Sunday, November 16, 2014

I LOVE Butternut Squash


One day we had salad and soup.  Salad was mixed greens, pomegranate seeds, goat cheese, apples, oranges, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Soup was carrots and butternut squash sauteed in Ethiopian ghee.  See the recipe here The Joyful Homemaker, vegetable broth, orange zest from the orange I used in the salad, salt pepper, and frozen peas at the end.





And this shows how the meal went over with the kids :)


My latest obsession is this dish from the Pioneer Woman.  Butternut squash and kale.  The only change I made was to use Penzey's Forward instead of chili powder.

 And then this lovely salad.  Spring mix, pan roasted butternut squash, cucumbers, dried cranberries, feta, quinoa, pomegranate seeds and an orange mustard vinaigrette.


 I love this season of rich colors, and deep autumnal flavors.  This type of food makes me happy.  This coming week I might try some new squash recipes.  What ways do you use this lovely vegetable?

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

2015, the year of the CSA

So awhile ago I posted an entry about the "greening" of my families lifestyle.  I wanted to update because we are making a pretty significant push in 2015 to offset our food eating to be as local as possible and are buying into a bunch of  CSA (community supported agriculture) shares in our area.  This will be a great experiment, a test to see how feasible it is to really eat farm to table.  I will let you know how it goes!

Here is what we are looking into:

A summer and winter vegetable share at Mountain View Farm in Easthampton.  This we have been doing this year already, and have done in the past.  Really a wonderful experience.

A year round mushroom share from Mycoterra Farm.  You get about a pound of mushrooms per week.

A summer and fall fruit share from Small Ones Farm.

A years worth (115 lbs) of unprocessed grains from Pioneer Valley Heritage grains.  This will require us to purchase a grinder and grind our own flour.

A meat share from Hettie Belle Farm.  This share an immense amount of meat for us and may not be possible until we get a chest freezer for the garage.  Still we plan on at least doing the summer share, which is only one pickup, just to try it out.

In addition to this we have already signed up for delivery of milk from Mapleline Farms in Hadley.  They deliver right to your front steps in old fashioned glass milk bottles.  You can also get local yogurt, heavy cream and buttermilk from them.

So it will be an interesting year coming up!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Pasta with Goat Cheese and Tomatoes

Today is pretty chilly, and I really wanted something warm and filling for lunch that still felt a little summery.  This dish is perfect for both.  I made it a few times over the summer, once with my friend Diana, and I accidentally put in almost a quarter of a bottle of pizza seasoning, and believe it or not it was still amazing.  But much better to measure a little less the first time!

You need:
1 pound pasta of your choice, I used gluten free penne
2 T garlic extra virgin olive oil, or oil plus some fresh garlic, but I love the garlic oil
Several tomatoes: if plum, use six or so, beefsteak 3, campari size tomatoes at least 8 or 9, or you can mix them like I did here.
A small log of garlic and herb goat cheese, you can use plain but garlic is better
Large handful spinach, chopped
2 tsp pizza seasoning, or other italian blend you like
salt and pepper

First step is to put water on to boil for pasta and salt it heavily.  Put the oil in a saute pan large enough for a pound of pasta with room to mix, and turn to medium high.  Then chop tomatoes.

 
Put the chopped tomatoes in the hot oil, stir around and season with salt, pepper, and pizza seasoning.  Let it cook while you prep the rest of stuff, just stir once in a while.  You want the tomatoes to get soft and juicy and lovely.


 
Chop the spinach and add it to the tomatoes when there are about 5 minutes left for the pasta to cook.  Stir it in and turn it down if it is getting dry.  You want this to be saucy, not pasty.


 

Add the goat cheese in the last couple of minutes and stir around until the sauce is creamy and bubbly.  Use a slotted spoon or similar utensil to transfer the pasta to the sauce, adding some of the starchy cooking liquid into it.  Stir the pasta all around and let cook a minute or two in the sauce, then serve and enjoy.
 

