Acey loves all veg and fruit proferred and he’ll also go pick his own! He’s not wasteful or playful with it. He gets one at a time and eats it.
The only thing he has not cared for is salad greens but obviously if something’s on them or like I cook spinach with EVOO and lemonjiuce, he’s all over it.
This is an example of us eating raw turnips together. As stated (in silly voice), I learnt that I needn’t pick turnips for him and for me. He likes the root end and skins!
I grew up making sauerkraut (along with everything else). Regular readers can’t be disappointed: I grew up on a working ranch where we raised or hunted everything we ate. It has easily been since the mid-80s since I’ve made it! What I mostly recall is endless bowls of chopped cabbage and sneaking the plate off the crock, checking how the sauerkraut progressed.
I don’t remember anything helpful.
(Speaking of helpful, one of the great things about homemade sauerkraut is it’s FABULOUSLY healing due to probiotics for people with gut issues — it’s also FABULOUSLY healing for normals! Best of all, it’s delicious. You can also buy something like Flanagans. Remember, if it’s tinned, the probiotics are dead. Here’s what Flanagans parent company lists as health benefits of raw sauerkraut like theirs or your homemade kraut!)
Crock salvaged from barn
First, I had to find a crock. Mum uses the 2 gallon crock as her utensil holder. I think the 1 gallon stores salt someplace. I believe the 5 gallon was broken — used as a planter and the 3 gallon’s gone missing (probably borrowed by the Hoods, real name, who are much like Pa Kettle when it comes to borrowing*). I had to settle for the 4 gallon, which was sitting in one of the barns. I washed it with a hose and dish soap outside first. Obviously.
Crock rewashed inside
Then, I took it inside for more washingses. I let it drain upside down whilst chopping over 4lb of cabbage. I’m not good with knives, so that meant 90 minutes of chopping (I passed the time by listening to old Star Talk podcasts).
As I’d forgotten, I asked mum what the ratio was for sauerkraut and salt. ‘1lb salt for 40lb cabbage.’
Crock with layers of salt and cabbage
Right. I had 4lb cabbage, so I ciphered (always a shaky premise) that was 1/10 of 40, therefore I needed 1/10 of a lb of salt. I used Celtic Sea Salt because it’s what I have. Growing up, I’d have used kosher salt. As I’d drop another layer of cabbage shreds, I’d scatter a table spoon of salt, mix and sort of tamp down.
Bobby regularly got up to look at what I was doing, without getting too close. This 4 gallon crock is about half my height! It was hard to wrangle empty but as I filled it, I barely managed to place it in its resting spot.
topped with cabbage leaves
plated sauerkraut crock
I topped it was we did when I was a kid (with cabbage leaves and a plate — more on that later). And finally, a tea towel because bugs will get interested.
Crock topped with tea towel
A few hours later, I went to go check it. Here’s the ‘later.’ All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, could hardly get that mfing plate back off it again!
O.M.G. My plates as an adult are a different style and size than those used as a kid. I finally got it off and NO I don’t have other plates to use. I have dessert plates, which are way too small, but I only have one set of ‘china’ (a ‘cafe’ style set of 12 pieces or so that cost about $20, about 20 years ago).
Out came the google. It seems a lot of folks use a water-filled baggie, of course, they’re using MASON jars en lieu de crock. I had a big-arsed baggie, so I’m trying that. It has totally effed with my program and now I’m verklempt about the whole fakakta mess.
At any rate, it’s very close to how I grew up making it with most of the memories gone and too large of a plate. Oh, and of course the amount of cabbage is 1/10 what I’d have gone as a kid!
EDIT: I forgot to mention, in addition to all the pickled items we made (we pickled almost anything, much like frying…think pig’s feet, eggs, okra, etc.), we also made ‘Salty Brine Pickles.‘ I realize saying ‘salty brine’ is redundant. You’re getting a Family Heirloom Stupid Name. Those were also raw/fermented/full of probiotics.
* I didn’t test it for Rick-rolling but it began with the full length film ‘Ma and Pa Kettle,’ which was made in the 40s but was day-to-day life similar to my life, if I were Ma…only my kids were the adults and whoever was there.
I haven’t done this yet but I will! I don’t think I’d add dates (sweetener) as any time I buy soya or almond milk, I buy unsweetened/ unflavored.
In addition to everything else I ate yesterday (a lot, don’t ask), I at least made a lovely, quick salad.
I was up at 4:30AM (normal) and got home at 8PM (a bit later than normal).
This uses ‘snacking tomatoes’ (premium price but during winter, when we’re not growing them, I’ve found they’re the only reliably good-tasting tomatoes — if you want tomatoes, pay for the good-tasting ones or don’t bother). I halved them.
