2012

I don't really go in for formal resolutions, but I do like to start the year thinking about what I'd like to accomplish, particularly if it differs from a previous pattern.

1. Get over any lingering fear of the power tools.  When we built the fort in the back yard for the kids I discovered that the compound miter saw is actually pretty easy to use and doesn't give me visions of severed limbs. It has been a while since I dealt with anything more intense than a power sander but with all the finishing of our addition that we'll be doing this coming year, I want to get over my sissy side. Don't make me touch the circular saw or a chain saw, though. I think you have to be bat-shit crazy to touch one of those and come away with all your appendages.

2. Keep the low-meat trend in cooking.  I started eating very little meat around October and what do you know, I feel a lot better. More energy, less sluggish. And it doesn't hurt that I lost about five pounds with almost no effort at all. I didn't eat a lot of meat before October, but I was often a little lazy and ate it even when I didn't really want it because it was there. Lately I've been making regular meaty meals for the other three family members and either piling my plate with sides and salad, adding the meat at the end of a dish and keeping it out of my portion, or doing a tofu version. Much to my surprise, Brian volunteered to join me in low-meat eating (yes, the man who has a "wall of meat" display at work is game to cut down). Of course, he eats out a lot more than I do, so if he's craving meat then he can have it at lunch or when he meets up with guy-friends. And I'm not planning on becoming strict in any sense. I still love lamb, expect that I will want a burger a couple of times a year and know that a little bacon can sometimes make a big impact. But if I am eating meat, it's going to be a conscious decision rather than a lazy default.

2.5. In order to be successful with 2, I'm going to try and cook up at least one pot of dried beans every week. I know this doesn't sound too hard, but it's the planning part that I fail at with dried beans (and I don't own a pressure cooker). I have an unnatural loathing of canned beans (just too mushy...and I hate the smell when the can is first opened) but really love pretty much any bean when cooked from their dried state. Also, I discovered that cooked dried beans can be drained, packed in freezer bags and frozen then used like canned one (but without the mush). But that only works if you remember to make the damn beans in the first place.

3. Finish knitting the frigging sweater I started over a year ago. Preferably before it has become swelteringly hot.

4. Finish the current draft of the book before the kids get out of school for the summer. Feels do-able now, but who knows what writer's blocks will come with deep winter! And once the wonderful builder we hired to get the addition to drywall stage is done, then a good chunk of my time will be spent tileing, laying hardwood floors, painting, etc. etc. So I need to give myself a good push once the kids head back to school on January 9, despite the urge to hibernate.

5. Once that draft is done, share it. That's a really scary proposition and will force me to embrace #6.

6. Be more daring. Ask questions even if you think you'll look stupid rather than save up the thought and research it when you are by yourself (the coward's version of knowledge acquisition). Realize that if, when you share your book, the people you share it with think it is crap, that you can handle it.

7. This may sound contrary to the previous intention, but back off and don't push sometimes. Quiet the voice of nagging that comes way too easily and try to put myself in other people's places. Cultivate kindness toward people who bug me (This doesn't mean I'm going to seek them out, but when in their presence, try to be gracious and tolerant. This may be extra difficult in an election year...)

That's all I can think of for now. Seems like a decent enough mindset with which to start the new year.

Vegetarian Hoppin' John

I don't have a southern bone in my body, but I do like the tradition (and taste) of eating hoppin' john on New Year's Day.  I've always had it with ham or bacon (or both) but I've been cutting back on meat so I thought I'd do a little improvisation. I put in a little smoked paprika to give some depth to the flavor. I also remembered that a restaurant I really like down in Lexington (Alfafa's) tops their vegetarian hoppin' john with sharp white cheddar cheese so I crumbled up a bit I had in the fridge, too.

It turned out really well--I'm thinking that I might make another batch and freeze individual portions because nuking a bowl of it would make for a fast, tasty and healthy lunch.

Vegetarian Hoppin' John

1 C dried black-eyed peas or yellow-eyed beans*
1 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 t dried thyme
1 t smoked paprika
1 C rice
1 small red pepper, diced
2 C vegetable broth
2-3 scallions, chopped
1/2 C sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded or crumbled
hot sauce

Cook your peas or beans. Either soak overnight in water, change the water, bring to a boil and simmer until tender, or do a fast soak (pour over boiling water and wait an hour before proceeding). If you think of it, chuck a couple of extra garlic cloves into the cooking water. Drain off all but about a cup of cooking liquid.

