4 years later....

It's hard to believe my last post was in 2010, when we had just moved to Boulder. We are now ending the school year next week and my youngest, who apparently was only in preschool, will be entering 4th grade next fall! Wow.

We rejoined a CSA this year. Not Abbondanza, but Red Wagon Farms, through Har HaShem and Bonai Shalom. I believe a portion goes to a Jewish fund of some sort. Our first pick up was last Thursday. We received:
2 bunches of kale (I traded with another family instead of taking arugula)
radishes
walking onions
green garlic
braising mix (greens)
mint

Today, Friday, I took a cooking class from Purnima with LeAnne and came home with 5 different meals plus chapati. After sharing some with Kelly at the pool, I reserved the rest for our dinner - yum!  After 2+ hours of swimming, the kids had playdates in the basement while I prepped and planned. I plan to bake kale chips with one batch and make an egg bake with kale with the other batch. I brined 1/2 the radishes into radish pickles and sliced the others to make the typical French radishes on buttered toast snakc. The onions and garlic were cleaned, trimmed, chopped, and put into jars in the fridge. The larger walking onions are prepped for grilling tomorrow. I plan to saute the braising mix tomorrow once the homemade turkey stock defrosts. And the mint I popped into a jar of water and we pulled off quite a bit today with our first mojitos of the season!

I hope the new CSA will reignite my love for cooking simple, local foods.

Sun Oven Soup

It's been a while! Last time I blogged here, we were just in the beginning stages of getting our house listed. We've since sold and moved to Boulder and are happy as clams here. The space is narrower, but there is more of it, and we love it.

The CSA has been more forgiving this season and I'm not going too crazy keeping up with it. A new staple for us is Sun Oven Soup. Karla gave us our sun oven back and I've been using it whenever I can. Biscuits, muffins, Sam's bday cupcakes, beans and this soup, among others, have all turned out great! This soup is based on this recipe, tweaked by what I had on hand. I think the addition of fennel has added a lot to the flavor. I also like it with fresh tomatoes (thank you Dawn!) rather than canned. It's been overcast this week and I want to bring it to the Council dinner tomorrow, so I'm going to do it in the crock pot to be safe and bring along the perfect accompaniment, Zucchini Basil Cheesy Mini Muffins. There are out of this world. I hope the teachers enjoy the meal as much as we do!

Now that the weather is cooling down, I am returning to the kitchen, smaller this time around, with less counter space, but bright and cheery. I've made dinner every night this week and it's been a pleasure. While I love the lazy days of summer, there is something oh-so-comforting about fall and the beginnings of the new season. It's a time to draw ourselves inward, to focus on our families, to be at home ... all of those things come so naturally in the colder months. Happy Fall!

Dark Days Recap

Wow! What a busy week! The house has been detail-cleaned and painting starts next week with carpet to follow the week after. We are on track for a Feb. 7 listing!

(photo by c'est la vegan)

We ate out on Monday night but ate (leftovers from Monday) at home on Tuesday since the cleaner was already finished. On Wednesday I defrosted the100% local (from my CSA) celery soup from before Xmas. We had it alongside Buttered Rosemary Rolls and roasted CSA root veggies. We enjoyed it on Thursday as well with Maple Glazed Apples & Turnips (all but the maple syrup from the CSA). On Friday I tried a recipe I'd tagged months ago for Inside-Out Ravioli. It was warm and comforting, but too much nutmeg kind of ruined it for me. I might try it again with ginger and cinnamon instead of nutmeg. We had that with a small bowl of Celery Soup that was still yummy a few days later.

On Saturday Mae helped me make up another dozen breakfast burritos and some rice pudding from the leftover rice. All in all, a comforting and yummy week. It is getting easier and easier to throw a meal together with what we already have. I even made my own dishwasher powder this week instead of running out to the store. I love it.

Dark Days Recap

This was another delicious week, starring the copious pumpkin soup. It made a lot! It was super yummy with the crispy onion straws on top and comforting with buttered rosemary rolls. Between the soup and the rest of the leftovers in the fridge and freezer, it was a simple week of dinners that took little to no effort. I made a list of our simple go-to meals as well, since they star almost all CSA and/or local ingredients - thus they are free for us! All meals, minus cheese and fruit, are coming from the pantry, freezer or root cellar and it's looking like this will last us til spring. Hooray!

