Butternut Squash Quinoa Oat Burgers

Sundays are "family dinner" night with my roommate and several of our friends. The actual number of us any given Sunday is between two and four, with occasional exceptions. I love Sunday dinners because it means



1) I'm actually eating with other people
2) I often get the opportunity to cook for others
3) Everyone's willing to contribute, if asked

When I lived in the Midwest, I ate with people a lot more often than I do now and I miss the social aspect of eating with people I care about -- even if we're not actually eating the same thing (though it's nice when we are). Sundays help fill this gap.

In the skillet

One recent Sunday dinner, there were just going to be two of us and I decided I wanted to make veggie burgers (just fyi, if you're wondering, most store-bought veggie burgers contain gluten). I thought about asking the woman who was coming to bring GF buns, but then decided we could just throw the burgers on corn tortillas since I already had those around and we're both operating on a budget. I thought I had an old can of beans at home, bought in the fall before I decided to stop buying cans of beans in favor of just making my own beans from dried and freezing some for later use. As it turns out, I didn't. And the only beans I had prepped were chickpeas. No thanks, not for this.

What I had instead was a can of butternut squash (bought cheap, organic, and still in date, don't worry). I decided to work with it and this recipe is what resulted. The nice thing about this is that the butternut squash acts as a really good binder, the oats help absorb extra liquid and add a little fiber, and the quinoa provides plenty of protein. I served this with homemade sweet potato fries (oven baked). Play with the spices a bit, if these don't appeal to you.

Butternut Squash Quinoa Oat Burgers
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon hot chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon onion powder, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1 14-ounce can organic butternut squash (or equivalent fresh -- baked & pureed)
1/2 cup gluten-free* rolled oats (not quick or instant)
Oil

Cook the quinoa in the water, simmering over medium heat about 20 minutes or until tender and water is absorbed. Careful not to scorch the quinoa. Mix in the spices, and then combine with butternut squash and oats. Let rest for 20 minutes, to allow flavors to blend and oats to absorb extra liquid. Form into patties an appropriate size for your bun, and about 1/2-inch thick.

Cook patties on a lightly oiled pan, over medium-high heat, about 3-5 minutes per side (depends on how evenly your pan heats and how moist your squash was), until both sides are brown and firm. Serve.

*Remember, some people with gluten-sensitivity don't react well to GF oats either, so be sure to check. If you don't have gluten-sensitivities, you can use regular oats. If you, or the person you're cooking for is sensitive to GF oats, substitute rolled quinoa flakes, if available.

Done!b

CSA Pickup 1 - plus CSA Salad with Garlic Scape Dressing

I picked up my first CSA share just the other day and was delighted with my produce -- not only was my produce beautiful, I found way more of it in my bin than I expected! Here's what I got:

First Pickup from my CSA

• Green Romaine Lettuce
• Red Butterhead Lettuce
• Red Russian Kale
• Carrots
• Japanese Turnips
• Kohlrabi
• Spring Onions
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Lambsquarters (so excited about this)
• Edible flowers (caledula -- the yellow & orange ones; bachelor buttons)
• Garlic Scapes

My CSA also sent along a recipe to encourage me to use the garlic scapes (when I joined last week, they gave me a handful for free since they weren't selling this year -- apparently people are hesitant to buy them, which makes me sad because they're one of my favorite things as far as early produce goes!). The credit for that recipe (below -- anything in parentheses are my suggested changes based on dietary restrictions) goes to HappyDirt Veggie Patch (unless, of course, they took it from someone they didn't credit in the letter included with my produce).

The opportunity to support local, chemical free produce farmers excites me because I've wanted to join a CSA for several years, but as I mentioned before, haven't felt stable enough in a place. This year, in part because I'm trying to shift to more conscious living in general, I decided that it was important to me to support local agriculture (especially because I have so little room for my own garden) and to make a real effort toward more creative cooking and eating more whole foods. Plus, there's the opportunity for surprise plants, like the lambsquarters (which is another plant you can forage in many areas) that I'll get to figure out how to use.

First CSA Salad

For my first dish with these lovely veggies, I decided to make a large salad using the butterhead lettuce because from past experience, I know that won't last as long. On top of that, I added some thinly sliced carrot (1), thinly sliced Japanese turnip (1) and chopped turnip greens, and then sprinkled some edible flowers over it all. My friend Caitlin joined me for dinner and brought tempeh for protein, which made this a lovely meal.

