Make your own granola!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Granola can be filled with healthy grains, protiens and dried fruits. But it can also be filled with a lot of saturated fat, oil, and sugar. Make a visit to your local co-op or natural food store (or Reading Terminal Market) and pick up some healthy bulk grains and nuts and make your own! It really only takes about 20 minutes, and you’ll be able to control the amount of fat and sugar. I change-up my granola mix all the time - the latest involves sliced almonds, dried cranberries and goji berries for extra antioxidents. I also always add ground flax for the good omegas and wheat bran and rolled (not quick) oats for fiber. You can make a variation of my recipe here, or search online or in your own cookbook collection. I find in general that fat and sugar can easily be reduced! 

DIY Sauerkraut

Hello!  My name is Erica and I’m excited to join the Farm to Philly team!  I’m a community garden organizer and local food lover from West Philadelphia, check out my bio for more info on the gardens I tend in Philadelphia and Camden, NJ.

For my first post I decided to go with a tried-and-true recipe that I am constantly making in my kitchen; sauerkraut.  Cabbage is a great winter staple, I get mine at Mariposa Food Co-op where they’ve recently been selling small cabbages that are perfect for a mini batch of kraut.

The first step is to assemble your equipment:  a ceramic crock or (food-grade) plastic bucket and a dish that fits snugly into it.  I found my crock at a second-hand store, but you can sometimes buy them at housewares stores.  You’ll also need a cutting board, a glass mason jar with lid, a knife, a dish cloth and a large bowl.

Your ingredients are one small cabbage, sea salt, and water.  The amounts depend on the size of your crock, but I use one small head of cabbage, ½ cup of water, and 3 or 4 Tbs of salt in my ½ gallon crock.

Thinly shred the cabbage.  I find that the best way to do this is to cut it in half and slice thinly from the cut side.  When you’ve cut off a handful of cabbage, put it in the bowl and sprinkle it with salt.  Keep doing this until you’ve shredded the entire cabbage, layering the cabbage and salt as you go.  Put the cabbage in the crock and mash it down with your fist to get it tightly packed.  Mix together one teaspoon of salt in a cup of water and pour it over the cabbage until the cabbage is submerged.  Put the dish into the crock and put it down so the cabbage is under the salt water.  Fill the mason jar with water and use it to weigh the plate down.  Cover the entire thing with a dish cloth to keep away flies and dust, and place it in a dark corner of your kitchen.

Taste the sauerkraut daily to observe the fermentation process.  When it has reached the perfect amount of “sourness,” take it out of the crock and place it in a mason jar in the fridge.  For me, it takes between 1.5 and 2.5 weeks in the winter to reach the perfect point (less time in the summer).  To see the original recipe I used and more fermented food recipes, check out wildfermentation.com.  Enjoy!

New March GRID - seasonal recipes and more!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Hey friends! The March GRID is hitting the stands. Full of season-friendly recipes (including mine for a winter vegan shepard’s pie), and resources for using salvaged materials in your home. Go pick your up now! If you’re outside of Philadelphia, you can still enjoy GRID by reading it online HERE.

Roots and Squash to soup

Monday, February 01, 2010

By this time of year, I think that we are all starting to get a little tired of winter vegetables. I’m already dreaming of fresh tomatoes and basil. But there are plenty of ways to spice up the vegetables that are in season. Just chop them up, cook them down in some broth, and puree them - or not. Add beans or grains and have a hearty meal. . Add a fried onion and some garlic, and I like to add a kick - fresh ginger, curry, or hot peppers.

Combinations
sweet potatoes and butternut squash
potatoes and parsnips or celeriac
carrots and ginger
kale and potato
vegetable stew
potato leek and onion
spinach, greens, and potato
turnip, carrot and cream
mushroom, shallot

Make some chili!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

I had some corn cut from the cob from the summer, those New Jersey canned tomatoes I wrote about a couple weeks ago, organic kidney beans I bought from the Kensington co-op at Greensgrow’s farmers market, and various other items and have been eating chili for a week. Make some this weekend!

Tangerine Cranberry Relish

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Aren’t these gorgeous? I almost want to wear them. But instead, I made my favorite winter snack, tangerine cranberry relish. I was out of town for Thanksgiving and so missed the opportunity to make this, but really, I just eat it with a spoon - no turkey/whatever required.

This is very simple: 1 pint of local cranberries (mine from the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market—they have both red and white!), 1 tangerine (ok, not local, but organic and also from the FFFarmstand), about 1/2c sugar (to start). Scrub the tangerine well b/c what makes this is grinding the whole fruit—peel and all. I sectioned it to remove the seeds. Wash the berries. Pulse in a food processor until minced but not mush. Add sugar to taste. That’s it! (Also nice, for obvious reasons, with an orange.)

