A Greener Biener

What do you get when you need to cross a peck of picky eaters, an earth under assault, and a serious desire to control: (1) the family budget; and (2) the family health?

The answer as far as I can tell is this:

Make it fun, make it fresh, and keep it local. Easier said than eaten? That remains to be seen. I promise to share our stories, the successes and the utter failures, as we boldly plunge onward…Eating Green.

Adapted from Ruth Reichle’s recipe, from her book Tender at the Bone.

2/3 cup butter
5 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup sifted flour (add 1 Tbls for high altitude)

Preheat oven to 400°.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler.  Remove from heat, add vanilla and set aside

Beat eggs and salt.  Add the sugar and beat at high speed until white (about 5 minutes.)

Add chocolate and butter mixture to the eggs and beat on low until just mixed.

Add flour and mix until just combined.

Pour into greased and floured 9X13 (or so) pan and put in oven.

Immediately reduce heat to 350°.  Bake for about 35 minutes (toothpick should not come out clean.)

Pumpkin puree is a great way to get a dose of beta-carotene while substituting out the fat in many recipes (use in place of the oil.) My favorite recipe using pumpkin is these yummy muffins. Perfect for school lunches and afternoon snacks.

Here’s how it’s done:

• Microwave a whole pumpkin for a couple of minutes. This is not necessary, but it makes it a whole lot easier to cut in half.
• Cut the pumpkin in half, and remove as much of the seeds and strings as you can.
• Tip them cut-side down into a non-glass baking dish with about an inch or two of water.
• Roast in a 425° oven for about 45 minutes, or until the flesh is very mushy. If the water evaporates before the pumpkins soften, add more water to the pan.
• When they are mushy, remove and allow to cool. Put into a food processor in small chunks and blend until smooth.

Use right away, or freeze for later.

To freeze for easy use in recipes later on, measure out the puree in 1 cup heaps and place on a wax-paper covered cooking sheet. Once frozen, remove and put in a ziploc or other container for storage in the freezer.

Go ahead and try it, but I can’t make any promises.  This was not a big hit in our house, although most likely my attitude was the problem.  Please, send your success stories my way!

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• Grated cheese, cheddar or Parmesan

Directions

• Divide a head of cauliflower into florets that are all roughly the same size.
• Steam cauliflower pieces over boiling water (15 to 20 minutes), or until the cauliflower is tender.
• Drain the cauliflower and toss it in a bowl of ice water to stop cooking.
• When the cauliflower has cooled, put the florets in a food processor along with 1/2 cup of water.
• Puree the cauliflower on high speed until smooth, but with some very small pieces of cauliflower remaining in the mix for just a bit of texture.
• Pour all of the pureed cauliflower into a medium sauce pan.
• Add the cream, salt, white pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to the cauliflower and stir.
• Set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring often, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until thick.

I like my apple pie on the not-so-sweet side, but you can always add more sugar to taste. I also like it piled super high, so base the amount of apples on the size of your pie plate.

For the filling:

• 12-15 apples, peeled and sliced in thin slices
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 2 Tbls cinnamon
• Zest and juice of one lemon (use juice of 1/2 lemon if you want a sweeter pie)

Put all above ingredients in a bowl and toss lightly. Set aside

For the crust:

(This recipe makes 3 crusts, or enough for one two-crust pie and one one-crust pie.)

• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/3 butter flavored crisco (I’m going to try butter next time, but the right cool temperature and soft texture is very important)
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbls vinegar–apple cider or white
• 1/3 c ice cold water–really cold is the trick
• 1 tsp salt

Mix flour, shortening and salt with a pastry blender (I haven’t got one yet; a fork will work too, just not as well.) Mix until it resembles little pebbles.

Beat the egg, water and vinegar together. Add to the flour mixture.

Mix lightly with a fork until it forms a loose ball.

Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out.

For two-crust apple pie, put the bottom crust in your dish and fill with filling. Top with 1-2 Tbls of butter, cut in chunks and dotted atop the filling.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and continue baking for 25-30 minutes longer, or until crust is evenly brown.

My brother insists that only vanilla ice cream is worthy to be served ala mode. I’m a more equal opportunity ice cream fan. Either way, enjoy!

