weekend cooking – Peaceful Reader

It's a new month! I liked August.

I wasn’t even really ready for August to end. For me August could be a double month. I’ve had one major project to accomplish today and it is to clean off our antique blue bench which holds our mail. Right now it is holding a large basket of unread magazines, ~~a stack of books~~ THREE stacks of books, and a mass of mail. Mostly the mail we don’t open.

I easily went through the mail basket and filled up the paper recycling bin. Going through the magazine basket was a lot harder. Old Martha Stewart’s called my name, last year’s Bon Appetit”s beckoned me to the pages within, and a couple of catalogs caught my eye as well. It takes much longer to get things into the recycling bin when you page through everything. It takes even longer when you decide to stop and write about some of what you find.

In an article about Russ and Daughters, a longstanding deli in New York City’s Lower East Side, a few recipes were shared. It doesn’t matter that the MSL is circa Sept. 2012. I’m sure the deli is still there (it is) and these recipes will still be fabulous. Now I need to get myself back to NYC so I can give Russ and Daughters a try.

In the meantime I will satisfy my craving with these two recipes:

{From MSL}

Bagel Pudding with prunes and raisins
serves 6-8

3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup sugar
1 T. vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whole milk
4 or 5-day-old bagels, crusts removed and cut into 1/2-in cubes (8 cups)
unsalted butter, for baking dish
3/4 cups halved pitted prunes
3.4 cup seedless raisins
vanilla ice cream, for serving

1. Whisk together eggs, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in half-and-half and milk. Add bagel cubes, and toss to coat. Let mixture sit, stirring occasionally, until bread absorbs some of the liquid, about 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 325*. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish (2 inches deep). Stir prunes and raisins into bagel mixture, and transfer to baking dish. Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour (if top browns too quickly, tent with foil). Let cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into squares, and serve with ice cream.

and then this fantastic beet recipe:

Beet-and-Lemon-Shrub
makes 6 1/2 cups

5 cups water, divided
2 T. white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fresh beet juice (from 1 1/2 lbs of beets) (use a juicer)
1 cup fresh lemon juice (5-6 lemons)

1. Whisk together 3/4 cup water, the vinegar, and sugar until sugar dissolves.
2. Combine remaining water, the beet juice, and lemon juice, and mix well. Stir in vinegar mixture. Refrigerate 48 hours before using.

Use that mix in this:

{From MSL}

Beet-and-Lemon-Shrub Cocktail

6 1/2 cups Beet-and-Lemon Shrub recipe
12 ounces of vodka
ice
24 ounces of seltzer water
12 wedges of pickled green tomato, for garnish

1. Mix together shrub and vodka.
2. Fill 12 8-ozs glasses with ice; add shrub mixture. Top off with seltzer, and garnish with pickled green tomatoes. (I might think to garnish with lemon wedges as an alternative)

What I’m reading other than this pile of magazines is River of Ghosts by Robert F. Gish (father of the ever lovely and talented Annabeth) for my Sept. book club. I’m going to finish it even though he is
w-o-r-d-y.

I’m going to link this to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme even though technically the beautifully long weekend is over. Candace has a peach galette on her site. I’d trade her a piece of my bagel pudding for a sliver of peach galette-we could have a cup of cappuccino and share.

Weekend Cooking; Cooking for a crowd

{Yellowstone}

Now that summer vacation if finally here the weekends and the weeks begin to run gloriously together except that last week I’ve been assisting my husband with his Arts Camp. My husband (I have my bragging hat on) is a pretty talented director and he does an amazing job of connecting with children of all ages. This art camp is in its seventh year and it is a lot of fun. Kids are paired up according to age and rotate through 4 different classes of art, music, drama and dance. We feed all 70 + kids a snack, my job, half way through their time together. It is a two-week camp and as soon as we finish up next week we are headed out to Yellowstone and Big Sky, MT for a family gathering.

I’ve been working hard mentally trying to think of easy meals I can put together while there. I volunteered to cook the first night and planned to make Katie Workman’s enchiladas I’ve made about 100 times this past year because they are easy and my kids love them. I’ve made them for friends and family and church but not for my brothers, wives, and children so I thought it would be the perfect recipe until I talked to my mother yesterday. After our chat I’m not going to make that recipe but am going to turn it into tacos with all ingredients out on the table so everyone can make their own. I’m also going to serve these margaritas that I love and hopefully my family will also. If they don’t; more for me I guess!

