A few moments to spare in this whirlwind of life

Happy New Year!  It has been a long time since the last post.  For a few more weeks I have true leisure time, the last I will have until after the wedding in October.  My last semester of graduate school will start in a few weeks, and I can't wait for it to begin so it can finally end!  This has been the longest three years trying to finish up my Master's piece by piece.  One of my best friends is getting married the week before my graduation, so I will enjoy a nice quick trip out to Washington State, and will finally get to show hubby-to-be how beautiful it is out there, and why I long to return.  Then there will be a blowout graduation bash, followed by Memorial Day at the beach house, and then...wedding madness will ensue.  We are getting married in October, and already I have a bit of a Dad-zilla, who is inviting guests right and left and hounding me for blocks of hotel rooms.  I never thought it would be my dear Pops who would push me over the wedding planning edge, but Daddy-O, our venue can only hold 130 people and we'd like to invite some of our friends!  xoxo!

Anyway, with a bit of free time on my hands right now I've been cooking and sewing and reading, thumbing through gardening catalogs and dreaming of spring.  I have also been spending MUCH too much time online playing silly Facebook games.  I saw a post on one of my favorite blogs, Little House in the Suburbs, about TL's Grandmother's embroidery and it made me really wish for my supplies I had back when I was 10 and learning needlepoint in 4-H.  I emailed my Mom to see if she still had any of my old projects.  The point of this whole ramble is that people used to have time to sit in a chair and do fine needlepoint, even though they had to make their bread without a machine and had to slaughter a few chickens to cook them up for the big family (I have no idea if TL's Grandmother did this, but I know mine did).  Sometimes when I cry about not having enough free time, I have to stop and count up all those hours I spent on silly things, like Farmville...

Enough about that.  Here are my current projects:
The Yard Sale Wrap Skirt, pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  I've never made a garment before, and I'm self-taught when it comes to sewing with a machine.  I learned how to make a beautiful French seam, but when I had put all the panels together, the skirt didn't even begin to wrap around my hips...hello seamripper, my old friend...

Garden Apron from One Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker.  I just cut out the pieces today from a wonderfully fun print I've had for a year and didn't know what to make with.  It is a nice heavy quilting weight cotton by Michael Miller: Giraffe Garden in Grey.  It calls for making three yards of seam binding, so I'll be giving that a shot with a scrap of unknown but matchy stripey material.  I made a quilted oven mitt (again from the One Yard Wonders book) right before Christmas, which was my first attempt at quilting anything, and at sewing anything with a binding.  It went okay, especially for the first time. 

I have an ugly blue laminate dresser from IKEA that was either free or extremely cheap, and I read somewhere where you could refinish this using spray paint.  I'm going to give that a try when the weather is nice enough to take the piece outside and sand and spray.  I would love to cover the top in a self-healing mat so I could buy a rotary cutter and have a surface to cut on.  I will be putting the dresser in my little sewing room to hold the ever increasing bundles of fabric. 

Next up on the list are some gardening tunics that I just love in the Weekend Sewing book, along with some fabric headbands.  I got some beautiful cotton lawn fabric that washed up so soft and nice, in 4 different colors and patterns.  My intention was to make several of the Yard Sale Wrap Skirts and several tunics, but seeing how I've already stalled out on the wrap skirt due to a sizing issue, I'm not sure I'll accomplish all of that before the gardening season begins.  That's why I asked for these for my birthday (coming up in March).  I've always wanted a pair of gardening overalls, and how cute are these where the pant legs zip off to make shorts?  And padded inserts in the knees?  That eliminates the need for me to make a kneeling cushion (except that the laminated fabric section has so many delightful patterns, I might have to make one or two anyway!).

Tonight I made my first ever loaf of pumpernickel bread with rye flour grown right outside the town where I went to college.  I ordered a supply of Cream of the West from Green Barn Organics, and picked up a sack of rye flour and pearl barley while I was at it.  The bread was amazing, especially when dunked in my savory Hubbard squash soup seasoned with cardamom and cayenne pepper.  I love that we are still eating from the garden in January!

Hubbards hubbards everywhere

The yard-eating squash vine!

The baby Hubbard squash that took over the yard this summer left me with over a dozen fruits of varying size.  Right now the small ones are in a produce cart and the larger ones are collecting dust on the floor in the basement.  I figured it was time to start looking up some new recipes for these sweet, nutty, and flavorful winter squash.  In my search, I found so many fabulous recipes I decided to create a new post dedicated to winter squash recipes.

The first one I am trying out this afternoon is for a Hubbard casserole.  I don't have any bulgur flour, so I'll be using regular flour, the mozzarella will be substituted with Parmesan, almond meal for the bread crumbs and the coconut oil will be substituted with olive oil, as these are the ingredients I have on hand.

