I’ve been cooking with young people this week. It started on Sunday when my favorite cooking partner—Anna Lei—came to my house after church so we could work on her 4-H demonstration. She wanted to demonstrate how to make the breakfast panini we created for the Farmer’s Market this summer.
Since her demonstration required a recipe, we had to write down what we had done. Here’s what we came up with for our recipe.
Annabeth Egg
Warm a skillet on medium. Add ½ pound sausage to the skillet to brown.
Drizzle olive oil in another skillet that you can also put in the oven. Turn on medium.
Chop ½ onion. Add to skillet and sauté. Chop other vegetables you like (spinach, green peppers, etc.) and add to skillet. If you like garlic, chop and add to vegetables.
While the vegetables soften, mix 3 eggs, salt, pepper, pinch of cream of tarter, 1/8 cup water and 1/8 cup milk. Pour into skillet with vegetables. As it cooks, run a spatula around the outside of the egg circle so the uncooked eggs can seep down and cook. Sprinkle your favorite cheese all over cooking eggs. When the bottom is cooked but the top is still runny, put the skillet under the broiler until the top is nicely browned.
Makes three or four sandwiches.
Breakfast Panini
Turn on panini maker to warm.
Take the Annabeth Egg out of the skillet and cut pieces to match the size of your bread. Spread Dijon mustard (or your favorite condiment) on the bread. Slice a tomato and add a tomato slice. Put egg on sandwich and top with a second piece of bread. Drizzle olive oil on the bread and spread with a pastry brush.
Put on panini maker with olive oil side down. Drizzle oil on the other side and spread with brush. Close panini maker, pressing down slightly. Cook three minutes then remove, slice and enjoy!
While Anna Lei was here, we didn’t actually make panini but gnocchi instead. Those little potato dumplings are so much fun to make and even more fun to eat. Jim agreed they were a 10.
My week of cooking with the young continued yesterday when I took on the challenge of cooking with 10 middle school girls. Since they asked to make pizzas and pasta but we had a limited amount of time, and even more limited cooking tools at the school, I tried to introduce them to healthy choices even though we couldn’t make everything from scratch. We used bagels, English muffins and flatbread for our pizza base. We discussed the difference between using whole wheat and white flour. While they seemed to understand the rationale for whole wheat, not one of them chose to use the whole wheat English muffins.
To top the pizzas we had marinara sauce, tomato paste and pesto to choose from. In addition, we caramelized onions, sautéed spinach and mushrooms and had Canadian bacon, chicken breast, kalamata olives (no one but me liked them), mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. For our pasta, we tried four cheese tortellini and chicken and prosciutto tortellini. Most of the girls happily tried both of them.
The choices I gave them were healthier than what they had asked to top the pizzas with (pepperoni and macaroni and cheese were two of their choices) and they liked most of what they tried. I think the next time around I’ll try cooking with them when we can choose from a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables from my garden. Then we could try making garden vegetable panini. Maybe Anna Lei and I will test out the recipe first!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Planning to learn and to share
As I’ve been plotting my upcoming garden on paper I’ve also been adding events to my calendar that I want to be sure to attend. For those of you in Kentucky, you might be interested in attending. If you live elsewhere, check out the websites for information that you can use wherever you are.
The first event is the Bluegrass Local Food Summit which this year has the theme “Eating From Our Own Soil.” I attended the summit last year and left with ideas for stories that I later wrote, seeds that I planted in my garden and plenty of inspiration and information that I later put to use. This year the summit will be Thursday, April 21, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. You’ll find information about the event on the Sustainable Lexington website.
On Saturday, July 16 we’ll be having an impressive event right here in Garrard County. The Field to Fork Festival will be held at Halcomb’s Knob Farm, Paint Lick, Kentucky from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Organizer DS Messenger is posting frequent updates on her blog about who will be teaching classes at the festival. I’ll be teaching a class called How to Pack a Garden Lunch that will explore the principles of eco-friendly eating while looking at ideas for delicious lunches.
If you learn something at an upcoming workshop that you would like to share, let us know!
The first event is the Bluegrass Local Food Summit which this year has the theme “Eating From Our Own Soil.” I attended the summit last year and left with ideas for stories that I later wrote, seeds that I planted in my garden and plenty of inspiration and information that I later put to use. This year the summit will be Thursday, April 21, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. You’ll find information about the event on the Sustainable Lexington website.