What to do with Parsnips?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

My favorite thing to do with parsnips is to roast them with other root vegetable and herbs, like the parsnips and carrots above. What else could you do?

1. Boil and puree them with potatoes, or in substitution of mashed potatoes.
2. Add them to a soup - either pureed with cream, or in a hearty stew.
3. Bake them like “fries” and serve them with a zesty dip.
4. Make latkes, or anything else that you would normally cook with potatoes.
5. Add them to a gratin!

I’m sure readers have even more ideas for this winter vegetable. Send them in! 

Winter Vegetable Gratins

Monday, December 14, 2009

Gratins are a delicious way to use winter vegetables. You can decide exactly how healthy (or unhealthy) you’d like to make this comfort food.

1. Choose any combination of starchy winter vegetables. In the gratin above I used red turnips, savoy cabbage, and what I like to call fractal cauliflower.
2. Place the chopped and sliced vegetables in a gratin dish. Salt and pepper each layer. At this point you can add cheese between layers, if you’d like. The above gratin uses cream cheese.
3. Fill the gratin dish 3/4 of the way with a cream, milk, or a combination of the two.  Add herbs to the dairy before you pour it over the vegetables.
4. Top with grated parmesan, and some sort of breadcrumbs
5. Bake in a 350 degree over for 35 - 40 minutes. For the first 20 minutes cover the dish with tin foil, and remove the foil for the second 15 - 20 minutes.
6. When the vegetables are baked through and the breadcrumbs are toasted brown, the gratin is done. Enjoy! 

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Thursday, November 19, 2009

I love acorn squash. It’s so cute and hardy and can be cooked in so many ways! Growing up, my parents used to make stuffed squash at least twice a month. While many people stuff squash with sausage, you’ll be happy to know that you can stuff squash with just about anything! You just need to decide if you’re looking for a savory or a sweet dish.

savory
1. A grain. Think brown rice, couscous, bulgar, barley, quinoa, even a firm polenta.
2. A crunch. Nuts or seeds, to taste!
3. Herbs and spices. For savory, think thyme, sage, oregano, hot pepper.
4. Vegetables. For savory, think peppers, garlic, tomatoes (or sauce) hot peppers, etc.

sweet
1. A grain. See above.
2. A crunch. A crunch. Nuts or seeds, or both!
3. Herbs and spices. For sweet, think cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, brown sugar, ginger, cardomom,, brown sugar, honey.
4. Fruit. For sweet, think dried fruits and berries (cranberries, apricots, raisin etc.) and fresh chopped apples, celery etc.

For a recipe for the stuffed squash pictured above, go HERE. 

Tasty Ending to Collard Growing Failure

Monday, November 09, 2009

In September I was all excited to plant cool weather vegetables in my garden for the first time. Then a flock of caterpillars and goodness knows what it was bug settled in on the collards and avoided all my efforts to dislodge them (sharp sprays of water, Safer’s, plucking them off). I waved the white flag today and harvested what remained of my lacy green leaf patch. Combined with beautiful leeks and potatoes from the farmers market at Greensgrow, parsley and chives from the garden, and Wisconsin bratwurst (ok, local only to where I used to live), I made a pretty darn good gratin.

Being from the upper midwest, I’m aware that I should be making casseroles, not gratins. But having “freelanced” a few dreadful corningware dishes of mushy veg, way too al dente grains, and unappetizing combinations, I switched to making “gratins” and have experienced much greater success. I do not know why. Similar stuff + some cheeses (bits of leftover cheese are perfect) + broth or milk. I should stop questioning it and just hope that my grandmas are ok with the high-falutin name. 

What to do with Radicchio?

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Yet again, my CSA surprised with a green that I’m mostly unfamiliar with. What to do? I searched through cookbooks, found a few things that looked good but weren’t quite right (usually because I didn’t have all the ingredients in the house) and ended up making my own recipe. Sliced and wilted raddichio with garlic and olive oil, tossed with cooked pearl barley and sun-dried tomatoes, splashed with red wine, and sprinkled with parmesan. Served with a side of coriander carnival acorn sauce. A great hearty meal full of good vegetables and grains. I only wish I would have remembered my red carrots in the fridge, and added a side of those for more color!

CSA Report:  Blooming Glen Farm

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names/quantities of share.)

