Raphael Stevens

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    Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

    Ingredients:
    1 pound broccoli florets
    3 Tbsp butter
    3 Tbsp flour
    2 cups whole or low-fat milk
    2 cups 8 ounces shredded cheese (I used an Italian cheese blend)
    2 large eggs whisked
    1 tsp salt
    lots of fresh cracked black pepper
    a good grating of fresh nutmeg about 1/8 ~ 1/4 tsp, to taste
    Instructions:
    Set oven to 325⁰F
    Lightly butter a casserole dish.
    Chop the broccoli, including the tender stems, into bite-sized pieces. Put in a glass bowl, add a tiny splash of water, and microwave for 2 minutes. Remove and drain really well.
    Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the flour, stir for about a minute. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking or stirring continuously, until it thickens and just comes to a simmer. Remove from heat.
    Let it cool for a minute, and then stir in the cheese, then the eggs, and seasonings. (When I add the beaten eggs I stir or whisk briskly so they don’t scramble). Fold in the broccoli and turn into the casserole.
    Bake for about 1 hour, or until browned and bubbly. You can run it under the broiler for the last minute or two to brown it if you like. More

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    Mushroom Risotto

    Mushroom risotto is a wonderful and sumptuous dish that can be made in less than an hour, provided that you already have the mushrooms prepped. The taste of the risotto is seriously enhanced by porcini or other European wild mushrooms such as trumpets or chanterelles. These can be purchased at a rational price wholesale in one-pound portions. Fresh wild mushrooms sautéed in butter are wonderful but probably too costly for most and seriously limited seasonally. Truly wild mushrooms add incredible flavor. Portobello, cremini, shiitake, or other cultivated mushrooms (Oriental or European), however exotic, are not “wild,” even though they may be so described on many menus. Cooking any risotto does require careful attention at the stove for about twenty to twenty-five minutes until the risotto is cooked.
    Ingredients
    This recipe is flexible – while it calls for 2 cups of rice, you can use 1 cup of rice and scale the other ingredients proportionally. The full recipe will make 8 generous appetizer servings.
    1–2 ounces dried porcini (also known as cèpes) or other dried wild European mushrooms
    unsalted butter and olive oil for sautéing, plus a couple tablespoons for service
    1 cup water, heated to reconstitute the dried mushrooms, then reserved
    2 large shallots or ½ large sweet onion, finely chopped
    3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
    2 cups short-grain rice (arborio or carnaroli)
    1 cup drinkable dry white wine (such as sauvignon blanc, but not chardonnay)
    2 teaspoons kosher salt
    pepper
    2 teaspoons dried thyme
    5–7 cups or so of hot water or low-sodium vegetable stock (not chicken)
    1–2 cups fresh mushrooms, sautéed until the liquid is evaporated and the mushrooms browned (these would include, for example, cremini, portobello, or white button mushrooms, but not any Asian variety such as shiitake)
    1 cup or more parmigiano-reggiano cheese, generously and freshly grated
    Prepare all of the ingredients, including the hot stock and the sautéed mushrooms. Do not use a domestic or other nontraditional cheese unless needed for kosher compliance. Soak the dried European wild mushroom (porcini, trumpets, and/or chanterelles) in the hot water until they are softened. Lift them out of the liquid carefully, leaving any sand and reserving the liquid. Let the reserved soaking liquid rest so that the dirt can settle to the bottom. Chop the reconstituted mushrooms roughly and reserve.
    In about 2 tablespoons total of butter and olive oil, sauté the onion and garlic lightly with the rice. Sauté the rice until it is sort of translucent and is fully coated with the oil and butter. Then deglaze with the cup of white wine before adding any other liquid, letting the wine evaporate and absorb. Add 1 teaspoon of salt for each cup of rice. Add the thyme. Add pepper to taste.
    Stir the rice frequently, simmering slowly, and do not abandon it at the stove. As the wine in the pot is absorbed, add another cup or so of liquid, starting with the mushroom-reconstituting liquid-but toss the dregs from the reconstituting liquid. Add the chopped, reconstituted mushrooms. Continue stirring and adding vegetable stock until the rice is fully cooked. You can tell when the rice is fully cooked by tasting it; it should be creamy and not crunchy. As you near the completion of the cooking process, add the previously sautéed fresh mushrooms. When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat, and add grated parmesan cheese to taste (at least 1 cup or more) and a couple tablespoons of butter. The rice mixture should not be completely stiff before you finish cooking but should be slightly soupy.
    An additional idea, perhaps less traditional but nonetheless delicious, is to mix in snow peas, sugar snap peas, or asparagus (peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces) a few minutes before turning off the heat. These vegetables should be served bright green and somewhat crisp. None should be cooked long.
    Serve promptly and hot with a salad.
    Editor’s Note: Recipe courtesy of Kenneth M. Horwitz, author of Deep Flavors: A Celebration of Recipes for Foodies in a Kosher Style. The book is available for purchase at www.deepflavorscookbook.com or on Amazon or Kindle. More

