What is a CSA and why should I care?

What is a CSA?

A friend IM'ed me a bit ago and asked me what Community Supported Agriculture is, after I mentioned it in a Facebook post. I thought I'd answer here. 

Baaaa! I'm going to make wool someday
used with permission, from Morguefile^

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a system where the consumer buys a share in a local farm, meaning that they agree to share the risks of food production in exchange for the reward of locally grown, high-quality food.

strawberry pie, cold strawberry soup, strawberry ice cream, 
strawberry-rhubarb jam...
used with permission, from Morguefile^

In our case, we bought a share in a local farm, entitling us to weekly deliveries of fresh organic produce for 26 weeks. It will be delivered to the garden center near our home, where we'll pick it up and take it home. We calculated that it'll cost a little more for the 26 weeks than we'd normally pay to buy from the grocery store, but we'll be getting a much larger volume of organic food, which we plan to preserve. In the end, paying a bit more at first should yield substantial savings later.

Delicious!

used with permission, from Morguefile^

There are CSAs for meat, fruit, veggies, bread, mushrooms, eggs, nuts, milk & cheese, honey, wool and fibers, even cut flowers. All of the products are grown/produced locally. Some farms even offer canning or preservation shares, where the customer receives enough produce to can, freeze or dehydrate. 

Dan's favorites: spicy pepper rings jelly, pickled peppers,
grilled peppers, peppers in Kimchi, baked peppers...

used by permission, from Morguefile^

And why should I care?

There are many benefits to joining a CSA:

• Bountiful fresh organic food grown and produced locally, in season.
• Our food will travel a shorter distance than food from elsewhere, cutting down on pollution, energy usage, shipping costs, and transit time.
• Our food will be delivered in a large, reusable tub. No excess packaging to send to the landfill. 
• Our money remains in the local community, helping local farmers, farm workers and businesses.
• We can visit the farm where our food is produced.
• The farmer benefits from having a guaranteed revenue stream. 
• The farmer is able to try new or heritage strains and varieties, knowing that they have a guaranteed customer base. When those strains and varieties are successful, everyone benefits from buying food that better fit the environment and need fewer resources to grow. 
• Everyone benefits from understanding the challenges, risks and rewards of farming. 

Eggplant parmesan, pickled eggplant,
Creole aubergine, Ratatouille...
used with permission, from Morguefile^

Want to learn more?

If you're interested in joining a CSA, take a look at the Local Harvest^ website  which lists participating farms by city or zipcode. They have lists of what participating farm offer, information about pick-ups, plus reviews from previous growing seasons. Alternately,  enter "CSA + _____ (your locale)" into a search engine.

Namasté

deena

The Friday Five from The Women's Colony

1. What is one characteristic you received from your parents that you want to keep, and one you wish you could change? 

I'd want to keep my inquisitive nature (from my dad).  At the same time, I might tone down my need to question absolutely everything, all the time, every time. It gets in the way of seeing the magic moments in life sometimes. 

 

2. If you could have any chef (free of charge) cater a dinner party for you and your friends, who would you choose? What is one thing that would have to be on the menu 

Anthony Bourdain^. I'd like him to make Vietnamese crêpes called banh xeo (happy pancakes). They are gluten-free and look wonderful. I saw him eat them on one of his travel shows, and they were crispy and fresh and I really wanted them right then.They don't seem to be particularly difficult to make, but to require an insanely hot iron skillet to get the crêpes perfectly crispy.

Vietnam

I like Vietnamese food a lot. Everything I've ever had or made has been wonderful. Lots of veggies, lots of herbs, lots of flavor, usually not too spicy if that is a concern. It isn't for me, but it is for some folks. 

3. How do you know when you are in love? 

I have no idea. Seriously. Maybe when you're happier with the person than without them? 

 

I can tell you how you'll know if you aren't in love any more , though: when you simply don't care much one way or the other, you are no longer in love. And yes, I am a little ray of sunshine, aren't I? 

 Vintage Images from the Graphics Fairy ^

4. Favorite crappy, sugar laden cereal? 

I used to love Kellogg's Corn Pops, but they are not gluten free, so I haven't had them in years and don't buy them for the kiddos, This is a true shame, because they're missing out on the joy of having the roofs of their mouths scraped raw by those sweet little corn nuggets. My understanding is that they used to be free of gluten^, but that that changed a few years ago. So I don't buy them. At all. Period.

