a perfect day for banana peppers

local food month is nearly upon us, and it's caught me with an empty pantry! eek! better get cracking on the grocery front pretty soon. i seemed to be too late for eggs or berries at the farmer's market this morning, but was able to procure: peaches mushrooms mushroom patties tomatoes kerr's pink potaotoes fresh goat cheese baby crookneck squash AND banana peppers i already have an idea up my sleeve for the little squashes, courtesy of lolo over at veganyumyum. mmm, basalmic glaze. but what the heck do i do with banana peppers? they were totally an impulse score. my 3 minutes of googling tell me you can stuff them, or pickle them to make pepperoncinis. great. and all the recipes i found use sausage. huh. well, i've never been too shy about experimenting, but if you're bursting at the seams with great recipes for banana peppers, let's hear them! also, for those in the area, i'd love to hear any tips you might have for u-pick berries. i know they're out there, but where? i don't get out of bloomington too often, but would love to do so in order to score a lot of berries for a good price. anywhere between indianapolis and french lick would be fantastic, but within monroe county would be even better. thanks, pals!

bloomingfoods news

hey! the westside bloomingfoods is having their "soft" opening on july 4. dare brave the crowds? no, seriously. the parade will be right there. crowds are bound to be had. too bad i can't send you to the herald-times article about it. apparently, they're planning on putting outdoor fruit stands under the new awnings, and there's plenty of room to spread out and eat your blackened tofu sandwiches. pictures here. yay!

easy does it.

o, sweet siren song of convenience foods! i've fallen prey to your cursed lure. last night, with "nothing" in the house for dinner, i took a swing by the old sahara mart to pick up a few fixings to make up a nice tomato salad (tomatoes we had - thanks tuesday market!). boca chicken patties were on sale. mmm, fake chicken patties. a girl, after another 10-hour workday, will sometimes succomb to convenience foods lately abandoned. yes, they're encased in plastic. yes, they have food ingredients not found in nature. oh, well.

when i was a kid (before the age of 19 or 20, when i went vegetarian), my parents used to get chicken patties from costco and i would eat those suckers UP. with barbeque sauce. tonight i slathered a little barbeque sauce on and took a tasty, vegetarian, trip down memory lane.

potatoes are really starting to come back out. last weekend at the market, i found a potato vendor who just beamed with pride at his tubers. when i asked which of two varieties would be best for pan-frying, our favorite potato preparation, he said either one, so i chose the pink. the farmer himself said he preferred them "just steamed," but that seems like crazy talk to me. bring on the fat and the crispy brown bits!

had no idea they'd be pink in the middle, too. there's a lot to learn in the world of potatoes.

and a one and a two...

...just a short note here before i carry myself off to bed. we've been getting the sopranos from the library, so we watched an episode around 10, then i had to make a reasoned and measured comment on another blog, and time slips byyy so quickly when you have to get up eaarrly. see? i'm getting a little punchy anyway. we decided, after working with a $70/week budget for groceries for a few months now, to go to $80/week. it only makes sense. with the lower budget, if i'm not right on top of things, there's nothing in the house for quick lunches and snacks, and that means spending more money elsewhere. better to have something on hand, and to not worry about stretching that money for the last half of the week. it takes some work to feed two people on $70/week, and time is running short right now, with the 50-hour weeks i'll be putting in until mid-july. i love my work, and it's worth it, but i'm tired! and it's too hot to bake! wait, did i mention it's hot here? ah, yes. i believe i did. my participation in local food month shouldn't suffer too much from the workload, but it might include a lot of local bagels from the shop across the street. and, when it comes down to it, a little local-ish bourbon doesn't hurt, either. that's after i get home, of course. news to me: seagram's gin is located, partially, at least, in lawrenceburg, indiana. if only there was hoosier tonic...

pasta is easy.

