food

Wrinkly Vegetables

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Ouch! Grocery shopping is getting increasingly expensive, especially now in the winter when everything must be shipped in. We have a few local farms here still growing greens and cabbages, but for the most part, we have to rely on produce from California or Florida.

So, when I check the fruit basket or the crisper drawer and find some fruits and vegetables that aren’t looking their best, I have two options – compost or find a way to use not-quite-perfect specimens. I hate to lose the money spent on groceries so I’m finding ways to use that produce.

For example, it’s usually less expensive to buy a bag of apples instead of a few loose ones, so I buy that bag. By the time we get to the end, we’re all a little tired of apples so we end up with a few that don’t look so good. Rather than toss them, I peel and slice them and gently simmer them with cinnamon and a little water for a delicious topping for yogurt. You can certainly add a little brown sugar if you like. Or if I have a lot of apples, I quarter them, peels and all, and cook them down with cinnamon. A quick run through the food mill or mash with a potato masher makes great applesauce.

Apples simmering for sauce

I know tomatoes aren’t great this time of year but sometimes I simply must have one. I buy Campari tomatoes which tend to have better flavor than others. But again, if I don’t use them all and they start getting wrinkly, I quarter or chop them and toss with hot cooked pasta, a bit of garlic and basil if I have it. Voila! Instant supper.

Tomatoes and onions ready to roast

The same principle applies to anything that gets wrinkly – mushrooms, peppers, carrots, zucchini. You can chop as you want and add to a stirfry. No one will ever know they were in danger of passing on to the compost pile. Add a little fresh chopped onions, crisp celery and you have the base for almost any type of soup.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Asian stirfry for wrinkly vegetables

Any slightly wrinkled vegetables you have on hand, chopped to whatever size you prefer
½ onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Protein of choice – leftover cooked chicken, ground pork, tofu
Cooked rice

Wrinkly zucchini

Sauce – any bottled stir-fry sauce will do but if you want to make your own, here’s my favorite Asian sauce:

Spicy Szechuan sauce

¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine or sake
1 tablespoon black vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper or ¼ teaspoon finely ground white pepper
1 t. chili paste (or more or less to taste)
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Heat 2 T. olive in wok or high-sided skillet. Saute protein until done (if using cooked chicken or tofu, simply stir until heated through. Add the vegetables, 1 T. toasted sesame oil and saute until tender. Dress with sauce, heat through and serve over hot cooked rice.

Potato Leek Soup with fresh Sorrel

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We know that fall is the traditional leek season, so I picked up a bunch at the farmers’ market this week and decided to make potato leek soup, one of my favorites. And for a riff on the traditional, I decided to give it a lemony freshness with sorrel. I realize sorrel is usually considered a spring vegetable/herb since it makes such an early appearance when we’re so hungry for fresh greens. But mine is spectacular right now. It was ravaged as usual in summer, but the new leaves are large and lush because of the fall coolness. 

The idea wasn’t an original. I took inspiration from Marian Morash in The Victory Garden Cookbook, published in 1982. Remember the PBS show The Victory Garden with James Underwood Crockett? It was a Saturday morning staple, especially because Marian Morash always cooked something directly from the garden. That show and Organic Gardening Magazine still put me in a nostalgic haze. They helped make me who I am today.  

When I couldn’t find a good recipe to use sorrel (other than my sorrel sauce for salmon), I looked to Marian’s cookbook for ideas. Here is her basic recipe, with a few tweaks of my own. I have reduced amounts to make soup for two. 

Potato Leek Soup with Sorrel

  • 2 good-sized russet potatoes
  • about ten sorrel leaves
  • 1 T. butter
  • ½ c. chopped leeks (one or two, depending on size; white parts only)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 c. chicken or vegetable broth
  • Lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper
  • ½ c. evaporated milk or buttermilk 

Peel and roughly chop the potatoes. Wash the sorrel and remove the ribs and stems. Chop. Melt the butter and saute the leeks and garlic over gentle heat until soft. Cook the potatoes and half of the sorrel in chicken broth until the potatoes are fork-tender (about 20 minutes). Add the leeks and garlic, and puree. Return to the pan and season to taste. Stir in the remaining sorrel and milk or buttermilk and heat gently. Serve either hot or chilled. My dill is going crazy so it’s a perfect garnish. 

