Lamb Loin Chops

I am not a fan of lamb; I don't eat it and I don't like it.  But, I can appreciate that those who do like it really enjoy it.  It is not a food that is eaten every day, it is more of a special occasion food like Easter or a dinner party.  Last week when I was at Whole Foods I saw some lamb loin chops on sale and decided to surprise my husband with them...and then I needed to come up with a recipe that would have great flavor but still allow the meat to really shine. I think this recipe did it.  My husband said it was the best lamb he has ever had!  That means a lot because he is honest about my cooking.  He said it is dinner party food and I think you should try it for your next one...I know I will.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 TBS brown mustard (I like Gulden's)
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup roasted garlic and herb olive oil or 1/2 cup oil, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 lbs lamb loin chops

Here's how:

Place all of the ingredients, except the lamb, into a zip bag or a large bowl and whisk to combine to create a marinade.

Marinade being made

Add the lamb and coat the meat with the marinade.

Lamb loin chops

The chops look like a mini T-bone steak

Looking good already

Place the bag or bowl into the fridge overnight up to 2 days. Turn them over at least once while marinating.

Heading into the fridge

When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and take the meat out of the fridge.

Marinated and ready to cook

Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet or other oven safe pan on medium heat.

Heating the pan

Place the lamb into the pan and cook on 2 minutes on each side for rare, 3 minutes for medium rare,  4 minutes for medium.

Right into the pan with some extra marinade on top

Cooked on one side and turned

After cooking on each side, place the pan in the oven for 3-5 minutes.  Three minutes for thinner chops and 5 for thicker chops.

Ready for the oven

Remove the pan from the oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Ready to eat

Serve and enjoy. 

Beet and Orange Salad

My Winter CSA has been giving me beets each month.   I love beets and cannot let them just go to waste.  I was in the mood for a light and delicious version of beets and came up with this salad.  I know citrus is not local for me, but it is in season in the South, so at least it is from this country.  Make this salad and enjoy its earthy and sweet balance of flavors.

Ingredients:

3 Large beets, wrapped in foil

1 TBS Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup Orange juice
Pinch of salt
2 grinds of fresh black pepper
1 TBS red onion, small diced
1 large orange, skin removed and supremed
1 TBS goat cheese

Here's how:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Wrap the beets in foil and roast for 2 hours.  Remove and let cool.

While the beets are cooking, prepare the rest of the salad.

Combine the orange juice and vinegar in a small bowl; whisk to combine.

Add the onion.

To supreme the orange, after the skin is removed, cut the individual segments from the orange by cutting in between the white parts.

Cut those pieces in half horizontally.

Add the orange to the bowl.

Remove the foil and skins from the beets.

Cut the beets into pieces the same size as the orange.

Place the beets in the bowl and toss to combine.

Let the bowl sit in the fridge for at least an hour or up to overnight.
                                       
Top with crumbled up goat cheese.

Serve on its own as is or toss with arugula to add a peppery bite.

Minestrone Soup

After the Super Bowl party this year I was left with a large vegetable platter.  Tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and snow peas were just sitting in the platter looking like a delicious soup for me to make.  After adding some pantry and fridge staples, I made a great soup.  This soup is very versatile.  I use mini farfalle pasta here but that can be changed to a different shape or left out altogether to make it carb free.  You can change the beans to kidney or chickpea if you have those or leave them out too.  This recipe is simple and can be made with your favorite veggies if you don't have a leftover veggie platter.  I use all organic ingredients in this recipe but conventional are great too.  If you want this recipe to be vegetarian use veggie stock.

Makes 4-5 quarts

Ingredients:

1 TBS olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cups carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
4 cups broccoli, cut into small florets
1 cup snow peas
2 cups green beans, cut in half
2 TBS tomato paste
2 TBS red pepper paste, can substitute tomato paste if you don't have it
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
3 32 oz. boxes chicken stock, or homemade, or vegetable stock
2 Bay leaves
1 TBS kosher salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
2 inch cheese rind
2 cups mini farafalle pasta, or ditalini or your favorite small pasta
14 oz can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

Here's how:

Heat the oil in a large soup pot.

Saute the onions and carrots in the oil on low for 4 minutes.

Add the garlic and saute 1 minute.

Add the cherry tomatoes, broccoli, snow peas and green beans and saute for 5 minutes.

Add the pastes and one box of stock.

Stir to combine and make sure the paste is fully incorporated.

Add the can of tomatoes, rest of the stock, bay leaves, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and cheese rind.

Bring it all to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the pasta and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the beans and turn off the pot. 

Place the lid on the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Remove the lid, stir and remove the bay leaves and cheese rind.

You can sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top if you like.

Green Living Tip #10 - Dry Clean Greener

                                          
Dry cleaning is a part of my life.  When you wear suits to work, it is just the way it is.  I have a few ideas on how to make your dry cleaning greener.