my favorite comfort food, when i'm all alone with no one to judge the carb intake, is buttered noodles with a bunch of chopped garlic thrown in. mmm. and cheese. and maybe with some buttery garlic bread. or bread with pesto. fat + carbs = delicious! tonight we went a little above and beyond naked noodles. have to make up for our lack of veggies last night, after all. first, a green salad with lettuce from the garden. lettuce, we got. then, pasta with broccoli and grilled portobellos.

and garlic bread. mmm....garlic bread. the above would have been really delicious with a grilled red pepper as well, but the time for peppers has not yet arrived around these parts.

rotini with broccoli and grilled portobellos

1 big head broccoli

enough pasta to give you an acceptable broc:pasta ratio

a few cloves garlic

2-3 large portobello mushroom caps

1 cup grated hard cheese of your liking. or soft cheese. it's your dinner.

the usual: olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flake

chop broccoli into little trees and tree rings. chop 1-2 cloves of garlic. heat 1 tablespoon oil (i guess - i never measure) over medium-high heat. when hot, throw broccoli and garlic inside. season with salt, pepper, and pepper flake to taste. cook until crisp-tender, or just before. set aside.

put water on to boil. clean portobellos. heat grill to over medium heat. when water comes to a boil, salt and drop pasta. place portobellos on grill, and let cook 4-5 minutes on each side. your pasta should be done about the same time. place broccoli pan back on medium-high heat and add a small ladle of pasta water. add most of your cheese. drain pasta, toss with broccoli, and place sliced mushrooms over the top. mmm!

for the garlic bread, i just toasted up some slices and rubbed with a cut garlic clove. then buttered. you don't need to slather on the butter for this to really satisfy.

the garlic, broccoli, and mushrooms were from the farmer's market. the bread is local.

lovely lavender

it's been a long week. next week will be a longer one. i perked myself up from a nap, however, to make a little dinner.

readying potatoes and turnips for the pot

smashed with tofu

i did the laziest tofu preparation ever, and it turned out good. first, i cut it into 8 fillets, and put in a hot skillet to remove some moisture. then, cubed and thrown into a pot with soy, hot sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, nutritional yeast and a little water. just before the potatoes/turnips were done, i drained it in a sieve and tossed in breadcrumbs right over the top. then, back into the skillet with hot peanut oil. mmm. simple, but good. we love tofu and mashed potatoes with caramelized onions, greens, and/or mushrooms. inspired by the farm cafe, in portland. i love that on their website, the picture on the very top is of someone holding a couple palmfuls of dirt. soil. you know. where food comes from. i (heart) the farm. next time you're in pdx, check it out. or the next time i'm in portland, we can go together!

it's the newest game sensation!

here are the rules: you have a group of ingredients and half an hour to make dinner. you don't have to use them all, but the leftovers MUST be used soon! standard pantry items apply. you have: leftover cooked quinoa 4 egg whites (cracked a few days ago) leftover cooked zucchini turnips cauliflower romano cheese cheddar cheese orzo whole eggs sourdough bread leaf lettuce my entry is submitted below.

a time to bake

thought i'd take advantage of the forecasted lows in the low 50's tonight and make a loaf of bread. this whole wild yeast thing is mystifying. after the second rise, everything got all sticky and weird, and it hardly rose after that. now it's in a hot oven and will end up as food of some kind or other, i suppose. we're not picky about homemade bread around here. i finished animal, vegetable, miracle, and really enjoyed it. it's a good and different perspective on local eating. the longish section on the merits of meat-eating were valid, if a little off-putting for this vegetarian. still, this family is pasture-raised-itarian, which is something i can get behind. though i decide not to eat meat, for my own varied reasons, the rhetoric of "meat is murder" doesn't ring true to me. how can you tell an inuit not to eat animal flesh during the winter? are you going to ask tibetans in the himalaya to give up their yaks? nope. but we don't need to eat cheap chickens raised in misery, either. *edit the next day: what i really mean is that i don't get the moral absolutism that says that using an animal for food (flesh or byproduct) is always wrong.

