Cooking With Ethics

Blueberry Banana Pie

2011-08-01T15:49:00.006-05:00

I made this awesome pie for Derrick's Birthday.

It's pretty easy. No oven involved. Perfect for summer. It involves a fresh blueberry sauce, Banana pudding, and a raw crust of medjool dates, pecans, and brown sugar. Serve with fresh whipped cream.

We'll start on the crust. Easy peasy.
Just blend 2 cups of pecans, 5 dates, and 2 tablespoons together and press into an oiled pan. I think parchment paper would have worked well too.

Next make some vanilla pudding. I used this recipe and added 2 chopped bananas.
Finally, I cooked down a pint of blueberries with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.

Serve with a scoop of whipped cream. I like to pour cream into a jar with a lid, and add sugar to taste. Then I shake the jar until it's whipped.

And you end up with awesomeness. It's almost healthy. Kind of.
Happy pie making...

Mulberry Wine, Beer, and Lamb Chops

2011-08-01T13:51:00.012-05:00

Early July has come and gone, but I still remember the mulberries. I am still waiting to find out how the beer and wine will taste, but I have a good idea how it is going to turn out.

As it went, a few weeks ago, a few of my friends, my man, and I picked about 7 pounds of mulberries. Most from our yard, but a few in some areas where we were semi-trespassing. Oh well. We had a great time hunting for trees.

Mulberries are mostly sweet when ripe, with a little tang when they aren't as ripe. I love them. They're so juicy and pretty, and they stain your fingertips when you pick them. But I guess if you pick 7 pounds of anything, it's going to stain your fingers.

I guess I'll start with the wine. I made it with my friend Katy. We started out with a recipe from grape stomper and mixed it together with a few others to come up with this recipe:

4 lbs Mulberries
2lbs 7 oz Honey
1 Campden tablet
2 Quarts water

champagne yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient

1 2 1/2 gallon bucket for fermentation

We boiled the honey in 2 Qts water for 15 minutes and brought it back down to 80 degrees. This didn't take nearly as long as I'm used to, so I was impressed.
Next we added the 4 lbs mulberries to the honey, smashed it all together, and added the campden tablet.
The campden tablet killed the wild yeast overnight. The next afternoon, I started the yeast in some yeast nutrient and water. And it grew. I added this to the berries.
And it got happy.
I was worried because it was really hot for a few days, but I continued to stir this for a week. After that we racked into a berry mush-less bucket.
We didn't have any wine specific presses to get out the excess wine, so I went old school. But obviously sanitized my hands. We've racked it once more since then.

The recipe for the beer we made is here. It has a pretty reddish tint, and tastes pretty good so far. I'm excited to find out. I call it the Mulberry Brown Sugar Porter. It finishes with a nice fruity, mulberry note. That will be done in a week! I don't know if I can wait that long.

Finally, to finish my mulberry adventure, I made mulberry marinated lamb chops. This was fantastic.

It starts out with:

2 lamb chops (mine were about a half a pound)
nice olive oil
Cabernet Sauvignon
rosemary
thyme
garlic
salt 'n pepper
mulberries

Most of my marinades are approximate, and I just add a little more of this or that until I get the taste I want. Mash the mulberries with the herbs and garlic and marinade lamb chops over night.

Cook until medium rare, and while the lamb is resting, deglaze the pan with the rest of the marinade until it cooks down a little. I served this with a little green salad, potatoes, some farmer's market kale cooked in chicken broth, and the pan sauce on top of the chops. And boy, was it good.

Happy mulberry hunting!

Mulberries: An Ongoing Obsession

2011-07-10T23:57:00.005-05:00

I feel like summer is in full swing when the garden is going crazy, I actually have a tan, and mulberries start turning the sidewalks and shoes of South Minneapolis a deep shade of purple. I don't think I've ever had a mulberry outside of the general Uptown area. I am aware that they exist elsewhere, but I haven't exactly wandered aimlessly through many other cities in search of mulberries.

Anywho, mulberries are wonderful. I have many blissful summer memories of Derrick losing track of me on a bike trip, only to find me at the last mulberry tree we passed. But for some reason I have never cooked with them.

This year I made had few fantastic forays with this fruit, including my new favorite homemade venture: alcohol. I started out my mulberry quest with beer. We brewed a Caramelized Brown Sugar Porter (Thanks hopville for the recipe tools!) and added mulberries to secondary. But I'll get to that later... when it's done. I'm hoping it's a little purple. Next, a friend and myself made mulberry wine. And finally, Lamb Chops in a Mulberry, Herb, and Cabernet sauce. I also hope to make a jam and a dye, but I'll have to hurry before they're all gone!

I'll let you in on these recipes soon! Happy Mulberry season!

Grilled Spinach Artichoke Dip

2011-06-17T22:36:00.009-05:00

It's finally summer and the grilling commences. Now I'd like to start off by saying that this is not my normal artichoke dip. We'll have to go over that one another day, as I know some people would love that recipe too. That's not saying that this recipe isn't amazing. It is.

One ingredient I've been using a lot of lately is quark. It's kind of like a cross between ricotta and goat cheese, but it's made with cow milk. I bought it one day because I thought it was goat cheese, and I ended up liking it more! Plus it's cheaper! Goat cheese doesn't have much flavor to it, but Quark does. I've used it in salads, my boyfriend dips strawberries in it, and now, I've made a dip out of it.

I used basic and simple ingredients, so what made this dip really awesome was the preparation. I mixed together approximately 1 cup chopped spinach, 8 oz quark, 4 canned artichoke hearts, a clove of garlic, a sprinkle of feta and of Parmesan, and pinches of salt and pepper.

I mixed these all together and poured it into a greased and aluminum foil-lined mini cast iron skillet. Finally, I set a small piece of foil on top of the dip, to hopefully create a kind of convection effect.

