Healthy
Beef Stew with Root Vegetables
The last few weeks have been exceptionally busy here; I feel like I hardly spend any time at home, and I love being home. But I did manage to make a really rustic, hearty, and healthy beef stew. It is tender and flavorful and just fantastic. This stew just hit the spot during those cold winter days we’ve had lately. Just complete satisfaction. Warm, like a blanket; bursting with flavor like summer. Feeds your belly and your soul. The potatoes and sweet potatoes are actually still from one of the winter shares of the CSA. I couldn’t believe it that they’re still good. But sure enough, if you store them properly (cool, dark place), they’re...
Read MoreStuffed Shells
I have always wanted to make a stuffed pasta dish but was always intimidated by it. Not quite sure why, because it’s so easy. Easier than lasagna, and I consider lasagna to be easy. And when I found a recipe in a magazine (Whole Living, March 2011 edition) and realized I had all the ingredients, I knew I had to try it. I was also surprised at how quick this came together. It is also healthy and very satisfying. The spinach, the low-fat farmer’s cheese (I noticed it’s lower fat than the ricotta the original recipe called for), the mushrooms in the sauce (another one of my tweaks) all contributed to the guilt-free satisfaction of this cheesy...
Read MoreLeek and Cabbage Soup
Take a look at this soup. It’s not photogenic. It’s not sexy. But it’s first and foremost delicious. Of course, it’s also healthy and incredibly easy to make. And on cold autumn or winter days, it really hits the spot. How could it not? The other fabulous feature of this soup is that it features veggies from the CSA (Highcross Farms), and home made chicken stock (chicken was from Grassway Organics). If you think that this combination is a little odd, I wouldn’t blame you. But then again, I think anything with peanut butter is strange. Just think about it, there is a leak and potato soup, and cabbage and potato soup. I just...
Read MoreChickpea and Tomato Salad
I was completely struck by the simplicity and deliciousness of this salad when I saw it at an event about a month or so ago. Of course, it was also one of those “why didn’t I think of that” moments. I mean, it’s tomatoes and chickpeas, both of which I love. But perhaps my experimenting with food stopped the moment it started when I decided to put salt in my tea when I in kindergarten. Quite traumatized by that still. LOL. Anyway, this salad is incredibly easy, especially if you use cherry tomatoes, which is how this salad was made when I first saw it. But I didn’t have cherry tomatoes and I didn’t see anything wrong with...
Read MoreDamlyama-inspired chicken and vegetable stew
I mentioned in some of my previous post that I joined a CSA this year and all the benefits associated with it. The “downside” is having a ton of veggies and finding creative ways to use them up. This time, I turned to one of my recipes and totally re-did it. Well, as much as one can re-make a meat and veggie dish. The original, Damlyama, is a traditional Uzbek dish, using lamb and a pretty specific set of veggies and a specific method. For this dish, I took the basic elements of Damlyama, meat and veggies, and built a new recipe based on that. I sorta think of this as a deconstructed chicken damlyama. But don’t think of this as a...
Read MoreHighcross Farm
If you don’t know what this is, what would you think it is (without looking at the caption)? When I first got this item in my CSA box a few weeks ago (it was a smaller specimen), I really wasn’t sure what it is. I looked at it, and smelled it, and thumped it, and decided it was somehow related to squash. And then I cut into it, like I would with a summer squash, into rounds. LOL! Boy was I wrong! But I’m so happy to have been wrong. I saw seeds and membranes, like the ones you see in melons and it was awesome to discover that this is a melon. This is an extremely delicately flavored melon with an extremely pale flesh, almost white. To...
Read MoreTomatoes: Canned Sauce
I’ve been just about knee deep in tomatoes last few weeks and made a ton of “easy sauce“. I’ve also made quite a few jars of diced tomatoes, but more on that later. Because this is my first year canning anything ever, I thought I’d take it a little easy (though my dad would disagree) and try only a few things. But as great as my family food tradition is, we don’t really have a good recipe for tomato sauce. Lamb, oh yeah, you’ve come to the right place, but I don’t even tomato sauce on the menu as I was growing up…. So google to the rescue. I found this recipe for DiAgostino’s Red Gravy. It met all my...
