I just read an online article about the safety of industrial frozen food: With frozen food, the burden of safety is on you.
The problem gained public awareness with contamination of frozen pot pies in 2007. Investigators never figured out which of the more than 25 ingredients was contaminated with salmonella. The company (ConAgra) more or less threw up their hands. They said if they cooked the vegetables enough for safety, they turned to mush. So they put directions on the label to cook until internal temperatures were 165 degrees, nearly impossible to do in a microwave. Oh well....
And the article went on to say that these problems would become more serious, due to aggressive cost control. This involves sourcing of ingredients such as dough from a multitude of smaller suppliers, and importing vegetables and other ingredients from other countries with no testing procedure for pathogens. Manufacturers say the costs of testing and tracebacks are too high. Too high for what? Profit? How much is too high for thousands of people who get sick, and dozens who could die?
Oh What to do? What to do? (this is a trick question)
Locals know: start cooking fresh food for yourself. Avoid anonymous-ingredient packaged processed food. Not even the manufacturers of these foods know where the ingredients are coming from, or how they have been treated along the way.
This means learning how to cook, for those who are weak on that skill. But just think of what you'll gain! Really fresh, tasty food, from ingredients that you are sure of, saving money, and enjoying the creativity of turning high-quality ingredients into tasty dishes. And think of what you'll lose: high-fructose corn sweetener (almost ubiquitous in processed foods), cheap fats, too much sodium, artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. And a little time.
The most surprising thing for DH and me when we started cooking and eating local food is how great the flavors are. Food that really tastes like something. Beans that cook quickly with lots of flavor. Really fresh vegetables. Fruits with a perfumed sweetness rather than a pithy cardboard consistency. Pizza that sits lightly on the stomach and the waistline, but is fully satisfying.
Don't consider that cooking is necessarily the job of the "wife" or "mother" of the family. The art of cookery is something for everyone in the family to know, including responsible children and teens. Teaching your kids to cook will have lifelong benefits to them in terms of improved health and decreased food budgets.
But the worriers will say: what if my ingredients are contaminated? To start with, if you source local foods as much as possible, it's much less likely. Wash your veggies well, and peel such foods as carrots. Spices won't be local, but you use such a small amount. Buy staples from a high-quality supplier. The food (such as a meat pie) doesn't sit around for months in warehouse freezers, possibly thawing and refreezing several times and allowing bacterial growth before you eat it. You prepare it, pop in the oven, and eat it. So pathogens from minute quantities of ingredients don't get a chance to grow.
I really see nothing on the horizon that will make industrial processed foods safer for us. The manufacturing chains are too long, and too inadequately policed. If they were adequately policed, the costs would be too high to make these low-end foods economical.
It is up to us to figure out how to source and fix good healthy food for our families. The burden IS on us, but we can also get the benefits of changing our food buying and preparation habits in terms of flavor, nutrition, and enjoyment.
Bon Appetit!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Spring! Ahhhhh!
Spring again today, after yet another spell of cold, rainy weather. Everything is green, except for the daffodils (yellow) and apple trees (pink). And the wild plum is a mass of white blossoms.
I went to the first Farmer's Market of the season. As last year: bedding plants, gourmet dog biscuits, baked goods, pasta, kettle corn, more bedding plants. No greens yet. But the lovely Honeyacre hydroponic tomatoes and English cucumbers were there again. I bought some of each. We've been eating the tomatoes I put up last year, steadily through the winter, and enjoying them greatly. But fresh will be really wonderful.
Compared to last year, I don't have the "empty" feeling I did. We're still eating nectarines and peaches in light honey syrup I put up last fall. We're still eating green beans and snap peas from the freezer (though they are somewhat mushy). The last few Winesap apples have gotten totally mealy and are about to be compost, but they held out a good 6 months, which is a great track record for unwaxed home-stored fruit. We still have dried home peaches and prunes, apples, and fruit rollups, in case we run out of fruit before late summer.
The apple trees are covered with blooms. I'm glad we have a warm day today, since it's been too cold for the bees to fly. Sprinkling of blossoms on the cherry trees. No sign from the peach trees--it may have been too dry over the winter. Two front-yard euonymus shrubs look *really* bad--poor things. I should have winter-watered them. I'm just hoping they'll pull through. Everything else looks OK.
I've been buying the occasional head of celery or broccoli--not local, but U.S. grown. We're mostly through the lactofermented veggies: still some carrots, some sauerkraut, half a 1/2 gallon jar of salsa. Note to self: make more pickled green beans and more salsa next year.
We still have some onions from our CSA, but everything else is gone. I managed to cook up all the pumpkins before they got soft.
I tried to grow Lady Godiva pumpkins last year (they're grown for the seeds, which are "naked" without a hard shell). The ones I planted did very poorly; too shady. But I had a volunteer "something" which made a large orange and green striped fruit. I thought it was a hybrid of something, picked it before frost, and left it alone. Looking through a seed catalog, there was a picture of exactly my squash, and it was, ta-da, Lady Godiva. It has a hard shell compared to most pumpkins, which is why it kept so well. You don't eat the flesh, which is thin and stringy. It was filled with beautiful green seeds in a very light transparent coating. I saved and dried some for next season and roasted the rest. They were Delicious! I'll definitely try that one again. We do love home-roasted pumpkin seeds.
I've been getting sprouts in the store (hatched in Denver), and they taste SOOoo good in the spring. If I was better organized, I could sprout my own. I've still got a load of black oil sunflower seeds in the shell, which are what is used for sunflower sprouts.
If I can get a garden going, and a season extender (cold frame, hoop, or such like), we can have fresh greens probably from March on, and in the fall up through mid-December. Eliot Coleman's book "Four Seasons Gardening" is a good resource.
I went to a nice class at the Larimer County extension for pressure canning. In some ways it was encouraging. I got my pressure gauge tested and it is nearly correct. In other ways, not. The vegetables need to be cooked for a really long time, and then you're supposed to cook them some more before eating them. By that time, there wouldn't be much left. I may look into canning meat or poultry, to have quick meals that don't require electricity to store, carefully following the USDA rules. But for vegetables, I think I'd rather lactoferment them: beans, carrots, etc. They will keep 9 months to a year in the frig, and don't require cooking. You can put up a jar of them in 10-15 minutes, instead of the all-day siege of pressure canning.