hooray for tuesday market!

last night, i started out feeling kind of badly about our evening meal. i got home at 6 after a rousing 10-hour day of work (3 hours of which i spent walking around rapidly, in heels), and it seemed like we had "nothing to eat." after a quick perusal of the cupboard and fridge, i made quesadillas and big salads. about halfway through the salad i wished were a little smaller, it dawned on me that if salad and quesadillas were our lazy route, that we weren't doing too badly overall. you can't beat yourself up over little things like this, people. kelley says: enjoy your cheese.

today, a boon to the crisper drawer with the tuesday market:

no turnip greens because these are the last turnips of the season, and according to the farmer, turnips greens and hot sun don't mix too well. these crayola-yellow zucchini seem new to me - they're the color of a patty pan, maybe. the flavor is a little different than green, though it's hard to say how. maybe a little more refined?

and i got a big bag of peaches. oh, peaches. so far this season, i'm running on ignorance when it comes to fruits. this big freeze we had late in the season killed a lot of stone fruit and berries, so a lot of what's left may be sprayed or trucked in for all i know. because i haven't asked. i just scoop them up and eat them with homemade yogurt, and it doesn't get much better than that. what to do with this big bag? that remains to be seen. peach sorbet? some sort of baked peach dessert? if all else fails, i'll just freeze them. or eat them all. a girl can't be blamed.

but sooner or later, questions will need to be asked.

i'm hot.

well, it's cooled down in the house from 87 to 86 at 11:30pm. the house is normally cool in the mornings, and traps heat in the late afternoon. we put our little window air conditioner in the bedroom, and i was loathe to leave that comfort. indiana summers and portland summers (you can't really lump all of oregon together, climate-wise) are two completely different seasons. in portland, you get a few muggy days thrown in, wherein everyone walks around with wrinkled-up noses: man! it's MUGgy today! here, you get about three months straight of heat and humidity that would send the average portlander straight to the air-conditioned movie theater. likely an air-conditioned movie theater that serves beer.

excuse me while i feel homesick for a moment.

...okay, thanks.

gee, what can a girl do to beat the heat?

chocolate-covered cherry ice cream? don't mind if i do!

i skipped the cream with this one, and made a custard with 2% milk. there's enough of a difference that you can tell the texture is more coarse, even in this picture here. full-cream is definitely a lovely and decadent thing, but you can't eat that stuff all summer long. especially if you feel the need to break out the ice cream maker twice a week or so.

for dinner, i made fake fried chicken from scratch (vital wheat gluten, mixed with water, kneaded, and simmered in broth, breaded, pan-fried, voila!) from la dolce vegan. served it with a spicy portobello gravy and couscous. baking powder biscuits would have been perfect.

maybe we'll have a break in the weather so i can bake. come on, thunderstorms! do your stuff!

what else?

what did the vegetarian bring to the barbeque?

salad, of course! here you see bulk orzo, imported pecorino romano, local basil, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peas, and stupidly un-local carrots. oh, well. still, it should be pretty tasty!

just a tip to you practicing omnivores out there: when we say don't go to any trouble for us, we mean it! all we really need to know before coming over for a meal at your house is if we should bring anything. really. it's fine. and tell us if there's bacon in the baked beans.

at the market this morning, i got a chinese cabbage that's a lot like bok choi, but i can't for the life of me remember the name. it was similar. tok choi? there are about 2 references to tok choi when googled. anyways, it's spread wide, with smaller leaves in the center. the seller told me it has more nutrients. well, all right! looks like bugs got to it before i did, but that's never really deterred me before.

a couple quotes for you from animal, vegetable, miracle:

In a country where 5 percent of the world's population glugs down a quarter of all the fuel, also belching out much of the world's waste and pollution, we've apparently made big choices about consumption. They could be up for review.

