Simply Food, Nothing Extra

Lamb Chops

2010-11-09T08:33:00.001-06:00

Lamb chops, asparagus, feta cheese, warm sour dough rolls, and new potatoes in salt and butter.
Lamp chops are ity bity, but easy to cook. Basically season, brown in a skillet, finish in the oven at 350 degrees. I overcooked these but they were still pretty good. The sauce is dijon mustard mixed with honey. Both are local. I honestly like the asparagus without the sauce.

Easy enough for week night fare.

Waste Not, Sausage and Duck Gumbo

2010-11-06T07:44:00.001-05:00

by Danelle @ My Total Perspective Vortex

Last week I made an apricot glazed duck (from our farm) and part of the way the recipe said to cook the duck was to steam it for 45-60 minutes first and then roast it until the skin crisped and THEN glaze it. It was GOOD. The process though left me with about 1/2 gallon of duck steamed broth. Not a true broth but still something I didn't want to waste. So I looked around and found a recipe for gumbo with duck and sausage! It was a good template and so this is how I altered it:

Sausage and Duck (or chicken) Gumbo

couple slices of bacon
1/2 cup of butter and flour (for roux)
Andouille sausage (1 lb), cut into bite size pieces
1 onion, chopped smaller than bite size
3 stalks of celery, chopped bite size
1 green bell pepper, chopped bite size
1 clove or garlic crushed and minced (or 1 tsp of garlic powder)
1 Tbs of seasoning salt (like Swamp Fire or Slap Yo Mama)
1 Tbs of dried parsley
2 quarts (1/2 gallon) of duck (or chicken) broth
3 bay leaves

Fry bacon slices and sausage
Add celery, crushed garlic, bell pepper, and onions
When everything is fried up and spattering, add the broth
Bring to a boil and then simmer.
Add bay leaves and season to taste
Make roux with melted butter and flour, add to soup to thicken.

I used Jasmine rice to serve it over, but traditionally long grain is used.

Later, I served it over rice noodles and the girls actually licked their bowls clean. THAT is a rare occasion. They had seconds and ate until all the gumbo was gone.

That meant that the recipe above made enough for two full meals for a very hungry family of four.

Cracklings and Lard Uses

2010-09-25T22:36:00.003-05:00

"Cracklings (American) or crackling (British) is a crisp, deep fried food that may be made from various animals. Pork rind cracklings are popular in the American south. The skin of all kinds of poultry are used to make cracklings, including duck, chicken, goose and game birds. Some classic dishes, such as cassoulet depend on a top crust made crunchy by turning the skin of the duck used in the dish into a topping. Cracklings of all kinds are eaten plain, folded into breads and dumplings, and sprinkled atop dishes on their way to the table to add crunch. They are part of all traditional European cuisines, since the use of all parts of a butchered animal was nutritionally and economically important. They are called Gribenes and traditionally made from goose or chicken in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine."- from Wikipedia

So that's what they are. Our fat comes ground from our butcher so we're not going to get nice little squares to be made into chips. However, there are LOTS of tasty uses for cracklings here at the farm!

The crackling product coming from or off of the slow cooker, low heat fat rendering into lard, looks like underdone ground pork. It is less meaty and more fatty and smells a bit like bacon. It needs to be cooked more before using, but stores best at this fresh off the lard form.

So to use it, thaw it. Then fry it up in a cast iron skillet over low to medium heat until it is crispy (high temps you risk flash point and lots of smoke). At this point, depending on how I am going to use it, I season it with a garlic, salt, pepper, and cayenne mix I use instead of plain salt. You can season it to taste many different ways, but the Cajun in me prefers cayenne. I've also uses thyme, salt, and cayenne with a bit of maple syrup. Look at what application you'll be putting them to, and season accordingly. I find that they have a slightly porky flavour unseasoned, but that it is rather bland.

So fried up and crisped and seasoned, what now?

I use in place of bacon bits on salad greens.
Mixed up with bread crumbs for casserole toppings.
Green bean casserole, as an ingredient and with the fried onion bits that go on top.
I intend to also use in white gravy for biscuits and gravy, but have not yet.
As a pan liner for cornbread. If used like this really pay attention to seasoning, it will carry the bread.
Sprinkle on roasts just before serving.
Add to brown gravies just before serving.
Mix with cream cheese or sour cream as a spread or dip.

So you see, it is more of a condiment, has a lot of flexibility, and use.

Now lard is just as easy. Any recipe that says use vegetable shortening (Crisco), substitute 1:1 for lard. Pretty easy that. You'll get flakier pie crusts, more tender cookies, lovely sweets.

Other uses:

Greasing pans for pancakes and egg or fish frying, for cakes and breads.
Slice open lean roasts and tuck in a bit of lard. Makes for really tender meat. Especially useful for dry lean venison roasts.
Oven fried potatoes, use instead of whatever oil you'd use. We used to use olive or peanut oil.
Fried chicken. Pan fried or deep fried. Results in a really crisp and delicious chicken breast.
Dutch oven popcorn. 2 Tablespoons of lard, 1 teaspoon of salt, cover the bottom of the oven with kernels, cover and heat. When popping is done, remove from heat. So incredibly good (can also be made with bacon grease, btw).
Fried with plantains and served with rice
Added to Asian style stir fry and fried rice (seasoned with soy sauce)

Last weekend I made plain old sugar cookies with lard instead of shortening as a taste test sample at a local farm open house. I used the most basic sugar cookie recipe I could find, no added flavours like cinnamon or vanilla. I subbed the lard and I switched out the called for corn syrup with maple syrup. These cookies were good. Not fabulous, but lots of people comment on the fact that they'd thought there would be a porky flavour from the lard and they just tasted like sugar cookies. That is exactly why I made them. There was even an older baby who'd never had a cookie before, and his mom gave him my cookie as his first! That was really flattering.

5 years ago my husband brought home lard for pie making and was super excited to use it. I was totally grossed out. At that point I still thought I had to microwave my food to make it safe to eat, even fresh out of the oven food would get zapped for 30 seconds. How far I've come that I now raise and render my own lard. Food for thought, I guess.

Are there any uses I have left out? What do you or would you use lard and cracklings for?

How To Render Lard in a Crockpot or Slow Roaster

2010-09-20T20:08:00.002-05:00

Our butcher does not render the lard that our pigs produce for people, but they will grind it up and bag it to be included with the order. Still, rendering lard has set in our cultural imaginations as something dangerous, messy, smelly.....ect. I came across several historical accounts that involved houses burning down as a result of lard splatter during rendering or of severe, debilitating burn injuries. Most accounts talked of men with long sticks and huge kettles over open fires doing the rendering due to the danger factor.

I'm not kidding.

That doesn't work for our modern kitchens. At least not mine. I did a bit of research and found lots of links to sites that had people buying a couple lbs of lard and doing small batches on the stove top or in a dutch oven. But that's still not what I needed. Last year our butcher presented me with a full 5 gallon bag, frozen hard. It took three days to thaw mostly. I needed a way to do this thing in bigger batches and explain to customers how to do it too.

So my starting point was my experience last year. It wasn't hard, it did smell though, and the end results had some problems. This year I was having none of that.

My first batch was completed on Thursday and came out exactly how I wanted it to.

So start with the big old bag of frozen lard. This bag was about 3 gallons. I let it completely thaw in my fridge.

It would fit in my 7 quart crock pot, but I also have an 18 quart electric slow roaster that I wanted to try out. Either would have worked great. A smaller amount would work in a smaller crock pot too.

I scrubbed out all the equipment I was going to use. Any old food residue will contaminate, even dust from sitting in storage. Wash and rinse before use no matter how clean it looks.

I set the fat in the roaster and set it at 225 degrees (low on a crock pot). Some say to put 1/2 cup of water in too, but I didn't. I put the lid on and came back in 1 hr. In that time a lot of fat had liquefied so I scraped down the soft sides of the fat glob in the middle.

1 hr. later repeat.

Lots of extra room. A 7 quart crock pot would have been more than enough.

1 more hr. later and it had all liquefied and the meat chunks that will be cracklings were floating on the top. I stirred and broke those up a bit more. No splattering involved. No really any bad smell either. Many of the accounts I read said this is a critical time to watch though. The cracklings will soon sink and then rise up again. When they sink and then rise, it is done. If you wait too much longer then the lard will start to brown and take on a more porky flavour.

So now I was checking every 20 minutes or so and I actually saw the sinking in progress. Yay!

Very clean and clear.

Once that happened I got my containers out. Last year I used old yogurt and ice cream plastic containers. Bad idea. They looked clean, but were not. The result was that the cracklings got contaminated and spoiled fast, the lard also developed mold and growth at the bottom once thawed in the fridge. This year I used sterilized for canning (washed in hot water and soap then boiled in water for 10 minutes) glass freezer safe jars. In our experience, lard can last up to 2 years in the freezer, though the official time is more like 1 year. It is supposed to last 3-6 months in the refrigerator. Cracklings are more of a meat product and will last 6 months to a year in a freezer and 1 week in the fridge. So when storing cracklings think about how they will be used and store in individual servings (sandwich size freezer bags or small freezer safe 1/2 pint jars are what we use).

As it was cooling. Chad thought it was lemonade concentrate and almost tried to drink some.

To put in the jars I got out my widemouthed canning cone and some cheese cloth/mesh folded over 4 times. I just laid it in. I used a metal measuring cup and scooped the lard/cracklings mix into the mesh. The lard drained into the jars, the cracklings separated out. When enough cracklings built up, I dumped them into a big bowl to cool. I filled the jars just below the freeze line and capped with a sterile lid.

After cooling and freezing.

No splattering since it was all done at low heat. I laid a towel out to catch drips but those were minimal.

I did put my purse in the car (in case the house caught fire) and a bowl of ice water waiting (in case of burns). Neither was necessary.

Lard can be used in place vegetable shortening in any recipe. Crisco type shortening was developed to replace lard with its longer shelf life (of like 20 years, ew). Lard should not be shelf stable, ever.

Anyway. No mess, no stink/smell, super easy, clean jars. I'd call this year's process a success!

ZJ Farm's CSA#1 and Strawberry Preservation

2010-06-12T20:42:00.000-05:00

Hello there!
'Tis the season for CSA's and strawberry abundance, so I have put up a post on my blog, culinarybliss.blogspot.com, about my first CSA share, how I prepared the lettuce, and a few ways to preserve strawberries. Check it out!

Live Local, Week 6

2010-05-06T07:40:00.000-05:00

Last time you were challenged to buy one item local, and keep at it. This week a quick tute on a couple things local eating, involving the Farmer's Market and what you get there. Newbies to the market are bound to be overwhelmed, at least our Downtown Market. I gotta be honest with you-I love the variety of stands but the sheer number of folks down there if you don't get there right at the starting bell, whoa. It is packed. Not just on special weekends, pretty much every weekend. It is an awesome problem to have, but also overwhelming for those who don't like crowds (that would be me) or newcomers to the market. It can make it somewhat difficult to take the time to see what each booth has. Now, one solution would be to check in or start your market experience at the actual Downtown Farmer's Market stand, which can help with directions to certain stands and information. One thing that has helped me is to ask those who go regularly where they frequent when they do go, at least in the beginning, so you know you are getting actual *local* food. It is a frustrating thing for me to walk past the booths that are shipping in most of their produce. Nothing like melons in May. Not in Iowa, folks. It just doesn't happen. Ask your stand peeps or salespeople where the produce is from. I noticed on the Blue Gate stand last weekend that they had a little sign designating that NOTHING they sell is not of their own making or growing. That is reassuring to me. I can look over the stand and know that anything there is a local product. Most the dairy, cheese or meat outfits, as well as the bakeries are local guys, too. Ooo and the mushroom guy. I *heart* him. Not al veg stands are equal, though. Ask them! Strike up a conversation. One thing you'll notice is that the stands that do their own growing are *excited* to talk about their wares. They put themselves into this product, and now they want you to love it as much as they did growing it. They can tell you what variety it is and how it was grown. Generally they will tell you how to eat it (um, with your mouth?) and what might go well with it. Try that with stands who ship in most their produce, and it won't happen. They are happy to sell to you. They can't tell you if that melon is a French heirloom canteloupe, though, or a hybrid muskmelon. How it was grown? On a farm somewhere. Shipped in. Later in the season it may be more Iowa produce, but the point is to try to support local goods and *eat in season* when it comes to marketing. You have to talk to the vendors. And I admit, that can be hard when it is so crazy about mid morning. Try going really early, or really late. Early you will end up with the best selection and a lot less traffic. At the end many vendors have to get rid of their wares-fresh picked veggies don't last, so you can often get bargains on bulk purchases. There is less chaos, as well, so you can chat a minute to learn more about your foods.
Another option you have (I love you Jill, Lois, Maggie and so on, I do, I just can't stand the crowds!) is to check out some of the smaller markets. I have been to many. I try to *really* go local (although, funny enough, the stands I like the best, for the most part, actually are the ones whose farms are in my neighborhood anyway-yay Marion Co!) and frequent the Knoxville Market once it is up and running. A lot fewer stands, it is true, but to supplement our veggies we grow ourselves, I can do just as well there. I can buy Reichert's Cheese across the way at the coffeeshop that sells it and get a nice cup of joe (here is a funny twist) at the bookstore on the other side of the square. Plus it's a bookstore. And it has chocolate. And books. Right.
There are numerous small markets out there to check out. Check localharvest.org or just google local towns and the words farmer's markets. One of the nice things is that many of these markets are held at times other than that coveted 8-12 Saturday slot, so you can do both if you like. I know we tend to go downtown every few weeks to stock up on certain things we can't get at our small number (mushrooms when that guy is there, gooda gouda, Prairie breeeeeze, just to say hi to the awesome folks from Prairieland Herbs :) ) but use the Tuesday evening option for the Knoxville Market (they sell on Sat's as well. So very handy) to do the bulk of our buying. I have also been able to connect more with my communities. Moving into a new area and being quite the hermit (no really, I am) it can be hard to meet folks. The market gives me opportunities to talk to other farmers, to talk to other patrons, to visit and talk to the little shops on the square of town. I love it.
One last note; unless there is some huge sign advertising that a product is grown organically, don't assume. Once again, talk to your farmer selling the stuff. Many farms refuse to pay outrageous amounts to be certified organic, yet their practices in growing are as good or often times better than what is required for organic certification. Some people use an alternative system called Certified Naturally Grown, where peers (other farmers) check up on what you're doing and you have to follow stricter guidelines in your practices than Certified Organic. Just ask the farmer. If you are not sure they are telling the truth (oh, yeah, sure, it's chemical free) ask them what their methods are. Being a farmer (don't laugh) myself, (okay petting zoo owner) I love to talk about what I do, and go into great detail about how and what it takes to run the place. Don't be afraid. They won't be offended if they have nothing to hide. If they didn't love what they were doing, they wouldn't be doing it, and it is a choice to sell at the market. You have to expect that someone is going to ask how you do it.
Last but not least, enjoy yourself! Sample the food if they offer it. I would have never known I liked gouda (I had previous experiences with it and DID NOT like it before the market) if the Frisian Farms boys hadn't insisted on me trying a piece. Try out the food vendors. My first experience with a pupusa was at the market. And try not to stress. Just have fun, and know just being there helps to support the market. They see people and they are going to keep things going. I have been a part of a market that died because people just stopped coming, then vendors stopped coming, and we were finished. Locality involves more than just food. Just be an informed buyer. Ask about things. Talk with your vendors. Oftentimes they will start to recognize you, and that makes it all even more fun, as now you have food and friends to visit each week!

Live Local- Week 5, Pick Something

2010-04-23T12:38:00.002-05:00

Here in Central Iowa we are about to enter our glorious farmer's market season. Fresh local food, grown by real people will actually be available in between the booths of shipped in produce and fast food coffee.

Seriously though. The farmer's market is an amazing experience on a couple different levels. One is that you get to connect to and with the people growing or raising the food. Second, you can try new things! Third, you can connect with other people buying real food. It is a social event.

This week the challenge to live local is to pick one thing that you know you do not get local already and find it at the market or by using localharvest.org or by asking people. I started this week with flour. It is not something I ever thought I could get locally and yet there is a farm in Central Iowa that grows grains and mills flour- Paul's Grains!

Last year I changed to local with cheese and milk. The year before that it was honey. The change doesn't have to cost a lot, nor re-vamp your entire pantry. Pick something you actually use and like and simply replace your grocery store staple with something more local. I found that I actually pay less and the quality is absolutely AMAZING.

Live Local- Week 4, Meal Planning

2010-03-26T19:15:00.004-05:00

So many people ask me about meal planning. It is the keystone to how I can organize our food and nutrition, and to many people just starting out eating healthy and local, it is the most daunting task. So I have transferred my weekly notes for you all to see.

Meat + Vegetable + Starch= meal.

That's the base that I work from. It is somewhat misleading though because many on my starch list are actually vegetables.

I always start with the meat and in the beginning my list was not quite as diverse. It is ok to just start out with three or four meat categories. It took me moving to a farm and getting really brave to expand it as far as we have:
Beef
Pork
Chicken
Duck
Turkey
Lamb
Venison
Fish

Then I narrow down the cut I want to use or I leave it open for a bit

Vegetables:
(Basically anything with a lot of colour, leaning toward the greens)
Brussel Sprouts
Peas
Green Beans
Spinach
Broccoli
Kale
Kohlrabi
Cabbage
Beets
Mushroom

Starch:
(Now that's trickier because there are some vegetables I classify under this category)
Rice
Noodle
Bread
Cornmeal
Corn
Carrot
Potato
Sweet Potato
Turnip
Pumpkin
Squash
Zucchini
Dry Beans

Then I match up my threes: For example

Venison Loin Roast with broccoli and sweet potato. There's nothing fancy about how I prepare the meat, just a slow roast with lard or butter and a seasoned salt pepper mixture. The vegetables get steamed and then I mash the sweet potatoes and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Beef, Hamburgers, Buns count as starch serve with green beans (again steamed, butter and salt). It is natural for me to want to serve fries with the burgers, but that's dual starch.

Chicken thighs (with bone in) and Rice, Cream of Mushroom Soup with a pound of extra mushrooms. Sometimes I'll also add chopped celery. Casserole style.

Pork, Iowa Chops broiled with seasoned salt, mashed potatoes and peas.

Pork, Ground browned and then sauce added, green beans and rice. Green Bean Sichuan.

Beef, Steaks seasoned and broiled, with pumpkin mash and Brussels sprouts.

Lamb, leg steak stew with carrots, dry beans, and onion. Throw in some spinach at the end or serve with spinach salad.

Beef or Pork, Penne Pasta with tomato red sauce with meat balls.

Beef, Pork, or Chicken- Chili with tomato, onion, peppers, and beans.

Pork, Ham steaks with carrots and potato, one dish quickie and an exception to my rule based on convenience.

Eggrolls: any meat, cabbage and carrots in a wrap and deep fried.

Pizza: meat, bread, cheese, tomato sauce

Beef: Tacos....ground beef cheese, corn tortilla tacos, tomato salsa.

Fish, steamed with carrots and broccoli.

And that covers two weeks, considering left overs. It makes it easy for families with allergies too, though we don't have any (thank goodness and knock on wood!), as the starch is where the glutens are and dairy is easily left out or substituted with goat dairy if need be. We follow a heavy meat and coloured vegetable diet so if I feel lazy I just leave out the starch one sometimes. Who says you need two sides anyway?

Often we will have less than a full serving left over, (a full serving can be frozen and sent to work with husband for lunch). I save it anyway and scramble it will eggs or make an easy pasta lunch with the added meat and vegetable. I hate wasting food.

That's how we do it here at the farm! How do you do it?

