Final 2011 Food Wrap Up: Giving Thanks This Year

As you know, the holidays have been hard on me as we move farther and farther west. It just so expensive to get back home… so we just don’t go. Which makes me a little sad as I miss my family. However, we still had a really nice Thanksgiving this year that was just the right size and with just the right people. As I mentioned in my Exiting Hibernation post, I had been feeling out of sorts, and this gathering was one of the highlights of my fall. It lifted my spirits greatly.

Busy getting ready

Time to Eat!

Thank you R, L, and I for being mine and Robert’s Thanksgiving family for the second year in a row! I am truly thankful to have such lovely people in my life.

We stuffed ourselves silly with an abundance of good food and then played a competitive round of Quiddler. Lesson learned: you will learn some new words when you play with a biologist!

Now, on to the food. We did it pot luck style, and we brought several contributions. To make sure we had veggies, we made our favorite Hearty Winter Salad that makes regular appearances at our dinner table.

My Mom’s Artichoke Dip is a classic in our family. She has been making it for as long as I can remember. It is super simple and tasty. I definitely recommend you give it a try at your next gathering. I like to serve it with Triscuits. There are no pictures of the appetizers. By the time we started thinking about pictures, they were long gone!

Mom’s Artichoke Dip Recipe

Ingredients

2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts, drained

¼ cup of sour cream

¼ cup of mayonnaise

¼ cup of Parmesan cheese

Directions

Combine all ingredients in food processor. Process until desired consistency (I prefer mine to be fairly smooth).

Place in small dish and bake at 350 degrees for 15 – 30 minutes or until bubbly.

We brought two appetizers. Again, these were gone by the time we started taking pictures. We also made some stuffed mushrooms with cheese and spinach that were quite tasty. I think I picked the recipe because I had some spinach I wanted to use. Conveniently, the crumbs from the cutting the bread up for stuffing worked for this recipe. My only criticism is that it really made way more stuffing than needed, and we even increased the amount of mushrooms. I felt it “overstuffed” them. Unfortunately, I can’t find the recipe. However, it was pretty basic. Chop and sauté the mushroom stems with some butter and sherry. We also added some shallots. Mix in some bread crumbs and chopped fresh spinach. Top with cheese. Bake until bubbly.

This Sausage, Fig and Cranberry Stuffing (really it is dressing since it was not stuffed in anything) recipe was a new adventure for us. We pretty much followed it as is, but added some diced pear that needed to be used up, as well. We also used bourbon as the liquor. It is a little on the boozy side, but it was quite tasty! I would recommend it.

Here is a recap of our day in pictures:

Our lovely hostess

Max is camera-averse. He turns away if you try to take his picture.

Table is set

Beautifully roasted

Discussing the temperature

Carving the turkey

Mashed sweet potatoes

Can't have turkey without gravy!

Look at all that scrumptious food

Sweet Finish 1: Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake

Sweet Finish 2: Pecan Pie with Chocolate and Bourbon

Yes, it appears bourbon was a meal theme

Potatoes, Beans and Corn: The Southwestern Trinity (2011 Food Recap, Part 2)

As Robert and tried to recall some of our more savory successes, these three were the ones that came to mind. I quickly noticed some themes. I guess it is fitting since we live in the Southwest. Although, I would like to note that it is sometimes difficult to find good fresh corn here.

Potato and Sweet Corn Hash was a summer find. It was so darn good. We made this one a couple of times. I bet it would be tasty with a fried egg on top. It is pretty self-explanatory and easy. I haven’t tried it with frozen corn, but I suspect it would still be pretty tasty!

Our CSA share provided us with an almost weekly bag of roasted chilies. Now, I am not complaining, but I find you have to start getting creative and researching ways to use them. As a result, we end up with quite a few bags in the freezer. When seeking inspiration for a recent potluck, I found these bookmarked recipes for a Spicy Corn Dip and a Creamy Bean Dip. I was torn between the two, and Robert pretty much read my mind (we spend way too much time together) when he said, why not do half and half? Brilliant, I say. I was pleased that we seemed to have one of the crowd pleasers of the night and it was one of the first dishes to disappear! We basically nestled them side by side in a baking dish.

Modifications? We cut the bean dip recipe in half. Robert said that next time, he would just make the same base for both of them (combining all the dairy and flavorings) then divide it in half to stir in the beans and corn into the two separate dips. P.S. – These would be excellent Super Bowl party dips. You can thank me later for the idea.

I am always a little more inspired to cook when I have time on my hands, so I pulled out all the stops for some bean burritos recently since I was on Winter Break. I bought the fresh tortillas you cook yourself. Look for them in the refrigerated section of your grocery. They are a little pricier than the ones you grab on the shelf, but they taste so much better! I cooked some black beans in our slow cooker to make refried beans. I highly recommend this if you eat a lot of beans because it is so much cheaper than canned beans and so easy – all you have to do is plan ahead by about half a day. We don’t even soak them overnight. We just throw them in the slow cooker and let them cook until soft. I put some of our bountiful green chilies into the refried beans. We also had shredded cheese and added more green chilies to Greek yogurt (or sour cream) for a creamy sauce. The real highlights of the burritos were these Chipotle Caramelized Onions and the roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes. I just peeled and diced them up and threw them in the oven at about 400 degrees until nice and crispy.

