November/December 2013

Wowwweeeeeee, somehow I convince myself every year that the holidays don't necessarily HAVE to be crazy--if I plan a little better and don't try to do too much--but each and every year they are (probably because I don't plan better, and try to do too much! ;)  That's ok, because every year is wonderful, in its own chaotic and quirky way.  I hope you all had a great month and are looking ahead to an amazing new year......I'm so, so excited for this one (and getting better at that "planning" I mentioned earlier!)

I'm glad to announce that this sweet little rascal has been cone--and disaster--free for 3 weeks now!  Bless that little face :)






RECIPES:

Simple Soup~

We were spoiled with amazing meals and leftovers for several of the last 5 weeks, but cooking always finds its way in.  We made simple soup from two turkey carcasses, and now have leftover ducks to tend to as well.  We couldn't let any of it go to waste.  All you need is a big enough pot and some patience, both for time and for the bones.  There are many.  There are also plenty of recipes offering vegetables and seasonings to add to your broth.  Last year I added nothing but noodles and garlic.  This year my sweetie took the reigns with a little more ambition, adding potatoes, other veggies and seasoning.  Either way, a huge pot of soup stored in meal size containers, either in the fridge or freezer, is a gift that keeps on giving!

Eggy Toast~

Where has savory french toast been all my life??  It probably wouldn’t be as good with all kinds of bread, but super hearty seedy wheat breads are amazing.  It’s the perfect I-don’t-quite-have-a-meal-yet finishing touch, and often ends up being the favorite thing on the plate.  

I use straight eggs, mixed in a bowl with a flat enough bottom to let them soak into the bread a little.  I like using butter in the pan because, well, butter is delicious, but so is coconut oil or olive oil.  We like it Drizzled with Mama’s Miracle Dressing, garnished with fresh basil (which Texas provides until it freezes!) or green onions.  Melted cheese is always a good idea as well.

Approximate price: $2

Grilled Kohlrabi~

There are very few vegetables that I just don’t know what to do with.  Usually there’s an intuitive sense about it and I don’t look many ingredients up, but this one finally became a must.  I’ve seen it, I know it; it even made it into a song I wrote about my dear chef friend Mary who tended to keep more things in her refrigerator than she could use in their prime, but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle before I figured out how to make it tasty on my own.

Turns out when you bake it in slices in the oven with some oil it’s pretty darn amazing.  It took a while to get tender, maybe 30 minutes, while collecting a flavorful layer on the outside.  I sprinkled them with salt and parmesan and put them back in for a few more minutes.  Really good. 

Approximate price: $3

CURRENT FAVORITE INGREDIENT: PARMESAN CHEESE

Speaking of parmesan......I had completely forgotten about it, and am regretting every day of my life that I did.  I think because it’s most often around when pizza is involved, and pizza has enough cheese on it already that it never seems necessary.  But how about other things that are NOT already caked with cheesy goodness?  Like baked kohlrabi, or pasta, or quinoa, or squash?  The answer to the question, “Should I put some parmesan on that?” has never once in our house been “No.”  I’m all about the little things that pack a big punch.

I know a lot of people would like to cook more meals at home, but don't feel that they have the time, energy, or knowledge to make it an easy and enjoyable experience.  I've put together a list of 12 ingredients that make up the majority of at least 90% of meals I make!  And none of them are more than a few dollars.  Awesome? Awesome :)

12 Things to Always Assure You Have a Meal~

black beans: I keep organic cans on hand, though cooking your own is great too

rice/quinoa: one of the main 4 bases I use, great for stir fries or side dishes

pasta: another main base to mix with veggies and/or sauces

some sort of pasta sauce: red sauce and alfredo are the basics, both also good for pizza

soup broth/canned soup: soup + eggy toast or plain warm bread + salad = yummy meal! 

canned tomatoes: great for adding to anything! Pizzas, pastas, grain or egg dishes

fresh veggies of some sort: Every meal needs some veggies. Build around what you have.

potatoes/yams: another good base, to be mashed, fried, baked, or hashbrowned

pizza crusts: I have yet to make my own, but a few bucks gets you homemade pizza!

cheese: Most things are better cheesy, primarily pizza.

good bread: I mostly put this on the list for eggy toast, and as soup's partner in crime

eggs: Frittatas, toast, mixed with rice/quinoa, and a staple for a simple breakfast 

That's it!  The most expensive things on there are probably cheese and eggs, and quinoa runs about $4 per lb for organic, but when a cup of it can be the base for a meal for two that's a pretty good deal! :)  I encourage you this year to redefine what makes a nourishing and fulfilling meal.....I bet you'll find that it's often less than you think.  Amazing things can come from simple endeavors, and fresh veggies always ensure distinct flavors.  I remain swooning over the dinner my sweetie just made for me, consisting of garlic roasted squash and broccoli, and a salad.  Trust me, I'm full.  

