Soup's On!

It's been a bit chilly, at least in the mornings, this week.  That, coupled with the fact that our fridge is overflowing with veggies from our garden and CSA box, made it feel like the right time to make soup.  I made two big pots tonight--Turnip and Turnip Greens Soup for dinner and Creamy Chile-Carrot-Tomatillo Soup to take to Ben's parents' house on Saturday.  I always try to make large batches of soup so that we can freeze the leftovers as our local "convenience" food.  This has saved us from spending money on takeout on many busy evenings when there was no time to cook.

Cream of Chile-Carrot-Tomatillo Soup

Creamy Carrot Soup, Turnip & Turnip Greens Soup

Serves 6

This is a recipe I developed for our CSA farm newsletter.


2 T. butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large shallots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped
3 tomatillos, husks removed, and chopped
6 large carrots, peeled and chopped
4 c. vegetable stock
1 corn tortillas, broken into small pieces
1/4 c. lime juice
1/2 c. to 1 c. heavy cream or half and half (depending on desired consistency)
salt, to taste

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat and saute the onions and shallots until transparent.  Add peppers, tomatillos, and carrots; cook until soft.  Add stock and corn tortilla.  Bring to a boil then turn down the heat and cook 5-6 min.  Transfer to blender and blend until smooth, in batches, if needed.  Return to heat and add lime juice, cream, and salt to taste.  Heat through and serve.

Whole Wheat French Boule

Of course there's nothing like hot soup with a hearty bread.  I may have finally found an accessible bread recipe.  I've longed to bake homemade bread on a regular basis, but haven't found a recipe that was reasonable enough for everyday or at least bi-weekly preparation.  Today I stumbled upon a recipe for French Bread in Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible for which the dough is made in the food processor.  I substituted stoneground wheat flour for the bread flour it called for and after very little kneading and a couple rounds of proofing it baked up soft inside with a nice crusty outside.  I think it's better than the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method, which I personally found to be messy.

This week I  had a craving for Sloppy Joe's.  I substituted local ground bison and added some more green veggies to pump up the nutrient content for Vera's sake (I'm telling you, I'm willing to sneak veggies in anywhere!)  She loved it.

Bison Sloppy Joe's with Raw Green Veggies

Sloppy Joe's from Scratch
Serves 4

1 lb. ground pastured beef, bison, or venison
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped green bell pepper

1 celery stalk

3 mustard green leaves

1 scallion, chopped

1/2 t. garlic powder

1 t. prepared yellow mustard
3/4 c. ketchup
3 t. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground meat, onion, pepper, drain off any liquid (though it will mostly like be very lean.)  While the meat is cooking, chop the celery, mustards, and scallions in the food processor.  Stir into cooked meat.  Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 min.  Season with salt and pepper.

This week actually found Ben cooking dinner one night.  After recent lamenting that summer had come and gone so quickly he commented that he hadn't even gotten to make his Eggplant Parmesan, one of the few dishes in humble repertoire.  I harvested our last two eggplant early this week so I asked him to make the evening meal last night.  He happily agreed to the plan and made the most delicious Eggplant Parmesan I've had.  Vera went to bed early so the two of us savored a nice quiet dinner alone with some wine.  It's amazing how the little things are such a big deal since we've become parents.

I believe I have finally finished stocking my pantry for the season.  I preserved dill green tomatoes and pickled kohlrabi on Tuesday.  That's about all the space I have for now.  We should be good to get through the biggest Wisconsin snowstorm we can imagine.

Dill Green Tomatoes (look like green olives!)

I have one last recipe before I close this post.  I discovered a vintage (circa 1987) cookbook at the thrift store last week.  Smart Muffins by Jane Kinderlehrer is packed with tons of recipes for all kinds of muffins, which I love to make as a breakfast option as well as easy snacks for Vera.

Banana Muffins with Hazelnut Topping
Makes about 10 muffins
I added fresh mint that I had picked and on hand in the fridge.  I also substituted 2 T. okara (by-product of making soy-milk) for the eggs.  These muffins are packed with goodness and they're not too sweet like a lot of "muffins" you can buy these days, which I think of as more like cupcakes.  


