A Baby Bib That Looks Good Enough to Eat!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Holly at Phe/MOM/enon just announced that she is hosting a Blog for Babies by Making Little Wonders event to benefit the March of Dimes and its upcoming March for Babies.

It's a very simple event - the only criteria was to create something in a small or miniature size.
Tasty Tropical Fruit Baby Bib by Eve Fox
I am proud to submit this tasty tropical fruit baby bib I made as my entry for the event. Although it's not actually edible, it looks good enough to eat!

Here's the skinny on my bib:

* I chose this cheerful, plastic-coated fabric because I figured it would be easy to wipe down after the baby makes a mess.

* I made the bib double-sided so it's fully reversible.

* It closes with a snap (disguised with a button) to make it easy to get on and off.

* The only part that was difficult was sewing the binding tape around the edges (I did it by hand and it took quite a few hours.)

Best of luck to Holly and her family in their March. If you'd like to sponsor them or learn more about the March, please click here.

If you'd like to enter your own small creation in her event, you can find the description and instructions here.

Greening Your Kitchen: Grow Your Own Garlic

Allium SativumThere's a lot of talk about "ROI" or "return on investment" in my office (I work with some data geeks.) Although statistics generally make my eyes cross, I do know this - if you want a good ROI in your garden, you really can't go wrong with garlic. It's cheap, easy to grow, and produces a bumper crop that will keep you in fresh, flavorful cloves for several months or longer, depending on how many plants you grow. My husband (the sous-chef) and I have planted garlic three or four times and always enjoy both the growing and the eating of it.

In addition to the culinary and aesthetic delights, you'll also be helping to slow global warming because growing your own food helps shrink your carbon footprint (if you're curious about your carbon footprint,
click here to calculate it.) Plus, you'll be sparing yourself, your family, and the planet a buttload of toxic insecticides and industrial fertilizers. It's hard to get much "greener" than that!

Although you can plant garlic in the late fall (more on that below), now is also a great time to sow your garlic crop. Below you'll find all the info you need to get started.

Varieties of Garlic

There are two basic types of garlic - hardneck and softneck. Hardneck varieties grow tend to do best in northern zones and produce a curling flower which is called a scape (see the photo below). In addition to being beautiful (isn't the curling stem awesome?!), the scapes are also very tasty eating.


Garlic scape
You can steam them and eat them with butter or throw them into a stiry fry, etc. Most people cut the scapes in order to encourage the plant to put all its energy into the head. You should wait until the scape has made one or two loops, then snip it off.

Softneck varieties are also known as braiding varieties because they do not produce a scape and are therefore easier to braid than the stiffnecked kind. They're also better adapted to warmer climates, a bit more productive, a little spicier, and can be stored longer than the hardneck garlics.


When to plant?

Garlic can either be planted in late fall or early spring. Basically, if you live in an area with a shorter growing season and/or poorer growing conditions, plant your garlic in the late fall to give it more time to establish itself. I've planted it in late October with good results but I've also gotten good results from an early spring planting.

All you lucky bastards who live in warm climates should note that if you want to plant a hardneck variety, you may need to cool it down before planting. Hardnecks often need a cold snap to trigger sprouting but you can fake one by storing the head in a cool (45-50 degrees F), dry place for about three weeks prior to planting.

Where to Plant

Garlic likes plenty of sun so look for a spot that will make it happy. The plants do best in sandy loam with good drainage and lots of organic matter. If your soil is poor, you should add some organic compost material to build it up before planting. You can also grow garlic plants very happily in containers, provided that they are deep enough and offer good drainage.

How to Plant

Each clove will produce one head of garlic by the end of the season. You'll want to use good-sized cloves because a bigger clove = a bigger plant = a bigger head of garlic at harvest time.

This garlic clove will become a whole head!
You can plant the smaller cloves but you may want to harvest them early as scapes or garlic greens since they won't yield a very large head of garlic at the end of the season. When you are ready to plant, break the cloves apart, making sure to remove all of that hard "basal plate" they're attached to from the bottom of each one so that it won't block the new roots from growing. Then, plant each clove tip up, about 1 inch deep and 4 inches apart. If you're planting several rows, space them far enough apart to walk between them.


Planting a clove of garlic
Cover the cloves with soil and then water them. Garlic plants like even moisture so you should water them regularly. However, it's important not to overwater or the bulb can rot. Here is a photo of our little garlic patch, planted about one month ago - the shoots came up within a week or so in northern California's mild climate.



Our crop of garlic plants
How to Harvest
Harvesting garlic
As your garlic plants reach maturity, the leaves will turn brown, then dry up and die. Don't freak out - this is normal. Just keep an eye out for this change so that you'll know when they're getting ready to be harvested. When you notice the leaves dying, you should stop watering the garlic plants and give them a few weeks water-free to dry out and harden before you harvest them. If you're not 100% sure whether your plants are ready to harvest, just dig the dirt away from one of the plants and take a look at the bulb - if it looks ready, go for it!



Curing Garlic
Fresh garlic bruises easily so you should treat it gently when it's first picked. It's important to dry garlic properly to prevent it from rotting. If you have the space, it's ideal to hang up the dirty bulbs (don't wash them) in a cool, dry place to cure. After a week or so, you can take them down and gently brush the dirt off them. You can also remove the outer layer of skin from each head to make them look prettier if you like.
Storing Garlic
If you've grown a softneck variety, you should be able to braid your garlic. Most of the resources I've read about braiding suggest curing the garlic for at least a few days before you braid it to allow it some time to dry in the hopes of preventing mold.
Once your garlic has cured, start with three heads of garlic (with the stems still attached, obviously)and beging to braid them as you would anything else, adding in additional plants as you go. For more detailed instructions, check out this excellent write up with photos from Bloomingfield farms. If you somehow end up with more garlic than you can possibly use, give some away - I promise that your friends and family will be thrilled!

