The Week (and a half) in Photos

I'm not necessarily planning to completely turn over my blog to just photos, though I must say I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate getting a quick glimpse of one's week in photos on some of the other food and craft blogs I follow.  There are lots of busy mamas, cooks, crafters, and gardeners out there who don't always have time to narrate their stories from the week, but are dedicated to serving their loyal followers somehow.  That's how I feel this week.  Lots has happened over the last week and a half since I last posted so instead of stressing myself out by playing catch up I'm taking this spare moment I have (Friday nap time is still in tact) to "show you" (channeling my speech teacher mother again..."show, don't tell") a little bit of what we've been doing.

Huitlacoche is a delicacy in Mexico.  I was lucky to find some on an ear
of corn from the farmers' market.

Huitlacoche all chopped up.

My neighbor from Monterey, MX suggested I use the huitlacoche to
make traditional empanadas.  I made a not-so-traditional filling
adding some of the ingredients my husband enjoyed in empanadas while
living in Chile.

  These empanadas were gluten-free so a bit brittle.
I had to leave them in rounds b/c they were not foldable.

Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze were a hit at
the annual block party.

Egg Shell meal inspired by these ideas.  I'm just getting started, but have
so far thrown a spoonful into smoothies.

A green string bean has  invaded my tomato bed.

Applesauce time! Our apples from the orchard are all loaded up in the kettle.

Nice to have plenty of space for canning.  Preserving apples and
tomatoes have been the true test of ease of cleaning for my new stovetop.
It passed the test with flying colors.  What a relief!

Hopefully this will be enough applesauce for the year.

Remnants of a simple roasted root vegetable dish.

Roasted radishes, turnips, red and golden beets

Chicago in a flash!  Went to a White Sox game with friends.

Back to the grind.   My amazing husband is taking
on the daunting task of painting the basement floor.
Yes!

A sink full of freshly picked turnips, radishes, and beets

Chopped Beet Greens to dry and grind into a raw smoothie powder

And the bottoms left over for pickling

Baked Potato Bar night.  Why didn't I think of this sooner!

Carefully handling the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" that
came in on some turnip greens.

I also had a chance to have coffee with a fellow food blogger this week.  It was a true pleasure to chat with this extremely talented baker face-to-face and get to know her a little better.  I'm grateful to have the time and opportunity to do that in this new phase I've entered.  

A week ago today I got to meet one of my culinary heroes, Tamar Adler at an exclusive sustainable cooking event and am hoping to post some photos and an interview with her very soon.  Stay tuned.

Too Hot to Can?

Mixed berries and drupes for our first "Homestead Jam"

It's 104F out there and I've decided to make preserves. I said I wasn't going to make any jam this year because we still have such a backlog from last year's epic canning season. But since fruit is the only thing looking extremely promising this year (save for the zucchini), I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to have our very own homestead jam. Who knew that blackberries needed next to no water to thrive? We've been picking 2-3 cups per day for the last week. I could have easily made an exclusively blackberry jam, but decided to incorporate the few red currants, gooseberries, and cherries I still have floating around from those harvests. I'm trying my hand at an old-fashioned mixed berry preserve today, one which does not require added pectin to gel. I've substituted granulated xylitol for 3/4 of the sugar and will let it cook until it passes the gel test. I'm also making this batch to replenish my supply of gift preserves, which I usually process in 1/4-pint jars with single-use metal lids versus the reusable canning lids that I've switched to in the last couple of seasons. I'll make a few "giftable" jars and the rest for our own larder.

No shortage of these heavenly blackberries this year.