It's been a productive week. We are getting our house ready to list, so we will eat out (for the first time in ... I can't even remember) Monday and Tuesday nights. The kids have requested Chinese one night and Wahoo's for the other. Luckily, both are locally owned, so I feel good going there. It will be very strange to eat out.

Stay warm, everyone, and enjoy those squash! :-)

Cheap Eats

We've been living out of the pantry, freezer and root cellar for a few months (my root cellar is a fancy word for my cold basement. Indulge me, ok? ;-)

I've put together a list of some of the truly amazing inexpensive meals we've had lately. What's funny is that these are some of our favorites. Perhaps simple and homemade really is the key. In any case, hope these are helpful!

Homemade bread. This recipe is cheap (it only requires flour, salt, yeast and water) and the batter (3 cups water - 6.5 cups flour - 1.5 TBSP salt - 1.5 TBSP yeast) can wait in the fridge til you're ready for it. I make dough for 4 loaves at a time and just grab a ball when I'm ready for a new loaf. It has a light white, sourdough-y flavor. Ted likes it with peanut butter, Sam prefers honey and Mae enjoys melted cheese. These are our go-to lunches these days. With apples and carrots and a glass of soy or almond milk, it's a good meal for a growing kiddo!

Homemade burritos. Tortillas are stuffed with rice, beans, cheese and salsa. I'm able to get everything but rice locally and they are super yummy and filling.

Breakfast burritos. Mae's brainchild, these tortillas are stuffed with a small amount of rice, egg and cheese. I found some Morningstar (fake) bacon hiding in the back of the freezer and put some of that in this week, but we haven't tried them yet. This is a filling and nutritious breakfast.

Rice pudding. We always seem to have leftover rice and Paul churns out soymilk daily. I skip the egg and bake up a delicious and creamy pudding that serves as a yummy dessert or a filling breakfast.

Crockpot Oatmeal is another chilly morning staple, especially when the homemade GF pancakes have all been eaten by the little ones. This is fool-proof, even if you don't use the water bath method.

Baked squash. This is really a side dish, but I've had it for lunch before. You can brush the cut squash with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar for a sweet squash, or brush with olive oil and sprinkle with curry or garam masala for a savory dish. This is a standard side at dinner time on leftover nights, when the soup or stew doesn't quite make enough for a meal on its own. Yummy!

Caramelized Apples and Turnips. Oh how I love this recipe. I don't even like turnips! This is out of this world, company worthy, and quick enough to whip up as a side dish.

Roasted Root Vegetables. You just can't go wrong here. Any combination will work, and they are all amazing. I use potatoes, turnips, beets and garlic, but any others would work. I would add carrot except my family demolishes them raw, so we leave them in the crisper for that purpose. This is so delicious and makes a fantastic side dish or snack.

Squash Soup. There are so many variations here that it's pointless to link to just one. Soups with squash are a mainstay around here, more often than not accompanied by beans. Our CSA was generous this year with squash and beans, but even if you're buying at the grocery store, dried beans are pennies and squash is dirt cheap. Filling and nutritious, these soups are the perfect antidote to these chilly evenings.

I think those are our standards. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Happy eating!

Made up Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Creating new recipes is something that has always intrigued but scared me. Considering some recipes that I follow to a T are still terrible, making one up seems risky. However! I think I've learned the secret: start with a tried and true recipe and then tinker away. I wanted to cook a pumpkin soup Monday night, because I had defrosted a pie pumpkin a few days ago and hadn't attended to it. But I didn't want to make Black Bean & Pumpkin Soup, which, though a favorite, uses precious CSA Hopi beans and we only have 2 cups left in the freezer (the recipe uses 4 cups.) So, I found a recipe that had all rave reviews, plus some suggestions in the comments, and tinkered away. Here is my version of a homemade, all local, delicious yet simple Pumpkin Soup. All ingredients but spices from my CSA.