The margarita recipe:

12 oz can frozen limeade
12 ounces of tequila
12 ounces of water
8 ounces of triple sec (2/3 can)
1 can domestic beer
Ice and Limes as desired

Use the frozen limeade can to measure
ingredients. Mix well in a gallon pitcher. If you would like to
blend them; don’t add the water and blend. Either way serve in a small
glass, with limes and salt. Perfect.

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I’m going to bring the ingredients to make sushi. Groovy Girl and I have been making these easy rolls for lunch and we love them. All you need are one package of nori, sushi rice, a packet or can of wild caught Alaskan Salmon, a couple of thinly sliced carrots, maybe a few sprigs of parsley or leaves of spinach will work and you can roll up a healthy lunch. Beats a PB and J for sure.

It’s hard to believe when we return from our trip it will be July already and my short summer respite will be more than half over. My new school district starts school mid-August.

Stay cool and out of the rain.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Kale, Oh so much Kale

{source}

Last week when I had dinner with my mother we did another vegetable exchange. She’d understood from my last post that I wanted more rhubarb. I don’t know what gave her that idea?? Luckily she can read so she transferred over a large bag of rhubarb as well as a garbage-sized bag of kale, and smaller bags of spinach, basil, and several dozen eggs! It is worth the 40 minute drive I tell you.

Kale is very high in beta carotene, Vitamin K, Vitamin C and calcium. A lot like spinach even though it is closer to the cabbage family. I love both of these green leafy plants but can only have them in small doses. The Vitamin K interacts with the blood thinner I am required to take forever. Because I had 4 large bundles (and I gave two away to my friend Patty for juicing purposes) I had to find some way to preserve mine.

Did you know you can freeze kale? Yes, yes you can. How perfect to freeze medium-sized bags of these and then whip them out in the middle of winter to create a yummy soup or a smoothie. Whatever your heart desires! I froze two bundles and made pesto out of the other two. Kale and I are friends again. I’m going to try the same with spinach.

Julie A. Martens shares her tips on freezing kale in this helpful HGTV article. She sounds very smart and garden-happy. I found this kale pesto recipe here at Bon Appetite. It was easy to through together and tasted good. I made two batches and we ate one last night with gluten-free pasta and the rest I’m going to use for a book club recipe. Book club meets at my house on Monday. I should be cleaning ALL weekend long to get my house in shape but I’m not. I’m racing off to Indiana to help my friend Barb out at her bakery for Strawberry Madness.

Post Note: I just finished reading Ashfall by Mike Mullins (good not fantastic) which kale plays a part in so if you want to survive a terrible disaster in the future learn to eat your kale or better yet plant some in your backyard.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Salt Sugar Fat

Those are definitely three ingredients you use in cooking but I want to discuss the book by Michael Moss. I listen to this book back and forth from school on my phone. I often make faces in my car as I listen and I’m sure that I crack up my fellow drivers. The information in the book really disgusts me. I generally think that food has been ravaged more recently but the book relays how long this “manufacturing” of food has been going on.

I’ve heard all the big hitter names, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Post, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Unilever, and Cargill have all been mentioned and I’m only half finished with the book. Let me preface this with I know they are just trying to make money because they are a company but my answer back is do they have to make money on the backs of others (that would be us the guinea pigs). How much is too much money for CEOs and this goes for many businesses today.

I’m amazed at how all these food companies play with our food, adding more sugar, salt, and fat to appeal and pull us to buy their products repeatedly. It comes down to manufacturing the tastes that our body has adapted to crave because they’ve made you crave it. (crazy, yes) I’ve long been a consumer of a more organic and homegrown options and I don’t buy much processed food. My kids have long been taught how advertising works and to avoid believing even the most ordinary claims. They even know that the word “natural” does not really mean that anymore AT ALL.

But there is so much more to tell and it has a lot to do with psychology and how how our brain and our tastebuds work together. Food manufactured to taste like food. Makes you wonder why we don’t just let it be food. You know the fresh stuff that grows out of the ground and that we raise on farms. All in the name of progress; so women could work and get a meal on the table fast. The biggie food companies hired chemists to turn food into fast food. Jell-O, pudding, TV dinners, boxed mashed potatoes, anything that could be created anew and made quick. Progress.

I wish I knew how we could turn this back because we definitely have a problem with obesity in this country. Right about the time video games and other techno toys pulled kids to the sofa or bean bag chairs and grabbing quick and easy food from the kitchen to fuel their play they stopped playing outside and burning those calories.