More Ways To Green Your Kitchen

Greening Your Kitchen: Buy In Bulk!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Picture a huge mountain of garbage stretching higher than the eye can see, a veritable Mt. Everest of trash. If you look closer, you'll see that roughly 1/3 of the mountain is made up of discarded packaging. According to the EPA, packaging accounted for 1/3 of the truly astounding 251,340 tons of municipal waste we Americans generated in 2006. Therefore, it practically goes without saying (but I'm going to say it anyway) that cutting down on our consumption of packaging is one of the keys to making our kitchens and our homes moreBulk apricots environmentally-friendly. And one of the best ways to cut down on packaging is to buy in bulk!

There are several other added bonuses to buying in bulk:
  • it's often cheaper because you're skipping all that packaging;
  • it's often healthier than the alternatives because the products you're buying tend to be less processed than packaged products; and
  • last but not least, it feels really good to bypass all that unnecessary paper and plastic --buying in bulk can be very gratifying.
We've come a long way since the early days of food co-ops - nowadays, bulk food is fairly common and offers much more variety than you might expect. If you live near the right store, the list of items you can buy in bulk is loooong. It includes pastas, beans, flour, spices, sugar, salt, dried fruits, oats, cornmeal, couscous, rices, cereals, granola, raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, mixes (veggie burger, cornbread, etc.) as well as personal care products like hand soap, lotion, shampoo and conditioner, and laundry detergent.
Bulk bins
I LOVE browsing through the bulk foods section of my local grocery store (the Berkeley Bowl) which is downright palatial. But perhaps even more impressive than their selection of bulk goods is the uncanny ability of their staff who man the bulk weighing counter to discern organic white flour from regular white flour or differentiate between organic sea salt and regular sea salt WITHOUT any labels or information. You just put the stuff you want to buy in an unmarked plastic bag, close it with a twist tie, and bring it up to the counter where one of these weighing wizards throws it on the scale and magically types in the correct code and slaps a label on it. They are never wrong -- I simpy do not know how they do it! I am so awed by their abilities that I've even asked a few of them what their secret is. Unfortunately, they always just shrug nonchalantly and dodge the question so it remains a complete mystery...
Bulk orzo, weighed by the wizards at the Berkeley Bowl bulk goods counter
Hopefully by now my enthusiasm for buying in bulk has begun to rub off on you. If so, here are a few things you may want to consider before you run out to the store.

1. Freshness. Bulk food can go bad while it's sitting in the bins waiting to be bought so make sure you buy from a store whose bins see a lot of traffic and therefore will be replenished with new stock regularly. If you're buying something like nuts, smell them or taste them before you buy to make sure they're not rancid.
Bulk organic penne stored in airtight glass jar
2. Storage. Make sure you have the proper containers at home before you head off on your first bulk buying mission. Although you can reuse old yogurt containers, etc., you'll want to make sure that you have air tight containers for any kind of grain - otherwise you run the risk of getting grain weevils (those annoying little moths) and spreading them to all your other bulk goods. Glass jars are pretty, durable, and relatively inexpensive. You can find them at many grocery stores, as well as at home stores like Ikea, Crate and Barrel, etc.

You'll also need to make sure you have enough space to store all your bulk goodies. In general, you want to put them in a cool, dry area that does not get direct sun. We keep most of our jars of bulk goods in this cupboard in our kitchen because it is dry and has doors we close to keep it dark.
Our Bulk Foods Cupboard
3. Labeling. Some foods will keep for a long time but others have a limited shelf life so labeling is a good idea to ensure that you know how old something is. If you're unsure about how long a particular item will keep for, About.com offers this handy shelf life guide you can consult. I usually just use a sharpie on masking tape - it's not glamorous but it works and you can just tape it to the bottom of the container where no one will see it but you.

Meyer Lemon and Bergamot Orange Citrus Cooler

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I have this little habit of buying more produce than I can use. I just get so excited when I'm standing in front of a pile of gorgeous vegetables or fruits that I don't entirely think things through. I haven't fully decided whether this is actually a "bad" habit or not since it sometimes leads to wasted food (bad) and sometimes to creative new dishes (good). So I am going to resist labelling it for now and spare you all any further inner monologue on this topic. Bergamot from Koehler's Medicinal-Plants, courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

Long story short, I ended up with five bergamot oranges -- Monterey Market was selling this rare (and usually expensive) citrus fruit for only $1.29 a pound last weekend so I clearly had to buy a few, right? Of course I did!

For those of you who are not familiar with it, bergamot originated on the Ionan coast of Italy and is a cross between a Seville orange and a pear lemon. Although it may not sound familiar, you probably have come across it before. Do you know that lovely flowery flavor and scent in Earl Grey tea? Well it comes from oil of bergamot, an oil that is extracted from the rind of the bergamot fruit!


Unfortunately, I had no idea what to do with them once I got them home... I waited a week for inspiration to strike but nothing came to me - no whispered message in a dream, no omens sent from above, not a damn thing! I realized that it was time to take matters into my own hands when one of the fruits succumbed to a vibrant green mold a few days ago.

Meyer Lemons and Bergamot Oranges

Since our house is graced with an amazingly abundant Meyer lemon tree, I decided to combine these two sour yet flowery-tasting fruits in a unique citrus cooler. Here's the pile of fruit waiting to be juiced in my adorable yellow colander (we really do keep our fruit in this, it was not just for the photo opp.)

Bowl o' Exotic Citrus

There is no real recipe for my cooler - it's too basic. The first step is to juice the mother 'uckers. Luckily, both fruits are relatively easy to juice as they're soft and bursting with liquid - so much so that they may even fall apart a little while you're juicing them.