January Is Comfort Food Time

I have not reneged on my commitment to recap the latter half of 2011, but I am waiting, um, on my “photographer” (husband) to provide me with some photos… So, in the mean time, here is what we have been chowing down on during the last weeks of my break from school. Since my commitment to housework and cooking can fluctuate when I am in the thick of classes, I try to step it up a bit during my down time. As usual, I sucked and didn’t take pictures, but… I guess that just isn’t my style. Perhaps that will be one of my goals for 2012: Quit being intimidated by our fancy camera and actually use it.

I mentioned spinach pie during my birthday post last year, but I realize I did not share the recipe. It is so darn tasty, that I must. It is basically a version of spanakopita that I learned during a January Residence Life training at SMU where they had Dining Services come and do a cooking demo for us. Not sure what all my colleagues thought of the experience, but I loved it.

This has become a favorite along with a bread pudding recipe that I should make and share sometime soon! We could not find phyllo dough, so we decided to use puff pasty and make turnovers. I am pretty sure that raises the fat and calorie count quite a bit, but it was definitely easier and quicker than the phyllo. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do it this way again. We also had an unexpected 2 hour power outage during the baking of these. It was horrible timing and we fretted about whether or not they would cook through or be ruined. Luckily, we seemed to have enough residual heat to complete the baking process!

Spinach Pie

(Note: I am providing you the full recipe, but you should know we always cut it in half)

3 cups chopped onion (about 2 onions)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt

1 ½ teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper

3 (10 oz) packages of frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted (we have used fresh before)

6 large eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons of grated nutmeg

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons of plain dry bread crumbs

½ pound of good feta, crumbled or cut into ½ inch cubes

½ cup of pine nuts, toasted

¼ cup of butter, melted

6 sheets of phyllo dough, defrosted (if you use puff pastry, you don’t need this or the melted butter)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium skillet or sauté pan, on medium heat, sauté the onions with the olive oil until translucent, and slightly brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper and let cool slightly.

Squeeze out and discard liquid from thawed spinach. Put spinach in bowl and gently mix in the onions, eggs, nutmeg, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, feta cheese, and pine nuts.

Grease an ovenproof 8 inch sauté pan (or pie dish) and line it with the 6 stacked sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each with melted butter and letting the edges hang over the pan. Place spinach mixture into middle of phyllo and neatly fold the edges up and over the top to seal in the filling. Brush top with melted butter. Bake for an hour until top is golden brown and the filling is set. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve at room temperature.

Variation: Cut puff pastry into quarters and place filling in middle. Fold from corner to corner to make a triangle. Brush with beaten egg and use to seal as needed.

We have also made macaroni and cheese several times. I have made two of my favorite variations recently. One is a Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese. R said he couldn’t taste the cheese in the squash version, so perhaps increase the cheese amount a bit if you really want to “hide” the squash flavor. This time around, I used some odds and ends of cheeses that needed to get cleared out of the fridge. I thought it tasted great, personally. It is a great way to sneak in some veggies and lower the fat content. I should note that I didn’t measure out the squash either, though, as I just pulled a bag out of the freezer. Oh, that is a good tip I should share. We got a gigantic butternut squash with our CSA share, and I learned that you can just dice it up and freeze it raw. I pulled some out, threw it in the oven to roast and then pureed it up. Easy peasy!

This Cooking Light Four Cheese version has been my go to recipe for years. It is always loved! I never use the melba toast topping. I am not really a crumb topping person. And… I KNOW, it has Velveeta, but it does add a creaminess that is hard to replicate. If you just can’t do it, then sub in another soft, melty cheese.

I also made this variation on Shepherd’s Pie that is also a Cooking Light recipe. I love the addition of the chipotle and sweet potatoes for the topping. I am pretty sure we have subbed in ground lamb occasionally in the past. This recipe is another one that I cut in half for us and find it still has plenty of leftovers, especially for a family of two!

To continue my Cooking Light favorites themes, I also pulled out this classic recipe for Baked Potato Soup that has also been in my repertoire for ages. Who doesn’t love Baked Potato soup? Again, I appreciate the efforts to lighten up what can be a fat-laden meal. I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream this time, and didn’t notice any major taste difference.

So, hopefully, this provides some winter cooking inspirations that will help you feel warm and cozy!

Food Highlights: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Part 1: The Sweet Stuff)

I am starting with food as I found it the easiest for collecting my thoughts and getting back into the rhythm of writing. I am going to break it down into separate blogs to keep it from being too lengthy.

These days, I tend to find most of my recipe inspirations through the gazillion of food blogs I follow (yes, I know I have a problem!). In fact, I have been feeling a little guilty about neglecting my gazillion of cook books (yes, I know… problem… let’s move on now). Anyways! We have had some great finds along the way and some not so great successes. Sometimes it just doesn’t seem to turn out exactly how we thought, and sometimes, especially with baking, it seems to be the curse of the high altitude. And, I really don’t have many pictures cuz we suck and don’t think about it at the time. Hopefully my descriptions and amazing word crafting will make up for the lack of visuals… And if you really need pictures, most of the links have pictures for ya!

