Putting on a layer of fat for the cold Maine winter

So its fall, and I am craving the scent of cinnamon in my house, and what better way to accomplish this than cookies?  I haven't had any luck finding canned pumpkin this year, so I have had to be brave and make all of my pumpkin dishes from actual pumpkins.  I'll tell you how, and you can go out and buy a can of pumpkin and make the recipe.  I won't tell.

This recipe has lots of healthier, whole ingredients that can easily be substituted for the "normal" variant, it will work either way, but the cookies taste so freaking good that I am including my healthier stuff so you can try it and become addicted like I have. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c butter, soft
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c sugar in the raw (turbinado sugar)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 c whole wheat bread or pastry flour
1 c oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 c cooked, mashed pumpkin (or canned, if you can get your hands on it)
1 1/2 c chocolate chips (dark, milk, semi sweet, your call.)

Pumpkin processing;
Take a 4ish lb sugar pumpkin and chop it into 4 pieces.  Scoop out the seeds and goop, and either boil it until its mashable with a fork, or bake it in a shallow pan, face down and covered with tinfoil at 375 for 1.5 hours.  When the pumpkin is no longer hot enough to melt your skin, peel off the pumpkin skin, and mash it with a fork.  Let it cool, and proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Canned Pumpkin;
Open can. Remove 1 c pumpkin. Laugh because you have found the 1 remaining can of pumpkin in the known universe.

In a big bowl, cream the butter and sugars together, add the egg, and vanilla and mix.  Add the other ingredients sans the pumpkins and chocolate, and mix.  Finally add the pumpkin, and mix well.  Fold in the chocolate chips, and CHILL THE FREAKING BATTER.  I cannot stress this enough.  If the batter is warm, the cookies will be crap. 

Preheat the oven to 350, and on a greased baking sheet drop golf ball sized dollops of batter onto the sheet.  Bake for 11-13 minutes.  Enjoy, these buggers are addictive.

Its HOT

Ok, so in the northeast right now we are having a heat wave of epic proportions.  Its officially September and yesterday it was 97F.  That's REALLY hot for my neck of the woods, and being that 3/4 of the year, we need to run the furnace, most, if not all of the houses around here have no central air.  So we are all dying in the heat.  School is also starting up, and that brings me to today's recipe.  Tomorrow is a very special day at my house.  My eldest child, who for the sake of anonymity, we'll call Cinderella, is starting kindergarten.  That makes today her last day at home with Momma, and since its roughly the temperature of the sun, with the humidity of monsoon season, I made her one of her favorite treats...Cinderella's Favorite Lemonade.

Simple?  Yes, but in this heat, delightful.

Cinderella's Favorite Lemonade

1 c water
2 c sugar (bad, I know, but its a treat)
1 c blueberries
1 1/2 c lemon juice
ice
6ish cups cold water
mint leaves for a garnish

In a saucepan, heat 1 cup of water, mixed with the 2 cups of sugar, and 1/2 cup of the blueberries.  Heat this until the sugar is dissolved and the blueberries have turned the water bright pink.  Pour this into your pitcher with the 6 cups of cold water, the lemon juice, and then add the ice, the rest of the blueberries, and a few mint sprigs, and chill.  If you don't get the color pink you want (this is Cinderella's lemonade, after all) add a splash of cranberry juice to the final product. If you are serving this to a princess, I suggest a fancy cup.

I'm thinking about food, but what else is new.

Ok, kids, todays entry does not have a recipe.  Its just some random thoughts I am having, and am curious if you are thinking them too, or if I need to check the species a little closer before I eat anymore of these wild mushrooms.  No, seriously, I went to the grocery store today, and I am wondering why it costs so much money to eat healthy, whole, food.

Hubby and I have recently, (ok, the past year) been trying to eat healthier food with less additives.  We tried going vegetarian, we have developed a habit of hitting up the local farmers markets, and I have been trying to make more things myself.  It seems that if you want bread with no preservatives you need to bake it yourself, or pay $6 a loaf at a specialty store.  Neither of these things are especially convenient, but in the interest of our health, and wallets, I am doing it.  For the most part, I make 80% of what we eat from scratch. This is a huge pain in my butt, and there are days when I just don't have the time.  I AM A FREAKING STAY AT HOME MOM!!!!  ALL I HAVE IS TIME!!!! If I don't have time to do this, who does?  Are we all screwed?  This is the crux of my point today.  Have we doomed ourselves as a culture to eating over processed s%&t all the time unless we have a chef, or stupid amounts of money? 

