Fending for herself leads to life full of home-cooked meals
When Mary Steindler was just a freshman or sophomore in high school in Elmwood Park, her mother issued two, nonnegotiable dining options to the family: eat the Weight Watchers recipes she was preparing nightly for her new diet, or fend for yourself.
Mary opted to "fend."
Raised on her mother's home cooking, Mary didn't like fast or frozen foods, and she wasn't thrilled with mom's new diet-conscious, low-fat chicken and fish dinners with plain vegetables.
"I was the pickiest eater in the house," she says.
While her father and older sister were less demanding, this hungry teenager preferred her mom's pasta with marinara and meatballs, meatloaf, pork chops and burgers. She asked her mother to write down recipes, and meal by meal she learned how to cook. The early reviews were positive.
"My dad would have eaten whatever mom made, but if he had the choice he would take the spaghetti and meatballs that I made," she says.
Those first meals weren't elaborate, but they were filling.
"If I made pasta with sauce I served a salad, with a steak I made potatoes," she says.
By the time she married her husband, Arthur, Mary was a whiz at preparing the family recipes. She raised her two daughters on home-cooked meals - "My kids never went to Taco Bell until they left for college" - and she started experimenting.
Inspired by Bon Appétit and television cooking shows Mary ventured beyond the tried-and-true meals of her childhood. Now her recipes incorporate trendy ingredients like roasted beets, fresh herbs, from-scratch chutney and Asian seasonings.
A part-time nurse at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, she often contributes to employee potluck lunches with a pasta salad, soup, sloppy Joes or pulled pork sandwiches.
"Mary can pull together the most delicious meals from whatever she has on hand, and make it seem easy," raves co-worker Donna Prandini.
One of her easiest recipes is No-Cook Pasta Sauce with brie, tomatoes and basil. Just chop the ingredients in your food processor - be sure to drain excess liquid - and serve over pasta. It works on bread for an appetizer, too.
Salad for Two is a bit more work, you'll have to roast a beet, steam asparagus and marinate shrimp - fairly basic steps for turning out a company-worthy dish.
Mango chutney and three, soy sauce-based sauces are upscale, but low-fat accompaniments for grilled tuna steaks this summer.
Wait a minute. Seafood? Low-fat sauces? Sounds like Mary's more like Mom than she might admit.
No cook pasta sauce
6 ounces brie cheese with rind
3-4 large tomatoes, cored and seeded
¾ ounce fresh basil, leaves only
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 pound angel hair pasta, cooked
Place cheese, tomatoes and basil in food processor, pulse until chunky. Drain all liquid.
To the processor, add olive oil and garlic and pulse until mixed. Serve over hot pasta.
Serves four to six.
Cook's note: The sauce also could be served on French bread slices for an appetizer.
@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving: 420 calories, 12 g fat (5 g saturated), 60 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 16 g protein, 30 mg cholesterol, 180 mg sodium.
Salad for two
1 beet
10 large, raw shrimp, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons blackened redfish seasoning (such as Paul Prudhomme's)
Juice of 1 lemon, divided
8 spears asparagus
bunch red leaf lettuce
bunch romaine
8 cherry tomatoes
red onion, sliced
1 medium orange, peeled, seeded, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Trim beet at both ends, wrap in foil and roast 45-60 minutes until tender. Slide foil off, pulling skin off with it, or peel. Slice beet.
In the meantime, combine olive oil, seasoning and juice of half a lemon in a resealable plastic bag. Add shrimp and marinate 1 hour.
Remove shrimp from marinade and sauté until opaque, about 3 to 4 minutes. Set aside.
Cook asparagus in boiling water until tender-crisp.
On two plates divide the lettuce, beets, asparagus, tomatoes, red onion and orange.
In a small bowl, combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil and juice from remaining lemon half. Top with warm shrimp. Serves two.
@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving: 300 calories, 15 g fat (2 g saturated), 33 g carbohydrates, 7 g fiber, 11 g protein, 65 mg cholesterol, 780 mg sodium.
Grilled Tuna Steaks with Mango Chutney and Three Sauces
2 tuna steaks
2 teaspoons blackened redfish seasoning (Paul Prudhomme's)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lime, cut in half
Chutney
1 rib celery, diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 avocado, peeled and diced
small red onion, diced
jalapeño pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, diced (1/2 cup)
1 medium tomato, cored, seeded and diced
1 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
teaspoon olive oil
Three sauces
6 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
teaspoon wasabi
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 tablespoon packaged, hot chile pepper spice blend, such as Gourmet Garden brand
Marinate tuna 30-60 minutes in redfish seasoning, oil and juice of lime.
In the meantime, for chutney, combine celery, mango, avocado, red onion, jalapeño, zucchini, tomato and cilantro. Add olive oil and juice from remaining half lime. Toss well.
For three sauces, mix 2 tablespoons soy sauce with the wasabi; mix 2 tablespoons soy sauce with ginger; mix remaining soy sauce with chile pepper.
Prepare a hot grill. Cook tuna 2 to 3 minutes per side for rare. Serve with chutney on the side and a line of each sauce, side-by-side, over the top.
Leftover chutney or sauces can be used later with any fish, chicken or steak.
Serves two.
@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving: 410 calories, 25 g fat (3.5 g saturated), 43 g carbohydrates, 12 g fiber, 11 g protein, 10 mg cholesterol, 358 mg sodium.