Sustainable Diet

Working Lunch

2012-02-08T16:07:00.000-06:00

During the work week, I bring my lunch four out of five days—a habit I'm really proud of, actually. Brushes off shoulders, buffs nails, leans back self-adoringly....

Since I commute by bus, I often am found in the kitchen at work artfully producing my lunch out of my adorable, highly compartmental, Laptop bento box. "What a tidy lunch you have!"It's light-weight, thin, BPA-free, made in the USA, dishwasher-safe, and (frankly) it just makes me happy.

Seriously, it's one of the best purchases I have ever made. I opted for the greatest configuration of mini boxes, which totaled about $45, so I can work with a good number of different portion sizes. Yes, that's a lot to spend on a lunch box, but I put it to great use and have saved about that much money every two weeks by bringing my own lunch to work.

People have commented that it's a great way to keep portions in control too, which is totally true; but it's also fantastic for packing a variety of healthy options. I normally prefer a smattering of random things over a sandwich and chips. Meaning, my eating habits are not far from those of a toddler, except I actually love vegetables!

The salad above is one of my lunches from earlier this week that I enjoyed at my desk (don't worry, I clean my mouse and keyboard with alcohol wipes often enough that germs aren't too disgusting). It's a gorgeous winter salad, packed full of nutrients. Despite the horrific lighting, those are the actual colors. I picked the lettuce and broccoli from the garden that morning, and packed along only about a tablespoon of my favorite dressing (Cashew Tamari from Mother's) to top it off. It's a tasty (and accidentally vegan!) salad that you should try too!

I used to be of the mindset that I couldn't pack a salad for lunch and enjoy it. That was back in the day of boring, grocery-store salads and prior to my finding Cashew Tamari. Nowadays, I can't get enough of the sweet buttery garden lettuce and keep things interesting by packing a new ingredient each time.

The best advice I have for bringing a salad to lunch that you'll actually want to eat? Make it colorful and add at least one ingredient that's unexpected. The butternut squash was an afterthought, but one I'm glad to have made. Even eating it cold (I'd steamed it the night before), it brought a new level of sweetness to the salad and the texture was right on.

Oh, and pack your "dry" ingredients separate from the wet ones, so that your lettuce doesn't wilt and nothing else gets soggy!

Easy-to-Pack Winter Lunch Salad

1 1/2 cups fresh lettuce

1/2 cup fresh broccoli florets

1/2 fresh grapefruit, sectioned, plus about 1 tablespoon of the juice

1/2 cup steamed butternut squash or 1/2 diced avocado

1/4 cup walnut pieces

1/8 cup dried cranberries

1-2 tablespoons of your favorite dressing, or about 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

Pack the lettuce, broccoli, walnuts, and cranberries in one container together, and the grapefruit, butternut squash, and dressing separately (you don't want them wilting your salad before you're ready to eat it).

When it's lunch time, toss everything together (Toss, toss!*) and let your coworkers gaze in awe at the rainbow salad in front of you.

The best part? You've just accomplished a gourmet lunch salad at a fraction of restaurant cost!

* A Wicked reference, for my sister and mom!

Freshworthy: Drugs, Sugar, and Pink Slime

2012-02-04T07:14:00.003-06:00

I didn't mean for this Freshworthy to be quite so icky, but it turns out there's plenty of that kind of food news out there this week.

First up, pink slime. Mmmm.

Image: Flickr member pointnshoot, licensed under Creative Commons.

McDonald's Burgers: Now Without Pink Slime?
The Week

I mentioned having watched and been inspired by Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and here's another newsworthy story that comes straight from the pressure Jamie Oliver put on the food industry and the awareness he has raised. To tell you the truth, I can't remember the last time I ate at McDonald's. But back in the day, my little sister and brother and I begged for Happy Meals. Now I'm glad I began to shun the place once I got older; the "meat" is not anything worth ingesting. In any case, McDonald's is bowing to pressure and is reportedly removing pink slime—beef trimmings washed in ammonia—from their meat.

Let's be clear: I am NOT advocating eating at McDonald's. In fact, if you eat there, I would strongly encourage you to stop that immediately and instead turn to organic fast food chains, if you must eat fast food, or ditch the drive-through all together! But let's face it, for the millions of folks worldwide who do eat there, this is a small step toward improving their health, and to me, that's pretty fantastic.

New Call to Regulate Sugar
Chow, Rebecca Flint Marx

Should we regulate sugar? Taxing sodas, banning children from convenience stores, even removing sugar from the FDA's "Generally regarded as safe" list—these are all directives being pushed by Robert Lustig, a leading expert on childhood obesity.

So what's the answer here? Do we collectively need the government to regulate sugar—help us help ourselves? Or will awareness and education begin to take hold? We've seen the public make great strides in accepting (or at least listening to) warnings regarding heart health, trans fats, and more. Can we expect the public to begin making better decisions about sugar?

Drug-Resistant Bugs Found in Antibiotic-Free Meat
Wired

Ewwww. Here's the short version: after scientists tested nearly 400 samples of meat, including 95 samples of meat labeled "antibiotic-free," they found instances of antibiotic-resistant staph. Yes, even in the antibiotic-free meat.

Here's the way to avoid it: since the label "antibiotic-free" is not regulated, be sure to purchase "certified organic" meats only. Here is more information about meat labels and what's regulated by the FDA.

Wordless Wednesday: Good Morning from the Garden

2012-02-01T09:45:00.001-06:00

pardon our mess!

2012-01-31T15:43:00.002-06:00

Sustainable Diet is undergoing a facelift. And while I'm working behind the scenes, it may look a little funky around here. Pardon the mess; I'll have it back up and running soon, with plenty more to offer!

"is it local?"

2012-01-25T22:45:00.003-06:00

For weeks, friends who know me well had been asking if I'd seen Portlandia yet. No, I hadn't, and what makes it so great?

"Oh, it's just funny and it kind of reminded me of you."

And then I sat down to watch an episode. The clip above, in which the couple dining insists on learning more about the chicken, Collin, they're about to order and presumably then consume, hit home. As I was laughing, I wondered, "Is this what people think of me?"

I get it. I snub my nose at non-organice produce (and when presented with it, I have to remind myself that I've eaten conventional produce before and this one more time won't kill me). I would rather eat a frozen veggie meal from a reputable vendor who offers organic options than eat at a sit-down chain restaurant. I have shunned meat for more than two years because of my beliefs about the food industry.

And I agree, I'm not all that far from the Portlandia characters who insist on visiting the farm where their meal was raised.

I understand that my way of eating may seem strange to some people, but it's really quite simple: for health of mind, body, and planet, I choose to eat the way I do. I'm a discerning consumer because I want this one singular thing I can control (what I do and do not eat) to be as healthful and enjoyable and positive as I can make it.

That's all.

Now excuse me, I have a farm to visit.

freshworthy: in the news

2012-01-25T16:28:00.005-06:00

Here's what has caught my eye this week. The third story is especially riveting.

USDA To Require Healthier Meals In Schools With Updated Nutrition Standards

NPR, Allison Aubrey

I do not have children of my own yet, but I do have a younger sister and niece, and worry for their well-being in schools. When watching Jamie's Food Revolution a year or so ago, I was appalled by what passed for food in school cafeterias. That said, I understand there is plenty of red tape to get through... But I seriously doubt that anyone would come right out and say that bureaucratic systems and government-backed subsidies linked to food industry lobbyists are more important than the health of our children.

Which is why this article gives me hope. I remember pizza day in elementary, and how I chose to eat at the snack bar in both junior and senior high school. Many a day, my lunch was simply a bag of Doritos and a bottle of Coke. Seriously. I cringe to think that kids are doing that younger and younger, and am heartened to see that the USDA is making requirements. It's a good read, and it's a cause anyone who cares about food issues should get behind.

Organic Milk is Getting Pricier, Harder to Find

NPR, Renee Montagne reporting

What I'm about to say might surprise you, and let it be known that I am not made of money so my argument is not stemming from deep, bill-lined pockets. But I believe that we as consumers should expect to pay a premium for organics. I, for one, find it extremely important that organic standards are upheld, especially in dairy and meat production, and would happily fork over fifty more cents for a gallon of organic milk if it meant that those dairy farmers were better able to do their jobs and provide for their own family. Doesn't that seem fair? If we want organic farmers to stay afloat, they need to be making living wages.

The point being, I am already choosing to purchase premium foods and I understand that the price points are competitive and also necessary. Does that make me want to go back to milk pumped with growth hormones? No way. It makes me shop smarter, maybe shirking some goods I don't need (like chocolate bars for "rough days") so that I can continue to purchase the high-quality, organic, ethically and humanely produced items that are so very important to me in my everyday diet.

Of Meat And Men

Texas Monthly, Katy Vine

Let me say that I haven't even read this story yet. But the image of two of the nation's best (it's been proven, trust me) BBQers on the cover of Texas Monthly, flanking a foot-thick wooden cutting block piled high with sausage, brisket, ribs, and more pepper than you can shake a butcher knife at, makes my mouth water.

That I grew up eating the BBQ in one of the state's most famous burnt-wall, smoke-fired establishments makes it even harder to turn my eyes away from the spectacle.

My vegetarian self has not wavered in the more than two years since I last ate red meat. But as this story progressed, and more and more free BBQ (post-photo shoot or not) showed up in our office kitchen, it started: the disdain for disallowing myself something so good. Something delicious, and meaty, and, as one friend put it, my birthright as a native Texan.

Damn, I miss brisket.

composed salad: avocado, citrus, and greens

2012-01-19T22:47:00.002-06:00

Tiny clementines

It should come as no surprise that I am enjoying our winter garden. Every day has brought a new surprise, from tiny Brussels sprouts to baby carrots that I'm too smitten with to pick. Of course, today it hit nearly 80 degrees; we can hardly think of this as winter.

The garden harvest: one turnip, lettuce, and kale.

Nonetheless, winter greens are thriving and we have sweet, colorful baby lettuces aplenty. After telling one neighbor last week that I, "Couldn't grow a turnip to save my life," I pulled one from the bed that was a bit bigger than a golf ball and tender (and sweet) enough to eat raw. Mom, I hope you're proud!

Inspired by the garden harvest and an impulse buy of 5 pounds of clementines, tonight's dinner was a fetching composed salad. If you'd like to throw together your own composed salad, here's a start:

Avocado Citrus Winter Salad

1 ripe avocado, sliced
5-6 clementines, peels removed and then sliced or sectioned (just for the pretty factor; you can just peel them)
Dried cranberries
Walnut pieces
Lettuce
Roasted garbanzo beans (roast in olive oil at 400 for about 15 minutes and add salt)
Citrus juice
Drizzle of olive oil
Combine everything in a manner that pleases you, and enjoy! Try it with grapefruit, too; it's tangier and a bit more lively. The walnuts and avocado add some brain food and the garbanzos make for a good healthy protein. And let's face it, pretty food is just more fun to eat!

A composed salad for wintery months.

the cheese experiment

2012-01-11T22:06:00.004-06:00

Well, what would YOU do if someone gave you a full, fresh gallon of raw organic cow's milk from a dairy only a few miles from their home?

If you're me, you almost immediately decide to finally check that cheese-making item on your to-learn list off.

Last weekend, I was graciously gifted a gallon of raw milk from Dyer Dairy in Georgetown, Texas. A few short hours later, I was sent home with very clear instructions, a small packet of rennet, an instant-read thermometer, and all the encouragement I needed to put everything together into a successful homemaking adventure.

I began the cheese making late Saturday night; my husband was conveniently out of town and I knew the kitchen would be mine in which to run my science experiment.

It was near midnight when I began sterilizing my stock pot and readying the ingredients, and after midnight by the time I stirred in the rennet and left the pot to rest on the counter for twelve hours.

Though the rennet and its accompanying instructions were technically meant for goat's milk (resulting in chevre), I had it on good authority that I could attempt the same with cow's milk. A few Google searches later, I could only assume that this cheese is called "bovre," but still have no idea how to pronounce that.

If you speak French, let me know.

In any case, it couldn't have been a simpler process and the end result was quite surprising. After sterilizing my stock pot and other equipment, I slowly heated the gallon of raw milk to 86 degrees, stirring with a wooden spoon. Once it hit 86 degrees, I removed it from the heat and stirred in the rennet. I covered the pot and let it sit overnight without disturbing it (even a bump can affect the cheese). Twelve hours later, I carefully opened the pot to find curds and whey.

The curds had set to a consistency much like that of sour cream or Greek yogurt. At this point, I was supposed to cut the curds with a knife into cubes; I forgot to do so, and went straight to the part where I ladled it into the makeshift cheesecloth (a flour-sack kitchen towel works perfectly).

The hardest part of this entire endeavor was finding a way to suspend my flour-sack dish towel high enough so that any remaining whey could drain out while it sat in the fridge for 6 to 12 hours.

I managed to wrap the towel around a spoon and suspend it in a mixing bowl (photographed above) that just fit into the fridge. Every couple of hours I drained the bowl of its whey. About 8 hours after putting the cheese in the fridge, I unwound the flour-sack towel to find a very mild soft cheese.

It has the consistency of chevre but not the tangy flavor. Salt was a necessity; I also took some and rolled it in fresh herbs. The cheese is lovely with crackers and nice as a salad topper. It's a lot like cream cheese, actually, so I'm going to see how it does in a cream-cheesey recipe.

Having a positive first-time experience means I'm looking forward to more cheese-making in the future, and perhaps even a class!

It ain't purdy, but it's tasty. Have you ever made cheese? I hear mozzarella is a cinch, too, so maybe that's next!

freshworthy: in the news

2012-01-11T21:50:00.003-06:00

Introducing a new feature I'd like to continue once a week. Food in the News, which I'm calling Freshworthy.

Here's what is going on in the food realm this week (ok, maybe last) that I found worth reading:

Meatless in the Midwest: A Tale of Survival

New York Times

I found it hard to be vegetarian while traveling for work in places like rural Kentucky and Tennessee (though not in their urban centers, like Louisville). Hell, it's hard to be one right here in Texas, where I'm faced nearly daily with the threat (promise?) of a perfectly-smoked brisket. Just this week, an email went out to our entire staff just after 9a.m.: "Free BBQ in the Kitchen!"

Full disclosure: I should also admit that I sometimes practice a "Don't ask, don't tell" approach when ordering anything fried or bean-related. Because come on... a tiny piece of pork fat in my charro beans really won't kill me. What do you think?

How to Eat Without Putting on the Pounds

NPR

Did your grandmother ever tell you to chew your food 27 times before swallowing? Well, this article explores the benefits of "mindful eating." I totally get it, but more often than not, I'm too ravenous to practice "mindful eating" and go straight to the "mindless chow-down."

We're Eating Less Meat. Why?

Mark Bittman, New York Times

Meat-eating in America is down more than 12 percent since 2007. Why? Sure, we can look at rising prices and diminishing demands as a few culpabilities. But Bittman (a food hero of mine) argues that we're eating less meat because we want to. And heaven forbid we take matters into our own minds to make that decision. It's a fascinating opine and worth the read.

fresh cut

2012-01-10T09:25:00.005-06:00

As far as gardening seasons go, I have to say that winter is one of my favorites. Counterintuitive, yes, but between the rain and the hardy cold-weather plants, it's taking very little effort on my part to have a productive garden.

Our bok choi, which is measuring at about 15 inches round, has been perfect for stir fry (with grocery store carrots, celery, broccoli, and ginger). The collard greens have made their way into this savory cobbler with cornmeal biscuits, and the lettuce makes for a perfect last-minute lunchtime salad. It's amazing what can be done with such a smattering of leafy greens. They inspire creativity in the kitchen, and save money at the grocery store. They replenish themselves and grow back bolder and braver with each cut.

What's not to love? Here is our bed of collards, chard, spinach, and kale. I planted these together, so that no matter what I cut can be interchanged in recipes fairly easily; kale works in smoothies just like spinach, and all of them can cook down in a saute pan. So far, so good:

And now, we've got little heads of broccoli and the tiniest brussels sprouts arriving. I'm simply giddy with garden joy! Look how precious they are! It's fascinating to me to see these things grow; even a farm-raised gal like me didn't know how many of the brassicas grew in their own environment. The brussels sprouts especially surprised me, with their tiny buds showing up overnight, it seemed.

Here's some broccoli about to bloom...

And here's a head on another plant, about 4 inches around. Gardening folks say to harvest it when each little leaf-ette is about the size of a match head, so we're close to enjoying this for dinner.

The garden brings such joy in such small, leafy packages. How's your garden growing?

ringing in the new year

2011-12-31T17:13:00.003-06:00

Let it be known that as we being 2012, I'm starting it with the very best of intentions. For instance, I just downed this fresh and bright smoothie, packed full of garden greens. The kale and baby spinach, lemon juice, and sweetness of the pear juice and banana blend together very well, but the celery is pronounced and quickly reminds you that you're drinking something healthy. It's a super fresh smoothie that will make you feel better just for looking at it.

So let 2012 be the year I recommit to Sustainable Diet, bringing to it a freshness not unlike that of this delectable drink. Here's to renewal, good health, and happiness!

Winter Greens Smoothie

1/2 cup pear juice
1/2 cup ice
1 small banana, cut into 1-inch slices
1 1/2 cups fresh kale or baby spinach (or a mixture of both)

1 stalk celery, chopped

juice from 1/2 of a lemon

Put all ingredients into the blender in the order they're listed. Begin with ice-crush mode, pulse for about 15 seconds, and then puree completely. Makes one 16-ounce smoothie.

Inspired by this Kale Apple Smoothie recipe at Real Simple.

salsa verde

2011-11-09T12:41:00.004-06:00

Here's what happens. I run home to visit my mom and wish her happy birthday, intending just to drop off her gift and talk for a while. She not only feeds me (well) with a wonderful pot of homemade, homegrown vegetarian minestrone, but also sends me home with bags and bags of vegetables. Among them: collards, chard, pattypan squash, eight-ball squash, cherry tomatoes, dill, and (best of all), about four pounds of tomatillos.... already husked, no less!

Last night, those tomatillos got rinsed, roasted, and pureed into some fresh and spicy salsa verde. The pepper lineup was taken from our backyard garden, and let me be the first to report that those serranos are spicy. The jalapenos may be tiny, but they pack a punch.

The verde verdict: it's spicy and tangy, and the fresh tomatillos impart a bit of sweetness to it, too. We scooped it up with chips right away, and today it was the garnish for my grilled vegetable salad. Enjoy!

Roasted Salsa Verde

3-4 pounds fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed to remove stickiness

5-10 peppers, depending on how spicy you like it

1 large yellow onion, cut into chunks

3 cloves garlic

1 cup fresh cilantro

juice from 2 limes

salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 450. Spread the clean tomatillos and peppers on a baking sheet and roast for about 10-15 minutes, stirring once with a spatula.

In the bowl of a food processor, finely chop the garlic, onion, and cilantro. Add the tomatillos. peppers (stems removed), and lime juice and process until well incorporated. Season with salt. Serve warm immediately, or ladle into jars.

Keeps fresh in the fridge for about a week; if you'd like to give it as holiday gifts or save for later, ladle into sterilized half-pint jars and seal in a hot water bath.

a second spring

2011-10-27T16:20:00.009-05:00

Thanks to the unbelievably wonderful weather we've seen lately (let's just not mention the lack of rain, shall we?), the garden we have so lovingly revamped in the backyard is beginning to grow. In 56-90 days, we'll (hopefully) have produce from our own backyard on our own plates.

Two weekends ago, we buckled down and cleaned up the backyard. After coming up with a general game plan for the gardens, we settled on a few things, wants and needs:

• We want the garden to look good

• We need to keep the cats out

• We need a way to grow plants from seed, as well as places for transplants

• We want to grow foods we enjoy

In Fat Man (the original 4x8 that Ryan built), we planted seeds for leafy greens: kale, collards, swiss chard, and spinach. I kept it simple so that trimming the greens would be easy, should they all come in at once. We also happen to love all these greens. A win-win, I believe that's called.

In the Little Boys, our two low-to-the-ground 4x10s, we have rows of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts. There are two fall tomatoes (an heirloom cherry variety and romas; we'll see how they do) as well as our lone survivors of the summer—the pepper plants. They're happily producing now, with many promising blooms.