I was going to use 2oz of avocado but decided to use 4oz. I added 1T of orange juice (fresh) as ‘dressing’ (fat + acid = simple dressing). The only other ingredients are 4C romaine and 1T tiny crumbles of raw walnuts. The large amount of avocado makes this calorie-dense. I’m not suggesting people eat tons of fat, even healthy fat. I’d be more slender if I didn’t.
I’ve been constipated (more than you expected to hear!), so I’m adding lots of fats.
You can add spices and it’s lovely to put pieces of orange in, as well. That just takes time to peel and chop. This was extremely fast–which is what I wanted.
I love pesto (fresh!), who doesn’t? I’m not supposed to eat much garlic, so there’s only 3 cloves in this. Also, you’ll notice my BASIL is purple! It was my MOTHER’S DAY gift to my DAD (the “black”/ violet basil plant).
It’s doing nicely.
Anyhoo, so there’s the usual basil, garlic, EVOO, salt, pepper and this time:
a sprig of dill! Surprising, isn’t it? I virtually never use pine nuts, simply because I don’t keep them on hand.
You can use pesto on anything. Usually, it’s thought of as for use on pasta but I’ll use it on anything. I’d never made it with dill but this tilapia (bought a massive amount) needs a sauce. I love all kinds of fish and seafood but THIS tilapia is a little not-so-bueno. Dressing it up, surely helps. Here, I’ve plated them but also “opened” their beet leaf envelopes to show there’s fish inside 🙂
I put the ingredients together (you can see the herbs but there was much more basil) in a mini-food processor with the salt, pepper, garlic and EVOO — OH and grated parmesan cheese.
I smeared the raw fish with the fresh pesto and wrapped securely in beet leaves. Then, I places them in a skillet on simmer (low) with a tablespoon of coconut oil in the bottom and lidded it. The point is to steam the fish inside the leaves, leaving the pesto to saturate it all.
I lifted off the lid to add more beet leaves on top, just cos I could 🙂
It turned out better than I expected. It’s sublime. That wee sprig of dill goes a long way, so be careful if you use it! That was with 8oz of fish and about 6C of beet leaves (all combined).
I’ve talked about beet greens all summer. Baby beet greens are a delight raw, oddly cooking them brings out a bitter bite that you need to contend with as you cook, to your taste.
Grown-up beet greens put up a better fight. They’re fairly biting raw and become tensile enough to battle against jute.
The babies are long gone. Because I’m cheap (would rather spend sheqles on a new mbp rather than groceries), I still eat them but I’m growing bored.
Last night, I got in a bit before 20h and decided to cook some tilapia in them like grape leaves! I reckoned if they were edible, cool! If not, they at least helped steam/ hold in juices of the fish. A win/ possible-win!
It worked, mostly. The fish is GREAT. The beet greens were about 1/3 edible, mostly thanks to what I treated the fish with before I steamed them 🙂 Also, upon a brief tasting before they were done, I got scared and dumped some tamari over the lot, then worried if I’d completely messed it all up. Nope. It’s yummy!
It tastes great to me! Granted, only about 1/3 of the beet leaves were tender enough to eat, so I put the fillets and what was left of the “good” leaves onto a cup of raw spinach, then placed sautéed summer squash and carrots (leftovers) around them.
Beet greens are just about #1 in B vitamins when it comes to your average/ everyday veg–better than kale!
For the newcomers, I was raised on a working ranch and we raised everything we ate (including sugar cane)–with a “veg patch” of over 3 acres. Don’t tell me I’m lucky–I was the worker!
The upside is I knew how to run a kitchen by the age of 8! Also, well, I ate organic everything til I moved away around age 15 (including our own spring water, which tastes like Evian).
Right!
Point is, while we wasted little, we didn’t eat beet greens. We ate “wild edibles” or “wildcrafting” (what is truly “weeds”) and turnip greens, leaf lettuces, spinach, etc. Not beet greens. I started using them along with kohlrabi leaves as an adult (back on the ranch, which is now retired). Why? Times are tight. If it’s edible, I’m eating it. Turns out these things are very, very good for you!
You put a small spade in the ground near the beetroot and break up the soil to make it easier to pull out by the bottom of the stems. “Garden wash” (we get most of the bugs and dirt off outside) and let drain. When you bring them in, you can separate the beetroot from the beet greens but take care to leave PLENTY of stem (beet-violet is a strong dye!).
Cover with water in saucepan and boil til a fork inserts easily (only beetroot).
Drain and allow to cool enough so that you can handle them. The skin comes right off with fingertips (mind that any that slides under your nails will stain!).
Point is, you just pull it off with less effort that it takes to rip loose velcro on a toddler’s shoe. It’s REALLY easy.
beet greens pureed
Usually, I cook beet greens but this time, I thought I’d try them in a smoothie, like I like kale!