The kids and I enjoyed it outside on the deck while the sun is shining.  It looks like CJ isn't enjoying anything but it is just from squinting into the sun, he ate two bowls!  I love that this recipe only takes about 12 minutes start to finish, and it tastes creamy and rich, like things I am not supposed to have :)

Monday, September 29, 2014

More Cleaning Love

In continuation of my fall cleaning embarkation, I thought I would show you all my brand new vacuum.  I spent quite a bit, and got a Kirby.  A friend is selling them and we figured why not.  It has a ton of cool attachments, and includes a carpet cleaner too.  Tomorrow we shampoo the carpets and vacuum the ceiling fans and mattresses.


It is easy to use, and is built really well.  Rich sold them at one time too, so he knows how to use it far better than I do.  I love it.

Part of fall cleaning is this deep carpet cleaning, mattresses, washing down the walls with the Mrs. Meyers cleaner from my previous post, and getting rid of stuff we no longer use.  I also spray the whole house down with homemade air freshener.  I use an empty spray bottle, half to a full teaspoon baking soda and thirty drops of essential oil.  If you are all getting sick use eucalyptus, tea tree, thieves oil blend, or Clean the Air. These oils all help clean the air in the house, purify and sanitize the surfaces it touches, and the baking soda helps remove bad odors.  Clean the air also helps a lot with seasonal allergies.

I make homemade thieves oil, as I refuse to pay the price I have seen.  Super simple, and way cheaper to buy the individual oils and make the mix yourself.  I use a pipette to put equal amounts of the following oils into a small jar:
     lemon
     eucalyptus
     clove
     cinnamon bark
     rosemary
     tea tree is optional
After these are all mixed, put an equal amount of almond or grapeseed oil as a carrier oil.  Otherwise the oil blend is too strong to use on its own.  If you have never heard of thieves oil, research it, it is such an interesting story.

My list of must have cleaners is very small.  The previously mentioned Mrs. Meyers, baking soda, washing soda, vinegar, castile soap, borax, and essential oils.  I use vinegar for windows.  I use it for mirrors.  I also occasionally wipe down the floor and stove with it as a degreaser.  I keep the following in my binder for quick reference on the homemade cleaners I most often use.

Homemade Cleaner Recipes
   Bathroom Cleaner Spray
                In bottle combine ¼ cup lemon juice, ¼ cup white vinegar and at least 1 c. warm water

   All Purpose Cleaner
                ½ tsp washing soda
                2 tsp borax
                1 tsp liquid castile soap
                2 c. water
                20-30 drops pine essential oil (15 each lemon and eucalyptus for bathroom cleaner)

   Disinfectant Spray
                3 T. liquid castile soap
                2 c. water
                20-30 drops tea tree oil (15 each lemon and eucalyptus for bathroom) or thieves oil

   Air Freshener
                In spray bottle put 1 tsp baking soda, essential oils of choice, fill with water

   Tub Cleaner
                ¼- ½ c. baking soda mixed with enough lemon juice or vinegar to make paste


These all work well and are cheap to make.  They are a great green alternative to other chemical filled cleaners.  Plus they help me with my fall cleaning, since I don't worry about using a lot of them as I can just make more in a few minutes.  I always have the ingredients to make these cleaners and vary the essential oils for each particular job.  In the spring I use lemon, orange, grapefruit, and lime oils.  In the winter I use pine and cinnamon and vanilla.  In the fall I love using spices, and thieves oil.  Summer is lavender and lemongrass.  I do the same thing with the air freshener.  It changes with my mood and the season.  One favorite is a little vanilla, lime and rosemary.  I love when my house smells clean and wonderful with the essential oils.  It makes me smile :)  Somehow having the house clean and fresh and fall cleaned makes the shorter days and cooler nights much easier.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Cleaning Love

Never thought I would want to wax poetic about a mop, but you know I really love my mop.  First of all I use it at least two or three times a week, as my little girl can make a BIG mess in my kitchen.  For my birthday last year Rich got me the best mop in the world and my favorite floor cleaner.  I know, doesn't sound romantic right?  Well he knows me, and that made me squee with joy, especially as he also gave me a copy of the Shakespearean version of Star Wars, which if you haven't seen, you must find and read it.  Hilarious!  Anyway, back to the mop.