I haven't been posting recipes lately. Our food choices are fairly simple these days, using stored food and a little fresh, so I haven't discovered anything particularly new and exciting. Once the CSA starts up in June, I'll be sharing some more ideas.
I went to the first Farmer's Market of the season. As last year: bedding plants, gourmet dog biscuits, baked goods, pasta, kettle corn, more bedding plants. No greens yet. But the lovely Honeyacre hydroponic tomatoes and English cucumbers were there again. I bought some of each. We've been eating the tomatoes I put up last year, steadily through the winter, and enjoying them greatly. But fresh will be really wonderful.
Compared to last year, I don't have the "empty" feeling I did. We're still eating nectarines and peaches in light honey syrup I put up last fall. We're still eating green beans and snap peas from the freezer (though they are somewhat mushy). The last few Winesap apples have gotten totally mealy and are about to be compost, but they held out a good 6 months, which is a great track record for unwaxed home-stored fruit. We still have dried home peaches and prunes, apples, and fruit rollups, in case we run out of fruit before late summer.
The apple trees are covered with blooms. I'm glad we have a warm day today, since it's been too cold for the bees to fly. Sprinkling of blossoms on the cherry trees. No sign from the peach trees--it may have been too dry over the winter. Two front-yard euonymus shrubs look *really* bad--poor things. I should have winter-watered them. I'm just hoping they'll pull through. Everything else looks OK.
I've been buying the occasional head of celery or broccoli--not local, but U.S. grown. We're mostly through the lactofermented veggies: still some carrots, some sauerkraut, half a 1/2 gallon jar of salsa. Note to self: make more pickled green beans and more salsa next year.
We still have some onions from our CSA, but everything else is gone. I managed to cook up all the pumpkins before they got soft.
I tried to grow Lady Godiva pumpkins last year (they're grown for the seeds, which are "naked" without a hard shell). The ones I planted did very poorly; too shady. But I had a volunteer "something" which made a large orange and green striped fruit. I thought it was a hybrid of something, picked it before frost, and left it alone. Looking through a seed catalog, there was a picture of exactly my squash, and it was, ta-da, Lady Godiva. It has a hard shell compared to most pumpkins, which is why it kept so well. You don't eat the flesh, which is thin and stringy. It was filled with beautiful green seeds in a very light transparent coating. I saved and dried some for next season and roasted the rest. They were Delicious! I'll definitely try that one again. We do love home-roasted pumpkin seeds.
I've been getting sprouts in the store (hatched in Denver), and they taste SOOoo good in the spring. If I was better organized, I could sprout my own. I've still got a load of black oil sunflower seeds in the shell, which are what is used for sunflower sprouts.
If I can get a garden going, and a season extender (cold frame, hoop, or such like), we can have fresh greens probably from March on, and in the fall up through mid-December. Eliot Coleman's book "Four Seasons Gardening" is a good resource.
I went to a nice class at the Larimer County extension for pressure canning. In some ways it was encouraging. I got my pressure gauge tested and it is nearly correct. In other ways, not. The vegetables need to be cooked for a really long time, and then you're supposed to cook them some more before eating them. By that time, there wouldn't be much left. I may look into canning meat or poultry, to have quick meals that don't require electricity to store, carefully following the USDA rules. But for vegetables, I think I'd rather lactoferment them: beans, carrots, etc. They will keep 9 months to a year in the frig, and don't require cooking. You can put up a jar of them in 10-15 minutes, instead of the all-day siege of pressure canning.
I haven't been posting recipes lately. Our food choices are fairly simple these days, using stored food and a little fresh, so I haven't discovered anything particularly new and exciting. Once the CSA starts up in June, I'll be sharing some more ideas.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Worry and Hope: Two Sides of the Same Coin
I have been doing a lot of reading recently, trying to wrap my mind around the economic meltdown and its connection with exponential growth. A post to come soon on this subject. It's not "cooked" yet.
Meanwhile, I want to spend a little time on "worry" and "hope". In our mythologies, worry is supposed to be "bad", and hope is supposed to be "good". But aren't they the same thing?
I have recently seen worry described as "a way to avoid admitting powerlessness over something, since worry feels like we are doing something" (Gavin DeBecker, The Gift of Fear, quoted by Jill Fredston in Rowing to Latitude, a truly fine book).
And hope has been defined as the wish for an outcome that we cannot directly control. (If we could control it, we would do so, and not have to rely on hope to do it for us.)
The two meanings are not too much different, actually, except that in the former case we are focused on the glass half-empty, and in the latter case we are focused on the glass half-full. But it's the same glass, and the same water.
So I can say I "worry" about the future, for example regarding peak oil. I worry that the lights will go out, and we'll be cold, and it'll be dark, and we won't be able to get to town. (And I do worry about these things sometimes.) Or I can say that I "hope" that we'll quickly implement alternate and sustainable energy sources, or that we'll convince a meaningful percentage of our citizens to really take steps to conserve, postponing and moderating the inevitable downward slope. But in each case, I am putting my energy into wishful thinking rather than something practical.
And because these wishful feelings do nothing but cause a stress reaction in me, and perhaps wear out the patience of those who are obliged to listen to me, neither worry nor hope do any good for me, my family, my friends, my community, or the world.
What is the alternative to worry? There are at least two: practical action, and fearlessness. Fearlessness frees us for action. What is the alternative to hope? Again, practical action, and hopelessness. Hopelessness frees us for action.
Why is that?
Because hope shackles us to inaction. We feel that somebody else, some organization, or some governmental entity will solve it all for us, and keep us from having to make the hard decisions and do the hard work. We feel that we are owed security in our lives, and we give up our time and some of our freedom for it. But the unavoidable fact is that the our lives are insecure. No government, no promises, can change that.
