Fall Harvest Lasagna

I've been waiting all year for this glorious fall season to arrive.  Summer is great with it's bounty of veggies, but the ones I really like wait until fall to be seasonably ready.  Fresh, crisp apples and pears top my list of go-to-snack foods.  I also love the rich flavor of the hefty 3 pound tomatoes that aren't ripe until fall in my part of the world.  My onions have reached a flavor that infuses every dish with a spicy sweetness, and garlic is abounding from all sources.  I have already received 11 varieties of garlic this early fall from farmers in the area.  Each variety has a different flavor to enjoy.  My absolute favorite fall veggies, though, are the squash.  I love butternut, acorn, and pumpkin, which are the usual ones.  I also love banana, delicata, carnival, and sweet dumpling.  I love pumpkin soup, butternut squash ravioli, and acorn squash cassoulet simmered all afternoon over a low heat.  

Tonight, I satisfied my craving with a hearty fall veggie lasagna.  I used a recipe from Keith Snow, author of Harvest Eating Cookbook.  It's not for the weak cook, as it requires a lot of steaming, slicing, dicing and shredding and a homemade white sauce that is heavenly to taste.  But, since I love to cook, this recipe is one of my fall favorites.  It has lasagna noodles layered with steamed kale (another favorite of mine), thin sweet potato slices, leeks, garlic, and onion.  Layer that with the cream sauce, fresh mozzarella, and some grated Gruyere cheese and you've got ooey-gooey deliciousness!  Alayna happily munched through most of her bowl.  Jeremy ate all but a few bites of kale (really, I just don't understand how anyone can not love kale like I do!?).  I happily ate those last few bites for him.  Kira plowed through all the noodles and sighed happily with each bite.  She isn't the biggest veggie fan, but she had no trouble with the sweet potato and kale tossed with cheese!  I had an extra large helping, making up for my delicious, yet not hearty salad I had for lunch.

If you want a GREAT resource for local, seasonal food recipes, I highly recommend getting this book.  I use it more than all the rest, and it even highlights the season with symbols for each recipe (just in case you are new to the seasonal food plan).  

Here's the video for the recipe, and I'll try to highlight more fall recipes to come!

