EXCUSE THE MESS!!!

Please excuse the clutter here at the blog right now. I am in the process of redesigning it for easier access so please bear with me. Most of the old recipes are still here (for my old followers) and I am working on a complete new format, which I hope will make it easy to find stuff quickly.

Remember if a recipe has the letters T-A-O attached to it anywhere, it is one of my personal exclusives.

Thanks!!!

T~A~O

SPICY PEAR AND DRIED CHERRY CHUTNEY


SPICY PEAR AND DRIED CHERRY CHUTNEY
(Makes 5 pints)
2 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
5 pounds hard, under-ripe pears
2 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
2 cups dried tart cherries
1 large Spanish onion, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 cloves garlic, rubbed through a microplane grater
1 tablespoon dried red chili flakes
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
Sterilize six pint-size canning jars in a boiling water bath over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and allow the jars to stand in the simmering water while you make the chutney.
Pour the vinegar into a large mixing bowl. Peel and core the pears and cut them into 1-inch dice. As the pears are cut, drop them into the vinegar; this will keep them from browning.
When all the pears have been cut, drain off the vinegar into a large preserving kettle or Dutch oven and stir in the sugar, the dried cherries, onion, garlic, chili flakes, salt and ginger. Bring the liquid to a full rolling boil and add the pears.
Stir the chutney uncovered over high heat for 15 minutes then reduce heat to low, cover the pot and simmer the chutney for another 15 minutes.
Transfer the chutney to the sterilized jars, cover them with new lids and return them to the boiling water bath and process for 10 minutes.


~Recipe from Canning Across America 

Cranberry Sage Chutney

6 Cups Cranberries, fresh 
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1  Orange - unpeeled, seeded, chopped
1 cup Orange juice
1 cup Onion - finely chopped (small)
1/4 cup Raisins
1/4 cup Slivered almonds
12  Dried dates - pitted, chopped
1/4 cup Chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 cup Cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground mustard
3 tablespoons Chopped fresh sage - divided



Place the cranberries, sugar, orange, orange juice, onion, raisins, almonds, dates, ginger, cider vinegar, salt, mustard and 1 tablespoon of the sage in a non-aluminum saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Increase the heat and boil until the berries "pop" and the mixture thickens slightly, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sage.
The chutney will keep, refrigerated, for up to 6 months. Or ladle it into sterilized jars and can accordingly.
This recipe yields 1 3/4 quarts.

~Taken from the L.A. Times

Farmer' Wife Chutney Recipe

(This Chutney recipe is meant to be canned.)
4 cups chopped peeled cored pears - (abt 3 med)
2 cups chopped peeled turnips - (abt 2 large)
2 cups chopped onion - (abt 2 med)
1 3/4 cups dried currants
1 cup chopped seeded sweet red pepper - -- (abt 2 med)
1 cup chopped peeled cored tomatoes - -- (abt 2 large)
2 cups brown sugar
1 hot red pepper -- finely chopped
1 tablespoon mustard seed
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups cider vinegar, 5% acidity


Prepare jars and closures according to
manufacturer's instructions.


Combine all ingredients in a large saucepot. Cook slowly until thick. As
mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.


Carefully ladle hot chutney into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.
Remove air bubbles with a nonmetallic spatula. Wipe jar rim clean. Place
lid on jar with sealing compound next to glass. Screw band down evenly
and firmly just until a point of resistance is met -- fingertip tight.


Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner. At elevations higher than
1,000 feet, boil 2 additional minutes for each additional 1,000 feet
elevation. 



This recipe yields about 3 pints.


Use caution when cutting or seeding any hot pepper; wear latex gloves to
prevent hands from being burned; avoid rubbing face or eyes. 

Winter Squash Recipe Suggestions




Butternut Squash Soup with Apples and Bacon
Ingredients:
2 slc Bacon
1/2 med Onion, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
White and pale green parts of 1 large, chopped fine and leek, washed well (about 1 cup) ( If you don't have leeks, either leave them out entirely or use a mild green onion. Regular onions are not a good substitute)
1 lrg Garlic clove, minced
1/2 x Bay leaf
1 1/4 lb Butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
1 med Granny Smith or other tart apple
2 cup Low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup Water plus additional for thinning soup
2 tbl Sour cream or creme fraiche
Garnishes:
Sour cream or creme fraiche
Chopped unpeeled apple

In a skillet cook bacon until crisp and drain, reserving 1 1/2 tablespoons fat. Crumble bacon.

