I’m slowly but surely starting to get back on with the normal routine of things after the craziness of the last month, which is something of a relief, because I think my head might have ’sploded if things kept up at the pace they were at. As I mentioned, my friend’s mother died, but the full on crazy didn’t stop there, because shortly afterwards (like – the evening after the memorial) I came down with what can only be described as The Worst Flu Of All Time. ALL TIME.

The flu had me laid up for a week solid, at of course – the worst time possible, since it was the week before Pantheacon. As if I wasn’t already stressed out and nervous, I now need to be rushed and frantic trying to get everything done the couple of days before, because I had been sick. Thankfully, after a couple of long days, I was able to get everything I needed to get done, done, go to Pantheacon and have a (mostly) good time. Amusingly, I did end up attending a seminar entitled “Sacred Seasons, Sacred Meals: Seasonal Food & Sustainability”, and the best thing I can say about it is that it’s inspired me to consider applying to do a seminar next year on Sustainable & Seasonal foods. Who knows if it’ll get accepted… But I think I might have to try, because it was just that bad.

One of the things that I try really hard to do as a general rule is have low-maintenance things cooking in the background while I straighten up around the house, make dinner, or whatever. Roasting a whole squash is one of those easy background processes that after you’ve done it a couple of times – you’ll think to yourself, why did I ever buy canned pumpkin? I mean, it requires next to no babysitting, it’s really hard to mess up, and the results are so easy and delicious. Cooking beans or whole grains for later use is also a good use of down time at home. I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but – if you have a couple of hours where you’re going to be at home and can breeze through the kitchen every so often – you can make beans.

In my recent fascination with all things Legume, I picked up these beans at a trip to the bulk-bins. They were simply listed as “Baby Garbanzos/Chana Dal” – which tickled my fancy a little bit, because I love trying out new things, and I’d never heard of Baby Garbanzo beans before. Upon closer inspection and a google search or two, I discovered that they’re really more like split Garbanzo beans. I had half of the pound earmarked for a Hummus, that I haven’t made yet, but for the other half I needed a little inspiration – so I looked around for some ideas and came across this site that waxes eloquent about the wonders of Chana Dal, which is where I came across the inspiration for this soup.

All things considered, if you are like me, and try to keep cooked beans and other conveniences like roasted squash in the fridge, this soup will go together so fast it will make your family’s head spin. 0-to-soup in 15 minutes or so. Not quite as quick as Campbells, sure – but not shabby at all, and much healthier and tastier. Plus, if you like it spicier, you can always kick it up a notch by adding in some extra chili powder, or what have you. The measurements on the spices are rough estimates. I strongly recommend adding spices to taste, because a lot of things can affect the flavor – age of your spices, the particular blend of curry, how hot/spicy/whatever you like it, etc…

Ingredients:

• 1 quart Pureed Butternut Squash*
• 1 quart Cooked Chana Dal in Cooking Liquid**
• 1 quart Stock or Leftover Chana Dal Cooking Liquid
• 1 onion; sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic; coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Brown Rice Vinegar (or to taste)
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1 tbs Grated Ginger
• 1 tbs Curry Powder (or to taste)
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Heat the Olive Oil in a large pot over medium heat
• Add the Onions and saute until tender and edges are beginning to turn golden
• Reduce heat and add the coarsely chopped Garlic
• Gently cook for about a minute to heat the garlic thoroughly
• Working in batches, puree the Chana Dal, onions, garlic, and butternut squash together
• Return puree to pot and add the Stock (or leftover Chana Dal Cooking Liquid, if you have it)
• Heat on low, gently, until warmed through
• Stir in the White Wine, Rice Vinegar (to taste), Ginger, Butter and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• In a small bowl, stir together the curry powder, cumin, and chili powder
• Take a spoonful or two of the soup, and stir together with the spice mixture to create a paste, this will help keep the spices from clumping instead of mixing in smoothly
• Add additional soup until paste becomes thinned
• Working to taste, add the thinned paste mixture to the soup until desired spice/heat level is reached
• Remove from Heat and stir in the Sesame Oil
• Serve Immediately

*To make your own Butternut Squash Puree, roast whole butternut squash in a 400° oven until tender. Allow to cool, remove and discard seeds and peel, and puree. One medium Butternut = appx 1 quart puree

**To cook Chana Dal, (or any other bean for that matter) Soak overnight (or atleast a few hours), place in a heavy pot with lid. Add 1 quart or so of stock, a bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary (optional), a sprig of Thyme (optional), and enough water to cover the beans by at least an inch. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer, once beans begin to soften, add a couple of liberal pinches of kosher salt, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until cooked to desired tenderness.

I’ve found myself having a hard time getting back in to the swing of things, with the craziness of the last few weeks. I’ve spent some time in the kitchen, but we’ve also eaten out more than usual. I think I’ve also gotten in to a rut, although I’ve been cooking some things, I haven’t really done anything particularly new or inspiring recently. That is going to change here soon, because I have a few ideas that I think will be very fun to blog – but in the mean time, I thought I’d do a restaurant review that had been on my To-Do list for several months now, Nibblers Eatery and Wine Bar.

We first visited Nibblers sometime in December, I’m not exactly sure when – but it had been on my radar for a while. As one of the very, very few restaurants in our area that focuses on local and sustainable food, I was keenly interested in checking it out. There was, however, a small stumbling block that kept us from going sooner – and that was, they happen to have the fortune (or mis-fortune, I suppose) of being right next door to our favorite sushi place. So it kept getting put off, because if we went out, we would frequently end up next door at the Sushi place instead. However, when we found out that one of Miss Thing’s friends knew the chef and owner, we decided it was time to make it a priority.

Since that first experience, we’ve gone a few more times – and it has definitely become short-listed to our favorite restaurants. Where we live, there are precious few restaurants that put any kind of emphasis on where their ingredients come from, and refreshingly – Nibblers puts a great deal of emphasis on where they get their food – frequently calling it out on the menu. They focus on Seasonal and Sustainable ingredients, and I believe the majority of them are sourced locally. As someone who is pretty passionate about the food that I make at home, I think it’s awesome to find a restaurant that cares as deeply as I do. When I look at their menu and know that the cheese that I’m eating came from Cowgirl Creamery, that the lettuce came from Capay Valley, that the pork is Berkshire, and so on, it makes me feel good. I mean, I try not to get all preachy on my friends and loved ones, but I do feel very strongly that local and sustainable food is worth the extra effort and cost, atleast most of the time. Like a lot of restaurants that focus on seasonal ingredients, Nibblers Menu will change frequently – typically they will have a monthly regional theme, with some smaller weekly changes depending on produce availability and such. The nice thing about this set up is, every time you go (unless you’re going more frequently than once a week, naturally) there will always be something new for the adventurous to try. Also important to note is that the menu is Tapas (small-plates) style, meaning most of the portions are small-ish, designed to be shared, and you will probably need 2-3 plates per person.

The Nibblers location is small and intimate, charming – with wine crates stacked strategically to create separate spaces and to have wine bottles and other interesting food related objects places to be displayed. There are several strategically placed little nooks containing books, some of them well worn, and all with some sort of relation to food or cooking – in fact, if it wouldn’t have been rude, there were a few that I wanted to lean over a table for to check out the titles. Fortunately, my Momma taught me better than that, so I didn’t. lol The restaurant is family owned, so on busy nights, you will sometimes be greeted by a young teenage girl, helping out the family for a little spending money. Then they give you a little dish of what I think are shrimp flavored chips, that are fairly addictive – in fact, I may need to hunt down a source for them for a movie night snack one of these days.

After we placed our order, we were offered the Nibble of the day, typically a one bite Amuse-bouche. When we went yesterday, the Nibble of the day was a pita chip, topped with a soft cheese, a sprig of chickweed, drizzled with oil. I’ll admit, this was probably one of my favorite offerings of the evening. The flavors combined nicely to tingle the appetite and get me geared up for the remainder of the meal.  It also put me in mind of spring, and how the season is beginning to turn. Every time I go to Nibblers, the Nibble of the Day puts me in mind to make up little one bite snacks for get togethers. The last couple of times we went, we looked over the Prix-Fixe, and didn’t find enough there to interest us – despite the fact that it is undoubtedly the best value on the menu. This time, however – there was enough listed that we found appealing, so we decided to give it a try.