In a medium pot, heat the oil and add the onion. After about a minute, add the garlic, celery, thyme and smoked paprika. Saute for a couple of more minutes to soften. Add the rice and give it a good stir to coat the grains in oil.  Then add the red pepper, peas/beans and cooking liquid, and veg broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then slap on a lid, turn on low and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Give the pot a good stir, then dish it out. Top each portion with some chopped scallions and a sprinkle of sharp cheddar cheese. Let people add their own hot sauce.

* I hear that you can also make this without the pesky soaking/cooking beans step by using frozen black-eyed peas, in which you just chuck them in with a little extra water or broth with the rice. I've never tried it though since I have enough dried beans in the house to last us through an apocalypse in relative beany comfort.

Christmas baking

I think I'm almost done (pant, pant). So far I've churned out:

10 pounds of apricot cherry granola (for teachers)

2 of these amazing boozy fruit cakes (no nasty fluorescence in them--more like really good trail mix, soaked in rum and bound together with a minimal amount of flour/sugar/eggs and some spices. I swapped out dried blueberries for dates and added lots more pecans.)

a batch of espresso chocolate chunk (substituted dark brown sugar for the light and hand-chopped 70% chocolate which makes for nice non-uniform bits and blobs)

a batch of currant ginger shortbread

a batch of almond orange biscotti

and a batch of slightly altered Italian wedding cookies (recipe below) (pecans instead of almonds, some orange zest and orange flower water mixed in).

You would never know from this list that I don't really have much of a sweet tooth...

Italian Wedding Cookies
(sort of)

2/3 C of pecans
1 C unsalted butter
1/4 C powdered sugar (plus 1/2 - 1 C more for rolling and dusting the cookies with after baking)
1 t vanilla extract
3 t orange blossom water
zest of two oranges
2 C all purpose-flour
1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats.

Toast nuts: toss nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes. They should smell good and, you know, nutty. Cool completely.

Take half the cooled nuts and put them in a food processor with 2 T of flour. Pulse until they are finely ground. Add the rest of the nuts and pulse a couple of times to just chop them.

In the bowl of a mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract, orange blossom water and orange zest. Add the rest of the four and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and refrigerate dough until firm (about an hour).

Form dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are brown around the edges. Remove and cool.

Put about 1/4 C of powdered sugar in a plate then put the cooled cookies on top of the sugar. You can then roll them around or (as I prefer) sift the rest of the sugar over the tops.

Makes about 3 dozen.

books books books books

It's getting close to the time of year when I start to think about gifting books so I was perusing my 2011 books read list and trying to decide which were the clear winners.  I came up with 6 total.

For YA readers (particularly girls because the main characters are so terrific) and adults who like YA:
Plain Kate by Erin Bow
Chime by Franny Billingsley
Blood Red Road by Moira Young

For adult readers (who won't/don't read YA):
Percival's Planet by Michael Beyers
A State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Doc by Mary Doria Russell

Some of these are no surprise. A State of Wonder is already showing up on lots of people's/publications' best of lists and Chime was nominated for the National Book Award.

Any clear winners on your lists? I'm always on the look-out for the next wonderful book.

Tantre Farm Share, week 20

Top row: bag of baby lettuce, bag of spinach, three onions, two sweet potatoes, garlic, carrots, broccoli rabe

Middle row: melon, dumpling squash, delicata squash, red potatoes, hot peppers

Bottom row: arugula, shitake mushrooms, broccoli florets, sorrel, green beans, turnips and greens

Brian just left town for a week which is crummy timing for the last share. So some of this will get blanched and frozen and some of the stuff that will last like potatoes and squash will be set aside until my dinner (and life) partner returns.  I eat a lot of vegetable, but even so, I think I'd have to be eating round the clock to consume all this myself before it starts to spoil.

Menu plan:

• peanut sauce with brown rice, tofu and steamed vegetables: broccoli, beans, carrots, sweet potato and spinach
• salad w/arugula, lettuce, and carrots for lunch through the week 
• scrambled eggs with shitake and sorrel, whole grain toast
• broccoli rabe, turnip greens and some of the green beans will be blanched and frozen
• sweet dumpling squash will be stuffed and baked with quinoa, feta, walnuts, scallions and dried cranberries, served with either steamed broccoli or green beans
• spinach will be blanched then sauteed with plenty of garlic and used to top cheese ravioli

