Meatless Monday - Youth Gone Wild

As a child with a myriad of food allergies and a poncho wearing, draft counseling mother, I grew up eating some pretty funky stuff compared to my peers. I was completely fructose and lactose intolerant well into elementary school. I was the kid bringing sugar free jello to birthday parties having no clue why the b-day boy or girl didn't want to forgo the cake for the jiggling delight I had brought for them. The ice cream truck was never my friend and even once my stomach grew todigest the dairy and treats that the universe had to offer, I never became a sweet lovah.

I have, however, held onto many of the favorites that my mother made part of my diet including...(drum roll please)...Chick Peas!

Meatless Monday After Midnight - Can You Say "Classic"

Slacker. There is no other word for it. I am a Blog Flunky. Maybe more of a Disstracker since I haven't just been lounging around, but more buzzing about with the goings on of life with children and various other beasts. So here I am, in the wee hours, putting down the words that have been swimming in my brain for weeks now.
I actually can't believe that this recipe was not Week One of Meatless Monday since it is not only in the bible of vegetarian cooking, but was probably my first introduction to the V-Word. The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas is one of two cookbooks that I associate with my mother, The Joy of Cooking being the other. And the recipe for Corn and Cheddar Cheese Chowder is probably my all time favorite thing that my mom made. It brings back warm, winter memories of ski vacations and wool socks; of my Dad's satisfied grin and footy pajamas. The book itself is a time capsule that has made it's way into my permanent collection.

Meatless Monday on Wednesday

I was planning to do a mind blowing post on falafel this week, but between forgetting to soak the chick peas overnight on Sunday and then realizing that I needed to get a little more in depth to sell falafel virgins on the idea, I got a little behind. But rest assured, the treat from the middle east  is coming to a Monday near you ASAP.
In the meantime in between time, I have whipped up one of my favorite, but often forgotten dishes that is so much easier and yummier than you might think. This one comes from the good ole Joy of Cooking, my kitchen bible, with a few tweaks.

Barely and Mushroom "Risotto"

6 tbl butter
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
8 oz diced mushrooms, shitake are awesome, but others are fine
1 cup barley
2/3 white wine
1 tbl crushed garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
6 cups stock, vegetable stock makes it truly meatless, but chicken stock works great too

Meatless Monday - South for the Winter with Beans & Rice

When birthdays roll around for my children,  two out of three in December which was horrid planning on our part, it is tradition that the B-Day person gets to pick what they want to have for dinner. At this point, I don't even know why we bother asking because the answer is always the same - Mexican! Burritous, tacos, quessadillas and their assorted variations and sides are the all time favorite meal around here. Back in my early culinary days, I used to have only one side dish option in my repetoire which was Mexi Rice. Basically, I would cook rice and then add spaghetti sauce, taco seasoning and cheese. Nasty. It seemed good at the time, but now we know there are so many better options.
As a side or as the main event, beans and rice is staple fare that has nourished people around the world forever. I am sure there are a zillion variations, but this is the one that we use.


Simple Black Beans & Rice

1 cans (15.5 oz.) black beans, undrained
2 tbsp olive oil
half an onion, diced
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 package taco seasoning
1 cup water
2 tbl cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste
4 - 5 cups cooked white rice

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and then add the onion, pepper and garlic. Saute 5-10 min over medium heat until tender. Add all other ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a boil then reduce heat a simmer about 20 minutes. This will be very saucy and that's how you want it. The juice is the best part! Ladle over the rice in large bowls.
*This recipe opens up endless possibilities for adding on. We like to sprinkle shredded cheese on the top. You can also add some diced tomatoes, corn, broken tortilla chips, etc. This also makes an excellent filling in a tortilla. Experimento!

Meaningful Meatless Monday: All Together in One Pot

It would have been easy to forget that today I was due for my second post on meatless meals. Days off from school always throw me off my game a bit. Combine this extended weekend with a very heavy snow falling all around us and it is enough to render me lazy and disoriented. But on this King of Holidays, I find myself reflecting on the vision of MLK and how that relates to my hopes and dreams as an environmentalist. Dr. King saw a better world where people would come together and strive for a deeper understanding of one another. Where we would live in harmony and peace with our fellow man and challenge ourselves to rise above and shed the complacency that plagued our society for so many years.  He dared to dream of a new way of living for future generations. We are honored and humbled by his leadership and we show a formal display of our gratitude on this day.