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Helene and Vegetable Bean Chili

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I live in Asheville. We survived and are coping. Hurricane Helene caused untold damage and suffering, with many, many houses damaged in our neighborhood by falling trees and inundating rain. But we are Asheville strong and will recover and rebuild.

Being in a situation without power, water or communication certainly makes one take stock of what is important. We scrambled for candles and lanterns, potable and flushing water, and gas to run generators. We frantically tried to cook everything in our freezer as it thawed (I am lucky to have a gas stove we could light with matches). As we handed food out to neighbors and hosted neighborhood dinners, I decided never to let my freezer get that full again. I love to put food by, but the food I lost was such a huge waste.

The community spirit certainly lives on, and our neighborhood, which came together to help each other through the last month, is having an outdoor chili supper tonight. We will all bring food, be grateful for the electricity to plug in the slow cookers, and happily drink our bottled water (no potable water available yet, and probably not for another month).

It’s to be a cool evening, perfect for chili, and there will be a myriad of chili flavors for all to sample as well as plentiful sides and delicious desserts. Most of all, it’s a chance to check in again with neighbors and friends to see just how everyone is doing.

I’m taking vegetable chili, full of vegetables, beans and most of all, tummy-warming flavor. You can put anything you like in this chili and it will keep a week in the fridge and in the freezer for three months. This recipe serves 4-6 and is easily doubled for your own neighborhood chili supper. It’s a great slow-cooker meal.

Vegetable Bean Chili

olive oil for sauteing
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can chopped green chilis
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled if you like, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. chili powder of choice (I like a combo of regular chili powder and chipotle chili powder
2 t. ground cumin
1 ½ t. smoked paprika
2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes, with juice
2 15 oz. cans black beans (I don’t drain and rinse – the juice adds flavor)
1 15 oz. cans pinto beans (see above)
2 c. vegetable broth or water
1 to 2 t. cider vinegar (brightens the flavor)

Garnishes: chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, tortilla chips, sour cream, grated cheddar or jack cheese

Warm the olive oil until shimmering in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onion, chiles, carrot, celery and a few shakes of salt. Saute until the vegetables are tender and the onion is translucent, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and cook until fragrant stirring constantly, about 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes and their juice, beans and broth or water. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes or put into the slow cooker on medium for about three hours. At this point check for salt. If you used unsalted beans, it will definitely need salt. Before serving you can remove a third and blend it to make a thicker chili if you like. Garnish to taste.

My path in the woods before Hurricane Helene

My path after Hurricane Helene

For the Love of Chiles

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The garden is bursting with ripe chile peppers, so it’s time to make salsas, hot sauces, chili pepper powders, and other chile goodies.

I grow a few favorites every year, but I’m a sucker for new varieties as well. I’m not a fan of extremely hot peppers, especially when they are so hot that the burn takes away all flavor. But there are some mildly hot peppers that are not on that extreme scale, and the flavors you get from them is unmatchable.

I always grow Aleppo and Espelette peppers for chili powder and Jalapenos for salsa. I grow Anaheims and Poblanos for roasting for the freezer for soups and stews in winter, and this year my new pepper is Sugar Rush Peach, an heirloom that has just appeared to be readily available.

Sugar Rush Peach peppers
Dehydrating

I had only one plant of Sugar Rush but it was heavily laden with lovely peach-colored peppers as they ripened. So, I had baskets of these peppers and needed to figure out what to do with them. I tried grilling them and they were a little too hot to eat plain so I diced them into some salsa which toned down the heat a bit. I dried the rest for chili powder and the tropical sweetness behind the heat is delicious. My best discovery was to stuff halves with cream cheese mixed with pepper jelly and broil them. They are not quite so hot when cooked, and these “poppers” are absolutely delicious.