Well look at that—a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin.  Those farmers at Blooming Glen Farm seem to always have a surprise for us!  I have no idea what te future has in store for that pumpkin, but it’ll have to wait, as my kitchen is chock-full of wonderful, vitamin-rich, hearty and delicious root vegetables right now.  Here’s my go-to recipe for celeriac, rutabaga, carrots, parsnips, etc.:

Root Stew with Barley

3 tbs olive oil
2 onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup pearled barley
4 cups vegetable stock
4 - 6 cups of scrubbed, but unpeeled* diced root veggies
1/2 - 1 cup of chopped fresh herbs (dill works well, but any one or two will work)

*Except the celeriac. Go ahead and peel those gnarly, dirty bad boys. Most of the nutrients in root vegetables live close to the surface; by peeling them you’ll inadvertently loose the good stuff.

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until softened (about five minutes). Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Stir in barley and vegetable stock. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low, skim off any froth, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add root veggies.  Cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes more, or until barley and vegetables are tender. Just before serving, stir in herbs. Salt and pepper to taste

So delicious and easy!

fall fruits + summer stuff in the freezer

Monday, September 28, 2009

This is a sour cherry cobbler from my new favorite cookbook, Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More, by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson.

It tastes as good as it looks. I had a few cups of sour cherries that I spent a night in June pitting—this made it worth the effort. There are many, many recipes to make (and riff from) in this book, so I thought I’d share with all of you. And, it’s organized by season. Sure, some of the recipes call for berries available only in the Northwest where the authors are from, but we are all champions at substituting, I think! I have apples from Rittenhouse Farmers Market in the fridge ready for apple pandowdy this weekend.

CSA Report:  Blooming Glen Farm

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names/quantities of share.)

I’ve been so happy to find my favorite salad green, arugula, at Blooming Glen Farm over the past two weeks.  We’re still picking herbs and flowers, and radishes made a reappearance this week.

That beautiful Cinderella squash and those tomatillos are going to become soups for a family dinner this Sunday night.

Cinderella Pumpkin Soup with Apples and Sage Oil
(From Whole Food Whole Family)
Ingredients
1 leek, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
about 1/3 of a large Cinderella pumpkin (or other variety), peeled and diced
4 apples, preferably Winesap or another sweet-tart variety, diced
enough vegetable broth or water to barely cover
2 T. maple syrup
1 T. cumin
2 t. coriander
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. crushed red pepper
1/4 c. chives, minced for garnish
Sage oil:
3 T. olive oil
large handful of sage leaves, stripped from the stem

Directions
1. Heat 1 T. oil in a soup pot and add the leek and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, until softened, stirring regularly.
2. Add the squash and apples. Add broth to within an inch of the squash and apples. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the squash is very soft.
3. Stir in the spices and maple syrup and turn off the heat under the soup.
4. Heat the oil at a low temperature in a small pan. Add the sage leaves and infuse them for about 1 minute, until the have released their flavor and scent into the oil. Turn off the heat and allow the sage to continue infusing while the rest of the soup is prepared.
5. Transfer the soup in batches to a blender and process until smooth.
6. Return the soup to the pot and season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Strain out the leaves from the oil.
8. Serve the soup drizzled with sage oil and sprinkled with chives.

Tomatillo Soup
(From Vegan Diva)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large onion, sliced thin
4 jalapeno peppers, sliced in thin rounds (use less for a milder soup)
2 heaping teaspoons ground cumin
1 heaping teaspoon ground coriander
Green Tabasco Sauce to taste
1 pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cans chopped green chiles, drained
1 cup water
2 15-oz. cans Cannelli Beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions
1. Heat oil over medium heat in a 10-inch skillet. Add garlic, onion, jalapenos, cumin, and coriander. Cook, stirring often until onions are lightly golden, about 7 – 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in 5- to 6-quart pot, combine tomatillos, sea salt, sugar, vegetable broth, green chilies, Green Tabasco sauce, and water. Heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the onion mixture and cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Stir in beans and cilantro until beans are heated through.

Served with fresh bread from our local bakery, Bakers on Broad, and a green salad, I think our taste buds and belies will be satisfied!

Fried Green Tomato Bonanza

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Here’s some Fried Green Tomato Pillows from Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven M. made today from our own green toms.  Yummy and hearty!  She used water instead of the milk the recipe calls for, and put three small eggs instead of two large ones.  I dipped mine into our homemade, local (red!) tomato ketchup.  Mollie Katzen suggests topping with sour cream or yogurt.

Fried Green Tomato Pillows

1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 cup milk (we used water)
2 large eggs
a little oil or butter for the pan

Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and cayenne in a bowl and mix.  Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, beat milk and eggs until frothy; pour into the well in the center of the flour mixture.  Stir until thoroughly combined, but don’t overmix.

Core the tomatoes and cut them into 1/2-inch rounds.  Begin heating oil or butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Add the tom slices to the batter one by one, pushing them around gently with a spoon until well coated.  Add gently to hot skillet.  (You may want to add batter to the top of each tom to avoid bald spots.) Fry on both sides untl crispy and golden, and serve hot.