I made the dressing basically as directed, except subbing in agave for honey (since I was out of honey) and reducing the amount of oil by a fair amount. I can't stand salad dressings that leave my lips feeling greasy even though I know the chemistry behind salad dressings does actually dictate a certain amount (not sure that that is) of oil to the rest of the base. Those changes are not reflected in the recipe below, which is supposed to prepare about 1 cup of dressing -- enough for several salads!

Garlic Scape Dressing

2 garlic scapes, coarsely chopped

Equivalent amount spring onion, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon honey (or agave)

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, or similar brown mustard

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

dash salt

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a blender, combine all ingredients, except the olive oil, and blend until smooth. With blender on low, slowly add the olive oil until well blended.

Green Smoothie - Spinach-Mint

It's summertime (well, in just under a month) and I've been craving the fresh fruits and veggies that come with summer for quite a while now. Fortunately, my farmers market is already up and running and the local produce is coming in at the co-op and my favorite grocery store.

But beginning during the winter, when E and I were swimming several nights a week, I started making green smoothies. They were the perfect end to a workout, especially since we got home late and I didn't really want to eat dinner beforehand. The nice thing about green smoothies like the the one here is that some greens really start coming in over fall & winter -- and if you're on top of your game, you can get these greens fresh, cook them up and then freeze them in little smoothie-portioned chunks. If you're not on top of your game (and I wasn't this year, since I moved), you can also just buy frozen greens. Or, if you've got a better blender than mine, use fresh greens.

The mint extract in this smoothie helps tone down any bitter qualities of the greens, and the banana makes it smooth. Normally, as regular readers of my posts know, I'm not a fan of using bananas. Even when I buy them organic/fair-trade they're not the best environmental decision. Other options for making it smooth include: nut butters, yogurt, or (possibly) oats (my friend Marissa, over at We*Meat*Again just wrote about this possibility). 

If you have it on hand (which I do now--pineapple mint, if you're curious), you can also use fresh mint -- but it takes a lot more! The portions suggested below are just suggestions. If you think it needs to be sweeter (this may depend on the ripeness of your banana as well as your personal tastes), add some agave, honey, or other natural sweetener of your choice. Sometimes my smoothie comes out a little thick -- if this happens, just add a little water or more milk and that should solve the problem beautifully

Spinach-Mint Smoothie

1 cup almond milk (or other milk of your choice)

1/2 cup frozen spinach

1 large frozen banana, slightly thawed (again, unless you have a super-awesome blender -- which I don't)

4-5 drops mint extract or 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, packed

1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Add all ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth. If you don't plan to drink it right away, store in a container that you can shake up later (in case of separation) and store in refrigerator.

Green Smoothie in a peanut butter jar

Ambercup Squash with Forbidden Rice and Cranberries

When my local growers market was still running, I bought several varieties of squash I hadn't tried before, or had only tried once or twice. I've been slowly working through the pile and recently tried my ambercup squash. I hadn't tried this type before because in my grocery stores past, it was always just in a pile of winter squash with no flavor profile descriptors to be seen. Fortunately my growers market did a much better job with describing it -- though for the life of me, I can't remember what the sign near the bin of these squash said.

Forbidden Rice

I wanted to bake my squash and stuff it and so I looked at my ingredients and saw I had some forbidden rice (a black rice) I'd purchased from my co-op around the same time I bought the squashes. I decided to boil it up, adding split red lentils and some flavorings, and then stuff the rice mixture into the baked squash.

This recipe was nice, because of the small size of the ambercup squashes I used. I could cut them in half and stick two halves in my toaster oven (I could have also used my regular oven, but I didn't actually need to make all the filled squash right away), start the rice, and take the dog on a run -- and do all this after work. After 30 minutes, the squash was quite tender, the rice was ready for lentils and cranberries, and I only had a little bit longer to wait for dinner.

I made the conscious decision to make this recipe vegan, because I know at the beginning of the year, a lot of people make promises to themselves about the eating habits they will adopt in the coming year. My regular readers know I play with vegan recipes regularly, but if you're new to the blog this is a great recipe to start with -- it's savory, filling, and doesn't use (too many) bizarre ingredients. If you don't have access to forbidden rice, you could certainly use a short grain brown rice in a very similar way. Nutritional yeast, which provides a lovely cheese-y flavor without cheese, is available at most major grocery stores now -- but certainly in the bulk section of stores that focus on whole food approaches to eating and online. And this filling could go in a number of different winter squashes, be eaten on top of salad, or (in the summer, though you might have to sub out the cranberries unless you're like me and stock up on cranberries while you can or happen to live in a place that keeps them in the freezer section of the grocery store year-round) stuffed in a large tomato.