In a heavy saucepan cook onion, leek, garlic, and bay leaf with salt and pepper to taste in reserved fat over moderate heat, stirring, until softened.

Add squash, apple, peeled and chopped, broth, and 1/2 cup water.

Simmer mixture, covered, until squash is very tender, about 15 minutes, and discard bay leaf.

In a blender puree mixture in batches, transferring as pureed to a clean saucepan, and add enough additional water to thin soup to desired consistency.

Whisk in sour cream or creme fraiche and salt and pepper to taste and heat soup over moderately low heat until hot (do not boil). Serve soup topped with crumbled bacon and accompaniments.

Makes about 4 1/2 cups.


Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Sage and Croutons
Ingredients:

3 med or 2 large butternut squash, (4 lbs.)
OR acorn squash
28 oz canned vegetable broth, (1 quart.)
1 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
4 tbl extra-virgin olive oil
OR
3 Tbs. vegetable oil and 1 Tbs. walnut
oil
24 x fresh small sage leaves
4 slc firm-textured white bread

For an extra-special touch toast the squash seeds to sprinkle over the soup. Rinse seeds, pat dry with paper towels, spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes, tossing occasionally. This make-ahead soup can be frozen for up to 1 month.

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds; save seeds for toasting if desired (see above). Place squash halves cut side down on large baking sheet with sides. Bake until skins are browned and squash is tender, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Scoop cooked squash from skins and transfer to large saucepan. Mash well with potato masher, then stir in broth and 2 cups water. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Soup should be as thick as tomato sauce-add up to 1 cup more water to thin if necessary. If you prefer a finer texture, cool slightly then puree soup in a blender or food processor. Let cool completely, transfer to container with lid and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Up to 4 hours before serving, heat 3 tablespoons oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add sage leaves and cook until lightly browned, turning once, about 1 minute. Using tongs, transfer sage to paper towels to drain.

Reserve oil in skillet.

Trim crusts from bread, discarding crusts. Cut each bread slice diagonally into 4 triangles, then cut each triangle in half to make 32 croutons total.

Heat reserved oil in skillet over medium heat. Add half the croutons and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, about 1 minute. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in skillet and cook remaining croutons as before.

Rewarm soup over low heat, stirring occasionally. Ladle soup into howls and scatter 3 toasted sage leaves over each portion. Garnish each with 4 croutons and serve hot.

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients:
2 tsp Olive Oil
2 cup Butternut Squash Peeled And Cubed
2 cup Chopped Onion
1 cup Chopped Red Bell Pepper
1 cup Chopped Celery
1/2 cup Poblano Peppers Seeded And Sliced
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Chili Powder
4 cup Vegetable Broth
15 1/2 can Whole Kernel Corn, Frozen Thawed
1/4 cup Fresh Lime Juice

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add squash and next 6 ingredients (squash through chili powder); saute 3 minutes. Add broth and hominy; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in lime juice and cilantro.

Balsamic Glazed Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash
Ingredients:
4 lrg sweet potatoes peeled, and
cut into 3/4" by 3" cubes
1/4 cup olive oil plus more
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar plus more
2 tbl unsalted butter melted
2 tbl chopped fresh herbs such as
rosemary and thyme
Salt to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper to taste
2 med butternut squash peeled, seeded,
and cut into 3/4" by 3" cubes
1 sm arugula bunch washed, and
stems removed

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss together the potatoes, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon herbs, salt, and pepper.

In a separate bowl, toss together squash, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon herbs, salt, and pepper.

Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on two 13- by 18-inch baking pans. Transfer pans to oven, and roast vegetables until golden and tender, 45 to 60 minutes, rotating the pans between the shelves halfway through roasting.

Remove the pans from the oven, and allow vegetables to cool slightly. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl. Toss the vegetables with the arugula. Drizzle with additional olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and serve immediately.

This recipe yields 10 to 12 servings.


Growing your own....


The first year we started homesteading (back in 2000, before we got into organic farming for our living) we used a plan I found in a book about preservation that showed a chart for how much to plant to yield certain quantities, etc. and I planned an entire year around that garden. It was a 100 X 100 plot, which is not that large and we grew 4 seasons of veggies. 