Skimming the foam off the jam, hoping to incorporate it into a beverage
a la M.F.K Fisher in Gastronomical Me

Assistant Blackberry Picker

This morning I made a return visit to Kohl's Corporate on the northwest side of the metro Milwaukee area to do a "Food Preservation 101" presentation. This hometown company continues to make some serious efforts towards sustainability, as far as corporations go.  Not only to they provide fresh, locally-sourced, healthy choices in their impressive food service venues, but they encourage employees to focus on health, eat locally, help with the company garden (from which the produce is donated to local food banks), and attend presentations in their Green Lecture Series. Seems like it would be a great company for which to work and I was honored to be asked back to make the same presentation I did a couple of years ago, but to a totally new audience.

After my presentation today we swung by the West Allis Farmers' Market; I believe this was our first visit there this season. I ran into a Master Gardener friend who regularly attends my cooking classes and of course we started discussing the weather.  She informed me that one of the farmers in attendance had just experienced his well running dry. One whole aisle of farmers, who are usually ramping up for peak produce season by this time, was absent. I wasn't even upset when, after I chose to buy a mixed bunch of lettuces from another grower, I got home to realize that they were all bolted.  These farmers are trying to sell whatever bits and pieces of vegetables they have managed to salvage from this drought.  It's heartbreaking.

As you can imagine with this ongoing lack of rain and intense heat, my garden is also dire need of care--though I can't begin to compare it to what our state's large producers are experiencing. Certain perennials in our front yard landscape have literally burned up, various successions of seeds have been unable to germinate and/or poke through the soil because of its crust, and I've now counted six different species of insects--some remaining unidentified--beating up on my zucchini and other squash plants. My only serious concern on the homestead (though I have countless concerns for the farmers in our region) is that in late August I'm hosting a preserves and pastries event for our church and am hoping the homestead looks presentable for garden dining. (Yeah, seems like a luxury to want that when so many folks' entire livelihoods depend on every bit of rain.) I'm already getting close to writing this garden season off, starting to think about next year (and incorporating more permaculture to work with climate challenges), and having visions of cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Time to refocus and be in the moment.

Loading the Pantry

The past two days, hot as it continues to be, I've been preserving.  It's cherry and green bean time and the grand totals are cherries: 10 quarts, 9 pints; dilly beans: 2 quarts, 9 pints, 2-12 oz. jars.  Until our cherry trees really start to produce I'll be purchasing these fruits from Door County Fruit, a regional grower who sells at the South Shore Farmers' Market in our neighborhood.  Last weekend I pre-ordered a whole lug of sweet dark cherries to can just like my Gramma did in a simple syrup.  Both the cherries and dilly beans are memories in a jar for me and my family.  My Gram also made dilly beans--she was known for them.  I always joke that when we were cleaning out her house after she and my Grampa passed, no one was fighting over the fine china, but the last jar of Lucille's signature dilly beans was a point of contention.  The recipe below isn't from her files, but tastes exactly like her beans.

Dilly Beans
From the UW-Extension Wisconsin Safe Food Preservation Series' Homemade Pickles and Relishes
Yield: 7-8 pints


4 qts. whole green or wax beans (about 4 lbs.), trimmed
8 fresh dill heads, or 1 1/2 t. dill seed or dill weed per jar
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 small dried hot pepper per jar (optional...I do not add this)
Pickling Solution:
4 c. white vinegar (5% acetic acid)
4 c. water
1/2 c. canning and pickling salt

Wash pint canning jars.  Keep hot until filled.  Wash beans thoroughly and drain.  Cut into lengths to fit pint jars.  In each hot pint jar, place dill, garlic, and pepper (if desired).  Pack beans upright, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.  Prepare pickling solution of vinegar, water, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Pour boiling hot pickling solution over beans, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.  Remove bubbles with a rubber spatula.  Wipe jar rims with a clean, damp cloth.  Cap jars with pretreated (sterilized) lids.  Adjust lids.  Process in boiling water canner 10 min. for pints.

