Frozen Carrots

The last veggie remaining from my farmer's market trip were the carrots.  I've been using them in recipes and have cut them up for Mark's lunches, but still had a ton left.  Then my super mom saved the day (again) and recommended I blanch them like I did the tomatoes.  First, though, I made her promise it wouldn't be as slimy as when I did the tomatoes.  Blanching carrots was super simple and now we have MORE fresh veggies in the freezer for the winter!

Note: timing is very important

• Peel and dime carrots
• Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil
• put carrots in the boiling water for 2 minutes
• After the 2 minutes, strain carrots then put in a fresh bowl.
• Immediately pour cold water over the carrots and leave for 2 more minutes. 
• Strain carrots again then lay on a paper towel to dry for another couple of minutes.  It's important that they aren't too wet when you freeze them.
• After the carrots are thoroughly drained, separate and place in plastic bags for freezing.

I plan on using my carrots in soups and stir fry recipes this winter.  How will you use yours?

New Format

Ok, friends.  I actually had a few minutes at home tonight and started playing around with the blog format while watching "Biggest Loser".  I'm not 100% sold on this new format, but tell me what you think!  Do you like the new format?  Anything you miss from the old one? 

Barley Beef Soup

Last winter I tried a barley beef soup for lunch (the restaurant was all out of chicken noodle) and it surprisingly wasn't too bad!  I'm not one for "new" things (aka anything that's not super basic, like chicken or noodles), so it is pretty far outside my comfort zone to try barley.  So this winter as I'm trying to come up with new recipes to aid in our healthy eating quest, I decided to get some barley and attempt to recreate the soup.

The first challenge was finding barley.  Oh, it is not as easy as you'd think.  Finally I found it in the natural food section of the grocery store, and in the process found couscous too!  Oh just you wait until I post my recipe for that.  The rest of the ingredients were simple, some even left over from my massive farmer's market run.  It didn't take too long to pull it together, and let me tell you, there's nothing better than coming home to a hot, tasty dinner that you didn't have to spend an hour cooking after work!

Ingredients:
4oz beef broth (one box of Swanson's works)
stew beef, cut into small chunks
1C pearl onions, chopped
1C celery, chopped
1C carrots, dimed
1/4C pearl barley
1/2 tsp Penzy's chicken/beef rub

Cut vegetables and add to meat, broth, and barley in a crock pot.  Stir in the seasoning and mix all ingredients well. 

Cook on low for 7+ hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.  A friend mentioned that barley can get sticky if cooked for too long, but ours was in the crock pot for almost 9 hours and it was just fine. 

The left-overs came to lunch with me the next day and let me tell you, it tastes just as good the 2nd day!  This recipe is definitely a keeper.  We paired it with the homemade "cracker" flat bread recipe and yum, that is my new favorite thing.  I will be making that with as many dinners as I possibly can this winter!

Freezer Pasta Sauce

I have posted a similar recipe to this in the past, but made it on a large scale this time in order to freeze it for the winter.  It was great because I got to use all the fresh veggies from my Farmer's Market journey. This made enough pasta sauce for at least 4 meals for the two of us.  It will be nice to dig this out during the winter months when we need a hot meal and don't feel like cooking.  It also helps us towards our goal of eating organic, fresh food. 

Ingredients:
8 cups tomatoes, cut into chunks
9 T olive oil
1 entire head of garlic
2 cups of pearl onions, chopped
sea salt and pepper to taste

Start by washing and cutting the tomatoes into chunks.  I like to cut them into quarters, which makes it easier to cook. 

 Break your head of garlic into the individual cloves, and remove the skins.

 Place the olive oil into a large, deep skillet on medium heat.  Use a garlic press to insert the garlic into the hot oil.  I like to use a wooden spatula to stir the garlic frequently to prevent it from burning. Cook garlic for about 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

 While the garlic is cooking, cut pearl onions into slices then chop with a large knife.  You don't want the pieces too big. 