In the 4x12 Devers Bed, we've got a row of Chinese cabbage transplants (I think they're 'Jai Choi,' but I can't find any confirming evidence... they hailed from the Natural Gardener with the rest of our transplants). I also am giving strawberries one more shot—two transplants' worth. Finally, I've planted 15 cloves of organic garlic, since the sign at Natural Gardner convinced me that garlic is "exceedingly easy" to grow in Texas.

And last but not least, in our two 4x4s, I planted seeds for lettuces, carrots, kohlrabi, beets, and turnips. Ryan built the cat-proofing cages with 1x2 cedar frames covered in wire fencing.

All of the large beds are covered in pine straw, mainly to discourage the cats (they don't like walking on it). Side benefits include being able to hide the soaker hoses and acting as a mulch-like barrier.

We also have a little herb garden with basil, rosemary, curly parsley, sage, thyme, and mint. All the herbs are currently happy, so I'm trying to keep them that way.

So far, the fall garden is bringing happiness to our everyday lives. I'm looking forward to some home-grown greens, and have made a plan to shop at the farmer's market weekly for extras.

the rise of the fro-ban

2011-08-04T09:53:00.002-05:00

*Please note. I meant to post this, oh, a long, long time ago. But a phone call last week from a neighbor that opened with, "Hey Amber. We have a fro-ban question," reminded me to actually set it live.

**Also. We are huge fans of fro-bans as they were meant to be. This is just another option.

Once upon a time, I was struck by the simplicity of a blog post over at The Kitchn. "Make delicious, creamy ice cream with just one ingredient and no ice cream maker," it claimed.

Ha-HA! Yeah right.

Nay-sayers, step aside. Marvel at the Fro-Ban: the frozen banana, like you've never seen it before. I worried that banana ice cream would taste too, well, banana-y. While the flavor is undoubtedly there, it's nothing like the faux-banana flavor employed by candies and processed foods. And the process of blending the fro-bans incorporates a little air, lending it a light and satisfying creaminess.

And then you get really insistent on making popsicles one night, and before you know it you're adding coconut milk to the frozen bananas, whirring it all together, and layering it in a pan with chocolate syrup.

That's when you invite your neighbors over for Fro-Bans.

Fro-Ban Popsicles

4-6 slightly over-ripe bananas, peeled and cut into 1-inch slices, then frozen for at least 3 hours

1/4 cup coconut milk (dairy, soy, or almond milk can be used here too)

organic chocolate syrup (here's a recipe for homemade)

Toss the frozen banana chunks into the food processor and whir until they resemble ice cream. Feel free to eat it at that point. For popsicles, slowly add the coconut milk while the machine is running, until the mixture reaches a slightly smoother texture.

Line a 9x5 baking tray with waxed paper and pour a layer of banana mixture into the pan. Drizzle with a good layer of chocolate syrup, and top with the remaining banana mixture. Place popsicle sticks in at 3/4-inch intervals. Freeze for at least 4 hours, then gently cut pops apart and serve.

homemade fig newtons

2011-07-27T21:48:00.003-05:00

Figs are such delicate, delectable things. They seem so incredibly indulgent—so when my mom gave me the better part of 10 pounds this year, I longed to use them wisely.

Their delicate nature means they're only good fresh for a week (at best), so I had to use them up quickly and didn't have any time to make preserves.

Enter the hunt for a fig bar recipe. A good friend is a big fan of fig bars, and I thought a homemade version would be easy to find. Turns out, most recipes I turned to called for dried figs (since for most of the cooking public, those are so easy to come by). If you're in the market, this recipe for Grown Up Fig Bars over at 101 Cookbooks was a contender for the two-hour slot I had set aside for figs in the kitchen.

But what ended up winning was this recipe for homemade fig Newtons over at Our Italian Kitchen. I changed the recipe quite a lot, to include whole wheat and less sugar. Here's my take on it, which was so well received that I processed about 6 pounds of figs this same way, threw 'em in the freezer, and started taking orders for more.

Fresh Fig Bars

Adapted from Our Italian Kitchen

Dough
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup raw or turbinado sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup spelt flour
(alternately, you can use 1 1/2 cups AP flour, or 3/4 cup AP and 3/4 cup whole wheat)

Filling
2 lbs fresh figs
1/4 cup honey
Juice of half a lemon

1. Cream the butter, sugar and zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for 2-3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

2. Beat in the egg white and vanilla.

3. Next, add the flour in three portions and beat on low speed after each addition until the dough comes together.

4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

5. While the dough is chilling, de-stem the figs. Toss the whole figs into the bowl of a food processor and process until pureed.

6. In a large saucepan, cook the fig puree, honey, and lemon juice over medium-low heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. The mixture should be fairly thick and begin to gel as you cook it down. Set mixture aside until completely cool. If making these the next day, refrigerate the mixture overnight.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

8. Working with about 1/2 of the dough at a time, roll the chilled dough out on a floured surface. Cut into strips, each about 12 x 4 inches. Spoon a line of filling down the center of each strip. With the help of a dough scraper, carefully fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges together. Using a serrated knife, slice each log into appropriately-sized cookies. Place each cookie on the parchment-lined baking sheets, seam side down.

9. Bake, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack. Share with friends to make them love you.

summer meals, part 2: fig, gorgonzola & arugula pizza

2011-07-11T16:39:00.003-05:00

I couldn't leave you hanging on just part 1, now, could I?

My mom gave us a bucketload of fresh figs from her tree. During the last two summers, I out-jammed myself and we still have jars sitting in the garage that I'm afraid to eat. With the heat this summer, I can't bear to do any canning in the kitchen anyway. So this year, I decided to take a different approach.

This approach: Enjoy fresh figs in all of their fresh figgy glory. So we made pizza. With fresh figs. How fun!

I've gotten in the habit of making double batches of pizza dough and freezing half. It's once the prep and twice the food—brilliant, if you ask me. Provided, of course, you remember to take the dough out of the freezer. (Call from the grocery store: "Hey, Ryan. Are you home? Yeah? Can you do me a favor? Thanks...") This means whipping up a gourmet pizza on a weeknight becomes, oh, no big deal. Seriously, you should try it.

I was inspired by the umpteen recipes I found for fig, arugula, and prosciutto pizza (like this one from Pioneer Woman), but there were a couple of small problems. Like, we don't eat prosciutto any more. And, to be honest, I'm not a fan of arugula.

This pizza changed half of that. I'll give you a clue: I still don't eat prosciutto.

The only tricky thing about this pizza is that you kind of have to watch it carefully. I didn't want to bake the arugula too long, so I put that on at the end. You can see in the photo that the greens are a little wilted; if you want them to look snappier, just add the arugula after you've totally baked the pizza.

Fig, Gorgonzola, and Arugula Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough of your choice (but I recommend this one, jazzed up with spelt flour)

approximately 15 fresh figs (more if you'd like), de-stemmed and sliced

1/2 cup gorgonzola crumbles

3 cups fresh arugula (you can use an arugula-spinach mix here)

2 tablespoons olive oil

cornmeal for dusting the baking sheet

Preheat the oven to 450. Roll your pizza dough thin; this is one pizza that's best on a thin, crisp crust. Dust a baking sheet or pizza stone with cornmeal and transfer the dough to the sheet.

Slide the crust into the oven for about 4-5 minutes to partially bake it. Remove from oven, and drizzle the half-baked crust with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Top haphazardly with gorgonzola and fig slices, and return the pizza to the oven for about 5 more minutes.

Just before the crust turns golden-brown, bring the pizza back out and top with 3 cups of arugula and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Slide back into the oven to finish baking, until crust is golden and crispy. Enjoy it while it's still nice and hot.

summer meals, part 1

2011-07-08T12:07:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not, we've been having some amazing stuff from the garden and kitchen lately. I hope to share a few recipes soon, like homemade fig bars and fig-gorgonzola-arugula pizza. Oh, and mayo-free pimento cheese. And the plans for the fall garden (see the squash starts above? Let's hope they make it!).

Sure, our garden is suffering mightily in the heat. . . And there's next to nothing to harvest most of the time. But we have managed to pluck delicious ripe tomatoes from the vines and have peppers, too. And with the frozen herbs I keep in my freezer, a quick summer meal is never too far away.

Lately one of our quick dinner favorites has become the "anything goes quesadilla." No two are alike! I have less of a recipe for you and more of. . . An approach.

• Keep chopped onion in the fridge at all times. This has proved supremely helpful; also, when kept in a glass airtight container, it keeps for at least two weeks. And the glass never holds on to the smell, either. Win-win. Win.

• Gather miscellany vegetables from the garden (chard, peppers, eggplant, squash, and corn have all made an appearance).

• Open a can of pinto or black beans; drain it and get it ready to throw in the pan.

• We like using multi-grain tortillas. They're flavorful and healthy. Cha-ching!

• Use a pan that can saute your veggies and also cook the quesadillas. I use a flat non-stick pan for everything. Sure, a couple of beans leap onto the stovetop, but overall it's nice to use only one dish for this.

• Saute the veggies, add seasonings, and toss in the beans to heat them up. Take your fixin's and pour them onto one of your dinner plates. Keep them in waiting while you throw a tortilla on the pan and add just about a tablespoon of shredded cheese. Let it melt a little, and then add about a half-cup of the filling. Top with another tablespoon of cheese and the next tortilla, and proceed with your quesadilla-making.

• We make three quesadillas to feed two of us (split the third one). It's perfectly filling and always delicious.

That's it! Back with more in less than a month, I promise.

garden squash & eggplant pizzas

2011-05-31T16:54:00.003-05:00

Friday night, we had friends over for dinner. They swing vegetarian too, so cooking up a meatless meal was not an issue. And we had quite the harvest from the garden last week, making for a nice selection of veggies to choose from. They're kind, open-minded friends who would politely eat even my worst culinary creation . . . But they didn't have to feign interest because (spoiler alert) this dinner was awesome.

After the pizza success earlier this month, I decided to go with something foolproof and serve garden-fresh pizzas to our guests. Let me tell you what made this a good game plan:

• I planned ahead (I know, I know—brilliant! Every meal should start this way!)

• I didn't put too much pressure on myself ("No big deal" = mantra)

• I practiced the recipe before serving it to guests (Shocking development!)*

• I gave myself plenty of time, prepping the dough before going to work and chopping veggies a couple of hours before guests arrived (Time? Who knew?)

• I chose recipes that, even if something went a little awry, they'd be good (Um, hello, PIZZA)**

• I kept it fairly simple and asked the guests to bring dessert—one less thing to worry over. (And boy did they deliver.)

I highly recommend such a game plan if you're at all like me: Nervous. Scatterbrained. Forgetful. Buckling under the pressure to perform. Wishing you could be drinking wine with your guests instead of stressing away in the kitchen.

That's right! With a little forethought, I actually put on a successful dinner party. It was, dare I say, so much fun that I'm doing it again in two weeks. We'll be having garden pizza and salad (I'm a quick learner).

* This isn't entirely true. I tried the recipe once, exactly as the recipe was written. But who am I to make the same recipe twice? Due to the garden yield, I decided to change it up. Riffing on that same theme, I scrapped the zukes for yellow squash and the orange bell for two baby purple bells from our garden. Those made for two great substitutions and I highly recommend being brave.

** Yeah, so I did actually bust out a new recipe, found day-of-dinner-party, and it was amazing. I had two small, perfectly-hued eggplant from the garden and wanted to use them. Smitten Kitchen came through as usual with a grilled eggplant and provolone pizza recipe (thank you, Google). This one was a white pie (without marinara sauce) and was my hubby's favorite of the evening—the first time he's ever referred to an eggplant dish as his favorite. So, that was, like, totally awesome.

The full menu, so you can plan ahead for your next dinner soiree:

• Salad (store-bought greens) with garden tomatoes, snap peas, green beans, and Mother's Cashew-Tamari Dressing

• Garden Squash, Bell Pepper, and Goat Cheese Pizza on homemade spelt crust

• Garden Eggplant, Olive, Parsley, and Provolone Pizza on homemade spelt crust

• Vanilla ice cream with local blueberries

Stay tuned to find out just what's happening in the garden this week . . . Bad news: we've got borers. Good news: It's not too late to re-plant.

yum factor: goat cheese and zucchini pizza

2011-05-17T11:19:00.007-05:00

I'll be the first to admit, it's been tough times in the kitchen lately. Not a lot going on, and when it does go on, there's a mess deal with and not a lot of "yum" to make the mess easier to handle. What you haven't seen here: a completely failed attempt at banana bread, some decidedly not delicious dinners, and preoccupation with other stuff. Bigger fish to fry, if you'll excuse the analogy.

So part of me was getting pretty put out about it all. We started eating out more and more, until I felt like we were eating out at every meal, and the only thing I found myself cooking were iterations of rice and beans. Healthy, yes. Sustainable, certainly. Cheap, you betchya. But food blog worthy? Challenging? Fun to brag about?

Come on now.

In the midst of it all, I watched our garden begin to falter. The bean plants and cucumbers were looking ill, with mazes appearing in the leaves (note: leafminers are vicious little buggers but can be combatted organically with BT). Pillbugs had stumped the growth of our first yellow squash in the garden. We were under heavy attack by predatory bugs.

Things were not boding well for my hopes and dreams of being an urban farmer/food writer/culinary artist/yoga instructor/expert seamstress (see how the snowball effect takes hold?!?). Things had to change.

We took action on the garden, seeking the advice of some pros (the tips? Water deeply, use BT and DT, and check the babies every day for signs of sickness). We set an intention for our garden and our food, and agreed that there was an opportunity here to reset and enjoy. And coinciding with this revelation, heralding it in, in fact, was the latest issue of Vegetarian Times. Cue choir of angels, bright shining light from Heaven, etc.

We're trying their 28-day Eat Green Veg challenge—and by that I mean cooking from their wealth of healthy veg recipes. And they're all in one place, which caters to my ~~lazier~~ busier side.

Here's an incredible recipe for Goat Cheese, Zucchini, and Bell Pepper Pizza, which I followed to the T! The only adaptation was to make a spelt crust from scratch, following Mark Bittman's dough recipe for the most part (I used 1 1/2 cups bread flour and 1 1/2 cups whole spelt flour, and since I was all out of instant yeast I just used the regular stuff. I let it rise in the fridge all day while I was at work, then brought it to room temp before moving forward.).

Oh, what? Pizza's not healthy? Actually, this one is—I'm no nutritionist (yet; let's put that on the to-do list), but the spelt crust is chock-full heart-healthy minerals and vitamins. The sauce is made from organic tomato paste and a little evoo; the toppings are fresh veggies and a little bit of local goat cheese. No grease to speak of, and very little salt. In fact, in lieu of parmesan I sprinkled a little nutritional yeast on top for just a hint of parm flavor. So, yes. Healthy pizza.

In other news, here are a few shots of the gardens. They're coming along and we are looking forward to a summer full of squash, corn, tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, melons, beans, peas, eggplant, and peppers.

a riff on beans & rice

2011-04-26T12:49:00.002-05:00

Let's pretend you live in Austin. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. But have you ever gone to Mother's? It's a fabulous little cafe with one very important distinction: its menu is entirely vegetarian.

So we've been there a lot in the last year and a half. A lot.

A couple of visits ago, I decided it would probably behoove me to branch out, though I have some serious favorites, and work my way through everything on the menu. The garden salad with cashew-tamari dressing is a must on each visit, but since everything is me-friendly, I love the idea that I can try it all. No substitutions needed.

About halfway through the menu, I came across something simple: steamed vegetables served with sage mashed potatoes, brown rice, and black beans. And it is superb. As one friend put it, "Sometimes you just need someone else to steam your veggies." It's true. But that dish can just as easily be made at home (without the inimitable* cashew-tamari dressing, which is totally worth the out-to-eat pricetag).

Last night we had our first imitation: so easy, so healthy, so cheap, and pretty darn delicious. I'll leave the sage mashed potatoes to Mother's, but here's our latest riff on rice and beans.

This makes 4 full servings of the dish, plus enough beans for another dinner (which is still TBD). While this didn't wind up being a one-dish meal, it's easy and accessible, especially if you have a pressure cooker. This isn't so much a recipe as it is a recommendation; and if you don't want to cook dried beans, just open up a can or two, rinse, and heat 'em up. And really, you can steam any veggies you like. These were the two we had on hand.

There may have also been one or two green beans from yesterday's garden harvest. That being the entire harvest. Patience, patience, patience.

Rice and Beans and Veg

1 pound dried pinto or black beans (or 2 cans cooked pintos)

5 cloves peeled garlic

1 cup brown rice (dry, to make 2-3 cups cooked)

2-3 cups broccoli florets

4 large carrots

Soak the beans for about 9 hours, and then cooked them with the garlic cloves at full pressure for 5 minutes. (Read more about the pressure cooker here.) Cook the rice according to the package directions (I add a tablespoon of butter to brown rice while cooking, which makes me supremely happy). Peel and slice the carrots and steam them with the broccoli for about 10 minutes (sprinkle with a little salt, and drizzle with olive oil if you so please). Serve it all up in a bowl: rice, beans, and veggies. Then garnish and season with red pepper flakes, garlic salt, celery seed, shredded cheese, and pickled jalapenos.

* I say inimitable because I think that's truly the case. I tried to recreate it on a number of occasions with only limited success. My homemade versions are tasty, but they lack that certain... something. If you have a spot-on impersonation, please do share!

a sneak peak at the backyard farm

2011-04-19T17:23:00.004-05:00

Oh boy. A couple of weekends ago, we welcomed a new member to our garden family, along with the help of some awesome folks (more about that soon, promise!). We've added more gardening space to our backyard than I think anyone was really prepared for, and have had to come up with creative names for our raised beds just to keep them all straight. Above you can see our original bed, Fat Man, which Ryan built single-handedly. Don't tell the other beds, but this one's my favorite. It's 4 feet wide, 8 long, and almost 18 inches tall. It fed us salad and greens for four solid months, and we're still able to harvest the swiss chard. The spinach, cilantro, and lettuce have all begun to bolt but I'm not ready to say goodbye.

This photo of our summer beds in full shade is a little misleading; they actually get about 5-6 hours of sun each day. But we're still going to chop down some hackberries to invite a little more sun in. We've got a 4x12 bed here (The Devers), two 4x10 beds (Little Boy East, Little Boy West), and then our two little 4x4 beds, which have yet to be named. Currently accepting suggestions, if you're interested.

Forgive the crummy pics, but rest assured I will take you on a tour of our backyard farm in the next few weeks, as I'm hopeful most of the summer crops will have put out blooms by then. (Ryan and I have taken to referring to the plants growing in our beds as our "crops," not just our "veggies.")

It takes a number of hours each week to keep up with our urban farm, but we are beside ourselves with excitement for the summer crop to take off. Ryan's mentioned, only halfway joking, the phrase "booth at the farmers' market" more than once, and we're batting around names in case that ever becomes a reality.

But for now, we're happy—oh so happy—watching our eggplants, tomatoes, bush beans, sweet peas, malabar spinach, squashes, corn, and more grow little by little. So that's what we've been up to. Sowing crops in the backyard.

Oh, and the neighbor might get chickens, for the win!

newsworthy: Bittman, Oatmeal, and McDonald's

2011-02-23T16:20:00.004-06:00

Soapbox alert: Fast food is NOT HEALTHY and it shouldn't be a part of anyone's daily diet. Can we agree?

Before you tell me that your life is too busy to live without fast food, I want you to ponder the effects that most fast foods have on our health and our environment. Cheap calories, as Mark Bittman points out in this opinion article, are often the unhealthiest of the bunch. From corn-fed beef to chemical-laced breakfast options, there's nothing healthy that comes off a fast food menu. (To be fair, I do enjoy Chipotle and think they offer good options, including organic vegetarian black beans and locally-sourced vegetables. But that's the only fast food place you'll catch me at!)

As Bittman points out with the oatmeal scenario, it is actually faster, cheaper and umpteen times healthier to make your own oatmeal at home. (I think the same can be said for salads, sandwiches and even french fries; and we should all just quit eating corn-fed beef burgers and mechanically-separated chicken nuggets cold turkey. Ahem.)