Erm…I used about 3C water and 1/2 of the beet greens I had here. Maybe 6C? It was quite bitter. Too bad I had no banana. I tried a peach and an apple but it was still sort of icky. I added some chia seeds (mmm, fat!) but it was still sort of bitter.
Finally, I remembered Gram’s saying, “Salt brings out the sweetness” and put in 2 dashes (from a shaker) of salt. That was for 6C of beet greens puréed in 3c (or so) of water…It was better the next day. That’s the salt doing its work!
For cooked beet roots, see:
or…I
used some like this:
Fried up all together! I’m eating raw cauliflower on the side for work lunches. 🙂
Since I’m dealing with an illness (staph infection), I thought a boost of awesome was in order:
•about 5C kale
•about 1.5C wild blueberries (frozen)
•about 16, 1″ strawberries
•1.5C soya milk (normally I use almond milk for smoothies–or water!)
Obviously grate/purée/liquefy.
Marinated Roughy
One of the problems with being from the Ozarks and cooking for family since primary school is you don’t measure. I bet anybody cooking daily for a decade does the same thing out of habit but I never measured…which led to some baking disasters. I’ll admit with the de-gluten-isation of things, I’ve started measuring some.
This wasn’t, as it’s not that kind of chemistry, although we are looking at some in a marinade…
I got in earlier than usual last night because I only ran one errand after work (a simple check-deposit). Being Friday and being that I’ve been making less-healthy choices almost all week, I opted for a couple of cidres (I’m human!).
Somewhere between the two, I visited with the elders and put Bobby’s super-anti-bug drops on him. This makes him Very Angry. Well, more like, “YIPEYIPEYIPE Why did you DOOOO that?” He was so upset he dropped his half-rolled sandwich (mum’s leftover from lunch) out of his mouth!
Anyway, I enjoyed my second cidre and watched Grey Gardens, about crazy, old, rich birds who fell out of fortune (family of JFK’s wife, for the kids in the audience). It stars Drew Barrymore (in an uncharacteristic performance) and Faye Dunaway. They’re both amazing in it; however, I can’t say it’s an action piece or very amusing. If you like that program Hoarders, watch this. With about 30 minutes to go on the film, I realized that I was HUNGRY. I’d set some roughy to marinate the night before, so it was easy to fire up the oven and clean/ toss in a couple vegetables.
When I got the roughy, it was in a large (well, THEY were large!) resealable bag–bit odd since there were only 2 and fish “cooks up,” especially lean fish. I washed them and used their bag as a marinade-bag (sealed and stored in a bowl (in case of leaks) in the fridge overnight (a long marinade which was not necessary but it was easy to do one evening and use the next).
The next night, I prepped some raw spinach and heirloom cherry tomatoes (halved)–about 3 large handfuls of spinach and about 10 tomatoes.
Placed the fish in bottom of large cast-iron skillet and used all marinade (in “clumps” as oil has separated in the cold) and popped spinach and tomatoes on top. Baked at 400F for perhaps 5 minutes, turned everything over (veg now on bottom) and baked another 10 minutes. Turned over and baked another 10 or so minutes til the tomatoes are soft, spinach is reduced/ cooked down and fish flakes at thickest part with a fork when inserted and given a slight twist.
Plated as raw spinach on platter and fish atop. I put cooked spinach and onions between the two planks of fish and arranged cooked tomatoes here and there.
I lightly sprinkled salt atop finished plate (this can be skipped–I could’ve eaten it without any salt but a tiny bit is nice).
Hi all! I’m back from my first-ever trip to Colorado!
From today’s harvest: spinach & asparagus.
While I like them both, I was afraid it may taste too ‘grassy,’ so I pulled out my first level of taste-defense: a peach & some strawberries (8, 1″).
After tasting AND having a lot of trouble processing them down, I added 1.5C of unsweetened almond milk, .5C at a time. This is the first time that it needed over a cup but it blended down AND has that nutty taste. No complaints from the diner!
makes 3 servings
Well, if you put it like that!
Growing up in the Ozark Mountains means that I’ve eaten and continue to eat more “wild edibles“* than greens we grew (or grow) first harvest in spring (the heat of summer is too harsh for delicate, leafy lettuces and spinach here).
Most people figure out certain things like ham goes well with butter; eggs go well with greens! Eggs help neutralize some of the green’s bitterness (if present–some greens are more or less bitter than others).
I enjoy eating toast with Earth Balance Buttery Spread along with it, almost like “bruschetta” (gobble, gobble!)!
* Very worth the read if you’re interested in the region, culture or botany, in general.