2 large eggs
2 bananas (about 3/4 c.)
1/4 c. fresh mint
3 T. honey
2 T. olive oil or vegetable oil
1/2 c. yogurt, buttermilk, or soured milk
1 1/4 c. sifted whole wheat pastry flour
2 T. oat bran
2 T. wheat germ
2 T. wheat bran
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
Chopped hazelnuts


In a food processor, blend together eggs, bananas, mint, honey, oil, and yogurt/buttermilk/soured milk.  In another bowl, combine pastry flour, oat bran, wheat germ, wheat bran, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease muffin pan or line with paper baking cups. Combine the dry ingredients with banana mixture and mix briefly, only until no flour is visible.  Spoon batter into muffin cups.  Top each muffin with chopped hazelnuts.  Bake 20 min. or until tops are golden.  Cool 5 min., then remove to wire rack to fully cool.  Enjoy with butter or cream cheese flavored with your own preserves, roasted/pureed squash/pumpkin, or other fruits.

Fall Preserving

Nasturtium seed pods

This time of the season I start checking off the last of my preserving list, sometimes frantically as the weather can be unpredictable and I'm working to pick and put up what I can before I lose it.  We had a gorgeous "Indian Summer" last week through today, but I know that frost could visit soon.  In fact, many inland areas of the city have already experienced their first frost.

My friend Beth from the Victory Garden Initiative called last week to tell me the nasturtiums at her Bay View Hide House plots were producing seed pods.  She knew I was looking for these pods to make "local capers."  Vera and I biked over to the garden, which was our first visit there.  What a beautiful block of the neighborhood.  I wish I'd had my camera!  Vera poked around among the raised beds and played with a toy wheel barrow, while I picked form Beth's bed.  I will make a brine for these pods this week then store them in the fridge in a small jar to use this winter in tuna salad, on pizza, and with pasta and other dishes calling for capers.  Here's the basic recipe I use.

Nasturtium or Milkweed Seed Pods "Capers"
Makes 1 pint

Adapted from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz.  The milkweed seed pods can be harvested earlier in the season so if you're interested, make a note for next year.  Nasturtiums will start to form seed pods anytime now. 


1 1/2 c. small, tender nasturtium or milkweed seed pods
Sea salt
1 to 2 heads garlic, optional

Dissolve salt in water, about 3/4 T. salt in a about 1 c. water, to create a brine solution.  Fill a pint jar with seed pods and garlic, if desired.  Pour the brine over the pods and garlic to cover them.  If you don't have enough brine, add a little more water and salt.  Be sure the pods and garlic and submerged in the brine.  Keep in the refrigerator and use as needed.  The "capers" should be ready after a week or so; the flavor will get better with time.

Also in the queue last week was drying and freezing peppers.  We harvested lots of hot peppers from our garden this season so I chose to oven dry them.  The bell peppers from our yard and our CSA I sliced and froze.  I will use these in soups, stir-frys, casseroles, etc. this winter--they work well in any dish that will be cooked since their texture will be more flimsy once they thaw.

While I'm discussing preserving, I borrowed a new book from the library last week--Canning for a New Generation: Bold Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry by Liana Krissoff.  One of the blogs I try to follow, Food in Jars, had a recent post about some new cookbooks she was checking out so I decided to check them out as well.  This is one of the selections I love.  It has all kinds of great modern preserving recipes, other recipes in which you can use your canned or frozen goods, and gorgeous photos to boot.  Even Vera loved it, though it makes me nervous when she looks at my library books because the first word out of her mouth is "color," meaning she'd love for you to put a pen or crayon in her hand so she can add her own embellishments to the pages.  She would turn to a photo in the book, point, and squeal "Oooh!" as if to say "Mommy, we should really try this!"

Portioned squash puree

Roasted "Fairy" squash

And appealing to her palate is what I'm constantly striving to do.  This past week I got in the mood to experiment a little with some new snacks for her, again trying to sneak veggies in whenever possible.  I made some winter squash crepes, which she mildly enjoyed.  We'll keep trying. You don't have to visit Montmartre to enjoy these sweet treats with a creamy filling.   The batter is simple to prepare, especially if you have a food processor.  And cooking them is almost as fun as making omelets (to me that's a blast!)  After roasting and pureeing the squash, I portioned it into a mini muffin pan, froze it, and will transfer to a freezer bag to use in soups, breads, and more crepes this winter.

Pumpkin/Winter Squash Crepe Batter
Makes 6-8 crepes

I made these into pinwheels for Vera thinking she'd like the eye appeal.  She had more fun unrolling them and eating the strips of crepe.

