Thyme to Change Vinagrette

Yea! Another salad, or to be specific, a salad dressing. Fresh thyme, dijon mustard, lemon juice, olive oil - delightful. I know all days are not going to be as easy as this one, but we'll take it. Julia requested her favorite bbq turkey burgers (which are from Gwenth Paltrow, but that's another story for another food blog) so we had those as well.  Everybody seems so happy today, unlike the actual Sunshine Day Baked Egg day.  Love the clever thyme/time play on words. One weird thing was that the full recipe made less than a 1/4 cup of dressing. One can only surmise that the Brady's must not have been big salad eaters.

Episode Note: "Dough Re Mi" Greg wants to cut a record but needs $150. The only way he can do it is to include his siblings (and their money). He has written a catchy ecology-themed song entitled "We Can Make the World a Whole Lot Brighter" but as recording day nears Peter's voice begins to crack and change, thus ruining the song. Conflicted, the other five Brady kids try to decide whether to keep or dump Peter from the group by secret ballot. This, however, results in a tie because Cindy votes twice, once in favor and once opposed. That darn Cindy. In danger of losing his dough, Greg writes a new puberty-themed song "Time to Change" that highlights Peter's unfortunate voice modulations. Sha, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.  Sha, na, na, na, na.

Aunt Jenny's Minestrone With Sausage

Soup is good food. Especially with fresh vegetables like zucchini, green beans, tomatoes and then loaded down with pasta, Parmesan cheese and Italian sausage. A hot, simmering pot for three hours. Probably should have waited for cooler weather for this one (had a hot flash while eating), but I am just doing what the book tells me. I don't want to make it mad. Served with a green salad and some crusty french bread (and more Chianti). Mmmmm. I would definitely make this again, in January.

Episode Note "Jan's Aunt Jenny" Yet another identity crisis for Jan. She finds an old photo of a girl who looks just like her (because it is) and discovers it is a picture of Carol's eccentric Aunt Jenny, played by Imogene Coca. Jan is anxious to meet Aunt Jenny until she sees a current photo and realizes she might grow up to look like a kook, like Imogene Coca. Ultimately, Aunt Jenny comes for a visit and Jan learns that true beauty may lie from within, like Imogene Coca. It is no secret to me why Jan  (aka Eve Plumb) refused to do any of the early reunion shows like "The Brady Bunch Hour" - she probably is still dealing with the trauma of the original series.

Secret Admirer Caesar Salad

Fairly standard Caesar salad preparation. Romaine, egg, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice.  I love the way "fresh garlic croutons" are listed as an ingredient but the recipe doesn't instruct how to make them. Luckily, I know how. Served with delicious spaghetti and meatballs, although I had to use store bought pasta as the summer humidity wreaks havoc on  fresh pasta dough. All in all, glad to be done with breakfast. Went well with a nice bottle of Chianti.

Episode Note "Cindy Brady, Lady" [By happenstance, this was the latest episode on our DVR queue so Julia and  I watched it today] Cindy wants to be more grown up like Marcia, Marcia, Marcia and Jan. She begins to dress differently, reads Hemingway and puts on a sophisticated air. Bobby decides to help by creating a secret admirer for Cindy. When Mike exposes Bobby's ruse, Bobby gives his friend Tommy a Kennedy half dollar (remember when one of those was worth something?) to pose as the admirer. At first Tommy thinks the new Cindy Brady is a stick in the mud, but once she lets her hair down (literally) he gives Bobby back the money and spends time with Cindy free of charge. What caesar salad has to do with any this, I do not know.

And Now a Word from our Sponsor

Taking a break from the cooking to reflect on this undertaking thus far. I am told Oprah does something similar every Friday.
First, I want to thank all of you out there who read this. I have this scary statistical analysis of traffic to the blog and the numbers have been overwhelming. Really, your love for Denni and perhaps a new found or renewed love for the Brady's is touching.
Second, the cooking aspect has actually been liberating for me. I used to struggle to come up with new and interesting recipes for dinner every night, especially since Gourmet magazine ceased publication. But cooking with Alice takes all of the guesswork out of dinner. I now know what we are going to have every day for at least a week in advance. The only catch is, I am convinced that no one was intended to actually prepare these recipes and certainly not by a novice cook. They have minimal direction, for instance, Alice doesn't tell you to cool your muffins on a rack, which is important. And, judging by the results so far, I don't think that any of them have been run through a test kitchen.
Third, I do think about what it will be like when I am finished. Will time and unhealthy food have made things better? I also wonder how Julia, who is only ten, will look back on this experience as an adult. Will she tell people that there was a time when her crazy mother only cooked from a Brady Bunch cookbook? The writer/director Nora Ephron once said that the measure of a successful parent is one who raises a child who can afford their own therapy, so I can hope for that.
Finallly, a follower from Arizona recently asked if the "Episode Note" that follows each recipe is in the cookbook or if I write them myself.  I write them, that book explains nothing. If any of you folks at home have questions for me, leave a comment here, email or send them on Facebook and I will try to answer.
Stay tuned, we'll be right back...