In addition to the Prix-Fixe menu, we decided to get an order of the entirely-too-addictive Flash Fried Spinach, something we tried on our last trip and is considered to be one of the mainstays of Nibblers, and is definitely one of my personal favorites. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, because these spinach leaves are amazing. They are delicate, and crispy, and an almost melting quality when you eat them. I highly recommend trying them – if nothing else for the very cool textural experience. For the record, Mr. Man has specifically banned me from attempting to make these at home. Something about how we’d all die of spinach overdose if I were to successfully replicate them.

We also ordered the Moroccan Seafood B’stilla off the regular menu, mostly because I’m just a huge, huge fan of B’stilla, which is another dish that I’m technically not ever supposed to make at home. Typically B’stilla is made with poultry, eggs, almonds, cinnamon, and powdered sugar in Phyllo, for a sweet/savory crispy pie type thing, and prepared right, it’s to die for. The Seafood B’stilla was very good – although not what I would call a B’stilla really, since it lacked the complex sweet/savory combination, and was more like a seafood Pasty or Hand Pie. Aside from that minor complaint, it was delicious. The Spicy Harissa Emulsion that was served with it was a big hit with Mr. Man – I think he ended up eating all of it except for a couple of small tastes from me, since I’m a big wuss and couldn’t handle the heat… lol.

The first course of the Prix-Fixe was a Crispy Risotto Cake, with chanterelles, topped with a red pepper emulsion and mizuna. It reminded me a little bit of the deep fried macaroni that we used to get sometimes at a restaurant in the city, since it had a similar texture… crispy on the outside, but warm, cheesy, and soft on the inside, but from there the resemblance ended – because this was much more awesome. The risotto was so creamy and cheesy, with little chunks of chanterelle Mushrooms embedded in it, while the outside was deliciously crispy and golden brown. The Red Pepper emulsion was a perfect complement – and even the leaf of butter lettuce was completely devoured.

Next was the savory Chanterelle Flan Tart, made with a Seasonal offering by Cowgirl Creamery called Devil’s Gulch, farm eggs, and rapini. If I’m not mistaken, the Rapini got the same treatment as the flash fried spinach earlier, since the leaves were crispy, although I could be wrong, as the stems were not as crispy. The tart was very quiche like, and enjoyable. However, this dish wasn’t really my favorite dish. It was fairly oily, whether from the rapini or the tart I can’t really recall, but it was definitely a distraction. Aside from that small complaint, it was still very good.

For the “main course” we had a choice of Grilled Meyer Natural Hanger Steak with heirloom chicories and sherry creamed chanterelles, or the Maple Leaf Duck en Croute. Mr. Man and I both didn’t really have to think too hard about that choice though, since both of us are ginormous Hangar Steak fans. And what amazing Hangar Steak it was. Perfectly Medium Rare, with creamy sauce and big chunks of chanterelles, and tender enough to cut with a butter knife. Mr. Man said it was one of the bestest hangar steaks he’d ever had, and was definitely the highlight of the meal.

Dessert was a Passion Fruit Crème Brûlée, served with a shortbread-like cookie, and a couple of fresh raspberries (where did they find fresh raspberries this time of year??). I tend to like my caramel to be a little lighter, so I found the burnt sugar topping to be a little strong for me, but the passion fruit custard was simply amazing – so rich, and creamy. It’s got me itching to make some custard with the mangoes that I received in my FFTY box. I also loved the little shortbread cookie that came with it. It had teeny little chunks of dried fruit in it, with a soft, tender crumb, and was a perfect complement to the custard, and together was a great way to end a great meal.

One thing we forgot to order this time, that I want to specifically call out, because they ROCK, is the flatbreads. If you go, please make sure to order a flatbread. They are amazing.

In the end, I think this place is pretty awesome – and the fact that they are convenient to us makes it just that much better. They are spendy – but the trade off is you can really feel good about supporting a local business, local farms, and sustainable farming. And the food is very good. For those of you who enjoy wine, there is an extensive wine selection, and various wine flights – as well as micro brewery beers both bottled and on tap. I imagine that probably deserved more than a blurb in the summary, but since we aren’t wine people it’s really hard to write about their selection very well. I did try one of their wine flights last time we went, and found a couple of wines I didn’t hate, but I think I still need to work on developing my wine palate. Also, we have never had a problem getting seated – although I think the word might be getting out, because last night they were packed to the gills and we almost didn’t get a seat. Of course it was a spur of the moment decision to go so it was probably our own fault, if you are going out for a special occasion I’d recommend having a reservation, just in case.

As far as service goes, this restaurant isn’t for the quickly eat and then go person. A visit to Nibblers is the main event, not the opener. When you come, expect to spend some time lingering over your food, your wine, etc… The keyword here is ’savor’. Go ahead and have a little chat with Trace, the Patisserie, Hostess, and All-Around-Wealth-Of-Information, if she’s not busy. If you’re lucky, Chef Daniel might poke his head out of the kitchen to say hello, and if you’re like me you’ll have to bite your tongue to prevent yourself from geeking out on the food because you don’t want to keep him from getting back to the kitchen to make your next course… Basically what I’m saying is – the service is awesome, but don’t expect to be in and out, or if you do want to get in and out, you need to communicate your expectations to your server, who can then guide and pace the meal accordingly. Expect to spend $30-40 on food per person if you order À la carte, roughly, and then whatever drinks you get on top of that.

Before I start with my regular post, I just want to apologize for my less than stellar post rate the last week or two. Sadly, my dear friend’s mother passed away recently, and I have been spending much time and energy with her, trying to help in whatever way I can with this unexpected tragedy. I won’t dwell on sadness for this post, but I did want to offer up some small explanation. My heart goes out to my friend and her family.

This Chicken was three weeks in the making – lol! I had ordered a Gleason Ranch Chicken two weeks in a row before I finally received one on the third week. Frustratingly, Planet Organics ended up being out of stock on them the first two times I ordered – which left us without our weekly Meat-As-Main-Dish meal, since I didn’t order a back-up plan. Of course, on the third week, having learned my lesson about Chickens and being out of stock, I decided to order back-up meat, in the form of some Marin Sun Farms Sirloin, and I end up with both. Just my luck.

My initial plan was to portion up the chicken in to breasts, legs, thighs and wings – poach the breasts for chicken salad or casserole, freeze the wings until I had a couple more sets to make Buffalo Wings, and roast the legs and thighs. Unfortunately, the chicken arrived in a half-frozen state, leading me to believe it was previously frozen, so I decided not to risk the loss of quality by freezing the wings again. Boo. I was really bummed. I also broke my come-apart kitchen shears disassembling the chicken. Which also bummed me out. They weren’t anything special, but now I have to replace them. <sigh>

Roasting Chicken and Potatoes on a cold winter evening makes for a great comfort food – especially when there’s any kind of malaise making it’s way through your household. Miss Thing was home sick with some sort of bug yesterday, and it looks like Mr. Man has the same thing now. Fortunately, this dish is so nice and simple to throw together leaving plenty of spare time to clean up – and even watch some television while it roasted. Add a tossed salad, and you have a hearty meal, and only one dirty pot. When I first planned to make this, I thought I had some carrots to add to the pot as well, but I when I went digging in the fridge I realized I was mistaken. If you have them, I would say add them – they’d make a nice addition. But with or without them, it’s durn tasty. One other note – because I had been mucking about with the chicken for while, and then needed to start dinner, I didn’t have time for a proper brining. I’m going to list what I did and how I did it, but if you have the time, inclination, and Plan-ahead-ed-ness™, I’m sure your results would be much improved by an overnight brine in more flavorful liquid.

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Leg Quarters
• 2 Chicken Wings
• 3 lbs Red Potatoes; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 1 Onion; diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 2 small sprigs of Rosemary; minced
• 1 tbs and 1 tsp Olive Oil; divided
• Kosher Salt
• Water

Method:

• Place the chicken parts in to a bowl
• Cover with atleast an inch of cool water
• Add 1 tbs or so of Kosher Salt (a very generous couple of pinches)
• Set aside while chopping and prepping other ingredients
• Preheat Oven to 350°
• Place the potatoes, onions, garlic and rosemary in to a dutch oven
• Toss the potatoes mixture with the tablespoon of Olive Oil and a generous sprinkling of kosher salt
• Press the potatoes in to the bottom of the pan
• Drain and pat dry the Chicken Parts
• Rub remaining Olive Oil and another sprinkle or two of kosher salt on to the chicken parts
• Place the Chicken on top of the potatoes
• Cover and roast for 40 minutes, or until juices run clear and potatoes are cooked through
• Uncover and broil for 1-2 minutes to crisp skin, if desired.