I cut one of the large squash in half, scooped out the seeds, some of which I will roast, and some of which I will save for the garden next year.  I cut up one half into nice little cubes for the casserole, and was still left with one large half squash.  It is in the oven as we speak, roasting at 350 degrees.  I will be making Winter Squash Puree with Shaved Parmesan for lunch tomorrow.

One of the baby Baby Hubbards back in June.

And this beauty, I could eat this all day every day for the rest of my life!  I am thinking of making this for Christmas, because tarte tatin is a "sometimes food".   Wouldn't it be delicious with pumpkin pie spice in the caramel?  mmm!

A lot of the recipes I found call for butternut squash, which gets the most culinary attention, probably do to the fact that it does not have warts and bumps or grow freakishly large.  Hubbards substitute well for butternut.

Squash are a great food to cook with because they can straddle the spectrum from sweet to savory with ease.  They are nutritious, filling, and incredibly inexpensive.  I'm happy to have a basement brimming with Hubbards and spaghetti squash (which I also grew in the garden this summer).  Between the squash and a freezer full of chickens and turkeys from the farm, we are pretty set for some amazing winter comfort foods.  Stay tuned!

Sensitive to frost

I feel a bit like the poor okra standing in the garden, leaves crumpled and black with flower buds still bravely trying to open, despite the frosty evenings we've had this week.  It was so glorious this summer, tall and strong and massively productive, but as the days got shorter and the weather got colder, the poor okra started to wither and fade.  What is it about the lack of daylight, the leaves falling lazily from the trees, and the crisp fall air that makes me want to hang my head and cry?  With that first frost, a little part of me died, right along with the okra and basil. 

Thanks to some quickly constructed low tunnel hoop houses, my Swiss chard and lettuce should continue on through mid-winter, although this is my first year to try extending the season, and I'm not sure at all what I am doing.  I am pretty sure, however, that that's the only thing keeping me from completely collapsing under the weight of the impending winter.  That, and the gardening books and seed catalogs that I have already started devouring in earnest.  I only need to make it to February, when I can start seedlings in my basement, and then to March, when I can plant cold weather crops under my tunnels.  Until then, time will be spent adding layers of yard trimmings to my lasagna garden, building a salad box, sewing new gardening aprons and harvest baskets, and dreaming, scheming, and planning for another abundant gardening season in 2011.  R.I.P. tender plants, I did love you so.

Fresh from the public library: a vegetarian crockpot cookbook

In the past, if I wanted to try a new cookbook, I'd just order it from one of my favorite online stores, but ever since I started working part time, I've had to curb a few extraneous expenses.  This isn't a bad thing at all, since I've actually found more enjoyment out of working my way through cookbooks I already own, exploring the wealth of recipes on the internet, and now, checking out new cookbooks from the public library.  Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson is currently sitting open to page 124: No Hurry Vegetable Curry, which I plan on putting together tomorrow morning.  This cookbook is full of some amazing looking recipes that I can't wait to try out.  It is due back to the library on November 6, which gives me just a few weeks to try the 10 recipes I've flagged.

One thing I'm not quite sold on yet is the technique of pre-cooking some of the veggies before they go in the crockpot.  The book says it really enhances the flavor, but realllllly?  The thought of cooking onions and carrots tomorrow morning makes my stomach turn.  Sure, I could do it tonight, but the whole idea of the crockpot is to plop everything in, flip the switch, and walk away...like a skilled villain in a good action movie, without the shards of glass and screaming...

Anyway, I am looking forward to tomorrow night's dinner of vegetarian curry with garlic naan from Trader Joe's.  After all, this whole exercise is being performed so I have something to scoop with my naan! 

Who else cooks a main dish to accommodate the bread?

Learn to Cook Lesson #1: Inspired by the pleas of a new cook...

Tonight I made a Swiss chard and Hubbard squash gratin with a coconut milk bechamel sauce, based loosely on a recipe I found on a cute blog.  I posted what I was making for dinner on my Facebook page, and almost immediately had this response:

"Lori I'm starting to cook but I can not even begin to pronounce half of your ingredients let alone find them in Montana. I need a menu that someone of my caliber can tackle - any suggestions?"

This inspired me to start a series of blog posts for the beginning cook.  You know who you are...your Mom/Dad always tried to get you to learn some cooking skills but you were too busy with basketball practice, watching TV, washing the cat, etc.  Or maybe your parents didn't cook.  Whatever the reason, here you are, needing to make a meal and not having any clue how this whole cooking thing is done.  In part, I blame Food TV, because most of the shows are on people eating food, and the shows where people are cooking food deal with ingredients like octopus liver.  It seems intimidating and overwhelming.  Not only do you have to know how to cook something, but you need to find a recipe, gather the ingredients, set aside the time...awwwww screw it, let's order Chinese!  But I promise that you don't have to be anyone special to be able to put together a really delicious meal.  Everyone starts from the same place, they really do.  


