Too Many Zukes?

If you're a gardener or a CSA subscriber, chances are high that you are inundated with zucchini right about now. This summer I've grilled it, hidden it in spaghetti sauce, made zucchini brownies, and frozen gobs of it for use this winter. After all that, I still can't seem to clear my crisper drawers of the stuff!

On the verge of anonymously dumping some on my neighbors' porches, I found a better option: Zucchini Pie. A cheesy, eggy, zukey recipe that calls for 8 cups of zucchini. Yes, 8 cups!!! Besides ridding myself of zucchinis for a couple days, this recipe tastes good too. It made two pies, so I did offload one on a neighbor. That seems so much better for neighbor relations than what I was about to do.

The recipe is from a cookbook called Simply in Season, "commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee to promote the understanding of how the food choices we make affect our lives and the lives of those who produce the food." Published by Herald Press, this cookbook is a great study in how to eat seasonally and reduce food waste. Thank you to my dear friend Rachel Maxwell-Wells for giving me this cookbook! You can find out how to order this book here http://www.heraldpress.com/titles/simplyinseason/.

But here's the recipe for those of you who might want to try before you buy. Enjoy!

Italian Zucchini Pie

Preheat oven to 375.

1/4 c. warm water
1 T. active dry yeast
Mix until yeast dissolves. Set aside.

1/4 c. milk
1 T. olive oil
1 egg, beaten
Combine in a mixing bowl or food processor. Add dissolved yeast and stir.

1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1 t. salt
1-2 t. fresh basil, chopped
Blend in.

2 c. bread flour (I added 2 T. vital wheat gluten to regular flour, worth a try with regular flour if you don't have the substitutions.)
Add 1/2 c. at a time to make a smooth but slighly sticky dough. Place in a greased bowl, trne to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and place in a warm place while preparing the zucchini filling.

1/4 c. butter
8 c. zucchini, thinly sliced
1-2 c. chopped onion
Melt butter in a large frypan over medium heat. Add zucchini and onions and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. each fresh basil and oregano (chopped; or 1 t. dried)
1 t. each fresh thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, savory, and marjoram (chopped; or 1/2 t. dried) (Just use what you have, don't worry if you don't have all of these!)
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
Stir in.

5 large eggs, beaten
4 c. shredded mozzarella
 Combine in a separate bowl, then stir in zucchini mixture

Divide dough in half. Place each half on lightly floured surface and roll into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Place each into a lightly greased 10 inch pie dish.

4 t. mustard
1/4 c. parmesan, grated
Spread the pie crusts with mustard. Divide the zuke mixture between the two crusts. Sprinle parmesan cheese on top. Bake 18-20 minutes, until center is set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 

One Month In--Eating for Sustainability Pt. 5

This week I spent $150 in groceries, same as last week. I will keep tallying, but I'm feeling more and more confident that my average weekly bill won't exceed $200, even when I've transitioned to all organic or local. However, I am still amazed by the amount of food I am able to cull from the cupboards each week. This week I dug up some old pancake mix, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, and pecans to concoct a dessert that was meant to be a bar cookie but turned into a cake. That was a fun kitchen moment with the kids, and it felt good to reduce waste. I can't help but think that developing creativity in the kitchen is as good for my morale as it is for the environment.

Which leads me to the CSA box this week. Most of it was easy for me to use: ground beef, a nut butter, salsa, bean dip, eggs, mushrooms, yogurt, apples. The one exception that forced me to get creative? Acorn squash. I still had one from a previous week, and they gave us two this week. I definitely don't love winter squash, but I couldn't put off using them any longer. One I baked and pureed. I used the puree in the cookie-turned-cake concoction. The remaining two became "Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash" from food.com. It was a heavy meal, but still pretty good. For winter squash, I'll take that.

By the way, I just learned that Fair Shares CSA is offering two-week trial memberships. Find more info at https://fairshares.org/trial-membership. If you decide to try it, please tell them I sent you because I'll get a $5 credit just for you trying it out!