Everyone needs a little wake up reminder every once in a while – I received mine, earlier this week, when I managed to give myself a pretty bad cut on my thumb while cooking, which resulted in a trip to Urgent Care. Fortunately, I didn’t end up needing stitches – but I was given a tetanus shot and told to take it easy on my hand the next few days. Unfortunately, this happened right before the monthly Diablo Valley Pagan’s Meet & Greet – which means that I was scrambling that day, trying to come up with something easy and simple to bring with me.

Of course the whole week was kinda meh – the thumb was just the crappy icing on a crappy cake. We had a whole week straight of storms – and rainy weather never really brings out my happy-happy side, nevermind the fact that a certain young Miss Thing was having issues with a homework assignment this week. It got finished, but there was some last minute cramming getting in there – I think that was partially a parent-fail, since she was supposed to be writing a court room dramatization – and we never watch court room dramas really, so she was kind of clueless about the whole dealio. Thank goodness for “A Few Good Men” – lol!

We’ve also developed a new obsession – one of my sisters had mentioned that we might like a show called Dexter. Which – er… ah… we ended up liking. A lot. So much that we’ve been up very late in the evenings all week watching it. Causing us to have many short-sleep-ed nights. Okay, the show is CRACK. Can’t-Stop-Watching-Episode-After-Episode-CRACK. <cough> So, erm… yeah, there’s been a lot of Dexter watching going on – which has been kind of at odds with my Be-More-Productive resolve. The next week promises to be pretty durned lame, too – lots of late night evenings for Mr. Man. Some big hubaloo at work this week. It’ll be okay, just not really looking forward to it.

Speaking of things that I’m not sure I’m really looking forward to – I’ll be attending Pantheacon, next month – which I’m pretty nervous about. I’ve never been to a convention, but I’ve heard a lot about them – and can make some educated guesses about what it will be like… Which only makes me nervouser. I don’t like going to the mall on the weekends because it gets crowded – and now I’m going to spend an entire weekend packed in to a hotel with thousands of other people. I’m probably crazy. No, I’m definitely crazy. Anyways. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll run in to friends from San Diego – there are quite a few people that I’ve lost touch with over the years that it’d be nice to talk to and get proper contact information on. One of the bizarre Pagan Cultural problems is that your real name and the name that you actually go by in the community can often be pretty different – which can make it hard to facebook stalk… er… find them again. Well actually – that can also be a problem for any internet handle -> real life association. I’m rambling, but you probably get the idea.

I’m sure I’ll have an awesome time though – and I’m probably just being my normal worrying too much self about the whole issue. But aside from the people and crowds, I’m actually a little concerned about food for the Con. Supposedly there’s limited (re: Expensive and not very good) dining, no refrigeration – and forget trying to find anything local/sustainable. My sister says that we’ll be taking a cooler – so I’m trying to come up with some ideas that would be good for quick, grab and go snacks and meals that will still be vaguely healthy. I would prefer to have things available that don’t need refrigeration or reheating – which will be a neat trick, I’m sure. I have a couple of ideas – but if anyone wants to suggest some, I’m all ears. I don’t, however, think I’ll be bringing these absolutely decadent Samoas with me – since then I’d probably never want to come out of the hotel room, lol.

Every time Girl Scout Cookie time comes along, I always think to myself that I should try making Samoas – because they are like my Kryptonite. I love them and always order several boxes. Then of course, they’re gone and I don’t get any for the rest of the year. Which, let’s face it – is probably good for my waist line, but still a sad, sad thing. Last weekend, my neighbor stopped by with her daughter who just recently entered in to Daisy Scouts, with a big glossy flier and an order form. Of course I ordered some, but they don’t get here for weeks and weeks. So late in the afternoon on the day of my DVP meeting, with a big ol’ cut on my thumb, an aching arm, and only a couple of hours to spare, I decided it was a perfect time to try and make Samoas to take to the meet & greet. Have I mentioned I’m crazy? I just barely got them dipped, drizzled and set before I had to dash out the door… but even still, they turned out so delish that I knew I had to post about them if I had any leftover.

Fortunately, although we had a few new faces and a decent-ish turn out, I ended up with enough leftover to take some pictures of when I got home (if maybe not the prettiest ones). They actually go together pretty quickly – and are a more-than adequate substitute if you happen to be outside of Girl Scout Cookie Season and craving some caramel coconut goodness. The real trick to making these decadent treats though, would definitely be to use the best ingredients you can – especially the chocolate. I ended up using some terrific flake coconut that I had in the pantry, with some lovely dark Valrhona Chocolate bars that my nearby Trader Joes carries. If I’ve said it once, I know I’ve probably said it a milli0n times – when making anything with only a few ingredients it’s even more important that you use the finest ingredients you can lay your hands on. Your tastebuds will thank you.

A couple of other quick notes – next time, I would probably pre-bake the crust. I didn’t this time, and although I loved the tenderness, it did make them harder to dip – since the bars kinda wanted to crumble a little bit. Post-dipping, they held together fine, since the chocolate provided more structure for them – I also might consider using shredded coconut next time – mostly because cutting the bars was a pain with the big flakes of coconut, and I imagine it would be easier with finely shredded coconut instead. Which is really too bad, because I loved the taste and texture of the flakes. I also tempered the chocolate – unlike the time I made Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies. If you don’t want to bother, it will probably be fine to simply melt the chocolate and dip. You will have to keep them in the fridge to make sure they stay set up, but they’ll still taste good. For the record, although tempering was a pain, I’m glad I did since it made for a more finger friendly snack at the Meet & Greet – and I’ll probably temper from now on.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups Sugar
• 3 sticks Butter; softened; divided
• 1 cup Sour Cream; Room Temperature
• 2 cups Flour
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 cups Unsweetened Flake Coconut
• 1 cup Chopped Pecans (optional)
• 10 oz Fine Quality Dark Chocolate; coarsely chopped in to chunks
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt; divided

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Place the 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-low heat
• Cook the sugar without stirring until the sugar begins to melt, liquefy and caramelize, at which point you can gently swirl the pan around
• Once the caramel is completely liquefied and golden dark brown in color, remove from heat and add the butter.
• Stir to combine (careful – the caramel will spit and hiss)
• Add the Sour Cream, vanilla, and 1/4 tsp of the kosher salt. Stir to combine.
• Set the caramel aside to cool
• Line a 9″x13″ pan with Parchment Paper
• In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, and remaining 1/4 tsp of Kosher Salt
• Add the remaining two sticks of softened butter to the flour mixture and mix together to form a soft dough
• Press the crust mixture evenly in to the bottom of the parchment lined pan
• Stir the coconut and pecans (if using) in to the caramel, then spread evenly over the crust
• Bake for 45 minutes, or until crust is set
• Cool Bars completely before cutting
• Cut the caramel bars in to squares
• Temper the chocolate
• Take 2/3’s of the chocolate and place it in to a medium sized bowl
• Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water
• Stir the chocolate and use a candy thermometer to heat to around 105°
• Remove from heat and stir in the reserved 1/3 of the chocolate chunks until they melt to bring the temperature down to 88°
• Monitor the temperature and try to keep it at or close to 88° while dipping and drizzling, returning to the saucepan of water when neccessary (do not heat above 89-91° or you’ll have to add more chocolate to start the temper over)
• Dip the bottoms of the bars in the chocolate and place on a sheet of wax paper to set
• When all bars have been dipped, drizzle with remaining chocolate

When I was growing up, we ate beans occasionally. Mostly from a can, and usually in the form of Soup, Chili or Baked Beans. It wasn’t until recently, however – that I really learned how yummy beans could be. I mean, when I would eat beans in chili, or soup – usually it was the flavor of the seasonings and spices, that carried the dish. Chili powder, tomato sauce, ham, etc… And the beans, ever willing to adapt to different situations, were the quiet partner in the back, soaking up flavors and adding protein. The “wind beneath the wings”, so to speak.

