Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

With all the squash on my counter from our Two Small Farms CSA box, I have been itching to make soup. And, I found a fun recipe in a pressure cooker cookbook, Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, by Lorna Sass. The addition of oatmeal was new to me, and the apples added to the sweetness. For my kids, this is important!

In my pressure cooker, this soup took about 5 minutes at high pressure, plus about 10-15 minutes to bring the pressure down naturally. Directions below included if you are making this soup in a regular pot.

Creamy Apple-Squash Soup

• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 1 1/2 cups sliced leeks (white and light green parts) or chopped onions
• 4 cups water
• 3 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and quartered (I used Cameo apples – Granny Smith would make the soup less sweet)
• 1/3 cup uncooked old-fashioned oatmeal (not the quick cook kind)
• 2 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 Tablespoon mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Pressure Cooker instructions:

Heat the oil in pressure cooker and add leeks. Sauté for 1 minute. Then add water, squash, apples, oatmeal, ginger, curry and salt.

Lock lid in place and bring to pressure over high heat. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and allow pressure to come down naturally, about 10-15 minutes.

Remove lid and using your immersion blender, puree the soup until all the lumps are gone. Because I wanted a super smooth and creamy soup, I also ran my soup through a strainer to remove any bits that were not blended. This is an optional step.

Before serving, heat soup until hot. Garnish with plain yogurt (in the picture), creme fraiche, chopped chives, roasted walnuts, almost anything.

Stove top instructions:

In a large pot, sauté the leeks for 1 minute, until soft. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer soup for 20-25 minutes, until the squash is soft.

Remove lid and using your immersion blender, puree the soup until all the lumps are gone. Because I wanted a super smooth and creamy soup, I also ran my soup through a strainer to remove any bits that were not blended. This is an optional step.

Before serving, heat soup until hot. Garnish with plain yogurt (in the picture), creme fraiche, chopped chives, roasted walnuts, almost anything. To make the spooky Halloween spider web, drizzle yogurt, creme fraiche or sour cream in a spiral on the soup. Using a toothpick, start in the middle and draw the stick outwards, pulling the sauce with your toothpick. Move around the circle, adding as many strands as you like.

This recipe was submitted to Fight Back Friday for October 30th at the Food Renegade. Head over there to see what other real food folks are fixin’!

Oooh, Thanksgiving is right around the corner and already I am counting the days. Is it too early to contact Julie to find out what I can bring? Yeah, probably.

But, I have been thinking, especially after Women’s World Magazine asked, about my favorite kitchen gadgets and tools for Thanksgiving. I compiled my list of 5, based on what my family likes to eat for Thanksgiving. Your list of tools might be different.

Of course, there are certain basics, including a turkey roasting pan, turkey platter, even a can opener. For those of you who are looking for a hostess gift or new addition to your own kitchen, I offer these 5 essential kitchen tools for Thanksgiving:

Turkey Lifters by Cuisinart. I have seen a few different versions of these, chose the ones that are most comfortable in your own hand. Much better than trying to heft the turkey bird out of the pan with a mish-mash of random kitchen tools (I see you reaching for the slotted spoon and pancake spatula!)

Browne Cuisipro Stainless-Steel Potato Ricer. Again, there are a few different manufacturers that make a potato ricer. I have found using this tool the easiest way to ensure consistently fluffy and mashed potatoes. You force a cooked potato (or two) through the chamber, and out the other side comes evenly mashed potatoes. I like this version because it comes with 3 interchangeable disks, to allow you different consistencies of mash. In the off-season (i.e. not Thanksgiving) this ricer is also good for making Spaetzle!

Taylor Digital Instant-Read Thermometer. Taylor has a couple different styles of instant-read thermometers. Last year I was hot on the $10 instant-read from Taylor, which comes in many different colors. This year, Taylor is out with something new, and the waterproof digital thermometer looks good. No matter what you do, or how awesome a cook you are, a thermometer is super handy for ensuring your turkey is cooked to the correct temperature. With loads of food born bacteria around, do yourself (and your guests) a favor and serve a properly cooked bird.

Henckel Four Star Boning Knife. Since Julie cooks the big items for Thanksgiving for our family (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, oh, and cleans the house!), I asked her what she could not live without. A quality boning knife was on her list for carving and serving the turkey. Using a knife made for the job means your final product will come out nicer – who wants a turkey who looks like it was carved with a hack saw! As usual, most every knife company offers a boning knife, so chose the brand that works best for you.