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    Chocolate-Orange-Almond-Coconut Biscotti

    These biscotti certainly are not your Italian grandmother’s cookies, but they are delectable and, once you collect the ingredients, simple to make, albeit with a number of steps. They are a favorite of anyone who has tasted them and may be the best cookie you will ever taste. The candied zest, toasted coconut, and toasted almonds can be prepared days, weeks, or months in advance and frozen or refrigerated.
    Ingredients:
    4 cups (18 ounces) all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    1 teaspoon kosher salt
    ¾–1 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
    8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
    1 cup light brown sugar, packed
    1 cup granulated sugar
    4 eggs (jumbo), plus egg white from 1 additional egg for egg wash
    ¼ cup orange simple syrup, plus a little for the egg wash (The orange simple syrup is a byproduct of making the candied orange zest. Refrigerated in a Ball jar, it keeps indefinitely.)
    2 teaspoons pure almond extract
    1 teaspoon pure coconut extract (omit if what is available is synthetic, which adds an odd flavor)
    1 teaspoon lemon oil
    1 teaspoon orange oil (available from King Arthur Flour)
    1 teaspoon pure orange extract
    1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
    1 cup candied orange zest (not packed), chopped finely with some of the sugar it is packed in (see recipe instructions—the zest is different from a candied peel since the white pith is not used)
    2 cups almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
    1½–2 cups shredded sweetened coconut, toasted
    12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips
    King Arthur Flour is an excellent online source for high-quality chocolate, including chips and cocoa. Different cocoas have different fat contents, and cocoa with higher fat content has better flavor. I always order chocolate while the weather is cold, so it does not melt in shipping.
    In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.
    In a separate bowl, cream butter with both sugars until fluffy. Then add and beat in eggs 1 at a time. Finally, add and beat in all of the extracts, flavored oils, and orange simple syrup. Always scrape down the sides between additions to ensure everything is mixed. Then mix in the chopped candied orange zest and the flour mixture. If the mixture is too sticky, add a little extra flour. Mix in nuts and chocolate at the end. The final mixture should be stiff and very slightly sticky. Cover and let rest in the refrigerator for at least ½ hour up to 2 hours. If you let it rest overnight, the dough will be very stiff and hard to work.
    Preheat the oven to 350°F. With parchment paper or Silpat, cover a half sheet pan with sides. (Because of the egg-white glaze, Silpat or a similar surface is preferable to make the baked logs easier to slide off onto a board for cutting.)
    Roll the rested dough into logs on a sugared (not floured) surface. The logs should be about 1½ to 2 inches wide and 1 inch tall by 13 to 15 inches long. Place the logs carefully on the pan. Leave at least 3 inches between the logs. They will expand in baking. The dough will make 3 to 3½ logs and will need 2 batches to cook. After you form the logs and place them on the baking sheet, brush the tops and sides liberally with a mixture of egg white and orange simple syrup. This gives the biscotti a slight sheen when baked and helps stabilize the biscotti for cutting after the first baking. Sprinkle more sugar on top after brushing on the glaze. You can purchase crystalline sugar that is attractive on the finished cookies for this use.
    Cook at 350°F for 35 minutes (or 45 minutes if you refrigerate overnight), rotating the pan halfway through. (I think you get a better result if you only use 1 pan in the oven at a time.) Remove from the oven, and cool until logs can be handled—about 15 to 30 minutes. As they cool, the logs become easier to cut without crumbling, so cooling is very important.
    Carefully move the cooled logs onto a cutting board, using a spatula to assist. Carefully cut at an angle with a serrated knife. Pieces should be thick enough (½ inch at least) so that individual pieces will stand up for the second baking. Place the sliced cookies standing up and slightly separated on the baking pan. Lower the oven temperature to 275°F (or 250°F convection) and bake again for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool. The cookies will crisp as they cool. Store in freezer for longer life (if they last that long).
    Making the Candied Orange Zest
    Make the candied orange zest by zesting 3 or more oranges (carefully using no bitter white pith) with a vegetable peeler. Cook the zest at a simmer in a couple cups of simple syrup (a mixture of equal parts of filtered water and cane sugar) until the liquid thickens slightly and the zest is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Notwithstanding every recipe I have read that suggests blanching the zest in plain water, discarding the liquid (sometimes repeatedly) before cooking in the simple syrup, I do not do this and regard it as a senseless waste of time, effort, and flavor. Lift out the cooked, softened zest with tongs, letting them drip. Remove the softened, still wet but not dripping zest to a generous bed of dry cane sugar, tossing until separated and well coated. Let the zest dry in this sugar for a couple of hours.
    Refrigerate (1) the zest and remaining coating sugar in a Mason jar and (2) the reduced orange simple syrup in a second Mason jar to be used for flavoring. (Mixed in equal parts with egg white, this flavored simple syrup makes an excellent glaze.) Reuse the stored orange simple syrup, adding equal parts as needed of water and sugar to make future batches of candied orange zest; as it is reused, the orange flavor becomes more intense. As with honey, if the stored syrup starts to crystallize, simply heat to refresh, adding water if needed.
    Editor’s Note: Recipe courtesy of Kenneth M. Horwitz, author of Deep Flavors: A Celebration of Recipes for Foodies in a Kosher Style. The book is available for purchase at www.deepflavorscookbook.com or on Amazon or Kindle. More

