AT Fall Cure: Days 9 & 10

Day 9: Find a New Recipe and Cook Tonight

UPDATE: My husband hated this soup. He asked me for permission to toss it after a couple of days of taking it to work. I let him: and then I tossed the book the recipe came from!

I cook every night. Nonetheless, I found this new recipe to try:

Autumn Celebration Soup
from Canada's Best Slow Cooker Recipes, by Donna-Marie Pye.

1 lb (500g) rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1" (2.5cm) cubes (about 4 cups or 1 L)
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup (250 ml) chicken stock
1/2 ( 125 ml) cup dry white wine
2 cups (500 ml) water
2 tablespoons (25 ml) brown sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) caraway seeds
1 tablespoon( 15 ml) paprika
2 cups (500 ml) milk or light (5%) cream
Sour Cream
Crisp Bacon bits

1. In a slow cooker, combine rutabaga, onion, potato, carrots, stock, wine, water, sugar, caraway seeds, and paprika. Cover and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours, or on High for 6 to 8 hours, until vegetables are tender.

2. Strain the vegetables, reserving stock. In a blender or food processor, puree vegetables in batches. Transfer back to slow cooker; add reserved stock and milk, Heat on Low for 25 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.

3. Spoon soup into bowls and garnish with dollops of sour cream and a sprinkle of bacon bits.

I will skip Step. 2. (and likely Step 3!) This soup will be put in the fridge and kept all week for my husband to take to work for lunch.

(One of the disadvantages of frozen home made soup stock: takes a while to thaw, even after microwaving it).


Day 10: Make a List of Top Six Home Needs.

I already have a list.

It goes like this:

Daughter's Room:

• Hang curtains
• Sand ceiling
• Find solution for “hole” for Chandelier
• Shorten chandelier
• Buy inserts for organizing desk
• Paint ceiling
• Paint shelves in alcove
• Framing Horse Picture project
  

Laundry Room:

• Paint paneling wall
• Paint small dresser
• Re-hang drying cord
• Re-configure donation station table to hold four laundry baskets.

Upstairs Bathroom:

• build new shelves
• Paint new shelves
• Hang new shelves
• Add decorative bits to new mirror
• Install mirror.

Kitchen:

• Paint upper cabinet frames
• Paint upper cabinet doors
• Wash walls
• Paint walls
• Paint pine shelving?

Back Entry:

• Re-paint boards yellow
• Mount hooks on boards
• Mount boards to wall
• Paint walls and "ceiling."

Basement Storage Area:

• Hang new curtain line (attach to old, somehow?)
• Re-hang curtains

Or does Maxwell mean we ought to make a list of the repairs and structural sort of things we need to do? In which case, there is this list of six things:

1. Replace floor tiles in Kitchen
2. Replace flooring in upstairs bathroom
3. Re-wire house
4. Repair cracks in foundation
5. Insulate walls in Basement
6. Install exhaust fan for stove

Or as he did in the video, does Maxwell mean an off-the-top of your head "Today, this sounds good list?"


1. Purchase and install new bath tub surround.

I have long wanted simple, classic 4x4 black and white tiles here. (All white, with a horizontal strip of black.) Inexpensive and not that difficult to do, assuming the wall is sound.

But, it is never going to happen. It would have to be a DIY to fit within our budget: and given this is our only tub and shower--I can't see it being out of commission for the week (or more) I would need to get it done. I don't know. Maybe I'm just too exhausted by the whole idea.

I'm wondering if hubby and I can give each other a new tub surround (in white) installed for Christmas? Imagine, picking something out in a store: and then having someone else do the work. Wow. What a concept.

2. Spot clean or purchase new living room carpet.
My son is eating in there without permission and when we leave the dog alone, he leaves us "presents." Enough said.

3. Build a headboard for the Master bedroom
This has been on my Cure list for some time!

4. Hang the Photo from Montreal in Living Room

5. Do I really have to come up with something else just to prove a point?

6. Well, I'll consider the point proven. We have lots to do. Anyone who is remotely interested in their space can think of things to do. This cure is not for the likes of me, I think. The Eight step cure has room enough: but not this one. Oh well. I'm getting lots done, aren't I?

Dinner: Wednesday Night.

This is actually part of my camping repertoire. It's super simple.

Beany Beef Burritos.

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked beef
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 package reduced sodium taco seasoning mix

Fry the onions until transluscent in the oil. Add the beef and beans and seasoning mix. Warm through. Place onto burritos, tortillas or wraps and add toppings.