Hamilton Beach Crock Pot. You might be wondering if I have gone off the deep end – a crock pot for Thanksgiving? Isn’t the holiday all about Cooking. For. Days? All together in the kitchen, with your closest relatives and friends? Well, yes. But, sometimes you run out of space in the oven. Or maybe you only have 4 burners on your stove (can you feel my pain?). A slow cooker can solve many of those problems, especially if you check out the CrockPot Holiday Food at A Year of Slow Cooking. Stephanie has loads of excellent recipes including Cornbread Stuffing and Green Bean Casserole!

I have told you my favorites – what are your I-can’t-possibly-even-begin-to-think-about-Thanksgiving-without-these-kitchen-gadgets gadgets?

Photos courtesy of Amazon.com

It is that time of year, almost Halloween, and this week is a great week to Boo your neighbors. Not familiar with this tradition? Well, let me explain.

“Booing” your neighbors and friends is a great way to build excitement for Halloween (not that the average kid needs more excitement building!). You create a little gift bag, with a couple treats or toys, and drop it off on your neighbors porch in the dark of night, along with a little poem. Here is the Boo poem I used this year, which came from a prior Boo:

This treat is for you, and we hope you enjoy!
“BOOING” is easy, one we hope you employ!
Keep your “BOO” on your door,
so you don’t get “BOOOED” too much.
And help spread the fun, with a special ghostly touch!
Pass “BOO” along to three other friends,
and a treat to ensure the fun never ends!
Happy Halloween!

Also, I included a little hand-drawn sign with a couple ghosts which reads “We’ve Been Hit By the Boo Bandit”. This is the sign your recipients will put on their outside window or door, so they don’t get Boo’d twice.

Last year, the Boo packages contained a little something for the parents – I wrapped everything up in a cute Halloween-themed kitchen towel. You can also use little buckets or plastic Halloween pumpkins.

As you can see, I got a little Martha Stewart on the Boo Bags this year, and created little pumpkin cut outs, and printed the poem on the back. We filled the bags with silly candy lips, Halloween Pez dispensers, bouncy balls and Halloween caution tape.

If you are looking for something quick-n-dirty, you can print everything out from the computer and just include a bag of candy, or check out some of the pre-made Boo kits sold at your local drugstore.

For printable signs and ideas, check out the Halloween BOO Poem and Signs, You’ve Been Booed Halloween Craft Project, and How to Start the Halloween Boo in your Neighborhood.

And don’t limit yourself to just your neighborhood – I remember BOOing my co-workers a couple years ago, they all thought it was hysterical!

I knew this squash was coming, I just didn’t realize how ugly it was going to be! All bumpy and lumpy and twisted. Very strange looking. I cannot wait to open it up and taste the insides. I am sure this is a case of the vegetable kingdom hiding deliciousness in a cloak of ugliness.

Our box from Two Small Farms contained other treats this week, including Leeks, Red Beets, Yellow Carrots, Cameo Apples, San Marzano Tomatoes, Romaine and Butter Lettuces, and Summer Squash (which I traded for more leeks). Some of these may not be back this year (tomatoes and summer squash) while I hope to see some of these items again next week (winter squash and lettuce). And here is my plan for the week of Monday, October 26:

Monday: Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, carrot sticks, salad

Tuesday: Squash soup with grilled cheese (will use leeks, apples and squash), salad with roasted beets and goat cheese

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Some recipe that will use the leeks (not potato leek soup or quiche, however), along with maybe purple potatoes and fresh fish. Still looking, any ideas?

Friday: Pumpkin carving and chili party

What is on your menu plan this week? Any special Halloween ideas?

Scharffen Berger was one of the official sponsors of BlogHer Food in September, and while I am still sad about their acquisition by Hershey and subsequent announcement early this year about the closing of the Berkeley factory, I am happy that the Scharffen Berger brand is still around and that I can still rely on their quality artisan chocolates for important family recipes, such as my Grandmother’s Brownies.  The Scharffen Berger/Hershey folks were onsite at the conference, along with Elizabeth Falkner, Executive Chef of Citizen Cake and Orson, promoting chocolate and their new contest.

Scharffen Berger and Tuttifoodie.com are hosting a Chocolate Adventure Contest, with two chances to win $10,000! That would be quite a bit of 70% Cacao bars, my friends.