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    in Children

    Adolescent motherhood in crisis

    The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited concerns about the effects of crises on the development of children globally. Within this realm of concern is an area that continues to be overlooked: the particular vulnerability of adolescent mothers and mothers to be, and by proxy, their children. Countries with high rates of adolescent childbearing also tend to struggle with reaching education goals and reducing poverty. It’s not that adolescent motherhood is rare; in many parts of the world, marriage and childbearing under age 18 is very common. An estimated 12 million girls aged 15 to 19, and nearly 777,000 girls younger than 15, give birth each year – and most of their pregnancies are unintended. But the particular risks for this subdemographic often go overlooked because governments and the development community prefer to think about preventing adolescent pregnancies than supporting adolescent mothers. Our research addresses this gap, noting that, around the world, shocks like a global pandemic make adolescent mothers and their offspring exponentially more vulnerable.
    Adolescent mothers are already among some of the most vulnerable, even in the best of times and regardless of cultural perceptions (in some contexts, adolescent pregnancies are stigmatized; in others they are celebrated). Most teenage pregnancies occur in low- and middle-income countries and are often concentrated among the parts of society of the lowest incomes. Pregnancy at an early age often means mothers leave school and transition to domestic roles, resulting in lower levels of education, fewer economic resources, and less bargaining power in the home; these outcomes coincide with restricted access to sexual and reproductive health services. Adolescent childbearing is also associated with higher risks to maternal health. In fact, pregnancy and birth complications are the leading causes of death among 15- to 19-year-old girls worldwide.

    “Adolescent mothers are already among some of the most vulnerable, even in the best of times and regardless of cultural perceptions (in some contexts, adolescent pregnancies are stigmatized; in others they are celebrated).”

