Search This Blog

Monday, November 8, 2010

Kitchen Tools I Couldn't Do Without

Since joining Fair Shares and eating locally grown/produced food, I have had to change some of my cooking habits. I have always loved to cook, but I also love convenience. For example, I usually bought bags of salad, pre-chopped garlic in jars, and have even been known to buy a pre-chopped onion for a recipe. Those days are gone. When we get our weekly share fromFair Shares there is a little more work prepping the food, but I find with the right tools it doesn't take much longer, and I know it is worth it. The funny thing is I already owned most of these kitchen tools, but hadn't used them in awhile. It's nice to get use out of those things taking up space in my cabinets.

Here are my most used go-tos:

I used to buy bags of pre-shredded cheese for pizza, tacos, potatoes, everything. Now I am getting blocks of cheese from Heatland Creamery and Ropp Jersey Cheese so I need an easy way to shred it.

I love using this gadget. I cut a hunk of cheese drop it into the well, squeeze the handle with my left hand and turn the grater wheel with my right. I can shred the cheese directly onto pizzas, salads, or into a measuring cup for a specific amount for a recipe. It is also easy to clean. It comes apart and goes in the dishwasher.


This is wonderful. You can drop in a clove of garlic, with the peel on, and it will crush the garlic through, leaving the peel in the press. We have been getting wonderful locally grown garlic from Roundabout Farms.

This press is also dishwasher safe.


This is a kitchen tool I
had to buy. I had a salad spinner years ago, but since the introduction of bagged salads I wasn't using it and got rid of it, which was probably good. It was cheaply made and was falling apart. I love my new OXO salad spinner. The bowl is a solid plastic and the spinning bowl can be stopped mid spin to allow the lettuce and greens to rearrange in the basket before re-spinning. It definitely gets out more of the water. I use it for all the various lettuces we get, as well as the greens and bok choi. I've found I can put a couple of handfuls of greens in the bowl, fill with water, agitate the water with my hands to get off the dirt, then pour the greens into the basket to spin. I then lay the cleaned greens out on a dishtowel and start the next handful. After everything is washed and thoroughly dry I put the greens in my green bags, which is my last and probably favorite Kitchen tool I couldn't do without.

I use these bags religiously and have had great luck. Lettuce, celery, greens, even cut cucumbers last longer. The trick is making sure the produce is dry before putting the items in the bag. I have not used them for tomatoes, because tomatoes need to be played on a counter without bags. I have used them for apples, pears, and various greens when keeping them in the refrigerator.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thai Sweet Potato Salad


The last Fair Shares newsletter suggested looking at a blog from Overlook Farms for some new apple recipes. I did a little searching on the blog and found some other recipes that caught my interest. The one for Sweet Potato salad (scroll down the page) was perfect for my family. My daughters won't touch sweet potatoes, but love Pad Thai so I thought I'd give it a try. (we will be trying the Pho Bo soup, too. Vietnamese Soup is big in this house.) My youngest daughter, who won't try anything new, was asking for seconds. She said it tasted like Pad Thai.

I made a few adjustments to the salad dressing. The biggest changes were that I cut back on the mayonnaise because I knew my husband would like a less creamy dressing. I also used olive oil rather than sesame oil because I didn't have any on hand. To make up for it I added some toasted sesame seeds.

This is how I made the dressing:
Sweet Potato Salad

Cut three sweet potatoes into bit size pieces and boil until tender.

Combine these ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour the dressing over the potatoes.
1/2 c soy sauce
1/3 c mayonnaise
1 1/2 T ginger
1 1/2 T olive oil
6 cloves minced garlic
3 T creamy peanut butter (I used Sappington market's honey roasted)
1 T Chinese chili sauce
3 T brown sugar

I wanted to toss in some chopped green onions and crushed unsalted, roasted peanuts, but I didn't have either one. I think they would have added, but it was great as it.


As I said yesterday I caught my family dipping their tunrips in the sauce. I also saw some being put on the trout we served with it.

I hope you give it a try. Sweet potatoes are a great food and this is a refreshing way to eat them.


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Italian Pak Choi



We recieved some greens in our share last week from Fair Shares, which I think they were pak choi. I did some searching to look for ways to cook it, keeping in mind I would be serving it with a garlic trout, found a couple of Italian bok choy recipes and used them as a guide.

Since joining Fair Shares I've found I enjoy some greens, but this has got to be my favorite so far. In the last minutes you throw in some fresh basil and thyme which gives it a super fresh feel.

I served it with a garlic trout, as well as the turnips and sweet potato salad I wrote about earlier this week. Here is a picture of the whole meal, including the last tomatoes from my garden and some bread.

Italian Pak Choi

One bunch pak choi -- remove leaves from stems and clean. Chop the stems into 1/4" pieces. Slice the leaves into 1/2' strips.

Sauté 2 cloves of garlic and half an onion in olive oil. When it the onions have started to caramelize add the chopped stems, sauté until soft. Add the leaves and sauté until just wilted. Throw in the about 10 fresh basil leaves and approximately 4 tablespoons of fresh thyme (removed from the stems). Remove from heat. Sprinkle on some ground black pepper and a little sea salt to taste.

This is one green I went back to have seconds on. (My daughter's didn't care for it, though.)


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Turnip Greens


Tonight we had roasted turnips and turnip greens. I got the "recipe" from the Fair Shares newsletter from last week. It was really easy to make and a fun way to eat turnips. I left the leaves and stems on the turnips, washed and dried them thoroughly. Spread them on a baking sheet. Drizzled on olive oil and sprinkled on sea salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

The newsletter suggested serving with a fruit relish but I opted to serve as it. I found my family was dipping the turnips in the sauce from a Thai sweet potato salad that I also made tonight. I'll post about it tomorrow.