Set this baby on the grill to let everything melt together and get that great smoky grilled flavor.

And just as equally important, I drizzled a mini-baguette with some oil and sprinkled on some thyme. Toward the end of my grillin', I tossed this on for a little less than a minute to toast it.
Oh yeah. Scoop some of this awesomeness up and slap it on some of that baguette. Do it.
If you want to mix in a little cream cheese too, it won't hurt anything.
There's the thyme toasted baguette, and my grilled garlic potatoes and mustard-vinaigrette pork chop. I spoil myself a lot.

Speaking of spoiling myself, I also tried out Flat Earth Brewing Co.'s Belgian-Style Pale Ale. First of all, I love the label. A Belgian Malinois holding a Belgian Waffle? Oh for cute! (I know I'm so cutesy and Minnesotan) ...
This is another Minnesotan Belgian beer, which I've noticed is becoming a trend. Harriet Brewing makes Belgian ales as well. I'm making a Rosemary Saison at the moment. But that's for another time. This amber colored pale ale has flowery hoppy flavors, a strong malty background, and a very light Belgian-y yeast taste, which is slightly banana and clove-y. It didn't pour any head at all, to my dismay, though the amber color was pretty.
And to quote the description on the bottle, it "finishes dry and leaves you thirsting for more"! I would agree. Flat Earth calls this a "session ale", which makes me want to look in to making one of these, but maybe with more Carapils malt to add to the head retention. I love local beer. Up next: Cygnus X-1 Porter and Angry Planet from my bomber sampler, which, by the way, I think is an amazing idea.

What a good night of grillin' and beer. Hope you enjoy it too.

Happy Grilling!

All natural vanilla brown sugar scrub

2011-05-30T13:47:00.009-05:00

I love sugar scrubs. LOVE them. I have tried to to buy them online, but not only are they ridiculously expensive, they are also chalk full of preservatives and chemicals, not something I want to put on my skin! But I digress... Making your own sugar scrub at home is cheap and easy! All you need is sugar, oil, vitamin E, and some sort of extract for a great smell. The sugar exfoliates your skin, the oil and vitamin E hydrate and moisturize your skin, and the smell is just so gosh darn good.

After looking through many, many sugar scrub recipes I found that most recipes used a 1:2 ratio of oil to sugar, as well as vitamin E. When it comes to vitamin E, capsules seem to be the cheapest, though the little bottles of straight oil would be much easier to use. Stabbing 10 capsules with a knife and squeezing them out is a little tedious but I am really really stingy.

So it goes...
So simple with four ingredients. Olive oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and vitamin E. You can use other sugars, oils, or extracts, but the basic idea is the same. I also had a container to keep in the fridge, and a littler one to keep in the shower.
I used 1 cup of sugar to 1/2 cup of oil.
And I used 10 vitamin E capsules. Capsules are difficult to get open, as I previously stated. The easiest way I've found is to hold the against the counter and prick with a knife on the seam. Then I squeeze as much out as possible into the sugar/oil mixture.Oh yeah. And I bet it's tasty too. Just kidding.
Then I put it in my little container to put in the shower. Sweet.
The rest I put in the fridge. I labeled it to avoid any confusion.
As far as other natural beauty goes, I may try beer shampoo next? But that is for another day.
Happy scrubbing!

Gardening Excursions of 2011: Thus far...

2011-04-23T12:49:00.013-05:00

Spring is still on its way, and lots of things are happening lately! Between two jobs, just accepting another one, a funeral, Easter, family get togethers, brewing lots of beer, and biking, I'm a pretty busy gal! One gorgeous day a few weeks ago I managed to find enough time to prep my garden for the year. I did the usual: turning over and aerating the soil, adding fertilizer and compost, pulling out any weeds (yeah, I will definitely have to do THAT again...), and evening out the soil to make the bed look pretty.

That day, I went to Amelia's Flower and Garden Shoppe to pick up some new seed soil because my first experiment of the year didn't go very well. I tried putting my seeds in a new location because I thought they would get more sun in the upstairs bedroom, but there was not enough ventilation. Combined with bad seed soil that didn't drain well from Bachman's, and getting a little too wet, my seeds got moldy. I was not a happy camper. So Amelia's mixed me up a beautiful medley of sand, peat moss, and good soil which has made my new seedlings very happy. I also moved my setup to my previous location which seems to make them happier. At least it makes ME happier to see them whenever I walk to my bedroom.Except I have to go by the litter boxes. Not my favorite thing. My marigolds, petunias, purple coneflowers, and green peppers don't want to germinate. What gives? My seedlings include: cherry tomato, brandywine tomato, eggplant, jalapeno, sweet pepper, zucchini, leaf lettuce, lettuce mix, spinach, swiss chard, petunias, marigolds, coneflowers, and basil.

My tomatoes sure are pretty! Anyways, the nice salesgirl at Amelia's suggested that I try planting my lettuce outside because it is really hardy. She recommended covering them with something, just in case. I figured I had an afternoon to kill, so why not try it? I didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff for my seedling cover, partially because I didn't have any money, but also because I could only see myself needing it until about May 15th. So I devised a plan to come up with my own jerry-rigged system using and re-using things around my house. The only thing I bought was duct tape. Why we did not have any duct tape is a question I cannot answer.

What I call my "seed tent" was made up as I went along. I used duct tape, Roundy's bags, string, bamboo grilling sticks, and wire hangers.This was before I knew I was using wire hangers to weigh down the sides of the tent.

I started out with a Roundy's bag. Actually, ten of them.
Chairman Bob's Seal of Approval for this project.

I cut the tops off of all of them to make squares.

