Eight 8-ball squashes!

I went to E. Cecchi Farm in Feeding Hills yesterday. I love going there for the vegetables without middlemen. They do sell to Big Y, but I prefer buying direct, at their pleasant farm stand. I miss it when it's closed for the season, and rejoice when it opens again.

My favorite part of the stand is the seconds table, a sort of scratch-and-dent department for produce. That's where I bought these adorable 8-ball squashes, a zucchini hybrid. I got a basket of 8 of them, approximately 4 3/4 pounds, for $1.50. I also got 3 pounds of pickling cukes for $3 (two bargain baskets). With the squashes and cukes, the blemishes are minor: irregular shapes, scuff marks. The bargain peppers will sometimes have rotten spots, but I can cut those out quickly and freeze the peppers, and even accounting for what I discard, I still make out like a bandit.

I love summer and the native produce it brings! 

How to keep a well-stocked pantry

The Emergency Fund You Can Eat

This MSN Money article explains how to build and maintain a pantry of food that can tide you over through a disaster, natural or a financial tough spot. Your cupboard will never be bare, but there will always be something to eat that you will want to eat.
This article also includes charts of the shelf-life and freezer-life of many foods, so it's a good reference.

In these past 5 years, living on one income most of the time (that one income not being much in the beginning) I've been doing much what the author recommends: stocking up on the non-perishables I like when they are on sale, and building my stockpile that way, gradually, over time. (I also add coupons to the process, and don't really spend less at the store, but get much more for the money.) Right now, the two of us could probably get through a month on what we have, between the fridge, pantry, and freezer. However, that would be just barely, scraping by, and we would need to buy another gallon of milk to pull it off.

Salmon with spices and lime

I just made salmon with a spice rub and lime slices. 

I made much more of the rub than I used (about a third of this batch) and saved the rest in a zipper bag. I wasn't really measuring, so the amounts are approximate.

3 Tablespoons kosher salt,

2 Tablespoons each garlic powder and paprika

1 Tablespoon each black pepper and cumin

 dash of cayenne pepper

I applied the rub to the salmon, and topped each piece with thick slices of lime. 

I baked the salmon at 400F for 12 minutes on a foil-lined cookie sheet. 

For a side, I made a simple stir-fry of zucchini and sweet onions. Rice and beans would also go well with the Mexican flavors in the spice rub.

Adventures in the Land Of Lindt

I will be visiting my godparents on Cape Cod this coming weekend. For two nights of hospitality, I felt a nice hostess gift was in order, but wanted it to have a very personal touch, because I was always known as an artsy kid and still feel the need to hand make my gifts to them. 

I painted a wooden photo box (from Michael's), put some nice pictures of me and Chris on it, wrote a thank-you on the inside, and decided to fill it with chocolate truffles. 

On Saturday, I had a wicked bad craving for steak, something I love but suck at making at home. I only know how to grill a steak, and since I can't have a grill at this apartment complex, I have to go out for a decent steak.  I also had a coupon for the 99 Restaurant, a source of steak. 

The 99 Restaurant in West Springfield is on Riverdale Street, a generic commercial strip of big box stores and plazas. In one of those plazas,  halfway between Stop and Shop and Kohl's, is the Lindt chocolate outlet. Since we were on that strip anyhow, we decided to check that out on our way to dinner.  It is incredibly easy to miss, so for my fellow Western MA peeps who would look for it, it's on the side with Hometown Buffet, but go past that heading toward Kohl's. There are Lindt signs in the windows. 

The shop was extremely no-frills. The tiny flourescent-lit shop was mostly cardboard boxes stacked on each other and some were two-deep against the wall. the only fixture was the checkout counter.  Aside of chocolate Easter bunnies and Santa Clauses past code (but perfectly fine, as the signs all over the shop reassured us, since those dates are about stock rotation, not expiration and they would be good for a long time still), the deals didn't seem too spectacular at first. There were loose truffles available by the pound, but not the selection of varieties one would find at a Lindt mall store. We decided to get the 19 ounce assortment bag, which was $15, but $2o for two, so we got two and decided that sometime soon Chris would make himself very popular at his female-dominated workplace. 

We went to checkout and got a very happy and somewhat overwhelming surprise. For spending $20, we got an absurd amount of bonus chocolate. First of all, there was the bundle of three 3.5 ounce big chocolate bars topped with a 1.2 ounce bar. Then, we got to pick three more big 3.5 ounce bars from an assortment that included dark chocolate with orange or mint. Finally, a bag of Ghirardelli white chocolate baking chips. 