This week, I've realized that it's not that hard for me to follow Michael Pollan's advice to:

• Eat only food that Grandma would recognize as food.
• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, because that's where the least processed food is found.
• Don't eat food that won't ever rot, and try and keep the number of ingredients in a product at or below five.
• Eat mostly plants. When you do eat meat, eat meat that's been raised in humane conditions and given good feed.

In fact, our family eats this way a lot. We just needed this "food reset" to make it more consistent.
It does take planning, but it doesn't feel like a burden at all right now. Part of that is due to the easy, from scratch foods that have slowly accumulated in my mental recipe file over the years. (See below for two great recipes from friends.) And part of it is that I can cut vegetables a lot faster than I used to. But part of it is due to the fact that mindfully buying, cooking, and eating has integrated my values and my actions. Eating in a way that promotes the health of my family, the local economy, and the Earth actually lifts a weight rather than creating one. Once again, I'm thankful to have the means and the time to buy well, cook well, and eat well.

Recipes

Hummus

This recipe is from my college roommate, Salwa Rosen. The first time I ate her mama's version of hummus and taboulleh, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Mama Rosen's taboulleh was great, but the hummus took so much less time that it was one of the first things I ever consistently made from scratch. Now that I've started cooking my own beans, maybe I will shift from canned chickpeas to dried...

2 cans chickpeas, drained (juice of one can reserved)
3-4 T. tahini, or more to taste (tahini, or sesame seed paste, found in Middle Eastern section of grocer, or at specialty shop--it's a lot easier to find than it used to be!)
Juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste
About 1 t. of salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
A tablespoon or two of olive oil

Puree it all in a food processor or blender. Adust seasonings to taste. If too salty, add more lemon (and vice-versa). If too thick, add some liquid from chickpeas.

That's the basic recipe--so easy, so yummy, and so simple to vary. Have fun!

 

Versatile Vinaigrette (from Moosewood Restaurant's Simple Suppers)

Although this recipe is from a cookbook, I really want to credit my friend Pascale Perraudin (her recipe is very similar to the one below) for teaching me how to make my first vinaigrette. Knowing how to do that literally changed my life. It was so delicious and easy that I hardly ever buy salad dressing anymore (have you looked at those labels?!?!).

1/3 cup vinegar or lemon juice (Pascale got me started off using red wine vinegar)
1/2 t. salt
1 t. Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 t. black pepper
1 c. olive oil

Whisk it all together. It will keep in the refrigerator for week. When cold, the oil tends to partially solidify, so let it sit at room temp for awhile before serving. Variations: Add fresh or dried herbs. Whisk in 1 to 2 T. of minced fresh herbs, or 1/2 to 1 t. dried. Allow dried herbs to steep in vinaigrette for at least half an hour.

Eating for Sustainability: An Experiment Pt. 4

Meals kept truckin' along this week, and I think I'm about out of the woods when it comes to heavily processed foods in my pantry. Super Bowl Sunday should take care of that once and for all, don't you think? As for my grocery bill this week....$150! Yes! And that even included a store-bought carrot cake for Kyle's birthday dinner, because, frankly, presentation just isn't my thing. All in all, I feel good about the food we ate this week.

Our CSA share contained lots of interesting items but the funny thing is, eggs and sprouts were the only totally unprocessed items.

Bread, cheese, eggs

Pesto (local ingredients from summer, frozen), Whole wheat gnocchi (frozen)

Old fashioned bologna, sunflower sprouts, minestrone soup (frozen)

I was really excited to see a frozen soup choice from Saint Louis University (SLU), but the family reported it was bland (it had seemed like the perfect thing to serve on a cold night when I had to leave for a meeting). I will try it myself before passing judgment. I really hope it can be spruced up, because one of the major issues for viable small-scale food systems is processing. The other biggie that I see is packaging. We need processing and packaging operations that accept product from small farms and distribute to local retailers. So, even if nutrition trumped flavor in this instance of locally grown and processed, I'm still glad that SLU has emerged as a leader to fill some gaps in St. Louis's emerging local food system.