Without Sunflower Seeds

You can use fewer cranberries, but I really like cranberries and try to eat as many as I can while the season permits, hence the wide range. They'll definitely add a tart flavor to your dish if you use way too many, but I liked the lightly tart taste they provided for this meal.

After all the hyper-indulgent food from the past month, this dish is a welcome respite, and full of flavors that still match the season without being the flavors of the season.

Roasted Ambercup Squash with Forbidden Rice and Fresh Cranberries
2 small/medium ambercup squash, cut in half with seeds removed
2/3 cup forbidden rice
2 cups water
1/4 cup split red lentils
1/2-1 cup fresh (frozen) cranberries (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon fines herbes
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-4 tablespoons nutritional yeast (to taste)
Shelled sunflower seeds, optional

Bake the squash, cut side down in a baking dish covered with a thin layer of water, for 30 minutes at 350 degrees then remove and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, combine rice and water in a small saucepan over high heat. When it boils, turn the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook 30 minutes.

After the rice has cooked for 30 minutes, increase the heat, remove the lid, and stir in the lentils, cranberries, and red pepper flakes. Cook 10 minutes and then stir in the fines herbes, salt, and nutritional yeast. Cook another 5-7 minutes to allow flavors to combine (add a small amount more water if the mixture begins to stick to the bottom of your pan -- you want it dry, but not so dry that it sticks).

Rice, lentils, cranberries, pepper flakes

Spoon the rice mixture into hollow part of the squashes and sprinkle the top with sunflower seeds, if desired.
(I like that they add a bit of extra crunch) Use salted and roasted, or raw, depending on your personal preference. Serve warm as a side dish, or a main meal.

A Very Veggie Breakfast

A quick reminder: the follower drive is still going on. Follow this blog and tell your friends to do so too!

I'm still in my "I want to eat veggies. Lots of veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. Especially green veggies..." stage and I've been making sautes and stir-fries for breakfast because the idea of sweet breakfast turns my stomach a little. In particular, I've been making some variation of this for breakfast almost daily, either using kale, chard, collards, or cabbage, depending on what I have in my refrigerator (aka, depending on what I got cheap at the growers market or the grocery store).

This is nice for breakfast because it's simple. I can start it after I walk the dog, even on days I'm feeling somewhat more rushed than I'd like in the mornings. I can steep my coffee (French press) while my food caramelizes, perhaps get my lunch ready to go on my weekdays, and even turn on my computer to check email and other things, all the while, giving my food an occasional quick stir so it doesn't burn.

As a post-Thanksgiving day breakfast, this is fun, light, and doesn't involve leftovers--which there will be plenty of, for many people, in the coming days (and weeks! So glad that's not me this year.). Plus, if you pair it with a piece of whole grain toast or other whole grain, then you will have plenty of stamina for shopping, cleaning, decorating, or whatever it is you do with your Black Friday. Usually, I would make tamales. This year, I work. But as I said, I've been eating this, or some variation of this, for several weeks and I find it a lovely way to start my day in a veggie-intense way that doesn't involve a smoothie (kinda cool for that this time of year, and the blender noise is obnoxious first thing in the morning).

In the variation of this depicted by the picture, I'm using Lacinato kale, which (apparently) has a long tradition in Italian cuisine. I'll have to remember that next time I buy some -- I definitely want something with tomatoes and Italian flavoring soon, probably also for breakfast. Lacinato kale is the same thing as dinosaur kale (my personal favorite name for it), Tuscan kale, and black kale among many other names. This is simply the kale that's looked best at both the growers market and the grocery store.

Sometimes I add mushrooms, because I really like them. I don't always want mushrooms though and so I'm not including it in the list of ingredients. When I do add mushrooms, I usually add 4-6 sliced (depending on the size) a couple of minutes after I add the onions, but before I add my greens. They add a lot of extra flavor though, so if you like mushrooms and have them on hand, I highly encourage you to use them.

This makes a great main dish breakfast for one or two, or could be used as a side dish for several. You could also use it for lunch or dinner, if you're so inclined (and I've been doing some of that too, just changing up what specifically I add).

I've also been craving, recently, baked beans on toast with stewed tomatoes. Maybe all these British shows E and I have been watching are rubbing off. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I don't usually have baked beans or stewed tomatoes on hand. Maybe though, I'll make that happen.

