My "Tasteful" Holiday Greeting Cards

This year, for the very first time, we sent out some holiday cards. I have to admit that the impulse was primarily driven by a desire to make potato block prints (though I also like the idea of keeping in touch with people, of course.)

It had been at least 10 years since I had picked up a potato to practice this incredibly simple yet surprisingly challenging art form. I bought several large, inexpensive russett baking potatoes (no need to go organic for this project...) and we spent hours creating our designs and printing them in different configurations on card stock.

Although you can use a knife or razor blade to create your design, I found that my old set of linoleum block cutting tools (from my high school art class!) worked wonders for cutting out the design, along with a paring knife that I used to clear out bigger sections of potato. We printed with watercolor paints though you can also use tempra paint or acrylics. The end result was cheerful and fun - each one unique.

Although we made a bunch of different prints (including a peace dove, lady bug and bee), I'm including photos only of these two since they seemed the most Garden of Eating appropriate. I'd started with the tomato since the colors were so Christmasy but then could not resist the lure of the carrot...

Happy New Year to you all!

How do you feel about your kitchen?

I love to cook but am often frustrated by the kitchen in my apartment. I have a long litany of complaints (you can stop reading whenever you get sick of my complaining):

Nowhere near enough space. My husband and I run into each other constantly and have to coordinate our usage of the sink and stove with the opening of drawers and use of countertops like a careful ballet (though ballet implies something graceful and lovely which our little dance is not.)

Not enough light. The little room does have one window but it is located underneath the deck of our upstairs neighbor so very little light makes it in. My husband added some lights on top of the cabinets which help a little bit but it's not ideal, particularly when trying to take pictures of food for this here blog.

No connection to the rest of the house. Our kitchen is a little box off of a hallway which means that when we have guests they either have to stand (or sit on a tiny stepstool) in the hallway to chat with us or go hang out in the living or dining room and talk amongst themselves while we finish cooking. We once had an even tinier kitchen (the kind with a half-sized stove) which was open to the living room with a counter top between them -- that one feature pretty much made up for all its other shortcomings, though.

Tiled countertop. This might not sound bad but the tiles are old ones with very uneven surfaces which means that everything - cutting boards, plates, bowls, pans-- wobbles unmercifully and makes a lot of noise. At one point when the counters were new, the large strips of grout between them were probably smooth and full but now they are worn down, pitted and coated in years of grime (I have tried to clean them out.)

Ants. In the wintertime, the kitchen routinely gets invaded by armies of ants (luckily, the little sugar ants, not the big ones...) We think that they are driven in by either the cold or the rain but there is something very unpleasant about trying to cook on a surface covered by a river of little creatures. And it also feels bad to have to kill so many of them (who wants to begin their morning by wiping out hundreds of tiny lives, after all?)

But there are a few good points, too. For a small space, our kitchen has a surprising amount of storage so all our pots and pans and whatnot fit. It also has a gas stove (thank God!) and a full sized refrigerator that does NOT require defrosting. In retrospect, we have had much worse kitchens so perhaps I really should not complain.

I thought this recent blog post by Mark Bittman, the New York Times food blogger/critic and cookbook writer about his own tiny kitchen (see photo of him cooking braised turkey at right) was great. Although it has in NO way dampened my desire for a bigger and better kitchen, it was sort of nice to know that other people who take food seriously can and do cook in less than ideal circumstances and with good results.

Although I agree with Bittman that the size of a kitchen should not affect the quality of food you're able to prepare (though perhaps the volume...), I do think that a kitchen can affect the way you feel while cooking. My dad is a designer-builder and the houses he built for us always had big open kitchens with a good connection to the rest of the house. I find that it just is more enjoyable to cook in a well-designed space with room for two people to walk around.

So how do YOU feel about your kitchen? (Please respond via comments!)

Quinoa & Spinach Gratin - Hearty Comfort Food, Yet Light...

I found this recipe while browsing the Recipes for Health section of the New York Times site a few weeks ago. Something about it appealed to me - maybe the fact that it melded quinoa (a food I still think of as the kind of uber-healthy grain favored by vegans) with Gruyère cheese (which conjures up a very different set of associations - French, decadent, melty, etc...) and eggs (hearty, filling and basic.)

We tried this out a few nights ago and loved it! The result was part comfort food, part health food, and 100% tasty and satisfying.

It does not take too long to prepare (you can cook the quinoa ahead of time which helps a bit) and tastes great reheated. My husband and I were practically fighting over the leftovers the next day...

My recipe below includes a few small changes to the original by Martha Rose Shulman. In addition to adjusting the amounts a little, I've suggested cooking the quinoa with some stock or boullion as it gives it a richer flavor (though you can just use water.) I've also increased the amount of cheese the recipe calls for (though you could scale back if you want to err on the side of lower fat, lighter dairy, etc.,) as we both felt it would have been even tastier with a little more melty goodness. And since Gruyère is a pretty pricey cheese, I've suggested substituting cheddar for the additional cheese. It's a very flexible recipe, though, so feel free to adjust.

Enjoy!

Quinoa & Spinach Gratin
Serves 6

Ingredients

* 1 large bunch of organic spinach, washed, dried and torn into manageable-sized pieces
* 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed in several changes of water and drained
* 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
* 3 large organic eggs
* 3/4 cup Gruyère cheese, grated
* 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
* 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
* 1 1/2 tsps fresh sage, chopped
* 2 tsps Italian parsley, chopped
* 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Oil a 2-quart baking or casserole dish.

