Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

This past weekend, I attended a conference for food bloggers in San Francisco, capital of good food (if not the capital, then one of the original 13 colonies). Even though blogging is a great activity and I have connected with loads of interesting folks, meeting people face-to-face is still very important.

I went this weekend with two things in mind – I was looking for my peeps, i.e. other food bloggers who write about topics that I care about, and for information on how to make printable recipe pages (that’s for you Sue!).

The peeps issue turned out to be the easiest. At breakfast, I met two out-of-town food bloggers, Diane of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang and Shirley of Gluten Free Easily. No processed foods for these two, already I am off to a good start!

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The folks at Nature’s Path contacted me about a contest they are hosting with Everyday with Rachael Ray called “My Path to Sustainable Living.” They are searching for people who understand the importance of giving back, sustainability and the value of good nutrition and its connection to the earth. And on their website, they want to know where you are on the path to sustainability – how did you first get on the path, where you are now and where you want to go next?

The winner will receive $5,000 for themselves as well as $5,000 for a charity of their choice from a list of amazing organizations (The Breast Cancer Fund, The Lunchbox Fund, Habitat for Humanity, Big Brother Big Sister). The winner will also receive a year’s supply of Nature’s Path breakfast products (which would totally work for us – husband is addicted to Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola) and a block party hosted by Nature’s Path in the winner’s community where they will provide an organic breakfast for up to 100 attendees. Additionally they will appear in the February 2010 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine.

While entering the contest, I thought a lot about my path to sustainable living. Without sounding trite, it is really about being true to my family. Once my kids arrived, and started to eat real food, many of the ideas I had about food began to coalesce into a regular practice. Feeding them healthy food and educating them about where food comes from, how they can be part of the process, and how to manage their own diets became important to me. Learning to eat local and seasonal foods became easier and less expensive, to say nothing of tasting better. Connecting with the farmers who grow our food was a fun way to introduce my kids to a part of my family history (my mom’s family had a small farm in southern California). Talking with my kids about why we avoid products with high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils caused me to seek out alternatives in the grocery store. When finding alternatives became difficult, recreating a favorite at home became my path.

Sustainable living for me is about the ability to make my own choices and take responsibility for those choices. On a regular week, we choose bike riding over car trips; we choose to know the farmers who grow our food; we chose to recycle and compost; we chose to be beekeepers and urban farmers; we chose reusable containers for drinks, snacks and lunch; we chose to help our friends and family understand our choices and influence through positive role modeling.

What is your path to sustainable living? What choices have you made?

watermelon-radish

Whoa! This week’s box of vegetables from Two Small Farms contained a bunch of watermelon radishes, which are somewhat plain looking on the outside, but quite amazing on the inside. But frankly, they are also a challenge for me to use – we don’t eat a lot of raw radishes, and somehow I ended up with two bunches. Here are a couple ways I will consider using them this week:

Watermelon Radish Pickles from the Garden of Eating

Pickled Daikon and Watermelon Radishes from Lisa is Cooking

The rest of our box contained Fingerling Potatoes, Salad Mix, Chives, Red Tropea Onions, Delicata Squash, Yellow Carrots, Cabbage and Strawberries. For our family dinner, here is the rest of my plan for the week of September 28, 2009:

Monday: Pommes Anna, green salad, grilled London broil, roasted Red Tropea Onions

Tuesday: Healthy Mac and Cheese (includes Delicata Squash), green salad

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Smoked pork chops (from Dittmers), sauerkraut and cabbage, green salad, bread

Friday: Take out and movie night

Check out Org Junkie for more Monday Menu Plan ideas!

Last night, I decided to take the two Delicata Squashes from our CSA box from a couple weeks ago and cook them up. But, my kids have never had stuffed squash before, so I wanted to make a particularly kid-friendly version. But, my husband is not wild about raisins and baked apples, so I needed to make another, adult-friendly version. And Stuffed Delicata Squash, Two Ways, was born:

Stuffed Delicata Squash

• 2 Delicata Squash, cut in half longways, seeds removed
• olive oil
• whole wheat coucous, about 1 cup cooked

Preheat oven to 375F.

Rub the cut edges of the squash with olive oil and place face down in a baking dish. Add 1/2 cup water, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, flip over, and fill with 1/4 cup of cooked couscous. Top with one of the toppings below. Dot with butter and bake 30 minutes more, until squash is tender when pierced. Serve warm.

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Apples and raisin filling

Soak 1/4 cup raisins in hot water for 10 minutes. Dice one firm apple (I used a Gala). Sauté the apple in 1 tablespoon butter until slightly soft. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and add along with drained raisins. Cook 1-2 minutes more, until sugar is melted.

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Caramelized onion filling

Slice 2 onions thin, and sauté in 2 tablespoons olive oil for 20-25 minutes on medium-low heat, until very soft and caramelized. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar over the onions before filling squash halves.