I liked the toasted turnip greens. And the turnips were fine. My older daughter thought they tasted like carrots. I didn't think they had much flavor, which was fine with me.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Pickles!!!

I opened the first jar of my homemade pickles yesterday and was very pleased. I had been waiting since August 18th, when I canned them.

They ended up a tart version of bread and butter pickles. The slices had some crunch and the taste was crisp. I wish I'd had more cucumbers and made more. I know I'll be making these next year.

Scott said they'd be great with braunschweiger. I used them today in a chicken salad using left over chicken from Sunday. There is something warm and comforting about homemade pickles. Mmmmmm.

Why I Haven't Been Updating the Blog


I have to admit I haven't been posting too much because eating local has become habit. Even when I don't have time to cook I have enough food available to eat using local ingredients. Some of my staples have become locally made cheese, pasta and pesto, with whatever produce has arrived for the week. Here is a typical fast night dinner for us. The macaroni and cheese is made with a combination of cheeses from Ropp Farms and Heartland Dairy. The ravioli has pesto on it. The greens are collard greens from Yellow Dog.

The small peppers were a new surprise from Yellow Dog, called pimientos de padron. They are tiny bite size peppers. I put a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and got it hot. Threw in the small peppers and tossed them around until they started to blister. I took them off the heat and added some sea salt. They were really fun --- just bite off the pepper and throw the stem away. Most were mild, with an occasional hot one. Someone described it as playing russian roulette with peppers, you never know which one will get you. I have to agree and think that is part of the fun. I'd love to have more and make a meal of them with sliced sausages and cheeses.

Other foods we've had recently include breakfast sausage, eggs, yellow watermellon and a lot of squashes. I've been grilling the squash and putting a little honey on it. The combination of smoky and sweet plays off the squash really well.

We received a meal of black beans and rice from del Carmen. My older daughter has been eating it as a snack and loves it. I guess I need to get more.

Sitting on my counter ready to go is a pattypan squash, an acorn squash and fingerling potatoes. We also have some sunchokes and mushrooms waiting to be eaten.

I gave my mother the grapes and radishes since we never seem to eat them.

Overall we have been eating much healthier and with more variety being a member of Fair Shares and I am looking forward to what the next season will bring.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Tomatillos



I love tomatillo salsa. I love roasted salsas. I love grilling.

I was in grilling heaven last week when we got tomatillos (from St. Isidore family farm) in our share from Fair Shares, and there was a roasted tomatillo salsa recipe in the Fair Shares newsletter. It was really easy and it was a big hit with the whole family. Even my mother who is afraid of spicy foods loved it.

I roasted the tomatillos, garlic, an onion, and jalapenos in a foil pan on the weber grill. Put it all in the food processor and chopped to the consistency I like. (I had about 20 tomatillos, three jalapenos, one onion and 2 cloves of garlic) Very easy and very tatsty.

Everything in this mealwas local. The chicken was from Greenwood Farms. According to the Greenwood Farms website, "Greenwood Farms is the home of Naturally Raised Beef, Pork, Lamb, and Chicken, Free-Range Eggs, and "Jersey Girl" Grade A Raw Milk—all of which are raised without the use of antibiotics, steroids, or added hormones. We believe that working in harmony with nature is the best way to produce foods that are both healthy and delicious. so everything we sell is raised in a way that puts the health of our customers, the animals’ well-being, and the needs of the earth first." With that said, you should know the chicken was smaller than most roasters you see in the big chain grocery stores. It was probably the size of a small fryer, but the meat was so good it easily fed all five of us once we put it in the wrap with the tomatillo salsa, cheese and some tomatoes.

I roasted the chicken on the grill, along with some potatoes and carrots. When the chicken was done I started the tomatillos and corn, from Theis, which I had wrapped in foil with some butter and seasoning. We also had a lovely yellow watermelon from family owned Lee Farms in Truxton and tomatoes from Ivans Heiloom,

The next morning we had it on scrambled eggs with sausage, tomatoes and cheese in a breakfast wrap. (again all local)

You can really see the tomatillo salsa here because in the the base layer, but it is soooo good!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Membership in Fair Shares-- It works for Me!


Last week when went to pick up my share from Fair Shares I found we had pickling cucumbers in our share. I wanted to trade them for something else but was told trading on produce is on hold while the summer bounty is arriving. Kevin, one of the great staff members at Fair Share, suggested I try making refrigerator pickles. I thought, oh, yeah, are you crazy. But I took the picklers home and sat them on a shelf in my refrigerator.

For days I had those things staring at me each time I opened the refrigerator and I started to wonder if this whole Fair Shares thing is worth it, but every time I questioned it, I new the answer was YES!!!

In the early spring I joined Fair Shares, a combined CSA (community supported agriculture) to try to eat with more awareness of where our food comes from, and to try to make less of an impact on the world. On their website Fair Shares explains they, "work with local farmers and producers to collect, organize and distribute a well-rounded example of the freshest, seasonal, sustainably produced foods available in St. Louis all year long.
Members of Fair Shares know who produces all the food we feature, plus we give menu ideas, recipes, and storage and preparation tips in our newsletters and on the forum." I can tell you that is all true.

Once a week I go to the Fair Shares warehouse to pick up my share in that week's bounty. The nice thing is I don't have to search out the growers and producers, they have already done it. Throughout the week they are talking with growers and producers finding what is available and making orders to get us members a variety of foods from local sources. They place orders with Hearltand Creamery to get cheeses, Companion to get breads, Mangia Intaliano to get a variety of pastas, to name a few. In the summer they are also dealing with area farms to manage the produce coming in each week, ensuring the members get a well-rounded variety of food.