JuicingTheMotherUckers

Then add water and sugar to taste, stir well, and cool. The result is a refreshing and fascinating blend of flavors - mild, flowery, acidic, and sweet. Enjoy!

Citrusade

Greening Your Kitchen: Plant an Herb Garden

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Greening Your Kitchen logo by Eve FoxThere is nothing greener (both literally and figuratively) than eating locally-grown food. And you can't get more local than your own garden, window box, or backyard.

This week, I want to give you that little push you need to start your own kitchen garden. It can be as modest or as ambitious as you like - from a set of three flowerpots on your windowsill to one of those delightful raised bed numbers.

Mint Plant
There is nothing more satisfying and awe-inducing than growing things. It's a simply marvellous feeling to saunter down a path and casually snip some chives for a garnish or harvest some fresh cilantro or basil to add to a salad just before dinner. The taste of freshly grown herbs has no comparison and you'll be saving money and reducing your carbon footprint at the same time.

Step 1: Choose Your Seeds

I suggest that you figure out which herbs you use most often, and go with some or all of them.

Seed Packets 1
I planted lots of basil because I love to make pesto, cilantro because I use it in a lot of my cooking, dill because I love it on potatoes and in egg dishes and I never use up enough to justify buying a whole bunch at a time, and mint because it's so nice in summer dishes and middle eastern food. Other herbs to consider include chives, parsley, sage, thyme (there are many varieties), marjoram, savory, and oregano. You can either go to a garden store/plant nursery and pick up your seeds there or you can order them online if you are not in a huge rush. Either way, I recommend choosing a seed company that is certified organic. There are also lots of fun heirloom varieties available nowadays and they may offer better flavor than the more conventional varieties.

Step 2. Get Prepared

While you're at the garden center, you may need to pick up some organic potting soil and a few other things like a seedling tray to plant the seeds in (though you can also use a paper egg carton), terra cotta pots for the mature plants, a trowel, and a watering can.

EasySeedNursery
You'll also need to stake out your planting spot -- are you planning to grown the seeds in pots in your kitchen or does your back deck get more sun? Or do you have the time, energy and space to do something more involved like an actual kitchen garden? Although all plants like slightly different growing conditions, chances are you'll need to find a spot that gets a good deal of sunlight throughout the day.

Step 3: Start Planting!

Start by filling your seedling tray or paper egg carton with dirt.

Dirt Ready For Planting
Then read the sowing instructions on the back of each packet of seeds. Each type of plant responds best to a slightly different sowing depth. Some seeds may also call for special handling before being planted (for example, soaking them in water for a number of hours beforehand.) Don't forget to hold on to the seed packets as you'll need them to determine the proper spacing once you're ready to transplant the seedlings.
Cilantro seeds
Sow the seeds according to the directions on the packet and cover with dirt. Then give them all a light watering making sure to get them thoroughly wet but trying not to disturb the seeds too much.

Step 4: Watch, Wait, and Water

Depending on the type of plant, it may be a week to two weeks before the seeds sprout. During this time, you'll want to keep the nascent seedlings well-watered and make sure that they don't get too cold (most plastic seedling trays come with a clear cover to create a little greenhouse-like environment).

Watered seeds
Step 5: Transplant The Young 'Uns

Pretty soon, you should see determined little green heads breaking through the dirt.
It's a wonderful feeling and very inspiring.
First leaves
Follow the directions on the back of each packet to determine the right time to transplant the seedlings to their adult homes (whether they be terra cotta pots or a garden bed) as each one will vary.

One of the nice things about using the egg carton instead of an actual plastic seed tray is that you can just cut the egg carton into 12 separate pieces and plant each one in the dirt when the seedlings are ready for transplant. The paper will dissolve as the plant takes root in its new pot.

If you use a plastic seedling tray, you'll need to loosen each one individually (pushing up from the bottom and using a knife to cut around the sides is helpful) so that you can pop it out into your hand and place it in a well of dirt in the ground or in a pot. Try to be as gentle as possible since this will be a fairly traumatic process for your tender young seedlings. Again, follow the planting and spacing instructions on each packet and be sure to use organic dirt in the pots or garden beds. Water the transplanted seedlings well after you've moved them.

Step 6: Enjoy the Harvest

You'll need to continue to water regularly and to make sure the baby plants are getting enough light and staying warm. Bugs may also be an issue so keep an eye out for any infestations (and remember that ladybugs and spiders are your friends as they eat pests). As spring and summer progress, you should start to enjoy having a bounty of fresh herbs at your fingertips whenever you want them. Check out this luscious photo of my mint plant below to get a glimpse of what could be in store for you if you start your own kitchen garden.


Mint leaves close up
Happy planting! And may no bugs besmirch your beloved botanical beauties.
More Ways To Green Your Kitchen

Salads Galore

In case anyone is interested, click here to browse through some lovely-sounding salads that bloggers (including myself) submitted to Andrew at Spittoon's "Waiter, there's something in my salad" event recently.

Enjoy!

Minestrone Soup with Fresh Basil Pesto

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Progresso MinestroneAs a kid, Progresso Minestrone was one of my favorite soups. My mom liked the chicken noodle and tomato soups but I preferred the minestrone for its tomato base, beans, veggies, and little tubetti pastas.
Although Progresso is no longer at the top of my list, I do still love minestrone. It's also a great way to use up a bunch of veggies if you happen to have a lot on hand, as I did as a result of our month-long EatWell Farm CSA produce box experiment -- this is definitely the first time I've ever had two large cabbages in my fridge :) I also had leeks, potatoes, celery, carrots, and chard lying around and practically begging to be made into soup. And I happened to have two pieces of Parmesan cheese rind that I'd been holding on to for the past few months for just this purpose. So I got out the big soup pot and cooked up a mess of minestrone.