    However, not all of the risk is contextual. At least some of it lies “below the skin.” We argue in a forthcoming article that part of the risk adolescent mothers and their offspring face stems from neurobiological processes specific to adolescent development, for instance, heightened sensitivity to reward and stress. This becomes particularly salient when exploring how these processes interconnect with stressful life events. In short, adolescents’ heightened sensitivity to stressful events leads to higher levels of physiological stress, which has been demonstrated to affect adolescent development as well as pregnancy outcomes (e.g., preterm labor and low birthweight) and child development. Stress is transmitted to children prenatally through neuroendocrine pathways and postnatally through caregiving. In fact, recent studies link stress related to COVID-19 to pregnancy outcomes and early caregiving. Ultimately, we argue that the physiological stress response is a key factor in why adolescent moms and their offspring, on average, have worse developmental outcomes later in life, a fact that is supported by abundant evidence.
    Given the scale and urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are asking questions about the impact of the pandemic on early child development broadly, and adolescent motherhood more specifically. We already know that large shocks, such as financial crises, pandemics, natural disasters, and armed conflict, are accompanied by massive social and institutional disruptions and cause substantial stress in individuals, families, and communities; we also know that these often lead to widespread displacement and insecurities in housing and livelihood. Higher rates of adolescent pregnancies have been observed in contexts of displacement, often due to inadequate availability of sexual and reproductive health and family planning services for adolescent girls. By mid-2020, more than 15 million people were newly displaced internally due to conflict or disaster. Their situations are made even more precarious by the fact that, in response to the pandemic, in many places, non-essential services and programs closed their doors or refocused to respond to the pandemic. Moreover, stigma associated with COVID-19 has drastically reduced clinic visits for prenatal care.
    Pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers are even more at risk when sexual and reproductive health services become scarcer. In contexts of displacement, high rates of gender-based violence and poverty-driven transactional sex contribute to the increase in adolescent pregnancies. With lockdowns, there is the added risk of increased domestic violence and abuse in the home. For instance, both Kenya and Paraguay have reported increasing adolescent pregnancy rates during COVID-19 lockdowns. High rates of and increases in adolescent pregnancies during such stressful times should sound alarm bells.

    “High rates of and increases in adolescent pregnancies during such stressful times should sound alarm bells.”

    There is little evidence on how to best support adolescent mothers and mothers-to-be effectively, but some innovative interventions are pioneering the way. Countries such as Zimbabwe have started to change laws around school attendance for pregnant adolescent girls, allowing them to continue their education and ensuring that pregnant and mothering girls stay in school. A program in Ethiopia, “Meseret Hiwott,” used community women as mentors to facilitate group discussions for married adolescent mothers, focusing on increasing voluntary counselling and testing for HIV, as well as sexual and reproductive health awareness, family planning, motherhood, gender and power dynamics, and financial literacy. And a recent experimental evaluation of a home visiting program for low-income adolescent moms in São Paulo, Brazil, demonstrated positive effects on caregiving and maternal well-being. Such programs are promising, but more rigorous research is needed to better understand their impact and how to take them to scale successfully.
    Unfortunately, most efforts in this area have focused on preventing adolescent pregnancies. Many of these initiatives have largely failed to produce substantial change, and can contribute to stigmatization and drive underage marriage practices underground, increasing the risks to adolescent mothers and their offspring. They also fail to acknowledge that adolescent motherhood will not be going away in many parts of the world anytime soon. We need more investigation and inquiry into the most effective ways to support adolescent mothers and their children – particularly in contexts of acute stress. The effects of the current pandemic are likely to be felt for a while to come and new crises are inevitable. Understanding how crises affect adolescent girls and how to effectively support their development, education, and reproductive health, with or without children, will likely yield long-term returns, not just to them and their families, but to society at large and generations to come.
    Header photo: Fixers on Flickr. Creative Commons. More

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    Chaos at home and infants’ play: Your baby may be more adaptable than you think

