By Lisa Golden Schroeder

Well, we’ve reached another annual milestone. Whether you have kids or not the weeks after Labor Day still feel like back-to-school. Depending on where you live, the weather has probably shifted in some way as well. For me, the sultry final days of August suddenly (and somewhat magically) reverted to cooler, sharper days. The kind of weather that perks up the appetite and makes me think about different kinds of cooking.

I do still have kids who need that daily school lunch—a drudgery that can be relieved if your school serves food that A: your kids will eat, and B: that meets your standards of nutritious fare. Some days I don’t really care—if it’s a chaotic week I’m just glad that the boys are eating SOMETHING at noontime. But I do try to stay on top of how many days in a row I fall back into the school hot lunch safety net. One of my troubles is that I’ve got a boy who has never been enamored of sandwiches that are packed ahead—too soggy. And another one plain doesn’t like sandwiches (even if they come out of my Panini grill!) So other options are a big decision come the first week of school.

A few years ago we “discovered” lunch box-size thermoses—I know, nothing new or novel about them. But these old-fashioned insulated containers are truly amazing. They do keep cold foods cold and steaming hot foods pretty darn hot. And my guys have always loved soup—perfect for the coming cooler, then down right cold days. Chicken noodle or wild rice soup are perennial favorites, but I like to switch it up with stewy kinds of chicken soups that are thick with vegetables, pasta and beans. Full of good stuff that the kids will happily eat, warm from their thermoses. Pack a few crackers, some grapes, and a cookie—and they’re good to go.

Make this thick, hearty and nutritious chicken soup to fill up your kids’ thermoses for school lunch. I warm up the insides of the thermoses with boiling water from the tea kettle, then heat up servings of the soup in the microwave. When the soup is ready, I pour out the water and replace it with the hot soup. The kids will be amazed that they have hot lunch, straight out of their lunch bags! My kids call soups like this one, that’s so thick it’s almost a stew, “stoup.” In the fall you can use all sorts of autumn vegetables—try butternut squash, parsnips or rutabaga for the carrots and celery—or your own canned tomatoes from a garden harvest.

LUNCHBOX CHICKEN & MINI PASTA “STOUP”

Makes 6 (1-1/2 cups) main dish servings or 8 (1-1/4 cups) lunch box servings

INGREDIENTS

1 package (14 ounces) Just BARE® Hand-Trimmed Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets

1 quart low-sodium chicken broth (4 cups)

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup diced (1/4 inch) carrot or parsnip (1 medium)

1/2 cup diced (1/4 inch) celery (1 stalk)

1 can (14-1/2 ounce) crushed tomatoes

1 can (14-1/2 ounce) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

½ teaspoon coarse salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

½ cup uncooked mini pasta (stars, alphabets, acini de pepe, or rings)

1 can (15 ounce) cooked garbanzo or Great Northern beans, rinsed, drained

1-1/2 cups chopped Swiss chard, mustard greens, or spinach

Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese, if desired

INSTRUCTIONS

•    Place chicken in 12-inch skillet. Add 2 cups broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center (165˚F).
•    Meanwhile, in Dutch oven or large soup kettle, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
•    Remove chicken from poaching broth; set aside. Skim foam from broth; add to sautéed vegetables. Stir in remaining 2 cups broth, the crushed and diced tomatoes with juice, rosemary, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Heat to boiling; stir in uncooked pasta. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 15 minutes.
•    Shred chicken into bite-size pieces; add to soup. Stir in garbanzo beans and greens. Remove bay leaf. Serve with a sprinkle of cheese.
Cook’s Note: If the soup thickens more than you like as it cools, stir in an additional cup of water or broth.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

I’ve been a bug (so to speak) about food safety for years. And in the light of recent problems with food-borne illnesses, I guess I can’t say enough (and loudly) about how to safely handle and cook poultry. Here is my Chicken Safety 101 primer that should ensure you don’t have trouble in the kitchen.

1. All perishable uncooked foods have some microbes on their surface, from poultry and meats to eggs and veggies. Many are naturally occurring since our food comes from natural environments where all living things co-exist—including bacteria. And we can add to this, so washing your hands in hot, soapy water before and after handling food is top on my list.

