Bring a Little Sunshine to the Family Table

As if on cue, only 1 week after I renounced myself as a blogger, but instead a working mom with a blog, my life went kerplooey. Four days before Purple Asparagus’ biggest event and fundraiser of the year, Corks & Crayons, my dad passed away. He’d been diagnosed with a terminal disease, fibrosis of the lungs, merely a month before. This terrible development was coupled with the abrupt and unannounced departure of someone critical to Purple Asparagus leaving my September workload exponentially larger.

With the help of dedicated board members and volunteers, I’ve finally returned to the surface, dusting off the rubble of the summer’s explosions. We’ve sent all of our acknowledgements to our generous donors and set up scads of new schools programs, including 5 new ones sponsored and staffed by the Chicago Whole Foods. September was a busy, but productive, month.

The one role and responsibility that had to yield in light of the chaos was this blog. And for that, my dear readers, I am sorry. I’m sure that I’ve lost a few of you – I’ll miss you. But those of you stick by me, I plan to show my appreciation starting now, but more on that in a few words.

The one responsibility that could not be jettisoned was family dinner. It wasn’t always at home and even when it was it wasn’t always cooked by me. Nevertheless, every night that my family was all in the same place, we shared a meal. As is common in stressful times, the conversations weren’t all pink and fluffy, but they were had. This precious time, these moments, are likely what kept my head screwed on straight during the dark days of September.

All this seems very appropriate since going on right now this month is The Blog for Family Dinner Project. Starting September 26 and ending on Food Day, October 24, B4FD Project will feature daily blog posts that explore the far-reaching benefits of family dinner. To learn more, visit the B4FD site.

To honor you and the family dinner, I give you a chance to win one of two cookbooks that celebrate family meals: Art Smith’s Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family or Lisa Barnes’ Petit Appetit: Eat Drink and Be Merry. To enter, all you have to do is visit the Purple Asparagus Facebook page, become a friend, and tell us that you believe in family dinner.

In the meantime, I share this recipe, Vegetable Stir Fry with Sunny Thai Sunflower Sauce, perfect for any family dinner. To see me demonstrate it live, set your channel to WLS-ABC7 next Tuesday, September 18 at 11:00am.

Tofu and Veggie Stir Fry with Sunny Thai Sunflower Seed Sauce
Serves 4

1 pound extra firm tofu
6 tablespoons sunflower seed butter
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
¼ cup chicken stock or water
½ teaspoon Sambal Olek
2 kaffir lime leaves softened for 5 minutes in boiling water (optional)
Florets and 1 inch of the stem from 1 broccoli head (reserve the remainder for another purpose)
½ red pepper, thinly sliced
½ yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 baby bok choy, thinly sliced
8 ounces rice noodles

Drain the tofu and cut into ½-inch cubes. Lay a large clean, lint-free dish towel on a baking sheet. Place the tofu cubes on it and then cover them with the rest of towel. Let the tofu sit while preparing the sauce and blanching the broccoli.

Puree the next 8 ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Generously salt and dump in the broccoli. Cook until bright green, approximately 2 minute. Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon. Turn off the heat.

Heat 1 tablespoon of sunflower seed oil in a non-stick pan over high heat. Dump in the tofu and cook undisturbed for a few minutes until browned on the bottom. Shake the pan and continue cooking until the tofu is browned on all sides. Remove to a bowl. Toss the pepper slices into the pan and cook, stirring occasionally until browned. Scrape in the bok choy and cook until softened. Return the tofu to the pan and reduce the heat until low.

Cook the rice noodles according to the package. Strain well and stir into the vegetables. Remove from the heat. Scrape in the sunflower seed sauce and combine gently. Sprinkle with a ½ teaspoon of kosher or sea salt, stir and serve.

Field Trip: A Community on the Rise - A Garden in Decline

I’m not much of a gardener so I’m in awe of those who do it well. Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to tour four equally inspiring, yet very different gardens. This is the first of my reports on these visits.

My initial trip to the Gary Comer Youth Center was back in April. Hidden Valley hired my catering company as their Chicago caterer for their Love Your Veggies retreat. Hidden Valley created the Love Your Veggies campaign as a way to help parents and educators get children eating and enjoying their vegetables. The company had a contest associated with the program in which moms submitted an essay about kids loving vegetables. The winners, about 20 of them, were awarded a trip to Chicago during which they were treated to a gardening demonstration by my friend Jeanne Pinsof Nolan, The Organic Gardner, and a cooking demonstration by celebrity chef and cookbook author Art Smith at the Center.

While borrowing the Center’s wonderful kitchen, I got to talking with Executive Chef Karen Armijo and Chef Stephen Meynhart where we discussed the possibility of collaboration between the Center and Purple Asparagus. Karen asked that I circle back in September when the kids were back in school and the chaotic period of summer camps over.

In the meantime, I was speaking with my friend Lisa Gershonson, the L behind J&L Catering, now a cooking teacher and consultant. I learned that she had become involved with Center teaching cooking classes to the students there. She offered to arrange a visit to see the Center, in particular the wonderful rooftop garden, the heart of its food program. Nina Winston of Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand joined us on a soggy day, which couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm for what we saw.

Lisa explained that the Center is located in a small section of Englewood, known as “The Pocket.” While I can’t find that neighborhood on my Chicago map, it certainly is a pocket of hope for the neighborhood’s children. Gary Comer, who made his fortune on catalog retailer, Land’s End, grew up on the South Side of Chicago and went to Paul Revere Elementary School in the 1930s. While visiting his old neighborhood in 1998, he stopped into his old school. When seeing the conditions, he decided to use some of his considerable fortune to help the school and the community. This commitment led to the development of the Center, an enormous and distinctive fixture on 72d Street, which offers a broad variety of programs in technology, performing arts, sports, culinary arts and gardening.

The garden is clearly a labor of love for Marji Hess, its Garden Manager, and even on a wet, gray October day when the garden is in decline, its beauty was evident. We began our visit is Hess’ office where an assortment of peppers had been set out, harvested that morning for a class that Lisa was teaching in the afternoon about jerk kitchen.


Tabasco Peppers


A Thai variety of peppers

I snapped pictures while Hess discussed the programs in which the students sell their products to restaurants, including Frontera Grill, West Town Tavern and Table 52, and to the general public through their Harvest Table program. The Harvest Table program is associated with After School Matters where high school students set up a farmers’ market onsite to sell to local residents.


Drying sunflowers


Microgreens

Our tour began in the “snack garden” where they grow mint and peanuts to show the students popular snacks in their pure form. Hess explained that in a large part of the garden she plants foods that have a culinary significance to the community but with a twist. For example, they plant a variety of mustard greens including ones with a ruby red hue.


Mints


The garden has a beautiful aesthetic with distinctive stakes and other design elements.


A dying sunflower.


Tomatoes harvested before the frost.

The rain began to come down heavier as we walked back to Marjii office’s and said our good-byes. I look forward to seeing the garden as it rises again in the Spring.