Pema Chodron, in When Things Fall Apart, says, "Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty." She suggests that we put "Abandon Hope" on our refrigerator door. She says, "Abandoning hope is an affirmation, the beginning of the beginning."
I have a long way to go before understanding and internalizing this wisdom. From a practical standpoint, I know that action is an antidote to useless worry. That is one reason why we started eating local food, started the LoveLandLocal food cooperative, got an energy audit, changed our lightbulbs, drive a high-effiency car. That is why I talk to groups about local food and our experiences, and post on this blog.
Making the internal changes to stop worrying, to stop my idle hopes that we can wriggle out of the problems that our generation and several before us have caused, is not as easy. To the extent that we rely on hope for the future, we are not facing the truth. And when we do not face the truth, see it clearly, and learn to deal with it, we set ourselves up for a lifetime of suffering. Facing the truth is painful and disconcerting, but not nearly as painful as trying in every way to evade the truth until it slaps us in the face so hard that we can no longer ignore it.
I'm seeing way too much wishful thinking ("hope") in the corridors of power these days. No matter how much money the Feds print, it cannot reinflate the bubble caused by criminally negligent speculation. We cannot "hope" that things will go back to how they were, because the truth is they never were that way; it was speculation, gambling, a delusion that we were running too fast to see, a vast Ponzi scheme. And it came to the same end as all Ponzi schemes; a few rich people get even richer, and the rest of the participants get poorer.
What I want to hear is the truth, and people courageous enough to tell us: this is the way it is. It's not the end of the world, it's the end of a dreamworld. Life will be different. It'll be worse if you define the quality of life by the quantity of goods you have and the amount of energy you can waste. It can be rich in the intangible ways, the ways that matter, in love, caring, community; in meaningful work; in responsibility and integrity.
Meanwhile, I want to spend a little time on "worry" and "hope". In our mythologies, worry is supposed to be "bad", and hope is supposed to be "good". But aren't they the same thing?
I have recently seen worry described as "a way to avoid admitting powerlessness over something, since worry feels like we are doing something" (Gavin DeBecker, The Gift of Fear, quoted by Jill Fredston in Rowing to Latitude, a truly fine book).
And hope has been defined as the wish for an outcome that we cannot directly control. (If we could control it, we would do so, and not have to rely on hope to do it for us.)
The two meanings are not too much different, actually, except that in the former case we are focused on the glass half-empty, and in the latter case we are focused on the glass half-full. But it's the same glass, and the same water.
So I can say I "worry" about the future, for example regarding peak oil. I worry that the lights will go out, and we'll be cold, and it'll be dark, and we won't be able to get to town. (And I do worry about these things sometimes.) Or I can say that I "hope" that we'll quickly implement alternate and sustainable energy sources, or that we'll convince a meaningful percentage of our citizens to really take steps to conserve, postponing and moderating the inevitable downward slope. But in each case, I am putting my energy into wishful thinking rather than something practical.
And because these wishful feelings do nothing but cause a stress reaction in me, and perhaps wear out the patience of those who are obliged to listen to me, neither worry nor hope do any good for me, my family, my friends, my community, or the world.
What is the alternative to worry? There are at least two: practical action, and fearlessness. Fearlessness frees us for action. What is the alternative to hope? Again, practical action, and hopelessness. Hopelessness frees us for action.
Why is that?
Because hope shackles us to inaction. We feel that somebody else, some organization, or some governmental entity will solve it all for us, and keep us from having to make the hard decisions and do the hard work. We feel that we are owed security in our lives, and we give up our time and some of our freedom for it. But the unavoidable fact is that the our lives are insecure. No government, no promises, can change that.
Pema Chodron, in When Things Fall Apart, says, "Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty." She suggests that we put "Abandon Hope" on our refrigerator door. She says, "Abandoning hope is an affirmation, the beginning of the beginning."
I have a long way to go before understanding and internalizing this wisdom. From a practical standpoint, I know that action is an antidote to useless worry. That is one reason why we started eating local food, started the LoveLandLocal food cooperative, got an energy audit, changed our lightbulbs, drive a high-effiency car. That is why I talk to groups about local food and our experiences, and post on this blog.
Making the internal changes to stop worrying, to stop my idle hopes that we can wriggle out of the problems that our generation and several before us have caused, is not as easy. To the extent that we rely on hope for the future, we are not facing the truth. And when we do not face the truth, see it clearly, and learn to deal with it, we set ourselves up for a lifetime of suffering. Facing the truth is painful and disconcerting, but not nearly as painful as trying in every way to evade the truth until it slaps us in the face so hard that we can no longer ignore it.
I'm seeing way too much wishful thinking ("hope") in the corridors of power these days. No matter how much money the Feds print, it cannot reinflate the bubble caused by criminally negligent speculation. We cannot "hope" that things will go back to how they were, because the truth is they never were that way; it was speculation, gambling, a delusion that we were running too fast to see, a vast Ponzi scheme. And it came to the same end as all Ponzi schemes; a few rich people get even richer, and the rest of the participants get poorer.
What I want to hear is the truth, and people courageous enough to tell us: this is the way it is. It's not the end of the world, it's the end of a dreamworld. Life will be different. It'll be worse if you define the quality of life by the quantity of goods you have and the amount of energy you can waste. It can be rich in the intangible ways, the ways that matter, in love, caring, community; in meaningful work; in responsibility and integrity.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Stovies
The Sausage and Vegetables recipe in the Rutabaga post is rapidly turning into one of my favorites. It is actually a Stovie, a Scottish dish resembling a casserole, but cooked on the stovetop. Stovies come in all kinds of flavors, but usually involve leftover meat and potatoes. From there on, the sky's the limit!
Making a Stovie
Choose some form of meat. Possibilities include:
Some form of appropriate cooking fat, a tablespoon or two. Consider:
Onion--a necessity. Peel and chop.
Root vegetables. Your choice of:
Herbs and spices. You don't want strong flavors here, which would overwhelm the flavor of the meat and roots. Some ideas:
Salt and pepper to taste.
A little broth or water.
Proportions
Here you have a good deal of latitude. More meat? Less meat? Use about one onion per 1/2 lb of meat, and amounts of vegetables to suit yourself and what you have on hand.
