It's bitter cold but I just enjoyed a little taste of spring. I combined the alfalfa sprouts(homegrown) with some shredded carrots and topped it with some salad dressing. The result was a crunchy little salad that really hit the spot. Sometimes its the simplest things that are the best.
Check out these past posts which talk about sprouting
If you're trying to keep it local, this time of year its all about what you've got stored away or what you can produce on your own with the occasional winter farmer's market thrown in for good measure.
We find ourselves with an abundance of apples, applesauce and apple pie filling. I've taken to making Amish baked oatmeal leaving out the raisins and instead topping it with apple pie filling (homemade in the freezer). I also add a teaspoon of cinnamon stirred into the oatmeal.
Showing posts with label sprouting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sprouting. Show all posts
Friday, January 16, 2009
Friday, September 19, 2008
Finding Ways of Finishing Foods Before They Go Funky Can Be Fun!
As we wind down this road of using what's already in the pantry, I feel compelled to confess that I just bought 25 pounds of spelt berries and 25 pounds of mung beans from our food cooperative. Put your eyebrows back down, I'll explain these somewhat unusual purchases.
I'll start with the spelt berries, they'll be used to make spelt flour, which I've been using more of lately. I read a great article about why it is more sustainable than wheat but now that I've gotten around to blogging on it, I can't find the article. Grrrrr! Anyway, it's cheaper to buy the berries than the ground flour. Plus it's slower to go rancid in berry form. I've used spelt in pancakes, muffins and quick breads with good results so far.
As for the mung beans, the nights are getting cooler and the days are getting shorter. The end of the outdoor growing season in the northeast is in sight. That means it's time to start thinking about the indoor growing season, sprout season. Mung beans are definitely our favorite probably because they are so substantial in size compared to other sprouts. If you're curious about sprouting, click here to see how my efforts have gone.
I concocted a pretty good dinner the other night in an effort to use up the last of the barbeque sauce. Did you ever notice that after a certain point things like barbeque sauce and mustard just sit in the fridge and mock you whenever you open the door to fit something else in? It must be an end of season thing. Anyway, on to the recipe, if you can call this loosely thrown together list of ingredients a recipe.
I sauteed two chopped onions in a little olive oil. Once they were browned, I poured a little water in the pan to deglaze it. Next I added some cooked chickpeas, about the equivalent of two cans, give or take. I topped this with the leftover barbeque sauce. Then I filled the barbeque sauce bottle half way with water, shook the daylights out of it and poured this over the chickpeas. No sauce was going to waste in my house!
To my horror, there wasn't really enough sauce to cover the chickpeas adequately. Plus barbeque sauce sometimes has such a strong vinegar taste it makes me gag. Fortunately, a bottle of ketchup came to the rescue. A few squirts later, there was enough sauce and the sweetness of the ketchup took the edge off the barbeque sauce.
I served this over whole wheat couscous, which I've decided I hate. No good reason why, I just hate it. Oddly enough, everyone in the house hates it too. We all used to like it, I can't figure what happened. In any event, we've all agreed to finish what we already have on hand, which is thankfully not very much. As for the chickpea concoction, everyone really liked it.
We've been experimenting with cookie recipes too. I still say the easiest way to make a so so meal yummy is to follow it up with a good dessert. To that end we've made our favorite molasses cookies, Coconut Chocolate Chews from Simple Treats (although we actually used carob) and Fudgy Cocoa Mint cookies from Cooking with PETA. I've been tucking a few into lunch boxes as well but I'm still no Jennifer McCann.
The Fudgy Cocoa Mint cookies uses 2 1/2 cups of finely grated zucchini. How great is that? Of course I didn't have mint extract and my mint plant is upstate so I used the almond extract that I've had forever. They came out very moist and delicious. No hint of zucchini in the final product.
Finally, a yogurt experiment update. My first try of coconut milk yogurt, using the coconut milk recipe from How It All Vegan, got thicker but not nearly thick enough. I'll try one more time before calling it a bust. In the interim, I must find a recipe that uses coconut milk. Any suggestions?