 It is called the Rubbermaid Reveal.  It has a removable washable mop cloth, and you can get a dusting sweeping type cloth too.  You fill the removable reservoir yourself with whatever cleaner you like, and you remove it for storage.  There is a little scrub strip on top for those bits that the mop sometimes just won't get, playdough for instance.  It sprays really well, and it moves really easily, it can get under tables and chairs, and I love it!  It is really lightweight, but strong.  It helps me keep things clean because it is easy to use.
These are my favorite cleaners.  Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner concentrate.  My two faves are the lavender scent, which smells exactly like my garden lavender, and radish which sounds odd but smells crisp and clean and lovely.  When the kitchen is clean and that radish smell is around it makes me very happy.  I can't help it, I am a cleaning geek :)  They have lots of other amazing fragrances too.  I love this cleaner because it is really powerful without being harsh to people or pets, and you need to use very little.  CJ and Eliza have their own spray bottle in the bathroom of the lavender to clean the sink or toilet seat for when they make a mess, and I don't worry about them getting this cleaner on them.  One of the best birthday presents I ever got :)

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Homemade Larabars

So I love having good health filled portable snacks for hiking and trips.  Hence my love of larabars.  However they are cost prohibitive, so I was thrilled to find out that I can make them at home and make any flavor we like or invent.  They are crazy easy, and can be adapted however you need.

Basic recipe is 1 cup pitted dates, 1 cup dried fruit, 1-2 cups seeds nuts or other add ins.

Chop the fruit in a food processor till sticky and paste like.  Put in a bowl.  Chop nuts seeds or other stuff and mix into sticky date paste.  Form into balls, circles, bars, or other shape, and chill till solid.  Store cool and dry, does not need refrigeration.

You may need to knead the ingredients together to get it all to stick and  hold, but the work is pretty minimal.  I will say, this is not a job for the vitamix.  A food processor works much better.  I love that this is just as good nut free as with nuts too.

We make it with dried blueberries and either cashews or pumpkin seeds and a bit of lemon extract, tastes like a blueberry muffin.  Using almonds dried cherries and almond extract you get cherry pie.  I looked at the list of flavors on the larabar website and the ingredients tell you how to make each flavor!  The kids invented a good one too, pineapple and strawberry.







The add ins they picked were coconut, chia seeds, and cashews and walnuts.  I want to make carrot cake:  dates, dried carrots, dried pineapple, raisins, coconut, cinnamon, walnuts, sunflower seeds.  The kids want banana bread: dried bananas, dates, sunflower seeds or almonds.  Even Rich LOVES these.  It is great to finally find a healthy snack he likes.  We pack them in some plastic wrap or a baggie and take them hiking or on field trips.  Filling, tasty, and full of nutrition, what could be better?

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Summer Squash Sauce

I have been looking for ways to use the glut of yellow squash in a way that Eliza will eat.  She hates the texture of squash but loves the flavor.  So while I was reading a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious I saw a recipe where author made buttered noodles using a little bit of summer squash puree.  So I thought I would try it.  What I came up with was a fantastically rich smooth sauce that can be added to pasta, rice, quinoa or polenta and that Eliza LOVES!  Plus it is chock full of veggies so I don't feel guily eating something that tastes so cheesy and alfredo like.  It is pretty simple to prepare, and freezes well.  So twice I have made a big batch to use in the winter when I am craving that fresh from the garden flavor.

I had several fairly large summer squash.  I cut the ends off and sliced them. leaving the peels.  They need to be steamed, and I did that in the microwave with some salt and pepper.

 Once they were almost done I put half a stick of butter, some salt and pepper, and a log of garlic herb goat cheese in a saucepan and set it aside.  As soon as the squash was soft I threw it in my vitamix with its cooking water and pureed it till smooth

 Then I poured it into the pan with the cheese and butter and stirred it over low heat.



In a few minutes I had a rich velvety sauce that is amazing and versatile.  Eliza loves this on pasta, I love it in polenta, Rich loves it on rice, and CJ loves it with just a spoon.  And now I don't have to worry about figuring out what to do with all that lovely summer squash that seems to be everywhere.  I love that I have some in the freezer to thaw for a quick lunch or dinner, and that it takes only a few minutes to put together.  And I love finally being able to feed Eliza squash without it being a fight.



