Veggie Basics: What to Put In There

It is oh so easy, when talking about how to improve our diets, to get stuck in the language of deprivation.  Don’t Eat This, Don’t Eat That, Cut That, Avoid This, This Will Make You Sick, This Will Make You Bloated, Stop Eating What You’re Eating, Don’t Eat What You’re Thinking, You Shouldn’t, You Mustn’t, Don’t, Don’t Don’t EAT!!!!  I realize I may be the only one who occasionally still veers adolescent n my behavior and reactions but there’s only so much mustn’t I can take.

It is critically important when attempting to improve your eating habits to put more than a little of that mental energy into thinking about what you SHOULD eat rather than what you SHOULDN’T eat.  Focusing on the should and the can and the new and different and the experiments and the flavors is a framework of abundance and permission and excitement.  You are not a child; don’t spend all day scolding yourself.  Spend some time telling yourself what you can or even should do and then play with that suggestion.

So here we are, we’ve talked a lot about what you probably shouldn’t eat, and we’ve made lots of suggestions about what to eat, but I’m going to get real specific and direct just for a few hundred words here, and I’m going to annoy my father, because I’m going to tell you to eat kale.  Why?

Caring for Seedlings When You’re On the Road

Hey Friends.  I know many folks have got some little seedling babies going and, if any of you are like me, you may have just realized that you have travel plans and that your tender little greenie babies will surely croak if you leave them unattended while you drive to Grandma’s or Disney World or whatever.  Let me assure that you’re right about that one.  They will croak without attention for a week… unless that is you follow some version of my super clever sister’s advice.  Bigg Sis has had to leave seedlings many times (since most of the rest of the clan still lives up here in the Mid-Atlantic), and she has devised a fabulous method for getting those seedlings what they need while you get yourself what you need.  Read all about it here.

Plant Your Own!

It would seem that a great number of you are HUNGRY for home grown veggies.  And I can’t blame you one bit.  There is little more satisfying in my food world than picking my meal in my backyard and preparing it (at least the portion I don’t eat en route) in my kitchen.  While I have many times in the last several years had some success in growing my own veggies, until the last few years my success with starting from seed was sporadic, at best.  Last spring’s write-up of seed starting tips was my earnest and enthusiastic response to the best homegrown seedling  year I’d had to date.

Now I’m back for more, and I’ve made a few more changes that should help with my seedling success rate (she says with fingers double crossed).  I thought I’d share those changes with you so that you can start your own and skip the early years of leggy croaky seedlings that I experienced.

Seed Starting - Tips and Tricks

Reblogged from my sister's pantry:

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Or Learn From My Mistakes...

One of the glories of spring - watching those little green bits poke out of the soil, transforming from a hard little pebble into something that may well be able to feed you.  Miraculous.  Especially when it works.  In the past I have not had good luck with starting from seed and it took lots of reading for me to realize that I am not alone. 

Read more… 1,104 more words

Have you started your seeds? I've decided to ignore most of the available wisdom this year and have started 3 weeks earlier in an effort to beat the early heat we had last year. I imagine this will turn out to be some kind of mistake, but I have to play the odds somehow, and if I can lean in the direction of a longer growing season, I'm in! I thought I'd reblog my tips on starting seeds from last year in case you're considering diving in and would like to have some success right off the bat rather than wandering in the intuitive wilderness as I did. ;-) Spring is coming - get your fingers in some dirt and get yourself some veggies!

Veggie Basics: A String, A Green, We’re Full of Beans!

When I was young, my weary mother occasionally prepared green beans.  They were canned green beans and they were cooked in the style of the day, which is to say that they were boiled until limp.  Now, if you are a canned limp green bean fan, please don’t take offense. I cannot make some “truth” claim about what is a good green bean, but I can tell you what green beans are good TO me, and as you may have guessed canned limp green beans are not in this club.  The only other green bean exposure I had with any regularity was at my dear grandmother’s house.  Her addition to the container of limp green beans was a big piece of fatback.  While I understand that might entice some folks, it didn’t create a veggie siren song for me.  All this is to say that I am a late bloomer where the green bean is concerned.

Years later, I was convinced to try green beans with a promise of something truly different from what I’d experienced before, something that tasted like, well, something other than salt water.  Al dente… tender crisp… a vegetable that is still cooked, but that resists the bite, offers a little crunch, demonstrates a need for teeth.  And so began my love affair with green beans.  I’ve since tried all the varieties I can find (I must confess that the yellow ones still don’t work for me), and have prepared them a variety of ways – and that’s they part you’re probably actually interested in.

SOTW: Slow Cooker Tomato Soup

What could be better on a chilly day than a hot bowl of tomato soup?  I have an answer to that – on a chilly day, the only thing better than a hot bowl of tomato soup is a hot bowl of tomato soup that is waiting for you, nearly complete, when you walk in the door with two pool-soaked “freezing cold” six year old swimmers.