Tantre Farm Share, week 19

Top row: spaghetti squash, bag of baby lettuces, kale, beet greens, turnips and greens
Middle row: delicata squash, hot peppers, onion, sweet potatoes
Bottom row: fingerling potatoes, tatsoi, carrots, green and yellow beans, eggplan, radishes

Menu plan:

• roasted chicken thighs with roasted delicata squash, braised turnips and salad with lettuce, radishes and carrots
• calzones with blanched kale, turkey sausage, ricotta
• Spaghetti squash with Indian Spices, daal, rice, and turnip and radish greens cooked up saag style.
• sweet potato coconut soup (recipe below)
• there will probably be a stir fry in there somewhere to use the tatsoi, green and yellow beans and hot peppers.
• no plans yet for the eggplant or beet greens; the fingerlings won't spoil so I'll wait for a chilly day to roast them. It's too beautiful outside right now to crave roasted potatoes.

Sweet Potato Coconut Soup

Relish (This is not an extra, but a must)

1 T oil (use coconut oil if you have it)

1 T butter (or more coconut oil)

1/8 t red pepper flakes

1 or 2 sweet potatoes (med to large), peeled and diced small

Salt/pepper

¼ fresh chopped cilantro

Soup

1.5 T oil

1 small red or yellow onion chopped

2 t grated fresh ginger

1/8 t red pepper flakes

3.5 cups vegetable broth

1.5 sweet potatoes (med to large), peeled and diced large

1 can coconut milk

2 T honey

¼ t cinnamon

For relish: Heat oil and butter over medium heat, add red pepper flakes heat for 10 seconds. Add the

diced sweet potato, salt and pepper to taste. Cook, COVERED, stirring occasionally until softened, about 15 minutes. Uncover, increase heat and cook until potatoes are golden brown, another 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and mix with cilantro.

For soup: Heat oil over medium heat, add ginger and onion, cook until soft (about five minutes), and

add red pepper flakes. Add broth, bring to a boil and then add sweet potatoes, bring to a simmer

and cook until soft (20 to 30 minutes). Blend soup until smooth. Simmer over low heat.

Whisk in coconut milk, honey and cinnamon. Cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the soup with a large spoonful of the relish on top.

Tantre Farm Share, week 17

Top row: Basil, radishes, onions, broccoli rabe?, Italian kale

Bottom row: purple potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, purple and yellow beans, salad mix, tomatoes, sorrel

Maybe I'm just feeling curmudgeonly but for this time of year, this week and last week's shares have seemed smaller than I'd expect. Two tomatoes? That's it? Isn't September tomato bounty time in Michigan? It's a good thing I'm not trying to provide vegetables for 4 humans since my kids remain ridiculously picky and will just nibble the occasional carrot or cucumber slice. But even so, there isn't enough there to last a week.

Here's the (grumpy) menu plan:

• That's supposed to be  broccoli rabe (according to the Tantre share email) but it looks a lot more like turnip greens to me... I haven't made spanikopita since spring so I'll probably use the rabe/turnip greens, radish greens and maybe the kale too to make one.
• Roasted vegetables: butternut squash, purple potatoes, onion and garlic. Maybe topped with feta and maybe accompanied by a roast chicken (if I'm up to wrestling a raw chicken into submission).
• Salad with salad mix, tomatoes, carrots and radishes, hard cooked eggs, blanched purple and yellow beans and some tuna.
• Thai chicken with basil (from this general recipe) with lots of purple and yellow beans added to the mix. Rice on the side.

And that about does it for the week...really, only four meals? 

Tantre Farm Share, week 15

Top row: basil bush, broccoli crowns, curly kale, eggplant, 2 heads garlic, thyme bunch, watermelon, potatoes

Bottom row: tomatoes, hot peppers, cabbage, red peppers, lettuce, purple beans, purple onions, cucumber

(Sorry for the crummy exposure--it's a gloomy day here so no daylight to help illuminated the right side of the photo.)

Menu plan:

• Potatoes, some of the purple beans and garlic will go into this potato green bean salad with lemon miso dressing.
• A little bit of the thyme and some more garlic will go into this Magic Sauce recipe which sounds like it can boost up any number of dishes.
• I'll make some pizza dough and top it with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, thyme, red onions and some eggplant that I'll thin slice and pre-cooked a little. Serve it with lettuce/shredded cabbage/red pepper salad.
• Some more of the purple beans, cabbage, red pepper, garlic, a hot pepper and basil will go into the old standby Thai-style noodles, with cucumber and red onion salad on the side.
• There isn't quite enough broccoli to make the garlic sesame cured broccoli salad so I'll stretch out the recipe with some shredded cabbage and red pepper, maybe some kale too. Sounds like that would go well with a dinner of roast chicken.

