Product Fail #847,656 and #847,657

Ugh! Today I inspected a jar of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter, on the off chance that it was a decent product. The second ingredient is sugar, and the third is palm oil. (Palm oil is one of the most environmentally devastating ingredients in processed foods.) Thanks, Unilever. That product stayed on the shelf, and I will continue to buy the most excellent Vermont Peanut Butter, which is sublime.

And then I accidentally bought a"taco meal kit" instead of just the taco shells. My usual spicing for taco meat is chili powder + cumin + coriander + fresh onions and minced garlic. And that works fine. But I decided to try the "spice pack" that was included with my shells. And here's what stuns me: they managed to put some partially hydrogenated soy bean oil in a simple spice pack. Why, God, why?

If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Thankfully, tossing spices into a frying pan does not a big task make.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce: The Easiest Dish Ever

I serve homemade cranberry sauce often, because it's such a snap to make. It's great with turkey meatballs or pan-roasted turkey breast. And of course it's excellent for the big day in November. 

Because cranberries have so much natural pectin, they will "jam up" on your stovetop with very little effort. This is a dish that will cook itself while you make dinner. And if you've been thinking about learning to make jam, this might well serve as a gateway drug. Cranberry sauce works every single time.

Note: I add very little sugar, because I like it that way. If you like a sweeter sauce, double the sugar.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

1 12 ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries

1/4 cup sugar

splash water

Wash the berries and pick out any stems or shriveled fruit. 

Put the berries in a small saucepan, with a splash of water (to 1/4 inch depth at the bottom) and pour in the sugar. Turn on the heat and stir.

Simmer on low to low/medium for twenty minutes or so. (You will hear the berries popping.) Stir occasionally. The fruit will become bright red, and then darken to a rich maroon. It's done! Cool and serve. 

Sufferin' Succotash Revisited

When I was a child, the dish "succotash," a Native American word, meant canned lima beans and corn mixed together. Can you imagine a less appetizing combination?

I actually riff on the infamy of lima beans in the novel Julia's Child, as the main character waits for her flaky farmer friend to announce what vegetable she would like to grow next. 

I mentally begged her not to suggest lima beans. There were some foods that couldn't be sold to children in any form.

Whether or not that's true, my friend Marcy inspired me to revisit succotash when she made a version which included potatoes and edamame in place of the lima beans. It was so very popular with the kiddos.

Now that our sweet corn and potatoes are ripe, I can shop in my garden for most of the ingredients. My version includes some onion, for flavor, and is roasted for convenience. I double the recipe when I need to serve a crowd.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 pound potatoes, washed and diced

1 yellow onion, diced

3 ears sweet corn, kernels cut from the cob

1/2 - 1 lb. shelled edamame, fresh or frozen

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large skillet or roasting pan, toss diced potatoes with olive oil to coat. Salt and pepper liberally, then roast for 15 minutes until beginning to brown on one side.

Scrape and turn potatoes, then add onion and roast for another 15 minutes.

Add corn and edamame, cooking until the entire dish is sizzling again. Serve hot.

No-Noodle Lasagna: Zucchini in a Starring Role

In the summertime, you don't need noodles to make a great lasagna. With overgrown zucchini in the garden, the "noodles" are cut to order. When trying out this recipe, I'd worried that zucchini would be too wet to use in this capacity. But I was wrong. It worked out just fine.

If you're inclined to trick people into eating their vegetables, you could trim your "noodles" to hide their green skin. But this dish is so tasty, you probably won't have to.

No Noodle Lasagna

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small zucchini

1 pound "loose" sausage (or cut from casings) *or* 3/4 pound ground beef, plus half an onion and 2 cloves garlic

1 large jar of your favorite tomato sauce

1 15 or 16 oz tub of ricotta cheese

2 eggs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375. Oil a 9 x 13 baking dish, and cut the zucchini to a length which corresponds to the width of your baking dish. Slice zucchini thinly, and set out on paper towels to air dry.

Brown sausage (or beef, onion and garlic combination) in a skillet. When brown, add half the tomato sauce and stir to combine.

Place a layer of zucchini noodles in the bottom of the pan. Layer with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella and a tablespoon or two of bread crumbs. Cover with another layer of zucchini.

Combine the ricotta cheese with the two eggs and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese. Stir to thoroughly combine. Gently spread the ricotta mixture all over the zucchini layer.

Add another layer of zucchini "noodles." Over these, spread the meat mixture evenly. Cover with more zucchini and then add mozzarella and bread crumbs. Finish with one or two more layers of zucchini, mozzarella and bread crumbs, ending with zucchini. Spread remaining sauce on top, adding last bits of mozzarella and the parmesan on top. Bake for 45 minutes (uncovered) until bubbling everywhere and browning on top.

Cool for ten minutes, then slice into squares and serve hot.

Thank you http://www.sortacrunchy.net/ for making this post part of Your Green Resource!

Gazpacho Season Arrives

The farmers' market is full of ripe tomatoes, and my moment has arrived. 