One last thought, what does a highly fashionable teen do with a pair of much loved sweats that are now too short? If you're Leenie, you cut them a little longer than capri length (look at her left leg), slit the side up to capri length and tie the ends together (look at her right leg). Instant high fashion. BTW, do teenagers use the word capris anymore or are they called something else...
I'll start with the spelt berries, they'll be used to make spelt flour, which I've been using more of lately. I read a great article about why it is more sustainable than wheat but now that I've gotten around to blogging on it, I can't find the article. Grrrrr! Anyway, it's cheaper to buy the berries than the ground flour. Plus it's slower to go rancid in berry form. I've used spelt in pancakes, muffins and quick breads with good results so far.
As for the mung beans, the nights are getting cooler and the days are getting shorter. The end of the outdoor growing season in the northeast is in sight. That means it's time to start thinking about the indoor growing season, sprout season. Mung beans are definitely our favorite probably because they are so substantial in size compared to other sprouts. If you're curious about sprouting, click here to see how my efforts have gone.
I concocted a pretty good dinner the other night in an effort to use up the last of the barbeque sauce. Did you ever notice that after a certain point things like barbeque sauce and mustard just sit in the fridge and mock you whenever you open the door to fit something else in? It must be an end of season thing. Anyway, on to the recipe, if you can call this loosely thrown together list of ingredients a recipe.
I sauteed two chopped onions in a little olive oil. Once they were browned, I poured a little water in the pan to deglaze it. Next I added some cooked chickpeas, about the equivalent of two cans, give or take. I topped this with the leftover barbeque sauce. Then I filled the barbeque sauce bottle half way with water, shook the daylights out of it and poured this over the chickpeas. No sauce was going to waste in my house!
To my horror, there wasn't really enough sauce to cover the chickpeas adequately. Plus barbeque sauce sometimes has such a strong vinegar taste it makes me gag. Fortunately, a bottle of ketchup came to the rescue. A few squirts later, there was enough sauce and the sweetness of the ketchup took the edge off the barbeque sauce.
I served this over whole wheat couscous, which I've decided I hate. No good reason why, I just hate it. Oddly enough, everyone in the house hates it too. We all used to like it, I can't figure what happened. In any event, we've all agreed to finish what we already have on hand, which is thankfully not very much. As for the chickpea concoction, everyone really liked it.
We've been experimenting with cookie recipes too. I still say the easiest way to make a so so meal yummy is to follow it up with a good dessert. To that end we've made our favorite molasses cookies, Coconut Chocolate Chews from Simple Treats (although we actually used carob) and Fudgy Cocoa Mint cookies from Cooking with PETA. I've been tucking a few into lunch boxes as well but I'm still no Jennifer McCann.
The Fudgy Cocoa Mint cookies uses 2 1/2 cups of finely grated zucchini. How great is that? Of course I didn't have mint extract and my mint plant is upstate so I used the almond extract that I've had forever. They came out very moist and delicious. No hint of zucchini in the final product.
Finally, a yogurt experiment update. My first try of coconut milk yogurt, using the coconut milk recipe from How It All Vegan, got thicker but not nearly thick enough. I'll try one more time before calling it a bust. In the interim, I must find a recipe that uses coconut milk. Any suggestions?
One last thought, what does a highly fashionable teen do with a pair of much loved sweats that are now too short? If you're Leenie, you cut them a little longer than capri length (look at her left leg), slit the side up to capri length and tie the ends together (look at her right leg). Instant high fashion. BTW, do teenagers use the word capris anymore or are they called something else...
Friday, February 29, 2008
Yogurt, Socks & a Scarf Rescue Tutorial
I seem to have overcome my mental cooking constipation. I tried Melanie's yogurt recipe and am delighted to report, it worked! It was so exciting to take the cover off the thermos and see yogurt. It's a little tangier than the store bought Silk yogurt but that's ok by me. I packed some in Jim's lunch today with dried blueberries stirred in. I'm anxiously awaiting his report.
I'm on day two of my latest batch of sprouts. This go round I'm sprouting alfalfa, mung beans, broccoli and red clover. I've taken to using less seed than recommended and letting my sprouts get a little bigger instead. It makes them seem like a more substantial food source to me.