It's Good to Be Green (and orange!) Breakfast (or dinner)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 carrot, sliced in coins, or 1/4 cup chopped sweet potato
1 bunch kale, chopped
Salt (I use about 1/4 teaspoon, at most)
Red pepper flakes (I use about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon)
Red wine vinegar (if you don't have this on hand, use lemon juice)

One or more of the following:
1/4 cup raisins, optional
1 teaspoon curry powder, optional
2 tablespoons chopped or slivered, toasted almonds
2-4 tablespoons goat cheese
1/2 thinly sliced, firm apple such as Arkansas black or pink pearl 

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add ginger, onion, garlic, and carrot. Stir to coat with oil and then only stir occasionally (every 2-3 minutes, perhaps) until the onions and carrots just begin to caramelize (about 7-10 minutes total, depending on your pan).

Add the kale (or cabbage), salt, and red pepper flakes. Saute until the kale begins to wilt and then add the red wine vinegar.

Remove from heat when the kale is mostly wilted and stir in the raisins, curry powder, almonds, goat cheese, or apple (I wouldn't recommend using all of these at once--but perhaps two or three, with a specific flavor-idea in mind as you're doing it), if using. Serve hot.

Gingered Carrots with Honey

Lately, I've been on a serious veggies kick. As I've mentioned in recent posts, sweets haven't really appealed and this is about as sweet as I'd like, except really, really dark chocolates. I've also been on a bit of a ginger kick. It always adds a lovely flavor, but especially in the autumn and winter.

Carrots are a winter vegetable, which means I've seen plenty of organic carrots at my local markets, including the growers market. But, those of you who know me also know that I usually buy carrots 5+ pounds at a time. I happen to really love carrots.

I made this simple side dish while Rachael was visiting, on an evening that we had a veggie-rich dinner--we had these carrots, plus Rachael made collard greens sauteed with garlic and splashed with lemon, and fennel sauteed with just small amount of garlic and then tossed with goat cheese. Next to these, to help our meal last a little longer, we added some freshly made gluten-free bread*. The meal was filling and satisfying in that way that I find most veggie-rich meals to be--"I feel good about my life, about my body, about the things I just put into my body." It was the perfect meal for just-post the end of Daylight Savings Time, when darkness settled in too soon and for an afternoon filled by a long hike and baking (bread, vegan chocolate pie, granola).

Gingered Carrots with Honey
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
6-8 carrots, sliced into coins
Honey
Olive oil

Saute the ginger 1-2 minutes in olive oil, over medium heat. Add the carrot coins and cook 5-6 minutes. Add honey (I used about 1 tablespoon for 8 medium carrots) and saute another 2-3 minutes until the honey has formed a thick coating over the carrot slices. Serve hot.

*The bread, this time for those of you who are regular readers, didn't contain oats. Instead, we used both white and brown rice flour, and Bob's Red Mill GF mix.

Not-Too-Sweet Chunky Apple Cake

Earlier this month, I was looking on a blog for work (yes, I sometimes get to read blogs for work, kinda awesome when i do) when I saw a post for a "kid-friendly" apple cake. The blogger was playing it up as super-healthy because it had DHA in it from flax. Okay, yes, technically you can get DHA from the ALA actually present in flax, but the human body isn't very good at making that conversion happen. And the original recipe contained 1 cup of sugar, plus 1/2 cup of butter. And that's before the topping, which also had a fair amount of butter and sugar.

Kid-friendly because it's super sweet? Fine. But maybe not the best option. The original recipe also used white whole wheat flour, which is fantastic (whole grains, whoo!), unless you're trying for a gluten-free diet.

I intentionally did not use guar gum or xantham gum in this recipe--quick breads don't always need it. That may be part of the reason that this cake is a little crumbly. It could also be that I used closer to 3 cups of chunked apples, or whole oats (which can be a problem for some people with gluten-sensitivity or intolerance, please ask if you don't know for sure). Or maybe I just didn't let it cool enough after initially coming out of the oven. It did get more solid as I let it cool.

The original recipe didn't contain any extra salt (maybe the blogger used salted butter, but the post didn't indicate one way or the other), so I added some because salt is a flavor enhancer. I also added cardamom and cloves because I enjoy the flavors. Also, it's just the time of year when I want the house to smell of sweet spices. As E put it when she came down in the morning, "It's that time of year, isn't it, when there's lots of baking?" I look forward to baking with her during these next few months, when the days are shorter and cooler.