    Chaos in the home is bad for child development. Homes are chaotic if they are disorganized, unpredictable, and unstable. This could mean they are noisy, are crowded, have many people coming and going, or lack routines. The adverse effects of chaos at home on early cognitive and social-emotional development are well documented. Long-term exposure to chaos interferes with the development of important skills like self-regulation and cognition. But how can we interpret this research in a global pandemic? For many people, home life has become more chaotic since March. Daily routines have been disrupted and replaced. Busy parents are juggling work from home. And many parents are wondering: Should we be worried for our kids?
    How do young children respond to chaos in the home? Before the pandemic, we visited parents with infants (1-2 years old) while they played at home. With parents’ permission, we video recorded all the rooms in their house, getting an unprecedented look into their natural home settings. From the videos, we coded physical features of the homes that might reflect chaos, including the number of toys on the floor, items on the counters, unwashed dishes, piles of laundry, and scattered papers. We also analyzed infants’ play behaviors (e.g., the length of play and the objects selected for play) because play is an important way babies learn about their worlds. And the quality of infants’ play predicts cognitive and language skills. Based on research on chaos, we predicted that infants in highly cluttered, physically chaotic homes might experience disrupted play.
    Our preliminary findings surprised us: We found no evidence that any of the physical manifestations of chaos at home mattered for babies’ play. In fact, infants didn’t discriminate — they played with whatever objects were available to them, whether the objects were in bins or on the floor, and regardless of whether they were designed for play. They banged on pots and pans like a drum set, made a tower out of Tupperware, and played hide and seek in a pile of laundry. In other words, infants happily played and explored their environments, regardless of the state of their home.
    Any scientist or statistician will tell you that the absence of evidence is not the same as evidence in support of the counterhypothesis. In other words, we can’t conclude for sure that chaos at home doesn’t matter for infants’ play. Also, our study represents only physical manifestations of chaos. Children certainly need routines and structures to thrive. But when it comes to the state of your house? You can probably relax. And if your budget is tight lately, you can rest, knowing your baby is likely just as happy playing with Tupperware as with expensive gadgets. In coming studies, we plan to ask a different question. Rather than asking how chaos at home affects infants’ play, we want to know how infants learn to adapt to chaotic environments and play using whatever materials are available to them.
    The bottom line for parents is this: You’re probably doing a better job than you think. Your baby doesn’t care how organized your home is during the pandemic. Prolonged exposure to chaos is still not good for your child, but infants may be more resilient to mess than we previously thought. And their ability to adapt and even thrive amidst the chaos may actually surprise you.
    Header photo: Nenad Stojkovic. Creative Commons. More

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    No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

    Ingredients:
    Crust:
    30 Graham Crackers
    5 tbsp melted Butter
    2 tbsp Sugar
    Filling:
    16 oz softened Cream Cheese
    1/2 cup Sugar
    1/2 cup Brown Sugar
    15 oz Pumpkin Puree
    1 tsp Vanilla
    1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (use store bought or my Homemade Pumpkin Spice Recipe)
    16 ounce Cool Whip
    Instructions:
    Crush graham crackers in food processor.
    Add melted butter and sugar and pulse to incorporate.
    Press mixture into bottom and partially up the sides of a springform pan.
    Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to firm.
    In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, brown sugar and sugar until creamy.
    Add in pumpkin, vanilla, and pumpkin spice. Beat until fully blended.
    Fold pumpkin mixture into whipped cream.
    Spread evenly into crust.
    Refrigerate at least 2-3 hours before serving.
    Garnish with additional whipped topping if desired. More

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    The evolved nest approach fosters children’s well-being

    New parents today often are given conflicting information about how to raise their children. This was not always the case. Millions of years ago, our species established childraising practices that shaped children to be cooperative and intelligent. These practices were passed from one generation to another through children’s observation and practice before they became parents. With civilization, industrialization, and other historical trends, these practices have diminished and sometimes have been replaced by practices that have outcomes opposite to the original ones.

    “Millions of years ago, our species established childraising practices that shaped children to be cooperative and intelligent. It is time to remember them.”