The Start of Meatless Monday: Tomato Cheese Pasta

I am far too verbose and much too crappy of a photographer to participate in Wordless Wednesday, so I'm goin' rogue and participating in Meatless Monday. I hereby proclaim that on Mondays, I will post a meatless recipe.
You don't have to be a rank and file member of PETA to see the benefits of eating more vegetarian meals. The demand for meat production puts extreme pressure on natural resources and is quite unsustainable. According to an article by USA Today and the Society for Advancement of Education, 56,000,000 acres of U.S. land are utilized for the production of hay for livestock. Only 4,000,000 acres are used to produce vegetables for human consumption. Water, feed and fuel are also disproportionately allocated to sustain meat product. The health and wellness of livestock animals suffers from these burdens and, thus, the risk of disease is passed on to us.

A Crock of Hoo Ha

My fruity and frugal friend, Nurse Hoo Ha, received a crock pot for Christmas and put in her request for some recipes to put in it. This fit right in line with my New Years resolution to post more of my favorite recipes. This vow is much easier to keep than some of my others since I am much more likely to be inspired to blog about food than to cut back on how much I'm putting in my mouth.
This recipe is one that I have been making for a very long time. It is adapted from a cookbook called "Sweet Aromas: A Collection of Cherished Family Recipes From the Kitchen of Audrey Brann Hamlin" written by Audreys' daughter, Tracey Hamlin-Landry. I can find no mention of it online and I am doubtful you will find a copy as it was written by a woman that my husband worked with when we first got married. In fact, it was one of my Christmas gifts our first year together. I still use it all the time and it's stained pages let you know how loved the recipes are in my kitchen. David has always been an amazing gift giver. It's kind of nauseating, actually.
The "Crock Pot Chicken" recipe in the book isn't quite the same as mine, but it was definitely my jumping off point and I surely needed it back then as a very "green" (and not in a good, environmental way) cook. This is a simple, hearty meal that will give you a very full belly on a cold winter's night.

Brushetta Outta Here

Confession:
I miss avocados. I miss bananas. I bought a tomato on New Years Eve and the guilt is eating me up. But, I will say that my bruschetta was worth the cheat. In case you want to try it out...

Bruschetta

1 loaf italian bread (I buy it from the Day Old markdown rack for 90 cents a loaf and throw it in my freezer)
1 jar of pesto (in season you can make this fresh and I'll tell you how when we get there)
1 large tomato, diced
fresh grated parmesan cheese (I buy the wedges and grate it myself. SO SO SO much better than what we used to call "sprunkly" cheese out of a can)
1 lemon, sliced into wedges (optional)

Cornbread for Yankees

As a kid, my family traveled in our motor home every summer and we typically headed south to take in the weather, the character, the history, and, most importantly, the FOOD! My Dad was from the mid-west so he introduced us to delicacies like biscuits and gravy and roasted corn. In the south, we learned to love fried okra and macaroni and cheese that didn't come from a box. One of our favorite places to eat was Cracker Barrel. Probably not a big deal to those south of the Mason-Dixon Line because they are everywhere down there, but to us it was heaven. If I could only pick one item to eat from there, it would definitely be cornbread.

Falling In Love

John Travolta and Olivia Newton John can keep summer lovin'. For me, it's all about Fall. Although I have grown more fond of the dog days since I became a gardener, I remain an Autumn girl at heart. It is fairly easy to appreciate Fall when you are from New England. It is a season that touches all of your senses. A description of fall reads like some wine label; full-bodied, a wonderful aroma. It has notes of the upcoming Holidays with just a hint of the waning days of August. It also gets better with age. Now that I am an adult, and even more so a mother, I have a new appreciation for "back to school". Fall has the promise of quiet moments and routines and strict bedtimes. Fall is a mothers best friend.
More than anything, I love Fall food. You can fire up the oven without thinking about the sweat pooling in your bra. You can make heavy, comforting meals that are simple and satisfying. Things are still coming in from the garden, but you don't have the hassle of rapid weed growth and insect control and scorching sun. The onset of Autumn always motivates me in the kitchen and I bust out some of my best recipes. I have four words for you. Pumpkin. Chocolate. Chip. Cookies. Wipe your drool and get out your mixing bowl. You may have to run to the store for a can of pumpkin, but it will be so worth it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies*

2 cups sugar                            2 eggs
4 cups flour                             1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
4 tsp baking powder               1 cup veg. oil
2 tsp baking soda                    2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon                        2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp salt                                 12 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients then mix in the wet, adding the chocolate chips last. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased cooking sheets a few inches apart. Bake about 10-12 min. They will look a bit soft and undercooked at first. Wait a minute or two then remove them to a cooling rack. These are a very cakey and filling cookie, but they will get gobbled right up.

*This recipe was given to me many years ago by one of the women I can credit with my Domestic Goddess Transformation. Margie "Gorgeous" Brennan is an amazing mother of seven who, among other things, really turned me on to the essential nature of homemaking skills in the quest for a frugal life. Cue "Wind Beneath My Wings".