I'd been wanting to make this recipe for a while, because it seemed like a fun thing to do with some of the extra going-soft apples I had around. I've already made applesauce this season (and will again) and still have some in my freezer. I wanted a different option. But I didn't really want a lot of bread. When my friend Rachael came for a visit, I decided it would be the perfect time to make this cake. I wanted to make it a lot less sweet and serve it with breakfast. I could send her on the road with some. And, because we planned to do a lot of hiking, it would be something fortifying we could eat in the morning and feel fuller with for a while.

The morning I made this, I also heated up some black beans Rachael brought with her, in a chipotle-peanut butter sauce and let them cook until the sauce thickened around them, which added extra protein to the meal--protein + whole grains = staying power. We spread a little extra butter on the bread, but a lot less than the recipe originally called for. Sometimes, I find spreading fresh butter on a bread lets me actually taste the butter, which I appreciate if I'm going to be eating those calories anyway. Then, we went hiking and walking through town and hiking again. And in between, we baked other things. Magical.

To make this vegan: substitute the egg for a flax seed egg, commercial egg replacer, or a banana, and use a vegan margarine or olive oil in place of butter. I used water in my recipe, but a milk alternative would work as well--and the original recipe used regular, low-fat milk.

Not-Too-Sweet Chunky Apple Cake (Gluten-Free)
Dry Ingredients
1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (GF)
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix together in a large bowl and set aside while you mix the wet ingredients.

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon ground flax
1 1/2 cups water or low-fat milk
1 egg, beaten

Melt the butter and sugar together in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often. Add the vanilla, flax, and water or milk and remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes. Stir in the egg. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Other
2 cups (or 3) chopped apples

Brown sugar
Cinnamon, optional

Stir the chopped apples and pour batter into a 9" greased pie pan or round cake pan. Sprinkle the top of the cake with brown sugar and cinnamon, if using. Bake in an oven preheat to 375 degrees for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.

With butter

Baked Butternut Squash Oatmeal with Quinoa

My friend Rachael recently came to visit and we spent lovely days baking, cooking, hiking, and talking. One morning, we went out to breakfast. One morning we cooked together. One morning, I made this dish, based on a baked oatmeal recipe from a cookbook Rachael brought with her called Simply in Season. It seemed like a delightful base recipe to prep us for a long hike and it's nice to eat seasonal foods, even when some of my ingredients come from a can (more on this later).

Why this dish? When we were planning our day, the evening before Rachael said she'd never had baked oatmeal--not true, I reminded her. When we both still lived in the Midwest and ate breakfast together on Friday mornings with two other friends, I'd made a baked oatmeal recipe a handful of times. Baked oatmeal was something introduced to me a year ago this past summer, at a retreat center I stayed at while on a field trip focused on sustainable agriculture.

One of the lovely things about baked oatmeal is that it's warm, hearty, and can be prepped the night before. The recipe from Simply in Season did not recommend mixing everything the night before and then just sticking it in the oven. But, you could do this, I think, based on my previous baked oatmeal experiences. This is especially good if you're rushed in the morning. And, you could make this vegan by substituting the egg for either a commercial egg replacer, or a flax seed egg. You don't have to use the quinoa, if you don't have any on hand, but I wanted to include it to up the protein a little. If you decide to leave it out, you should increase the oatmeal to 2 cups.

We used butternut squash, because that's the puree I had on hand. At times, I might make my own rather than buying processed, but honestly I could pick up these cans of organic butternut puree for ridiculously cheap and it wasn't nearly as labor-intensive, and when I have butternut squash I've baked, I really just want to eat it. Immediately. You could also use pumpkin for this, or applesauce (as the original recipe suggests).

You could use pumpkin pie spice for this, if you didn't have these spices on hand, or leave the spices out entirely--the original recipe didn't use spices. I might have also added cardamom, if I'd thought about it early enough, but this combination of spices created a lovely taste reminiscent of autumn.

Note: although I've labeled this gluten-free, some people with Celiacs and gluten-sensitivity also do badly with oats, including gluten-free oats. If you are one of these people, or preparing this for someone who is gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant, please check to make sure GF oats are okay.

Baked Butternut Squash Oatmeal with Quinoa
Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats (GF)
1/4 cup quinoa
1/4 cup demerara sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup raisins (or other chopped, dried fruit, optional)
3 tablespoons chopped almonds (optional)*

Spices
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Wet Ingredients
1 cup milk (I used coconut)
1/2 cup butternut squash puree
1 tablespoon oil
1 egg

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix in the spices.

Add the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees, in a greased 8 x 8 pan (or equivalent) 25-30 minutes, until a knife stuck in the center comes out moist, but clean. Serve warm with milk.