Toppings:

chopped green onion
diced tomatoes
shredded cheddar cheese
chopped cilantro
sour cream
salsa

Like this:



I used a can of mixed beans for the Pinto and the Black as I'd used up the latter in a Barley soup I made last night. As well, that's a yellow tomato mixed in with the red. Cucumbers are sitting in for the cilantro and the green onions.

Decade 5: Musing

The Goals.

Yes, the goals of CT.

I wrote about them here. But, more accurately, I should say, I pretended to write about them. What I wanted out of CT had really nothing to do with changing my cooking: what I really wanted from CT was something to support my weight loss efforts. I was in trouble, though, with the very first assignment. Drooling over cook books with elaborate methods and exotic ingredients did not help me in the least. But, through reading fellow participant's blogs (Kerry, I actually haven't thanked you but yours is one which has helped this metamorphosis in my thinking) I have learned so much.

The education I have received about eating and cooking has been amazing...and I now have real honest to goodness goals for myself, my family, our budget and our food.

BUT, before I chew on all that, let's take a much smaller slice of the problem, first, ok?

I plan suppers around the following formula I learned from my grandmother. A "dinner" (whether prepared and consumed at noon as she and my grandfather did or after 5pm) should be made up of a hunk of meat, vegetables (translated, usually into "something green") and something starchy--usually potatoes. In my household, that starchy something has been expanded to include pasta, (though not much, because I always think it has to have a sauce and I'm just not into making a fourth thing), rice and potatoes. Yeah, I know. Not very exciting.

Enter, stage left, Bittman. Yes, again.

He has a whole page on cooking "Whole Grains without Measuring." And here the "starch" options are greatly expanded: brown rice, quinoa, barley (any type), oat groats, buckwheat groats, steel-cut oats, millet, cracked wheat, hominy, whole rye, farro, kamut, or wild rice or wheat berries.

Now, some of this I've never even heard of (farro? kamut? oat groats?), some I've heard of but don't quite know what it is and have never seen (wheat berries, hominy, millet, whole rye), and some I have (buckwheat, barley), right here at home, waiting for me to do something with it other than what I had had planned (whatever that may have been, though with the buckwheat it was most certainly Tabbouleh).

Then, of course, there's a whole page of the green coloured "side-bars" detailing "what to do" with them. I love it. I just love it! The versatility combined with the basics is like getting the little black dress and then going any direction you want with the proper accessories. It's wonderful.

And this, without knowing it, is exactly what I was looking for. In my original post I'd mentioned wanting something for those nights I "don't want to cook." Well, the key to that, I've learned, is to make lots of food when I make it, so that "left over" night is a built in non-cooking night for me. As well, I've decided to make a pot of soup every week: something for lunches, yes, but also something to serve when I don't feel like cooking. We needed more variety in our dinners--as well as simplicity. And, with Bittman, for now, anyway, I've found it.

So, for tonight's supper, I'm going to boil up some of the barley we have lying about with a bit of zucchini and broccoli mixed in with Olive Oil Drizzle. Supper itself is Crock Pot chicken stew: chicken breats with onions and carrots bathed in chicken broth, apple juice and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar). I made the juices into a sauce with some flour and water and a great deal of reduction.

added later--

Here's the Barley:


I cannot believe how good that barely was. I chopped and steamed some broccoli while I sauteed some onion and zucchini in olive oil. The barley still had a lot of liquid, though it seemed done, so I put it into the frying pan and added the broccoli, now chopped into infinitesimal, non-noticeable little bits. (I don't like broccoli). I doused it quickly with a splash of olive oil to prevent it from sticking to the pan, then added a few squirts of lemon juice. Since I now had two of the three components for the "drizzle" on my barley, I went ahead and added some dried parsley. It still needed "something" so per Bittmen's green coloured side-bar alternative suggestions, I added a pinch of oregano. It was perfect. Even the kids liked it, though my daughter called it "spicey." I made 1/2 cup raw--about what I'd make for rice--and I barely had any left over. Too bad. I was looking forward to putting it in the frying pan tomorrow and frying an egg into it for breakfast!

CT: In Sympathy with Omnivore's Everywhere.

Yes, I must be the last person in the Enlightened World to read Micheal Pollen's "The Omnivore's Dilemna."

While reading this book, I've been compulsively reading labels, of course. I challenge anyone not to read a label while reading this book! Here in Canada, though, I have never, ever seen anything with HFCS on it. I don't think our food is free of it, not at all. I just don't think it has to be on the label.

Last night I blasted through the chapters all about the corn in our meat supply while snacking on a sleeve of soda crackers. Of course, I'd read the label when I'd taken out the sleeve. Back upstairs, after I'd eaten them, I read about the whole system of processing corn into food additives. And then I read a little tid-bit about TBHQ. In my crackers, apparently. Yep, there it is on the ingredient list. Apparently it's akin to Butane.