Holy shnikes!  What are we going to do with this much chocolate? I still don't know. Easy potluck dessert? Birthday presents for Chris' office lady friends? 

We brought our chocolates into the restaurant with us so they wouldn't melt in the car. We slipped a big bar into the folder with the check and the tip. Our waitress didn't notice that the folder was thicker than usual, and stuck it in her apron. She came back to thank us for making her night, told us she was so thrilled that she screamed and that another waitress tried to steal the candy bar from her. *shrug*  Chicks dig chocolate. 

The cookies I made for the church supper tonight.

Lime Zingers (originally from Redbook)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons grated lime zest, divided
• 2 tablespoons lime juice

DIRECTIONS

• 1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy; beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Add 2 tablespoons lime zest and lime juice. (I did all the mixing by hand with a fork. It took longer, but worked just as well.) 
• 2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Shape dough into balls, using 1 tablespoon dough for each ball. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon lime zest and 1/2 cup sugar. Roll balls in sugar mixture and place 1 inch apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake until edges are slightly browed, about 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

The recipe said it makes 48 cookies, but our experience was that it makes about 3 dozen (36). 

I was able to use the parchment that I baked the cookies on to line the box I carried them to the supper in. I just picked up the parchment from the (cooled) cookie sheet, with the cookies still on it, and lowered it into the box. 

Many thanks to Chris for rolling the balls! :) 

Alternative Potato Salad: Will Chris Eat It?

(Disclaimer: It's after 2 AM, so stream-of-consciousness writing has kicked in.)

My husband, Chris the Picky Eater, hates mayonnaise. By extension, he hates the salads made with it, including potato salad. On our shopping trip to Whole Foods (the only place I know of to get a filter for the shower) I picked up a copy of ReadyMade, a magazine devoted to DIY projects and aimed at my 20-something-to-early-30's age group, with something of a hipster vibe.  It often features ways to work with small spaces, which fits my apartment-dwelling situation. I was flipping through when I found the article "Picnic Society". 

Now I am eager to grow microgreens in a muslin bag and turn two coffee cans into an ice cream maker, inspired by the simple directions. The menu, however, is not "Chris friendly". He grimaces at plain old soy sauce, so that Vietnamese fish sauce would elicit a "you tryin' to kill me, woman?". Also, that would be the only recipe I have using fish sauce, and I loathe wasting money on an exotic ingredient I won't use again. (However, looking at a description of fish sauce, maybe I could try Worcestershire sauce in its place, since that is salty and made with anchovies.)

To me, the gem of the article was a potato salad that Chris would eat. (Actually, I wasn't sure of that, but it was worth a shot, and he liked it.) 

The pictures show baby potatoes, but I made the recipe with regular size potatoes, cut into chunks and boiled until just tender. Also, for a green, I used arugula, which I "foraged" at Whole Foods. I recommend juicing the lemon before starting anything else (besides the potatoes, which take a while), because so much has to be done so fast and grating a lemon while keeping tabs on everything else feels hectic . I used a fine cheese grater to zest the lemon. White pepper is available at Price Rite in a packet for 69 cents on the Badia spice display (bargain! score!) as well as a well-appointed grocery store spice aisle. 

Yukon Gold Potato Salad with Foraged Greens
2 lbs. small Yukon Gold potatoes, simmered or steamed until tender
½ c. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 handful dandelion or mustard greens, or any other spicy green
2 tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. white pepper
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
While potatoes are cooking, heat oil in a large saute pan and cook the garlic until it becomes fragrant and begins to brown. Add the greens, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-high heat for a minute or two, until greens are wilted. Add lemon juice and remove from heat. Drain potatoes, cut in half while warm, and add the contents of the saute pan. Toss, adding freshly grated lemon zest and seasoning as desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pizza Pizza! From scratch!

Tonight I made two pizzas on my medium-size cookie sheets. The first had pineapple rings on it, the other was a little more involved. I was originally planning on making very thin slices of zucchini to top the pizza with. Then I realized that lacking a mandoline or other fine slicing tool, just using a knife, I could relive the summer my finger was in a splint because I very nearly cut my fingertip off. I opted instead to grate the zucchini because that would be quick and the small pieces would cook through quickly and evenly. Oh, yeah, and all my fingers stayed intact, a big plus. This also strikes me as a nifty way to sneak veggies to kids. (Someone please try that, and let me know how it goes!)

*****PIZZA DU JOUR*****

1 smallish zucchini

8 oz. package shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese

1 can black olives (sliced or halved)

1 or 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning

8 oz. can tomato sauce

A crust, either from scratch, Boboli, French bread, English muffins, tortilla, whatever.

