Category Archives: Food

Cancan can!

The fruits (and vegetables) of last year’s gardening and canning labors:

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From left to right on each shelf, starting with top shelf:

  • Green beans, catsup
  • Relish, pear preserves, more green beans
  • Tomatoes w/fennel, onion, and garlic, straight up tomatoes
  • Pickled beets, pickled onions, pears, more green beans

We grew everything pictured, except for the pears, which came from Matthew’s grandparents’ neighbors’ tree.  Matthew’s mom did most of the preserving and canning last summer and fall, since we were a little bit busy with this.  We contributed the green beans, lest you think we were total slackers.

Previous canning posts on HerGreenLife
Applesaucin’
Salsa, salsa, salsa
Pear preserves
We now return to our regularly schedule posting

Pastries in the park

I feared the rainy forecast for Sunday would derail my hopes for a family bike ride this weekend, but the rain held off long enough for us to have a nice outing.

We started with a trip to The Hill for sfogliatelle, a delicious Italian pastry with a ricotta filling.

Pastries in milk crate, we headed to the park to play.

We ducked into Local Harvest to grab a few bulk bin grains on our way home and made it back just barely damp, having ridden through some sprinkles for the last few blocks.

Human garbage disposal

So, here’s the thing: I really hate wasting food.  In particular, I hate wasting good food (a foodie has to have her standards, after all) or food that should be good because we put precious time and high-quality ingredients into it.

My feelings about food waste do not mesh particularly well with introducing solid foods to a baby.  Whether you start with self-feeding (like BabyLed Weaning) from the beginning or spoon feeding, there will eventually be a time when your baby learns to feed him/herself, and this time will involve a learning curve.

The process is inherently messy and wasteful: food on the face, partially masticated food drooled onto the bib, food smashed in little fists, food dropped on the floor, food in the seat . . . .

Of course, since we try to only put high quality food in our bodies, we offer The Dude the same.  We take some normal steps to minimize waste:

  1. Only put a small amount of food in front of him at once.
  2. Make sure the floor is [relatively] clean, so we can hand back dropped pieces.
  3. Offer food when he’s not starving (i.e., AFTER he’s had mama’s milk), tired, or otherwise fussy.
  4. Minimize distractions during mealtime.

But there comes a point when the food is crumbled in pieces too small for The Dude to grasp and/or he loses interest in the meal.

Enter the human garbage disposal, AKA mama.  Yep, I unashamedly pick up the bits of food (including some that have been in his mouth and rejected) from the table, floor, and chair.

Upon first witnessing this, Matthew commented that baby birds typically eat food from the mama bird’s mouth, NOT the other way around.

I do have my limits — some items I rule out as too mushy, slobbery, etc.  Sometimes it goes straight into my mouth, other times, I dress it up a little, adding some nut butter to the leftover piece of bread, or tossing some partially chewed veggies in with some other food I’m going to eat.

I just can’t let good food go in the trash!  What extreme actions do you take to avoid food waste?

Broiled tofu

AKA, “you should write a blog post about this” tofu.  Quite high praise from my somewhat tofu-skeptical husband.

Though I somewhat enjoy uncooked, unseasoned tofu, Matthew won’t go near the stuff.  Many of my more basic, chop it up and add it to a dish while cooking methods also fail to meet his taste and texture standards.

We enjoyed the results of the preparation method I mentioned in this post, but it’s actually a bit labor intensive, and it involves either a good bit of oil to make it work in the cast iron or using the nasty non-stick skillet.  Enter the marinate and broil method.

It requires just a little planning, because marinating the tofu for at least 12 hours yields the best results.  You can also let it sit in the marinade for a few days, refrigerated of course — prep it on the weekend for a weeknight meal.

Broiled Tofu
Recipe by Melissa

Ingredients

1 block extra firm tofu (preferably organic)
2-3 T. soy sauce
1-2 T. ginger spread*
1/2 t . onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder

Directions

Drain tofu and slice  into six pieces.  Place tofu slices on clean dish towel, top with a cookie tray, and use hand weights, cans, etc. to weigh down the tray.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes to remove excess moisture.  This will help the tofu absorb more of the yummy marinade.**

While the tofu is “weighting,” mix the soy sauce, ginger spread, onion powder, and garlic powder in a shallow container.  I just eyeball the amounts.  More soy sauce = saltier.  More ginger spread = sweeter. [Sometimes I add a bit of water (1-2 T.?) to help stretch out the marinade without adding too much sodium.]

