DID YOU KNOW!?

I just finished watching the DVD No Impact Man. You should run to your local library and check it out!

DID YOU KNOW: the average piece of food travels 1500 miles from farm to plate
DID YOU KNOW: meat eating is responsible for more greenhouse gases than anything else including tranportation

These are good reasons to support your local farmers and farmer's markets. Eating locally and in season is sensible and responsible. If you are concerned about the environment, this is one way YOU can have an impact.

Don't even get me started on the damage PLASTICS has on the environment. That's for another time. I hope today you will think of ways that your food consumption can impact the environment and the world and people around you in a positive way!

MEATLESS MONDAY

Steamed baby green beans, grilled eggplant with cheddar, fresh garden salad, and warm blueberry muffins! It's not fancy food, it's not gourmet food, but the tastes and smells were just delightful! I could eat green beans like this every day of the year. They are so succulent. Theses were the last pick of our garden beans...so sad!!

The eggplant was the first of our pick this year. I sliced then salted lightly and set in a strainer for about an hour. This draws any bitterness out of the eggplant. I then marinated them in a small amount of Italian dressing before grilling. The picture makes one of the slices look almost burned, but I like them dark so it was my choice. After they were sufficiently grilled on both sides, I place a thin slice of sharp cheddar cheese on each piece and the residual heat melted the cheese onto the slice of eggplant. They were so delicious. I love the rich, dark flavor of grilled eggplant. To me, it's the taste of a farmer's market in summertime!!

The salad was mixed field greens and baby arugla, along with garden tomatoes, green peppers, tomatoes, red onions and a few mushrooms. The only dressing necessary was a squeeze of a lemon wedge and a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, with a careful sprinkle of sea salt! So fresh tasting, and really good for you!

The muffin is the my husband's grandfather's recipe. He was a baker! This is such an easy recipe and makes the lightest most succulent muffins ever. They are great as plain muffins, but when blueberries are in season, oh my! The recipe calls for 1 c. but I had about 1 1/2 c. on hand so I threw in the extras making the muffins so moist and blueberrilicious! You don't need butter on these to enjoy them. Of course, Richard loaded his with butter, but I ate mine plain. How is that? The person who is skinny loads it with butter! SO not fair! It's really a 'mind' thing because you don't miss the butter, especially if you eat them when they are still warm and the berry juices are oozing out!

Eating meatless is not a sacrifice. I don't miss meat...and you wouldn't either if you put a little effort into creating a meal designed around food that is fresh and in season. It makes all the difference in flavors!

Quick White Muffins
2 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/3 c. oil
1 c. milk
(for Blueberry muffins at 1 c. blueberries and decrease milk to 3/4 c.)
Mix ingredients together and place in greased tins. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Don't overbake.
When making berry muffins, add berries after dough is mixed thoroughly.
Yield: 1 dozen muffins

THE COUNTRY GOURMET

Richard came in from the garden this week bearing gifts. I was so excited to see our first shallots! This brought back a memory from my childhood. My mom was a great cook. My dad was a great gardener. We didn't eat much gourmet food-it was mostly food from my parent's German background.

We ate 'mush' almost weekly. My mom would make it fresh in the morning and my dad would eat it with sugar and milk, like a hot cereal. It was good, but not my favorite. She would chill the leftovers then slice and fry it for fried mush. It was served with pancake syrup and was very, very delicious! It was unusual to have fried mush because there weren't often leftovers!

If you asked people today what 'mush' is they might say something like "what you say to your dogs pulling your dog sled". Today it's called 'polenta' and it's a very popular food dish served by most gourmet cooks. It's not used as a breakfast dish, but rather as an entree with fancy sauces or accompaniments. It always makes me laugh when some chef makes it sound like polenta is the 'new' discovery on the food scene! Yeah, right...about 50 years ago!!!

The other food item that is popular on the current cooking scene is 'shallots'. Once again, this is an item that I grew up with. Under our kitchen sink there was a bucket and it always had 'multipliers' in it. At least, that's what my parents called them. My dad grew them in the garden, and we had enough to last us through the year, and he would then take some of the bulbs and plant them for the new season. Who knew that these little light purple onions were gourmet?

This year we planted shallots for the first time and they are doings so well! Richard brought in the first ones this past week. The picture above shows what was harvested from only 2 bulbs!! You can see why my dad called them 'multipliers'! I'm sure if he was still alive and I told him we grew shallots he would just look at us with that funny face he made! It would be the same look that he would use if I asked him if he wanted some polenta!

Last night for dinner I cooked Zucchini Garden Chowder from the Simply In Season cookbook. It was absolutely delicious! We just loved it. If you don't have this cookbook, you should at least check it out at your local library. It 's divided into sections by the seasons and the recipes coordinate with the food items harvested in that particular season. It's probably my favorite cookbook. The recipes are down to earth and I love using produce found either in the garden or at the farmer's market.

Our second picking of green beans is about to happen and the tomatoes are finally coming on strong. I can't wait to start canning tomatoes. It's one of my favorite things to can. I'll also be oven drying as many as possible, then placing in freezer bags for use through the winter. As of last year, we no longer purchase tomatoes that are not IN season. We loved the ones I froze last year, but I didn't do enough andwe ran out by the end of the year, leaving us with bland salads for quite a few months. This year I'll be sure to do more!

Slice the tomatoes, sprinkle with coarse salt, a drizzle of olive oil, and a thin slice of fresh garlic and bake until shriveled and dry. Place in freezer bags and freeze. I bake them at 325. The baking time depends on th size of the tomatoes. If you use small pear or cherry type tomatoes, just cut in half and bake. These take a bit longer because they aren't sliced thin. Another tip is to place the frozen tomatoes in a small jar with olive oil and use it to season and serve on bruchetta or pasta. The tomatoes season the oil if you let them marinate in it for several hours.