nutmeg squash with pomegranate date quinoa, veggie stir fry and fruit salad

well, it’s tour time again!  usually that means that i don’t do much cooking and rely on archived recipes to cover the time, but my good friend and tour mate daisy o’connor has some awesome friends in san francisco that we got to stay with for the first leg of our trip.  and it JUST so happens that they enjoy having traveling house guests cook dinner for them.....oh boy oh boy!  shit in a pot goes on the road!  :)

i was a little intimidated in a new city and a new kitchen (and daisy made sure my reputation preceded me!) but she and i were a team and so i took a deep breath and plunged in!  (why is it anyway that we shy away from our talents for fear that we might mess up this one time even though we’ve proven time and time again that we’re good at what we do??  life lessons everywhere ;)

our compiled pool of ingredients came to:

plain quinoa and red quinoa

an assortment of veggies (mostly green)

2 spaghetti squashes

an assortment of fruit (persimmons among them!)

my first inclination was towards “stuffing” the squash with the quinoa and veggies, but we didn’t start it soon enough to cook it in halves, so we cut it up into smaller chunks to cook it faster, and put them faced down (skin up) on a coconut-oiled* glass baking pan.

we mixed the quinoas together and cooked them in a rice cooker.  (i do it at home in a pan/pot: 2 cups water per 1 cup quinoa.)  we added a few spoonfuls of coconut oil (one of the luxuries of the evening!), a handful of fresh pomegranate seeds, a handful of dried date pieces and a healthy sprinkling of sea salt.

the broccoli, zucchini, kale, green beans, etc got chopped and went into a frying pan (with some coconut oil....) and were super no-fuss.  all we added was a bit of salt and balsamic vinegar.

with squash i’m learning that the rule for how long to cook it is either A) at least an hour, or two.... or B) ‘til your hosts are really hungry.  it was in at 450 for about 45 minutes when B happened.  we scraped it out of the skins into a bowl adding, yes, two or so spoonfuls of coconut oil, a sprinkling of salt, a drizzling of honey and the surprise grand winner: nutmeg.  we only used a small amount, maybe a teaspoon, with a shrug and a “why not?”  that’s the best :)

daisy made a simple fruit salad with apples and persimmons and pomegranate and we presented our gracious hosts with quite the spread!  a little discombobulated with a few confused moments but everyone enjoyed a wonderful meal :)  we put everything out on the table on its own for people to serve themselves, and i was told the next day that during a phone call one of our buddies was still talking about our squash!  (i definitely call that a success ;)

nutmeg spaghetti squash with pomegranate date quinoa and veggie stir fry

approximate price: pooled resources are harder to calculate, but this was probably around $15 worth of food for 5 people, only using what we already had!  :) 

*coconut oil is pricey, but supposedly is very good for you!  it’s the GOOD kind of fat, and very stable so it has a high heat tolerance and is slow to oxidize (i.e. become rancid).  it has a subtle flavor which can be very tasty in place of other oils (or butter....as this IS shit in a pot! ;)

butternut squash and spicy quinoa tostadas

i wasn’t sure where dinner was going when i began, so i baked the butternut squash the same way i did for stuffing them (halved lengthwise, rubbed with olive oil, facedown on a baking sheet).

there was nothing too special about the quinoa (1:2 grain/water), tho we have more spicy peppers than we could possibly know what to do with, so i got a little bold and added five small minced jalapenos (no seeds!), along with the standard butter, garlic and salt (what oh what would life be like without them??).

i also added a medium sauteed yellow onion (also the standard in my kitchen! ;)

i still wasn’t sure what i was doing by the time the squash came out of the oven, but realized we’d payed $6 for buttermilk tortillas at the store earlier--mistake or not, they sure as heck weren’t gonna last very long so i figured i better get them in there somehow!  :)

i put four on a baking sheet (we have a round one we use for pizzas) and shredded cheese on top, putting them in the still hot oven ‘til the cheese got melty.  i then added layers of quinoa and squash spooned out of the skin, another layer of cheese, and a sprinkling of green onions.  i put them back in the oven long just enough to melt the cheese (we were hungry!). 

we’re waiting on our own fresh corn to get big enough to feast on, but in the meantime we got organic ears from the store.  i’ve always heard people swear on either boiling or steaming for ten minutes.  works for me.

butternut squash and spicy quinoa tostadas

approximate price: $7

salsa-cooked quinoa with tofu and garlic spinach sauce

needed to use: a bowl of too-watery-to-actually-dip-chips-into homemade tomatillo salsa

well....it was slim pickin’s this night (as you can perhaps guess from the text above!).  our farm delivery was coming in the morning so i hadn’t bulked our produce back up.  no matter, i am not swayed.  i had the idea to cook some sort of grain in the salsa, so i went with quinoa (as opposed to a wild rice mix).  quinoa is a 1:2 ratio of grain to water, so i measured 2 cups of the salsa and still had a bit left, so i downsized the container and put it back in the fridge.  (downsizing is just fun, no matter what it’s pertaining to ;)

i wasn’t sure if the quinoa would cook properly in a liquid thicker than water, but i was prepared to add some extra H2O if necessary.  i brought it to a boil and then brought it down to low heat with the lid on to retain as much liquid as possible.