I'd like to take this moment to explain allergy math to food manufacturers. They look at Celiacs, or people with food allergies, and see them as a percentage or two of the population. What they don't see is that if one person can't eat it, it doesn't get purchased in most homes. So that 1-2% is multiplied by the several other people living there, and suddenly it's a lot more than 1% they're missing out on. If I don't buy your product for 4 people, we're 4% out of 100 consumers.And when I buy more of one entire brand name because the company has made an effort to make things that I can eat, you lose even more of my business.

So come on, Kellogg's. Y'all get on the trolley. Sheesh. 

Many awesome companies are moving toward making their cereals and other products gluten free whenever possible. General Mills has done a fabulous job making Rice Chex & Corn Chex GF. They've introduced lots of other GF products, too^. They introduced several products including a GF Bisquick this summer. Everyone I know who buys GF foods now makes a point to buy as many General Mills products as possible. I can't tell you how nice it is to buy food from the regular grocery store from a recognizable company at a good price. Their response to the GF community has created a lot of brand loyalty. Yay, General Mills.

I buy Rice Chex or Corn Chex almost exclusively now and sometimes fancy it up with a recipe from the Chex website^. I'm not sure I'd go back if I could; the awesomeness that is Chex Muddy Buddies is beyond description. GF, full of chocolate and peanut butter. Oh, my goodness.

Here's the recipe. 

Muddy Buddies ^

Ingredients:
9 cups Chex cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Use dairy-free chocolate and margarine if dairy is an issue. Obviously, use GF Chex if gluten is an issue. Always read the labels on ingredients. Always. 

Again: Yay, General Mills. Seriously, you guys rock. 


5. If you were guaranteed honest responses to any two questions, whom would you question, and what would you ask them? 

I'd like to ask the same question of two very different people. 

Also, this assumes that I can ask anyone from any time period, right? I'm gonna be seriously disappointed if I have to limit my questions to current denizens of Earth.

Ok, so I'd ask Charles Darwin, "What do you think of your idea now?", because I'd like to know what he thinks of the massive, far-reaching effect his theory has had on the rest of Humanity. I wonder if the continued controversy would surprise him or not?

Charles Darwin

I'd ask Thomas Jefferson the same question,  "What do you think of your idea now?" Because Jefferson was the principle author of the Declaration of Independence and so much change has come to pass in the world as a result of what he did and what he wrote. Would he be sorely disappointed? Surprised? Happy?

  Thomas Jefferson

How would you answer these questions?

This week's quiz is from The Women's Colony^. So many talented women. I encourage you to zip over there and read to your heart's content.

Namaste.

Our weekend and our week ends

We had a lovely, quiet weekend,  staying home nearly the entire time, working on projects around the house. Saturday morning, we planted our flowers for the summer, including a gorgeous Columbine, the state flower of Colorado.

 publicdomainpictures (^)

Every year we've had less and less to purchase and plant, since we try to plant perennials and re-seeding annuals as much as possible. Still, I was surprised that we were able to get by with so little this year - a 9-pack of pink petunias, a pink geranium, the columbine, and 2 portulaca. 

It's been unseasonably hot so far this June, and it may cause me to break down and get a tomato plant. Colorado has odd, unpredictable weather during the day, and tends to have cool nights, which is a bad combination for  tomatoes. Still, hope springs eternal, so I usually end up getting a plant or two, nursing it through the summer, and getting maybe one or two tomatoes total. Sigh. I'll probably never learn. 

Dan spent the weekend doing several things on his "Honey-Do" list. He installed a cat door in the door that leads from the master bath to the hallway. We close our door when we leave the house to keep the dog downstairs, but the kitty tends to manage to trap herself on the wrong side of the door about 50% of the time. This way, as long as the door between our bedroom and the bathroom is open, kitty can come and go as she pleases. 

Dan also fixed the microwave (the turntable had stopped turning); rehung the door on the tool shed with new screws to prevent it from being saggy; and positioned the fans for the summer season. Oh, and he taught the SuperCat to play Tee-ball in advance of her first practice this week. She has a remarkable sense of hand-eye coordination and picked up on batting the ball off the tee right way. Running the bases was a bit harder to explain, but she seemed to be getting it toward the end. 

As for me, I worked on several projects, including de-cluttering the kitchen and organizing some files. I did a bit of writing, and spent about 3 hours doing all of our summer scheduling this afternoon. Everything I can possibly think of is on our shared schedules with reminders, notes, directions, and so on. 

