Kale.

Kale is a leafy cool season crop (meaning you can plant it spring or fall. I planted some transplants back in November and the plants survived the winter well. They have been ready to harvest for a while, but i just got around to it. With Kale I made my favorite Olive Garden soup Zuppa Tuscana, or Italian Wedding soup. Recipe here.

 

12 Days of Craftmas # 6 & #7- Cooking

Cooking your presents is just a good idea. Its cheap and thoughtful, so for my large extended family I decided to do Banana Bread for my dad's family and Hot Pepper Jelly for my mom's family.


Basic Recipe- we always have brown bananas in our freezer. Just defrost them...

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 350 degrees for an hour. 

I got the Christmas towels at the dollar store Cost: $1.00  Time: 1.5 hours for 4 loaves

 
Hot Pepper Jelly is a southern thing, this was a little ambitious but also fun. You have to have a hot water bath caner and jars. It is cool to see your pepper flecks in the amber liquid.

I used red Serrano and Green Jalapeno Peppers from my garden. 

Cost: jars 30 cents each 

Time: 2 hours for 7 jars   

http://www.pickyourown.org/pepper_jelly.htm

SWEET! Potatoes

 Sweet Potatoes are known for being a apart of the fall season harvest, but like pumpkins, they need a long growing season. I planted Beauregard Sweet potato transplants in May. I didn't plant them in a raise bed, just in dirt, covered with plastic mulch, with drip tape. I waited, and waited, I would have forgot about them except the vine were taking over more than half of the back row. When I pulled up a few vines, some of the potatoes were really huge. One would feed me, jesse, and make like 4 meals for Soren.

I cannot tell you how joyfull anticipation of digging up something in the ground that you planted, thats been growing for 3 months, that you can take to the kitchen immediatly and eat. I think the anticipation of harvesting new crops used to coincide with seasonal holiday excitment. It's fun to feel what people for the last 2,000 years have felt, that many americans don't have the privlege of exsperiencing.

Sweet Potatoes are fast becoming a favorite of mine, you really don't have to 'preserve them' you just dig them up, and let the sun 'cure' or dry in the sun a few days, then just stick them in a cool place.

Sweet Potatoes are amazingly simple. You can make fries our of them, boil and mash them, make muffins or bead, and of course Sweet Potato Soufflé. Fries are the easiest, cut them, fry them, delicious...

Mad Sientist Me- making my own baby food

I have decided to finally post about making baby food. I don't like the idea of making this a baby crazed blog, but on my path to self sufficiency, this is definitely a necessary and fun step. I also do this because my kid eats like a monster, and I pains me think that many 'money conscious' (poor) mothers are paying .75 cents to 1.50 a meal for their kids when making baby food is easy, more nutritious, cheap and fun. Plus people have asked me to blog about it, and what am if not obliging?



So I decided to make my own because I did it once, and I was sold. I was using the Dr. Denmark model of a protein, fruit, veggies and such everyday. Also she recommends putting bananas in everything because it is the perfect baby food. Soren would not even eat processed baby food veggies, so her banana recommendation was both welcomed by me and him :). This also gave me the opportunity to use fresh veggies from my garden, since everything gets purred and stewed anyways, a spot of blemish, or a 4 day old okra pod was no big deal.

I will give yall the Dr. Denmark detailed link, but basically you make sure you start with a banana base, then you get a protein (I use beans cause its cheap) a fruit, and a veggie at least once a day. I use an of brand magic bullet, then mix the contents together in a big blender. At first I mixed it all together, but since I make 30 servings at a time (that 3 blender fulls!) I separate it out into fruits, protiens, and veggies. http://friendsofdenmark.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/making-baby-food-part-2/



Examples
Blender 1
- 6 bananas, blueberries, fresh peached, (I got 5 fresh peaches donated to me by a grower who could not sell them) and some cantaloupe, with some yogurt of cottage cheese. This makes 12 servings of an 8 oz. breakfast for about (5.00) -equivalent to 24 baby food jars that would have cost $12.00.
Blender 2
- 6 Bananas, 6 peeled fresh sweet potatoes, a can of pumpkin and some beans (cook beans ahead of time- so cheap and so nutritious, go ahead and have Mexican for dinner too:) Makes 14 8 oz servings for 5.00 = to 28 baby food jars which is $14.00.
Blender 3
-6 bananas (1.20), 1 bag of frozen peas (.79 cents at ALDI), and whatever veggies I have, but are not using- zucchini, okra, squash etc. Makes 12 8 oz. Serving for 2.00 = 24 baby food jars at $12.00

Storage-
I see a lot of people storing and freeze in ice cubes, I think this is INSANE! Why would I do this when Soren eats like a whole cube tray a meal? Anyways, I simply store them in Tupperware, you can use take and toss (at baby section), or regular old plastic containers from the dollar store (.25 a piece). Then put everything in the freezer, I can either transfer a few at a time to the fridge, of just defrost them in the microwave as I go. When me and Jesse Go hiking or for a long day trip, I just take a frozen container with us, if defrost in 4 or 5 hours so is perfect by his next meal time!

I do this twice a month = I pay $24.00 rather than 6 jars a day at .50 sale price = 90.00/month. My record time is 40 minuets for cooking storing and cleaning up after myself. So I save 66 dollars for an hour and a half of work a month. Not bad, and it is super fun!