AND!

But sticking it to the Man (whoever he is) may not be the most inspired principle around which to organize one's life....Food is the rare moral arena in which the ethical choice is generally the one more likely to make you groan with pleasure. Why resist that?

in other words (by kelley): wait! the tomatoes will come!

local food challenge

so! our friend over at crunchy chicken has double-dared her readers and low impact week-ers to another challenge: local food month. here's the official blurb: During the month of July you're going to increase your consumption of locally and sustainably grown food and decrease your consumption of imported and packaged food. You choose the level of participation you want to do. cool! this comes just as animal, vegetable, miracle came up in my library hold queue. it should prove to be a great inspiration as my busiest time of the year comes up at work, and leaves me with a little less willpower, i'm sure, than usual. this book is a non-fiction work by barbara kingsolver (author of the poisonwood bible, notably) about a year their family spent in touch with their own food, eating locally, producing as much of it as possible, and...i guess i'll find out what else. i've only finished the introductory chapters. next? "march: waiting for asparagus." my new vegetarian times came in the mail today, and i threw it on the table and went for this book. that's saying something. what level of "local" will i be shooting for within the challenge? let's see. the "100-mile" provision is kind of out for me, because i have no idea where these small towns in indiana are. i'll do my best to research a little when i get home from the farmer's market, though. let's make a list! excellent: monroe county. counties immediately surrounding or at least close: lawrence, brown, martin, morgan, greene, owen. see how good i'm getting at counties? all right, i totally google imaged a map. but i'm getting better. good: surrounding states: anywhere in indiana, illinois, kentucky, or western ohio. pushing it: great lake states. naughty: the eastern united states outside a day's drive. no way: anything from outside these united states. how's that for local? i may not be completely strict on all of these points. right now, i will absolutely NOT commit to skipping coffee. nooooo. we will buy fair trade, locally-roasted beans. if all else fails, we'll buy from local businesses. and we'll do it all on $70/week. and the new bloomingfoods will be open! oh, be still, my beating stomach! i can't wait to see the bulk section! yeah, i'm a nerd.

sports are terrible.

if you like sports, you're really in for heartache about 99% of the time. luckilly, my number one team, the portland trailblazers, is in for a heckuva year coming up with the first draft pick in a few weeks. that doesn't have anything to do with food, but i'm just saying. my heart is heavy right now. poor lebron. he, and his team, just aren't there yet. stupid lousy spurs. i got la dolce vegan from the library today and should be testing a few recipes soon. but, alas, for now, my dear husband is waiting for me to get ready for bed. and i won't disapoint. because i am ti-red. or ti-erd. love and smooches, kelley

another bloomington coffee roasters update

before i forget... they were at the tuesday market today, so i asked if they would be coming each week. answer: yes next week, no to the next two weeks after that, and yes after that point. follow? same thing for the big market on saturday. in other words, seems she won't be around the last week of june or first week of july, but will be at tuesday and saturday markets other than that. yay for coffee!

now we know they work.

i was just sitting down to my special blog time, without much knowing what i was going to blog about, when my dear husband called from the other room. it's garbage/recycling night, and he was doing his trash-gathering thing, including the removal of our very first biobag. (yes, we have chores divided up very much along traditional gender roles. he takes out the trash. i do the laundry. we're okay with it.) fortunately or unfortunately, the biobag was already partially disintegrated inside the trash can. we had to double-bag. now, that's a troubling thought: we either have to double bag, or take the trash out twice as often. if the bag is disintegrating before a week is out, the raccoons are just going to have a field day with what they knock over. we only put the garbage out for pickup every 3 weeks or so. hm. well, it's better than plastic entombing our garbage forevermore. biobags are still pretty cool in my book. just be forewarned. now that the oven is back in action, i've been trying out a few new things i've seen on the internets in the meantime. case in point: oreo-esque cookies from smitten kitchen.

