Saturday Short Subjects: “There are only so many fish in the sea…

Your choices matter.”

This sums up the raison d'etre of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch® Program, a frequent subject of my blogposts. 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® Program encourages consumers and businesses to purchase seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that do not harm the environment. Their science-based recommendations indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” which ones are “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should  “Avoid.”

The information is compiled into consumer-friendly guides — one for the US as a whole, and others specific to each region of the country. There is also a guide for Sushi. Each guide offers a carefully selected, carry-it-with-you, subset of choices from the program’s full list of recommendations. You  can access the complete list online here, where you can also search for the ratings for a particular fish. You can also access the recommendations by using the free mobile app available here. 

The guides are frequently updated. The Seafood Watch Program®’s Community Outreach director, Ryan Bigelow, announced yesterday that the newest versions of the guides are now available for download here.

Here’s your chance to be among the first to have them.

Remember, your choices do matter. Together we can make a difference.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: Pancakes on the Porch

Last week we took a break — from working, from blogging, from gardening, from working on the house, and from experimenting with chia.

Where were we? On Cape Cod, on Pilgrim Village on White Pond in Chatham. From the screened-in back porch of our little cabin all you see is trees and water — like glamping but better.

One of the cabins

This is the perfect setting for one of my greatest joys — a pancake “breakfast” at whatever time we please.

The view from the porch

In advance of our vacation, I prepared two batches of the recipe below, packed them in ziplock bags, and kept them in the cooler during the trip. All I had to add was an egg, water, milk, and some form of liquid fat. 

The cabin’s kitchen is tiny, but it contains a refrigerator, small stove, a cast iron skillet, mixing bowl, and basic cooking and eating utensils — all you need to whip up this breakfast.

What you see here was served around noon on Thursday. The sun was out, and very strong as it can be in early summer. We decided not to race to the beach, opting to enjoy pancakes right where we were, while we listened to the birds sing and watched the light sparkling on the blue water.

Brunch on the porch

I had brought along some real maple syrup, and some of the grapefruit I had ordered online. Nearly local blueberries were in season. Triple yum.

Oatmeal Pancakes

(Inspired by “Oo is for Oatmeal Pancakes” from the Alpha-Bakery Children’s Cookbook 

published by Gold Medal Flour in 1987)

Serves two. This recipe can easily be doubled.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of quick-cooking (one minute) oats

3 teaspoons of dry buttermilk*

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

a pinch of salt

a handful of dried cranberries (optional)

2 tablespoons organic canola oil (or for a special treat, melted butter)

1 egg

3/4 cup of water*

1/4 cup milk

*Or, substitute 3/4 buttermilk for the powdered buttermilk and water.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. 

Add the remaining ingredients, and whisk gently until smooth. 

(You can thin the batter with some extra milk if it is too thick).

Heat and grease your griddle. 

(To see if the griddle is hot enough, splash with a few drops of water. 
If the bubbles bounce around, the temperature is perfect.)

For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle.

Top with 4-5 blueberries if you have them.

Cook until pancakes are puffed and dry around the edges. 

Turn over and cook until the other side is delicately browned.

Serve with maple syrup and fresh berries or summer fruit. 

These pancakes, containing dairy, oats, and eggs, and lower in fat, salt, and sugar than standard restaurant fare, are a delicious and nutritious once-in-a-while treat. They can easily become a dinner meal if served with a side of yogurt and fruit. Try ’em anytime even if you don’t have a screened porch.

Have a great week. Happy eating.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: How to Turn Any Salad Into a Meal

This short post is about making your summer easier, your time spent in the kitchen shorter, and your summer salads more satisfying.

The next time you cook a grain — any grain — to go with a hot dish, make twice as much as you need. Set aside what you require for dinner, and then place the remainder in a glass or ceramic dish, immediately marinate it, let it cool, and then place it in the fridge for use later in the week. 

Within the next few days, prepare your favorite salad and add a scoop or two of the marinated grain.

My salad, in the photo below, has a base of mixed salad greens and is topped with: shredded carrot salad from The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters; fresh sugar snap peas; minced Bermuda onion; grape tomatoes; avocado in fresh lime juice; and a generous scoop of marinated red quinoa.

I marinated the quinoa in a dressing I made in the proportions of 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to 3 tablespoons of good olive oil.

Mark Bittman offered up a similar salad idea in “Eat With the Grain,” in the June 12 New York Times Magazine. He suggested using 2 cups of grain to 1 cup of fresh veggies. 

There is no need to measure or to be that precise. Go with what you have on hand. This is a great way to use up leftovers that don’t quite make a meal on their own. 

Adding a grain turns a simple salad into a satisfying meal. With a grain like quinoa,  it’s one packed with protein as well.

Doesn’t this sound easy?

Have a great week. Happy eating.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”