1 sugar pie pumpkin (yields about 4 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups veggie broth
2 TBSP peanut butter
2 TBSP ginger
1 TBSP nutmeg & thyme
salt and pepper

Bring all ingredients to a boil and simmer 30 minutes. Puree then add 1/2 cup milk (we used homemade almond milk). Stir to combine.

I served our soup garnished with crispy onion straws and freezer coleslaw on the side. Later in the week (this makes a lot of soup!) we had it alongside Rosemary Butter Rolls and baked squash. I probably roast a squash every other day; I either brush it with butter and sprinkle on brown sugar or brush it with olive oil and sprinkle on some curry. Either way, it's a ridiculously easy, fool-proof and versatile way to use up the squash.

Dark Days Recap

Good eats this week!

On Tuesday we had chili. With all local ingredients, except the Fritos, it was delectable! Mmm!

On Wednesday we took the freezer coleslaw out - just as crunchy as fresh! - and had it with roasted delicata squash and leftover chili. Warming and filling, this was a simple and flavor-packed meal.

On Thursday I cooked some Honey Lentils to go with Maple Glazed Apples & Turnips (our favorite way to eat those never-ending CSA turnips!). We had drop biscuits on the side (not local) and I think we'll eat this exact meal once a week from now on all winter. It was that good, and super fast and easy.

Mae helped me cook up homemade burritos for Paul's lunches and rice,egg & cheese burritos for Mae's breakfasts. I am very excited about these since getting her to eat breakfast is a huge challenge. She never wants the homemade GF pancakes, our go-to breakfast during the week, and it's always a big tear-fest in the morning. She was so excited to eat her burrito this morning. I had one too and they were yummy. The tortillas are La Favorita, a local place, and they were stuffed with local eggs & cheese and (not local but bulk) rice. Hooray!

simple yet fast

Tonight's dinner was quick - from fridge/pantry to table in under an hour. That's the way a-huh a-huh I like it. We had Honeybaked Lentils with Carmelized Apples & Turnips and GF drop biscuits (1 cup GF flour (we use Pamela's) ... Cut in 4 TBSP butter ... Mix with 1/3 + 1 TBSP milk - (we used homemade almond milk) ... Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.) Simple and fast and warming and yummy. Happy coldest day of the year from Boulder, Colorado! High of 14 and low of -1 were seen by my van today. Oy! The lentil recipe was pure pantry (i.e. free!) and the apples & turnips were all CSA. I wonder if I'll get through all the squash and turnips this winter - ah, the joy and burden of abundance!

Mmm

This is just a yummy week. I took down a large tub of coleslaw we froze last month - it was even sweeter and crunchier than the fresh version. A side of leftover roasted root veggies and local Bahkti chai with homemade soymilk rounded out my most delicious lunch. Mmm.

Dinner was reheated chili from last night, more delicious coleslaw and roasted delicata squash with ghee and brown sugar. I discovered (when I realized I was out of local butter and reached for the jarred ghee) that the ghee is local, from down the road in Sedalia, Colorado. Woot!

I am slowly working through my local jams and jellies on my homemade toast each morning. The apple butter and peach jam are gone and I'm into the peach jelly my friend Denise gifted me as a thanks for sharing the bounty of my CSA share when it overwhelmed me. I have more apple butter in the pantry and need to remember to stock up on applesauce - that goes so quickly in the winter with my kiddos! Stay warm, everyone!

99% local chili

This chili made me very happy. And with my goal of canning tomatoes next summer, this meal will be a frequent one next winter as well! Plus, isn't that the funniest picture? It looks so old fashioned, like it belongs in an old crusty diner that serves really good food. Anyway!

Ellen's CSA Chili in the Crockpot (all ingredients (but spices) from CSA share)

1 large yellow onion (CSA)
2 cups chopped tomatoes (local, frozen last summer)
2 cups Hopi beans (or any dark bean) CSA
2 cups Indian woman beans (or any white bean) CSA
2 cups corn (local, frozen last summer)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup vegetable broth (homemade from CSA veggies)
1 cup shredded cheese, optional (Local)

Put all in crockpot and put on Low for 8 hours or High for 4.

