I helped throw a last minute birthday party for a good friend (hi Kelly!). My contribution was homemade baked mac n’ cheese and a chocolate cream pie. I know you want those recipes, the mac n’ cheese can be found here (note: I replace the onion with a tablespoon of onion powder for kid friendliness). The chocolate cream pie recipe is here, for this one I have made the crust in the past and it’s phenomenal, but when I’m feeling lazy I pick up an Oreo crumb crust from the grocery store.

My husband Travis racked up some super spouse points this week by taking the lead on dinners. On Sunday he made hamburgers, sweet potato fries, and corn.

Photo by Norah Burke

Monday he grilled pork chops (from the Market), and I roasted cauliflower. I coat the cauliflower in 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp olive oil, black pepper, and garlic and then roast it on a sheet pan in a 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was out of the house, so Travis served up leftovers to the kids. Supposedly they ate them all. I never look a gift break from parenting in the mouth.

Thursday I assuaged my mom and wife guilt with roasted butternut squash, rice pilaf, and soy-ginger-garlic-brown sugar chicken. Lest you think I’m some culinary professional, the chicken was… not great. I didn’t cut my pieces uniformly so some were overcooked to rubber, blech. The rice pilaf isn’t authentic, per se, it’s more of a 1950s midwestern version (my source lived in Ohio for a long time…), but it’s a favorite of the husband and yummy.

Photo by Norah Burke

Oma’s Rice Pilaf

• 1 ¼ cups Parboiled (converted) Rice

• 1 10.5 ounce can Beef Consommé

• 1 10.5 ounce can French Onion Soup

• 6 Tbsp Butter (I always cut this to 4-ish)

Combine the ingredients in an oven safe covered dish. Cook in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, remove lid and cook uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

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Tonight we’ll be roasting hot dogs over a campfire with friends. The side will likely be s’mores and chances are good there will not be a vegetable in sight. I’ll be back at the market tomorrow on the hunt for spinach, broccoli, and carrots. And let’s be honest, coffee from Good Cup and some kind of pastry. Bundle up and join me!

Photo by Norah Burke

Around the Table with the Burkes: A Week Without Takeout

“[One] resolution for the new year is to eat out less, I’m going to call this week a success and enjoy this sense of pride before life happens and we get derailed. ”

Happy New Year, readers! There’s nothing like being home after travel, is there? I took my time at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday, it was slow and smaller than usual thanks to the holidays, but it’s the season for some of my favorite vegetables. Broccoli and Cauliflower! Mustard greens, some beautiful lettuce, and sweet potatoes rounded out my purchases for the week.

On Saturday I made chicken stir fry. To me, stir-frying is one of those magical cooking techniques where you put in things you like and the result is always delicious. Vegetable stir-fry, beef stir-fry, pork stir-fry, fish stir-fry, all good. Chicken stir-fry is one of the dishes my mom made when I was little to stretch a package of chicken to feed six people. I change my recipe pretty much every time I make it, but my starting point is usually the following:

Chicken Stir Fry

• 1-2 pounds boneless chicken breasts (or thighs if you like dark meat), cut into 1-2 inch chunks

• 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (here’s another place to change up the flavor by using sesame oil, or a blend of the two)

• Marinade:

• ½ Tbsp Garlic Powder, or 4-5 minced cloves (or more, you can never skimp on garlic IMO)

• 1 tsp Ginger

• 1 Tbsp Honey

• ¼ - 1/3 cup Soy Sauce

• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch

Additional Spice Options (I play around to see what we like): Chinese Five Spice, Chili Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Paprika, Cinnamon, Wasabi. A shake here, a pinch there, sometimes nothing extra at all

Vegetables (pick and choose any or all): Baby Corn, Broccoli, Green Beans, Carrots, Snap Peas, Bell Peppers, Water Chestnuts, Onions, Mushrooms (I guess? If you like that kind of thing)

Put the chicken chunks into a bowl, pour in the marinade, and stir to coat. Prepare your vegetable selections, making sure everything is cut into uniform sizes. Vegetables that take longer to cook (corn, water chestnuts, carrots) should be cut smaller than faster cooking vegetables. In a wok (I used a cheap wok from IKEA for 10 years, and recently replaced it with this one since I stir fry a lot it’s worth the investment to me) heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil to shimmering hot. HOT is the key to stir fry (but don’t light your kitchen on fire, keep both eyes on it!). Drop the chicken and marinade into the wok and cook, stirring constantly, until the chicken is browned on the outside. Add your vegetables and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, but still brightly colored. Watch your heat, you want it to be hot, but not burn. If you like to have a little sauce, toward the end of cooking pour a few tablespoons of water into the pan, dribbling it along the side of the wok so it heats up before it hits the rest of the ingredients. Serve over the rice variety of your choice (my fave is Basmati, but any variety will do).