Brownies and Bars Goodness, Sort of…

One summer find and success was this Grain Free Brownie recipe, and I just recommend the Food Renegade website for some interesting reading in general. My mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with Coeliac’s disease, so I was excited to share my find with her while they were staying in Flagstaff this summer. I have made them with and without the cream cheese swirl, and think they are yummy both ways. More and more people are gluten free either by choice or necessity, so these are great baked good solution that will be a crowd pleaser. I promise you, no one is going to miss the gluten!

A recent attempt at Bourbon Pecan Pie Brownies (what is there not to love in that mix, eh?) has great potential, I think… The flavors were there, but they did suffer from some underdoneness despite cooking both layers past the recommended temperature times. I am starting to wonder if it was a high altitude thing. If I can figure out the baking times, I envision these being the PERFECT dessert to recommend for Kentucky Derby parties. Oh, and Jessica is pretty darn hilarious. I recommend subscribing to her How Sweet It Is blog.

I impulsively bought some Meyer lemons at the CSA store as I have often read rave reviews about this type of lemon and its flavor differences. I decided I really wanted to embrace the lemonyness (according to spell check, I just made this word up), so I determined lemon bars would be the way to go. I have made them before, but it has been a while, and of course I tried a new recipe. Again, I ended up with an underdone custard despite leaving it in the oven for quite a bit longer than the instructed baking time… so I am thinking there just must be something to custardy type desserts at this altitude. However, I struggled to find any good insight in my high altitude baking cookbook, so this is just speculation on my part. They were tasty, but I was not particularly over enthusiastic with the results and there was no Meyer lemon flavor epiphany for me.

Caramel Conundrums

Anything of a caramel type attempt seems to always be a crapshoot… as you may recall from my attempt for Robert’s birthday (link) last year. My friend R asked for caramel cupcakes for her birthday this summer, so I went with a triple caramel cupcake: caramel cupcake with a caramel filling and caramel frosting. They were not a complete failure, but the idea for a caramel filling didn’t work out so well as it just sort of absorbed into the cake instead of being a gooey center surprise. I splurged and bought icing tips and pastry bags. I figured perhaps I should try making my frosting look fancier. Kind of a hot mess (literally and figuratively). It is harder than it looks! I also decided to ix-nay the sugar sculptures.

This winter we decided we wanted to make caramel candies. You know, the almost gooshy, perfectly chewy ones that you wrap in wax paper. Robert diligently cut out 60 squares and helped me stir the caramel to the correct temperature. So, you would think smooth sailing, right? Nope. We ended up with this weird texture that was crunchy when you bit into it and then turned into this pull your fillings out, chewy glob in your mouth. They tasted good, but the texture just sucked. So, fail number 1. I did get creative and mix bits of it into a chocolate cookie batch.

Onto fail number 2. Many years ago, my friend introduced me to this candy/cookie that I call Victoria’s Addictive Cookies and she calls “Crack.” It is always a crowd favorite at parties and potlucks, and ridiculously easy to make except, apparently, at 7000 feet. Although, I swear I made it once this summer with no trouble. However, this winter, we had two complete fails, which was frustrating since I was making it to send home to my family as part of my Christmas package. However, I have since conducted some online research and learned a little more about candy making at high altitude, so at least now I know I am not completely crazy or inept. Many people mentioned they are unable to successfully make caramel or toffee without the use of corn syrup. It also has to do with the fact that water evaporates out at a lower boiling point at higher altitudes.

Here is a pretty helpful chart I found for those who are also trying to make candy at high altitude:

Sugar cookery
For sea level:
215-230 degrees: thread stage
240 degrees: soft ball
245 degrees: firm ball
250-260 degrees: hard ball
265-270 degrees: soft crack
295-310 degrees: hard crack
320-360 degrees: caramel
For every 500 feet. of altitude over sea level, the temperatures drop 1 degree..
For 5000 feet elevation:
205-220 degrees: thread
230 degrees: soft ball
235 degrees: firm ball
240-250 degrees: hard ball
255-260 degrees: soft crack
285-300 degrees: hard crack
310-350 degrees: caramel
Source: Amy DeWitt, Culinary School of the Rockies

The other important detail I learned is that several people recommend calibrating your candy thermometer by identifying at what temperature your water boils and then adjusting cooking times accordingly. Oh. Of course. Lower boiling points. I knew about that. Sooo, I am not giving up!

Here is an cool sounding blog that I may have to add to my list that also explains this: Handmade in High Places

So you are probably wanting the recipe now, right? Here you go!

Victoria’s Addictive Cookies, aka Crack, aka, Saltine Toffee Candy

Ingredients

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of unsalted butter

Saltine crackers

2 cups of chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with foil. Place a layer of saltine crackers in the pan. Break up crackers if necessary to fill in empty spaces. Combine sugar and butter in pan and bring to a boil. Stir and cook at the boiling level for about 3 minutes (although clearly, I would now increase this time at my higher altitude). Pour the butter and sugar mixture over the crackers and place in the oven for 6 minutes (again, I am thinking I will extend this time by a few minutes in the future). After you remove from the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips on it and let sit for a few minutes. After the chocolate has softened, spread the melted chocolate over the pan. Let cool completely (I suggest putting in the refrigerator). After cooled, break into pieces. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Remember, share wisely. Crack is addictive…

Exiting My Blogosphere Hibernation – A series of Catch Ups

I feel like I should do that "tap, tap, tap... is this microphone on?" moment. It has been so long since I posted anything that I had to re-log in!