Next I duct taped each square together. And since I'm a little OCD, all the Bobs had to go the same way.Next I straightened out two wire hangers and duct taped them to the ends for a little support and weight.Next I realized that the bamboo skewers needed something to be tied to. So I cut holes in the duct tape parts (for more security and durability) and looped some string into the hole. The skewers inside ended up acting like a skeleton for the whole tent, though to hold down the tent I just stuck skewers through the duct tape to secure it to the ground.
Next I added the last two bags to the end to close up the tent.
I found this entire project to be entirely amusing. I mean, who duct tapes plastic bags together? Apparently, I do.

Here it is in action. I planted Grandpa Admire's Lettuce, Mesclun Mix, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Leaf Lettuce, and a few other varieties under this tent on April 5th.
Mandi found this angle to be deceptive. It's really not taller than 6 inches. Or the width of a Roundy's bag. Rocks are weighing down the little flappies on the ends.

Most people I talked to about this project were worried that the seedlings would die from cold temperatures. I was skeptical as well, which is why I planted additional lettuce seedlings inside. After two (separate!) days of snow on the ground in April, and countless freezing nights, I was sure they were dead. But to my amazement, they're still with us!I laughed maniacally when I discovered them.
I plan on still covering them at night, but for today I'm going to let them have a little sunlight. If it comes out today.

I can't wait for gardening season! One of my favorite things to do is to bring my seedlings out on "field trips" to get them used to being outside. After being in the sunlight for the first time, they visibly change color! Soon it will be nice enough....

Until next time,
Happy Gardening!

This is what I'm drinking...

2011-04-02T22:09:00.004-05:00

I thought it would be fitting to review a bike inspired beer after a bicycle-centric day. Today I worked at the shop all day, and then followed the shop boys to a bike art show after chilling out in the parking lot. Me and a bunch of guys. Yup. Thus the beer of the day: Lakefront Brewery's Fixed Gear American Red Ale. Another great 22 ouncer from Lakefront. It pours a modest white head and has a beautiful red color, and leaves a little bit of lattice on the glass. This beer is really floral and a little malty in the nose. This great red ale has a medium body, very mild bitterness, and a long floraly finish, thanks to great amounts of dry-hopped Chinook and Cascade hops. This is a great early spring beer, the medium body is very filling and satisfying for the season. Eat, drink good beer, and be merry!

Lakefront Brewery India-Style Black Ale

2011-03-30T18:54:00.005-05:00

Spring is finally starting to arrive here in Minneapolis. I think the groundhog was very mistaken in his call this February, spring did not come early. At all. I am thoroughly disappointed in that rodent. Everyone in the city seems to be antsy to get outside and enjoy the weather. Bikers were everywhere today! Now the remainder of the city should come to the bike shop and buy one from me. Seriously.

With the lingering cold weather, porters have been a very comforting friend to me. My favorite porter lately has been Flat Earth Brewery's Cygnus X-1 Grand Design Porter, which I intended to write about today. But since I forgot my ID for our trip to Surdyk's, I was out of luck. Once I found my darn ID, our neighborhood liquor store had a different beer in store for me, an India-Style black ale by Lakefront Brewery, Inc., a brewery out of Milwaukee whose slogan is "Pure Milwaukee Genius." Genius indeed. This wonderfully malty IPA reminds me of the full bodied-ness of a porter, but with the lively taste of an IPA. It starts out malty, and a little bitter, and it has a long floral, citrusy finish. And oh God, is it good. This beer is almost black, though in the sun it has a slight red tint. It leaves a light bubbly lattice on the glass, but not too much. And I was thoroughly surprised by the thick caramel head it poured. This beer is thick and hearty, and would be great enjoyed with a roast pork sandwich. Like the one I had at Brasa today. Great stuff. I think this beer would also be awesome used as a base for a steak marinade too! But that is for another day. Enjoy this beer while enjoying the cool crisp evenings of this slowly approaching spring.

Banana Almond Shakes

2011-01-14T11:27:00.005-06:00

Ahhh, more detox stuff.

So I was doing great on my detox diet last week, I lasted a whole five days, but I had to stop because we went out of town to visit my man's family. Since I didn't want anyone to have to make a special supper for me, I decided to quit for a little bit. It was also me and my man's four year anniversary this week! Thus, I wanted to be able to drink some beer and eat some not-so-detox-friendly Indian food (white rice, cream, and paneer, oh my!).

So I started up again yesterday. After the first five days, I felt a lot less bloated, a little slimmer, and more... errr.... regular. So the detox definitely helped. I think I'll continue on until the 18th. So what else have I been eating other than great chili and the soon to follow Banana Almond Shake recipe? Lots of things! Some breakfast items include fruit, yogurt, shakes, and oatmeal. Lunch could be avocado and whole wheat sandwiches, tuna fish sandwiches (mayo doesn't have dairy, even though I still feel like I'm cheating), salads with orange segments and mustard vinaigrette, and rye crackers with yogurt dip. Dinner is about the same, though I usually try to stick to filling soups, such as Curried Parsnip Soup, lentil soup, salads, rye crackers with tzatsiki, or even steaks!

The lack of dairy has been hard on this Minnesota girl, but these Banana Almond Shakes taste like the real thing! I've gotten a little sick of yogurt shakes, so these really hit the spot! Almond milk is a new thing to me, and I don't know much about it other than it is great! It's smooth and silky, with a little nuttiness. I have used soy milk as a milk substitute many times in the past, and though I really like chocolate soy milk, I hate regular. It has this weird aftertaste that I just can't stomach. I will use it for cereal, making a roux, or smoothies, but I just can not drink it alone. Almond milk seems like something that I could just drink.

