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PAG E A6
T H E S TAT E J O U R N A L
m ar c h 21, 2 012
Warm weather means grilling season’s come early ‘Country Living’
article features
Bale’s garden
By Kay Harrod
Lauren
Hallow
State Journal Staff Writer
S TAT E J O U R N A L
S TA F F W R I T E R
It’s 80 degrees out, I’ve
had my heat off for days, and
I don’t even know where my
winter jacket is.
This nice weather makes
me think of one thing: grilling season has come early.
In the past, I was a big celebrator of grilling season. It
seemed any day where temperatures were in the 60s or
above, my parents were taking out the grill and we were
eating dinner on the back patio.
Then I got to college,
where I lived in dorms and
apartments, therefore losing
my back porch grilling privileges. But I still managed to
partake in grilling season by
scouting out free BBQs on
campus. I also made friends
with people who had porches and grills, and made a
habit of showing up at their
places around dinnertime to
just “hang out.” I mean, once
someone offers you a cheeseburger, it’s rude to say no,
right?
Before you start judging
me for my scavenger ways,
let me tell you this – I always
made a point to reimburse
my grilling friends later that
night at the bar.
But this year – my first year
living alone – is different. I
have no grill and no friends
with grills to mooch off of. So
seeing everyone outside on
their porches these past few
days made me a little nostalgic for the grilling days of
home and college.
You may be asking yourself, “Why doesn’t Lauren
just go buy her own grill?”
Well, that’s because Lauren
is an accident-prone problem
child that would probably
burn all of Frankfort down.
There were two incidents
in high school where I cut
myself pretty badly. One
was on a box-cutter in Physics class, which left my lab
table looking like a murder
scene, and another was on a
LAUREN HALLOW/LHALLOW@STATE-JOURNAL.COM
Honey Chicken Kabobs are a great and easy way to celebrate the start of grilling season. Soy
sauce, honey and vegetable oil make for a simple marinade, and a variety of vegetables could be
used to go along with the chicken. I served mine with some hot sauce for dipping.
fan (yes, a fan) in gym class
that sent me to the hospital.
I don’t own a curling iron because I don’t know how to
use one without burning my
fingers off, and I can’t light a
match without hurting myself.
I mentioned in my first
cooking column that my dad
rarely let me near the grill because he didn’t trust me being so close to fire. (That’s
probably why my parents
were so relieved when they
moved me into my Frankfort
apartment and found out
I had an electric-powered
stove).
So I actually don’t even
know how to use a grill. I
mean, I know my way around
the kitchen, so I can’t imagine using a grill would be too
difficult, but I’d still feel more
comfortable if my first grilling sessions were supervised.
Grilling alone on my front
porch could be dangerous. I
think my neighbors like me,
so I’d like to keep it that way.
I assume that those of you
who are reading this do have
a grill – or at least are capable of operating one – and are
just itching to have a patio
grilling session. So I perused
AllRecipes.com the other day
for some of their top grilling recipes and came across
“Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs.”
I added just a few ingredients and used the broiler. But
please, if you have a grill, get
outside and use it.
Here’s what you need:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black
pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken
breast halves, cut into 1 inch
cubes
2 cloves garlic
4 small onions, cut into 2-inch
pieces
2 bell peppers (I used one yellow and one orange) cut into 2
inch pieces
1 can of pineapple chunks,
soaked in juice (or use fresh
pineapple)
Dash of ginger
Dash of cayenne pepper
Skewers
Whisk vegetable oil, honey, soy sauce, lemon juice,
pepper, ginger and cayenne
pepper in a large bowl. Add
chicken and veggies, then
stick in the fridge and let
marinade for at least 2 hours
(if you can, do this the night
before and let them sit overnight).
Notice I didn’t marinate
the pineapple chunks. I think
WEDDING
pineapple has enough flavor
on its own, so I didn’t think it
needed the marinade.
Before you’re ready to
start grilling, you have to
soak your skewers in water
so they don’t burn. Let them
soak for at least 30 minutes.
When the skewers are ready
and your chicken and veggies are all nice and juicy,
thread the chicken, veggies
and pineapple chunks on the
skewers.
Preheat the grill for high
heat, and lightly grease the
grill grate. When heated,
place skewers on the grill
and turn frequently. Cook for
about 12-15 minutes, or until
chicken juices run clear.
If you’d like, when you mix
up the marinade, reserve
a bit for brushing on while
cooking. I didn’t do this because I thought the chicken and veggies were juicy
enough, but it’s always an
option.
The original recipe called
for 8 chicken breasts, but I
used 4 and that was plenty.
Also, feel free to experiment
with different veggies. I used
onions and bell peppers, but
the recipe’s author suggested
using mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.
And if you’re like me, and
don’t have a grill, follow the
above steps, but preheat your
broiler instead of the grill,
and cook for 10-12 minutes.