Episode Note: "And Now a Word from our Sponsor" The Bradys are cast as a typical American family for a laundry detergent commercial. Worried about looking goofy, they take up method acting, much to the disappointment of the hippie director, played by the great Paul Winchell (voice of Tigger and famous ventriliquist), who wanted it to be 'all like natural, man'. After many frustrating takes, the commercial is cancelled. The Brady's end up with a truck load of detergent for their trouble.

Juliet is the Sun Julep

I have a lot to say on this topic. First, Alice's recipe is a non-alcoholic variation on a traditional Mint Julep as it calls for iced tea as the basis, instead of bourbon, mixed with a simple syrup steeped with mint. It is a TV fact that the Brady's never consumed alcohol and I find this suspect for parents in a house with six children. Carol had to have needed a 'mother's little helper' every once in a while, and I don't mean Cindy. Second, Denni is the only person I have ever been with in a bar who actually ordered a Mint Julep. Granted, in his defense, I do think it was Kentucky Derby weekend, but still. We are lucky we didn't get our asses kicked. Finally, upon reflection, Mark and I decided that I should make it Alice's way but we threw in a shot of bourbon to finish them off. Refreshing, with a kick. Might be my new summer helper, I mean cocktail.

Episode Note: "Juliet is the Sun" Marcia is cast as Juliet in her school's production of Romeo and Juliet, but feels she is not up to the role. Bradys being  Bradys go out of their way to convince her how great she is to the point where Marcia becomes an ego maniac. Her big head leads to her dismissal from the play. When the girl cast as Lady Capulet comes down with the mumps (an overused series plot line), Marcia pleads for a second chance and plays the role. Peter and Jan are cast as guards who's only line is "Hark, who goes there" yet they feel compelled to rehearse it over and over and over. I think I need another drink.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Muffins

Muffins, muffins, muffins. We love muffins. I make pumpkin muffins regularly throughout the fall and winter. These were interesting because the recipe called for honey - and no butter, an anomaly in Alice's cooking.  They tasted sweet, sweet, sweet - too much honey. Julia thinks they would be better with chocolate chips, but what wouldn't? Made a dozen (although the recipe said they would be large, and as you can see they are rather small), so I left some at home and am taking the rest with me to Grand Rapids for Judy, Judy, Judy.

Episode Note: "Her Sister's Shadow" A seminal Brady Bunch episode and one with which I can personally identify. Jan is tired of constantly being compared to her older sister at school and utters one of the most famous lines from the series "Marcia this, Marcia that....Marcia,Marcia Marcia...that's all I ever hear". One of many episodes where Jan has an identity crisis. In an effort to seperate herself from Marcia, Jan enters a school essay contest. She appears to have won, until right before accepting the award she realizes that the teacher has made an error in computing the scores. Conflicted over whether to accept the recognition or fess up, Jan (in true Brady fashion) decides to tell the truth, thus sealing her fate as the quintessential middle child.

UFO Potatoes

Basic fried potatoes that involved a surprisingly small amount of butter. Cubed the russets, sprinkled with salt and pepper and added to a skillet with the melted butter, turned once. Tasty and went well with burgers. We are still in the breakfast section of Alice's cooking, but as much as we love breakfast for dinner, couldn't do it two nights in a row, especially after yesterday's sketchy results. I have to keep Julia and Mark semi-happy as we proceed. Don't want anarchy from the tasters, we've got a long way to go.

Episode Note: "Out of this World" The Bradys embrace the space age with this 1974 episode. Peter and Bobby meet an astronaut and then that night are convinced they have seen a UFO in the backyard. Little do they know that it is just Greg playing a practical joke. They take photos and convince Mike to show them to the Air Force. A formal investigation is launched, forcing Greg to own up and lose his car privileges for the weekend. With my adult sensibilities, I see now how the show had waned and indeed, the Cousin Oliver character is introduced in the very next episode. In TV terms, as my dear friend Kristy reminded me the other day, the UFO is the shark and Oliver jumped it.