Putting It Together
Peel and chop your onions. Wash, (peel), and chop your vegetables. Have the meat of your choice ready. Cut link sausages in half, cut bacon into chunks, cut leftover meats into pieces.
If you are using bacon, fry the bacon lightly to let it release some fat. Otherwise heat the oil or drippings. Stir in the onions and saute for about 5 minutes. If you are using sausage, add it now and stir for another 5 minutes. Then add the vegetables, stir a few minutes. Add the herbs, spices, salt and pepper and a little broth or water, appropriate to the amount of other ingredients. At least 1/2 cup liquid. You don't want to continue to fry the ingredients, but you aren't making stew either. After adding the water, stir in any leftover meats that you are using.
Cover the pan, let it simmer on the stove 20-30 minutes, until roots are tender. Voila!
My Favorite Stovie
This makes a generous one-dish serving for one, or enough for two people with some other dishes on the table.
1 tbs CA olive oil
1 medium CSA onion, peeled and diced
6 oz local pork sausage, raw, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 lb CO fingerling potatoes, cut in slices
1/4-1/2 lb CSA rutabaga, peeled and cut in chunks
1/4 lb CSA carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tbs dried CO parsley
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt, some grinds of pepper
Saute the onion in the oil for a few minutes, then brown the sausages lightly. Stir in the vegetables and spices, add 1/2 cup water, cover and simmer 25 minutes.
Making a Stovie
Choose some form of meat. Possibilities include:
- Leftover roast beef, pork or lamb, cut into smallish pieces
- Leftover roast poultry
- Thick-sliced or chunk bacon, cut into pieces
- Uncooked mild-flavored link sausage
- NOT hamburger or ground meat; that would change the dish totally
Some form of appropriate cooking fat, a tablespoon or two. Consider:
- olive oil, always a favorite
- bacon fat or drippings (traditional Scottish), especially those from the roast you are using for the meat
- chicken fat (if it's roast chicken you are using)
- home-rendered lard, if you have it (commercial lard is nasty)
- butter, especially with chicken
Onion--a necessity. Peel and chop.
Root vegetables. Your choice of:
- Potatoes--traditional. Almost all stovies have potatoes; some have only potatoes. If you're Irish, you want "floury" potatoes. I've been using fingerlings. Some people like baking types, some people like boiling types. Wash, then peel or not as you see fit. Cut into chunks. Don't use already-cooked potatoes for this dish.
- Rutabagas. Peel and cut into chunks.
- Carrots. Peel and cut into chunks. Use less carrot than the other roots, so its sweet flavor does not overpower the dish.
- Turnips, celery root, parsnips (a light hand on the parsnips), if you have them. Don't use beets because it'll turn a strange color of pink.
Herbs and spices. You don't want strong flavors here, which would overwhelm the flavor of the meat and roots. Some ideas:
- dried or fresh parsley, a good handful.
- other dried or fresh herbs, with a light hand.
- ground allspice
- garlic cloves, peeled and sliced, with a light hand.
- ground cumin or coriander
- nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste.
A little broth or water.
Proportions
Here you have a good deal of latitude. More meat? Less meat? Use about one onion per 1/2 lb of meat, and amounts of vegetables to suit yourself and what you have on hand.
Putting It Together
Peel and chop your onions. Wash, (peel), and chop your vegetables. Have the meat of your choice ready. Cut link sausages in half, cut bacon into chunks, cut leftover meats into pieces.
If you are using bacon, fry the bacon lightly to let it release some fat. Otherwise heat the oil or drippings. Stir in the onions and saute for about 5 minutes. If you are using sausage, add it now and stir for another 5 minutes. Then add the vegetables, stir a few minutes. Add the herbs, spices, salt and pepper and a little broth or water, appropriate to the amount of other ingredients. At least 1/2 cup liquid. You don't want to continue to fry the ingredients, but you aren't making stew either. After adding the water, stir in any leftover meats that you are using.
Cover the pan, let it simmer on the stove 20-30 minutes, until roots are tender. Voila!
My Favorite Stovie
This makes a generous one-dish serving for one, or enough for two people with some other dishes on the table.
1 tbs CA olive oil
1 medium CSA onion, peeled and diced
6 oz local pork sausage, raw, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 lb CO fingerling potatoes, cut in slices
1/4-1/2 lb CSA rutabaga, peeled and cut in chunks
1/4 lb CSA carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tbs dried CO parsley
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt, some grinds of pepper
Saute the onion in the oil for a few minutes, then brown the sausages lightly. Stir in the vegetables and spices, add 1/2 cup water, cover and simmer 25 minutes.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Late Winter Update
We're into March now, into the "hungry time" of the old days, when the winter stores are getting low and the new spring growth isn't out yet.
It's been very enjoyable to have a nice stock of fruits and vegetables put up from last summer and fall. So far we haven't run out of anything, but there are some things I just haven't used, or used fast enough. Here's a run-down of our stores:
1. Tomato sauce, juice, stewed tomatoes. We have really been enjoying the home-canned tomato sauce I made in large quantities last year. The flavor is superlative. I put a little tomato sauce into a pan, add a little olive oil and Italian herbs, and simmer it for 10 minutes to thicken up a bit, as pizza sauce. I also take a pint jar of tomato sauce, add bits of sausage or ground beef, herbs, and olive oil, and serve over pasta, GF pasta, or spaghetti squash. We may have enough to last until next summer's tomato season.
2. Nectarines. Still just to die for, the nectarines canned in a light honey syrup. This is a special treat for us, which we have about once a week for dessert. I put up over 40 jars, and the supply is holding out well. It might make it until the next harvest.
3. Frozen snap peas. I haven't served these much; they turned out a little mushy even when frozen in vacuum-sealed bags. But they're tasting better and better to me, as it's been many months since we had fresh.
4. Frozen green beans. Again, somewhat mushy. DH wants me to make more lactofermented green beans next year, and less frozen.