Anyways, these shakes are awesome! I tweaked a recipe from the Bon Appetite Magazine's Food Lover's Cleanse. I didn't have any ice cubes in the freezer, but I did have frozen fruit! Here's the recipe for one (big!!) shake.

1 cup almond milk
1 banana
1 cup frozen blackberries (substituted for the ice)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 T brown sugar
a little shake of nutmeg

Add everybody to the blender and process for for about a minute, until everything is well combined.
Enjoy!!

Food Lover's Cleanse

2011-01-04T20:15:00.005-06:00

After the holidays (and making too many truffles for my family) and getting REALLY sick with the flu after that, my system is now a little, errr, unhappy. It probably didn't help that I ate pizza for 3 days straight (on an aside note, The Rustler pizza from Luce's is the BOMB! Mock duck, banana peppers, pineapple, cheese and bbq sauce? Yes please!).

Now that all the leftovers and most of the junk food is out of the house, it's time for a cleanse. I came across the Bon Appetite Food lover's cleanse yesterday and thought I'd try it out! It pretty much consists of avoiding alcohol, dairy, sugar, coffee, and bread, drinking a lot of water, eating at least one salad a day, and regulating portion size. You can check it out here: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/food-lovers-cleanse/rules.

So today I've tried to stick to the diet. I've done really good so far. For breakfast, I had oatmeal and a little brown sugar, a glass of juice in the middle of the day, and for lunch I had a nice spring green salad with cashews and orange sections with a white wine and sesame oil vinaigrette. Obviously the first day is kind of difficult, so I'm allowed some small... indiscretions. We had some chuck roast defrosting, and that needed to be used. So I decided to make chili! It turned out pretty amazing! I got to use my new dutch oven too!

So the chili is following the cleanse because it doesn't have any of the bad stuff in it, and as a bonus, it will be a nice protein boost for going back to the gym tomorrow. Deal with it.

I wanted to make something really nice for my boyfriend, and since he wanted shredded beef, I gave him shredded beef. We roasted the chuck roast and shredded it before adding the beef to my favorite chili. Here's how I did it.

Mix together:
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp dried minced onion
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika

Salt and pepper the chuck roast (about 4 lbs) on all sides. Brown on all sides in a large dutch oven (mine is 5 Qt). Pour sauce over roast and toss in the oven. Bake at 325 for about 2 1/2 hours. I roasted for 3, and it ended up a little darker than I would have liked. Baste the roast about every 1/2 hour, and half way through cooking, flip it over.

When the roast is finished, take it out of the dutch oven and let it rest for 15 minutes to let all the juices redistribute. Scrape out any crud on the bottom of the pot. Next we'll work on the chili.

You will need:
1 medium red onion (diced)
2 green peppers (diced)
1 red pepper (diced)
1 jalapeno (I remove 1/2 the seeds)
3-4 cloves garlic (diced)
1 14 oz. can kidney beans (drained)
1 28 oz. can chili beans (drained)
1 28 oz. can diced tomato (reserve liquid)
2 chipotle peppers (diced)
2 cups chicken broth
1 T chili powder
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon (I like a lot of cinnamon, it adds a really different taste to the chili!)
1/2 tsp cumin
2 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Shred the beef and set aside (it's probably best to get this out of the way before you start cooking everything, unlike what I did...)
Add a little oil and the onions to the dutch onion. Get them nice and carmelized. Add green, red, and jalapeno pepper and cook through. Add beans, tomato including the liquid, and chicken broth. If you want a less hearty, soupier chili, add a cup or two more chicken broth. Next add spices, brown sugar, and chipotle peppers. And finally, add the beef.

Bring everything to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes. You will end up with this fantastic-ness.
You get the awesome spicy broth, the little bits of carmelized pulled beef, and all the veggies. That is definitely the most important part of a chili to me, all of the veggies.

Well, hopefully I can add a few more recipes for this cleanse over the next two weeks.
Bon Appetit!

It's been a long time...

2010-11-25T01:28:00.012-06:00

Oh. My. Goodness. It's been a long time since I've written on here! So... What have I been up to lately?

Well, a decent amount. Job Searching (Fun! not really), belly dance class with my cousin (really fun), seeing an therapist who is helping me learn to take joy and pride in the process of life instead of just the results, dieting and going to the gym (and losing 12 #'s!), and finished up my garden!

Here's some good gardening pics:

Those zucchinis were HUGE!
My cherry tomatoes were as tall as me! The neighbors said they were the best on the block!
There are those monstrous zucchinis again!
I remember walking out to the garden one day after working about 5 days in a row. I didn't have time over those days tend to my garden, and to my amazement/horror, BOTH of these zucchinis were in there! they were about the size of my forearm.... Obviously smaller zucchinis are better, and this was INSANE, but it was fun to see how quickly these buggers grew!

My boyfriend and I also went up north this summer and had a lot of fun! We went to Tettegouche State Park and Palisade Head.
This is me at Palisade Head with a blueberry. This morning we had camped out on the beach on the lake and woke up to a beautiful sunrise. We drove up to Palisade Head after breakfast, ascended a narrow, one lane road that wound through a thick forest and climbed monstrous hills and slopes that bulged out of the side of the headland. Palisade Head is basically a giant rock that hangs out over Lake Superior. On this particular day, the hillsides were much warmer than the lake, and in the distance of this picture, you can see the dense fog over the lake. Gusts of wind brought the cool fog up onto the hillside, quietly bringing a refreshing relief from the oppressing heat.
It was absolutely breathtaking.

I also went to a Twins/Detroit Tigers Game at the new Twins Stadium. That was a fantastic experience! I loved the new stadium.
And my man and I both cut all of our hair off. He had dreds half way down his back, and my hair was about the same length, though normal...It was muuuuch longer before...
Well, I think that's all for now, but tomorrow I will have a new recipe for you!
Peace Out!

