Georgia girls

I'm sitting in my living room doing something that's a little hard to explain: I am watching the new season of "Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo." If you've missed this pop-culture phenomenon, it's a reality show about a small-town Georgia family with what people could only kindly describe as "country ways."

Headed by matriarch June and her live-in boyfriend Mike "Sugar Bear," the show focuses largely on their daughter Alana "Honey Boo Boo," who caught the attention of reality-show producers when she was a tots' beauty pageant contestant in a different reality show.

I discovered the show last summer during an interview with Food Network star Paula Deen. I was with Deen at her Savannah home and she was telling me about her summer and all the fun things she'd been doing -- painting, shell crafts, chasing chickens in her yard -- and she mentioned that she and her husband, Michael Groover, were hooked on reality shows. Among them, "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." I have to admit, I hadn't seen the show and had only vaguely heard of it.

After Deen's vivid description -- and encouragement -- I knew I had to watch it. I don't know anyone quite like June and her brood and I honestly find them to be messy, gassy, ill-mannered people. But I do like that whoever they are, whatever they are ... they are comfortable in their own skin.  They don't clean themselves up for the camera, they just are who they are and that's what you see on the show. You don't see this kind of honesty with too many people these days, in my opinion.

So tonight June's gone blond and they're all getting ready for Halloween and trying to face their fears (June's afraid of mayonnaise.) I didn't need to know that Alana thinks mayo tastes like vanilla ice cream or that June urinated in the town's fall corn maze. Yet here I am, 30 minutes into a one-hour show, and I have no intention of turning the channel.

Just noodling around

Eldora Cleland, the matriarch of my husband's family, died this year, but the many traditions she created will live on. Anyone who knows her knows these things: her family always came first, nothing but made-from-scratch food ever made it to her table, and there wasn't a card game you could beat her at.

This post is about one of her food traditions: homemade egg noodles, which were present at a majority of meals she made. Not a holiday or family reunion passed without a pot of her noodles laced with chunks of chicken. (Just as an aside, every time she made noodles she also made an angel food cake because the egg noodles are made with egg yolks only and she refused to throw away the whites. So, the egg whites were always turned into an angel food cake which she slathered with homemade white frosting.)

For years I've said that I wanted Eldora to teach me to eat her egg noodles. But every visit to Indiana (spring or summer) or Florida (fall or winter) passed without her teaching me this Cleland-Cowen family tradition.

So when my in-laws, Peggy and Dick Cowen, visited at Thanksgiving, I asked my mother-in-law to finally teach me the zen of noodles. It wasn't hard, and we made 3 or 4 batches, cooking one for dinner one night and saving the rest for me to make for Christmas Day.

Here's the recipe:

5 egg yolks
1/8 teaspoon salt
A few drops of yellow food coloring (optional)
2 tablespoons milk
2/3 cup flour

Rather than give you straight instructions, I'll embellish a bit with family lore.

Start by beating together the egg yolks, salt, food coloring and milk. The food coloring is totally optional; it won't really change the flavor of the noodles at all. Eldora bought yellow food coloring by the quart and used it in many dishes. Her theory was that it made foods look rich and buttery and -- in addition to the fact that she was a wonderful cook -- she claimed that it was the secret to everyone thinking her cooking was the richest they'd ever tasted.

As a nod to this wonderful woman, I'll always add food coloring to any noodles I make. You, however, can consider them optional.

After you beat these ingredients together with a fork, start adding the flour a little at a time until it forms a ball. It should come together quickly into a ball that isn't sticky. Work it with your hands, folding the dough underneat, tucked in until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough no longer has an elastic feel.

Lay out waxed paper to cover a broad area of your kitchen counter and dust with flour. Roll out the dough, working from the center out, until the sheet of dough is very thin. Allow it to dry for 90 minutes to two hours, flipping it over occasionally so it will dry evenly.

Then cut the dough into strips about one inch wide. Stack the strops and slice into very thin noodles.