Because the weather has been so cooperative, we ended up grilling on the deck Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. I read about a technique for preparing chicken last week at the Amateur Gourmet called "spatchcocking" (^). I ended up trying it tonight and don't think I'll ever grill or bake a chicken any other way ever again. 

Basically, you excise the spine from the chicken with a super-sharp knife, then push the whole thing flat. That's it. If you're up for it, you can remove the breast bones and ribs from the inside, but you don't have to. The flat chicken is more or less the same thickness all over and will grill or bake quickly and evenly, resulting in all of the meat being very moist. 

 spine removed, laid flat. 

the scissors are to snip around the tail bone

 spine, breast & rib bones removed

Dan grilled ours with a bit of spicy-vinegary barbecue sauce. It cooked very fast and evenly, and was as moist as any chicken I've ever had. 

 leg quarter after cooking

S'mores made with GF Graham crackers

  Dennis looking forward to any 

spare chicken parts

We served the chicken with "Gaga beans", baked beans named after my mother-in-law, who puts relish in her beans. Dan makes "Daddy beans", which have mustard, cider vinegar and liquid smoke. "Mommy beans" (mine) are sweetened with brown sugar, and are spiced with chopped onions and diced garlic. They're all different, but are all yummy. 

We have more than half of the chicken left over from dinner, and it'll form the basis for dinner for the next night or two. 

After dinner, Dan hooked a lighted button to the SuperCat's blouse and she ran and careened in the dark on the lawn, flashing like a lightning bug, darting in and out of the shadows. Before we went in, we made S'mores on the still-warm grill, and talked and laughed. A perfect end to a perfect weekend. 

Namaste.
=^..^= 
d

P.S. We ended up staying home all day Sunday, and so we go into Monday morning and the beginning of Week 2 of the June Food Stamp Challenge (^) with the same figures as yesterday, having spent $110.61, which is 31.87% of the total lowest monthly food stamp allowance ($347.00) for a family the size of ours.

So far, so good...

Monday morning will be the end of Week One for the June Food Stamp Challenge (^), but I'm going to go ahead and total up my receipts because I don't plan to spend anything between now (Saturday night) and then. If I do, I'll recalculate.

At Costco, I purchased:
2 boxes of Fiber One Bars, 30 bars per box
1 very large bag of corn tortilla strips, Kirkland (Costco's house brand
1 34 ounce box Kirkland Spiced Pecan cereal
2 large loaves light wheat bread (45 calories per slice)
4 jars Kirkland brand organic peanut butter. No sugar added, just peanuts and a bit of salt. Two 28 ounce jars for $7.69
1 64 ounce (4 pound) jar Kirkland animal crackers (no HFCS & organic)
2 large jars Nutella (chocolate-hazelnut spread)

We still have all of the tortilla strips and the crackers. We have most of the bread, cereal, peanut butter, bars, and Nutella. Our youngest starts playing ball this week, and we'll be packing the crackers as a snack twice a week. Peanut butter goes into sandwiches, sauces, and baking. Tortilla strips go into salads, soups, and chili, and are the base for nachos. Nutella is our little one's favorite. She eats it with peanut butter on sandwiches, and dips apples in it.

The food total at Costco came to $66.51.

At King Soopers (Kroger nearly everywhere else), I purchased:
3.15 pounds of organic cherries
1 gallon of organic milk
2.57 pounds of bananas
4 pounds of organic gala apples
6.78 pounds of chicken (@ .78 cents a pound)
2 pounds of low-carb pasta (for my husband)
2 packages of gluten-free Ivory Teff wraps
2 packages of Haribo Gummi Bears on sale (for our daughter)

The chicken will be tomorrow night's dinner &; will be part of other meals after that. We have several apples left, along with most of the pasta, bananas, apples and wraps. We still have over half of the milk, but the Gummis are gone gone gone :)

The total at King Soopers Kroger was $44.10.

The total for the first week is $110.61, which is 31.87% of the lowest food stamp + WIC benefit estimate of $347.00. That doesn't tell the whole story, though.

First, as noted, we still have most of the food purchased above. For much of the week, we ate food we purchased previously, including corn,  tortillas, fruit, veggies, cheese, milk, bread, cereal,tomatoes, and so on.

Next week we'll be eating foods purchased this week in addition to some things in the pantry/fridge/freezer. Along with tomorrow night's chicken, we're planning chicken and rice, Musubis (Hawaiian sushi), grilled pronghorn kabobs (thanks to my husband the hunter), sandwiches, bagels, oatmeal, etc. Monday will be "left over" day, when we put together meals made up from  whatever is in the fridge. I'll be baking gluten-free bread and probably some cookies next week, in addition to packing meals for our youngest to eat between ball practices. 