http://www.harvesteating.com/2010/01/harvest-eating-fall-winter-lasagna/

Reflections on a dream

This is going to be a little off topic for me, but nonetheless interesting for a glimpse into your own lifestyle.  I think it fits into the goals of my simple little blog quite well.  I'm going to veer away from the foodie aspect of simple lifestyle and into a side of life that is often controversial, yet the most important part to think about.  Dealing with children.  Don't worry...I'm not going to get into the natural vs. traditional discussion.  I'm also not going to tout the benefits of homeschooling over sending children off to school or vice versa (I can see benefits to both, if you are curious!).  I just want to reflect on the factors that might motivate or discourage a child, and how this lasts a lifetime.
Today, I spent my morning in a Youth Consortium sponsored by our local perinatal network.  I went into the meeting thinking I would be learning how to talk to teens and make them more aware of their need for health care.  I came away with a whole lot more.  The leader of the group this morning gave us teaching tools, motivational keys, and gave us a lot of opportunity to reflect on ourselves.  Why this in a discussion about teens?  If you don't know your own culture, and you don't look past it to a teen culture, how can you relate to them in a meaningful way?  True in all generation gaps, don't you think?
The most interesting thing I left with was a glimpse into why I am the way I am and how I got to be this way.  Interestingly, as I focus in my career on motivating others, I find myself often discouraged by the lack of desire for change and low levels of passion in people.  I am easily motivated.  I am excited by change, and I love to learn new things and apply them to my life and my work.  I just didn't understand why everyone else didn't have the same fire.
The question put forth to the large group was this: "think of an adult in your life whom you felt disrespected you and how it made you feel."  Ok.  For most everyone in the group, discussions were still filled with the frustrations of the past.  But, as I sat there racking my brain, I couldn't come up with anything.  Was my life filled with nothing but positive adventures?  No.  Did I ever feel disrespected?  Probably.  Did this shape the way I am today.  Most likely.  But, when I looked back on my teen years, I had a different picture from most of the adults in the room.
After sitting and listening to the discussions, I felt lucky.  I can't recall any moments where my dreams were squashed.  I don't remember anyone ever telling me that I wasn't good enough, or that something "just wasn't in the cards" for me.  I was never told that I couldn't do something I wanted to do (aside from the usual random teenage requests).  In fact, I always felt that no matter what I wanted to do, I would be supported.
Interestingly, this led me to be a very well-rounded person.  I never felt I had to choose between my art classes and my honors classes at school.  Even my peers were respectful of my choice to be a part of both "crowds".  My teachers were all good at letting students learn in their own way, and I was thankful to be a part of a school system that included multiple languages, art, music, various physical education opportunities, and a slew of the typical classes at a variety of levels.  I even took a course in interior decorating in high school, and my phys ed requirement was satisfied with a non-typical aerobics class.
Yet, nearly everyone else in the room this morning had a different story.  Each person that spoke had a story about an adult in their life who had, at one time, told them they were not good at something.  Many of these adults were deeply scarred.  Some grew to hate the thing they were told not to do.  Others were resentful of someone else taking their dreams away.  Still others find that they are not able to try new things as easily today.
You can ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I am a woman of many hobbies.  I like to dabble in this and that and really find what I like to do.  I love to garden, I like to cook, and you will rarely find me without a book to read.  I am passionate about the production and use of local foods.  I have knowledge, skill, and motivation to help the pregnant woman and her family.  I knit, I sew, and I scrapbook.  I am not afraid to join a new group or connect with others that have common interests.  As a result, I have many passions.  I have lots of goals and dreams, and I never feel held back from my dreams.  I was always told to reach for the stars, and there was always another galaxy out there if I wanted to try something new.
Why am I including this in a blog about simple life?  Simple.  I want my children, my husband, and my friends and family to feel the same way I do.  No one should tell you not to go for your goals and dreams.  Everyone should have passion for life.  Work toward a common goal with those people you connect with.  Be the person who gives someone else a boost.  Help pick someone up who has taken a fall and help them find another way to climb to the top.  Most important: don't ever squash someone else's dreams.  Watch over your children and let them discover for themselves who they are and then help them find ways to make and reach their goals.
My parents supported me when I wanted to be an artist just as much as they supported me when I wanted to be a nurse (and all the other dreams in between).  I was never told "you can't do that" or that I should focus my energy on something else in my life.  It was always "if you really want it, you can find a way."
Take a look back at your own life first.  Can you list 3 things you are passionate about?  Can you name 3 topics you have knowledge in?  What are 3 skills that you have?  Do you have at least 3 distinct groups or connections in your life?  If you can't complete this, then it's time to start with yourself first.  Then, think about how the other people around you might stand to gain for your motivating them with the answers they might have.  Truly, someone who is living their passion, using the knowledge they have with the skills they obtain and utilizing the connections they have is living a simple (and happy!) life.

A blip in the blog

Of course, right as I started blogging my local food week, my laptop decided to take a long nap.  I am pretty sure it won't be waking up again, but I'm stealing a quick moment on a borrowed computer to type a note.
I'll try to fill you in more completely on the week later, but for now, you should know that it wasn't perfect.  But, it did teach me a lot about what I'm actually striving for when I'm living as a locavore.
First, I didn't find the challenge to be too difficult.  After all, I already try to eat local most of the time and I have lots of good connections and sources.  But, the "all" local restriction was...well, a bit restricting.  I didn't mind the no eating out.  I didn't mind the meat, veggies, fruit, and grain coming from local sources.  I didn't mind substituting local ingredients for other ingredients that can be locally sourced. But, when faced with recipes for foods that just can't be turned all local, I felt discouraged.  I discovered the following about myself:

1.  I will eat only local when local is available.  Luckily, I live in an area where I can get local fruits, veggies, grains, maple syrup, honey, meat, cheese, milk and more.  But, if I really want certain ingredients, like sugar, olive oil, or peanuts, I have to look a little furthur away.  But, by limiting myself to only those ingredients, I am drastically reducing my carbon footprint.

2.  If I know I will want non-seasonal ingredients for ingredients I can find at some point in the year, I will learn to preserve them.  I have filled an entire deep freeze to the brim with veggies and fruit to enjoy all year long.  Luckily, I don't have to store local meats, as I can get them year round from local farmers and the foodshed buying club.