My grandparent’s farm was in Southern California, east of San Diego. The side of their property, or maybe it was the next farm over, was filled with avocado trees, a giant orchard. Unfortunately, my palate was not advanced enough at age 5 to take advantage of all those avocados, but fortunately, as I matured, so did my taste buds and now avocados are a favorite.

This recipe came to my Grandmother from Letha Finch, a nearby neighbor.

Avocado Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed avocado
• 2 2/3 cups sifted flour
• 3/4 teaspoon each allspice, cinnamon, salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soda
• 3/4 cup sour milk (add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to sweet milk)
• 3/4 cup each raisins and chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, beating well after each addition. Add avocado, mix well.

Mix dry ingredients. Dissolve soda in sour milk. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to avocado mixture. Mix well.

Stir in fruit and nuts. Pour into 2 greased 9″ loaf pans. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

Bake at 350F for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Be sure to visit Joy of Desserts for more Vintage Thursday recipes!

As it turns out this week, our box of vegetables from Two Small Farms contained loads of interesting things, that combined with what I had left from last week, made a great curry. I pulled it together early Sunday afternoon, before we embarked on our afternoon excursion, and by the time we got home, it was all ready to go. A side of rice and some fresh fruit, and we had a great dinner.

Potato, Cauliflower and Garbanzo Bean Curry
(inspired by recipe from Mariquita Farms)

• 1 tablespoon olive or other cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced, about 1/4-inch-thick (1 cup total)
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Serrano chile, seeded and minced (even if it scares you, use the whole pepper!)
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1 cups cubed peeled potato (about 4 medium red potatoes)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped sweet (bell or other) pepper
• 1 cup cauliflower or romanesco, cut or broken up into florets
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 6-8 fresh Roma tomatoes, chopped, with their juice
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 cup light coconut milk

In a large pan over medium heat, cook the onion and carrot in oil, covered, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add curry powder, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and chile. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Place onion mixture in 5-quart electric slow cooker. Stir in chickpeas, potato, sweet peppers, the cauliflower/romanesco, salt, pepper, ground red pepper, tomatoes and broth. Cover and cook on high 6 hours or until vegetables are tender. Just before serving, stir in coconut milk and simmer until heated.

Makes 6 servings.

For more crockpot and slow cooker ideas, check out Dining with Debbie: Crockpot Wednesday

You might be thinking to yourself that I am off my rocker. Can pizza really be made on the grill? I am pleased to announce that yes, it can!

Last Friday, I felt like pizza for dinner, but wanted to make my own. Using Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes, I whipped up the easy Olive Oil Dough in the morning and got things ready for pizza baking in the evening.

As luck would have it, Friday night was the start of another heat wave in our area, and by dinner time, it was about 90F outside. There was no way I was going to crank up the oven and make pizza.

Fortunately, a little note in Artisan Bread indicated that pizza making on the grill is easy. On the gas grill, they recommend heating your pizza stone for 20 minutes then cooking the pizza like you would in your oven.

My pizza stone has been a little temperamental in my oven, so I was not expecting it to do that well out on the grill. Turns out, the pizza stone needed a change of scenery! It got nice and hot and our pizzas turned out great.

I made two kinds on Friday – pepperoni and caramelized onion/Gorgonzola. We had a lovely Peterson 2003 Sangiovese, which worked well with all those flavors.

Pizza on the Grill

• Favorite pizza dough (Trader Joes has a good one, or you can make one from scratch, recipes here, here and here)
• Favorite pizza toppings – tomato sauce, sliced tomatoes, pepperoni, caramelized onions/Gorgonzola cheese, mozzarella, ham/pineapple, whatever floats your boat)
• Pizza peel
• Pizza stone (round or square, your choice)
  
• Cornmeal
• Olive oil

20 minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat your pizza stone on your grill. Gas grills work best, IMHO, as you can easily monitor the inside temperature. However, if you are an expert with your charcoal grill, then set your grill up to maintain a heat of 450F-500F.

On a wooden cutting board, stretch and roll your dough until it is 1/8″ thick. You may need to let it rest for a minute and then roll some more.

When you are ready to bake, liberally spread cornmeal on your pizza peel (I mean, liberally), then top your dough with toppings. For pepperoni pizza, I used a 1/4 cup of crushed tomatoes as the base, then mozzarella cheese, then the pepperoni. For the caramelized onion, I sprinkled the onions over the pizza, topped with Gorgonzola cheese, and a little mozzarella. Right before putting on the grill, I drizzled a tablespoon of olive oil over the whole pizza.

With a quick snap of the wrist, propel your pizza off the peel onto the stone in your grill. Close the lid and bake for 10 minutes. Turn pizza and bake 4-6 minutes more, until the desired crispiness is achieved. Remove with peel and allow to sit 3-4 minutes, then slice and serve.

