Gorgeous weather for gardening.

The weather in the tri-state area has been just gorgeous lately. We spent most of the weekend sitting outside on the back deck, enjoying the greenery that has finally decided to appear on the trees (as well as getting a nosefull of pollen!).

The container garden that I’ve started is mostly doing quite well. The kohlrabi can’t decide whether it wants to live or die. The lettuce and spinach did die while I was in New Orleans, but I resowed it and hopefully we’ll have that come up. All of the tiny tiny seedlings that were in the trays inside didn’t make it (due, it would seem, to someone in the house, I won’t name names, wanting to be helpful and watering a bit too much). But, just about everything did ok outside, so I haven’t had to replace much. The only thing I really had a hard time with was the peppers, and I’ve started them outside again this week.

The carrots are doing wonderfully. And take a look at the broccoli and peas! Can you believe it?

Also, in the short week that I was in New Orleans, my apple tree (that looked little more than a skinny stick in a bucket of dirt when I left) grew a whole bunch of leaves! Check it out!

It’s warming up enough here to start sowing some stuff directly into the ground. We’re still not sure what our plans are for moving, but since we live with my partner’s mom, who also likes gardening, we can always just leave her a yummy harvest if we find a great apartment mid-summer. So, Sunday, I put in a short row of soy beans and a short row of royal burgundy bush beans.

We started talking about plans for a triangular trellis for the sugar baby watermelons, which I started inside today. Another summer treat we’ll have is corn. Today, I sowed about a 3.5′x3.5′ patch (I know that Charlie is going to tell me that I’m way off in my estimate, since I’m terrible at them) of corn. I have space on either side of the patch to do more corn, too. One of the sections needs to be cleared of forget-me-nots and weeds, and the other is ready to go. I’m planning to plant the corn in succession so that we don’t have a glut all at once. So, in two or three weeks, I should be ready to plant the next patch of corn. I may also plant my pumpkins over there, both because there would be room for them to vine and because they give important nutrients to the corn. We’ll see – it’s early for that.

I actually planted a handful of flowers, too. Usually I stick to veggies, but I had a wildflower mix that I decided to toss in a window box, and I’d gotten some painted daisy seeds from the seed library. I was planning to plant them in a pair of old polka-dotted rain boots, but they’re MIA at the moment, so I started them in pots that would set just about properly in the boots, and I’ll look a little harder for the boots in the next few weeks.

One last funny note about the garden. As you might have read, we had some hoop houses to keep the kale warm when it was very chilly. Well, I uncovered the hoops when I got home from NOLA, and the kale was doing ok, but I had some really healthy looking tomato plants, perfectly spaced out! It was pretty funny. I used compost to get that area going, so there must have been a few seeds that snuck in that our wormies didn’t process. They look so healthy that I think I’ll let them grow! With any luck, they’re seeds from the heirloom tomatoes we get in our CSA share.

Black Bean Bonanza

In this recipe, you’ll get a night of black bean tacos, plus a night of delicious black bean burgers, all out of the same pot of beans!

Charlie and I have been trying to live more frugally and more healthily, and one of the things that means for us is trying to use less processed fake meats.

Why less processed fake meats?

• They’re more expensive than some proteins. Even at the most expensive store I can think of in the area, organic black beans are $1.99 for a pound, and there are places that you can get them for half of that, at least. The Gardein Crispy Tender Strips that I love so much are $3.99 for 9oz (and are much less filling).

• Fake meats are less sustainable than legumes since they’re more processed, so more fuel, electricity, etc, has to be used to produce them.

• Dried beans & legumes can often be purchased in bulk, which eliminates the need for wasteful packaging. If you’re cool like me & Charlie, you might even bring your own bulk and produce bags made out of old teeshirts.

• Fake meats may be healthier than real meats, but they’re definitely not whole foods, and we want to eat as healthy foods as we can.

Now, one of the problems that I face in terms of using dried beans is that a lot of them have to be soaked overnight, especially my favorite, black beans. (Soak overnight if you’re planning to slow cook in the morning. Soak all day if you’re planning to cook on the stove at night.) Between typical human forgetfulness and fibro fog+lyme brain, I almost never remember to do this. On Sunday, I even woke up early and said to Charlie, “Hey, I’m going to go soak the beans! I’ll cook them on the stovetop instead of the slow cooker, and we can eat them for dinner tonight!” I then promptly forgot for at least three hours.