5. Fresh apples. Stored in our garage, the November Winesaps from the Western slope. I bought a whole case, which was packed in dimpled trays to keep the apples from touching each other. They are still holding out marvelously. One has rotted, out of a box of 40 lbs. We're still enjoying them tremendously. Fruit makes up our dessert for all but holiday meals. We have about 15 pounds left. The Winesaps are tremendous keepers. The Macintoshes that I had earlier, with their delicate skins, become wrinkled quickly.
6. Bread and butter pickles. I made 7 pints (water-bath canned), and have opened up and used one. They're OK, but just don't taste as good as my mother's bread and butter pickles did when I was a child.
7. Fresh pumpkins. Yes, I still have three pumpkins from my CSA awaiting me. It's amazing that they have kept this well. I need to get busy and not tempt fate. We have been enjoying the spicy pumpkin soup I posted in a previous article; we've had some pumpkin pies over the holidays; and I've used chunks in stews and chili. We've really enjoyed the toasted seeds too.
8. Frozen pesto. Somehow, I just haven't remembered to use the pesto. I have a number of small jars in the freezer; it's just a matter of getting them out. Pesto is good on pizza in place of tomato sauce, it's good on roasted or braised chicken, it's good on boiled potatoes, pasta, rice, etc.
9. Spaghetti squash. Finally got busy and cooked the spaghetti squash. The seeds are good toasted, like pumpkin seeds. You really can have it under pasta sauce, and hardly notice the difference. Spaghetti squash keeps amazingly well, often well into March, with their hard shells.
10. Onions and potatoes. Although I've been using them and enjoying them, I haven't been able to keep up with the supply of potatoes from our CSA. The potatoes have figured out spring is well on the way, and are all sprouting. BTW, you can use sprouted potatoes, as long as they are not green. Green potatoes should just be tossed, as they are somewhat poisonous. Our onions are holding out fine in the garage (which is cold but never freezes). I store onions and potatoes (separately) in paper bags on the ledge by the stairs into the garage, with the top of the bag folded over to prevent light from getting in. Onions and potatoes should not be kept in the same bag, as they do not get along and cause each other to spoil faster.
11. Lactofermented veggies. I outdid myself with lactofermentation last summer and fall. We've been through 5 jars of cucumber pickles (DH really loves them), 2 1/2 jars of green beans, one jar of tomato salsa, half a jar of sauerkraut, and half a jar of vegetable medley (tomatoes, onions, green pepper, ruby chard stems, cabbage, and dandelion greens). I haven't yet tried the bok choy kim chee or the collards, and we have one jar of cucumbers and one of salsa left. I also get lactofermented veggies from the CSA, including carrot and Napa, and delicious daikon and Napa kim chee, so we're not running out.
12. Dried vegetables: zucchini, green beans, green peppers. I've used the green peppers from time to time, though there are still some left. I don't seem to get into green beans and zucchini.
13. Dried herbs: parsley, thyme, marjoram, oregano. I've been using the parsley, though I still have plenty after making a miscalculation in ordering for the food coop which meant I bought and dried 15 bunches for home use. It doesn't really take that large a quantity of dried herbs to have enough for daily cooking.
14. Frozen broccoli: I froze extra from our CSA share, and we've used it all up. It turned out very nice.
15. Dried apples: not really using, since we still have fresh ones to eat. But when the fresh are gone, we'll enjoy them.
16. Canned plums and spiced peaches. These are both fine; I canned a smaller quantity of them than the nectarines, but I'm sure we'll use and enjoy them.
17. Carrots from our CSA. Carrots keep a really long time in the frig. Our CSA was bursting with carrots for the winter share. I put them into salads or soups, pureed with parsnips or turnips, or just peeled and cut for fresh eating. They're part of nearly every day's food. I have a multitude of carrot recipes waiting for some time and initiative on my part, too.
18. Dried plums, prunes, apricots and peaches. I bought Colorado plums (Santa Rosa variety), prune plums and apricots from the coop. We have Siberian peaches in the yard which had a nice crop last year. I dried all of these; the fruit dryer was busy seven days a week last August and September. I've been using them as snacks, but we still have plenty left. I dried them very carefully this year, picking through the partially dried trays to pull out the ones that were dry enough, continuing to dry the others. This means that the early ones were not OVERdried, hard and flavorless. It's a bit more work but the quality of the product is much better.
I put the dried fruit in quart jars this year, so if any got moldy I wouldn't lose a whole half-gallon jar of them (which is just TOO depressing). So far they have been holding out fine, and will probably make it through to the table.
If I made more desserts, we'd use more of the dried fruits. But both of us are watching our weight, and we don't need the carbohydrate-rich calories of sweet desserts. Dried fruit is sweet enough for me.
19. Staple legumes. I've started serving legumes with most dinners, cooking up black-eyed peas, baby dry limas, or other beans to have as a side dish. Another alternative is bean soups or split pea soup. They are particularly nice in winter and early spring. I'm planning to do more with the lentils that I have on hand. Lentils make good European-flavored dishes (like soups and stews), as well as Indian curry-style dishes, and spicy Mediterranean dishes.
20. EXCEPTIONS--This year I loosened the reins a bit for the winter season, and have been occasionally buying celery, escarole, and swiss chard. The cooked chard tastes really wonderful this time of year. I make salads from the escarole, a nice lightly-bitter winter green. (You can also make soup from it.) And celery is such a nice touch in salads, soups, etc., that I decided a modest quantity of California organic celery wouldn't be a bad thing to have.
This year the local eating is going much more easily than last year. This is my reward from the many hours of canning, lactofermenting, freezing and drying that I did last summer and fall. It's a pleasure to put together a meal from our stores. And my recipe research has turned up a number of favorite dishes that we enjoy, many of which I've shared with you.
It's been very enjoyable to have a nice stock of fruits and vegetables put up from last summer and fall. So far we haven't run out of anything, but there are some things I just haven't used, or used fast enough. Here's a run-down of our stores:
1. Tomato sauce, juice, stewed tomatoes. We have really been enjoying the home-canned tomato sauce I made in large quantities last year. The flavor is superlative. I put a little tomato sauce into a pan, add a little olive oil and Italian herbs, and simmer it for 10 minutes to thicken up a bit, as pizza sauce. I also take a pint jar of tomato sauce, add bits of sausage or ground beef, herbs, and olive oil, and serve over pasta, GF pasta, or spaghetti squash. We may have enough to last until next summer's tomato season.
