Opening Day

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

The boys look forward to a few special days each year. The big ones like Christmas and their birthdays are obvious, but one of their favorites is opening day of apple season.

We make the trek east each Labor Day weekend on the Pomona Freeway toward San Bernardino, then exit into the foothills where Los Angeles peels away to orchards that support communities in existence to grow, harvest and sell apples.

Snow-Line, Riley’s and Willowbrook apple farms host scores of visitors with hot fry cakes, fresh pressed cider, and “mile high” apple pies. Our favorite is Snow-Line because it’s a simple assemblage of red barns, orchards for picking and a hillbilly musician who takes his break between songs with a cold can of Coke in his dilapidated old red Cadillac parked in the shade.

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Entrepreneurial Spirit

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

Last week, I wrote about the premiere of Lifetime’s all-new competition series, Supermarket Superstar and my role coaching the contestants as R&D Mentor. This week, I’d like to tell you a little bit more about the process.

Shooting a TV show is an exhausting and exhilarating process. Even when the pilot’s been “picked up,” there’s doubt about whether the network will like the series and if viewers will watch. So it’s hard to believe that the Supermarket Superstar premiere aired and episode two is in a few days … I think the season will be over before I know it!

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Supermarket Superstar Premiere

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

I’m taking a brief respite from writing about the Hunter family table, Ben and Nick’s silly antics in the kitchen, and Marilyn’s well-crafted recipes, to tell you about something very exciting – Supermarket Superstar.

Supermarket Superstar is Lifetime’s all-new competition series that will give everyday Americans the chance to prove they have the next great product consumers will love. Premiering on Monday, July 22, at 10 ET/PT and hosted by Stacy Keibler, Supermarket Superstar gives undiscovered food entrepreneurs their chance to shine among the big brands in the highly competitive food industry.

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Red Onion Rings

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

Families cannot live on spinach alone, so on special occasions when the boys are really good, onion rings are in order. Deep-frying in the house is kind of a messy proposition, so I thought I was a genius when I set up the electric fryer on the patio table ... you might want to try the same.

I used to slice yellow or white onions for my onion rings until I met Patsy, my beloved mother-in-law. Patsy likes three things in abundance: ice, iced tea and red onions. Sometimes at lunch, I wonder why she bothers with the lettuce, but it’s just a foil for her thinly sliced red onions.

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An American Favorite

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

For better or worse, we all grew up with a tradition of meatloaf at the family table. Most of us endured a combination of beef and pork mixed with dried herbs, fresh onions if we were lucky, and a thick blanket of ketchup across the top, which was the loaf’s saving grace.

Marilyn and I figured that we would continue the tradition with Ben and Nick so that they might pass it down to their kids in 20 years. The boys like leftover meatloaf better than hot out of the oven. I’m not sure why, except they get to take meatloaf sandwiches in their lunchboxes.

The version below is a starter recipe, meaning if you haven’t made meatloaf before, try this version. It won’t be as good as your mom’s because no meatloaf ever is, but it’ll be your meatloaf, which will make it better. The variations below are for when you feel like an adventure in the kitchen and on your palate.

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