Speaking of bread: While I was at Costco, I noted that the 2 loaves of bread purchased for my husband &; daughter came to $4.29. On the baking aisle, I noted that 25 pounds of wheat flour came to around $5.50. Add in yeast (less than $4.00 for 2 pounds), oil, and so on, and it becomes clear that its much less expensive to bake bread than to buy it. Even factoring in a second-hand bread machine, it wouldn't take long for the savings to outstrip the initial cost.

If I thought I would need to rely on food stamps for any length of time,  I would make a point of purchasing flour and yeast in bulk (and/or  starting a sour dough culture), as well as locating a bread machine. I  own/moderate a recycling list in my city, and see bread machines given  away on a regular basis. I see them at the thrift store for under  $10.00 every time I'm there. An investment of under $20.00  (machine, yeast, flour) would yield huge savings. 

Previously, I baked nearly all of the bread eaten in our house, but that fell by the wayside when I stopped eating wheat. At this point, I bake my own bread (gluten-free bread is ridiculously expensive - often more than $5.00 a loaf), but purchase wheat bread for everyone else.

The Little Red Hen and her bread

It clearly makes solid financial sense to go back to baking all/nearly all of our bread, so in the weeks ahead, we'll be doing just that.

Namaste. 
=^..^=

Curiouser and curiouser...

'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!'

The White Rabbit, to himself
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

I'm late. Really late.
When last I blogged I was planning on writing the next day. Which I did. But for whatever reason (one I can't fully explain), I didn't feel like publishing anything that day. Or the next. Or any other. Right up until today, right now.

Right now, I'm feeling as though I should, though, so I will.

Since the last time I posted, we've cooked quite a bit, practicing several new gluten free dishes. We've made GF bread several times, and Dan seems to have perfected the GF sandwich bread loaf. Occasionally, we'll pick up a loaf of GF bread at Whole Foods, but both of us enjoy baking, and store-bought never really compares to homemade, does it?

Fresh gluten-free French toast made with homemade bread by Dan,
& fresh butter (collaborative).

As you can see above, we made butter, which SuperCat found amazing - she wasn't sure how we were going to get butter from whipped cream, but we did and she loved it, staring into the mixer as it 'churned'. It was incredibly easy, and I'm working on a tutorial to explain the process.

Homemade butter in the KitchenAid mixer

I took a class with the Division of Wildlife, and earned my Hunter Safety Certificate, so that I could apply for a hunting license in my state. I applied for my first license a few weeks ago; pronghorn (aka, "antelope", the ones that play with the deer on the range in the song), but won't know if I get one for several more weeks. Quite a bit of the meat we eat ( which is organic, very low fat, hormone & antibiotic-free) comes from antelope/elk hunted by Dan, so it will be nice to have another try at the tag lottery every year.

I've played endlessly with my favorite three year old, who is beginning to blossom wonderfully when she draws, and who has the most vivid imagination of anyone I've ever seen. Like most afternoons, we listened to her play in her toy kitchen today, making food and drinks for her dolls. She is a joy to listen and talk to.

She's taking swim lessons now, since we joined the YMCA after the first of the year. I'm trying to exercise, but still finding it pretty difficult. I start physical therapy this week, so we'll see if that helps any. Here's to hoping that it will :)

I've sewn and crafted quite a bit. I made seven skirts in one day for the SuperCat. She helped choose the fabric (mostly 1930's repro designs), and she chose all of the notions (thread color, buttons, and ribbon trim). I've discovered that her eye for matching colors and textures is much better than mine is, even at her young age, which is wonderful, since a natural eye for colors and textures is invaluable.

Supercat's new blue skirt made with reproduction 1930's fabric.

Detail of blue skirt made with reproduction 1930's fabric.

I joined a knitting group, and I've all but finished a large fuzzy knit wrap for someone (don't know who yet), plus a scarf I'd been working on forever for our oldest. I started some bright pink amigurumi rabbits (crocheted), which just need to be stitched together and stuffed. I've recently become interested in drop spindle spinning, after seeing a lady at knitting using one, and Dan got the materials this weekend to make one for me (doweling, wooden disk, and a cup hook - easy peasy). He got enough to make more than one, so we'll end up with a low whorl (the disk thingy) and a high whorl. High or low refers to the position of the whorl on the shaft (the dowdle rod). Here's are illustrative photos and a description: Types of Drop Spindles (^)

Last week, I joined a quilting group, and am working on eight squares in the Broken Plate pattern, "cut loose", meaning that they were cut in an imprecise way. It was liberating to make something that is perfect in not being perfect, as all of the quilting I've done in the past has been as straight as I could make it. I learned more in the first quilting class than then sum total of what I previously knew about quilting, mostly due to a very patient friend who is a natural teacher. Like: how to properly use a rotary cutter and mat (there's a right way and a wrong way?!?!?). And: iron on the front of the pieced fabric, not the back (makes a huge difference in how the fabric lays). And so on.