Parmesan cheese rinds

Minestrone is a soup that allows for lots of creativity so you needn't feel hemmed in by this or any other recipe. If you have different veggies, the chances are you can use them and the result will be good. Just be sure to add the veggies in in order of cooking time needed - heartier things like carrots and potatoes before chard leaves, etc.


Bowl o Chard

I really recommend adding the fresh pesto. It's very easy and quick to make if you have a food processor of any sort and it gives the soup a delightful zip of flavor that makes me think of summertime.


The recipe I used calls for a soffritto, a mix of finely chopped onion, celery and carrot that you saute first to create a flavor base for the soup - you then add more of each vegetable (in bigger pieces) a little later in the cooking process.

Soffritto

However, I have also made minestrone without doing an intentional soffritto (I do cook the onion, celery and carrot first but I don't cut them up all tiny and I don't add more later) and the result was delicious so it's really up to you.


Buon appetito!

Bowl of minestrone soup with a dollop of fresh basil pesto

Minestrone Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients
* 1 bunch Swiss chard (or kale), cleaned, ribs removed and chopped, leaves chopped
* 1 can pureed tomatoes (or diced tomatoes with juice)
* 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
* 2 tbsps olive oil

* 1 large onion - very finely chopped* 1 large leek, cleaned and sliced into rounds (white part only)
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 medium carrots, peeled - 1 very finely chopped, the other two cut into slices or diced
* 3 ribs of celery, cleaned - 1 rib very finely chopped, the other two sliced or diced
* 1/4 head green cabbage, cored and very thinly sliced

* 2 medium sized red potatoes, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
* 3- to 4-inch parmesan cheese rind (just hold on to the rinds when you use up a hunk of parmesan - put them in a ziplock in the fridge)
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
* 1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
* 2 tbsps chopped flat leaf parsley
* 1 tsp dried oregano

* Dried red pepper flakes to taste
* Salt to taste
* Freshly ground black pepper to taste


Directions

1. Make the soffritto: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Stirring often, sautee the onions, carrots, celery and bay leaf until the vegetables are soft, about 10-15 minutes.
Cooking the soffritto

2. Add the chopped leek and the garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, about 4 minutes.


3. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the chopped celery, carrots, potatoes, green beans, and chard stems. Cook, stirring often, until golden brown, about 5-8 minutes.

Adding the heartier vegetables

4. Stir in the tomatoes, chard leaves, cabbage, white wine, stock, cheese rind, parsley, oregano, and red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer.


Stock, tomatoes and veggies added

5. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes or until all vegetables are soft and flavors have blended. About 15 minutes in, add the beans and stir to incorporate. While it's cooking, make the pesto (see below).


6. Remove parmesan rind and bay leaves. Serve hot and top with shredded parmesan and a dollop of fresh basil pesto. Goes nicely with a loaf of crusty bread and butter or olive oil and a green salad.

Minestrone soup with a dollop of fresh basil pesto

Fresh Basil Pesto


Ingredients

* 2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves, washed and dried thoroughly
* 1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped (if you are really into garlic, you can use more than one clove)
* 1/4 cup pinenuts
* 1/4 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated (optional)
* 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
* Sea salt to taste
* Fresh ground black pepper to taste


Directions


1. Place the basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic and cheese in the bowl of a cuisinart or other food processor and add the salt and pepper.

2. Turn the food processor on and add the olive oil in a steady stream. Blend/process until smooth or to desired consistency.

3. Taste the pesto and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

4. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week or in the freezer for several months. The top of the pesto will turn brown as it oxidizes but it is still good and if you dig down below the top, the rest should still be that lovely brilliant green.

** Although I'd recommend basil pesto as a topping for this soup, other greens also work well for pesto -- arugala and walnut is a very tasty combination. I also had a delightful cilantro and mint pesto on an asian pasta salad once. So feel free to play around.

Spectacular Cupcakes 2008 - "B-Cup" Cakes

Monday, March 3, 2008

cupcakes-spectacular-150I originally created the "B-Cup Cakes" in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this fall but am delighted to show them off again for the Spectacular Cupcakes 2008 event hosted by Arfi at HomeMadeS.

Given the name of this event and the theme of my cupcakes, it seems only fitting to quote one of the great Seinfeld episodes here -- "They're real. And they're SPECTACULAR." (If you have not seen this episode, you can watch a clip of it on YouTube by clicking here.)

When I first started baking, I'd hoped to make them "DD-Cup" Cakes but my muffin tins are just not big enough to support a more "full-figured' cupcake so I had to settle for B-Cup Cakes.

B-Cup Cakes Out of the Oven=

Although I made the batter chocolate (since I would not waste my time eating any other kind of cupcake), I made three kinds of buttercream icing to represent a diversity of boobies. I figured that since breast cancer does not discriminate, neither should I. The basic skin tones were easy - chocolate for our darker sisters, espresso for our coffee-colored sisters, and vanilla bean for all us pasty white sisters. The subtler colors for the aureolas were a bit more challenging but I managed to create them by mixing the three flavors of icing.


B-Cup Cake Icings

Of course, we know that beauty is only skin-deep, but the "B-Cup" Cakes have good looks and good taste!


B-Cup Cakes

B-Cup Cakes

The recipe and directions are below (I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe). I used a basic buttercream icing as mentioned above but you can pair this recipe with any icing you fancy. Hope you enjoy these beauties!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Yields 12 cupcakes

Ingredients


* 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
* 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
* 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
* 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon table salt
* 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position;heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2 cup capacity) with baking cup liners.

2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and fully combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.

5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean.

6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes. (To frost: Mound about 2 tablespoons icing on center of each cupcake. Using icing spatula or butter knife, spread icing to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.)