I should confess that as a child I was never a tomato soup eater – the ever present Campbell’s soup can didn’t do a thing for me, but Mr. Little Sis was a huge fan.  I was always happy to simply eat the grilled cheese that usually accompanied a great bowl of tomato soup.  As my love affair with the tomato became a permanent state, however, I’ve given this simple dish another chance.  In the past I found that creamy versions usually were my preference, but in more recent days, I’ve avoided creamy soup.  What to do?

I was confident someone on the vast internet had conquered the creamy tomato soup with no cream conundrum, and lo and behold, I was correct.  I stumbled onto a recipe that uses beans to thicken, fortify, and give soup some body.  Being the me that I am, I took the recipe to heart and promptly began changing it to meet my increasingly particular standards.  The result was a creamy and flavorful soup that was warming to the toes, each bite full of tomato goodness.  Smoked paprika evokes roasted goodness and smoky warmth.  So flavorful, and so perfectly simple.

Cauliflower Steaks?! Why I’ll Be….

As you can imagine, I get a lot of food coming across my laptop screen.  So many wonderful food bloggers out there and so little time.  The other day, a particular photo caught my eye.  Admittedly part of the reason it caught my eye is that cauliflower is an entry on Ms. Picky Pants list of acceptable foods.  There are, to date, approximately 30 items on said list, give or take a few for “I usually like it, but not today….”  So when a photo of a giant slice of cauliflower browned on both sides danced across my screen, I filed the title away for a night when Ms. Picky Pants needed to be mollified.  I do insist that she try new foods, but I do like to throw her a bone now and then. So “cauliflower steaks” got filed away for my daughter’s sake.

A few days ago at the market, cauliflower was on sale, and boy were they big and good looking.  I scooped one up and now, after several days of solid rejections of my culinary offerings, I decided to throw the kid a bone.  Cauliflower steaks it is.  Of course I wasn’t wise enough to pin, bookmark, or otherwise save the actual post that I was looking at, but a quick search took me to an authority on most things food, and so I took a look through Martha Stewart’s recipe, mimicked the technique, borrowed the flavor profile and, as usual, made it with the ingredients I had on hand instead of going out and buying the ingredients called for (if you’re new you may find this surprising).  I decided to make some barley on the side as I thought the kids would like it and it’s crazy filling, so if things went really awry there would be a little cauliflower, some barley, and some salad.  And leftover barley is not just a good thing… it’s a GREAT thing.  We’ll get to that later.

CAULIFLOWER STEAKS with CAPERED TOMATO SAUCE served 4 with leftovers

• 3 Tbs olive oil, divided
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced, divided
• large head cauliflower
• 4 Tbs capers
• 1 c diced tomatoes (or leftover tomato sauce)
• 1 large red pepper
• splash red wine vinegar
• fresh chopped parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 400.  Wash the cauliflower and remove and remaining leaves.  Cut the end of the stem, but be sure to leave the core intact.  Cut cauliflower into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slices – slice all the way across the cauliflower.  Don’t panic if some florets come off – simply set them aside with the small end pieces.  Warm 1 Tbsp olive oil in each of 2 pans.  Add 1 clove minced garlic into each pan.  When oil is warm, add cauliflower.  Sprinkle with a little salt.

Allow “steaks” to brown (don’t fuss with them too much).  When brown (at least, but not likely longer then 4-5 minutes), flip and brown the other side.  When both sides are brown, move to baking dish and transfer to oven and roast until tender (12-16 minutes). While the cauliflower roasts, add remaining Tbs olive oil to one pan.  While it warms, chop up the reserved florets/end pieces into small pieces.  Roughly chop red pepper.  Add the third minced clove of garlic into oil and add cauliflower.  Allow to cook for a couple of minutes. Add red pepper.  Add cauliflower. Add capers and tomatoes and simmer gently until vegetables are tender.  Add red wine vinegar when done.  Serve cauliflower steak with tomato sauce and fresh parsley.  Grin when neither child will eat the sauce.  Grin more when they both love it anyway – more sauce for you.  Delish.

Wondering about the barley?  I’ll let you know sometime after tomorrow morning…

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Super Squash Sweetens Fall’s Chill

I am not a summer squash fan.  I don’t like to malign any vegetable, but they just don’t work for me. Truthfully when I sneak zucchini into a dish, I benefit just as much as my kids do. But WINTER squash? Whole different ball of wax, well, so to speak as I obviously don’t enjoy eating balls of wax, at least not since those wax lips in the 70s…. moving right along. Winter squash is glorious. It’s sweet and flavorful, mild enough to influence, and versatile enough to produce approximately 8 million pumpkin recipes on the blogosphere. This is not a pumpkin post. Look at all these amazing winter squashes. Such variety!