I really fell off the writing wagon with the start of summer. I can’t even come up with a particularly good explanation of why this happened. I had plenty of experiences to write about, but I just didn’t. I seems it might have just been a perfect storm combination of a couple of things.

I think I was just beat after my first year of grad school and my brain went on hiatus. As much joy as this usually brings me, it was probably more thought and work than I was willing to invest. Then, I just became overwhelmed by the sheer number of things I could write about since I waited so long to write, so I think I just chose to not write at all. Finally, I had a weird funk that plagued me for much of the fall. Nothing was particularly wrong, I just felt a little out of sorts and unhappy. I think it happens to all of us – we get these weird little mental dips. It’s almost more frustrating when you can’t pinpoint how you are feeling due to one specific event or reason. No one wants to hear you feel a little blue just cuz!

Anyways, as my semester began winding down, I spent some time thinking through what was aggravating my moods and pushed myself to work through my issues and move on. So, I feel much better and much more optimistic for the start of a new year and semester!

Which left me with the damn blog… what to do… what to do... In a burst of inspiration (mainly based on the end of the year blog posts I have been reading), I concluded that I could do a reflective recap. It felt weird to not mention anything at all that I have done since, oh July. However, it is way too daunting and time consuming to do my usual more detailed summary of my experiences. And practically speaking, I don’t know that I could really remember enough at this point to write about it well. Instead, I see this as an opportunity, to share a few memories that do stand out and reflect on the good things that happened in 2011. And realistically speaking, I know my readership is small, so I am thinking this is all more for myself than anything else!

Tell Someone You Love Them No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

For those of you who may not know this, I love reading food blogs. My discovery of the purpose of Google Reader has saved my life (as well as lots of time). I am probably not a good blog follower. I do not write responses very often or “like” them. I just read them. Some make me laugh. Some inspire me with new recipe ideas. Occasionally, I do write in my own blog about something we made with a link to the original author. My poor cookbooks feel neglected as I often find it easier to search for a recipe I have read about online.

I am also always fascinated by online friendship culture. I read about bloggers who are great friends with other bloggers even though they have never met in person. It is clear there is a great support system out there if you seek it out. I stay in the shadows and do my own thing, and I am cool with that. Yesterday, though, I witnessed something beautiful that made me cry and tear up again and again. It also inspired me to contribute to the food blog community myself.

Innocently, I clicked on a post for No Bake Peanut Butter Pie. I love peanut butter. Although, we have not dealt with the blistering heat of the rest of the country, our lack of AC and good ventilation makes our little apartment pretty toasty when we fire up the oven (and all I seem to want to do lately is make stuff that requires the oven, go figure). So, my point being, I thought it might be a fun recipe to make this weekend that would not require heating up the apartment.

Then began the tearing up. The post was in honor of a fellow blogger who lost her husband to sudden massive heart attack last weekend. The full on crying began when I went to Jennie’s blog. She wrote about her and her husband’s last date and her intention for quite some time to make him his favorite dessert, Peanut Butter Pie. And sadly, she did not get this chance.

Shit. Not what I expected to encounter in the rare little pocket of free time I had to enjoy on my Friday morning. So, there I sat stunned and in tears. She wrote asking everyone to make Peanut Butter Pie on Friday and share it with someone they love. By the time I got home, my Google Reader was filled with bloggers and their version of Peanut Butter Pie as a tribute to Jennie and Mikey. I don’t know Jennie. I don’t even follow her blog. But I was blown away by the love and support demonstrated by her fellow food bloggers… some of who clearly had some sort of friendship with her, and some, like me, who just feel the need to honor Jennie and her request.

So, it isn’t Friday. If you had been my shadow on Friday, you would know why I am a Sunday pie participant. It’s the thought that counts, right??

My other takeaway from this unexpected experience is that I am bad about making sure my loved ones know I care. For someone so filled with empathy, I am terrible at expressing my feelings and my emotions. I am not good at giving consistent and regular assurance of love and appreciation to most of my dear friends. I just assume that they know I care about them since I keep them as friends. I guess I need to work on that. I also want to make sure that I am enjoying each and every day and being thankful for the experiences it brings me, whether they are good or bad. So this pie is dedicated to all of those special people in my life.

If you are now wanting your own Peanut Butter Pie inspiration or are just curious about how many people really cared enough to make their own, check out Picky Palate’s blog as she has compiled many others who were part of the Peanut Butter Pie memorial. I decided to just go with what Mikey had loved and used Jennie’s recipe. My only changes were leaving out the chopped peanuts and the chocolate drizzle on top.

No-Bake Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

For the Crust:
8 ounces Oreo cookies, crushed into fine crumbs
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup chopped peanuts

For the Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

To Finish:
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

1. In a medium bowl, combine the Oreo crumbs, pinch of salt and melted butter, tossing with a fork until the crumbs are all evenly moistened. Press into the bottom and about 1-inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

2. While crust is in the freezer, place the 4 ounces of chocolate chips into a small bowl. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the ½ cup of heavy cream to a full boil. Pour over the chocolate chips, let it sit a minute, and then stir gently with a rubber spatula until completely smooth and glossy. Pour over the bottom of the crust, tilting the pan or using an offset spatula to ensure it covers the entire bottom. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts. Place pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

3. Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the 1 cup of heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to a medium bowl and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

4. Again using an electric mixer, this time with a paddle attachment (or regular beaters if using a hand mixer), cream together the peanut butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once it is all added, scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds to completely incorporate. Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat at medium speed until everything is completely combined and smooth.

