The Charmed Kitchen

This broccoli had been in green bags for 4 weeks. Looks pretty yummy.

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I went to the grocery store. I have run out of some fresh produce including lettuce and Brussels sprouts and only a few oranges left but I still have plenty of food. Part of the point of this whole little experiment is about how much food we waste and how to waste less.

I’ve written in recent weeks about cleaning out freezers and pantries. I also wrote about “Green Bags”. It came up in conversation on Saturday night. With good reason. This photo of broccoli was taken on Saturday before it was added to our dinner. This is the same broccoli that I had packed in green bags in the very beginning of January. Peppers and oranges holding up well, too.

I am not suggesting that green bags are the only way or even the best way to store produce. I am saying that they seem to work pretty well for a lot of what I stored in them. Not sure how the long storage has affected their nutrition. For now I am just happy to have fresh stuff a month into this experiment.

Broccoli, oranges and peppers in early January

When I started this challenge for myself to see how long I could go without a trip to the grocery store I had no idea how many others would try to do the same. I have gotten e-mails from a number of people with what they are doing to use up what they have on hand and to avoid wasting money. Here are a couple of responses I have gotten.

Rita writes: You’ve encouraged us to “pare our wares” in our fridge, pantry and freezers. I cleaned out the rest of holiday leftovers from the kitch fridge and it looks great in there! We are condensing and closing down the chest freezer in the garage, keeping the 2nd fridge w freezer in the garage going.

From Margie: Today for dinner we made a frozen entre, Chicken Tikka Masala, with some left over kale greens, & whole wheat linguini, & found a pouch of chana Masala(chick peas). We decided not to buy any frozen or packaged foods until we use what we have. I think our menus may end up being exciting & different. We plan on only buying fresh staples, bread, milk, fruit, yogurt & cold cuts for lunches. Then I can wipe out the lfreezer. Your idea is a good one.
Marge

I decided to make Fridays meatless. While I still have plenty of chicken and fish in the freezer it won’t last forever so this is also an effort to make them last. For the meat lovers out there I assure you- meat free can be satisfying and delicious. Last Friday I made ravioli with cheese and pumpkin fillings. This week I am thinking lentils. Tasty, nutritious and quick cooking they are a great choice for a busy day. The recipe I have in mind tonight is the Chili Bean Spoon Bread. It’s a sort of lentil- chili with cornbread baked on the top. You can substitute other legumes if you like. Canned kidney or black beans would work well. Enjoy!

Chili Bean Spoon Bread

 1/2 lb. lentils

pinch of ground cloves

2 c. milk, you can use almond, soy or rice milk, too.

1/2 t. salt

2/3 c. cornmeal

4 T. butter or margarine

4 eggs or egg substitute

4 T. oil

2 large onions, chopped

1 clove minced garlic

1 T. chopped parsley or 1 t. parsley flakes

1 T. chili powder

1 t. ground cumin

1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained

salt and pepper to taste

In saucepan cover lentils with about 2 cups water and add cloves. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook, covered, until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. You may need to add a little more water. Meanwhile in another saucepan heat milk and salt almost to boiling. Stir in cornmeal and continue cooking, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and eggs and set aside. In oil sauté onions and garlic until tender. Add seasonings, tomatoes and lentils and heat until bubbly. Adjust seasonings. Pour lentil mixture into greased 2-quart casserole dish. Spoon over the cornmeal mixture. Set casserole dish in larger pan and add 1 inch of hot water to larger pan. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 30-40 minutes, or until bread is firm and golden. Serves 4-6.

In my classes I am always sharing some of the things I have learned that may make life in the kitchen a little easier. Here are a few of them. Please feel free to share this information with your foodie friends.

When is the oil ready? You’re wanting to fry something and you aren’t sure the oil is hot enough. Low-tech solution- just put a single kernel of un-popped popcorn in the pan with the oil. It will pop when the oil reaches 350 degrees.

How do I get all the food out of my food processor? It’s very frustrating to make something in the food processor and then try to navigate around the blade to get it all out. I am sure I am not the only person who has cut a rubber scraper on that sharp blade. The easy solution- scrape out what you can easily- leaving anything on the blade behind. Then turn the processor back on. Since it is nearly empty the remaining food will go to the outside of the work bowl- leaving the blade clean. Just remove the blade and finish scraping out the bowl.