These muffins are delicious, a perfect snack for the lunch box or after school. I’ve modified it many times, and no matter what, they always come out tasty. And the chips? Everyone knows that dark chocolate is good for you, so relax, indulge!

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar (or 1c brown and 1c white sugar or even less white is fine)
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil (or applesauce instead)
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla pudding –(or skip pudding and add flax to keep moist)
4 large egg-whites (or 3 whole eggs=more hefty)
3 cups all purpose flour (I do 1 c brown and 2 c white)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark choc chips (nuts if not for school, oats work too)
Cooking Spray

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lighly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in choc chips.

3. Spoon batter into 2 (8×4 -inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4. Or–spoon half into 24 mini-muffins and bake for about 25 minutes. We do 24 mini-muffins which are perfect kid snack size, and one loaf.

Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans.

This is the perfect lunch for a cool fall day. I’ve only made it using butternut squash so far, but considering the abundance of mystery squash currently on hand, I’m going to try mixing it up. I’ll report back with results.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbls olive oil
• I medium onion thinly sliced
• ¾ cup apple cider
• 1 2lb butternut squash in 1 inch cubes
• 4 ½ cups chicken broth
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 2 Tbls butter
• 1 apple diced
• 1/3 cup smoked cheddar

To Do:

• Heat oil and sauté onion for about 8 minutes.
• Add apple cider and stir until sticky, about 3 mins.
• Add squash and stock and bring to a boil, reduce and simmer until tender, about 40 minutes.
• Puree.
• Add cream and stir.
• In medium skillet sauté butter and diced apple.
• Ladle soup into bowls, top with apples and cheddar.

Ingredients:

• Ton of tomatoes
• Diced onion
• Minced garlic
• Dash or more of dry red wine
• Sage and Basil leaves, and/or crushed oregano
• Pepper to taste (or red pepper flakes if you like a kick)

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions wilt, about 5-8 minutes. Deglaze with the red wine, add the tomatoes, and the spices, and bring to a boil. You can reduce the heat right away to low, or if there is a lot of extra liquid, let it boil, uncovered for another 5-10 minutes. Then let simmer for at least an hour over low heat.

I’m no little Italian grandmother, but it seems to me it’s tough to go wrong with this. If I have fresh herbs, I add those. If I have mushrooms, I’ll add those too. As far as I’m concerned, if you start with fresh tomatoes and you’ve got red wine, you’re looking at a winning combination either way.

Use right away, put in the fridge for up to a week, or let cool and freeze in jars.

I am a new lover of eggplant. I never could stand the stuff growing up, but I tried this yummy appetizer at Grandma’s house and came home determined to replicate it. I think I came pretty close. It would work sliced small as an appetizer, but I served it in big pieces for dinner.

Ingredients:

• Eggplant, peeled and sliced thin
• Summer squash, sliced thin (optional)
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Sage leaves
• Tomatoes
• Roasted red peppers
• balsamic vinegar
• small bowl each of milk, flour, and breadcrumbs

To Do:

1. Dredge the eggplant and squash slices in flour, then milk, then breadcrumbs. Fry briefly on each side and set aside on towel to dry.
2. Place eggplant and squash in a casserole dish. Layer alternatively with cheese, sage leaves, tomatoes and red peppers.
3. I drizzle the balsamic on top of the cheese, or on top of the eggplant. Just a splash to kick up the flavor a notch or two, you know, like Emeril would do.
4. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

(Measurements don’t have to be exact. I go with whatever amount of apples we have picked, and adjust to taste after the mashing if necessary. Every year I search and search for my Foley food mill, then end up making it this way instead. Either way works well.)

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples.
• 4 strips of lemon zest - Juice of one lemon
• 1 or 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup or so of water — about 2-3 inches on the bottom of the pot, less makes thicker applesauce
• To make this good applesauce OUTRAGEOUSLY good, add 1/2 cup of strawberry puree. Yum!

Directions:

• Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
• Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks. Mash with potato masher.
• Ready to eat. My kids love it warm, but cold is great too. It’ll last up to one year in the freezer.