After that fail and some googling, I learned that if you find yourself in this situation, you can boil the black beans for two minutes, then let them soak in the hot water for two hours instead of all day. I’d say that the cook time was a bit longer than usual, but it definitely worked out well.

Anyway, my plan for our Sunday night dinner was black bean tacos. We eat tacos fairly often, but usually with refried beans from a can. We made a big pot of black beans and used about a third of it for tacos. The next night, I made black bean burgers, which were pretty incredible. We still have four patties left to freeze. Charlie, though he is a tofu-loving meat eater, is not a big veggie burger fan, but he ate the whole thing. He said that it wasn’t quite a burger, but it was definitely a good sandwich.

I served the burgers with cheese and avocado on top, and with carrot sticks, orange slices, and kale chips. It was an easy meal that was really healthy. If you want to make things really easy on yourself, keep a few burger buns in the freezer along with your burgers so you’ll be ready to go.

Ingredients – Black Bean Mixture Base

2 cups dried black beans
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large roma tomato, chopped
4 oz mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 packet natural taco seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin

Directions

In a medium to large pot of water, bring the black beans to a boil for two minutes, then let them soak for a minimum of two hours. (If you have the time, soak in cold water overnight as this retains more nutrients.)

At the end of the soaking time, drain off the water and replace with about 4 cups of water. Simmer on medium-low heat for about an hour, then add the onion, tomato, and mushrooms. Simmer for another 30 minutes or until the beans are soft enough to eat and the water has reduced. If you prefer your burgers to have a plainer taste or a different spice, you can remove a portion of black beans (probably 1/3) for tacos and leave the rest for burgers, but keep in mind that the seasoning amounts here are for the entire batch.

Use what you will for tacos. Store the extra black beans in a container in the fridge until the next night, when you’ll make the black bean burgers (unless you’re feeling super ambitious and want to do it immediately). When transferring the bean mixture to a container, use a slotted spoon so that any excess liquid does not transfer to the container.

Yield: Enough for tacos for two hungry people who really like tacos, and six large black bean burgers.

Ingredients – Homemade Black Bean Burgers

3 cups seasoned black bean mixture
1 large egg
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon dried cilantro (use 1 tablespoon fresh if possible)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375*F. Using a potato masher or a pastry blender, smash the black bean mixture in a medium bowl until it is the desired consistency (I prefer to leave some beans whole). Add the egg and mix well. Add breadcrumbs, cilantro, and parsley and stir, ensuring the they are evenly distributed. Finally, add the corn. Shape the mixture into patties (we got six large patties out of it) with your hands.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Fry briefly in a pan with olive oil until browned on both sides if desired.

To store in the freezer, place a sheet of wax paper in between the burgers so that they don’t stick together. To reheat from frozen, let sit on the counter for about 5 minutes (ok, this just happened because I was prepping other things last night). Bake at 375*F for 10 minutes on each side, then fry in a pan with a bit of olive oil until browned on both sides.

It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I bet adding some nutritional yeast (perhaps 2 tablespoons) would be a great addition when the breadcrumbs go in. Next batch, I’ll experiment!

Dahl with Spinach Rice

When I was growing up, we never ate Indian food. We actually hardly ever ate any regional foods except for Italian (part of my heritage) and Chinese takeout (when we were sick of pizza). I didn’t try sushi until high school, hadn’t had Korean food until college, and even many European specialties never crossed my plate until I traveled there.

One type of food I was really hesitant about was Indian food. I’d figured out at some point during my life that I don’t like what we traditionally think of when we say “curry,” and for a while, I was one of the folks that thought Indian food=curry, which is totally incorrect. The great thing about Indian food is that there’s often a ton of vegetarian options, so really, once I figured out what I liked, I was golden. (I just have to watch out for the super spicy stuff! I absolutely can’t do really spicy things – I think it has to do with sensory overload in relation to my fibromyalgia.)

My favorite Indian dish is dahl, which is a spiced (but not too spicy) lentil dish, usually served over rice. Sometimes it’s got some veggies like cauliflower or spinach in it, though it comes plain, too. Where we live, there aren’t many Indian restaurants, and the ones here are kind of pricey, so it’s a rare treat to be able to go out for Indian food. Funny enough, we’re actually kind of broke this month since we just bought a used car from a friend, so we turned to our bulk foods like lentils and rice instead of expensive fake meats. And then… our attempt at dahl was born.