 Add the tomatoes, onions, salt, and pepper to the skillet.  Cook for about 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.  The tomatoes will begin to break down.  As that happens begin using a fork or a potato masher to break the tomatoes apart.  Keep cooking for about another 5 minutes until the tomatoes are completely mashed and mixed in. 



Freeze sauce in manageable portions by using an ice cube tray.  I also put a larger portion in a freezer safe Tupperware container for later this winter.  Come on over for a pot luck/game night and maybe you'll get to try it out!



"Blanched" Tomatoes

I learned how to blanche tomatoes this week.  Last weekend I purchased a basket of tomatoes.  Little did I know that meant I had WAY too many tomatoes to use.  I used a bunch to make home made pasta sauce, but still had a ton left over.  Mom suggested I blanche, skin, and dice them to use in receipes all winter.  Well, my first question was "what the heck is blanching?".  It is actually an easy process, but I'm warning you now that the process that follows blanching is messy, slimy, and gross.  But I'm hoping that it was all worth it as I pull out fresh, organic tomatoes during the frigid winter months. 

Boil a large saucepan full of water.  The water must be deep enough to cover the tomatoes
Dunk a tomato in the water for 30-40 seconds
Use tongs to remove tomato from the hot water

I left the tomato on the cutting board for a minute to cool while I continued blanching.  Next, use a sharp knife to cut out the place where the stem connected to the tomato.  Once this is removed you can easily grab an edge of the skin and peel it off the tomato.  This is where it gets slimy!!  After the tomato is peeled, use the knife to dice the tomato and put in a zip lock bag to freeze.  Just be prepared for all the juice and slime!  I was not, and ended up having to wash the fronts of my cabinets. 

Crock Pot Cinnemon Applesauce

This is one of the most wonderful things to make in the Fall.  It's perfect for a crisp day, and makes your house smell delicious. 

Pick (or purchase) several fresh apples.  I use 8 apples for this recipe.  Harrelson apples are the best for applesauce.  Peel the apples thoroughly.  The sauce will not taste right if you leave even a speck of peel on the apple.  Core the apples and cut into eights.

I made sure to keep all the peelings aside in a bowl to compost after I was done.

Put the apple chunks into a crock pot.  Add water (3/4C per 4 apples), cinnemon to taste, and sugar (1/4C per 4 apples).  Stir well and turn on high. 

Cook for approximately 2-2.5 hours, stiring every 30 minutes or so.  Once the apples start to fall apart, remove about 1/4C of water using a dry-goods measuring cup.  This will make the applesauce less soupy and more creamy.  Use a potato masher to cream the apples and stir everything up well.  You can either eat it right away or freeze it for later.  I froze some in individual containers to take to work, and some in ice cube trays for later.  This is great if you have kids, or just makes it a lot more convenient to store (and you save your containers).   

  

Super (Farmer's) Market Sweep

Last weekend while Mark was off in California golfing, I decided to venture out to the St. Paul farmer's market.  My co-workers have told me how great this place is for years, and I thought it would be a good time to try it out.  Wow, talk about selection! I had no idea there would be so much fresh, organic stuff available.  Right as I was arriving a rain storm started, but luckily there is a roof over the shopping area.  Veggies, fruits, jams, apples, eggs, meat, soap, flowers, you name it and it was there. 

I went a little crazy and bought a bunch of stuff.  Then I spent all Sunday making food to freeze for the winter.  While I've still got a long ways to go (and Mark has even further), we're really making an effort to reduce the amount of preservatives we eat and cut some of the unhealthy stuff from our lives.  I haven't done a list in a while but you can see from older posts the progress we've made over the past several months.  Anyways, check out all the goodies I got for only $27!  I'll be posting recipes over the next while, showing you what all can be made from these fresh items.

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup

As promised, here is my (most current) recipe for Spicy Chicken Tortilla soup.  There are a couple of other tweaks I plan to try this fall/winter, so you may see updates in the future.  This is a good start though!

