When I first moved to New York City, you could get mangoes on sticks in Central Park.  I’m not sure what happened to those vendors, because I haven’t seen them in a long time.  They have most likely been replaced by food trucks peddling home-cured meats and pickles or cupcakes.  Anyway, I always found the mango on a stick fascinating and quite tasty.  Actually, I found them really delicious.

My oldest daughter, Margot, is mango-crazy.  Thank goodness we aren’t to boy-crazy, yet.  We reserve all our crazy for mangos.  Lately, the mangos that I always buy, the ones that are green and red and big, have not been ripe, and the price has been high, so I was forced into buying champagne mangoes.  I don’t know why, but I have always had a prejudice against them.  Shame on me!  I don’t discriminate against people, so why am I so anti-mango?  Maybe it’s because I think they look a little like potatoes.  Most likely, it’s because I’ve never had one, which is, in my experience, the number one reason people discriminate– they don’t give things or people a chance before they decide to dislike.  Well, the scales have fallen from my eyes, and I am converted!

These mangoes are so far superior, they aren’t even in the same league.  And because of their potato size, they can be peeled and popped on a stick!  Who knows, maybe I’ll just start selling them out of a cooler in Central Park.  They are that good.  If you can tolerate mango, I really hope you can find this variety in your neck of the woods.  They are better than candy and healthier, too.

I’m pretty sure that when researchers and doctors agreed that “we” should be eating more fish, these weren’t the kind that they were talking about.  And yet, I found myself eating a whole bunch of them last night.

When I am not writing recipes, I am a mom.  I knew going into it that there would be little sleep, lots of diaper changing and that I would have to be prepared to answer “WHY” 500 times a day (at least).  I’m not sure why I’ve been blindsided by my 8 year old daughter’s recent mood swings, because I only need think back to my own 8th year to remember that it was when I was 8 that I learned that a good door slam was better than any exclamation mark to make my point.

We are there.  We have entered this territory, and I, the one with a master’s and 1/2 a PhD in social work, I, the one who spent a year working with emotionally disturbed children and longer working with adolescents and women with eating disorders find myself at a complete and total loss.  I have tried reasoning.  I have tried cuddling.  I have tried taking away everything she holds dear (ie: playdates last night and horse back riding this morning), and still she screams and stamps her feet and tries to slam the warped doors of our apartment.  We are really, really lucky that they are warped, for this girl has a good arm and would knock every painting off the wall multiple times a day.

So, I turned to the fish last night.  I was eating and eating when it came to me: like a good piece of Tupperware, a mother is meant to be a leak-proof container of her child’s angst.  My role here is to capture the emotion as it comes flying at me and hold it, reaction-free.  Yep, I’m supposed to be a piece of Gladware.  Actually, I like to think of myself as those BPA-free glass containers with the locking lids.  Those are nice, and I really wish that I had nothing but in my pantry.  I digress.

The truth is, motherhood is hard.  Parenting is hard, whether you are a mother or a father or a grandparent or an aunt or an uncle who is doing it, and as we all know, there is no handbook.  Even the professionals, the ones who spent a ton of money to study early childhood development and get fancy degrees don’t know how to do it “right”.  In fact, I would venture to say that even the ones who write the books that tell us how to do it “right” don’t know what to do, or at least didn’t before they wrote the books.  Remember, even Dr Spock apologized for dispensing bad advice.

So, I’m bracing myself for the roller coaster called the teen years that loom on the horizon.  I shudder when I think of the number of times I yelled that I hated my mother before I slammed the door.  But, I guess my mother was right (again).  When I told her what was going on and asked what I should do she just said: “Wow, payback is a bitch, huh?”

Aren’t those cute?!  Don’t they just scream “SUMMER!”?  I think so.

Not that long ago, my best friend from high school came to visit.  We talk on the phone almost daily, but we had not been in the same room for 12 years.  That’s a long time.  Anyway, she arrived and it was as though not one minute had passed from the last time we were together.  It was so great to see her, and we had a great time.  Of course, while she was here, the conversation turned to food.

Anne is southern, and so she had a lot to tell me about barbecue.  She told me that serving ribs with grits would be all wrong.  It’s coleslaw and cornbread that I need to serve if I plan to make ribs this summer.  Grits should be served with shrimp.  I had no idea, but then I’m the Yankee who used to pour sugar on her grits in high school, much to the chagrin of my Southern dining companions.