But beans can be more than the nearly-silent and supportive partner – and if you try out these heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo, I’m sure you’ll agree. I was first turned on to Ranch Gordo by this post about heirloom beans on the Kitchn. I told myself I’d make it a point to go out and get some as soon as possible. And I was floored by what I found. Unlike the background singers of my youth, opened from a can and added to other dishes – these beans are so delicious you won’t want to add anything to them, because they shine so brilliantly on their own. And it’s beyond simple to make – I don’t know if I’ll ever want to buy canned beans again. If you have a lazy Saturday afternoon hanging around the house and relaxing, you can have these beans for dinner.

Of course, like any dried bean – it does tend to work better if you soak the beans overnight. However, if you’re like me and you sometimes forget, just soak them for a couple of hours in the morning before cooking, and you should get most of the benefit. The picture above is the Rio Zape beans from Rancho Gordo after soaking and draining, but before cooking. They’ve plumped up a lot, and have this unique striping/swirling pattern that give them a distinctive look. After cooking, the color pattern becomes more subtle, but it’s more than made up for in flavor. I’ve never had anything quite like them, although the closest bean to the Rio Zape would probably be the pinto bean – so  in a pinch you can substitute pintos, but you’ll really be missing out, because these are much better than the pintos I’ve had in the past.

Okay, so I know I’m starting to sound like a star struck fan-girl, but you really do have to go out and give these beans a try. Or, if not these beans, then give making other beans from scratch – because the recipe I’m going to provide is pretty much the same for nearly any variety. I love to make up a batch of beans about once a week, stick them in the fridge, and use them for quick meals during the week. It does take a little bit of a time commitment in terms of someone actually being home, but they are really low on the work & complexity scale. Put in a pot, cover with liquid, simmer until done. It’s literally that simple. You can putter around in the garage, mow the lawn, watch a video, knit a sweater, or whatever else you would normally do during an afternoon at home – just popping in to the kitchen every so often to give the pot a swirl with a spoon and add water if neccessary. Then, when your significant other says “What’s for dinner?” You can dust a little flour on your nose, give them an aggrieved look, and tell them you’ve been laboring for hours making from-scratch beans just for them. Let the kudos come rolling in.

These beans would be suitable in any application where you might normally use Pintos – Chili, Soup, Refried Beans, etc… Although so far, my favorite way by far has been lightly dressed with a little bit of Feta Cheese, a drizzle of some fine quality olive oil, a sprinkle of Kosher Salt, and a thick slab of Mr. Man’s homemade French Bread. We had that for dinner the other night, with a side of sauteed mushrooms and kale from our recent FFTY box, and it was just a perfect and easy weeknight meal.

It was definitely a nice change of pace from our being-lazy-dinners we’ve had so many of lately. LOL – it feels good to be getting back in to the swing of things. We finally beat the video game we’d gotten sucked in to, and now I’m determined to try and get back in the kitchen (and on the website). I have a few things that I’m working on, and eventually I want to post about them, but for now I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it just yet.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dried Rio Zape Beans (or other Pinto-Style bean)
• 1 quart Stock (I used Scrap Stock, but you can use whatever – even water, since the beans will create their own pot liquor, too)
• 1 sprig of Rosemary
• 1 Sprig of Thyme
• Water
• Kosher Salt
• Feta
• Fine Quality Olive Oil
• Crusty Bread

Method:

• Rinse and pick over beans, discard any debris
• If possible, soak beans overnight (or atleast for a couple of hours)
• Drain and rinse beans until water runs clear
• Pour the beans in to a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid
• Add the stock, rosemary, thyme and enough water to cover the beans by atleast an inch
• Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer
• Simmer, stirring every once in a while until beans begin to soften – (add more water if neccessary to keep an inch of liquid over the beans)
• Add a couple generous pinches of kosher salt and continue cooking until tender
• Cooking time will vary depending on type/age of bean and desired level of tenderness – cook to taste
• Before Serving, fish out the stems of the rosemary and thyme and discard
• Serving Suggestion: Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and give it a light sprinkle of kosher salt (if desired) – and use the cooking liquid to dip your bread in!

Update – Used leftover beans to make refried beans – and they were the most awesomest refried beans I’ve ever ever had. Ever.

Well the holidays are over – and I can’t really say that it’s a bad thing. It’s probably been both one of the best and one of the worst holiday seasons ever for me. For the first time I was able to host a celebration with a large group of close friends for the Solstice, and I also got my techy-foodie bankai on with some friends for New Years. (Even if I did feel like a moron next to all the super smart people there)

However, it’s also been the last couple of months of the year, where Mr. Man has been working like crazy trying to meet a pushed up deadline. Sometimes pulling twelve or fourteen hour days at work and essentially pushing aside some of the other activities we might have wanted to do. We’ve spent much of the last couple of weeks decompressing from that – which would account for the (very) delayed holiday January cards… that I still haven’t sent out. Or written up. Or the family pictures that I still need to get done. Or presents that need to be sent out. I know, I suck. The fact that decompressing ended up involving Me, Mr. Man, the couch and us restarting Final fantasy XII from the beginning might also be a factor… Mr. Man and I both tend to get sucked in to video games, pretty much until we beat them. So I’ll try to get those cards out soon, loved ones. Maybe while Mr. Man is grinding for some phatz lootz. lol

So I’d like to claim that I haven’t been posting very much lately due to busy-ness, but the truth is that it’s just the opposite. I haven’t been posting much  because of supreme laziness. I made up a big ol’ batch of soup a few days back which we leftover’d on for couple of days, I dug some things from the freezer that I’d put aside over the summer and we had some quick and easy meals from there, etc… Truth be told there’s been a lot of “Let’s quickly make something easy to eat so we can go back to playing the video game” going on. lol

But I did want to start getting shtuff done, so yesterday I mustered up some gumption and got in the kitchen to try making spätzle. Originally I was thinking of making Gnocchi, but ultimately I decided that would probably be a better … ah… family… activity. Assuming Mr. Man and Miss Thing manage to clear up those ’scheduling conflicts’ that occur whenever I bring up making gnocchi together. Strangely, they seem to become inexplicably busy and/or occupied whenever I mention it. It’s très bizzarre.

Spaetzle seemed like a simpler one-person project to try out – and I’d been promising Mr. Man that I would make him some homemade Spaetzle for ages. Whenever we go to our favorite German restaurant in the city we always get a big heaping plate of Spaetzle – it’s one of our favorites. Usually served up with a big slice of Schnitzel and some mushroom gravy. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to put pork or veal on my last Planet Organics order to make a themed meal of it, but I don’t think Mr. Man or Miss Thing will be complaining, because this dish really shined on it’s own merits – no Schnitzel required.

My original plan, to make gnocchi, had stemmed from a desire to use up some Pumpkin Puree that I had leftover from making the Pumpkin and Collard Pasta a while back. Squash gnocchi is particularly common in the fall, and it seemed like it should be a simple enough swap – squash for potatoes. And it’s still on my list, methinks. I’ve managed to develop quite a backlog of squash that needs to be eaten. I imagine Mr. Man and Miss Thing are going to probably get quite full up on it before too long. Somehow I’ve managed to stock pile 3 butternut squash, 1 kabocha squash, 1 spaghetti squash, and several smaller squash. I’m not sure how that happened. Fortunately, they don’t go bad quickly – but that really isn’t an excuse, and I want to use them up and enjoy them – it’s one of the reasons I’ve taken a little bit of a FFTY hiatus the last couple of weeks. I figured not having more perishable produce would motivate me to use up the squash.

When I made the switch to Spaetzle instead of gnocchi, I decided that I still wanted to use the pumpkin puree – so I started looking around to see if anyone else had ever made spaetzle with squash puree before. I came across this post over at Serious Eats for a Squash Spaetzle and used it as kind of a proof of concept. Yes, you can use squash in spaetzle. However, I didn’t really use their recipe – opting instead to make my own, since it didn’t really seem like a complex set of ingredients. I started out by seeing how much squash puree I had, and then working the other ingredients around it. Originally, I thought it would be more complex, but honestly, I think that as long as you don’t throw the entire bowl of batter in to the cooking water at once, it’d be pretty hard to mess these up.