Live Local Week 3-Convenience Foods

2010-03-18T09:23:00.002-05:00

People are always asking about making eating healthier, but also how to keep convenience. One thing I do religiously is to make extras and freeze. There are four of us-two adults and two small children-in our household. It is rather handy I grew up cooking for 6 full size people. In doing so, I still cook that way. That means I make far more than we need to eat, and rather than just throw half of dinner in the fridge where often it gets forgotten, I freeze what doesn't get eaten in individual portions. Take this morning's breakfast for example:
Sometime last week I made pancakes for the kids for breakfast. Rather than only make part of the recipe (which often kind of kills the recipe) or just tossed out the remaining batter, I made the whole thing. I took what we didn't eat and froze it. With pancakes, I can usually part them easily, and thus store them easily together, but with many items, I store in single serving sizes.

One biggie around here is alphabet soup. We make a big pot (the major health food grocery in the big town has rice pasta that is alphabet shaped) of basically a refrigerator stew-whatever meat and veg I have on hand, well seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, some tomato sauce sort of thing- add the pasta and freeze in yogurt cup serving sizes. One cup-one serving. I try not to use plastic in my freezer preserving, but until I have more freezer safe jars, they work better than buying any canned good! I make more calzones than we need and they make great fast lunches or dinners. I think overcooking is a major player in our having convenience food on hand for small moments, like lunches or when I need to feed just one of the kids. For full meals, we keep freezer meals on hand-full casseroles and one pot dishes that me and five other moms take one day a month to prepare.

They are a major blessing and I have definitely noticed our eating out in the evenings has pared way down. I can now grab one of those when it has been "one of those days" and have dinner ready without the help of the local pizza place.

There are so many ways to cook whole foods at home and still live a crazy life as we do...it is just retraining your habits to fit that style. We are not the first families to have a lot of kids, or a lot of work, or a farm to take care of. We just fell out of habit in doing things the "good" rather than the "easy" way. Easy is often not the best choice. That isn't to say living this way isn't easy-it really is! Just rethink what you're doing to find better ways of doing it.

Live Local, Week 2

2010-03-10T08:53:00.000-06:00

I am hoping you took from last week that what the base, the main and most eaten ingredients of your diet should include, is meat, vegetables, fruit, whole grains (not whole grain products, whole grain items you eat as such, or make into other things yourself, if you can. If you don’t have time, whole grain something is better than white flour stuff any day) and dairy, with healthy fats and natural sweeteners on the side. But, what does all that really mean?

Here lately the buzz words are “green” “organic” “local”, but all of those tags come with hidden agendas, and can be hard to find without really knowing your sources. Knowing your sources can be terribly overwhelming in the beginning. Many challenges insist you throw out all the bad stuff, go to your local organic food mart and load up on the food there. I don’t think this is the way to do it-at all.

Here is a breakdown of the important points in this second week:

*Just about anything you have to buy already made is not going to be your best choice. Does this mean you can never buy it? Of course not! In the end you will know what is best for you and your family. What I prescribe here is ideal, but it takes a while to get to the point where it is fully your lifestyle. Try to stick to the outer aisles of the grocery store this time of year. We will have a video cast of a trip through on one of our own shopping trips in the near future, but are still working out the details. There are so many options for buying food!

*DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF! And by that, what I really mean is, if I have a choice, with my budget between eating organically, but only a few select veggies, or eating locally, I am going to choose locally-often if I know my provider, they may use organic methods, but like I am in my farm, not want to deal with the junk the government put small guys through for certification. Even further, if I can feed my family mostly vegetables and fruits and meats within my budget, but can’t feed them those things if I opt for organically grown, I am going to feed them the non-organic. I can’t control my flow of cash, and I would rather they were eating all those healthy things, and deal with pesticides now (see my next thought for more on this). This is heads and tails above eating convenience foods like boxed mac n cheese, hamburger helper, velveeta and frozen pizza (I’d like to qualify that as all the time, as well. Sometimes it is necessary or a treat to have those items. Just not all the time).

*One of the really important aspects to eating locally is that you know your source. This importance has come up numerous times in the past weeks as people are finding that their large sources for food are not as up front with them as they’d like to believe. A woman allergic to corn thought her meat supplier was grass based only to learn the processor used a corn based lactic acid spray in the butchering. That is important, and something that you can only be sure of when you have the chance to talk one on one with your suppliers. That generally means looking beyond your supermarket, and at other sources like the local farmer’s markets, farm stands, farms and ranches, and locally supplied stores. A source for searching these sorts of suppliers out I LOVE is localharvest.org. Great, great for finding where to get local goods. You type in your zip code, and bam, there’s a list of what’s available. If you can shop this way, it is better. We buy most of our meat through local ranchers that we have a good relationship with.

*Buying local does not equal buying bulk! A lot of farmers realize you cannot afford to purchase half of an animal at a time, and thus offer smaller packages, whether you use them to just get a taste of what they have to offer or to get you through your week to week. I love buying my meat in bulk-it *is* more affordable in the long run if you can adjust your saving style to plan for doing it each year (though my beef rancher has a payment plan), and I don’t have to worry about the meat counter at the grocery store very often. CSA’s are a great way to eat locally as well, but even they often offer smaller shares, or have farm stands on the side.

*One of the big ways you can help provide yourself with wholesome, chemical free food is to do it yourself-if you have even a little bit of yard that gets a fair amount of sunshine, you can grow your own food. There have been some great articles lately on growing a lot of food in a small place-instead of a bunch of flowers, plant a victory garden (will have more on this once outdoor planting season commences in the Midwest). Most plants that provide food are flowering, and have pretty foliage. We will go into more detail with this as the growing season moves forward, but it really isn’t difficult. Another option for growing your own food, though a bit more ambitious and costly to start, is backyard chickens. If your city regulations allow, it is fairly easy to keep 3-6 birds in a chicken tractor (a small moveable enclosed chicken structure the keeps the birds fully penned, but allows access to fresh grass, is mobile to keep their droppings spread, and predator proof) for a supply of fresh eggs, and every couple years, birds for chicken stock and pulled chicken recipes. I know a few ladies who have done this rather successfully and plan on adding a number of meat birds to the mix this year, as they can be kept just long enough to be big enough to eat, which is generally when they start to try to crow as well, thus alleviating issues with noise that are often the caveat of being able to raise birds in town.

*Processed food, whether organic or not, is more expensive to buy-in the long run. As you are transitioning to using more whole foods, it may cost a little more. If you spread it out, though, and buy a large bag of carrots this trip for snacking on (get the whole carrots here. Baby carrots are actually a PROCESSED food-I know, crazy, right? They are not actually baby carrots, but carrots that have been cut into smaller pieces, then peeled and treated with chlorine, rinsed and packaged for convenience. It is just as easy, more affordable, too, to buy the bigger bags of full sized ones and just wash them when you get home. If they are organic, you don’t even have to peel them first. I get the organic ones and my kids just grab them straight out of the fridge. I only worry to peel the non-o ones.) these will last you a while in the fridge-not all vegetables are quickly perishable, the next trip make a point to get a bag or two of dried beans like garbanzo and black beans to keep on hand to make a bevy of great, nourishing dishes, like one of my favorites, hummus (yes, tutes will follow on a lot of this).Small steps, and once you buy one item, give it a permanent place on your list. As you do this, you will get closer and closer to buying only real foods as you travel the aisles-really the perimeter of the store.

The first steps are transitioning to WHOLE foods. You can worry about organic and even local, after you get in the habit of just eating differently. Some people have made comments about having nothing to eat when they start buying this way. There is so much TO eat-you just have to retrain the way you think. Instead of potato chips for snacks, choose fruit or veggies, with a hummus or homemade sour cream dip. Instead of store-bought crackers, make nut crackers (they take like ten minutes to bake, maybe three to mix up) to have with some chevre or cream cheese and honey, or a personal favorite, cream cheese and a locally or home-made pepper jelly. Small changes. Meals are not hard-meat or beans, vegetable or two, maybe a little dairy, nix the pop and go with iced tea, water, milk, and sparkling juice (that you can make yourself to bypass how insanely expensive that stuff is-and overly sugary compared to what you can do at home. More info later).

It is true that even once you start on whole foods that each area has more steps you can take to be even healthier in your pursuit, but it is all just one step at a time. Focus the next couple weeks on just transitioning over to whole food eating. This blog has an amazing array for recipes that should help.

Fried Eggplant

2010-03-07T10:55:00.001-06:00

One of my favorites and so simple!

Peel and slice your eggplant into thin discs. Layer them with plenty of salt in a colander and let them sit for at least 30 minutes to drain a lot of them moisture off of them.

Pat them salt and remaining wet off of them with towels. Dredge in flour, then in egg or milk (or if you're feelin' frisky as I apparently was this time around, red wine...) then back in flour

and fry in hot -around 350 degrees- oil.

Drain and eat. We always dipped in ketchup or ketchup and mayo mixed (isn't that fry sauce) or ranch dressing. Go-o-o-od.

Midwestern Pork Enchis

2010-03-05T10:54:00.000-06:00

After Diana's post on how authentic enchiladas are made with only corn tortillas, I felt compelled to qualify mine as a Midwestern contruct :) That being said, these are the enchiladas we always eat around here, though we'll be working in some of those Spanish numbers, as well.

Midwestern Pork Enchis
Start with a 1-2 # pork roast (you can easily make a full size roast, about 4 pound size. I used the cheapest roast at Fareway the day I bought them as I had no roasts from my pig purchase. Just double everything else and freeze the enchiladas to bake later. I do not bake them before I freeze them.) I brined it in a large dish with about a 1/2 c salt, 1/2 c honey or sugar, 1/8 cup peppercorns and enough water to dissolve everything in and cover the meat. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight, if you have time, otherwise for at least a couple hours. Pork tastes so much better brined.

Seasonings for the meat: salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, cumin. I mix about equal parts together and cover the roast-thick cover the roast.
Place the roast in the crockpot and douse with seasonings. Place on low and roast until the meat is falling apart all over the place. Pull it like you would for sandwiches, removing any bones or large pieces of fat. Stir the meat into the juices and seasonings.

You can assemble at this point or place in the fridge to assemble later.
To assemble you will need:
1 recipe of salsa roja (I make this ahead of time, and in big batches. They freeze well on their own, as well as keep in the fridge for quite some time so you can pull it out as you need it. I use it in chili and posole as well).
shredded cheese- I used a blend of colby jack this time, but any will work that melts well.
flour tortillas
1 recipe of homemade salsa
casserole dish and oil

Place the tortilla flat and open, and spread in about a palmful of meat in the center. Add a half palmful or so of cheese, and about a 1/4 c of sauce and 1/4 c salsa. start to roll, folding in the sides as you go to secure everything in the tortilla. Place in the greased casserole pan, and continue until you run out of meat or tortillas. Top with any remaining sauce, salsa and then on the very top cheese. I keep these to the middle of the enchiladas as we bake ours until the edges of each enchi is getting crispy and browned. Once that is happening and the cheese is melting, they are ready to eat! I will try to get more pics and more exact measurements the next time we eat them. This is another one I've been making so long I don't pay attention.

The Live Local (as possible) Challenge Begins

2010-03-01T08:56:00.000-06:00

We have had quite the time trying to decide what to call this challenge. After many discussions, we didn't want to focus solely on food, thought food is a MAJOR player. There are so many other little things that go into the way we eat, like growing our food, how we clean our dishes, how to teach our children the way of life we have grown to love. We also didn't want to call ourselves a "real" food challenge or "traditional" food challenge, as we don't totally or exclusively subscribe to the ideas of Nourishing Traditions, or Dr. Mercola or The Maker's Diet, or any number of eat-this-way manuals out there. What we have a is a hybrid of food that we aim to eat as our main diet, based on whether it used to live and breathe. That's it, for the most part. Foods that we can see in their whole form before preparing them. Foods that rarely come out of a box. A lifestyle that is based on common sense, frugality, simplicity and traditions of families and cultures dating back too many years to recount.
Also, we will be the first to say that we do not eat only local foods. I love my olive oil. Olives don't grow in this ag state, so we get ours from California when possible, Italy when necessary. Also see the previous post on this blog about nobody being perfect. This is a slow change, and only as much of a change as you and your family feel comfortable with, but definitely one worth pursuing.
We are taking all of this slowly-changing the way you live should happen that way. Feel free to use each suggestion when you get a chance. This is only the beginning, and most likely we will check in weekly with another piece to the puzzle.
The first thing we want to you to think about is what your goals are-healthier eating, simpler life, lower grocery bill, eventual homesteading?
The posts for this won't be solely contributed from one person or blog. We have a group of people helping, as a community is a useful tool that has gotten lost somewhere as our nation has evolved. That means you may come up to a post that is simply a brief explanation and link to another blog. There is some wonderful advice out there, and there is no reason to continually reinvent the wheel when such great ones are already rolling.

***Step one will be to look at the food in your home and find what wasn't once breathing...decide how important that food is to your family, and whether this will be the last month you buy it. If it is, don't feel like you have to just throw it out. Make a point to eat it the rest the way throughout the month, and watch for later posts as we talk about replacement options. Feel free to post what you are getting rid of or questions on how to replace/make your own of items. We will work to include answers to those questions in later posts. (Note: plants breathe... :) )

Rice Cooker Magic

2010-02-24T12:07:00.003-06:00

I love my rice cooker. Period.
The rice cooker that we have is a basic PHD (push here dummy) version, just an on/off switch. No fuzzy logic, bells or whistles.

In the past we used it about once a month whenever we made rice, but since last year we use it nearly daily, especially in the winter. That was when I discovered that I could use it to make our breakfast oatmeal. I dump steel cut oats, water, salt and dried cranberries in the night before and when I wake up in the morning I hit the switch and walk away. About 20-30 minutes later we have perfectly cooked oatmeal, ready to dress with maple syrup and eat! Love it!

Then this winter my insightful friend Maggie sent me a recipe for using the rice cooker for making polenta. Ohhhhhh...

I keep medium grind cornmeal for my bread baking, so I tossed it into the cooker and gave it a try. Cornmeal, water and salt, cooked for a little more than a full cycle, dressed with butter and BGF honey, be still my heart! It is my new favorite breakfast. If you have a rice cooker, give it a try!

Polenta
4 cups water
1 cup coarse grain yellow polenta
1/2 tsp salt

Place water in rice cooker bowl, add polenta and salt.
Stir 15 seconds with a wooden spoon or plastic rice paddle. cover and set for porridge or regular cycle. A few times (or once!) during cooking, open the cover, stir 15 seconds, then close cover. At the end of the regular cycle , taste the polenta and make sure the desired consistency has been reached. If not, push the button and let it go a little longer.

For breakfast I just dress with butter and honey. If serving at another meal, you can add in 2/3 c. shredded Parmesan at the end.

Enchiladas Roja

2010-02-18T15:01:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite things about making homemade chicken stock is having tender chicken to strip off the bones for homemade enchilada's. The secret to a perfect enchilada is in homemade enchilada sauce! There is a bit of a process when making homemade enchilada's but once you start dipping and rolling you'll find that it's super easy and super delicious! My grandmother Mita actually taught my mother how to make homemade enchilada's and let me tell you, there is no comparison between this recipe and a sloppy enchilada you'll find at an American Mexican restaurant. One note to remember is that an authentic, traditional enchilada is always made with corn tortillas, no exceptions! There is no need to drown your enchilada in cheese as the chicken meat mixed with cilantro and green onions really makes this dish to swoon over!

Enchilada's Roja

Ingredients:

1lb shredded chicken meat
4 green onions thinly sliced
3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 recipe salsa roja para enchiladas
12 corn tortillas
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup shredded cheese to sprinkle on top

*Tip - You can find great corn tortillas called El Milagro at your Mexican Grocer. They have no preservatives and their only ingredients are Corn, Lime, and Water! The best thing, a package of 12 costs 32 CENTS!

Method:

In a large bowl, mix the shredded chicken, green onions, cilantro, and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
After you've mixed your meat mixture, it's time to get everything mise en place.

Back left burner, keep your enchilada sauce warm over low heat
Back right, the meat mixture placed on the range. (It's not on)
Front left, extra virgin olive oil over low heat.
Front right, casserole dish to roll and place enchiladas

Using tongs, dip one tortilla at a time into the warm oil to soften the tortilla. Immediately dip the tortilla into the enchilada sauce and place in your casserole dish. Fill the center of the tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of meat mixture and roll it up. One thing to remember is that if you leave the tortilla in the oil for too long, it will get extremely soft and break on you. Quite literally, you'll only keep it a few seconds on each side in the oil and about the same amount of time in the enchilada sauce. Practice makes perfect!

Once all of the enchiladas are rolled, top with the remaining enchilada sauce (you may have some left over) and top with shredded cheese.
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the cheese melts.
Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Buen Provecho!!

Homemade Sour Cream

2010-02-15T11:10:00.001-06:00

Homemade sour cream is ridiculously easy to make. Yet, nobody does it. Well, I'd like to change that! :) I love using fresh, local cream to make delicious, better-than-store-bought sour cream. People are amazed at how good it is, when they taste it! And when I tell them how simple it is to make, they almost don't believe me. So, here it is!

Get yourself some lovely local cream. Yes, you can use whole milk, or half and half if you like, but cream is SO much better.

You will also need sour cream starter, it comes in little packets. I get mine from cheesemaking.com.

Gently heat 1 quart of milk to 86 degrees. Watch closely, as this doesn't take long. I have, more than once, accidentally overheated it a bit. When this happens, I just let it cool to 86 degrees, and proceed. It seems to work fine.

Then remove from heat, stir in one packet of sour cream starter, pour into a covered container (2 glass pint jars with lids works beautifully), and let sit at room temp for 12-24 hours or until it is a consistency that you like. I like mine really thick. :)

That's IT. Refrigerate, and eat. It is DIVINE.

Culturing your own dairy products is always interesting - sometimes the cream turns out better than others (it's always good, sometimes it's just even better!). Jill Burkhart, owner of Picket Fence Creamery, has found the same thing - when making her butter, ice cream, and cheese curds, she finds seasonal variations in the texture, color, and consistency of her dairy products. She says that in her opinion, it's all just a mixture of weather, time of year, food, what the grass is like, and the "mood" of the herd. Isn't that beautiful and interesting?

Brunost (Scandinavian Brown Cheese)

2010-02-09T11:15:00.000-06:00

So, I have alot of whey. I make queso blanco at least once a week, and am venturing into other cheesemaking adventures. I use it in bread, and to cook grains and beans, etc, and STILL have alot of whey. So I decided to try this unusual recipe for a scandinavian type of "brown cheese", made by essentially boiling your leftover whey (with a bit of milk and cream added, if you like) to make a thick, carmelized sort of whey-cheese.

I used about a gallon of whey, and added 2 cups each whole milk and cream, as recommended by this recipe.

Here is the whey reduced to about half. It is starting to get darker.

Here it is reduced to about one fourth. Getting very dark,and thick, and starting to smell caramel-ey.

This is where I stopped it. It was quite thick and dark and I had to stir it constantly. Until this point, I mostly just let the mixture bubble away on medium heat on the stove, just stirring every now and again as I wandered through the kitchen. Not exactly a high-maintenance project.

I did notice at this point that the cheese was looking a little grainy. I poured it into a shallow pan and took it outside (it's very cold here right now, so I figured that would cool it off quickly) and set it on a cold glass table and stirred until it was cool. The grainyness does not detract from it's taste, but I'd much prefer a smooth cheese. I will have to work with this recipe to make sure I know how to get a smooth cheese.

After this was cool I packed it into a smaller, square container that I had buttered, and refrigerated it. It is now slicable, while cold, and almost a spreadable texture. Similar to, dare I say it - Velveeta - in density.

Now, the taste. It is REALLY interesting and super hard to describe. I like it VERY much. It's both salty and sweet, with caramel overtones. I think it would go well with both sweet and savory dishes. I am going to do alot of experimentation with this fun cheese to see how I like to serve and eat it. I am most intrigued by the idea of serving it on waffles, that sounds really good to me!

Indian Meat and Potato Cutlets with Kashmir Chutney

2010-02-08T18:27:00.005-06:00

I love Indian food-I've said it before. I had a bunch of cooked potatoes from making potato water for a sourdough starter and was wondering what to do with them.