 Most of my favorite dishes this week were meatless (as usual), but the carnitas made from a pork roast were divine so I'll include that recipe at the bottom. Another that I've included is Chick Pea Stew--really nice, and very inexpensive. Scroll down for recipes of dishes that turned out much better than this, this...dear God, what is that? Seriously, when I look at the picture below I feel sick (or like laughing hysterically), and I wonder why in the world my family ever requests that I cook more meat. I'm so sorry, cow--I wish I could've done you justice!

 Stuffed shells were much nicer, I must say--in both looks and flavor!

The sides that went with the carnitas were also lovely and delicious. I was very excited to learn that ricotta can be used with Mexican-inspired dishes and not just Italian. We like to mix it up a lot.

And finally, simple salads and roasted root vegetables (this week, just two kind of taters) have become staples around here. They're just so fast to put together, I like to have the greens, and the kids like the roasted veggies. No mutinies on these yet, so that's a good sign!

So, I'm wondering from those of you who have read this far (thanks!) and already minimize unprocessed food in your diet, what have you used to replace processed snack food like chips or energy bars? Do you have any gems that aren't too time-consuming to make, affordable, and/or purchased but you feel good about? We have been eating a lot of popcorn cooked on the stove, but I'm sure that will get old one of these days.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope your week ahead is full of fun food adventures!

Chickpea and Spinach Stew (from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone  by Deborah Madison)

2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1 t. paprika
1 t. fresh or dried minced rosemary
1/4 c. chopped parsley
1 c. peeped, diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
3 c. cooked chickpeas or 2 15-0z cans, rinsed
salt and pepper
2 bunches spinach, stems removed
garlic mayonnaise (the cookbook calls for making the mayo from scratch but I just mixed about 1/3 cup low-fat mayo with 2 big cloves of garlic that I put through the ringer with my mortar and pestle)

In a wide saute pan, heat the oil over high heat. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, paprika, rosemary, and half the parsley Saute for 2 minutes, then lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft, about 12 minutes. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas, season with salt and pepper, then over and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the spinach to the chickpeas, taste for salt, and season with pepper. Plate it up, add a spoonful of mayonnaise to each dish (this is key, kicks the flavor WAY up, and garnish with remaining parsley (also key, helping tone down the garlic breath!).

Oven-Fried Pork Carnitas with Guacamole and Orange Salsa (from Food & Wine An Entire Year of Recipes 2006)

I made this dish by the recipe, which used a lot of oil to cook the meat. It was good, but next time I will totally throw the pork roast in the slow cooker after marinating. Less fat, and less oil to figure out what to do with when it's all said and done.

1/2 c. tamarind concentrate
2 T. honey
2 T. sherry vinegar (I used white whine vinegar)
2 1/2 c. vegetable oil, plus more for brushing
2 1/2  pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
salt and pepper
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 Hass avocado, pitted and peeled
3 T. fresh lime juice
2 navel oranges
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 habanero chile, seeded and finely chopped (I just used a little jalapeno, that's what I had)
1 c. ricotta cheese
1 small plum tomato, chopped (I used up a little canned tomato I had in the fridge, drained)
1 jalapeno or serrano chile, seeded and finely chopped
12 flour tortillas