In the spirit of offering you an inexpensive, easy, and fast oatmeal recipe (even though I highly recommend this pumpkin oatmeal), here's something to fit the bill. It's ready, from scratch, in about six minutes. It's sweet without white sugar, and packed with protein, potassium, fiber, omega-3's, heart-healthy whole grains, and deliciousness. To add to the healthy factor, we always use local honey, local and organic pecans, and organic rolled oats, bananas, and almond milk. Mmmmm.

Banana Oatmeal

1 cup milk (we use unsweetened almond milk to add more protein)

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 very ripe banana

1-2 tablespoons honey, to taste

2 tablespoons ground flax seed

2 tablespoons pecan pieces

In a small saucepan, stir together the milk, cinnamon, and vanilla. Using the back of the spoon, mash up the banana in the saucepan. Heat this mixture on medium just until it begins to boil. Add the rolled oats and stir. Add the honey, flax seed, and pecans, and continue stirring and heating until the oats are cooked through, about 3 minutes.

honey, there's a food source in our backyard.

2011-02-18T16:50:00.003-06:00

The mornings are usually a little hectic around our house. For me, at least: I tend to run around like a busy-body while Ryan knows how to keep it nice and relaxed. I start with the best of intentions—going for a jog, perhaps, or waking up a little early to make breakfast or even earlier to make it to sunrise yoga. The alarm goes off, I let myself fall back asleep for a little while, and then by the time my eyes open, it's 7:15 and I think of all the things I want to accomplish before going to work at 9.

Today we were rolling along quite nicely, though; I took Fin for a walk around the 'hood while Ryan did a workout, and then got home in time to get ready at a leisurely pace. We talked, we laughed, and then I remembered I had yet to pack my lunch.

Now, I pride myself on packing my lunch almost every day. Commendable, I know! It's just so I can justify buying hot pink lunch boxes and these awesome reusable organic cotton snack bags from Etsy.

I digress! When I went to pack my lunch this morning, suddenly in a rush, I realized I was out of lettuce. But I wanted to pack a sandwich, and being a vegetarian, I really needed lettuce to make it worth my while. Otherwise I was looking at a cheese-and-apple sandwich and I don't care how gourmet the bread/apple/cheese is... that's not a full lunch. (This is the sammy I had in mind, but with sprouted whole grain bread, lightly toasted—yum!)

Then I had a revelation. We have a food source in the backyard. Well, let me just walk ten yards away, then, and cut some fresh lettuce from our garden.

All this to say how unbelievably awesome it is to have a food source literally in our backyard. I am so proud of our baby lettuces (we've been eating our lettuce and spinach all week, see that gorgeous salad?!) and can't quite express how excited I am about more veggies springing forth from our raised bed.

Major props to my husband for building the most beautiful garden bed. I can't believe I haven't showed you photos yet! Here it is covered in snow; you'll notice my super-duper cat barricade, consisting of wire on top of the soil and then bird netting draped over PVC pipe arches, tightly secured around the perimeter with garden stakes. Yep. No cats allowed. More (better) photos to come as I remember to take and post them. Duh.

comfort food from another place

2011-02-09T13:24:00.005-06:00

After a long and surprisingly hectic day at work, I had one thing on my mind: comfort food. I wanted something warm, spicy, and rejuvenating. Dinner had to be easy, cheap, and use up some things I already had on hand: a tall order.

Suddenly, a craving for Indian food hit. My previous experiences trying to cook Indian food didn't go over too well, but then I happened upon this recipe for chickpea and spinach curry. Easy! Healthy! Almost identical to what our friend's mom had made for us months ago! Exactly what I wanted! And I could cheat a little with a magical ingredient called Red Curry Paste. Ha-le-lu-jah.

It also called for spinach, which was the one veggie in the garden ready to harvest. Before covering up the raised bed (again) for our latest, greatest cold snap, I carefully trimmed back our baby spinach, brought it inside, and rinsed it. Ryan took one look at it, then looked at me to exclaim, "Wow! It looks like real spinach!"

Indeed. Real spinach. Real, delicious spinach. From our backyard. A gal could get used to this.

This was one of the easiest recipes I've thrown together in a while—not to mention one of the most satisfying. Even if you've never cooked Indian food before, you'll be able to master this in one try. We scooped it up with multi-grain tortillas from Central Market, which we lightly toasted in a dry cast iron skillet (they're great toasted, too). And maybe we added a little butter on the top. Just maybe a little. . . a little bit of butter. Yeah.

I actually followed this recipe at Jen Loves Kev (which she got from off of broadway) pretty square-on, resisting the temptation to add yogurt at the end or put more ginger in at the beginning. But, feel free to riff on the general theme. Who knows what you might discover.

This can be easily made out of pantry staples, which makes it even better: a can of garbanzos, a can of chopped tomatoes, and a few common spices. Looks like we'll be stocking red curry paste from now on, too.

And can I just point out how healthy this is? A high-protein, low-fat, antioxidant-rich, ginger-spiked dinner with a multi-grain side. Makes for great leftovers to boot. . .

What are you waiting for?!?

inspired: self-full.

2011-02-01T17:13:00.004-06:00

Not a photo of food. GOAL, though.

So I had this a-ha! moment today while reading one of my favorite blogs, A Practical Wedding. Yes, its' technically a wedding blog (but in reality, SO much more!), and yes, our wedding happened, oh . . . about four months ago, but it is so very inspiring to me. I flirted with other wedding sites for a few weeks after our wedding, but have pretty well nixed my penchant for scrolling at 60MPH through inspiring (or aspirational) wedding photos. But I've stuck with my smart, sassy blog friends over at APW.

And while reading Tuesday's post, wherein author Meg encourages women to be self-full, I felt inspired. Inspired to keep doing what I'm doing, yes—but more so. I'm inspired to start doing it better.

Which brings me to this blog. January was so good to me, but most of that was because, wouldn't you know. . . I was really good to myself. I spent a lot of time laughing, running, working out with my husband, focusing on our health and well-being, and exploring yoga. I stretched limits both mentally and physically and found out that I have so much more space within myself in which I can expand.

I started reading a daily meditation and keeping a gratitude journal, where I write down five things I'm grateful for everyday. I set new goals and found little ways to improve across the board. And I shared all this with my husband.

In the kitchen, I renewed a commitment to local, organic produce. I harvested our first baby greens from our garden (which is currently covered with a tarp, because it's 20 degrees outside!), and have been putting together meals in the spirit of whole-ness.

It occurred to me that while this blog is mainly about creating fresh, healthy, and fun foods, it can also be a sounding board for inspiration. From now on, I'm setting a goal to post a newsworthy blog each week, sharing with you an interesting food-related article. I'll also bring you a post like this, albeit hopefully a little shorter, about something inspiring to me. Maybe food-related, maybe not; but always keeping the health of body, mind, and soul in the focus.

My hope? That my journey toward self-awareness and, dare I say, enlightenment might inspire others. So much of what has taken me through the last 31 days has come from what I've read, what I've experienced, and most of all, from really connecting with people around me.

So, in the spirit of my first yoga session of the week, I leave you with my favorite yoga teacher's most inspiring (paraphrased) instructions: Open to the winds of change, the winds of grace; let your heart shine. Be f*$%@g awesome.

Photo: Lululemon Athletica.

on thinking, then acting

2011-01-28T13:55:00.004-06:00

After plenty of prodding from plenty of people, I ordered the Desert Island Sampler from Rancho Gordo. My heirloom beans arrived in all their glory this week, and even I was shocked at my level of excitement for cooking dry beans when I got home Tuesday night.

First up? The Rio Zape beans, which (according to their package) had hints of coffee and chocolate. While mulling over what to cook them with, I perused Rancho Gordo's bean-cooking instructions. "Cover with water, broth, or beer..." Wait—notes of coffee in the beans? Wouldn't you know, I had two Real Ale Coffee Porters in the fridge! (Best. Beer. Ever.) Dare I use our most precious beer to stew beans? Since I've seen it bottled and on tap at many of our favorite spots lately, I opted to use half a beer for the beans. The other half? For the cook, of course.

So the other revelation (beer + beans being the first) I had that night was to roast my two favorite vegetables together. After my cousins cooked dinner for us (Amy made awesome butternut squash risotto and Callie brought this incredible salad, complete with roasted broccoli and lemon-poppyseed dressing), it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, I could combine the two.

Without so much as an effort to Google whether it had been done before, I immediately chopped up the squash and threw it in a baking dish. The broccoli followed, and 40 minutes later I was mmm-ing my way through dinner. The beans turned out great; they weren't as different from pinto beans as I was expecting, but they were indeed quite tasty. I thought the real easy weeknight show-stopper was the vegetable side. I'm biased, since these are my favorite veggies, but.... It's still darn delicious. And it's gorgeous. The greens and the golds and the flakes of bright red—just lovely.

Spicy Roasted Butternut and Broccoli

1 pound broccoli florets, fresh or frozen

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 tablespoons EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425. Chop up the veggies and toss in a baking dish. Mix evenly with EVOO and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add about 1/2 teaspoon (or more, or less) crushed red pepper flakes. Give it all one more good stir and plop that baby in the oven.

Roast for 30-40 minutes, or until broccoli is slightly crisped and browned on the tips and butternut is fork-tender (or even softer).

a new lease on life

2011-01-19T21:57:00.002-06:00

January started with so much promise. We began the year with a joyful evening spent with close friends; we made promises to ourselves and to each other to start fresh, eat right, exercise, and do the Earth a favor or two.

And I'm pleased to say that January is delivering.

My husband came home with great news yesterday, news that means his unbelievably strong willpower and unwavering efforts in all aspects of health are paying off. I couldn't be prouder of him! I have found a new passion—one that makes me feel alive and vibrant and want to share it with the world—in yoga. Together, we're making choices that make us look and feel and act better. Healthy minds, healthy bodies, healthy spirits.

We have joined a new CSA and got a box of lovely winter veggies from Johnson Backyard Garden. I haven't turned to butter once for these perfect vegetables, and not a thing has gone to waste! We ate kohlrabi for the first time. We've been cooking beans in the pressure cooker (more on that when I get my first shipment of Rancho Gordo heirloom beans) and have been cooking more whole grains than ever before.

Did I mention that, at the moment, there are no dirty dishes in the sink? I'm on a roll, folks!

So! There you have it. A January success story. And with it, the success of our hyper-local dinner from last night. We've got sprouts growing in our raised bed, but they had to be thinned out. I harvested some of the rejects and dubbed them "micro-greens;" we pretended to be in a five-star restaurant and downed a beautiful salad with red and green baby romaine (from JBG), micro-greens from our own garden (turnip, radish, parsley, lettuce, and cilantro thinnings to be exact), a greenhouse tomato grown in Marfa, and homemade balsalmic vinaigrette.

Yes, it was amazing, but the tomato? Definitely a summer crop, not a winter one.

For the main course, we had a surprisingly satisfying soup, adapted from this white bean soup from Whole Living. In that same CSA box we got the most beautiful head of green cauliflower. I was quite resourceful and even used the leaves for this recipe! It's delectable, creamy, high in protein and nutrients, and low in fat. The leftovers are just as good if not better, and the tiny bit of parmesan? It's divine. You must not skip the parmesan.

Cauliflower, Broccoli, and White Bean Soup

1 small head green cauliflower (including leaves), chopped into bite-size pieces

1 cup broccoli florets (I used frozen)

2 1/2 cups water

1 15-ounce can canneli beans, drained

1 cup onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

shaved parmesan (for garnish)

In a 3.5-quart pot or saucepan, bring the water to boil. With a steamer basket, steam the cauliflower and broccoli just until bright and lively. Drain—reserve the water—and set aside.

In the same pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat for about 30 seconds. Add the onion and garlic and stir. Saute until translucent, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the beans and the reserved 2 1/2 cups steaming water, and bring to a simmer. Taste and season accordingly. Carefully add the cauliflower and broccoli. Remove from heat.

Using a blender, carefully puree the soup in batches. Return to pot, bring to a low simmer, and season to taste.

Just before serving, shave a few bits of parmesan on top of each bowl. Enjoy!

and in this new decade....

2011-01-03T21:06:00.003-06:00

Like most of the rest of the world, we sat with our friends just before the clock struck midnight to ring in the new year, and talked about what a year it had been.

What a year, indeed.

We started it engaged. We bought a house. We painted a wall for the first time in our lives. We planned a wedding. Then we had a wedding. We went to Mexico and swam in the ocean. I stuck with the vegetarian thing (it's been a whole year, can anyone believe it?!). We built a vegetable garden and planted our first seeds. We tried some new things, we had successes and failures. We shared our first holidays together as husband and wife. And in between all those huge things we did, we shared many adventures. There were bicycle rides and jogs and laughter and tears, and so much more.

It was a pretty wonderful year.

So, here comes 2011, and I have to be honest. I just put up the Christmas decorations today and I'm feeling a little empty, as is the living room. We don't have any huge things to check off our to-do list this year; last year was so full of huge life changes, it's hard to imagine what this year may hold. This year I think we want to travel; we want to be more healthy than ever (it's working this time, I promise); we want to learn new skills.

As for food, I want to continue what we've been doing, with a few small changes. We're starting to branch out a little and it's exciting. I hope that since I won't be so distracted, I'll have more to share here.

I'm learning how to cook with a pressure cooker, and soon I'm betting every one of you readers out there will order one. Pretty amazing stuff.

And, in about 60 days, we'll (hopefully) be harvesting the first veggies from our little garden. Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, and turnips await!

So, here's to wishing you the happiest year in 2011.

quick! a bread recipe.

2010-12-17T13:54:00.002-06:00

Last week, I was recipe testing a few quick breads, trying to find the right one for gift-giving (that's about all I can tell you before Christmas - and no photos). I made one batch, tasted it, was pleasantly surprised, and then quickly ushered it out of the house with Ryan to work so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat the whole loaf.

Some of our friends who got a taste of the bread have asked for the recipe - and since it makes such a great Christmas gift (pack the dry goods in a jar), I have to oblige.

I adapted it from this Sunset magazine recipe, and it's SO easy to make. *If you don't have any buttermilk in the fridge, simply mix 1 1/2 cups of regular milk with 1 1/2 tablespoons of white vinegar, and let sit while you prepare the other ingredients. Happy holiday baking!

Chocolate Chip & Pecan Oatmeal Quick Bread

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Quick Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (see note above)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup melted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

2. Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing

2. In a small bowl, beat buttermilk, eggs, and butter.

3. Stir wet mixture into dry ingredients just until evenly moistened (batter will be lumpy).

4. Scrape into the ready pan, and bake in a 350° oven until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

soup in a big, pretty pot.

2010-12-14T12:12:00.003-06:00

Recently, with the holidays approaching, I've become obsessed with making everything pretty. And without giving too much of my holiday gift-giving away, I've become equally obsessed with the Japanese art of furoshiki, in which you wrap something in a reusable cloth (tea towels are perfect for this!) instead of gift wrap. It's so wabi-sabi, so ordinary but extraordinary all at once.

All that to say, I love tea towels. Somehow, tea towels make everything more beautiful. This amazingly gorgeous pot of mine is made more lovely just with the simple (and extremely useful) addition of a tea towel. Quick note: this trick is great for transporting any hot dish with handles! Just thread the towel through each handle, and you've got built-in heat protection with a touch of charm.

I had promised a homemade dinner to my grandmother, and when I told her I'd be bringing "super-healthy lentil soup," she may or may not have mentioned that she could order pizza.

Since we've recently converted to health nuts at our house, I decided to try this lentil soup recipe from Heidi Swanson over at 101 Cookbooks. Her recipes always incorporate whole eating, and as she says in her post about this particular soup, it's chock-full of veggie protein, a little dairy, healthy greens, and tomatoes. Indeed, super healthy. It was unbelievably easy to whip up on a weeknight and, with the tea towel lending a hand, made for safe travel over to my grandma's house.

This makes enough to feed 8; surprisingly, after doling out seconds and leftovers to my sister and aunt, the soup was all gone. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I had to use spinach as the green (forgot to buy kale or chard and the garden hasn't grown anything just yet) and served it with a little bit of sauteed butternut squash, which rounded it out for a lovely winter meal.

Yeah. Stay tuned next week when I tell you about the split pea soup extravaganza. I know you're excited! (And I promise to tell you about the season's best beer bread, too.)

healthful eating

2010-12-06T07:00:00.002-06:00

For quite some time, I have focused my cooking on completely natural ingredients; fresh, local, and organic vegetables; and seasonal eating. I've even been vegetarian for a year, which should just scream "healthiest eater around!!" right?

Wrong.

What I've recently learned is that while I cook fairly healthy, there's always room for improvement. A quick look at my most recent blog posts points to cheese, caramel apples, and a dinner without protein.

Don't worry, I'm not giving up the good stuff. But this weekend, we took a brave new approach to eating.

Nothing was covered in cheese, and we didn't skip meals. We ate only whole grains and looked at nutrition labels to figure out fiber and protein counts. Together, we constructed meals that included not just healthy vegetables and grains, but also legumes for a complete food experience.

Needless to say, we ate a lot of beans over the weekend.

But we might have just eaten healthier in the last four days than we ever have. I'm still learning about constructing meals, but whatever I learn I hope to pass along to you.

For starters, here's a recipe for our new favorite breakfast, only slightly adapted from the nutritionist. It's chock-full of wintry flavor, not to mention plenty of nutrients and fiber. And of course, we use organic everything to make it meet our strict house food policies.

It comes together in just a few minutes, but to speed things up in the morning (especially on work days), I like to have the dry ingredients and the pot sitting out overnight so there's nothing to hunt for in the wee hours of the morning.

Pumpkin Oatmeal

1 cup lowfat milk (or almond milk)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp - 1 tbls raw or brown sugar, to taste

1/3 cup canned pumpkin (or fresh pumpkin puree)

1 cup rolled oats (not the quick-cooking kind)

1 tbls ground flax seed

chopped pecans for garnish

In a small pot, bring the milk, spices, and pumpkin to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the oats, lower the heat, and cook for about 5 minutes or until tender. Serve in bowls with the flax seed and pecans sprinkled on top.

Serves 2.

fall, can i keep you?

2010-11-16T10:43:00.003-06:00

We've finally hit my official vegetarian anniversary, and I must say it's working out quite nicely. The connection between mind, body, spirit, and food is fascinating; I feel totally connected in many new ways as I've taken this vegetarian journey. I think I have opened up my cooking lexicon to experience new things because of it (cous cous still is not something I enjoy, but bring on the mole, curry, and miso!).

Here are a few things that we've been eating lately. Rainbow chard (topped with cheese), wine-laced caramel apples, roasted acorn squash with brown sugar and dijon mustard.

Fall is my absolute favorite.

AP. Like the flour.

2010-10-26T17:00:00.003-05:00

Well, it happened. I'm a married woman. And now my initials are AP, like the flour, as one friend pointed out. (The rest of the friends didn't get it right away. AP = All Purpose. Funny, right?)

We had an extraordinarily wonderful wedding, with handmade details at every turn, and it could not have been more perfect for us if it tried. Our family and friends made it that way - their outpouring of love and support humbled and amazed us.

And then we came home. Not a lot is different, but somehow it indeed better. Ryan resumed his normal activity of building fires in the backyard and I got back into the kitchen as quickly as I could. In a silly fit of embracing stereotypical gender roles of marriage, I had my husband open a stuck jar for me and in turn called him "My hero." He pointed out my cheese factor and life was back to normal. But the day did hold one small miracle that directly pertains to this here food blog.

The Sunday we returned from our honeymoon, I tried four (count 'em, FOUR) new recipes. Are you ready for this?

All of them turned out wonderfully.

There were no kitchen mishaps; when I started to burn some sugar, I caught my mistake before it became an error and saved my own sanity. I planned things out perfectly and had dinner on the table for our friends not too long after they arrived. There was even a snack to munch on before the salad was served. My dressing was just right, the soup was well-blended, and dessert? Well, it rocked.

Then we saw a pig fly past the window.

I won't tell you how long it took me to finish washing dishes from that night. It's not important.

But what is important is that it was such an affirmation of why I love cooking. Because once in a while, a new recipe can surprise and delight you. For me, it was more than just our now-we're-married-and-we-can-celebrate-fall-the-right-way meal; it was an invitation to spend uninterrupted time on my favorite hobby and have something to show for it. And then share that with my husband and friends - what could be better than that?