Credit for this recipe goes to Stephanie - without her, my love for my crockpot would never have been realized.

I meant to serve it with skillet cornbread and local honey on the side, but we had a bag of (gluten free - always!) Fritos in the cupboard so we tossed those on top. YUM! I guess that makes this meal more like 95% local rather than 99% - aw, let's just count the chili! It was hearty, warming and delicious. Hooray for chili! (I love dinners that make me look forward to lunch the next day!)

Dark Days Update

This week was another week of leftovers, which was relaxing. New yummies include lots of homemade bread with local Colorado flour (thank you, King's!), crustless pumpkin pie, buckets of homemade GF pancakes and roasted CSA vegetables. The one meal I'm going to report on (since it really felt like all leftovers, all the time) is tonight's dinner.

We had Obama's chili using CSA Hopi beans, CSA onions, local tomatoes I had frozen in the summer (!!! - so glad I cleaned out the deep freeze!) and CSA garlic. On the side, roasted CSA root veggies (beets, turnips, potatoes & garlic) and crustless pumpkin pie for dessert (CSA pumpkin, local eggs and homemade soymilk.) The pumpkin pie is our family recipe and is sooo yummy. Local Boulder Beer would have made the meal complete, but I had leftover wine-in-a-box, so we made due with that. Mmm!

Successful homemade burritos!

Paul and Mae love the frozen bean and cheese burritos. At $4 for 12, they are a good deal. But I decided to try and make them at home, and they are yummy! Less salty for sure, but just as yummy. I used this recipe. The black beans are the Hopi black beans from our CSA. While preparing them, I was struck by how purple they were - beautiful! The onions are also from the CSA and the rice leftover from Xmas' Chinese take out. The salsa is from a jar - another tomato thing to try to can next summer! Shredded cheddar cheese from Colorado and some cumin are also in there. I used to make our own corn tortillas but in my decluttering excitement I gave away the tortilla press. *sigh* The tortillas are from a local vendor, and they are so good I could eat them alone! All in all, a successful creation. Hooray!

Back to basics

Before Ted was diagnosed with his gluten intolerance, I baked homemade sandwich bread. My friend Wendy had a decent bread machine recipe and it made 2 loaves, which lasted us a week or so. And I did that for quite a while, at least a year if not more. Then the gluten issue arose and I bought, baked, ordered and fiddled with dozens of GF bread recipes, all of which he rejected (and I don't really blame him.) About 6 months ago his doctor put him on a digestive enzyme to take with a meal that includes gluten or dairy (which he is also sensitive to, though we've known that since he was 4). While I don't fill his plate with wheat products, it's been a lifesaver, especially for sandwiches. Mr. Picky loves his nut butter sandwiches, and I love that he loads up on the peanut, almond or hazelnut butter, for the good fat and protein that his skinny 48 pound body needs. Just recently I began baking our own bread again. It's more of a white bread and as the days pass, each new batch is more like sourdough, which is interesting. It's from a 5 minutes a day recipe that I had written down a while ago. I mix up enough for 8 loaves and then put the dough in the fridge, covered. Every other day I bake a loaf in a loaf pan. It's surprisingly good. I'm going to try rolls and hamburger buns tomorrow and see how they are. I love discovering an easier way to do something I truly want to do. Fresh bread is up there on the list, right after the GF pancakes that I've finally mastered and churn out constantly. Now, about that raw milk share...

Week #4 Wrap Up (through 12/27)

I'm not sure why my weeks are different from everyone else's. Our first week was Thanksgiving week, right? So this is Week 4. I'm confused. Anyway! This was a good week. The days were relaxed and mellow, and I did plenty of cooking and resting. Ahhh...

The Rustic Cabbage Soup I made up on Sunday lasted us all week as a quick lunch or dinner. I had rehearsal on Monday night and a late TKD class with Ted on Tuesday night, so it came in handy. We also finished up the leftover Chinese take-out from Paul's work's holiday party on Saturday. When all the entrees were gone, I transformed the leftover rice into the delicious rice pudding I made for Nancy when I visited. Mae and I were the only ones who ate it, and the entire 13x9 pan was gone in less than 2 days. Mmm.