How do I clean the flour off the work surface after making bread?  I love baking bread. My father was a baker and he taught me a little trick. Using hot water will cook the flour- causing it to get thicker and stickier. first scrape off any loose flour. Then clean counter tops with cold water. It will dissolve the flour without making it sticky. Use cold water to clean out bowls, too. Once the flour is gone you can wash with warm, soapy water.

How can I peel garlic faster? This is really fun. Just break apart a head of garlic into individual cloves. Place them in a bowl. Get another bowl that is the same size and turn it over on top of the bowl with the garlic, like a dome.  I like to use bowls with a nice edge on them- makes it easier to hold. Grab the bowls and shake them really hard for 10 seconds., When you take off the top bowl you will have a bowl full of peeled garlic cloves!

How do I get fat out off a pot of hot soup, stew or chili? This is an old trick of my Grandmother’s. If there is a lot of fat you can skim some off with a spoon. Then just drop in a tray of ice cubes. Bob them gently with a slotted spoon. The fat will freeze around the ice cubes. Work fast so they don’t melt. After the cubes are coated with fat just lift them out with the slotted spoon. You won’t dilute the soup- you’ll only add a couple of ounces of liquid.

How do I get honey and other sticky foods out of a measuring cup?  The easiest way I know is to spray the measuring cup with non-stick spray before adding the honey, molasses or other thick liquid. It will pour out quite easily. You can also add a little oil instead or coat the measuring cup with butter or margarine.

Fruit flies are around my kitchen- how do I get rid of them? Fruit flies are more common in warm weather but can show up any time of the year. Just take a jar or glass and pour in a little apple cider vinegar. Add a drop of dish washing liquid then cover the glass with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the wrap with a pencil and set on a kitchen counter- closest to where you are seeing the fruit flies. They will fly into the jar- but can’t find their way out. The detergent removes the surface tension of the vinegar so if they land on it, they will sink.

If you have other kitchen problems please let me know- maybe I can help you out. If you have tips you’d like to share please send them to me so I can post them.

My friend Janet asked me for some vegan info. I told her I would post some recipes and here they are. The layered salad is a lot of fun, very pretty and a way to use things like yellow and green split peas in some thing other than soup. The Minestrone recipe is a hearty soup- just perfect for chilly weather. Enjoy!

Layered Bean Salad

 1 c. each green split peas, yellow split peas and red lentils

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can butter beans, rinsed and drained

1 c. diced sweet onion

1 c. diced sweet pepper

1 c. grated carrot

Cook split peas and lentils separately just until tender. Split peas, both green and yellow will take 20 minutes. Red lentils will take about 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse each under cold water when done and set aside until ready to use, or you can cook them a day ahead and keep chilled. Each will yield about 2 1/2 c. cooked.

In large glass bowl, place the following ingredients in this order.Black beans, butter beans, green split peas. yellow split peas. onion, red lentils. carrots and peppers. Pour over dressing and chill several hours or overnight. Serve on a bed of greens.

Dressing *

1/2 c. oil

1/2 c. vinegar

1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2-3 T. sugar

1/2 c. parsley or cilantro

1 t. each chili powder, cumin and salt

dash hot sauce

Combine in a blender or food processor until smooth.

*Note: Any bottled dressing you like can be used. Italian works very well.

Meatless Minestrone

1 c. sliced celery

1 clove garlic, minced

1 c. diced onion

1 c. sliced carrots

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes

2 c. spaghetti sauce, without meat

1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

4 c. vegetable stock

1 c. t.v.p. (textured vegetable protein)

1 T. parsley flakes

1 t. oregano

1 t. basil

salt and pepper to taste

2 c. shredded cabbage

1 c. fresh or frozen green beans, cut in pieces

2/3 c. macaroni

Place all ingredients, except cabbage, beans and macaroni  in a kettle and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Add cabbage, beans and pasta and cook 10 minutes more.  Serves 6-8.

I am now more than 3 weeks from my last trip to the store for food. I’ve mentioned before that I am sure to run out of eggs before I go to the grocery store. I am planning at this point to not go to the grocery store until March 1st. May try for April 1st- but don’t really want to think about that yet.That mean another 5+ weeks before I get fresh supplies.