Since I was busy baking cookies for a cookie contest, Charlie took the helm on this recipe. And, as usual when Charlie cooks, he estimates a bit more than I do (since he’s not used to writing down exact quantities for a blog, haha), so you might need to adjust these all a tiny bit to taste.

Ingredients: (Dahl)

sesame oil to coat pan
1/2 onion, chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup lentils, soaked in water for 45 minutes
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon corriander
1 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayanne
2 small tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
dash cilantro
salt and black pepper to taste

Directions: (Dahl)

In a medium stock pot, saute the onion, ginger, and garlic in sesame oil until the onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and cook for one minute. While stirring, add the stock and lentils. Add the spices, including the salt and pepper. Cook covered for 20 minutes. Cook uncovered until it reaches desired consistency (we like it less runny). Stir in lime juice. Serve over over spinach rice and/or with naan.

Ingredients: Spinach Rice

4 cups of cooked white or basmati rice
1/2 onion, chopped finely
4 cloves of garlic, microplaned to create a paste
1 tablespoon ginger, microplaned to create a paste
2 tablespoons lemon
2 cups of spinach, finely chiffonaded
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground corriander seed
salt to taste

Directions: (Spinach Rice)

Saute the onion in a bit of oil in a large pan. When the onion is translucent, add the garlic and ginger pastes and cook very briefly. Add the spinach, lemon, cumin, and corriander seed, and cook for about a minute. Add the rice and stir. Salt to taste.

Lentil Leftovers Hand Pies

Usually I try to post things that are my own brilliant ideas, creative creations, or invented recipes, but this week, I saw something someone else had made and I just had to make it and share it with everyone.

First, a confession: I am the worst person at making the most ridiculous, giant pots of soup on the planet. They come out delicious and wonderful, but… in obscene quantities. I put on some stock simmering, then chop up some of this vegetable, then decide that some of that vegetable could go in, then, OOH, I didn’t realize we had some of this left! and so on and so forth. And then the beans and the grains expand more than you thought they would, you have to transfer to a bigger pot, et cetera, et cetera. Even when I try to make a small batch of soup, we have leftovers for days.

And that’s what happened this week. It had been raining for days and the forecast said more rain. It was cold in our house. So I made a thick lentil stew with veggies from the farm share. (This is your recipe, if you’re wanting one…) An onion. Some garlic. A potato. A couple of carrots. Some miscellaneous greens (beet greens and something else that I’ve never been able to identify but tastes mildly cabbagey). Some barley. A giant, ripe heirloom tomato. Most of a cup of lentils. I threw it together with some bullion cubes and a few bay leaves, some parsley and thyme from the garden, and let it all cook down for a long while.

The soup was great, and incredibly filling, which is why there was way too much soup. Another contributing factor was that Charlie stopped by our favorite local bakery to pick up some hearty marbled rye bread to go with it. So, in our fridge there was a big container of leftovers.

And that day, The Cast-Iron Darling posted a recipe for Chili Hand Pies made with leftover chili.

Brilliant! Perfect! It’s a rare treat to find empanadas that are vegetarian, let alone hand pies. I thought about mixing in some cumin and making the lentils more like a taco filling, and I thought about putting some cheese in there, but in the end, I just left them alone. I made a pie crust from scratch using (you guessed it) Charlie’s Consistent Win Pie Crust, except I used half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour. I would have tried out The Cast Iron Darling’s recipe, but it required eggs and we had zero, which is also why there is no eggwash on my hand pie.

I got about six out of Charlie’s recipe, though I still have lentil stew left and am thinking of making another round.

Charlie and I had them for dinner one night, and I also had one for a snack after I’d frozen them. I put it in the microwave for two minutes and it came out perfectly. The crust stayed crusty and everything.

Thanks, Cast-Iron Darling, for this awesome idea!

Slow Cooker Heirloom Tomato Sauce

No, I still haven’t learned how to can.

Yes, I am seriously considering buying stuff to can with, especially since I love apple picking and Charlie can’t really eat raw apples, which leaves us with dozens and dozens of apples for hahas.

But, that has not stopped me from making tomato sauce! Two or three times now, actually. It’s even more worth it since we have a slow cooker that does the majority of the work for me.

You see, we’ve been getting a ton of tomatoes in our farm share nearly every week. Sometimes they’re in beautiful condition, and sometimes they’re a bit soft. We’ve been averaging at least two pounds a week, and sometimes we’ve been getting as many as four pounds a week, and that is a lot of tomatoes for two people to go through. Seeing as the strongest cultural background that I have is Italian (I have other roots, too, but none of those relatives are really around or celebrate their backgrounds), I figured that I should really learn to make an awesome tomato sauce.