I also found out last night that I was 19 when the chicken nugget was invented. Nineteen! I really hadn't realised how different my childhood had been from my daughter's. It sort of scares me. I'm going to go into a shop which sells Bison tomorrow and see what that's all about. But that's tomorrow. Tonight, I had to get dinner on the table and I didn't feel like feeding us corn-fed meat.

So, in the spirit of whole foods and eating from the pantry, I made a soup from Food Matters, by Mark Bittman. This, by the by, is the recipe book I've been waiting for. It will take me to the next level of learning to cook. Thus far, I have been a slave to recipes. In the past, I've been known not to make a particular dish if I didn't have the exact ingredient called for. And yes, I have run out and bought it when I "had to."

I now repent of my folly.

Bittman is great in that for every recipe he has, he gives the "basic" recipe. Then in either a header or otherwise, he presents add-ons and options. I really had no idea cooking could be this innovative and creative. For example, oatmeal gets both sweet and savoury options. Savoury Oatmeal? Cool.

So, tonight, I decided to make his Fast Mixed Vegetable Soup.
Here's the basic recipe:

3 Tablespoons olive oil, or more.
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped. (I love that! Smashed and chopped. It's what I do!)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
6 cups vegetable stock (or water)
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped. (Canned tomatoes are fine...) or 1/4 cup tomato paste
4 to 6 cups quick cooking vegetables, like green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, corn, cooked or canned beans, radishes, zucchini, or summer squash, or dark leafy greens like kale or collards, roughly chopped.
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves.

1. Put 2 tablespoons of the oil into a large, deep pot over medium heat. When it's hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring until the onion softens, about 5 minutes.



Can I just say that one carrot, one celery stalk and one onion is a lot of food? It always astonishes me.

2. Add stock, tomato, remaining vegetables; bring to a boil, then lower the heat so the mixture bubbles enthusiastically.


(This is my broth. I make batches of it from spent roasted chicken carcasses and vegetable peelings scraps. I started doing this a year ago as part of our efforts to live more frugally. I'm about due to make some more--and I've got everything I need already in the freezer plus what I peeled tonight.)

3. Cook, stirring every now and then, until all the vegetables are very tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil (oops, didn't see that!) and serve.

Then, in the book almost the entire page details various add-ins, from herb and spice substitutions (I used Cumin because I couldn't find the parsley) to adding root veggies and tapanade (whatever that is).

I confess I didn't go as hog wild as I had planned--I forgot to put in the broccoli I thought would be wise to use up tonight and I didn't get any farther with the root veggies other than registering we have butternut squash, sweet potato and beets on hand. Nope, I grabbed some frozen corn and this--ever preoccupied with making a meal with Whole and Complete Amino Acid Chains.



I was also a bit distracted by making what turned out to be my baking powder biscuit hockey pucks. They always turn out like hockey pucks.



I'm giving up, I think, and I'll try making Bittman's Easy Whole Grain Flatbread or something.

Muffins for Mella*

As I was reading Mella's post about menu planning, it struck me that a good home-made muffin is the work horse of the single gal's food life. Or, rather, it could be; if one likes muffins and doesn't mind baking.

It's a wonderful "on-the-go" quick breakfast food. A glass of OJ, a slice of honest cheddar, and a bran muffin and you've eaten "the most important meal." It's the proper pick-me-up at 4:00. Eat a properly proportioned muffin and you save money and add to your daily total fiber intake. What could be better? I love muffins. I'd forgotten how much, really. I make muffins every week: but they are strictly for my husband's snacks and lunches. When I'm out of losing mode and in maintaining mode, I'd like to reintroduce muffins back into my diet.

Especially these. They are from Jane Brody's "Good Food Book." It's one of those tomes you buy when you are a single person and realise you don't know anything about food or how to cook it. It has chapters on food like "Wheat and other Grains of Truth" and "Full o' Beans? You Bet" with helpful illustrations identifying various legumes. In the "Helpful Hints" section we have an introduction entitled "Cooking From Scratch Effectively" and for the unititiated, "How to Equip Your Kitchen."

With sub chapters called "Milling, The Rape of the Wheat Berry" you get a sense of the "slant" of this cookbook. Nonetheless, it was my Bible of sorts. It's in rough shape. I have lost the front cover and all publishing and copyright information. It has split in two in a most unfortunate way: the top half of pages 385 to 388 belong to one half of the book and their bottoms to the other. I hold it together with an elastic.