Trim the ends off the zucchini. Grate the zucchini into a medium-size bowl. Let it sit while you spread the sauce on the crust and cut the olives. Put the zucchini in a paper towel and squeeze out the excess moisture, but don't get it very dry. Put the zucchini back into the bowl and add the shredded cheese and Italian seasoning, toss until evenly mixed. Spread over the crust and bake per crust directions. (With my from-scratch crust, it was 425F for about 30 minutes. Making a pizza with bread, I usually do it on 375F and watch for doneness.)

I really need a new whole wheat pizza crust recipe. The one I used tonight is too heavy and too resistant to shaping. Which is why, even though I make whole wheat pizza crust today, I didn't bother sharing the recipe for that. However, I have a nice white flour crust recipe I really liked using a couple weeks ago.

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH

1/4 cup warm water (about 110F)

1 envelope yeast

teaspoon of sugar

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm water

1/4 cup olive oil

Place 1/4 cup water in small bowl, add yeast, let stand 2 minutes. Add sugar. Cover bowl, set aside in warm place 5 to 6 minutes, until yeast starts to foam.

Place flour and salt in large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, pour in the yeast. Add the 1 cup of water and the oil, mix dough with fingers.

Once dough is well mixed together, gather into a ball and knead on a floured work surface. Knead dough for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. (Or, if you're me, make the dough into a wad and fold, punch, and smack it around inside the bowl several times. Lack of counter space plus laziness equals shortcut with passable results. Good enough.)

Shape into ball (or the aforementioned wad), and place in oiled bowl. (Usually I just pick the dough out of the bowl or move it to each side in turn, quickly spraying it with non-stick spray.)

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 2 hours in warm place. (I am averse to using disposables when there is a reusable alternative. Hence the warm, moist clean dishtowel instead of plastic wrap.) If you're making the dough the night before or much earlier in the day, it can go in the fridge instead.

Roll out or hand stretch the dough to make the pizza shape and thickness you want.

Mangia!

Let Them Eat Cake! (If they can stop laughing and/or gagging)

CAKEWRECKS may be my new favorite food-related site and major online time-waster.

 It bills itself as "When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously, wrong", although sometimes the cakes are more creepy than funny (like this  baby), and some of the cakes are actually pretty good, like the Harry Potter-themed cakes. 

I *heart* CAKEWRECKS. 

Aloha!

As I noted last week,  Princess House is still out there, selling some very nice dishes and other articles for the home. This  cake is from the recipes on their website. It's a simple twist on a basic cake. Guava nectar can be found in supermarkets with ethnic foods aisles, usually shelved with Latin foods, such as Goya (the brand I bought). It comes in a can like soda.  

Aloha Guava Cake (from Princess House)

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups guava nectar
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 8-oz. pkg. light cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 8-oz. container light whipped topping (Cool-Whip)

Bake cake according to package directions in two 9" round cake pans, substituting guava juice for water. In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with hand mixer until fluffy. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Slowly fold in whipped topping and refrigerate until ready to use. Thickly ice the cake with cream cheese mixture. Garnish with sliced kiwi, guava or pineapple. (The picture also includes starfruit.)

(We made this as a 9"x13" rectangle, so as to be more easily divided among a crowd. We could have halved the frosting for that. Mom added a splash of milk to the cream cheese because it was too firm to mix, even after coming to room temperature. Mom made a sunburst design on top with mango tidbits and mint leaves from the garden.)

CHICKEN FEST '09: An exotic conclusion.

My last post was a link to the recipe for Moroccan Chicken Stir Fry. Good news--I made it, and it was definitely worth making. 

I made it over Mom's house, in  her deep skillet with lid. We did a double batch. We had a diet scale to weigh ingredients on, but for those who don't, I give you measurements.

Moroccan Chicken Stir Fry Recipe 

September 23rd, 2007 by alice (Plaincook.com)

INGREDIENTS

1. 12ounces boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
2. 5ounces butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces (we did carrots, baby carrots halved, about 2 cups)
3. 1medium onion , diced(2-3 oz)  (More like 1/2 of the sweet vidalia onion we used)
4. 1medium zucchini, cut lengthwise and then sliced
5. 1/8cup raisins(20g) (I used a bit more)
6. 3/4cup fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
7. 4 garlic cloves, minced(2 tsp minced)
8. 1teaspoon ground ginger
9. 1/2teaspoon cumin
10. 1/2teaspoon cinnamon
11. 1/2teaspoon cilantro
12. 1/4teaspoon salt
13. nonstick cooking spray (though I chose to use a couple Tablespoons of olive oil)

DIRECTIONS

1. Spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Sauté onion and garlic over high heat until browned.
3. Add chicken; cook one minute without stirring.Turn and cook two or three minutes more.
4. Add the spices and stir for one minute.
5. Stir in squash, chicken broth, and raisins  and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes, until squash is just tender– not mushy.
6. Add in zucchini and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes. (It was more like 10 minutes)

We used the remainder of our can of chicken broth to make the rice, in place of some of the water. 