B-Cup Cake

Saturday, March 29, 2008

A Baby Bib That Looks Good Enough to Eat!

Holly at Phe/MOM/enon just announced that she is hosting a Blog for Babies by Making Little Wonders event to benefit the March of Dimes and its upcoming March for Babies.

It's a very simple event - the only criteria was to create something in a small or miniature size.
Tasty Tropical Fruit Baby Bib by Eve Fox
I am proud to submit this tasty tropical fruit baby bib I made as my entry for the event. Although it's not actually edible, it looks good enough to eat!

Here's the skinny on my bib:

* I chose this cheerful, plastic-coated fabric because I figured it would be easy to wipe down after the baby makes a mess.

* I made the bib double-sided so it's fully reversible.

* It closes with a snap (disguised with a button) to make it easy to get on and off.

* The only part that was difficult was sewing the binding tape around the edges (I did it by hand and it took quite a few hours.)

Best of luck to Holly and her family in their March. If you'd like to sponsor them or learn more about the March, please click here.

If you'd like to enter your own small creation in her event, you can find the description and instructions here.

Greening Your Kitchen: Grow Your Own Garlic

Allium SativumThere's a lot of talk about "ROI" or "return on investment" in my office (I work with some data geeks.) Although statistics generally make my eyes cross, I do know this - if you want a good ROI in your garden, you really can't go wrong with garlic. It's cheap, easy to grow, and produces a bumper crop that will keep you in fresh, flavorful cloves for several months or longer, depending on how many plants you grow. My husband (the sous-chef) and I have planted garlic three or four times and always enjoy both the growing and the eating of it.

In addition to the culinary and aesthetic delights, you'll also be helping to slow global warming because growing your own food helps shrink your carbon footprint (if you're curious about your carbon footprint,
click here to calculate it.) Plus, you'll be sparing yourself, your family, and the planet a buttload of toxic insecticides and industrial fertilizers. It's hard to get much "greener" than that!

Although you can plant garlic in the late fall (more on that below), now is also a great time to sow your garlic crop. Below you'll find all the info you need to get started.

Varieties of Garlic

There are two basic types of garlic - hardneck and softneck. Hardneck varieties grow tend to do best in northern zones and produce a curling flower which is called a scape (see the photo below). In addition to being beautiful (isn't the curling stem awesome?!), the scapes are also very tasty eating.


Garlic scape
You can steam them and eat them with butter or throw them into a stiry fry, etc. Most people cut the scapes in order to encourage the plant to put all its energy into the head. You should wait until the scape has made one or two loops, then snip it off.

Softneck varieties are also known as braiding varieties because they do not produce a scape and are therefore easier to braid than the stiffnecked kind. They're also better adapted to warmer climates, a bit more productive, a little spicier, and can be stored longer than the hardneck garlics.


When to plant?

Garlic can either be planted in late fall or early spring. Basically, if you live in an area with a shorter growing season and/or poorer growing conditions, plant your garlic in the late fall to give it more time to establish itself. I've planted it in late October with good results but I've also gotten good results from an early spring planting.

All you lucky bastards who live in warm climates should note that if you want to plant a hardneck variety, you may need to cool it down before planting. Hardnecks often need a cold snap to trigger sprouting but you can fake one by storing the head in a cool (45-50 degrees F), dry place for about three weeks prior to planting.

Where to Plant

Garlic likes plenty of sun so look for a spot that will make it happy. The plants do best in sandy loam with good drainage and lots of organic matter. If your soil is poor, you should add some organic compost material to build it up before planting. You can also grow garlic plants very happily in containers, provided that they are deep enough and offer good drainage.

How to Plant

Each clove will produce one head of garlic by the end of the season. You'll want to use good-sized cloves because a bigger clove = a bigger plant = a bigger head of garlic at harvest time.

This garlic clove will become a whole head!
You can plant the smaller cloves but you may want to harvest them early as scapes or garlic greens since they won't yield a very large head of garlic at the end of the season. When you are ready to plant, break the cloves apart, making sure to remove all of that hard "basal plate" they're attached to from the bottom of each one so that it won't block the new roots from growing. Then, plant each clove tip up, about 1 inch deep and 4 inches apart. If you're planting several rows, space them far enough apart to walk between them.


Planting a clove of garlic
Cover the cloves with soil and then water them. Garlic plants like even moisture so you should water them regularly. However, it's important not to overwater or the bulb can rot. Here is a photo of our little garlic patch, planted about one month ago - the shoots came up within a week or so in northern California's mild climate.



Our crop of garlic plants
How to Harvest
Harvesting garlic
As your garlic plants reach maturity, the leaves will turn brown, then dry up and die. Don't freak out - this is normal. Just keep an eye out for this change so that you'll know when they're getting ready to be harvested. When you notice the leaves dying, you should stop watering the garlic plants and give them a few weeks water-free to dry out and harden before you harvest them. If you're not 100% sure whether your plants are ready to harvest, just dig the dirt away from one of the plants and take a look at the bulb - if it looks ready, go for it!



Curing Garlic
Fresh garlic bruises easily so you should treat it gently when it's first picked. It's important to dry garlic properly to prevent it from rotting. If you have the space, it's ideal to hang up the dirty bulbs (don't wash them) in a cool, dry place to cure. After a week or so, you can take them down and gently brush the dirt off them. You can also remove the outer layer of skin from each head to make them look prettier if you like.
Storing Garlic
If you've grown a softneck variety, you should be able to braid your garlic. Most of the resources I've read about braiding suggest curing the garlic for at least a few days before you braid it to allow it some time to dry in the hopes of preventing mold.
Once your garlic has cured, start with three heads of garlic (with the stems still attached, obviously)and beging to braid them as you would anything else, adding in additional plants as you go. For more detailed instructions, check out this excellent write up with photos from Bloomingfield farms. If you somehow end up with more garlic than you can possibly use, give some away - I promise that your friends and family will be thrilled!