Not to mention, I got to use many new kitchen gadgets, most notably the beautiful Le Creuset dutch oven in Caribbean Blue given to us by my grandmother, aunt, and cousin. I remember opening it at one of my bridal showers and my first thought being, "POT ROAST. Aww." But let me tell you, it will make some incredible vegetarian dinners too.

Here's what was on the menu that night:

Bleu Cheese Bread (thanks to the bread machine)

Spinach Salad with Strawberries, Dijon Vinaigrette, Bleu Cheese, and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Butternut Squash Soup

Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust

Photos and recipes to come soon. Here's the link to the soup, though - it was served at Adelea's on Main in Salado for our rehearsal dinner, and everyone (seriously) remarked that it was the best soup they'd ever had. My version was close to perfect, but I'm no Chef Jennifer that's for sure. :)

canned beans.

2010-09-17T11:42:00.003-05:00

So the last, oh, two months haven't involved a lot of cooking for me. And what cooking does ensue usually involves frozen, albeit organic, vegetables and pasta. Or rice. But pasta cooks faster, so, you know. . . usually pasta.

In fact, last night I considered it an achievement beyond the greatest realms of possibility that I actually cooked a full, healthy, delicious meal. This meal was, as one of my friends puts it, "what the rest of the world eats every day." Rice and beans.

So why was it fancy? Because I busted out the cast iron skillet to heat up the canned beans, that's why. AND I sprinkled them with cumin and chili powder. Or maybe it was the other red spice in my cabinet, paprika. I'm not sure, because a long time ago I forgot to label the jars, thinking it would be really easy to tell what was what. I'm a food writer, after all. Not the case.

And then I made guacamole, meaning I chopped up one avocado and poured in some jarred salsa. And there might have been some pre-cut lettuce involved. But still, it was the fanciest homemade meal we've had in a while, and I plated it up on our beautiful new crisp white plates and we enjoyed it immensely.

All this to say that in a month, we'll be married, and then we won't have any crazy stuff to take care of and all we will have to do is sit around on our new front porch and drink wine in adirondack chairs.

And then I can cook. With my husband.

That's got a pretty nice ring to it, doesn't it?

routine.

2010-08-03T13:49:00.003-05:00

It's been one whirlwind of a month, and I may have come out of it a little worse for the wear. At least, that's how I feel at the moment.

There has been much soul searching and self investigating, not to mention planning, party throwing, appointment making, furniture assembly, moving, painting, eating out, shedding of tears, and not enough running, playing, relaxing, laundry, painting, and (as I'm sure you've noticed) cooking.

So I'm looking forward to finding a routine again soon. Two days into this week, and the mornings have had a little bit of structure; I've made it out the door both days with coffee (but one day without my computer). Not to mention, that picnic table is getting quite the workout because Ryan has been out grilling a couple times a week.

What a year this one has been, and continues to be.

in the summer swing

2010-07-17T15:49:00.003-05:00

The past few weeks in the kitchen have held preserving (I put up 25 pounds of figs on Wednesday night, by myself, without a dishwasher), one bad batch of sweet pickles (sorry that I gifted you a pint, Mom—they did indeed turn out terrible), one fantastic red cabbage stir fry (the photo is a sneak peak), a spelt muffin experiment that turned out great to me but was not a crowd-pleaser, and a whole lot of grilling thanks to the new charcoal appliance in our backyard.

This all to say that I've been too busy doing to do much writing about it.

But stay tuned! I have a few recipes to share, and will be doing a wine tasting (directly related to the wedding planning, so it counts as work) in the near future. In the meantime, stay cool and drink plenty of margaritas!

the perfect summer gratin

2010-06-29T22:04:00.006-05:00

Imagine being home alone on a warm summer night, the kitchen all to yourself, and six glorious ounces of fresh, local chevre burning a hole in your pocket. Pour yourself a glass of wine and settle in, folks. You are not going to want to miss this recipe.

My soon-to-be-husband was out for a work happy hour (or five), which meant that the kitchen was mine to do with what I pleased. Which ended up meaning I'd take my time making a dish that I knew I'd love. He's not the world's biggest fan of goat cheese, so I had put this recipe on the "make especially for myself" dockett. And wouldn't you know, I ate every single bite. (Over the course of three meals, that is!)

See this?

This is why I love my mandoline. Don't tell my 11-cup Cuisinart, but I love the mandoline (here's a fancy one) more than my super-charged Cuisinart. It slices and dices into the nicest of pieces, and uses no wattage whatsoever. It can be tucked easily away into a cabinet, no heavy lifting required. Using the mandoline, with its quick back-and-forth motion, lulls me into a near-zen state until I am urgently snapped back into real time as I realize my fingers are getting far too close to that gleaming blade.

So I started off with one fresh squash, picked from my mom's garden the weekend before. I had a good number of purple fingerling potatoes from a local CSA begging to be used, too. While I know their skin is dark purple, I'm always pleasantly surprised to see their vibrant inner patterns.

Enter some fresh, local goat cheese (basic chevre from Pure Luck, worth every penny at about $1 an ounce). Also, notice that beautiful cutting board in the background? My dad made it.

And then, layer it all together with copious amounts of extra-virgin olive oil, and top it off with freshly grated parmesan.

Follow the recipe below, and this is what you get. Don't be fooled; it may look like a mere gratin, but it is So. Much. More. The tang of the goat cheese is balanced nicely by a slight sweetness in the squash; the salty flavor of the parmesan plays off the potatoes just perfectly; the milk melts it all together and you've got a combination of crispy, tender, and smooth. And even though it's a hot dish, it spells out summer. The only thing I'll add next time? A sprig or two of fresh rosemary from the garden.

Potato, Squash, and Goat Cheese Gratin

adapted from the Kitchn

1 medium yellow squash
6 small to medium red potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 ounces goat cheese
salt and pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Use a mandoline or chef's knife to slice the squash and potatoes into very, very thin slices, 1/8-inch or less. Toss the sliced vegetables with the olive oil in a large bowl.

Pour a small drizzle of olive oil in a casserole dish (around 8 or 9 inches square) or pie plate and spread it around the bottom and sides. Place 1/3 of the squash and potato slices in the bottom of the dish—no need to layer them squash-potato-squash-etc.—then season with salt and pepper. Top with half of the goat cheese, scattered evenly in large chunks. Repeat with another 1/3 of the vegetables, seasoning again with salt and pepper and topping with the other 1/2 of the goat cheese. Finish by layering on the final 1/3 of the vegetables and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Pour the milk over the entire dish. Top with the parmesan cheese. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake 15 more minutes, until the top browns.

that's good enough.

2010-06-17T18:18:00.005-05:00

For some folks, an afternoon of therapy involves a clinic, or maybe a shoe store. But for me, therapy is most often found in an afternoon cooking and conversing with my mother, in the kitchen of the home I grew up in.

Unlike standard therapeutic practice, I find myself wanting to share with you what happened during this particular session. Mainly because it resulted not just in me becoming much more at peace with the world in general . . . but because my mom and I just might need our own cooking show. Think, Julia Child meets the Three Stooges.

Thankfully, I now know that my aloof kitchen moments, while many of them happen because I have failed to follow directions, do indeed descend from my mother's genetic line.

Neither of us will ever follow a recipe dead-on. The other day, for instance, neither of us knew which recipe we were even attempting to follow; there were three out on the island and, for the most part, we were just looking for measurements. And even that was hairy. We went with three eggs, but didn't measure anything else. If a recipe calls for thyme, we'll throw in parsley. If it calls for squash, you can bet we'll throw in zucchini and—why not!—tomatoes. We kept hearing ourselves repeating one line during the course of the cooking session, whether we were forgetting to blind-bake the pie shell or dumping untold amounts of cheese into our quiche: "Well . . . That's good enough," followed by a hearty laugh.

Our afternoon in the kitchen included, but was not limited to, the following:

• a pastry too small for the pan we'd chosen

• the pouring in of sauteed veggies to the unbaked pie crust, only to ask once it was done, "Should we blind bake the crust?" ...and having the answer be, "Yep."

• the line, "Oh! You're walking around with your timer so you don't forget that the crust is in the oven!"

• the overflow of custard because said pastry was too small for the pan

• and, graciously, an absolutely marvelous end result.

I don't have a recipe for the quiche we made, but I can tell you that it included three sauteed garden squash, one sauteed onion (also from the garden), plenty of Swiss cheese, and a few eggs. I think there was a can of evaporated milk in there too, but I can't be sure.

On the side, we had a matchstick salad of fresh garden vegetables and herbs (squash, carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, and tarragon) with a simple vinaigrette.

It was one of the best afternoons I've spent with my mom, and though everything was just "good enough," it all felt perfect in the end. How very wabi-sabi of us!

hello to a kitchen

2010-06-09T14:46:00.004-05:00

Forget that dark old kitchen with particle board shelves and a smelly old pantry. Why did I even wax nostalgic about it at all?

I am in love. Head over heels. Our new kitchen is as charming as it could possibly be, and I don't even care about the dishwasher. We've even decided that the old fridge has a certain je ne sais quoi.

It's that window. The glorious window. Any time of day, it lets amazing amounts of natural light in and gives the whole kitchen, every square inch from the pantry to the recycling bin, a glow. That and the paint color. The galley kitchen may be small, but it's so fresh and open that it feels much bigger.

We moved in Saturday, got the kitchen unpacked Sunday, and cooked our first meal at home (with a guest!) on Monday. We whipped up dinner Tuesday and breakfast Wednesday, and to top it all off, Ryan and I shared dish duty. Heaven. I'm in heaven.

I'm even going to attempt blackberry freezer jam on day 4 in our house. Yeah. That's how together the kitchen feels already, even without cabinet doors attached.

It's such a wonderful feeling to walk into this place and immediately feel at home. Ideas to make the space more functional are already popping up, and the edits we've made thus far have all felt very natural. Once I get my act together, I'll post some before and after photos of our kitchen; you'll see that we totally revamped it (and on a budget to boot!).

Ryan and I are both looking forward to a summer full of cooking. We enjoyed a dinner of fresh garden veggies once already this week, and tonight I'm going to try a riff on two recipes I've been wanting to try. Stay tuned, because . . . Sustainable Diet is BACK!

goodbye to a kitchen

2010-06-04T13:21:00.007-05:00

We're moving tomorrow.

It's one of those momentous moves; we're leaving our apartment and moving into our first house. It's been a big year for us, to say the least; plenty of life changes (not the least of which was turning vegetarian, I'll add, just to keep this on a food track) have kept us on our toes. Hence the great swaths of time between blog posts here.

I really did not anticipate any feelings of nostalgia for my little windowless apartment kitchen. But this week, as I packed up a seemingly endless cupboard-full of kitchen supplies, I realized that this was the place where food came to mean more to me than so much else. Somehow, in about ten square feet of counter space, I discovered something very important: I love to cook. I went from being a mediocre-at-best home cook to a food blogger, all in this tiny galley kitchen. There, I learned how to caramelize sugar and make fig preserves; in that kitchen, I began to roll sushi for the first time and made some of the very best chicken stock I've ever tasted.Our apartment kitchen held my hand as I began a more natural foods journey. I made homemade yogurt, homemade pasta, homemade crackers, homemade tortillas, and even homemade caramels.

I did not, however, learn to make homemade bread.

But more than that, I discovered a deep connection to food and the way it is prepared. I journeyed from junk foods to food junkie. In this kitchen, I learned to respect food and what it can do to our bodies, minds, and spirits. I connected in exactly the way I had hoped when I started this blog: I found ways to weave sustainability through all these facets of life.

What, then, I have to wonder, is in store for our new kitchen? It's about the same size, and the very same layout, minus one very important appliance: the dishwasher. But I'll take it any day, because what it lacks in modern conveniences it makes up for with a full-size window and a gas stove.

I am so excited about the edible escpades that are going to take place in our home's kitchen. For one thing, this summer I plan on meeting our neighbors, becoming the beneficiary of their over-productive peach tree, and making homemade peach preserves. I also plan on trying my hand (again) at sprouts, to make loaves of sprouted grain breads.

Big plans are in store for this kitchen of mine, so please stay tuned for the ride. And in the meantime, help me bid adieu to my beloved apartment kitchen. It has been the backbone for this whole site, and I think we should all wish it well with its next family.

the conflict continues: why i'm still a vegetarian

2010-05-20T07:59:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, I gave a few of you the impression that I was rethinking my vegetarian ways.

I've moved on now from doing the "vegetarian thing" to calling myself a vegetarian. And being proud of it.

Admittedly, I have slipped up a couple of times; tried a bite of famous tuna salad here, accidentally taken a bite of baked potato with a bacon crumble there; but for all intents and purposes, I have been a vegetarian for a solid seven months.

Over the course of the last year (since ditching processed foods and eating mostly organics), the headaches I used to get frequently have completely dissipated. Overall, I feel better. Aside from the physical bonuses, though, there are the parts of vegetarianism that simply make me feel like a better person. No longer are my own habits directly causing animal pain or suffering. My food choices are healthy for my own body as well as the world around me: I am not directly contributing to environmental destruction due to factory farming.

I don't say any of this with an air of self-righteousness or a feeling that I'm "holier-than-thou;" instead, I say it to reaffirm all the reasons I've made this decision and continue to live this lifestyle. Because really, the only person I need to justify any of this to is myself.

A couple of months ago, I had every intention of going back to eating meat, or at least eating fish. But for now, I am sticking with this vegetarian thing. I'm going to give it a good year until I revisit the question. (Granted, I may take fish oil pills in the meantime to get more Omega 3 fatty acids, but... that's a step I feel that I can justify for the health of my brain.)

Not to mention, I just picked up a prereleased copy of "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals" (Herzog). Ten pages in and I'm feeling pretty confident about my meatless lifestyle.

easy weeknight healthy and delicious lasagna

2010-04-28T11:56:00.005-05:00

Oh, hello food blog! *

My mom brought by—and I do not exaggerate—5 or 6 pounds of swiss chard this weekend, not to mention our fridge is FULL of other fresh garden veggies (carrots, shallots, kale, collard greens, etc.). The chard wilts the fastest, though, so I needed to make a couple of recipes with it right away.

First up? A garden quiche with farm-raised eggs, home-grown shallots, and sauteed chard. It was wonderful but I don't have a photo to prove it. Then we put together a chard-based soup. Also delicious and unbelievably healthy.

But last night I threw together the easiest lasagna ever, jam-packed with healthy goodness. With a little planning (let's say I was putting together my game plan all day), my hands-on took only 15 minutes. And to top it off, I only used three dishes (cutting board, large pan, and the baking dish). And to top THAT off, this makes enough for delicious leftovers. In fact, it's just about lunchtime right now. . .

Weeknight Lasagna with Swiss Chard

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound swiss chard, coarsely chopped (stems and all)

about 1/4 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

1 package whole-wheat lasagna noodles

1 15-ounce package ricotta

8 ounces mozarella, grated

1 jar spaghetti sauce (recommended: Central Market Organics Mushroom Lover's sauce)

3 ounces parmesan, grated

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish (or for a deeper lasagna, choose a 9x9 dish). Coarsely chop the chard. (See the photo above: it's very easy to chop leafy greens if you lay the leaves on top of one another, roll together tightly, and chop into 1-inch sections.) In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and heat for just a minute, until it smells too good in the kitchen to stand it. Throw in the chard, along with about 1/4 cup water, and cook until the greens are wilted and tender. Season along the way with a little salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, pour about 1/4 of the jar of sauce into your prepared baking dish. Place a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles on top of the sauce. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta, 1/3 of the mozarella, and 1/2 of the chard (drain it as you remove from the pan). Layer again with pasta, sauce, ricotta, mozarella, and chard. For the third and final layer, use the rest of the pasta, sauce, ricotta and mozarella. Top with the grated parmesan. Remember: if your casserole is a little messy, that is NOT a problem! See the photo above. My lasagna is not beautiful. But it was scrumptious.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until cheese is browned on top and noodles are tender.

*Suzanne, this one's for you! :)

caramel popcorn

2010-03-22T20:48:00.004-05:00

Ryan has been on a popcorn kick for a really, really long time.

In the last year, though, he's discovered stovetop popcorn. The man whips up a mean batch of organic popcorn—which is infinitely healthier than the microwave stuff. I mean, it's perfect: never burned, always perfectly salty, light, airy, and full of flavor.

I'm craving some right now, thank you very much.

He's a bit of a purist when it comes to popcorn, though; a kosher salt and melted butter kind of guy. And that's fine, but then there's me... The experimentalist who has a soft spot for sweet-salty Kettle Corn (thanks, church camp) and the need to do things like this in the kitchen on a consistent basis.

For Valentine's Day, I got Ryan a Whirly Pop. Don't get me wrong, he's a pro manning the stock pot on the stove, but that requires a lot of lifting and shaking and results in quite a few unpopped kernels. The Whirly Pop, albeit a uni-tasker, eliminates all that.

Look at that marvel of kitchen wonderment! This is definitely a uni-tasker I don't mind having in the kitchen. Here it is at work. What'd I tell you? He's a pro!

So one night, I got ambitious (scratch that, I was just having a normal night), and asked him to save half of his batch for caramel popcorn. That's when I made the mess pictured in the post below.

Ahem.

I recouped, started over, and don't regret it one bit.

I based my caramel popcorn on this recipe over at Smitten Kitchen, but wasn't feeling brave enough to make it spicy. You can bet that next time I will. Everything else about the recipe was the same. So whether you want it sweet or spicy, I absolutely recommend those directions.

mushrooms: the other white meat

2010-03-22T20:23:00.004-05:00

Let's count the months, shall we, since I've had anything meat-related?

I have had a total of five bites of meat or fish since Thanksgiving, two of which were given to me by my grandmother (thanks for pushing that prime rib on me, Nan, it was the best I've had) and the other three, mussels in a saffron-infused white wine reduction from one of our favorite east Austin bistros. Of course, I'm excluding the organic salmon I had in NYC the night Ryan proposed.

So that brings us to a veggie-versary of... four months this week.

Adjusting really hasn't been that difficult; in fact, I have really enjoyed it. But I'm still not completely sold on "meat replacements."

Tofu? I only like it in some instances. These include, and are likely limited to: deep-fried (popcorn tofu po'boy at Wheatsville Coop), stir fried, and as a component to the always-popular hot-and-sour soup.

I wouldn't have made it this far without the help of veggie burgers, though (the best of which I had in NYC at some fun Irish pub near Times Square; my favorite here in Austin is the Veggie Ends Burger at Billy's on Burnet). Seitan and I have not yet come to speaking terms. I'll eat it (vegetarian chili comes to mind), but I am not a fan of the texture.

All this to say, mushrooms rock.

They pack a nutritional punch, with vitamin D, some B vitamins, potassium, riboflavin, selenium, and zinc among the naturally-occurring benefits.

And here's the real kicker: their flavor can come across as, well, meaty.

Grilled portobellos? Yes, please. Sauteed button mushrooms in red wine and butter? I'll melt. And this week: what can only be described as a very close replica to beef stroganoff. My first words upon tasting it were, "Tastes like Hamburger Helper." Which is actually a compliment, considering I LOVED Hamburger Helper growing up. Seriously. It was, like, my favorite junk food. That and Funyuns. Together.

I digress. Let's call this dinner...

Farfalle with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 ounces cream cheese

3/4 cup fresh parmesan, grated

8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth or white wine

1-2 teaspoons dried herbs, to taste (rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme)

8 ounces farfalle pasta (rotini or linguini would also work)

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Put a pot of water on to boil, and cook pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter and olive oil on medium- to medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the onions and garlic, cooking until onions are translucent and soft.

Add the mushrooms and cook until they reach the desired tenderness (ours came out a little "al dente;" if you want very tender mushrooms, just keep cooking). Add stock and cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Multitask: drain the pasta and set aside for a few moments while you finish the sauce.

Add the cream cheese and parmesan to the mushroom mixture, and stir until it is well incorporated. Once all the cheese has melted, add the spices and pasta and mix well.

Serve immediately, with a spinach salad on the side!

Note: I was going to make this recipe, but didn't have heavy cream on hand. Plus, I was hoping for a little healthier option. But that's where the general idea came from.

inedible.

2010-03-16T09:47:00.004-05:00

Folks, I've been upfront with you since the beginning.

