Merle Sanford Bruno/Vincent

Peter says, "Merle's best recipes are those she throws together with whatever is around, and she can never repeat the great ones."  Oh well. I'll see what I can do.

I put this web site together to honor some of the many influences on my cooking.  I remember both my grandmothers well and as a young girl I spent time with them in their kitchens and absorbed some of their cooking traditions.  Mom wasn’t much interested in cooking until she got married, but then she built her own tradition of tasty recipes that we grew up on.  Dad took up cooking when his friend Mike Flanagan bought a French restaurant in Albany, NY.  Mike came to our house to practice recipes he was learning from the French family who sold him Le Petit Paris restaurant.  Dad got caught up in cooking and creating his own legacy of great foods.

After Peter and I traveled to India and visited former students and their families, I started to incorporate spices like turmeric, cumin, chiles, and other masalas into my family recipes.  Pradnya Patankar showed me how to use these in many dishes, and I found myself adding them to my regular recipes, even when they didn’t have a predominantly Indian flavor.  So far I haven’t added any to this page, but at the end of my soup recipe I show how those spices can be used to impart a deeper more complex flavor to a recipe without making it taste like what Americans think of as Indian food.

MORNING SMOOTHIE

This recipe started from a simple smoothie when Peter was having difficulty with acid reflux, and I read some recipes written by a gastroenterologist that were supposed to be gentle on the GI tract. The morning breakfast smoothie of frozen blueberries, skim milk, non fat yogurt, and maple syrup sounded good and Peter liked it. That was over 8 years ago, and Peter has had the drink (or the latest version of it) almost every day and has had virtually no problems with acid reflux. We are tempted to sell this as a miracle cure, but you can have it for free.

Since that first year of smoothies, we have added almost every food fad that sounded safe and reasonable, whether or not there was good scientific evidence for its value (like blueberries having enough anti-oxidant to ward off Alzheimer’s Disease). Like they say in the old country--it couldn't hurt!

So here is the up to date anti cholesterol, anti reflux, anti hypertension, morning drink. The amounts here are approximations. I usually use handfuls or pinches or pour into the blender until it looks right. More frozen berries make a thicker icy drink, and fewer give a more fluid drink. Whatever you prefer

Powder mix: I make up a batch of this and keep it in the freezer. I use more or less equal proportions;

I don't measure or weigh.

Some people find the yeast makes too strong a flavor, so you can either leave it out or use less. It has a lot of good B vitamins though.

Experiment by adding anything else you think is missing from your diet.  Ed’s new favorite is Chia seeds.  I once tried broccoli sprouts, but that was going too far--too strong a flavor.

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth. Drink right away before the bran causes it to get too thick.

AUNTIE MERLE'S ANTI-VIRAL ANTI-OXIDANT ANTIBODY ACTIVATING CHICKEN SOUP

Of course all chicken soup has a medicinal effect and helps cure colds and flu, right?  But this has all the anti-viral food additives I could think of. It isn't for everyone, but most people who've had it think it's great. And it sure does clear the sinuses for a while!

Start with Encye's chicken soup or Ralph's matzoh ball soup and add these ingredients

Remove the ginger and jalapeno after a while so no one bites into a full one by accident.

Lately I’ve been starting the soup by heating some turmeric, cumin powder, and dried chilies in a small amount of oil and then cooking some of the sliced onions in that until they are partly caramelized.  Add a splash of a mild vinegar to this to deglaze the bottom of the pan, and then plop it all into the soup.  Turmeric is another traditional anti-oxidant said to have many healthy properties (Tilak, Banerjee, Mohan, and Devasagayam. 2004. Phytotherapy Research: 18(10): 798-804)

PARMESAN SALSA

Also known as Salsa di Parmigiano

I think I heard this recipe on TV and adapted it. It can be used in lots of ways: on pasta, on bread warmed up like garlic bread or bruschetta, as hors d'oeuvres on thin bread rounds or crackers or on cucumber slices. I'll give the main ingredients and then suggest a few choices for serving.

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds.

Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate for up to a week. Bring to room temperature before serving.

It is also good to toss with pasta, spoon over sliced tomatoes, hamburgers, etc. Be inventive.

If you want a slightly milder flavor for hors d'oeuvres, put the bread slices or crackers on a cookie sheet and spoon the mixture on to each one. Top with a half or a slice of a cherry tomato and pop under the broiler for a few minutes (watch carefully). It's a big hit!

GREAT PASTA SAUCE

coming soon