The egg situation: I actually have a fair amount of eggs right now. The real problem is their freshness. They will only keep for so long. I can and will freeze some. I have already. I have gotten a lot of surprised response when I mention freezing eggs.  I think it’s because people imagine me freezing whole eggs. Yes, you can freeze eggs. No, they are not frozen in their shells. I just crack a couple of eggs in a small freezer container. Then I date them and pop them in the freezer. They can be defrosted and used in baking. If you ever find yourself with more eggs than you can use- keep that in mind. Freeze some for later rather that tossing them. We already waste way too much food in this country already.

I have enough eggs for the next month and a half- but what about later? I had an interesting proposal from my niece, Sarah. She thought I might be able to barter for eggs. Bake bread perhaps, in exchange for a dozen eggs. I think that would still be in the spirit of what I am trying to do. It is about using what I have- not buying more. Trading sounds reasonable to me. Will sound even more reasonable to me after I run out of eggs. haha.

I am getting into week 4 of not going to the grocery store and as I had planned I have started having people over for dinner. That’s harder than just finding food for me. Friday night was a vegetarian meal that included 2 kinds of ravioli- cheese filled and pumpkin filled. One was serves with a red sauce- I did can a lot of tomatoes. The other was in pesto sauce- I also froze a lot of basil.  Saturday night’s dinner was in honor of Chinese New Year and included a vegetable soup with tofu. For this soup I did a pantry raid- using cans of baby corn, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and straw mushrooms. I also made a chicken stir fry served with 2 different rices and spring rolls.  I had made lavender shortbread cookies and used them for dessert both nights. Guests brought wine so I did have plenty. Thanks Joe and Linda. 🙂

Here is the recipe for lavender shortbread cookies. Rather than make them the way I normally do I made a half batch, rolled tablespoons of dough and pressed them into small disks. Shortbread cookies don’t change size much when baking so I was able to put them pretty close together on the baking sheet. I then sprinkled them with a little extra sugar. I baked them at 325 for about 20-25 minutes- just until they started to brown on the bottom.

Lavender Shortbread

1 c. sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

2 c. butter or margarine

4 c. flour

2-3 T. lavender blossoms

Cream together the one-cup of sugar and butter. Stir in the flour and lavender blossoms. Press mixture in to a greased 9×13 inch-baking dish. Cut or score into small squares, or on the diagonal for diamond shapes. Sprinkle with extra sugar and bake in a preheated 300-degree oven for 50-55 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Re-cut the squares as soon as you remove the shortbread from the oven. Cool before removing from pan. Make about 100 small squares.

One of the challenges of not going to the grocery store is trying to be creative with what is around. I made yogurt in my crock pot a couple of nights ago. It turned out great. The problem is I have a good supply of yogurt and I wanted to use this batch for something different. I also had been given some beautiful elderberries this summer. Special thanks to Sarah Taylor. I used them to make elderberry syrup.

I made juice from the elderberries and combined the juice in equal proportions with local honey. Cooked it for a few minutes then packaged it up in small containers and froze it. Elderberry syrup is great to take when you have a cold or sore throat. I decided to combine the syrup and yogurt and put this mixture in my ice cream machine. The result is a beautiful pale lavender confection. I am looking forward now to serving it to guests at my first dinner party.

That really is the point of the challenge for me, at least. Not just to live off stored foods but to use them in ways that are different and fun. It’s not just about whether I have enough food- but how can I use what I have to stretch my culinary skills.

Just wanted to thank all the students from last night’s class in Mentor. We had such a good time. Looking forward to Wok This Way next Tuesday. 🙂

Felt a little like the dairy princess yesterday. I decided to make cottage cheese and yogurt. Started off with powdered milk in both recipes. Thanks to a generous gift from Jonathan a few weeks ago I have a nice supply of dry milk. The funny thing is that I was sure I had plenty beforehand but he insisted on giving me extra. Smart guy!!

The cottage cheese was needed for pierogi filling. I am teaching “My Mother’s Polish Kitchen” through SELREC at Brush High School on Wednesday night.  I have a  book on cheese making but the cottage cheese recipes all needed ingredients I didn’t have. Luckily I remembered seeing Alton Brown make easy cottage cheese. Found his recipe which only required skim milk, vinegar and salt- well heavy cream- but that is sort of optional. It worked out perfectly. I little firmer than regular cottage cheese- but I like it better. Here is the link :

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/quick-cottage-cheese-recipe/index.html

My friend, Pam Calvey, asked what I was going to do about dairy while I was not going to the store. I replied that I had canned milk, dried milk, cheese and would be fine. I forgot to mention to her that I also had a pretty big carton of Greek yogurt. I bought it at Costco so you know it’s big. Still I looked at the yogurt the other day and realized its expiration date was coming up. Also, once opened it is supposed to be used in 6 days or so. I thought I had better try to make some or I would soon be out. Spurred on by the success of the cottage cheese I felt confident.