This tomato sauce is pretty awesome.

Starting with really flavorful tomatoes is key. The heirloom tomatoes we’ve been getting from the farm are beautiful, in all different colors – yellow, orange, green zebra, deep reds. All of them have deep flavors. If you don’t want to go through the trouble, you can start with tomatoes from a can, but whatever you do, don’t pick sad, pale tomatoes from the store. Pick ones that are vibrant, like romas or on-the-vine tomatoes.

Now, the part that’s the biggest pain in the ass is peeling the tomatoes. Most of you probably know the trick of boiling a pot of water, dunking the tomatoes in for about a minute, and then fishing them out. The skins come right off after that. It works even better if you slice an X into the bottom before you stick them in the pot.

If you’ve got a decent food processor or immersion blender, though, and you’re low on spoons, time, or energy, you can make a more rustic sauce by just throwing the tomatoes in with the skins on. Yeah, skins, seeds, whatever. I had Bo’s immersion blender that he forgot at my house and decided to go for it, and it turned out just as awesome. Make sure you wash the tomatoes first if you’re going to go this route, cut out the stem, and this would be a good time to choose organic, since you’ll be eating the skin (tomatoes are a good time to choose organic, anyway, since the skin is so thin that the chemicals are said to leech through, as opposed to something like an orange or a banana that has a tougher skin that we usually don’t eat).

Here’s what my tomatoes looked like one of the times that I decided to peel them…

Ingredients

3-4 pounds fresh heirloom tomatoes, chopped (skins removed/seeded if you’d like)
1 stalk celery, minced
1 whole onion, finely chopped
4 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 small pepper, finely chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh basil
3 tablespoons fresh oregano
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
black pepper
1 tablespoon earth balance (you can use butter, too)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup wine
1/2 can of organic tomato paste (optional)

Directions

As always, slow cookers have vastly different times, so take this with a grain of salt and do what you think will be best for your slow cooker. Usually when I try a new slow cooker recipe, I stay at home for the first time making it, and then I’ll “set it and forget it” for future excursions.

Sautee the garlic in a pan in a bit of oil on medium heat for about one minute. Add the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes or until translucent. Remove from heat.

Dump the tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic, mushrooms, pepper, olive oil, wine, and bay leaves into the slow cooker. Wait until later on to decide if you want the tomato paste.

Cook on low for about 6 hours. If your sauce is looking pretty soupy (mine usually does), remove the lid and cook on high for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

I keep telling myself that I’m going to put in some tomato paste, and I have a can stashed in the cupboard, but the tomatoes have been so flavorful and rich that I haven’t had to. If yours come out a bit bland, though, it’s a good way to give it a bit of a concentrated punch.

Once it’s cooked down, you can salt and pepper to taste, add the tomato paste if you need it, toss that little pat of butter or earth balance in, and add in all your fresh herbs. You can let it simmer for a bit longer, but not too long, as you don’t want to degrade the herbs too much. Use it immediately, freeze it, or put it in a jar in the fridge and use it in a couple of days.

First farm share salad of the season.

Our CSA started yesterday, and we were delighted to pick up a variety of greens. Our share will increase in the later months, but in June, we mostly get leafy stuff. Although we definitely need ingredients from the grocery store or farmers markets still (the CSA share is meant to supplement your veggies, not eliminate the need to go to the store), we are utilizing many of the things we got in the share this week for dinner tonight.

If you’re getting a CSA, this is a great article about making the most of it.

I bet we’ll be eating our fresh farm share strawberries for dessert, too. Yum….

Ingredients

prize head lettuce (CSA)
mixed chard (CSA)
oriental greens (CSA)
sunflower sprouts (CSA)
green onions (texas super sweet variety) (CSA)
cucumber
tomatoes
portabella mushroom cap
carrots
gardein seven grain crispy tenders
trader joe’s goddess salad dressing

Directions

Prepare fickin* tenders according to package directions.

Make a damn salad!

*”fake chicken”

Buying seedlings, but not from a giant corporation.

I’ve decided to buy some seedlings.

*gasp*

I know, I know. This whole time I’ve been talking about starting everything from seed. It’s better to start from seed because then you don’t risk bringing in the diseases and pests that might be hanging around your local Lowe’s or gardening center. Besides, the seedlings at our local Lowe’s looked pretty badly taken care of the last time we were there.