As we talked, I realized that I even though I’ve drastically cut back on hosting dinner parties, I’d really like to make a rib feast this summer.  Of course (now that I know), I’ll be serving my coleslaw from The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook and the corn bread from Allergy-Free Desserts.  There was one thing that Anne and I unequivocally agreed upon and that was dessert for this fete.  In the South, there are three options: 1) Banana Pudding 2) Caramel Cake 3) Red Velvet Cake.  Anne and I agreed that a rib dinner called for a vat of banana pudding at the end of the meal.

In this recipe, I used Jello-O cook and serve vanilla pudding made with So Delicious coconut milk, because the Jell-O is quick and also dairy and gluten-free.  However, if you are concerned about cross- contamination, you can also use the vanilla pudding recipe from The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook.

I don’t know about you, but I can already taste summer!

Banana Pudding Parfaits

Serves 4

1 box Jell-o vanilla cook n’ serve pudding

2 cups So Delicious plain coconut milk (in the refrigerated dairy section)

8 Josef Gluten-Free Vanilla Squares

2 bananas, sliced

Rice Whip (or your favorite allergy-appropriate whipped topping)

1) Combine the coconut milk and the Jell-O pudding mix in a medium saucepan and prepare according to the package directions.  Pour the finished pudding into a bowl and refrigerate it until it is cool.

2) When the pudding is cool, spoon a couple of spoonfuls into a parfait dish and top with one crumbled, vanilla cookie.  Top the cookies with a few of the banana slices.  Spoon another spoonful or two of the pudding on top.  Cover with a few more banana slices, the other crumbled cookie and a dollop of whipped topping.  Repeat with the remaining parfait glasses.  Serve immediately.

Yum!  Don’t those look good?!  That was Colombe’s lunch over the weekend.  As you know, this family loves to eat, but as you also know, I am watching my waistline for the next couple of weeks.  Actually, it’s my hipline that is the problem, but whatever.

In order to keep myself from feeling like life it all carrot sticks and cucumber, I decided to make us some low-fat potato chips over the weekend.  I just sliced 2 potatoes very thin on a mandoline and then mixed the chips with 1 tablespoon olive oil and little salt.  I spread the coated chips on a baking sheet and baked them in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  I flipped them once.

I used big potatoes, so this served all of us, and it was just the salty, crispiness that I was craving.  Obviously, it hit the spot for all of us!  Also, obviously, they are best enjoyed in a bridal gown.

OK, not really.  I am married, so I did get to be a bride once. What does a salad have to do with being a bridesmaid? A lot.  I have to be a bridesmaid in 16 days, and that means that my dress has to fit.  It’s a little snug at the moment, which means that I have to lay off the gluten, dairy, soy, nut and egg-free desserts and dig into allergy-friendly salads.  Not my favorite, so I decided to jazz up this plate of kale with some roasted sweet potato, 2 slices of crumbled, crispy bacon and a little vinaigrette from The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook.

Omitting the bacon would probably help my cause, a lot, but our conversation about bacon fat on Tuesday got me craving some.  I can’t help it! I can sacrifice a little (like a cupcake), but not too much.  Let’s hope it works…..

What was I thinking?  I said yes to chairing the annual benefit party for my daughter’s school.  This is not only a big, year-long project, but one that I SWORE I would never, ever, never take on.  Never say never, I suppose.  So, as you might imagine, I have passed hors d’oeuvres on the brain.  Actually, I just have party on the brain.

That photo above?  It’s not mine.  But I figured that it was a pretty standard-looking hors d’oeuvres.  I’ll get to my point in one second.

As a general rule I despise making traditional hors d’oeuvres and usually opt for little snacky items like bowls of homemade chips and tasty dips.  I love to make artfully arranged platters of crudite, complete with baby carrots with tiny bits of their stems still attached.  For some reason, when I see other people do this trick (see The Barefoot Contessa), I am instantly impressed, and I hope that the same goes for my guests.  In other words, when I entertain, I like to keep it casual.

The great thing about my husband, Jesse, is that he never likes to keep things too simple.  OK, there a lot of great things about Jesse or else I wouldn’t have married him, but something that is really great is that he is funny and interesting.  One of the most interesting things about my husband is that he collects things.  Weird things.  He has an extensive collection of typewriters.  For awhile he collected silverware.  Right now it’s Danish furniture.  But this weekend when we had friends over and served some olives, he hauled out his toothpick collection.  Like I said, it’s never dull around our house.  I make the food, and he creates the conversation.  Ultimately, my point is that there is more to a party than just the food.  Of course, that is a large part of any party, but setting the tone with fun and sometimes silly details always makes the atmosphere…. better.