On Saturday, July 16 we’ll be having an impressive event right here in Garrard County. The Field to Fork Festival will be held at Halcomb’s Knob Farm, Paint Lick, Kentucky from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Organizer DS Messenger is posting frequent updates on her blog about who will be teaching classes at the festival. I’ll be teaching a class called How to Pack a Garden Lunch that will explore the principles of eco-friendly eating while looking at ideas for delicious lunches.
If you learn something at an upcoming workshop that you would like to share, let us know!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Gardening saves money and requires time
Although I’ve done no scientific study to prove it, I feel sure that gardening saves money. With garden foods on-hand year-round, I’m not making numerous trips to the grocery store, saving on groceries, gas and time. I am spending hours outside during the gardening season, a great thing for a writer who so often is seated in front of the computer to meet deadlines. Besides the exercise and fresh air, it’s also good for my soul to spend time with the worms and butterflies as I dig in the garden.
Novice gardeners do need to be aware, however, that there are costs involved in gardening. Here are a few costs to keep in mind as you plan this year’s garden.
Garden seed—saving some of your own seeds, which you can then swap with seed-saving friends, means you’ll need to buy fewer seeds.
Raising seedlings—growing some of your own plant starts instead of buying them can be fun and money-saving. On Sunday I started my plants for this spring by planting celery seeds in 12 small pots. You can plant seeds in old plastic pots you’ve washed out, or homemade newspaper pots. Check out this video for how to make them.
Potting soil—be sure you buy potting soil. Years ago as a novice gardener I tried using soil from my garden without realizing I would sprout weeds, also, and might not be able to tell the difference between the weed and the plant! Potting soil is worth the investment.
Fertilizer—Because I grow organically, I typically use fish or seaweed fertilizer. I also have helpers like blood meal, bone meal and kelp meal on-hand for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium soil amendments. Organic Gardening magazine is a great source for information about soil deficiency problems and other gardening questions.
Some years I use all the seeds, soil and fertilizers I buy; other years I have some left over for the next year.
Each year, I seem to get a little bit smarter about gardening and spend less. That makes me feel smart and healthy, not a bad combination.
Novice gardeners do need to be aware, however, that there are costs involved in gardening. Here are a few costs to keep in mind as you plan this year’s garden.
Garden seed—saving some of your own seeds, which you can then swap with seed-saving friends, means you’ll need to buy fewer seeds.
Raising seedlings—growing some of your own plant starts instead of buying them can be fun and money-saving. On Sunday I started my plants for this spring by planting celery seeds in 12 small pots. You can plant seeds in old plastic pots you’ve washed out, or homemade newspaper pots. Check out this video for how to make them.
Potting soil—be sure you buy potting soil. Years ago as a novice gardener I tried using soil from my garden without realizing I would sprout weeds, also, and might not be able to tell the difference between the weed and the plant! Potting soil is worth the investment.
Fertilizer—Because I grow organically, I typically use fish or seaweed fertilizer. I also have helpers like blood meal, bone meal and kelp meal on-hand for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium soil amendments. Organic Gardening magazine is a great source for information about soil deficiency problems and other gardening questions.
Some years I use all the seeds, soil and fertilizers I buy; other years I have some left over for the next year.
Each year, I seem to get a little bit smarter about gardening and spend less. That makes me feel smart and healthy, not a bad combination.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Eating on less than $3/day
After hearing about my friend’s challenge to eat on less than $3/day, I decided to keep my grocery receipts in February and see exactly how much we spend to eat. As I spent extra on organic milk, meat, cheese and a few other items, I worried that my total would be more than I anticipated. But yesterday I totaled all of those receipts and here’s what I found: in February we ate on $2.82/day per person.
I would like to be able to say that proves what I’ve long suspected about eating a diet of whole foods rather than convenience foods. I’ve heard people say that fresh produce is too expensive and that’s why so many people go for the boxes, bags and cans of foods. Since we eat very few foods that would fall into that latter category, I don’t think it’s true. However, if I were being totally scientific in my study I’m sure I would need to take a different approach to truly prove my point.
I also realize that my February tally isn’t a totally accurate accounting of what we ate for a few reasons:
• We ate foods that we had purchased or grown previously and frozen or canned.
• We bought foods that we didn’t eat during February.
• To be more accurate we would need to figure in the cost of our garden inputs and divide that over 12 months.
So how much does it cost to garden? I’ll look at that question tomorrow. In the meantime, I would love to hear about how much you think you spend on food per day.