I looked through one cookbook and found spiced potato balls, which sounded good, but then I thought of the potato cutlets from the downtown farmer's market and summer time and...well, I had to make them!
I served these with a Kashmir chutney I canned a year ago. I hadn't opened any of the jars yet, nor had I ever made it before. I can't believe I waited so long! It is good stuff-sweet, spicy, tangy. I remember I used it because I had a stash of unripe pears to use up. I will definitely be making this again this summer, as I think I only made a couple jars. It won't last long. I will take pictures next time and post the recipe, but for now any sweet chutney will do as a side.

Indian Meat and Potato Cutlet (you can leave out the meat and add other veggies, or fish or queso blanco instead)
2-3 potatoes, cooked and mashed well
1 c ground cooked meat-I used leftover sausage from last night's pizza
1/2 c peas, frozen or fresh
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/4 bell pepper, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t fresh grated ginger
2 t garam masala
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
1/2 t salt
2 T vinegar
several eggs beaten
breadcrumbs to coat, at least a couple cups
oil to fry-about 2 inches up the side of a pan

First let me say that these are kind of messy to make. They don't like to hold together all that well, so you have to do it for them until they are made.
Basically combine everything but the eggs, crumbs and oil in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

Since there is no egg binder, you can pull out a couple pieces and try them for seasoning. If you like yours stronger, add more ginger and garam masala. I really liked the hints in this, so it was just about perfect.
While you are doing that, put a deep sided frying pan on the stove and heat your oil. You want it nice and hot, but over moderate heat. You are going to shallow pan fry these, rather than deep fry, thought I suppose you could deep fry them.

Beat up a few eggs to start and set up your breading station.
To form these:
First take out about a golf ball or so size piece of the potato mixture.

Form it into a ball. Roll it *gently* in the bread crumbs first.

This seems to help it hold together in the eggs. Then *gently* roll it in the eggs.

Roll it again the bread crumbs.

Now, take your palm and flatten it into a disc-not too flat, you still want it 1/4-1/2 thick.

Carefully put them in the hot oil and fry until darkening brown one side, then flip. Drain on a towel, and eat.

I am testing right now to see how they freeze, as this makes quite a bit.
Serve with a raita or sweet chutney. Like I mentioned before, I used one I had canned called a Kashmir chutney, but the ones you usually find in a standard store are usually Major Grey's a mango based one. The Kashmir is apple based. I will post the tute for it in apple season next!

Ayran (Tart Yogurt Drink)

2010-02-08T14:43:00.000-06:00

This is so simple that it barely qualifies as a recipe. Yet, I am posting it, becuase I am so delighted to have re-discovered this drink! The backstory: When I was a teenager, I had the opportunity to stay in Turkey with a lovely family. The kids and I often hung out on the beach, then in the afternoon would retire to a little open-air cafe for refreshments. I LOVED this yogurt drink that I had there, but nobody could tell me what it was. I tried to re-create it at home but was never really sure what it was. It was sort of like buttermilk, but thicker, and we'd usually sprinkle salt on top of it before we drank it. Fast forward 16 years, and I'm browsing cheesemaking information on Fankhauser's fantastic website, and I see the recipe for this exact drink! Huzzah!!! I whipped some up, and it is a delicious as I remember it!

Here are the directions, taken directly from Fankhauser's site: "How to make is extremely simple: Mix yoghurt with (about quarter amount of yoghurt) water and pinch of salt. Mix them well in blender (good sign of mixing is: bubbles, lots of them). Serve with ice in hot summer days." I agree it's best made in a blender, but if lazy, I just whisk yogurt and water together, or use my stick blender, and then pour it over ice and sprinkle a bit of sea salt on top.

A warning: this is NOT a sweet drink. It is salty, savory, and tart. If you want a sweet yogurt drink, make a smoothie. I personally dislike most sweet drinks, so this is PERFECT for me. It's really refreshing!

Traditional Foods

2010-02-05T15:24:00.000-06:00

Local foods are easier to integrate into our diets if we learn how to use them-that is the purpose of this blog, sharing our recipes and experiences. We would like to take those ideas one step further by challenging you to step outside your comfort zone and learn more about traditional methods in cooking and eating foods. We are in the works of developing a traditional foods community and challenge, to be happen on this blog and also some sort of message board where we can commune and discuss. Discussion can happen here on the blog in comments, as well. We will be going step by step, teaching what we have learned, and also learning as we go, about how to better feed ourselves and our families, and take one step further eating locally and in season. Keep an eye out for more information here as we get closer to our launch date!

Salsa Roja Para Enchiladas - Red Enchilada Sauce

2010-02-04T23:21:00.002-06:00

The key to a great Mexican enchilada is making homemade enchilada sauce. During the summer, when tomatillo's are in peak season, I love to make green enchilada sauce. However, in the winter I crave a deep sauce with depth. Frozen preserved tomatoes, chicken broth, reconstituted dried chile's, and pork lard create a full bodied sauce.

Salsa Roja Para Enchiladas - Red Enchilada Sauce
Makes enough sauce for 12 enchilada's

Ingredients:

3 whole tomatoes (preserved) diced, or 1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
5 garlic cloves, pressed or smashed
2 dried guajillo chile's, stem and seeds removed
1 large dried ancho chile, stem and seeds removed
1/2 tbls dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp cumin
2 tbls farm fresh pork lard
Celtic Sea Salt to taste

Method:

In a large stock pot or dutch oven add all ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the chile's have reconstituted.
Blend all ingredients in a blender.

That's really it! If you have any leftover sauce save it and use over eggs for huevos rancheros or to incorporate into homemade posole.

Next up - Enchilada's Roja!

Buen Provecho!

Cajun Cinnamon Bread

2010-02-03T17:54:00.000-06:00

This recipe was inspired by Mama P and her cajun cinnamon rolls.
I started with a basic whole wheat bread loaf. I will do that tutorial in another post. I used the Better Homes and Gardens version this, you can use whatever bread you have handy. The five minute a day loaf would work well, too. I am trying to get us back to whole grain again, and I don't want to become dependant on the 5mad as it calls for vital wheat gluten, which is not a generally easy to find local sort of ingredient. I am still experimenting with whole grain loaves, though, and trying to find a favorite way to do them. Once I do, you'll know. So, enough dough for one loaf :)
This is my daughter helping me melt and heat the liquids for the bread dough.

Roll the dough out fairly thin, so you get plenty of swirls in the bread. Be careful not to roll it too tall, as you will have to fold it all wonky like I did. It made a pretty design (see later) but was not as easy to eat.

Spread the dough with a thin layer of butter and coconut oil. I used both as I wanted to see if the coconut oil would impart some sweetness. I didn't think it added much to the show, so next time will be using just butter, making it more locally based. I am guess it came to about two tablespoons of softened butter.

Next add the honey. We are doing our best to break away from refined sweeteners, and some of my favorites are local honey and maple syrup. Maple syrup could easily be substituted here, as well. This is a big part of what makes an awesome caramel in the bread, so don't skimp. That being said, make sure your dough is stiff enough to hold this, too. You will most likely be okay with a standard whole wheat dough, but the 5mad will probably need a little flour added. Use at least 2 T of honey, but more may be needed. You want it all over in a nice layer. You can sort of see the stuff I am using has crystallized, so it was going on pretty thick. Yummy.

Next on was the cinnamon. Sprinkle liberally. You really are not going to overdo it here.

Then the kicker-I added about 1/2 t of my homegrown Hungarian Hot Wax peppers. Not fresh, but ones I had dried and ground. I don't like them much fresh, but but chili and for drying and using like cayenne, they are great! I just dry them until they are red and totally dried, then grind them as I need them in a coffee grinder (set aside to be used *only* for savory spices) till they are powdered. I store what isn't used right away in a spice tin (okay a recycled Prairieland Herbs shea butter tin :) ).

Feel free to add more if you like a spicier red-hot flavor. This amount was just enough to be warm, but my five and two year old were still able to eat it with no complaints.

Bake your dough according to whatever the directions for it specify. Let it cool a bit before taking it out so the caramel can set, then slice and eat. It needs nothing on it, but some melted butter would be good, too.

SO STINKING GOOD!

Za'atar Flatbread

2010-02-02T09:01:00.004-06:00

The bread-baking craze that has been sweeping the nation in the past couple of years has certainly visited here regularly, though mostly during the winter. I am a firmly entrenched acolyte in the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (AB5) movement. I own the book, I read the website, I make the recipes. Well true confession: I'd been borrowing the book, but have had it WAY too long and need to return it to its rightful owner (Thanks Mama P!), so I ordered my own copy and it should arrive tomorrow.

Anyway, the flatbread recipes are some of my favorites, mostly because I am completely impatient and I LOVE being able to have fresh bread seven minutes after I decide that I want it. One of the recipes that I had been wanting to try was the Za'atar Flatbread (page 161, for those of you with the book).

My first challenge was a lack of the Za'atar itself. Za'atar is a middle-eastern spice blend with ground sumac berries as its base, its a spicy, tart flavor that I just love. Then a couple of months ago I happened upon a new Middle-Eastern market in Des Moines that had bags of ground sumac and a great price. So a $3 bag of sumac, a little recipe research on the net and I had my very own Za'atar blend. I combined parts I liked out of several recipes, so here's what I used:

Za’atar

¼ c. ground sumac
2 tbs. thyme leaves
1 tbs. sesame seeds, toasted
1 tsp coarse salt (skip if sumac contains salt)
* optional, 2 tbs oregano

Grind together.

Besides the flatbread recipe, Za'atar is great with chicken, lamb or pork. It's also nice on green salads or sprinkled over olive oil as a dip for bread.

The Za'atar Flatbread recipe in the AB5 book makes a foccacia-type bread, that you bake in the oven but I was in a serious hurry, so I made the Naan recipe (page 173) that cooks in s cast iron skillet on the stove top. As soon as the first side cooked, I turned the bread over, brushed with garlic olive oil and sprinkled on the za'atar. Three minutes later it came out of the pan and onto the plate. It was delicious! Seriously, buy the book, make the bread and enjoy...you wont be sorry!

Herbed Yogurt Cheese Balls

2010-01-31T12:43:00.002-06:00

I am so delighted with how these turned out!

First, make yogurt, or purchase plain yogurt.

Next, take your yogurt and turn it into what I call yogurt cheese, or what is also known either as cream cheese or greek yogurt. (Basically, you just put it in some cheesecloth, let the whey drain out, and you have a thick creamy tangy ball of yummy stuff.)

Then, take your yogurt cheese and roll it into little balls, and refrigerate.

Next: choose your spices. I picked rosemary, thyme, parsley from my garden, and ground them in my mortar and pestle.

Then I added some freshly cracked black pepper, sea salt, and Penzey's Creamy Peppercorn mix. Yum.

Now, marinate your yogurt balls in some yummy olive oil - I would not skimp on quality here, I used an extra virgin organic olive oil, very yum - and your herb mixture. Truthfully, you can just mix this up and eat it and it's still pretty damn good, but it's better with a bit of marinating time. But hey, we do what we gotta do, right?

Next: EAT! I ate this on crackers. YUM. I think it would also be fantastic smashed onto fresh bread. Double yum. I also want to try this on pizza some time. I bet it would be good with fresh veggies as well.

Homemade Herbal Candies

2010-01-31T12:22:00.000-06:00

Posting this recipe at the request of Mama P. :) This recipe was given to me by a friend - she got it from the book Herbal Sweets by Ruth Bass.

4 cups boiling water
2 cups herb leaves with stems and blossoms (peppermint, spearmint - or any of the mints, horehound, wintergreen, lemon verbena)
3 cups granulated sugar
3 cups brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon butter plus more for the pan

- pour boiling water over herbs and steep for 10 minutes (longer for a stronger tea) - while steeping, butter a shallow pan
- strain tea, discarding the solids - return to a large saucepan and and sugars and butter - bring to a boil over medium heat - continue boiling until syrup hards when a small amount is dropped into cold water (hard ball stage, or 250-266 degrees F)
- pour into buttered pan and score into squares before setting completely, or break into pieces after candy hardens - wrap in waxed paper and store in an airtight container

variation: add 1 tablespoon mint leaves or 1 teaspoon crushed anise seeds to horehound herbs.

My comments: I think sage and thyme would also be great in this, especially in a blend. I personally don't like horehound on it's own, but find it quite tolerable, and effective as a cough drop, in a blend with thyme, mint and sage. I would also experiment with elderberry, ginger, and echinacea root. I would also consider coating the pieces with superfine sugar before storing, I think that helps them keep a bit longer.

Liadillos Sevillanos

2010-01-31T11:24:00.002-06:00

Cabbage, another winter seasonal vegetable. I love fall and winter vegetables, especially that they store so well. I stocked up on cabbage at my Winter Farmers Market this past December. Beautiful heads of organic cabbage from Grinnell Heritage Farm. at $1.50 a piece, they were a steal! Enough to make lacto-fermented kimchi, cortido (which I will share soon) and Sevilla style stuffed cabbage rolls.

Cabbage has a long history of use both as a food and a medicine. It's amazingly nutritious filled with vitamin k, Vitamin c, fiber, folate, and omega 3 fatty acids! So store up! They keep well in a dark cool place or vegetable crisper for months.

This style of stuffed cabbage rolls are from the city of Sevilla! The city where my heart lies. Boiled Cabbage leaves stuffed with a meat mixture including cured serrano ham, then, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried in extra virgin olive oil. These rolls are only seasoned with nutmeg and a pinch of celtic sea salt since most of the seasonings come from the salt in the cured bacon and serrano ham and slightly bitter green olives. Simply Scrumptious!

Liadillos Sevillanos - Sevilla Style Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
-makes about 12 rolls

Ingredients:

1lb lean ground beef
3 bacon strips, cut up in small srips
2 1/2 oz cured serrano ham (prosciutto or pancetta will work fine)
3 eggs
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 tsp ground nutmeg
Spanish green olives, diced
1 tbls parsley (preferably Italian parsley)
Celtic Sea Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Flour and breadcrumbs for frying

Method:

Trim the cabbage, eliminating any bruised or damaged leaves. Blanch for 3-5 minutes in slightly salted boiling water. Cut out the core and carefully remove 12 leaves.
In a skillet start to brown the beef.
Once the beef is almost cooked through, add the sliced bacon and cured ham.
Add a pinch of sea salt and 1tsp of ground nutmeg.
Transfer to a bowl and add 1 beaten egg, garlic, parsley, and green olives.
Fill a cabbage leaf with about a tablespoon and a half of filling.
Fold two sides of the cabbage in and fold over with the top and bottom of the leaf, holding in place with a toothpick.
To fry, first flour the cabbage roll, dip in beaten egg, then roll in breadcrumbs
Fry in a cast iron skillet filled with about 1 1/2" of hot evoo until browned on both sides. (Pork lard can be used as well)

Buen Provecho!

Tortilla Casserole with Bacon and Beans-DE-GUNK!

2010-01-29T14:45:00.008-06:00

When Andrew and I were first married I would make this tortilla casserole that involved a creamy enchilada soup from Campbells and chicken. I can no longer find the recipe, but this casserole is the same basic idea, but waaaay better. No condensed soups (YUCK), and I used pork and bacon as the meat. The bacon adds an incredible layer of flavor, that really works well with the beans. It is not an ingredient you see in Mexican style cooking (at least Americanized versions) very often, but was wonderful here and fit right in. The chips, save those on the very top, break down into a poleta-like mush that is fabulous. I started this recipe after looking at a version on Cooks Illustrated. I changed quite a bit, but it was a good starting point for ideas. When do I ever keep things the way they are written?

1# pork-I used chops sliced into thin pieces, but a roast would work well, too. We just have an insane amount of chops in the freezer. Also, brine these before you cut them up in a 1/2 palmful of sugar, 2 T salt and enough water to cover. At least 30 minutes. It really helps pork in most dishes.
1 T coconut oil
1 t all purpose seasoning
1/4 onion , diced
3-4 slices cottage bacon, diced
2 cloves garlic , minced
1/4 bell pepper, diced
1 cup chicken stock
2 c beans, soaked, rinsed, and simmered until soft
1 pint, or 14 oz can, diced tomatoes with juice
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo
5 cups tortilla chips (a great use for ones that have gone stale, but you just don't want to throw away because you didn't very many of them. That never happens here, cough, cough)
2 cups shredded cheese-cheddar, or colbyjack, or monterey jack, Prairie breeze-all would work well
s&p to taste

Begin by sauteeing your pork in the coconut oil, and seasoning it part of the way through with the teaspoon of all purpose. Add the onions, bacon and garlic once the meat is mostly done. Add next the bell pepper, stock, beans, tomatoes, and chipotles. Let this simmer until the sauce has reduced just a bit, maybe 7 minutes. Taste it to see if it needs more salt or pepper then remove it from the heat.
You are going to build this casserole like a lasagne-but the chips are the noodles. So, using a rectangular baking dish (LOVE my stoneware), start with a layer of 1/3 of the chips. If you are not using stoneware, be sure to grease the bottom of the pan first. Follow the chip layer with half of the meat, then half of the cheese. Repeat those three layers, then top with the last third of the chips.
Bake at 450 degrees until the cheese has melted and the chips have started to brown.
So stinkin' good :)

Thoughts on the Iowa Food Coop

2010-01-28T10:45:00.003-06:00

Some thoughts on the local food coop...a great idea, but we think we've got just as good of one. We have taken the steps to start something we think is an awesome way to get your local products and connect with the farmers, plus build much needed community. Check out our listserv if you are a local :)

Mexi Rolls with Cilantro Lime Dippin' Sauce

2010-01-25T19:38:00.008-06:00

I didn't want to cook, and so, in a twist of irony, I tried a new recipe, totally tweaked it and ended up with something everyone in the house expects me to make again. Right. :)

Mexi Rolls with Cilantro Lime Dippin' Sauce

Rolls:
1 package egg rolls wrappers (really there is enough filling to go through two pkgs, and freeze half once you are done making them all. I am cutting carbs right now, and so ate the filling by itself).
2 already baked potatoes, diced into small pieces (no need to peel)
1/2 pound italian sausage
1/2 pound ground beef
1/4 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t dried cilantro (if you have the fresh stuff-awesome! Use it, but use more like 1 T)
1 T fresh ground cumin seed
salt and pepper to taste
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 1/2 c (or one can) black beans, soaked and cooked (if canned, rinse those puppies and drain)
1/2 c corn kernels, fresh if you got it, or frozen. Canned corn just isn't that good
1 pint diced tomatoes, with juice
2 c shredded cheese (pretty easy here. I used mozzarella tonight as that was what I had on hand. A cheddar or monterey jack would work well, too).
juice of half a lime
peanut oil to fry in

In a medium cast iron skillet, brown off the meats, crumbling as they cook. The smaller the crumbles, the better. About half way through, add the onion. Once the meat is cooked, add the garlic, seasonings, jalapeno, and potatoes. Cook about two minutes, stirring as you go, and then add the tomatoes beans and corn. Cook the liquid down a bit and heat up the corn and beans. Add the lime juice. Once you've got that, remove everything from the heat. Stir in the cheese and let the mix set and cool just a bit while you start the frying oil.
Make sure your oil is nice and hot. Do not pre roll the egg rolls. They get soggy and stick to everything and fall apart. I roll mine as I do the batches in the dutch oven. I put in about one wooden spoon's worth of filling per roll.
Fry until golden brown, then let them drain and cool before serving with the sauce. These will freeze well for the next time you don't feel like cooking. You know, so you don't actually have to cook.

Sauce:
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c cream cheese, softened
1-2 T dried cilantro
juice of half of one lime
1 t garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up till smooth and creamy!

Real Milk In Iowa

2010-01-25T10:42:00.002-06:00

As local foodies, though recipes are the main deal here on the site, we also are passionate about real food being readily available to everyone. In Iowa right now, raw milk is illegal to sell for human consumption, and even pasteurized milk takes a lot of permits and loopholes for a farmer to sell straight off the farm. There is a bill in the house here that would allow both raw and past. milk to be sold directly off the farm, as long as it is only to individuals and not for resale. This would open up so many doors in so many ways for Iowans and their food. Please keep an eye on this bill and help support food choices in Iowa, whether you are a raw food advocate or not. Iowans should be able to choose the foods they eat.