First of all, there are some tools that you absolutely MUST have to be a successful home cook.  The first of these is a good knife.  I received a J.A. Henckel santoku chef's knife as a gift many years ago, and words cannot describe how much easier everything is when you finally have a good knife in your hands.  I recently purchased a 4" chef's knife to match, and am finding that I could really use a paring knife as well.  But, these things are very expensive, so I would recommend starting with a 8" chef's knife.  Go to a cooking store and tell them you are a beginning cook and you want a good quality chef's knife.  They will pull out their collection for you to handle.  The knife should be heavy and well-balanced, and feel comfortable in your hand.  Henckel is my choice, but it may not be yours.  I would definitely recommend handling these in person before purchasing--it is an investment.


The second "tool" you need is a very basic cookbook that will have basic instructions for how to boil, bake and steam any kind of vegetable and meat.  It needs to have a basic sauces section, a primer on beans and grains, and pictures are a MUST.  My #1 recommendation is the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  It is my go-to reference.  Do you think I just learned how to make a bechamel sauce from thin air?  Nope, BHG cookbook, baby!  This cookbook also has a nice section on selecting cookware, so I'll save myself the typing and let you read it for yourself.  Check it out from the library if you don't want to buy it right away.


My third MUST have tool for the home cook: the crock pot.  It is a miracle.  They come in all sizes and all price ranges.  I have one from a garage sale that holds about 6 quarts.  I use it several times a week for everything from whole chickens to fish in foil packets to pots of soups, stews, chili, and beans.

Ready for your easy meal #1?  Here's one of my stand-by recipes for when I want a hearty meal that tastes good and doesn't much effort at all.

Baked Chicken in Pasta Sauce

• Ingredients: jar of your favorite pasta sauce, boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded mozzarella cheese

• You will need a 9x13 baking dish, preferably glass or ceramic (not metal).  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Put raw chicken breasts in pan, cover with pasta sauce, top with shredded cheese.  Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the chicken is tender enough to pull apart with a fork.

• 20 minutes before the chicken is done, start boiling some water.  10 minutes before the chicken is done, boil some pasta.  

Serve the chicken with sauce over pasta.  For a side dish, microwave one of those steamer bags of broccoli/cauliflower (whatever you like, just make sure you balance out your meal with a fresh veggie that isn't a starch like corn).


If you have a crockpot, put the raw chicken in the crock, cover with sauce, and cook on low for 8 hours.  You don't even have to thaw the chicken--just make sure to never put frozen ANYTHING in a hot crock or you risk cracking it (cold food, cold crock)

Sticky sweet oddities: Cantaloupe Jam

The fridge is so full right now.  We are lucky in that regard, but it makes it awfully difficult to find a nice big spot to put a crock of marinating fish.  The old cantaloupe that I got for $1 at the veggie stand needed to go, but I hate throwing away food, especially if it might still be good.  I was in serious doubt, since there were soft little patches all over it, but it hadn't turned fuzzy, so I sliced it open.  It was actually perfect, sweet and juicy.  Knowing that we probably wouldn't eat it all up and it would spoil even faster being cut, I decided to get adventurous and try turning it into jam.  It worked, and now I have three beautiful jars of jam cooling on my kitchen counter.

Cantaloupe Jam
1 medium to large cantaloupe
1/2 cup orange juice
lemon zest, to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar


Remove the rind and seeds, cut the melon into chunks, and puree using a blender or food processor.  Add all ingredients to a heavy pot or large saucepan, and let simmer, stirring frequently, until the mixture has a jelly-like consistency.  I scooped some out periodically and put the spoon in the freezer to let it cool to see what the consistency was like.  When you get it where you want it, fill your jelly jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Place lids and rings on jars and boil in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Moist Pumpkin Muffins with Pepitas

Last weekend I opened up a large can of pureed pumpkin and used some of it for the baked oatmeal, and all week long I have been trying to decide which delicious recipe I would choose to use up the rest of the pumpkin.  The winner?  Moist, spicy, pumpkin muffins:

This recipe will make 12 large muffins, 18 medium muffins, or 30 mini-muffins

INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ cups flour (I used 1 cup all purpose and ½ cup whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups pumpkin puree (this is more or less a 15 oz can)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds, or any other kind of nut) (optional)



DIRECTIONS:

Put oven rack in middle position. Preheat oven to 350F. Put liners in muffin cups or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin-pie spice, cloves, nutmeg, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.
3. Fold in the nuts.
4. Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full).  Bake until puffed and golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes for regular muffins, 15-17 minutes for mini-muffins.


Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer muffins to a rack to finish cooling.  Serve warm.