1. In a large bowl, mix the tamarind concentrate with the honey, sherry vinegar and 1/4 c.  of the vegetable oil. Add the pork shoulder, season with salt and pepper and stir to coat. Let the pork marinate at room temp for 1 hour. Drain the pork and pat dry.
2. Preheat the oven to 375. In a cast-iron skillet, heat 2 T. of the oil. Add half of the pork and cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until the meat is brown all over, about 6 minutes. Transfer to baking dish and repeat with 2 more T. of oil and remaining meat. Add two-thirds o chopped white onion and 2 c oil to the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for about 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender.
3. Meanwhile, wrap the garlic cloves in foil and bake for 1 hour, or until softened. (This seemed unnecessary--garlic flavor mellowed so much not sure how much it added to the guacamole. Next time, I'll just make my regular old guacamole which just mixes a little minced onion, some lime juice, S&P, and the avocado.) Let cool slightly, then peel the cloves. In a small bowl, mash the avocado with the garlic. Stir in 1 T. of the lime juice and season with salt and pepper.
 4. Using a sharp knife, peel the oranges, removing all the bitter white pith. Working over a bowl, cut in segments. Squeeze the orange membranes to extract the juice. (For this step, I just peeled a few "Cuties", and chopped them up. Much easier than what this step sounded like.) Stir in the red onion, cilantro, and habanero chile and the 2 remaining tablespoons of lime juice. (Again, I changed it up. Didn't use habanero--I want the kids to at least try things!)
5. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese with the tomato, jalapeno and the remaining one-third of the chopped white onion. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Brush the tortillas lightly with oil, then stack and wrap them in foil. Heat the tortillas in the oven until warm. Drain the pork on paper towels. Pork, ricotta stuff, and guac in the tortillas. Orange salsa on the side. Delish!

Eating for Sustainability: An Experiment Pt. 3

This week has been really enlightening. I know what's in my crisper drawers. I'm saving most things before they go to waste. And I'm using up pre-packaged snacks and meals left and right. I certainly don't feel like I've had to spend excessive time cooking, so that's fun. I feel good about getting a lot of highly processed food out of my house. And I created a few meals from scratch. Some of the week's best recipes are at the bottom of the post.

So what did we use up this week? Cheese and crackers? Check. Cans of tuna languishing in the back of the pantry? Gone. Trader Joe's mushroom risotto? Mmmmm, it rounded out an all pre-processed and pre-packaged meal. Spinach mushroom quiche took center stage for an easy, tasty...and mostly local dinner. Jack had the idea to make teeny-tiny little bites of fruit pies using some leftover pie crust and jars of jelly. And a spontaneous potluck with the neighbors resulted in a delicious, nutritious Indian feast. We were so hungry and it looked so good that I forgot to take pictures.

With all this culling of processed food and emptying of crisper drawers, you'd think my food bill would have plummeted. However, this week I spent a whopping $280 on groceries. Whoa!  I knew my earlier estimate of $200 was low, but that smarts. I still think my weekly average will be way below $280 and here's why:

• I stocked up on lots of things this week: yogurt, milk, butter, Velveeta and Rotel for the Super Bowl ...all the important things. 
• I factored in the cost of the pizza Kyle ordered one night to supplement a protein-lean dinner. What can I say? I knew when I left for my meeting that the kids were going to eat most of the leftovers before Kyle got home, and I hoped that he would have eaten a big lunch at work that day to tide him over. It's weird, he can eat one big meal and not need to eat for the rest of the day.
• I brought my kids to the store with me this week (yay for snow days!) and they helped me pick out cereal. Lots and lots of cereal. Three weeks' worth, easy. And yes, I let them each pick out one box of junk. 

 But back to eating better for less...

Here's our share from the CSA this week:

Spicy mustard, canned peaches, spaghetti squash, ground beef, potatoes, tofu, garlic, bread, apples, sundried tomato tapenade, and rice (yes, rice!)

CSA add-ons: pasta sauce, chips, buffalo stick 

We got our share of the hog this week! We bought it from Kami and Jamie, of Brook Cherith Farm about an hour south of St. Louis. I love their philosophy on farming, they model their farm after Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm. Joel Salatin is one of my heroes--he's a very successful farmer and businessman, kind to animals and humans, and a true steward of the land. If you're in St. Louis and looking to buy meat that has had a good life, check out Kami and Jamie's website.

Kami and Jamie of Brook Cherith Farm, so nice of them to deliver so close to home on such a blustery day!

Our share of the hog, excluding bacon and ham (that takes longer due to the curing). So far I've got lots of pork chops, spare ribs, roasts, and sausage. Can't wait to see how much bacon we get!