Read MorePickled Patty Pan Squash
As I mentioned in my other post, I have only ever had these beauties pickled. Oh sure, I tried to roast them last year, and it was a complete disaster, they were disgusting. So, I’m not repeating that. Instead, I decided to pickle them, since I seem to be pickling everything in sight. Yes, pickled food is my favorite, and pickled tomatoes are God’s gift to me. There’s just nothing better. Except maybe shashlik. But I digress… So the other day, I saw that one of my local farms (Witte’s Vegetable Farm) had a whole bunch of these little sunshines at their stand. And I couldn’t resist their cheerful happiness...
Read MorePatty Pan (Zucchini) Soup
Being so busy with all the food processing, I haven’t really had a chance to post anything new in a while. But today, I finally decided I need a new post. Hope you like the soup as much as I do. A few weeks ago, actually, about a month ago, I signed up for a CSA. It’s a relatively local farm (HighCross Farm) that sends me a “small” box of organic produce every week. Several weeks in a row, I got some some absolutely gorgeous patty pan (or sunburst) squash. They are in the zucchini family. But I never know what to do with zucchini, and especially these round zucchini, and I’ve only ever had them pickled (recipe coming...
Read MoreDoor County Cherries
Look at these gorgeous rubies! In the years we’ve lived here, I’ve forgotten how much I like cherries (vishnya, in Russian). You see, we had a cherry tree in the yard when I was little, but it had to be cut down (don’t remember the reason). But we always bought both kinds of cherries (sweet and sour) at the market after letting go of the tree, but not really since we moved here. Strangely enough, we had a cherry tree in our first house here too. But that tree also had to be cut down; it was pretty sick. It’s safe to say that I haven’t had sour cherries, directly from the tree in more than 25 years. So it was definitely a treat...
Read MoreCanning
This month has been rather busy. Summer is finally here and I’m trying to take advantage of it as much as possible, which means trips to the botanic gardens, farmers markets, farms, putzing around with my own balcony garden, and of course, continuing to discover Wisconsin. So the blog has taken a back seat to those activities. To add to all this, this year I decided I should learn how to make various jams and how to can them. I was just too tired of throwing away fruits and veggies that I couldn’t consume fast enough and since it’s just me, so there was a lot of it that I couldn’t consume and lots was thrown out. My hope is to change that...
Read MoreRoasted Bell Pepper and Green Bean Salad
I got a few too many peppers at the store the other day and needed a way to use them up. They looked too good to pass up! Ingredients: 2 red bell peppers 1 yellow bell pepper 1 orange bell pepper 1/2 red onion sliced into half moons a couple handfuls of green beans, blanched Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, equal parts Salt, pepper to taste Steps: 1. Roast the peppers and clean the skin off once they’re cool enough to handle. Slice into 1/4 inch long slices. 2. Slice the onion into half moons. 3. Blanche green beans (dunk them into boiling salted water for about a minute and then dunk them into ice-cold water to stop the cooking). 4. Combine all ingredients in a...
Read MorePotato and Green Bean Salad
This is a really delicious and healthy side dish. It’s also really easy and really quick to make. The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for it! LOL. I actually made it twice today. This recipe calls for a really good olive oil because you’ll add the dressing to the potatoes while they’re hot and the flavor of the oil will really stand out. One person who ate this tasted a hint of garlic though there’s no garlic in this recipe; it was the flavor of the olive oil. Ingredients: 1.5 – 2 LBs new potatoes (I used red and Yukon Gold) 3-4 handfuls of green beans 1/2 red onion, sliced in half moons 3/4 cup of olive oil 1/4 cup...
