Now Read This: "Made From Scratch" by Jenna Woginrich

I am reading "Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life" by Jenna Woginrich.  It is the story of a office worker who rents land in Idaho's panhandle and starts her life as a small time farmer (chicken, bees and rabbits) and lives a simpler life. She soon learns that simple does not mean easy. Her love for her animals and new way of life comes through clearly and easily in her writing. Check this one out. 

Time to Organize the Pantry

I hate to admit it but, my pantry was a mess.  Cans toppled over, plastic bags of flour not sealed properly, powdered sugar spilled, baking pans falling out of the closet and a general disaster.  I knew that it had to be cleaned out, vacuumed, wiped down and better organized.  Here are some photos of the before:

Pantry before (it is coat closet with a shelf placed in it)

Baking shelf before

So I pulled out all items and began to organize it.  I bought a label maker (which I cannot believe I did not own until this weekend) and some glass jars to store my flours, sugars, beans and other dried pantry staples.  Next came the vacuum and some cleaner and I wiped down all the shelves. It feels so much better to know that everything has a home and that I can easily find what I amlooking for.  Here are some photos of the process and the results:

Jars all laid out

Filled and labelled jar

Jars filled and placed on the shelves

Flours and sugars in glass and plastic containers

Pantry after

Baking pans stacked neatly and not falling out

Canned and dried good stacked neatly

Food processor and cooling racks placed

 I used this organization time to throw away expired food.  I dislike throwing away food, it is so wasteful.  The organized pantry will help me keep track of what I have.  I also took this an opportunity to take the food that was still good but we are not eating to the food pantry.  I placed it all in a bag and brought it to the donation bin at the local Town Hall.  There are many churches and charitable organizations will take these items. 

In these tough economic times there are so many people in need.  If you are organizing your pantry, find some items to donate.  If you are not organizing, find some items to donate.  Donating items to charity is the ultimate act of recycling!

Seedlings 2012 Update

My seeds are doing really well so far this year.  I have decided to keep the lights on them 24 hours per day and I placed them under a ceiling fan as soon as they spouted from the soil.  I think this is really helping them to get strong stems, which they will need to protect themselves from the winds once transferred outside.  The tomatoes already have their true leaves and look so much better than any other year I have started from seed.  Here are some photos:

Tomatoes

Squashes

Peppers and parsley

Basil, eggplants and leeks

Tomatoes

Carrot, Apple and Celery Soup

This recipe comes from "Soup" from Love Foods. I made a small change to use red pepper paste to take out the acid taste and add in some sweetness from the red pepper. The flavor is very rich carrot taste and the texture is thick.  If you like a thinner consistency, add more stock thin it out.  This recipe is vegetarian and I made it using all organic ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 lb carrots, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
4 cups vegetable stock
2 medium apples, chopped
2 TBS red pepper paste, use tomato paste if you cannot find red pepper paste
1 Bay leaf
2 tsp superfine sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Here's how:

Add the carrots, onion and celery to the stock in a soup pot.

Veggies in the pot

Broth

After cooking for 5 minutes

Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer for 10 minutes.

After coming to a boil

Add the apples, paste, bay leaf and sugar to the pot and bring it back to a boil. 

Apples diced

Apples, sugar, bay leaf and paste into the pot

Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Soup ready to puree

Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf and puree the soup using an immersion blender or regular blender.

Immersion blender into the pot

Add the salt and pepper. 

Pureed and seasoned

Serve.

9000th Page View

When I started this blog over a year and half ago, I thought that it would give me a way to share my recipes with my friends and family.  I assumed that the people who came to the site would be people I know.  When my first "stranger" follower signed up, I was so excited that someone I didn't know was interested in what I was doing.  Next came my obsession with checking the countries where people come from who find my blog.  Then came the Facebook page where I promote the blog and let people know when I post new recipes, ideas and photos. 