I designed, made, and completed around two dozen butterflies for Connie Pelkey's (^) polymer clay Bug Swap, picked the twelve I liked the best, and mailed them off well before the deadline. Yay!

Simply putting the Bug Swap on my list of activities doesn't really give it the weight it deserves. It has occupied a place front-and-center in my mind from the time the email arrived saying I'd been accepted into the swap, until the morning I put my butterflies in the mail.

One of my butterflies before shipping.
My hands are pink because I'd been working with Pysanky dye the day before.

I'm always nervous about sharing my work, and often feel conflicted over it. I tell myself that I could have done better "if only" (if only there were more time, better planning, different materials, a different design, etc). The swap was a leap of faith; happy I took it.

Another of my swap butterflies.
These are from the first batch.

A learning experience, for sure.

That's it for now. As I finish this, I have no idea what kept me away for so long; I promise it won't be such a long absence next time.

This is the place where I thank John for reminding me several times that I need to write :)
Thank you, John!

'Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop'
The King to the White Rabbit
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Namaste
=^..^=

Snap! Crackle! Pop! It's Christmas!

According to the SuperCat, the favorite food of pink ponies everywhere is Rice Krispie Treats. And since she has a stable full of pink ponies, she asked me to make some.
You know. For the ponies.

How could anyone say no to that kind of request?

For me, hot dogs and watermelon slices are the Fourth of July. Jiffy Pop popcorn is what we had on the nights we had a babysitter. Caramel corn and orange cream filled chocolates will always be Halloween. And Rice Krispies Treats and Divinity Fudge are Christmas.

Rice Krispies Treats remind me of Christmas at my aunt and uncle's house, where we'd go after we'd visited my grandparents on the other side of the family on Christmas Eve. People don't seem to talk the way they did when I was a kid; I recall my mother, aunts and grandmother sitting in the kitchen during the holidays, smoking, picking at food, and sharing bits of information sotto voce, so the children wouldn't hear. I would often sit quietly and read; if I sat quietly enough, they'd eventually forget I was in the room and you'd hear the good stuff about anyone who happened to not be there at the moment, about people you may not have known, but who seemed to lead scandalous lives. Days of Our Lives had nothing on my family.

I no longer have a large family; I live far, far away from most everyone I knew back then. The family I do have doesn't sit around and chat that way, but I still make certain dishes to remind myself of earlier times and to help create memories for my own children.

Before I stopped eating wheat, if I wanted to make Rice Krispies Treats, I bought a box of Rice Krispies, and followed the directions on the back of the box. Ten minutes or so later, I'd have a pan of hot treats, and the hardest part would be waiting for them to cool.

Now it's not quite so easy. Rice Krispies contain gluten in the form of barley malt, which is a natural flavoring.

So, I go to the health food store and get Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal(^). It's sort of expensive, but tastes good. It's nutty versus the blander taste of Rice Krispies, but I like it, which is surprising. I'm not really a brown rice sort of person - I can remember eating whole wheat bread for the first time when I was maybe 10 or so and thinking that it was terribly exotic, by which I mean it was terrible, period. I'm still pretty much convinced that a mayonaiise and tomato sandwich on whole wheat may be illegal. It's certainly immoral. I really disliked whole wheat then and even now, whole grains bring to mind the lady that lived next door when I was little. She watched Jack Lalanne(^) every morning, did calisthenics in a black leotard, and earnestly gave the neighborhood kids ice cream served with toasted soy nuts on top in an attempt to make it healthy.

Of course, regardless of my feelings, my own children don't know any better; refined white bread has never been an option in their lives. It's been whole multi-grain bread or bust.

Bu back to the sugary sweets at hand: here is the original recipe for Rice Krispies from Kellogg's website, RiceKrispies.com(^)

Kellogg's Rice Krispies

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
• - OR -
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispies®

Click on the website link above for directions.