Those hangers.  You know...these:

                                               

These hangers are terrible and don't hold anything.  When you get home from the cleaners, transfer all of your clothes from those wire atrocities and put them on your hangers.  Then return the wire hangers to the cleaners.  By returning them to the cleaner you are keeping them out of the trash and helping to reduce the number of hangers your cleaner has to buy, which is good for the bottom line for both of you.

All that plastic.  Every time you pick up the dry cleaning it is covered in plastic like this:

                                                   

The plastic is removed by you and then thrown away.  The green way to deal with this plastic is not to deal with it at all.  Ask your dry cleaner to not use the plastic on your clothes.  As long as you don't let your clothes stay at the cleaners too long, they will not get dirty again.  If you are worried about them getting dirty, bring garment bags to the cleaner and ask them to put your clothes in your own garment bags.

The method of cleaning is also important.  There are so many green dry cleaners now.
                                                

Look on the Internet or ask your own cleaners if they are green.  There are a few ways of being green and it may involve wet cleaning or using liquid carbon dioxide or other methods. These methods reduce VOCs and are better for the environment and your own health.

Finally, the best way to find a greener dry cleaning is to avoid it as much as possible.  I try to wear my suits more than one to reduce the number of times it goes to the dry cleaner.  In between cleaning I use an at home dry cleaning system that freshens the clothes called Dryel.  You can also try to avoid buying dry clean only clothing.  When shopping, check the washing instructions and try to stay away from clothes that must go to the cleaners.  Also, some items that are delicate that you send to the cleaner, try to hand wash them at home yourself.  Many times things that you send to the cleaner can be washed at home.

Chicken Vegetable Barley Soup in the Slow Cooker

If you read this blog often, you know that I love to do three things - use the slow cooker, cook in bulk and make soup.  This recipe satisfies all three of my loves.  This recipe can be cut in half or in thirds if you want.  I like to make big batches of food and save it in the freezer for lunches and dinners in the future or to give away some of the soup to the ladies in my office.  This recipe was made using the ingredients from my CSA box, freezer and pantry.  I use organic ingredients here but use whatever you have.  If you are missing some items in this recipe or want to substitue spinach for kale, acorn squash for butternut or turkey for chicken you can go right ahead.  This recipe is more of the ideas contained not strict adherence.

Makes 6 quarts of soup

2 quarts or 8 cups, chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock
1 quart or 4 cups water
28 oz. diced tomatoes
1.5 cups pearl barley
2 cups kale, cut up
2 cups butternut squash, cubed
1 onion, diced
3 large or 6 small carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
2 large or 4 small garlic cloves, minced
2 TBS fresh parsley, minced
1 lb chicken, cooked and cubed (use leftovers or bake some off)
2 Bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, dried

Add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker.

Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.

Serve.

 

Green Living Tip #9 - Use A Rain Barrel

Rain barrels area a great way to reduce your public water consumption, especially in the summer months.  Rain barrels are connected to the downspouts of your gutter systems and collect the rain water that would usually flow out and away from your home.  The water is stored in the barrel and you can use it for your outdoor watering needs like filling up watering cans or connecting it to a hose to water your pots and gardens. Using a rain barrel is great because you are using water that is free and you do not need to use water from the tap.  This water should not be used for drinking unless you have purchased one that has a filtration system for this use.  Below is one that is nice looking and is installed.


                                            

Green Living Tip #8 - Make Compost

This tip is pretty easy.  Stop throwing away your food items and yard waste.  Instead, turn it into compost which can be used in your garden.  Composting also helps to reduce the amount of garbage you put into the trash stream and into your local landfill. 

There are many ways to make compost  - bins, piles, pits etc.  I use two bins.  One is a tumbler type and the other is just a passive bin.  This allows me to have one bin that is rolling and breaking down and then, another bin to store the extras that I am not adding to the rolling one.  The second one is starting to break down but not as fast as the other one.  The reason for the two is that if you keep adding to the rolling one you will never have a complete batch because you are always adding to it. You need to fill the bin, stop adding and let it breakdown completely, empty it and then start over.  That is why the second bin is helpful, so you always have more to add when the first bin is done.





There are plenty of website that can help you learn how to make compost: 

http://howtocompost.org/
http://www.wikihow.com/Compost
http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

The basics are to have the proper ratio of 1/3 "green" to 2/3 "brown" items and to turn the pile to put oxygen into it.  The pile will generate heat and the heat from the air will help it break down.

Brown items are:

Fall leaves
Pine needles
Twigs, chipped tree branches/bark
Straw or hay
Sawdust
Corn stalks
Paper (newspaper, writing/printing paper, paper plates and napkins, coffee filters)
Dryer lint
Cotton fabric
Corrugated cardboard (without any waxy/slick paper coatings

Green items are:
 Grass clippingsCoffee grounds/tea bagsVegetable and fruit scrapsTrimmings from perennial and annual plants
Annual weeds that haven't set seed
Eggshells
Animal manures (cow, horse, sheep, chicken, rabbit, etc. No dog or cat manure.)
Seaweed

Turning the pile adds oxygen to it.  If you have a bin that spins, just turn it.  If you don't want to have a bin and just want a pile, that is ok too.  Just use a pitch fork to turn it over.  If you choose not to turn the pile, that works, it just takes longer.  If you use a spinning bin and have the right ratio, you can have complete compost in one month in the warmer months.  In the winter, it doesn'tbreak down as fast because you also need some heat to make it break down.  But, keep adding the pile or bin in the winter.  It will pick up in the spring and summer.