I would like to be able to say that proves what I’ve long suspected about eating a diet of whole foods rather than convenience foods. I’ve heard people say that fresh produce is too expensive and that’s why so many people go for the boxes, bags and cans of foods. Since we eat very few foods that would fall into that latter category, I don’t think it’s true. However, if I were being totally scientific in my study I’m sure I would need to take a different approach to truly prove my point.
I also realize that my February tally isn’t a totally accurate accounting of what we ate for a few reasons:
• We ate foods that we had purchased or grown previously and frozen or canned.
• We bought foods that we didn’t eat during February.
• To be more accurate we would need to figure in the cost of our garden inputs and divide that over 12 months.
So how much does it cost to garden? I’ll look at that question tomorrow. In the meantime, I would love to hear about how much you think you spend on food per day.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Three easy meals in two days
My schedule has been so packed with writing and editing assignments this month that it’s been difficult to find time to cook. So I was thrilled to look through my favorite recipes and a stack of ideas to try to find three meals that were quick and easy to prepare.
I often spend two hours in the kitchen preparing a meal. That’s because I enjoy it and because cooking from scratch rather than a box takes longer. I was able to put these meals together in 30 – 60 minutes, a record for me. I also noticed I had fewer dishes to wash after cooking. That’s never a bad result!
Here’s what I did.
Breakfast: Baked Egg
1 egg
1 TBSP Salsa
¼ cup unthawed spinach
1 TBSP cheese
Mix ingredients and put into a single-serving sized baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or so until firm.
Lunch: Tortilla Tomato Soup with Beans and Rice and Quesadillas
We like Ellie Krieger’s Tortilla Tomato Soup and it’s one of those easy-to-prepare soups that reminds us of why we put so much work into canning our tomatoes during the summer.
While the soup cooked, I put on a pot of white rice. We had leftover pinto beans and knowing that rice and beans together make the perfect protein encouraged me in that direction.
As the two pots simmered on the stove, I sliced half an onion and a green pepper from the refrigerator. After sautéing them I put them on half of a whole wheat tortilla in the skillet, sprinkled with cheese and made a quesadilla.
Yes, it was a big lunch. And it all tasted good!
Supper: Asian Salmon with Stir Fried Vegetables
Lunch was so filling that I waited to make this supper until the next day. It fit in perfectly to my easy to prepare plan.
For several years I’ve been making the Barefoot Contessa’s Asian Salmon. Again, it’s quick and pleasing to the taste buds. I often bake it in the oven instead of grilling, which was true this time.
To go with the salmon I pulled vegetables out of the freezer to stir fry and serve with soba noodles. I prefer vegetables with a little crunch and of course since these had been frozen I didn’t get that. However, the taste of the dish, that I topped with a handful of cashews, was very good.
The lunch and supper both gave us leftovers for the next day when I wouldn't have a minute to spend in the kitchen.
I often spend two hours in the kitchen preparing a meal. That’s because I enjoy it and because cooking from scratch rather than a box takes longer. I was able to put these meals together in 30 – 60 minutes, a record for me. I also noticed I had fewer dishes to wash after cooking. That’s never a bad result!
Here’s what I did.
Breakfast: Baked Egg
1 egg
1 TBSP Salsa
¼ cup unthawed spinach
1 TBSP cheese
Mix ingredients and put into a single-serving sized baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or so until firm.
Lunch: Tortilla Tomato Soup with Beans and Rice and Quesadillas
We like Ellie Krieger’s Tortilla Tomato Soup and it’s one of those easy-to-prepare soups that reminds us of why we put so much work into canning our tomatoes during the summer.
While the soup cooked, I put on a pot of white rice. We had leftover pinto beans and knowing that rice and beans together make the perfect protein encouraged me in that direction.
As the two pots simmered on the stove, I sliced half an onion and a green pepper from the refrigerator. After sautéing them I put them on half of a whole wheat tortilla in the skillet, sprinkled with cheese and made a quesadilla.
Yes, it was a big lunch. And it all tasted good!
Supper: Asian Salmon with Stir Fried Vegetables
Lunch was so filling that I waited to make this supper until the next day. It fit in perfectly to my easy to prepare plan.
For several years I’ve been making the Barefoot Contessa’s Asian Salmon. Again, it’s quick and pleasing to the taste buds. I often bake it in the oven instead of grilling, which was true this time.
To go with the salmon I pulled vegetables out of the freezer to stir fry and serve with soba noodles. I prefer vegetables with a little crunch and of course since these had been frozen I didn’t get that. However, the taste of the dish, that I topped with a handful of cashews, was very good.