For hardware, you probably already have everything you need – I didn’t use any specialized tools to make them. I used the steaming insert for one of my smaller pans as my colander, because I liked that it had larger holes, but a regular colander would do just as well. Although it was fine with the colander, next time I make spaetzle, I think I’m going to try using my potato ricer. Pushing the batter through the colander resulted in very short, small spaetzle. They were yummy, don’t get me wrong – but I think that if I were to use the ricer I might get something more resembling longer strands. A lot of the recipes I looked at specified using a wooden spoon to press through the colander – which you can use, don’t get me wrong – but I had a much easier time when I switched to my silicone, heat resistant spatula. The batter didn’t stick to it as much, and it was a little easier for me to use. But whatever you have on hand should be fine. In fact, if you don’t have a colander, I saw several posts where people would just flick little dollops of batter straight from a spoon. I don’t really think there’s a ‘wrong’ way to make spaetzle.

If it’s your first time making it, set aside about two hours to get the feel for it. Next time, I think it will go much faster for me since I know a little better what I should be doing, and it won’t take as long. But I also made a pretty big batch. I wanted to have enough for (atleast) two meals. Fresh from the cooking water, the spaetzle were delicious – tossed with a little butter and a light sprinkling of salt, I would say they were highly nom-worthy. However, they really went to the next level when I did a little pan-frying to brown them up a little bit for dinner. They were amazing, and I can see homemade spaetzle making it in to the regular rotation of meals around here, especially with a little practice to cut down on the preparation time. They will also keep for a couple of days in the fridge, so if you need to, you can make them up before hand and then trot them out for guests or something – they’ll be all impressed and give you lots of kudos. Just don’t tell them how easy it is – it’ll be our little secret.

I would also add a couple of things – the pumpkin puree I used was pretty liquidy. Many, if not all, of the spaetzle recipes I saw called for milk. I skipped the milk because I felt like there was enough liquid in my pumpkin puree. If your squash puree is thicker and harder to work with, feel free to add some milk back in a little bit at a time. My batter was like a very thick muffin batter – sticky, and viscous – but holding together well enough to stick to a spoon when lifted out and not terribly drippy. But remember, it’s pretty easy to make up a test batch and add more flour if you want to. It’s a little harder to try and take the flour out if you decide there’s too much.

Spaetzle Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 2 and 1/2 cups Pumpkin (or other Squash) Puree
• Appx 3 cups Flour
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• softened butter

Spaetzle Method:

• Whisk together the eggs and the Pumpkin Puree until well combined
• Stir in the kosher salt and a scant cup of the flour, whisk to combine
• Continue adding flour, a quarter to half a cup at a time until batter reaches a thick muffin batter consistency. (Sticky, viscous and holding together well when a spoon full is lifted out of the bowl)
• Set batter aside to rest for a few minutes while bringing a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil
• If using, place colander over the pot of boiling water
• Working in batches, press the spaetzle batter through the holes of the colander (if using – alternatively ‘flick’ drops of batter from a spoon in to the water or use a ricer) until the top of the water is full of bobbing spaetzles
• Allow to cook for 30-60 seconds (depending on size) then scoop out the spaetzles and place in a bowl.
• Repeat until all batter has been used up – refreshing cooking water as neccessary.
• When all the spaetzle has been cooked, drain again to remove any excess water, then toss with a little bit of butter
• Refrigerate until ready to use

After I made the spaetzle and chilled it – I had to decide on something to do with it. Bacon was of course, the obvious choice – since everything is better with bacon… Plus I had some thick slices of Fatted Calf bacon that I’d picked up last time I went to the Farmer’s Market. But if you’re anti-bacon, you could just sub the bacon grease for a little butter, and skip it. They’ll still be delicious, I promise. I was also thinking of tossing it with cheese and baking it, but to be honest – it didn’t end up needing it. In fact, it probably would have overwhelmed the spaetzle. Instead, I just did a light sprinkling of cheese on top and baked it just long enough to brown – and it was perfect. Both Mr. Man and Miss Thing also dubbed it a huge success. Miss Thing didn’t even realize it had <gasp> squash in it until I told her. At which point she kind of shrugged and said “So? I can’t taste it.” I think we’re making progress there. Of some kind. Not really sure if that response was on the positive or the negative side though. lol

Spaetzle with Bacon Ingredients:

• 1/2 a batch of Spaetzle (recipe above)
• 3 slices thick cut bacon
• 1 small onion; finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 sprig of Rosemary; finely minced
• 1/3 cup shredded Gouda

Spaetzle with Bacon Method:

• Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy
• Remove bacon to a paper towel to cool
• Pour off all but a teeny bit of bacon grease
• Add the onions and saute until translucent
• Clear a space (or transfer onions to a bowl)  and add the garlic and rosemary
• Heat the garlic and rosemary until fragrant, then add to the onions
• Working in batches if neccessary, lightly brown the spaetzle in residual bacon grease (can add more if pan starts to dry up or spaetzle starts to stick)
• Cut the bacon in to thin ribbons
• Toss spaetzle, bacon, onions and garlic to combine
• Spread in to an oven safe baking dish and sprinkly lightly with shredded gouda
• Place under broiler for 2-5 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly
• Serve immediately

It all really started at the beginning of 2009. I wish I could remember the blog post I saw that inspired me to try eating seasonally. I’d love to credit it. It kind of woke me up, and as I looked at the fruits and veggies in my fridge, I realized that my fridge had become homogeneous. I always had the same dozen or so of veggies – basically rotating through a very small selection of the same things – and where did they come from? Well, heck, I don’t know… they came from the grocery store!

Don’t get me wrong – I did give some small amount of thought to where my food was coming from. I generally purchased organic whenever possible, and I would make the occasional trip to Specialty Stores or farmer’s markets – and I thought that was enough. Like many people who navigate the grocery store mazes, I walked through the aisles and never thought to look outside of it. Looking back on it, I feel like I was sleep walking, not really aware of the world outside of my fenced in little yard. When I poked my head out over the fence, and discovered the wonderful world of CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture), it was a revelation. Joining Farm Fresh To You, completely revolutionized my cooking habits. Over the course of the last year, I went from having veggies as a side to an entree on most nights of the week, to eating a variety of vegetables at nearly every meal.

Taking baby steps in to the local food, I started with the FFTY box – learning to prepare (and love) all sorts of veggies that I never would have tried on my own. Eventually, I expanded my horizons to outside the Veggie Box, too – scrutinizing my choices of Milk, eggs, grains and legumes, and meat. Which is where I kind of hit a wall. The first couple of times I asked the nice butcher behind the meat counter at our nearby grocery store where this cut or that cut of meat came from, the blank look and the completely non-helpful answer of “From the USA” was enough to drive me away from the meat counter in frustration. Eventually I started avoiding the meat counter entirely, being unwilling to spend ten to fifteen minutes trying to explain that Idaho really isn’t that local, and sending them back and forth to check where this or that cut came from, trying to locate the slim offerings from nearby.

I started dragging myself out of bed earlier on the weekends, trying to get down to the Farmer’s Markets so that I could buy local meats – but I’ll be honest, I love my weekend-sleeping-in-time, and more often than not I would fail to wake up and spend the rest of the week kicking myself. (Who’s brilliant idea is it to have Farmer’s Markets end at noon anyways? I’m just getting up then!) I mean, I’ll admit it – convenience matters. And when it came between convenience (not having to get up or make special trips) versus compromising on my new found local-food principles, I really struggled. So I started looking at Meat CSA’s. Unfortunately, most of them required a big freezer – doing monthly or quarterly deliveries. I don’t have a big freezer (yet). They also had to be picked up from a local drop off spot, necessitating special trips – also a negative. I mean, I’d gotten spoiled with this whole veggie box delivery thing. What I really needed was a home delivery service.

Enter Spud! and Planet Organics. I had picked up this coupon book at a street fair – which offered my $25 off my first purchase at Planet Organics – which was a big motivator in trying them out. To my area, their minimum delivery is $32, so after my coupon I paid like $7.00 for my first delivery. Sweet! (The coupon book, by the way was EcoMetro and I highly recommend it. ) But I also had a friend over at Raising an Omnivorous Child who highly recommended Spud! and has been using it for years.  What’s a girl to do? Well – try both, of course. And then post about them in a comparison review. Which is what I’m doing. In a very verbose fashion. Okay, okay! I’m getting to it, geeze!