5. Using a rubber spatula, stir in about 1/3 of the whipped cream to lighten the mixture. Very gently, fold in the remaining whipped cream until no streaks of whipped cream remain. Pour the filling into the prepared crust.

6. In a microwave on 50% power, melt the 1/3 cup of chocolate chips with the shortening in 30 second bursts, stirring after each one, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Using a spoon or pastry bag, drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the pie filling.

7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight) before serving. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

(Recipe adapted from In Jennie’s Kitchen)

Squash Solutions

Yeah, yeah… I know… I have totally fallen off the blog bandwagon. You would think with summer and no classes, I would have been better. I guess I have just needed a mental break. Anyways, I have a couple of writing ideas, so hopefully you will see more from me soon. In the meantime, chew on this one (literally) for a while.

It is that time of year where summer squash and zucchini are in abundance and everyone is looking for ways to use it up. I got this recipe from my mama, which means she probably made it while I was home one time and I liked it. It is scribbled on a sticky note and stuffed in my recipe box. Fancy, eh? I needed something to take to a pot luck, and this seemed like a good idea. It was pretty much scarfed down, so I will take that as a seal of approval.

Here are a couple of cooking notes on changes I made. The recipe below is as written, not as made.

It calls for chicken broth, but I used vegetable broth so that it was vegetarian friendly. Clearly, this is not vegan, but you could probably easily make it so with leaving out the cheese (or using a non-dairy one) and using a vegan corn bread recipe. Personally, I think the cheesy goodness is an important layer of flavor in this recipe. The original recipe calls for Jiffy corn bread. Since, I am trying to eliminated packaged foods from our diet, I found this clone recipe online and made it from scratch. Almost as easy as opening the box, I promise! Instead of using the listed spices, I just threw some Penzey’s Herbs de Provence into the mix.

Ingredients

2 cups of zucchini and/or yellow squash, diced (I like a combo of both)

½ c. onion, diced

½ of pan of Jiffy corn bread (or your favorite corn bread or use the link above)

4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated (honestly, I just grated a hunk of cheese without weighing it … so just add to meet your own cheesy preference)

1 c. chicken broth

1 t. garlic

½ t. thyme

1 T. garlic

Salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sauté onion for about 5 minutes. Add squash, zucchini, and garlic. Cook all to desired tenderness. Mix in spices, salt and pepper shortly before you remove it from the heat.

Place in bowl, add cheese, and crumble the cornbread. Pour in about ¾ to 1 cup of broth (to desired consistency – should be dampened but not completely soggy).

Spray baking pan. Add cornbread and vegetable mixture. Cover with foil. Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove foil and finish baking until bubbly and crisp around edges. Then you let it cool slightly then eat it. Yum!

Apricot Crumble

We received a beautiful surprise of apricots with our CSA share last week. We snacked on a few, but before I knew it they were starting to turn a little soft. I decided that they would make a lovely crumble, and I was right. I used Smitten Kitchen’s recipe as my spring board. Making a crumble or crisp topping is really pretty simple. It is always a combination of butter, sugar, flour, and oats with variations of spices or nuts added. I ended up trying this one because it called for melted butter instead of blending in chunks of chilled butter. That seemed a little faster and simpler, and I was curious what the difference in texture would be. I was really happy with the outcome! I did follow her suggestion and do half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. Combined with the fruit, that makes it healthy, right? My other deviations were leaving out the pecans because I did not have any and adding a sprinkle of Penzey’s Baking Spice.

I also peeled my apricots. I have never been a fan of cooked stone fruit skin, so I figured it was worth the extra step. I followed the standard method of scoring the fruit and dropping them in boiling water for a minute or two followed by a bath in cold water. The skin popped right off. Unintentionally, I ended up following her suggestion of just tearing the fruit apart. It was actually easier than trying to slice it!

I happened to be sipping on some white wine while throwing this together and R suggested I add a bit to the fruit, which I thought was an excellent idea. I used the wine to make a slurry with a bit of arrowroot starch and some sugar. I recommend arrowroot starch over cornstarch as a thickener for baked goods. For good measure, I tossed in some dried cranberries I noticed on the shelf. Excellent decision on my part if I do say so myself.

I am so happy I did this on the spur of the moment. It reminded me of how quick and easy it is to throw together a yummy dessert that takes advantage of the season’s fresh fruit. It also redeemed me from several disappointing baking endeavors from in the recent past… I suddenly began feeling under the weather after I finished putting dessert together so I ended up not eating mine last night. I can say it made an excellent breakfast this morning. It’s fruit, so it works for breakfast, right?

Oh yeah, my last production point. I used our cute-as-can-be Fiestaware individual pie dishes and made the crumble as two individual servings. I love Fiestaware!