Two Tomato Tempeh and Pasta

2010-06-14T13:10:00.014-05:00

Frantically searching through the fridge for dinner, I discovered that I only had a few slightly strange ingredients. What was I supposed to do with tempeh, sun-dried tomatoes and regular tomatoes, mustard, rosemary, and lemon? Though it sounds weird, this dish turned out to be fantastic.

So what exactly is Tempeh? To wikipedia.com, it is an Indonesian food "made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form". To me, it's manna sent down by God himself, soft bean curds with a nutty taste. To my boyfriend, it's a weirdly-textured fermented soy bean cake. Okay, maybe to some it does have a weird texture. But when sliced and sauteed in butter, it's awesome.

So here's what went down:

I started off with a package of tempeh. Since this meal was only for me (read: would feed two normal people) I only sliced up about half of the tempeh.

Oh, look at all that bean-curdy goodness...

So I dumped all my tempeh in a cast iron skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter.

I also had some pasta going. I really like rotinis!!
Anyway, cook those babies until they're a little browned and remove them.
Chop 1/2 cup tomato, de-seeded, 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, either from oil or reconstituted with some vegetable stock, 2 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon both thyme (I grabbed this from the garden) and rosemary and kosher salt to taste. We'll also use about 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard. You can obviously change up the proportions, but I was working with what I had. And I can only take so many sun dried tomatoes.

Add everybody to the skillet, except for the regular tomatoes. Let them saute for a minute, and add the tempeh and tomatoes.
Saute everyone together until the tomatoes and garlic are cooked through and soft. Serve atop some pasta with a little sprig of thyme, just for aesthetics.

Marley's watching somebody get pulled over. Oh, lyn-lake neighborhood, I love you almost as much as I love tempeh.

This could have probably fed two people, but I devoured it. Don't judge me. I have a lot of love for this wonderful soy bean cake...

Easy Mac 'n Cheesy with Cauliflower, Broccoli, and Cherry Tomato

2010-04-30T12:44:00.029-05:00

For the final speech of my college career, I am discussing healthy food habits and America. Through this speech, I assert that to spread the knowledge of healthy eating to the American population, changes need to be made on the National, Organizational, and individual levels. So, to end my speech with a fun twist, I decided to share with my class one of my favorite recipes: homemade mac 'n cheese. This is a healthy twist on a college staple, one that is MUCH tastier than the Blue Box... And doesn't take much longer at all!! I put a high priority on cooking skills, since I cook every day of my life. Cooking gives me a chance to relax, put my creative mind to work, and control exactly what I'm eating.

PS People who know how to cook a REAL meal are pretty hot!!!

Now you can make infinite variations on this dish, adding chorizo sausage, bell peppers, and jalapenos to make a Tex-Mex Mac, or Artichokes, spinach, red onion and feta for a Greek style Mac, pretty much the combinations are endless. All this takes is a little passion and excitement about learning something new!

This particular meal incorporates three of Michael Pollan's food policy guidelines from Food Rules:
1. Never eat anything advertised on TV- this rule is meant to wean out processed food from your diet. Obviously, if Dairy Farmers of America a commercial, you can still eat cheese. Use your discretion
2. Eat Your Colors- A variety of colors in a dish means a variety of nutrients.
3. If it came from a Plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't- Once again, this is just taking processed food out of the equation.

So here's the main event!
Mac 'n Cheese with Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cherry Tomatoes

First off, start a pot of water boiling on the stove. When the water comes to a boil, start cooking the pasta. I usually use about 2/3 of a 1 lb. box of pasta. Pasta styles depend on your preference, you could either go with the traditional macaroni noodle, but I really like rotinis.

Start out with a cup each of Broccoli and Cauliflower. Cut into florets, or about bite-sized pieces. Put broccoli and cauliflower into microwave safe bowl.

Steam for about 2 1/2 minutes on high, or until a fork can pierce the stem of one of the veggies easily
Wash about 1/2 cup of Cherry Tomatoes. If you have extra large "grape" tomatoes, halve them. Add to cooked broccoli and cauliflower and set aside.
Now is the important part that takes a little bit of attention and skill. This next step involves making a Roux. A roux is basically a mixture of butter and flour, cooked together, and then the addition of a liquid to make a thick sauce. The flour acts as thickener, and the butter is used to cook out the floury taste. This particular roux will be a thinner one, so that the sauce can spread throughout the noodles but still thick enough to stick to them.

Don't let this cooking technique deter you. It doesn't take very long and it's pretty easy. It takes about 7-8 minutes to make and can be made while the noodles are cooking. Just to help y'all out a little, I'll break it down for you.
First, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. When the butter is completely melted, add 2 tablespoons flour. Immediately start whisking with a fork. Continue whisking for about 1 minute.
It's kinda hard to make a roux and take pictures at the same time.
It'll start to look like this after you've whisked it enough. I do not recommend walking away from this, you will most likely burn the roux.

Next, add 1 1/2 cups milk. Continue whisking to fully integrate the butter/flour mixture into the milk.
Keep stirring, bring milk to a boil, and it will eventually (3-4 minutes on medium-low heat) start to thicken up.
Now, add 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard, or any other kind of mustard you like, to the sauce.
And then add 1 cup of shredded cheese.
You'll know this sauce is done when you the fork leaves a line in the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now, dump the pasta into a casserole dish. I always use a 9 inch round casserole dish.
Dump the veggies in with the noodles.
Mix the veggies into the noodles a little.
Now, add the cheese sauce.
Now, put 1 cup of cheese on top of the noodles and veggies.
I added a little salt and pepper, and a little Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. It'll look like this....
Yeah, this was devoured pretty quickly. There wasn't even any for seconds!