Dip each side of the pressed tofu slices in the marinade, then arrange in single layer in the container and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.  More marinating time = more flavor!

When ready to cook, brush a light coat of olive oil on both sides of each slab and arrange on the broiler pan.  I prefer to broil my tofu in our toaster oven, which is just the right size for one block (6 slices) of tofu.  This uses less energy than firing up the oven’s broiler, but if you don’t have a toaster oven, that’s fine.

Broil 6-10 minutes per side.  Actual time will depend on your broiler — keep an eye on it after the shorter amount of time so it doesn’t burn.

Serving options

  1. After broiling, let cool slightly, then chop into bite sized pieces and add to any one-dish meal (e.g., stir fry, big pan of sauteed veggies, etc.) at the end of cooking.
  2. Serve whole slice of tofu (like you would a piece of meat) on top a bed of grains with some nice veggies sides.
  3. Chop into bite-sized pieces and use as a salad topper.
  4. Other ideas???

The marinate and broil method should also work with just about any marinade.  What are your favorite marinade ingredients?

*Ginger spread: I first encountered this ginger spread as a gift from my sister while I was pregnant.  Using it as a spread on toast was not appealing, but I quickly discovered that it was a great way to add flavor and a touch of sweetness to marinades, salad dressings, and stir fries.  You could also buy fresh ginger and make your own spread, or, for the sake of this recipe, add some finely grated fresh ginger (a citrus zester works well for this) along with your sweetener of choice.

Weekends

First Friday veg potlucks
As I’ve mentioned before, we’re part of a vegetarian potluck group that meets once a month to share delicious food and good company.  This month’s theme was “veggie adventure” (AKA, make something you’ve never made before).  Inspired by our recent Indian restaurant trip, I made chana masala, using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, with delicious results.  (One of these months, I will actually remember to bring the camera and share more about these gatherings.)

And so it begins
Saturday marked the official opening of the 2012 gardening season, which unofficially opened in early January when Matthew started seedlings under the grow lights.*

The Dude “helped” Daddy and Grandma at the garden, giving me some time to myself.  Their day involved some heavy lifting — working to move two dump truck loads of compost while carrying a little monkey on their backs.

Meanwhile  . . .
I caught up on things around the apartment, cleaning the kitchen so we could mess it up again later, among other things . 

My bicycle turned routine errands into some nice physical activity and outside time, though the sun fooled me into under-dressing for the outing.  I’ll take a slightly chilly breeze on my face over being stuck in the car any day.

And then came Sunday
The Dude and I graced the church pews for the first time in eons — my attendance record since he’s been born is quite embarrassing.  I tell myself it will get better when he gets older and our routine is a bit more predictable, but thinking of families in times past (and present, I suppose) who make it to church Every. Single. Sunday., with a baby AND other little ones in tow makes my excuse look a little pathetic.

Pre-church bath -- we bathe a bit more frequently than we go to church, but not much 😉

Meanwhile . . .
In case he hadn’t gotten enough exercise at the garden on Saturday, Matthew spent a good chunk of Sunday on his bike, preparing for the Cycling Savvy class he’ll be teaching in a couple of weeks.**

We wrapped up the weekend with a relatively simple dinner featuring a large salad with greens from the low tunnel, homemade pasta (made and frozen on a previous weekend), and a delicious rhubard dessert.

*Stay tuned for a grow light guest post from Matthew.

**If you’re in the St. Louis area, check out the upcoming Cycling Savvy classes.  Thanks to some grant funding, they are offering the classroom potion for FREE, and each of the on-bike portions for $15/session.  All three sessions normally cost $75!  Whether you’re a newbie, someone who’s logged hundreds of miles, or somewhere in between, Cycling Savvy has a lot to offer.