I meant to mention that I had tried using half the amount of sugar in the carob banana muffins that I made a few days ago. The results were good. Sure the muffins aren't as desserty but why do they need to be? If I were making them for company I would probably use more sugar but for us in everyday life, I think health should come first and that means using less sugar.
I've finished the first sock of Tasha's pair!
I'm am so excited! The sock could be tighter around the ankle but she didn't seem to notice and I have no plans to point it out. I'm going to check my gauge. I suspect smaller needles will solve my problem on future pairs. Fortunately, when I bought these needles off ebay I bought them as part of a set. I now have double pointed needles in all sizes 10 and under so no trip to the store is required.
Here's a little tutorial on how to give new life to a favorite scarf that's gotten raggy around the edges. Jim's had this scarf as long as I've known him and, though it pains me to admit this, I met him 20 years ago this past December. Jim loves this scarf but it looked like something had taken a bite out of the edges in several places.
I thought about just folding the edges under and stitching but that would create a right and wrong side which didn't seem like a good idea. I mean we casually through on scarves and wear them as they fall, how goofy would big seams look if the wrong side was facing out?
Instead I opted to fold one side in.
Next, I folded the other side in to create a finished edge. In the interest of keeping the scarf with two right sides, I brought this edge over the the other edge I'd folded. This meant folding the scarf essentially in half, which most people do when they wear it anyway.
Once it was pinned, I ironed the edges to make them flat. The I made four seams to hold everything in place. One seam needs to run along the finished edge that you've created. Another two need to run along the pieces that were folded under. The fourth one is to hold the two sides of the scarf together without creating a bubble at the edge.
Here's Jim modeling the finished product.
I'm on day two of my latest batch of sprouts. This go round I'm sprouting alfalfa, mung beans, broccoli and red clover. I've taken to using less seed than recommended and letting my sprouts get a little bigger instead. It makes them seem like a more substantial food source to me.
I meant to mention that I had tried using half the amount of sugar in the carob banana muffins that I made a few days ago. The results were good. Sure the muffins aren't as desserty but why do they need to be? If I were making them for company I would probably use more sugar but for us in everyday life, I think health should come first and that means using less sugar.
I've finished the first sock of Tasha's pair!
I'm am so excited! The sock could be tighter around the ankle but she didn't seem to notice and I have no plans to point it out. I'm going to check my gauge. I suspect smaller needles will solve my problem on future pairs. Fortunately, when I bought these needles off ebay I bought them as part of a set. I now have double pointed needles in all sizes 10 and under so no trip to the store is required.
Here's a little tutorial on how to give new life to a favorite scarf that's gotten raggy around the edges. Jim's had this scarf as long as I've known him and, though it pains me to admit this, I met him 20 years ago this past December. Jim loves this scarf but it looked like something had taken a bite out of the edges in several places.
I thought about just folding the edges under and stitching but that would create a right and wrong side which didn't seem like a good idea. I mean we casually through on scarves and wear them as they fall, how goofy would big seams look if the wrong side was facing out?
Instead I opted to fold one side in.
Next, I folded the other side in to create a finished edge. In the interest of keeping the scarf with two right sides, I brought this edge over the the other edge I'd folded. This meant folding the scarf essentially in half, which most people do when they wear it anyway.
Once it was pinned, I ironed the edges to make them flat. The I made four seams to hold everything in place. One seam needs to run along the finished edge that you've created. Another two need to run along the pieces that were folded under. The fourth one is to hold the two sides of the scarf together without creating a bubble at the edge.
Here's Jim modeling the finished product.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Successfully Using What's in the Freezer
Here's the ultimate tightwad, no additional energy expended way of keeping your coffee warm on a cold winter day.
But what, you may ask, is your coffe mug sitting on?
The wood stove of course! A girl's got to keep her coffee hot. BTW all you tea drinkers, I've put my tea bag into a mug of water and heated that here as well.
I thought I'd take a few moments and give a run down on how my efforts to use what was in the freezer were going. Before getting started I have to confess, I bought onions, carrots and four tomatoes.