I thought that you might enjoy seeing a few of my favorite toothpicks and toothpick holders from the collection.  Now, the question becomes: how do I incorporate these into the school’s benefit party?!

OK, you would have to live under a rock not to know that bacon is everywhere lately.  I do not drink bacon milkshakes (even if they are gluten, dairy, soy, nut and egg-free), I cannot fathom a bacon cupcake, and though I am adventurous, I have never had candied bacon.  I do, however, love a couple of strips of crispy bacon, yum Applegate Farms, and a bacon-wrapped date makes me go weak in the knees.

Over the weekend, I opened the refrigerator and saw that we had exactly the following: eggs (obviously out of the question), bacon, kale and a bottle of chocolate syrup.  Chocolate syrup is not lunch, not even by a long shot.  You know how I feel about kale, but I figured that if I sprinkled crisp bacon pieces on top that I might be able to stomach it.  I was right, it was a decent lunch, but I digress.

I’m not sure if I told you about our Labor Day septic system back up.  It was gross and it happened when we had guests and on the Sunday, aka night before, Labor Day, so no professional was around to help us.  Actually, it was straight-up vile, and a lot like a Rid-X commercial, so now I am really careful about everything that I put down the drain or flush down the toilet.  I mention this moment that I’d really like to forget because it means that I absolutely, under no circumstances, can pour leftover bacon fat down the drain.  One probably shouldn’t anyway, but I am taking no chances after the sewage-coming-up-through-the-shower debacle.

As I poured the bacon grease into a mug to solidify before throwing it out, I remembered that, growing up, my mother always had a mug of bacon fat in the refrigerator.  In fact, I remembered the mug, too.  It was a white mug from the comic strip, BC, with the word “Grog” embossed in the ceramic.  I would hate to accidentally take a swig of that grog.  Curiosity piqued, I called my mother to see what one does with a mugful of grease and why it was always in the fridge.

She responded that when she was a child during World War II, her father used the bacon fat in place of butter on bread. Waste not, want not.  I was already happy that I never lived during a time of rationing, but now I’m even more grateful.  She said that now she keeps it around to use in gravy for good flavor and sears a roast in it not only to add flavor but also because bacon fat can be heated to a much higher temperature than olive oil.  Excellent point, and one I never considered.  Here’s the final, and my favorite, bacon grease tip that my mother shared with me: use a little of it to grease the bottom and sides of your cornbread pan.  It imparts just a hint of delicious flavor to one of my favorite recipes from my books.

Nevertheless, I threw the bacon fat away, but I did learn something and thought I’d share this useful knowledge with you.  Do you keep the bacon fat or throw it away?

Remember around Easter when I reposted my nonpareils recipe?

Well, I made them to go in my kids’ Easter baskets.  Actually, let me be frank: I made them thinking they would be for my kids’ Easter baskets, but I really ended up eating most of them.  I just couldn’t help it, and since I’m the allergic one in the family, I figured that they would not miss a few Snow Caps.

Anyway, as I was making them, I started thinking that they would be delicious and very pretty in a chocolate chip cookie.  I am constantly amazed by the way that children are drawn to sprinkles or anything rainbow, and so I thought that putting these nonpareils in a chocolate chip cookie would be a show stopper.  I was right.

All you need is the recipe for chocolate chip cookies in The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook and some, if not all, of the non pareils.  Now, you can only use non pareils, or you can do what I did– I’m going to teach you a food styling trick.  Sit down.

Make the cookies according to the directions, even adding the Enjoy Life Foods mini chocolate chips included in the recipe.  Bake the cookies for 5 minutes.  Remove them from the oven and gently press a few non pareils into each cookie.  Return the cookies to the oven and continue baking for 5-7 more minutes.  Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes.  Remove them to cooling racks to cool completely.

When your kids see these fancy, allergy-free cookies in the cookie jar, their eyes might pop out with glee.  I know mine almost did when I saw them coming out of the oven!

Tonight is the ginormous moon that you may have been hearing about.  You know, the one that people are complaining about because it will be so bright and beautiful that you won’t be able to see any meteor showers.  I’m never awake late enough to see them, anyway, so I’m excited about the moon.  If it is a gigantic moon that you’ll be watching, then it’s a plate of gluten, dairy, soy, nut and egg-free Moon Pies that you’ll need to be eating.  Here is a video that my daughter, Margot, and I made for Enjoy Life Foods a couple of months ago.  I apologize if you have already seen it, but my very, very, super-duper smart friend Gail pointed out that I just had to repost this because they really are the perfect treat for this very special, celestial event.