My best friend, K and I were recently reminiscing about our childhood.  We lived on Koolaid, Fudge Rounds, and other sundry crap.  As close as I can guess, my corpse should have a 90 year shelf life after I die due to the amount of salt I have consumed.  The worst part is that my mom is an incredible cook.  She made us amazing meals, but just like K's mom and many others, they were riding the high of 80's consumerism, and loving up the "convenience food" that was cheap and available.  As Michael Pollan says in his AMAZING book "The Omnivores Dilemma"  imagine your great grandmother looking at a tube of GoGurt.  Do you think she would even recognize it as food? 

Lets talk strategy.  So, we have covered the basics, good food is expensive food.  Crap food is cheap.  Whats a person to do?  Well, here's my thought.  Whole food.  For example; pasta sauce in a can, full of preservatives, salt, and who knows what else, cheap, maybe $1 per can.  Organic pasta sauce in a pretty glass jar, probably has some unneeded sugar and salt, but its not the biggest food sin you'll ever commit, (coughMcDonaldscough.) this will cost you in the $4 to $8 range.  Now, here's an idea, a tomato, maybe two, some basil and oregano, a bit of garlic, and you have pasta sauce.  Its a hell of a lot cheaper than Emeril, and you know whats in it.

So, friends, the answer is to reclaim our kitchens.  If we want to be healthy, we need to prepare our own food, out of actual ingredients.  Grow a garden (or if you have a black thumb like me, you can shop at farmers markets, where you can find some GREAT deals.)   Most importantly, try things.  Maybe you suck at cooking, so did I.  You just have to try, experiment, and fail a few times.  I don't remember the last time I looked at a box of Hamburger Helper and said "WOW! yum!"  I have looked at one and said "wow, that looks fast and easy..." but laziness isn't the answer.  Feed yourself real food, and you will thank me when you don't die of a massive heart attack.

In other news... I am working on some recipes for energy bars/granola bars.  That will probably be my next post, Mondayish.

Peachy Keen

yum.

Last weekend I went to the farmer's market alone, toting both kids.  Usually, Hubby and I do this together, and its hard at best to coral both bored kids who want to run around and play - alone, its nearly impossible.  Because of this I bought myself a present, some beautiful, fresh peaches.  I ate a bunch of them earlier this week, and was left with four bruised peaches.  What to do?  Peach tart? Pie? Salsa?  I decided on a peach galette.  Its a rustic tart, made with a pastry or pie crust that is folded up over the edge of the fruit to make a basket to hold the cooked filling.  I am not going to give you a pie crust recipe.  Mine is terrible, and if you can make your own, do it, or buy some, either way.

Peach Galette

1 pie crust, or pastry crust
4 peaches
1/4 c blueberries (or other berries, your choice)
1/4 c honey or white sugar
1 pinch of cinnamon

On a flat sheet or in a pie pan, lay out your uncooked crust.  Wash and cut up your fruit.  If you are feeling fancy, cut the peaches into pretty wedges and pinwheel them around the crust.  If you are me, make a pile in the center of the crust.  Sprinkle the blueberries onto the peaches.  Drizzle the honey over the fruit and then sprinkle the cinnamon over the fruit.  Fold the pie crust up over the edge of the fruit, making a basket.  Bake at 400F until the crust is brown and flaky and the filling is bubbly.  It took mine about 30 minutes. 

This would work with any combo of fruit, use whats in season and available.  Since its supposed to look rustic, you don't need to be fussy.  Serve with some whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!

bad picture, good tart

Vegetarian Chili, or why carrots are magic

Vegetarian chili has been a staple in my home, ever since we decided to diet.  Its cheap, easy, low fat, and high in fiber.  For those carnivores out there who feel like a lack of meat is a deal breaker, take heart, this chili is so chunky you won't miss it!