CHICKEN FEST '09: Intermission

I have cooked sooooooooooooooo much chicken this week. I now have 4 chicken breasts left, stored in my freezer. I have decided to take a break from Chicken Fest, until Saturday or Sunday, when I will make Morroccan Chicken Stir Fry. 

Hasta la vista. :)

CHICKEN FEST '09: Princess House, The Next Generation

A couple days ago, I saw an ad for Princess House on the sidebar of my Facebook page.

 My first thought: Princess House still exists? What I knew of Princess House was limited to that fancy crystal pitcher that is older than me and if I broke it, Mom would flip. 

Princess House still exists, and apparently is reaching out to the younger generation. It's a direct sales company (like Avon, or Pampered Chef) where the merchandise is sold in "parties" (an approach originated by Tupperware). It still sells crystal, but now also upscale pots and pans, decor items, and much more. It also has a wedding registry feature. (Hmm...I'm a little too good at talking it up. Maybe I should sell Princess House. Hmm...)

Anyhow, when I saw they had recipes on their site, I just had to check them out. I made this one tonight: Apple-Walnut Chicken .

The recipe's author said this was made in a "griddle". Maybe it's a regional dialect difference (perhaps any frying pan like device is called a griddle), but the pan to use, and shown in the photo, is a deep skillet with a lid.  (Like this one.) 

If your skillet's handle or knobs have any non-metal surfaces, cover them with foil to "oven-proof" them. 

Below is the recipe with slight modifications. 

The original recipe calls for 4 chicken breasts. There are only 2 of us, so we used 2 chicken breasts, halved, but kept the rest the same.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt & pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 apples,  cored and sliced (I don't peel them. It's quicker and colorful.)
1⁄4 cup pure maple syrup
1⁄2 cup apple sauce
1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat, add chicken and sauté until browned, about 3 minutes per side. In a bowl, mix sliced apples, syrup, apple sauce and walnuts. Add to skillet with chicken. Cover with lid and bake 20-25 minutes.  Serves 4.

I served this over brown rice, which I had made lot of (2 cups rice, 4 cups water) the night before so as to have leftovers and save me some effort. Also, we had a simple salad of romaine lettuce and cucumbers (fresh from the farm, so I didn't have to peel them) with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. 

When I packed leftovers for Chris' lunch, I filled the plastic container with a layer of rice, then put the apples and chicken on top. I cut up the chicken so he wouldn't need to bring a knife to work. (I have four steak knives, and I want to keep it that way.)

CHICKEN FEST '09 Goes to the Dark Side: Leg Quarters and Maple-Mustard Glaze

I had posted this recipe before way back in January, but decided it was so good I had to make it and share it again, as part of Chicken Fest '09. 

I started Chicken Fest with two giant family-packs of chicken breasts, but also got a giant family-pack of leg quarters (thighs and drumsticks still attached to each other).  Although this recipe was originally for cornish game hens, it's now one of my favorite ways to do dark meat chicken. The recipe below doubles the original. 

Maple-Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:

about 3 pounds leg quarters, drumsticks, or thighs (about 5 or 6 leg quarters)

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 tablespoons butter (margarine is OK)

2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard (zesty brown deli mustard is good too)

2 teaspoons dried thyme, crumbled (how it comes out of the jar is  just right)

Salt and pepper (I skip the salt. It's unnecessary from both a taste and nutritional standpoint.)

Heat oven to 350 F. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until butter melts, stirring until well combined. 

Remove skin from chicken. Place in a 9"x13" or 10"x15" baking pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush with maple mixture. Roast for about 1 hour, basting occasionally,  until juices run clear and the meat thermometer stuck in the thickest part reaches 180F or higher. 

For side dishes, we had brown rice and a basic salad of romaine lettuce and cucumbers. In the fall, we enjoy butternut or acorn squash with this dish. 

We found ourselves eating this with our hands, like barbeque or fried chicken, which was OK, except it would be a little too messy to do that at work. When I packed the leftovers for Chris, I laid down a thick layer of rice in the plastic container, cut the chicken off the bone, and put that and some of the glaze on top. He got an apple for a side dish.