Once the compost is done, add it to your garden - either vegetables or perennials.  It adds nutrients to the soil and also helps to amend the texture of the soil.  It is free, safe fertilizer.

In order to make composting easier, I keep a small compost bin in my kitchen under the sink. When I cook, I put the scraps into the bins and then dump that when its full into the outdoor bin.  Here is my bin from the Gardener's Supply Company.
                                                              

No matter what you do, just compost.  It reduces trash in the trash stream, helps the garden and is good for the earth.

Green Living Tip #7 - Use Paper Bags

                                                                        
I know I have written in previous tips that you should use re-usable shopping bags.  But I also know that sometimes, you don't have them with you.  My tip for how to deal with this is to ask for a paper bag. 

When I get a paper bag at the grocery store, I do not let that bag go to waste.  In my town, we recycle paper and cardboard on Wednesdays. I use the paper bags from the grocery store as the bag to recycle my junk mail, newspapers, catalogues and magazines. I place one of the paper bags next to my garbage can to make recycling easy.  When sorting the mail, I place all of the junk mail, etc, into the paper bag.  This does two things for me. First, it makes recycling easy because I have something to put the paper items into - and its free. Second, it prevents these items from going into the trash can because the paper bag for recycling is next to it; it reminds me to recycle!

If I get a small paper bag at the pharmacy or deli, I try to re-use it for lunches or I place it into the paper recycling bag next to the trash can. 

As you can see, you can turn a moment of forgetfulness into a resource for other green living techniques- recycling.

Green Living Tip #6 - Use Re-Usable Shopping Bags

                                                
I know that many of you already know you should bring your own bags with you when you go to the grocery store.  They even give you a few cents off per bag to encourage it.  If you don't do this, you should.  It keeps all of those bags out of landfills, cuts down on litter and saves you money. 

If you do remember to use the bags at the grocery store, do you remember to use them when you go to the pharmacy?  Discount store?  Mall?  I bet you don't. 

I know that you may not want to use the bags that you use for food to bring home your new jeans.  That's OK, just use some bags for food and other bags for clothing and other items.  Also, remember to wash out your grocery bags when you empty them to keep out bacteria.

Now, how to do you remember to bring the bags with you to the store?  I always keep my bags in the trunk of my car so they are always with me.  You can also keep them on the front seat or back seat so you see them.  Another trick is to keep them in the car in the same place that you put your purse (if you are a woman) so when you get out of the car you can grab the purse and the bags at the same time!

I keep one large re-usable bag in the trunk and put all of the other re-usable bags inside of it. This way they are all in one place and don't take up too much room. 

Osso Buco in the Slow Cooker

A trip to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx inspired this recipe.  The meat market there had some beautiful looking Osso Buco meat and I had to get it.  Of course, I had no recipe for it at home but I knew I would come up with something.  After doing some Internet searches and looking in my own cabinets, I came up with this recipe.  It contains the traditional ingredients plus a few things that I added to make it my own.  I also decided to make this in the slow cooker.  It allows me to make this slow cooked recipe on a weeknight.  This recipe can be made in the oven by placing all the ingredients into a pot with a lid instead of the slow cooker and bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 2 hours.

Ingredients:

4 large Osso Buco veal shanks
1/2 cup flour
2 TBS olive oil
10 oz sliced mushrooms, I used Baby Bellas
7 small or 3 large carrots, cut into 1/2 pieces
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 onion, cut into 1/2 pieces
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
3 large or 6 small whole cloves of garlic, skins removed
3 TBS fresh parsley, largely minced
1 TBS dried Italian seasoning
2 Bay leaves
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked
1 cup red  wine
1.5 cups chicken stock

Here's how:

Coat the veal shanks in the flour.  I use a paper bag to do this. Place all the ingredients into the bag and shake.

 

Heat the oil a large saute pan.

Shake the excess flour off the shanks and place them in the pan to brown.  Brown them on all sides,
including the sides, for 2 minutes per side.

                                      

While the shanks are browning, set up the slow cooker.

Place the mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, 1 can of the tomatoes, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, Bay leaves, salt and pepper in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Mix it all up.

Remove the shanks from the pan and nestle them into the vegetables in the slow cooker.

Add the wine and stock to the saute pan where the shanks were.  It will bubble up .Scrape the bottom of the pan to get the browned bits off. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Pour the wine over the top of the shanks in the crock pot.

Pour the second can of diced tomatoes over the top of the shanks.

 

Turn the cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

Remove the shanks from the cooker and serve over polenta, egg noodles, rice or couscous with the sauce poured over top.