3.  If I can't find a local ingredient within 100 miles, I will search out 250 miles.  If I still can't find it, I try to source it from the New England region and keep my search within 500-600 miles.  I get fresh frozen seafood from Maine, organic real butter from Maine, and some of the fruits that are grown more easily in the slightly more Southern state of PA.

4.  If faced with a local, non organic ingredient and a slightly further away organic source, I will take efforts to decide which choice is more ethically and environmentally responsible.  For example: I can get local butter here from many sources, but I can't get organic local butter without taking a long drive to a far-reaching local source.  I choose not to use the energy in my car just to get a small package of butter.  I also choose to use butter from cows raised on grass and given a better life.

5.  I choose to use the freshest ingredients in the growing season and preserved ingredients when those are not available.  I eat yogurt with fruit and granola almost every day. During the summer, that fruit is whatever is in season: strawberries in June, blueberries in July, and peaches in August.  I switch to eating frozen berries when those are not available and eat fresh apples as a mid-afternoon snack.

6.  When buying products like pasta, bagels, and bread, I look first to those who use local ingredients.  When not possible, I at least use producers that are local or family owned businesses.  I mostly make my own bread, but sometimes I buy specialty bread from Rosemont Inn, and I love the bagels from Bagel Grove.  Pasta can also be found from local producers.

So, there are my rules.  I will continue to live by them.  I will let you know how well my week went and what I fell down on in the next blog!

A Day in my Tiny Kitchen

What to do with 14 pounds of heirloom tomatoes (that's in addition to my own harvest of about 5-6 beauties)?  Chop them up, cook them down, and turn them into all kids of goodies!  This fabulous box of ripe tomatoes made one heaping bowl of super-spicy salsa for Jeremy to eat, a half gallon of heirloom tomato and garlic pasta sauce with basil, 2 quarts of my tomato soup base, and enough tomatoes left over for a yummy BLT tomorrow. If you've never made your own pasta sauce, you really should give it a try.  Once the ingredients are in the pot, just simmer it down until it is thick, cool it down, and bag it up for the freezer.  I chose not to can my sauce, because of the unknown acidity in heirlooms and my newness to the craft.  I find it easy to thaw a bag of sauce anyway.  Although, my deep freeze is almost full to the brim...but more on that later.

My salsa is pretty basic: seed and squeeze out the juice from several ripe tomatoes, add chopped jalapeno to taste, a few cloves of garlic, a splash of lime juice to preserve the color, a small handful of chopped cilantro and a dash of kosher salt.

My pasta sauce is just a heaping pot of peeled and seeded tomatoes cooked with some garlic and onions.  Once enough liquid cooks off, I add some fresh basil, a little salt, fresh ground black pepper, and let it cool  I already had dinner planned tonight, so this batch is in the freezer.
I used all colors in the sauce today, so it looks a little funny in the picture, but it was quite tasty!

My tomato soup is one of my favorite summer recipes.  I take 4 large tomatoes (I especially like yellow and red in this soup) and simmer them with 4 cups of tomato juice.  Today, with all the tomato processing I was doing, I collected enough juice for 2 batches of this soup. No more canned tomato juice for me!  When it has simmer about 30 minutes, I cool it and put in (in batches) in my blender with about 1/4 cup of fresh basil.  When I'm ready to eat it, I heat it back up with about a cup of milk and about 4 ounces of cream cheese, some salt and pepper to taste.  BEST SOUP EVER!!!  I loooooooove this soup with a toasty grilled cheese sandwich on homemade bread.  Now that's a local meal to die for!

While all the tomatoes were simmering, I also managed to bake a loaf of my homemade wheat bread (yes, all local ingredients down to the flour!).  The smell of homemade bread is one of my favorite things.  And then, since the oven was warmed up and the air outside was cool, I baked 2 of the sugar pie pumpkins I picked up at the Rome farmer's market last week.  The pumpkins gave me about 6 cups of pumpkin puree, which I packaged up for later use.  Then, I took the seeds and sprinkled them with a little kosher salt, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and olive oil.  Then into a 250 degree oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Oh, so delicious!  And now my house smells like fall!