All you need to do is come up with an original recipe using Scharffen Berger chocolate and one or more of the 16 adventure ingredients: pandan leaf, paprika (any varietal), sumac, banana leaf, black-eyed peas, cacao nibs, crystallized or fresh ginger, cumin, fresh mint (any varietal), fresh or whole dried chili pepper, Malbec, papaya, peanut butter, rice flour, raw honey, smoked sea salt.

Humm, maybe a chocolate truffle with Malbec and smoked paprika and smoked sea salt? Or how about a mole sauce with with chili pepper, papaya and cacao nibs? The possibilities are endless!

To participate, visit The Chocolate Adventure Contest for more details.

A few months ago, I came across NoTakeOut, a website devoted to helping us get back into the kitchen for family dinners.

Everyday, they send an auto-email with the day’s menu plan, which includes a shopping list, preparation and cooking. A couple of my favorite things about this (free!) service, include:

- Fresh, upbeat tone
- Inclusion of a glass of wine for the chef
- Easy to read directions and work flow plan (they tell you how to coordinate the different elements of the meal so that everything is ready to be served at the same time)
- The use of seasonal and local ingredients

On today’s menu is Penne with Pancetta and Garlic & Sauteed Kale.

I recommend giving NoTakeOut a try, if you are looking for recipe inspiration. And, I am in no way compensated for this review, I just really like the concept and hope it helps one of you with dinner tonight.

Photo courtesy of NoTakeOut.

A few weeks ago, while helping Karen set up her Worm Composter, she told me about Coconut Water, a newish product now available in grocery stores around town. And on the plane last week to Vancouver, I read an article in Hemisphere’s Magazine about Coconut Water. This week, while grocery shopping at Whole Foods, I decided to conduct a little taste test. Using my family as guinea pigs, we tasted the three main brands of coconut water, as well as a flavored version from one brand.

Coconut water is touted as an all-natural alternative to sports recovery drinks. It is low in sugar, carbohydrates and is 99% fat-free (mind you, we are talking about the water, not the milk!). Drinking it straight from the coconut with a straw is very popular in many South American and Asian countries. Coconut water boasts 18% more potassium than your average sports drink, but sodium levels are lower, which can be a plus and a minus. For more information on the health benefits, I would suggest this article in U.S. New and World Report.

I wanted to try it, since I am curious, and Whole Foods had all three major brands available – One Natural Experience (O.N.E.) ($1.79 retail), Zico ($1.99 retail) and Vita Coco ($1.59 retail). A couple were even on sale. I bought 11 ounce Tetra Pak cartons of all three and brought them back to my laboratory kitchen.

Here are the tasting notes from our event:

Zico: lightest in flavor of the three. No pronounced coconut flavor

O.N.E.: cloudy liquid, good coconut flavor.

Vita Coco: clearest liquid of the bunch, interesting (or funky) aftertaste

We also tried Vita Coco with Tangerine, which had a nice overall aroma of tangerines, a little sugar aftertaste and a nice citrus flavor. No coconut flavor was discernible in this variety.

If we were choosing just a coconut water, we all agreed that O.N.E. would be the choice. The flavor was the most balanced, it did not have a funky after taste and served cold, would be quite refreshing. However, we all agreed that choosing a flavored coconut water would be our overall preference, which probably means a little more exploration into the flavors from each of the brands.

Vita Coco has several flavors of Coconut Water, including Tangerine, Pomegranate, Peach Mango and Pineapple. O.N.E. has other drinks besides Coconut Water, including Amazon Acai, Coffee Fruit and Cashew Fruit. And Zico has Passion Fruit and Mango Coconut Waters. Zico even has a fun cocktail made with Mango Coconut Water!

Have you tried Coconut Water? What do you think?

And if you are curious, all three can be followed on Twitter – @ZICOCocoWater, @ONECoconut and @VitaCocoVehicle….

Last week’s menu plan was a little bit of a miss – I got all the way through Wednesday, then we had take-out for the next two nights. Oh, and on Tuesday, we didn’t really have leftovers from Monday (since the kids ate all that!), so I made a really tasty Rustic Cabbage Soup from 101Cookbooks. That turned into great lunch leftovers the next day.

This week will be different (she says optimistically)…

With the cooler weather and a bunch of fall vegetables in our box from Two Small Farms this week, I am going to take advantage of the situation and make this week all about soups and stews. Some of it will be frozen for later use, one night I will take dinner to a family with a new baby, and the rest of the time, my family will enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Hah.