Canned pumpkin is on my seasonal pantry list, but I always manage to have some leftover from winter. As soon as September hits, the little cans of pumpkin mush start calling to me, "Use me. Love me. EAT ME." This year I only was able to get one smallish pumpkin to grow in my garden and it was not of the edible variety. Next year I will absolutely be pursuing pie pumpkins in the hopes of making  these delightful treats even more satisfying. In  the meantime, I am continuing to expand my pumpkin recipe repertoire and decided to try Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. I mean, who doesn't love whoopie pies. First off all, any excuse to throw the word "whoopie" into polite conversation must be taken advantage of and "pie" is always a good time. So put that together with some pumpkin and you have the potential for a frenzy of Fall fun. I checked out a ton of recipes online and finally decided to try the one posted on Martha Stewarts website. I wanted to do one with a cream cheese based filling rather than the Fluff I typically use. I usually find Martha's recipes overly complicated, but this one was pretty straightforward. I linked it rather than post it because I will need to do a bit more experimentation before I decide if it's the one for me. However, I can report that 5 out of 5 Ecocheapo family members ate more than one tonight and already have dibs on some for tomorrow. I may have just found my new Autumn lovah.               

Good to the last pop

I don't know about the rest of the country, but for New Englanders, this was not a banner garden year. Summer didn't even get started until July and was over by mid-August. The deluge of rain that was the month of June caused my tomatoes to get a fungus, my strawberries to drown and, in general, got everything off to a soggy start. So what successes I did have, I really tried to savor. By far, one of my best crops this year was jalapeno peppers.

In our first garden season, I grew one small, hot pepper plant. I can't recall the variety and I put it in quite late to replace something I had to pull so I only got a few fruits before it quit on me. This year, I decided to put in six jalapeno plants and see how they would do. Little did I know that every one of those would take off and begin to shower me with lovely, green goodies. Supposedly, if you leave them on the plant they will turn red and continue to get hotter, but ours never made it that long and since we are feeding three youngsters with these, we didn't want to trip the oral fire alarm.
Yesterday, I had to finally admit that it is too cold and getting too dark for my spicy babies to produce much more so I harvested the remaining peppers and set about making my last batch of Homemade Jalapeno Poppers. We are huge popper fans and now that we have grown and consumed our own we have sworn off the frozen turds we used to pick up at Sam's Club.
Now that it is October, you may not have access to a quantity of fresh jalapenos that hasn't traveled many miles to get here, but maybe this will wet your appetite and get you thinking about cultivating your own hot beauty patch next year.

* A recipe disclaimer - With the exception of baked goods, I rarely follow a recipe exactly. I usually look at one or two recipes for something and then tweak it to suit my culinary style and limitations. So in the case of the poppers, this is just a guide. Experiment and see what works for you.

Jalapeno Poppers

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
two handfuls shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cilantro (fresh chopped is awesome, but dried works fine too)
1 cup flour
5 eggs
a squirt of lime juice
2 cups bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
approx 15 -20 fresh jalapenos
vegetable oil for frying
ranch dressing or salsa and sour cream mixed together for dipping

Start by prepping your peppers. Slice of the top and then scoop out the guts. I use a small corer that looks a bit like a peeler. A paring knife would work too. BE CAREFUL not to touch your eyes, pick your nose, etc. until you have washed your hands thoroughly Those pepper innards are hot! After cleaning them, rinse them inside and out to get out even more seeds. A few remaining is fine and will spice it up a bit more.
Next, get your filling ready. Combine the cream cheese, cheddar, cumin and cilantro and mix well.
Now prep your breading station. You'll need three bowls. In the first put the flour. Then beat the eggs and the lime juice together in the second one. Lastly combine the bread crumbs and salt and pepper.
To fill the poppers, slice them in half length wise and then use a knife (I like a small butter knife) to smear filling into each side. Put the halves back together and give them a little press. Go around with your knife and wipe off any filling that has squeezed out. Resist the temptation to cut all the peppers first. I did that and then had a heck of a time matching the halves back up.
Once all the peppers have been filled, you can begin breading. The following process should give you a nice coating that will hold up during frying.
Step 1 Flour
Step 2 Egg
Step 3 Bread crumbs
Step 4 Egg
Step 5 Bread crumbs
Heat about 1-2 inches of oil in a deep sided pan until a few drops of water sprinkled in the oil start to sizzle. Carefully place the poppers into the pan and cook 3-4 minutes or until browned and then turn them over. I like to turn the heat down a bit to give the peppers more time to soften without burning the outside. Remove with a slotted spoon or spatula onto a paper towel to drain. Once all the poppers are cooked, remove them to a plate, serve with dip of your choice and prepare for the WOW factor.

