One Size Fits All

I planted ciltantro, tomatoes, bell pepper and cucumber and got everything but the cilantro. Now with the recent heat wave (and my neglect), my plants have died. But I have a memory of what they gave me two weeks ago.

 

Before they died my tomato plant was quite productive as was my bell pepper. The cucumber plant was a bit like a problem child, but gave me two cucumbers.

After napping for 5 hours yesterday in addition to an 8 hour night’s sleep, I finally feel well rested. Well rested enough to try out new foods.

After reading Organic Needle’s post on zucchinis, I decided to buy this new vegetable (?) last weekend at the farmers’ market. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten zucchini before and I’m so glad my first attempt at eating and cooking it turned out so well. I made Orgie’s Aunti’s zucchini bread for breakfast this morning and it was delicious! I used 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups of all purpose flour. I used 2 cups of sugar (the last of it, that I’ve been trying to finish) instead of 2.5 cups and added a bit of nutmeg, per Orgie’s suggestion. I also baked some potatoes - cut them up and added cumin powder, chili powder, salt and butter. Pictures below:

 

 

I made fried rice last night. Ingredients include Lundberg’s brown rice, purple cabbage, carrots, string beans, leeks and seitan. The seitan was made using this recipe which is soo delicious and crunchy.  Below are pictures of the fried rice and the seitan being fried.

 

I haven’t been focusing on eating locally as much these days since I’m trying to finish up the stuff in our pantry. I finally finished the arrow root powder today and most of the muffin paper cups.

Today I made blueberry corn muffins. Receipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance(VwaV). This will be our breakfast for the week. I also made Spicy Chickpea Curry using the  recipe from Vegetarian cooking (its actually a vegan dish) and I made cobbler using plums and apricots using the recipe from VwaV. The dessert was most satisfying. But then again I just have a sweet tooth.

 

 

 

No pictures because I couldn’t get it all together for a photo-op.

The recipe is sort of made up substituting the sweet potato pie recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance .  I used a store bought non-local graham cracker crust because I was lazy. The filling was hand pitted cherries (because I am patient) that was put in a processor with some arrowroot powder (to finish it up) and maple syrup and an egg. I then ground up almonds (not local) and covered the cherry topping and baked at 350 for 20 minutes. Then I turned off the oven and went to play with google maps and in about 2 hours I had a perfectly cooked and delicious cherry pie.

One thing I noted because this is the first time I cooked cherries is that the cherries didn’t have the bright red color seen in store bought pie. The cherries had the coloring of cooked blueberries. Is it because coloring is added to get the bright red color?

Cost of the whole thing:

Pie plate: $1.67

Cherries (used about 1/4 quart. 1 quart was $5.59):$1.40

Egg + arrowroot powder + maple syrup: ~$1.50

Almonds (organic at $5.99/lb and used about .4 lb): $2.40

Total: $6.97.

Sara Lee’s Frozen Cherry pie is $8.99 at Acme Markets. I googled "organic cherry pie" and got one from HSN for $29.95. I found another one for $24.95. I just used google here, not sure what Whole Foods’ pie would cost.

I have managed to grow tomatoes!

 

These are the size of cherry tomatoes one would get at the grocery store but I am not sure if that’s how large they’re supposed to be since I grew it in a pot (or planter as home depot calls them). I’m learning that if I grow something in a pot I’m going to get miniature version of whatever it is that’s growing.

These are Siberian Tomatoes. I bought the seeds from Seed Savers and its a determinant early yielding tomato. I started the seed on January 5th of this year and they began yielding fruit about two weeks ago. I am not sure how "early" this is since I was able to get tomatoes from the farmer’s market in May (as well as hydrophonically grown ones). Seed Savers does say that these are "dwarf" variety…so maybe they are the right size?

Besides the cost of the seed (packet of 25 cost $2.75) I didn’t spend much money growing these tomatoes. The pot was under $10 from home depot. The soil was the compost and was entirely from my compost bin. I only began watering them in June because we had some steady rain from March onward when I placed them outside. And I didn’t have to act as some sort of sex expert on these tomato flowers because we had some visitors. That’s right, bees actually showed up to sex up my tomato flowers. I was so happy when I first saw the first bee that I had to check online to see that what I had seen was indeed a bee and not some other pesky bug.The only problem I had with the plant was some sort of white mould early on which was apparently caused by overwatering. So I learned to check the soil before watering. The cure for getting rid of the mould was to spray the mould areas with a mild soap solution.

So what did I do with these tomatoes? I made salsa, because my salsa is the best tasting salsa to me: Cilantro and lime juice is not local.

 

After seeing a picture of Melinda’s pancakes yesterday I knew I had to make it for breakfast this morning.

I was too impatient to wait for bubbles, but the pancakes still turned out to have the melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness!  I used honey instead of sugar so the meal is 100% local.

Tonight’s dinner is garlicky kale with tahini dressing. The recipe is from Vegan w/ a Vengence. And in case you can’t tell, its my favorite cookbook. The kale is local, but the tahini is from Istanbul (not Constantinople).

Today I made baked eggs with creamy leeks from Vegetarian Cooking by Linda Fraser. It was the first time I had leeks and I loved it! I topped it with crumbs made from the bread I baked yesterday.

I rode to the farmer’s market and only purchased from basil, garlic stems (?) and 4 quarts of strawberries. I used one quart to make smoothies using the yogurt I made yesterday.