I mess up. A lot. (Can we just run through a quick list of items—not meals—I have destroyed in the kitchen? Blender, countless wooden spoons, one enameled cast iron Dutch oven, several Mason jars, many glasses, one Pyrex measuring cup, two nonstick skillets, the juicer pitcher...) So today's post is less of a recipe and more of a word of encouragement. Because when you're just trying to make caramel popcorn and you wind up with this:

Well, it's just necessary to take a deep breath, step back, and believe your unbelievably patient fiance when he says, "It's all going to be fine."

With a lot of warm water and patience, the burnt-beyond-belief-formerly-sugar-and-water mixture allowed itself to be removed from the pan.

And last night, during what's quickly becoming routine sushi night (I'm getting better—and faster—at making maki veggie sushi rolls; once I'm a pro I'll post a recipe), I miraculously burned the rice. Did you even know this was possible? Burning of rice? Everyone in the world knows how to make rice. It's arguably the grain most commonly eaten by the human race, and do you know how many people have BURNED IT?

Just one. Me. I carry that proud distinction.

And I'm not just talking that it was slightly stuck to the pan. I'm talking, burned beyond belief, good thing we had the window open, even the visibly uncharred rice has the faint taste of smoke, it's taken 12 hours of soaking in baking soda and the pan is STILL not clean—that burned.

All this to say that in the end, we still have wonderful food. Yes, I mess up. A lot. We never have to intentionally test the smoke alarm; thanks to my cooking endeavors, we know it works. Fin and Ryan eat a lot of burnt bits and stomach a lot of sub-par dinners without complaint. (For this, among many other things, I am ever grateful!)

In the past, these mistakes have brought me to tears, throwing my hands in the air in unconsolable defeat and managing only to eek out the words, "Let's just go to Chick-fil-a." But the last few major mistakes have led me to resolve. That sticky, burnt mess up there? Well, I cleaned it out and started fresh. And we had some rockin' caramel popcorn. And last night's burnt rice? After lamenting that I might have ruined another enameled cast iron Dutch oven (and catching Ryan muttering something along the lines of, "This is why we can't have Le Creuset," only a day after I lobbied to put it on the wedding registry), I salvaged the unburned rice and made rolled my best sushi rolls to date in record time.

So, to all of you who timidly approach the kitchen counter, hands shaking as you tie on that apron, take heed! It's all going to be fine. If you ruin a pot, you ruin a pot. Life will go on.

Just try not to burn the house down.

pantry-purging granola bars

2010-02-25T21:43:00.003-06:00

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one with a fondness for anything that comes out of the Smitten Kitchen. (Beware: clicking on either of those links will begin a new obsession for you!)

After an unexpected snow day in Austin, TX, I made it home from work a little early with just enough time to throw something fun together before preparing a heart- and hand-warming soup for dinner. These granola bars were just the thing. In fact, I didn't even take the time to read the entire recipe before tossing remnant trail mixes and such into a bowl. As I went along, thankfully, I had all the necessary ingredients to hold the bars together, but here's the fun part.

These granola bars (of the thick and chewy variety, I'm already a fan) can handle up to three cups of random goodies. We're talking dried fruits, seeds, nuts, wheat germ, and yes, chocolate chips. If you're anything like me, you can open your pantry at any given time to find five separate batches of different trail mixes (thank you, bulk bins).

I had everything from the Women's Organic Vitality Mix (cranberries, soy beans, sunflower seeds, and dark chocolate) to the Student Mix (almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins), and more. I wound up with two cups of goodies and 1/3 cup of all-natural peanut butter to help glue it all together.

The result? Tantalizingly delicious breakfast bars that stuck together perfectly. Seriously, my other forays into granola bar-making have not gone nearly as well; but this is a recipe that works.

Since this is Deb's recipe, which she adapted from another site, I'll just give you the link and offer you one good piece of advice: throw in everything but the kitchen sink.

my conflicted food journey

2010-02-12T18:36:00.004-06:00

This whole "vegetarian thing" began as a challenge to myself. In fact, I call it that because I don't feel that I've earned the merit badge to call myself a full-blown vegetarian yet. It's been a year of tackling physical things I didn't think I could: an 85-mile bike ride, a sprint triathlon, and this weekend, a half-marathon with my fiance (I realize I shouldn't go touting its completion when the day has yet to arrive; consider this self-motivation).

So it seemed to follow suit that this would be the year I took my diet to a new level. In the last couple of years, I've been phasing out things I knew were bad: fast food, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, etc. And since I've made those changes, I've noticed big differences in my physiology. Mainly, my formerly-debilitating headaches don't come around very often any more, if at all. I feel an absolute and measurable difference.

The more reading I did, the more food documentaries I watched, and the more I heard about the impact of meat-eating on the environment, I decided that maybe I could make a stand for all that was right in the world by becoming a vegetarian. It felt like the morally respectable thing to do. It's so cool to say, "I'm a vegetarian, for ethical, environmental, and health reasons." So... pious.

I gave up meat almost four months ago, deciding to herald in the holidays with a no-meat goal. I passed up the Thanksgiving turkey, but failed a little in New York with organic salmon the night we got engaged (and less impressively, with a bite of an authentic NYC hot dog from a street vendor). And then I had a bite, given to me by my concerned grandmother, of prime rib at Christmas.

But the fact that I can count on one hand the number of meat-eating instances in the last four months is pretty impressive, at least for a girl who grew up on a farm and knows what it means when a cow has gone missing from the herd. My dad has been supportive of this decision, but a few weeks in (when he realized it wasn't going away very quickly), asked incredulously, "You did grow up on a farm, right?" Yes. I was raised on the most delicious grass-fed, organic beef you could get your hands on. The cows ate grass and hay from the pastures in our backyard and were butchered at the shop a quarter-mile down the road.

And that's just the thing. I know how sustainable meat is farmed. It's delicious, and my siblings and I are all smart, healthy individuals; surely that's partly a result of the diet we were fed growing up. I can't decide if I'm being a vegetarian to make a point, or because it truly is better for my health, the environment, and ethics.

Sure, eating less meat is good for your body and the environment, especially if you cut out factory-farmed meat, eggs, and dairy. Like Michael Pollan says, ideally, we should, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Our bodies, right down to the length of our digestive tracts and the shape of our incisors and molars, are created to enjoy an omnivorous diet.

Quite honestly, it's not the thought of eating flesh that bothers me, but as another author (Jonathan Safran Foer) puts it, the thought of ingesting "tormented flesh" that truly bothers me. If you saw Oscar-nominated Food, Inc., you know exactly what I mean: the cows and chickens and pigs raised in the despicable environment of a feed lot and fed a completely unnatural diet: that is the kind of flesh that disgusts me.

And now, I'm venturing into another food book: "Real Food" by Nina Planck. Thirty pages in, and she's got me worrying about my protein levels (when, after reading a book by the inventor of the Gardenburger, I wasn't worried in the least about getting enough protein--that's what beans are for). She's got me asking, "Why am I not, at least, a pescetarian?"

I haven't reached a conclusion yet, but I do feel that being educated about nutrition and food, for many reasons (nutritional, environmental, and ethical) is making me a more well-rounded person. For the first time this week, I tried quinoa. I made black bean "burgers" from scratch. I incorporated whole grains into homemade burger buns. But I also stared down a craving for bacon, and felt my mouth begin to water at the thought of baked salmon on a bed of fresh wilted spinach.

To say that one's body "craves meat" may not be the right phrase here; for one thing, it sounds so very carnal and caveman-like. But surely the healthiest cultures, those that have made it through the past and continue to thrive today, have something to show for their omnivorous, whole-foods habits.

I don't think vegetarianism will stick with me, but not because I'll give in to bacon temptation; it won't be that I give up because I'm tired of being teased (happening more than I'd expected, surprisingly), or because I've made my family accommodate me enough (even my younger siblings were sure to buy organic vegetarian refried beans for their Super Bowl party!).

When I do return to meat-eating, however, it's not going to be the willy-nilly meat-eating of my past. I plan on following extremely strict rules. If I don't know where the meat comes from, I won't be ingesting it. There's a fine line to walk between sustainability for earth and body, and ignorance of nutrition for body, soul, and mind.

I'm trying to find where that line lies for me.

the year of the coupon

2010-01-19T09:37:00.005-06:00

I could spend a paragraph or two telling you how much I've missed posting here, but... I'll save you the drama. Suffice it to say... It's been a whirlwind since the holidays and I've been turning to a lot of my staples in the kitchen. Mac and cheese, namely.

I do, however, have some money-saving tips to share. If you live in the Austin area, where natural foods stores have begun running rampant, these tips are for you. But that's not to say you can't adapt them for your area; the basic tenants are to identify what you like to eat, where you can get it, and then begin the search for the best prices and deals. And don't be afraid of clipping coupons!

In the last year, we've shifted all of our food-buying to follow strict guidelines. We no longer put anything that doesn't meet at least one, if not all of these requirements into our shopping basket.

We shop for SOLE foods:

Sustainable

Organic

Local

Ethical

First of all, we ask if we can get the food locally. We get food from my mom's garden when possible, and shop at the farmers' market when we can. But most of our weekly shopping is done at the grocery store, so we follow these ground rules.

1. If local produce is available (local onions, mushrooms, and citrus are widely available at supermarkets), that takes precedence over organic. The environmental impact of getting local food (grown within 150 miles) trumps that of buying organic, ever so slightly.

2. If no local option is available, buy organic. This goes even for things you can peel (i.e., bananas) and especially for leafy greens, etc. Check out this "Dirty Dozen" list for absolute MUST organics if you can't afford to buy all your produce organically.

3. Every product must be sustainable. This means cutting out excessive packaging (individually wrapped things), forgetting all processed items, and generally avoiding buying things you can make at home (bread, tortillas, etc.).

4. Ethical means that the product has been produced in such a way that it considers the environment: we count this as everything from biodegradable shampoo to cage-free eggs.

You may think that our grocery bills would be astronomical by eating this way, but that's where frugality and reality meet, shake hands, and decide to get along.

First of all, determine which stores are most convenient for you. There are five places I like to shop: my neighborhood HEB, Central Market, Sun Harvest, Wheatsville, and Whole Foods. In the last week, a Sprouts has opened in our 'hood, too. We have myriad options for buying all-natural products and foods.

All of the stores now offer bulk selections, and most of them have weekly coupon deals. Here's what I have learned:

• HEB has the best prices on things we still buy in a package, like Kashi brand cereals or crackers. They also carry a selection (albeit small) of locally-grown mushrooms, tomatoes, and grapefruit, and Texas-grown rice. They also carry the Central Market Organics brand, which is by far the best-priced (and best-tasting) organic brand we like for pastas, sauces, beans, milk, butter, and cage-free eggs. The CMO brand ranks high on the World Society for the Protection of Animals' list of "better" food products. Look for coupons throughout the store, and also check the coupons you're handed with your receipt: they're tailored to fit what you bought. Recently, we've been saving about $10 with each trip from HEB coupons alone.

• Sun Harvest offers unbeatable weekly deals on a lot of things, including organic produce, but the selection can be quite limited. Go on Wednesdays for double-coupon days. And the wine! Oh my gosh, the wine. There is always something on a 3 for $10 sale. They also carry a selection of natural herbs, vitamins, and alternative medicines.

• Central Market carries the widest bulk bin selection, including organics. We head there for our bread-baking needs, as well as coffee and trail mixes. Sign up for their e-mail list to get special deals on seafood, fresh meats, and more (often a great deal where you can save up to 20%)!

Happy shopping!

yet another amazing mac and cheese

2009-12-23T09:51:00.003-06:00

The holidays! I love 'em! While I've spent countless hours in the kitchen over the last month, it's been about three weeks since I actually cooked dinner. Instead, it's toffee this and chocolate-covered caramels that.

We've been busy these last few weeks: we went to New York City to visit friends, vacation, and get engaged. We came back from New York with lots of laundry (mainly socks) to wash, holiday shopping and cooking to do, and a wonderful story to tell.

So yesterday, when a busy work day left me craving my favorite comfort food (cheese! Need I say more!), I took a mental note of what was in the refrigerator. Side note: last week, I came home to find our fridge completely cleaned out. Ryan took the liberty of nixing all questionable items, and tossing any current science projects—except, thankfully, my sourdough starter. He was able to do what I had a hard time doing: paring down the fridge. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

Back to my mental ingredient check list: cream cheese, parmesan, a little cheddar, some milk, and butter. I found this recipe, but needed to tweak it to be a) healthy and b) a one-pot meal. Here's what I came up with... and the votes are in: It's well worth adding to the weeknight menu rotation. Here's a tip, too: choosing an oven-safe dish will make this a one-pot meal. We used a 2.5-quart Dutch oven (the newest member of the family) and it did everything from boiling the pasta to making the roux to baking the casserole. This also meant that I was able to keep the kitchen nearly spotless while whipping up this dish.

The cream cheese helps this come together as a super-creamy dish, without adding much extra fat. The Dijon, though, is the real star: Ryan and I agreed that it's our new favorite condiment, beating out buffalo sauce by a slim margin.

Dijon Macaroni and Cheese

7 ounces whole wheat macaroni or shells
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese (neufchatel)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 heaping teaspoons Dijon mustard (or to taste)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 cups broccoli florets (can be frozen)

In a medium, oven-safe pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, undercooking slightly so that the pasta is al dente (it will cook a little more in the oven, so you don't want to overcook it in this first step).

Preheat the oven to 400. Once the pasta is done, drain in a colander and set aside. Using the same pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and mix until a very light roux forms (this will take less than 1 minute; the mixture should be bubbly and smooth). Add the salt, pepper, milk, cream cheese, and mustard, and cook until mixture becomes thick and smooth. Add the cooked pasta, cheddar and parmesan cheeses, and broccoli. Mix until well combined.

Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, until broccoli is heated through.

Total time: 40 minutes. Serves 3-4 as a meal, or 4-6 as a side.

* If you're a meat eater, adding cooked ham or chicken to this dish when you add the broccoli will make this an even more complete dinner.

we're all in this together

2009-12-07T10:49:00.003-06:00

I'm a month into this vegetarian conversion, and I've got to say... It's going so very well. Last night we had dinner with a handful of some of my very favorite people, including my dear cousin, and the friends hosting us made us the absolute best pot of chili ever. Ryan preempted my request for the recipe written down, proving that he, too, was won over by the meal.

The chili abounded with beans in every size, shape, and color; tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, corn, and, instead of the beef, seitan. (For those of you not familiar with seitan, it's a wheat-based meat alternative. Wikipedia, you can take it from here.)

Our group of seven gathered around a table, placemats and all, beers tucked comfortably into koozies, devouring this amazing vegetarian chili. And over the meal, I felt so very connected to these friends of mine.

Food isn't just about offering sustenance to a hungry body; food has the unique ability to draw people together, in any culture. I was worried that my shift to vegetarianism would begin to alienate me from close friends who didn't eat the way I now do. I couldn't have been more wrong about that.

After making it through Thanksgiving as a vegetarian, and then having this wonderful dinner last night, where everyone cast aside omnivorism and was momentarily vegetarian, I am understanding that it really doesn't matter what dietary restrictions you put in place: food will always bring you together.

So, thank you for a fantastic evening, Kit, Dylan, Callie, Dave, Brian, and Ryan... It was definitely more than just a pot of chili!

Thanksgiving wrap-up

2009-11-30T12:07:00.003-06:00

Look at that spread! To think, this was only one of three Thanksgivings I was blessed enough to enjoy this year. This one was at my mom's house, and what was so outstanding about hers was the fact that all but ONE vegetable came from her garden.

From the top left, clockwise:

Green bean casserole (fresh green beans)

Gravy, turkey, rolls, and dressing

Pecan pie (you guessed it, homemade with home-grown pecans)

Butternut squash pie (I made this with one of mom's squash)

Pickle platter (okra, cucumbers, and tomatoes from the garden; also the one non-garden veggie--olives)

Roasted butternut squash and shallots with fresh rosemary

Garden pumpkin stuffed with wild rice pilaf

Fresh corn (frozen from the summer harvest) with butter and herbs
This was the best Thanksgiving I can ever remember. We had three separate but equally wonderful occasions; one with Ryan's family, one with my dad's side of the family, and one at mom's. In the middle of it all, we celebrated two birthdays. And, unbelievably, I didn't have one bite of turkey!

I had a couple of minor vegetarian slip-ups (the amazing rice pilaf was made with chicken stock, as was the dressing, but that hardly stopped me), but overall didn't miss the turkey this Thanksgiving.

But it's easy not to miss something as trivial as turkey when you're surrounded by people you love. What a wonderful holiday. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's my favorite.

Coming up on my blog: getting deeper into the vegetarian conversion, and, should everything go smoothly tonight, a new recipe for spinach and mushroom enchiladas (with a creamy avocado sauce).

veggie chili

2009-11-23T11:51:00.006-06:00

As the holidays near, time is a precious commodity. I use most of mine cooking and preparing, gluing silver findings on to glass pendants, rounding corners on cardstock, and deciding exactly which recipe to use. This week we're celebrating Thanksgiving three times, and I couldn't be happier about that. I wish I'd had the time and the wherewithall to take pictures of my cooking extravaganza yesterday (homemade stuffing, two sourdough loaves, spinach and artichoke dip, birthday cupcakes with frosting, and more!) but alas—I've found that it's hard enough just to keep up with the to-do list!

In the spirit of not having much time, here's a very quick one-pot meal. This recipe was born out of necessity; I wanted something hot and spicy that wasn't soup, and needed to use up some jalapenos and cilantro in the fridge. Since I keep the pantry stocked with canned beans (let's face it, as much as I try to cook dried beans instead, it just doesn't happen as often as I'd like) and tomatoes, chili was a natural choice. I added a carrot because I like a little extra veggie kick, and it needed to be used up too. If I'd had broccoli and corn, by golly, I'd have thrown that in as well! Chili is like soup, I think: anything goes.

Ryan was skeptical at first, but changed his mind after taking a bite. So if you're short on time, here's a delicious weeknight recipe that will hit the spot for vegetarians and omnivores alike.

Quick Veggie Chili

1 15-oz can organic black beans, drained and rinsed

1 15-oz can organic pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 28-oz can organic whole peeled tomatoes (or diced tomatoes)

1 or 2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Garnish: additional cilantro, chopped avocado, and sour cream

Prep the veggies. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot on medium, heat the oil. Add the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and carrots, and saute until the onions become translucent. (If your pan gets too hot and the garlic begins to burn, just add a little of the tomato juice.)

After 3-5 minutes, add the beans, tomatoes, cilantro, and cumin, and stir. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the flavors come together. Serve with chopped avocado, extra cilantro, and a nice dollop of sour cream.

Makes about 6 servings; freezes well.

Part 2: The Reaction

2009-11-18T22:15:00.003-06:00

Years ago—and I'm sure that my Dad won't remember saying this, and that's ok—I asked my Dad what he'd think if I became a vegetarian.

"I'd disown you, honey." He said it with love, of course, but I detected absolutely no sarcasm in his voice.

I laughed it off, as the possibility of me becoming vegetarian was so out there that it didn't matter anyway.

But imagine my trepidation when I did in fact decide that I'd be embarking on this journey? All of a sudden, I felt like I was going to have to have The Talk with my father. That I'd have to come out to him as One Who Will Henceforward Revoke Meat.

It went over pretty smoothly, though (she said, disappointment looming in her voice). Ryan and I went to my dad's house to watch the football game, and around halftime, when everyone was getting hungry, the topic of lunch came up.

"Well, I guess we can't do Louie Mueller, since you're a vegetarian now."

WHAT!? How did he know? Who told him? I needed to have the discussion with him face-to-face and here, he already knew?

"Well, um, who, um--how, um... Huh?"

"Margaret is on your facebook and she said you mentioned something about going vegetarian. I guess you can just eat the beans, though, right?"

Well, now that was easy. Granted, I was stricken with the idea of not touching any jalapeno links from my favorite BBQ joint. Le sigh.

Other family members have made jokes that me and the other cousins who set dietary restrictions should sign "Dietary Treaties," and friends have asked if I'm going to have to take a lot of supplements to make up for not eating meat.

Some people have acknowledged the decision as a tough one and wish me luck; others flat out say I'm crazy, and don't I like bacon?