2. Don’t cross-contaminate surfaces. You don’t have to rinse poultry before cooking it, as you’re going to cook it long enough to kill off any pesky germs. BUT if you cut up a chicken on a cutting board or carry it on a tray outside to the grill, be sure that the cutting board or tray is washed in hot, soapy water before placing anything else on them. I like to use an acrylic cutting board (rather than the large wooden board I use to chop veggies) when I cut up chicken, so I can just pop it into the dishwasher when I’m done. And if I decide to rinse off a whole chicken before roasting, I’m careful to wash the inside of the sink with—yep, you got it—hot, soapy water! I sanitize my sponges regularly, too, by popping them into the dishwasher or microwaving them for 1 minute on HIGH power.

3. Be sure that you cook chicken until it’s DONE. Using an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature of chicken is absolutely the best way to ensure your chicken is cooked all the way through, especially when you’re cooking a whole bird. Just insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh and don’t touch any bones—dark meat should be cooked to 165˚F internally. If the thigh is done, the rest of the bird will be too. Other simple tests to be sure chicken parts, like breast fillets or drumsticks, are cooked properly is to cut into them to be sure they are no longer pink inside. And when you insert the tip of a paring knife into the chicken the juices that run out should be clear, not pink.

4. If you marinate chicken for grilling, it’s okay if you brush some of the marinade on during the cooking process. But stop during the last 5 to 8 minutes of grilling, as the chicken finishes cooking. Always discard marinades, unless a recipe directs you to heat them to boiling on the stovetop to be served at the table with the chicken.

5. There’s lots of good information out there if you have more questions about safely handling chicken and other foods. Go to the Just BARE® website for links to great online resources. There’s no reason why you or your family should get sick from food you’ve carefully prepared in your own kitchen.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

I was inspired this weekend by a lovely Hmong farmer who makes the rounds of the local farmers markets with her gorgeous produce. Baby bok choy, Asian cabbages, slender Chinese eggplant, fat cucumbers, incendiary chiles, spicy radishes, and all nature of pungent herbs—peppery Thai basil, amazing bunches of lacy cilantro, a fragrant array of mints. Her table sat next to mine, where the children’s garden kids were selling their herbal vinegars. So we chatted about the growing season and how she cooks with her own harvest.

Because she’s a working mom, her kitchen repertoire relies on as little real cooking as possible this busy time of year.  And as the mercury has cleared 90˚F this past week—and the steamy weather promises to continue into this one—I’m all about avoiding the heat of the oven or stove.  Turning to the grill is easy, but so are quick marinated chicken thighs sautéed in a hot skillet. I’ve found that my kids will eat lots of tender fresh greens if they’re wrapped around a savory chicken filling, topped with crunchy raw veggies and toasted nuts. So here’s my take on refreshing lettuce-wrapped chicken, the answer to a “dog’s day in August” evening. Put out a platter of lettuce leaves, herbs, sprouts and carrots, along with a bowl of toasted nuts to sprinkle in. A little dab of additional condiments, like more chili garlic or Sriracha sauce, or even some sweet hoisin or toasted sesame seed would allow everyone to customize their wraps.

Lettuce-Wrapped Asian Chicken

Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons toasted dark sesame oil

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons tamari or low-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon grated fresh gingerroot

1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce

1 package (20 ounces) Just BARE® Hand-Trimmed Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs

8 large leaves butter or Boston lettuce

1 cup mixed fresh mint and basil leaves

1/2  cup bean sprouts, rinsed

1/2  cup shredded carrot

1/3 cup toasted chopped cashews

1 large lime, cut into wedges

INSTRUCTIONS
•    Mix oils, vinegar, tamari, ginger, and chili garlic sauce in medium bowl; reserve 1/4 cup to use as a dipping sauce. Add chicken, turning to coat with marinade (or place marinade and chicken in large resealable plastic bag). Refrigerate at least one hour.

•    Heat grill to medium-high heat or a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade; place on hot grill. Or sauté in hot skillet with 1 tablespoon of marinade (discard the rest). Cook about 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear, turning once.

•    Chop chicken; serve wrapped in lettuce leaves, garnished with herbs, sprouts, carrot, nuts, reserved dipping sauce and a squeeze of lime.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

Where has the summer gone? It’s already past mid-July, my deck still hasn’t been waterproofed, nor the new grill assembled. But we’re ready to start…the old grill is sitting under the deck now. Almost headed to Goodwill, but not quite yet. So tonight we’re pulling it back out onto the lawn (again) to grill a lovely bird with one of my summer favorites—dark, sweet plums.