There are currently 315 members in Fair Shares and the small staff ensures we each get quality food each week, without taxing the small producers providing the food. The staff has organized and plan where we each get all the food, but on different weeks. Just think how difficult it would be for a family farm to prepare 315 chickens in one week! Instead the plan has some of us receiving beef, while others receive lamb, and others receive trout, etc.

Produce is at the mercy of the weather and what the farmers can get planted and harvested. In the Spring lettuce was plentiful and we received it each week. In mid-summer tomatoes and peaches are plentiful. The staff carefully figures out how many tomatoes and peaches we receive for our share, based on what the farmers bring to the warehouse. On one week we may get three tomatoes, an another it may be six. Like the farmers we are supporting we are at the mercy of heat and rain.

How does this benefit me? I like that I am supporting local growers and producers and making less of an impact on the environment. My food is not being trucked in from thousands of miles away. I don't have to make the trek on Saturday morning to the Tower Grove Farmers Market to see what the local producers have available for the week. And, more importantly, I am not given the choice of what food I will buy each week. That may not seem like a benefit, but if I had not pre-payed for my share, I would have never bought leeks or kale or turnips from the market. Since I have pre-payed for the food I take it and find ways to eat it. And I've found I like it!

Each time I research and cook a new food, I picture my grandmother finding new ways to eat her whatever was coming up in her garden that week. I have fond memories of eating rubarb pie and fresh pears at my grandmother's home. If that is what is in season, that is what she ate. I am also finding ways to save the abundant foods, like tomatoes and peaches for use later in the year, when fruits and vegetable will be in short supply. I've been freezing peaches, blueberries and tomato sauce and last night canned, yes, canned!, three pints of pickles. (using those challenging pickling cucumbers)

I highly recommend everyone find a way to eat locally and seasonally. Support local producers! And if you need ideas for what to do with those pickling cucumbers, or leeks let me know. We can figure this out together.


Sunday, August 1, 2010

Summer's Bounty

Eating locally produced and grown food is very easy this time of year. In fact, we are having trouble keeping up at times. My grocery shopping habits in the past would not have included plums, peaches, melon and blackberries in one visit. I probably would have chosen one fruit, and probably apples or oranges, since they have a longer shelf life.

This week I got all those fruits in my share from Fair Shares, as well as cucumber, tomato, okra, corn and mushrooms. We also got pork chops, tortillas and a dozen eggs. Meals have included pork chops with plum sauce, Indian style Okra, sliced tomatoes, ears of sweet corn and peach blueberry pie.

While at Fair Shares on my pick up day I opted to buy extra, while everything is in season so I could freeze some for later. But, by Friday night I figured out I didn't buy enough so we made the trek to the Tower Grove Farmers Market to buy more. Like my share from Fair shares, there was an abundance of fruits and vegetables everywhere. I bought some more blackberries and tomatoes to freeze for the summer.

I also enjoyed talking with some of the vendors that we get items from through Fair Shares. I stopped by the Hinkebein booth to pick up some bacon and had a chance to say how much I enjoyed the pork chops the night before. I told the person at the Mangia pasta booth how much I enjoyed their pasta after explaining how we get the pasta through Fair Shares. I also stopped by the Salume Beddu booth to buy another kind of bacon, but when we started talking I opted to buy some salsicca bolognese, as well. We are having it for dinner tonight. He recommended it with pasta, olive oil, garlic and swiss chard. (Luckily I noticed the swiss chard available at a booth in the last aisle so we are set to start cooking.)

Eating locally means eating with the seasons. And that means peaches and blueberries last week, and peaches, plums, melons and blackberries this week. This is the way our grandparents would eat and it makes sense. The fruit has a richer, more vibrant flavor. I already miss the strawberries of early summer, but am enjoying the later summer fruits. I am adjusting the way I think about cooking to what is available and finding the little bit of extra time is worth it because of the fuller flavors. My only fear is that I am not freezing enough to get me through the winter when fruits and veggies will be in shorter supply.



Update:

Here is a picture of the pasta we made with the sausage, pasta, swiss chard and cheese. I found a recipe on epicurious that was very similar to what the guy from Salume Beddu suggested. I added tomatoes and used Mangia spinach pasta because that is what we had on hand. I liked the swiss chard with the sausage. The sausage had a cinnamon and nutmeg flavor which seemed to be enhanced by the swiss chard. I used Methuselah cheese from Heartland Creamery. It was a really easy dish, taking less than a half hour from start to finish.

Monday, July 26, 2010

On the road

In the last six weeks we have done a lot of traveling, actually visiting 11 states in that time. I knew it would be nearly impossible to eat locally on the road, but we still tried and noticed a few things along the way.

One of my surprises was Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where my husband and I lived when we were first married 25 years ago. While it was a nice town, I didn't remember it as cutting edge. What I found on our visit was that Sioux Falls has grown up quite nicely. There were at least two restaurants I noted that were featuring locally grown and produced food. That may not seem like a big deal since Sioux Falls is in the heartland and has access to some of the best produce and meats available, but not everyone recognizes the importance of supporting local producers.

The other thing that stood out was the ease of recycling. Being on the road means we had a lot of cans and bottles from soda and water. We try to collect them in a bag to recycle when possible along the way. In Sioux Falls there were recycling trash cans throughout the city. That trend continued as we traveled west to Chamberlain, South Dakota, and on to the Black hills. I don't remember seeing that anywhere else in our travels this summer. For example we spent time in Tulsa, OK, a city five to six times larger, and the only evidence of recycling we saw was a recycling center at the edge of town.

In Indiana recycling was spotty, but the Hampton Inn was stayed in used biodegradable utensils and plates (made from potatoes) in the breakfast room. I was hoping to see that at the other Hilton Family properties we stayed at on our travels, but was sadly disappointed.