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My plan for Sunday was to rest in preparation for a big New Year’s Eve dinner, so my husband threw together some pasta and crusty bread. Quick, simple, and I didn’t have to make it!

“ I love making biscuits from scratch when I have a chance (isn’t it a requirement for Southern residency?).”

Monday I baked a spiral ham with sweet potatoes, spaetzle, and biscuits. I love making biscuits from scratch when I have a chance (isn’t it a requirement for Southern residency?). I start with Betty Crocker’s Baking Powder Biscuit recipe, which I found in my oldest, most beaten up cookbook, but is now online thanks to the magic of the internet. I replace the shortening with butter and the milk with buttermilk.

Tuesday we had leftover ham, much to my children’s delight. My son opted for rolled up deli turkey. Insert eye roll.

I got experimental on Wednesday, making a dish that was both new to us and vegetarian. I made a resolution to start incorporating more meatless meals into our dinner menu, to both save money and reduce our environmental impact. So I made quinoa and black bean tacos from my new vegetarian cookbook “Love Real Food.” I was pleasantly surprised, they were quite good. I’ll tweak the spices next time because the flavor wasn’t as in your face as we like, probably with more garlic (have you noticed yet how much I like garlic? Because I really like garlic. Fortunately, there is lots of garlic to be found at the Market), more chili powder, and possibly the addition of a homemade taco sauce because we were missing some moisture. But overall the tacos were really good, I think we’ll make them a regular addition. I topped mine with lettuce from the Market, cheddar cheese, corn, and some crumbled tortilla chips for crunch. If you’re wondering how they went over with the kids, well… it’s good to keep chicken nuggets in the freezer.

I threw together a quick chicken chili on Thursday with boxed cornbread.

Today we’ll clean out all of the leftovers from this week; there are lots of options. I’m sure my kids will complain about all of them and ask for McDonald’s, but I’m not going to give in because we made it through a week without takeout! Another resolution for the new year is to eat out less, I’m going to call this week a success and enjoy this sense of pride before life happens and we get derailed.

Enjoy your weekend!

Around the Table with the Burkes: Feeding the Frenzy

The holiday season is excellent for messing up a routine. Parties, outings, travel, family visits… the joyful events that leave us exhausted and not quite sure what day it is (Friday? Right. Friday).

This week began in Pennsylvania for the Burke clan, where meals were less planned than they were thrown together based on the easiest way to feed a crowd of 12 in a hurry.

Saturday we baked a spiral ham, roasted some squash, and mashed potatoes. Easy, quick, large quantities. Though according to my children, ham is “disgusting.” My husband, ham lover, was heartbroken by their declaration.

Sunday was a day for roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, egg noodles, and corn. My cranberry sauce is made fresh from berries, with fresh orange juice, cinnamon, and sugar. I talked briefly with Thea of Lil Rebel Bakery at the last Farmer’s Market I hit up, and we agreed that the key to baking and cooking with cranberries is to keep adding sugar until it tastes good. Fair warning – this sauce is not a health food.

“The key to baking and cooking with cranberries is to keep adding sugar until it tastes good. ”

Cranberry Sauce

• 1 Pound Cranberries

• 1 Cup Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

• 1 Cup Water

• 1 Cup White Sugar

• 1 Cup Brown Sugar

• 1 tsp Cinnamon

Rinse the cranberries and then mix the ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Place on the stovetop over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid starts to boil. Keep stirring until the cranberries start to pop open. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let the sauce simmer for 30-45 minutes.

You can also make this in a crockpot, add all the ingredients to the crockpot and cook on high for 3 hours, then remove the lid and cook another 45 minutes.

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Growing up, my family Christmas Eve tradition was joining our close family friends at their home, helping to decorate their tree, and sharing an assortment of weird food (oyster stew and lasagna this year, I admit I missed the pigs in a blanket we made when I was a kid), gifts, and cookies. I have missed out on the tradition for years because of my holiday travel rule, much to the dismay of Kathryn, the matriarch of our friends’ family. She sends me a card every year asking when we’re going to show up, so this year I told my mom to keep our travel plans a secret. I don’t often succeed in surprising people, it was super fun, highly recommend.