When you're ready to cook them, cook in chicken broth and add chicken to suit your family's tastes. Many families prefer beef with noodles, like mine did. But the Cleland-Cowen family always had chicken in their noodles, and since this is about Eldora's famous noodles, we'll just leave it at that.

You can make several batches at once and freeze them; they'll last several weeks in a resealable bag in the freezer.

Enjoy.

"Sunday Dinners," the story

Wednesday, Aug. 1, was a big day. It was the day I turned in my manuscript for "Sunday Dinners: America's Favorite Pastors Bring Food, Family and Faith to the Table" to my editor at Andrews McMeel Publishing.

As you likely know, I've been working on the book for some time. But getting a contract suddenly gave everything a deadline. Details that I'd left to finish later, suddenly all had to be done. I was lucky that at the time I signed my contract, the book was already three-fourths finished. I had four or five chapters to finish, but that still was a lot of work.

Perhaps even harder, I had to finish testing all of the recipes. It was fun hosting parties for my friends to "taste" all of the dishes. Better yet, it meant I didn't have loads of leftovers to eat all week long. It had me roasting lamb chops and slow-cooking pork roasts for sandwiches, tacos and a glorious Puerto Rican entree called "Pernil."

I baked flan (two ways) and layered a strawberry cake. I made cookies (chocolate and not), pies and pound cakes. And I made what just might be the most beautiful dessert I've ever made: banana pudding.



I actually made this banana pudding twice, first in a pie pan, as the recipe dictates. But I thought it would also be pretty in small, individual crocks. I'm not super crazy about the flavor of meringue, but it certainly makes any dessert look prettier. And it makes you look like an expert baker, because - unless you actually forget the pie in the oven - you can't mess this up.

So let me tell you about my book. It is a reflection of what I do in my job as a features editor at the Houston Chronicle. Among other things, I am the editor of our food section (Flavor) and our religion section (Belief). One day it occured to me that I could produce something from the best of both. So my book focuses on famous and notable church pastors from all over the country. I tell the narrative of their family's Sunday dinner traditions, then include a handful of their favorite recipes. Each chapter opens with a small prayer written by the pastor, a prayer suitable to be said at mealtime.

The chapters are about some of my favorite Texas people, like Pastors Joel and Victoria Osteen at Lakewood Church, the Rev. Dr. Ed and Jo Beth Young at Second Baptist Church in Houston, the Rev. Kirbyjon and Pastor Suzette Caldwell at Windsor Village United Methodist Church, the Rev. George Foreman of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, all of whom are in Houston; Bishop T.D. and Serita Jakes of the Potter's House in Dallas; and the Rev. Randy and Rozanne Frazee of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio.

Outside of Texas, I intervewed the Rev. Martin Lam Nguyen, C.S.C., a Holy Cross priest and art professor at the University of Notre Dame; the Rev. Jim and Barb Dixon of Cherry Hills Community Church in suburban Denver; Pastors Sam and Eva Rodriguez of New Season Christian Worship Center in the Sacramento, Calif., area; the Rev. Mike and Jeannie Glenn of Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tenn.; Pastors Matthew and Caroline Barnett of Angelus Temple of Los Angeles, Calif.; Apostles Ron and Hope Carpenter of Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville, S.C.; and the Revs. Floyd and Elaine Flake of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

Over the past couple of years that I've worked on this book I've met some wonderful people and tried a lot of great recipes. And I wrote a book that is scheduled for publication September 2013.

Between now and then I promise to blog more frequently to tell you what I can about these extraordinary people.

 

All-American holiday

Today's the Fourth of July, our nation's birthday -- and one of my favorite holidays.

I love its patriotic nature, and the old-fashioned celebrations it inspires: Parades, cookouts, days at the beach (or poolside, depending on where you live). I love the fireworks, red-white-and-blue themes and Stars and Strips flying high everywhere.