One of the reasons I try to eat locally is to lesson my footprint on the earth. Recycling is just a part of my daily life and is something hard to give up when on the road.

Turkish Lahmacun

Eating locally doesn't mean you have to limit your menu. Last night Scott made Lahmucan, a southern style pita topped with spicy lamb. He found the recipe in "Sultan's Kitchen." a cookbook featuring Turkish foods by Ozcan Ozan.

It was very easy, basically putting ground lamb, parsley, onion, tomato, and paprika on a crust and bake for 450 degrees for about 10 minutes. You don't have to brown the lamb before putting it on the crust. Everything cooks at about the same rate. We served it with tahini sauce.

Scott and I enjoyed the lahmucan, but I don't think it will be put into our regular rotation. I thought it had too much parsley and the paprika gave it to much of an after burn. The fun thing was using the locally produced lamb and locally grown tomatoes in a Turkish recipe.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Peach and Blueberry Pie

Last night we got back from our fourth trip out of town in the last six weeks. Eating locally has been nearly impossible and our food from Fair Shares has been given to friends, or even wasted at times since we haven't been home much.

I've been trying to make up for lost time in the last 36 hours, though. The highlight was a peach and blueberry pie I made this evening using peaches in last week's share (which my mother picked up for us while we were in Tulsa) and blueberries from the share the week before, which I had frozen for later use.

I had never had a blueberry and peach pie and wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was a perfect blend of flavors. The two fruits enhance each other to create the perfect summer treat.

It was a simple recipe taken from a wonderful pie cookbook my sister in law gave me, "Bubby's Homemade Pies," by Ron Silver and Jen Bervin.

The crust was made using local butter, King Arthur all purpose flour, salt and ice water. The filling was made with a few simple ingredients, too -- locally grown blueberries and Centennial Farms peaches, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest and locally produced butter.

Tomorrow I will post about a turkish meat dish my husband made tonight with the ground lamb we got in last week's share. We have also enjoyed some locally produced bacon, spare ribs and pesto pasta. It is so good to be home eating real food.




Sunday, June 27, 2010

Zucchini Five Ways


Zucchini season has sprung. We have received zucchini for the last three weeks from Fair Shares and I am working hard to find ways to eat it. The first week I made zucchini bread using a recipe my best friend, Vicki gave me over 20 years ago. I have to admit making this recipe brought back many fun memories. Vicki wrote the recipe on the back of the invitation to her wedding reception. I smile every time I turn over the card and am reminded of the dinner reception at Flaming Pit all those years ago. Vicki gave me many recipes she inherited from her mother, and I treasure them all.

Vicki's Spiced Zucchini Bread

1 c sugar
1/2 c butter
2 eggs
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t nutmeg
1 c finely grated unpeeled zucchini
1 t vanilla
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf pan.
Cream sugar and better, Beat in eggs.
Combine flour, salt, baking soda and nutmeg.
Stir 1/2 of the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini (batter may look curdled) Stir in remaining dry ingredients, then walnuts and vanilla.
Bake 50-60 mins. Turn out on to a rack to cool.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Second I made Zucchini Chocolate Chip cookies, using the recipe I picked up from Heifer International. I think next time I'm going to use more butter and less baking soda. They ended up a little too cake-like to me.

And today I made Zucchini three ways for lunch -- Fried, sauteed, and zucchini latkes.

Fried
I dipped slices in milk, then beaten eggs, then a mixture of flour and corn meal, the fried in olive oil.

Sauteed
I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, then added the zucchini, some balsamic vinegar and some fresh oregeno and basil that I have growing by my back door. (I think I sliced the zucchini too thin, but it had a nice flavor.)

Zucchini Latkes
from The Farm Market Cookbook, by Judith Oleary (I think, I can't read the photocopy I made of the recipe) I saved this recipe from a local newspaper from about 15 years ago. I don't know which paper, and I can't read the cookbook authors name.

3/4 pound tender zucchini
2 heaping t grated onion
1 large red bell pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded and divided
1 egg beaten
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c milk
2 t minced fresh basil
1/4 t hot pepper sauce
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
Olive oil for frying
1/3 cup sour cream

Grate zucchini through medium-fine blade (the recipe says to salt and let sit for an hour to get rid of some of the water, but I don't always do this)
Mix in onion and 2 T diced red pepper
In another bowl, stir together egg, cheese, milk, basil, 1/4 t salt, hot pepper sauce and pepper.
Mix together, add the flour and baking powder and stir well until mixed.

Fry by ladle full in olive oil over medium heat. Fry on both sides until browned.

To make sauce, puree the remaining diced pepper with sour cream. Serve with latkes.
(I also used this sauce with the fried slices)

Yield about 7 servings.

I've made this recipe for years and love it.

Please share how you are using zucchini this season. I'm always looking for new ways to use this bountiful vegetable.

Summer Cold Picnic


Last night I went to the Muny with my family and 10,ooo of my closest friends to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast. If you're not from St. Louis I probably need to explain. The Muny, is on outdoor theater that opened in 1917 and has been a St. Louis tradition ever since. Seating 11,000 people, is the nation's oldest and largest outdoor theaters.

Part of the tradition is arriving early and picnicking in the area. There are a few picnic tables just outside the theater, but many of us choose to picnic beside the fountains and ponds in Forest Park, taking the time to relax before the show starts. (It also helps with finding parking that is within an easy walking distance.)

The 2010 season opened this week with Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As usual for this time of year, the temps were hanging close to 100 degrees -- a typical Muny evening. We let each of our daughter's invite a friend to go with us, as well as my mother, which meant I needed to create a picnic dinner for seven people that could be enjoyed in extreme heat. One of the friends is also a vegetarian.