My mom was a pretty healthy cook and we ate mostly homemade and homegrown. Going to McDonald’s was a huge treat and it did not happen very often. We had Kool-aid and popsicles in the summer time but we didn’t live on the stuff. Our evenings were spent playing kick-the-can, football, baseball, or other running around games. My mom even kicked us outside in the wintertime to “blow the stink” off us.

It’s a good book and I’m going to finish it as I begin my summer cleaning. I think we foodies have to band together to work toward change in this area.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts and recipes unlike this one which is really just a infomercial about the hazards of processed food. Stay tuned for fresh spring pesto, freezing leafy green veggies, and the rabbit that ate my garden.

{Fake} Chicken Soup soothes the soul.

The other day I came home from school and it was so blustery cold out I knew I needed some soup. I have a special go-to soup recipe that my kids think of as chicken soup but it isn’t really. Everyone should have a few days in their week of meat-free meals if you want to be healthy.

My (fake) chicken soup:

I love to do all the chopping first so my mise en place is set and I’m not chopping and stirring at the same time. In every instance I recommend local or organic vegetables.

Smash and chop two garlic cloves, one white onion, two large carrots, and two-three celery stalks. The celery and the onion I finely chop as my groovy girl is not a fan. The smaller I can make them the better. I had zucchini in the fridge so I diced that up as well.

Heat coconut oil to a stock pot. I am in love with coconut oil’s flavor. I recently sautéed a zucchini in a little coco oil and it added such a unique flavor. I have Nature’s Gate from Amazon as I don’t have any place that has good oil in town. I’m sad that it is not going to be available much longer in this version.

Add carrots, onion, and garlic to the warming oil. Stir and sauté and then add celery and zucchini. I add this later as they are softer veggies and won’t take as long to cook. Add freshly ground black pepper and just a little sea salt. You can add a little turmeric as well or choose to spice it up a bit. Once this base of vegetables are soft I add my cubed tofu.

If you are new to tofu cut it out of the plastic container, drain the water, and place square of tofu in the middle of a clean, cotton towel. Wrap the towel around the block and place a plate or a pot on top for about 8-10 minutes. This drains the extra water out of the tofu so it will soak up the flavors of your recipe. Unwrap the towel and slice through with a sharp knife to make small cubes. I slice about 5 rows through both ways and then two rows through the middle to create the bite-sized cubes. Lift the towel up and send the tofu tumbling into the vegetables. Mix the it all together gently as you don’t want the tofu to crumble. Put a lid on the pot and let everything steam together for about 10 minutes while you create your broth.

Many times I’ve made my own broth but this night I needed help. I have two different kinds of broth that I use in a pinch. One is Better than Bouillon and Orrington Farms Broth base both in vegetable. Both of these products are easy to mix with hot water. I added 6 cups of broth once the tofu has had a chance to pick up flavors from the vegetables.

Turn the heat up and once the soup reaches a steady boil add half a package of thick noodles. Give them a few minutes to cook and take the soup pot right to the table. This feeds a family of four but my crew (just the three of us now) finished almost all of it for dinner. I ate the last of for lunch yesterday. When Groovy Girl finishes her bowl there is a pile of celery in the bottom~okay, yet all the zucchini is gone. Yeah!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click over and find many other food-related posts. Happy end-of-the Weekend!

Mexican Meal made easy…

This enchilada recipe was a huge hit this week!

I adapted the enchiladas from The Accidental Vegetarian by Simon Rimmer (2004) which I wrote about in this post. While recipe searching through my own cookbooks to find something interesting to make for my old friends Barb, Robert, and their son Tracy and their exchange student from Guatemala I came upon this one that I wanted to try. I happened upon this recipe before I knew about the exchange student and figured I would stick with it. Maybe he would like America even more because of the mole sauce I whipped up!

It was fairly easy because I divided the tasks up into two different day’s worth of work. I planned on serving it Monday night-a busy night as Groovy Girl had rehearsal for her play and Barb, Robert, my husband and I were heading to a Bonnie Raitt concert. Saturday I made the mole sauce and Sunday afternoon I roasted the squash. Yes, the name was misleading to me as it is not pumpkin but butternut squash that headlines but i got over it. You will too.