On Thursday I fixed Annette's delicious Savory Squash Gratin to go with our traditional Xmas Oyster Stew that Paul grew up loving every year. The gratin was very rich but tasty. I used Gruyere cheese because that's what I had on hand, ready to make Saturday's crock pot French Onion Soup, using CSA onions, homemade veggie broth and locally made bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. While I was roasting the acorn squash for the gratin, I popped in my oldest sugar pie pumpkin too and froze the puree for soups later on. The resulting plethora of roasted seeds were perfect this time; I think the trick is roasting them at low heat for a longer time. I had them at 250 for a total of 45 minutes, stirring every 15.

I hope that those of you who celebrate Xmas had a lovely one!

Week #3 Wrap Up

Wow this was a busy week! Ted was home sick, Ole the dog was recovering from TPLO surgery, all three kiddos' schools were busy with parties and everyone was celebrating Hanukkah! It was crazy! I was so grateful for the homemade goodness of our evening meals, reminding us to slow down, enjoy each other and be grateful for what we have.

On Monday, I fixed French Market soup, (CSA onion, Indian Woman beans, garlic & homemade stock) which fed us the next two nights as well. On Thursday I defrosted the Squash Pot Pie I had doubled and frozen on Thanksgiving. We feasted on the scrumptious pie the rest of the week. Of course, latkes with CSA potatoes and onions joined in on the side a few nights last week too - oh so yummy.

This weekend I cooked up a storm, prepping double batches of Rustic Cabbage Soup,(CSA cabbage, potatoes, onion, garlic, Hopi beans & homemade stock) Abbos's own Celery Curry Soup (CSA celery, onions, potatoes & stock) and lots of homemade veggie stock from the peelings and clippings. Paul also helped shred a ton of cabbage, and we made up 2 huge batches of our CSA's recipe for Freezer Coleslaw. A good week!

We had our last CSA Keeper share pickup last Wednesday and the larder is full! The basement houses copious and various squash; plump beets and pale turnips are in the crisper in dark plastic bags, and huge fat carrots live in the other drawer - we love the carrots so much we tend to eat them up before I can fix our favorite Carrot Bisque recipe. My job this week is to roast and plan the squash. I foresee soups, stews and simple roasted squash appearing on our Dark Days menu next week.

Stay warm, everyone, and Happy Winter!

French Market Soup in the crockpot

Last week we ate locally but didn't cook. How? Leftovers! It was lovely.

This Monday morning I tossed some ingredients into the slow cooker. A hearty simple soup will be ready tonight at 6pm, using almost all local ingredients. The recipe is here. It includes (all from the CSA) beans, onions, garlic and broth. Non-local ingredients are a can of tomatoes (grrr - hey! is anyone willing to barter? My peach jam for your canned tomatoes?), s&p, lemon juice and liquid smoke. Homemade rolls will round out the meal. Is it dinner time yet? mmm.....

Celery Curry Soup

This recipe and directions are from "my farmer" at Abbo. We'll be having this soup this week! Sounds delicious, and a great way to use up all that celery!

Yummy Celery Curry
Ingredients:
1 super large Abbo onion (I prefer the yellow ones for this recipe) diced
4-6 Abbo potatoes peeled and sectioned
10-12 stalks of Abbo celery with leaves, chopped
2 Tbs Curry Powder
4 cups broth (I like Rapunzel bouillon when I do not have home made)

In sesame oil saute the onions. Once softened, add the broth, celery and potatoes. When a fork easily passes through the potatoes add 2 tablespoons curry powder, stir and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
Get out your blender! Blend to desired consistency (if you like chunky soup for example, only blend for a short time or only blend half, or blend all but your potatoes) and stir back together.

Wala! You're done. Add plain yogurt or sour cream to the top with a couple celery leaves for a beautiful presentation.

I've added carrot to this recipe, and I think squash would also be good. I have not tried freezing, but suspect it would work out just fine. If you find your soup a bit thick, you could certainly add coconut milk as a thinner instead of additional broth. This is a terrific variation! Enjoy!

