It also ended up very green. Celery, kale, green beans, tomatoes (that haven't ripened yet), pumpkin, and watermelon. The last two are only putting out male flowers, which is frustrating. Some of the green beans are yellowing, which I think is a nitrogen issue. Beans are heavy nitrogen feeders. I added pellet fertilizer, but I don't want to overdo it since there are other things in there that may not appreciate it as much.
I finally got a decent eggplant! It has been a few years. The rest on the plant haven't fared as well, but at least something finally happened.The pole beans are a new experience. The tomato cages they're tied to are only about three feet tall. I didn't realize they were going to grow pretty much as high as they have a support. I stuck a piece of longer baseboard in the middle, but they're mostly wrapping around each other. We'll see what happens.I harvested my first green beans since elementary school! Not quite as many as I had in mind, but more are growing. I'll probably be inundated when the pole beans start making them.Thursday, September 19, 2024
So Much Green
Monday, September 16, 2024
Stevia-Sweetened Lemonade
Given that the average person does not have an overgrown stevia plant in the front yard, I'm going to try to adjust this for granulated, store-bought stevia, based on my own experience making lemonade with erythritol. Which now has been found to be not good for you. Come on, science, I need a way to cut back on sugar naturally. Cane sugar, in moderation, is turning out to be the least damaging sweetener there is.
*3-4 lemons
1 Tb stevia granules or *2 generous sprigs fresh
2. Juice the lemons, which should get you about 3/4 to 1 cup of juice.
3. Strain solids out of the now-yellow water and combine with the juice. Add enough cold water to make 4 cups, stir, and taste. Add more stevia to taste and chill until ready to serve.Makes one quart
Difficulty rating π
Friday, September 13, 2024
Creamy Chicken and Rice
This time, I opted for a wild rice blend from the bins at Sprouts, but a box of pilaf is how I was introduced to this dish. I was originally going to use my last can of store-bought canned chicken, but used some of the failed seals from the canning session instead. You can also use leftovers. Cooked chicken is nice to have on hand, in whatever form you keep it.
At its most basic, this is a pantry meal, but I jazzed it up a tiny bit with fresh onion and celery since I wasn't using a box flavor packet. I also ended up dumping the peas into it instead of cooking a side veggie, as originally planned. It was an open bag, so might as well.
1 Tb olive oil or butter
*1 C diced onion
*2 ribs celery, diced
1 C wild rice blend, or box mix like pilaf
1-1/2 C water or chicken broth, plus more to thin
*2 C shredded chicken, or one 10-12 oz can
*1 can cream of chicken soup
salt and pepper to taste
frozen peas or other small veggie, optional
Difficulty rating π
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Vegetarian Zuppa Toscana
I probably should have used cannellini beans, being an Italian recipe, but I don't have any at the moment. I didn't realize they're part of the kidney bean family. Think I'm going to put them on my hypothetical bean-canning list, but only one pound, if I can even find them. I only use them a couple of times a year.
I did have to buy sun-dried tomatoes, which assume the flavor profile of the bacon for this recipe. I admit, I got a super late start on my tomatoes this year, like by three months, but I had hoped to have more than a couple by now. Without any of my own oven-dried to put in the soup, I opted for the dried ones in pouches, rather than the canned ones in oil. They do have to be refrigerated after opening, but you can reseal the package and cram it in anywhere. Jars tend to leak if they're not upright.
2 Tb olive oil
1 C diced yellow or white onion
*2 ribs celery, diced (optional, but I like celery in a cream soup)
*3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Italian seasoning (or enough of related dried herbs to equal 2 tsp)
*1/2 tsp dried fennel seed, optional
2 Tb sun-dried tomatoes, cut in small pieces
chili flakes to taste, optional
salt and pepper to taste
*1/4 C white wine, optional, or extra broth
2 C drained white beans, veggie Italian sausage, or diced mushrooms
*4 C vegetable broth
1-1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, cut in bite-sized pieces
*1 C half & half or 1 can evaporated milk
*3-4 C kale, de-stemmed and chopped
*Parmesan cheese for serving
Serves 4 as a main dish, 8 as an appetizer
Difficulty rating :)
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Chocolate Mint Pudding Pie
I invented this as I went along, hoping it would set up. The thing about a "no-bake" dessert is that they sometimes take longer than a baked one, with tons of dishes. I wanted this to stay easy and without too many ingredients. This did come together in under ten minutes, plus chilling time, so mission accomplished.