I'm really pleased with the fig spice cake and the healthy fig date cookies that I made. The recipes were simple and everyone liked them. I'm itching to try Chile's fig butter recipe. It was in Thursday's comments but just in case you missed it, here it is. (And go check out her blog, NOW!!) Thanks for the recipe Chile!
Chile's Fig Butter
1/2 pound ripe figs
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 c water
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp each: allspice, cinnamon, cloves
2 tsp vanilla
Wash figs, de-stem and quarter.
Simmer in water until soft.
Puree in blender.
Return to saucepan, using additional 1/2 c water to rinse out blender and add to pan.
Stir in sugar and dry spices.
Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
I loved the sweet and sour bean sprout recipe from the NY Times Natural Foods Cookbook. We ate it first as a side salad. The next night, I drained off the liquid, the sprouts leach water overnight like fresh cabbage in coleslaw, and used it to season some tvp. I served the tvp with the sprouts inside a crepe. It was easy and delicious. For family members who thought the combination of seasoned sprouts and seasoned tvp was too intense, I gave the option of using unseasoned sprouts.
Today I'm trying the broiled sprout patties. Overall, I'm thrilled with sprouting! It's easy to feel like you have a green thumb this way! If you haven't tried it, what are you waiting for??
The plethora of parsley in the freezer found its way into the vegetable broth recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance. It lends a buttery flavor to the finished broth. Of course, I used the veggies I had and left out the ones I didn't. I also left the veggies in, mashed them with a potato masher and served this as a soup with rice. Then I used the leftovers in split pea soup. Both were excellent.
But there was still more parsley in the freezer, so I made tabbouleh. Hence the four out of season tomatoes I bought which I fear I'm going to eco-hell for buying. The recipe I used called for pouring boiling water over the bulgur and letting it sit 45 minutes before draining. I had never done this but it worked perfectly. That's an energy saving cooking method I intend to use again. (BTW, on a similar not, Chile's method of letting steel cut oats soak overnight and then cooking only briefly in the morning is so superior to the crock pot method I've used. You really must try it.)
The tabbouleh was delicious as well. I served it with Navajo Fry Bread topped with sprouts and homemade hummus from the Vegan Lunchbox Cookbook. Its a slightly milder recipe than others out there but my family loves it.
Now to dig a little deeper and see what else is lurking in the freezer...
But what, you may ask, is your coffe mug sitting on?
The wood stove of course! A girl's got to keep her coffee hot. BTW all you tea drinkers, I've put my tea bag into a mug of water and heated that here as well.
I thought I'd take a few moments and give a run down on how my efforts to use what was in the freezer were going. Before getting started I have to confess, I bought onions, carrots and four tomatoes.
I'm really pleased with the fig spice cake and the healthy fig date cookies that I made. The recipes were simple and everyone liked them. I'm itching to try Chile's fig butter recipe. It was in Thursday's comments but just in case you missed it, here it is. (And go check out her blog, NOW!!) Thanks for the recipe Chile!
Chile's Fig Butter
1/2 pound ripe figs
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 c water
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp each: allspice, cinnamon, cloves
2 tsp vanilla
Wash figs, de-stem and quarter.
Simmer in water until soft.
Puree in blender.
Return to saucepan, using additional 1/2 c water to rinse out blender and add to pan.
Stir in sugar and dry spices.
Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
I loved the sweet and sour bean sprout recipe from the NY Times Natural Foods Cookbook. We ate it first as a side salad. The next night, I drained off the liquid, the sprouts leach water overnight like fresh cabbage in coleslaw, and used it to season some tvp. I served the tvp with the sprouts inside a crepe. It was easy and delicious. For family members who thought the combination of seasoned sprouts and seasoned tvp was too intense, I gave the option of using unseasoned sprouts.
Today I'm trying the broiled sprout patties. Overall, I'm thrilled with sprouting! It's easy to feel like you have a green thumb this way! If you haven't tried it, what are you waiting for??