The only things we bought at the store were whatever we could not produce ourselves. All organic, all fresh, all by our own hands. It required a lot of planning, a lot of work, etc. but we figured it was hours we would have spend working for someone else to earn money to buy what we were producing, so it was in essence our "jobs".  I calculated how much of our income would go toward just our food budget and we decided that the value of growing our food equaled a 20 hour work week (after calculating time spent and taxes paid). 



I don't think many people realize how much of their time at work goes just for paying for food.  Anyone who says that growing some veggies in the backyard is too time consuming  should think about how many hours they are away from their homes and families, just earning the money to feed them.  A backyard garden can be a family project and involve everybody and there is value in that, too.  From the time spent together to the lessons learned, it is a worthwhile project for any family. 



I preserved a good bit of the harvests and we ate almost exclusively from that patch for the entire year. Since I had grown up at my granny's side whenever she was canning, freezing, etc., much of what was required to do this was already something I had first hand experience with but it isn't that hard to learn. Most extension offices teach classes on preservation. 



I know we saved way, way more than $500 that first year. It also launched our careers for the next decade...growing certified organic produce. My husband passed away earlier this year but I will continue to grow organic food for a living. So when I say I know it can be done,, I am speaking from experience. It is also one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself and your family.  In these days and times, it is nice to know that you can be proactive at being more self sufficient, even if you can only manage a few tomato plants on the patio.  



This is a picture of that original garden plot, expanded to 150 X 200 feet.  
Yellow Crookneck Squash planted in 150 foot rows. Next three rows are yellow wax beans and the final two rows are  specialty summer squash. We eventually expanded from this  small plot to include over 15 acres of organic vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs.

TRIPPING AT THE SUPERMARKET




TRIPPING AT THE SUPERMARKET

I hate grocery shopping. It is exhausting for me to go to the grocery store, so I try not to go unless I absolutely have to because all I can think about are where the food came from. Who handled it, how far did it travel, is it imported and if so from where and is it fair trade, etc.. And I am buying organic foods, so I don't have to worry too much about "is it genetically engineered", since that is not allowed with certified organic foods (and the reason I am so vigilant about where my food originates). Imagine what I'd go through if I was buying conventional foodstuffs. 

Luckily, I rarely have to go for much more than milk, cereal and our beloved organic blue corn chips. Plus, I buy staples like grain products, rice, etc., in bulk, directly from the source in most cases. During our growing season, I preserve a lot of foods by canning, freezing and drying. I make relishes, ketchups, sauces, pickles, jams and jellies from things when they are at their peak. I know every ingredient that went into the end result, intimately.

Additionally, we have our own bee hives, chickens, buy local meats from neighboring farms, get our butter and cheese directly from Calico Dairy. We also attend the Davidson Farmer's Market (we are founding farmers and are vendors there) which runs year round, so I generally don't need very much thru the winter months.

 In our own late fall/winter garden each season, we usually have pac choi, mixed and head lettuces, arugula, several kinds of kale, cabbages, broccoli, spinach, chard and cress which we plant to eat fresh as long as they last, along with sweet potatoes and winter squash stored from earlier harvest. If the winter is mild, we would  be able to glean from this garden all winter or until it was regularly cold enough to freeze things. And we plant things that can withstand extremely low nighttime temps, provided the days warm up.  And still, even with all of the local bounty available at the Farmer's Market, and what we plant to see us through, there are times when I have to make a market run.

Another thing that wears me out at the market is that since I love to cook (and winter is the only time I really have time to seriously be in the kitchen), everything I see (except for paper products, etc.) is a potential ingredient for something tasty. So, I end up with total sensory overload and buy things that I have no idea how they got into the cart. I am also in the grocery store for hours sometimes because I read every label and
package to make sure I am getting what I am paying for. For example, I used to buy Silk Soy Milk because it was just a superior product to everything else I have available to me in my area. It was organic and although I have a corporate beef with Dean Foods, the owner of Silk Soy, it was my soymilk of choice (I am truly allergic, not lactose intolerant,  to cow's milk and grew up drinking goat's milk, which I never acquired a taste for, and soy milk for which I did.) I am still not too pleased with the "bait and switch" that the manufacturers of Silk Soy pulled with the organic labeling of their products, but since I know about it and what to look for, that eased my mind a teenytiny bit.