Hot and Sour Soup

2010-01-21T15:34:00.002-06:00

I have had a hot and sour soup recipe in queue to try for awhile. This one is soooo fast, soooo easy and soooo good. It was a great, fast lunch today, and will be on a regular rotation now at our house. I started with a recipe I had found at The Kitchn, but modified it quite a bit to make sure it fit what I had on hand, and to make things a bit more local. Even my toddler ate a big bowl!

Hot and Sour Soup

6 button mushrooms (dried shitake or straw mushrooms would work well here, too, but you need to soak them in boiling water for at least an hour before making this. Really, any fresh mushroom will work, just slice them in and put them in the soup, no soaking needed)
1 pound ground pork or breakfast style pork sausage
1/4 medium onion, chopped
1 quart chicken stock, fresh or canned
salt
soy sauce
1/2 t ground pepper
3 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 4 TBSP. cold water
1 egg, lightly beaten
Sesame seed oil
1 scallion, finely chopped

In a large stockpot, brown and crumble the pork. Once it is mostly cooked, add the onion, and saute a bit, until it starts to soften. Add the mushrooms and chicken stock. I added another 2-4 cups of water to this, in order to make enough soup for the whole family as a main dish. At this point you will add the seasoning base, then start tasting until you get the flavor just right. This really varies from person to person, so you NEED to TASTE the soup as it heats through, otherwise it will turn out too bland or salty. So...
Start with 3 T soy sauce and 3 T vinegar, plus the pepper. If the salt tastes fine, you don't need anymore soy sauce. If you like your soup spicy, add a little cayenne or hot pepper flakes, but let it cook a minute or two before you taste again or add more. It takes a minute for the flavors of those items to develop. The vinegar is what makes this soup sour, so don't skimp. I start with the three T, but ended up adding quite a bit more. You just never want to start with a large amount-you can undo too little, but undoing too much is far trickier. This last time around I used a red wine vinegar, but about any will work. Once you have the flavor right (salty, sour, slightly spicy is what you're shooting for) mix up the cornstarch. This, once again, is a personal preference. If you like your soup really thick, mix up more cornstarch, if not, then the original amount should be plenty. Once you've got that added, beat your egg and add it, a little at a time, and mix it in so you have strands of egg throughout the soup. Then you can serve it!

Addition ideas:
bamboo shoots
water chestnuts or jicama
cabbage or carrot shreds
other meats, in pieces

Sugar Creek Beef and Noodles

2010-01-19T16:39:00.005-06:00

I am going to the best I can here-I am not very good about remembering to measure on recipes I have been making since I was little.

Beef Stew Portion
1# stew meat or a small roasts sliced into small pieces
1 c flour, seasoned with a nice multipurpose like swamp fire or grill seasoning

oil for sauteeing the meat (at least a couple tablespoons)

1/4 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, thin sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 pint diced tomatoes, with juice
2 t diced chiles
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c wine
water to cover
herbs, chopped (during the winter I use dried herbs, which are often dried and ground, but basil, oregano, marjoram and parsley are nice. Sage, too. I would add about 1/4 to 1/2 t of each).
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste-you will need this. Don't skimp, and taste as you go.

Start by dredging your cut up beef through the flour, until it is coated. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot, and then saute your beef over med high heat, browning it a bit.

Add the onion and soften it a bit. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits. Add the water and the rest of the ingredients, save the salt and pepper.
Simmer the stew for a couple hours, until the meat is nice and tender. Taste and add the salt and pepper and any additional herbs as necessary.

Once your stew is nearly done, make your egg noodles:

Egg Noodles
1 c flour
1 egg
1 t salt
2 T milk

Mix everything together, and add flour or milk as necessary to make the dough hold together well in a ball. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll the noodles out-as thin as you can. Use a pizza cutter and cut the noodles into thin strips-about 1/8-1/4 inch wide.

Bring the stew up to a boil and add the noodles a few at time. If there doesn't seem to be enough room, add some hot water. Boil the noodles until they are white and firmed up. Taste one last time for seasoning and serve over mashed potatoes.

Oven Fries

2010-01-18T16:51:00.002-06:00

1 1/4 pounds potatoes, cut into 1/2 in strips (works with sweet potatoes, as well)
3/4 t salt
1/2 t sugar
4 t oil
1 t seasoning blend of choice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl combine the potatoes, 1/4 t salt and the sugar then cover with cold water.

Soak 15 minutes, drain and blot dry.
In another large bowl, toss the potatoes with oil and seasonings. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake, turning the potatoes over as they brown, till cooked through and crisp, about 45 minutes.

The Best Scrambled Eggs: A Quick How To

2010-01-17T13:34:00.003-06:00

This is my first post on this lovely blog, and I wanted to begin by saying how grateful and honored I am to be in the company of such thoughtful and kind women. If you like my posts and want more, I write my own food blog here

I have come to rely on Stringtown Grocery in Kalona, IA for most of my bulk needs. The store is run by the Amish, who order and repackage bulk foods from beans and grains to herbs and teas. I have also discovered their meats and dairy, which are locally produced and of very high quality. All the beef is grassfed and processed locally. I went last weekend and picked up some local eggs for a quick but lovely weekend breakfast.

Weekday breakfasts for me are always oatmeal or green smoothies (i.e. totally free of animal products), so when I have a little more time to throw something together, I make breakfasts a little more indulgent and special. That said, including making toast and coffee, this breakfast takes less than 15 minutes!

The Best Scrambled Eggs

Begin with the best eggs you can find. Pull them out of the fridge well before you're ready to cook, 15-20 minutes. Eggs really perform best when at room temperature.

You'll also want some good butter, a little cheese of your choice (I use parmesan or sharp cheddar), and some milk of any kind. If you like hot sauce, I recommend Frank's, one of those rare grocery store products with a great ingredient list (aged cayenne red peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, and garlic powder)

Crack your eggs into a bowl and add a little milk. For these three eggs, I estimate that I added between 1/4 and 1/3 c. milk. Season generously with, salt and freshly ground black pepper, add a small dash of vinegar (maybe 1/2 tsp), and whatever cheese you like. I used 1/4 grated parmesan.

When you're mixing up the eggs, it's important not to whip too much air into them, so I try to keep my movements to a minimum, beginning by popping each of the yolks and then slowly stirring everything together with a fork.

I only use non-stick pans for my eggs. If kept to a low temperature, from what I understand, they're safe. Put a small pat of butter in your pan and coat the bottom. This is your insurance against sticking, which eggs love to do. Then pour in your egg mix and wait.

When I worked in a university cafeteria, I learned all about eggs from making hundreds of them each morning. You want the bottom layer to mostly cook through before you start moving them around so you can achieve big "curds", as they're called. Then, slowly scrape up the bottom layer and stir, so the uncooked eggs move into the space left by the curds you've made. In this photo, you can see the eggs starting to cook on the outer edge and some of the curds in the middle. (You can see some of the browned butter on top, too. mmm)

Keep going until the eggs still look just slightly wet. You are going to think you're stopping too early but you aren't. They will continue to cook for a few seconds after you take the pan off heat. Here's where I stopped:

Have them with some toast with apple butter, coffee, and an orange if you can, since citrus is so great right now.

Enjoy, and happy weekend!

Hashes

2010-01-16T12:27:00.001-06:00

What!? You don't make hashes? How about stir fries? Skillet casseroles? I like to call them hashes, like corned beef hash, a breakfast favorite (when done right) of mine from when I was a young child. I find that when I start reducing the amount of grains I take in, hashes are a wonderful standby. There really isn't a good recipe for them. Recipes would ruin them. You make it up as you go. So, for example, for lunch I had an awesome hash that consisted of pork sausage (just plain, not Italian or anything fancy), asparagus (not quite in season, but this stuff was small and good the way asparagus should be, so apparently it's up somewhere), green bell pepper, mushrooms (for you Iowan's check out the farmer's markets when they start again. I know the guy who sells an awesome selection from Iowa City was at the winter market), onion, some herbs, some all purpose seasoning (I used Swamp Fire) and then a binder, often times horrible amounts of oil (I used just a bit to cook it all with as my pork is so lean there was nothing coming off of it), or in my case I like tomato sauce. I could eat these things all day. Do you see the formula here? A bit of meat (though if you are a veg head, by all means not necessary), an awesome assortment of (preferably) in season vegetation, seasoning and a binder. So. stinking. Good. I started making them regularly when I would make pasta for the kids. I could take their sauce and add gads of good stuff. Another favorite is to saute kilebasa slices, kale, garlic, onion, green bell pepper and tomatoes, plus seasoning and a little sauce. Awesome stuff.
Tell me that isn't one of the worst formulated, but oh so easy, recipes you've ever seen :)

Philippine Menudo

2010-01-14T18:32:00.000-06:00

While walking through the World Food Fair this fall my sisters and I sampled a taste of this at an Asian market stand. It was so good. I was way excited to try it at home, and finally got around to it. Very easy, easy to get ingredients locally for the most part.

1 T oil (I use coconut oil for about everything but salads anymore, but any oil for sauteing would work here)
1 T minced garlic
1/3 c chopped onion
1/2 c diced tomatoes
1 pound pork, cubed
2 sausages (we used brats) sliced or cubed
1 c wine
2 medium potatoes, cubed
water to cover
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 carrot, chopped or sliced
1 T dried cranberries or raisins
2 T soy sauce or liquid aminos
1 c tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste (I used Swamp Fire -a general purpose salt based seasoning)

Saute the garlic, onions and tomatoes. Add the pork and sausage and saute until cooked through.
Deglaze the pan (I used a heavy duty cast iron dutch oven for this) with the wine, then add the potatoes, carrots and peppers. Cover with water-just until covered, though. You want this thick when you're finished.
Add the rest of the ingredients and boil until tender *AND* the stew has reduced to a thick, saucy consistency. Serve over rice.

This could be done without the meat, adding more potatoes, carrots, peppers and onions, maybe some sweet potatoes and winter squash as well for a hearty winter stew.

Mustard

2010-01-14T13:47:00.003-06:00

I cannot live without mustard-an oddity in our house that loves ketchup (honestly, blech. I can't stand that stuff. Good only as a tomato base in my barbecue sauce, and I working on changing even that. I may like a homemade one, but that is a whole different post...) and ranch dressing.
I don't know why it took me so long to track down and try a mustard recipe, but for whatever reason it did. This mustard is a yellow mustard, and thus, uses yellow mustard seed. I will be working on a brown mustard for the future. I took Alton Brown's Best Ever Mustard recipe and changed it to work with the way I like to cook-without the microwave and tried to substitute local ingredients where I could. Mustard is easy to grow in the garden, and many seed companies have started carrying different varieties, something I hope to look at this summer. The greens of most plants can be used as well, making it multipurpose, and the seed stores well. You just grind it up to use as you need it, and the fresh flavor cannot be rivaled by the preground nastiness you get at the store. For those of us who don't have our own homegrown seed to use for mustard, it can be affordably gotten at places like Penzey's Spices, or for an Iowa company, Frontier Herbs. The other spices needed can be gotten there as well, and honestly, if you are doing any serious cooking with *real* flavor around your place, you need to have them on hand, anyway :)

As a note, this goes so quickly, it is crazy *not* to just make your own at home. It is also a good use for the juice leftover from pickles, or maybe some pickled pepper juice for a little more kick. Up the honey content for a honey mustard, as well.

!Mustard!

2/3 c yellow mustard seed
2 t honey
1 t sea salt
1/2 t turmeric
1/4 t paprika (look for a post this fall about homemade paprika!)
1/4 t garlic powder (same here)
1/2 c pickle juice-Alton calls for sweet. We don't do sweet here, though the recipe we do use has some sweetener in it. I think the regular works just fine, and like I mentioned before you can easily play around here with other pickled items
1/4 c water
1/2 c vinegar-cider works, I used red wine as it is what I had on hand. I will most likely experiment more here, as well, as different vinegars will give a different undertone. Yum.

Grind the mustard seed in a grinder until it is completely ground-nice fine powder, about a minute.

Mix it and all the other dry ingredients in a medium sized saucepan.

In a separate bowl mix all the liquids and honey. Whisk them together well, then add to the dry ingredients in the saucepan.

Bring to a boil over low heat, whisking together as it heats, then cook 30 seconds. Turn 'er off, put your mustard in a lidded jar, and stick in the fridge. It should continue to thicken as it cools. If it isn't as thick as you like, bring it back up to a boil for another minute or so, and let it cool again. Be sure to make notes, so you can just cook it that long next time, though mine looked fine after the initial cooking. Can be used as soon as it cools just like any yellow mustard, but the taste is just so much better, and better yet, we know EXACTLY what is in it. Should store well in the fridge for at least a month, but with that much vinegar and the spices in it, will most likely keep until the jar is empty and mustard beckons again...

Cuban Hash

2010-01-12T12:47:00.003-06:00

I love Cuban's-a classic sandwich from the 50's involving smoked pork, ham, mustard and pickles (at the very least) panini style. Looking for a good ground pork recipe, I stumbled upon this hash (which I changed a bit) Rachel Ray had up on foodnetwork.com. I like veggies with my meat, so I added the sweet pepper, I love tang on a cuban, so I also added sliced pepperoncini's, and had to make some last minutes changes due to not having some ingredients on hand, hence the options given. It was a great, very fast, very easy lunch. I also omitted the english muffins she served hers over. I am avoiding carbs right now, though a nice chewy ciabatta, a little toasted, would be great as the base over which this has is served, soaking up all that flavor from the sauce. A very warming meal!

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 pound ground pork (if able to get a good chorizo, use 1/2 pound ground pork and 1/2 pound of chorizo, peeled and chopped)
1/2 bell pepper (and color) chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
(If using only pork sausage, I would also add to your seasoning mix a nice spicy multipurpose like Swamp Fire to give the meat more kick. I used a blend of Swamp Fire and a grilling seasoning I like)
1/2 c tomato sauce
1/2 bottle beer
Four slices of Swiss or Havarti cheese (Prairie Breeze would also kick in some serious flavor here)
4 dill pickle spears, chopped
2 tablespoons yellow mustard (I didn't have any on hand so I sprinkled the top of each dish with 1 t ground yellow mustard seed which seemed to work fine)
pepperoncini slices to taste

1 tablespoons butter
4 large eggs

In a heavy duty skillet, over medium high heat, heat the coconut oil, then add the pork and chorizo and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Then add the onions, bell peppers, garlic and season mixture with the salt, pepper and multipurpose seasoning if you are using it and cook 7 to 8 minutes more.

Stir in the tomato sauce and cook a minute more then add the beer.

Once the sauce in the meat mixture has cooked down and thickened a bit, and the veggies have softened, spoon the meat mixture into a bowl and top with the cheese. The cheese will start to melt a bit while you work on the eggs.

Heat a skillet with butter over medium heat. To melted butter, add eggs and fry to over-easy-the runny yolk with this mixture is fabulous!.

Top the cheesy meat mixture with the egg next,

sprinkle with the mustard or add a couple dabs if using prepared mustard, then top with the chopped pickles and pepperoncini's.

5 Minute A Day Artisan Bread Experiments

2010-01-11T13:12:00.001-06:00

I love the 5mad bread, I do, but after a while I get bored. With everything. Recently I not-so-accidentally forgot to put the dough in the refrigerator after it's initial mixing and rise. In fact, I forgot to put it in for like two days. Yesterday I went ahead an checked it over. It was still bubbly-thus the yeast was still alive, and the fermented/sour smell was fabulous-not too much, but far more pronounced than the regular bread. It was thinner/wetter than normal, but by adding a little more flour to what I was taking out, I was able to use it to make several things. The texture and flavor was very good. Now, you wouldn't be able to continue this very long without adding more flour and stirring each day-basically treating it like a sour dough starter, or it would die and just rot. I am going to keep experimenting to see what/how of treating it like a starter, but everyone in our house loves and prefers sour dough, so I would like to see how this works. I also just found a post at thekitchn.com for making a good sandwich bread with the dough. I know the book had recipes, but I was impressed with their version. I am going to try the Kitchn's guidelines and see how they work, and will post back.

Pierogies

2010-01-10T16:34:00.005-06:00

Pastry:
1 1/2 c unbleached allpurpose flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
5 T ice water

Filling:
2 sliced potatoes (boil and mash them) or about 2 c leftover mashed potatoes
3T butter
2 c finely shredded/chopped cabbage
1/4 c med onion, finely chopped
1 c cottage cheese
1 1/2 c grated cheese, like sharp cheddar or a nice mix
1 egg
1/2 t salt
2 t dried parsley
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
Or use nice seasoning blend. The flavors aren't too strong here.
You can also totally add a nice chopped kielbasa to this-it would be great. Or try different meats. But my goal was that of the veg/seafood dish, so I left meat out.

Wash: (OPTIONAL)
1 egg, with 1 T water
poppy or sesame seeds

Dippin' sauce-sour cream, ranch dip, sweet chili dressing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook your potatoes and mash them, if you aren't using leftovers. While they are cooking, make the pastry dough by mixing the flour and salt with the butter, cutting the butter in, until you have cornmeal like texture. Add the water slowly, and make into a ball, being careful not to overwork the dough. Cover and chill while you work on the filling.
Saute the cabbage and onion in butter over medium high heat. Once it is softened remove and mix with the potatoes, cheese and seasonings.
Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and make into balls. Roll out into a circle, about 6 inches in diameter. Place about 1/2 filling into one half of the circle, and fold over into a crescent shape. Crimp the edges and place onto a greased or silicone lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Mix up the egg wash and brush on each pastry. Sprinkle with seeds and bake in the oven until the tops are browned a bit.

Eggplant Venison Moussaka

2010-01-09T12:03:00.002-06:00

What started out as an assignment to the lamb/goat dish for our freezer meal group and ended up with a complicated two weeks of pipe unfreezing duty, -30 windchills, and no supermarket in the lower 2 tiers of Iowa counties carrying lamb or goat plus a nice coincidence of a friend shooting "too many" deer and the order finishing up processing exactly on freezer meal day.......ended up as this interesting dish.

Basically cut up into cubes 4 lbs of eggplant. Salt and let rest for 30 min. Then pat them with a tea towel to soak up excess water and toss them with olive oil Roast until they are nicely browned.

Then brown 2 pounds of lamb or venison, and add 4 medium cloves garlic, minced, and 1 medium diced onion. Cook until they are softened. Add 24 ounces of diced tomato, 1 T dried oregano and 2 T dried parsley, a 1/2 cup of wine (it said red, we used Horny Heifer white), 1 t sugar, salt and 3/4 t cinnamon (or to taste, about 1 teaspoon of each to start).
The sauce is basically an alfredo, which when made from scratch always starts with a bechamel, and you add cheese and spices according to what you will use it for. The basics for this sauce can be used to make an assortment of different sauces, including a sauce for vegetable casseroles, macaroni and cheese, or an alfredo sauce for pasta. The only variances will be the type of cheese and spice you use. Here is the base for this one:
Melt 3 T unsalted butter in a sauce pan. Once it is completely melted, add 4 T of flour, or enough to absorb all the butter, but not make a dough-it should still be sort of runny. Let this cook a bit-many cooks make the mistake of adding the liquid too soon, and you end up with a floury taste in your food. Flour needs to cook-otherwise it tastes like (yes) flour. The flour should darken just a smidge-too much and you enter the land of roux. Save that for gumbo :) To this mix slowly add 2 cups of whole milk, stirring it in as you go. If you dump it all in at once, you will separate the flour and liquids and cool the pan too much. You want the mixture to thin out, but not too much. It should thicken the longer it cooks. Once the sauce has thickened just a bit (and by a bit, I really mean not too much) add 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (Romano would work well here, as well). Stir it in until well blended, then you will start to flavor the sauce. Start with a pinch of fresh grated nutmeg (it makes all the difference to use fresh grated nutmeg. There is so much more flavor. Make a point to start as soon as you run out of that Tone's container in the cupboard-okay?) Also add a little salt and pepper, and just keep adding the three until it has enough flavor for you. After you have it flavored (you better have been stirring the whole time, or else it will congeal), layer the eggplant and meat in a casserole pan, then pour the sauce over it all. Bake until heated through and bubbly.

