This past week, I paid a visit to my local health food store, looking to buy some poppyseed. On the way to the bulk spices, I got sidetracked by the grain bins, which turned out to be a serendipitous thing. Staring at the six or eight varieties of bulk oats offered, the steel-cut oats caught my eye.
I’m a big fan of oatmeal. Everyone knows it’s good for you. Very good, in fact. A 1-cup serving packs 4 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein, with 150 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. Additionally, oats are an excellent source of manganese and a good source of phosphorus, thiamin, and magnesium. All that, plus there’s good evidence to suggest that eating oatmeal on a regular basis can help lower cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. I’m down with that!
But steel-cut oats are hard core, literally. I’d heard horror stories about pots of these stalwart oats that never cooked, despite hours on the range. Making breakfast, especially oatmeal, shouldn’t be as labor intensive as making risotto! I leaned in. But those oats were so compelling. They looked good; hearty and nutritious. They looked, to me, like grains that had fallen directly from the waving stalk into the Plexiglas bin.
Besides, I thought, even Quaker brand is jumping on the steel-cut bandwagon. Anything that mainstream can’t be too hard to figure out. I scooped up a pound of organic steel-cut oats: 89 cents worth. Poured them into a bag, slapped the price code label on, paid. Left feeling pretty good about my bag of cheap, nutritious oats.
It wasn’t till I got home that I remembered two important things about my visit to the health food store: 1) I’d neglected to buy the poppyseed, and 2) bulk foods don’t come with instructions.
In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I burned the first batch of oatmeal. Which I had attempted to cook in 4 cups of milk. (That hurt.) The second incarnation, however, was perfect. Lesson learned, and now shared. Enjoy! Read more…
Posted on January 30th, 2008 in
Local food,
Organic food,
recipes | Author:
Sandy |
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I was in line at a thruway rest-stop Starbucks over the weekend, and while I stood there trying to rationalize paying $3 for a single-serve Caffe Mocha, I thought I’d assuage my consumer guilt a bit by checking the packaged goods on display for Fair Trade logos.
At first glance, I was disappointed. I knew Starbucks’ Café Estima Blend is Fair Trade Certified, but none of the three others (Gold Coast Blend, Komodo Dragon Blend, and Kenya) I checked were. I was starting to feel even worse about that Mocha, until I turned a package over and read the fine print on the side panel. Each package of coffee beans I looked at had a similar message, tailored regionally. Turns out that Starbucks is stepping up to the plate (or the to-go cup, as it were).
According to information on their packaging, which invites readers to view their Web site for more info, Starbucks employs a varied approach to corporate responsibility that integrates equity practices, loan funds to small-scale coffee farmers, social development programs in coffee-growing communities, and economic transparency, among other things. This means different things in different places. For example, building a safe bridge to market in one area, a clean-water reservoir in another, schools and health-care clinics in still another. A visit to the corporate Web site also revealed that Starbucks supports the African Wildlife Fund, Save the Children, and MercyCorps.
This is all great stuff. Now granted, it’s not going to make the Caffe Mocha an everyday event for me, but it is going to make me enjoy it a little bit more the next time I order one.
This recipe for stuffed French toast is perfect for a weekend brunch. Purchase local eggs, and remember to check labels for Fair Trade and organic products where possible. (See this list of national retailers that carry Fair Trade certified goods.) For really wonderful flavor, grind the peanut butter yourself at a health food store.
- 1 cup natural peanut butter
- 3 or 4 large ripe bananas
- 16 slices day-old bread (whole grain and challah work nicely)
- 1 cup skim milk
- 4 large eggs
- Pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon honey, divided
- 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on one side of each of the 16 slices of bread.
- Slice bananas and divide among 8 of the slices of bread, arranging over the peanut butter. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of honey over the banana slices on each piece of bread. Cover with the remaining 8 slices of bread, peanut butter facing down, to form a sandwich.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine milk, eggs, salt, vanilla, and remaining 1 tablespoon of honey. Beat with a whisk until well combined. Whisk in flour and cinnamon. Pour into a shallow container large enough to accommodate sandwiches for dipping.