Today I want to introduce you to the Sweet Dumpling Squash.  Isn’t it adorable?  I’m not going to lie, I bought it because it’s cute.  I’ve noticed lately that my picky one’s defenses tend to be lower when the item that I’m currently pushing is smaller, and cuter, than average.  It makes sense if you think about it.  She’s small – what does she need a big honkin’ squash for?  I suspected she would enjoy squash more than most veggies because of the sweetness, so the mission was to get her to give it a go.

I decided to “stuff” the squash.  You can do this with just about any squash, but the smaller rounder winter squashes (carnival, acorn, etc.) lend themselves particularly well to being stuffed.  I cut mine cross wise with a big ol’ knife and pulled the stem off so it would “sit” once cut.  I then used a metal scoop we just happen to have to get the seeds out (set them aside to roast, and then be sure to tell those that help you clean up that you’re setting them aside to roast…. ).  At any rate, I scooped out the seeds and the stringy bits, brushed the whole thing with olive oil and then turned to making a “stuffing.”

While my picky eater is wild about bread, I hoped to entice her without using it as I was also baking some bread to go with dinner.  I decided to turn to the pantry for help in creating a “stuffing” that would enhance the sweetness of the squash and would give us a fair shot at a taste test by my little varmint.  The amounts listed below are for these cute little squash, if you choose a larger variety, you will need to make more.  And so, I give you…

Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash (Clever, right?)

• 2 sweet dumpling squash (or other small round winter squash)
• large handful dried apricots
• handful of pepitas (or nut of your choosing)
• much smaller handful of dried cranberries
• 1.5 t olive oil
• sprinkle salt and dried sage
• Drizzle honey (optional)
• little slip of butter (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.  Oil a baking pan.  Cut and prepare squash as described above.  Chop dried fruit.  Mix fruit, nuts, olive oil and spices in bowl.  Spoon into squash halves.  Bake (stuffed side up please) for  approximately 30-35 minutes.  Test your squash for doneness – it should be VERY easy to stick a fork in and pull some flesh away from the skin of the squash.  Cooking times will vary according to the size of your squash.  I did not add butter or honey to my own squash.  Two of our tribe enjoyed their with a little melted butter.  The honey drizzle I’m saving for next time.  Delish!  And yes, she tried it.  She even ate a little more than was required.  AND she said it was awfully cute.

Got a different squash?  Try Big Sis’s roasted butternut squash soup and her gluten free pump-king pancakes. Got a great way to enjoy squash? Please share! We’d love to hear how you get squashed!

Cold Kickin’ Soup

The kindergarten virus-mobile is in full swing.  I’d forgotten what fun the first two months of the school year can be.  We all had a turn in the first go round, a bit of a cold with astonishing lethargy and dopey-headedness.  The second round is actually just an extension of the first and involves chest congestion, and for my poor little man, a sort of seal-like sound that his body produces when he gets a cough.  While we are all nearly well, I thought little man could use a leg up, and I thought perhaps a little immune system attention couldn’t hurt.  I remembered a soup…  a soup I experimented with, um, last fall when this kind of poo was going on.  There are an awful lot of claims out there about superfoods and magical ingredients.  I honestly have no idea if any individual food is a superfood or not, but I do know that some foods are super and when combined seem to, at the very least, provide relief for sniffling and hacking.  Last time I played with this soup, I’m pretty sure I kicked a cold’s drippy behind in a couple of days.  Was it coincidence?  Perhaps, but either way, this soup is full of healthful ingredients that will help your body do its thing…  And so, even with jalapeños in the list of ingredients, I decided we would all give it a go.  And so I give you:

Cold Kickin’ Soup - adapted from Ming Tsai’s Immunity Soup

• 1 T oil
• 1-2 jalapeños, minced with seeds
• 1 tbsp minced  fresh ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 bunch scallions, green and white parts sliced
• 2/3  lb shiitakes, stems removed and tops 1/4-in sliced
• 2 1/2 quarts vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp soy sauce or Bragg’s
• about half a bunch of kale (I used a small mixing bowl full from the garden), torn from the big part of the stem, and ripped into manageable pieces
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• Freshly cracked black pepper

Prep Notes: When chopping the jalapeño, I STRONGLY recommend wearing gloves, or putting plastic bags on your hands.  This advice is particularly important for those of you who wear contact lenses.  Yes, this is the voice of experience.  OW.  To chop fresh ginger, I use the edge of a knife blade to slide the skin off, or I cut if off if that doesn’t work.  For the mushrooms, yes you really DO want to de-stem because the stems are quite rubbery.  Most people who don’t like shiitake mushrooms, don’t like the stems.  If you’ve got a microplane, use that bad boy to zest your lemons.  There.  Moving right along.