Pumpkin Enchiladas with mole sauce
(feeds 6)

vegetable oil for roasting
2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed into 1-in cubes
15 oz can refried beans
freshly chopped cilantro leaves
1 red chili, chopped
12 soft flour or corn tortillas (I used corn)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sour cream, lime wedges and fresh cilantro to serve

For the sauce:

10 red chilis
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 T slivered almonds
5 black peppercorns
2-3 cloves
1 onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T cocoa powder
vegetable oil for frying
15 oz can chopped tomatoes (I used last fresh ones from the garden instead)
pinch of cinnamon
sugar to taste
2.3 cup stock
3 1/2 best-quality dark chocolate (not unsweetened), grated

1. To make the sauce, put the chilies, coriander seeds, sesame seeds, almonds, peppercorns, and cloves in a mortar and pestle and crush. (This was fun!). Tip into a skillet and dry-fry for a minute or so until lightly charred.
2. In a separate pan, fry the onion, garlic, and cocoa in a little oil for 2 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil, then add all the dry-fried spices, the cinnamon, sugar, and stock, and cook for 25 minutes. Transfer to a blender and whiz until smooth. Turn out and fold in chocolate shavings.
4. Preheat the oven to 400*. Put some oil in a roasting pan and put in the oven to heat up. Tip the squash into the roasting pan, season well and roast for 40 minutes until soft.
5. Put the squash in a bowl, add the refried beans, cilantro, and red chile and stir well to mix.
6. Divide the mixture between the tortillas, roll up and cut the ends straight. Put in a baking dish, cover, and cook in the oven for about 12 minutes, until heated through.
7. To serve, put two tortillas on each plate and spoon over some of the sauce (it is heady so not too much). Serve with lime wedges, sour cream, and cilantro.

Having prepped the mole sauce and the squash mixture previously made this recipe very easy to throw together after work and before our concert.

This is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme. Click there to find many other food-related posts.
Have a peaceful week!

Dinner; A Love Story

My friend Janice gave me this book, Dinner, A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach, at the end of the school year. After reading many positive reviews about it I’d looked for it at the library (always out) but I didn’t want to shell out 30 some dollars at our Barnes and Noble for the book. Now if I’d actually gone to the bookstore, sat down and started reading I would have fallen in love with Jenny’s writing and walked in a lovely trance to the check-out counter. Lucky for me, Janice did that for me! Thank you dear friend!

She knew this book would appeal to me as I work hard to make dinner for my family every night because I think it is really important to sit around the table and eat together. It’s more than just eating, even when there is complaining.

I have not finished reading this book but I did cook my first recipe from it yesterday. And just like the whole Julia Child trend a few years ago I started with the very first recipe, chicken cutlets. As a former full-time vegetarian it is still always startling to my family when meat is on my menu. They used to only get meat on Thursdays when my husband was in charge of meals and then (usually) only turkey burgers.

I liked Rosenstrach’s first story of her mother going back to school and that this is what was the go-to meal she taught her husband to make as she hurried off to law school. I grew up in a busy household like that; my dad’s go-to meal though was scrambled eggs.

The chicken cutlets turned out fantastic and everyone finished their plates. There are only three of us now at the table as College Boy made his big move to Colorado. We had the cutlets, corn on the cob, salad, and beets (fresh from the farmer’s market). It was a delicious summer time meal. Groovy Girl ate her entire chicken breast and couldn’t finish two of her beets because she was full. She LOVES beets so this was a major change of events.

The veg head that lives permanently in my heart and soul knows the beets are better for her but she seems hungry for meat as well. I found my happy chicken breasts at Target. On short notice I can’t find organic chicken breasts here in my little town anymore. It is very important to pay attention to where your meat comes from so where it says chicken in this recipe I recommend organic or farm-raised breasts if you can. If the package says “natural” it doesn’t really mean what you think it does. I do have three farm-raised whole chickens on order from my favorite farmer though.

Here’s Jenny’s recipe:

Breaded Chicken Cutlets
(aka Grandma Jody’s Chicken)

total cooking time: 25 minutes

A few generous glugs of olive oil (5-6 T.) more if necessary but remember you are not deep-frying here.
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs or Kellog’s corn flake crumbs that have been salted and peppered
4 boneless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb), rinsed and patted dry and pounded like crazy

Add the oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Set up your dredging stations: one rimmed plate for the eggs, one plate for the flour, and one plate for the bread crumbs. Using a fork, coat your chicken pieces first in the flour (shaking off any excess), then in the egg, then in the crumbs, pressing the chicken into the crumbs to thoroughly coat.

Fry each breast in the oil for 3-4 minutes on each side. I did all three in my large skillet with no problems. The cutlets are cooked when the chicken is firm to the touch but not rock hard. I used my meat thermometer and they were at 120 degrees.

Remove and drain the chicken onto a paper-towel lined dinner plate tented with foil if you have more pieces to fry. Add more oil to the pan and fry the remaining breasts.