The last time I had meat was exactly two weeks ago; as a start to the meal, I had a sweet potato bisque with a maple reduction and topped with Nueske bacon. The piece of meat for saying goodbye was a perfect 8-ounce filet mignon from a very happily raised Wisconsin cow. It was one helluva way to say au revoir, that's for sure.

Image: Flickr member uberculture, licensed under Creative Commons.

Part 1: The Conversion

2009-11-12T18:37:00.009-06:00

Before I begin, I want you to know a few things.

Most importantly, I grew up on a farm. I don't just mean there was a farm behind our house; I mean, my grandparents ran a working farm as their means of living. We had cattle, sheep, and crops. In the fall, we loved going to the barn because of the trailer full of soft cottonseed. We loved giving the cows salt licks, and I had the distinction of being the oldest so I got to go up to the hay loft, cut open bails with wire cutters, and pitch down hay into the trough.

I have known my whole life where beef comes from, and even though my siblings and I would name the cows every year, I understood that the little white parcels with red stamps reading, "Bone-in ribeye" or "Chuck roast" were the cow's (many of them were named after Disney characters) way of saying, "Thanks for giving me such a beautiful life on the farm."

In fact, I don't have a problem with meat that is raised in the same way I was so familiar with growing up: a family of farmers pitches hay from the loft to the trough, never takes a vacation from tending the animals, and is sure to round up the chickens every night before the sun sets.

It wasn't until I learned of the atrocities of factory farming that I began to think that meat-eating wasn't such a great idea. Industrial agriculture, from the prominence of high fructose corn syrup in processed foods to the way commercial animal farming operations (better known as CAFOs or factory farms) are run, makes me squeamish and conjures up images of animal suffering, biohazards being dumped into processed foods, and swampish pools of byproducts and waste. Gross.

On a micro level, foods grown (the word grown is too organic; let's used processed) that way make us unhealthy. One look at obesity rates and Type II diabetes statistics, and that's clear: our food is making us sick. And food-borne illnesses are on the rise, too; the E. coli outbreaks in meat as well as vegetables (between spinach and tomatoes), and other things like salmonella account for 76 million illnesses in the U.S. each year.

On the macro level, though, these gigantic industrial food plants are directly causing huge amounts of pollution and making entire communities sick (studies show that children who live near factory farms have higher instances of asthma).

It's not just because I'm 200 pages in to Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals that I bring this up; over the last few months, I've been making gradual changes in my diet. After reading Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan) and seeing Food, Inc. especially, we started cutting out things like fast food and sodas. We became Readers of Ingredients Lists. We began shopping regularly at the farmers market and bringing home vegetables from my mom's garden.

This weekend, I did the unthinkable. I turned down BBQ from the one place I never thought I'd forsake: Louie Mueller BBQ, where I grew up eating award-winning brisket and jalapeno sausage. Excuse me for a moment while I drool all over my keyboard.

I watched as my family enjoyed hot links, ribs, and moist brisket, not tasting a bite—all in the name of my newest personal endeavor.

I'm going vegetarian and I'm determined to be successful.

Coming up: Part 2, The Reaction....

spiced sweet potato pecan muffins

2009-10-30T08:46:00.005-05:00

These are an improvement on the current theme... Moist, sweet, spicy, and packed full of nutrients. These are delicious, but I think they can be improved upon still. That said, they're still well worth baking this fall. One bite in and you'll be swept into the season. If you're not, well, you should get that checked out.

Spiced Sweet Potato Pecan Muffins

1 cup sweet potato puree*

2 eggs

1/2 cup organic milk

1/2 cup low-fat organic yogurt (plain or vanilla is fine!)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup molasses

3/4 cup organic 5-grain cereal or oatmeal (the old-fashioned kind, not quick-cooking)

1/3 cup Grape Nuts

1 1/4 cup organic whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp allspice

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the puree, eggs, milk, yogurt, molasses, and brown sugar. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining (dry) ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry and mix well. Ready your muffin tin, and fill the cups to the brim.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve warm, with cream cheese icing if you so desire!

*To make sweet potato puree, you can bake whole sweet potatoes. Pierce them so they release steam, then bake in a 400-degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle goes in with little resistance. Cut the baked potato in half and scoop out the good stuff with a spoon (leaving the skin intact). Puree in a food processor, adding a little water or milk to thin as needed. You can make this up to two days in advance. I baked these sweet potatoes while using the oven for dinner (multitasking!) the night before making these muffins.

sunny muffins!

2009-10-27T12:12:00.008-05:00

I’m trying, really I am, to create a superb product here. You see, I love baked goods. That bit about "daily bread?" I take it verrrrry seriously.

And what I want is a supremely healthy, whole-grain, moist, sweet, slightly spiced and truly inspired muffin to warm up these beautiful fall mornings. (Ok, I live in Texas. They’re not that cold, but still. I want to FEEL like I need to be warmed up. Do me a favor and try to understand, alright? Thanks.)

Basically, I want all the flavors of fall to come together in a muffin. And then I want that muffin to give me enough heart-healthy sustenance to last until lunch. And I want all those whole grains and fiber and Omega-3s (found in the flaxseed, of course) to fuel my brain for an action-packed morning at the office, or my next 10K road race, or just an enjoyable morning at the dog park. And of course I want it to be slightly sweet, and very moist, and I even want to disguise squash, or sweet potatoes, or carrots, or maybe just bananas in—for good measure. Come to think of it, I should add some pecans and raisins too.

I want this muffin to be the end-all, be-all of healthy AND flavorful muffins. And I want to be able to make it every week and never tire of baking it or eating it. And when I have children someday, I want them to enjoy it, so much so that they pass it on to their children, and their children’s children, so that my recipe for this amazing muffin lives on in perpetuity.

Ahem. *Stepping down from my desk, tucking my arms politely back by my sides, recomposing myself...*

Is this too much to ask?

I tried again last night. You see, I love muffins, I really do. I can be easily swayed by them at coffeeshops, and I love putting cream cheese on top of them to make all my worries vanish into thin air. I do! It’s true!

That said, I bring to you, my dear readers, yet another chapter in my muffin saga. But this recipe isn’t sweet enough, and I would rather replace the eggs and oil with applesauce and yogurt, and it needs a little more spice and a little more, well, pinache... so I’m working on that. That said, it's not half bad.

And if you can improve upon this, PLEASE please let me know—I will be so happy to hear your suggestions!

Spiced 5-Grain Banana Muffins
1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat flour
1/2 cup organic 5-grain cereal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 eggs
2 tablespoons molasses
3 tablespoons corn oil or applesauce
1 cup milk
2 very ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a muffin pan or line with paper or foil liners (which should also be greased...). In a large mixing bowl (preferably one with a spout for easy muffin pouring), combine the dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, molasses, oil/applesauce, and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Mash the bananas and add to the muffin batter, mixing well.

Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Cool completely and store on the counter overnight, or in the fridge for 2-3 days.

* Please note. If you don't spray your muffin cups... This happens. It still tastes good, but you have to get creative with your teeth to enjoy every... last... crumb.

butternut squash pie... an original recipe

2009-10-19T09:58:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, I brought home another 10 pounds or so of butternut squash--quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It's packed full of nutrients and is extremely versatile in the kitchen, like many squash are.

My mom mentioned that I could make pie with it, which of course got me wild about the idea. After scouring recipes and reading all manner of ways to prepare squash for pies, make nut crusts, and find just the right combination of it all to turn it into something spectacular.... It happened.

Though my recipe is based on a combination of several recipes, I took plenty of twists and turns to make this my very own. Some folks were skeptical of another squash pie, but in fact, the flavor is somewhat similar to pumpkin pie, but the texture is a little bit different. Making the puree from fresh squash adds to the delight of both baking and eating this pie.

I made this pie for my cousin's graduation party (yes, I take experimental desserts to parties and then ask everyone to try them.) One woman who tasted the pie knew right away that I'd baked the squash as opposed to steaming it, which was amazing to me because I hemmed and hawed about which to do. And this woman could tell! She said she preferred the texture of baked squash in pie. So, I'd recommend you do the same if you make this. And I highly recommend that you do make this, perhaps as a refreshing new take on Thanksgiving dessert...

Spiced Butternut Squash Pie with Pecan Shortbread Crust

For the crust:

1 cup AP flour

1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

8 tbls butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the dry ingredients until pecans are thoroughly chopped, about 15 seconds. Add butter and vanilla, and process until butter is incorporated. Pour the mixture into a 9" springform pan and press until the entire base of the pan is covered, making sure to go about 1/2" up the sides of the pan. Chill the crust in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 15. Remove from fridge or freezer and bake until golden, 15-20 minutes. Remove the crust and let cool for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the filling...

For the pie filling:

2 medium butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

3 eggs

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup half and half

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 400. Rinse the squash and halve them lengthwise. Clean out the seeds with a spoon (you can reserve these to eat later, like pumpkin seeds). Place skin side down on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, or until squash is very tender. Remove from the oven, and carefully remove the squash from the skin using a spoon. You want about 2 cups of cooked squash.

Lower heat to 350.

Let squash cool, then puree squash in a food processor until very smooth, adding a tablespoon or two of water if needed. Add the eggs one at a time, processing for one or two seconds each. Then add in the half and half and spices, and process for another 10 seconds or so.

Carefully pour filling into the prebaked crust. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until pie is set.

Serve alone, or better yet... topped with fresh whipped cream.

** If you do not have a food processor, you can accomplish great things with a stand or hand-held mixer. For the crust, just chop the pecans very finely and incorporate the butter with a mixer. For the filling, you can manually press the baked squash through a ricer and then whisk in the other ingredients. Now you have no excuses not to make this pie!

comfort food

2009-10-16T07:27:00.004-05:00

Just a simple recipe today.

Comfort Soup

3 tablespoons butter

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1 large potato, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 stalks celery, cut into 1/2-inch slices

1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

1 handful cilantro

2 large handfuls (about 3 cups) swiss chard, cut into inch-long strips

1/3 cup chopped chives

6 cups stock

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare vegetables. In large, heavy pot, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onions and garlic and cook until aromas are released. Then add the rest of the chopped vegetables and the remaining tablespoon of butter. Cook vegetables for a few minutes, releasing aromas and developing a little brown on the bottom of the pan. Add the stock and bring to a low simmer. Cook until potatoes and squash are fork-tender; add the cilantro, green onion, and swiss chard and give it a few stirs until the greens wilt.

Serve piping hot with biscuits.

bad food

2009-10-08T07:19:00.006-05:00

No, I'm not referring to something I've cooked recently (thought last night's quiche experiment came out of the oven a little too soon).

I'm referring to Cargill, mainly, after reading this piece in the NYT about a woman younger than me who was left paralyzed after eating a hamburger made from any number of indeterminable animals that came from Cargill. (Cargill's not the only company to blame; but it's an easy way to refer to the industrialization of our food industry on a global scale.)

This is precisely why the return to local ingredients is so very important. In an effort to eat more fruit, I began buying organic apples at the grocery store. Two purchases in, I finally looked at the food label: the crisp, sweet, juicy apples I enjoyed so much hailed from New Zealand.

I live in Texas.

There's no reason to ship that apple all the way across the world so that I can enjoy a healthy snack--especially when right now's the time for Texas pears.

And with all the E. coli scares, can't we learn that mass-processed meats (and leafy greens aren't far behind) have a negative effect on us as a society--besides the obesity part?

I never want to eat a "burger of unknown origins" (a BUO, if you will, or CUO--chicken--or any other MUO for that matter) again, and wish that more people would adopt that ideal, as far-fetched as it may seem. I'd say that I could make it 100% as a vegetarian, but have I mentioned before that there's this little place called Louie Mueller BBQ in my hometown that I just don't think I could live without?

It's not just because Food, Inc. started raising eyebrows, or because I, along with so many others, have read so much Michael Pollan literature, or because now it's "cool" to be a locavore (or elitist, nobody can seem to decide); it's because the facts are there. Infected foods from unsafe sources are making people seriously sick.

What more reason do you need to think twice about stopping at the drive through, or purchasing an inexpensive tube of meat at the grocery store?

Even in these tough economic times, when we're all feeling the pinch, cheap meat is not the answer. We should, as a society, invest not in Wall Street but in the sustaining of our life. Spend a few extra dollars on healthier foods, or shop at the farmers' markets--do anything that means you're relying less on industrialized, processed food and more on whole foods that come straight from the earth. Preferable from the farmer down the road.

the weeknight stir fry

2009-10-07T10:50:00.008-05:00

Saturday can't come soon enough. That's harvest day; my sister and I are heading to mom's house to pick leafy greens galore from my mom's garden; until the weekend comes, though (and for the last couple of weeks), it's nothing but grocery store organics to get us by.

If there's one thing I have learned in the last couple of weeks, it's that brown rice is truly indispensable as a kitchen commodity. After a long day at work, followed by a solid workout, Ryan and I both look for something healthy and filling that can be prepared in little to no time.

Enter the weeknight stir fry. I'm quickly becoming a pro, I think.

A few handfuls of vegetables, one cup of rice, and a little wok action yields a healthy and delicious meal. Discovering the versatility of lightly steamed and sauteed vegetables has been a boon for our tastebuds and our health alike; these one-dish meals are full of vitamins, minerals, and heart-healthy whole grains.

To make sure this can happen any night of the week, especially during deadline, I am learning to keep our refrigerator stocked with a variety of vegetables. Stir fry is my new go-to for using up remnants, too; anything and everything can make an appearance. A few extra peppers, some sliced mushrooms, broccoli stalks? Everyone's welcome! (Last week, I used broccoli stalks for the first time, cutting the thick rounds into thin discs that popped with flavor and crunch when tossed with the other veggies. I highly recommend it.)

Some of my favorite vegetables to use in stir fry are broccoli, carrot, scallion, onion, red pepper, carrot, mushroom, garlic, and green onions. In all, I probably chop up a pound and a half of veggies to stir fry.

A little oil (two tablespoons) goes in a hot wok, followed by minced garlic and chopped onions. About twenty seconds later, I throw in the veggies and add about 1/4 cup water to the mix, along with ground ginger.

Then, I cook the veg mix until Ryan thinks they're almost done ("The celery's still crunchy!"), at which point I pull all the veggies off the heat and dump 'em into our tomato-shaped Dutch oven. I normally cook the vegetables for about 15 minutes. They usually cook just a little bit more in the covered pot, but sometimes we have slightly undercooked vegetables for dinner. It happens.

Meanwhile, rice is cooking on the back burner. In about 20 minutes' time, a healthy and delicious dinner is on the table.

What I especially love about these stir fry dishes is that they make excellent leftovers. And boy, am I a fan of leftovers. Plus, they can be jazzed up even more by adding an egg (think stir-fried rice).

So stir fry is my new "thing." Hopefully by next week I'll be posting about delicious chard recipes....

ringing in autumn: butternut squash soup

2009-09-23T10:42:00.005-05:00

Folks, there is nothing better than fall.

One morning, you wake up to take the dog outside before the sun comes up, and you notice that the air feels crisp. The day never loses its charm; a cool breeze blows by and it smells unlike anything you've experienced all summer. The fresh produce comes in shades of orange, and green, and red; all of a sudden, soup is on the menu.

That's when you know it's fall. Not when football starts (because heaven knows it's still hot as hell then); not when school is back in session... But when, suddenly, the air changes and it makes you crave warmth, as if you hadn't just had a summer full of it.

So welcome to our Tuesday night. My mother's garden produced armloads of butternut squash this year, all from seed she'd saved from last year's harvest. Meaning this year's crop cost her absolutely no money.

Needless to say, I went home with no fewer than ten of these magical squash; the first batch added beautiful, nutty depth to a delectable dinner of pasta and pecorino. Tuesday night, I chopped up two more for something I'd never tried before, let alone cooked: butternut squash soup.

This soup seems to be all the rage, and I'm surprised I've never tried it before; it can be found at the grocery store in those fancy little cardboard soup boxes, and its color always seems striking. So I did a quick Google for "butternut squash," and found a super-simple recipe. I didn't really riff too much on it, for which I'm glad. This was a perfect taste of autumn. With 4 cups of broth, this may come out too thin for some tastes (the original recipe called for 6 cups!); if you're looking for more of a puree, either add more squash or less stock. We enjoyed the thin soup. I garnished it with a little pecorino, and think chives would've been a nice compliment to the slightly sweet soup.

Simple Butternut Squash Soup

2 tbls butter

1 medium onion, chopped

4 c chicken stock

dash nutmeg

dash salt

2 lbs butternut squash (about one large, or two small), peeled and cut into small cubes

Prep your veggies. If you're like me and have trouble with peeling butternut squash, take a look at this how-to over at The Kitchn. The trick is to be patient and, above all, careful.

In a large, heavy soup pot (I always use my enameled cast iron Dutch oven), melt the butter. Toss in the onions and cook them until they're translucent. Add the stock, salt, nutmeg, and squash, and bring to a simmer. Cook until squash are very tender.

With a slotted spoon, remove the squash and puree in a food processor or blender. Once the squash is very finely pureed (it'll look like bright orange baby food), pour back into the soup.

Stir well and bring back to a simmer. Serve with rustic, crunchy bread.

tri training comes to fruition... a few tips on improving your lifestyle

2009-09-21T11:50:00.009-05:00

This past Sunday marked an important moment in my life: I became a triathlete.

What started as a birthday present from Ryan (triathlon training and all the fancy gear) evolved into a health and fitness overhaul this summer. Nothing went untouched: it involved food, exercise, positive thinking, and even health care reform.

Over the course of the summer, Ryan and I have been making better and better decisions. We've eliminated so many negative things from our lifestyle, especially food-wise; we're eating more vegetables, whole grains, and organic goods than ever before, and we're exercising on a regular basis. And guess what?

We're happier and healthier for it. In our five-plus years together, I think this has been the best yet. We're enjoying this new healthy lifestyle and the benefits (more energy, looking better, feeling less stress, getting outside together) outweigh any of the drags (eating less queso, being sweaty more often).

But wait, there's more! I want YOU to feel this way too--and it doesn't mean you have to become a triathlete. You can take simple steps to improve your daily health. It starts with just making smarter choices. Go for an organic apple instead of a Pop Tart. Choose water over soda, or at least try sodas made with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. Pick one thing to change at a time (we began a year ago with food, and incorporated exercise in the last six months), and eventually you, too, can be considered a food snob and workout fiend. (Um, just kidding; nobody calls us that to our faces.)

It's like we've started our own health care plan, which is of course all the rage these days; I think we as Americans are finally starting to see, however reluctantly, that our sedentary and fast-food-filled lifestyles are detrimental to our overall health as a nation. And I also believe that our country as a whole has to reform their way of life--just like we've done this
summer--in order to live healthier.

I've also done a lot of reading about health care lately, and these two articles are a great starting point for understanding more about the political side of health care reform (Reid) and the food industry side of it (Pollan):
T.R. Reid on the five myths about global healthcare
Michael Pollan on food industry and health care

In any case, I think anyone who cares enough about food to be interested in a sustainable diet (i.e., if you're reading this blog) has it in 'em to make big changes. We may spend a little more on food, buying organics at every turn and shopping at the farmers' market, but it is absolutely a return investment on our health. And the same goes for exercise: it may be hard to start, but once you're in a rhythm it's harder to stop. It, too, is a return on your health.

I strongly believe in a lifestyle that sustains life (isn't that the point?). Since the beginning of this blog, I've seen a transformation in myself and can directly attribute it to eating better and, now, to lots of exercise.

So to live long and prosper, my friends, look no further than a balanced diet and plenty of exercise.

variety is the spice of life

2009-09-14T16:25:00.002-05:00

I’ve missed this blog!! So here’s a really, really long post to show you how MUCH I’ve missed it. Without a picture because, well, I was simply too busy cooking last night to be bothered with the camera. Ah, how I love to write that. Too busy cooking. I'm back in the swing of things.

Recently I’ve been inspired by bento boxes—those perfect, colorful, sometimes comical representations of lunch, perfect for picky eaters. What’s so inspiring? They’re packed full of colorful variety, from veggies to grains to fruits. In essence, they’re the perfect idea of a meal that lives up to my high standards.