2. Nectarines. Still just to die for, the nectarines canned in a light honey syrup. This is a special treat for us, which we have about once a week for dessert. I put up over 40 jars, and the supply is holding out well. It might make it until the next harvest.
3. Frozen snap peas. I haven't served these much; they turned out a little mushy even when frozen in vacuum-sealed bags. But they're tasting better and better to me, as it's been many months since we had fresh.
4. Frozen green beans. Again, somewhat mushy. DH wants me to make more lactofermented green beans next year, and less frozen.
5. Fresh apples. Stored in our garage, the November Winesaps from the Western slope. I bought a whole case, which was packed in dimpled trays to keep the apples from touching each other. They are still holding out marvelously. One has rotted, out of a box of 40 lbs. We're still enjoying them tremendously. Fruit makes up our dessert for all but holiday meals. We have about 15 pounds left. The Winesaps are tremendous keepers. The Macintoshes that I had earlier, with their delicate skins, become wrinkled quickly.
6. Bread and butter pickles. I made 7 pints (water-bath canned), and have opened up and used one. They're OK, but just don't taste as good as my mother's bread and butter pickles did when I was a child.
7. Fresh pumpkins. Yes, I still have three pumpkins from my CSA awaiting me. It's amazing that they have kept this well. I need to get busy and not tempt fate. We have been enjoying the spicy pumpkin soup I posted in a previous article; we've had some pumpkin pies over the holidays; and I've used chunks in stews and chili. We've really enjoyed the toasted seeds too.
8. Frozen pesto. Somehow, I just haven't remembered to use the pesto. I have a number of small jars in the freezer; it's just a matter of getting them out. Pesto is good on pizza in place of tomato sauce, it's good on roasted or braised chicken, it's good on boiled potatoes, pasta, rice, etc.
9. Spaghetti squash. Finally got busy and cooked the spaghetti squash. The seeds are good toasted, like pumpkin seeds. You really can have it under pasta sauce, and hardly notice the difference. Spaghetti squash keeps amazingly well, often well into March, with their hard shells.
10. Onions and potatoes. Although I've been using them and enjoying them, I haven't been able to keep up with the supply of potatoes from our CSA. The potatoes have figured out spring is well on the way, and are all sprouting. BTW, you can use sprouted potatoes, as long as they are not green. Green potatoes should just be tossed, as they are somewhat poisonous. Our onions are holding out fine in the garage (which is cold but never freezes). I store onions and potatoes (separately) in paper bags on the ledge by the stairs into the garage, with the top of the bag folded over to prevent light from getting in. Onions and potatoes should not be kept in the same bag, as they do not get along and cause each other to spoil faster.
11. Lactofermented veggies. I outdid myself with lactofermentation last summer and fall. We've been through 5 jars of cucumber pickles (DH really loves them), 2 1/2 jars of green beans, one jar of tomato salsa, half a jar of sauerkraut, and half a jar of vegetable medley (tomatoes, onions, green pepper, ruby chard stems, cabbage, and dandelion greens). I haven't yet tried the bok choy kim chee or the collards, and we have one jar of cucumbers and one of salsa left. I also get lactofermented veggies from the CSA, including carrot and Napa, and delicious daikon and Napa kim chee, so we're not running out.
12. Dried vegetables: zucchini, green beans, green peppers. I've used the green peppers from time to time, though there are still some left. I don't seem to get into green beans and zucchini.
13. Dried herbs: parsley, thyme, marjoram, oregano. I've been using the parsley, though I still have plenty after making a miscalculation in ordering for the food coop which meant I bought and dried 15 bunches for home use. It doesn't really take that large a quantity of dried herbs to have enough for daily cooking.
14. Frozen broccoli: I froze extra from our CSA share, and we've used it all up. It turned out very nice.
15. Dried apples: not really using, since we still have fresh ones to eat. But when the fresh are gone, we'll enjoy them.
16. Canned plums and spiced peaches. These are both fine; I canned a smaller quantity of them than the nectarines, but I'm sure we'll use and enjoy them.
17. Carrots from our CSA. Carrots keep a really long time in the frig. Our CSA was bursting with carrots for the winter share. I put them into salads or soups, pureed with parsnips or turnips, or just peeled and cut for fresh eating. They're part of nearly every day's food. I have a multitude of carrot recipes waiting for some time and initiative on my part, too.
18. Dried plums, prunes, apricots and peaches. I bought Colorado plums (Santa Rosa variety), prune plums and apricots from the coop. We have Siberian peaches in the yard which had a nice crop last year. I dried all of these; the fruit dryer was busy seven days a week last August and September. I've been using them as snacks, but we still have plenty left. I dried them very carefully this year, picking through the partially dried trays to pull out the ones that were dry enough, continuing to dry the others. This means that the early ones were not OVERdried, hard and flavorless. It's a bit more work but the quality of the product is much better.
I put the dried fruit in quart jars this year, so if any got moldy I wouldn't lose a whole half-gallon jar of them (which is just TOO depressing). So far they have been holding out fine, and will probably make it through to the table.
If I made more desserts, we'd use more of the dried fruits. But both of us are watching our weight, and we don't need the carbohydrate-rich calories of sweet desserts. Dried fruit is sweet enough for me.
19. Staple legumes. I've started serving legumes with most dinners, cooking up black-eyed peas, baby dry limas, or other beans to have as a side dish. Another alternative is bean soups or split pea soup. They are particularly nice in winter and early spring. I'm planning to do more with the lentils that I have on hand. Lentils make good European-flavored dishes (like soups and stews), as well as Indian curry-style dishes, and spicy Mediterranean dishes.