**Note: Feel free to add any of the following to the bread crumbs; a pinch of cayenne, a tsp of dry mustard, fresh thyme or oregano leaves, some ground flax or sesame seeds, or freshly grated Parmesan.

There is a whole sidebar on pounding the chicken-which I needed being a newbie meat pounder. I even had to borrow a mallet from my husband’s tool bench. The important part is to put chicken between two sheets of waxed paper on a cutting board, and pound away to flatten chicken for even cooking.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many more food-related posts. I love the new look! Happy healthy cooking!

Weekend Cooking; One World Kids Cookbook

One World Kids Cookbook;

Easy, healthy and affordable family meals

by Sean Mendez

(2011)

“The most important ingredients in any meal are: Love, bonding and sharing.”

Great advice for families everywhere! Groovy Girl and I checked this book out from the library and browsed through it two days ago while we ate breakfast together. Many of the recipes included odd ingredients that made her not interested. We did love the photography and the sage wisdom sprinkled throughout made it a perfect start to our day.

“To the above, all you need to add is a dash of patience, a pinch of creativity and a heaped cup full of enthusiasm?”

Each two-page spread features a country with a map, facts and proverbs related to food or culture. This would make a wonderful tool for school as students research about another culture or country.

Russia’s food proverb:

“The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food.” (perfect moment for this conversation)

We settled on Rice with vegetables (like I need a recipe for that…) but this dish is from Somalia and we plan to try it soon. I have to admit adding the wide variety of spices to the recipe will make it very new for me. Groovy Girl liked the vegetable choices except she requested we use only 1 garlic clove not 3!

Rice with Vegetables (Somalia)

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 courgettes/zucchini, diced
2 peppers, any colors, diced
1 vegetable stock, cube
4 cardamon pods
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
2 1/2 cups water
4 T olive oil
salt/pepper

Heat half the oil in a large pot. Fry onion and garlic for about 8 minutes, stirring often. Add the cinnamon stick and spices, and cook for 3 minutes to release their flavor. Pour in the rest of the oil.

Add the remaining vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rinse rice until water runs clear. Add rice and water to pot, crumble stock cube in and bring to a simmer. Cook rice according to package instructions.

Remove cardamon pods and cloves, if you can find them!

Tasty Tip: This dish is also nicely finished off with a handful of raisins or your favorite fresh herbs. For those addicted to spice, sprinkle some Tabasco over your dish and tuck in!

Directions include step-by-step photographs featuring young chefs which really adds to the kid appeal.

My favorite proverb comes from Spain:

“For wine to taste of wine, you must drink it with a friend.”

Countries included:

Russia, Brazil, USA, China, New Zealand, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Morocco, Columbia, Somalia, Spain, Philippines, Iran, Australia, U.K., Ghana, Greece, and Jamaica.
My favorite recipe hailed from Morocco-couscous with chickpeas and peppers. An extra section on smoothies is included plus lots of cooking tips.

Check out Superchef‘s review with another recipe, Chicken and Spinach Curry from India.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a meme hosted by Candace at Beth Fish Reads. Click to her site for many more food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking: Random Eating

All five of us were together this past week as Kaylee came to stay in between her NY internship and the beginning of her junior year at Oberlin. I tend to go an extra mile, culinary-wise, while she is here. We have happy hour with lots of tomato-based appetizers; like bruschetta and tomatoes layered with fresh mozzarella and basil clipped fresh from the garden.

Tofu stir-fry

This week I made a frittata, quesadillas with lots of toppings, and an Asian stir fry with peanut sauce. The stir-fry is Groovy’s Girl’s dish-she honestly said to her older sister-“it’s my signature dish” sounding a bit like a nine-year-old Martha Stewart as she brought the big bowl to the table. We made a quick peanut sauce, tossed it with stir-fried veggies and tofu and mixed it up with Asian rice noodles. She loves to whip it up.

The quiche was beautiful also but I failed to get a picture-people were hungry. I used a recipe from Super Suppers Cookbook; More Everyday Family Recipes by Judie Byrd.

Frittata with Spinach and Tomatoes

Makes 4-6 servings

4 large eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 cup slivered fresh basil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 cup chopped onion

1 T. vegetable oil

1 10-oz bag prewashed spinach

3 medium tomatoes, sliced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375*F. In a large bowl combine eggs, milk, Monteray Jack cheese, basil, salt, and pepper; set aside.