Dark Days Update

This week's update is in our new space! This was a local week, to be sure. Here are the meals we enjoyed this week with links to the recipes.

Monday is our crock pot day. We had a rich, nourishing stew of red beans, cabbage and roots. It needed a little more punch, but it was very warming. All ingredients but the rice, celery seed and enchilada sauce were from our CSA, Abbondanza. Tuesday we had the leftovers and they were delicious with a dash of tabasco!

On Wednesday I roasted some veggies for a Veggie Pie and made up a HUGE amount of homemade veggie broth in the process. The house smelled wonderful all day! The pie was a little too dry for my taste, so next time I'll make it a bit more liquidy. We nibbled on the extra roasted veggies all week. All ingredients but the pie crust were from our CSA. Leftovers on Thursday were yummy!

On Friday, I fixed one of our absolute favorite soups, Lentil Buttercup. Buttercup is such a delicious squash - so sweet and yummy. I added our very sad looking old bok choi to it and it was a good addition. CSA ingredients were the broth made from the veggie pie veggies, buttercup squash, onions, garlic and bok choi. The red lentils were from the pantry and I think bought a few years ago! They seemed to be ok. Mmm...

Saturday we had a party at night, so I brought Pumpkin Black Bean Soup, a favorite! It used all CSA ingredients (pumpkin, Hopi black beans, onion, garlic, veggie broth). Tomatoes were from a can:-( Next summer I vow to preserve tomatoes!! Tonight we are going to enjoy the fridge of leftovers! This was Week 2 of the Dark Days Challenge. So far, so good!

Yum

There were some very old and sad-looking bok choi languishing away in my crisper. And our squash seems to be multiplying somehow. Tonight I wanted a warm, filling soup that would bring them together. Red lentils proved to be the perfect glue. Lentil Buttercup Soup was a favorite last winter and now I remember why. We didn't have any spinach, but the bok choi subbed in just fine. I roasted the seeds too and it made the perfect Shabbat dinner. This time I did roast the squash beforehand, which made it a simple and fast soup to prepare. We will enjoy this soup for lunch in the next few days, and I'll prepare it again on the 18th with the frozen roasted buttercup that is waiting in the freezer. Yup, batch preparing ingredients is the way to go, if you have freezer space. Why roast one squash when you can roast an entire oven full?

More info on meal planning soon, but I use Tsh's system whenever I can get organized. She is a wonderful source of organization inspiration!

Thanksgiving Lentil-Squash Pot Pie

This recipe has been tweaked off and on for 15 years. It has its roots in my very first vegetarian cookbook, Sunset Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, that I purchased in 1994. The pictures are beautiful and I've nearly worn this copy out, trying and enjoying most all the recipes. This one is a stand-out though. Here it is with my revisions.

2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 TBSP ginger, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1.5 cups water
2 cups brown or green lentils, rinsed and drained
6 cups vegetable broth
about 3 pounds cubed squash - keep with one variety. (butternut, banana, Hubbard, delicata etc.)
Pastry for 2-crust 9-in pie
1 TBSP beaten egg

1. Crush 1st 3 spices in mortar and pestle. Add to large 5-6 qt pan with next 4 ingredients + 1/2 cup water.

2. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until veggies are a golden-brown. Add 1/4c water as needed to keep from sticking, up to 3/4 up a cup. This will take 10-15 minutes and is worth it!

3. Add lentils and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, covered.

4. Add squash and continue to simmer til lentils and squash are soft (about 20 minutes). I usually pre-bake my squash and just add it in when the lentils are soft, to make it easier.

5. Pour into a 3-4 qt casserole. (You can stop here and refrigerate til the next day.)

6. Roll out pastry. Lay over vegetables and over pan. Flute firmly against the rim. Brush with beaten egg. Slash top a few times. If you have extra pastry, cut it into shapes like leaves or hearts to decorate the top of the pie.

7. Bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings.

This has been our Thanksgiving meal for years. I hope it brings you as much joy as it does us!