*I didn't incorporate the almonds, but left them chopped, on the side to be added later. You could also use walnuts or pecans, if you prefer.

A Little Medusa's What I Need (Garlicky Swiss Chard with Raisins)

Pan Muerto...well, kinda, not really

When I was a the Growers Market the other day, I couldn't resist taking pictures of a few of the more innovative Halloween-ish decorations. The bread coffins above were one of my favorites though and could turn into an easy Halloween decoration if you needed something last minute--or just something to help you get a little more in the spirit (I'md definitely in that category).

Also as regular readers know, the other day, I blogged about my little crocheted devil. I've also crocheted a tiny medusa, using the same yarns and the same book. She was a little more difficult to put together, mostly because of her snake hair and placing her head on her body. I think my medusa might be looking downward a bit much -- just look at this picture!

But, that's okay. She was a good project to work on during Knit at Nite and she went together quickly, which I appreciate in a project. It's nice, sometimes, to be able to sit down and finish the majority of a project during an evening knitting at a local bar with friends. Yes, really. As a friend I ran into on my way to the bar pointed out, "what a wild night." I think he realized how this sounded because he continued by telling me that he learned, when he lived in Norway, a woman wasn't a real woman until she could knit. Nice save, friend. Nice save.

Something about Medusa--probably her greenness and my vague sense of guilt about buying greens and then not eating them right away--did inspire me to cook up the chard I bought the other night though. This is a pretty simple recipe, perfect for a quick dish after a day at work. It's inspired from a favorite tapas that I first had when I was 13. If you're serving this to kids around Halloween, you could call it Medusa-hair (green snakey swiss chard with raisin eyes!).

This dish goes well with steamed brown rice drizzled with just a touch of tamari, or with roasted butternut squash. Or, if you're me and you don't have either of those on hand or easily prepared, you can also pair this with a nice bread (I used gluten-free, spread with a little bit of Tofutti cream cheese) and an heirloom apple, bought from my favorite farmers at the Growers Market, sliced.

Garlicky Swiss Chard with Raisins
Olive Oil (about 1 teaspoon)

3 medium cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

1 bunch Swiss chard, thoroughly washed and chiffonaded 

Salt
Red pepper flakes, to taste (I used about 1/4 teaspoon)
1/4 cup raisins

Heat a small amount of oil in a pan over medium-low heat and add the garlic.

Uncaramelized garlic

Stir frequently, until the garlic has just begun to caramelize. It should only be a light golden color.

Caramelized Garlic

Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the Swiss chard and saute 4-5 minutes, until the chard begins to will.

Chard, just before I add it -- I don't remove the stems unless they seem particularly tough

 Add the salt and red pepper flakes, cook another minute. Add the raisins and cook 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.

Garlicky Swiss Chard with Raisins

An Experiment in Mozzarella

A friend and I decided to try our hand at making mozzarella this weekend. Cheese-making has been on my must-learn list for a while, so I was thrilled to learn a friend had the same desire. We looked up a recipe in a cheese-making book, which called for a special mozzarella starter. Our reaction, ha. One, we weren't sure where we would find this if we did want to use it (to the best of my knowledge, our food co-op doesn't carry such things though it does carry rennet*--which I already owned--another necessary ingredient). Two, we didn't need enough starter for 13 gallons of milk (which is apparently what most starters provided). And three, we imagine ourselves better at making-do than that.

We knew recipes existed that didn't call for starter. We remembered reading them. Specifically, we both remembered reading about such a recipe in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which was taken from Ricki Carroll's book Home Cheese Making and which I've copied below. We looked up the recipe for 30-minute mozzarella and that was the recipe we tried. The recipe didn't specify what type of millk to use (i.e. - whole or skim or other), so we used 2%. According to the New England Cheese Making website, it doesn't really matter after all.

This recipe also calls for citric acid. We were skeptical. My friend asked if we could use lemon juice instead. Maybe? Probably not? We weren't sure and before experimenting too much (or, looking it up on the internet), we decided the easiest thing to do would be buying the amount of citric acid we needed from the bulk section of our co-op. It cost less than $1 for a lot more than this recipe calls for--but when I went to buy it, I bought extra on the chance/hope that it would go well and we'd make this again before I moved.