Recipe:
4 cans of Beans, rinsed (any kind, I use a can of black, kidney, and whatever else I have in the cupboard)
1-2 cups of corn
2 chopped tomatoes
1 can of your favorite tomato soup (those with roasted red peppers are awesome)
10ish cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 or 3 peeled, grated carrots
2 or 3 peppers (I have used a red and a green, Anaheim, jalapenos, etc, its all a matter of taste.)
1 handful of chopped fresh basil
1 handful of chopped fresh oregano
1/8 c chili powder
dash of hot sauce
salt and pepper
If you like it hot...
2 chopped chipotle peppers, and a tablespoon of the adobo sauce they are packed in (can be bought for under a dollar in the Hispanic foods section of any store. They keep forever in the fridge, because the peppers are smoked, and the sauce has a lot of vinegar.)

I put this all in a crock pot and in 4 hours on high, or 6 on low, you have yummy chili that is even better the next day.

So, lets address the magic carrots.  Carrots might seem like an odd additive for chili, but they serve a purpose.  Carrots cut the acid in the tomatoes and peppers and will prevent you from getting heartburn.  They also add a nice sweetness to the dish, and since they are grated, you will never know they are there.  Try it, you'll be putting carrots in everything after this.  I use them in pasta sauce, even pizza sauce sometimes.  Its a great trick.

A note about seasoning...
There is really no right way to season this dish.  I do it differently every time.  I prefer fresh herbs, but even just hot sauce and grill seasoning will do the trick in a pinch.  Another easy out is to use half a packet of taco seasoning.  My advice is to experiment, taste it as it simmers and adjust the flavor.  Experimentation makes the best food (but not always the first time.)

Talk Amongst Yourselves

Yes, a woman CAN open it, but not without ruining her manicure.

I am off camping again, for the second time in three weeks, so I've left you something to be amused by.  We've come a long way, baby.  I thought these were great! 

No comment

Wow! My two favorite foods!

I am shocked you can't buy these.

as opposed to the tender... what?

"But I might have, dear, if you hadn't rescued me from myself!"

yeah, sweat is HOT!

This is one of those posts about failure

So. I went camping. In the woods. Being me, I brought something to try, in the culinary sense. I decided to try and make beer can chicken on a Coleman stove. Beer can chicken is a recipe that I have been making for years, very successfully, in my oven. I saw the method I used on food network and figured, "well, its not like there is anything else to do in the woods..."

The concept is pretty simple. Take a whole chicken, cover it in rub, insert a half full can of beer where the sun don't shine, and (in the oven, at least) in an hour and 30 minutes you have a wonderfully moist, flavorful chicken. In the woods, its never that easy.

To try this, I rubbed the chicken in my yummy beer can chicken rub (recipe below) and tried to violate it with the beer can. Hubby bought the beer. It was a can of Fosters (Australian for abnormally large can!) It had to have been a 30oz can. It was large, and the chicken, well, wasn't. Luckily, we had some empty cans of diet coke, so we washed one, and partially filled it with beer. At this point, you need to try and balance the chicken on the two drumsticks and the beer can, kind of like a tripod in your cooking vessel. If nothing else, it makes a hell of a dramatic presentation piece. In the oven you just stick it in, and leave it alone. The beer boils, and comes out the neck hole of the chicken (kind of like a percolator) and bastes the chicken for you. Well, I didn't have an oven, I had a tiny camp stove, and a cast iron frying pan. I tented the chicken in tinfoil, and put in the meat thermometer.

2 hours later...
The breast meat cooked, the thermometer read 166F but the drumsticks were still a little rare, about 138F, that's good with steak, but not so much with poultry. There was an air leak at the bottom of the tin foil, and that caused the bottom not to cook efficiently. At this point, I was done. I put the mostly cooked bird in my cooler (it got cooked at home) and made myself a hot dog. Oh well, there's always next week, when I have to camp AGAIN.

Beer Can Chicken Rub

1 T brown sugar
1 T paprika
2 t pepper
1 t salt
1 t chili powder (more or less, according to taste)
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder

Mix well, and rub all over chicken. If you have time, wrap it in saran wrap and throw it in the fridge for a few hours. This lets it "marinate." Then, insert the half full beer can into the chicken, and put it in the oven, on a baking vessel with sides, as the beer tends to leak. Bake at 350 for an hour and a half.


This is Ella, and the best fluff face ever. See, someone ate well in the Maine wilderness.

Photo credit to Laurel M, who documented this whole experiment, and was even nice enough not to make fun of me when it didn't work.