The lunch and supper both gave us leftovers for the next day when I wouldn't have a minute to spend in the kitchen.
Monday, February 21, 2011
The gardening season begins
Most of the garden seeds that I ordered arrived last week. I promptly organized them in my seed box in the order I’ll plant them, delighting in pulling out the ones I’ll put in the ground first—greens and beets. It was so warm and dry last week that Jim was even able to till the garden. Although I haven’t planted anything, I did have to put my hands in the dirt just to feel it on my palms.
I also went to the library last week for books about greenhouse growing. It’s time to put together the one we received for Christmas. I’m hoping to use it for my seedlings and since the only ones I’ve planted so far are pansies, I think the greenhouse can wait for a day when it’s not as windy as today.
Yesterday we drove out to our friend Joan’s farm to cut reeds. They're drying out on the picnic table by the garden until we need them in a couple of months. My garden plan this year includes using one-third to one-half of the rectangular plot for beans, primarily dry beans (pinto, kidney, black and cannellini). So we’re going to experiment with reeds slashed together like teepees that we can sink into the ground, providing a good climbing surface. I like the idea of using one of nature’s gifts that could be useful for a couple of years before we have to cut more. When they’ve deteriorated we can put them in the compost pile.
Next on the agenda will be getting some planting soil so I can start sprouting seedlings. Even if winter returns us to evenings by the fireplace, I’ll know that spring is on its way.
I also went to the library last week for books about greenhouse growing. It’s time to put together the one we received for Christmas. I’m hoping to use it for my seedlings and since the only ones I’ve planted so far are pansies, I think the greenhouse can wait for a day when it’s not as windy as today.
Yesterday we drove out to our friend Joan’s farm to cut reeds. They're drying out on the picnic table by the garden until we need them in a couple of months. My garden plan this year includes using one-third to one-half of the rectangular plot for beans, primarily dry beans (pinto, kidney, black and cannellini). So we’re going to experiment with reeds slashed together like teepees that we can sink into the ground, providing a good climbing surface. I like the idea of using one of nature’s gifts that could be useful for a couple of years before we have to cut more. When they’ve deteriorated we can put them in the compost pile.
Next on the agenda will be getting some planting soil so I can start sprouting seedlings. Even if winter returns us to evenings by the fireplace, I’ll know that spring is on its way.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Bean week in the Brown house
Winter is the season when I most enjoy eating beans and when I saw our home-grown kidney and pinto beans in jars on my kitchen counter, I knew this was the week.
I started on Sunday when I indulged in one of my favorite kinds of meals—Italian. I prepared spinach and cheese manicotti with tomato sauce, meatballs, roasted Cushaw and pasta e fagioli soup. The soup is a Giada de Laurentis recipe that I hadn’t tried and the combination of pasta and beans with our homegrown kidney beans was fabulous. Of course since it’s February I didn’t have fresh herbs, but it still turned out so well that Jim rated it a “10” without even being asked. We also had leftovers to carry us over into the week, one of the benefits of a big Sunday afternoon meal.
By the time Thursday arrived, we had exhausted our leftovers and other easy-to-prepare meals so Jim made pinto beans. Jim is the pinto bean king. I will admit I had never eaten pinto beans until I moved to Kentucky and I do love the protein-packed soup with corn bread. I tried a new corn bread recipe (from Hindman Settlement School in eastern Kentucky) and it proved to be moist and perfect to accompany the beans.
Now we’ve used all of the beans we grew last year. This year I’ll plant many more so the joy doesn’t end so early.
I started on Sunday when I indulged in one of my favorite kinds of meals—Italian. I prepared spinach and cheese manicotti with tomato sauce, meatballs, roasted Cushaw and pasta e fagioli soup. The soup is a Giada de Laurentis recipe that I hadn’t tried and the combination of pasta and beans with our homegrown kidney beans was fabulous. Of course since it’s February I didn’t have fresh herbs, but it still turned out so well that Jim rated it a “10” without even being asked. We also had leftovers to carry us over into the week, one of the benefits of a big Sunday afternoon meal.
By the time Thursday arrived, we had exhausted our leftovers and other easy-to-prepare meals so Jim made pinto beans. Jim is the pinto bean king. I will admit I had never eaten pinto beans until I moved to Kentucky and I do love the protein-packed soup with corn bread. I tried a new corn bread recipe (from Hindman Settlement School in eastern Kentucky) and it proved to be moist and perfect to accompany the beans.
Now we’ve used all of the beans we grew last year. This year I’ll plant many more so the joy doesn’t end so early.
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