The plethora of parsley in the freezer found its way into the vegetable broth recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance. It lends a buttery flavor to the finished broth. Of course, I used the veggies I had and left out the ones I didn't. I also left the veggies in, mashed them with a potato masher and served this as a soup with rice. Then I used the leftovers in split pea soup. Both were excellent.
But there was still more parsley in the freezer, so I made tabbouleh. Hence the four out of season tomatoes I bought which I fear I'm going to eco-hell for buying. The recipe I used called for pouring boiling water over the bulgur and letting it sit 45 minutes before draining. I had never done this but it worked perfectly. That's an energy saving cooking method I intend to use again. (BTW, on a similar not, Chile's method of letting steel cut oats soak overnight and then cooking only briefly in the morning is so superior to the crock pot method I've used. You really must try it.)
The tabbouleh was delicious as well. I served it with Navajo Fry Bread topped with sprouts and homemade hummus from the Vegan Lunchbox Cookbook. Its a slightly milder recipe than others out there but my family loves it.
Now to dig a little deeper and see what else is lurking in the freezer...
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sprouts, Figs & Sweater Poop
The mung bean and alfalfa sprouts are ready to go. I'm going to try them in a recipe for Sweet and Sour Bean Sprouts that I found in The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt.
I discovered 5 more wide mouth jars that will work with my sprouting lids. Yeah! Now I have no excuse not to have continuous sprout harvests. I also discovered that Sproutpeople is offering a stainless steel version of my plastic sprouting lids. Replacing my plastic lids with the stainless steel version is definitely on my to do list.
I also found a sprouting tube that was in with the sprouting lids I picked up at the thrift store last year. Now that I'm moving away from using plastic, I'm not sure if I'll be using the tube or donating it.
This brings me to a revelation I had yesterday. The more I think about it, the more I'm with Chile. I don't give a hoot how Steve Meyerowitz grows his sprouts. For now, I'm content with using jars and I'm having good success with them too! I like trying to time the "harvest" of the sprouts with the meal that evening rather than worrying about storing the sprouts in the fridge to use another day. I'm not suggesting his methods don't work. I'm simply suggesting that his book makes sprouting more complicated than it has to be.
I have an inordinate amount of parsley in the freezer. Truly, its an astounding amount. It seems my best bet to use it up is to make tabbouleh (let me just state for the record that I think tabouleh sets the record for the largest number of possible spellings ever seen in a cookbook. Honestly, I just found it spelled tabooley in the aforementioned NYT Natural Foods Cookbook).
As for the figs, the verdict is still out but check out these websites where I'll be looking for some inspiration. (If you're scratching your head and wondering, why does she need recipes for figs??, remember that sometimes buying in bulk goes wrong and leaves you with a lot of something that you only like a little.)
California Figs
Valley Figs
Here's a Fig Spice Cake that sounds intriguing.
Skinny Fig Bars look good too
These Healthy Fig & Date cookies look so easy, I have to try them.
The Fig Manicotti looks intriguing but I don't think my kids will go for it.
In other frugal news, I've taken apart three sweaters that were headed for the donation bin for various reasons. Instead of unusable sweaters, I now have some very usuable yarn. Ruthie linked up to this great tutorial on how to do it a few months ago. It makes the process so much easier if you know what you're doing.
I can see why the unraveling was done outside in that tutorial. When you unravel inside, you wind up with a bunch of sweater poop on the floor!
I guess it was time to vacuum anyway.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Fruits & Veggies on My Mind
Its astounding to calculate how much food a family of six will go through in a month (or any period of time for that matter). What looked like an overful freezer that would surely last until spring, is dwindling.
I was a little aggravated that we will only are making it partly into February with my freezer/canning stash. Looking back on last year's posts I discovered I was still trying to empty the freezer in March! So what went wrong? How could we have increased our CSA shares by two yet ended up with an inadequate supply of veggies for the winter?
After a lot of thought, I believe I've discovered the problem. Its my sons, they keep growing and earting more as a result of it. (Awfully rude of them, don't you think??) Its a simple mistake but one worth noting. Years ago it could have been a life or death mistake (and might be again with peak oil looming...)
