A Fresh Start

I have a goal to only clean, healthy foods this year. It is always my goal, but a new year seems like the perfect time to start fresh. I may occasionally post my day's menu here, as a way of keeping track of how well I am meeting my goal.

I noticed this morning that I am low on some of the important healthful ingredients that I like to keep on hand. I am out of whole wheat flour, for example, and whole flax seed. There are no nuts left in the house. In regard to fruit, we are down to a few pink lady apples, two or three bananas, and a few frozen blueberries and cranberries. As I finish this post, I will be heading off to write a meal plan for the week and a really good shopping list. I've gotten out of the habit of shopping with a list... I rush in to the grocery store on my way home from classes and grab a few things, and my cupboards are beginning to reflect the effects of that haphazard approach. I can't promise a cornucopia of posts here, but I hope to post more often than last year (which I think was a grand total of "Once.")

A Very Quiet Country Kitchen

To anyone happening by here... I justed wanted to write a little note explaining my prolonged absence from the kitchen. In real life, I do spend time in the kitchen. I still bake most of the bread my family eats and still do most of the cooking, but being in school full time allows me less free time (for blogging) than in past years. I don't want to remove this blog because I hope to return to it when life and time allow. I actually have a photo of some homemade soup that I hope to write about soon...

In the meantime, please feel free to look through the old recipes.

Bulgar Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

6 to 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 15 oz. can stewed or diced (Italian) tomatoes

15 or 20 black or favorite type of olives - sliced

1 15 oz. can quartered artichoke hearts

1/2 to 1 cup white wine (such as Pinot Grigio)

black pepper and sea salt to taste

1 cup vegetable broth

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup bulgar (cracked wheat) presoaked and drained

3 acorn squash, cut in half (scoop seeds and clean middle)



Directions:

Saute garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil over low heat. Add artichoke hearts, and cook until they get a little bit of color. Add 1/2 cup wine (reserve remaining wine to add only if more liquid is needed.) Cook until wine is slightly reduced, concentrating the flavor. Add canned tomatoes and juice, sliced olives and 1 cup of vegetable broth. Add the presoaked (& drained) bulgar. Add black pepper and sea salt to taste and simmer while liquid reduces slightly.


Prepare acorn squash, by cutting in half and scooping out seeds and pulp. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pile the bulgar filling in the acorn squash halves and bake until flesh is tender (approximately 1 hour.)


Notes: This filling would be good in other "stuffable vegetables" such as butternut squash, peppers, tomatoes or zuchinni. We roasted our squash seeds in the oven, lightly seasoned like we do our pumpkin seeds.


photo by Haiku, November 29, 2007
original recipe by Aisling, November 29, 2007

Cobbler Days

As our weather has caught up with the calendar, bringing cold nights and frosty mornings, I have started to bake more again, and to pull the large pot out of the wide drawer under the stove more often. These are cobbler days and pot-of-soup nights.

photos by Aisling, October 2007: 1 & 2) Peach and Blueberry Cobbler served for breakfast last weekend 3) Corn Chowder with garden fresh dill

Apple Granola Salad

I came up with this "salad" this morning, when I discovered that there wasn't any soymilk to go with the granola that I made yesterday. It was simple, but a really satisfying breakfast.

1 large apple grated (I used Granny Smith)

1 cup granola (I used homemade Vanilla Maple Granola)

1/2 cup dried fruit (I used raisins)

Mix and enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Breakfast

"He who fills his stomach with melons is like he who fills it with light--there is baraka (a blessing) in them." ~ A Middle Eastern Proverb

photo by Aisling, cold cubes of cantaloupe or musk melon, July 25, 2007

Greens & White Beans Sandwich Filling

This is a very simple sandwich filling, that can be made in just a few moments.

Chop by hand or (lightly) in a food mill, and mix together:

• 1 15 oz. can Cannelini (white kidney beans) smash slightly with a fork or roughly chopped
• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained) or about 1/2 cup fresh chopped
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 small carrot finely chopped (I made ribbons of carrot with a veggie peeler and the chopped those.)

Dressing (this makes more than you need):

• 1/4 lemon juice
• 1/4 cup oil (canola or extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Pour about 1/2 the dressing over beans & spinach mixture and serve on break, rolls or in a wrap. Serve the remaining dressing over a salad as a side dish, or save it for later. You may also use a favorite bottled dressing.

To make this lighter, skip the oil and just drizzle with lemon juice and spices, and serve in lettuce leaf wraps. Today, I had mine open-face on freshly-made wholewheat bread, with a glass of Peach Passion Ice Tea.

Later in the summer, I hope to make this again with swiss chard from my garden and summer squash in place of, or in addition to, the carrot.

photo by Aisling, July 9, 2007