Sunshine Day Baked Eggs

It might be raining outside, but it is sunny inside! Night breakfast is popular at our house, so the suggestion to have this as a dinner entree took no one by surprise.  Eggs, heavy cream (of course), brie and ham all baked together in a 400 degree oven. What could be better on a summer night? The tricky part was putting the baking dish into a larger baking pan filled with water and getting both into the oven without spillage. Just happened to have a bottle of Prosecco on hand, so Mark and I imbibed in a few Mimosas as well. It was just okay. We all agree that there are better uses for ham and brie.

Episode Note: "Amateur Nite" - perhaps my favorite episode growing up and I know a personal fav of Denni's. The kids order an engraved silver platter for their parent's anniversary but make the mistake of letting Jan handle the details (she's no Marcia, you know). She mistakenly thinks that it is ten cents per word for the engraving when in actuality it is ten cent per letter. Not having the cash to pay the extra, the industrious Brady kids form a singing group, aptly named The Silver Platters, don groovy costumes, and go on an amateur TV talent show to raise the money. Once again, so ahead of their time.  Two of the best Brady songs, "Sunshine Day" and "Keep On" are featured.

Lost Sketches Asparagus

Asparagus, my favorite! Especially this time of year when Michigan asparagus is bountiful. Now, I usually just toss it in a little olive oil and kosher salt and throw them on the grill rack while the meat is cooking and they are perfect. Alice, as I should have guessed, likes to load the asparagus up with butter and cheese and bake them until bubbly. So, of course, I did it her way. I must say, Alice knows of what she speaks. Delicious, cheesy, buttery goodness (although Julia thinks "it's still tastes like asparagus"). The best part was dipping bread in the bottom of the baking dish to soak up the butter that remained. Yum! Would love to go for walk outside to work it off, but alas, it is raining.

Episode Note: "The Cincinnati Kids" part deux. If you tuned in yesterday, you know that the Bradys are at Kings Island for Mike's big architectural proposal. He has his sketches in one cylinder and Jan is using an identical container for the cartoon bear poster she purchased for the little girl she babysits back home. (Again, you can see where this is headed...) Mike mistakenly takes Jan's poster to his presentation (much to the chagrin of the unamused amusement park big wigs) and Jan leaves his on the log flume ride. Hilarity ensues when the Bradys have only one hour to scour the park, find the lost sketches, run a relay, and get Mike to his meeting on time. Whew!

Ice Cream isn't eating, it's licking

This morning, while having breakfast in a Cincinnati diner, I noticed the cover of the menu said 'Life isn't about the number of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away'.

Looking for answers, as I have found myself doing a lot latley, I pondered this. Did this mean that we shouldn't focus on the fact that Denni only had 47 years, but that he made the most of every minute? Are these type of sayings in the public domain for us to somehow rationalize the irrational? To make sense of the nonsensical? Maybe it was just atwisted joke from the restaurant owner, basically saying that eating here will put you in an early grave, but it sure will taste good going down. I don't know. I have only questions, no answers.

Episode Note: "The Cincinnati Kids" Mike's firm is bidding on an addtion to Kings Island Amusement Park and takes the family along to the presentation (more on this in tomorrow's post). Cindy and Bobby go off on their own, but not before Carol warns them no to eat too much before lunch. After having popcorn and cotton candy they want ice cream. Cindy reminds Bobby what their mother told them and he retorts "Mom said not to eat  too much, and ice cream isn't eating, it's licking." Perhaps my favorite rationalization of all time. Of course they are sick by lunchtime, who didn't see that coming?

Welcome Aboard

So, after feeling a little like Cousin Oliver was in the kitchen with me yesterday, no cooking today. We are off to Cincinnati for a few days. I promise to prepare a Kings Island episode inspired recipe upon our return.

Very thankful to have spent the weekend with Judy, Paige and Andrew.

Episode Note: "Welcome Aboard" In the middle of the fifth and what we now know was the last season of the show, Carol's nephew Oliver comes to stay with the Brady's while his parents are away. This, I believe, started the trend of sitcoms bringing in the "cute kid" late in the series when the regular kids have grown up too much to revive the show. Didn't work, Oliver was a jinx. He made a mess of everything at the Brady's and the show was cancelled. Bad Oliver.

Big Man on Campus Waffles

Waffles, not my favorite food. Mark likes them, but in the 20 years that we have been married today is the first time I have ever made them. Luckily, we have his mother's waffle iron. Not so lucky, it is so old that the cord is fabric and I am sure it is not UL listed. But, as an added bonus, Judy dropped by to eat.