So, what put it in my head to buy seedlings, then?

Well, it’s almost June. June is when our CSA deliveries begin! Yay! We’re excited to have the fresh vegetables come in while my tiny seedlings are still attempting to grow. I went to our CSA’s webpage the other day to see if they’d decided on a start date for our deliveries yet (they haven’t – it all depends on the veggies) and what did I find but the annual heirloom tomato sale.

I’m not really interested in growing tomatoes. We get a ton of gorgeous tomatoes once the share starts coming in, and our friend Justin has been working on growing his tomatoes for months already, so his are going to be fabulous. We’re going to do some veggie swapping with him for sure, assuming that I’m able to get some veggies out of my seedlings.

A little poking around on the website made me realize that they have other seedlings, too, not just tomatoes. Obviously, these are people whose growing practices I support – I can’t wait to eat the food they grow this summer! It’s also a way for me support the farm a bit more since they do so much for the members. We really have one of the best shares around this area, in my opinion.

I am, of course, also a little nervous still about how small some of my seedlings are still, especially the herbs. I’m hoping that they’ll all prosper and be awesome, but buying some seedlings is another way for me to guarantee that we’ll have a crop of veggies in our backyard this year. Charlie and I talked it over a bit, and at the terrific price the CSA was offering – $3.00 a seedling/set of seedlings, depending on the plant, with a 16.5% discount if you buy at least $30 worth, we decided to go for it. (I don’t really know what they’re supposed to cost, but for super organic plants that are leaps and bounds ahead of mine, that are also contributing to the well-being of all the happy veggies I’ll get all summer, it seems quite fair.) They’ll come in 3″ pots and they’ll already be 6-8″ tall!

So what did I buy? Mostly herbs! Our thyme and marjoram are doing ok, but not fantastic, and our rosemary is doing pretty well if not a little spindly. I was planning to start the other herbs from seed outdoors when it got warm, but since the other ones have come up so damn slowly, I decided to secure my awesome herb garden a bit more. I bought five basil seedlings (large leaf Italian variety) – we’re going to be making some awesome pesto to put up for later in the year, two Greek oregano seedlings, one extra German thyme seedling, just in case, and two moss curly parsley seedlings.

And, since I couldn’t help myself, I decided to get two black beauty eggplant seedlings. We grill those suckers all the time in the summer, and probably will even more frequently since Charlie just got a brand new fancy grill for his birthday. I think I’m going to grow those in containers, but I need to do a little bit more research first. I’m hoping that Farmer Rich will be at the pickup on Saturday to give me a bit of advice!

The downside is that we missed the date for the pickup that’s near us, but the upside is that we get to go for a nice drive in the “country” and possibly stop in to see our friends Teresa and Mikey, who live not too far from the plant pickup location and are moving all the way to Texas next week.

Lentils for Lamb Shepherd’s Pie

Finally updated with a picture! It’s not the most gorgeous thing to photograph, but it tastes amazing!

When our vegan friend Milo from California was living in New York for a few months, he came to our house often. We made some righteous rice and beans on numerous occasions, and maybe had a stirfry once or twice, but we were looking for something more innovative one night, so I came up with this. I remembered seeing a jar of red lentils in my cabinet at the time, so I figured I could substitute them for the meat that’s usually found in a traditional shepherd’s pie.

When we made this originally, I did most of the research, and Charlie did most of the cooking, and we all (me, Charlie, my sister, and Milo) did lots of eating. This recipe was delicious, and the portions were hearty. We all had seconds, and Milo and my sister each took a portion to work the next day. It was great for us for four hungry people and leftovers, so if you want a less serious amount, I’d suggest cutting it in half. The yield was about two 9-inch square casserole dishes.

One of these days I’m going to try to convert this recipe for my crockpot, because I think it would be amazing, even if it came out a little… less neat? Heheh. I’ll update when I do.

Here’s what it looks like during the assembly process.