Summer Is About Festivals

It is summer festival time! It is one of my favorite things about the summer season. No matter where you live, it seems there are all sorts of fun, outdoor events planned to fill your weekends. Flagstaff and N. Arizona is no exception. In eager anticipation of my move to Flagstaff, I started following area news last spring (yes, I know I am ridiculous!). I was excited to start gathering information about my new home so I spent more way time than I should reading about it online last spring and summer. One of the best sources of information I discovered was a page for Flagstaff on Facebook. The regular posts on upcoming events made me anxious to. get. there. already. June, in particular, seemed action packed with all sorts of fun going ons that I was going to miss since I was not arriving until mid July. Well, guess what folks, I just had my first June in Flagstaff and was it ever fun!

First up was Hullabaloo. This event is a spin off of Tour de Fat, which is sponsored by the Fat Tire Brewing Company. Rumor has it that it was a very popular event in Flag, perhaps too popular. Apparently the event people decided we were more than they can handle… The fine people of Flagstaff did not let this detour them from having their fun and their response was to create Hullabaloo. It was pretty wacky. I did not take any pictures, but if you click on the link you will see the crazy outfits people wear. Apparently people love to dress up in ridiculous outfits for the event. The other cool thing that I wish I had taken a picture of was the sheer volume of bicycles locked up around the park. It almost looked staged. The event kicks off with a bicycle parade, even.

So, I actually volunteered with my friend N at this event. We were helping out at the Zero Waste Tent. It was sort of fun, and I guess maybe I helped the environment a little bit? Dunno. I think the jury is still out on that one. Basically, they had bins to sort out compost, recyclables, and plain old trash. Our job was telling people where to put stuff. It was a lot of work, and I suspect some people wished they had just dumped their trash elsewhere after it took 5 minutes to sort out everything they had. Just kidding. Sort of. No really, I think it was educational for a lot of people that came to our waste station, but it was also very enlightening for me to realize how complicated it really can be to try and do the right thing when you are putting on a large scale event like this one.

The biggest fail of the day? Sierra Nevada Brewing was the beer supplier of the day and served their drinks in “compostable cups.” I put that in quotes because they were actually NOT compostable for our event. Since we live in such a dry climate, you need a special industrial biodigester to break them down (which the City of Flagstaff does not own) and you cannot just throw them in your average compost pile as they will not break down on their own. So with every. single. person. who walked up we had to direct them to the trash can instead of the compost bin. And then when they said to us (every time), “but the cup is compostable,” we had to explain why it was going to the landfill instead of being composted, and why it was not recyclable (organic material, not plastic), and finish up with the conciliatory comment that at least it would break down faster in the landfill than plastic does. Geez Louise. I am pretty sure I muttered that all night in my sleep since I said it so many freakin’ times. Ugh.

The following weekend, it was the Flagstaff Wine and Food Festival. Again, this was another one that had been on my radar, since last year! It was held at the Coconino County Fairgrounds, and since that was only about 4 miles away and accessible by the FUTS, we decided to bike it. Our friend, C, wanted to go for a bike ride that day so he joined us on our trek out there. Which turned into a stressful journey, where I am pretty sure he tried to kill us because he got us on I-17. Which is an interstate. With trucks. And fast moving cars. And is not a FUTS trail. Now, I should point out that it is actually legal to ride your bike on the interstate in Arizona, but who would really want to? So apparently there was some miscommunication about the envisioned route and the boys were so far ahead of me on their bikes that I was unable to flag them down and stop them when C hung a left instead of continuing on straight. Clearly, I was pissed and freaked by the time I finally caught up to them about a mile down the road. I am pretty sure I used a few expletives when asking why exactly we were now on the interstate instead of peacefully cruising along the FUTS trail. So at that point there was no legal, safe, or practical way to turn around or get back on track with the original plan. So we biked the two or so miles to the next exit. On the highway. With fast moving cars and trucks. At least there was a super wide shoulder. Clearly, I really needed a drink by that point!

In a moment of perfect happenstance, we ran into some of our friends at the entrance to the fairgrounds who had also biked. So, off we went. Time to put the earlier crisis behind us and eat, drink, and be merry. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we took our time exploring all the local wineries and their offerings. More friends joined us throughout the day, and fun was had by all. I was really impressed by the Arizona wines. I have had a glass or two of local wines, but this really gave us the chance to sample and taste a wide variety. Now I have a winery tour on my list of things to do!

I would definitely recommend going to others, but would also say be prepared to spend more money than the $15 entry fee. Also bring cash. My only criticism is that I wish the process had been made more clear. If you wanted to do just a tasting, you needed a ticket, which could be bought for a $1 a piece. If you wanted a glass or bottle of wine, you needed cash. We used all our cash to buy tickets because we thought it was all interchangeable. Then we had a ton of tickets left, but really just wanted to buy a glass and kick back instead of popping up back and forth for small 2 ounce tastes. We worked it out, but some clearer signage would have been helpful.

This past weekend, we ventured down to Prescott. This was my second visit to Prescott, and I think it is just the most fun little town. I definitely want to spend some more time in this area. There is some good hiking and biking in the area, and the town itself has a nice selection of coffee shops, restaurants, and stores to be explored. It is about an hour and forty-five minutes south of Flag and a slightly lower elevation of about 5000 feet. This past weekend they had the Prescott Bluegrass Festival, which was our reason for heading there.

The Stage

It was free and in the heart of town on the grassy lawn surrounding the downtown County Courthouse. It was a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon and evening. There was lots of people there, but it wasn’t too crowded. We were able to find a shady spot where we could hear the music and enjoy the people watching.