Today, my blog had its 9000th page view. I cannot believe that 9000 times, people from every inhabited continent have viewed my 293 posts.  The countries where people view my blog include the US, Canada, Russia, Philippines, Germany, UK, Sweden, Australia, Slovenia and Denmark.  It is amazing to me that people from all different ethnic cultural backgrounds have found my site and are coming back for more.  It is humbling to know that the food I make is being made across the world! From Christmas cookie recipes to Spring Flower Arrangements, people keep coming back.

I truly believe in not only making great food but growing it and making it available to as many people as I can.  This blog may be based on Long Island, but the idea of getting out into your own land or buying from your local farmer, transcend not only a national level but a global one.  Everyone who has visited this site has a local food identity of their own.  I am trying to show people how to use what is literally or figuratively in their own backyards to create recipes and maybe even to effectuate a change in how they live.  I know not everyone is going to dig up their lawn and start a garden.  But maybe I can encourage people to join a CSA, go to a farm stand or even just buy the local produce at the grocery store.  Small changes, I believe, can add up to a big impact.  Buying from local farmers is an investment in the local community.  Buying from farmers keeps the farm in business. Buying from farmers keeps real food, not food products, on the table.  Buying from farmers helps to keep the farms we all love to visit and protect.  The ultimate way to protect farmland from development is to buy the food grown on it.  Don't assume someone else will do it.  Do it yourself and set the example. 

So, I say thanks to all of you who visit me and share in my food and life journey to enjoy things Homemade on Long Island.  Please honor the things Homemade where ever you live.  Keep visiting and I will continue to write.

What to Read

I am hooked on reading about regular people changing their lived by starting farms, whether they are small backyard areas to feed the family or hundred acre parcels that feed a community.  The change in mind state is the theme that runs through all of the books I have read and recommend here.  The awareness of the state of our food system and how we, individually and collectively, can make a difference.  It sounds a bit naive and cliche to think that one person can make a difference, but I really believe it can happen. One person who makes the decision to improve the soil, save a seed, farm organically and ultimately teach others to do the same.  It is this theme that changing the mind can change the environment around us that really speaks to me.  I try to live this way and this blog is this one person trying to make that difference.

The book I am reading is called "The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn and Fed My Family For a Year" by Spring Warren.  She makes the decision to use her small yard to feed her family most of the food they need.  Her writing is like talking to your friends and her story is just like your own.  I am enjoying this book and it really has me thinking about what I can do with my Three Quarter-Acre.  I have wanted to expand my edible section of the yard and she is really making me think about doing it.  After all, I can keep the patio and pool, some of the lawn and feed my family.  I have an area that gets full sun but needs the grass removed and soil amended.  Any offers to come help me expand?

Plant Your Peas

St. Patrick's Day is the traditional day to plant your spring peas.  The soil maybe cold and the air cool, but it is time.  Pull out your pea fences and seeds and plant those peas!

Soup Recipes

I have decided to put all of my soup recipes in one place to make it easier to scroll down and get the link right to the ones you need.  Here is an alphabetical list:

Beef Barley Soup
Carrot, Apple and Celery Soup
Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Soup with Vegetables in a Slow Cooker
Chicken Stock
Chicken Vegetable Barley in the Slow Cooker
Chorizo Sausage and Green Vegetable Soup
Corn Chowder
Cream of Asparagus
Golden Vegetable Soup with Green Lentils
Hearty Organic Spinach and Bean Soup
Hearty Vegetable and Lentil Soup
Navy Bean Soup with Vegetables
Minestrone
Organic Escarole Soup with Turkey Meatballs
Oxtail Stew
Pasta e Fagioli in the Slow Cooker
Prime Rib Beef Stock
Pork Chili in the Slow Cooker
Potato Leek Soup
Pumpkin Sausage, Kale and Butternut Squash Soup
Pureed Red Lentil Soup
Roasted Squash, Sweet Potato and Garlic Soup
Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup
Sausage, Spinach and Squash Soup
Slow Cooker Lentil
Split Pea Soup in the Slow Cooker
Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash
Turkey Rice Soup
Turkish Style Red Lentil
Vegetable Soup with Cabbage

Lemon, Dill, Beans and Greens Soup

As I continue through my "Soup" cookbook, I found a recipe for Beans and Greens Soup.  The recipe is easy, ingredients are either in your home now or easy to find.  The recipe is healthy and vegetarian by changing the chicken broth to water or vegetable stock.  I made this recipe by using all organic ingredients to make it even healthier.  You can adjust the vegetables in this recipe up or down depending upon how much you have in the house if you want.  I changed the recipe by adding lemon, dill and mushrooms to add flavor and heartyness.