*1 pre-made graham or chocolate cookie crust
* 8 oz block cream cheese
*3 Tb creme the menthe liqueur or 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
*1 4-serving package chocolate pudding (sugar-free ok)
*2 C milk
*1/2 C mini chocolate chips, optional
*whipped cream for garnish
Makes one pie, 6-8 servings
Difficulty rating π
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Korean-Inspired Quinoa
Now, using kimchi and Bibigo sauce doesn't automatically make a dish Korean, and quinoa is American. That's why I'm calling this "inspired" and not putting a non-American label on it. It's a vaguely Asian quinoa bowl, and quite yummy, which I don't always say when I make quinoa. With so much going on, you don't even notice that it's also vegan and gluten-free (vegan assuming the kimchi is).
1 acorn squash
1 Tb olive oil
*1 C dry quinoa, any color
*2 C kimchi
*2 ribs celery
1 package firm tofu
*1/4 C (ish) Korean BBQ sauce
3. Thinly slice the celery. It's really optional, but I liked the non-fermented crunch added to an otherwise soft dish. Cut the tofu into smaller slabs any size you would like for your presentation.
4. When all the elements are ready, you can make a large serving bowl or portions. Spoon quinoa into the bowl first. Arrange squash, tofu, celery, and kimchi on top. Drizzle with sauce. It's tempting to put on a lot of sauce, but the kimchi brings its own flavor that you don't want to drown out. Serve hot.Difficulty rating π
Sunday, September 1, 2024
Ugly Chicken
Leisa Sutton at Suttons Daze coined the term "ugly chicken" to describe raw pack, pressure-canned chicken, and it has kind of become a thing in the canning community. If you've ever opened a store-bought can of chicken, you know it isn't the prettiest thing. It also smells kind of off for half a minute. Now imagine it in a glass canning jar instead of a metal can. No one would buy it.
Cans of chicken (10 to 12 ounces) are running almost four dollars. I don't use it a lot, but it's nice to have a few in the pantry for salads, soups, and casseroles. I waited a couple of months after getting the Presto for boneless/skinless breasts to go on sale for $2 per pound, the maximum I'm willing to spend on this product with current prices.
You can use any cut of chicken for this project, including bone-in. Leisa makes her life easier by using B/S, and I agree. I'm terrible at cooking B/S breasts in the oven or on the stove, but pressure canning is steaming it in its own juices at 250º, which is pretty hard to mess up as long as you do it at the correct pressure for the right amount of time. It's just cut up, stuff in jars, and go for it.
To follow along, here's the link to the National Center For Home Food Preservation's procedure, considered the current best practices and updated when necessary. They do prefer using the hot pack method for poultry and mammals, but raw pack is acceptable and produces the texture I want in this particular product. Raw pack is also one ingredient, fewer steps, and is frankly more consistent because par-cooking chicken is an iffy thing.
I bought a little over eight pounds of chicken, plus the very close to one pound from the bottom of the freezer. Sheesh, it's been in there since last October. I was expecting eight jars out of it, but the headspace math actually turned it into ten jars and I got out the extra rack. There's a lot of headspace in canning meat, so it's 12 to 14 ounces per jar. That's more than you get in a store bought can.1. Wash your jars, lids, and rings. I canned in pints because it's 3-4 servings, and wide mouth because it's a bigger target so I wouldn't have to use a funnel. For a large family, there are instructions for quarts. I've pretty much decided the only thing I'll ever can in quarts is soup, and I haven't done that yet. You don't need to sterilize jars for pressure canning.
2. Prepare your canner according to manufacturer's instructions. That may involve some minor maintenance. I feel like I know how it works better than I know how my car runs. Fewer parts.
3. Cut chicken into manageable chunks and toss in the jars. I didn't measure, but it was roughly the size I would cut them for grilling skewers. I also put the packs in the freezer for half an hour first, to make them easier to cut, and ran the knife against the steel. This part only took maybe a minute per pound, which is so different than making jam. Lightly press the chicken pieces into the jars to make sure there aren't any huge air bubbles, but don't pack it super tight. Leave 1-1/4" headspace, which is when you're sure it's below the rim that the band screws down to. If you can't see the top of the chicken when the ring is on, you've over-filled it.4. Wipe the rims with vinegar to remove any debris and/or fat. With jams and vegetables, you can generally get away with wiping with only water, but anything with fat in it definitely benefits from a vinegar cleaning. Center lids, screw down bands finger-tight, and arrange jars in the canner.5. Follow the canner's instruction manual to vent and bring up to pressure. The NCHFP link has a chart for pounds of pressure and time based on pints and quarts. If you do a smaller jar, you still have to follow the pint time. Then you get to sit around for a minimum of 75 minutes to keep an eye on the gauge or listen for the jiggler. You actually don't have to watch it every second, but if it falls below pressure, you have to start the timer over again. I have gotten used to finding the sweet spot on the gas dial remarkably fast, so I only check on it every five minutes or if I hear something unexpected.6. When the time is up, turn off the heat and follow the instruction manual on how to safely lower the pressure and remove the lid. You're probably going to be waiting on it another half hour. All this time of waiting for the thing to boil, processing, and releasing pressure is part of the equation for safe canning. It's going to take nearly three hours from lock to unlock, and that's what you signed up for when you bought the canner.