Black-Bean and Tomato Quinoa fit the bill. It has a light, refreshing lime dressing that really hits the spot on a hot evening, and it is a family favorite. If you're not familiar with quinoa, you should be. It is considered a super food -- providing protein, iron and calcium. The recipe I use calls for a pretty involved method of cooking, but I just rinse and cook like rice in our rice cooker. The only local foods I used in the recipe were butter, cilantro, and my homegrown cherry tomatoes. I can't get locally grown quinoa or limes.

Accompanying the quinoa I made deviled eggs, using eggs from the River Hills poultry alliance, and a fennel and kohlrabi salad, using locally grown fennel and kohlrabi.

Fennel and Kohlrabi salad
We received Biver Farms fennel last week, and kohlrabi this week, and I had never cooked with either one before. Everything I read about fennel talked about a licorice flavor, which didn't appeal to me, but, boy was I wrong. It does have a licorice flavor, but it has a freshness that makes it very different than licorice candy. It is a refreshing flavor that enhances food.

The kholrabi comes in a bulb shape. It is very hard, kind of like a hard potatoe. I sliced it very thin with my food processor and did eat a slice or two before making the salad. It too, had a refreshing taste. Together I knew it would make a great salad.

I used a recipe I found on line that said to make a dressing out of lemon juice and canola oil. It was much too tart for my family, so I added some sugar, salt and pepper. Everyone liked it. We finished it off at lunch today.

Overall I was pleased to create a cold picnic dinner I could take to the Muny that was primarily locally grown. I look forward to seeing what I come up each week as new items come into season.

Monday, June 21, 2010

My first harvest of the season!


Last night we returned from yet, another weekend out of town to find some tomatoes had started to ripen. Here is my first harvest of the season. These are small cherry tomatoes, and very welcome at our home.

It is a welcome sign of things to come.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Blueberries and Cauliflower

For Father's Day I wanted to make something special for Scott and use some of our Fair Shares produce. In particular I wanted to make Indian flavored cauliflower. He'd been wanting it for a couple of months, but cauliflower hasn't been in season until now. I also wanted to use some blueberries, but without making a desert or baked good. After a little internet searching I came up with hamburgers with blueberries. While it seemed like a strange combination, I also know fruit can be great complement to meat. It seemed worth a try.The recipe called for 1/3 cup of blueberries to be pureed with balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard and worchester, which was then mixed into the 12 oz of hamburger. You can see the blue flecks in the patties above.


The cauliflower was browned for five minutes then I tossed in cayenne, tumeric and fresh ginger. I left it covered on low for about 30 minutes for the cauliflower to cook until soft, then threw in handful of chopped cilantro (from fair shares a few weeks ago.) I think I could have cooked it longer, but the flavor was really nice. Next time I think I'll add some onion.



The burgers were surprisingly moist and had a really nice flavor. I put cheddar cheese on top of mine. Our girls missed the meal because they were at the pool with friends, but I think they would have liked it, too.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Trip to Heifer International -- part 1 Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Cookies


I just came back from a week at the Heifer Ranch, hear Perryville, Arkansas. I was accompanying a group of mid-high youth from our church on a mission trip, where they both provided great work, but also learned a lot about sustainable living. The Hiefer Ranch is ran by Heifer International, a humanitarian organization working to end world hunger and poverty.

I have so much to say about the trip I am going to do it in a number of posts. Most will have to do with what we learned, but a few will just be about the experience, which was a blend of educational opportunities and mission work.

In a class called "Caring for the Earth" the youth looked at recycling and various power sources. To help understand the strength of solar power, the class made zucchini-chocolate chip cookies. While I don't think we will be buying a solar oven any time soon, I did like the idea of finding another way to use zucchini.

We all know zucchini has a reputation for being prolific when it is in season. My cousin, who lives in on a farm in rural Missouri, says even people who normally don't lock their doors start to when zucchini hits, "they don't like coming home to find the vegetable piled on their kitchen counters, left by generous neighbors."

I love to make zucchini bread and zucchini latkes, but now I have another use. All the kids loved the cookies, and I think it was a great experience for them to see a solar oven in use. Maybe one of them will invent a way to make solar energy easier to use at home in the near future.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Berkshire Bacon and egg casserole

I bought some berkshire bacon with my share last week from Salume Beddu. (I hope that is right. I threw away the package last night.) According to the Fair Shares newsletter, "Berkshire is a certified Heritage breed pig, prized for its flavor and texture, rather than for the amount of meat per dollar it produces. " I have to admit the flavor was wonderful. The bacon is thick cut and seasoned to perfection. We had some last night with an egg casserole. We live within walking distance of a Companion cafe and my family loves the egg casseroles. But the price is a bit much for a regular breakfast. ($5.95 a serving) Luckily Companion shares their recipes online. I adapted it a little bit, using local eggs from River Hills Poultry Alliance and Pilgrims Acres, skim milk rather than cream and whole milk, Legacy cheese and Methusala cheese from Heartland Creamery, and I left out the potatoes.

It was a wonderful dinner for our household right now -- three of the four of us are battling viruses, stomach flu, flu and bronchitis. The light egg meal sat well on the stomachs and was a great comfort food that we all enjoy. It was also nice to eat locally again.




Eating local is hard on vacation




Eating locally sourced food was difficult over the weekend since we headed to Springfield, Il to see friends. While we didn't find resaurants that used local producers, we did find a way to support local vendors. Our first night was dinner at Cozy Dog Drive In. Local lore is that it is one of the oldest corn dog stands in America, having opened in 1946. None of us are corn dog fans be we did try one. For what it was, it was OK. We ended up with a bowl of chili, a bar b q beef sandwich, that tasted just like ones my husband's aunt makes, a chili dog and a cheese burger. We hadn't had decadent junk food meal in awhile, and it was fun. The diner was full of route 66 memorabilia. My daughter even had a route 66 root beer. According to the website it is made in Lebanon, MO.