Ingredients:

1 lb dried cannellini beans
1 TBS olive oil
4 onions, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
4 carrots, diced
5 cups water
5 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 lb greens such as spinach, chard, or kale, washed and chiffonaded
2 lemons, juiced with lemons set aside
2 TBS fresh dill, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 TBS salt
1 tsp pepper

Here's how:

Soak the beans overnight in a large pot filled with water. 

Afer soaking overnight

Drain the beans and place them back into the pot with water covering them with 2 inches of water.

Heat the beans to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes.

Beans boiling

 Drain the beans and rinse.

While the beans are cooking prepare the soup base.

Heat the oil in a large pot that you are going to make the soup in.

Saute the onions in the oil for 3-4 minutes, but do not brown.

Onions sauteing

After 4 minutes

Add the garlic, celery and carrots and cook for 2 more minutes.

Garlic, carrots and celery added

After 2 minutes

Add the water, broth, beans and dried herbs.

Liquid, beand and herbs in the pot

Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to allow the soup to simmer.

Simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  The beans should be tender.

Add the salt and pepper.

Remove the bay leaves.

Use and immersion blender to puree 1/3 of the soup.  You can also use a blender to do this by removing 4 cups, pureeing and returning it to the pot.

Pureed soup

Add the greens, dill, lemon juice, juiced lemon rinds, mushrooms and let cook until the greens are tender, 10-20 minutes depending upon the greens used.

Spinach

Everything in

Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Remove the lemond rinds.

Serve the soup.

Split Pea Soup in the Slow Cooker

This is such a classic soup, it is amazing that I have taken this long to make it.  I turned to the Betty Crocker Cookbook to make this recipe, after all who better to tell me how to make a classic than a classic? 

Ingredients:

1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 1/2 cups carrots, diced
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb dried split peas
1 ham bone or smoked ham hock
7 cups chicken stock
2 Bay leaves
10 springs fresh thyme
optional: 1 baking potato, cubed
Here's how:

Place a liner in your slow cooker to make it easier to clean later.

Add all of the ingredients into the cooker.

Diced onions

Diced celery

Diced carrots

Veggies and ham hock into the cooker

Split peas into the cooker

Chicke stock into the cooker

Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low.

Once done, remove the ham bone or hock and remove meat and add into the soup.

Serve.

 

Pureed Red Lentil Soup

Dried beans and legumes are cheap.  You can buy them in bulk bins or in bags usually for around $2 per pound and one pound goes a long way.  This recipe is so cheap to make - using red lentils and basic kitchen staples, you cannot go wrong.  This recipe is from "Soup" by Love Food with a small change.  It is thick and hearty.  Serve with a loaf of crusty bread to make it a dinner.  This recipe is vegetarian and I made it with all organic ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried red lentils
1 red onion, finely diced
2 large carrots, diced or sliced
1 celery stalks
1 small turnip, diced to thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
5 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt

Here's how:

Place all the ingredients into a soup pot.


Red onion

Diced red onion

Red lentils

Sliced carrots

Diced celery

Small turnip (aka Rutabaga)

Sliced turnip

All ingredients, except stock, in the pot

Vegetable stock

Everything in the pot, ready for the stove

All stirred together

Bring to a boil and rapidly boil for 10 minutes.

Up to a boil

Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Everything should be soft and mushy at this time.

After 20 minutes

Place the immersion blender into the pot and puree the mix.  You can use a blender for this, just cool the soup first.

Pureed with an immersion blender and all ready to eat

 Ladle in bowls and eat.