Day 16: Broccoli, Biscotti and Burns

Today, I burned my forearm with boiling water, grated the tip of my finger off and fried the mascara to my eyes with the blazing flame of our gas grill. The more time I spend with my head literally in the kitchen fire, the more I have the scars to prove it.

My brother was a professional chef, and his hands and forearms looked like a war zone with fleshy pink raised scars from knives and purple flat ones from burns. They're like kitchen tattoos. I'm just earning my stripes ... or pink patches.

Today was a house hungry day. Metabolisms are up, and appetites are insane. I cooked and prepped and fed people nonstop. The boys can eat. That's all I can say. I made an enormous flank steak marinated in garlic, balsamic vinegar, mustard and rosemary; two dozen homemade biscotti' two heads of organic broccoli; Japanese soba noodles with sesame; four apples; a bunch of grapes; two bananas and all the bread that was in the house. And that was just dinner. We are crumb-less.

Broccoli took some work and garnered some evil protests and gagging, but here are the recipes for the noodles and the biscotti - the day's two fan favorites.

Almond Biscotti
2 cups unbleached flour (I went 50/50 whole wheat and white)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sliced, toasted almonds

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with non-stick spray. (Watch the ingredients on these!)

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, almonds, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites and extracts. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Turn the dough on to a well-floured work surface and shape into a smooth ball. Shape into a 10-inch-long log and place on the prepared sheet. (I split this into two logs and make them smaller.) Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes.

3. Reduce the oven to 300 degrees. Place the log(s) on a work surface and slice into approx. 18 pieces. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet and bake, turning once about halfway through, until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool until crisp.

4. If you have any left, store in an airtight container at room temp for up to one week.

From, "Jane Fonda: Cooking for Healthy Living."

Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds
1/3 cup sesame seeds

salt

8 ounces soba noodles

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

5 teaspoons of soy sauce

2 teaspoons of honey

2 teaspoons of sesame oil

5 scallions

1. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over a high heat until they look golden brown, and tip them into a bowl.

2. Bring a large pan of water to boil and add some salt. Put in the soba noodles and cook them for about 6 minutes (or according to package instructions) until they are tender but not mushy. Have a bowl of iced water waiting to plunge them into after draining.

3. In the bowl you are going to serve them in, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, honey and oil. Then finely slice the scallions and put them in the bowl with the cooled, drained noodles and mix together thoroughly before adding the sesame seeds and tossing again.

4. Leave the sesame seed noodles for about half an hour to let the flavors develop.

A Nigella Lawson recipe.

Menu

Breakfast: Yogurt, toast, strawberries and OJ with fish oil.

Lunch: Pita pizzas with leftover meatballs and fontina, carrots, apples and milk. Aidan had pita and hummus, craisins, yogurt, applesauce, pretzels and a small organic dark chocolate.

Dinner: Marinated, grilled flank steak, broccoli with lemon and pepper, sesame soba noodles, apples, bananas, grapes, bread, homemade almond biscotti, coffee and milk.

Nugget o' the Day: "Patrick, does Mommy have eye brows?" - me. After I scorched my face in the grill.