I then baked some hazelnut biscotti from the Veganomicon cookbook. I didn’t have hazelnuts and the batter from the recipe was too dry so I used hazelnut liquor. I topped the biscotti with pecans.

Now I am making granola for this week’s breakfast. I added some flaxseeds to it. 

Several months after arduous suggested making a meatloaf for a dinner party, I’m finally going to make it for my husband’s lunch this week.

I’m also going to make some stir fried noodles (with buckwheat noodles) using whatever veggies are starting to get forgotten in the crisper.  

I’m also going to make some pesto for sandwich spreads and pizza toppings.  

Update: with pictures:

Granola

 

Strawberry Pie. I made the crust using the same local flour but added 1/4 cup of corn flour which made the dough easier to handle and roll out. For the topping, its the crumbcake style topping using flour, local butter, sugar, cinnamon and pecan nuts.

 

The purples things are purple cabbage. I also added snow peas(?), onions, sesame seeds a dash of sesame oil and soy sauce.

 

I still cannot make a pretty pie. The filling is a mixture of strawberry jam (which I made), rhubarb  sauce (which I made), local maple syrup and arrow root powder added as a thickner. The flour is also local - a wheat pastry flour that was a pain in the neck to use. I finally gave up and made a patchy pie as I couldn’t roll out the dough without it falling apart.

Radishes are in season and I don’t think I’ve had them prior to yesterday. I’ve been introduced to so many new fruits and vegetables since I began eating locally…who knew eating local foods to be so adventurous?

Last night I made radish salad which was most excellent. The recipe is from Blooming Glen farm - a farm that is a regular at the farmers’ market I frequent. 

The recipe is as follows:

1 bunch watermelon radishes or one medium daikon radish
2 tablespoons rice or balsamic vinegar (or a combination)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Wash and julienne radishes, or grate them. Mix together the rest of the ingredients and dress the radishes with the dressing. Save your radish tops for other uses.

Yesterday I stopped by the fair food stand and got lotso goodies: meyer lemon curds (so good that I want to consume the entire bottle), rhubarb jelly, rhubarb, chevre*, potatoes and apples. I’m going to make rhubarb sauce that was posted on  the Healthy Cheap Cooking mailing list to serve on top of pancakes tomorrow morning. I’ll be getting some other veggies and greens tomorrow and next week at the other farmers’ markets that will be opening up.

BTW, I just could not eat the goat meat. Husband baked it with various spices and claimed it tasted like chicken. 

* Now that I know what chevre is, thanks to the authors of Plenty, I’m always thinking of that David Cross routine: "chevre lover? chevre?"

I didn’t have rice and beans for lunch today. I had a salad. I had butter roasted asparagus (made this morning) served on top of raw spinach leaves. Dessert is an apple. Very filling.

I checked out the Prospect Park Farmers’ Market when I was in NYC this past weekend. I was so impressed - it was huge! There was so much room to walk around and browse. I didn’t buy anything because that meant I would have had to haul the food all the way from NY on a 45 min subway ride + 1.5 hour bus ride and I was just too tired. Most of the produce and other products (maple syrup, yogurts) that were being sold at Prospect Park’s market was available at the Philly one, but I did notice the hydrophonically grown tomatoes. They were huge! And were $3.50/lb…about $0.44 less than the greenhouse grown ones currently available at Kauffman’s stand at Reading Terminal in Philly. I was a bit bothered by the amount of plastic packaging both in Prospect Park and at the Headhouse market in Philly…I was very conscious about the eco throwdown challenge.

When buying eggs at the market at $4.00/dozen I asked the woman if she would take the plastic containers back. She laughed said I could bring it if I wanted to but wasn’t necessary. Does this mean she will not use it? I was too nervous to ask. I am hoping to run into the guy we bought eggs from last year because he was always asking for his egg cartons back and I have 5 months worth of egg cartons sitting in our kitchen waiting to be reused.

I spent $100 at the market yesterday mainly buying meat. I’ve decided to eat meat again…last time I decided to go back to eating meat it was after I read Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. This time, I am in the midst of Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon. I got goat meat as well as beef. I have never eaten goat meat before and I wonder what it will taste like.  My husband bought supplies to make beef pho.

Edit: I don’t recall any lousy music at the Prospect Park farmers’ market. But there was lousy music at the Headhouse that wasn’t just lousy…but also loud. 

Last year I tried many new fruits and vegetables that I’d never had before. While there has been studies on the time it takes for people to adjust to new foods, the asian pears I had from North Star Orchard was….unbelievably delicious! I didn’t need to convince my taste buds that they needed any "adjusting". North Star Orchard’s, Lisa Kerschner is featured in a Newsweek article titled "Farming as a Labor of Love". An excerpt:

Additionally, farmers are not always looked upon very highly. In some circles, announcing that your husband - or, worse yet, you - are a farmer is often met with looks of incredulousness. I’ve had a number of people ask why I choose to farm rather than do something more lucrative and be able to have a few vacations a year.

Last winter at a farmers-market meeting, I was asked this question by one of the market’s board members (who happens to be a banker). He had been astounded to hear about farming’s hardships year after year, both at the meetings and when he shopped at the farmers market. He emphatically threw down his pen and notes and said, "I just can’t take it anymore! Why, for gosh sakes, do you folks keep doing this?"

We all looked at each other, and one by one the various farmers in the room spoke up. Without fail, every one of us stated some version of this: "We love growing food for people."