PICNIC STORIES~TELL ME!!

I'm planning a post about picnic food. I would love to hear what you like to eat on a picnic, your picnic memories, or funny picnic stories! I'll post about picnics later this week after I've had a chance to read your posts.

HOMEMADE CROUTONS

We eat a lot of salads year round, but in the summer, when we have fresh veggies in the garden we eat them daily. Recently we have become completely addicted to the addition of cranraisins and seasoned sunflower seeds to our salads. We all like croutons in our salads, but so many of the store bought kind are hard and mostly tasteless. The solution?? Make your own! It's easy and fun, and the result is a light crunch that is packed with flavor!

I use different types of bread so that I can utilize what is reasonably priced. Day old bread is perfect for making the croutons, in fact, fresh bread is harder to work with when cutting, and because it's baked until dry and crispy anyway, the day old bread is perfect! Today I used a loaf of Italian bread, but most of the time I use a baguette from a local bakery store. I get a long baguette that is usually priced under $1 and that will make almost 2 gallon sized ziploc bags full!

I cut the bread into cubes, trying to make sure each piece has at least one side of the original crust for added crunch. Melt a stick of butter (adjust the amount for the size loaf you use) and pour over bread, stirring to mix well. Add your preferred spices or herbs. I use dried thyme and dill, paprika, garlic powder, sea salt, old bay seasoning, sesame seeds and fresh ground pepper. You can make your croutons as spicy or plain as you like. I bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Today I forgot I was baking them so they got a bit dark, but since I was using fresh bread instead of day old, the additional baking time didn't hurt them at all. We also prefer then a bit over baked. It just adds a bit more character and crunch. Just don't burn them!

I store them in a ziploc bag. Let them cool completely before storage or they tend to get a bit soft. Because the flavor of these croutons is so powerful, you really only need a few in the salad to make a huge impact on the flavor!

Another favorite way to use these in the summer is to make a fresh tomato salad similar to fatoosh. Fatoosh is a Middle Eastern dish that is so wonderfully delicious. If you have a market that sells this ethnic food, look for a spice called 'zatar'. You will need it to make this salad. I have actually found it in the ethnic food section of my local Kroger store.

In a large bowl, cube fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion. Make a vinaigrette with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, 1 clove crushed garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and a good amount of zatar. Marinate the veggies in this dressing and add in a healthy amount of fresh croutons. Stir all ingredients together to distribute the dressing throughout. The croutons will begin to absorb the dressing and soften just a bit. Oh my!! You are in for a flavor party in your mouth! So fresh and light, you will make it again and again!

CANNING SEASON

The garden is in full swing. I've been canning green beans as they get ready. So far, I have canned 37 quarts. Today I canned 16 quarts. The beans seemed to get off to a slow start, then they had a growth spurt. This last picking we had to pick all of them so that more would come. These were a bit mature but still work for canning. There will be more to come in the next days and weeks, as long as we keep them picked. They like the heat, and we had a good strong rain today, so they'll take off again in no time!

I love the way canned goods look on a pantry shelf. It's a lot of work to can, but we are used to the taste and really prefer them to store bought vegetables.

For dinner tonight we had a simple garden vegetable curry. I used veggies from our garden: corn, onions, zucchini, green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes. When I went to add the curry powder, I discovered that I was out, so I used paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, and ginger instead. It was 'curry-like' and tasted delicious with the brown rice and a slice of zucchini bread on the side.

I'm hoping to purchase some basil at the farmer's market tomorrow or Saturday so that I can make a big batch of pesto. I also want to freeze some basil cubes. I pulse the basil in the food processor with a little water and then freeze it in an ice cube tray. After they freeze I keep them in freezer bags and use them until the next season comes on. I use the cubes in marinara sauce, soups, and all kinds of dishes. It's so easy to make and really does freeze well, and tastes like fresh basil when added to a dish!

ZUCCHINI TIME !

I am always thrilled when the first zucchini squash is harvested. What that means is that there will soon be more zucchini than you know what to do with! It's the time of year when you may find a bag of them show up mysteriously on your doorstep overnight! Everyone has more than they know what to do with!

I don't like to waste good food, so if I can't use them myself, I try to give them to someone else to use. It's hard keeping up with the harvesting this time of the year and many times, before you know it, they are the size of a submarine! But, even the very mature squashes are useable!

I've mentioned in an earlier post about making a dish called 'calavasa'. It's one of our favorites made with zucchini, but another favorite is fried zucchini. I've also made zucchini muffins, and bread, and last night we had zucchini patties! These patties were so delicious I thought I'd share the 'recipe'. Actually, I just threw the ingredients together and it turned out wonderful! Maybe you can give them a try for something different to use up some of your excess squash.

ZUCCHINI PATTIES

Shredded zucchini squash - about 4 c.

***(At this point, allow the squash to drain in colander for 10 minutes. Squeeze out liquid before adding to recipe)

Shredded potato - about 1 1/2 c.

***( Press with paper towels to draw away liquid)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 TBS. Old Bay Seasoning

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. garlic powder (you can use minced fresh if you prefer)

1 c. seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 - 3/4 c shredded parmesan cheese

salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients and let sit for a few minutes while bread crumbs absorb liquid.

Fry in small amount of oil in hot pan. Flip when browned and brown second side. Delicious served with fresh salsa and a dollop of sour cream if you desire.

This made about 8 patties