More Ways To Green Your Kitchen

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Greening Your Kitchen: Buy In Bulk!

Picture a huge mountain of garbage stretching higher than the eye can see, a veritable Mt. Everest of trash. If you look closer, you'll see that roughly 1/3 of the mountain is made up of discarded packaging. According to the EPA, packaging accounted for 1/3 of the truly astounding 251,340 tons of municipal waste we Americans generated in 2006. Therefore, it practically goes without saying (but I'm going to say it anyway) that cutting down on our consumption of packaging is one of the keys to making our kitchens and our homes moreBulk apricots environmentally-friendly. And one of the best ways to cut down on packaging is to buy in bulk!

There are several other added bonuses to buying in bulk:
  • it's often cheaper because you're skipping all that packaging;
  • it's often healthier than the alternatives because the products you're buying tend to be less processed than packaged products; and
  • last but not least, it feels really good to bypass all that unnecessary paper and plastic --buying in bulk can be very gratifying.
We've come a long way since the early days of food co-ops - nowadays, bulk food is fairly common and offers much more variety than you might expect. If you live near the right store, the list of items you can buy in bulk is loooong. It includes pastas, beans, flour, spices, sugar, salt, dried fruits, oats, cornmeal, couscous, rices, cereals, granola, raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, mixes (veggie burger, cornbread, etc.) as well as personal care products like hand soap, lotion, shampoo and conditioner, and laundry detergent.
Bulk bins
I LOVE browsing through the bulk foods section of my local grocery store (the Berkeley Bowl) which is downright palatial. But perhaps even more impressive than their selection of bulk goods is the uncanny ability of their staff who man the bulk weighing counter to discern organic white flour from regular white flour or differentiate between organic sea salt and regular sea salt WITHOUT any labels or information. You just put the stuff you want to buy in an unmarked plastic bag, close it with a twist tie, and bring it up to the counter where one of these weighing wizards throws it on the scale and magically types in the correct code and slaps a label on it. They are never wrong -- I simpy do not know how they do it! I am so awed by their abilities that I've even asked a few of them what their secret is. Unfortunately, they always just shrug nonchalantly and dodge the question so it remains a complete mystery...
Bulk orzo, weighed by the wizards at the Berkeley Bowl bulk goods counter
Hopefully by now my enthusiasm for buying in bulk has begun to rub off on you. If so, here are a few things you may want to consider before you run out to the store.

1. Freshness. Bulk food can go bad while it's sitting in the bins waiting to be bought so make sure you buy from a store whose bins see a lot of traffic and therefore will be replenished with new stock regularly. If you're buying something like nuts, smell them or taste them before you buy to make sure they're not rancid.
Bulk organic penne stored in airtight glass jar
2. Storage. Make sure you have the proper containers at home before you head off on your first bulk buying mission. Although you can reuse old yogurt containers, etc., you'll want to make sure that you have air tight containers for any kind of grain - otherwise you run the risk of getting grain weevils (those annoying little moths) and spreading them to all your other bulk goods. Glass jars are pretty, durable, and relatively inexpensive. You can find them at many grocery stores, as well as at home stores like Ikea, Crate and Barrel, etc.

You'll also need to make sure you have enough space to store all your bulk goodies. In general, you want to put them in a cool, dry area that does not get direct sun. We keep most of our jars of bulk goods in this cupboard in our kitchen because it is dry and has doors we close to keep it dark.
Our Bulk Foods Cupboard
3. Labeling. Some foods will keep for a long time but others have a limited shelf life so labeling is a good idea to ensure that you know how old something is. If you're unsure about how long a particular item will keep for, About.com offers this handy shelf life guide you can consult. I usually just use a sharpie on masking tape - it's not glamorous but it works and you can just tape it to the bottom of the container where no one will see it but you.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Meyer Lemon and Bergamot Orange Citrus Cooler

I have this little habit of buying more produce than I can use. I just get so excited when I'm standing in front of a pile of gorgeous vegetables or fruits that I don't entirely think things through. I haven't fully decided whether this is actually a "bad" habit or not since it sometimes leads to wasted food (bad) and sometimes to creative new dishes (good). So I am going to resist labelling it for now and spare you all any further inner monologue on this topic. Bergamot from Koehler's Medicinal-Plants, courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

Long story short, I ended up with five bergamot oranges -- Monterey Market was selling this rare (and usually expensive) citrus fruit for only $1.29 a pound last weekend so I clearly had to buy a few, right? Of course I did!

For those of you who are not familiar with it, bergamot originated on the Ionan coast of Italy and is a cross between a Seville orange and a pear lemon. Although it may not sound familiar, you probably have come across it before. Do you know that lovely flowery flavor and scent in Earl Grey tea? Well it comes from oil of bergamot, an oil that is extracted from the rind of the bergamot fruit!


Unfortunately, I had no idea what to do with them once I got them home... I waited a week for inspiration to strike but nothing came to me - no whispered message in a dream, no omens sent from above, not a damn thing! I realized that it was time to take matters into my own hands when one of the fruits succumbed to a vibrant green mold a few days ago.

Meyer Lemons and Bergamot Oranges

Since our house is graced with an amazingly abundant Meyer lemon tree, I decided to combine these two sour yet flowery-tasting fruits in a unique citrus cooler. Here's the pile of fruit waiting to be juiced in my adorable yellow colander (we really do keep our fruit in this, it was not just for the photo opp.)

Bowl o' Exotic Citrus

There is no real recipe for my cooler - it's too basic. The first step is to juice the mother 'uckers. Luckily, both fruits are relatively easy to juice as they're soft and bursting with liquid - so much so that they may even fall apart a little while you're juicing them.


