We’re playing around with a flavor journal, so that Isabel can distinguish ground pepper from beer, even while wearing sunglasses. We’ve only put together two pages so far – if you’d like to use our template, you can print a PDF version. What do you think? What would you add in your own journal?
Potatoes (start these first, prep 8 minutes, bake for 20 minutes then finish cooking them following the instructions for the other vegetables below)
Da’ Easy Dal (prep time – 8 minutes)
Veggies and Potatoes (Aloo Gobi is traditionally made using cauliflower and potato, or you could do broccoli instead) (prep time – 12 mins)
When I found this weighty paperback on the new book shelf, I assumed its main selling-point would be the beautiful photographs. Since I’m easily seduced by beautiful photographs, that would have been enough. When I finally dug in to read The Fresh & Green Table (Chronicle Books, 2012), I was impressed by chef/author Susie Middleton’s knowledge base and her accessible writing style. From the introduction:
“You might think that cooking vegetables is all about the ingredients. (Vegetables are, after all, so sexy.) But I think the real secret to making delicious vegetable dishes is a repertoire of good and easy techniques, brought to life – of course – in detailed recipes.”
I’ve made more than a few good veggies go bad because of my poor cooking techniques, so I’m closely reading these recipes, rather than simply gawking at the gorgeous photos by Annabelle Breakey. The recipes are diverse, and adaptable once you’ve mastered some of the basic techniques. The Fresh & Green Table isn’t meant to be exclusively vegetarian, so a few of the recipes include meat, making the book an excellent resource for bridging the culinary gap in herbivore vs. omnivore households. Vegans will need to adapt the recipes a bit more, as Middleton is absolutely (blessedly) in the Julia Child camp regarding the use of butter, cheeses, cream, and eggs.
The Fresh & Green Table is Middleton’s second cookbook, a semi-sequel to Fast, Fresh & Green. The two books complement each other: her first book focuses on vegetable based side-dishes, while her latest offering is meant to showcase main dishes. You can read more about Susie’s cooking and farming adventures on her blog, Six Burner Sue.
With just a quick perusal of pinterest, you can find hundreds of grow-it-yourself instructions. As I surfed around DIY gardening sites, I quickly realized that some of the projects don’t result in edible food. You can grow beautiful avocado trees or carrot tops, but they won’t make much of a dinner. Here are our top ten edible items that we’re going to try to start from cuttings this year:
“Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure, nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.”
William Butler Yeats
The weather here is unseasonably warm, so we’ve got seeds and planting on our minds. We didn’t grow very much last year, so this feels like the year to really go big. It helps that I’ve been reading Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail, again. It’s one of those books that makes the idea of planting a lot of food seem possible, even though we don’t have a huge garden space. Here are some of the steps we’re taking right now, to get on track to grow more of our own food this year:
In addition to working with the garden spaces in and around our home, I’m also hoping to buy a plot in our school’s community garden. When school began in August, Sam was very interested in the plum trees in the garden, so he’ll be motivated to help care for the trees and help with the fall harvest. We’re also figuring out our CSA (or NSA) budget, and which farm we’ll support this year. We’ve been very happy with Monroe Farms during past years, but we’ve recently heard about some options that are even closer to our home.
Beyond the details and logistics of learning to grow more of our food, we’re simply enjoying our time outside, absorbing the fresh air, the light, and of course the dirt.
What are you thinking of growing this year?
Time to cool down the stovetop and warm up your keyboard! To continue with our intentions to stay flexible and improvise, I’m challenging myself to craft something from words. I very much enjoyed a few literary hours at Lighthouse Writers tonight, attending my first Friday 500 event with Angela. The theme tonight was flash fiction. We learned that flash fiction doesn’t need to be written quickly, but the final product should be brief (we listened to examples that ranged from 25 to 1000 words) and powerful. One of the discussion leaders talked about writing a story using 1000 words, then cutting his word count in half, then in half again. As you can imagine, if you cut a story to 250 words, you have to be meticulous in your word choices, the way you structure your sentences, and the devices you choose to move the narrative forward.
My challenge to you, should you choose to accept it, is to write a flash fiction piece, 500 words or less, with an overarching “Foodie” theme. Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer, why not try something new? I can’t offer you a fabulous prize for your winning entry, just the satisfaction that comes from flexing your brain cells. If you decide to take the challenge, and you’re brave enough to share, you can send your Foodie 500 to projectflip180 at gmail dot com.
Now go write!
It was a Breakfast For Dinner kind of night. A chant went up, and they demanded the old standby, Puffy Pancakes. Hardly the wholesome, locally-sourced, in-season meal I had in mind, after all of my crunchy reading during the past weeks.
We started to bargain. I agreed to make the pancakes in two batches: the first would be plain, for Sam the purist (he won’t even take syrup on his puffy pancakes), and the second would be my improvised somewhat-healthier version. They agreed to try both types. Both batches were made using the same batter, and the extra ingredients were added to the healthier muffin versions right before baking. Here’s our re-modified recipe:
Dutch Baby – 1/2 standard, 1/2 imps
Preheat the over to 425 F
Whisk together until smooth:
In the preheating oven, melt about 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter in a 9×9 or 8×8 baking pan. For our dueling batches, we also used 12 standard size muffin tins, and melted a dollop of butter in each tin.
If you’re looking for good resource books about sustainable food production, The Natural Kitchen (2010) by Deborah Eden Tull and The Locavore Way (2009) by Amy Cotler are both worthwhile choices. Though the books include some recipes, each author is more intent on addressing broader questions about systems, sustainability, and mindfulness. Both books are dense with advice and inspiration for moving toward greener food systems. I especially liked Cotler’s chapter on “Open Recipes and Improvisations,” a style of cooking that works well in our home.
We have some simple, practical goals for our family meals. We want our meals to be:
Our fifth goal is more difficult to pin down. If I write, “Good for the environment” or “Good for the rest of the world,” it sounds like we’re on a positive track, but ultimately I don’t believe that any of our current food choices are truly good for the environment or the rest of the world. Our default shopping spot is Safeway (a traditional U.S. grocery store that seems no better or worse than any other chain). We buy packaged and processed foods, out of habit and because they seem less expensive. We haven’t done much with our backyard garden, except grow a lot of mint. We’ve become typical American consumers, and we think we’re too busy and too lazy to reform our habits.
In the name of reform and in the spirit of taking small steps to create big changes, we’ve got ten ideas to try, to get us back on a greener track.
What ideas would you add?
The Family Lab for Inquiry and Play 