Two extraordinary ways to eat some of the sweeter chile peppers:

Grilled Stuffed Sweet Heat Peppers

20 Sweet Heat peppers, sliced lengthwise into halves, seeds and membranes removed (they look best if the stems are left on)
2 slices bacon
1 c. cream cheese, softened (or ½ c. cream cheese and ½ c. goat cheese)
¼ c. shredded cheddar cheese
¼ minced chives
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 T. chopped fresh thyme

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Cook bacon until crisp and drain. Crumble bacon and add to rest of ingredients. Stuff pepper halves and place on grilling rack coated with cooking spray. Grill covered about ten minutes, until peppers are charred. Remove to serving platter and sprinkle with chopped, seeded fresh tomatoes.

Stuffed Sugar Rush Peach Peppers
Ten Sugar Rush Peach peppers, sliced lengthwise into halves, seeds and membranes removed (they look best if the stems are left on)
½ c. softened cream cheese
¼ c. pepper jelly (or any favorite jelly)

Mix the cream cheese and jelly and stuff the pepper halves. Slide under the broiler just until the cream cheese gets soft and begins to brown.
Remove and enjoy!

Simple summer meals

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cucumber tomato onion salad

Nothing says summer like a tomato, cucumber and onion salad, a staple in our house. After a day in the sun or in the hammock, why cook? We have a pile of tomatoes fresh from the garden sitting on the counter, so this salad paired with fresh sweet corn makes a perfect summer meal. 

Summer’s bounty

Summer, by nature, brings on lazy days when you want only cool, simple things to eat. And quick and easy preparation.

Open the crisper drawer and lo! Zucchini, yellow squash, snap beans, fresh dill. What can I make? Blanch the beans until crisp-tender and chill, shave the squashes into ribbons, and dress with chopped dill, feta cheese and a simple vinaigrette.

Here are a few simple meals to make your summer evenings easy. And they make good use of garden and market-fresh produce. For salads, simple olive oil and vinegar dressings are easy. But even though I love to make homemade dressings, I cave to simplicity in the summer and purchase dressings. This is a great time to use fresh herbs like basil, dill and mint.

Grilled baby carrots
  1. Fork canned albacore tuna over cooked pasta. Top with fresh tomatoes, and fresh grated Parmesan
  1. Grilled vegetable salad: Grill colorful vegetables like bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, eggplant. Toss them with fresh herbs, olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
  1. Caprese salad: Layer slices of ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil leaves. Drizzle with balsamic glaze, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
  1. Gazpacho or cucumber soup is perfect for hot days. Blend fresh tomatoes and/or cucumbers with onions, garlic, herbs, and a splash of olive oil.
  1. Seafood tacos: Grill fish or shrimp, top with crunchy slaw, avocado, and a squeeze of lime and roll in soft tortillas.
  1. Fruit salad: Combine seasonal fruits like watermelon, berries, and peaches. Add a hint of mint and a squeeze of lime or orange juice for extra freshness.
  1. Pasta salad: Mix cooked pasta with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta cheese. Dress with a light vinaigrette and fresh herbs.
  1. Stuffed bell peppers: Fill sweet red bell peppers with quinoa, black beans, corn, tomatoes, and spices. Bake until tender.
  1. Cold noodle salad: Toss cooked whole wheat spaghetti or soba noodles with carrots, bell peppers, snow peas or whatever other vegetables sound good. Toss with a sesame-ginger dressing.
  1. Grilled chicken Caesar salad: Grill chicken breasts and serve over crisp romaine lettuce with Caesar dressing, croutons, and Parmesan cheese.

Homemade Stock

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Homemade stock

In my vein of saving money and making food taste better, one of my go-to’s is homemade stock. There’s nothing quite like the scent of a kitchen with a pot of simmering stock on the stove. 

It’s a fantastic way to extract flavor and nutrients from ingredients while reducing waste and homemade stock adds depth and richness to soups, stews, sauces, and risotto. 