The cost of the pork averaged out to $5 per pound, and I'm just going to add this cost in each week as I use up the meat from the freezer. I've got a kitchen scale, so that's pretty darn easy. This week we tried only the pork chops, but they were delicious with a glaze made from some pineapple preserves in the fridge. Yeah baby, usin' stuff up! And happy to have a freezer full of happy meat!

This project is already so fun, and I've had lots of moments of gratitude as I prepare and eat good food with my family. I'm thankful to have the time to cook, and the means to eat well. Here's to next week, more good food, and a lower grocery bill!

 White Bean Soup with Pasta and Rosemary Oil

from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

The Rosemary Oil 

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
2 T. finely chopped rosemary or 2 T. dried
2 garlic cloves, sliced

The Soup 

2 cups cannellini, navy beans, or mixture
2 T. olive oil
1 T. chopped rosemary or 2 t. dried
1 onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
1 celery rib, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1/3 c. chopped parsley
1 c. diced tomatoes, fresh or canned, with their juices
salt and pepper
1 c. dried small pasta
Fresh parmesan

Slowly warm the EVOO with 2 T. rosemary and 2 garlic cloves until the garlic begins to color, about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside until needed. (I didn't use all this on the soup, but it makes a nice dipping oil for bread too.)

Cover the beans with boiling water and set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. (I soaked these overnight instead.)

Heat the oil with 1 T. rosemary in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and cook until the onion is softened and starting to color in places, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and parsley and cook for a few minutes more. Drain the beans and add them to the pot along with the tomatoes and 3 quarts water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, then simmer, covered, until the beans have begun to soften, about 1 hour. Add 2 t. salt and continue cooking until the beans are completely tender, another 30 minutes or so. 

Puree half the soup to give it some body--or leave it thin. 
Cook the pasta. Strain the rosemary oil. Ladle soup into bowl and add some pasta to each. Drizzle some of the oil over each bowl and add pepper to taste. Cover with shavings of Parmesan. 

Serves 8 to 10 

Simple Egg Curry

from Gourmet Indian in Minutes, by Monisha Bharadwaj 

2 T. sunflower oil
1/2 T. cumin seeds
2 large onions, chopped
1 T. ginger-garlic paste
2 T. tomato paste (I used a little more of each paste, just to get more sauce for the eggs, it's delicious!)
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t chili powder 
1 t. garam masala
salt, to taste
8 large eggs, hard-boiled (can leave whole or cut in half)
Handful of cilantro, chopped

1. Heat oil in a large pan and add the cumin seeds. As soon a they darken, add the onion and cook to soften.
2. Add the ginger-garlic paste and tomato paste, and stir. Add the spices and salt. (I always have to add water here.) Blend until mushy. (Immersion blender comes in handy for this.)
3. Gently place the eggs in the curry and pour the milk or cream over them. Heat through and serve, sprinkled with cilantro.

Quiche

I think I learned this from epicurious.com, but not totally sure. The best way I've found to make sure you've always got a quiche that sets up well and is totally delicious is to follow two rules:

1. To each egg, add enough dairy to have 1/2 cup of egg + liquid mixture. You can use any combo of: milk, cream, sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese--depending on what you've already got and how rich you want the quiche to be.

2. Cook your vegetables before putting them in the pie to bake. It gets all the water out, so you don't end up with mushy eggy thingy.

I've found that I don't have to blind bake the crust, which saves time if you're in a hurry. Cooking temp and times can vary a little. Sometimes I consult a resource to see what temp to start and finish the quiche at. But this week I just threw it in the oven at 350 and watched it off and on til it looked done, not sure how long. 45 minutes, give or take? Quiche is a great go-to when I want an easy meatless dinner or to clear out my fridge. I just saute a bunch of veggies, mix some eggs with whatever dairy I have, and add any shredded cheeses that I can get my hands on. Then pour it in a crust and bake. Sit back, relax, and let the kids come up with dessert!