    We call these practices the evolved nest. What are those long-established practices?
    1. Soothing perinatal experiences where mothers are highly supported during pregnancy and follow natural biological rhythms during childbirth, and where neither mother nor child are traumatized during childbirth or separated afterward
    2. Several years of on-request breastfeeding and frequent suckling that shape not only the jaw and skull, but also the brain and body, with the thousands of ingredients in breast milk, including ingredients that protect babies from infectious agents
    Babies who aren’t breastfed have less brain myelination at three months (myelination is associated with intelligence) and biological consequences related to obesity, asthma, and allergies.
    3. Nearly constant affectionate touch in the first years and no negative touch to shape multiple systems like the stress response, the vagus nerve (which interrelates with all major body organs), and the oxytocin hormone system
    4. Responsive, companionable care from mother and others that reassures the baby, keeping him or her optimally aroused during rapid neuronal growth, and keeping the child feeling supported and connected throughout life
    5. A social climate that welcomes children at every stage, keeping them in the middle of community activities
    6. Self-directed free play with playmates of different ages that builds executive functions (e.g., redirecting actions and plans, empathy, and control of aggression) and leadership skills
    7. Immersion in nature and ecological attachment so children feel like members of the earth community with responsibilities to non-human members
    We know that each evolved nest practice shapes the neurobiological structures of children’s brains and bodies to work optimally, affecting everything about the child, including personality, sociality, and morality. In my lab, we study these components and their relation to well-being, self-control, sociality, and morality.
    Babies are so immature at birth, looking like fetuses of other animals, that to grow well they need nearly constant touch. In a recent article, parents who endorsed providing greater affectionate touch and less corporal punishment, than parents with the opposite pattern, reported that their preschool-aged children had less psychopathology and greater sociomoral capacities, like empathy and cooperation. In another study, of mothers from at-risk situations, children who received more positive touch and less negative touch over the first years of life had better self-regulation and cooperation than children who received less positive touch and more negative touch.
    In a recent study, colleagues and I asked parents in the China, Switzerland, and the United States to report on their preschool children’s evolved nest experience, specifically, experiences of affection, corporal punishment, indoor and outdoor self-directed free play, and family togetherness inside and outside the home. In every country, children whose parents practiced more evolved nesting in the prior week were more likely to be thriving socially and mentally.
    In a survey study of 383 mothers of three-year-olds in China, we collected information on children’s behavior and attitude as they related to components of the evolved nest. Mothers also completed standardized measures of their children’s behavior regulation, empathy, and conscience. We found significant effects for most caregiving practices and attitudes on children’s outcomes after controlling for maternal income and education, and most effects remained significant after controlling for responsive, companionable care.
    In another study (Narvaez, Wang & Cheng, 2016), adults reported on their childhood experiences, as well as their mental and social health. Childhood experience more consistent with the evolved nest predicted ethical orientations of social engagement via a pathway through secure attachment, mental health, and perspective taking. In addition, experiences that lacked components of the evolved nest through low levels of secure attachment and less optimal mental health predicted social opposition through low perspective taking and social withdrawal through personal distress.
    The evolved nest provides concrete ways for parents to be responsive to the needs of their children to foster optimal neurobiology, as well as psychological and social development.
    Header photo: Proggie. Creative Commons.  More

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    Caramel Apple Crumble Tart

    Ingredients:
    1 pie crust (ready-made)
    3 Granny Smith apples, chopped
    Caramel topping
    Crumb:
    1/4 cup cold butter
    1/2 cup light brown sugar
    1/2 cup flour
    Instructions:
    Preheat oven to 400°
    Line tart pans with crust, pinching along the rim to form the crust. Pile the sliced apples in the crust evenly. Drizzle with caramel.
    In another bowl, using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the cold butter, brown sugar and flour together until it forms a coarse sand consistency. Then using your hands form the mixture into larger crumbs. Sprinkle that on top of apples. Drizzle with caramel again.
    Bake for 30 minutes until top is lightly browned and the crust is golden.
    Allow to cool before enjoying.
    To watch the video, click here. More