Of course, even though I spent most of my day in the kitchen, I still wanted to put a local meal on the dinner table!  I had 2 bunches of fresh kale on hand, and decided that kale and potato soup would really fit the day!  I heated up a little oil and sauted a few cloves of garlic and some onions until they were soft.  Then I added a quart or so of chicken broth (lucky for me, I had a quart bag full from the last roast chicken I made!) until boiling.  Added to that 6 medium potatoes from my garden harvest in August, peeled and diced.  I let that simmer until the potatoes were soft (about 25 minutes).  Then I added 1/2 pound of hot sausage (mine was from Sweet Grass Farms) that I precooked in a skillet.  Finally, I wilted in about 5 cups of fresh kale and let the whole thing simmer for about 15 minutes more.  Delish!  Just the right mixture of comfort and spice.  Jeremy got up to get a second and then a third helping and Alayna was seen drinking the last drops out of her bowl!  Kira (not a big fan of anything green) ate all but the kale, but at least made a good effort.  This would have been even more fabulous with a crusty loaf, but I didn't have one on hand.

So, I decided this would be my first local food day after all.  I may have to have a cheat meal or two thrown in to avoid conflict at a couple of gatherings, but I've decided that I can still spread the word without being a rude guest!
Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast: blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, milk
Lunch: fresh edamame, leftover pasta with broccoli, garlic, and tomatoes, slice of homemade bread with local honey, cider
Snack: pumpkin seeds and a little cheese
Dinner: kale and potato soup, local wine
Dessert: pears sliced thin and poached in apple cider and maple syrup!
I don't feel restricted at all by a day like this!  Hopefully I can continue the week with such luck!

Wild Cards...what would you choose?

Although I hated to send Kira off to school today without a mommy-made lunch, she had a great learning experience going through the lunch line and made the choice of an apple as her side dish!  Make mommy proud, honey!
While we are talking about choices, I've been prepping myself for my week-long local food challenge.  I was hoping to start this weekend, but with a weekend breakfast gathering and my 8th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, I'm opting to start next week.  Hopefully bypassing the first week of evening dance class shuttle will keep me better on track, too.
This week, I made a goal of myself to see what items I was having the most trouble replacing with local foods.  According to the challenge, you can have 5 wild cards to use within reason.  It wasn't too hard for me to see what mine would be after the week: coffee (I do use fair trade coffee), Parmesan cheese, nuts, olive oil and butter.  I had really hoped to have mozzarella cheese as my 5th, but I had trouble with the butter.  I'm not the only one, either.  My friend who is writing the blog for the local paper was also challenged by this.  I had a few scounts out and about, and no one could find a good, easily accessible and also organic butter.  Yes, there is a (by definition) local farm that could have possibly been a source, but the amount of travel required didn't justify the purpose of buying local foods to me.  So, off with the mozzarella and on with the butter.  Also, I am allowing myself locally made pasta, even if I can't source the ingredients.
If you can leave me a comment here or on my FB page, I'd love to hear what items YOU would choose as wold cards.  Remember, spices don't count (they are freebies!) as the cost to transport is minimal.  Most people I've talked to are choosing things like chocolate (I like chocolate, but I'll be just fine for a week!), coffee (a must for me!), citrus fruits, and sugar.  I use small amounts of citrus in cooking, but at the amount I use, I call it a flavoring and lump it with spices.  And if you want to know how I'll manage without sugar, you should know that I haven't used any sugar in cooking or baking in the past several months.  I go through honey by the pint and maple syrup by the half-gallon, but one small bag of sugar lasts forever in my pantry now.  What about my coffee?  If you haven't ever sweetened coffee with maple syrup, you should really give it a try!
Honestly, I won't be making too many changes, although every day I manage to sneak a few non-local goodies onto my plate.  This challenge is really helping me see how much we take our foods for granted.  But, I am finding that I can still eat great food and have the variety that my family and I enjoy.
For example, I cooked scrumptious new pasta dish tonight full of veggies, but with a twist. I won't take the credit for this fabulous dinner.  I got the recipe from our CSA farmer, Nancy Grove on our newsletter this week.  Farfalle with Gorgonzola, Broccoli, and Cherry Tomatoes.  I don't know what 5 items you would choose if you had to eat only local foods with the exception of 5 wild cards, but pasta tops my list.  Although I usually buy locally made pasta, I haven't tracked the source of the ingredients.  I took a pound of cooked farfalle tonight and tossed it with 4 cloves fresh minced garlic, 2 cups lightly steamed broccoli, and 1 cup mixed cherry tomatoes.  Top that and toss with a slowly heated blend of 1 cup milk and/or cream (I used half of each) and 1 cup of gorgonzola cheese.  I used some kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and topped with sprinkles of fresh grated Parmesan cheese (another of my wild cards...I LOVE Parmesan cheese!).  Everyone loved it and again had second helpings!  :)  My only cheat here was the gorgonzola (although I am sure any semi soft cheese would be delish, I had gorgonzola on hand).  It was super fast to assemble, and all the veggies came from my garden or from Old Path and Walking Clover Farms.  Mmmmmmmm!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave me your wild cards if you can!