A friend of mine--and I use the term loosely, since I haven't talked to her in three years--makes goat cheese mozzarella with milk she gets from her small flock of Nubians (floppy eared goats, very popular as dairy goats). When she first told me about this, I was both impressed and skeptical. She said it used a lot of water and that the first few attempts had turned out poorly. I wondered what goat's milk mozzarella would taste like.  If you're interested, here is a link for a goat's milk mozzarella recipe--using a starter--from Mother Earth News. For this post, I tried to find out more about the farm my friend runs, Contrarian Farm, near Pittsboro, North Carolina--but could only find a few useful fact-lets about it on the interwebs. If you live near there though, I know they used to show up at the Pittsboro farmers market and I'm guessing they still do--there are enough recent entries on the internet about the farm and its owners. My friend also used to raise meat bunnies.

*Rennet, traditionally, comes from the stomach-lining of young calves, as a by-product of veal production. The rennet we used was a vegetarian rennet. There are a few varieties of vegetarian rennet. Vegetable-based rennet comes from plants with coagulating properties, such as thistles, nettles, and mallow. They can also be grown from microbes, such as Rhizomucor miehei. The type we used ("double strength" where 1/8 teaspoon will coagulate 2 gallons of milk) comes from this type of microbe.

Our Super-Strong Rennet

Mozzarella
1 gallon pasteurized milk (NOT ultra-pasteurized)

1 1/2 level tsp. citric acid dissolved in ¼ cup cool water 

Stir the milk on the stove in a stainless steel kettle, heating very gently.  At 55° add the citric acid solution and mix thoroughly. At 88° it should begin to curdle. 

¼ tsp. liquid rennet diluted in ¼ cup cool water

Gently stir in diluted rennet with up-and-down motion, and continue heating the milk to just over 100°, then turn off heat. Curds should be pulling away from sides of pot, ready to scoop out. The whey should be clear.  (If it’s still milky, wait a few minutes.) Use a slotted spoon to move curds from pot to a 2-quart microwaveable bowl. Press curds gently with hands to remove as much whey as possible.  

Just starting to form curds

Use the pot of hot whey on the stove for the heating-and-kneading steps. Knead the cheese with hands (rubber gloves would be good, according to Ricki Carroll) or a spoon to remove more whey. Put the ball of curd back in with a big slotted spoon, and heat it until it’s almost too hot to touch.  Good stretching temperature is 175 degrees. Repeat 2 times, kneading between each time.

It shouldn't look like this once you've pressed it out (attempt 1)

At this point, salt the cheese to taste, then knead and pull until it’s smooth and elastic. When you can stretch it into ropes like taffy you are done. If the curds break instead, they need to be reheated a bit. Once cheese is smooth and shiny, roll it into small balls to eat warm or store for later in the refrigerator.


***
The first time we made this, we overworked the cheese. The second time, we worked it less, got it hotter, and it made the process much easier. The cheese looked and pulled like taffy and we can't wait to make it again. Tomorrow.

We have smooth, shiny mozzarella balls (attempt 2)

A long time coming - and a recipe!

It's been a while since I've written. Being a grad student is great because it means that (in my case) I'm being paid to do something I love and live in a wonderful little town. It also means that I go through weeks upon weeks where I feel like it's all I can do to keep my head above the water. Actually, this semester hasn't been too bad, but all my classes are night classes which significantly cuts down on the amount of time I spend experimenting in the kitchen. However, last night one of those classes was cancelled (hooray for small favors!) and I had a friend over for dinner. I wanted to make something I could store in my freezer and that used ingredients I already had on hand.

I decided on bean burgers because they'll make an easy meal later and are something I can easily take to campus with me if I need to. And because I haven't made my own bean burgers in a while and it's something I actually really enjoy doing. I'm strange, I know! Anyway, these use canned chili beans and the bit of nutritional yeast (in theory) makes them taste a bit cheesier than they might otherwise.

You can adjust the seasonings to make them as spicy (or not spicy) as you'd like but my very spice sensitive friend seemed to have no problem with these. On my own, I'd probably serve them with a chipotle sauce and/or a whole grain mustard. I served these with root vegetable fries (radishes, turnips, carrots, onions and garlic--these last two are not a roots technically, yes I know). They would also go well with sweet potato or green bean fries. In addition, because I had one that needed to be used up, I sliced an orange bell pepper and grilled it in the pan with the burger.

Chili Bean Veggie Burger
Yields 5 patties

1 cup finely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 cup grated or diced carrot
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon extra dark cocoa powder
1 15-ounce can chili beans (extra spicy), with liquid
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I used a whole grain dijon)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup oat or wheat bran
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes, optional
Salt

Saute onions and garlic in oil, over medium heat, about 5 minutes until onions begin to soften. Add carrots and saute another 5 minutes. Add cumin, cayenne, chipotle, and oregano and saute 2 minutes. Add cocoa and remove from heat.