IMPORTANT TIPS
If your mixture is runny when you defrost it. Just use some rice or oatmeal cereal to thicken it up.
whenever you use canned stuff make sure you get low sodium, and light syrup,then drained and rinse the contents

Why not Gerber?
I am not an alarmist, and I believe on doing things because you love them, not because you are afraid of doing something else. With store bought baby food, there are a few things to consider. First, corporate America does not care about your child's health, I am not saying the food is not safe and FDA approved, but we have created a culture that wants the most for the least amount of money, we did this, and now we live enslaved to groady products and we wonder why. It's the down side of capitalism. We get cheap, convenient, preservative filled container called “garden vegetables' so we thinks it's wonderful. I'd rather know exactly whats in my baby food:). Thats just me, I love knowing where my food comes from. Secondly, in my journey to become self-sufficient, I cannot pay $1 a cup for mushed up food. It's just backwards!
http://freshbaby.com/healthy_eating/benefits.cfm

My Monster

Silly Named Squash:Crookneck-Zucchini-Patty Pan

There are two types of squash: Summer and Winter. I am only growing summer squash this year and there are like a hundred different kinds. I'm just doing straightneck, Zucchini, and Patty Pan (all bush so they will fit neatly in my raised beds). I did half my squash from seed, and half from transplants set out after the last April 20th.
Zucchini is called the scourge of the summer! It is so easy to grow it make everyone feel like an seasoned farmer.

A small green tube can grow into a 2lb Zucchini in2 days. As you guys know I only consider my garden sucessful, if the food actually gets on my table for dinner, and tastes good! Zucchini is as easy to use as the other types of squash (crookneck and patty-pan), It is a filler for any pasta dish, it can also be used in fried rice. Squash casserole is easy and yummy (basically add onions, butter and egg, and cheese and top with Ritz crackers). If all else fails, I just stew a huge pot and make into Soren's baby food.


My favorite new discovery is using zucchini in bread. I love it!
Today I made Zucchini Bites: a savory appetizer made with onion and breadcrumbs, I also got to try using parsley on the top of the bites to make a pretty leaf silhouette. http://www.thenaptimechef.com/2010/07/summer-zucchini-bites-webisode-22/


I also love spiced Zucchini muffins, you can put vanilla chi (substituted for a portion of sugar) powder in it, and it rocks! Here is the basic recipe, I didn't use cranberries and the other frilly stuff, but I did add chocolate chips. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_muffins/

Eggplant: Parmesan

Eggplant is easy, we started the white eggplants from transplants, my purple ones are still growing because I started them a little late from seed. My garden is definitely helping me achieve my goal of eating healthier and cooking more. When I had 4 little eggplants ready that I needed to use, of course Eggplant Parmesan came to mind. It was my favorite garden dish so far, wait, no cucumber chicken salad, wait, no, fresh salsa. Ok, Eggplant Parmesan is my favorite hot dish thus far.

Eggplant Parmesan Recipe
Ingredients
2 lbs (about 2 large) eggplants
1 can of tomato sauce
3 clove garlic, peeled and minced
Olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 lbs of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1 cup grated high quality Parmesan cheese
1 packed cup fresh basil leaves
Method
1 Cut eggplants lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Dredge the eggplant slices first in the flour mixture, then in the beaten egg. Working in batches, slide coated eggplant into hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper towels.
4 Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bottom of a 10x15 inch glass baking dish, spread 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with one third of the eggplant slices. Top eggplant with half of the mozzarella slices. Sprinkle with one third of the Parmesan and half of the basil leaves.
5 Make a second layer of eggplant slices, topped by 1 cup of sauce, remaining mozzarella, half the remaining Parmesan, and all of the remaining basil. Add remaining eggplant, and top with the remaining tomato sauce and Parmesan.
6 Bake until cheese has melted and the top is slightly brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.

Okra: Garden to Table

So Okra was another vegetable I had no idea what looked like in 'real' uncooked form. I have about 25 plants and they have been producing really well. This is the first crop that produced that I started from seed. The first trick harvesting it at least every other day, because if you don't, the plant gets lazy and stops producing.
My second challenge with okra was my challenge with my whole garden. How do I eat all this stuff. With Okra, I cooked gumbo, i'll fry my next batch. Okra is good raw to me, it has a buttery starchy taste and it's kinda gooey.

Gumbo vegetables (all from Garden)

Papers, Onions, Tomatoes, and Okra, garlic, Parsley, and Basil.

Cabbage Soup -The Cool Season Harvest

I ate a dandelion. It tasted interesting, but I wouldn't call the experience wonderful, however eating from your own garden is just that. I also notice, that when you are the one growing, you do everything in your power to save every last morsels, and somehow, you enjoy it more, it taste better. I get to eat straight out of my garden a few times a week now. here's how it's growing...

Cabbage, Broccoli and Lettuce are doing well. I put in on my sandwiches and it always crisp and delectable. I have eaten a few broccoli heads, I accidentally let some flower, but I ate the rest. We also had cabbage patch soup last night, I realized only after I harvested WAY to early, but it still take delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon oil
• some bacon
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaves
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 3/4 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute the bacon and onion in the oil for about 5 minutes, or until onion is tender. Stir in the flour to coat well, then quickly pour in the chicken broth. Stir constantly for 3 minutes, or until somewhat thickened.
2. Next, add the cabbage, carrots, salt, ground black pepper and bay leaf. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the peas and sour cream 1 minute before serving. Allow to heat through and remove bay leaf.

Asparagus: doing well, its just taunting me because I am not supposed to eat it till next year.

I got my first Strawberry- delicious. Got to it before the birds could. Strawberry Snatcher.

Potatoes and onions - doing great. I look t them everyday and say, I want to eat you.