Again, a straightforward flour, butter (too much), sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, milk and buttermilk recipe. And I know how to iron, so I thought cooking would be a breeze, after I got over the initial fear of an electrical fire. Little did I know. First try a disaster. Two finger burns later, I found my stride. Everyone has full tummies.

Episode note: "The subject was noses" - probably the most infamous of all Brady Bunch episodes. The "big man on campus" refers not to Denni or Greg but to Doug (pronounced Duugh) Simpson. Also the origin of the sayings "oh, my nose" and "something suddenly came up." If you've never seen this one, or haven't for a while, do yourself a favor and watch it on YouTube today.

Happy Father's Day Denni

Bobby's Pool Hustler Pancakes

What better way to start a weekend than with some tasty buttermilk pancakes. Buttermilk, yes. An ingredient I rarely buy, and happy to see that it was low fat because I am noticing a trend in the way Alice prepared her meals and we will need to go for lots of walks outside after eating most of them.

Fairly straightforward preparation. mix dry and wet separately and then combine, but leave lumpy. That part is easy. It is the cooking of pancakes that always goes awry here and today was no different. Lucky for me and this project, Mark will eat anything (except cauliflower). They were a tee bit salty, something else I will have to watch for in the future.

Episode note: The Brady's were given a pool table on the second to last episode of the series by Mike's boss Mr. Matthews, played by the great Jim Bakkus. Bobby played 24/7 until he mastered the game and then hustled Mr. Matthews out of a case of chewing gum - the Brady's never bet for money, only packs of gum or doing someone else's chores for a month. Carol and Mike were so concerned about Bobby's future (they didn't know that they only had one more episode before being cancelled) that they made Mr. Matthews take the table back.

Kitty Karryall Cocoa

We had a late night last night so I decided to jump start my day and my recipe quest by making Kitty Karryall Cocoa this morning. A simple recipe of cocoa, sugar (lots!), water and milk. It did not specify a type of cocoa and in my pantry I had both kinds - Hershey's and Dutch. I asked myself what Denni would do and I decided to go Dutch. It was a delicious and creamy morning pick-me-up. I just might have a cup of Kitty every morning instead of my regular cup of joe.

Episode note: Kitty Karryall was Cindy Brady's doll that played a pivotal role in an early Cindy v. Bobby episode when she went missing. Bobby was put on trial for the theft but ultimately acquitted when Kitty Karryall was found in Tiger's doghouse. Bad dog.

Will the real Jan Brady please stand up?

I don't know who I am anymore. Denni has changed me and I think he would be pleased. I am not a social networker, I like human interaction. But here I am blogging (and now with a following) and last night I joined Facebook - which they might want to rename Crackbook.
Can't wait for the cooking to start. But tonight we are going to see the B-52s and the Go-Gos, wishing he was with us.

Here's the story of a man named Denni...

Julia is less than excited. Somehow, even though she has seen every episode from the wedding to Greg's graduation, she thinks this food won't be kid friendly! I must admit, looking through the recipes, there are some challenges. Mostly mathematical, as they all (of course) feed a family of eight. I guess Alice ate cold cuts with Sam in the kitchen when they weren't going to the Meat Cutter's Ball. Since we are only three, I will need to cut everything in half, as the Brady's never had leftovers. My intention is to start in earnest on Saturday.

An idea from grief

In 1997(and I know because he wrote the date in his inscription) Denni gave me Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook. I laughed, put it away with my “serious” cookbooks and that was that. Until today, when in my grief over the loss of Denni I decided to take it out,and this not so novel idea was born: cook every recipe, in order, blog about it, and dedicate it to Denni.
For those of you who know me, you know that I am a cook. I cook, from scratch, seven nights a week. I make my own pasta and a meat sauce that one must mash with a potato masher for five hours. I am serious about food.
For those of you who knew Denni, you know that he had a great sense of humor and a love of pop culture. We shared a special bond over the Brady Bunch. When he became sick, my advice to him was to ask himself “What would Greg Brady do?” and follow that and everything would be okay. I don't know what Greg would do now, but I do know that Alice would put a casserole in the oven. And so will I.
If you are not familiar with every episode, this blog may not be for you. But it's not for you anyway. It's for Denni and me and maybe it will make Judy and Paige smile on a day that otherwise seemed glum. There are about 150 recipes and they run the gamut from cookies, to drinks, to of course pork chops and applesauce.
My tasters are my husband Mark and our daughter Julia. I will try to do one recipe a day, unless something suddenly comes up.