1 whole large egg
3 egg whites
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. whole milk at room temperature
1 T. honey
1/2 t. salt
3 T. mashed roasted pumpkin or winter squash
1 t. pumpkin pie spices or a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and allspice
1 T. flaxseed oil
Additional honey for garnish

Mix all ingredients in a food processor or blender.  The result is usable immediately.  Cook in a hot non-stick skillet or crepe pan until the top is dry, then flip.  Cook other side a minute or so.  Spread filling (see  recipe below) on crepe and roll-up or fold over.  Drizzle with a little honey before serving.

Pumpkin/Winter Squash and Cream Cheese Filling
Makes about 1 1/4 cup

8 oz. full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 c. mashed pumpkin/winter squash
1 t. honey

Mix all ingredients in a food processor or by hand.

Vera, Carsten, and Naana

We hosted some international friends this weekend, which was a great time.  Carsten from Stuttgart, Germany and "Naana from Ghana who lived in Botswana" live just outside of and work as attorneys in New York City.  With the gorgeous weather we had in Milwaukee we spent the weekend leisurely strolling the farmers' market, touring the town, eating, and enjoying great conversation around the table hoping they were able to unwind from the big city bustle.  I enjoyed probing them about the food and traditions in their respective cultures and had a great time cooking for everyone.  I tried a new recipe on Saturday night.  Knowing that my German side of the family enjoys pickled herring (at least my dad still does--he can clear a room over the holidays when he opens a jar and goes at it with his fork), I thought I'd serve some herring at least for Carsten's liking.  Fortunately Naana enjoyed it as well.  It's an intense, acquired taste, but a nice occasional treat.

Layered Pickled Herring Salad with Tart Apples and Red Onion
Serves 8

Adapted from a recipe originally printed in Bon Appetit, December 1996.

Cucumbers:
3/4 c. apple cider vinegar
3/4 c. water
1/3 c. sugar (I use xylitol)
2 t. pickling spices
1 t. salt
1 large cucumber (the last of our cukes on the homestead), cut into 1/8-inch thick rounds

Salad:

Herring Salad, Quick Pickled Cucumbers

1 lb. tart apples, peeled, cored, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 c. chopped red onion
1 c. sour cream
1/4 c. chopped fresh dill
Salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/4 c. sliced trimmed radishes
6 oz. jar cut pickled herring, drained each piece halved
Lettuce leaves
Fresh dill sprigs (optional)

For cucumbers:
Mix vinegar, water, sugar (xylitol), pickling spices, and salt in heavy medium saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until sweetener and salt dissolve.  Cool to room temp.  Place cucumbers in a large glass bowl.  Pour marinade over, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

For salad:
Mix apples, red onion, sour cream, and chopped dill in a large bowl.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Using slotted spoon, remove cucumbers from marinade.  Arrange half of cucumbers in bottom of 8x8x2-inch glass dish.  Arrange half of radishes atop cucumbers.  Spoon half of apple mixture over radishes.  Arrange herring evenly atop apple mixture.  Spoon remaining apple mixture over herring.  Cover with remaining cucumbers, then radishes.  Cover and chill salad 3 hours.  Arrange lettuce leaves on platter.  Spoon salad onto leaves.  Garnish with dill sprigs, if desired, and serve.

Something Else a Little More Intricate...

Purple Kohlrabi

Now that things have slowed down slightly I am back to spending more time planning meals and cooking.  I've had another itch to make "something a little more intricate." Tonight I decided to prepare one of the recipes hanging on my "Recipes I'd Like to Try" bulletin board in the spice pantry--Kohlrabi and Summer Squash Empanadas.  It had been hanging there so long that the squash is out of season so I had find a substitute ingredient.  After cleaning the fridge on Sunday I'd updated my list of "What Vegetables Are Currently Hanging out in the Fridge," which helps me keep track of what's lurking from our garden, our CSA box, and the farmers' market.  This is a handy resource when I need to plan dinner.  I've often wished for a website where one could simply type in the ingredients they have or want to use and it would search a database for a recipe to match (please let me know if any of you have heard of such a site...or is it just in my dreams?)  So I decided to substitute red bell peppers for the squash.  The peppers are by no means a textural or flavor trade-off, but I thought they'd mesh well with the other flavors in the recipe.  So I set out to make empanadas, a treat Ben always oohs and aahs about because it reminds him of the years he spent teaching English in Chile.  He occasionally reminisces about dishes he had there and I do my best to make something suitable.  Of course, I'm hardly capable of making traditional empanadas--not because I don't have several authentic recipes from which to choose, but because I like to do things a little differently and try new things.  I also used rendered bacon fat in the pastry recipe; part of any kind of homesteading is home economics and this was what I had on hand versus the vegetable shortening the original recipe called for--plus, I was down to my last stick of butter.  Enjoy the extra flavor; this is not low-fat.  Here's my spin.