7. Remove the jars to a mat or wood resting surface. Never place a hot jar directly on a tile or stone countertop. It will crack from thermal shock. All that liquid that's now in the jar is the chicken's natural juices and can be used as stock. If they're bubbling, that means they're probably going to seal, but not bubbling isn't an instant sign of failure. I had three fails, which isn't terrible for a first try. I knew at least one didn't make it when I could smell cooked chicken before opening the lid. Let them rest a minimum of 8 hours and up to 24. Test the seals. Refrigerate any fails and use within a week. For the sealed ones, remove the rings, wash in soapy water, date, and store. They are best used within a year, but lids are generally guaranteed to 18 months and they can be safe for years if stored properly. I expect ten jars to last me a year (including the fails, which are now in the freezer), so that will be $20 (including the lids) well spent.Difficulty rating π
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Summer Garden Wins and Losses
The other problem I had was a poor germination rate for some crops. When I looked at the back of the carrot and cauliflower packages, they were almost 5 years old. Ok, that's my fault, and I transplanted some other things into the locations I had set aside for them.
The hero of this summer's Pond garden is the lacinato kale. It loves the compost amendment and all three are still going strong long after I thought I would have to pull them. I gave my boss some because I can't eat it all. I've been harvesting every couple of weeks and chopping it up for the freezer. I'm going to have to cook it up frequently over the winter, before the next round starts producing.
Another winner is the stevia. I'm trimming it every few weeks, like I did the year the basil did well, and it is responding in a similar manner. I've almost filled a quart jar with dried leaves, and have tried using fresh ones in my teas.I'm finally getting eggplant. The plant hated the mid-seventies weather that I personally love. Once summer truly hit, it grew by leaps and bounds and started to flower at the end of July. That didn't help the meal plans I had made, assuming there would be some before then, so I had to buy eggplant for those.My attempt at green beans in the Dollar Tree planters was a bust, but I'm blaming the soil. Same with the beans in the window box and 6" pots against the wall, which were all from the same batch of soil mix. The same packets of seeds in the Pond are going to town. I'm going to try lettuces and herbs this winter in the Dollar Tree planters with a more broad-spectrum vegetable potting soil like Miracle-Gro. And fresh seeds.I don't think I've mentioned my bowl of herbs from a free packet of seeds in a long time. A few dill, basil, and one savory survived. I can't seem to grow marjoram to save my life. Really, a mint-family plant I can't grow? I'm going to set up another bowl once the weather cools and give it another try. I still have plenty of seeds in the packet.The mystery gourd in the front yard is a pumpkin, but I can't get it to produce mature female flowers. The tomato plants in that area are producing, but not well. That spot is always a challenge, and I did get a boatload of thyme out of it last year, so it isn't a total loss. The pumpkins in the Pond are much closer to fruiting.I'm already starting next year's celery, since that needs about three months of babying before it can be transplanted. Broccoli, kale, and herbs will be started in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to direct-sow lettuces, but that has to wait until it is reliably under 80, preferably with nights below 60.
Monday, August 26, 2024
Quick Taco Salad
A lot of the pantry videos I watch for ideas are from people with huge families. There aren't that many out there from singles or couples. I have to keep in mind that what they eat in a day would feed me for a week. Odds are, when I do get around to canning beans, I'm going to do a couple of pounds of two or three varieties to make a full canner load and call it for the year, as I seem to be opening one or two cans of beans a month. It still saves a lot of money over buying canned, plus I get the bonus of not having to search for the one or two cans of No Salt Added on the shelf.
Even with going out to the garden to harvest kale, dicing half an onion, and cutting up the tomatoes instead of using canned, this cold salad took about fifteen minutes to throw together. The first night, I did it as layers for the photo, but I tossed the leftovers, put them on top of freshly shredded kale, and finished them with salsa and cheese until the salad was gone.*4 C fresh chopped lettuce, spinach, or kale
*1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
*1 can kernel corn, drained and rinsed
2 Roma tomatoes, diced, or one can diced tomatoes, drained
1 C diced red onion
1 diced or pickled jalapeño, optional
*1 C salsa verde
*sliced black olives, avocado, shredded cheese, and sour cream for garnish
1. In serving bowl or on plates, layer washed and dried lettuce, beans, corn, diced tomato, and onion.
2. Spoon salsa over the salad evenly and let it percolate through the ingredients.3. Top with garnishes of choice. Yes, I used kalamata olives instead of regular black. I had an open jar in the fridge, but black would have tasted more appropriate. And that's artichoke instead of avocado, because I got a couple of surprise buds past the usual season. Serve chilled with tortillas or chips on the side.