On Tuesday, Christmas day, we opened gifts and then traveled back to Matthews. A whirlwind day ended with ham, mashed potatoes, and green beans delivered to our door by a dear friend.

Wednesday was a good day for recovering from travel and ordering takeout.

Thursday my husband took our older kids to Carowinds for Winterfest, and left me and our toddler to patch together dinner on our own: an assortment of chicken nuggets, French fries, and various fruit.

Today I’m going to get back to making my family real food. We’ll have roast beef (sirloin tip roast coated with garlic, onion, salt & pepper, roasted on a rack at 325 for 1.5 hours) for dinner with sweet potatoes from the farmers market and sautéed broccoli. After the last few weeks, I’m really looking forward to a large pile of vegetables for dinner tonight, and getting back to the Market tomorrow!

One Matthews Family's Sweet Holiday Tradition

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

In 2012, when Matthews resident, Nathalie Friedlander, saw an ad for the Matthews Chamber of Commerce’s annual Gingerbread House Contest, she thought it would be a great experience for the three generations in her family.

Her mother, Rolande Sowers (“Nana”), also of Matthews, was known for her knitting, sewing, floral design, miniature-creations, interior decorating and cake making. Nathalie and her daughters, Maddie and Ella, baked and sewed together. A gingerbread house contest would be one more opportunity to create something, have fun, and, more importantly, be together as a family.

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

That first year, as amateurs (as they called themselves), they decided to make a small village – each person created a house on a platform. They won 1st place in the Family category.

“This is creating something that is US,” said Rolande, “that we know, before Thanksgiving, that we need to get our stuff together.”

Since then, it’s been a trade-off in winning or placing in most of the annual contests. In past years, their works of art have included a log cabin, Mouse House, marble super-hero-headquarters, Lego creation, and the list goes on.

“In the past, we’d make the gingerbread, slap a few candies (on it) and bum, bum, bum – all done!” said Rolande. “I’m sure if we looked at the first one we made and now these, I can see improvement.”

With the precision of warriors and the knowledge of experienced students, they’ve perfected their techniques using online and magazine ideas, and always discussing and formulating their creations together, in advance. They guesstimate that they spend a few weeks in preparation and upwards of 15-24 man-hours creating the artwork.

Photo by Renee Garner

Each year, they painstakingly cook and flatten pans of gingerbread – often up to eight batches to get the right consistency and necessary pieces in order. Since everything must be edible, they use items such as beans, icing, pretzels, cereal and fondant, and leftover Halloween candy. Always, they design a cardboard or cardstock prototype to ensure the final product will actually stand the test of time (and transportation).

This year, (for reasons of expediency, timing, and lifestyle), they worked on their creations separately. By all accounts, it’s been a lonelier experience; the in-person contact has been replaced by texting and multiple phone conversations.

Rolande began formulating ideas for her creation several weeks ago - the “Pastel Cottage” (using fondant for the very first time) was born. “I wanted to focus and work out the detail until I was satisfied, and not be rushed,” she said. “It says something to me,” she added, bursting with pride. “I had a lot of fun doing it.”

Shutter, flowers, windows, doors – all of the details must be exact. This year, she worked on her separate pieces flat. “I wanted everything to be precise,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve done it (this way). In a way, it’s a lot easier, but it’s also a lot harder because you can do (even more) detail – you can spend just a few days (on this part, alone)!” she exclaimed.

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

Across town, Nathalie and daughters were also formulating and making this year’s creations – Maddie’s gazebo and closed umbrella from (the movie) “Frozen,” Ella’s teepee and campfire, and Nathalie’s replica of a house on Lazy Branch Road built using Starbursts, Lifesavers, Jolly Ranchers, Gum Balls, rock candy, popcorn, marshmallows, edible grass, gum and (ball) sprinkles as accessories.

In every discussion, each family member echoes the same sentiments that this experience has provided. “It’s something we get to do as a family,” said Ella. “It’s a fun family experience - making good memories, and something to share with our children.” To which, mother Nathalie replied, “Someone commented that, down the road, I’m going to be the ‘Nana,’ and we can show them the gingerbread houses.”

Photo by Renee Garner