Process beans in a food processor, or mash with a potato masher, until coarsely ground. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in mustard and sauted vegetables. Add oats, bran, and nutritional yeast (if using). Season with salt to taste.

Moisten hands and form into approximately 5 patties. Cook patties in lightly greased nonstick skillet about 5-8 minutes over medium-low heat, until patties begin to brown. Flip and cook another 5-8 minutes. Serve on a bun or tortilla!

Dijon Chicken (or not)

I've been thinking about it and it's high time that I post one of my recipes that takes you either the vegetarian OR the flexitarian (um, this time I mean meat-eating) way. This is one of my old fallback recipes when I don't know what to make and have the ingredients on hand. As a student, easier said than done especially since I'm not eating chicken any longer. All the same, it's a good recipe that comes together pretty quickly.

If you're using both chicken and faux chicken to make everyone you're feeding happily, you can certainly double or triple this recipe. You should keep in mind though that the chicken and faux chicken should be cooked separately and if you're using the same dish of mustard for both, the respectful thing to do is to dip the fake strips first and then the real chicken.

Cutting the chicken (or substitute) into strips will help it cook faster and increase the amount of flavor per bite--but if you're short on mustard, feel free to make larger pieces. If you're using chicken, just make sure the meat is cooked all the way through before serving. It shouldn't have any pink color left.

Easy Dijon (Faux) Chicken
1 breast of chicken, OR faux chicken of your choice (I like Quorn), chopped into 1" x 2" strips
5 tbsp. Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
1 tsp turbanado sugar
bread crumbs

Mix the Dijon mustard with the salt and turbando sugar. Dip the strips of chicken or faux chicken into the mustard mix, then cover with bread crumbs. Lay these into a baking dish. Cover and bake in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until hot (covering it helps it cook through without drying out). Uncover and turn over to ‘broil.’ Continue cooking for 5 to 7 minutes. Serve.

Note: Quorn and other meat substitute products often absorb liquid. If you're using one of these products, you may want to add 2 tablespoons of water when you uncover the dish, if the dish is starting to look dried out.

Baked Falafel

Since I'm a student, two things are important: eating inexpensively and meals that go together quickly. One solution is of course, fast food in the traditional sense: burgers or tacos, burritos or pizza, from some greasespot.

It's tempting sometimes, especially when I spend most of the day on campus and when I'm done with the day, the dog still needs to be walked, MY students have a million questions they've emailed me to ask, all of which are naturally very pressing, and then my coursework to complete.

Once or twice a week, as a way of destressing and making sure that I don't become too involved in just school work, I either host dinner or go to at one of my friends' houses. The great part about this is that it's cheaper for all of us. The unwritten code is to bring something, anything, to help make the meal and if you don't know what to bring, ask.

The other day, I was craving falafel. The falafel I ate growing up were pan-friend green disks. I love them, but don't have the time or equipment to make those falafel, which involve dried chick peas (garbanzo beans) and a mega food processor. I wanted something easier. I had a baked falafel recipe I'd tried before that I wasn't thrilled with and I'd recently seen a baked falafel recipe come across from another blog which seemed akin to the labor-intensive ones I ate growing up.

This recipe combines the flavors of the second recipe with the simplicty of the first. The falafel turned out well. The texture is fairly smooth, unlike some of the grainier ones you get from restaurants or when you make falafel from a mix and if you have cilantro (I didn't have much), add about 2 more tablespoons, chopped.

Baked Falafel

1 medium potato, chopped
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 ½ tablespoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 generous tablespoon tahini
½ tablespoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon sea salt (fine)
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon paprika
Black pepper, to taste (about ¼-1/2 teaspoon)

Flour or bread crumbs, if needed

Preheat oven to 375º F. In a small saucepan, over high heat, boil the chopped potato in water until it is tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well.

Place all the ingredients, including the potato, in a medium to large bowl and mash well a pastry cutter, potato masher, or a fork, until only slightly chunky. The falafel dough should be slightly sticky (this will depend on the type of potato you used). If it is very sticky, stir in flour or fine bread crumbs 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is only tacky.

One at a time, take spoonfuls of the mixture in your hands and form 15-20 balls (each about the size of a ping pong ball) and place them gently on a greased cookie sheet, pressing down lightly to form a thick disc.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn the falafel over, and bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden brown and slightly crispy. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.