Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Carrot taste test

This post has been in the works for quite awhile now.  If you’ve already ordered carrot seed for your spring garden, don’t despair — these results are from our fall grown crop.  Given our growing conditions, fall-sown carrots often do best here anyway, as the early heat of summer often limits the sweetness and growth of spring-sown carrots.

Carrot taste comparison (and far less rigorous growth comparison due to differential germination and thinning) – Grown Fall 2012, tasted January 2013, overwintered in low tunnels prior to harvest.

Taste comparison for carrots grown fall 2012 in St. Louis, MO in double dug clay soil after potatoes and prior to that lawn, probably a little on the acidic side.

Tasted sliced to ~1/8” or 3/16”, both raw and steamed for ~7 minutes, until soft but not mush.

We rated each carrot on a scale of one to four, one being best, with rating for how well that carrot grew (the number in parentheses) and how it tasted, with notes on taste both raw and cooked.

IMG_1405

Favorites

  • Danvers ½ Long – great germination and growth (1) fairly sweet & carroty; steamed – very sweet and flavorful 1
  • Cosmic Purple – (1) raw – mild sweet & spicy; steamed –sweet, spicy, flavorful 1
  • Dragon – (purple) (2) (raw) – carroty, mild sweet good flavor; steamed – mid-sweet, spicy, flavorful 1

Next best

  • St. Valery – great germination and growth and size (2) raw – good, not amazing, mild sweet, mild spicy; steamed – pretty good, not best 2
  • Yellow Carrots (j.o.d.d.) – (2) – raw – firm, crunchy, sweet gentle carrot flavor; steamed – mild, sweet, carroty 2
  • Chantenay Red Core –  (2) Smaller Carrots – Raw – Sweet full flavor, carroty; steamed –good flavor, but not amazing 3

Eh, don’t bother

  • Muskade – (4) poor germination – tasty to slugs  – Raw-not sweet, watery, not favorite; steamed – worst flavor, watery, not sweet, slightly carroty 3
  • Kuroda – very good germination and growth (3) Raw – carroty; steamed –decent flavor, but not amazing 4
  • Scarlet Nantes – beans ’11  (4) poor germination Raw – Carroty; steamed –poor flavor
  • Atomic Red – (4) – raw – a bit harsh, very carroty; steamed – carroty but not very sweet, still a bit harsh 4

Keeping the varieties separate while harvesting, cleaning, prepping, and cooking was truly a labor of love (i.e., huge pain in the butt), and something we don’t plan to repeat often.  Now that we have our results, we will focus our efforts on growing our favorites, allowing the purchase of a larger quantity of seed, which saves money.

Multimodal transportation — The people you meet

My travels on Friday included a number of interesting encounters that I wouldn’t have had while stuck in a car, including the WashU research scientist I met while waiting for MetroLink, who bemoaned the fact that my bike’s rear cargo rack was full of my stuff and thus couldn’t accommodate him as a passenger (we continued to have a nice chat until I reached my stop).

Then, while biking the small stretch of Kingshighway that we regularly use to connect lower traffic streets on our route, a driver (in her hurry to pass me so she could spend more time sitting at the red light 25 feet away), passed too close [for my  safety and comfort], despite my best lane position and communication efforts to dissuade just such a pass.

Seeing that her window was partially rolled down, I pulled up next to her (at that red light), and, ignoring the fact that she was talking on her cell phone while driving (AHEM), inquired where she was going in such a hurry that she needed to risk my safety by passing so closely to get to the red light sooner.  She seemed quite taken aback, and muttered that she didn’t know she had passed too closely.  I politely and calmly informed her that the distance (maybe a foot?) that she left between her car and my bike (and my body), did, in fact, feel quite unsafe from my perspective on the bicycle.

At that point, the light turned, but she did manage a rather sincere sounding, “I’m sorry,” before we both departed.  While trying to confront/correct motorists is quite often a losing proposition, and thus something I generally try to avoid, my polite approach, and her apparent open-mindedness to the information, made this a pleasant encounter.

On the home stretch of my ride, I came up behind two middle-aged men out riding together recreationally.  Their riding — weaving in and out of parked cars, riding in the door zone, running stop signs — really tempted me to say something.  However, I wasn’t sure how they, surely “seasoned, experienced cyclists,” would take something from a random lady on a bike.

Instead of risking an unpleasant verbal exchange, I decided to let my biking do the talking.  I caught up to them at a red light (was having trouble catching them previously due to their disregard for stop signs), and, once in front, had no trouble staying in front of them for the eight or so blocks that we shared the road, despite my [balanced] stops at the stop signs on our route.  Whether or not they were paying attention, I enjoyed thinking that I may have planted a seed about a “revolutionary new way” to experience the roads.

Happy St. Pat’s Day

We’re all a bit under the weather here, which, given the dreary state of the weather, is saying quite a bit.

IMG_1573
Seedlings getting their green on

In the “better late than never” category, here’s a look back at some past St. Pat’s Days, including some ideas for greening your meal and a link to our oh-so-good vegetarian reubens:

Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day with Green Food
Finger-licking good vegetarian reubens

Last year, we spent this weekend planting potatoes.  Matthew didn’t get around to that yesterday, but he has ten varieties he’s considering this year, so we might do a quick taste test tonight, since he’d like to narrow it down to six or less to plant next weekend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Multimodal transportation

This morning I had an interview in downtown St. Louis.  While many people who live in the surrounding suburbs seem to consider anything vaguely within city limits to be “downtown,” when I say downtown, I mean “within a few blocks of the Arch,” just so we’re clear.