note the spot where a "trial" cookie came from. sometimes a girl can't wait to perform a quality check.

mmm.

there are really no beauty shots of these, because i wasn't really paying much attention to aesthetics while frosting. it was halftime of the cavs-spurs game, and i had heavy thoughts hanging over my head. then i ate cookies, and life was a little better!

these didn't add up to my ideal due to a pre-heating snafu, but, heck. they taste good. actually, i might go have one right now. maybe. i. will.

another update for local folks

check out this event promoting local food in bloomington june 16th. it includes a sneak peek of the new westside bloomingfoods, which i am VERY excited to see. here's the body of the e-mail i just got: The City of bloomington commission on sustainabilitypresents the innaugural LOCAL FOODS TOUR! Saturday, June 161:00 pm - 5:00 pm The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability promotes sustainable economic development, environmental health, and social equity in our community for present and future generations. We are organizing a series of "Sustainability Tours" modeled after the popular Garden Walks to educate and illustrate sustainable practices and policies. The goal of this event is to educate, demonstrate and raise awareness that growing, consuming and supporting local food contributes to the sustainability of Bloomington. What are some of the benefits of local food production? Local food production provides income: purchase supports local business with money retained within the community with people you know. Growing your own food is cheap, or free, even if you don’t own land (e.g. community gardens). Gardening and farming provides exercise, relaxation and recreation. You can more easily know where your food comes from and how it is produced, increasing your connection to the land and your community. Local foods provide a connection to local history, local crops and the human experience. Locally produced foods are fresher, more nutritious, flavorful and healthy. Since many foods don’t ship or store well, you can often find a greater variety of foods when you buy goods grown and sold locally. Production and transport of local foods require less energy and fertilizer inputs, and produce fewer carbon emissions. Local foods help mitigate the social, economic and environmental costs of industrial farming. The inaugural tour (Saturday June 16, 1:00 - 5:00 pm) showcases 10 community sites and focuses on Local Foods. Our goal is to increase the production, demand and consumption of local foods, producing economic, environmental and social equity benefits for the our community. Click here for the flyer (pdf) and map of the Local Foods Tour. More information on Local Food sites: 1. Bloomingfoods Near West Market & Deli (New Store, Pre-opening Tour!). 316 W. 6th St. (former Encore Café near Farmers Market). Contact: George Huntington (339-4442, gm@bloomingfoods.coop). 2. Butler Winery (Vineyards and Winemaking Operation). 6200 E. Robinson Rd. (Take Walnut North to light near Griffy Dam/Lower Cascades Park. Turn right on Old 37. Go 3.2 miles, turn right on E. Robinson Rd. Go 2.8 miles to Butler Winery). Contact: Jim Butler (332-6660, vineyard@butlerwinery.com) 3. Chickens in the City (Urban Chicken Coop). 1001 S. Washington Street. Contact: Judith Sylvester (333-9223, jlsylves@indiana.edu). 4. Complex Urban Polycultures (Permaculture). 5421 Kings Road (take first left heading east on 46 (just past Long’s Landing) and it is the 3rd house on left. Garden in front is obvious). Contact Peter Bane or Keith Johnson (335-0383). See www.permacultureactivist.net 5. Crestmont Community Gardens (Local Community Garden). Crestmont Park, W. 16th St. (head W on 17th St. from Walnut, pass Tri-North on left and take next left on Monroe St. Turn Rt. On 16th St. in Crestmont Park and wind around uphill and gardens will be on left parallel to gravel road). Contact: Michael Simmons (349-3737, simmonsm@bloomington.in.gov). 6. MiddleWay Food Works (New and Old Kitchens, USDA grant). At First United Methodist Church, 219 E. 4th St. Contact: Donna Storm (320-9217). 7. Musgrave Orchards (Community Supported Agriculture). 8820 Old State Road 37 (From intersection of Old 37 and Robinson Rd. (see Butler Winery), go north on Old 37. Orchards are on right. Contact: Andy Hamilton (360-3328). See www.musgraveorchard.com 8. Solar Powered Energy Efficient Home Greenhouse. 134 N. Overhill Dr. (Take East 3rd past High St., left on Overhill (across from Cheeseburger in Paradise) and several blocks in on right, in Green Acres). Contact: Ann Kreilkamp (334-1987 or 337-0192). 9. SPROUTS (IU Campus Community Gardens). SE corner 8th and Fess (just South of IU Memorial Union). Contact Danny Atlas (219-5761, datlas@indiana.edu). 10. Wylie House (Heirloom Gardens and Seed Saving Project). 307 E. 2nd St. (just east of Lincoln). Contact: Sherry Wise (855-6224). See www.indiana.ed/~linwylie