2. Prepare the quinoa. Bring the stock to a boil in a pot and add the quinoa with a pinch of salt. Stir and return to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the quinoa is tender but still firm. You'll know it's done when you see its unique little curlicue of a "tail" come out of the grain. Drain the quinoa in a fine strainer or sieve and set it aside.

3. Heat a medium frying pan or a wide saucepan over medium-high heat and add 2 Tbsps of the olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until translucent and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir with the onion until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add the spinach and stir to wilt it well (you may need to add it in batches to make it easier to deal with as it cooks down since it always starts out so bulky). Season generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from the heat.

4. Beat the eggs in a large bowl and add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and some more pepper. Stir in the quinoa, the onion and spinach mixture, the Gruyère and cheddar cheeses, and the herbs. Stir to combine well. Scrape the whole thing into the oiled gratin dish. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top and drizzle on the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

5. Place in the oven and bake until nicely browned on top, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes, then serve.

Makes tasty leftovers! This would go well with a hearty salad or soup.

You might also like:

• Swiss Chard & Barley Gratin
• Provençal Vegetable Tian
• Lemon-Scented Quinoa With Tahini & Chickpeas
• Wild Ramp & Lemon Risotto
• Cumin-Scented Quinoa With Grated Beets Topped With Quick Curried Chickpeas
• Turnip Gratin

Want even more recipes, photos, giveaways, and food-related inspiration? "Like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest.

An Important Decision - Secretary of Agriculture

In the next few days, President-elect Obama will be naming a new Secretary of Agriculture. This is a very important decision -- whoever Obama appoints will have a lot of influence over the policies that affect our farms and our food.

Will it be agribusiness and factory farming as usual or real change that supports family farmers and advances a healthier, more sustainable way of feeding our population and caring for our land?

Please sign the short petition at http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/ to urge him to choose one of six great candidates (they've been endorsed by all the right people, in my opinion.)

And please sign it now, before it's too late to influence Obama's decision.

I know I have not provided much background info so if you'd like more details, check out the recent New York Times op-ed by Nicholas Kristof on this topic at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/opinion/11kristof.html

Thanks!
-Eve

Hearty Winter Salad: Roasted Delicata Squash & Caramelized Red Onions with Farro

I've decided that delicata is my new favorite squash. I just love its sweet, mildly nutty flavor and its versatility. So when I saw this yummy-sounding roasted pumpkin salad on 101 Cookbooks a few weeks ago, I decided I would create my own version using roasted delicata squash and farro in place of wild rice. I also found these lovely little purple cipollini onions at the farmers market on Thursday (though a regular red onion would also work just fine.)

I won't lie to you, this dish did take me nearly 2 hours of solid work to prepare. But the end result was this gorgeous and hearty winter fare.

Next time, I might try roasting the onions with a splash of pomegranate molasses in place of balsamic vinegar to add yet one more note of complexity and sweetness. I also think this would go nicely with some goat cheese though I had none on hand so I made a creamy balsamic vinegar dressing. You could also roast a butternut squash in place of delicata if you prefer the flavor.

Roasted Delicata Squash & Caramelized Red Onions with Farro
Serves 4 (as a side dish)

Ingredients

* 2 large delicata squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks or strips (your choice)
* 6 small cipollini onions or 1 really large red onion, peeled and cut into decent-sized wedges
* 1 1/2 cups semi-pearled farro, rinsed in several changes of water
* 3-4 cups stock or salted water (using vegetable or chicken stock will lend a richer flavor to the farro)
* 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
* 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, washed and chopped
* 3 tsps Italian parsely, washed and chopped
* 3 Tbsps olive oil
* 2 tsps walnut oil
* Sea salt
* Freshly ground black pepper
* Goat cheese (optional)
* I bunch arugula or watercress, washed and dried (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Toss the squash and onions with the thyme, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and spread in a single layer on a heavy baking sheet. Sprinkle everything with sea salt and roast, turning often, for 15-20 minutes or until soft but still toothsome (you don't want the squash to fall apart in the salad.) Remove from the oven and cool a bit.

2. While you're roasting the veggies, cook the farro (please note that these directions are for the semi-pearled variety which takes about half as long to cook as the other kind.) Add the rinsed and drained farro to the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until tender but still firm, about 15-20 minutes. Drain any excess liquid from the farro and place in a large bowl or on a platter (whatever you intend to serve the salad on/in.)

3. Add the parsley to the farro and toss with the walnut oil and a pinch of seal salt and a few grinds of black pepper. You can either toss in the squash and onions or serve them on top of the farro. If you're using goat cheese, dot the salad with it now. You can serve with or without greens - my recommendations would be either arugula or watercress for a little peppery bite.

You might also like:

• Simple Herbed Farro Salad
• Butternut Squash Ravioli With Browned Butter, Sage, & Pinenuts
• Cider-Glazed Delicata Squash
• Green Salad With Goat Cheese, Pears & Candied Pecans
• Baked Stuffed Squash,Three Ways
• Winter Vegetable Pie With Roasted Beets & Goat Cheese