JuicingTheMotherUckers

Then add water and sugar to taste, stir well, and cool. The result is a refreshing and fascinating blend of flavors - mild, flowery, acidic, and sweet. Enjoy!

Citrusade

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Greening Your Kitchen: Plant an Herb Garden

Greening Your Kitchen logo by Eve FoxThere is nothing greener (both literally and figuratively) than eating locally-grown food. And you can't get more local than your own garden, window box, or backyard.

This week, I want to give you that little push you need to start your own kitchen garden. It can be as modest or as ambitious as you like - from a set of three flowerpots on your windowsill to one of those delightful raised bed numbers.

Mint Plant
There is nothing more satisfying and awe-inducing than growing things. It's a simply marvellous feeling to saunter down a path and casually snip some chives for a garnish or harvest some fresh cilantro or basil to add to a salad just before dinner. The taste of freshly grown herbs has no comparison and you'll be saving money and reducing your carbon footprint at the same time.

Step 1: Choose Your Seeds

I suggest that you figure out which herbs you use most often, and go with some or all of them.

Seed Packets 1
I planted lots of basil because I love to make pesto, cilantro because I use it in a lot of my cooking, dill because I love it on potatoes and in egg dishes and I never use up enough to justify buying a whole bunch at a time, and mint because it's so nice in summer dishes and middle eastern food. Other herbs to consider include chives, parsley, sage, thyme (there are many varieties), marjoram, savory, and oregano. You can either go to a garden store/plant nursery and pick up your seeds there or you can order them online if you are not in a huge rush. Either way, I recommend choosing a seed company that is certified organic. There are also lots of fun heirloom varieties available nowadays and they may offer better flavor than the more conventional varieties.

Step 2. Get Prepared

While you're at the garden center, you may need to pick up some organic potting soil and a few other things like a seedling tray to plant the seeds in (though you can also use a paper egg carton), terra cotta pots for the mature plants, a trowel, and a watering can.

EasySeedNursery
You'll also need to stake out your planting spot -- are you planning to grown the seeds in pots in your kitchen or does your back deck get more sun? Or do you have the time, energy and space to do something more involved like an actual kitchen garden? Although all plants like slightly different growing conditions, chances are you'll need to find a spot that gets a good deal of sunlight throughout the day.

Step 3: Start Planting!

Start by filling your seedling tray or paper egg carton with dirt.

Dirt Ready For Planting
Then read the sowing instructions on the back of each packet of seeds. Each type of plant responds best to a slightly different sowing depth. Some seeds may also call for special handling before being planted (for example, soaking them in water for a number of hours beforehand.) Don't forget to hold on to the seed packets as you'll need them to determine the proper spacing once you're ready to transplant the seedlings.
Cilantro seeds
Sow the seeds according to the directions on the packet and cover with dirt. Then give them all a light watering making sure to get them thoroughly wet but trying not to disturb the seeds too much.

Step 4: Watch, Wait, and Water

Depending on the type of plant, it may be a week to two weeks before the seeds sprout. During this time, you'll want to keep the nascent seedlings well-watered and make sure that they don't get too cold (most plastic seedling trays come with a clear cover to create a little greenhouse-like environment).

Watered seeds
Step 5: Transplant The Young 'Uns

Pretty soon, you should see determined little green heads breaking through the dirt.
It's a wonderful feeling and very inspiring.
First leaves
Follow the directions on the back of each packet to determine the right time to transplant the seedlings to their adult homes (whether they be terra cotta pots or a garden bed) as each one will vary.

One of the nice things about using the egg carton instead of an actual plastic seed tray is that you can just cut the egg carton into 12 separate pieces and plant each one in the dirt when the seedlings are ready for transplant. The paper will dissolve as the plant takes root in its new pot.

If you use a plastic seedling tray, you'll need to loosen each one individually (pushing up from the bottom and using a knife to cut around the sides is helpful) so that you can pop it out into your hand and place it in a well of dirt in the ground or in a pot. Try to be as gentle as possible since this will be a fairly traumatic process for your tender young seedlings. Again, follow the planting and spacing instructions on each packet and be sure to use organic dirt in the pots or garden beds. Water the transplanted seedlings well after you've moved them.

Step 6: Enjoy the Harvest

You'll need to continue to water regularly and to make sure the baby plants are getting enough light and staying warm. Bugs may also be an issue so keep an eye out for any infestations (and remember that ladybugs and spiders are your friends as they eat pests). As spring and summer progress, you should start to enjoy having a bounty of fresh herbs at your fingertips whenever you want them. Check out this luscious photo of my mint plant below to get a glimpse of what could be in store for you if you start your own kitchen garden.


Mint leaves close up
Happy planting! And may no bugs besmirch your beloved botanical beauties.
More Ways To Green Your Kitchen

Salads Galore

In case anyone is interested, click here to browse through some lovely-sounding salads that bloggers (including myself) submitted to Andrew at Spittoon's "Waiter, there's something in my salad" event recently.

Enjoy!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Minestrone Soup with Fresh Basil Pesto

Progresso MinestroneAs a kid, Progresso Minestrone was one of my favorite soups. My mom liked the chicken noodle and tomato soups but I preferred the minestrone for its tomato base, beans, veggies, and little tubetti pastas.
Although Progresso is no longer at the top of my list, I do still love minestrone. It's also a great way to use up a bunch of veggies if you happen to have a lot on hand, as I did as a result of our month-long EatWell Farm CSA produce box experiment -- this is definitely the first time I've ever had two large cabbages in my fridge :) I also had leeks, potatoes, celery, carrots, and chard lying around and practically begging to be made into soup. And I happened to have two pieces of Parmesan cheese rind that I'd been holding on to for the past few months for just this purpose. So I got out the big soup pot and cooked up a mess of minestrone.