I also bought a peck of peach seconds and plan to make a big old peach pie and freeze the rest for peach pie in the depths of winter.

Thai noodles and cucumber salad

I'm finally getting around to posting this thai noodle recipe, which I have adapted from a recipe that Ruth Reichl posted on her blog. The version shown in the photos below is from a couple of weeks ago. 

First soak your noodles:

You need 8 oz of rice noodles. I usually make them with this width, but sometimes go with wider ones. I cover them with hot tap water and let them soften (usually for about 1/2 hour) while I'm prepping the other ingredients.

Might as well make your side dish now too. Use a mandoline to thin slice a cucumber (peel and seed if necessary). Then thin slice about 1/2 of a small or a 1/4 of a large onion (red is pretty, but white or yellow onions work fine.) Chop up a little cilantro and toss it all together in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of rice vinegar, a sprinkle of salt and sugar. After it has sat for a while, taste a slice and adjust seasoning. Pop in the fridge to chill while you're cooking.

Next comes noodle ingredient prep. I usually start with the sauce:

In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 c of white or brown sugar, 1/4 c of fish sauce, 1/4 c rice (or white) vinegar and 2 T of black soy sauce (you can skip this if you want--black soy sauce is almost like a salty molasses so it gives and extra sweet/salty kick). Set aside.

Next prep your first round of add ins: these are the vegetables and stuff you want to have cooked, not merely warmed up. This is also where you get to add lots of variation. I also like to make this with green beans, scallions (the white part here, the greens added at the end), red peppers, sweet potato leaves, kale, etc.  If you are ok with shell fish you can add some fresh shrimp instead of the tofu.

1/4-1/2 lb tofu cubed, green peppers, shredded cabbage, thin sliced carrots, sliced onion. There are probably around 3 cups of vegetables plus the tofu here.

Next prep your other stuff. Again, there are a few standards (1/4 c chopped peanuts, 2 limes, 2 cloves of pressed garlic) and room for additions. This week I was just chucking in some basil leaves at the end, but other weeks I've added spinach, bean sprouts, scallion greens, cilantro etc. to this phase.

Put a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil in a wok, heat it up and add your garlic and 1/2 lb ground meat--I use pork or turkey and both turn out well.

When the meant is no longer pink, add the onions (or white parts of the scallions) and the tofu. Continue to stir fry until the meat starts to brown a little. This is also a good time to add dried red pepper flakes if you want it spicy (about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon).

Drain your noodles and dump them in the wok, use a spatula to scrape your sauce ingredients over the noodles and toss while they cook so that the noodles absorb the sauce.

When the sauce is about 1/2 way absorbed, add the vegetables that need some cooking. If you want egg in your noodles (I didn't use egg this week), this is also a good time to make a little space in the wok and crack in an egg or two. Let them cook a little, then scramble with your tongs and toss with the rest when they are firm.

When the sauce has been absorbed and the vegetables sufficiently cooked, add your final ingredients: chopped peanuts, fresh herbs, scallion greens and bean sprouts, if you are using them, and squeeze the two limes over the top.

Give it all a good toss and serve in bowls with a portion of cucumber salad on the side and some sriracha sauce if you like it spicy.

Enjoy!

Tantre Farm Share, week 13

Top zone: pint of cherry tomatoes, quart of red potatoes, 4 heirloom tomatoes, leaf lettuce, parsley, melon

Bottom zone: green and wax beans, 4 red peppers, sweet potato leaves, red and yellow onions, hot peppers, kale, 3 cucumbers, two ears of corn, 2 huge shitake mushrooms 

(not pictured: a basil bush)

We're heading out of town for a week so the following will come with us to be prepared very simply in a cabin kitchen: kale, onions, melon, red potatoes, one or two of the firmer tomatoes

Here's the plan for the other stuff:

• red and hot peppers will get roasted and jarred in a garlic/vinegar/olive oil mixture. 
• green beans, sweet potato leaves, shitakes and some basil will get made into thai noodles (recipe in the next post, really!) with cucumber salad
• lettuce, tomatoes, parsley and remaining cucumbers will make a simple salad, and corn will just be enjoyed on the cob with a nob of butter, as sides with something basic like turkey burgers or grilled chicken thighs.
• cherry tomatoes just for snacking!
• more pesto for freezing to get us through the dark winter months.