I’m also leaning more toward vegetarianism; I did pretty good last week until pepperoni pizza stared me in the face after we ran a 5K in the rain (and since I beat my normal mile time, I'm saying I deserved it). So at the moment, let’s call me a vegetarian with a pepperoni and/or barbecue opt-out clause. Fair?

Did you just ask about steak? A marbled slab of grass-fed beef cooked to medium-rare perfection? And how I might just not ever eat another one? OHMYGOSH. You did say grass-fed, right? Acceptable.

Ahem! Where was I?!

Vegetarian leanings, that’s right. I’ve been packing in the veggies and grains and legumes (recently it’s all organic black beans and garbanzos) and have been feeling exuberantly healthy—not to mention, only days away from my first sprint triathlon (for those of you unfamiliar with tri terminology, that’s “just” a half-mile swim, 18-mile bike ride, and 5K/3.1-mile run, that's all). I’d like to imagine that my training for the sprint is merely the beginning of the new, super-fit Amber. And while I’d love to eat more and more queso and carnitas as my workouts, and biceps, increase, that just doesn’t jive well with other things that are important to me: sustainably-produced foods and a diet that is life-sustaining. (There, aren’t you proud that I’ve stopped short from divulging my health care soap box?? Because I have one. Read this article by Michael Pollan and get back to me.)

In short: Healthy foods for mind, body, spirit, community, and earth. As Pollan himself puts it, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” That’s what I’m up to these days, and by golly bento boxes are going to help me accomplish this.

That said, I won’t actually be purchasing a bento box, but in true make-do fashion, I’ll be packing my BPA-free plastic and glassware with the same nod to efficiency and variety.

Admittedly, I’m a pretty picky eater when it comes to lunches; I don’t fare well with homemade salads, for some reason, and I have stopped buying sandwich meat for the most part, and it’s downright difficult to eat leftovers every day, unless said leftovers happen to be smothered in cheese. But I’m a big fan of variety, fresh fruits and veggies, and repurposing a dish. I’m also newly aware of the ease of freezing food you make in your own kitchen. Fancy that!

I bought a box of frozen organic buckwheat and blueberry waffles, befuddling myself. Why did I, a food blogger of all people, purchase a box of frozen waffles?! So once that box was empty, I picked up some organic buckwheat flour and made my own version: buckwheat pancakes with organic (previously frozen) blueberries.

And let me tell you, they taste all the same—if not better—than those store-bought ones. Since organic blueberries can be bought frozen for a fraction of the price of fresh, they do the trick; buckwheat flour from the bulk bins only set me back a dollar or two, and I had plenty for two recipes of pancakes. Plus, one recipe for pancakes yields a much bigger batch than a box of six waffles; I can eat two pancakes a day and still come out ahead money-wise. Not to mention these things are packed full of nutrition and are way low in sugar. Score. Even Ryan enjoyed a couple.

Last night, I turned my kitchen into a downright decathlon with boo-coos of cooking events on the dockett. My goal was simple and complex at the same time: prep a variety of super-healthy foods that I 1) would be able to enjoy all week and 2) could be done on the cheap. I spent a total of $35 at Wheatsville on organic fruits, veggies, and stuff from the bulk bins, and went home to get to work, using up a few pantry staples in the process.

First up, I made roasted red pepper hummus in the food processor. To compliment that (and also to make some black bean wraps with), I whipped up a batch of whole-wheat tortillas on the cast iron grill pan. Meanwhile, on the next burner, I started a pot of brown rice (I’ve got stir fry in mind). On yet another free burner, I steamed some edamame and once that was done, put a few eggs in there to boil. (I made one mistake—I got two timers mixed up and wound up with soft-boiled eggs rather than hard-boiled ones....)

Somehow I had already cleaned the standing mixer as well as the food processor and decided to whip up an easy batch of veggie patties to pan-fry. Did I mention Ryan and I decided we needed cookies? Thankfully, we had refrigerated (organic) chocolate chip cookie dough ready to go. I popped a few dollops into the toaster oven and 13 minutes later we were satisfying our sweet tooth(s). Sweet teeth?

Anyway, I digress. Today’s all-organic lunch included:
2 vegetable patties (recipe below)
1 cup edamame
3/4 cup fresh strawberries
1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

Tomorrow, my lunch will be:
1 black bean wrap, with avocado, cheese, and homemade salsa
1/4 cup hummus dip
1 cup fresh carrots
3/4 cup fresh strawberries
1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

By Wednesday, I hope to shake things up with a broccoli-based stir-fry. Thursday I’ll enjoy black bean wraps once again, and Friday I’ll take along more veggie patties (which I’m dutifully reserving in the freezer).

Pan-Fried Veggie Patties

2 cups shredded zucchini
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
3 small or 2 medium diced onions
2 scallions sliced very thin
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons olive oil for pan frying

Shred and chop the vegetables. Toss together in a large mixing bowl with the egg, flour, and seasonings. Mix well. Heat oil in large non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Form patties about 1/4” thick (form thick patty with hands, then flatten in the pan with a spatula) and cook a few minutes on one side, until browned and crisp. Flip and cook a few more minutes, until patty has cooked through.

~*~
It occurred to me while cooking that these are a lot like the potato pancakes my mom always used to make for us. But with way more vegetables. And guess what? They taste great. I’m thinking of trying a version of this with breadcrumbs and black beans, and maybe even corn which will wind up a more substantial patty, similar to a veggie burger. That’s the plan, anyway.

beginning to feel like autumn...

2009-09-11T08:16:00.006-05:00

So the last month of my life was a little busier than I'd anticipated. But things are calming down, and in the meantime I've experimented with buckwheat flour (post to come soon), made puffy dog treats (more on that later), and have compiled a list of recipes three feet long that I've been waiting to get to! What I'm trying to say is... I'm still here, it's just been a wild end to the summer.

And did I mention my first triathlon is in nine days? Yeah, that too.

After last night's swim workout (big thanks to my sister Aubrey for motivating me), I tried inviting my brother and sister over for dinner last night.

"What are you making?" Britton asked.

"Well," doing my best to make the dish sound exciting and delicious, "I'm making roasted butternut squash with garlic and green onions on whole-wheat pasta."

Without missing a beat, Britton called out to our sister Aubrey: "We're making spaghetti tonight, right? I already set the sauce out."

So maybe this dish didn't win over my siblings--and I'm not exactly sure it won over Ryan--but I thought that it packed a flavorful punch and was as healthy as they come. Not to mention, it used up one of the lovely butternut squashes from my mother's prolific garden.

I jotted down a loose version of this recipe from a magazine in the waiting room while getting my car's oil changed. The original recipe included much more butter, and bacon... and toasted walnuts... But I wanted a vegetarian version, first of all, and I also wanted to use up things we had in our kitchen. If you want to add more herbs to this, try sage; the flavor would work really well with the sweetness and nuttiness of this dish.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Whole-Wheat Pasta

1 medium to large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

6 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tbsp evoo

salt & pepper

1/2 package (8 oz) whole-wheat cappellini

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp chopped pecans

1/3 c shredded pecorino or parmesan

chopped green onion

Preheat the oven (I used the toaster oven) to 425. Toss the cubed squash, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a baking dish and bake for 15 minutes or until squash is tender and begins to caramelize.

Cook and drain the spaghetti. In a small saucepan, slightly brown the butter and pour it over the cooked spaghetti.

Toss roasted squash and garlic with the pasta; add pecans, cheese, and green onion and toss everything together. Serve with extra pecorino and green onion for garnish.

unlikely ingredient: pattypan squash pie

2009-08-18T09:02:00.006-05:00

It's squash season. My mom has been making squash in every way she knows how: steamed, sauteed, casseroled, sliced thin, fried.... You name it, she's tried it.

And she gave me a tip one day after sending me home with a few pounds of pattypan squash--the white summer squash that look like flying saucers (and some of them are tall, resembling white versions of the ghosts from PacMan, no joke). "I think your grandmother used to make pie with these. Call and ask for her recipe."

So I did. My grandmother said she'd run out of apples one day, and turned to the white squash instead. They have a very mild flavor and can really adapt to any dish, even sugary pie laced with cinnamon and streusel.

The first time I made this dish, I treated it like an apple betty: a crustless version of baked apples with a buttery streusel on top. It was good, but those of us tasting it decided it'd be better with a crust.

Turning to my all-butter crust success, I decided to make a bottom crust for the pie. The pressure was on, though: this particular pie was headed to a dinner party.

Funky-Bottom Pattypan Pie Betty
For the crust:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup flour
1 tbls sugar
dash salt
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
4-5 pattypan squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
1/4 cup orange juice

For the streusel topping:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350. Make the pie crust following my directions here, or use your favorite pie crust recipe. Blind bake the crust for about 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel the pattypan squash (we found it easiest to trim off the nubs first, then peel with a vegetable peeler), cut it in half, and remove the seeds. Then slice it into 1/4-inch-thick pieces, and in a separate bowl, toss with the orange juice.

Once the crust is blind-baked, add the squash.

In a separate bowl, using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut together the streusel ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal (with little pea-sized, sugar-coated bits of butter...yum). Sprinkle the streusel on top of the pie and bake, uncovered, at 350 for approximately 40 minutes, or until streusel is browned and squash is very tender.

Note: I had a little trouble achieving a nice brown on the streusel, so I bumped it up to broil in the oven for about 5 minutes, which finished the job quite nicely.

~*~*~

The pie was a hit at the dinner party; I asked folks to guess what could possibly be in it and nobody believed that it was squash! The dash of nutmeg had us all pining for fall, which is seemingly years away as we mark our 60-some-odd day of 100-plus degree temperatures here in Austin...

better than kraft mac n cheese

2009-08-13T22:02:00.003-05:00

I'll admit, I might be using the title of this post to get some good Google hits. Fingers crossed.

But truly, this is better than anything you'll make out of a box. It's almost better than anything that'll come out of the oven.

It's a revolution, which is exactly what the author of this particular recipe exclaimed on her blog. Let me introduce you to White on Rice Couple, a blog that I've recently fallen in love with.

And then when I read this recipe, well... Let's just say that I made secret plans to pull off a whole-wheat (possibly organic) version once I got home. I picked up pasta and milk at the store and made it home to Ryan, who wanted salmon and veggies.

"Why don't we split a salmon fillet and have broccoli... and this super-healthy pasta recipe I'm going to make?"

"Healthy? Doesn't it have cheese all over it?"

"But I'm making it with whole-wheat pasta, low-fat organic milk, local butter (and just one tablespoon at that!), and a mixture of colby, parm, and chevre! YUM!"

I think it was splitting the salmon fillet (we each had about three ounces of healthy and sustainably harvested Omega 3s that night) that got him. Without the pasta side, there wouldn't have been enough dinner to sustain us.

This stovetop mac-n-cheese is phenomenal. In fact, I made it twice in twelve hours; once for us, and once for a potluck at Ryan's office. The second batch I made at 6:45 a.m. And then I scooped out a spoonful for breakfast (shhhh, don't tell his colleagues).

So, a big thank you to White on Rice for this one-pot stovetop creamier-than-you-can-imagine-and-even-pretty-healthy version of macaroni and cheese. I followed the recipe almost to a T; I used whole-wheat pasta instead of its white flour counterpart, and a mixture of colby, crumbled chevre, and parmesan--because that's what I had in the fridge.

This one is going straight to the cheesey file as a quick one-pot dish that satisfies all my pasta cravings. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go make some more...

the ultimate healthy banana bread

2009-08-09T17:03:00.017-05:00

Let me start off by saying, yesterday afternoon was a perfect Sunday afternoon. Saw family and friends, baked bread, drank some wine, did laundry, saw a movie with the man... And best of all, listened to the rain fall--for the first time in months.

But let's get on with it, shall we? Lately, things have been changing around here. Doing the laundry and the dishes is starting to look a little different these days.

Since Ryan and I have both been making efforts to live healthier (we're eating better, he's pumping iron, and I'm training for a triathlon), we're watching more and more workout clothes go through the wash... And there are always at least three water bottles in use at any given time, meaning they're making a cycle through the dishwasher a couple of times a week.

When I started Sustainable Diet, I had every intention of foodie stardom a la Julie Powell or Molly Wizenberg: I wanted this to be a platform to try new recipes and, hopefully, someday, incite a publisher to ask me to, you know, write a book.

And don't get me wrong, I still want that (in fact, I have a new recipe to share with you today, so publishers take note!).

But here's the thing: sustainability does not stop at a diet. That's not to say that I'm changing my focus here; food is my green agenda VIP. Everything we eat is scrutinized, and more so by the day. Is it organic? Is it local? Is it ethically and sustainably produced?

Sustaining a healthy diet (for our bodies and for the earth) isn't just about cooking with whole wheat flour and replacing fats and eating pesticide-free produce. It's also about maintaining a healthy outlook on life. Which is where this whole exercise part comes in.

Yes, I'm advocating exercise. And lots of it.

As my training has "progressed" this summer (we'll go ahead and call it that), I'm finding that more and more, I'm enjoying the act of following up what I eat with doing something else good for my body.

So here we are. I'm off my soapbox and you're ready for a recipe.

With that in mind (and a swim clinic under my belt and three over-ripe bananas in the fridge), I set out to make a breakfast pastry I could feel good about. The catch? No fats and no sugar. Like any drunk-on-a-rain-shower home cook would do, using a few good proportions, I came up with my own recipe.

And it's actually good.

Instead of fats and sugar, I used a combination of low-fat organic vanilla yogurt, local honey, and organic unsweetened applesauce:

And to be sure we got plenty of whole grains with each bite, I used organic whole-wheat bread flour:

The Ultimate Healthy Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat bread flour (or all purpose, or spelt, or something)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup low-fat vanilla or plain yogurt

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup honey or maple syrup

3/4 tsp lemon zest

2 large eggs, beaten

2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare an 8x5 loaf pan or muffin tins. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. With a standing mixer or in a large bowl, beat together the yogurt, applesauce, and honey until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition. Add in the mashed bananas and beat until combined. In thirds, add the flour mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan or tins and bake for one hour (loaf) or 35-40 minutes (muffins), or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool completely before slicing.

Unless you're like us and MUST try a bite before it's cooled at all. Hence the missing piece:

I'll admit, even I was skeptical at first. But this is a low-fat, low-sugar alternative to a breakfast muffin and you wanna know what else? It's delicious. Topped with a little bit of jam, or a side of berries, this is the perfect way to start the day, guilt-free.

The texture is a little different (not bad, just different), but I'm not a food science whiz so I'm not sure whether that's because of the substituted ingredients or some other reason (maybe it needed to bake just 5 more minutes, but we had a movie to get to)... But it's tasty nonetheless. The tang of the lemon zest is evident but not overwhelming, and the cinnamon adds just a faint spice to the bread. Next time I think I'll add some oat flour to the mix and see what happens.

spicy, decadent squash casserole

2009-08-06T12:24:00.011-05:00

It's been another deadline week at work, which normally means I cook a lot less and we eat out a lot more, especially since I've started tri training and my energy level for cooking has mainly been relegated to weekends. Often the immediate craving is for burgers.

And where would I turn for burgers?

Well, TEXAS MONTHLY's 50 Best Burgers in Texas List, of course.

I've been staring at the Burgers cover for more than a month, and incidentally have been highly persuadable to ditch my dine-at-home plans and go for a mouthwatering monster-sized meat patty smothered in all the best fixins. I can personally vouch for #2 on the list: The Counter Cafe offers up one delectable plate of burger heaven. And Cover 3 (#12) gets me every time with their fries...

Oh, and this fits in with sustainability because a lot of the places that made the list offer grass-fed or even organic beef and local veggies. Can I get a what what? (Eileen, I hope you're happy. Now I want a cheeseburger. And have possibly alienated both of my readers.) But ENOUGH with the burgers, because I have a real down-home dinner to share with you.

You're still thinking of a burger, aren't you?

Traitor.

Anyway, armed with another delivery of summer squash from my mom, and making an under-budget grocery run on Monday night ($75 for a weeks' worth of organics, including all-natural chicken and Clif bars), I have been trying to stretch my dollar. So far, we've done a great job eating at home this week.

Ryan's on a new diet, which means he's interested in lean proteins and lots of plain-jane veggies. I, however, cannot help that most of my grocery list involves dairy items (I counted 5 on the last list), one of which was heavy cream. Which I downgraded to half-and-half, but...still.

So when I decided to whip up a one-pot version of the Homesick Texan's Tex-Mex Squash Casserole, I had to check with my better half. I emailed him the recipe and timidly approached the subject of a side dish that would very easily top off the day's calorie intake.

"If I make this whole casserole, will you eat it?"

"Doesn't it have heavy cream in it?"

"No, it calls for half-and-half. And non-fat sour cream."

"But isn't it smothered in cheese?"

"Yeah, but, well, it's got lots of fresh veggies in it!"

"I might try a bite."

Considering that all the "permission" I needed to whip up a casserole big enough to feed six (aka, dirty up the still perfectly clean kitchen), I went along my merry little way.

I modified Lisa's recipe by forgetting to drain the tomatoes (is that a real "modification? I think so.) and leaving out the tortilla chips, which did two things. It of course made for a runnier casserole (oops), but also made it a one-dish meal.

The goal of making a one-dish meal is to keep the kitchen cleaner. I would have achieved exactly this, except for the fact that when I started, I thought everything would fit in the 9-inch cast-iron skillet.

Go ahead. Laugh and think to yourself, I'd never make such a foolish mistake.

Of course, it didn't; halfway through I transferred everything to the Dutch oven. If I'd started with the Dutch oven, this would have been a very successful one-dish meal. But c'mon. You know that me in the kitchen very rarely involves the phrase very successful, right?

Nonetheless, this decadent summer casserole came out of the oven and had me drooling for its bubbly cheesiness. Cheeeeeese. I'm a huge fan of squash, and it turns out that squash and cheese and jalapenos get along just dandy.

I thought it might benefit from a little sweet corn, and maybe black beans, but Ryan pointed out that then, it would almost be... King Ranch Casserole, sub the chicken for squash. Which I'm not opposed to by any means. The addition of the protein would make it a full one-dish meal. And one that I wouldn't mind eating, not one bit!

You could also put it on a burger.

cucumber salad, a clean kitchen, and homemade vanilla

2009-07-31T08:00:00.006-05:00

When I whipped up this salad for a last-minute dinner the other night and brought it to the table, it conjured up memories of our grandmothers and the farm for both Ryan and I. Cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions reign in Texas's summer gardens, and neither of us had any shortage of this sweet, tangy, refreshing salad growing up. My mom's version of this salad always said, "Summer is here." And this summer, it feels like it's here to stay.

The cucumbers and onions from my mom's garden and the tomatoes from our own made for a spectacularly crunchy and fresh side dish. The salad is laced with white vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper, and tastes even better after a day in the fridge.

But I've written before about my personal connection to this simple summer salad... So without further ado, here's the quick recipe.

Cucumber and Tomato Farm Salad

1 large cucumber, thinly sliced on a mandoline or chopped into 1/2-inch chunks
1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped if desired
1 small onion, thinly sliced on a mandoline
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 tbls sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and let sit in the fridge for at least half an hour or overnight. Enjoy!

In other news, I came home after my 4-mile trail run with the triathlon training class to the most beautiful site. Ryan, instead of calling me to complain about the state in which I'd left the kitchen (unforgiveably messy), had cleaned the kitchen from countertop to countertop. I mean, the guy put away every last thing, including the coffeemaker (it's been too hot for coffee), the dish rack (this hand-washing then sit-till-its-dry thing is not helping us), the smelly red bin I had collecting dirty dishes in all their funky glory in the sink, and even the sugar bins (which aren't getting much use on account of us not drinking coffee).

It's amazing. I thought I couldn't let go of things, but let me tell you something: It's freeing to have clean counters. And last night when I made dinner, it was surprisingly easy to snap it back into shape once we had dined. Now I have a goal to meet when I cook--keep it as clean as Ryan was able to get it. Do you know how difficult it is for me to publicly admit that he cleaned the kitchen better than me?

And finally, this morning I bought 25 organic vanilla beans on eBay for just $22! Free shipping! And guess what I'll be using those for? Homemade vanilla extract. Yeah, you read that right.

All it took was one Tweet from Christopher Kimball: 140 characters of inspiration and here I am ordering vanilla beans online. He wrote: Homemade Vanilla: Split 1 fresh bean lengthwise; scrape; place all in 1 cup jar. Add 3/4 cup hot vodka. Seal; shake daily for week; store.