20. EXCEPTIONS--This year I loosened the reins a bit for the winter season, and have been occasionally buying celery, escarole, and swiss chard. The cooked chard tastes really wonderful this time of year. I make salads from the escarole, a nice lightly-bitter winter green. (You can also make soup from it.) And celery is such a nice touch in salads, soups, etc., that I decided a modest quantity of California organic celery wouldn't be a bad thing to have.
This year the local eating is going much more easily than last year. This is my reward from the many hours of canning, lactofermenting, freezing and drying that I did last summer and fall. It's a pleasure to put together a meal from our stores. And my recipe research has turned up a number of favorite dishes that we enjoy, many of which I've shared with you.
Ruta... Ruta.... Ruta.... Swede!
Actually the name is rutabaga (baggy root in Swedish), formerly called Swedish turnip (though it's not a turnip), thus Swede.
Rutabagas look like a big rough turnip, with a yellowish cast. But they are in the Brassica napus family, with Siberian kale and rapeseed, rather than
Brassica rapa with turnips. The ins and outs of the multitudinous Brassica clan are still being worked out by the botanists.
Rutabaga's flavor is milder and sweeter than the bite-y turnip, and it lends itself to many of the uses of potatoes as well as those of turnips. Here are some. Enjoy!
This should help you get through your winter stock of rutabagas, or allow you to be on speaking terms with a new vegetable friend. Happy eating!
Rutabagas look like a big rough turnip, with a yellowish cast. But they are in the Brassica napus family, with Siberian kale and rapeseed, rather than
Brassica rapa with turnips. The ins and outs of the multitudinous Brassica clan are still being worked out by the botanists.
Rutabaga's flavor is milder and sweeter than the bite-y turnip, and it lends itself to many of the uses of potatoes as well as those of turnips. Here are some. Enjoy!
- Mashed rutabaga--like mashed potatoes. Peel and cut up, cook in boiling water until tender, drain and mash with milk and butter, seasoning with salt and pepper. Or you can use half potatoes and half rutabagas.
- Oven-fried rutabaga--like oven french fries. Peel 3 lbs rutabaga and cut lengthwise into french-fry shaped pieces. Mix 1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon paprika, and 1 teaspoon garlic salt. Toss rutabaga with 1 tbs olive oil, then sprinkle the seasonings over them as evenly as possible. Bake in oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, until tender inside and crisp outside.
- Baked rutabaga--like baked potatoes. Don't choose the huge honker rutabagas for this, but more modest sized ones. Scrub very well and bake in oven until fork-tender. Cut open, add a dollop of butter or sour cream, and enjoy.
- In vegetable soups--like turnips and/or potatoes. Peel and cut into suitable-sized pieces in mixed vegetable soups. It will cook right along with other roots.
- In roasted root vegetables--alongside turnips, potatoes, carrots, parsnip, onion, and/or leeks. Whatever you have on hand. Peel and cut all vegetables into equal-sized chunks; cut leeks into 1" lengths. Toss with some olive oil, sprinkle with herbs such as rosemary or thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 to 400 degrees (very forgiving) when you are baking something else. Turn occasionally. They will take 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the temperature and how big your chunks are.
- In pot roast--with carrots, other vegetables. Brown a roast of beef in a little oil, add one or two chopped onions, liquid to half-cover (liquid can include up to 1 cup tomato juice or wine), salt and pepper to taste. Simmer meat slowly for 3-4 hours till tender. Peel and cut up rutabaga, carrot, potato, celery root, etc., any roots that you have except for beet. Arrange around the roast in the kettle, put the lid on again, and simmer another 30 minutes until tender. Taste for seasoning; add salt and pepper if needed. You could also add a little oregano or marjoram at the beginning of the cooking process, or other herbs to your taste. You can thicken with roux if you like: work equal parts of butter and flour together, form into small balls and stir into liquid. Use about 1 tbs flour for each cup of liquid you want to thicken. This works just as well with rice flour for the gluten-intolerant.
- Stovetop sausage and root vegetables--In kettle, heat 1 tbs oil, add 1 lb mild pork link sausages cut in half, and brown lightly. Add 2 large chopped onions, stir and brown another 5 minutes, then add 1 pound each of peeled cubed rutabaga and potato, and 1/2 pound peeled cut carrot. Add 2 tbs dried or 1/4 cup fresh parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add 1/3 cup stock or water, cover, and simmer about 30 minutes, until tender.
- Cornish pasties. Rutabagas are traditional in Cornish pasties. Make your favorite double-crust pie crust recipe, chill while making filling. Mix together 3/4 lb round steak cut into 3/4" cubes; 2 medium baking potatoes, peeled and sliced; 1 medium onion chopped; 1 medium carrot peeled and sliced;
1/2 lb of rutabaga peeled and chopped; salt and pepper to taste. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough into four parts and roll each out into a 6" circle. Place 1/4 of filling on one side of each circle, dot each with 1 tbs butter, fold over the other half and crimp closed. Gently place on baking sheet, and bake one hour.
I would not advise a gluten-free crust for Cornish pasties; it just wouldn't hold together.
This should help you get through your winter stock of rutabagas, or allow you to be on speaking terms with a new vegetable friend. Happy eating!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Wisdom of the American People
Yesterday I read an article on five things missing from the stimulus plan. The Stimulus Plan: 5 Missing Pieces. No. 5 was: please tell us whether it is better for the country for us to save or to spend? (The rest of the "missing pieces" are well worth the read as well.)
Actually, the wisdom of the American people has answered this question. The household savings rate went from -2% sometime last year to +6% now. A nation full of households has decided that living well beyond our means is no longer a smart thing to do. The strange compulsion so many people had, to spend and spend and spend as if we were rich, as if the stock market would go up for ever, as if real estate price would climb into the stratosphere, is suddenly broken. Now we're suffering the hangover from years of excess. But who could ever believe double-digit growth for ever, in the sober light of morning....
The good we do by controlling our spending and paying off debt:
* With every payment we make, we reassure the banks and credit unions that they will not be left holding the bag.
* With every payment we make, we free up some capital for the banks and credit unions to lend to responsible people and businesses.