Both sites carry meat, dairy and other grocery items, and have a focus on their produce box similar to a CSA – except for one big difference. With both services, you have more options than with a traditional CSA – You can either A) Pick and Choose entirely what you want to purchase, managing your entire fruit and veggie purchase B) Set up preferences and allow them to choose your produce, similar to a CSA, and Planet Organics has a third option – you can pick and choose a few things, and then have them finish your order for you with a selection of fruits and veggies. Now, I’ll admit – since I’m still using Farm Fresh To You for my produce box, so I find the produce box options at both Spud! and Planet Organics to be limitedly useful. For me, I tend to use them more for picking out a few things rather than buying the whole box. But I did go through the process of setting up my preferences with them to check and see how each system works.

They both have minimum orders – I believe the delivery threshold may vary for Spud! depending on where you live – my delivery threshold for free delivery is $40, while Planet Organics is $32. They both offer a subscription style produce box, which I’ll talk about in a minute. The biggest difference between the two as far as delivery goes is probably that Planet Organics requires you to commit to a Weekly or Bi-Weekly schedule (you can tweak it and work around it – but it does require managing it to make sure you don’t end up with an extra box of produce). Spud! allows you to place orders on an as-needed basis, an option I quite like. But since I routinely manage my grocery purchases anyways, it’s not a deal breaker for me. The other thing that it’s good to know going in is that both places have returnable delivery boxes. Planet Organics will charge a fee to your credit card if you don’t return the boxes in a timely manner, Spud adds a small refundable deposit on to each purchase for their silver freezer bags (used to keep cold things cold)*.

Okay, so – Produce.

Shopping for produce at Planet Organics – Assuming you want to go with the produce box option, your choices for setting up what fruits and veggies you would like are pretty much 2 bit. Yes or No – well, okay there’s a third option of ‘no preference’ which to me pretty much means “Yes, if that is what is available.” So right – two options.   The option that I tend to use most frequently though, is to shop for what I want based on whats available. The produce section is divided up in to subsections – roots, greens, etc… Which makes it easy to locate something specific (assuming it’s in the category you would expect, that is), but less easy if you’re just browsing around to see what’s available. Most, if not all produce items state where they were grown – sometimes even listing the farm name. They update their produce both as available – meaning you can log in and see what’s available this week at pretty much any time.

Shopping for produce at Spud! – Assuming you want to go with the produce box, the options are a little different. I went in to explore the various options, and found that their produce preference set up is pretty awesome. You can ‘weigh’ certain items with five choice – Always, Most of the Time, Some of the Time, Rarely, and Never. You also have the option of variety before local, or local before variety – and also local only. Like Planet Organics, they also have the option to shop on a per-item basis. However, there are no categories beyond fruit or vegetable, so if you’re browsing, you do have to go through the list. There is, however a more limited window of opportunity to see what produce they have this week. (In my area) they post the week’s produce on Thursday – and you have until Sunday in the very early AM to order. If you decide you want to order some Arugula on Monday morning, you’re SOL. You can see a list of items that are ‘usually available’ but not any specifics. And by not any specifics, I mean you can see that they usually have apples, but not whether they’re Granny Smith or Pink Lady, etc…

But to be honest – the produce selection between the two is pretty similar. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they used the same suppliers for the fruits and veggies (I don’t know if they do – just saying I wouldn’t be surprised). Planet Organics has (in my experience) been priced a little better, but otherwise – they both usually have a great selection of seasonal produce available. The biggest difference between the two services really diverges at the ‘other stuff’ they sell – and only speaking for myself, I would have to say that Planet Organics comes out as the clear winner. While Spud Carries a handful of meat cuts and dairy products… Planet Organics carries enough of a selection that I only have to run out to the grocery store maybe once or twice a month to pick up something last minute. Artisan Cheeses, a variety of local and organic meats – even fresh fish. For the meats, Planet Organics carries four to five times as many cuts. For the cheese, it’s nearly eight times.

There are many features about Spud! that I really like – For one, their website is a lot easier to navigate, with a clutter and distraction free interface. The features for weighing produce in their box are tempting – making me almost want to switch from FFTY. And For each order, they will calculate how many miles your food traveled to reach you – albeit kind of loosely. For instance if a supplier for a certain product is nearby, but the items are sourced from further away – the mileage can be a little misleading. I’ve only noticed this discrepancy on pre-packaged foods, however. If you stick to mostly produce, meats, and dairy products then you can really monitor the traveling distance of your food very easily. Spud! also has some great ways of reaching out to their community and being relevant in the more social media world that I live in. Spud! has a twitter account and a Facebook Page, which is pretty kewl for putting a personality to the company. And as a way of giving back to their customers, Spud! has ‘reward points’ that accumulate through your purchases that can later be used for discounts on your groceries. For all these neat features though – quite frankly, they lose me on selection. It might be different if I was using them as my produce service as well, but since I’m not, whenever I go to purchase from them, I find myself struggling to find enough things I want to make that $40 minimum order.

That isn’t to say that all things are rosy with Planet Organics – I’ve had a couple of experiences with them that weren’t altogether terrific, and in the interest of full disclosure I’ll share – probably the one biggest flaw I’ve found with Planet Organics is that whether it’s rotten luck or simply that I’ve ordered from them more often than with Spud!, I have frequently ended up with atleast one item in my order that is out of stock upon delivery. I’m not sure how they manage their order systems, but it would be nice if they would manage their stock a little better to reflect what is actually going to be available come delivery day. I did have an issue with cottage cheese being delivered the day before the expiry date, but I can say that the matter was handled very quickly with the cottage cheese being refunded. I also find their website to be clunky, less than fun to navigate, cluttered, and prone to bugs. Additionally, I find the commentary that is sometimes added to the occasional produce items to be a little off putting sometimes – If I’m shopping for Papaya’s, I’m not really inspired to buy them from someone who opens in the description with “I’m not a big fan of their perfume taste”. (True story)

Since I first posted this comparison, (about two weeks ago) I realized that I may have appeared to be unduly hard on Planet Organics. I shared some bad experiences, but not as many of the good – for what it’s worth, I had been working on the post for a couple of days – I was bound to miss something! For all the minor problems I listed with Planet Organics – they are, to be honest – now my go-to groceries place. I order from them pretty much every week. The few problems I’ve had were resolved quickly, and I feel like any concerns I’ve shared with them have been heard. They’ve also been willing to go above and beyond to help me out. For instance, over the holidays when I needed a Spiral Ham the weekend before Christmas for a party I was throwing, Matt in their Customer Service Department was able to arrange delivery for me – a week before Spiral Hams were supposed to be available. And if I’m being really fair – I will also admit that the fact that they are locally owned and operated does appeal to me. I don’t want to get in to the politics of it, and I am not against venture capitalists per se, but I do feel that at least in reference to food, it’s more in keeping with my particular eat-live local ideals. Thank you for sharing that information with me, Larry. - Del (January 14th 2010)

Neither Planet Organics nor Spud! will end up replacing trips to grocery stores and farmer’s markets entirely for me, unfortunately. They both have a fairly limited selection of bulk and baking needs, and their prices for flour especially tend to run atleast $1-2 more for the same weight and brand at the store. Fortunately, they’ve managed to reduce them dramatically, and for that I’m infinitely grateful. Avoiding those awkward conversations with the butcher alone is worth it’s weight in gold, but providing me with the information I want about where my food is coming from – and conveniently! – and delivered! That is like the super yummy icing on a supper yummy cake.

In a perfect world, I’d love to merge the features and community of Spud! with the selection of Planet Organics, because I really, really like Spud!’s website and their community interaction.

One last little thing – it would be NICE if Spud! and Planet Organics (Farm Fresh To You should listen to this as well!) offered a way to refer people via a referral link. Unfortunately, they don’t. I post about them all the time, and it’d be nice if they would let me link to them in a way that would give me credit for the referral. <sigh>

So, for the record, I’m not associated with Spud! or Planet Organics, however – if you enjoyed this post and would like to use me as a referral – that would be kinda neat. I wouldn’t turn away free groceries. If you decide to try Spud! and would like to use me as your Referrer, my code is #CRSFO-KJESTE. If you enjoyed my post, decide to try Planet Organics, and would like to use me as your Referrer for Planet Organics, you can use the referral code: DELBLOG.**

*In my initial post, I mistakenly said that there was a deposit for the boxes each delivery, when actually it was the freezer bags that require a deposit.