I used a combination of our Provider bush beans and Rattlesnake pole beans.  I love putting the pole beans in quart jars so we can appreciate how long and beautifully these beans grow.  One good thing about these pole beans, which double as dried beans if left on the trellis, is that if you go a couple of days without harvesting, those beans become the ones that will stay on, grow large, and eventually be dried for the beans inside the pod.  The disadvantage of that is the more you pick, the more energy goes into growing new beans.  Your choice depending on how you like to use them.  One of my goals this year is to grow more dry beans.

I finished these preserves just in time to make room in the fridge for our first delivery from Pinehold Gardens, our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  Ben always says you know that it's CSA season, or at least summer, when the refrigerator is in various states of disarray on a weekly basis.  My therapy is cleaning and organizing the fridge (truly) so hopefully it won't get so out of control very soon. Tonight I made a dish using as many of these fresh new ingredients as possible.  I also added some eggplant I had leftover from a cooking class earlier this week.

Grilled Zucchini, Eggplant, and Bell Pepper Fattoush
Adapted from a recipe printed in Bon Appetit.  Fattoush is a Middle Eastern version of panzanella, Italian bread salad.
Serves 4-6


On the Grill (or a grill pan on the stovetop):

1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 4 pieces, salted and set aside on paper towel
3 medium bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, quartered
4-5 slender zucchini and/or summer squash (about 1 lb.), trimmed, cut lengthwise in half
2 5- to 6-inch pitas, each cut horizontally into 2 disks
Grapeseed oil (for grilling)

Prepare grill (medium heat).  Brush eggplant, peppers, zucchini, and pitas on both sides with oil.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.  Grill peppers and zucchini until slightly charred and just tender, turning often, about 6 min.  Transfer vegetables to foil-lined baking sheet.  Grill bread until lightly charred and just crisp, turning often, about 3 min.  Transfer to sheet with veggies and cool.  Tear bread into 1-inch pieces.

For the Dish:
1 8-ounce cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
12 cherry tomatoes, each halved or 1 slicing tomato cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 c. pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise
1/2 c. (packed) fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
1/3 c. chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 1/2 t. ground cumin
1 4-ounce piece feta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut peppers, zucchini, and eggplant into 1/2-inch cubes.  Place in a large bowl.  Add cucumber, tomatoes, green onions, olives, mint, and cilantro and toss to combine.  Add bread pieces.  Whisk 1/2 c. oil, lemon juice, and cumin in small bowl to blend.  Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.  Add dressing to salad; toss to coat.  Add feta and gently mix into salad.  Transfer salad to large bowl and serve.

We've also been trying to keep up with what's growing in our own garden.  Last night I cooked the first of our Red Russian kale to make a vegetarian entree.

Potato, Kale, and Swiss Chard Skillet Cake
Adapted from a recipe in Gourmet.  
Serves 4-6


1 lb. (total) kale and swiss chard, stems removed
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter, 6 of the T. melted and cooled
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. pepper
2 lbs. potatoes (4 medium)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Blanch kale and swiss chard for about 1 min.  Drain, let cool, squeeze out excess moisture.  Heat 2 T. butter in skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until golden, about 1 min.  Add greens, season, and saute, stirring until greens are tender, about 4 min.  Transfer to a bowl and wipe the skillet clean.  Thinly slice the potatoes and work quickly to prevent them from discoloring.  Generously brush bottom of skillet with melted butter and cover with 1/3 of potato slices, overlapping slightly.  Dab potatoes w/ some of melted butter. Spread half of kale over potatoes and season lightly with s&p.  Cover with half of remaining potatoes and dab with butter, then top with remaining kale.  Season.  Top w/ remaining potatoes and season.  Put foil over top of of potatoes and weight down with another skillet.  Cook over medium-high heat approx. 10 min. then place in oven and cook about 15 min. or until the top browns.  Cool slightly.  Cut and serve.

We have delicate edible flowers coming out of our garden now.  Yesterday I mentioned the calendula.  Last night I picked some borage flowers (slight cucumber flavor) to add to our salad.  They can also be candied and would be beautiful garnishing a chiffon cake.