I actually have two favourite bran muffin recipes from this book. One makes the best muffins in the entire world. The other makes more: but you can store the batter in the fridge (though it takes up a lot of room. That wasn't a problem when I was single, but it is now, unfortunately) and bake them as you see fit.


I wish I could make a batch of either for you and post a picture but I don't make these anymore for chiefly four reasons.
1. My husband does not like raisins. They are part of what make these so good.
2. I don't like dealing with molasses.
3. These are quite moist and wonderful. The husband prefers his muffins dry.
4. See the above storage problem.

Nonetheless, I offer these with my best wishes for healthy nourishment.


Best-Of-Bran Muffins
This recipe makes 24.

3 cups shredded Bran cereal. (e.g., All Bran, 100% Bran, etc.)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup raisins
1 cup boiling water
2 eggs, lightly beaten.
2 cups buttermilk**
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt, if desired.

1. In a large bowl, combine cereal, egg, oil and raisins, and pour the boiling water over them. Set the mixture aside to cool slightly.

2. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, the buttermilk, and molasses. Add this to the partly cooled cereal mixture.

3. In another small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the cereal mixture, stirring just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Cover the batter with plastic wrap, wax paper, or a damp towel and let stand for 15 minutes, preferably for 1 hour.

4. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 24 muffin cups and divide the batter among them, filling each cup about 3/4s full. Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven, and, when they are slightly cooled, take them out of the tin and place them on a rack to cool completely.


Refrigerator Bran Muffins

This batter will keep for three weeks , tightly covered, in the fridge. This recipe makes enough batter for about 3 dozen muffins, but if you have the refrigerator space, Brody advises, "you could easily increase it."

3 cups whole-bran cereal (e.g., All-Bran or Bran Buds.)
1 cup boiling water
2 cups buttermilk**
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour, preferably stone ground
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt, if desired
1/2 cup raisins or other chopped dried fruit (optional). (Note: I have used chopped dried apricots.)

1. In a medium bowl, soak the cereal in the boiling water. Set the cereal aside to cool, and then stir in the buttermilk.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter or margarine and the sugar until they are well blended. Beat in the eggs, and then mix in the bran-buttermilk mixture.

3. Sift or stir together the all purpose and the whole wheat flours, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture to the bran mixture, stirring the ingredients just enough to combine them. Add the raisins or other dried fruit if desired.

4. Either refrigerate the batter in a tightly closed container for later use, or divide it among 36 well greased small muffin cups, about 2 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches, or 24 large muffin cups, filling each cup about 2/3rds full.

5. Bake the muffins in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove them to a rack to cool down to warm (they are best when eaten that way).


** prepare buttermilk by mixing 1 cup of skim milk (it must be skim or non-fat. I make this with 1/3 cup skim milk powder and 1 cup water) with 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar. Let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes before using.

*actually, these are muffins for everyone. And I don't even know if Mella likes muffins. But, I do like alliteration.

Three Been Salad

I found this recipe many years ago in an old recipe book written, I believe, in the day when canned veggies were considered superior to fresh.

To substitute fresh (or frozen) for canned, wash the beans, cut them up into appropriate sized pieces, then boil them until just done. (If they are soft enough to bite into and not mushy, they're perfect.) Drain them in a colander and douse with cold water to stop them from cooking further and cool them down.

(1 to 1 1/2 cup cut up beans would be about the right amount).

Adjust ingredients for taste--especially the dressing--it's a bit heavy on oil and sugar! (Sugar substitute works well, too, but still, use less!) I usually make about half. I don't like my salads swimming.

1 (1 pound) can cut green beans, drained
1 (1 pound) can wax beans, drained
1 (1 pound) can red kidney beans, drained.
1 cup minced celery
1 cup minced sweet green pepper
1 cup minced yellow onion
1/2 cup minced sweet or dill pickle (optional)

Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients, cover and chill several hours before serving.

This salad keeps for about a week or so, making it super easy to haul it out and have a bowl whenever the blood sugar gets low. In fact, see that bowl up there? That was breakfast!

The Bounty

The bushes straggle along the back fence and feed the birds. Most years they feast as we're usually on vacation when the berries ripen. But this year, we were home. And what a lot there are!

Monday night they had to be picked. One more day and they would fall right off the vines.


Yesterday, Aurelia and I made 14 jars of freezer jam. Today I made 18 lemon raspberry muffins,


and a pie.



In honour of summer, I offer you a piece, (I hope you'll forgive me. I forgot pie has to cool a bit before you cut into it! So the bottom crust--which I made from scratch, was a bit, um, solid. But just a bit.)


There's still plenty left for mixing into yogurt, putting on waffles and eating with cream. I wish you all could have some. The above bounty took only ten minutes to pick.