Kohlrabi and Red Pepper Empanadas
Makes about 2 dozen empanadas

This time of year we have a lot of kohlrabi around--either in the garden or stored in the fridge.  It will store at fridge temp. all winter, but I'm running out of room.

Empanada filling

3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
2 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into a small dice
2 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into small dice
2 large scallions, both white and green parts, finely sliced
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. butter
salt and pepper to taste
dash of freshly grated nutmeg
1 recipe pie crust (see below)
1 egg (for egg wash)
hot sauce

In a medium skillet, heat oil and butter over medium heat.  Add garlic and ginger and brown.  Add kohlrabi, pinch of salt and pepper.  Toss well and cook 3-4 min. until kohlrabi are softening a bit.  Add red peppers and continue to cook 4 min. more.  Add scallions, nutmeg, and another pinch of salt and pepper.  Mix well and cook one min. before removing from  heat. Season more to taste, if needed.  Set aside to cool.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Roll out dough a little thinner than pie crust typically is.  Use a bowl or round cutter and cut into 6-inch-ish circles.  Put scraps in a pile to "relax" and re-roll just once at the end so you can yield more circles (freeze the remaining crust to use again later.)  Brush the edges of the circles with egg wash, add a tablespoon or two of filling and fold over.  Press edges together with a fork to seal and place empanadas on a lined baking sheet.  Brush with more egg wash before baking.  Bake about 15 min. or until golden brown.  Serve with hot sauce.

Savory Pie Crust
Makes 2 crusts

I know my nutritionist/dietitian friends who are reading may cringe at the thought of bacon fat (all in moderation, of course).  The bacon fat can be substituted with lard, more butter, or vegetable shortening (even better, right ladies?!)  

2 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 c. chilled bacon fat, cut or broken into small pieces
5 T. (or more) ice water

Golden brown and ready to eat

Blend flour and salt in food processor.  Add butter and bacon fat.  Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Gradually add cold water and pulse until the dough comes together.  Push dough into two flat disks and refrigerate at least one hour.  Pull out 10 minutes before you plan to start rolling it out.  This can be made ahead and frozen, if needed.

While I'm on the topic of using what's in the fridge, I will also provide a recipe for all those wonderful fall mustard greens you may plan to enjoy--so nutritious!  I'm growing a lot of them in my fall garden and will need to continue finding recipes for them.  This dish can use up a lot of mustards really fast.  I've also found that I can puree them and mix into some egg salad to give my daughter an extra kick of nutrients without her suspecting.

Mustard Greens with Lentils
Makes 6-8 servings

Adapted from Eat Fresh, Stay Healthy by Tony Tantillo and Sam Gugino

Lentils with Mustard Greens

2 lbs. mustard greens
Kosher salt
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
2 cups brown lentils
3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. minced onions or shallots
1/4 t. ground black pepper
3 oz. crumbled goat cheese, optional

Cut off bottom 1/2-inch of mustard greens.  Then, with bunch on its side, cut crosswise into strips 1/2-inch wide.  Rinse and drain.  In 4-qt. pot, bring 2 qts. of water and 2 t. salt to a boil.  Add mustard greens, cover and allow to return to a boil as quickly as possible.  Cook 7 min. total, stirring once or twice to cook evenly.  Skim off greens and drain in a colander.  Save cooking water.  Run cool water over greens to retain color.  Add bay leaf, garlic, 1 t. salt, and lentils to mustard green broth.  Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer.  Cook 20-25 min. or until just tender.  Drain, remove garlic and bay leaf.  Meanwhile, gently squeeze out moisture from mustard greens.  Put in a mixing bowl.  In a small bowl, mix olive oil, vinegar, shallots/onions, 1 t. salt, and pepper.  Add cooked lentils to mustard greens. Pour dressing over and toss.  Sprinkle with goat cheese, if desired.  Serve warm.

Yesterday I also made sorghum cookies and homemade bread.  Feels great to bake bread again.  To be honest, I didn't bake as much bread as I had wished this summer.  I strive to find a simple recipe and I may have finally found one.  The recipe for Cottage Granary Loaf from Bread for All Seasons by Beth Hensperger is easier than the recipe seems and is a beautifully fluffy and airy loaf.