Early Summer Treats

Ben looked into our fridge yesterday and said, "it must be preserving season."  When the bounty of summer hits, most weekends find us with a refrigerator bursting with bulk vegetables for canning and freezing.  I don't advise cramming too many preserving projects into one weekend, but I had a lot of produce fall into my lap recently so I had to process it quickly since I wasn't able to accommodate it all in a cooler.  As I mentioned in the last post I was working on a case of red beets.  Ben also brought home a case and a half of peaches from famed David Mas Masumoto's Family Farm in California.   I tried out our "new" food dehydrator (a request fulfilled via Milwaukee Freecycle) to dry some sliced peaches and also made peach jam.  Today I tried a new recipe for pickled beets and shredded some roasted bed to freeze for chocolate beet cake in the winter.  Aside from those case lots, a huge bowl of tart cherries landed in our hands Friday night--a friend's parents live across the alley and they always travel abroad at peak cherry season; the last two year's we've reaped the benefits of their travels--so I made cherry jam.  Whew!  With the weather in the 90s today, it wasn't ideal for heating up the kitchen with the hot water bath canner, but I don't have the luxury of a summer kitchen (yet) so I did my best to process quickly, but safely.

And when it rains, it pours.  Today I picked the first green beans from our small patch of Provider variety.  From an approximately 2 1/2'x4' section of beans last year we harvested close to 25 lbs.  This year's soil allowance is nearly the same.  I already picked 1/2 lb. of beans and they're JUST getting started.  I'll be pickling dilly beans much earlier this year.  This past week was also the beginning of wild foraging for mulberries and black raspberries.  I have found one particularly productive mulberry tree along the lakefront as well as many black raspberry bushes, which are just beginning to ripen.  I usually pick what I can, then freeze them until I get a sizable amount to make a batch of jam or to freeze a bag for winter muffins, cakes, and cobblers.

The weather we've been having this season may finally be good for tomatoes on our side of town.  Just when I decided to give up on the heirlooms and grow quicker-to-mature varieties because of the lack of hot days in past years, we may actually get enough warm weather this season.  Such is life.  I'll enjoy whatever we get.  Our melons are loving the heat as well.  I'm growing watermelon for the first time and it's 1/3 of the way up one trellis already.  I placed "pig panel" arches along our original raised bed and have cantaloupe, watermelon, pickling cukes, luffa squash, and lemon cukes growing on them.  My plan is for these trellises to create a shaded area underneath so I can still grow lettuce and mesclun mix throughout the summer.  This was an idea I got from a supplementary Better Homes and Gardens magazine called Garden Ideas and Outdoor Living, circa 1987--very "vintage" designs and adverstisments for Ortho Malathion 50 Insect Spray (it's amazing what we still didn't know just 25 years ago.)

Not only are the cultivated fruits and vegetables coming along, but the wild foods continue to thrive as well.  Tonight I made a salad with purslane, commonly seen as a weed, but actually a tasty, anti-oxidant and omega-3 fatty-acid-rich vegetable.  It grows well in the cracks between our pavers plus there's a great crop in my tomato bed this year.  I've always wanted to eat it instead of just composting it with other weeds.  As a succulent, it added a unique texture and fresh flavor to this salad.

Potato Salad with Purslane, Snap Peas, and Green Beans
Serves 8

I grabbed some of the last good snap peas from the farmers' market on Saturday and paired them with new potatoes and the first green beans from our garden.  With grilled salmon, this salad was a nice substitute for separate starch and salad.