I had fun telling my friends about our new eating habits and they asked me to send them some recipes. One in particular was for our homemade granola. (We ate breakfast at Panera on two mornings, having the granola strawberry parfait. You know you aren't home when there isn't St. Louis Bread Company.)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

If It's Wednesday, It Must be Pizza

It seems we've fallen into a routine of having frozen pizza on Wednesday nights. Wednesday is the one day I go into the office to work so I'm not home to plan any more involved cooking and it is just feels right to have an easy night once in awhile.

This week we were able to keep to the plan to eat locally by having a pizza from Dogtown Pizza. The Dogtown website points out . . . "we make a true St. Louis style restaurant quality pizza and freeze it." This can be good or bad news depending on what you think of St. Louis style pizza.

If you're from St. Louis you immediately understand, if not, please let me explain. St. Louis style pizza starts with a cracker thin crust. (You may see the pizza even curled up a little on one side as it baked because the crust is so thin.) The pizza is topped with classic St. Louis style cheese -- a mixture of mozzarella and provel. Provel is a mixture itself, of cheddar, swiss and provelone. It has a goooey, stringy texture and a buttery taste. Either you love it or you hate it. I seem to think most people hate it, but it does seem popular in St. Louis.

My girls ate the pizza without noticing the cheese, but my husband and I are probably more in tune to St. Louis style pizza and noticed the cheese right away. As he said, "it would be a pretty good pizza with a different cheese."

This particular pizza was a sausage and pepperoni. The meats are made fresh daily in the Hill section of St. Louis, an Italian-American enclave. I did notice the meat to be particularly tasty.


I'll probably pick up another pizza this week from Fair Shares, but may try adding some more mozzarella to hide the provel flavor and texture.


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Pesto Pasta!


Tuesday, May 24
Tonight's dinner featured the Mangia Italiano cresta pasta with a pesto sauce from Ozark Forest Mushrooms. Both come frozen from Fair Shares, but both retain a fresh flavor.

I sauteed 3/4 cup onion and 1 chopped garlic clove in 4 T olive oil, added 4 T pesto, a half red pepper chopped and a few left over grilled asparagus. After simmering a few minutes I threw in the already boiled pasta. The last step was tossing in about a half cup of shredded methusala cheese from Heartland Creamery. It is a hard cheese similar to a parmesan.

The pasta is very dense so I think I should have probably made more sauce. My husband is trying to eat low carb so he just took a small bite to taste. He didn't get much of the pesto flavor. I had leftovers for lunch today and found the flavor to be intense. The sauce seemed to sink to the bottom so the leftovers had more of the pesto.

The girls loved the dish and I think would have finished it off if I hadn't grabbed some for my lunch. The grilled flavor from the asparagus enhanced the sauce. You only got

Monday, May 24, 2010

Leftovers and Ribs


Tonight we had some leftovers and ribs. All of the items were either from a weekly share or purchased from Fair Shares. We're at the point in the week that I work on cleaning out the refrigerator to make room for the next week's food. The highlight of the meal was pork ribs from Hinkebein Farms in Cape Girardeau, MO. All of their meat is hormone free and antibiotic free, and as their website says:
The meat is very tender because the animals are not exposed to the stress of living in a feed-lot. Little shrinkage occurs in the cooked product because the animals have room to roam and run, thus building up more muscle.

I have been smoking ribs for years. I worked at Barney's Bar B Q throughout high school and college and believe a dry rub, slow cooked is the only way. My family thinks I make great ribs, but my husband thought these were some of the best ever. I used the Galena Street rib rub from Penzy's (I used to buy it on line, but they have opened a store on Manchester Road in Maplewood. It is worth the trip.) And slow cooked them with indirect heat on the Weber kettle yesterday afternoon. I wrapped them in foil and kept them in the refrigerator until tonight, when I reheated them in a 275 degree oven. The meat just fell off the bone, as usual, but the texture was better than usual.

I love dinners that use left overs, or as my uncle used to call them planned overs. While I was smoking the ribs yesterday afternoon I also grilled the last of the asparagus (tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and grated parmesan cheese) and refrigerated it. Tonight we ate it cold with the ribs, as well as the left over kale salad and cole slaw I made to go with burgers yesterday. The cabbage was from Yellow Dog farms, which means all of the dishes in tonight's leftover/planned over meal were from local producers.

Tonight I finished on the strawberries in a smoothie. That means the only produce I haven't finished off from last weeks share is a little lettuce. Tomorrow night we'll have it with the pasta from Mangia Italiano and a pesto sauce I purchases frozen from Fair Shares last week.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Week Five -- Trout

Tonight's meal was worthy of an award. The trout was light, fresh and tasty, the salad screamed summer, the bread was both sweet and savory and the strawberries were a perfect finish. Knowing my family would probably like to give me an award for a job well done I have prepared a little acceptance speech:
I am deeply honored to receive this award. I know there are other moms who are equally deserving, but none of us could do it without the help of our food producers. I want to thank all the people who made this award possible. The folks at Troutdale Trout Farm, of Gravois Mills, MO for raising the light fish, the growers at Yellow Wood who grew the spring mix of lettuce, our friends at Sunshine who grew the strawberries and not to be forgotten Companion bakery for creating the seasonal Sundried Tomato bread. . . .

OK, I know that was silly, but the truth is I am very thankful for all these producers. These are real people taking special care to grow food with care for the food and the environment. These are people who were out in the rain and mud picking strawberries and lettuce. And trout farmers who make sure the fish get properly fed and cared for. And bakers who get out of bed early every day to make sure the bread is make fresh each day.

my part of the meal

In case you're interested in how I prepared the items, here's a quick run down--
We had kale left from last week so I cut some up to use in a salad. I had some of the dressing left from last week but I used shredded parmesan instead. I liked it much better with the parmesan. I also sauteed some Kale in butter and garlic and squeezed some lemon on at the end.