Make cooking a priority in your life. It's fun, not too time consuming, and a lot better for your health!

Easy Mac 'n Cheesy with Cauliflower, Broccoli, and Cherry Tomato

Cooking time: Est. 40 minutes

1 cup broccoli, cut into florets
1 cup cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
2/3 lb. rotini pasta
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Start water boiling, when water is at a boil, add pasta. Cook until al dente.

Microwave cauliflower and broccoli in a microwave safe bowl on high for 2 1/2 minutes or until stem is pierced easily with a fork. Add washed cherry tomatoes, set aside.

Melt butter in sauce pan. Whisk flour into butter, continue whisking as it cooks for 1 minute. Whisk in milk a little at a time. Bring to a boil. Continue whisking.

When milk/butter/flour mixture thickens up, add 1/2 the cheese, dijon mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.

Place pasta and veggies in 9 inch casserole dish. Mix pasta and veggies together. Add cheese sauce. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Add salt, pepper, and parmesan to taste.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted, bubbly, and slightly brown.

Service industry in America

2010-02-15T13:00:00.005-06:00

So I've been in the service industry, mostly hostessing and waiting tables, for about, mmmm, 4-5 years. I refuse to work in corporate-owned restaurants after my first job (disaster!) so now I only work in family owned restaurants. And let me tell you, without seeing the absolute worst treatment of servers (which occurs in corporate restaurants, unsurprisingly), I have some pretty horrific stories.

We'll just disregard what happened this weekend at work.

What I want to talk about is the treatment of service industry folks in the US. These people work long hours dealing directly with other people, do not get health insurance, and are rarely paid over minimum wage. I am obviously biased because I work in the industry, as do almost all of my friends and room mates, but just take a moment to think about all the work that these people do. Think of it in a Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club-esque way... these people wash your car, take care of children, prepare and serve your food, help you find things in the store, ... and guard you while you sleep! (I couldn't help it...)

The typical attitude that managers... and sadly, the ever present asshole customers (of course not all of them are...), hold is that the customer is ALWAYS right. Now, this is good business practice, but to a point. When your employees are barely being paid a living wage and have to deal with all of this anxiety, well, does this seem like a good way for people to live?

I'm starting to think that this is why people "go postal" and come to work "and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers." (sorry, I felt this reference really proved my point).

I just think we need to change the way we treat the service industry employees, I mean, they're the largest body of workers in the country, right? The problem is that Capitalism needs some party to externalize its costs to... and that goes to the service industry people. So that everyone can get cheap goods, the service people are treated horribly and hardly make any money.

So I am writing this post after talking to my favorite cousin about life in America. It seems like we have to go through a lot of crap to get to the all important "American Dream". This high anxiety, time-poor lifestyle we all endure seems to blind us from what is important. We want money, power, things... but at what cost? I, for one, am sick of selling lamb chops and beef kabobs. I am going to change this as soon as I can... and work in a job where people actually give their employees a voice.

Speaking of giving employees a voice, right now I am eating at "Hard Times Cafe", a restaurant that treats its employees right with healthcare and vacation time. It's an all vegetarian/vegan cafe, and I am enjoying one of my *favorite* sandwiches: the Tempeh Reuben. All you non vegetarians may scoff at tempeh (my man being one of them), but all you other veggies know what I'm talking about.
I ate half the sandwich before I realized I was going to take a picture of it. That's what Tempeh does to me.

*For anyone who doesn't know, tempeh is a fermented soybean cake. It's a little like tofu, with a much nuttier taste and a strange texture, which is kind of like softened soybeans. For those of us who can understand textures... its amazing.

So tip your servers right, only complain to managers when you really mean it, and take a moment to look at situations from the service industry employee's perspective: they take a lot of crap, and do the jobs that no one else wants to do. A lot of them are in this country illegally trying to make a living to support their families. They have the same dreams and ambitions as you at a deep level, and they're human beings. Shouldn't we all be treated with equal consideration and respect?

Why Ethics?

2010-02-13T10:40:00.002-06:00

So obviously I am a philosophy student, I'm getting a minor in ethics. I think that ethics are really important to think about. Having an ethical framework helps you make decisions about moral things every day.

Every day?

Yep. Every single day. I think that just about everything we do has an impact on other people. If you sat in a closet all day, maybe you wouldn't need to think about ethical behavior, because you aren't in contact with others. Everything we do, buy a coffee, go to work, buy and read the newspaper, and especially, EAT, has far reaching implications that effect other people, animals, and the environment.

That's why cooking with ethical implications in mind is important. Eating is another thing we do EVERY DAY. So, as Michael Pollan would say, that's three votes a day with your fork. You could choose to conform to the status quo of the typical American: processed food, meat, added sugar, added fat, and chemical enhancers and sweeteners.

Or, if you don't like the fact that we dump all kinds of fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides into our fields and food (some which have the potential to cause cancer and disrupt ecosystems), or that both farmers and field laborers hardly make enough of a living to feed their families, or that our nation's waistlines are growing considerably (Mrs. Obama said 1 in 3 kids are obese or overweight) and the rates of diet related disease are skyrocketing, or that farm animals are treated as commodities instead of sentient beings....

These are the reasons I eat conscientiously. I eat mostly plants, which are mostly organic, and I do the best I can to buy local products, even though on a waitress' salary, it's kind of tough. When we get meat for my man, I insist on no hormone, preferably organic and local.

So keep your values in mind when you eat. If everyone did it, the world would be a different place.

Potato Curry, Raita, and Naan: An Indian Feast.