Salt
2 lbs. new potatoes (gently washed so as not to lose the beautiful red skin)
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
3 T. red wine vinegar
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1/2 lb. snap peas, trimmed
1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and blanched
1/4 lb. purslane, torn
1 medium white or red onion, halved and shaved
1/4 c. fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
1/4 c. fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Fill a medium saucepan with salted water, add potatoes and bring to a boil.  Cook until a knife inserted comes out easily.  Lift from pan with a slotted spoon and use the same water to blanch the green beans.  Let potatoes cool.  In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, and pepper flakes; season with salt.  In a mixing bowl, quarter the potatoes.  Add the peas, beans, purslane, onion, and herbs.  Toss well with dressing and season to taste.  Serve with grilled fish or chicken.

Recap of Power Down Week

We survived Power Down Week, as I knew we would, and mostly achieved the goals we set for decreasing our carbon footprints for a week.  Of course there's always room for improvement.  I was going to give a day-by-day, play-by-play or how it went, but I decided to spare you the details and just report that we kept the TV off except when we heard the storm sirens go off Monday night and checked what weather was headed our way, my computer remained completely unplugged all week, Ben only checked his personal e-mail at work (he reasoned that the computer there would be turned on anyway), I drove just twice (once to a blood drive, which wasn't within biking distance as our schedule allowed, not to mention I wasn't supposed to engage in any strenuous activity the rest of the day after donating.  The other was to our music class on the lower eastside b/c our bus wasn't on time.)  We also managed to keep the oven off and cook in the sun oven as needed, though I still used the stovetop especially for two food preservation projects.  Didn't listen to the radio, didn't turn on the vacuum cleaner (much to my delight), and kept many more lights off.  We even made Vera power down by putting away all three of her battery-operated toys (the ones that annoy me anyway).  Overall, it was a pleasant week.  We connected with friends via phone calls, a concert in the park, and a play date instead of just e-mailing.  Ben asked what I missed most during Power Down Week.  Probably baking on a whim in the kitchen--the sun oven requires more planning.  I could more easily name what I DIDN'T--the daily obligation of e-mail, driving around more--biking gave me more exercise anyway, and I certainly didn't miss the sound of the television every night.  At least one interesting observation last week--we are so addicted to getting immediate results via our computers.  We wanted the week's weather forecast, but prevented ourselves from booting up just to check.  We also tend to use the internet to find business listings instead of opening the Yellow Pages.  A fun moment for me was avoiding Google Maps when I needed to find directions to our Rec. Dept. swim class this morning.  I tested my map skills and plotted the location on our 4'x6' 1959 map of Metropolitan Milwaukee, an antique store score several years ago that's been a constant conversation piece.  The most important parts of powering down for a week are becoming aware of one's weekly energy usage and therefore creating new habits.  It wouldn't be reasonable to just NOT do laundry for a week to save energy, but to find a more energy-efficient way to do this task that is required twice a week in our house.  I usually line-dry anyway so this wasn't much of a change, but it would be fun to use a wringer washer to actually clean our clothes, a chore that reminds me of helping my grandmother wring clothes in her basement when I was a kid.  We've agreed to only turn on the TV maybe twice a week, I'll reduce the amount of computer time I have in the evening, we'll cook in the sun oven more this summer, and I'll continue to use alternative transportation.

So if I wasn't on the computer and watching TV, what was I doing last week?  I found time to read a lot, play with Vera, bike, picnic, walk, sew, and preserve.  As I mentioned before, I didn't feel like I missed anything while I was unplugged.  I made a batch of strawberry jam with honey as well as my first batch of "Sunshine Rhubarb Juice Concentrate."  One of my preserving goals over the last couple of years has been to can more juices as we (make that Ben) drink(s) a lot of them.  I had a load of rhubarb from Ben's boss as well as a fair amount from our own yard so I made six pints of concentrate.  I also sewed some mail slots to hang in our front vestibule.  It's been a challenge keeping Vera out of the mailbox and tearing into the envelopes so these slots couldn't have waited much longer.  I chose some vintage floral canvas I bought at the antique flea market a couple seasons ago and some other green canvas reused from a shower curtain I made for our old apartment.  I used a vintage button also found at the flea market.  So far the system is working.