We be jammin'

For the second year, I have led about 20 farm groupies to River Ridge Farms and Strawberry Knob farm for cow petting and strawberry picking through the farmers' market. It is loads of fun, plus I come back with at least a gallon of strawberries, which means jam time. Strawberry jam is by far the easiest of the jams, since there is no peeling or de-seeding involved. Despite the fact that I managed to still have some jam from last year left, I was determined to make more. Four fabulous ladies and I jammed for 4 hours last night, starting with 5 gallons of strawberries and ending with 40 jars of various strawberry jams. After trying a few recipes, I think we have determined that using the Pomona's Universal Pectin available at natural food stores is the simplest way to go to be able to make a less-sweet jam. The normal recipes call for 7 cups of sugar for 5 cups of crushed strawberries, which just seems crazy. So, we used the universal pectin with honey instead of sugar by following the recipe included in the package and love the results. Plus, we can use local honey instead of sugar. Pick some up and try the recipe. It is worth the effort.

Things that are awesome

1. Opening your door to a neighbor bearing fresh-picked asparagus
2. Canned tomato sauce from the summer canning marathon
3. A boyfriend who hides Locust Grove cheese in your spice cabinet for Easter. (it made sense at the time, mostly)
4. Discovering half a bag of pasta in the cabinet right when you need it

And we have dinner...

2540 Cookies

These cookies are from a vegan cookbook and are a staple dessert/pot luck contribution at our house. This has lead one friend to call them by our address, 2540 cookies. They are better for you than regular chocolate chip cookies and can actually claim one local ingredient by using NC maple syrup. Here's a somewhat decent picture:

3/4 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 c rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 banana
1/3 c olive oil
1/2 c maple syrup
1 T vanilla
1 1/2 c chocolate chips

In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients (not choc. chips). In a food processor, blend banana, oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir. Add the chocolate chips and stir until well incorporated. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (I promise, it will make this much easier.) Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto the paper and press together lightly. Bake for 12-15 min on 350 degrees or until browned. Makes 10-15 cookies, depending on size.

Fast, easy, delicious, and not altogether unhealthy. It could take variations of dried fruit and nuts to make them more like an energy bar. (from The Garden of Vegan)

Lasagna for everyone

I shouldn't make lasagna. I always make too much. The boyfriend loves it, though, so it gets eaten over the following days. And it is very versatile. Anything works, really, and it ends up tasting great, even if it isn't authentic.

My last foray included spinach, roasted garlic, onions and portabellas. I roast portabellas with whole garlic cloves and slices of onion for lots of things. Just toss them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper and possibly some rosemary and put them in a casserole dish in a 450 degree oven for about 10 min or until they are done. Stir a couple of times to make sure everything is done. I took those, layered them with the cooked lasagna noodles, tomatoes I canned in the summer, ricotta cheese, spinach and mozzarella. It is important that there is sauce or tomatoes between the casserole dish and the first noodle layer to make sure it doesn't stick. Also, the top layer of noodles needs to be covered well to make sure it doesn't dry out. Aluminum foil covering is a good idea for the first 30 min. And this goes in a 450 oven for about 45 min.

My other favorite filling combo:
roasted portabellas, garlic & onion, black beans and butternut squash

Date Nights

Some of Kevin and my favorite weekend nights have been spent in the kitchen. We quickly discovered that for us, going out to eat in Memphis is more about the actual going out part: dressing up and having a different environment than our apartment. Memphis's culinary options, more often than not, lack imagination. There are the spots that we like to visit now and again, but it gets pricey and since we genuinely enjoy cooking together, dinner dates at home have become the norm.

Fish has become a theme for these dinner dates. Neither Kevin or I are vegetarian, but we rarely eat meat. When we do, it's fish. We love fish. Raw, smoked, grilled, seared... it's all good.

This meal started with Mahi Mahi. Kevin grilled it and made an avocado salsa. I sauted some snap peas and mushrooms and made a peanut better slaw. The artistic presentation was thanks to Kevins passion for tempting all the senses with his meals.

Avocado Salsa
Avocado
Tomato
Oil
Cilantro
Salt
Pepper

Peanut Butter Slaw
Package of slaw mix
Peanut butter
Soy
Ginger
Peanuts, halved
Salt
Pepper

Staple Food from Across the State

Charlotte is right, who doesn't like pizza? Kevin and I create some kind of pizza practically every week. Like my sister, we don't have the patience for making our own crust on week nights, so we have experimented with other options. Tortillas work well in a crunch but we have found an even better alternative: naan. Without a co-op in Memphis, a majority of our grocery's come from Whole Foods and Easy Way. Whole Foods carries a whole-wheat naan that is fabulous. It's good just toasted with garlic or as a personal pan pizza base. The topping options are endless, but one of our favorites is mixed cheeses, marinara, smoked salmon, red onion, and spinach.