2010-02-12T00:49:00.012-06:00

It has been ridiculously snowy this week, and I thought that it was prime time for some heat in the kitchen. And while, in retrospect, it would have been a smarter idea to turn the oven on, we made some pretty awesome potato curry. This recipe was from Practical Cooking: Vegetarian, my favorite cook book because of all the different interesting recipes it contains. From Thai Noodles to Veggie Wellington, these recipes are seriously amazing. I'll make sure try new ones, but I'll definitely give credit where it's due! So potato curry came from this cook book, the Raita recipe came from All Recipes, and we bought some Naan at the store.

The Raita is really creamy and kind of cleanses the palate between bites of the thick, spicy potato curry. If you don't like too much spice, just leave out some of the pepper.

Potato Curry and Raita with Naan

Like all the best dishes, start out with some potatoes.
Three to be exact.
Two Onions
For some reason, the cats LOVE smashing my groceries.
Three giant cloves of garlic, crushed
Four tomatoes...
1 cup Cauliflower florets
2 tablespoons cilantro
... and also 3/4 cup peas. I used canned.
Cut the Onion into quarters.
Crush the garlic
Cut the potatoes into equal pieces. Next time I make this, I will definitely cut these into smaller pieces. Like half the size of these. It took forever to cook... and I even nuked them in the microwave first!

Peel the tomatoes. I thought this step was ridiculous... but the result was great and apparently I'm pretty good at peeling tomatoes. I'm still toying with the idea of using stewed tomatoes next time.
Next, cut the tomatoes into quarters.

Now heat some vegetable oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan or skillet. I used my trusty, not-so-rusty-anymore cast iron skillet.
Add the potatoes, onions, and crushed garlic, and fry, stirring frequently, over low heat for a couple minutes.
Add 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. ginger
Chilies... the recipe recommends 1 fresh chili but I used 3 dried ones.
But I really like spice.
The first on the left is garam masala, next is coriander, then cumin. The little container is ginger, then turmeric, and finally, a giant container of chillies.
Mmmmmmhhh...
Now fry for about a minute at low heat, stirring constantly.
Next add the cauliflower florets, tomatoes, peas, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, and 1 and 1/4 cups stock (I just used water).
Cook this on a low heat for 30-40 minutes or until potatoes are cooked all the way through and but still tender.

This is gonna take a loooong time. Now it's time to make the Raita.

I kind of changed the recipe from allrecipes.com to suit my liking.

start out with 2 cucumbers, and seed and chop them.

Don't worry. I was being very careful and I moved my hand right after the picture.
Next, seed and dice one tomato.
My peeler is pretty awesome.
Now add about 2 cloves of garlic, minced.

And add 2 cups of unsweetened yogurt and 1 tsp. cumin
Add salt and pepper to taste. Done with that!

This is taking forever.
Seriously, next time I will make smaller pieces.
It's so close to being done... I also made rice to go along with this meal, as you can see...
It's done!
It smelled so good!!!
Now I heated up the naan over the stove in a skillet so it was nice and pliable.

And serve the curry with cilantro as a garnish (or pretty much all over it) with some Raita and rice on the side with naan! I wish we had more.
I love how the cauliflower turned into this light yellowy color.

Enjoy!

Potato, Artichoke, and Cauliflower Four Cheese Casserole

2010-01-31T18:12:00.031-06:00

I reckon the three best vegetables to eat with cheese are, hands down, potatoes, artichokes, and cauliflower. So all three in a casserole with four cheeses, so I reasoned yesterday, is a pretty ingenious idea.

I was totally right.

I saw a similar recipe in my favorite cook book, "Vegetarian Practical Cooking" last night, so I made this casserole for dinner. It has Gruyère, Gorgongonzola, Parmesan, and sharp Cheddar cheese both in the sauce and on top.

And it was amazing.

Serve this over rice and with a salad. I made brown rice and a pear, Gorgonzola, and pecan salad.

Potato, Artichoke, and Cauliflower Four Cheese Casserole
Start boiling some salted water in a medium or large pot. Get out some baby red potatoes.
Chop them up into uniform pieces so they'll cook fast and evenly. Plop potatoes into boiling water. But don't forget about them.

While those puppies are cooking, cut up about 2 cups of cauliflower. I tried to make mine uniformly sized...
Next chop up 1/2 a red onion. I tried a new technique this time, I chopped the onion in half and cut off the end. Then cut it in one direction, rotate 90 degrees, and cut it again.
Next, smash three cloves of garlic and mince.
And finally, open up a can of quartered artichokes. My casserole had one can of artichokes, minus one.
But don't cut yourself on the can. I usually manage to at least once. But this time, I didn't at all!

Boil potatoes until tender but still firm. This usually takes about 15 minutes. I usually test if they're done by poking them with a knife.

Drain these guys when they're done and set them aside, or do as I did and dump them in your 9 inch casserole dish.

Next, steam the cauliflower. Cook until tender, this took about 10 minutes.
Dump these in your casserole dish on top of your baby red potatoes.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in your good ol' rusty trusty cast iron skillet.
And start cookin' your onions and garlic. Mmmmmmm... Sautee until almost done.
Now here's the hard part. Add 4 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup) of flour to the butter. Cook the roux (butter/flour mix) for about a minute. I had my boyfriend help on this part. It's really hard to stir and pour the flour at the same time. It should start to look like this:
After you let it cook for a minute, turn down the heat a little and start adding the milk, a cup at a time, and bring milk to a boil. Right after it starts boiling, dump in the artichokes.
Reduce heat and simmer until mixture gets a little thicker, maybe about 7 minutes, stirring regularly.

Here are all the cheeses I used:
Add in half of the cheese, or about 1/2 cup of Gruyère, Gorgonzola, and sharp cheddar, and 1/4 cup parmesan. The sauce will start to look like this. This is definitely done.