Ingredients

1 cup of red lentils, soaked in cold water for 40 minutes
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 medium carrots, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1/2 package sliced mushrooms
1 small can of corn (or 1 cup of frozen corn)
[1Tbsp of finely chopped fresh parsley - we didn't have this ingredient, but I'm sure it's tasty]
1 28oz canned of whole tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 1/2 cups of water
1 1/2 tsp of sea salt
2 Tbsp olive oil

Special equipment: baking casseroles or ramekins

6 large yellow potatoes, peeled and quartered
1-2 tablespoons earth balance
1 tsp of sea salt
Cheddar cheese for grating (optional, ours was vegan)

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Drain the lentils. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add the celery, carrots, and corn. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the salt and chopped tomatoes to the mixture. Stir well and then simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the water and the red lentils, then lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until liquid reduces. (The recipe called for 25 minutes of simmer, but since we made our mashed potatoes vegan, they were a bit drier so we wanted our lentil mixture to be wetter, and this adjustment came out just fine.)

Add the herbs and stir well. Taste the mixture and add more salt if necessary.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until soft (about 20 minutes).

Drain the potatoes and then add olive oil and salt. Set aside.

Once the liquid from the lentils has reduced, spoon them into the ramekins and then gently spread the mashed potato on top. Grate on the cheese, if using, and then bake pies in the oven for 20 minutes or until the potato has formed a crust. If not using cheese, cover with aluminum foil for the first 15 minutes of cooking so the potatoes don’t dry out too much.

Remove the pies from the oven and then serve. To reheat the pies, simply put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes on 350F.

Serve with a mixed green salad.

Tobarnut Soup

Tobarnut Soup is Tomato, Barley, and Butternut Squash Soup.

[I should have posted this weeks ago! Oops!]

We had some tomatoes that were accumulating from our farm share, despite the fact that there has been a terrible blight that has affected the tomatoes in our area this season. Somehow, farmer Rich has managed to get us a variety of tomatoes, including some lovely heirloom tomatoes which we really enjoyed. I had about four large tomatoes (three red and one yellowy-orange) and two small yellow tomatoes, so I was plotting a tomato soup. When the butternut squash arrived this week alongside a few of the large tomatoes, I started imagining putting the two together. I’ve got a great creamy tomato soup recipe that I’m sure I’ll post here one day that I finally got around to posting, but for now, I’ve decided to combine tomatoes, roasted butternut squash, and barley for another slow cooker soup.

It may seem like our house is overrun with soup these days, but I like to put the soup in little individual containers and put them in the freezer. We’ve also had pretty much the entire household with some kind of cough and sniffles, though we’re not sure if it’s allergies or what. Either way, soup has been a very welcome meal.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium butternut squash
2 tablespoons flour
3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup barley
1 tablespoon fresh basil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1 cup light cream or milk (optional)
1/4 cup or so grated parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions

Cut butternut squash lengthwise and place face up on a lightly greased baking sheet. Roast the butternut squash in a 400 degree oven for about 30-60 minutes (depending on the size and shape of your squash) or until soft enough to scoop.

Let cool, then scoop out the part with the seeds and discard. Remove the skin. Mash the flesh, either with a fork, a potato masher, or a blender.

I’ve made this soup twice now, and the first time I made it where I blended the tomatoes before they went in, and the second time I didn’t. If you want a very smooth soup, you should do this, but otherwise, don’t worry about it – being in a slow cooker will break it down a bunch.

Toss the olive oil, onions, and flour together in the bottom of the slowcooker. Ideally, you’d do this in a medium sized pot, heating the oil on medium heat, then adding the onions, cooking for about 3-5 minutes or until soft, then adding the flour, stirring constantly, cooking about one minute, not allowing it to brown. But, since this is a slowcooker, and I was in a hurry and didn’t want to wash another pot, I just threw it all in and it worked out just fine.

Add the onion mixture to the slow cooker. Pour the chopped (or blended) tomatoes over the onion mixture and stir well. Add the mashed butternut squash. Stir well.

Stir the barley, basil, rosemary, bay leaf, and parsley in. Add a bit of salt and pepper, but you may need more later.

Set the slow cooker to “low” and check on it in about 5-6 hours.

When the barley is soft, probably after about 6 hours in the slow cooker, be sure to remove the bay leaf, then add the parmesan cheese (optional). Add the milk or cream*, if desired, and stir. Taste to adjust for more salt and pepper if needed.

*The barley tends to soak up a lot of liquid even once the soup is done cooking, so for my freezer portions, I omitted the milk, and I’ll add it back when I heat the soup.

Foster Cats Tomato Soup

A friend of mine was talking about restaurant quality tomato soup, and I thought I should dig this recipe out from my archives that I never got around to posting here.