You put all the below ingredients into a crock pot on low.  We cooked ours for 8.5 hours, but that's because we're gone so long during the day.  You can probably get away with cooking it for 7, or less if you cook it on high.  After you get home and before eating, shred the chicken then add about 1T of sour cream to make it creamy.  

3C chicken stock

 ¾ can chopped tomatoes with peppers

1 diced jalapeno pepper

1 chicken breast, frozen

1 C frozen corn

1C diced fresh onion

½ tsp each – chili powder, cumin, and ground cayenne pepper (I did not measure and it turned out HOT!)

 

I recommend pairing this with the "cracker" recipe posted earlier this week.  It helps cut the heat and paired together this is still under 400 calories for the meal!

Linen Closet Organization

Being healthy doesn't have to just be a way you eat.  It's about the way you live your life.  I love organization but have had issues with our linen closet ever since we bought our house. It's a really awkward shape and our sheets and towels are stacked perilously.  Every time we get a sheet set out half the closet comes tumbling down on our heads, and we're always losing a pillow case here or there.  A couple of months ago I read an article in Martha Stewart Living (don't laugh, my mom got me a subscription for Christmas and it's actually a really great magazine!) about tying towel sets with twill tape for guests.  I decided to try this for our sheets to make them more manageable.  One package of twill tape (about 2 yards) perfectly fits one sheet set.  Last weekend I bought enough twill tape for each sheet set and wrapped them all up in these perfect bundles.  Now our sheets stack perfectly in the closet and no longer fall out.  What a great tip, Martha!

Easy "Crackers"

One of my favorite things in the Fall/Winter is a nice, hot bowl of soup.  I've been testing out variations of crock pot chicken tortilla soup (we've almost got it perfected!) and decided to try a cracker substitute tonight to go with our soup.  This summer mom and I tried a new lunch place by the cabin, where they served these delicious tortilla type crackers to go with the chicken tortilla soup.  So tonight I attempted to duplicate the tortillas. 

Directions (I'd make 1 per person)
1 tortilla
1 T olive oil (I used Target's Market Pantry garlic and herb infused EVOO)
sea salt (to taste)
1tsp asiago cheese

Pre-heat oven to 300F.  Use a basting brush to lightly coat the top side of the tortilla with olive oil.  Sprinkle the tortilla with sea salt and cook for approximately 6 minutes.  Remove from the oven, use tongs to turn over, and repeat the olive oil and sea salt ritual.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes, until lightly brown and crisp.  Remove from the oven and place on a plate.  Cut into quarters using a pizza cutter.  Optional: lightly sprinkle freshly shredded asiago cheese on top. 

Total Calories: less than 200 per person!  Did you know that only 5 Ritz crackers are 80 calories?  Most people eat way more than 10 crackers with their soup.  And this tastes much better. 

Planting workout

Did you know that you can burn 340 calories an hour while gardening?  The other weekend Mark and I spent over 2 hours doing major Fall yard work to get our plants ready for the bitter Minnesota winter.  I trimmed my hydrangeas back (last year I didn't have time and I spent the winter in embarrassment as the giant dead heads rolled around the neighborhood like tumbleweeds.  And yes, I am the only one in the neighborhood with those plants so it was apparent who the culprit was), transplanted bulbs from the north side of the house to the south side (something I've wanted to do since we moved into this house 5 years ago), and moved our huge hostas to make room for the new down spouts.  It was a big job, but as we were trying to chip through rock and roots, I reminded myself of how many calories we were burning.  Gardening is a great workout.  You tend to use many muscle groups that normally lay dormant, and it's great cardio if you are digging through rock hard dirt as we were.  So if you don't have time for a work out, have lots of yard work like we do, or if you have an elderly neighbor who needs help, get out there and burn some calories while enjoying the weather before the snow comes!

(don't laugh, they're looking a little rough but they should bounce back in the spring)