Parmesan cheese rinds

Minestrone is a soup that allows for lots of creativity so you needn't feel hemmed in by this or any other recipe. If you have different veggies, the chances are you can use them and the result will be good. Just be sure to add the veggies in in order of cooking time needed - heartier things like carrots and potatoes before chard leaves, etc.


Bowl o Chard

I really recommend adding the fresh pesto. It's very easy and quick to make if you have a food processor of any sort and it gives the soup a delightful zip of flavor that makes me think of summertime.


The recipe I used calls for a soffritto, a mix of finely chopped onion, celery and carrot that you saute first to create a flavor base for the soup - you then add more of each vegetable (in bigger pieces) a little later in the cooking process.

Soffritto

However, I have also made minestrone without doing an intentional soffritto (I do cook the onion, celery and carrot first but I don't cut them up all tiny and I don't add more later) and the result was delicious so it's really up to you.


Buon appetito!

Bowl of minestrone soup with a dollop of fresh basil pesto

Minestrone Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients
* 1 bunch Swiss chard (or kale), cleaned, ribs removed and chopped, leaves chopped
* 1 can pureed tomatoes (or diced tomatoes with juice)
* 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
* 2 tbsps olive oil

* 1 large onion - very finely chopped* 1 large leek, cleaned and sliced into rounds (white part only)
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 medium carrots, peeled - 1 very finely chopped, the other two cut into slices or diced
* 3 ribs of celery, cleaned - 1 rib very finely chopped, the other two sliced or diced
* 1/4 head green cabbage, cored and very thinly sliced

* 2 medium sized red potatoes, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
* 3- to 4-inch parmesan cheese rind (just hold on to the rinds when you use up a hunk of parmesan - put them in a ziplock in the fridge)
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
* 1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
* 2 tbsps chopped flat leaf parsley
* 1 tsp dried oregano

* Dried red pepper flakes to taste
* Salt to taste
* Freshly ground black pepper to taste


Directions

1. Make the soffritto: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Stirring often, sautee the onions, carrots, celery and bay leaf until the vegetables are soft, about 10-15 minutes.
Cooking the soffritto

2. Add the chopped leek and the garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, about 4 minutes.


3. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the chopped celery, carrots, potatoes, green beans, and chard stems. Cook, stirring often, until golden brown, about 5-8 minutes.

Adding the heartier vegetables

4. Stir in the tomatoes, chard leaves, cabbage, white wine, stock, cheese rind, parsley, oregano, and red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer.


Stock, tomatoes and veggies added

5. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes or until all vegetables are soft and flavors have blended. About 15 minutes in, add the beans and stir to incorporate. While it's cooking, make the pesto (see below).


6. Remove parmesan rind and bay leaves. Serve hot and top with shredded parmesan and a dollop of fresh basil pesto. Goes nicely with a loaf of crusty bread and butter or olive oil and a green salad.

Minestrone soup with a dollop of fresh basil pesto

Fresh Basil Pesto


Ingredients

* 2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves, washed and dried thoroughly
* 1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped (if you are really into garlic, you can use more than one clove)
* 1/4 cup pinenuts
* 1/4 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated (optional)
* 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
* Sea salt to taste
* Fresh ground black pepper to taste


Directions


1. Place the basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic and cheese in the bowl of a cuisinart or other food processor and add the salt and pepper.

2. Turn the food processor on and add the olive oil in a steady stream. Blend/process until smooth or to desired consistency.

3. Taste the pesto and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

4. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week or in the freezer for several months. The top of the pesto will turn brown as it oxidizes but it is still good and if you dig down below the top, the rest should still be that lovely brilliant green.

** Although I'd recommend basil pesto as a topping for this soup, other greens also work well for pesto -- arugala and walnut is a very tasty combination. I also had a delightful cilantro and mint pesto on an asian pasta salad once. So feel free to play around.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Spectacular Cupcakes 2008 - "B-Cup" Cakes

cupcakes-spectacular-150I originally created the "B-Cup Cakes" in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this fall but am delighted to show them off again for the Spectacular Cupcakes 2008 event hosted by Arfi at HomeMadeS.

Given the name of this event and the theme of my cupcakes, it seems only fitting to quote one of the great Seinfeld episodes here -- "They're real. And they're SPECTACULAR." (If you have not seen this episode, you can watch a clip of it on YouTube by clicking here.)

When I first started baking, I'd hoped to make them "DD-Cup" Cakes but my muffin tins are just not big enough to support a more "full-figured' cupcake so I had to settle for B-Cup Cakes.

B-Cup Cakes Out of the Oven=

Although I made the batter chocolate (since I would not waste my time eating any other kind of cupcake), I made three kinds of buttercream icing to represent a diversity of boobies. I figured that since breast cancer does not discriminate, neither should I. The basic skin tones were easy - chocolate for our darker sisters, espresso for our coffee-colored sisters, and vanilla bean for all us pasty white sisters. The subtler colors for the aureolas were a bit more challenging but I managed to create them by mixing the three flavors of icing.


B-Cup Cake Icings

Of course, we know that beauty is only skin-deep, but the "B-Cup" Cakes have good looks and good taste!


B-Cup Cakes

B-Cup Cakes

The recipe and directions are below (I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe). I used a basic buttercream icing as mentioned above but you can pair this recipe with any icing you fancy. Hope you enjoy these beauties!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Yields 12 cupcakes

Ingredients


* 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
* 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
* 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
* 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon table salt
* 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position;heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2 cup capacity) with baking cup liners.

2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and fully combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.

5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean.

6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes. (To frost: Mound about 2 tablespoons icing on center of each cupcake. Using icing spatula or butter knife, spread icing to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.)

B-Cup Cake