- Spray a nonstick griddle with cooking spray or lightly grease with butter and preheat to medium heat. Dip each sandwich into egg mixture until saturated and place in preheated pan. Cook on both sides until golden brown. Keep warm on serving platter in oven until ready to serve.
- Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve with warmed maple syrup or honey.
Makes 8 Stuffed French Toast sandwiches
Posted on January 25th, 2008 in
Fair Trade foods,
Local food,
recipes | Author:
Sandy |
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Winter is a great time to bring out the Crock-Pot and simmer something rib-sticking and belly-warming for dinner. I like to make soup or stew featuring dried beans, peas, or lentils at least once a week. I make a big batch and then freeze meal-sized portions for future use. Using the Crock-Pot means all the time-consuming prep work is already done and dinner is perfuming the house by the time I’m usually just starting to think about what to make for dinner.
Fragrant Rosemary Parmesan Focaccia is the perfect accompaniment to hearty soups and stews. This is a flexible, forgiving recipe, so even if you don’t have much experience with yeast breads, you’ll have a hit with this one. Don’t worry if you don’t have fresh rosemary on hand. Feel free to substitute parsley, thyme, or oregano—whatever suits the dish you’ll be serving it with. And that goes for the cheese, too. This is lovely with almost any grated hard cheese, or even crumbled blue cheese. Serve it warm, fresh from the oven.
Rosemary Parmesan Focaccia
- 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 envelope (.25 ounce) quick-rise yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
-
3 tablespoons olive oil
-
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
-
11/4 cups very warm water
-
3 to 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, rinsed and patted dry
-
Extra-virgin olive oil
-
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
-
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
-
Combine 4 cups all-purpose flour, quick-rise yeast, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir to distribute yeast. Add olive oil, vegetable oil, and water to dry ingredients in bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the mixture comes together into a soft dough.
- If your bowl is large enough, you can knead the dough directly in the bowl. Sprinkle the surface of the dough and your hand with flour, and knead for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Brush the surface of the dough lightly with oil and cover the bowl with a cloth. Place in a warm area free from drafts to let rise.
- Let dough rise until it is at least double in size. (With quick-rise yeast, this will take between 30 and 45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the place it is rising in.) In the meantime, prepare the topping ingredients. Strip enough fresh rosemary leaves from their stems to equal approximately 2 to 3 tablespoons. Chop rosemary.
-
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly oil a 15-inch x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.
- Place the dough in the oiled pan and use your hands to stretch it to fit. Lightly brush the dough with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle dough evenly with chopped rosemary, chopped garlic, shredded Parmesan cheese, coarse salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Bake at 450 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 15 to 20 pieces.
Posted on January 23rd, 2008 in
recipes | Author:
Sandy |
4 Comments
Wondering how to tell if your chocolate bar meets Fair Trade standards or if the milk you’re buying for your kids’ cereal is hormone-free? Read the labels! Still not sure? It can be tricky to interpret exactly what is meant by the labeling on USDA organic, Fair Trade, and Certified Naturally Grown products. To get a better handle on it, check out this “Label Decoder” from the Daily Green.
Posted on January 23rd, 2008 in
Organic food | Author:
Sandy |
2 Comments
Happy weekend! I read an interesting article online this week, “The Cost of Eating Green.” It really brings home the sad fact that eating local is good for you — and for the environment and local farmers and loads of other people on the planet in one way or the other. But there’s really no getting around the truth that it can be pretty bad for your budget. But not always, and not if you know how and where to shop.
If you live in an area where produce is grown year-round and you can shop every week at a farmers’ market, terrific! Lucky you. If you live in the Bay Area, you can check out these wonderful seasonality charts.
