Posts tagged ‘cooking’

Last night I watched The Botany of Desire, a documentary based on the book by Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food & The Omnivore’s Dilemma).  The video travels through the histories of apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes, considering how they metaphorically “manipulate” human desires for sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control.  The basic idea shows how humans are interwoven into nature, not standing outside it.

Based on the book’s title, I wrongly suspected the documentary might be heavy on the philosophical side.  Instead it’s mostly story–interesting historical story–plus science.  They tell the origin locations of each plant and how the plants have evolved over the years due to human desires.  (For example, we like sweet apples & choose to graft more of them.)  They also show the effects of our interaction with these plants.  (For example, not diversifying lessens the plants’ ability to defend against pests, increasing the need for pesticides or perhaps genetic modification).

Anyways, the video is very interesting and I recommend it for anyone fascinated with interactions of plants & people, gardening, and even cooking.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars.  If you have Netflix, it’s one you can watch instantly.

I just finished making these cookies for my cousin’s bridal shower this weekend.  They’re wonderfully unique tasting with the rosemary/almond/marmalade trio.  Plus I love opportunities to use my fresh herbs.  But I’m unhappy with the amount of butter in the recipe, so I researched my options.  I found a Healthy Cookies article on Active.com explaining the substitutions that can be made when making cookies.  They said to use fruit puree or yogurt to replace up to half the butter and explain how to substitute whole wheat flour or reduce sugar.  I’ll give you an update when I try some healthy substitutions that don’t sacrifice the quality of these cookies.

I originally bought & planted asparagus on a whim.  I didn’t research it a bit besides reading instructions on the package.  I wish I’d considered how little food it produces for the space it requires.  But now, my little asparagus patch is in its third season, and we’ve savored 12 spears this year.  And I’ve become attached.  I couldn’t possibly part with them for the sake of better using my space.  I figure I’m learning how to grow them better, plus my family has a greater appreciation for how food grows.  And that’s worth it.

By the way, here’s my favorite asparagus recipe:  Citrus Asparagus Salad (I prefer to saute the asparagus instead of boiling it.)

Mexican food is a staple in our house, especially for busy evenings. It’s popular among both vegetarians and “meat-atarians,” which is the mix in our house. One of my favorite Mexican meals is a refried black beans that can be served on its own with tortilla chips or as filling for burritos. Although canned refried beans are readily available, homemade versions are healthier and more fun.  Here is the recipe along with some suggested serving ideas.

Refried Black Beans
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 small carrots, grated
1 (28oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup water
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 cup grated cheese
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup fresh chives, finely chopped

Saute onion and garlic in oil for about five minutes until it begins to soften and brown. Add in carrots, black beans and water. Cook for another five minutes on medium low heat and then gently mash with a potato masher until the beans start to break down into a paste. Continue stirring until beans and vegetable mixture achieve a smooth texture, adding more water if necessary. Remove from heat, stir in the peppers and then transfer the mixture to an oven-safe casserole dish. Smooth the top and sprinkle with cheese, tomato and chives. Bake for about 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly on top. Remove from oven and serve as you wish – I’ve included a few suggestions below.

Straight up!
Set the warm black beans out on the table along with a plate of tortilla chips and let the hungry masses dive in.

Burritos or tacos
Serve the refried beans with flour or corn tortillas or taco shells, plus salsa, sour cream, guacamole and extra cheese. A self-serve assembly station on the kitchen counter is usually a good approach.

On rice
Refried beans are great served on rice with all the fixings, and having this for lunch is a great way to use up leftovers.

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

I love gardening. I often say to friends and family that if the lottery ever found it’s way over to my bank account I’d pack up my life and move out to the country to devote myself to puttering around in the garden all day.

Alas, until that day, I continue to look for things that are easy to grow. Cool climates, short growing seasons and all the demands of a busy life makes it a waste to spend time growing slow, finicky plants. In terms of finding success in the garden I can’t think of anything more satisfying and foolproof that growing your own salad greens. Salad mix is so easy to grow and so fast to grow! Plant seeds now and you’ll be eating tender, delicious homegrown greens in only a few weeks. Spring is the perfect time to sow a single variety of lettuce or to be more creative and plant a mixture of your favorite greens. On my list for planting this year are:

• Butter lettuce: This is your regular lettuce – leafy, green, tender and tasty.
• Red leaf lettuce: I love red leaf lettuce for the colour and contrast it adds to your garden plot and to the salad plate. It’s just as easy to grow as regular lettuce and has a bit more punch taste-wise.
• Beet greens: Beets themselves are wonderful to grow, but I enjoy baby beet greens just as much. Plant beet seeds in containers or the salad section of your garden the same as you would any leafy green and harvest the tender leaves in the first month or two of the plant’s life. After that you may want to thin them out a bit or just have the odd beet growing among your salad plants.
• Spinach: so healthy, so tasty, so versatile. In addition to clipping baby greens for salads, I also harvest spinach from the garden and freeze it in baggies for use during the winter (much better for you and your grocery bill than store bought!).
• Nasturtium: along with violets these are my favorite plants to grow if you want to add colorful edible flowers to your salad. They have a lovely peppery taste and the flowers are bright yellow, orange and red.