If you simply substitute the Erewhon for the Kellogg's, it doesn't turn out quite right; it'll be dry and crunchy, not moist and chewy, so I change the recipe a bit. Here's mine:
Brown Rice Marshmallow Treats

• 5 ½ cups of gluten free brown rice cereal (Erewhon is my favorite, but there are others)
• 40 regular-sized marshmallows I have never seen marshmallows that have gluten in them, but anything is possible, so it's always a good idea to check.
  
• 2 tsp vanilla Vanilla is normally gluten-free since the alcohol base is distilled, not brewed.
• 4 tbsp (½ stick) butter I don't use margarine, but if you do, it works just fine. The only thing that doesn't seem to work is the diet margarines and spreads.
  

1. Melt butter over medium-low heat in large skillet.
2. Once melted, add marshmallows and stir occasionally until melted.
3. When the marshmallows have melted, add vanilla.
4. Stir briefly, then add rice cereal.
5. Stir until coated with spatula.
6. Turn out into a buttered pan, or onto a Silpat. If a Silpat is used, use the spatula to mold into desired shape.
   
   
   On the Silpat, a silicon embedded baking mat that pretty much nothing sticks to.
   
   
   
7. Once cool, cut into whatever shape you like, or if you'd prefer, once it is cooled a bit, press into molds using cookie cutters or sushi molds.
   
   
   This is a flower-shaped sushi mold.
   Cookie cutters work fine if you don't have one of these.
   
   After they've been molded.
   
   The completed treats, minus the ones that were eaten when they were still warm and gooey.
8. Enjoy!
   
   He's happy to be a guinea pig for once.
   
   Yummy
   
   The smile makes it all worthwhile (not that marshmallow treats are super difficult or anything).
   

And that's it. Allez Cuisine!

I found this today, from the fine folks at Quick Stop Entertainment(^), and the staggering talents who create The Venture Bros(^)., Henchmen 21 & 24 singing Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime(^). Links to songs from previous years can be found here.

I can hear sleigh bells in the distance, so I'd better close for now and rush my gluten-free cookies and a glass of milk to the hearth for Santa.

Until later, have the Merriest of Christmases!

Namaste.

Current Mood: festive

Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy

::sigh::

When I posted several days ago, I had plans to write again either later that day or early the next morning. I did try to write then, but life intruded and we got terribly busy and all of my plans sort of went downhill from there and I really should schedule my time better, except that seems impossible sometimes with kids/pets/friends/crafting/cooking/the holidays/my wonderful husband, etc., and I want to be clear that I am not complaining, and am deeply grateful for that sort of "problem".

And aren't I the Queen of the run-on sentence?

So, without further ado, here is last week's post, today. Fresher than fresh!

When I was about six or so, my dad gave me a book of poems for children. I can only remember a few of the poems in the book; The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe and The Duel, by Eugene Field. I liked The Raven, even though it was terribly scary, but I loved The Duel, because it was funny and silly.

I would imagine that most children have heard it, even if they may not know it by name. It starts like this:

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t' other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I was n't there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

You can find the entire poem here(^) or download the book Love-Songs of Childhood, by Eugene Field(^) here at Project Gutenberg ( free - the book is many decades out of copyright).

Eugene Field wrote also wrote the poem Wynken, Blynken, and Nod(^), which starts off:

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe,—
Sailed on a river of crystal light
Into a sea of dew.
“Where are you going, and what do you wish?”
The old moon asked the three.
“We have come to fish for the herring-fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we,”
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

I was reminded of Eugene Field and his poems when I thought of Clement Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas(^), which begins:

’T WAS the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that ST. NICHOLAS soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

When I think of sugar plums, I think of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet, of course, but also think of this poem by Eugene Field, The Sugar-Plum Tree (see where we're going with this?)

Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'T is a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day.

When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time
To capture the fruit which I sing;
The tree is so tall that no person could climb
To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!
But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,
And a gingerbread dog prowls below--
And this is the way you contrive to get at
Those sugar-plums tempting you so:

You say but the word to that gingerbread dog
And he barks with such terrible zest
That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,
As her swelling proportions attest.
And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around
From this leafy limb unto that,
And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground--
Hurrah for that chocolate cat!

There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,
With stripings of scarlet or gold,
And you carry away of the treasure that rains
As much as your apron can hold!
So come, little child, cuddle closer to me
In your dainty white nightcap and gown,
And I 'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.

Sweet poem, right? But what are sugarplums? I had no idea until I looked them up. I vaguely thought that they might be something along the lines of an English boiled pudding or maybe candied plums, I wasn't really sure. So I went to the encyclopedia and... got two different answers.