we had two carrots, an onion, some baby spinach, and half a block of tofu.  (we also had celery and jalapeno peppers, but i opted out of those.)  i sliced the carrots and put them in with the cooking quinoa (saved me an extra pan) and started an onion sauteing in a medium frying pan with a little butter.  i crumbled (aka smooshed and tore) the tofu in with the onion and added some bragg’s, both for a little color and flavor.  

i almost burned the quinoa, as it’s very quiet about turning sticky and black at the bottom of the pan while the top looks deliciously light and fluffy.  two good things to do in that moment of discovery: turn of the pan and douse it with a little water.  not enough to drown it, but just enough for the hot dry grains to have a drink.

i sat down and read for a few minutes while everything cooled a bit, then abruptly announced that i had an idea and walked back to the kitchen, ignoring will’s inquiry as to what it was.  (i like to keep him guessing a little....it’s part of the fun :)  

i took the remainder of the salsa back out of the fridge and put it in the blender, along with a few good handfuls of spinach (that appeared to get the unintentionally boot from this meal and still lay quiet and hopeful on the counter) and a minced clove of garlic.

perfect.  bright green things are really fun.  i put down a layer of the spicy quinoa and carrots, followed by the tofu and onions and a generous drizzling of green garlic salsa stuff.

salsa-cooked quinoa with tofu and garlic spinach sauce

despite the fact that will was not sure what he was eating at first he gave it a verbal “thumbs up” and nod of approval.  

approximate price: $5

Egg and Flax Quinoa with Stir Fried Veggies, Stuffed Peppers and Kale Chips

i swear it seems the nights when i’m either the least motivated, or i’m not expecting very much, end up with the most amazing meals.  this one just so happened to blow my mind just a little bit.  as i handed will his plate i let him know that i very much expected praise for this one (based on looks and execution alone; i hadn’t tasted anything yet.  have i mentioned that will’s first rule of cooking is to never serve anything to anybody that you haven’t made before? :)

i had some veggie stir fry leftover from lunch (made with some leftover rice from the night before....y’all know how i roll).  i had asked will to look through the kitchen while i showered to see what he thought needed to be used.  he found some quinoa.  good.  

i was thinking about peppers, ‘cause i do that these days.  we had done a taste test with our farm share bag, ‘cause some of them sure looked like they could set some things on fire, and discovered that what we thought might be habaneros were actually amazingly sweet mini bells.  i was glad for that ‘cause there are only so many hot peppers a gal (and a guy) can use.  the other two unidentified frying objects were indeed, um, hot.  we’re planning for a chili dinner party tomorrow night ;)

i preheated the oven to 250, and cut the sweet mini bells and the banana peppers in half, removing the seeds and saving them in containers on the side.  we’re on a planting kick, and after we had fresh watermelon seeds sprout a few days ago we just can’t resist.  growing shit is just really, really cool.

i made a “stuffing” from finely grated cheese, a little olive oil, and minced garlic and basil.  this was a rather lazy attempt, but i really couldn’t think of anything else to add to it.  it’s ok, because honestly the pepper is the best part of stuffed peppers (and really, you aren’t going to go wrong with cheese and garlic and basil ;)  i used my fingers to get a good portion into each pepper half and put them uncovered on an aluminum pie pan in the oven.  (my other baking pans are bigger than what i needed.)

next i put the veggie stir fry in a pan on low to heat up and measured out the quinoa, using up the rest of what we had.  it’s a 1:2 water ratio, so it didn’t matter that i didn’t have an even measurement.  i just doubled it for the water.  i put it on to boil, then covered it and let it simmer.  i think it’s a pretty safe bet that quinoa is done cooking when all the water is soaked up.  just keep stirring it every few minutes and keep an eye on the water, ‘cause it will quickly start to burn when it has dried up.

i had finally pulled our kale plants from the garden today, with reverence and respect.  they just weren’t doing well.  the colors looked sickly and withered (and EATEN!) and the aphid kingdom had come to conquer some time ago.  i brought all the plants inside though because i wanted to salvage anything from them that i could.  that was how i could really show my respect.  i got a handful of small leaves, and half leaves.  just enough to make some chips :)  the times i’ve done this before i think i used too much oil and they didn’t crisp up, so i was careful of that.  i realized that the bowl harboring the remnants of my pepper stuffing would be perfect.  i took the back (spine side) of the leaves and rubbed them in the cheesy, garlicky, basily goodness and lay them oil side up on a cookie sheet with a light sprinkling of cracked salt, putting them in the oven next to the peppers.

when the quinoa water had disappeared i put some in a small frying pan with a little butter and cracked a couple eggs in in (as per will’s nonspecific request :)  i then added some ground flaxseed and cracked salt and called for the boy!

a scoop of stir fry went over a scoop of quinoa, and with it two each of the two kinds of stuffed peppers and an elegant pile of kale chips.  it was beautiful, and the kale chips were crunchy enough that i had to take a video of them being consumed.  my eyes were wide and i was a tad speechless.....a lovely meal indeed ;)

egg and flax quinoa with stir fried veggies, stuffed peppers and kale chips

approximate price: $6