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Porn debated at
dinner party
DEAR ABBY: At a recent
dinner party the men and
women got into a heated debate about porn. The men
said men love porn because
it shows women enjoying sex
with abandon. We women
protested that women who
behave this way in real life
are labeled “sluts” by both
men and women. Do men not
realize this makes no sense? If
you can’t answer this, maybe
your male readers can.
NO FAN OF PORN
DEAR NO FAN: Not being
an expert on the subject of
pornography or why men enjoy it, I posed your question
to a recognized expert – Larry Flynt. His answer is different than the one given by the
men at the dinner party. He
said that men love porn because men are aroused by the
VISUAL. Then he added that
women are more turned on
by the written word, which
is why torrid romance novels
are so popular.
P.S. Women who enjoy sex
with abandon are not necessarily “sluts.”
The April issue of “Country Living,” on newsstands
now, features the vegetable
garden grown by Frankfort
horticulturist Sharon Bale
and landscape designer Jon
Carloftis.
The article, “Ultimate
American Kitchen Garden,” devotes seven pages
to the design, explanations
of growing the garden and
pictures. It also provides
tips for maintaining the
garden and how to build
sustainable fencing with
tobacco sticks.
Sarah Gray, editor-inchief of Country Living
calls Bale “indomitable” in
her comments on the editor’s page where a picture of
Bale and Carloftis is shown.
The project, which took
approximately six months
from seed acquisition and
planting to harvest and
pictures, was done on the
grounds at the arboretum
at the University of Kentucky.
Bale said she has never
witnessed such a production as it was taking the garden pictures last fall.
“The picture of just those
tomatoes on page 109, I
swear took six hours. Their
photographer, hired from
California, was meticulous,” Bale said.
The article also includes
13 pages of recipes from renowned national chefs like
Rick Bayless and John Besh
who participated in the
project by providing recommendations for herbs
and vegetables.
Alice Waters, who the
Beatles made a household
word with their song in the
‘70s song “Alice’s Restaurant,” submits her simple
recipe for using “Christmas” lima beans.
The White House chefs
provide a delicious-looking recipe for Grilled White
House pizza that uses
White Hamon sweet potatoes and Executive Chef
Michael Paley at Proof on
Main in Louisville offers
Cornmeal Fried Okra with
Eggplant Dip.
Family and Consumer Sciences
Ways to get kids to eat
and enjoy vegetables
Tamera
Thomas
Fa m i ly an d
Consu m er
S c i en c es
tables and fruits yourself, especially during family mealtimes when children are
watching you.
Parents should make sure
children have ready access to
fruits and vegetables. Make
sure vegetables of some form
are offered at every meal. Offering a variety of vegetables
at mealtime will allow children to pick the one they
like. Pre-washing and keeping small bags of vegetables
in the refrigerator allow the
child to easily access and eat
vegetables as snacks.
Children are more likely to
try things that they’ve helped
prepare. Growing a garden,
letting your child help you
cook and visiting a farmers
market or grocery store and
allowing them to select the
vegetables are good ways to
get children to eat vegetables.
Remember that serving
sizes for children are smaller than adult serving sizes. A
general guideline is one serving equals one tablespoon of
a vegetable for each year of
the child’s age. Also remember that children are individuals and vary in how much
they eat and what they like.
If your child still refuses
a particular vegetable, keep
trying. Children tend to fear
new foods, and many times
it will take them eight to 10
tries before they are ready
to taste the vegetable. It may
take them even longer to decide they like it.
Vegetables should be offered in a relaxed environment. Forcing, threatening,
punishing or offering a reward for eating vegetables
have proven to be unsuccessful strategies to get children
to eat and like vegetables.
For more information on
healthy eating, contact the
Franklin County Cooperative Extension Service, 6959035, 101 Lakeview Ct.
“Ewww, not broccoli!”
or “I’m not eating those
carrots!” are common
phrases echoed by many
children at mealtimes, but
it doesn’t have to be this
way. Parents can do several things to get children
to eat and enjoy a variety of
fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables
are important sources of
fiber and many vitamins
children need for their
health, growth and development. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate is a guideline for how
to eat healthy. MyPlate
suggests vegetables and
fruits comprise half of a
typical meal. Children develop food preferences at
an early age so the earlier
and more often children
eat vegetables, the better.
Many children claim
they do not like certain
vegetables when they’ve
never tasted them. Make
sure your children taste a
particular vegetable before they decide not to like
it. Sometimes children
don’t like the way a vegetable is prepared, which
causes them believe they
don’t like a vegetable.
If your children don’t
like a cooked vegetable,
try offering it raw or mixed
with other foods and vice
versa. You can set a good Source: Ingrid Adams, UK assistant
example for your children extension professor for nutrition and
by consuming more vege- weight management
Reach over 85% of Franklin County households
with The State Journal and AdVantage
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call 227-4556.
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