I will really miss these over the winter months. But every successful meal that I produce using the bounty from my garden only makes me want to plan more ways to bring my favorite ingredients to life in my own backyard. Whether you have acres or inches, there is something that you can grow. In patches or pots, maybe jalapenos will be "popping" up for you in the not so distant future.

Shnack Day

Whether you dread it, tolerate it or live for it, Snack Day is a preschool rite of passage. At least around here anyway where we pay more than good money for this privilage. I have now discovered from friends who live elsewhere that some places have public preK. What??? NH is the last state in the country to get public kindergarten so by the time an idea as novel as free preschool takes hold it will probably be my grandkids who reap the benefits. So for now, we have two of our three kids in preschool which means that the Blessed Festival of Trying to Find Food Other People's Kids Will Eat comes twice as often. Sweet!
I am so not bragging, people seem to think it's some kind of miracle, but my kids will eat almost anything. And tons of it. I don't know if I am just lucky or what, but once when I was on a kindergarten field trip with Noah the hiking guide opened a can of sardines and offered them (I think for a laugh) to the kids and who is the one little guy who steps up and eats one? Mine. And he loved it. The other parents didn't know whether to applaud or puke. But I digress.
Back to the snackipoos. It so happened that this week, both girls came home with the snack basket and we had SD back to back. My goal with snack day is to come up with something cheap, nutritious and with zero waste. I do NOT do squeezy yogurt or fruit snacks or juice boxes. I really don't buy anything individually wrapped. I do, however, bake. So I often do minimuffins with whatever needs using up, like bananas. My all time favorite snack day treat though, is Homemade Chewy Granola Bars. They are like little sticks of heaven. What I really love is that most people have never seen a granola bar that didn't come wrapped in its' own little piece of garbage.
So here is the recipe and I do hope you'll try it.

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars

4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup honey or agave
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 packed brown sugar
1 cup add ins (raisins, dried fruit, choc. chips, etc.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients except add ins. I usually end up mixing it by hand. A little messy but does the best job. Then mix in the add ins of your choice. Press the mixture very firmly into a greased 9 x 13 pan. I do sometimes use a small piece of wax paper to press the mixture in and that is trash, but I have also had good success with a small greased roller or even my hands. Bake 20-25 min. Let cool completely then cut into bars. This makes about 16 good sized bars. Remove them carefully from the pan and store in an airtight container.

So the next time you are attacked by snack, give it a try. Let me know how it turns out. Once you have this snack, you'll never go back.

Think Groucho Stork

So apparently my pickles are a hit. Yes, the verdict is now in from individuals who are not dependant upon me for all their food needs and I am guilty of good pickling. A definite improvement over last year. The casualties of that war are still sitting on the shelf in the basement. They are like organs in a lab. Discolored and useless, yet oddly fascinating. They were mushy and nasty and now I don't know what to do with them. Do I throw them in the compost and risk bad pickly vibes being passed on to next years crop? I screwed those up since it was both my first time gardening and pickling. You really must pace yourself with these things.
First, you have got to use pickling cucumbers. Then you can not give in to the temptation to let them grow until they are all phallic. Smaller ones remain firmer. I have been saying THAT for years. Then you have to get a good recipe. This year, I opted for a refrigerator pickling process. Upside, I didn't have to fire up the water bath canner which I think might have helped make last years' batch so very raw-hot-dogesque. Downside, the majority of my fridge is taken up by quarts of pickles and I am beginning to feel like I live at Katz' s Deli. Every time I go to get the milk I expect to find some guy in an apron asking me if I want rye or pumpernickel.
You don't have to know how to can to make these. So if you can get your hands on some little cukes you might want to give it a whirl. I use quart canning jars, but you could use any size container and adjust the recipe accordingly.

Refrigerator Pickles (Dill)                                               

In each jar:

2 sprigs of fresh dill

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 tbl. mixed pickling spices (found in the spice aisle)
1 bay leaf

Combine in saucepan:
1 cup white vinegar
8 cups water
1/4 cup pickling salt (usually near canning supplies or spices)

pickling cucumbers

Put the dill, garlic, pickling spices and bay leaf in the bottom of each jar. Fill the remaining space with cucumbers. Leave small ones whole and cut larger ones into spears.
Combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and cool.
Pour the liquid mixture into each jar so that the cucumbers are covered. If you run out of liquid just mix up another batch or half-batch. Put a cover on each jar and refrigerate for about three days before eating. Flavor will get stronger over time. Pickles should last about 3-4 weeks. Keep refrigerated.
I have now pawned off enough picks to get a good read and I think I'm in business. Next year I'll grow the dill and garlic and then I can get really freaky with it. Like some people have a whole extra fridge for beer, maybe I'll have one for pickles. Sweet! No seriously they are dill, though. Sweet pickles are an abomination. But that's another post.