That's it.

I was thinking that I don't like eggplant though and the dish might be better with roasted sweet potato. If any one tries that or has an opinion let me know.

DeBurgo style sauce for steak ( just about any meat you care to put it on)

2010-01-06T18:49:00.001-06:00

My husband loooooves steak DeBurgo-but if you've ever seen the price of that stuff in any restaurant, you know it comes at a price. Because we buy our beef locally, in bulk, we get great cuts of meat for great prices. That left me to figure out the sauce. After looking at several sauce recipes (none of which were DeBurgo) I got the basic idea behind what I needed to do. It is so, so simple.

DeBurgo Sauce
(This is assuming you have pan fried your steak)

Once removing the steak, lower the temperature on the skillet to low. Pour about a 1/2 c water to deglaze all those yummy bits, then add about 1/4-1/2 c of a nice local wine. Add minced or granulated garlic (at least a teaspoon, but taste as you go!), and chopped fresh basil and oregano, or dried if that's what you have on hand, all this is really to taste. I had dried on hand, and there was at least a teaspoon that went in. Cook down to thicken to your preference.

Posole - A Mexican Pork and Hominy Stew

2010-01-05T10:00:00.000-06:00

Please excuse my lack of posts here. I'll need to for sure remember to keep updating on this great space as well as my own :D

When making posole, one of the main ingredients is hominy, or field corn that has gone through the process of nixtamalization. Usually when I make posole, I use canned hominy. However, this time around I made my own nixtamal using yellow field corn and let me tell you, it takes FOREVER to remove the black tips from the end of the corn. Yes, the taste was magnificent and fresh, but 2+ hours removing corn tips was just not for me. I am more than happy finding organic hominy in a can and going that route the next time ;) I'll save nixtamal for tortilla's and tamales as there is no need to remove the tips!

Before I start on any Mexican recipe, I visit my local Mexican grocer and spend time chatting with the butchers and people that I meet from Mexico. For this particular recipe, the spinal pieces of pork is what makes a great posole. These pieces are small and full of cut bone that will impart more flavor to your stew and you will have the nourishing benefits of vitamins and minerals from the bone.

Posole

Ingredients

3lbs spinal pieces of pork (espina), or a bone-in pork shoulder.
3 tbls extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
5-6 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced
6 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
3 cups homemade hominy or 3 cans of hominy
1 bunch of cilantro, tied
2 dried ancho chili's
1 dried guajillo chili
1 1/2 cups of boiling water

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

2. Season your pork with salt and pepper.

3. In a large oven safe pot, heat 3 tbls EVOO. Saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and immediately add your pork. Cook about 5-10 minutes or until both sides of pork are no longer pink.
Add broth, tomatoes, cilantro, oregano, cumin, and hominy if you have made your own nixtamal, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for a few minutes allowing fat scum to rise to the surface. Skim off. If using canned hominy, do not add until after it has cooked in the oven or it will disintegrate!

Nixtamal

After making my own nixtamal, removing the black tips, and thoroughly washing away all of the lime in 3 separate rinses, I soaked the corn for another 24 hours without lime. So the nixtamal actually took 2 nights of soaking before I used it in my hominy. I could have left it to soak for longer.

4. Once you have removed enough scum, cover the oven safe pot and place in the oven. Cook for 2 hours or until meat is tender and falling apart.

5. While the stew is cooking in the oven, remove the seeds and stems from the chili's and soak them in the boiling water for 20 minutes.

6. Puree the chili's and water in a blender and clean the puree through a fine mesh sieve. I use a splatter guard ;)

7. After 2 hours, remove the meat from the pot, simmer the stew on medium heat and add the chili puree and if using canned hominy, the hominy.

8. In a separeate dish, separate the meat from the bones and with two forks shred the meat into small pieces.

9. Remove the cilantro from the stew and add the shredded meat.

10. Simmer on medium-low heat for an additional 30 minutes if using canned hominy or an hour to an hour and a half if using homemade hominy.

11. Garnish with lime wedges, cilantro, and freshly grated cheese!

Buen Provecho!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Winter Soup, 3 ways

2010-01-04T18:02:00.002-06:00

Well, it's officially 3 weeks past the last Des Moines Farmer's Market, meaning I'm pretty much relying on freezer and pantry stores for the next few months. Here's a sample of what we eat around here (sorry for lack of picture).

4-5 large carrots, chopped (I cannot believe how well they CSA carrots from this fall are keeping)
1 onion, chopped
one head garlic (yes, really), chopped
1/2 head celery, chopped
1 pint bag frozen local corn
1 quart bag frozen local tomatoes
1 quart jar canned tomato juice

Put all in the crock pot on high for 8-10 hours. Then we added a bit of red wine, some local cream, loads of thyme and basil, some sea salt and cracked black pepper. That's it! it was lovely.

On day 2 we cooked up some homemade pasta and ladled some of this soup over it. Added a bit more cream, some leftover brie, and some local gouda (YUM). Pasta! We took the leftovers of THAT, added some more soup and a load of sauteed mushrooms and onions, topped it with cheese, and baked it for lunch the next day. This is how we cook - leftovers are eaten or made into something else.

Barbecued Ham Balls

2009-12-02T20:00:00.000-06:00

I love ham balls. They bring back fond memories of growing up in our small town, going to the only church and loving the regular potlucks. My sisters and I both talk about our fondness of the older farmer's wives' ham balls-often our favorite things on the tables.

Ham Balls
2 beaten farm fresh eggs
1 1/2 c crackers-graham are always fun here as these are somewhat sweet, though any will work
1/4 c finely chopped onion
1/4 c milk
1 t dry mustard
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
1# ground cooked ham or ham loaf (like leftover Stamps Family Farm ham from turkey day here-watch for why we have leftover ham, not turkey from Thanksgiving in a later post)
1# ground pork or beef (and I like Ebersole Cattle Co grass fed ground beef here)
1/2 c honey or maple syrup
1 c catsup
2 T vinegar-any will work. I seem to always have an over-abundance of balsamic, so it wins for this recipe. I results in a nice, dark sauce)
1 T dry mustard
1/2 t onion powder

Combine the eggs, crumbs, onion, milk, 1 t mustard and pepper in a large bowl. Add the meats and make sure they are well mixed, but do not handle them too much. This makes your balls tough rather than nice and juicy. Shape into balls-I do about 1/4 c size. Place in a lightly greased baking dish and bake till almost cooked through in a 350 degree oven, about 35 minutes. Don't worry if they seem a little crowded-it won't hurt them.
While that is baking, mix together the catsup, honey, vinegar, onion powder and mustard, stirring until completely combined. OR if you are really short on time or love some certain wonderful, local brand, you can most certainly use a pre-made barbecue sauce. This one is nice though, and can be tweaked as liked-like adding more honey to make it sweeter, or a little cayenne to make it spicier. Glaze over the meatballs about 5 minutes before they are ready and put back in the oven till the sauce is hot and bubbly.
Serve!

Sweet Chili Salad Dressing

2009-12-02T19:37:00.000-06:00

Now, I know that one of the main ingredients in this is so not a local ingredient. I try, but a homemade dressing is still great as compared to so many store bought numbers, and most of the ingredients here are easy to get locally :make your own mayo from local eggs, fresh milk, grated parmesan, garlic and onion. I have been eating this stuff on everything here lately.

Sweet Chili Salad Dressing

1/3 c sweet chili sauce (look for it in the Asian food section)
3/4 c mayo
milk to thin
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
1/4 c grated parmesan
1 t onion powder or grated onion (yes grate the onion, and make sure to do it over the bowl so you catch the juices)
1 t granulated garlic or 2 cloves grated garlic (same as the onion folks)

Whisk this all together until it is well blended, and use the milk to thin to your desired consistency.

This stuff only gets better with time, developing a great bite by the next morning. Make sure to refrigerate!

Apple Bread Pudding

2009-11-15T20:49:00.003-06:00

I threw this together one night when I was craving something sweet...AND had some slightly dry bread to use up. It was so good I made it three times in the next five days, to share with various friends and family members. They all pretty much raved about how good it was. And it was super easy.

You need:
1 quart jar homemade apple pie filling
2 eggs
Leftover bread - I didn't really measure....perhaps 3 cups, cubed? (I used leftover Pan de Muerto)
1 cup milk or cream
optional: raisins, walnuts, or other dried fruits

Beat eggs, add milk. Combine all ingredients and pour into a 9x13 pan. Cover with foil, and bake a 350 degrees. You can add dried fruit or nuts if you like. I added frozen black raspberries once and it was divine. Bake approx. 45 minutes, or until the top is slightly brown and the center is no longer jiggly. That's it!

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

2009-10-14T11:41:00.003-05:00

I love this fall "cake". I'm not a *huge* cake fan, but this is so very moist, and not too sweet. I eat it for breakfast.

Here is the original recipe:

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 can pumpkin -- (15 ounce)
puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch bundt or tube pan.

Cream oil, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined. If desired, stir in some chopped nuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a plate and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

And here are my adjustments:

I used cooked, mashed butternut squash, because it seems silly to buy canned pumpkin when there are all kinds of great locally grown winter squashes.

I added 2 grated carrots, because I have LOADS of them from the CSA and am putting them in everything I can. Plus, if something has 2 vegetables (butternut squash and carrots), then it is a casserole. Right?? haha.

Anyway.

I added black walnuts, and raisins, and substituted homemade apple butter for 1/2 cup of the oil. I also cut back on the sugar by a half cup. I didn't use any frosting and found it plenty sweet, but of course this cake could be frosted.

I think you could also use honey instead of sugar, but I haven't tried it...yet.

I bet it would also be delicious with shredded zucchini, chocolate chips, or candied ginger pieces. or all three. :)

I have also made it with whole wheat flour. It was less successful with my guinea pigs, um, err...family, but I liked it.

This cake freezes beautifully! Also it would be just as good baked as a sheet cake or made into cupcakes.

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

2009-09-22T11:23:00.003-05:00

I loooove roasted pumpkin seeds. I mean, I love pumpkin, too, and being someone who dislikes wasting anything, roasting the seed just makes sense. What few people realize is that they can also roast the seeds from any winter squash, as well. Acorn, hubbard, spaghetti...you name it. Which is completely awesome in my book, because they are such a great, nutritious, easy snack.
I have several recipes for the roasted seeds. This is the one I made today and I love it. Sweet, salty, spicy....perfect for a movie, or sitting with hot cocoa in front of the fire place, and the perfect recipe to welcome in fall!

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
1/2 t stevia, or 5T sugar (I am following a fairly sugar restricted diet right now, so stevia is what is in use right now)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t fresh grated ginger
pinch cayenne
1 1/2 t coconut oil (heat just a bit to liquify it)
1 c pumpkin or squash seeds, washed and patted dry

Mix it all in a bowl and spread on a cookie sheet in one layer. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 1 hour.

Berenjenas Rellenas de Arroz - Eggplants stuffed with rice

2009-09-07T20:48:00.002-05:00

Spanish striped eggplants are generally known as Listada. Among them, the most internationally renowned is the Listada de Gandía heirloom.

I was so excited to start these from seeds this year and watch them grow into beautiful plants. Unfortunately, we've had very mild weather this summer which caused them to develop slowly. I was excited to find the Listada de Gandía heirloom from Blue Gate Farm at the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market. I hesitated to buy them at first, knowing that my plants were slowly but surely growing. When September came, I decided to go ahead and purchase them and hope that my eggplants might soon set fruit. I am thrilled to report that three of my plants are finally developing and hopefully within a week, I'll have my own that I started from seeds way back in March.

One of my eggplants finally setting fruit in September :) Better late than never!

Eggplants are a popular Mediterranean food. Whether battered and fried, sauteed in olive oil, used in place of lasagna, or in stews... they are mild, tender, and delicious. This heirloom variety is no exception. I was pleased with the taste and texture. In this Spanish recipe, I stuffed them with a rice, eggplant, and tomato mixture that even my toddlers enjoyed.

Berenjenas Rellenas De Arroz - Eggplants stuffed with rice

Ingredients

6 eggplants
6 tbls extra virgin olive oil
6 tbls long-grain rice
2 tbls bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter
salt

Tomato Sauce

2 tbls extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion
6-8 tomato's
1 tsp sugar
salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Make a very concentrated tomato sauce using the tomato sauce ingredients. ( I concentrated homemade spaghetti sauce that I had frozen)
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, slash the flesh, season lightly with salt, and put them into an ovenproof baking dish.
Pour the oil over them and roast for 30 minutes, until the flesh is soft.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of unsalted water to a boil. Add the rice, stir, and cook over high heat for 12-18 minutes, until tender.
Drain the rice in in a colander and rinse under cold water.
Drain well again and season lightly with salt.
Remove the eggplants from the oven. Let cool slightly, then scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon without piercing the skins.
Remove and discard the seeds, then chop the flesh.
Combine the eggplant flesh, rice, and tomato sauce in a bowl and divide into the eggplant skins.
Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Return to the oven and cook for 25 minutes, until golden.

We ate this with a side of swiss chard sauteed in evoo and garlic :)

Buen Provecho!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Cabbage and Sausage Stew

2009-08-24T21:11:00.003-05:00

Cabbage and Andouille Stew. The original used Kielbasa or smoked sausage but I prefer Andouille and it is what I had on hand. I've changed the original recipe a bit, but it is very filling and very good.

Use well seasoned cast iron dutch oven for best flavour.

I have lots of cabbage this year and the frozen and blanched stuff works great in this recipe.

Butter or bacon grease to brown sausage.
1 lb of sausage cut into bite size pieces
2 onions, bite size chopped
4 medium potatoes, bite sized chopped
1 large cabbage head cut into 1 inch pieces
1 T of Thyme (original recipe said 1 t but it wasn't enough in my taste)
salt and pepper to taste
optional 1 t of caraway seeds
6 cups of water (original said only 4 but that didn't even cover the cabbage!)

Brown sausage, add onions and saute until golden, add everything else and bring to a boil. Then turn to simmer cover and cook until the potatoes are soft. About an hour. Great as leftovers. Serve with fresh bread.

Zucchini Part I: Curried Soup

2009-08-10T08:46:00.005-05:00

Not all zucchini dishes are desserts. Now that's it is time for "zucchini-zilla's" to emerge from our garden plots and take over our valuable kitchen space, we must form a counter attack plan else be buried in their green goodness.

Here' is a good one, adapted from a book called "Gardeners' Community Cookbook":

Curried Zucchini Soup

enough butter for frying- about 3 T
2 pounds of Zucchini
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic (or 4 if you LOVE garlic), minced or pressed
1 t curry powder
1 t kosher salt
1 t white pepper (fine ground is better)
4 Cups of chicken BROTH, (not stock)
1/2 cup of whole milk or 1/2&1/2 or cream or sour cream (less than whole is bad, but the choice depends on your taste).

Fry the vegetables until soft, turn off heat and add the spices and 1/2 the broth. Wait until cool enough to handle. Puree in a blender or food processor. Return to pot, add last 1/2 of the broth and add the milk just before serving.

Remember to make sure that the zucchini is soft, skin and all.

I'll post pictures in a bit, but an added note is that the curry blend stained all the plastic parts of my food processor bright yellow.

Everything but the spice and butter was from my own garden or farm.

Baked Nectarine Cranberry Oatmeal

2009-08-07T10:59:00.002-05:00

There is nothing more comforting than baked oatmeal in the morning. Nourishing and filling. The kids will smile also!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups steel cut oats, soaked overnight.
(I've been using local Paul's Grains Steel Cut Oats and let me tell you, they are out of this world!)
3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup honey
2 farm fresh eggs
2 nectarines diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Drain your steel cut oats in a colander to get rid of excess water. Put them in a baking dish.
In a small bowl, mix the eggs, milk, and honey. Stir into your oats.
Add diced nectarines and cranberries.
Bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes.
Once the oatmeal is done, serve into bowls and add some cold milk.

Enjoy!

Queso Blanco

2009-08-02T20:02:00.008-05:00

Queso Blanco is a SUPER easy fresh cheese - highly recommended if you're in a hurry, have lots o fmilk to use up, or just simply want an easy and practically fool-proof way to start making your own cheeses. It isn't hugely flavorful, but easily takes on the flavors of whatever you cook it with. It has the unique property of NOT melting...so I love it seasoned and fried. You can also use it as you would tofu in nearly any recipe - pasta sauces, stir-fry, etc.

Start with a gallon of milk, in a large pot. Heat milk to about 185 or 190, stirring frequently. When temperature is reached, remove from heat. Add 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, a little at a time, until the curds separate from the whey. In the picture here you can just see the curds and whey starting to separate. You can add a little more vinegar if needed.

Strain the curds from the whey, using a cheesecloth.

Hang the cheese for several hours to let the last of the whey drip out. That's it! Super easy!

As I said, I really like to fry this cheese, for a tasty easy appetizer. It could also easily be fried and topped with a marinara sauce for a quick dinner as-is, or in a sandwich.

Fresh Tomatillo Cilantro Salsa

2009-07-24T15:08:00.000-05:00

Ever since visiting Rick Bayless's restaurant La Frontera Grill, Gabe and I are hooked on this Fresh Tomatillo/Cilantro salsa. It's unbelievable! The freshness of the tomatillos and cilantro are complemented by the bite of the white onion, garlic and jalapeno. Besides how amazing this salsa is, it's unbelievably easy to make! All you do is mix and blend. After trying this, you'll probably agree with me that you'll never buy green salsa in a jar again! I can't wait to start harvesting my own tomatillos from my garden!

Rick Bayless's Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients

4 medium (about 8 ounces total) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and quartered
1 large garlic clove, peeled and quartered
jalapeno pepper to taste (I used only a small piece of a pepper. Be careful as a little bit can go a long way!)
1/2 to 2/3 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
White onion diced to garnish

Combine the tomatillos, garlic, chile and cilantro in a food processor or blender. Add 1/4 cup water and a generous 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process to a coarse puree; if using a blender, begin blending on low, at first pulsing to get the mixture moving evenly through the blender blades.
Pour into a salsa dish and thin with a little more water if necessary to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency.
Taste and season with additional salt if you think necessary.
Serve within an hour.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Homemade Whey & Cream Cheese/Greek Yogurt

2009-07-24T15:07:00.001-05:00

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey,

In our day in age, curds and whey brings memories of a nursery rhyme rather than cultured dairy. Curds and whey are the bi-product of fermenting dairy products. In our past, it was a means of preserving dairy. Today most people buy their dairy in the forms of milk, yogurt, cream cheeses, ricotta and sour cream. We don't really stop to think how they're made.

What is fermentation?
Fermentation is a chemical change brought on by the action of microscopic yeast, molds and bacteria. The souring of milk, the rising of dough and the conversion of sugar to alcohol are examples of fermentaion.

I make my own homemade yogurt. Yogurt is made by heating milk to 110 degrees adding a culture of live bacteria and letting it sit out (ferment) for 12 hours. To me it was so cool to smell the milk and actually having it smell like yogurt after sitting out for such a long time. Our generation is so used to buying everything at the store without realizing that even these dairy products can be made at home.

I've recently started making my own lacto-fermented veggies and fruits and soaking my whole wheat flours. Whey is an excellent starter culture for this and the cream cheese, a by-product, is much healthier than the commercial variety. Since I already have so much yogurt all the time, I decided to start saving the whey for fermenting my veggies and soaking my grains. I've been using the cream cheese or Greek Yogurt as a yummy spread on toast and am looking forward to making my first batch of tzatziki sauce for homemade Gyros!

Below is a recipe on how to seperate the curds and whey using yogurt.

