Bringing a Bit of Sunshine Into Recession Cooking

Recession or depression, whatever word you decide to use - it can be daunting to realize that you depended on a whole lot of "quick" foods that may have added dollars to your food budget, but things were better and jobs were not disappearing like snow on a sunlit day. It has happened, and it may continue to happen, but you still have to eat and serve meals to your family or keep yourself nourished if you live alone. It is a matter of economy because medical costs are going through the roof and today it is much cheaper to stay healthy.
Many people are looking to "gardening" as a way to get fresh, and nourishing food with a little bit of elbow grease. Fruits, vegetables and herbs taste "oh so good" when they are just picked and used for dinner. You can't beat the taste of tomatoes that are still warm from the sun, or a cucumber sweet enough to brighten any salad. Adding home-grown basil to dishes gives you a new taste appeal, and parsley will not only dress up your plate, but it is absolutely fantastic fried for a few moments.
You can have a little bit of fun when you do more cooking and that is "dressing" up your family's dinnertime entrees. Even breakfast can be "flowery" when you use candy molds (you can get some great ones at yard sales or tag sales) and press softened butter, margarine, or cream cheese into the mold. Refrigerate to harden, and then pop out your flower, leaf, or whatever design you have chosen. Place a lovely yellow daffodil on top of morning toast and believe me when I say a person's whole day will light up and they will begin their activities with a "sunnier" disposition. It works!
Cherry tomatoes give tomato roses appeal with any meat dish. While all this "creativity" may take a bit more time, you will be the mom who is truly "cool", the neighbor who is asked to help with party plans because of your inspiration, and well, you will look at the anticipating faces at mealtime and know that the job you are doing is rated E for Excellent.
Using a sharp knife, slowly remove the skin of the cherry tomato, starting at the bottom, not the stem end. Remove the skin in one long piece, which forms the petals of your rose. The peel should be about 1/2" in width. The "meat" of the tomato should be inside and start to curl your peel from the bottom, forming a very pleasing red bud rose.
When you serve a sandwich, make a dill pickle fan to dress up the meal. Cut the pickle into slices but do not go completely through. Stop about 1/2" from the end and gently fan out the slices.
Using fruit as a garnish, don't forget that oranges cut in a zigzag mode completely around and through. Gently pull apart and you have two halves of saw-tooth orange beauty to place with a steak or BBQ ribs.
If you serve hot dogs or hamburgers, place the condiments in hollowed out green peppers (use red, yellow, or purple too if they are reasonably priced). Fill these pepper baskets with mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, chopped onions, and tomato salsa. They are colorful and after using, empty the baskets and slice up the peppers. Place in a plastic bag in your refrigerator and use whenever you need some green peppers for fajitas or steak sandwiches. With this one, you win twice.
Taking a cucumber, stripe peel the cucumber (using your vegetable peeler, peel and leave a peel, and peel again and do this completely around your cucumber. Using an ice cream spoon, hollow out the center to remove all the seeds. Using your favorite "filling" such as tuna fish salad, ham salad, etc. spoon the filling into the hollowed out cucumber. Wrap in foil and place in refrigerator for about 30 mins. Just before serving, slice the cucumber into 1/2" slices and place on a bed of lettuce. This salad is very appealing and quite a "treat" for your appetizer choice.
These are just a few examples of using food to make food more interesting, beautiful, and to give every meal a bit of a festive "design". Try your hand at other vegetables and you may just discover how artistic you really are.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur
March, 2009