Hundreds of years ago, sugarplums were small fruits, seeds or nuts, heavily candied with sugar (think: candied cherries in fruitcake). So candied plums were sort of right.

Now, though, and for some time, Sugarplums have come to mean dried fruit and nuts, chopped coarsely and mixed with spices and vanilla, then dredged in sugar. That's it.

Essentially, sugarplums are fruitcake without the cake; ideal for people who can't or don't eat wheat. I reviewed a couple dozen recipes before making my own, and ended up making mine with the fruit I would use to make fruitcake if I still baked with wheat. The only fruit I left out were the candied cherries, because they don't seem at home with the rest of the fruit I used.

Add them if you'd like, as well as any other fruit or nuts you prefer.

Sugarplums

1 cup almonds
1 cup pecans
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup raisins
½ cup prunes
1 cup dates
1 cup apricots (which the SuperCat calls Leprechauns)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
2 tablespoons candied ginger
(or) 1 teaspoon dried ginger
2 small seedless clementines (tangerines)
(or)
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
½ cup shredded coconut
sugar to coat (it took about ½ cup)
Optional: either add or substitute 1 scant tsp orange oil or orange extract for orange peel.

1). Chop nuts and dried fruit to a uniform small coarse size using a food processor or by hand, add to large bowl.
2). Peel tangerines, add pulp to bowl, reserve half of the peel.
3). Scrape the inside of the remaining peel to remove pith, then finely chop peel, and add to bowl.
4). Add spices and vanilla.
5). Add orange oil or orange extract if desired. We really like the flavor of orange and add both the peel and the orange oil, which can be found in the spice aisle.

Everything in the mixing bowl, ready to mix

6). Mix all with a spoon or your hands until thoroughly incorporated.
7). Roll into ¾ inch balls, dredge in sugar.

Sugarplums with vintage deer & cookie jars

Yield: Makes about 3 dozen sugarplums.

Close-up of finished sugarplums.
It took me only about 20 minutes to make a double batch (about 6 dozen).
They were quick and so delicious!

My test subject beloved husband, who likes fruitcake but loved the sugarplums.

He's almost always a good sport when it comes to trying out my recipes
(unless they have mayonnaise, which he will not eat).

Yay, he liked it!
Time for another one!

Namaste.
Current Mood: Busy in the kitchen

Way Too Many Onions! French Onion Soup

I accidentally bought a 10 pound bag of onions last week, not realizing that I already had a nearly full 10 pound bag, giving us close to 20 pounds of onion-y goodness.

Sad vintage ceramic onion full of Splenda on my stovetop

We use a lot of onions, but 20 pounds is a bit much to have on hand in cold-weather months, when the house is heated. Without a cool storage place onions can go bad quickly.

In an valiant effort to save the onions from certain ruination, I made French Onion Soup yesterday afternoon. I don't have an exact recipe, but honestly don't think it needs one. It is delicious and worth the minimal effort it takes. The hardest part is slicing the onions. I use a crock pot, so it probably does take a bit longer than doing it in an open pan, but again, that's not a bad thing. Slow cooking allows the soup a chance for the flavors to meld and mix, adding to the end result.

Way Too Many Onions! French Onion Soup Recipe

• Yellow or white onions, sliced very thinly, about 4 pounds.
• Dry Sherry, about ½ cup
• butter or margarine, ½ cup. I use butter. You should use what you prefer.
• minced garlic, about 2 tablespoons. You can mince your own, or use the stuff in jars. I use the stuff in jars. We really like garlic, so this may be too much for your family. Adjust accordingly.
• pepper, to taste
• grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta ^) to taste. Widely-used in medieval Europe, this spice is peppery, but is not actually pepper. If you don't have any, use more pepper. Or not. Lots of people don't like as much pepper as we do, and there is almost no shame in that at all.
• beef and/or chicken broth, 2 quarts. Either is good, neither are shown in the picture below. I use gluten-free, which is easy to find if you read labels.
• Better Than Broth beef soup base. Or chicken. Use the one you like best. Concentrated broth, this is pretty salty. I start with 2 teaspoons or so, and adjust up until the flavor is right. You could use bouillon cubes instead, but the BTB(^) tastes better to me - more meat flavor. I have found it at Target and Wal*Mart in the grocery dept on the same shelf as bouillon cubes. It comes in jars.
  