Homemade Whey & Cream Cheese/Greek Yogurt

1 quart of homemade yogurt or 1 large container of store bought plain yogurt
Line a large strainer over a bowl with a clean cotton tea towel. Pour in the yogurt, cover and let stand at room temperature for several hours.
The whey will run into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the strainer.
Store whey in a mason jar and the cream cheese in a covered glass container.
Refrigerated, the cream cheese keeps for about 1 month and the whey for about 6 months

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Apricot Fig Newtons with a Splash of Orange

2009-07-22T10:46:00.000-05:00

Fig newtons, my favorite snack! Over the past year, I've been buying my family the organic fig newmans. I love them, however, as I've been on a quest to making more of my own food, I decided to give them a try since I usually buy a pack a week. Sad thing is they only last us a few days before they're gone! I found a recipe and started there but it just wasn't what I was looking for. After a few attempts I came up with my own batter and filling recipe. What I'm pretty excited about is that this recipe is so versatile. Meaning there are many variations I'd still like to try including one of my favorite herbs anise. So here is a recipe I came up with including fresh organic apricots, dried figs, and one of my all time favorite fruits, Oranges!

Ingredients:

For the Dough

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour soaked overnight in 1 cup of homemade or plain yogurt.
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 tbls butter
1/2 tbls orange zest

For the Filling

5 dried figs
5 apricots
3 tbls honey
the juice of 1/2 an orange

The quickest way for me to do this is to make the filling on the same night that I soak my flour. That way the next day all I need to do is roll out the dough, place the filling, seal and bake. Saves me alot of time!

Filling

Peel the apricots. Bring a pot of water to a full rolling boil. Place the apricots in the boiling water for 30 - 40 seconds. If your apricots are ripe their peel should slide right off.
Once the peel has been removed, remove the pit and dice the apricots.
In a small pan, heat the apricots and 2 tbls of honey. Heat through until the apricots break down. About 5 minutes.
In a food processor blend the figs, apricots, juice of 1/2 of an orange and 1 tbls honey.

Dough:

The next day after soaking, stir in the maple syrup, butter and orange zest. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Assembly:

Divide chilled dough into 4 parts
Add unbleached white flour to dough and work space to prevent sticking.
roll out 1 part of the dough into a 10 x 4 inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick
Spread ¼ of the filling evenly down the right side (lengthwise) of the rectangle
Fold the dough in half resulting in a 10 x 2 inch bar
Pinch to close
Repeat with 3 remaining parts of dough and filling
Transfer each bar to a parchment lined baking stone; bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes
Cut bar every 2 inches to form the fig newtons

They were so delightful with a slight splash of orange! Enjoy!!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Lenteja Chorizo Pizza

2009-07-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

This recipe was inspired by Arabic Bites Safija (lentils pizza's).

Spanish food is highly influenced by the Arab world including Jews and Moors. The Moors invaded Spain in AD 711, and stayed for nearly 800 years leaving behind their culinary influence especially in the South of Spain we all know as Andalucia. It's completely evident today as I visit Arab food blogs and see the similarities in spices, stews and use of legumes. When I visited Arabic Bites and saw their Safija, I was taken away. I decided to make my own lentil topping a bit more traditional to Spain by including Chorizo sausage and Spanish paprika, pimenton.

Lenteja Chorizo Pizza

Ingredients

Dough:

2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Lentils Topping:

2tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 small Palacios chorizo sausages, diced, casings removed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
2 tsp Spanish paprika (pimenton)
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup brown lentils, cook according to package directions
cilantro to garnish

For the dough:

Combine all dough ingredients. Knead to make soft dough. Knead dough about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
Place dough in oiled bowl, cover, and stand in warm place about 1 hour.

For the Lentil Topping:

In a pan, heat 2tbl EVOO and saute the onions until transparent.
Add the chorizo, crushed garlic, and tomato's. Stir until the tomato's have cooked down and released their juices.
Add the Spanish paprika, salt, and lentils and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add a good drizzle of EVOO and mix through.

Assembly:

Divide the dough into 4 personal sized pizza rounds.
Sprinkle cornmeal onto 2 pizza stones or pans and place the pizza rounds on top.
Top each pizza with the lentil toppings and oil the crust of the pizza's.
Finish by sprinkling cornmeal on the crusts.
Bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until browned.
Once the pizza's have been cooked, garnish with cilantro.

Buen Provecho!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Lazy Girl's Homemade Yogurt

2009-07-20T18:29:00.009-05:00

This is a selfish post. See, I've been trying to help my sister learn to eat healthier. She recently was in the hospital, and now is on a mission to become a better, healthier person. Which means eating good food. Which means learning what foods to eat and what to avoid. She loves yogurt, but so much yogurt on the market is still full of artificial junk. I wanted to show her how easy it is to make your own....and because I'm lazy, I have pretty much streamlined my yogurt-making process to as few steps as possible. So, here you go sis - my lazy girl's method to homemade yogurt.

Heat 1-2 quarts milk to 185-190 degrees. I just do it over low heat, in a regular saucepan, stirring every now and then. I use Picket Fence Creamery whole milk, but you can use whatever you like.

When the milk reaches approx. 185-190, shut off the heat and let it cool to about 115 degrees.

Add your culture - I use a powdered culture from Cheesemaking.com, or a leftover bit of the last yogurt I made - a few tbsp. or up to a half cup. Stir a little.

At this point all you need to do is keep the yogurt warm long enough for it to, well, yog I guess. I have 2 little nifty devices for doing this ('cuz I'm lazy, remember?). One is essential a thermos, specifically for quart sized batches of yogurt. (shown below). I got it on ebay for about 20 bucks.

You put the yogurt in the sealed container on the right, about 2 cups boiling water in the container on the left, then put the sealed container in the thermos, and put the top on. Ignore for 12 hours, then you have yogurt.

My second yogurt maker is really cool! It was a gift from a friend - a Salton electric yogurt maker, with 5 individual cups. The cups are lovely glass with tight-sealing plastic lids, so this would be REALLY cool if you took lunch to work or something like that, because these cups are very sturdy and 100% reusable. I pour a little jam (or fresh fruit and honey) in the bottom of each cup before pouring in the yogurt mixture. Then when the yogurt sets, I have slightly sweetened fruity yogurt, just give it a stir. Yum. This yogurt maker also takes about 12 hours to set the yogurt.

This makes a lovely smooth thick rich yogurt with really exellent creamy texture.

Of course, you can make yogurt without any type of yogurt-making machine at all. I have in the past made yogurt by putting the sealed container of yogurt in a warm dehydrator, in a pan of water in my mom's gas oven (with only the pilot light on, it has lovely warm even gentle heat), or wrapped in towels and placed in a sytrofoam cooler. I have also thought that it would work well placed on top of my mom's corn stove (it's warm but not hot), but haven't tried it yet. There are other methods as well, I just haven't tried them.

And that's it. You have yogurt! Homemade, no preservatives, colorants, HFCS, artificial sweetners, or added junk of any kind. Easy. Easy enough for a lazy girl like me......

Steak Fajitas

2009-07-17T16:41:00.001-05:00

Brainstorming a good way to use steak leftover from grilling Monday, I thought of fajitas. We recently ate at a cute little Mexican place on the south side and my husband realized he likes them (I have loved them for years). I found a recipe online, tweaked it,as usual and came up with this. You can use either leftover, already cooked steak or a fresh cut of meat. Either way, yum and fast!

Fajitas

1-2 # steak-this time around it was even leftover, already grilled stuff, slice it REeeeeaaaLLLLyyy thin :)
3-4 bell peppers, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1/2 # kale sliced in thin strips, and stemmed

marinade/cooking juice
2 c red wine
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 t salt
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
1 t dried cilantro, or 1 T fresh chopped if you have it

use half of the marinade, and marinate the beef for at least 30 minutes. Once you are about ready to make dinner, heat a tablespoon or two over med-high heat. In a separate pan heat 1-2 T more olive oil over med-hi heat. Throw the beef, marinade drained off, but reserved, in one pan and the veggies in the other. Saute both; the meat until it is heated through or medium, and the veggies until they are softened, but not too mushy. Add the beef marinade back to the beef and the the other half of unused marinade to the veggies. Cook both in the marinades until they have reduced some. Serve with warm tortillas!

Foolproof Grilled Veggies

2009-07-16T21:08:00.007-05:00

This is a summertime staple in our household, and a wonderful way to use ANY veggies you have - especially little bits of different veggies that you're not sure to do with. This is really a non-recipe, but, as the title indicates, it's pretty darn foolproof. I've made this many times, with many different vegetable/seasoning combinations and haven't yet managed to really screw it up.

First off - figure out what veggies you have. These are all going to cook together, so, the most important thing is to try and think about the various cooking times for each vegetable, and then chop/cut the veggies in appropriate sizes, so they are all done at approximately the same time. For example, in this blend I have: 1/2 onion, lots of snow peas, 1 small summer squash, 2 heads garlic, and a handful of small carrots. The carrots take the longest cooking time, so I've sliced them very thin. The summer squash cooks the fastest, so I've left them in biggish chunks. Put them all on a large sheet of foil. Heavy duty foil works best.

The amount per person to make will vary. This is what I've made to feed 2 adults as a main course. For big veggie eaters you may want 1-2 cups per person. If it's merely a side dish to a main meal, you may want less. You'll have to use your judgement. These are pretty good leftover, or tossed into a pasta sauce the next day.

I make these veggies all summer long, with whatever is fresh and in season. Early in the season, it's just asparagus. As the CSA boxes become more varied, I throw in ANYTHING. In the fall, this works beautifully with root crops. You can mix up the veggies, or do just one or two. The choice is yours.

Next: Season your veggies. I always use sea salt and ground pepper, but let my garden (or whim) be my guide otherwise. This particular mix of veggies is seasoned with fresh parsley, basil, thyme, nasturtium leaves, and chives - because that was what was outside my doorstep, and fresh. Feel free to expermint. Dried herbs are fine, as are pre-purchased blends. Italian seasoning blends are great with zucchini. Try thyme and chives with green beans. Rosemary, parsley and sage with potatoes. The choices are endless! Just dont' be AFRAID of the herbs and spices. Too little, and this dish can be very bland.

Also, you need to add some oil/fat (just a little, or alot if you want). I personally usually use either 1-2 tbsp. of either olive oil or butter (Picket fence butter is my fat of choice....yum). You may also add balsamic vinegar or herbed vinegars, leftover salad dressing, pesto....let your creativity run wild.

Also, add 1-2 ice cubes. This will help steam the veggies and keep them moist and tender.

Now, wrap up your package tightly! Put it on a preheated grill.

More tender veggies, such as the peas/zucchini shown here, will cook in approx 20 minutes, but, each veggie blend/amount/grill will vary, so check after 15 minutes.

And that's it! Delicious local veggies, ready for main course or side dish.

Tonight we're doing potatoes, the same way. Seasoned with thyme, rosemary and parsley. These take 30-35 minutes, depending on how thick they are sliced, the age/type of potato, and how many we're cooking.

MMMMM.

Kale Soup

2009-07-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

Growing up my dad would talk regularly about his time spent living on the east coast. Food was always important to him, food was often what he talked about. He loved a certain soup he had eaten regularly out there, featuring kale. He made his own version that we ate regularly here, when kale was in season here in Iowa. We always ate tons fresh, but would freeze quite a bit as well in order to enjoy the flavor year round. This is my version of that soup. It changes a little each time I make it, as I add and subtract veggies or what type of sausage I use.

Kale Soup
1 pound fresh kale or 1 quart size freezer bag frozen kale, make sure to cut this into strips or small pieces. Greens can be cumbersome in soups if not properly cut. You can also substitute any number of greens here. Kale is the classic and has awesome flavor, very mild. But collards, chard, root greens would all work well.
1 pound regular pork breakfast sausage or one pound kielbasa sliced thin
salt
water
(I am not going to list any specifically, but you can add any assortment of veggies to this. I like to saute thin sliced zucchini in with the meat.)
2 cloved garlic, minced

Brown the sausage in a stock pot-make sure not to drain the grease. This adds a lot of flavor. If you are using veggies other than the kale, add them here so they can soften, as well as the garlic. A little onion might be nice as well. Once everything is browned, softened and such, add around 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and add the kale. Once the kale is wilted if using fresh, add salt and pepper to taste. Be sure to taste it. The salt is important in bringing out the flavor of the greens. Depending on sausages, though, you may need no salt at all. Just taste as you go. I have seen some versions with tortelloni added. It is very good if you have them on hand. You would have to cook it till the pasta is done if this is the case.

We often keep this soup frozen in single serving portions to use when we are sick in place of chicken noodle soup. The greens are a serious vitamin boost.

Aliño

2009-07-09T22:47:00.001-05:00

I'm thrilled! After 31 years, I'm finally getting my Spanish Citizenship!! Woo Hoo!! I'll have dual citizenships from the United States and Spain. My mother just returned from the Spanish embassy in Chicago with all the paperwork necessary. To commemorate, my family had a fantastic bbq including a staple in our house called Aliño. A Spanish potato salad with a variety of flavors including olives, tuna and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It has a nice spice created by the onions and complemented by the Olive Oil.

Aliño

Ingredients

6 medium sized potato's, cubed
2 small tomato's, diced
1/2 white onion, diced
2 cans of tuna in Olive Oil
1/2 cup Spanish olives, sliced
4 farm fresh eggs, sliced
1/2 - 3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Kosher/Sea Salt to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil.
Add the potato's and eggs to the boiling water, cover and boil for 15 minutes.
In a large bowl add the boiled potato's, tomato's, onion, tuna, olives and eggs. Mix in 1/2 - 3/4 cup of Olive Oil, the salt and mix through.
Refrigerate before serving. (The Aliño can be served at room temperature or cold.)

That's really it! Buen Provecho!!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

German Potato Salad

2009-07-06T06:54:00.003-05:00

I like potato salad. I had never had it German style, though, until last weekend while Danelle (Mama Podkayne) and I were in the kitchen together. I was busy smoking meat and she knew we needed to use some nice looking little red potatoes up, so she suggested German Potato Salad. And like I tend to do with and recipe, "fixed" it, even though our starting point was a good one already, from Cook's Country. This is what we did to ruin it:)

German Potato Salad

1/4 c pickle juice-preferably a leftovers from some fabulous homemade dills (Thank you Karen!)
3# small red potatoes, scrubbed and chopped or sliced depending on how you like them. Reds work the best for texture, so I wouldn't really recommend many other styles here
6-8 slices thick cut (local pastured pig) bacon (Um, or 5 if one of the cooks gets hungry.....)
1 onion, chopped (we used three small from the garden)
1/4 c reserved bacon grease
1/4 c coarse grain mustard. We used a very nice locally made one.
1/4 chopped fresh parsley, though we substituted cilantro and it worked fine
1/4 chopped dill pickles if you have them on hand, though we didn't, and it worked well
1 t ground pepper

Cook potatoes just until soft but still firm. You don't want mashed German potato salad on your hands. Drain and put in a bowl.

Meanwhile, brown the bacon, till nice and crisp. Remove it and all but 1/4 c of the grease. Saute the onion in the grease.

Once it is softened and starting to brown, add the pickle juice, mustard and pepper. Bring to a simmer.

Pour the dressing over the warm potatoes, stir to combine, then add the pickles, bacon and cilantro to the party. Serve warm or at least at room temperature. You can refrigerate for about a day, but bring it back to room temp before eating-it compliments the salad flavors. Look ma, no mayo!

Classic Spanish Flan with Strawberry Caramel infused with Anise

2009-07-01T14:30:00.001-05:00

Flan. The dessert of Spain. Actually flan can be traced back to the Roman Empire when chickens first became domesticated and kept for laying eggs. With the large amounts of eggs, Romans turned to the Greeks who helped them develop flan. It wasn't until the fall of the Roman empire that the Spaniards and Moors adapted it into a sweet caramel custard. Once Columbus traveled the seas, flan was introduced to Central and South America and we are now enjoying it throughout the world.

That is one thing I love about flan. It's so versatile. There are so many different ways to enjoy it. I am so pleased that my recipe below turned out exactly how I invisioned it. I love the classic vanilla taste of flan but I wanted to introduce another familiar taste in Spain, the herb Anise. Its flavor resembles black licorice. It's used in cookies and pastries and in the ever popular alcohol, aguardiente. I wanted to bring a hint of this flavor and fuse that with a strawberry caramel topping. The result was amazing.

Classic Spanish Flan with Strawberry Caramel infused with Anise

Ingredients

Caramel:

6 tbls organic sugar
1/4 tsp crushed Anise seed (with a mortar and pestle or rolling pin)
2 tbls water
2 1/2 tbls Strawberry Puree

Flan:

3 cups whole milk, In order to develop a rich, creamy custard, I would highly suggest using whole Jersey milk (Locally from Picket fence creamery) or raw milk.
2 tsp pure vanilla extract (more to taste)
2 eggs
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup organic sugar

Make the caramel topping

In a small pan, heat the sugar for about 5 or 6 minutes on low, turning to heat through.
Add the water, strawberry puree and crushed anise and heat for an additional 8 to 10 minutes on low constantly stirring.
Pour into individual flan molds or a large cake pan until the bottoms have been covered.
Let cool.

Flan molds can be bought at...

Make the flan

Preheat the oven to 300 F.
Pour the milk ino a pan, add the vanilla, and bring just to a boil.
While the milk is coming to a boil, In a bowl, beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar.
Once the milk has come to a boil, turn off the heat, and gradually stir in the hot milk to the egg mixture, a little at a time.
Pour into individual flan molds or the larger cake pan.
Put the individual molds or cake pan into a roasting pan and pour in hot water until it reaches halfway up the sides.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Remove the individual molds or cake pan from the roasting pan and let cool.
Chill in the refrigerator.
Turn onto a dish and serve!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Strawberry Apple Puffed Sensation

2009-07-01T14:29:00.002-05:00

With so many freshly picked strawberries from turtle farm, I did the best I could to eat them fresh and use them up in homemade recipes before freezing what was left. I decided to make a sweet jelly filled topping for puff pastry! light and flaky sweet sensation! Enjoy!

Strawberry Apple Puffed Sensation

Ingredients

3 small apples sliced (I used organic fuji apples, so sweet!)
1 cup whole strawberries cut into quarters
2 tbls butter or if you like a hint of coconut, coconut oil.
1/4 cup honey
1 recipe puff pastry

For the topping

In a small saucepan add the sliced apples and 2 tbls butter over medium heat. Bring to a sizzle and cover for 10 minutes or until soft. (This will add natural pectin to the sauce creating a light jelly)
Add the quartered strawberries and honey and mash until the strawberries and apples break down and a yummy sauce has been formed. Heat for an additional 5 minutes.

For the dough

Cut off a piece of puff pastry
Roll out your puff pastry to 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch.
Cut out 5 inch circles.
Bake at 425 for 7 minutes.
Top the circles with the strawberry/apple topping
Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until the patries are golden.
Garnish with sliced strawberries and powdered sugar.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Grilled Pizza

2009-06-29T14:51:00.003-05:00

I love pizza...but in the summer, I never want to turn on my oven. No problem! Pizza on the grill is fast and easy.

Here is my favorite pizza crust recipe. There are many online, perhaps you already have a favorite, that's cool too. This one just works really well for me.

3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. honey
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 1/4 tsp. yeast
2 tbsp. olive oil (extra virgin organic is my choice)

Combine flour, sugar, honey, salt, olive oil, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add 11 oz. warm water (if I have it, I use whey left over from cheesemaking). Combine just until the dough comest together into a ball, then let it rest for about 5 minutes.

After it's rested, knead the dough pretty thoroughly, until it's smooth, uniform, and not too sticky. Add more water or flour if needed.

This recipe makes 2 pizza crusts. I like to vary the flours. I usually use 1 cup white flour, and 2 cups of either whole wheat, 7 grain flour, or cornmeal, and then 1/2 cup semolina. The semolina REALLY make the dough stretchier and easy to handle, and I just love the texture. You can get nice crust without it, but I do highly recommend adding the semolina. I get my grains from Pauls Grains in Iowa.