Read MoreFather’s Day
I love that there is such a holiday as Father’s Day. I think the good men in our lives don’t get enough recognition and a day dedicated just for them is a great way to reflect on all the good things they do and to tell them how much we love and treasure them. Today, we celebrate the fathers in our lives, and I’m celebrating mine. And so, for this special occasion, we’re getting together at my place for some feasting. (Is it selfish to relish the idea of cooking for people who enjoy your food, especially if you’ve been away from your kitchen for a while?) Nibbles/Appetizers/Salads: Egg Salad — This time, I added one...
Read MorePepper Soup
I haven’t made any soups recently and since one of my New Year’s resolutions is to make more soups (and eat them), I figured today would be a good day for that. As I was reviewing the produce I had, I noticed that some of the bell peppers were starting to look like a Shar Pei and a few random roasted peppers in a jar could be used up too. So, Pepper Soup to the rescue! I remembered seeing a fairly easy recipe by Bal Arneson on the Cooking Channel, but there were a few ingredients I didn’t have (I’m not driving across town for 1 tsp of asafotida, especially when I don’t even know what it is). Thus, I decided to use the recipe as...
Read MoreFish in Fresh Tomato Sauce
Tomatoes… My love for them knows no bounds. Even in this winter, when we have several feet of snow, I seek out tomatoes and try to make something where they’re palatable. You know what winter tomatoes taste like, right? The taste like… paper… or cotton…. completely flavorless and watery. BUT… if you cook them, they make delicious magic with garlic. This dish is also very quick, easy, and healthy. If you want to cut down on additional calories from olive oil, you can use a cooking spray or use olive oil spray can (I have a Misto Sprayer). Ingredients: 2 pints of tomatoes (I used yellow and red and you can see that I have...
Read MoreMung beans and Rice
Mung beans (pronounced: moong, also known as dal) and rice makes an easy, healthy, and delicious side dish. I suppose you can make it in a rice cooker, but I have made rice in a rice cooker only once, just to see how it works. I find it actually easier to do it in a non-stick pan. Just add liquid and voila! But to get the most out of this dish, I wash the rice and soak the beans before cooking them. The soaking ensures that the beans and rice cook at the same time (otherwise they take much longer to cook). Rinsing the rice makes it less starchy and thus much nicer texture the next day. Ingredients: 1/4 cup rice (rinsed) 1/4 cup mung beans (soaked for at least...
Read MoreYogurts (Dairy Odyssey: Part 2)
I have been on a dairy kick since the cheese-making class I took a few weeks ago. After having made butter, I was all jazzed to make other things from the class and started on the yogurts a few days ago. Since I had such a hard time with yogurt previously, I asked Linda about some ways I can try to improve and wanted to try out her suggestions. So, one of the yogurts I made is based on her recipe and the other is an attempt to improve upon my experimentation from last fall. The yogurt Linda talked about is based on the Piima culture she gave out in class. I’m always looking for “Greek style” yogurt, the kind that’s really, really thick and...
Read MoreMediterranean Vegetable, Bean, and Feta Penne
I saw this recipe in my Clean Eating magazine (page 41 of the February 2011 issue) and it looked pretty good. But the fact that it didn’t have meat had me worried, for I am an unabashed carnivore. The recipe seemed easy, quick, healthy, and potentially great-tasting so I thought it was worth a try, especially since I’ve been craving summer flavors. [You might have seen it on the news, but WI is buried under a few feet of snow and I for one, absolutely hate it. For a sunnier view of our weather, check out Sofia's take on it.] So, off to the kitchen I went, though, as always, I did deviate slightly from the original recipe. Ingredients: 6 oz. of whole...
Read MoreWhole Wheat Bread
There is nothing more satisfying than making bread. Taking such simple ingredients, like flour, yeast, and water, and turning them into something nourishing and fabulous is just so rewarding and self-affirming. It’s immensely satisfying knowing I can whip up a loaf of bread with practically no effort, make it dense, chewy, and nourishing, and save a bundle in the process. I think I’ll have a bread-related goal for 2011. I used the same recipe and process here as I did in my first attempt (Bread based on My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method), but I made changes to the flour mixture. Instead of 3 cups of white bread flour, I used 1.5...