I've heard about calculating how much food you need to get through a winter but I've never actually tried. For us, a full freezer and cupboard has been enough. If we are to become more self sufficient, this is a calculation worth taking the time to make. Good health and healthy food go hand in hand so this is not a place I want to scrimp.
To that end, and in keeping with my plan to be part of Path to Freedom's 100 foot garden challenge, I've pulled out my sprouting jars and am two days into my sprouting of broccoli, alfalfa and mung beans.
Notice the very high tech device I use for tipping the tray so any drips run into the sink. It's a spare sprouting lid!
Today's quest is to find more wide mouth canning jars so I can get more sprouts going. I'll also do a little thinking about meals that use beets, winter squash puree, parsley, figs, garlic scapes and whatever else I might find lurking in my freezer. I'm on a quest to try to make it to next Saturday's Winter Sun Farm pickup without buying veggies. That means finding creative ways to use the sprouts as well as growing them.
Its also time to start thinking about what to add to my edible landscape this year. So far we've got blueberries, lingonberries, strawberries, purslane and Jerusalem artichokes.
One final thought, a fellow ecycler brought this site to my attention. Sheds and fences made out of pallet wood? I thought it was a really great use of an abundant free resource. Note: You have to scroll down past the ads to see what he's done with the pallets.
I was a little aggravated that we will only are making it partly into February with my freezer/canning stash. Looking back on last year's posts I discovered I was still trying to empty the freezer in March! So what went wrong? How could we have increased our CSA shares by two yet ended up with an inadequate supply of veggies for the winter?
After a lot of thought, I believe I've discovered the problem. Its my sons, they keep growing and earting more as a result of it. (Awfully rude of them, don't you think??) Its a simple mistake but one worth noting. Years ago it could have been a life or death mistake (and might be again with peak oil looming...)
I've heard about calculating how much food you need to get through a winter but I've never actually tried. For us, a full freezer and cupboard has been enough. If we are to become more self sufficient, this is a calculation worth taking the time to make. Good health and healthy food go hand in hand so this is not a place I want to scrimp.
To that end, and in keeping with my plan to be part of Path to Freedom's 100 foot garden challenge, I've pulled out my sprouting jars and am two days into my sprouting of broccoli, alfalfa and mung beans.
Notice the very high tech device I use for tipping the tray so any drips run into the sink. It's a spare sprouting lid!
Today's quest is to find more wide mouth canning jars so I can get more sprouts going. I'll also do a little thinking about meals that use beets, winter squash puree, parsley, figs, garlic scapes and whatever else I might find lurking in my freezer. I'm on a quest to try to make it to next Saturday's Winter Sun Farm pickup without buying veggies. That means finding creative ways to use the sprouts as well as growing them.
Its also time to start thinking about what to add to my edible landscape this year. So far we've got blueberries, lingonberries, strawberries, purslane and Jerusalem artichokes.
One final thought, a fellow ecycler brought this site to my attention. Sheds and fences made out of pallet wood? I thought it was a really great use of an abundant free resource. Note: You have to scroll down past the ads to see what he's done with the pallets.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Sprouts on my Mind
I've just begun reading Sprouts the Miracle Food: The Complete Guide to Sprouting by Steve Meyerowitz. I picked this up at a library book sale a while back. I figure if I'm to really be a part of Path to Freedom's Hundred Foot Garden Challenge in January in the Northeast, sprouting is the way to go. I've had pretty good success with my earlier sprouting attempts and this book seems to have a great deal of information on improving the variety of what I've been sprouting. I'm intrigued.
I also stumbled upon a New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt which has an entire section devoted to recipes using sprouts. There are the sprout recipes you'd expect to see where they're used in salads but the sprouted wheat balls and broiled sprouted wheat patties are high on my list of things to try.
Here's another sprout recipe link we can all explore. I'll definitely be posting more about this soon.
I also stumbled upon a New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt which has an entire section devoted to recipes using sprouts. There are the sprout recipes you'd expect to see where they're used in salads but the sprouted wheat balls and broiled sprouted wheat patties are high on my list of things to try.
Here's another sprout recipe link we can all explore. I'll definitely be posting more about this soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)