This week’s box contained Tomatoes, Red Chard, Red Cabbage (I already squirreled mine away for Thanksgiving), Acorn Squash, Tokyo Market Turnips, French Fingerling Potatoes, Carrots, and Celery (I already squirreled mine away for stock making later). Here is my Menu Plan for the week of October 19:

Sunday: Beefed-up Beans with extra Beef Shanks, sautéed Tokyo Market Turnips, salad with tomatoes, fresh bread

Monday: Acorn Squash Risotto, roasted fish (something local)

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: either Cannellini Beans with Garlic Sausage and Swiss Chard OR Baby Limas with Smoked Chicken Sausage and Swiss Chard

Thursday: Potato and Carrot Curry in a Hurry, Basmati rice

Friday: Movies and takeout

The unique thing that ties all these recipes together is that they are coming out of one cookbook this week! Pressure Perfect, one of my favorites from Lorna Sass. I will write more about that later.

Deirdre had a great suggestion for last week’s pepper predicament – White Chili. I roasted all the chilis, well, the poblanos and a few serranos, then cut them up and froze them for chili later. I usually make white chili around Thanksgiving, with leftover turkey.

Out of curiosity, did you know that October is the Eat Local Challenge? Started by Jen Maiser five years ago, the challenge challenges you to take small steps towards eating local. I remember writing about it back in 2007 on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, and back then, it felt onerous and well, challenging. This year, as I look to what we are eating and where I am sourcing our food, I feel as though it is a much more regular part of our lives. Our vegetables come from Two Small Farms, our fruit from Frog Hollow. That is half the battle right there. And living in the Bay Area, it is almost sinfully easy to eat local. I even have local brown rice, from Massa Organics!

Since eating local is not necessarily on everyone’s radar, I would like to suggest that you take a moment to read about the challenge, then find one small thing you can do to make a difference. And make it fun. How about only drinking local wine for the rest of the month? How about only eating local ice cream, with local hot fudge and local whip cream? How about going to that “local” restaurant you have been interested in trying? Make it easy, make it fun.

And then tell me about it

Ok, this is a post I was hesitant to write, because I am really trying my best to feed my family with all natural, healthy, local, organic, made-from-scratch foods. But sometimes, wanting-whats-best-for-my-kids and providing-whats-best-for-my-kids, collides.

Case in point, my son.

He is in middle school this year, is growing up, and looking for responsibility and independence. I want to foster that as a parent, I really do. So, when he comes home from school, and wants a snack, I suggest he make his own.

Only, when you don’t cook, the snacks lack a little bit of excitement. PB&J, Turkey Ham on whole wheat, crackers. You get the picture. And he comes home starving and needs something pretty substantial before his next activity.

And of the two kids, he has never shown that much interest in cooking, so if I wanted him to have a hot, hearty after-school snack, I was going to have to make it myself. I punted and bought a bunch of his favorite frozen food items from Trader Joes that he can heat in the microwave.

Is it going to kill him? No. Would I prefer that he made something from scratch? I do. Am I willing, 2 hours before dinner time, to make it for him? I am not.

Therefore, a compromise.

What he learns: cooking times, new flavors, independence, managing the microwave (only with a parent in the house, though), how to serve his own hunger.

What he doesn’t learn: how to turn raw ingredients into a meal, how to experiment in the kitchen, how to create something from scratch.

I am not too worried. As I said, I am using the processed foods to lure him into the kitchen, and once he is there, I will start the transformation to Chef Extraordinaire. I figure I will start with smoothies. How about any other suggestions?

This week’s cookie started out with inspiration from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics cookbook, a great addition to any cookbook collection. Ina’s original recipe is Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies, but due to some dietary restrictions in our house (the husband will not allow a raisin to pass his lips), I was “forced” to modify. Naturally, my go-to in a situation like this are chocolate chips. And boy, was that a great substitution!

Note: Do not skimp on toasting the pecans. It really makes a difference in the final product.

Pecan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups pecans
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place pecans on baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, until lightly toasted. Chop very coarsely.

Beat butter and sugars in mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla.

Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and kosher salt together. Add slowly to butter mixture and mix well. Add in oats, chocolate chips and pecans. Batter will be very thick and heavy at this point.

Using your cookie scoop, drop 2-inch balls of dough onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned, do not over bake. Cool completely.