For the lettuce, I made the salad dressing that I made a few weeks ago using strawberry jam, olive oil and dijon mustard. (I was out of triple crown jam and didn't know it.) I also had feta available for anyone who wanted some.

The trout was really easy. (Jamie and Kevin gave me some great ideas when I picked up the food.) I put the trout in a shallow baking pan, topped it with olive oil, parsley and lemon slices. I baked it at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. While it was baking I sauteed a garlic clove in butter and poured it on top when I plated the fish. Everyone in the family loved this. I'm sure we'll be getting more trout in the future.

My mother joined us for dinner and made an angel food cake to go with the strawberries. We had our perennial argument about adding sweetener to the berries. She always insists on adding something and my husband and I like to let then stand alone. We compromised by having two bowls of strawberries. I gave her some locally produced honey to sweeten her half. I have to admit both were tasty.

other items to look forward to

Other items in today's share that I didn't work into tonight's meal are a fresh pasta, asparagus and wheat berries. Scott really likes the wheat berry salad I made, but I want to try them as a sweet breakfast alternative to oatmeal. We'll have to see if I find time to try it soon or I'll forget we got them.

I also bought quite a few items not in the share like ribs, butter, cheeses, mushroom ravioli, pesto and eggs. When I got home I realized I missed picking up the hotdogs I've been getting each week, so I guess we have to eat something else when we need a quick meal. Maybe the pasta and pesto will do the trick.

If anyone has ideas for an easy cheese soufle I'd love to hear. I read about one in the Post this week and am thinking about giving it a try with the eggs and cheeses I picked up today.

















Sunday, May 16, 2010

Taco Night was a Disappointment

Friday night we had our Mexican Fiesta, as planned, but nothing stood out as really good. I browned the grass-fed ground beef and should have carefully seasoned it, but instead used a prepared southwest seasoning that I had on hand. It didn't have a taco flavoring. That was the first misstep.

I grated the Ropp Aged Cheddar cheese and tried some melted on the San Luis tortilla chips, but it was much too strong. A mild cheese would have worked better.

Of course some chopped fresh tomatoes would have been wonderful, but we aren't in tomato season yet, so I thought the Jasbo salsa would fill in nicely. Again, a wrong choice. None of us cared for the salsa. The jar lists all "normal" salsa ingredients, but something didn't taste right. Scott thought it had spinach in it because of the large leafy items in the salsa. It didn't look like any cilantro we are familiar with. We ended up throwing out the salsa since we knew we wouldn't be eating any more of it. I was hoping to like the salsa. I really like eating foods from local producers. But, I guess not everyone can have the same taste.

On another note, we tried the Jailhouse Brew sauce on hotdogs for lunch. It is a fun, funky mixture of mustard and jalpenos. My only complaint is it seems a little too sweet for some things. I also made some deviled eggs with it, which was also fun. I think this sauce will be a family staple.


Friday, May 14, 2010

Kale and Watercress



Yesterday I got my week-four share from Fair Shares. My challenge foods this week included
watercress and kale. We also got a lovely head of bib lettuce, a quart of bright red strawberries, and the makings of a wonderful mexican fiesta dinner, which will happen Friday night.

I decided to embrace the new foods and try the kale and watercress.

First, pictured on top here, is a kale salad. I used a recipe I found on epicurious.com from Gourmet magazine. It was very easy, but I couldn't find the ricotta salata cheese at my local market and tried substituting some gruyere I had on hand. My husband really liked the salad and had seconds. The girls and I didn't care for it. I would like to try it again with a different cheese. I have a feeling it was the gruyere I didn't like with the dressing.

Pictured below is a watercress and avacado salad. The recipe on epicurious called for six cups of watercress, but I ended up with less than 2 cups after getting rid of the thick stems in my share. I tried to cut back on the dressing and avacado, but it doesn't look anything like the epicurious website. No one cared for this salad, but I don't think I can blame the watercress, I think I ended up with too much dressing to get the fresh flavor of the watercress.

Tomorrow -- tacos! We'll be using American grass-fed ground beef, Ropp cheddar cheese, San Luis Tortillas and tortilla chips, Biver Farms lettuce, and Jasbo's Salsa. You'll have to wait to see how it comes out, but I'll give you a preview. I tasted the salsa and chips and can hardly wait.















Why am I Eating Locally? part I

I'm up to week four of my crusade to improve the world by eating locally grown and produced foods. The problem is, when I am asked to explain my motivations it's hard for me to really come up with any succinct way to justify changing my family's eating habits. It seems to me I just came to this decision over time as I heard multiple sources touting the benefits -- it just felt like the right thing to do.

For instance I read one source (quoting the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture) that stated the average fresh food on our dinner table travels over 1,500 miles. Here I am living in the heartland of America and I started noticing most of my food was being grown in Florida, California, and even Chili and Mexico. I even observed my daughter preferred buying bottled water which came from Fiji, yet we've never even been to Fiji because it would take too much of our limited vacation time to get there and back. I started to think about the impact on the environment moving this food products around the globe and realized I don't want to be a part of that. How many gallons of gas is burned to bring a head of lettuce to Missouri from California, when we can grow it here?

I also started becoming more interested in fair trade. My church, Manchester United Methodist, holds one of the largest fair trade markets in the country. Over the years I have increasingly becoming aware of the importance of fair trade and fair wages for workers. At this year's market I picked up a handy little reference book "The Better World Shopping Guide" that rated businesses on issues such as human rights, the environment, animal protection, social justice and community involvement. My daughters flipped through the easy to read book and started questioning some of our family purchases. I decided one way I can work to ensure a fairer wage for my food is through buying from local producers.