This is called Foster Cats Tomato Soup because about a year ago, my sister, Bianca, needed someone to watch her cats for a few months. Our friends Micah and Casey stepped up to bat, and we would sometimes go over to their place in Brooklyn on a Saturday afternoon to visit with the cats and have lunch. We’d take turns cooking, and when it came to my turn, this was one of the first things I made. Served, of course, with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Homemade tomato soup is much easier than you think, and it doesn’t have all the junk that the stuff from a can has in it.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 tablespoons flour
2 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, juices reserved (I used crushed for time sake)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil (I used dried)
2 teaspoons fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves (I used dried)
1 bay leaf
1 cup light cream or milk (I used heavy cream)
1/4 cup or so grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
(Optional) 1 cup ish cooked white rice (We cooked it in the rice cooker)

Directions

In a large nonreactive saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and carrot and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes without allowing to color. Add tomatoes with their juices, broth, tomato paste, basil, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer stirring frequently, 15 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

In a food processor or blender, puree soup in batches until smooth (if you’re particularly lucky, you can use an immersion blender to accomplish this). Return to pan and stir in cream and parmesan cheese. Add rice (if using). Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes, and serve.

Eggplant Caprese Sandwich

Charlie’s school semester just started up again, and his courses are not only a bit more serious (he’s loading up on sociology and social work classes in anticipation of getting an MSW after his undergrad), but he’s got more evening classes than usual and he’s getting home a lot later at night. Our epic dinner preparations are one thing when we’re getting started early in the evening, but it’s another thing when he doesn’t get home until 9, 10, or even 11 o’clock at night because of the bus schedules.

Wednesday night, I wanted to prepare something yummy, filling, and relatively healthy for dinner, but I also didn’t want a lot of fuss. Our farm share for the week had included some fresh basil, garlic, and some gorgeous tomatoes. Add in an eggplant, some mozzarella, and a multigrain baguette, and I was ready to call it dinner.

This actually made way more food than we could handle and we ended up eating it for lunch today, too, so you’re looking at this serving about 3-4 people.

We decided that this would be a great item to serve to vegetarians at a BBQ, so feel free to toss the eggplants on the grill instead of in the oven.

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant
6-8 oz fresh mozzarella
1 large tomato
1/2-3/4 multigrain baguette
a large handful of fresh basil leaves
1/2 head of garlic, still assembled (for roasting)
balsamic vinaigrette (optional)
baby spinach (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375.

Put down a piece of tin foil or parchment paper on a baking sheet. Slice the eggplant into thick slices, discarding the top.

Brush a bit of olive oil over both sides of the eggplant, and sprinkle with a bit of salt and fresh ground pepper.

Meanwhile, cut the top off the bulb of garlic, exposing about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. Drizzle more olive oil on this, then cover it in tin foil. Find space for it on the tray of eggplant.

Bake the eggplant the oven for about 25 minutes, turning once. The garlic will need to stay in for another ten minutes.

Let that cool. Slice your tomatoes, slice and toast your bread if you want to, and slice your mozzarella.

(Charlie did the actual assembly as I was busy making Nectarine Mini Muffins, but I’ll take a gander at what he did…)

Scoop the roasted garlic out of the head. Spread it on the bread. Lay down, in whatever order you like, the eggplant, tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, spinach (optional), and balsamic vinaigrette (optional). Eat a bunch, and save a big hunk in the fridge for tomorrow. The flavors all meld together and it’s even better the next day.

Mock Moroccan Lentils & Rice

1:30pm:

I’ve just put my first ever meal into a slow cooker. I don’t have much experience with them in general, but I do remember, wayyyyy back into childhood, when I still ate meat, that a neighbor of ours made a fabulous turkey corn soup in a crockpot. Charlie and I have been thinking about getting one for several months because I often work 6 hour shifts, which is, I believe, the average amount of time a recipe needs in a crockpot, and a lot of times, I’m too tired to work and cook dinner by myself. If I could prepare the ingredients before I went to work or the night before, though, and toss them into the crockpot before I left, it would be fabulous.

Long story short, my mom bought me a slow cooker for my birthday. It’s an entry-level model – nothing too fancy. It’s dishwasher safe and oval-shaped. There was some debate about whether or not Charlie would be allowed to cook meats in it, but we found some slow cooker liners that he can use “for easy cleanup” so that the meat doesn’t actually get all up in there, though since it’s dishwasher safe and has removable stoneware, it probably won’t be a big deal. If you’re in the market for a slow-cooker, ours is made by Hamilton Beach and cost about $20.