Now. You can let your dough rise, if you're ready to use it. If not you can either 1) put it in the fridge in a plastic bag for up to 3 days, or 2) freeze it. I like to make several batches at once and put them in the freezer, then you have them ready when you need! The dough will actually ferment somewhat in the freezer, and this counts as your "rise"; so when you take the dough out of the freezer, as soon as it defrosts, it's ready to use. How cool is that? Oh, don't be afraid to add herbs to the dough too. I've added things like rosemary, basil, parsley, sage, thyme, black pepper....basically any that you like. They add alot of flavor to the pizza.

Next: The Sauce

There are many sauce options. I freeze large quantities of pesto each fall; pesto makes wonderful pizza sauce. You could also use leftover pasta sauce, or alfredo sauce. Fresh local chevre is a WONDERFULLY decadent pizza "sauce". Or maybe just a bit of olive oil. Or none at all. The choice is yours.

The Toppings:

Anything is fair game for toppings. Our pizzas change with the seasons, so they're never boring! Early in the spring we used morel mushrooms, sauteed nettles, and grilled asparagus. In the summer time ANY veggie good! Right now my fave is a "green" pizza - loads of chopped fresh herbs and greens (spinach, arugula, whatever you have) just loaded on the pizza over a light layer of pesto. Wintertime toppings are carmelized onions, roasted red peppers, or sundried tomatoes from my freezer/pantry. Let the seasons be your guide.

The Cheese:

As far as I am concerned, all cheese is good cheese. I like to make 30-minute mozzarella using a gallon of fresh whole milk from Picket Fence Creamery. When I don't have time, any fresh local cheese wilk work. And I mean ANY. I have used robiola, gouda, feta, cheddar, parmesan, even cheese curds. I personally prefer to use smaller amounts of more strongly flavored cheeses, rather than loads of mild cheese. But the choice is yours. I also like to mix 2-3 or even 4 kinds on one pizza. Each bite is different!

The Grilling:

Grilling pizza is easy, fast, and delicious. It SOUNDS like it might be difficult, but I swear it is not!

The important thing to remember is - it goes fast. So have all your ingredients ready. I get all the topping chopped, all cheese grated and assembled on one plate, ready to go, sitting beside the grill.

SO. Start by preheating your grill - I set it to high for the first stage. get it nice and hot.

Roll out your dough, then lightly coat one side with olive oil (I use a pastry brush). When grill is hot, put your dough, oil side down, on the grill. this is the trickiest part of the whole operation, as the dough is floppy! Once you get it down, close the lid of the grill and let the bottom grill until it's lightly cooked. The top will bubble; that's fine. When the bottom is lightly browned, oil the top (using the pastry brush again - a long-handled one is helpful), turn the crust over with a long-handled spatula, and TURN THE HEAT DOWN AS LOW AS POSSIBLE. At this stage, the trick is getting the toppings warm and the cheese gooey, without burning the bottom crust.

Now, top your pizza. Spread the sauce, add toppings, and assorted cheeses. Fresh herbs if you like. Close the lid of the grill, and let it cook until the bottom is browned and the cheese is bubbly. It only take a few minutes. Slide off grill onto pizza pan, turn off grill, feast.

Barbecued Chicken

2009-06-25T17:53:00.003-05:00

As a kid we had family dinners at my grandmother's house pretty frequently. I am pretty sure there wasn't anything she made that I didn't like. I am in the process of picking her brain to make sure all those recipes make it to my kids. My pork tacos are a version of the beef tacos she always used to make. I made mine more accessible through use of the 5mad bread dough. This recipe is also hers.

Barbecued Chicken
1-whole chicken in pieces (use the body carcass to make chicken stock in the crockpot, but use the legs, thighs, wings and breasts for the barbecue)
Barbecue sauce-either a homemade one, or a local bottled one like Big Daddy's. Andrew loves Big Daddy's so we usually use that, but I love my grandma's recipe. This is the rough rundown of her recipe:
4 parts ketchup (you can use straight tomato sauce, but you will have to use more vinegar and spices to make up for it)
2 parts prepared yellow mustard or brown mustard
1 part vinegar, usually apple cider or white distilled
1 part brown sugar or honey
spices to your taste like chile powder, paprika, ground pepper, salt, finely minced onion or garlic
Mix all together and cook over low heat until fully combined and darker in color. Taste as you go so you can reach just the right taste.

Now, for the chicken. You can either boil or bake the chicken, but the main idea is to cook it through, first.You also want to start the grill so it is plenty hot. I prefer charcoal for flavor, gas is fine, though, too. It makes a big difference in being able to keep your bird from burning on the grill. After it is cooked through, I usually remove the skin. Andrew hates the stuff, I don't feel like arguing, but it is totally a personal choice. I then put the pieces on heavy duty aluminum foil and proceed to brush on the sauce, reserving some for the grilling process. I put the chicken, on the foil, on the grill and cook it then until the sauce has really soaked into the chicken and if needed, the bird has tendered up some. I continue to brush more sauce on as I go so it is good and barbecue-y. Then I serve it up, any assortment of dishes will do-my grandma liked homemade mac and cheese, a broccoli salad, or homestyle potatoes. I am thinking a salad and potatoes tonight. Yum!

Homemade Mexican Beans

2009-06-24T19:09:00.002-05:00

Most people when they think Mexican beans they probably think refried made from pinto beans at a fun and loud Mexican restaurant where you are served a mountain of chips and salsa a ginormous margherita and you have your sizzling meal in front of you five minutes after ordering. Sound familiar?

These Mexican beans are far from that. I've found that the best Mexican beans first of all come from Mayo Coba beans. I learned this from a fabulous, small, authentic Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood called, Mariana's. Mariana is the owner and chef. You won't find chips and salsa at her restaurant and her food is amazing! Everything from taqueria style tacos, sopa de albondiga's, to pozole and homemade menudo. It's rich, slow and delicious. I frequent her place because of her beans. I finally asked her what her secret was and she told me that it's all about the Mayo Coba bean.

Homemade Mexican Beans, Crockpot Method

I've found that using a crockpot to slowcook my beans is my preferred method. A foolproof way to creamy tender beans.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Mayo Coba beans (found at your local Mexican store, La Tapatia)
2 quarts water
2 tbls fresh pork lard or Olive Oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 large sprig epazote (optional, found at your local Mexican store, La Tapatia)
Salt to taste

Spread the beans on a baking sheet and check for stones or beans that you wouldn't want to eat.
Pour the beans into a large pot, pour in 2 quarts of water and bring to a rolling boil. The beans will float to the top. Pour into crockpot.
Add the lard or olive oil, onion and, if using, the epazote.
Cook 5 - 6 hours on high for the beans to become tender.

That's really it! So simple and yummy. As you can tell, I did not soak my beans. Here's a quote taken from Rick Bayless, Mexican Everyday.

To Soak or Not
Mexican cooks don't soak beans because they know that throwing out the soaking liquid isn't a very good idea. It doesn't do much to make them more digestible (only a steady diet of beans helps with that), and it makes the beans turn out pale in color and flavor.

I eat these beans as is. However, a couple variations would be..

refried - After the beans are slowcooked, put them into a skillet. Add some water and mash them with a potato masher.
Mexican Chile Beans - Refried beans plus added Mexican Chorizo Sausage!! So good!!

Buen Provecho!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Cottage Cheese

2009-06-24T17:58:00.004-05:00

My kids love cottage cheese, and it is insanely easy to make. The recipe I use if from Alton Brown. This is it. Some thoughts, though. You DON'T have to use skim milk. I forget his reasoning on the show, but I never have skim milk. Full fat milks are better for you. As are raw milks, if you can get your hands on them. So, the pasteurized thing is also not necessary. Make sure you rinse your curds well or they will taste like the vinegar used to separate the whey. You can add the whey, if you don't mind a little vinegar taste to smoothies, stocks or in bread making for added nutrition. The book Nourishing Traditions has a lot of uses and thoughts on this. If you don't have cream or half and half, don't fret. Just use milk, and salt it to taste. We like our cheese pretty salty. We also do not use cottage cheese only as cottage cheese, though my kids will eat it at just about any meal. We like ours with home canned peaches, apples and pears on top. I love mine with a fresh from the garden, sliced heirloom tomato with salt and pepper. That is a meal for me. Adding a little basil to that is heaven. I also mix it with applesauce for young ones, and any frozen fruit, chopped and put on top is great. You can also grate veggies into it, or we like an organic ranch mix mixed in for more flavor. If you choose that, wait to salt it as most dip mixes already have ranch in them. Cottage cheese is wonderful as a replacement or addition to ricotta in manicotti and lasagne. I will post later my lasagne recipe, which also includes fresh veggies. I also make vegetable dip out of it by processing or blending the cheese until fairly smooth, then adding fresh herbs and salt or an organic ranch dip mix to them. You can use this as a sour cream substitute often, if you find yourself without in a pinch. Cottage cheese is so versatile, and a wonderful way to work more made at home, local products into your diet!

5mad Bread Idea

2009-06-24T13:09:00.002-05:00

My husband loves fancy cheese bagels from Panera. Last night I thought I'd try something, and put roughly a quarter cup of shredded cheese on each roll (olive oil dough) before I baked them. They were marvelous. I definitely think that each week's bread rotation will now have to be at least half cheese bread. I used havarti, though you can totally experiment here. Great fot snacking as you get a little protein and calcium in with the carbs. Local manchego, gouda or parmesan would work wonderfully.

Preserving and Ideas for Using Cooking Greens

2009-06-18T20:59:00.002-05:00

I know many of you are in the CSA boat that is oh so common this time of year- "What the heck should I do with all these leaves that keep showing up and cluttering my basket?" I know that was one of the most asked questions I fielded with the CSA we ran out here. I personally grew up eating greens, especially kale and collards, and love them, but for many they are a foreign object, a little scary and weird. Like kohlrabi and scalloped squash. But those are different posts:) Anyway, I, too, am currently inundated with cooking greens. Tonight I processed two buckets full of collards greens. Greens are amazingly versatile and easy to preserve and sneak well into just about just about any dish. That, is actually what I recommend most folks do until they get up the gumption to just eat them as a dish. Liv is currently eating a bowl of collard greens, blanched (I pulled them out of what I was processing for the freezer), with nothing but salt and pepper.I am fond of them sauteed with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic-add a little crumbled chevre on top and oh. my. goodness. So good. And good for you. Greens are such powerhouses of nutrients it isn't even funny. Eat a couple servings of them each day in various forms and you won't need that multivitamin. You'll also retain more of those vitamins than if you were taking them in pill form. The best sources remain like all foods-organic and as local as possible. Organically grown foods have been proven to have far more nutrients than conventional because the soil they are grown in have not been depleted of the said nutrients.
So, what to do? Here are the ideas, then following is the easy freeer preserving method.
*Put them in smoothies. Raw is fine, cooked is okay.
*Chop them up fine and use them in pasta sauces and stews/soups. I even throw them in taco meat or pulled meat sandwiches. THe key is chopping them finely so they don't have a slimy feel or gross anyone out because, gasp, there is something GREEN in my food!
*Saute them with butter or olive oil with garlic, salt, pepper, and some pine nuts and feta or chevre. Top pasta with it and some crumbled bacon. Yum. O.

Frozen greens can be used the same as most fresh-just thaw and use. If you want super fine chopped greens, I would chop them into one inch or so squares, then chop them finer once they are frozen and then thawed alittle. They chop beautifully and aren't such a mess to fish out of the boiling pot while you are preserving them.

Start with some fresh greens, like swiss chard, mustard, collards, kale, turnip greens, or radish greens. Chop them into about 1 in squares, and in the meantime get a large pot of water boiling. Once it is rolling well, throw the greens in. Just about immediately pull them out-they should just wilt and still be a beautiful bright green. It is best to have your freezing apparatus (I use ziploc bags, usually quart size for greens as this is a nice size for usage later) ready to strain the greens and put them into bags. Let the bags come to room temp then put them into the freezer. Be sure the label them. With a lot of greens with thick stems it best to pull the stem out of the leaf, as they are kind of bothersome Freeze the stems in bags to use later in stocks or give them to your chickens for omega-3 rich eggs. Don't throw out the resulting green water from processing your greens. Freeze it as well and use it in place of water and broth when making stocks and soups. It also contains a lot of the nutrients that the leaves do. Let it come to room temp, as well. This helps the temp in your freezer not drop as much when you freeze all your goods.

Puchero y Caldo (Chicken Stock)

2009-06-15T23:12:00.002-05:00

With fresh chickens in the deep freeze, I wanted to make a batch of chicken stock. In Spain my family makes an amazing meal in a pot called Puchero. Soup bones of beef with marrow, ham and chicken are added to enrich the soup and create a stock. After the meal is eaten, the stock is reserved and saved for other meals. Here in the states, my mother came up with our own form of puchero simply using chicken since beef bones and jamon serrano are not readily available.

Puchero y Caldo

Ingredients

1 whole farm fresh chicken
feet from the chicken (optional)
1 cup garbanzo beans
1 gallon water
splash of vinegar
1 onion cut into 4 sections
3 carrots cut into thirds
3 celery sticks cut into thirds
3-4 potato's cut up into small pieces

Soak Garbanzo beans overnight
Cut up the chicken, reserving the back bone
In a large stainless steel pot, add the cut up chicken, including the back bone and feet if you have them.
Add 1 gallon of water and begin to simmer your pot on high heat
Add a splash of vinegar, garbanzo's, onion, carrots and celery sticks.
Bring your pot to a boil. Once boiling, skim off the scum that floats to the top of the pot.
Turn your heat to low and simmer for 8 hours up to 24 hours. The longer you simmer, the more flavor your stock will have.
20 minutes before serving, add the potato's to the stock.
This recipe is for both the puchero and stock. If you are only wanting to make the puchero, you'll only need half the amount of water and would only need to be slow cooked anywhere from 4-8 hours. If you are only wanting to make chicken stock, omit the garbanzo beans and potato's

That's really it! Once the puchero with stock is done, serve right away. I alway's drizzle my puchero with olive oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar. So comforting!

Once the meal is eaten, drain the stock through a colander and reserve in pint size (2 cups) mason jars leaving an inch from the top and freeze. Now you have homemade chicken stock to use for future meals. SIMPLE!

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Happy Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day!

2009-06-09T14:07:00.002-05:00

Although I'm not a big sweets person, I couldn't think of a better time to use up my freshly picked strawberries and locally grown rhubarb than National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day. I didn't bake a pie, (As I'm still a clutz at baking!) so I made a much simpler cobbler. It was simply YUMM!

Happy Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Ingredients

For the filling

1lb rhubarb
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tbsp. spelt flour
1 1/2 cups strawberries

For the dough

1 cup spelt flour
1 1/2 tbsp. raw honey
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
4 tbsp. chilled butter cut in pieces
1/2 c. plain or homemade yogurt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Butter 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Dice rhubarb. Toss with honey and flour, put in baking dish and place in oven for 7 minutes while preparing cobbler dough.
For cobbler dough mix flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter. Stir in honey and yogurt just until moistened (Don't overmix).
Remove rhubarb from oven and mix in strawberries.
Place cobbler dough on top of rhubarb and strawberries.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Caldo Gallego

2009-06-09T14:06:00.002-05:00

I was so excited to find a huge bunch of turnip greens for $1 at the Downtown Farmers Market. SCORE!! I knew right away that I wanted to use them to make a Caldo Gallego before the summer heat really sets in. Turnip Greens are the greens that grow above the root of the turnip. Many people compost them and eat the root. However, the turnip greens are supercharged with nutrients. Vitamins A, K, C, folate, calcium, iron and many more!

This recipe is the traditional soup of Galicia. The Turnip Greens are slightly bitter, similar to Brocolli Rabe or Mustard Greens. When cooked down and wilted it lends itself to the smooth and creamy texture of the white beans and potatoes yet empowered by the boldness of the chorizo sausage. It's delicious and another one of my favorite peasant dishes. Like most Spanish potajes and soups, it's even better the next day.

Caldo Gallego

Ingredients

1/2 pound thickly sliced pancetta or slab bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 cup dried white beans, soaked overnight in water to cover
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1/2 pound Spanish chorizo, casings removed and sliced thinly
1 lb turnip greens (or other dark leafy green), stemmed and coarsely chopped

Cook the pancetta in a large heavy pot over medium heat until most of the fat is rendered, 8-10 minutes.
Drain the beans, add them to the pot, along with enough water to cover them by 2 inches, and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam, then lower the heat and simmer gently, partially covered, for 45 minutes, or until the beans are beginning to soften.
Add the onions, potatoes, and turnips and cook for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened.
Add the chorizo and greens and cook for 10 minutes, or until the greens are tender.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Empanadillas de Atún

2009-06-09T14:05:00.003-05:00

Empanadilla is a smaller version of the empanada. A fried turnover. In Spain, empanadillas are commonly eaten as a tapa or as a first course. My mother used to make this for us as a meal served with a cold gazpacho soup or veggies. They do take a bit longer to prepare as you have to make the dough first, stuff and then fry. However, if you do take the time, maybe over a weekend, you will not regret it!

Empanadillas de Atún

Dough

1 cup water
1/4 tsp kosher/sea salt
3 tbl butter
3 tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 egg

In a saucepan, heat the water, salt, butter, and oil until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and add the flour. Stir until completely incorporated. Beat in the egg until the dough is smooth. Put the dough on a floured work surface and knead, adding flour, until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky. Cover and let sit 30 minutes. Roll the dough very thin and cut 5 inch circles.

Empanadillas de Atún

2 tbl EVOO
1 medium onion chopped
2 cans tuna in olive oil
2-3 tomatoes diced (Dahl's is now selling local Graddy's Pesticide Free Tomato's!)
1 tbl minced parsley
Kosher/Sea Salt
1 farm fresh hard boiled egg, diced
EVOO for frying

While the dough is resting, heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion until transluscent but not browned.
Add the tuna, tomato's, parsley, and salt. Cook for 10 minutes
Add the egg and remove from heat.
Roll out your dough, cut into 3 or 5 inch circles and place about 1 tbl of the filling in the center of each empanadilla circle.
Fold over and seal by pressing the edges with a fork.
Fry in hot oil until the turnovers are browned.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Radish Butter

2009-06-04T09:08:00.002-05:00

Due to a recent plethora of radishes (yay seasonal eating!) I have been searching through my cookbooks lately looking for different ways to use a lot of the items coming into season. Last night I came home from Mama P's farm with a load of radishes. I don't like radishes, at least not to just eat as is, but hate to waste anything. We had fried fish last night (from the P's pond), homemade strawberry ice cream (from the P's berry patch), and to accompany the fish I decided on 5-minute bread with radish butter. This was sooo easy to make, and a nice accompaniment to fresh, hot bread. My husband was not impressed, though. He is rather simple with his bread, so I wasn't surprised, but the kids and I gobbled it up. I also used the butter to fry our scrambled eggs in this morning, and it worked well. It is a lovely pink color (from red radishes), and would bet that purple radishes lend a violet color.
Enjoy!

Radish Butter
1/2 c sliced radishes
1/2 c room temp butter
squeeze of half a lemon

Just throw it all in the food processor and process until the radish is finely chopped and all is well blended.

Broiled Iowa Chops

2009-06-04T07:02:00.001-05:00

Every year when we buy a whole pig (butchered), we order Iowa Chops and ask the butcher to lean on the blade to make them just that much thicker. Iowa chops are what are served on a stick at the Iowa State Fair, for those unfamiliar with the cut. They are really thick. This poses the problem of cooking them properly since butterflying them would defeat the purpose of a thick chop.

It CAN be done!

This recipe is so simple too.

Iowa Chops

Seasoning

1/2 cup Kosher Salt (per 2 chops)

1/2 cup Raw Sugar (per 2 chops)

Aluminum Foil

Oven Thermometer

Make a brine with kosher salt and sugar and water. Soak the chops for an hour or two. I've read that some cooks recommend brining for 24 hours, but I don't.

Rinse the meat and pat dry. Rub the seasoning in, I use a lot of a special Cajun mix I make, but salt and pepper work too. Lay on broiler pan. I butter the grates, but it is not necessary. Broil on high until browned (about 10 minutes), then flip. Broil 2nd side until brown AND 140 degrees internal temp. Remove chops from broiler and immediately wrap each one tight in foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.