**Updated to add referral code

You’d think with all this vacation time, I’d have more time to blog than during ‘normal’ times – but unfortunately, that just hasn’t been’t the case. It’s been a super busy few weeks, and I just can’t even begin to wrap my head around the idea that we’re one day away from the 25th of December, a week from the end of the year! Fortunately, I’m hopeful that things will slow down here soon and I’ll be able to spend a little more time in the kitchen. I mean, although I’ve been cooking – I haven’t really had time to do an awful lot of playing around. There’s been more ‘okay, I know this works’ and a lot less ‘hmmmm… let’s try something new!’ Some of that might be due to the fact that I’m just not as inspired by winter leafy greens as I am by summer veggies and fruits, but that just means I’m going to have to work harder!

One upside to the busyness though, is that I’ve really been getting to spend more time with my friends and family. My sisters, particularly – and others too. It’s made realize how much they mean to me, and I’ve been trying to make it a point to spend more of that ‘we’ll get around to it’ time actually, you know… getting around to it. Sadly, I get the feeling that I’m going to have to do some bridge building again with some of my San Francisco friends. My last attempt to set up plans when going in to the city was a phenomenal bust. :-/ My tendency to be a homebody is directly in opposition with being a good friend… lol So I’m trying to be better.

At any rate, when I did have a little time last night to try playing around, I decided to take the opportunity to do something with the pumpkin that I’ve had sitting on my counter for the last month or two. I picked it up at the Farmer’s Market a while back, and kept wanting to do something with it, but didn’t really have the space in the fridge to store the leftover bits until yesterday. Yule had come and gone, and we were working through the remainder of the food from that – and it really seemed like a good time for it. It was a good size pumpkin, too – I probably should have weighed it, but I’d guestimate probably about seven pounds or so. I decided to take half of it, and roast it for puree – which, quite frankly is the easy part. The remaining half a pumpkin, I divided in to wedges and then peeled,  cut in to chunks and roasted. Peeling it was a pain, by the way. I highly recommend futzing around with peeling and stuff like that sometime when you don’t have a family waiting for dinner. It took me a lot longer to get it peeled than I had initially estimated, which made dinner take a little longer than I wanted.

The last time I made a Pasta with Roasted Pumpkin – for the Browned Butter and Lentil Pasta I made last month, I used pumpkin that was leftover from roasting the whole pumpkin, which ended up causing the pumpkin to kind of break down and coat the pasta – like a sauce. It was good, but I was hoping for something that held it’s integrity a little better, creating little morsels of squash goodness. I thought that roasting the pumpkin in chunks rather than whole might allow the pieces to hold together better. And it definitely worked out better, although some of the smaller pieces of pumpkin chunks ended up mushing a little bit, the majority of them held their shape a lot better when tossed with the pasta. I didn’t want an entire half a pumpkin in this pasta though – so for the remaining ¼ or so of roasted pumpkin chunks, I spread them out on to a cookie sheet, froze them, and then vacuum sealed them and saved them for next time.

I was originally thinking of using the collards to make another batch of stuffed collard leaves, but it was getting down towards the end of the week, and I still had a lot of veggies from my FFTY box, so I decided to chop them up and throw them in as well. Somehow, despite all the cooking we’ve been doing, I still had most of my box left. The cottage cheese was suppose to simply be used as snacks/breakfast/etc… However, when I received it in my most recent Planet Organics delivery, I found that the expiry date was for the very next day – so I really needed to use it quickly. I contacted Planet Organics, and they gave me a credit without any hassle – which made me happy, even if I wasn’t thrilled about needing to eat a bunch of cottage cheese right away… lol. Not that it was too great a hardship – we all love Cottage Cheese, however I can still only eat so much in one sitting, and mixing it up a little bit is always a good thing. I still have some left (post-expiry!) that I’m thinking of using in another Lasagna, so we’ll see how that goes. The experience has reminded me that I really do need to write up that post I’ve mentioned to Mr. Man a couple of times comparing Spud!/Planet Organics, I’ll try and write that up soon.

I suppose now that I’m starting to stick winter squash in the freezer though, I should consider pulling out some of my squirreled away summer bounty, such as the roasted tomatoes or the summer squash that I prepped a while back. I’m a little bit of a hoarder – even though I know that we live in a state where winters are blessedly short, I feel just a little bit better knowing that I have a few morsels of favorite summer foods tucked away.  Knowing me, I’ll probably end up pulling out the zucchini from the freezer the week before fresh zucchini ends up in my weekly veggie box. Of course, this leaves my freezer in a perpetually over-flowing state. Something of a vicious cycle. (Or maybe thats delicious cycle. lol!)  At any rate – the sooner we get that chest freezer we keep talking about, the happier a camper I shall be. Hope everyone has a Happy Holidays!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Peeled, seeded Pumpkin Cut in to 1″ chunk
• 1 lb Whole Wheat Spiral Pasta
• 1 bunch Collard Greens; stems removed and chopped in to thin strips
• 1 cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 3 tbs Butter
• 1 Sprig of Thyme, finely minced
• 1 Sprig Savory, finely minced
• 6 (or so) Sage Leaves, finely minced
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Toss Pumpkin chunks with enough olive oil to coat, and sprinkle liberally with Kosher Salt
• Spread in a single layer on a roasting pan and Roast for 30 minutes, or until tender
• In a large pot of Salted Water, cook the pasta to Al Dente, Drain and set aside
• Melt the Butter in the pot
• Add the onions and Saute over medium heat until translucent and fragrant
• Stir in the garlic, thyme, sage, and savory and heat for 30 seconds or so
• Add the Collard Greens and continue to saute until bright green and tender
• Remove from heat
• Return the Pasta to the pot, along with the roasted pumpkin chunks, cottage cheese, and cider vinegar
• Toss to combine
• Kosher Salt to taste

It has been such an awesome week for me. Although it’s been very busy, I’ve actually been managing to find time to hang out with some of my nearest and dearests over the last few days, with plans to do more. It’s kept me away from the computer a lot – but it feels good to be out there renewing connections and catching up. I’ve found that I will sometimes fall in to that trap of talking to or running in to friends and then saying ‘we should get together soon!’, and then never actually following through on that. So I’ve been trying to be more pro-active about following through, making plans and touching base with the people who are important in my life. And – if you’re reading this, and are wondering why I haven’t contacted you recently – try to remember it’s a work in progress, and maybe contact me instead!

Aside from my blooming social-butterfly-ness, I’ve also been pretty busy around the house – preparing for the holidays, getting the drywall in the den patched up and preparing to paint the remainder of the den (Bright Purple!), dealing with Miss Thing and her new OMG-You-Never-Let-Me-Do-Anything-Ever Attitude. (well, technically, it’s not a new attitude… it’s just been a lot-lot-lot more … ah… active… lately)  and busily procrastinating getting family pictures done (or getting my holiday cards in the mail). I still have some holiday shopping to take care of – because I’m lame like that… lol! But I still have time to get it done. I hope.

In other holiday related news, I lost the fight with Mr. Man and Miss Thing on the whole Holiday-Tree thing, which I’m still pretty disgruntled about. I was hoping to convince Mr. Man and Miss Thing to consider trying out some more Eco Friendly alternatives, but I was outvoted. Both Miss Thing and Mr. Man are convinced that only a green, pine-needle-laden monstrosity will do, despite my best efforts. It’s very disappointing, since I would very much like to put forth our time and effort in to finding and making our own holiday traditions. (Preferably Eco Friendly ones) It’s frustrating to feel so little control over how my holidays are spent and to be the lone voice trying to convince my family to be more eco friendly. <sigh> But I’m not going to let it get me down – I’ll just keep working on ‘em for next year. Maybe if I keep plugging at it, I’ll wear them down.

Part of my new found zeal for environmentalism probably stems from the fact that I’ve been working on reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by  Michael Pollan. I mean, I’ve always tried to be green, but I’m going through this book and really developing an appreciation for how far I still need to go. It’s been a real eye-opener, and I feel really lucky to live in an area where it’s easier to support these ideals. At any rate, it’s made me even more appreciative of the services I use to obtain local food, FFTY, Planet Organics, and Spud! All of which have made it much easier for me to make informed choices about where I’m getting food for my family. In spite of the fact that I think I’m going to become heartily sick of apples by the time spring fruits roll around… although perhaps less so with this apple cake recipe.