The planting method is very easy. Start with a clear patch of dirt in the garden or a container filled with potting soil. The size of the plot or vessel is up to you – even a small pot will work, so don’t let the lack of garden stop you. Sprinkle seeds over the dirt and then place a thin layer of dirt on top. The general rule of thumb is that the layer of dirt on top of seeds should be about the same height as the seeds themselves. If you do plant nasturtiums their seeds are bigger than the others so poke them in about an inch.

I mix all my seeds together and wait for the beautiful mishmash of color that comes up; you might also prefer a more orderly planting style like rows or patches of specific varieties. Another thing I don’t worry about is spacing. While you don’t want to be wasteful and use too many seeds, it is also really easy to thin out your salad patch if it’s getting too dense by just eating more salad!

The best way to ensure a steady supply of fresh greens all summer long is to keep harvesting the leaves as they’re ready. It’s easy for salad greens to get parched and dry in the hot sun, so definitely don’t wait for a grocery-store style head of lettuce to emerge. Baby greens and micro-greens are all the rage in fancy restaurants and for good reason: they’re delicious! Eat and enjoy!

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

Our second guest blogger for April is Erica of Nest and Sparkle.   She writes about her home, garden, and cooking endeavors.  For Clever Nesting, she’ll be writing about growing salad greens, a rhubarb coffee cake recipe, refashioning a vintage brooch and more.  I really connect with Erica’s resourcefulness and how she’s working toward sustainable living & buying local, seasonal, unprocessed, and organic.  And I want to have a meal at her house because all her recipes & beautiful food pictures look amazing.  Plus we have commonality with our blog names (a fellow “nester” of sorts).  Here are a few great posts & ideas from Nest and Sparkle: Chard & Asiago Strata, Seed Harvesting, and Chives.

More About Nest and Sparkle:
Nest and Sparkle began as a way of sharing things from Erica’s home life with family and friends. It’s a modern day version of passing along good recipes on scraps of paper after dinner or announcing the wonderful fact of something beautiful blooming in the garden. People who know her know that it’s the very simple things in life that delight her the most, and Nest and Sparkle has become a way of recording and sharing those bits of inspiration.

photo credit: Post Punk Kitchen

I knew there’s a good reason I save old tea boxes!  Here’s a cookie box idea from Post Punk Kitchen (via Readymade).  They packaged homemade cookies into a recycled tea box and even placed a few bags of tea under the cookies.

I think this is a perfect gift for an informal visit with a friend or neighbor.  It’s nice enough to be thoughtful, but it doesn’t have that “I owe you one” obligatory feeling that some gifts carry.  So today I dug through my stash of recycled boxes & containers.  Here are some favorites, and surely I’ll save more for visiting during the holidays.  

This weekend our family went to a hayride, maze, and picked our own pumpkin at Kingsway Pumpkin Farm in Hartville, OH.  They also have a petting farm, small playground, and train for little kids.  The farm owner drove the hayrides & he made the train by hand!  I’m happy to support local farmers/business owners like this.

With our pumpkin, my husband carved it, and I baked pumpkin seeds.  Our son ate carrots & watched us; he hates getting his hands dirty!  I used a Roasted Pumpkin Seeds recipe using only butter & salt; it was simple but good.  Next time I’d like to try Toasted Pumpkin Seeds with Sugar & Spice.

I made this Martha Stewart cookie recipe for a Fall party this weekend. The nuances are perfect…the subtle banana flavor, crunchy walnut, and oatmeal texture, plus the obviously compelling chocolate!

The best part was letting my almost-2-year-old son help.  I measured & he dumped & mixed & spilled sugar on the floor.  He also found a new favorite snack…chocolate chips.

My husband loves chocolate covered sunflower seeds, but we rarely buy them because of the expense.  Maybe they’re so pricy because ever little seed is precisely covered in chocolate, and I’d never have the patience for that!  But, with extra chocolate from my chocolate spoons project I made sunflower seed clusters.  I just added the seeds to the melted chocolate, mixed, and used two spoons to drop the mixture to the parchment (or waxed) paper.