Now the roux is finished. I use variations of this recipe for mac 'n cheese and other cheesy veggie casseroles...
Dump this sauce over potatoes and cauliflower.
Then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top with 1 tablespoon thyme.
Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

And now it's time to clean up my mess...
And take out the veggie scraps to the compost pile!
And finally, its done!!
Mine turned out a little brown, just perfect for my liking!

Garnish with a couple sprigs of thyme and serve on rice!

Potato, Artichoke, and Cauliflower Four Cheese Casserole

2 1/2 cups cubed baby red potatoes
2 cups cubed cauliflower
1/2 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz. can quartered artichokes
4 tbl. butter
4 tbl. flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup each Gruyère, Gorgonzola, and sharp Cheddar
1/2 cup Parmesan
1 tablespoon thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil baby red potatoes until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Steam cauliflower, about 10 minutes. Dump potatoes into 9 inch casserole dish, and layer cauliflower on top. Melt butter in pan, and sautee garlic and onion until almost cooked through. Next, slowly add in 4 tablespoons of flour to make a roux. Cook for a minute, then turn down the heat and add the milk slowly, mixing to dissolve butter and flour. Add artichokes, and bring milk to a boil, stirring regularly. Reduce heat and simmer until it starts to thicken, about 7 minutes or so. Add half the cheeses and stir to melt into sauce. Pour sauce over potatoes and cauliflower, and sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese and 1 tablespoon chopped thyme. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Garnish with sprigs of thyme

First Post!

2010-01-29T15:13:00.000-06:00

So I'm doing THIS instead of doing homework today.... Much more fun!!

Since I don't have any specific topic or recipe to share today, I'll use this time to shamelessly promote my Do It Green! U of M club and share some pictures of food and kitties. This week at Do It Green, we talked about campaigns for teaching dorm residents about what they can do to reduce their environmental impact. My expertise is in sustainable food, but the dorms already have a great sustainable food program through UDS (university dining services). Check out their program here
http://www1.umn.edu/dining/awareness.html

So we are going to focus on other topics, such as recycling, transportation, and water and energy conservation. I'll post pictures of these parts of the campaign later.

Lately, I've been trying to eat according to Michael Pollan's suggestions (Author of Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food), which includes following his food rules: Eat food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants. I've been successful thus far, and I thought I'd share some photos and recipes of things I've made.

First, here's a recipe from Do It Green! Minnesota, who partnered with Chef Heather Hartman from Spoonriver, which is a sustainable and mostly vegetarian restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. Do It Green partnered with local chefs last year to develop recipes to help average people lower their carbon "food-print". Pretty clever, huh?

Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Bisque with Cider Syrup

Butternut Apple Bisque with Cider Syrup
and Puffed Wild Rice Chef Heather Hartman, SpoonRiver
serves 8
4 c. apple cider, divided

2 c. wild rice
6 c. water

2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2 in. cubes
3 c. water or stock
2½ c. thinly sliced leeks
4 Tbl. butter
²⁄³ tsp. salt
1 c. whole milk
3 apples, peeled and diced

Bring 2½ cups cider to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook until reduced to ½ cup (about 20 minutes). Cool, place in small jar, cover and chill.

In a large sauce pan, bring 6 cups water to a boil. Add 2 cups wild rice, reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Boil wild rice for 50-60 minutes or until rice puffs open. Set aside.

In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the 1½ c. cider, squash, water or stock, and apples. Cook covered for 20 minutes or until squash is soft. Stir in the milk and the salt. Cool slightly and blend in a blender until smooth. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Pour back into large sauce pan and bring back to a simmer. Add wild rice. Drizzle 1 Tbl. of cider syrup on top. Serve hot.

This soup has an absolutely gorgeous color... This is before we stirred in the rice. I'd suggest halving this recipe, just because you end up with A LOT of soup.

Also, with all of the squash seeds we removed, we made roasted seeds!

Allright, I have time to show off one more recipe I've made lately...

Bread machine calzones with artichokes, red peppers, and sun dried tomato alfredo.

So I have a tendency to cheat sometimes, and here is an example. I used the bread machine to make my dough, and I used a jar of sauce instead of making my own (oops!)

Calzone recipe is from Allrecipes, the rest is my own.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Fillin' (for two calzones)
Artichokes (canned is fine), about 1 cup
Red Onion, diced, about 1/2 cup
One red pepper, diced
one clove of garlic, minced
LOTS of feta cheese, crumbled
olive oil
... and feel free to add any other ingredients, mushrooms, olives, parmesan cheese, asparagus... whatever you have on hand!

Sautee red onion and garlic, and add rest of veggies. Sautee until cooked to a little before done. Remember, they'll get a little more cooking in the oven.

Directions

To Make Dough: Place water, yeast, sugar, flour, and salt in the pan of the bread machine, in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle. After cycle is completed, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Split dough in half and shape into two rectangles using a rolling pin. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet, and spoon sun dried tomato alfredo sauce lengthwise down the center of the dough, followed by sauteed veggies and feta cheese. Make diagonal cuts 1 1/2 inches apart down each long side of the dough rectangle, cutting to within 1/2 inch of the filling (Don't get too close or the sauce will spill out!) . Criss-cross cut strips of dough over the filling and seal edges with water. Brush top of calzone with melted butter.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

Gorgeous, huh?
Mine was the one on the right... Derrick made the other one.

I win.

Here are a few other pics of things I've made, and I plan to make again!
Cauliflower, potato, and cherry tomato casserole with a smoked cheddar cheese sauce

Home Made English Muffins
A Happy Man!

Eggplant Parmesan for me and Chicken Parmesan for Derrick!

Vegetable Dumpling Soup (Potato, celery, carrots, onion)
And Last, but of course not least, here's my kitty posing next to a packet of catnip seeds. She looks just like the cat on the package! I'm such a nerd.
Until next time,
Peace!
AleeCat