The honey citrus glaze I usually make is flavored with chopped fresh rosemary, but if my lavender plants are blooming I’ll chop up a handful of leaves instead. And stir in some of the delicate lavender flower buds. The combination of floral honey, Mediterranean herbs, tangy citrus and peppery olive oil is what I imagine sunshine tastes like. Brushed on chicken near the end of grilling makes the skin crisp up into a golden mahogany, while the meat stays tender and juicy underneath. To speed up the cooking a bit I’ll cut the whole chicken in half, from head to tail, with heavy kitchen shears. You can remove the backbone so each half lies flatter, but it’s not necessary.

I love plums—and will always buy extra at the end of the summer to stew up in a large kettle with a splash of orange juice and cinnamon to freeze in small containers for a mid-winter compote. But other stonefruit, like fragrant peaches, nectarines or apricots, grill up as beautifully as plums—brush with a little melted butter before laying pitted halves over medium-hot coals. My boys like grilled peaches sprinkled with dark brown sugar—they taste like pie without the pastry! For tonight I’ll just brush some of the herbal honey glaze over the plums before laying them around the chicken halves, waiting until the last 10 minutes or so of cooking. A few chunks of fresh lime or lemon to squeeze over the finished bird and fruit, a pan of quick-cooking orzo pasta tossed with some crumbled feta cheese, and a bowl full of fresh arugula dressed in a vinaigrette is an ideal supper out on the unstained deck!

HERBAL HONEY-GLAZED CHICKEN with STONEFRUIT

Makes 4 servings

GLAZE

1/4 cup wildflower or lavender honey

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary or lavender leaves

2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice

2 teaspoons grainy Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

CHICKEN

1 package (3 1/2  to 4 pounds) Just BARE® Whole Chicken

4 ripe plums, halved, pitted*

1 lime or small lemon, cut into wedges

INSTRUCTIONS

•    Lightly oil grill rack; heat grill to medium heat. Mix all glaze ingredients, reserving 1 tablespoon of oil, in a small bowl. Mix until well blended; set aside 1/4 cup to serve with chicken.
•    Cut chicken in half with kitchen shears, rinse and pat dry. Rub with reserved 1 tablespoon oil. Place chicken halves on grill, skin-side up. Cook, turning as needed, until juices run clear (40 to 50 minutes or until 180˚F in thigh meat).  Brush with honey mixture during the last 15 minutes of grilling.
•    Place fruit, cut-side down, on the grill during the last 6 to 8 minutes of grilling. Turn fruit once and brush with honey mixture.
•    Drizzle chicken and fruit with reserved 1/4 cup honey glaze and a squeeze of lime.

*Substitute small peaches or nectarines for plums.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

As our Just BARE® team rode in the inaugural Nice Ride bicycle tour down Nicollet Mall a few weeks ago, I spied the first-of-the-season farmers market stalls. For downtown Minneapolis workers, there’s nothing more convenient and Mary Tyler Moore-esque than when the flowers and produce appear on the walking mall in the spring and summer. Buckets of gorgeous bouquets stand proudly alongside bins of fresh, Minnesota-grown green beans, asparagus, broccoli, beets, potatoes and apples.

Each Thursday throughout the growing season it’s easy to pick up ingredients for a weekend’s worth of meals, plus a few sweet-smelling lilies or wild stalks of gladiola to bring the summer inside. I had my friend Marcela from Argentina with me that day, and she marveled at the overflowing baskets of early produce. In particular she loved the plump sugar snap peas, which she told me are never available in Buenos Aires. In fact she said that they don’t have farmers markets like ours in her city, which is in a cattle ranching region. So while we navigated our way through the market and the Nice Ride bikers, we loaded our arms with bagfuls of snap peas, spring onions, radishes, strawberries and a precious find of a few wild mushrooms.

We also grabbed a crusty loaf of locally baked bread, then headed home to turn our bounty into a screened porch supper (it was rainy that day)—roasting a whole Just BARE® bird rubbed with olive oil and some dried herbes de Provence, a blend of rosemary, lavender, oregano, thyme and fennel seed. We tucked a halved lemon and some fresh sage leaves from my garden inside the bird and slid it into a 425 degree oven for about an hour. Then we quickly sautéed the sugar snap peas with some sliced green onions and coarsely chopped mushrooms, just until they were tender and juicy. We enjoyed our supper with a lovely Malbec wine that Marcela brought to us from her home. It was a delicious celebration of our locally grown food—and a splendid conclusion to a very fun day.