I have to believe buying locally makes a difference in my local economy, too. While I can buy cheaper tomatoes from the Wal-Mart super store, I know very little of that money is staying in my local town. Ignoring all the claims that Wal-Mart is unfair to employees, I have to wonder if a store can make a profit if it is paying a fair wage to the farm workers, yet also has to pay for shipping, storage, packaging, and marketing?

As I said earlier, these were just a few thoughts running in my head when I decided to start eating locally, but I've found other benefits along the way. First, I believe the quality of the food we have been eating is better. I am being introduced to new flavors for foods I've eaten for many years, like the fresh asparagus, and foods I've never tried before, like kale and watercress. Eating some of these vegetables within hours of being picked gives a whole new flavor and texture. I am also finding foods I've feared in the past are really quite good. With luck my children won't be near 50 years old before they find out collard greens are really good and a can be eaten in many ways.

I also know that by expanding the types of produce we are eating we are getting a more well-rounded diet. We regularly ate green beans, okra, and asparagus, but having expanded our eating horizon we have so many more foods in our diet -- adding different nutrients.

Last, I believe I am becoming a better member of my community, getting to know my local vendors, growers and producers. I've gone to local farmers markets for a couple of years, but this year I am working to get to know the people I am buying from. At this year's Fair Trade Market I took the time to get to know the person selling the meat. I enjoyed learning why they have chosen to raise their cattle grass-fed and why they are selling their meat locally, rather than selling off to a large corporation. This weekend, the CCSA I joined, Fair Shares, is sponsoring a picnic for those of us in the CCSA to get to know each other and meet some of the producers. I believe this community building experience will help reinforce my resolve to buy locally.

As I said at the start, I'm not really sure why I have started this journey, and I am sure over time some of my thoughts will become clearer. At that time I will write part II to this entry.



Monday, May 10, 2010

Mushroom Ravioli and other items

Tonight the girls and I had mushroom ravioli I picked up at Fair Shares a couple of weeks ago. It was really good. I served it with some slices of Companion baguette. We drizzled some olive oil on it. I also used some balsamic vinegar. I know I will be picking up more of the frozen ravioli because it was a nice local meal for a night I didn't have time to cook.

Last night we had my mother over for Mother's Day and served her a local meal. The main dish was grass-fed skirt steak. I used a southwestern rub and cooked it in the grill pan. For side dishes we had a spinach salad, adding some of the pea shoots and the end of the radishes, sauteed the end of the collard greens in garlic and lemon juice, and made a strawberry parfait using the local strawberries and honey. My mother still doesn't "get" what we are trying to do with eating locally, but she does agree that the food is fresh and high quality. I am hoping that as we learn more about the producers and share that with her she can see eating locally not only brings high quality food, but is also fair to the producers and makes a positive impact on the local community.

One for thing, this afternoon I spent some time studying the "swap list" and thinking about the extras I want to get this week. The one new thing I see is flour from the Missouri Grain Project, flour milled from locally grown organic wheat. I think this may be our next step in trying to eat locally.


Friday, May 7, 2010

Collard Greens have many faces

Yesterday I had the joy of trying my first Collard Greens. On first glance I was a little taken aback. The large, firm leafy greens kind of reminded me of tobacco leaves. (of course I've only seen tobacco leaves from afar, hanging to dry in Kentucky barns, but this is what I thought it would look and feel like close up.)

Lucky for me the people at Fair Shares know their food and take pride is sharing ways to use it. Yesterday Kevin walked me through my share, and when asked, gave me a few ways to use the collard greens.

First he explained the need to thoroughly clean the greens to get all the sand and dirt out. Then he said you need to cut the stems out of the greens because they are rather hard. (He recommended I save the stems for future vegetable stocks, but I just can't bring myself to think that far ahead. Mine went down the disposal.)

The first suggestion use was probably my favorite -- collard chips. (see photo above.) After cleaning and de-stemming, I cut the leaves into quarters, laid them on a cookie sheet, drizzled with olive oil and salt and placed them in a 450 degree oven for about 3 minutes. They came out light and airy, like a potato chip, and were rather fun to munch on. The 16 year old didn't care for them, but the 12 year old did -- and she is usually the harder one to please.

The second suggested use was to add the greens to a spaghetti sauce. I bought a quart of canned tomatoes at Fair Shares, sauted some garlic, added some seasoning (fennel, oregeno, tarragon, salt and pepper) and red wine simmered for about 15 minutes. I then added chopped collard greens, some of last weeks pea shoots, and some of this weeks mushrooms and simmered another 10-15 minutes. The end result was a nice fresh sauce to serve over some locally made pasta.


This weeks fair share meal included bread from Black Bear Bakery, collard green chips, locally made pasta, fresh mozzarella made from local goat milk and a pasta sauce made with all locally grown ingredients.
All the sauce got eaten, but I'm not sure the girls want it again soon. Katie took out the mushrooms and Molly just dipped her bread in it. We had locally grown strawberries for desert, but no one was really hungry enough to want a desert. The meal was very filling.

Tonight I move on to the lamb. I'm thinking lamb patties with a mint pesto sauce, made from the locally grown mint in the share this week.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Week Three Food -- Collard Greens ?!?!


Prairie Grass Farms Ground Lamb
Dry Dock Mint
Ozark Forest Fresh Mushrooms
Thies Spinach
Yellow Wood Lettuce Mix
Biver Farm Collard Greens
Sunshine Farms Strawberries
Trillium Farm Goat Mozzarella
River Hills Poultry Alliance Eggs
Martin Rice
Black Bear Bakery Whole Wheat Rolls