The USDA recommends an internal temp higher than 140, but when using local, fresh, pastured pork versus factory lot pork, 140 is fine. The resting time actually allows the temp to rise just a bit more.

That's it!

Sauteed Spinach with Carmelized Onions and Robiola Goat Cheese

2009-05-30T23:37:00.001-05:00

Farmers Market Day alway's calls for something special. One of my special finds of the day was Robiola Goat Cheese made by Reichert's Dairy Air. It's an exclusive Italian style goat cheese that Lori Reichert traveled to Italy to learn and make. Click Here for more info. With Spinach still in high season, I thought it would make a great bed to layer Carmelized Onions and my new Robiola goat cheese over. Enjoy!

Sauteed Spinach with Carmelized Onions and Robiola Goat Cheese

Ingredients

1lb Spinach
3 garlic cloves
2tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 medium sweet yellow onions, sliced
3-4 Tbl butter
2 oz Robiola Cheese from Reichert's Dairy Air

In a medium saucepan, add 3-4 tbl butter and saute the onions until carmelized. Make sure to stir them often so they brown evenly and do not burn. Set Aside
In the same saucepan add 2 tbl EVOO. Press 3 garlic cloves into the oil and saute for a minute or so. Add the Spinach and stir until wilted.
In a serving dish layer the Spinach, followed by the Carmelized Onions and sprinkle with the Robiola Goat Cheese.

We had this as a side dish with Grilled Ribeye Steak from Harvest Barn Marketplace. This was a fantastic outdoor summer bbq meal.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

2009-05-27T07:04:00.002-05:00

A great and healthy snack!

Ingredients

1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter (Or any other nut butter)
1/4 cup Raw Honey
2 tbl Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup plain or homemade yogurt
1 farm fresh egg
1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher / sea salt
Homemade Organic Jelly

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper baking cups.
In a large bowl, beat the peanut putter, honey, and butter. Stir in the yogurt and egg.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir. No need to overmix, there should be some lumps in the batter.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Make a small hole in each muffin batter and add a spoonful of jelly.
Bake 20 - 25 minutes.
Store in an airtight container.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Shepherd's Pie

2009-05-22T20:10:00.000-05:00

This is adapted from one in a weight watcher's cookbook. I can't help but tamper...

Local Ingredients:
*Potatoes
*onion
*garlic
*beef
*lamb
*tomatoes
*wine
*peas
*oregano
*thyme
*yogurt
*butter
*cheeses
*paprika
*parsley

Makes 6 servings
You will need:
3 large potatoes, cut into chunks
1 t olive oil
1 large finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 # lean ground beef (though you could use all lamb if you wish and it would taste just as good)
1/2 # lean ground lamb
1-14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup more or less of a good red wine (I have been using Red Truck-very good flavor)
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen peas
kosher or sea salt to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste
around a t m/l dried oregano (unless of course, you have fresh, then chop and double)
around 4 sprigs fresh thyme, strip and use the leaves
1/2 c plain non fat yogurt (soy or goat will work just as well as cow here)
1 T butter
1/4 c grated parmesan
1/2 c shredded cheese -we like a blend of parmesan and cheddar here
Paprika and parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Basically make mashed potatoes with the potatoes, yogurt, butter, Parmesan and salt and pepper. Leave the skins on the potatoes when you make then so long as they aren't russets.
While your potatoes are boiling, heat a large skillet. Add the oil, and once it heats up some saute the onion and garlic until soft-not too long or the garlic will get bitter. Add the meats and brown, breaking the meat up as finely as possible as you go, until cooked through. Stir in the tomatoes, peas, wine, oregano, thyme and heat a bit, then taste and add salt and pepper until it is nicely seasoned. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer around 10 minutes.
Spread the meat mixture along the bottom of a casserole dish, then top with the mashed potatoes. Top all of that with the cheese blend, then with ground pepper, parsley and paprika.
Bake until the potatoes are nice and golden and filling is bubbly, about 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Tastes great as left overs as well.

This could be made in a crock pot. I have not tried it, though. Throw the meat filling ingredients in the crock pot on high-you will still have the make the mashed potatoes separately. Once the meat is cooked a bit, top with the potatoes and cheese topping, then turn the knob to low and cook until nicely browned and bubbly-do not stir!

Baked Apple, Cinnamon Oatmeal

2009-05-22T14:56:00.001-05:00

I FINALLY came up with a steel cut oatmeal recipe that ALL 3 of my boys enjoyed!! It has taken me 3 years and many failed attempts! I've pretty much tried it all! Consecutive trials in the crockpot, honey, real maple syrup, SUGAR!!, dried fruit, banana cream, you name it, I've tried it! I finally put out a plea on facebook and received some great advice. One of them from my friend Lesli at Being Mum. She told me she makes her baby boy Carter Apple Pie Oatmeal. Apples, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. A light bulb went off when she mentioned this. I had remembered another baked oatmeal recipe and decided to bake mine. (Thanks Lesli!!!)

Baked Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Organic Steel Cut Oats
4 small or 2 large apples (I used organic fuji apples)
2 farm fresh eggs
1 cup milk
2 tbl butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
cinnamon

Soak your steel cut oats the night before. About an inch of water over your oats. Not only does soaking your steel cut oats aid in digestion, but it also softens them so they are not so gritty. I would suggest to not skip this step.
Drain your steel cut oats in a colander to get rid of excess water. Put them in a baking dish.
Chop and dice your apples and stir into the oats.
In a small bowl, mix the eggs, milk, brown sugar and butter. Stir into your oats.
Sprinkle cinnamon on top.
Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes. You're house is going to smell YUMMY!!
Once the oatmeal is done, serve into bowls. Add some whole milk and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Calzone

2009-05-22T08:21:00.005-05:00

I love the 5 minute artisan bread thing. I love that I no longer feel like an idiot who can't make bread.

I used to have a friend who was a whiz in the kitchen and often mocked me for my fumbling incompetence. Bread, I thought, is only something master bakers can do. There is something magical about the yeast, salt, flour, water combo turning into bread, rising, and then singing.

And yet, the peasants of France could make it daily. It has been a staple in the diets of humans from the ancient times. Why can't I get this mass of goo to be more than playdough, I often lamented.

Well, now I can make bread. Simple bread. I love this book. I love these recipes. I love that I can share it with others.

I now use local flour and honey in my bread. Still looking for local dry yeast and salt.

I tried to use the recipe in the book but it had some problems: my ricotta was spoiled and the recipe used no meat. So I improvised. The stuffing for the calzone is as follows:

1 block of feta cheese (Reichert's Dairy Air)

3/4 lb of ground pork (From the whole pig we bought from Audobon County Family Farms), browned and seasoned with black pepper

spinach leaves (Blue Gate Farm)

1 egg- (Blue Gate Farm)

Mix eggs and cheese

Roll out floured boule to a large flat circle, layer ingredients on one half, fold over, cut three slits, and bake at 450 until browned.

Frozen Fruit Pops

2009-05-20T22:52:00.001-05:00

When it starts getting hot out, I know it's time to make my kids some frozen fruit pops to cool down. We still have a month of Spring left, but this past week has been pretty hot out! So I dug out my new pop holders and made my first batch of the year.

Mango/Strawberry Frozen Fruit Pops

Ingredients

3 mango's
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup homemade/plain yogurt
2 tbl raw honey

Peel and cut mango's
Add all ingredients to a blender and puree.
Fill into frozen pop holders and freeze!

Super easy snack that's nutritious and your kids will love it! This is just one variation. As more fruits come into season, create and make your own :)

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Mixed Greens with Ginger

2009-05-18T23:45:00.001-05:00

I found such great Spring greens at this past Saturday's Downtown Farmers Market. Everything fresh, local and chemical free! Radishes, Pak Choi from Blue Gate Farm. I also found locally grown ginger root, cilantro, mustard greens, lettuce, green onions and my favorite find of the day, green garlic. Garlic that has not yet bulbed!

All of these fresh greens and ginger root were calling for something Asian inspired ;) Enjoy!

Mixed Greens with Ginger

Ingredients

1 large bunch of mustard greens
1 leek
1 pak choi
2 garlic cloves
2 tbl. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbl. soy sauce
1tbl. ginger
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 apples
1 tbl. butter
1 tbl. raw sugar
1 green garlic to garnish

Peel and dice apples. In a medium skillet, melt butter and add apples. Sprinkle with raw sugar and cook until soft and slightly carmalized. Place in a dish and set aside.
Cut mustard greens, leek, and pak choi into 1/2 inch slices. Soak in water and rinse well to remove any dirt.
In the same skillet heat 2 tbl. EVOO. Saute garlic and ginger for a minute. Add chopped greens, leeks and bok choy until wilted. Add Soy Sauce, cooked apples, salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 10 minutes.
Top with sliced green garlic to garnish

This was soo yummy and tasted great with grilled pork chops from Harvest Barn Marketplace.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Crustless Quiche

2009-05-14T07:41:00.004-05:00

Our new favorite recipe here was first discovered on the Farm-Raised blog. I like quiche, but its one of those foods that is just never on my "make it" radar. So this quicker crustless version was a perfect jump-start.

Here is the original recipe:

Crustless Quiche

1 cup cream, half-and-half, milk or a combination, gently heated just until warm

3 eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup grated Emmenthal, Gruyère, Cantal or a combination

1/4 cup grated Parmesan or hard pecorino

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

Butter as needed.

Heat oven to 325 degrees and set rack in middle of it.

Combine all ingredients except butter and beat until well blended.

Pour into 4 to 6 buttered ramekins (or a buttered gratin or pie plate) and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until almost firm; it should still jiggle just a little in middle.

Cool on a rack, then serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Yep, that's all well and good but as Sean often complains, I rarely follow a recipe word for word. So here's the Blue Gate Farm (eating seasonally) version:

1/2 c. Half and Half (We like Picket Fence)

1/2 c. 2% milk (again, Picket Fence, if we can get it)

3 farm fresh eggs

3/4 c. Dubliner Cheese (or any strong flavored cheese)

1/4 c. Feta cheese from our friends at Reichert's Dairy Air

1/4 c. ham, finely chopped

1/4 c. wild greens, finely chopped (could use spinach or other greens),

1 TBS fresh chives, chopped, from our herb garden

1 shallot, finely chopped, from last year's garden

1/2 tsp salt (if you use ham or other salty meat, cut the amt of salt in half)

1/4 tsp cayenne

Throw it all together, pour into buttered pie plate and bake for 40 minutes. Wow, was it good!

Oh, and the "Cool on a rack" part...yeah, right! I let it cool for the time it took me to make toast, then served it up and dug in! It was also pretty tasty eaten at room temperature for lunch.

Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits

2009-05-13T09:37:00.005-05:00

This is one of our favorite Sunday morning breakfasts. Don't be too alarmed by the seemingly excessive amount of sugar in the cinnamon filling. It is the only sweetner in the recipe and it really needs the full amount. These are really at their best served fresh out of the oven.

Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits

2 cups Flour

1 tablespoon Baking powder

1 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Baking soda

1/4 cup Vegetable oil (we use olive oil)

3/4 cup Buttermilk (local if you can get it)

4 tablespoon Butter, softened (again, local or homemade is the very best)

3/4 cup Sugar

2 teaspoon Cinnamon

½ tsp ground Cardamom (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°.

Grease a 9 in round baking pan lightly.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and mix well.

Stir in vegetable oil. Add buttermilk and stir just until blended.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

Roll dough into a 15x8 in rectangle. Spread butter over the dough.

Combine sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a small bowl and mix well. Sprinkle over butter. Roll up rectangle, jelly roll fashion, starting from one long side. Pinch seam to seal. Cut the roll into 1 1/2 in slices. Arrange the slices, cut side up, in prepared baking pan.

Bake until lightly browned, about 15-20 mins. Remove from oven. Serve hot.

Morel Mushrooms

2009-05-12T21:39:00.001-05:00

For some the beginning of May does not just signify Spring but the short lived season of Morel Mushrooms! I was in high school the first time I went out on a search for these wierd alien shaped mushrooms. I had just moved to Iowa from California and so this whole going out into the woods in search of strange fungi was fairly wierd to me. However, the incentive of selling your harvest for $20 a pound to our local Dahl's store was more than enough to get me racing into tick infested areas in search of the mighty morel! (*Note - Dahl's no longer accepts morel mushrooms.) To be honest, the morel mushroom is a freak of nature. They only come up within a short timespan of about a couple weeks during the end of April, first weeks in May. When the trees start budding flowers of pink and white and the rains are coming down followed by sunshine, It's TIME to head out!!! If you miss it, you'll need to wait another year.

Fried Morel Mushrooms

Ingredients

Morel Mushrooms
4 tbl Butter
Unbleached Flour
Kosher Salt

When you bring the morel mushrooms home, you will want to slice them in half and put them in a bowl of salt water to soak for about 20 - 30 minutes. This will clean out any dirt lodged within the crevaces of the mushroom.
In a saucepan, heat up the butter
In a ziplock bag, add some flour and the mushrooms. Toss to coat.
Fry in the butter until golden brown.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Pasta with (Insert some awesome veg here), Garlic and Bread Crumbs

2009-05-12T18:56:00.003-05:00

This recipe was originally in a Gourmet cookbook of mine, and called for capers and extra virgin olive oil. I wanted something that was a little more sustainable when I try to eat more locally. To do this I replaced a couple things. The capers are easily replaced with just about whatever vegetable you like. Some good ideas here would be finely diced tomatoes, or summer squash, or sweet peppers, though you can be as creative as you like here. Be sure to not overdo any of the ingredients, as the blend of ingredients is delicate, and showcases the pasta, unlike many pasta dishes which use it solely as a carrier for the sauce.

Local Ingredients:

*Pasta
*garlic
*butter
*vegetables of your choice
*parsley
*bread crumbs
*Parmesan

Pasta with Garlic and Bread Crumbs
3/4 lb pasta of your choice
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup butter
6 T finely chopped vegetable of your choice (this is where the capers were in the original recipe)
1/4 c chopped fresh flat leaf parsley; if you do not have fresh, use about 1/8 c dried
2/3 c dried bread crumbs
Freshly grated Parmesan, to taste (we used about a handful)

Cook pasta in salted water until al dente.
While pasta is cooking, cook garlic and vegetables in butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, just until starting to brown. Stir in parsley and bread crumbs and cook, stirring until bread crumbs and garlic are golden, 1-2 minutes.
Drain pasta and transfer to a large bowl. Pour sauce over pasta and toss to combine.
Top with Parmesan.

Chicharos Con Espinaca, Spinach and Beans

2009-05-11T21:25:00.002-05:00

I love legumes. Packed with protein, nutrients and best of all, my kids will eat them!! Now that local Spring veggies are in season, this is a great dish to use up that Spinach. Enjoy :)

Chicharos Con Espinaca
(This dish can be made with almost any dried bean)

Ingredients

1 cup Great Northern White Beans (Or Garbanzos or Cannellini) soaked overnight.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Slice Bread
1 onion, chopped
1 can Organic diced tomato's
a good pinch of Paprika, (Preferrably, Spanish Paprika, Pimenton)
1 lb Spinach
3 garlic cloves
Kosher Salt

Drain the beans, place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 1 hour until the beans are tender. Drain
Heat 3 tbl EVOO in a frying pan and fry the bread until golden brown. Transfer to a plate.
Saute the onion in the remaining EVOO (Add a little more if you need to) over low heat until soft but not brown, then add the tomato's and continue cooking over low heat.
In a large pan, add 3 tbl EVOO and stir in the paprika. Add the spinach. Cover and cook for a few minutes until the spinach has wilted.
Add the onion and tomato mixture to the spinach, mix well and stir in the beans.
Place the garlic and fried bread in a food processor and process until smooth. Stir in the spinach and bean mixture.
Add 2/3 cup water and cover and simmer gently for 20-30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.

Ham and Cheese Quesadilla

2009-05-11T19:46:00.000-05:00

These were super easy to make and tasted great, especially with homemade ranch dressing or honey mustard.

Though it is easiest for most of us to purchase tortilla's, they can be made at home fairly easily.

Local:
*cheese
*ham
*cabbage
*tomato
*carrots

cheese-Swiss is nice, whatever is handy locally is great
Sliced ham
Shredded cabbage
seasoning and salt to your taste
whole wheat tortillas
nonstick cooking spray
sliced tomato
grated carrots

dipping sauces:
*Ranch style dressing (1/2 c homemade mayo, 1/2 c local buttermilk or that leftover from making actual butter at home, 1 T each dill weed, parsley, granulated garlic, onion powder, 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t pepper)
*Honey Mustard (local honey mixed with a local or homemade mustard)

Layer one tortilla with cheese, cabbage, ham, salt, tomato, carrots and cheese, then top with another tortilla. (This is easiest to do in the already hot pan sprayed with cooking spray). Cook until crispy on one side, then flip (CAREFULLY!). Cook this until crispy. Put on plate, cut with pizza cutter and serve with sauces. You can also put these together then just put them in the oven on a baking stone until they are crispy on top.

Opening day at Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market, Grilled Lamb and Chicken Kabobs

2009-05-08T23:09:00.001-05:00

I was very excited last Saturday as it was opening day for Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market. I woke up super early to make sure and get there before the rush. My goal was to buy Spinach, Asparagus and Eggs and then see what other goodies I could find. By the time I was showered and ready to go, Zekie woke up. I quickly got him ready and off we went. After hitting up the Wells Fargo ATM and parking it was 7:30 am. To my surprise, the farmers market was already bumping!! What should I of expected, it was opening day! We quickly made our rounds and found Coyote Run Farm. Spinach, Eggs, check. I found a great vendor selling fresh Asparagus, check. As we made our way east on Court Ave. I remembered that Tom and Mary Cory sell lamb! If you havn't stopped to visit Cory's lamb, you really need to. This health conscious family raises their lambs and goats to the highest of standards. Tom was explaining to me that they do not use any feed with soy products or GMO's. He also informed me that they are now going to start selling Grass Fed Beef, starting tomorrow for $4.00lb. AWESOME!! I'm sure it's going to sell fast! As I was chatting with him, I let him know that I was a newbie at lamb meat and that I really wanted to try some. After going through many cuts, he led me to pre-cut stew meat that would make great kabobs. I was SOLD! After buying my meat, I was able to meet Jill Beebout from Blue Gate Farm. She was a gem and sold me Anise/Hyssup Syrup. She said it mixes in well in tea but I'm trying to think of a dessert to use it in. We'll see what I come up with :) It was a super good day at the farmers market and I'm looking forward to more Saturday's to come.

Grilled Lamb, Chicken and Marinade:

Ingredients

1 package lamb stew meat from Cory's Lamb
1 lb chicken
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup honey
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large white onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Kabobs:

1 large white onion, cut into 2-inch squares
2 green bell peppers, cut into 2-inch squares
4 roma tomatoes, cut into sections
1 (8-ounce) package button portabello mushrooms
Wooden skewers, soaked in water for 20 minutes

Directions

For the lamb and chicken: trim all fat from the lamb and chicken and cut into 2-inch cubes. Combine remaining marinade ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag and mix well.

Add the lamb and chicken cubes to the bag, tossing to coat. Seal bag and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, rotating the bag occasionally to continually coat the meat.

Preheat an outdoor grill to medium heat. Remove lamb from refrigerator about 30 minutes before grilling to bring the meat to room temperature.

To assemble the kabobs: fill skewers, alternating peppers, lamb, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms until all ingredients are used.

Grill skewers, rotating to char lamb on all sides, until cooked to desired doneness, about 7 to 8 minutes for medium-rare.

Side Dishes

Grilled Asparagus. With the extra marinade, I used it to place on top of fresh Asparagus, wrapped it in foil, and grilled that as well.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Dice 3 sweet potatoes and place in a ziplock bag and drizzle with Olive Oil. Place in a ovenproof dish and sprinkle with Kosher Salt and Pepper.
Bake at 425 for 35-40 minutes.

Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.