Another week night staple in our midtown kitchen is burritos. Simple, fast, nourishing, and delicious: all the requirements for a meal at the end of a busy day. We usually use tempeh as our "meat," but morning star had a sale on their burgers this week.

This particular night we used:

Morning Star black bean burgers (chopped up)
red, yellow, and orange bell pepper
onion
mushrooms
spinach
Heirloom tomatoes
clinatro

I'm cutting down on my dairy but Kevin went for the whole shebang, adding mexican cheese and sour cream.

Not so local...

Everything Asian Soup

Veg broth
Coconut milk
Tofu
Garlic
Onion
Fresh ginger
Box of mixed mushrooms
1 can bamboo shoots
Wakama (dried seaweed)
Brags
Cilantro
Soba noodles

We garnished with Mung Beans which added a nice watery crunch. I don't think the soup would be as good with out it. We found the fresh mung beans at Whole Foods.
We also added miso and hot sauce per serving to taste. (i can't handle the hot stuff)

This soup was created by hungrily staring at the Asian food aisle at Whole Foods. We already had soba noodles and wakama and left the rest up to the selection at Whole Foods. Nothing is local, I'm sad to say, but it was a delectiblly nutritious soup worth making again.

Adventures: Pecan Kumquat Pie

A fellow food adventurer invited me over for pie-making. She had acquired some kumquats from a co-worker who had brought them back from his parents' tree at their home in Florida. She had discovered a Pecan Kumquat Pie recipe in Tartine and wanted to use the pecans from my tree that we had shelled together. So, pie we made, and it is delicious. It's like a regular pecan pie, in that you basically make a custard, but with the addition of the kumquats that bake into little candied treats. With local-ish kumquats, local pecans and eggs, it satisfied enough requirements to make us proud to make a local winter dessert. Plus, I got to eat a kumquat for the first time. It is eaten whole, skins and all. Taste adventure, indeed.

The recipe is from the Tartine cookbook from what appears to be a lovely little bakery of the same name in San Fransisco. Alice Waters wrote the forward, which is a testiment to their local food support. In the words of Tina Fey: I want to go to there.

This particular recipe addressed their claim that pecan pies are notoriously too sweet. True, but the Tartine pie is pretty darn sweet. However, this is a pecan to make without the traditional Karo syrup, that high-fuctose nastiness we all should be staying away from. Instead, it uses maple syrup and corn syrup, the more natural kind. We substiuted rice syrup for some of the corn syrup, because it made us feel better for some reason.

Staple Food: Pizza

Big fan of pizza. Who isn't? But I'm too lazy/hungry to deal with making crust. Three Rivers Market carries a whole grain crust that is surprisingly good. I canned pizza sauce during the tomato abundance of August that I have been going through rather rapidly this winter. Store bought sauce will work, of course, but without the same sense of satisfaction. Top with whatever you like, and you have yourself a great meal for two. I have also cut the crust in half to make myself little one-person portions.

Topping wise, I'm a big fan of broccoli and black beans with various other fun things that happen to be about the house. It's a good stay-in date food because we can make it together. The boyfriend made this one with a black bean heart. He does love the pizza.

Staple Food: Harmony Bowl

At the Laughing Seed in Asheville, NC, they have on the menu The Harmony Bowl, which is:
Layers of organic brown rice, organic pinto beans, grilled organic tofu, seasonal steamed vegetables, and our addictive sesame ginger sauce.

It is such a wonderful, simple dish that it is easy to recreate at home. The key is Annie's Goddess Dressing, which is similar to the Laughing Seed dressing, as seen at left. I usually have a bottle of that dressing on hand along with cans of pinto beans and brown rice. Then you add seasonal vegetables. Onion is the only constant, then I recommend mushrooms and broccoli. In the summer, yellow squash is a wonderful addition. In the fall and spring, any variety of greens will work. I cook a bunch of rice to use leftovers for something else latter. Saute the onions with the vegetables, then layer over the rice and pinto beans. Smother with as much dressing as you like. Tofu or tempeh can be good, but I almost never add them. The beans are plenty for me.