And then, in my print version of Cook's Illustrated last night, I read that testers found the homemade vanilla markedly better in recipes. And it's cheaper, to boot! A 7-ounce bottle of organic vanilla at Whole Foods runs $25. I can make 25 recipes of homemade organic vanilla for about the same amount (we drink cheap vodka).

the gumbo success

2009-07-29T12:22:00.005-05:00

I taunted you with that whole "live blogging" thing, didn't I? And then to wait a few days to even mention it again... It's just cruel. And I apologize.

So I'm here to make it up to you, recipe in tow, and to tell you that it turned out almost just like my mother's rendition of okra gumbo. Armed with the fond memory of summer dinner at home, a pound of fresh okra from mom's garden, and a recipe by Mark Bittman, I got to work in the kitchen on Sunday night.

I decided to prepare a vegetarian dish with a roux base, and it went a little something like this:

5 tbls butter
3 small onions, thickly sliced
2 1/2 cups chopped okra
21 oz (1 1/2 cans) organic whole peeled tomatoes, or a pound of fresh peeled tomatoes
1/4 cup flour
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
tabasco sauce to taste
3 cups cooked rice

In a large pot (I used the Dutch oven, surprise, surprise), begin by softening the onions for just a few minutes. Once they're soft, remove them from the pot and set aside. Add in the rest of the butter and the flour, stirring over medium heat to create a roux. If it cooks too quickly, simply turn down the heat. You'll want the roux to reach a nice Mississippi-mud color. Once you've got it, put the onions back in the pot and add the okra. Cook for a few minutes before adding the garlic, tomatoes, and water. Season with salt, pepper, and tabasco to taste. Let this cook down until the okra is tender, about 30 minutes.

Serve with white rice and plenty of hot sauce!

This made about four meal-sized servings; we had it for dinner on Sunday, and I made two lunches out of it this week. And each bite took me straight back to summers spent growing up on the farm...

live blogging fresh okra gumbo

2009-07-26T19:39:00.004-05:00

This cannot wait. On the stove, at this very minute, is a simmering pot of roux, okra (picked yesterday from my mom's garden), organic tomatoes--hold that thought, I've gotta go stir--farm onions, and garlic.

It is the very incarnation of what I grew up calling gumbo; Ryan just said, "I've never had a gumbo with tomato sauce in it." His version of gumbo looks like Mississippi mud and offers bits of crawdads and shrimp in every bite. My version of gumbo--the stuff my mom ladeled into our bowls on the summer dinner table without restraint--is chock-full of veggies and, to me, tastes like heaven.

It's still simmering. I'll fill you in very, very soon.

zukes or cukes?

2009-07-22T15:55:00.005-05:00

I was way ahead of the game on this one, folks. Way ahead of the game.

Waking up early on Saturday lent itself to reading a few cookbook pages and food blogs, which gave me the craving for cool Vietnamese noodle salad, which then inspired me to wake Ryan from his peaceful slumber and accompany me to the Farmers' Market. (Best girlfriend ever, right?) Though I felt like I was cheating on my mother, I bought carrots, cucumbers, peaches, red chiles, watermelon, mushrooms, spring onions, and smoky jalapeno and cilantro goat cheese. What a bounty!

After a quick stop at 'ho Foods for rice noodles and soy sauce, it was back to the casa for salad. Here's where things got crazy: I had the brilliant idea to prep all the food at once for the salad, some spring rolls, zucchini bread, and carrot cake. Since I could use all the veggies for each of the meals, it made sense.

And it continued to make sense as I got our salad together (fried tofu = fail; no comment except that I'll try it again someday)....

And the next night as I whipped up some spring rolls....

And it almost made sense this evening when I was ready to make my sister a batch of zucchini bread, until...

Well, crap. Which is which? Taste them, right? I did. They taste the same. There's not enough green skin left to tell which one's which, either. And they smell like watermelon (thanks, fridge!).

I can't rightly make a loaf of zucchini bread with cucumbers, now can I? While it's ok that I likely made my noodle salad and spring rolls with zucchini rather than cucumber...it's not ok to sub the C for the Z in a sweet baked good. And now, of course, I'm wondering if what I really had was just a couple of funny-shaped cucumbers... And no zucchini at all.

What's a gal to do!?

One thing's for sure... The carrots will make it into some sort of baked good a-s-a-p. In lieu of zucchini, there will be carrot something-or-other. Perhaps it'll involve the leftover pineapple I have in the fridge. Ideas?

rustic peach tart

2009-07-20T18:36:00.007-05:00

As promised, I tested a new pie crust recipe over the weekend. Following the advice of you wonderful readers (both of you), I tried an all-butter crust. The result? I super-flaky and flavorful crust that was a near-perfect base for a simple peach tart.

Last week I ordered Ratio and got straight to baking from it. While I'm not convinced that this is the end-all, be-all of cookbooks (that is, however, how I feel about Bittman's How To Cook Everything, but you already knew that), the idea of cooking by ratios is, in theory, a great one.

So I followed Ruhlman's advice and went for a 3-2-1 pie crust (three parts flour, two parts fat--butter in this case--and one part water). To make it flakier, after gently forming the dough into a ball, wrapping it in plastic wrap, and chilling it for 30 minutes, I shaped it into a rectangle. I rolled the rectangle out just a little bit, folded it in thirds, and repeated that step about three times. Not only did this make the dough flakier by creating layers upon layers of butter and flour....It also made the edges of the crust cleaner! Remarkable!

Then, I rolled it into a round shape, transferred it to the foil-lined baking sheet, and added a simple filling (peeled, chopped peaches, an indeterminate amount of sugar, juice from one lime, and a tablespoon of flour). For the rustic tart look, I simply pulled the edges up over the filling. It baked at 350 for almost 45 minutes; we thought it was taking too long, so I cranked the heat up to 400 and took it out about 10 minutes later.

I'd post a real recipe here, but I'm still perfecting the pie. It was delicious, but...What I did learn? Butter crust packs a punch--but a couple of my testers uttered things like, "Whoa--it's very buttery." So maybe I will cut down just a tad on the butter next time. As for the peaches, folks suggested adding cinnamon, which I had intentionally left out to let the flavor of the farmers' market peaches shine.

Overall, a success. But it's not church pie contest material just yet.

the truth about apple pie

2009-07-17T09:39:00.006-05:00

Folks, I've told you before that I make a pretty mean apple pie. But in the last year, I think I've been taking one very, very bad shortcut: I've been taking the pie out of the oven way too soon.

For Father's Day (yes, I'm aware that was almost a month ago...), I made my dad an apple pie, as is tradition, and it wasn't quite up to par. All the flavors were there, but--and this is a BIG but--the apples were a little on the crunchy side.

And let me impart something to all you fine folks out there: that is NOT how you want the apples to be for a supposedly fantastic pie.

I'm planning on entering our church's pie contest in early August, so I have some time to perfect my recipe. Normally, my crust recipe goes like this:

(Makes 2 crusts)
approx. 1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup shortening
pinch of salt
1/3 cup milk
1 tbls apple cider vinegar (in a pinch, white vinegar works too)

Cut together flour and shortening with two knives or a potato masher. You want the shortening to be in pea-sized bits, as this will make the crust flaky. Mix milk and vinegar, and pour into flour mixture, gently folding in with a fork. Add more milk as needed to wet all the dough. Roll out to about 1/8", using plenty of flour to keep it from sticking. To transfer the crust to your pie dish, place the rolling pin at one end, and gently roll the crust over the pin. Move it over the dish, and unroll.

(For a glazed top, baste with one egg. If you don't have a basting brush, fold a paper towel like a fan and use one end to dip in the egg and paint it on. Cut slits in the top. You can use the extra dough to make designs on the top.)

Just for kicks, though, I'm planning on trying a different recipe tested by the fine folks at America's Test Kitchen over the weekend, and working on my baking times to perfect my not-so-perfect apple pie.

Does anyone have some good pie tips they'd like to share? I am totally open for (and asking for) hints, tips, tricks, and answers. :)

happiness is a KitchenAid mixer

2009-07-13T09:51:00.000-05:00

After three weeks of feeling under the weather, I am happy to report that I am back. And last night's little stint in the kitchen (a loaf of pizza-dough-like bread and a pasta dish from our garden that you'll hear about soon enough) got me ready to tackle a slew of new recipes I've been chomping at the bit to try. Coupled with the fact that my tastebuds are functioning again, I'm ready to rev up the burners.

Tonight I'm planning on a home version of pizza with jalapenos and pineapple, along with a batch of zucchini bread and possibly some treats for Fin. And here is a short list of other fanciful creations I hope to be making in my kitchen very, very soon....

Chocolate sherbet, a la David Liebowitz
Lasagna tart, a la 101 Cookbooks
Pizza dough, also found at 101 Cookbooks

Not to mention, I just got my copy of Ratio by Michael Ruhlman and can't wait to learn those tricks of the trade. (Pate a choux, anyone?) Though, flipping through it, I see many French culinary terms that I don't yet recognize. (Pate a choux, anyone?) Perhaps I'll be purchasing Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking soon and tackling life Julie & Julia style...

The point is--and I know some of you out there have been wondering--I'm back on my feet and back in the kitchen, and I couldn't be happier about it!

fig jam: it's delicious.

2009-07-10T07:31:00.004-05:00

My first foray into fig preserves turned out to be a success; last night, some impromptu biscuits (glorious in their own right) were topped with spoonfuls of golden fig preserves.

The preserves are sweet and have a lovely texture. They're just the right consistency, if I do say so myself. I think the frozen plate test does the trick. (I learned it here--thanks, Kristina!)

The biscuits started out as two-ingredient biscuits, until I decided to consult Mark Bittman and found a similar....but different...recipe to follow.

A Riff on Mark Bittman's Quick Drop Biscuits

2 cups AP flour

scant 1 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 tbls cold butter, cut into cubes

1 cup nonfat plain yogurt, plus two tbls 1% milk

Preheat the oven to 450 (or ready a toaster oven) and butter/flour/grease a 9" round cake pan. Mix the dry ingredients with a whisk and cut in butter with a pastry cutter. Blend until butter is incorporated in smaller-than-pea-sized bits. (How's that for accurate?) Add the yogurt and mix. If batter is still bone-dry in parts, add milk and stir. Batter should be very shaggy. Drop in large spoonfuls into the cake pan (these can be messy!). Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until biscuits are golden-brown and cooked through.

Enjoy HOT, with a spoonful of fresh preserves on top!

Ryan was hesitant to try these--but one bite in, he was hooked too. These are buttery. And moist. And fluffy. And just downright delicious. We almost devoured the entire pan, but had the self-restraint to save a few for breakfast.

from the tree to the jar: fig preserves

2009-07-05T21:14:00.008-05:00

I'll come clean with you.

I went a little crazy this weekend, but I had to. You see, fruits and vegetables wait for no one--not the sick, not the busy, not those trying to enjoy a holiday weekend. So even though I'm on (hopefully) the tail end of the worst summer cold in my memory and have been taking every OTC medication on top of antibiotics that the pharmacist told me I can handle, not to mention about eight Neti pot adventures daily.... I decided that my plans for the long weekend--to harvest and can and pickle produce from my mother's garden--had to go forward.

Friday morning I made it out early to my mom's house, and after an hour or so of catching up, we went out to harvest figs. My mom stood on the ground to grab the ones within reach, and I climbed up the ladder. Once we started, it was hard to stop; there were beautiful, perfectly ripe figs at every turn, hiding under every leaf. In all, we picked about seven pounds; she had four in the fridge from the day before for a grand total of ELEVEN pounds of fresh figs. And that was just the beginning.

The tree in the East Garden is so big that it's got enough for everyone: the birds enjoy their fill from the top of the tree, fifteen feet in the air and unreachable even with our tallest ladder, and we pick more than enough just from the bottom canopy.

In all, I packed up about 25 pounds of produce, split between figs, cucumbers, banana peppers, zucchini, and carrots. After a quick stop at Wal-Mart (I know, I know--but they really do have great prices) for some half-pint jelly jars and a pot big enough to process quart-sized jars of pickles, I got to work. (I found the giant pot on clearance for only $17, but the look on Ryan's face could be priced much higher. "Now, are we borrowing that?" No--it's ours... so if anyone needs a 21.5-quart stock pot, let me know. You can borrow it!)

On Friday afternoon, I got started on the figs. I'd sterilized the kitchen the day before with hydrogen peroxide, and I kept my hands clean. With all the boiling, anyway, germs were nowhere to be found.

Fig Preserves

15 cups pureed figs (about 11 pounds)

5 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

First, prep the figs. Rinse them, trim the stems, and toss out any that look highly suspect (I think I only tossed out three figs!). Puree in batches with a food processor. Transfer to a large, heavy-bottomed pot (like a Dutch oven) and add sugar.

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until mixture has reduced and gelling stage is reached.

(I use the frozen plate method: place a small plate in the freezer before you begin. To test the jam, place a small spoonful on the plate and tilt the plate. Swipe your finger through the jam and count to five. If the line reconnects before you count to five, the jam needs more time. If it does not reconnect after five seconds, you're good to go. )

Once gelling stage is reached, add lemon juice and cook one more minute. Carefully spoon jam into sterilized jars. Wipe the rims clean and process for 15 minutes in boiling water.

Friday, the figs got done (12 half-pints, two full pints, and a little left over that went straight to the fridge), and Saturday I worked on pickling the cucumbers. The way I was feeling, though, I only had energy to pickle and left out the documentation. Suffice it to say, three briny hours later I was exhausted and my Fourth of July plans were completely wrecked. Ryan took my brother to the concert we had tickets for, and I stayed home watching Barry Manilow and the National Symphony.

Sigh. Like Ryan said, though, "At least we have pickles."

where have i been?

2009-07-02T07:37:00.003-05:00

So you're hungry for the next recipe, eh? Me too, but I've been too busy making mistakes like these in the kitchen:Ok, things aren't quite that bad. But I have been sick, and out of town, and...Alright, enough with the excuses. I've got a strawberry jam post in the works, and I of course have to show you the apple pie I made for my dad for Father's Day, right?

We're making a big trip to the farmers' market this weekend, as well as I'll be picking up cucumbers in Taylor to pickle. There's plenty on the dockett, and I promise to pick up the pace here at The Sustainable Diet!

the first of the summer squash bounty: zucchini bread

2009-06-24T11:01:00.011-05:00

Summers at home were ushered in not so memorably by the end of the school year, but instead by loaves of fresh zucchini bread. My sister and I would devour the green-flecked loaves, drenched with glossy powdered-sugar icing, almost as soon as our mother could get them out of the oven.

Last year, I must have asked my mom on a busy day for her zucchini bread recipe because she told me to "Google it, something similar is sure to come up." Well, last weekend, I asked again, and she helped me find her cookbook with the recipe scrawled in it.

I jotted it down and made a batch as soon as I got home--one loaf for my sister and a half-batch of muffins for me... And that disappeared just as quickly as the loaves we enjoyed as kids.

Mom's Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil (OR 3/4 cup applesauce plus 2 tbls oil for a low-fat version)

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350. Using parchment paper, create a sling in two loaf pans, or butter and flour a muffin tin. (This recipe will make two 8x4 loaves, 24 muffins, or one 9x5 loaf and six muffins.... your pick!)

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil (or applesauce and oil for a lower-fat version), sugar, vanilla, and zucchini. I always double the amount of zucchini, so feel free to put as much as you want in there.

In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour (you can substitute some whole wheat flour if you'd like--I always do) and other dry ingredients. Add the dry mixture to the wet, and mix until well incorporated. No need to use a mixer for this recipe--a simple hand whisk will do the trick.

Pour the batter into the appropriate baking vessel, and pop into the oven. For muffins, bake about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For loaves, bake about 50-65 minutes, or or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

If you'd like to ice them, whip up a simple glaze icing:

1 cup powdered/confectioner's sugar

2 tbls lemon juice

Mix together, adding either more sugar or liquid until the desired texture/thickness is achieved. Pour over the hot bread and be sure to lick the bowl.

eating light: black bean and fresh corn salad

2009-06-18T10:38:00.003-05:00

Here's a first: I have no photo of this.

I know. I KNOW! It won't be the same! But here me out: I got back from my first triathlon training class, where they taught me that all these years I've been running incorrectly, and it was way past my dinner time. I was hot, my muscles were exhausted, and my adrenaline was pumping from a hard workout. And then I realized the hunger pangs.

My plan was to recreate a salad I'd had earlier in the week at Blue Dahlia Bistro. A beautiful bed of greens topped with black beans, corn, pico de gallo, avocado, and a delectable citrus vinaigrette; the perfect cool salad for a very hot summer night. And although there was no cheese in sight, it took care of my Tex-Mex craving.

As is the case in my kitchen, that plan was thwarted when I discovered my fresh lettuce was completely and irrevocably wilted. Lettuce leaves really don't last outside of the crisper, folks.

Life goes on, though, and I continued with the rest of my plan in haste. With only a few ingredients, I pulled together a healthy, fresh dinner straight from the cupboard. High five!

Black Bean Garden Salad

1 can organic black beans, rinsed and drained (or 2 cups cooked black beans, drained and cooled)

1 ear fresh sweet corn, husk and silks removed

1 medium mild pepper (I used a banana pepper)

1 medium tomato

garlic salt and cumin to taste

juice of one lime

Lay the corn on a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, carefully shear off the kernels. Dice the tomato and pepper, and toss the veggies together with the beans. Add spices to taste. Squeeze the lime juice over the salad and toss. Serve room temp or chilled.

~*~

I fried an egg and served it all together with a small handful of grated cheddar for a protein-packed meal that hit the spot. That said, here are things that would have made this dinner better:

• Fresh cilantro

• Diced red or yellow onion

• Sliced avocado

• A bed of lettuce

• Citrus vinaigrette

Wait, did I just describe the exact dish from Blue Dahlia? Yep, but it was that good. Know what I'll be having for dinner tonight? Same thing--with avocado.

looking forward...

2009-06-15T12:44:00.010-05:00

The heat is beating down on us already this summer, but I am truly looking forward to what's in store.

There is, of course, this movie coming out, all about eating more sustainable and local and organic foods (right up my alley, don't you think?):And I'm sure after I see it, I will become even more of a "locavore," except when my doing so would put someone in a bind. Hear me out; I'll mostly be vegetarian, and eat local, grass-fed, humanely raised meat when I have the chance. If that's not an option at a restaurant, I'll go veggie. And if we're out in the country with the fam, without access to an all-veggie or locally produced meal, I won't make no bones about it, because my momma raised me to be polite above all else!

Moving on! There are plenty of good things to come in the kitchen; I'm hoping to make another carrot bread/cake soon, based on this recipe from 101 Cookbooks (my first one started out delicious....but I didn't bake it all the way through and the middle was a heap of raw mush. Not appetizing).

My mom has been sharing her beautiful garden bounty with us, and that means I have plenty of carrots. And summer squash, and sweet corn... Here's a little sneak peak: Oh, I cannot begin to wrap my head around what's coming down the pike with the tomatoes and okra and cucumbers and such. If our Caprese salad yesterday is any indication, we've got the vegetative world at our fingertips and nothing standing in the way of creative kitchenry.

Soon to come, too, is canning season. My canning kit is in the mail, along with the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

And then there's a new side of me: the side that's determined to work toward a fitness-related goal. It all started with the MS 150, and my difficulty completing just half of the 180-mile ride (the first day was rained out, so we endured only 85 grueling, hilly miles). Coupled with my desire to get outside more and spend time on the trails (and in the water) with Fin, I decided to start training for a triathlon. As an early birthday gift, Ryan signed me up for a beginner training group, and from here on out I'll be incorporating fitness into my sustainable diet. Because what's more sustainable than eating responsibly for the Earth? Eating responsibly for Earth AND body.

Other goals for the summer include learning to make cheese (mozzarella is first on the list), eating more sprouts (enjoyed a bowl of sprouted wheat cereal this morning!), making more rustic breads (perfect for summer sandwiches), and going on at least one picnic a week (what started out last Thursday as a gorgeous night in the park turned into Escape the Tornado '09!).

Stay tuned for great things to come--and to hold me accountable for all the things I've put myself up to.