Not Your Mother's Cookbooks

The food of Greece is wholesome regional and seasonal peasant food. One of the main foods is the pitta, or savory pie. Vegetables of all types, olive oil, herbs, grains, the famous thick yogurt, feta cheese are wrapped in phyllo, Greek for leaf. Greek cuisine, influenced by both Eastern and Western cuisines is considered one of the healthiest on the planet.

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It seems like burgers are in vogue. Teheheheh. Summer BBQ and usually there are a few burgers on the grill. Beef, turkey, bison, lamb, crab, salmon, portobellos, even meatloaf mix. There are even an astounding library of cookbooks just on burgers now. A burger for every day of the year.

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I have been served any number of eggplant dips, the most famous being Baba Ghanoush. Eggplant is in the same family as the potato and tomato, and is native to India, where it is prepared in numerous ways. The microwave does a remarkable job of cooking the whole eggplant and the interior flesh, which retains its lovely spring green color, is ready to mash with other ingredients.

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There is chili and there is chili. Chili used to mean Texas style with meat and beans. Enter the vegetarians and the use of dried black beans, as called turtle beans, an integral part of Central American and Cuban cookery. They are easily found in the dried bean and rice section of the supermarket. Black bean chili was born and it has become probably the most beloved of all vegetarian dishes.

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There isn’t a home cook around who doesn’t like to have a few tricks in his/her kitchen for an interesting tasty dessert that will appeal to those who have to watch their calories. The secret is to have desserts that fill this need, but don’t taste like it. Dessert making is the culinary genre with a dash of the alchemy of befoolery. You want to have the appeal be richly irresistible, but have the element of ease of preparation, too. If you can throw in the element of not-so-fat-laden that cannot be detected by the tongue, you are a kitchen wizard to be sure.

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The Frozen Lime Pie will keep in the freezer for up to 3 days and came from my mother’s neighbors for 30 years, Bob and Margie Beardsley, who are incredible cooks. There is always something new cookin’ at the Beardsleys. I almost passed by this recipe since it uses Cool Whip.

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Flavor is the ultimate imperative. Take three delicious flavor innovations, exotic yet homespun at the same time—lime, banana, and chocolate. What makes an uncooked pie taste so darned good? The flavors. The cold creamy textures really add to the esthetic joy of devouring a slice.

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