More pizza on the grill ideas:

Whole wheat flour (recipe: grilled pizza) from Lydia at Perfect Pantry
Grilled Pizza from Pete at Pete Bakes
Fruit Pizza on the Grill from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day

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From our Two Small Farms vegetable delivery, I managed to score two bunches of Basil, so I plan to whip up an easy pesto for the freezer. And, after doing that, I will be sure to make gnocchi with pesto, one of my kid’s favorites.

Our box also contained Scallions, San Marzano Tomatoes, Purple Cauliflower, Garnet Yams, Golden Beets and Strawberries. Julie of Fraises et Tartines posted some fun photos of the box. My menu plan for this week is simple:

Sunday: Vegetable Curry with Garbanzo Beans, rice, fruit

Monday: Gnocchi with basil pesto, grilled sausages, roasted beets

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: Roast chicken with cauliflower and carrots

Thursday: Family Picnic

Friday: Pizza night? We did it last week, and boy did it turn out great!

The yams I will save for something later this weekend (not sure what yet, but I do love this Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes recipe from Susan at Foodblogga). And the scallions I will throw on the grill sometime this week. Love them when they are slightly charred!

What is your plan this week? Check out Laura at Org Junkie and Menu Plan Monday for more suggestions.

P.S. You might have noticed I usually have sausages at least once a week – my freezer is full of these treasures, from either Dittmer’s Wursthaus in Mountain View or Corralitos Meat Market near Watsonville.

Long ago, when my daughter was born, a family from our play group brought over dinner. I remember the discussion with Becky – she wanted to know if we liked New Mexican chili sauce. She was planning to make chicken enchiladas for us, and little did she know it was a favorite of my husband. Our conversation evolved into a discussion of red vs. green chili sauce. In Santa Fe, you can actually order things “Christmas style” which means some of both!

Since my husband is such a green chili fan, whenever we can get our hands on fresh Hatch or Anaheim chilis, he will make a batch of chili sauce, which I then get to use on enchiladas. The recipe has evolved from when Becky first brought it over, and is very forgiving, so feel free to make it your own. Here is my basic recipe, modification possibilities listed at the end:

Black Bean, Corn and Red Pepper Enchiladas

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 14-ounce can black beans (or 1 1/2 cups if you cook your own)
• 10 ounces frozen corn (or 1 1/2 cups fresh, if you have it)
• 12 gordita-size tortillas (they are bigger than taco, but smaller than burrito)
• 1 14-ounce can re-fried beans (or 1 cup fresh)
• 2-3 cups shredded cheese (your favorite, or a Mexican blend)
• 1 28-ounce can or 2 cups green chili sauce (or less or more, depending on how spicy the sauce is)

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9×13″ baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil and sauté onions until translucent. Add in bell pepper, sauté 2 minutes more. Add in black beans and corn and cook together until heated. Remove from heat.

Set up your assembly line:

• tortillas
• re-fried beans
• black bean and corn mixture
• shredded cheese

Onto a tortilla, spread 2 tablespoons re-fried beans. Top with two spoonfulls of black beans and corn, and a small handful of grated cheese. Roll and place in prepared pan. Continue with the rest of the tortillas, until the pan is full. Don’t be afraid to stuff them in as you go.

Pour chili sauce over the top and sprinkle another 1/2 cup to 1 cup of cheese over the top. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes, until bubbly. Serve.

Modifications: I have made these with chicken, either a whole boiled chicken which I pulled into pieces, or a fresh roasted chicken from Safeway or CostCo, pulled into pieces. This is a great dish for leftover vegetables, I have used leftover corn, roasted or not, chopped zucchini or summer squash, and/or winter squash. Feel free to use whatever floats your boat, or whatever your kids will eat!

chocolate-oatmeal-drops

Thank goodness for schools that need cookie incentives. I love to bake, but certainly don’t need to consume all those cookies myself. Tomorrow, my son’s school needs 2 dozen cookies for some project, and I was only too happy to oblige. It has been nearly 3 months since I posted my last cookie recipe, and I did not do a lot of baking this summer.

Today’s cookie is another from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours, and as far as I can tell (along with my tasters) it is a winner. Very easy to make, you don’t even need a stand mixer or egg beater. And they are perfect for the chocoholic in your family, while the added oatmeal reassures you that they aren’t completely bad for you!

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I use Ghirardelli bittersweet chips)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal (not the quick cook kind)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a heat proof bowl over simmering water, melt the butter, water, brown sugar and chocolate chips, stirring occasionally until all is melted. Mine looked pretty grainy, and Greenspan warns not to overheat, which would cause the butter to separate.

Remove from heat, and add eggs one at a time (I was whisking constantly to avoid scrambled eggs). Stir in the flour, and then the oats.

Using your cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto the cookie sheets, leaving space between the blobs (they will spread). Bake 12 minutes, swapping the trays top to bottom and front to back, until the edges are crispy and the centers still a little soft. Cool on baking rack.

Next time, I might try adding a little espresso powder, but that might be gilding the lily. They are really outstanding as written….