If you live in an area with distinct growing and NON-growing seasons, like I do, you’ll have to be a bit more creative about filling your plate, which is to say that you’ll have to make the boundaries of your “locale” a bit elastic. But that’s okay — every little bit contributes something good to the effort, and you’ll still end up with better-tasting, better-for-you food on your table. We’ll have fun exploring this in the remaining weeks of winter.
One more thought to leave you with for now . . . as the author of the “Cost of Eating Green” article aptly points out, there are some foods we are better off getting from places across the globe. The benefits to those who grow, harvest, and produce those items (coffee, tea, chocolate, bananas) outweigh the drawbacks to importing them from so far. But even in that case we can make sure to look for Fair Trade sources. That way, though we’re purchasing globally, we’re still thinking, in sense, locally.
Cheers!
Posted on January 18th, 2008 in
Farmers markets,
Local food | Author:
Sandy |
1 Comment
Visiting my local grocer’s this weekend, I was suddenly overcome with a craving for fresh asparagus. I could practically taste this ambrosial vegetable, adorned with buttery lemon sauce, the perfect accompaniment to who-knew-what I was making for dinner that night. Meandering over to the produce table where I knew I’d find the asparagus, I had to pass the parsnips, the potatoes, the turnips, yams, and rutabagas. I turned a blind eye to these stalwart winter vegetables. I had a taste for spring!
As I rounded the end of the aisle, the first thing that caught my wandering eye was a fair mountain of clover-green Brussels sprouts. These were piled high in baskets of ice, beckoning hearty winter eaters to partake at the price of $1.99 per nutritious, delicious pound. I was briefly derailed. (I have discovered the secret to unleashing the hidden deliciousness in this much-maligned vegetable, to the incredible result that my children regularly request it. See recipe below.) A pause, but only a brief one. Beyond the Brussels sprouts, ankle-deep in a little bin of ice water, were the objects of my affection, looking somewhat wan and a little depressed, but certainly not suffering from anything a bath in lemon butter couldn’t cure. I stepped past the Brussels sprouts and made my approach.
Here in the Northeast, native asparagus are currently tucked nice and snug in their loamy beds, snuggled beneath an insulating eiderdown quilt of some 6 inches of recently fallen snow. I looked at these asparagus. They looked cold, shivery even, in their chilly footbath. Where had these asparagus come from? I asked the produce manager. Turns out, Peru. No wonder they looked so exhausted — they had traveled halfway around the world to end up here, cooling their heels, trying to drum up shoppers’ enthusiasm at nearly $5.00 a pound. Suddenly, those Brussels sprouts in my peripheral vision started to look even more appetizing. I gave the asparagus a sympathetic look; apparently, a distaste for wintery climes and cold feet are something asparagus and I have in common.
But what about those Brussels sprouts? How had we managed to dig up fresh Brussels sprouts when the entire top half of the country was shivering its timbers? In a nutshell, we hadn’t. California had graciously sent them over. Turns out the season for fresh Brussels sprouts—and pretty much all fresh produce in general—on the East Coast ends in late fall. So these hearty little globes of good eating had traveled quite a ways to bunk with the asparagus. But as a cold weather crop, the Brussels sprouts had simply fared better. And although it had taken a certain amount of diesel fuel to speed them on their coast-to-coast sojourn, the asparagus had taken a plane ride in addition to its highway jaunt.
As I got busy picking out my Brussels sprouts, those intense, if premature, longings for asparagus faded, replaced by the promise of nutty, savory sprouts roasting away in the oven. If the groundhog is a fan of these babies, we’ll have six more weeks of winter for sure.
Oven-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- 1 pound fresh Brussels sprouts of uniform size
- Good quality olive oil
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet with olive oil.
- Remove any damaged leaves from Brussels sprouts and rinse in cool water. Spin or pat dry. Trim stem ends and halve sprouts.
- Place halved sprouts (and any leaves that come off after trimming the stem ends) into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well to coat.
- Pour sprouts out onto oiled pan. Roast at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes, turning once with a spatula, or until both sides are caramelized and well browned.
- Serve hot or at room temperature.
Makes 4 servings