Sunday, August 31, 2014

Excellent Summer Breakfast

At one point I read an article in a magazine on a typical Turkish breakfast.  This consists of Turkish coffee, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, bread, honey and cheese.  Sounded great to me, so it has become one of our favorite breakfasts during the week.  I say we, I mean Eliza, CJ, and me, NOT Rich, as there is no meat.

I mixed some chopped cucumbers and several varieties of tomatoes with good black olives, a little olive oil, and some Penzey's Turkish seasoning.  I gave us each a nice size chunk of really good feta, and I put homemade honey butter on hot fresh gluten free flatbread I make based on this recipe: KAF Gluten Free Matzoh  I used to make it with whole wheat naan, but this is a nice quick substitute that I can safely eat.  We have also made flatbreads and used them for pizza for a quick lunch, also tasty.  I love that this breakfast is full of veggies, and that the kids think it is great.  I love how fast it is to put together, and that it is a healthy way to start the day.  Most of all, it just takes so good.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Vanilla Extracts!

Long time coming but I'm finally trying my hand at making vanilla extract!

I made two bottles, one 8oz (about a cup) and one 4oz (about 1/2 cup)

I sliced the vanilla open lengthwise, leaving about 1 inch uncut on either end. Put the vanilla beans in the bottles first, (5) per 1 cup of bourbon or vodka is the general ratio. (I used (2) for my 1/2 cup bottle). Fill the bottles 95% full with the alcohol and shake well. Shake every few days for about 6-8 weeks, and they should be ready. (When they are ready you will smell more vanilla than alcohol when you do a sniff test). You can use and top off these bottles for about six months!

Monday, August 4, 2014

Peach Cobbler

We have had a lot of great fresh fruit around lately, and peaches always make me think of cobbler.  The other day I taught Rich to bake it.  Mind you, he is not a baker at all, so he was quite proud of this, and all of us enjoyed it immensely.  
 We used 8 peaches, and some black raspberries we found growing wild at my parents' house.  Toss with about 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp apple pie spice and splash of vanilla.
For the topping melt 1/4 cup butter, and mix in 3/4 c milk mixed with 1 tsp vanilla, an egg, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup baking mix, I used KAF gluten free.  You can use any mix of flour that has leavening in it, even Bisquick works here.  
 
 Mix it up till it is pourable and looks well mixed, like pancake batter.
 Pour over prepared fruit.
 Bake for 45 minutes at 375, and try not to drool while it cools.  So yummy!

Peach Cobbler, based on a KAF recipe found here:  King Arthur Flour GF Peach Cobbler

Preheat oven to 375.

8 large peaches peeled and sliced
1 1/2 cups black raspberries
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp apple pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
splash vanilla extract

Mix and pour into a large cake pan, or deep dish pie plate. 

1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup milk mixed with 1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup baking mix of choice

Mix well and pour over fruit.  Bake 45 minutes and enjoy warm!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Game of Thrones Food Day


We had such a great day of food, and fun, and friends on our GoT day.  For breakfast we had bacon, soft boiled eggs, gluten free seeded bread with butter and homemade jam, poached pears, cheddar cheese, coffee, apple cider, and mint tea.





Lunch was amazing roasted chicken quarters with honey vinegar sauce, a beautiful salad of mixed greens roasted chickpeas and raisins with homemade vinaigrette, and buttered beets.





Snacks were feta cheese, more gf bread, gf crackers, nice olives, apricots, dates, homemade hummus.  And lots of mulled wine, hard cider, beer, and lots of other libations, including some fantastic mead.



Dinner was venison with leeks, onions in gravy, buttered carrots, medieval armoured turnips, and iced blueberries with almond cream for dessert.  Everything was amazing.  Most of the recipes were based on the wonderful cookbook pictured above.  Feast of Ice and Fire  I love it!  We enjoyed all of this amazing food.




Happy Game of Thrones day!!!