I’m calling this “Mock Moroccan” because I honestly don’t have a lot of experience with Moroccan culture, so someone can easily call me out and tell me that it’s totally off. However, the spices that I used were common in a lot of Moroccan recipes that I found online, though, as usual, I didn’t find one that exactly suited my needs, so, this is what I came up with. And, since the lentil recipes didn’t include very many veggies, I snuck some more in there.

Stuff cooked in a slow cooker sits there for lots of hours, so make sure that anything that’s a little more tender to begin with gets cut into large pieces, otherwise it will just disintegrate.

About ten hours later, after we’ve eaten, cleaned up, gone to the store, and baked a batch of brownies…

The verdict is… yum! Charlie assured me that he thought it did taste Moroccan. He wished it had a bit more heat, but since I don’t do really spicy foods, I wouldn’t have been able to handle much more. If it were just him, he probably would have added more cayenne.

We did have a bit too much liquid, so after cooking for about 5 or 6 hours on low, we turned it up to high with the lid off to reduce it. You could probably just start with about 1/2 cup to 1 cup less liquid, though. Certainly not bad for a first attempt.

For a 4-Quart Slow Cooker

Ingredients

1 cup lentils (I used organic red)
1 huge heirloom tomato (you can use two medium ones of any variety), chopped into large pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh parsley (I was out, so I used about a tablespoon dried)
1 1/4 teaspoons cumin
1 1/4 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced (you can use a little less, dried, if necessary)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoons salt
5 tablespoons olive oil
about a half of a medium eggplant, chopped into large pieces
about half a yellow squash, chopped into large pieces
1/3 cup green beans (I used the super long Filipino variety), chopped into reasonable pieces
1 carrot, chopped
about two shakes of red cayenne pepper
about three shakes of cinnamon
about 4 cups of water, or enough to cover the veggies

Directions

Dump all ingredients into slow cooker. Stir it all up so that all the ingredients are evenly mixed. Cook on low heat for 6 hours or until lentils are tender. If too much liquid remains, remove cover and cook on high for 30-45 minutes until liquid has reduced.

Serve over rice (we did brown rice and cooked ours in our rice cooker separately, but you could probably add water and rice to the mixture and make it all together if you wanted).

Picnic Cucumber Salad

We served this at our pie-eating contest, but it’s good for picnics when you want something that won’t spoil easily.

This is a very easy and very refreshing way to use up some of the extra cucumbers that many of us still have popping up in our CSA deliveries. It’s another great side dish for those of us clinging to the last days of summer, or for those of you squeezing in a few more BBQs, or for you folks that live where it’s a little warmer for a bit longer.

Ingredients

1/2 medium red onion, sliced thin
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, wisk together the vinegar, sugar, and about a half teaspoon of salt and some pepper.

Add the cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes, stirring to coat them in the dressing. You can add more salt and pepper now if necessary.

Refrigerate for as long as you’ve got – a half hour sounds good, four hours is better, and overnight would be awesome. Either way, your leftovers are going to be mighty tasty the next day. Taste before you serve – minor adjustments might be necessary after you’ve allowed the flavors to meld in the fridge.

Crisis Management Soup (Reenacted)

I made a round of something similar to Crisis Management Soup the other day and it is so epically awesome that I figured I should write down what I did.

Ingredients

1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 bunch spinach
1 large handful of green beans
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 pt cherry tomatoes, halved
1 vegetarian bullion cube
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 parsnips
1 can of small white beans

Directions

I would have put in potatoes, but we ran out when I thought we had more.

Chop up your veggies. Divide your zucchini, squash, carrots, celery, and parsnips, plus potatoes if you’ve got them, into two piles. One is going to simmer for a long time and turn to mush, the rest will cook for a shorter time to be a little firmer.

Saute your garlic in the pot for a couple minutes in a bit of oil. Add the onion, saute until soft.

Add the 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, then fill the can up 2x with water and add to the pot. Add tomato paste and vegetable bullion.

Toss in half of the veggies indicated above. Reserve the other half.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for a long ass time, covered. When you feel that you’ve got adequate simmerage, use a potato masher to squish up the veggies that are in the pot. Give it a good stir. Now, toss the remaining zucchini, squash, carrots, celery, and parsnips, plus potatoes if you’ve got them, and now is the time for green beans as well. Add the small white beans. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until tender (depending on how big you chopped them).

Save the tomatoes and the spinach for the last few minutes of your cooking. Toss them in, and your soup will be ready when the spinach wilts.