Anyway, downtown St. Louis is a decent little hike from our place in south city — I estimated at least an hour each way by bike.  Given the time constraints with childcare, and the fact that I was not familiar with the destination building, in terms of facilities for making sure I was interview-presentable (nothing fancy needed, at least at this time of year,  but a restroom to duck into surreptitiously to give things a once-over/make last minute adjustments to assure at least a semi-professional appearance is always helpful), I more-or-less resigned myself to driving.  But the bike bug was still there in my head, saying, “Maybe .  .  .”

When Matthew decided to use a vacation day to take advantage of the amazing weather and get the garden started, planning to take Sir with him, the childcare situation changed, and I was no longer in a time crunch.

Further, if I took the car to my interview, Matthew’s trip to the garden would have involved his mom driving in to pick him up, and either my going out at the end of the day to get them, or her making another trip in at the end of the day.  My biking and freeing up the car for him to use would eliminate twenty-plus unnecessary car miles.

The last thing to overcome was my trepidation at making [what I was guessing to be] a ten-mile one-way trip, when most of my recent bike trips have maxed out at less than ten miles round trip.

The solution?  A bit of creative thinking, and a multimodal trip that involved car with bike rack, MetroLink (StL light rail system), walking, and biking before all was said and done.

Before heading to the garden, Matthew needed to swing by our old stomping grounds, the Salus Center, to pick up the seed potatoes he ordered, a stop that would take him very near the Grand MetroLink stop.  The MetroLink, would, in turn, take me within eight short blocks of my final destination, a distance that I could easily walk or bike.  For the return trip, I had the option of biking the entire distance, or once again taking MetroLink part way.

I chose the latter, disembarking with my bike at the Grand stop, and thoroughly enjoying the 5.7 bicycle miles on this crisp, sunny day.  Turns out riding the entire way would have clocked in at just under 9 miles, so I still rode a good chunk of the way, which increases my confidence for future trips downtown.

Risotto gets a makeover: Easy and healthy

In my recent post on lunches, I mentioned risotto, with the promise for a recipe soon.  I had to look back through my archives to make sure I hadn’t already shared the recipe here.

Turns out, this was NOT the first time I mentioned my risotto method — the previous instance occurred over two years ago, in December 2010.  At that time, I also said I would post the recipe, yet a search of my archives shows zero risotto recipes.  Let’s call it pregnancy brain, shall we?

If you’ve been waiting over two years for my top-secret-easy-and-healthy risotto recipe, I do apologize.  If you’ve only been waiting since last week, think how good you have it!

The secret to my risotto is using oat groats instead of the traditional arborio rice.  Though they sound like something a horse (or a goat?) might eat, oat groats are simply the whole oat grain — what they steam and flatten to make rolled oats.  It looks like a wheat berry.

So, why use oat groats?  Well, nutritionally, you get the health benefits of whole grain oats, with a good serving of heart-healthy fiber.  While this is not a fat-free, or even necessarily a low-fat recipe, the natural creaminess of the starch in oats produces an effect similar to arborio rice, and you can have a very rich tasting dish without having to add too much fat.

While oat groats take just as long, if not longer, to cook than arborio rice, they require less babying.  Traditional risotto has you standing at the stove stirring the whole time, gradually adding small amounts of hot broth every now and then.  With oat groats, after toasting the grain for a few minutes, you can toss in the broth, bring it to a simmer, cover it, and walk away.  Sure, you’ll have to come back every now and then to give it a stir, but it’s not a big deal.

IMG_8329

Butternut squash and asparagus risotto

Recipe by Melissa

Ingredients*
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced leeks (or sub. diced onions)
2 T. butter
2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups oat groats
5 c. vegetable broth
8-12 saffron threads
1-2 c. cooked butternut squash
2 c. asparagus pieces
1 c. frozen peas (optional)
salt (to taste — amount will depend heavily on how salty your broth is)
1/3 c. nutritional yeast
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesean cheese

Directions
Melt butter over low heat in large sauce pan.  Add leeks, and cook gently until softened, 10-15 minutes.  Add olive oil and 1/2 t. sea salt.  Add oat groats, increase heat to medium, and cook for 5 minutes to lightly toast the grain.

Add 3c. broth and the saffron — broth can be hot or cold, but if you start from hot, it will speed things up a bit.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer while covered (the oat groats will need to simmer for a total of 60-90 minutes).

After 20 minutes, add the butternut squash.  You want it to dissolve into the risotto, adding to the depth and richness of the dish.

At this point, the risotto should be thickening nicely.  You may need to stir it a bit more frequently now.  Add the nutritional yeast, and more broth if necessary.

After 60 minutes of simmering, check tenderness of the grain, it should be chewy, but tender.  If it’s close to ready, add the asparagus and peas.  Maintain a gentle simmer for 10-15 more minutes.  When vegetables are tender and cooked through, remove from heat and stir in the grated Parmesean cheese.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*Ingredient variations are pretty much endless. The picture above is actually a sun-dried tomato and leek [oat groat] risotto, originally mentioned here.