In addition to reminding me of the freedoms we enjoy in America, it also makes me grateful for those who serve our country to keep us free and to help others gain freedom or escape oppression all over the world.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Pot roast, Part II

I try a lot of recipes ... some work out and some don't. Some just don't deliver what I -- or my husband --think they will. Some just don't suit our tastes.

So for Easter when my in-laws were visiting, we made pot roast, one of her family favorits that she hadn't had in a long time. Not long after, my husband came home from the grocery store and announced that he'd bought a roast and wanted pot roast again. (He even invited a close friend whose spouse was out of town.)

So I got out the roasting pan and tossed in some carrots, celery and onions and chicken broth. Shoved it into the oven at 350 degrees and checked on it three hours later. This version differed from my mother-in-law's version because hers included a couple of cans of cream of mushroom soup. (Mine's soupless.)

It was great and I imagine that until the weather here in Houston hits the true summer highs, we'll likely have pot roast a couple more times.

Along with the pot roast I made some mashed potatoes. I also made green beans and biscuits, recipes borrowed from Potter's House first lady Serita Jakes. They're simple, but familiar and comforting. Serita's recipes will appear in my cookbook, "Sunday Dinners," which is under way now and will be out in the fall of 2013.

Happy Easter, everyone

I haven't posted in a while, but today seems as good a day as any to get started again. Today's Easter, and I'm enjoying spending time with family.
My family is spread out -- in Florida, Indiana and California -- but the Florida side came to visit for several days. That means my in-laws, Peggy and Dick Cowen, have been here for a five-day visit. We celebrated my father-in-law's birthday and did a little shopping.

Today we got up and made the Cowens' Sunday dinner from years ago: pot roast. It's just so easy putting the roast in the oven with some veggies and letting them slow cook for three hours. We riced some potatoes and made green beans and corn, too. One "borrowed" touch was the recipe for baking powder biscuits that I got from Serita Jakes, First Lady of The Potter's House church in Dallas.

I've gotten to know the Jakes family through interviews I've done as religion editor at the Houston Chronicle. Also,  I've interviewed them for my book, "Sunday Dinners (Andrews McMeel; September 2013) and her biscuit recipe will be in the book.

This afternoon we've been flipping TV channels between watching the Masters golf tournament and keeping track of the Astros v. Rockies game (the Astros won, 3-2). Pretty soon we're going to hit the kitchen again to get out the key lime pie I made this morning.

All in all, it's been a good day, a good Sunday and a peaceful Easter.

So Happy Easter, everyone. I hope your day was filled with more than chocolate bunnies!

Lesson of a lifetime

I love rooting for underdogs, and the underdog story-of-the-week is one worth blogging about. The young men who play varsity basketball at Houston's Beren Academy -- a private school for Orthodox Jews -- made national headlines for playing well and staying true to their faith.

As Orthodox Jews, they cannot - among other things - play sports during the Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. So earlier this week when the team drew a 9 p.m. Friday TAPPS semifinal game time, the boys, their coach and their rabbi/principal were all prepared to simply forfeit the game. They didn't want the rules changed for them and observing the Sabbath, or shabbot, was more important than basketball.

It wasn't until community members, who, incidentally, are not Jewish, came forward did the Beren boys and their boosters decide to challenge the 2 p.m. time. Everyone in Houston suddenly became fans of the Beren Stars. We learned about the strict ways of Orthodox Sabbath, and we spoke loudy - and in unison - to say that since no game times are set on Sundays as a Christian observance, well, no Jews should be expected to play at a time considered sacred to them.

The boys won their early Friday afternoon game, but lost to Abilene Christian on Saturday night. I'd say the teens are winners nonetheless. They've learned about faith and fairness, hard work and hard play in the course of one week. They learned that their Orthodox community may be very small, but there's a big world of people of all faiths who were rooting for them all week long.

Their season is over now and they can savor the memories of the shared experience. Ultimately, they didn't have to sacrifice their faith or their sport.

Sometimes, things work out exactly as they should.