bloomington roasters update

hi bloomington coffee fans. i know you're out there! the bloomington roasters girl was back at the market on saturday. she was busy talking to someone else, so i didn't think to ask her about the hiatus. also requested her beans at bloomingfoods, so maybe they'll make room for her if she can keep up with demand.

sourdough woes

what am i doing wrong with my sourdough? i've been trying to use just my wild culture, which seems to have some bubbly get-up-and-go to it. should i not put the sponge in the fridge? does slow-rising not apply here? i figure, if you're supposed to let the sponge hang out for 8-24 hours, what harm does it do if part of it is in the fridge? maybe i already have an answer. i just hate to leave things out unattended during bug season. the oven is back in commission after more than two weeks (!), and i was raring to bake. last night, i did the long-awaited seitan of greatness. it was good, but not exactly exuding greatness. a little bland. it may be true that i didn't follow the recipe to the letter, however, and i'll definitely try again. if you can handle gluten, seitan is a great option to have in your back pocket. next time i try making bread, i'll put a few tablespoons of vital wheat in the mix as well. ...speaking of the post punk kitchen, (kind of), i made a completly un-veganized version of their vegan soy ice cream recipe last night. tofu was involved. but instead of soy milk, i used regular milk. organic milk, though, vegan friends! that's better than nothing, right? um, yes. so anyways. tofu, milk, sugar , strawberries, (milk) chocolate, and graham crackers. good in theory. not that good with tofu. sorry. it's just not in the cards. tofutti cuties i absolutely love, though, so maybe there's a secret i need to unlock to make it taste like delicious, not like delicious with a tofu aftertaste. until then, i have other flavor delights to try.

cook them burgers real good

enjoying a barbeque this weekend? check your ground beef. it may be recalled. and tahini. i hear tahini burgers are real big right now.

low impact week day seven: somewhat bummed.

okay, this has nothing to do with low impact week, but the cleveland cavaliers just lost. that's all right. they'll get the next one. but i'm still a little bummed. tonight we went to our favorite pizza place for dinner. they normally serve their salads with a side of dressing in a little lidded plastic cup, which just won't do when you're shooting for NO NEW PLASTIC. i was all ready to explain that a little dollop of dressing on top would be fine, because i'm trying not to use plastic, sorry to bother you, all this business. i really was. then, after we sat down, the waiter swung by to make a confession. "i have to tell you. it's my last day, and i'm hammered." and he was. then he tried to figure out which one of us gets diet coke (neither) (we're regulars.) he remembered our salad orders, though. "one ranch, one blue cheese?" "yep!" after your waiter confesses to being drunk, you just don't make him go out of his way for any reason. you just hope he remembers to bring you your pizza, and with the correct toppings. you don't make a fuss out of how your dressing is served. i asked for a cardboard box, specifically, for the leftovers, and he brought two styrofoam boxes. "oh, sorry, i'm a hippie, i need cardboard," i self-depreciated. "i'll just leave one here," drunk waiter said. that's nice. split the middle. a minute later, he delivered cardboard. good luck in chicago, drunk waiter!