I like my gazpacho (a raw, chilled tomato soup) pureed very smooth, but I'm not fussy enough to remove every tomato seed. Although I shot the photo plain, to show the color, some freshly toasted croutons are marvelous on top. Diced avocado is also nice.

Peeling tomatoes is a cinch. Set a saucepan full of water to a boil, and make a bowl of ice water beside it. On the bottom of each tomato, cut an X with a knife. Place each tomato in turn into the boiling water for 30 - 60 seconds. (Very ripe tomatoes will begin to shed their skins immediately. Less ripe ones will take more time.) Even if the skin looks firmly attached, remove the tomato with a slotted spoon after 60 seconds and place it in the ice water. After a couple of minutes, remove and peel from the X upward. (Tip: peaches are easily peeled in just the same way.)

Notes: I don't put salt in gazpacho, because it has so much natural flavor. (Bonus!) 

Traditional Gazpacho, Serves 6

6 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and cored

1/2 a large red onion (or a whole small one)

2 garlic cloves (optional)

1 red pepper, cored and cut into 8 pieces

4-6 tablespoons vinegar, to taste

1 large cucumber, peeled and de-seeded

1/4 cup olive oil

Using a food processor or a blender, puree the tomatoes in batches, transferring each to a large bowl. Next, puree the onion and pepper and garlic together with the vinegar. Add to the bowl. Puree the cucumber and the olive oil together, and stir into the soup. Refrigerate until ice cold, and serve with croutons.

Quickles (Quick Pickles)

My cucumbers have overrun us. I'm a fan of pickles, but I haven't ventured into full-on preserving techniques yet. So when I ran across a recipe for quick refrigerator sweet pickles over at In Erika's Kitchen, I had to give it a try.

So now I'm a convert. But I also wanted to make a savory, garlicky pickle, so I did a little experimenting. I made this recipe with both an expensive wine vinegar and grocery store white vinegar. Much to my surprise, the white vinegar (which I ordinarily use to clean my coffee pot, not for cooking) was the winner. Who knew?

Sarah's Quickles

1 garden cucumber, sliced

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 heaping tablespoon sugar

1 garlic clove, mashed

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Place the cucumber slices in a clean jar with a working lid, and set aside.

Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, garlic and salt in a bowl, and whisk until sugar and salt have dissolved. Pour over the cucumber slices. If the liquid is insufficient to cover, add one tablespoon of vinegar and then one of water until you're satisfied.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve cold. Pickles will keep for a week in the refrigerator.

Thank you to SortaCrunchy for sponsoring Your Green Resource, collecting posts like this one into a useful weekly menu!

Homemade Frozen Waffles, or, Some Lessons In Life Must Be Learned Over and Over Again

I have written about my general rule: Never Make Just One Lasagna. Yet it is easy, especially before 7:30 AM, and before drinking the first coffee of the day, to forget even the wisest rules. Once in awhile I buy frozen waffles for children who are very tired of cheerios and toast with peanut butter. But I don't buy them often. The organic brands are quite expensive.

Because school is almost out, and my kids are sick to death with the whole process, I finally wised up. I made a double batch of waffles, and froze half of them. My freezer contains waffles for two more hasty mornings, made with my whole wheat recipe to my own specifications. And I'm positive they're a whole lot cheaper than the commercial frozen product I sometimes buy.

If you make your own:

• I like my waffles brown and crispy, but I underbake the ones I plan to freeze. Leave yourself room to crisp them up in the toaster without burning.
• Freeze them flat, after which you can stack them any way you wish. But if you're not careful to keep them flat, they will freeze in torqued shapes which may not want to fit into the slots of your freezer.
• Put a piece of waxed paper between them, so they don't stick together.
• This is a great way to use up that quart of buttermilk you bought for the occasion.

Now if I could only find a way to make three days worth of packed lunches at a time...

Whole Wheat Strawberry Shortcake

It's finally strawberry season here in the north woods. To celebrate, I made Whole Wheat Strawberry Shortcake.

Now, I'm all in favor of whole grains. But I don't default to whole wheat for everything. It's nuttier, sweeter flavor does not always work best. But for strawberry shortcake, it's divine. It adds a layer of flavor that is missing from many commercial preparation. (And it adds it without any effort at all.) I use white whole-wheat flour from King Arthur because it maintains the proper pastry texture.

INGREDIENTS

1.5 cups white whole-wheat flour

scant 1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup butter (5.5 tablespoons)

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons milk

4-6 cups sliced strawberries

whipped cream

Preheat oven to 400. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease the sheet.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade, pulse together the first five (the dry) ingredients. Then cut the butter into chunks, add them and pulse until you achieve a gravel texture.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream and milk together. Pour this mixture into the processor and mix just until combined.

Heaping tablespoons of the thick batter should be spaced about 1.5 inches apart on the sheet. (I make 8 large shortbreads.)

Bake for approximately 15 minutes until golden. Cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, clean and slice the berries. They can be dusted with extra sugar to taste. (But unless berries are sour, it is fine to omit the sugar.)

Slice the shortbreads the long way. Spoon berries and whipped cream onto halves and serve immediately.