We are mentally, but not yet physically, preparing for some internationally fabulous house guests this weekend.  Ben's childhood pen pal from Germany, Carsten, and his lady friend from Ghana, Naana, will be joining us in Milwaukee.  We are so excited!  This will motivate me to clean up a bit of the yard and garden before Friday.

I did a preservation presentation at Kohl's Corporation last Tuesday and in my thank you card was this awesome magnet.  I love it!

Settling into Fall

LeFort Urban Homestead booth at Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope

Anna and Annie

I survived the weekend!  It was a wild ride preparing for the aforementioned events of this past weekend, but I made it and had a blast.  The dinner for Anna Lappe on Friday night was great fun.  Many friends and acquaintances attended so it felt like a big dinner party.  Got to meet Anna afterwards and she was fantastic (hopefully she'll send me a pic of us that I can post.)  Saturday I made a presentation about our urban homestead at the Nourishing Community, Creating Sustainability festival then headed down to Miller Park to exhibit at Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope.  When the Farm Aid staff first contacted me about setting up a booth I wondered how they had found me.  Apparently more people than I thought are paying attention to my blog.  I thank you ALL and I want to say hello and welcome to all the new people I met and spoke to yesterday at the booth.

So now I can exhale.  Ben and I both had big events on Saturday, plans we'd been working on for months. Today there wasn't a to-do list on my desk; there wasn't a schedule hanging over my head.  It was a pure Sunday where we could slowly wake up, maybe snuggle with Vera, make breakfast and relax with our coffee and tea after our first meal.  Ah.  I have a couple more classes and small events this fall, but otherwise I'm preparing to settle into the cooler weather, make a big pot of soup or chili every Sunday (bringing back "Souper Sunday!"), pick up some knitting projects, and hopefully catch up on some reading.  I won't go so far as to completely hibernate, but I will definitely slow down.  Before that totally unfolds, there is still a lot to harvest from the garden (turnips, beets, rutabagas, eggplant, dried beans, broccoli, luffa, herbs, greens, leeks, kohlrabi, radishes, kale, etc.)

I'm going to try to sneak one more late summer recipe in here.  If you still have tomatoes and zucchini, then this one's for you.  I tried it last week as a soup then by week's end it had evolved into a pasta sauce.

Bisque of Mediterranean Vegetables (a.k.a. Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta Sauce)
Serves 6 as a soup, 8 as a sauce

3 T. grapeseed oil
1 medium eggplant, sliced
1/2 red onion, peeled and quartered
6 ripe tomatoes, halved
2 red bell peppers, halved and seeded
6 medium zucchini, halved
1/2 lb. potatoes, small dice
1/2 bulb fresh fennel, small dice (can also sub. the fronds from one head of fennel, chop coarsely)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. allspice
Vegetable stock to cover vegetables
Fennel fronds, to garnish
Plain whole milk yogurt, to garnish

Heat the oil in a small stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add all vegetables and saute until soft.  Add allspice and mix to combine.  Add stock and cook a few minutes longer.  Puree in a blender or food processor.  Garnish with fronds and dollop of yogurt.  Alternatively enjoy over pasta--add some Italian sausage if you like (the fennel seeds in the sausage go very well with the fennel in the sauce).

Spiced Apples

Apples from the Sucharda family apple tree

Last week I also preserved the rest of the apples I'll put up this year.  The impetus for that was my display at Farm Aid, but last Sunday a bunch of apples almost, literally, fell into my lap when we attended a 1st birthday party and they said they weren't going to pick apples from their backyard tree this year.  I made a batch of apple chutney as well as a small batch of spiced apples.  The spiced apples were of the variety they used to serve us in grade school on our lunch trays--reddish-purple rings of apples with hints of cinnamon and cloves.  Only these weren't red-colored; I didn't feel it was prudent to put food coloring and red hots into my apples as the recipe called.  Knowing these two ingredients we not pertinent to the safety of the canned product, I left them out.  Actually, I tried to add fresh beet juice to the mix for red color.  By the time it cooked down, the color had faded, though the flavor is still reminiscent of the lunchroom at Crestwood Elementary school.

It's quiet around here today--Ben and Vera went to the Brady Street Pet Parade--so I'm taking advantage.  Hoping to unpack from the weekend then spend some time refamiliarizing myself with my own kitchen and fridge (yay, fridge cleaning time--as you know I honestly love that task!)

Once again, welcome to any new followers and thanks to all the loyal readers.