* With every payment we make, we reduce our household financial risk in case of unemployment, wage cuts, hourly cuts, health problems, and life's other unexpected financial challenges.
This is better for the country in the long run than for us to continue to run up debt supporting the "Retail Space Bubble" that has grown in the last few years. Based on truly unsustainable spending by the American "consumer" (a word I hate), chains opened up way too many new stores, and too many people started up new retail businesses.
It's sad when stores close and retail salespeople lost their McJobs. It's even sadder when someone has invested their life savings in starting a new business, well-thought-out or not, and has to close their doors. Running the gauntlet of the new frugality will mean that the best stores will survive--the ones that sell 1. quality items 2. we need at 3. reasonable prices. And the stores with a poor business model, or too much competition, will fail. This is the real world. The pie doesn't keep getting bigger forever.
Another example. A month or more ago, I was reading articles about what it would take to save the Big Three automakers. One class of article were interviews with leading economists and commentators. Most of them were not employees of the companies in question. They said, in general, that the Big Three need to push wages down, shed workers, and slip out of legacy commitments for health care and pensions, and that was all that would save them. The second class of article talked to individual people, the wise Americans. They said, "They need to start making cars that people want to buy." Bingo! You get the prize.
If the Big Three paid way less people way less money, cut out their pensions and medical insurance, and made cars people aren't interested in buying, they would still go belly-up. Joe Six-pack at the gas station knows that the price of gasoline will go back up. He is not very interested in buying a big gas-hog unless it is a necessity for his business or his large family. But the talking heads and the CEOs and CFOs still don't get it.
Now a little blast at the word "Consumer". A consumer is somebody that uses up resources. It is the opposite of producer, somebody who makes something, improves something, or saves something. If you start a bonfire and throw dollar bills onto it, or $200 athletic shoes, you are a consumer. Are we rightly called the Consumer Society? I hope not. At the end of World War II, with much of the world in shambles, the U.S. was the biggest producer of goods in the world. We could call ourselves a Producer Society then.
Let's just retire the word Consumer as applied to U.S. citizens. To a store you should be a Customer, not a Consumer. To an arts organization, you are a Patron (Matron?). We hope that more of us will have the chance to become Producers again; people need jobs, and the U.S. needs to produce things to restore balance to the world economy.
What can we do?
* Keep paying off debt.
* When you buy something, try to buy American-made. I keep harping on this. Let the stores you patronize know that you are interested in buying American-made goods and giving jobs to American workers.
* Buy local foods and support your local farmers and ranchers.
* Buy locally-made foods and suppport local small business (and encourage them to buy local ingredients).
The dollars we spend are small. But the dollars we all spend are a huge force in our country and the world, for good or ill. Put your dollars where your own best interests lie.
Recipes next time.....
Actually, the wisdom of the American people has answered this question. The household savings rate went from -2% sometime last year to +6% now. A nation full of households has decided that living well beyond our means is no longer a smart thing to do. The strange compulsion so many people had, to spend and spend and spend as if we were rich, as if the stock market would go up for ever, as if real estate price would climb into the stratosphere, is suddenly broken. Now we're suffering the hangover from years of excess. But who could ever believe double-digit growth for ever, in the sober light of morning....
The good we do by controlling our spending and paying off debt:
* With every payment we make, we reassure the banks and credit unions that they will not be left holding the bag.
* With every payment we make, we free up some capital for the banks and credit unions to lend to responsible people and businesses.
* With every payment we make, we reduce our household financial risk in case of unemployment, wage cuts, hourly cuts, health problems, and life's other unexpected financial challenges.
This is better for the country in the long run than for us to continue to run up debt supporting the "Retail Space Bubble" that has grown in the last few years. Based on truly unsustainable spending by the American "consumer" (a word I hate), chains opened up way too many new stores, and too many people started up new retail businesses.
It's sad when stores close and retail salespeople lost their McJobs. It's even sadder when someone has invested their life savings in starting a new business, well-thought-out or not, and has to close their doors. Running the gauntlet of the new frugality will mean that the best stores will survive--the ones that sell 1. quality items 2. we need at 3. reasonable prices. And the stores with a poor business model, or too much competition, will fail. This is the real world. The pie doesn't keep getting bigger forever.
Another example. A month or more ago, I was reading articles about what it would take to save the Big Three automakers. One class of article were interviews with leading economists and commentators. Most of them were not employees of the companies in question. They said, in general, that the Big Three need to push wages down, shed workers, and slip out of legacy commitments for health care and pensions, and that was all that would save them. The second class of article talked to individual people, the wise Americans. They said, "They need to start making cars that people want to buy." Bingo! You get the prize.
If the Big Three paid way less people way less money, cut out their pensions and medical insurance, and made cars people aren't interested in buying, they would still go belly-up. Joe Six-pack at the gas station knows that the price of gasoline will go back up. He is not very interested in buying a big gas-hog unless it is a necessity for his business or his large family. But the talking heads and the CEOs and CFOs still don't get it.
Now a little blast at the word "Consumer". A consumer is somebody that uses up resources. It is the opposite of producer, somebody who makes something, improves something, or saves something. If you start a bonfire and throw dollar bills onto it, or $200 athletic shoes, you are a consumer. Are we rightly called the Consumer Society? I hope not. At the end of World War II, with much of the world in shambles, the U.S. was the biggest producer of goods in the world. We could call ourselves a Producer Society then.
Let's just retire the word Consumer as applied to U.S. citizens. To a store you should be a Customer, not a Consumer. To an arts organization, you are a Patron (Matron?). We hope that more of us will have the chance to become Producers again; people need jobs, and the U.S. needs to produce things to restore balance to the world economy.
What can we do?
* Keep paying off debt.
* When you buy something, try to buy American-made. I keep harping on this. Let the stores you patronize know that you are interested in buying American-made goods and giving jobs to American workers.
* Buy local foods and support your local farmers and ranchers.
* Buy locally-made foods and suppport local small business (and encourage them to buy local ingredients).
The dollars we spend are small. But the dollars we all spend are a huge force in our country and the world, for good or ill. Put your dollars where your own best interests lie.
Recipes next time.....
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