I keep a bag in the freezer into which go all of my vegetable scraps. When I have a bagful, I toss them into a large, heavy pot for a long, slow simmering. You can also toss in chicken or beef bones if you are a meat-eater. 

Most vegetables such as onions, carrots, celery, leeks and garlic make a delicious stock. Be sure to use the peels, especially onion and garlic, as they make the stock richer. Don’t use potato peels or scraps from cabbage, cauliflower or broccoli since they make the stock too strong. I also glean parmesan rinds from my grocery – they often sell them fairly inexpensively – and toss one or two into the stock for richness. 

Add whatever herbs you have handy, either fresh or dried, such as parsley, thyme, bay leaves, basil and oregano. 

Cover with a substantial portion of water and put on a low simmer. The longer you simmer it, the richer your stock will be. Four to six hours is adequate or you can cook it in a slow cooker on low overnight. 

I prefer to salt my stock when I use it in a recipe, but you can certainly salt it as you make it. 

Once the stock has simmered long and slow, remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a clean container to remove the solids.

Let the stock cool completely before storing it. Refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for several months. I freeze mine in 1-cup portions for easy use later. 

Oven Baked Risotto

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 3/4 cup Arborio rice
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine, (optional)
  • 3 cups stock (here’s where your homemade stock will shine)
  • 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, (optional)
  • Additions: prosciutto, brie, mushrooms, pumpkin, butternut squash, peas

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In an ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring to coat the grains with oil, about 1 minute.

Stir in the wine and cook until completely evaporated, about 1 minute. Stir in 1 ½ cups water, the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover, transfer to the oven, and bake, until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from oven. Stir in ½  to ¾ cup water (the consistency of the risotto should be creamy), the butter, cheese and parsley. Serve immediately.

Homemade Ricotta

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Honey and mint-infused ricotta with blueberries

In my vein of keeping things simple and less expensive, one of my faves is ricotta cheese. It’s a great boost of protein, is low in calories, and if you make your own, you can control exactly what’s in it. 

Store-bought ricotta can be expensive, but it is simple and quick to make. When you make it fresh you can make it as creamy or dry as you want. All it takes is high-quality milk and lemon juice or white vinegar.

It’s a great base for pasta sauces, to mix in chicken or tuna salad, to spread on grilled bread for bruschetta, to lighten and moisten baked goods, as a topping for pizza, to make delicious dips, to stuff pasta, to layer in lasagna and even to make a low-calorie sweet pudding to satisfy that sweet tooth. 

Crepes stuffed with lemon-flavored ricotta

Recipe for Homemade Ricotta 

Ricotta and avocado bruschetta

8 cups whole milk 

Organic is best; try to find milk that has not been ultra-pasteurized. But regular pasteurized milk is fine. You can make ricotta with 2% or even skim milk but it won’t be as rich or as creamy.

½ teaspoon salt 

you can omit this, especially if you are using it for something sweet

3 tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar

Line a colander with several layers of dampened cheesecloth or a linen tea towel and place over a bowl to catch the liquid. 

Heat the milk in a large heavy pan, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching. Heat to 185 F. This scalding kills any stray bacteria that might interfere with the clotting process.

Turn the heat to low, add salt if using, and add the lemon juice or vinegar.

Gently stir the mixture for a few minutes as the curds begin to form. The liquid that separates is whey (keep this – see below).

Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for about twenty minutes. 

Gently ladle the ricotta into the colander. Let sit for about 10 minutes for creamy ricotta or up to 20 minutes for dry ricotta. 

Homemade ricotta will last about three days in the refrigerator. 

*Whey is a great protein-rich addition to baked goods, in a smoothie, as a soup base, or even added for extra nutrition in pet food. Freeze it in ice cubes to have it available for tossing into a soup if you don’t intend to use it immediately. 

Gluten-Free 3

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It’s amazing how, when we heard “go gluten-free,” I thought “I absolutely can’t give up bread”. But then I whipped into gear to start looking at the options. I bought the ingredients to start baking without gluten and cruised the internet for advice about why we shouldn’t be consuming it.