Our Friend, T, Who Joined Us For the Fun

Nice and Shady

We wandered around a bit as well. On the back side of the courthouse, away from the stage, we discovered a number of groups doing their own thing and jamming away. It brought back memories of fun times at the IBMA Fan Fest in Louisville.

Jammin'

And More Jammin'

We slipped away and had an early dinner at The Raven Cafe, which is this awesome restaurant my friend introduced me to on my last visit. They try to source a lot of local and organic ingredients, and they have a RIDICULOUS beer selection. We sat outside on their outdoor upstairs patio and enjoy good food and good beer. After that we headed back, listened to some more good music then headed home. I am already making plans for going back next year.

Their awesome patio

My yummy mushroom sandwich with sweet potato fries

Finally next week, this one, Clips of Faith. I also enviously read about this one last year. Fat Tire beers and cool independent films about beers and bikes? Yes, please.

Musings on Meat

Fresh Community Market Veggies - Yum!

Let me begin by setting the stage (or table as the case may be) for you. We sat down to dinner with Robert’s parents who are visiting Flag for a while. It was the summer solstice. The weather was beautiful so we sat outside. We had this amazing meal to indulge in together. A giant garden salad with tomatoes, radishes, carrots, salad turnips, sunflower sprouts and greens. A pile of roasted golden beets. A sweet corn and potato hash I had just encountered on one of the 1001 food blogs I read. Roasted carrots and sweet potatoes to accommodate my mother-in-law’s dietary needs.

As I surveyed everyone’s plate of food, I proudly realized that every single item, down to the onion and garlic, was either from our CSA share or the Flagstaff Community Market. Way to be local and sustainable! BUT. There was one more thing staring up at me. A big brown slab of meat. Steak to be exact. Steak that I had bought for just this purpose before knowing I was going to embark on a challenge posed by my friend Colette. Steak that after a bite or two, I decided was not really doing it for me and was filling up the space in my tummy that could be instead filled by all these amazing vegetables. I ate another bite or two and gave the rest to Robert wondering why I had even bothered in the first place.

Colette decided to take on a personal challenge to be vegan from June 19 to July 14. She also sent an invitation to all her friends to join her in this endeavor. You can check out the experience of the participants on Facebook at Community Challenge: Vegan for a Month. Her reasons for doing so? Here is a little excerpt from her invitation to us:

“However lately as I drive by the Swift plant and hear screeching pigs on the way to work or read about chicks with overgrown breasts that break their legs being jammed into wire baskets, or our that oceans will be depleted by 2050 I find myself feeling really guilty and awful about our level of consumption. Granted, I strive to eat as locally as possible, and am increasingly careful where I purchase meat and dairy down to researching how they are butchered to if they are grass finished or not. However, I can't shake the feeling that if I ate less local meat and dairy, there would be more for folks who aren't ready to be vegan.”

It should also be noted that she goes on later to admit that she is not sure worldwide veganism is the answer and acknowledges that our current food system structure could not handle such a drastic change and provide sustainably for everyone if we all immediately switched to an entirely plant based diet. She also talks more about her purpose in doing so at the blog she started with her partner Drew to capture how the experience goes. I encourage you to read at least the first entry to learn more about why they are trying out this drastic diet change. Her sister is also supporting her in the challenge and also blogging about it. She has some good thoughts and comments on food systems and sourcing as well.

Colette invited everyone to consider taking on one of four options:

1. I will go vegan from June 19 thru July 14th and encourage folks who aren't ready for it to buy local instead.
2. I will go vegetarian and encourage folks who aren't ready to buy local. I will try to source my dairy from sustainable, humane sources.
3. I will buy only local, humanely, and responsibly raised food for this month.
4. I will do challenge 1, 2, or 3, not for a month but for a day or one week.

Knowing Colette loves to eat well, and that in some ways this would be a tough challenge for her. I, of course, wanted to be supportive. So I opted for an emphasis on number 2, with a dash of 1 as was reasonable, and a little number 3 thrown in as an option to give me some leeway since I was not expecting Robert to embark on this little adventure with me. Honestly, I wasn’t troubled by the idea of giving up meat, but I wasn’t sure I wanted give up dairy and eggs. However, I mentally told myself that I would attempt to be as plant based as possible throughout this process and use dairy and eggs sparingly.

Important Things to Note

Robert and I already eat a mainly plant based diet with animal products being more of our “vice” than animal flesh itself. First of all, we like vegetables and grains. They are yummy when fresh and prepared well. This quinoa and vegetable salad is a great example of how we like to eat. Clearly, it is not vegan because of the mozzarella, but it was locally made and purchased at the Community Market. And of course, you could just leave the cheese out if you liked. For quite some time, meat has been more of a treat than what we center our meals around. Knowing the status of factory farming and acknowledging our budgetary restraints, we have mutually agreed that we would rather spend more on a small share of local beef through the CSA and stretch it out than buy $1/lb chicken breasts weekly at a big box grocery store.

Toasted Quinoa Salad

I would also like to note that I do not want to make any family or friends feel uncomfortable about their own food purchasing decisions and worry that there is judgment from us with regards to what you chose to eat and/or serve us when we are guests in your house. Of course, I will always encourage critical thinking about the topic and appreciate recognition that it IS a serious issue worthy of pause and consideration. We should all know and understand how our food is sourced and produced. What you do with the information after that is up to you. That is all I will ever ask.