Because I do only buy organic, this can get quite expensive so a trip to the grocery store for me is an exercise in self-control. But, as I said earlier, I do have to go to the supermarket sometimes and recently, I went to Super Target, since they have the best selection of organic products in my immediate area. It is always like sticker shock on a new car every time I do go to shop and this most recent trip was not exception. It was off season for us, so I bought some things I would not normally buy.

  • 2 medium sized Slicing Cukes (What a disappointment these things were. I cut the first one and it had a big hard mass of seeds in the middle that I couldn't even cut with a knife and we threw it out. The other one was dry and yellow inside, even thought the outside looked perfect.)
  • 1 Pgk (7 Small) Tomatoes (Campari's, about the size of a pingpong ball)
    12 ounces was the pkg wgt. These are the only tomatoes I will buy that I didn't grow and only when I am desperate for a fresh tomato. They were quite tasty but they didn't go very far.
  • 1 Med. Yellow Squash and 1 Med. Zuchinni (pkgd. together - not quite 1# wgt. We had 2 meals from those.)
  • 4 avocados (which were partially black inside...yuck...I made gray guacamole...tasted okay but looked horrendous)
  • 1 lb bag of green onions 
  • 2 pkgs organic cheddar cheese (8 slices per pkg.)
  • 1 Amy's Spinach Pizza (on sale so we indulged)
  • 2 bags organic frozen french fries (don't ask) 
  • 1 lb bag carrots (there are 5 carrots in the bag) 
  • 1 head of broccoli  (cold killed ours early)
  • 2 boxes of organic oatmeal (on sale) 
  • 1 Pkg of 6 flatbreads 
  • 2 pkgs shredded organic cheddar cheese (likewise on sale and an indulgence) 
  • 1 Jar of organic peanut butter (staple)
  • 1 lb organic butter (staple) 
  • 3 lb. bag of onions (staple)
  • 5 lb bag of russet potatoes (staple)
  • 1 Jar of non-organic Mayo (staple)

(Note: Everything I bought was certified organic, except for the mayo...hard to find organic mayo that doesn't taste like Elmer's glue, or at least what I imagine it tastes like. The staples will last us a while. They were out of those blue corn chips I mentioned.)


That is the entire list of what we bought. If it looks like a lot, it isn't. Everything listed above fit into 3 bags...and the total was $106.87. That means that the average cost of each item listed was $3.34 (of course some were more, some were less...but that is the average.) I think if I had been buying conventional food, I could have gotten 2 or 3 times as much for my money but I would have stressed so much over it that it wouldn't have been worth it.


Another thing that happens when I go to the supermarket is that I watch people more than I intend to, I think. Good thing I am discreet about it, although I have been known to volunteer information if someone is looking at an organic product and looks confused. Like the other day, there was a man looking at the soy milk in the cooler and he looked really confused so I kind of sidled up to him and asked him which was his favorite. He said he thought he liked the Silk Soy the best (see....) but he thought it was organic and he didn't see the label on it anywhere. So, seeing my opening, I told him about how the company had repackaged the organic Silk products but basically just took the green certified organic label off the non-organic products, leaving the cartons looking exactly like they did originally. I also said that many of their customers were really upset about this (remember the previous comment about the "bait and switch" that peeved me) but since the label did say that the soybeans were domestically grown and non-GMO, I was still buying it.


I am also a bit obsessed with what other people have in their carts and it hurts my soul to see what is being fed to children. Adults have the ability to choose what they eat and I feel bad for them, too, but not as much as for the little people. That day at Super Target,  I was kind of on the same route around the store as a youngish woman with three small children. Bless her heart, she had her cart jam packed with Cheetos, sugary cereals, loaves of white bread, sodas, frozen pizzas and other processed and packaged foods. Not a single fresh fruit or vegetable or anything that I would consider healthy in the whole cart. And I left the store at the same time she did, so I am pretty sure that she was not going to head back around to the produce section of the store. 


I know it is partially an economic thing, the reason we buy such horrible foodstuffs, but I think it there are a lot of other factors in play.  It saddens me to think that she could have done so much better for her children with just a little guidance. Too bad American food manufacturers don't take more responsibility for what they are stocking the   shelves these days. 



This article was written just over 18 months ago and was taken from my Simply Sustainable blog site. 
Copyright 2009 Suzanne R. Ballard