Warm oil in a soup sized pot.  Just higher than medium should do it.  Add the jalapeño, ginger, and garlic.  Saute for about 2 minutes.  Add mushrooms and scallions.  Saute for a few more minutes, being sure to give the mushrooms enough time to soften.  Add your stock and soy sauce, bring to a gentle boil and cook for 5-10 minutes to allow the soup to reduce a bit and for flavors to mingle.  Add kale, cook for about 2 minutes.  Add lemon juice, zest, and carrots.  Cook for two minutes longer.  Add black pepper to taste.  Done.  Serve in favorite bowl with giant spoon.

Really?  That’s it?  That’s all to the story?  Of course not.  I didn’t tell you about the rest of the table….  because of course there was a rest of the table.  I am generally a pretty tough customer about having my children try new foods.  We have a rule, borrowed from Big Sis, two real bites of whatever is new.  As I was making this soup, and remembering sweating while I ate it last year (last year’s pepper was far more potent), I realized that little miss was going to have an issue.  And that while I might be able to convince her to try it, she would not be eating it.  I was right (it is nice to right once in a while where she is concerned), and so it was lovely to have on the table a big bowl of brown rice that we sprinkled with rice vinegar with a splash of maple syrup to give it that sushi rice taste (inspired by Big Sis’ sushi salad), and some broccoli I grilled with olive oil and soy sauce, thanks to my good friend at Emmy Cooks.  A bowl full of farmer’s market green beans (raw, yum), and the last of the chickpea nofu (I’m working on the recipe, I promise), and we had a pretty happy crowd, a pretty happy crowd with less chest congestion to boot.  Delish.

Using Those Summer Veggies

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a windowsill like this. The last few gardening seasons I was beset by squirrels, bugs, overwatering, drought, and disease to the tune of losing the whole crop. For a Maryland gardener, the tomato crop makes the year. My lack of success with the red jewels made me swear on more than one occasion that I would not be gardening anymore – too much trouble, too disappointing over and over. This year has been better – I’ve still lost a lot of tomatoes to the whims of nature (my tomatoes are lined up ripening on my neighbor’s branch where the squirrels live), but have learned a bit more about proper watering and pest and disease control. So I finally have a crop. The windowsill has been full for the better part of the last month, and while I’d like to say I’ve been industrious enough to can some, I haven’t. We’re still not overrun by tomatoes, and so I’ve been enjoying them like the nightshade glutton that I am.

So we’ve had caprese salad, with dairy and without. We’ve greatly enjoyed this super combo of nectarines, tomatoes, and fresh basil from our pal at Emmy Cooks. We’ve made fresh tomato pasta sauce. We’ve had tomato sandwiches (with herbed naioli instead of mayo.   We’ve had them in a vegetable soup with fresh kale (which I can’t believe I haven’t posted before…I will.) We’ve done just about everything we can without baking or stewing them (I just don’t like it, there I said it). But our abundance and overplanning for a weekend lunch with friends again presented me with the situation where there was both produce that is at its peak and really demands to be eaten while it’s spectacular, and produce that really should be used before it goes to waste. And so, I give you…

Grilled Corn and Fresh Tomato  Summer Crudo

• Kernels cut from 3 ears of grilled corn*
• 2 large or three medium tomatoes, chopped coarsely
• 1 can (drained, rinsed) or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas
• 3 handfuls fresh spinach chopped coarsely
• 1 small handful fresh basil chopped
• a couple of handfuls of leftover peas (or whatever you have lurking in your fridge)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 t salt
• 1 T olive oil
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1-2 cloves garlic, made small however you like

No great complication here.  Just put it all in a bowl and stir gently to combine without destroying the tomatoes.  And then, when you realize it’s back to school night and you’ve failed to plan properly, you can put it on whole wheat penne with a dollop of sunflower cheese spread or parm…. Delish, as you can see from the picture I took when I remembered I wanted to take one AFTER I started eating, classy, eh?

The best part about  summer crudo?  You can use pretty much any vegetables you have to hand AND you can eat it with just about anything, on anything, under anything.  Totally flexible and yummy as demonstrated by my lunch the following day: summer crudo and mini-neatloaves. Delish on day 2 as well.

* A Note on Grilling Corn: When I asked around for opinions on the best way to grill corn, I was astonished at the number of responses I received. The variations on method were endless as well, some quite complex – husking the corn, soaking the husks, returning the cobs to the soaked husks and cooking them inside the husk. When presented with such a variety of opinions, I followed my usual inclinations and followed my own simple intuition. We shucked the corn, brushed it with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Lay on a preheated grill and watched like a hawk. Cooking time is minimal and turning is recommended. Brown grill marks are yummy, blackening not so much. Feel free to make it more complicated, but we loved it just like this.