The issue of using animals as a food source has been one that I have been struggling with for about two years ever since I took a philosophy class entitled Animal Ethics. I went into the class knowing the basics of our food system problems, but this class took it to a much deeper level for me and forced me to really examine my love of animals and my choice to use them for a food source. Can they coexist? Is it hypocritical to want both? I don’t have the answers… clearly. But, it was the impetus for beginning to drastically reduce my intake of animal flesh. In fact, a lot of times, it just doesn’t taste that good to me anymore. Psychological or physical reaction? Who knows.

So, you are thinking… if I am willing to do the vegetarian thing then what is the big deal with giving up eggs and dairy for a month? Here is where I am right now on these particular issues:

We can get local eggs very easily, and I believe it is an ethical choice if you have that option. The key is that eggs we get are unfertilized, which means we are not eating a future baby chicken. That hen was going to lay that egg regardless of whether or not Mr. Rooster was around to fertilize it for her. It will just eventually rot if not eaten by someone. I feel more comfortable buying from a small scale operation knowing that the chickens are be treated humanely, get to chill and eat bugs in a pasture, and are going to lay the eggs anyway. So, I guess that is why I am okay with eggs. But by doing so, I am also committing to spending almost $5 a dozen to do it right, which compared to grocery prices seems expensive. However, if you do the math, we are talking less than 50 cents an egg. Pretty cheap and healthier eats, really…. We have started exploring the use of egg substitutes when it comes to baking. We have done some experimenting and found some good options like combining ground flax seeds and water and a commercial egg substitute product that has given us good results. That also helps stretch the dollar a bit and reduces our egg intake.

Dairy…. That is a harder one. Anyone who bothers to do some research quickly realizes that for both dairy and eggs, words like “humane,” “organic,” “free-range,” etc. can have some pretty loose interpretations these days. We’d like to think that the idyllic drawing on the side of our milk carton and the organic stamp means that we are doing better… and I guess we are… but it is STILL a big corporate operation. And frankly, those animals’ lives are not really that much better than their cousins down the way as these large corporations still engage in some questionable practices. It’s a hard truth to face, but it is the reality. However, oh how I love my dairy products. Buttah (think Paula Deen when you say it to yourself), cheese, ice cream, cream cheese, sour cream, cheese (oh, said that one already didn’t I?)…. It tastes really good, and much of it is critical for proper baking.

Luckily, I know we can source locally made butter and cheeses at a fairly reasonable price at the CSA. For right now, I just don’t see dairy going anywhere in my life, and instead, I hope to make the best possible choices I can. That doesn’t mean I am not willing to try some experimenting like we have with the egg substitutes. For my first deliberate attempt at a vegan dish the other night, I made this Cosmic Cashew and Kale dish. It had some execution issues due to the type of greens I ended up pulling out of the freezer, but the creamy cashew sauce… Yep, I think I could use that as a substitute for some stuff. I know some of you are thinking, “Well, Cori, there are some lovely dairy alternatives out there made of soy, rice, etc.” My response to you, “they taste like sh*t.” Just not going to happen, boys and girls… and I could get on my soapbox about THEIR production, but we will save that for another conversation.

So back to meat. As I began thinking about all of this, I started considering whether or not choosing to eat the locally raised meat in Arizona is a sustainable and justifiable option as it is quite accessible here. Additionally, at such a high elevation with only about 75 growing days, large scale farming is not really a viable option for everyone around here. I should point out that pretty much all the produce I have been referencing is grown 1 to 3 hours away from here. What we do have is lots of open land that is perfect for grass and grazing. As a result, there are several reputable free-ranging ranches. According to this article, the climate is ideal for open land ranching and there are ways to do it sustainably and actually contribute to the ecological health of the area. Probably the best known is Flying M Ranch, which provides beef for many local Flagstaff restaurants. They are part of the Diablo Trust, which is an area land management organization with the goal of responsible and sustainable land use. The CSA sources a lot of its meat from the A Bar H Farm, which also cites sound ecological practices and humanely raised animals. I also found this gem of website, Eat Wild, which has the purpose of telling you what are your local sources for grass-fed meat, eggs, and dairy. It also shares information about the benefits of these practice: for your health, the animals’ health and the environment. Just like eggs from free-range, pastured chickens, pastured and grass-fed beef is a much healthier choice for you. The Flying M Ranch also cites several studies about why their practices make for a healthier product for us.

I guess the real question will always be, no matter how it is raised, is it ever humane to kill an animal for the purpose of eating it? For the time being, it will be up to each of us to make the decision. For me personally, I still go back and forth on the issue. However, I do find comfort in knowing that I have the option to select products where I know the animal has had the best quality of life possible. The other consideration to think over is whether or not eating meat on a regular basis can ever be a sustainable practice given the resources required to raise and process them as a food source. Not sure where you stand on all of this? Perhaps start with your own challenge. Use Colette’s guidelines above or just challenge yourself to give up something “animal-related” for a designated period of time and see if you really miss it or need it. This is also the best time to try a vegetarian diet while you can take advantage of the summer’s bounty and diversity.