The yogurt is still in production as I am writing this. I have all sorts of recipes for making it at home. I no longer have a yogurt maker but I have made it without one before.

To make yogurt at home you need milk- you can use soy milk- and you need yogurt with active cultures.  The milk is warmed and then cooled and then some yogurt is stirred in. It then has to go through and incubation period.  Now the process is a little more precise that that- but you get the general idea. I have several recipes using a crock pot so I decided to give it a try.

I should have awakened to yogurt this morning- more like Kefir. All hope is not lost. Turned crock pot to warm for 30 minutes- turned off- covered it with a towel and let it be. Last peek revealed a product that has thickened considerably and with any luck will be yogurt soon. If it works- and I expect it will I can look forward to fresh cottage cheese and fresh yogurt whenever I want it without a trip to the store.

As I begin week 3 of not going to the grocery store I am thinking about the little things. Bread, for instance. I had a couple of loaves of store bought bread in the freezer. I am now down to 2 slices. If I want to eat bread I am going to have to bake my own. Not a big deal. I love to bake bread and prefer my own- but it takes time. I think we all kind of take stuff like bread for granted sometime. Running low?- run to the store. Well, I have taken that option out of the equation. So this morning I am baking bread. Will involve more time than running to the store- but the up side is that the house will smell yummy and I like my bread better.

The bread I am making today is 100% whole wheat. I know that is sometimes tricky at home. People tell me there whole wheat bread is too coarse or crumbly to slice for sandwiches.  Or they tell me it is too heavy and dense. It does not have to be that way at all. Whole wheat bread can be as soft and easy to slice at its white-flour counterparts. The process is a little different, though.

Gluten is the protein found in wheat flour that makes it stretchy and when worked in a yeast dough helps the bread to rise. Whole wheat flour has plenty of gluten- but it takes longer to get it stretchy. You can knead the dough longer but of you knead it adding flour as you go- the dough gets too heavy. If you knead it the 8-10 minutes you would knead white dough it won’t become stretchy and rises poorly. Kneading takes about 20 minutes with 100% whole wheat bread dough. The solution is to knead the whole wheat dough on a wet board. Rather than adding flour- use a little water or oil. Just enough to keep the dough from sticking. That way you can knead the dough long enough to develop the gluten. To test if the dough is stretchy enough pick it up and start to pull it apart. It should stretch thin enough that light shows through it before tearing.  If you are using a mixer to knead the dough- get it to the thick batter stage and then just let the machine run until the dough is stretchy. Unlike white flour doughs- which take 8-10 minutes allow the dough to knead about 15-20 minutes, the same as when kneading by hand. You can see why I love my Kitchen Aid mixer so much.

Here is the bread I am making today.

 100% Whole Wheat Bread

2 packets active dry yeast

2 2/3 c. warm water

½ c. oil

½ c. honey, molasses or maple syrup

6 ½ -7 c. whole wheat flour

½ c. non fat dry milk

2½ t. salt

Combine first 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir in 3 cups of the flour the dry milk and the salt. Beat with electric mixer for 3 minutes. Stir in enough flour for mixture to form a thick batter and continue mixing on low in mixer for 10-15 minutes. Dough takes time to become elastic. Add extra flour slowly until dough comes away from the sides of the work bowl, but not too soon. Note: if you must do this by hand add flour until dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl and knead with oiled  or wet hands on work surface for 10-15 minutes. Transfer dough to lightly greased bowl and cover, allowing to rise until puffy, about 1 hour. Punch dough down and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Divide in half and shape each half into a loaf. Place in a lightly greased 9×5 – inch pan. Brush top with oil and place a piece of plastic wrap over the top. Allow to rise until doubled. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Tent with foil after 20 minutes to prevent over browning of the top. Test for doneness by removing bread from pan and thumping on the bottom. Bread should sound hollow. Makes 2.