Initially, I had intended to take this cake over to a friend’s house for dessert, which is why I don’t have any in-process pictures. For one, I was rushing to get it baked, and for two – I figured it would probably be a little tacky to show up with a slice missing out of the cake (lol!).  Unfortunately, the cake hadn’t cooled enough to frost before I had to go, and I ended up having to leave it at home. When I was finally able to frost it and taste it, I realized the lack of in process photos would have to be overlooked, because this cake is pretty darn awesome, and needed to be posted.

To be honest, I basically riffed off of the Carrot Cake recipe I’ve posted about before – with a few modifications. And I think I like this apple version better. Although, if nothing else, it gives me something easy to try and use up the never ending supply of apples I get in the winter from FFTY, since we’re still not really apple fans. (To clarify – apple the fruit, not apple the tech… my next computer will be a mac, darn it! and I’m fairly fond of my iPhone) I’m going to try and come up with an alternative to the pineapple next time, however. I happened to have a couple of cans of pineapple sitting in the bottom of the pantry, but since I don’t really intend to buy any more once those are used up it would probably be a good time to find something different to use. I’m open to suggestions – so far my idea was maybe some kind of combination of buttermilk (for tang) and more apples (for bulk)… thoughts?

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 Cups Flour
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tbs Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 and 1/2 Cups Safflower Oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tbs Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Pecans; chopped
• 2 cups Apple; finely grated
• 1 cup crushed Pineapple
• 2 tbs Brandy
• 2 tbs White Wine
• 1 tbs butter
• 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries

Cake Method:

• Preheat the Oven to 350°
• Butter and Flour two 9″ Round Cake Pans
• Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat
• Toss the Pecans in the melted butter and cook until fragrant. Set aside.
• Plump the Cranberries by heating them together with the brandy and white wine. Set aside.
• In to a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and ground ginger
• Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla and Beat well (batter will be very thick)
• Gently Fold in the Pineapple and apples until batter is moistened
• When combined, stir in the Pecans and Cranberries (including soaking liquid)
• Divide the batter between the two cake pans
• Bake on the middle rack of oven for 45-50 minutes, or until knife inserted in to the center of cake comes out clean
• Cool cake completely before Frosting

Frosting Ingredients:

• 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 6 tbs butter, softened
• 2 and 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Frosting Method:

• Cream together the butter and Cream Cheese
• Beat in the powdered sugar, a little bit at a time, until desired consistency is reached
• Stir in vanilla
• For best spreadability/consistency frost cake immediately

The weather turned cold today – I mean, it had been getting chilly for the last couple of weeks… but today it actually turned cold. I could even see snow off in the distance on Mt. Diablo, and a couple of my sisters reported having snow near their houses or on their way to work… Kinda trippy… I mean, it’s not supposed to snow in California, well – outside of Tahoe it isn’t, anyways – it’s allowed there. That’s far enough away to not be an issue.   You see, I like snow. I like to look at it outside of my window and say “awww… pretty”. But I hate driving in it, walking in it, or touching it in any way.

So enough on the weather – I suppose ya’ll might be wondering why posting has been so light. Well I don’t really have a good excuse for you… during and around thanksgiving, we were busy with that, and I kinda figured there was probably enough people out there blogging all their thanksgiving family recipes, so I decided to focus on just having a nice meal and not stress on getting perfect pictures… then afterwards… well, I guess for the last couple of weeks I just kinda got a little bit lazy and a little bit busy, and we ended up eating out a little more frequently than usual, but hopefully I’m turning the corner and getting back in to the swing of things. I’m starting to work on getting things done around the house – we had the drywall guys out here today, actually – patching up the cracked seams in the rest of the den.

We were kind of toying with the idea of jumping right in to painting and trim right after the patches had finished setting, but after thinking about it a little more, we decided to wait until after Yule. I’m hosting, and I’m not 100% sure that I can get everything done before then – and although I’m sure everyone would understand, I’m just not keen on the idea of having everyone show up and seeing my desk shoved in to the corner of the living room, furniture covered in sheets, in a corner of the den, etc.. know what I mean? Now I’m going to shoot for starting on the painting and trim on Christmas (shhhh… don’t tell Mr. Man). It’ll be a busy few days, but I think if we push hard, we can get the painting and trim done during that time.

Unfortunately, it looks like doing something about that hideous parquet might have to wait. We were discussing getting the floor done, but it looks like it might be out of the budget right now, unless we were willing to compromise a great deal, which I’m not really. I’m going to get a few more bids, and we’ll see where we end up. (cross your fingers for us!) I’d like to get some sort of eco-friendly carpet in there. We talked about hardwood or something a little longer lived – but to be honest, that room is one of the coldest in the house during the winter, and getting a nice warm carpet in there sounds pretty awesome, although I’m a little worried about it getting stained, since we have the coffee machine in the den/bar area by the fireplace… and my hobby area is (eventually) going to live in the den… Anyways, we have some decisions to make on the flooring still, so it might be best to sit on it for a while.

So back to the lasagna – since the weather has started to go colder, when I have been cooking I’ve been opting for more hearty, comfort food things. We had a lovely soup (similar to the Savoy Cannellini Stew) several days this week, since I ended up making a big batch of beans… lol. I thought I was making 1lb, since that was what I ordered from Planet Organics, but I wasn’t paying attention, and I didn’t weigh it – so I think it was a lot more than a pound, because when all was said and done, I ended up with a HUGE pot of beans. Enough to pull off an entire quart to save for later, and STILL be eating beans for most of the week. (Thats what I get for not paying attention…)

The squash was actually leftover from when I made roasted squash puree for Pie on Thanksgiving – between having the beans already cooked in the fridge, and the squash on hand, it was by far one of the quickest lasagna’s I’ve ever put together, and using Fresh Pasta sheets made it go together even faster, since I didn’t need to pre-boil the sheets. Not that I do normally – if fresh pasta isn’t available, I usually cheat and get the no-boil lasagna noodles… pre-boiling lasagna noodles is just not something I’ve felt is worth the hassle. It was a nice little experiment, too – because honestly, I haven’t really explored the world of lasagna outside of the red sauce world, and I’m thinking that has been an oversight I definitely need to fix, because this lasagna was GOOD. If you don’t happen to have pre-cooked beans and squash on hand, you can substitute canned beans and pumpkin puree, it should work almost as well.

When I first started to make it – Miss Thing came over and asked about what I was making, and I told her Lasagna. At first she was all excited (lasagna is a treat), but then she saw me pulling squash and beans out of the fridge and she got… ah… a little unhappy with me. lol – “Ewwwww! You’re ruining it! Don’t put that in there!” etc… But anyways, long story short – she loved it, and had two helpings (and some leftovers again this afternoon for lunch). So there you go – even squash-haters like this lasagna.

Ingredients:

• 1 qt Roasted and Pureed Butternut Squash (or other type of squash)
• 1 qt Cooked Navy Beans (in liquid)
• 1 lb Lasagna Noodles (Fresh pasta recommended)
• 16 oz Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 12 oz Manchego Cheese; shredded
• 1 large Onion, diced
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 1 sprig Rosemary;
• 1 large sprig Thyme
• 8 Sage Leaves (or so)
• 2 inch Piece of Fresh Ginger; peeled
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 350° and butter a 9″x13″ Baking Pan
• De-stem the thyme and rosemary
• Finely mince together the ginger, rosemary, garlic, sage, and thyme
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat
• Add the onions, and saute until beginning to turn golden
• Clear a spot in the the center of the pan and add the minced ginger-garlic mixture
• Stir and heat until fragrant (about 30 seconds)
• Clear a spot in the center of the pan again and add about 1/2 the Navy beans
• Smoosh the Navy beans a couple of times with the back of a spoon or a potato masher, then add remaining beans, bean liquid and the squash puree
• Reduce heat to low and stir
• Simmer for 3-5 minutes, then add the Cider Vinegar, White Wine, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• Place a layer of noodles in bottom of pan
• To assemble the lasagna, start with a noodle layer, then a sauce layer, then a cheese layer. Repeat. After the second or third layer (depending on how many layers you are going to have), spread the Cottage Cheese out evenly on top of a layer of noodles, then top with sauce and cheese and atleast one more layer. Cottage cheese layer should be situated as near as possible to the center of the lasagna, and the top should be sauce and shredded cheese
• Bake assembled lasagna in oven for 30-45 minutes, or until cheese is golden and lasagna is heated through