• white cheese, sliced or grated. I use Swiss or Gruyère, others use Provolone or whatever else they like. I can't give an exact amount, because we don't eat all of the soup at one time. Basically, you want enough to cover the top of the soup in individual oven proof bowls. If you don't have oven-proof bowls, use micro-wave safe bowls, top the soup and nuke the bowls until the cheese is melted. This would be under a minute (perhaps 45 seconds) in my 1000 watt microwave.
  
• bread. I don't use bread in my soup, because we don't eat gluten. Instead, I serve it with GF bread sticks. If I added GF bread, it would go mushy. If gluten isn't an issue, lightly toast bread slices, one for every serving of soup and reserve.
• dried Parmesan cheese, optional. I sometimes add a sprinkle at the end before the cheese goes under the broiler.
  

Some of the ingredients for French Onion Soup
(vintage onion jar for effect - no kitschy ceramics in the actual soup)

Directions:

1). Thinly slice enough onions to fill your crock pot:

thinly sliced onions & butter

I use a large 6-quart crock pot and make a huge batch, but know that we'll eat it over the next few days plain with bread and a salad; in place of au jus with sandwiches; cooked down and thickened to use in pot pie or shepherd's pie, etc. It won't go to waste.

If your crock pot is smaller, adjust accordingly. If you don't have a crock pot, this will take less time, but require more monitoring.

It takes about 4 pounds of onions (yellow and/or white) sliced thinly, to fill my crock pot.

2). Add ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, sliced into 8 pieces or so on top of the onion slices.

Thinly sliced onions with butter pats on top. This is my 6-quart crock pot.

3). Turn the crock pot to low, put the lid on, and check frequently at first to be sure that low isn't too high (mine has warm, low and high as options). Crock pot performance varies, so check if you aren't familiar with how your pot works. It takes several hours for the onions to go limp, then eventually become clear and then begin to caramelize. If the onions are crispy or charred at all, the temperature is too high.
After about 90 minutes in my crock pot, the butter had mostly melted and the the onions had wilted a bit, well on their way to caramelized yumminess:

After 90 minutes, the onions are wilting and the butter is mostly melted.

4). After the onions have cooked clear and are beginning to caramelize, which in my pot takes about 5 hours, add the garlic, sherry, Better than Broth, and broth.

Nearly-finished soup

5). Carefully raise the heat and cook for another hour or so, until the soup has reduced a bit. Check frequently to assure that the pot isn't over-heating the soup. I don't allow it to come to a full boil, but do allow it to come to a simmer, so that it begins to slowly reduce.

6). Season with pepper and grains of paradise (if desired).

Four pounds is a lot of onions, isn't it?

7). Ladle soup into oven proof bowls, add a slice of toasted bread (of your choice - if I could eat "regular" bread, I'd use a French baguette).

8). Top with cheese of your choice, and set bowls under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese begins to bubble a bit.

9). Immediately remove bowls from oven, and carefully set on individual small plates to serve (because they will be very hot!!!

10). Serve with a hunk of French bread, bread sticks, or with crackers. I usually serve it with a small salad and fruit.

Dan eating delicious French Onion soup. Yummy!

Yay, he likes it!

Allez cuisine!

Helpful Hints:

• I don't have a fail-proof trick to stop the tears you may shed from cutting lots of onions, but not cutting the root end off until I have to seems to help, as does slicing near a faucet with warm water running. YMMV, of course.
• Don't use cooking sherry, as it's often salted so you can't drink it. It is sold in the grocery store vs the liquor store, so it's salted so as to be undrinkable. Buy the liquor store version instead as it's much cheaper and doesn't taste like the Dead Sea.
• Be safe. Check your crock pot often until you are familiar with the way it works. My _Low may be your ^High.
• If you feel like there is too much fat in the recipe, chilling the completed soup and skimming the solidified butter from the top is an easy way to fix it. Also, low-fat Swiss is a great choice for the cheese.
  

Finally, this is my stove top. It's a closed top stove, and I ♥ it! Easy to clean, with even heat that reaches temperature quickly. I'd probably love a gas stove a bit better; maybe in the next house.

The usual suspects

I rarely ever use the back burners, even though I cook a lot. I just never seem to need it.

Friar Cookie Jar detail. He looks sneaky, don't you think?

The unused back burners hold my three favorite cookie jars, a Twin Winton Lamb cookie jar, a Friar cookie jar (I don't know his manufacturer) , and a McCoy Cookies Barrel cookie jar. Plus the sad onion guy, and usually a set of salt and pepper shakers.

Namaste.

Current mood: (hungry)