Difficulty rating π
Friday, August 23, 2024
Pesto Turkey Burgers
I've been slacking off on the whole Mediterranean, low-carb thing, and started to feel early symptoms of insulin resistance again. Recent posts have included pie, cake, and cookies, so not a complete surprise. I suspect that a nasty cold that insisted on testing negative and all the otc remedies I took for it didn't help. So, instead of hamburger buns, I opted to have these burgers on top of some farro. Back to plenty of protein, whole grains, and vegetables. I like these foods, but it's starting to feel a little restrictive, a year and a half on.
So here we are: two ingredients, mix together, shape into patties, and toss in the oven. I didn't realize the ground turkey was going to be so soft, so it's just as well I didn't try to grill them. Half of it probably would have fallen through. You could do these on a countertop grill, or in a grill pan. I was already preheating the oven and wasn't in the mood to change the plan again.*1 lb ground turkey
*1/2 C pesto
1. Preheat outdoor grill, stovetop or electric griddle, or oven to 350º. In a bowl, knead together turkey and pesto until uniform. Divide into four portions.
2. Shape mixture into patties. Remember that meat seizes up as it cooks and make them flatter and wider than you think you need to.3. Place burgers on cooking surface and cook to an internal temperature of 165º. Remember, this is ground poultry; there is no rare. In the oven, this took about half an hour. It will likely be quicker on the grill or stove.4. Serve on buns with the fixings, or with grains, pasta, or in a wrap.
Difficulty rating π
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Sweet & Sour Sheet Pan Dinner
I do miss when I used to go grocery shopping twice a week, on cooking days. Ultimately, I spend less and plan more this way, but it means I have to strategize my fresh produce usage. I used the cucumber and ripe tomatoes at the start of the week and the root vegetables and brassicas at the end. It's all about what stores best. For the mushrooms, I bought whole instead of sliced and crossed my fingers they wouldn't go bad.
As I continue to decide what I want to try pressure canning, I'm looking for ways to open and use store-bought canned goods. Up this week was kidney beans. I thought they would make a nice, meat-like addition to a vegan meal. Some of the Brussels sprouts I bought were kind of icky by the time I got to this, so I emptied the rest of a bag of edamame beans from the freezer to green it up. When I pulled the pan out of the oven, the wonderful colors and contrasts convinced me it was the right choice.
I opened a jar of home-canned sweet and sour sauce to complete this dish. You can make your own with my recipe or buy your favorite brand.
1 lb carrots
1 lb Brussels sprouts
8 oz whole or sliced mushrooms
1 small onion (red or white) or *1 bunch green onions
1 Tb olive oil
*1 15 oz can kidney beans
*1 C shelled edamame
1 to 1-1/2 C sweet and sour sauce
rice for serving
1. Preheat oven to 375º. Line a baking sheet with parchment for easy cleaning.
2. Wash and peel carrots. Cut into desired shapes. I went for round and about 1/2" thick. Place in a medium bowl. Wash and trim bottoms off sprouts and add to bowl. If whole, remove stems from mushrooms, wash, and cut into bite-sized pieces, like halves or quarters. Wash onion, peel, and slice into 2" pieces. For a red or white, that's sliced and cut in quarters. For green, just 2" lengths.3. Once all the veggies are in the bowl, toss with olive oil. If your sauce is on the bland side for you, toss in a bit of chili flakes. Spread evenly on the baking sheet.4. Roast veggies for 20 minutes. This is a good time to make your rice. Drain and rinse kidney beans and edamame. My edamame were from frozen, so I just rinsed them with the kidneys to defrost. Add them to the baking sheet and continue to roast until the veggies are as done as you like them, about 10 more minutes.
5. Serve veggies with rice and spoon over the sauce.Difficulty rating π
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Greek Salad with Lentils
1/2 C brown lentils
*1/2 red onion
1 cucumber
1 lb Roma tomatoes
2 Tb white wine vinegar
3 Tb olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 Tb Italian seasoning
*1/2 tsp dried mint (optional)
kalamata olives and *feta for garnish
1. Sort and rinse lentils. I found an unusual amount of non-lentil debris in half a cup, including a split pea. Add water to cover by one inch. Bring to a low boil, lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until lentils are split, about 40 minutes. Drain. This can be done up to 24 hours ahead.
2. Peel onion, quarter, and slice. I actually used one of my gigantor green onions, since I had used the white part of it for the arayes. The light green parts were still plenty for this. Peel and cut cucumber in chunks, and cut the tomatoes in chunks. Toss vegetables together with lentils in a bowl.3. For the dressing, whisk together vinegar, oil, salt, and herbs. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to use.4. To serve, either put in a bowl or serve on plates. Top with olives and feta.Serves 4 as a main dish, 6 as a side
Difficulty rating π