Basically the advice, in a nutshell, is that if you are sensitive, you should stay away from gluten. However, if not diagnosed with Celiac disease or an actual allergy, then it’s not critical to buy oatmeal that is certified gluten-free or to avoid anything that might have even come into contact with wheat. The anecdotal take is that you should stay away from gluten no matter what because it is inflammatory. The medical advice is that it hasn’t been proven to be inflammatory and it’s fine to eat bread. The most important piece of advice to remember is to read your own body’s response.

Now that we’re several weeks into a gluten-free diet, we realize that if we have to continue this way, it’s not all that hard. We’re waiting on blood tests to see if gluten is causing the digestive issues, so will take all the advice with a grain of salt until we know the final diagnosis.

Meanwhile, commercial gluten-free hamburger buns, bagels, bread and wraps are perfectly edible. Okay, the bread doesn’t taste quite like a crusty sourdough loaf, but it’s certainly okay on a sandwich. And I like to pride myself on being adaptable. No adolescent pouting here.

I’ve had several failed loaves of bread using my own mix, so my advice is that, even though expensive, buy the ready-made baking and bread mixes. Try several and figure out which one you like the best. And enjoy your biscuits, pancakes and avocado toast!

My Nano’s buttermilk biscuits (with a tweak)

2 c. gluten-free baking mix (Bob’s Red MIll, KIng Arthur, Pillsbury)
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ t. baking soda
6 T. butter
1 c. buttermilk

Blend dry the dry ingredients. Cut in butter with two forks or a pastry cutter until it resembles a coarse meal. Add buttermilk and mix lightly, just enough to incorporate the ingredients. Be sure not to overmix. Pat into a loose ball, turn onto a floured board and roll out to about ½” thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Brush the tops with milk for browning. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Gluten-free diet

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I’m going to take you on a journey with me. Out of medical necessity, my house is going on a gluten-free diet. I’ve always shied away from gluten-free products because they just weren’t necessary and I assumed they weren’t as good as those made with wheat. Happily, I’ve been redirected.

I’ve spent a lot of years cooking with flour – from making a roux for creamy pasta to my grandmother’s traditional holiday cookies to soy sauce in stir-fries (yep, soy sauce has wheat in it) to good old bread baking and even making a sandwich.

I do so many things by rote and from scratch, that I now have to stop and think through any recipe and figure out substitutes. I asked a gluten-free friend which commercial breads taste best and her response was, “I don’t know. They’re all pretty bad.” However, until I can figure out how to make my own substitutions, I’m reliant on commercial breads and baking mixes. And they are pretty expensive.

But they certainly don’t deserve the bad reputation that so many have. I can’t say they’re homemade good yet, but at least there’s hope. Gluten-free products have come a very long way in the past 20 years. I made waffles from a gluten-free baking mix recently and they were actually as good as our usual homemade ones. Buttermilk and baking powder seem to work equally well with any type of flour. Most restaurants offer gluten-free bread and bun options so it’s also possible to eat intelligently when out without having to bring your own bread.

So, as I bounce along this road, I’ll share what I find as far as different flours to use, how to make leavening work without gluten, and which commercial products are the best. Keep in mind that if I mention a brand, I’m not selling or getting any compensation. It’s simply something I’ve tried that is readily on the market.

Here goes!

Gluten-free waffles and pancakes for two

I purchased an all-purpose baking mix (King Arthur) that already has baking powder and xanthum gum in it. Certainly not intended for bread baking, but the waffles were delicious. I’d really like more of a whole grain mix so I’ll next try just the plain alternative flours to make my own waffle and pancake mix.

The recipe using the baking mix:

2 T. vegetable oil or melted butter
1 large egg
1 T. sugar (optional)
½ t. vanilla extract
1 c. baking mix
½ t. baking powder (the mix already has some in it but they suggested more)
dash salt
1 ½ c. milk

Mix and let stand 10 minutes. Pour onto hot waffle iron or pancake griddle.