In a large ovenproof skillet cook onion in hot oil over medium-high heat until tender. Gradually add spinach to skillet; cook just until wilted. Stir in egg mixture. Cook until eggs are almost set but still moist, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Arrange tomato slices on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Transfer to preheated oven. Bake frittata for 5-6 minutes until set in center.

Serve right out of the skillet. This was such an easy meal to whip up after school, serve with a tossed salad, and orange juice. Groovy Girl said it looked disgusting and refused to eat more than three bites but the older kids ate it up.

She did finish these cupcakes though…

We had Williams-Sonoma Sweet Treats checked out from the library and Groovy Girl chose Sweet Lemon Cupcakes to make. They are delicious and this is a wonderful kid’s cookbook. It gives detailed descriptions so she really understood the steps. It also has problem areas included for some recipes to look for and the cupcake example was about overfilling your cupcake tin. Science corner also pops up in a few recipes so kids (and adults) can understand ingredient combinations like vinegar and baking soda. Beautiful photography shows a diverse population of both boys and girl baking and creating through the steps of each recipe.

It was a great week for eating at our house. It’s not even the weekend anymore but I’m still in my pajamas and it is afternoon here-it’s a lot like a weekend day! I love a three-day weekend…

Weekend Cooking; Salsa Olympics

Sun-kissed girl and tomatoes

We spent another weekend up at the farm with my mom. She called and said tomatoes were not selling at the farmer’s market any more and we needed to make salsa. She said this with such enthusiasm I couldn’t resist even though I had so much to do at my own home, getting ready for school. I tucked Groovy Girl into the car with the new Kindle Fire and a good book and took off for the wilds of Northeast Iowa.

We’ve prepared this same salsa for the last few years although last year my mom made it herself as we just couldn’t coordinate a time to do it together. This year my cupboard was completely bare of any salsa and I knew I couldn’t make it through the year without this particular staple to my diet.

Groovy Girl collected ALL the tomatoes for our second batch of salsa!

Friends of ours, our minister and his wife, passed this recipe on to us. They also make it every year although I think we’ve changed our version up enough that they do not taste similar anymore.

Salsa

Skin 20 cups of tomatoes. To do this you need to boil a pot of water, place tomatoes into hot water and watch for skins to start “popping.”

1 1/2 cup cornstarch
4 cups onions, chunked up
2 cups green peppers, chunked up
2 banana peppers, chopped
5 large garlic cloves, smashed
1 jalapeno, sliced
2 cups sugar
3 T. cayenne pepper
4 tsp chili powder
2 T. cumin
1 T. coriander
4 T. salt
2 1/2 cups white vinegar

Once the tomato skins have popped scoop them out and run a little cold water over and peel skin back. Cut out the stem and down to get that odd white core out (about 1/4 down). Loosely chop tomatoes and add to food processor. After each batch is processed add it a large pot. (We only processed our tomatoes for about five quick spins-we wanted to it to be medium chunky) Save out two cups of processed tomatoes and add the corn starch in and stir to dissolve. After you finish processing tomatoes and they are cooking in large pot add onions, peppers, and garlic to food processor and quick pulse to combine. Again only a few pulses because you want to see small chunks of greens and yellows. Combine spices, peppers, and garlic into tomato pot. Stir to combine. This is a great time to do a taste test to see if you want to spice it up more. (The original recipe calls for more hot peppers and cayenne but I like it not as spicy because my kids eat it like this. We’ve worked hard to make it kid-friendly without compromising flavor. )
Our pot was so full we had to scoop back and forth to really mix it up. Slowly add the tomato/cornstarch mix and stir well. Cook 20-30 additional minutes.

(My grandmother’s canning pot)

Put in hot sterilized jars and seal. The tops should pop if sealed correctly. What a satisfying sound as you hear them go “pop”, “pop”, “pop” 14 different times! A glorious happy feeling.

This salsa-making session will always be remembered as our Olympics-

1. We made one batch and crazily decided “let’s do it again!”
2. The Olympics played non-stop on my mom’s kitchen television while we (I) chopped, stirred, pulsed, and poured. I’m sure I took home a medal-14 in fact!

Our goal is to include Groovy Girl a little more each year. This year about all she wanted to do was gather the tomatoes but next year she will help a little more. Eventually my mom will have taught me how to do all that fancy canning stuff on my own and Groovy Girl will by my helper. I clearly remember making jam in my grandmother’s kitchen. She sat in her green chair while my mom and I took out samples to her so she could check our progress. The cycle keeps turning.

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to read many other food-related posts.