One summer, my older brother, Dick, then 17, decided he was going to take the summer off -- meaning not get a summer job. He had surveyed our neighborhood on the east side of Detroit and the stores on nearby Warren Avenue rather half-heartedly, and then came home and announced, "I can't get a job."
My father, nearly as wise as Solomon, calmly said, "That's too bad, Dick, but don't worry. We'll set you up as a shoe-shine boy outside the Cunningham's drug store." Dick got a job stocking at the market the next day. I repeat this family tale to show that our parents instilled a work ethic in us, and it's still strong.
However, before I am accused of braggadocio, let me explain the flip side. My motto for success is "Work hard, play hard, and don't mix the two." (When I was teaching, the last part was often the carrot on the stick for my students when they were discouraged.)
So it is that, in our family routine, we sometimes have truly lazy days, maybe unplanned or traditional, like New Year's Day. Sometimes we are just too tired to dig into a new day after we've finished a doing the taxes or blowing 8 inches of snow off the long drive.
Yes, He-Who-Must-Be-Fed and I work hard, and so do our adult kids, but as the years pass, we find we are having more lazy days. Thus, the question is, how are we going to eat when we aren't going to do anything -- like cooking? This is what it has come to. Well, pretty close anyway. The laziest way to scarf down is can-to-mouth. It is safer with a spoon, though.
Some folks like to start a lazy day with breakfast in bed, and they go through elaborate preparations the night before. At dawn, they race to the kitchen to push buttons, race back to bed, stare at the ceiling for 15 minutes, then back to the kitchen, arrange a tray and toddle back to bed. Relaxing, right? Not for me. If I were a B in B person, every recipe would include a bath towel. Crumbs, you know.
The two stalwart appliances usually involved in a truly lazy day are the crock pot and a heavy, ovenproof skillet with a cover. Crock pot to me means corned beef sandwiches on dark rye with a good mustard for a weekend lounge. There are hundreds of crock pot cookbooks and thousands of recipes, and most of them are pretty good. Really good meal-in-a-skillet recipes are often delicious, but the best are "Serve immediately," and that means standing by the stove for as much as 15 minutes, and that certainly strains the Lazy Day Rules. Many skillet meals involve quick-cooking rice or pasta with vegetables, and are certainly healthy -- especially if they leave out the sausage, but hey! We want to be happy on the few lazy days we have, and succinctly -- that means sausage: Brats in beer, kielbasa in hot potato salad, andouille in gumbo, and pork sausage, laced with fennel, and eaten off a toothpick.
Roger Welsch, bearded, jolly and author of "Diggin' In & Piggin' Out," is one of the funniest cooks on earth, and he relates a lazy day epiphany in his book. Like Mother Hubbard, he found the fridge bare except for a bag of English walnuts and a jar of Vlasic's Mild Greek Pepperoncini Green Peppers. He reports, "I ate them together -- a pepper in my mouth, a nut in my mouth. And they were delicious. The peppers are good. The walnuts are good, but together they become something entirely different. It's like adding two and getting six. Try it and see if I'm not right." Welsch also claims they are nutritious. (Ladies: If you want to give your brother or lover, husband or other his very favorite gift for Christmas, give him Welsch's book.)
Perhaps it's the family work ethic in me, the planning, shopping, preparation, and cooking, that I put into a holiday meal that makes the "work hard" fun, but then there is that welcome and lovely lazy day ahead. But, I'll be honest with you. I do have to work hard at being lazy.
My All Day Salad anchors the day. I start with an old, overly large plate I have. I think it was a charger in its youth. First, put a tablespoon of dressing in the middle (either Ranch or raspberry vinaigrette). Mound torn greens (arugula, field greens, baby stuff -- and if you must, some iceberg). Add a can of rinsed beans (garbanzo, butter beans, black beans, etc.) Push salad-to-be towards the center and consider the plate a clock.
At 12, add a can of drained albacore tuna; at 4, add a drained can of chicken (white breast) and at 8, place half a cup of your favorite thing, e.g. shredded deli ham, pepperoni, shredded cheese, etc. The key to this salad is to personalize it as much as possible. Add plenty of the chosen dressing, and keep a stack of paper napkins and a row of forks out on the counter. Keep the salad cold, and take it out of the fridge to eat at will. Free time is time to be free with food. Enjoy.
November Corn Chowder
3 c. whole milk
1 can cream-style corn (a good brand)
1 can cream of celery soup, undiluted
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 c. frozen hash browns
1 c. diced, cooked ham (or shredded deli ham)
1/2 c. diced sweet onion
2 1/2 T. olive oil spread or butter
Salt and pepper to taste.
Chopped parsley or fried onions to garnish
Combine all ingredients, except garnishes, in a crock pot.
Cover and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours.
Serves 8-10
-- Sally Ketchum
Pork Chops with Creamy Gravy and Vegetables
4 bone-in pork loin chops, 1/2" thick
1/4-1/2 t. seasoned salt
1/2 c. sour cream
10 1/2 oz. can cream of celery soup
1/4-1/2 t. dried sage leaves
3 c. frozen cut green beans
1 1/2 c. frozen potatoes O'Brien (with onions and peppers) (From 24 oz. package)
Spray large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat until hot. Sprinkle pork chops with seasoned salt; place in skillet. Cook 5-6 minutes or until browned on both sides. Remove chop from skillet, and keep warm.
In medium bowl, combine sour cream, soup and sage; mix well. Add to skillet; stir in frozen vegetables. Arrange chops over vegetable mixture; press gently into mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 10 to 15 minutes or until pork chops are no longer pink in center and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Yields 4 servings.
-- One-Dish Meals, Pillsbury
Sally Ketchum is a northern Michigan food writer. Meet Sally at 1 p.m. Saturday at Horizon Books in Traverse City. She will be signing her new book, "Bread Garden," a middle reader novel. She notes it is a great gift for teachers.
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