Holy Heaping Vegetables!

This is my Old Path Farm pick-up day.  We head right to the farm after work to get our surprise gathering of vegetables.  Today, I was less than enthused.  It is chilly here and rainy, too.  Spending my afternoon in my warm house sounded better than traipsing through a field to pick beans.
However, sometimes the gloomiest of conditions bring to us the most glorious goodies.  I left the farm with my usual array of canning tomatoes, a pint of cherry tomatoes, a few beets, two huge onions, and some broccoli, but add to that 3 of the biggest fat heirloom tomatoes and some delightful golden beets and I was happy.  And that wasn't the end.  There are also often "help yourself" veggies at the end.  These are often "seconds" or slightly blemished goods.  Today, though, I walked off with an extra fennel bulb and a bag full of mixed braising greens.  And there were also my new favorite vegetable...roma beans.  These were a u-pick item left on the vines and picked by the consumer.  Top all that with several large cuttings of edamame that we are to harvest ourselves at home.
Of course, thinking that the veggies were going to start coming in a little slim, I had stopped at an orchard on the way home.  Here, I grabbed a dozen ears of sweet corn, a large bag of paste tomatoes, apples, peaches, some dried fruit, and two pints of sweet raspberries.
Don't forget I also have a garden in my backyard that is starting to thin out, but still hands over a pint of cherry tomatoes a day, hot and sweet peppers, cucumbers, carrots, onions, winter squash, pattypans, and white heirloom pole beans.
Oh, and my foodshed pickup is tomorrow afternoon.  I ordered a 5 pound bag of mixed onions, a bunch of red russian kale, pingtung long eggplant, 1 pound of chesnok garlic, an heirloom zucchini, French heirloom green beans, and 14 pounds of heirloom tomatoes for canning.
I'm also staring at 3 sugar pie pumpkins waiting to be cooked into puree on my kitchen desk.
Did I mention I have a tiny kitchen?  :)
Luckily, I share my CSA share with my parents, but it was still a trunk load of food!  Tonight I was at least able to preserve most of the farm vegetables.  I blanched and froze the corn, Roma beans, and mixed greens.  I harvested the edamame for blanching tomorrow.  I blanched and slipped the skins of the paste tomatoes before I chopped and froze them.  Then I poured out most of the rasberries into a single layer for a quick freeze.  I wrapped and chilled most everything else.  Lots of salsa will be eaten at our house this weekend, and I'll be trying to can tomato sauce for the first time.  (I'm running out of freezer space!)
On top of that, I did have time to make a home cooked mostly local dinner tonight.  For those foodies looking for local ideas, here is what I made:

Stir fry beef and Vegetables
I chopped up Sunnybrook Farm's minute steaks and stir fried them in some olive oil and crushed garlic.  Then, I added chopped mixed color sweet peppers and an onion.  After they softened, I added a head of heirloom broccoli florets and two heads of bok choi.  I did season it with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and some ginger, but as flavorings, they are wild cards!  My one downfall is that I served it with rice and a few cashews sprinkled on top.  Both my kids ate their bowls and Alayna asked for more!  Jeremy loved it, too!  This meal was so yummy and I'll be eating the leftovers over pasta noodles this weekend!

Lunch Kebabs

This one was a little too time consuming for the normal morning rush.  Luckily I got up really early and had a few minutes to spare.  I took extra skinny straws and cut them to make skewers that wouldn't injure and harmless kindergarteners.  Threaded them with cherry tomatoes, small rolls of ham, cubes of mozzarella cheese, cooked tortellini, and served with watermelon chunks.  I put in a side of ranch for dipping, but Kira said "mom, it was so yummy, I didn't even need the dip!"  Another lunchbox returned empty!  Yay!
Oh, and I'm taking a break tomorrow.  Kira heard it was pizza day at school!