When you’re up between 4:30AM and 5AM everyday, commute an hour+ each way (almost 2 hours last night as there were car crashes), work full-time, run errands then get home at 18:30, you need to have a few favorite quick and lazy suppers.
I don’t usually buy “prepped” veg from the produce section but I always buy frozen veg and fruits (freggies!) when I can for ease (laziness), speed and thrift–they last “forever” in the freezer compared to going bad if bulk-purchased fresh. Yesterday, they had shredded carrots on special offer, so I bought 2 packages.
dinner and a salad
I made “lazy carrot salad” (put vinaigrette on carrot shreds and allow to marry overnight) which I learned to do working in France as a young woman (decades ago!). We ate some sort of raw veg with vinaigrette on everyday, often over only endives, carrots rasées (as here), cooked beets or a traditional American “tossed salad” of mixed veg.
Mixy, mixy, mixy and mixy some more then, douse salad and cover. Shakey, shakey, shakey. Set in fridge overnight.
honey ginger vinaigrette
That’s the basic version that I made everyday that I lived in France for our suppers (probably changed things up now and then, though) but you can easily make variations, like I did last night!
No! I’m not saying it made me poo, I’m saying LOOK AT THAT! As it turns out, blueberries and kale make for some scary-looking stuff. It didn’t taste very good, either, so I made an addition, then another addition!
Whew! The peach was finally enough. I was getting scared that I’d made an enormous, ick smoothie again (let’s not talk about the kale+mango=freshly cut grass flavor). This is good-tasting (now) but looks disgusting.
If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s substitutions! I wanted to make some “krispy treats” but didn’t have the called-for 13oz of puffed rice on hand. I considered making my own (oh, la…I’ve never done that and while I’m game to try, I just wanted to make the treats already!).
I looked around and decided oats were about my only lazy option. I could’ve tried amaranth but again, that’s neither cooked, nor puffed already…Oats, it was! I opted for an ounce of chia seeds to up the nutrients. Normally, if I were attempting to follow a traditional (if you can call krispy treats “traditional”) recipe, I’d use EarthBalance Spread in place of butter (due to flavor) but I had a wonderful idea. Since I was experimenting, I’d add carob chips as a last step and carob goes great with coconut, so why not use Superfood Coconut Oil?
8oz Gluten-Free Puffed Brown RiceBasically, follow your “traditional” recipe (found on back of most marshmallow packages): in either stovetop of microwave (stovetop is easier as it’s constantly heated and you can stir right in front of you): melt oleo (as we say in the Ozarks), drop in marshmallows, stirring until melted into a marshmallow-y goo. Begin to add dry ingredients (save carob chips–or they’ll melt).
remove and wrap tightly when finished cutting
When the mixture is complete (all dry is coated with marshmallow-y goo), make sure it’s cool enough to touch (coating hands with oleo may help the stickiness–I do it but I’m not sure it helps!), mix in carob chips and immediately spread into a WAXED PAPER AND OIL-SPRAYED 9X13″ pan. Add sprinkles and/ or cut into squares. As usual, I don’t go for presentation, I go for flavor!
who wants to wash up?
hand used for scale
pieces
I enjoy kale, served different ways. I eat a lot of it as a base for green smoothies but I also use it in place of cabbage for many of my stereotypical Irish Wilderness, Ozark Mountain foods.
I bought a big bunch and washed, then chopped off the stem (the very tough, wide, white “handle”).
Next, I pulled the leaves away from the white stem as it runs up the middle. I don’t attempt to make particular sizes, shapes or even go for uniformity. I just pull it off and run through a salad spinner to remove excess water.
Next, I measure out a tablespoon of EVOO and drizzle spoon over pieces as I mix them by hand in the bowl. Then, I use a salt shaker and make sure all the leaves have salt sticking to them. I don’t measure this, I’m aiming for seeing salt crystals on them. Too much will make your chips too salty. Too little will leave them tasting a tad bitter. Experiment. I find that more salt sticks to some pieces than others, in spite of attempting to “see” it’s even! Lay the pieces of kale out in 1 layer on foil paper and bake at 350F.
kale crisps
Note: do to my lack of uniformity AND the fact that some leaves are thicker (and juicier) than others, some pieces are ready before others. I begin “hovering” at 10 minutes. Smaller, thinner pieces will be finished quicker. The idea is to remove them as they are DRY AND CRISP. Sometimes, they get a little dark (burnt) but I like those and eat them myself as I’m pulling them out 🙂
Since the leaves are dehydrated, they “shrink.” Your huge bunch of kale will end up making very little in the form of Kale Crisps but they’re so healthy and so tasty! My taste-testers were mixed. I, of course, love these and my elderly father (who is exceptionally HONEST about what he likes or doesn’t) loved them. He was more animated about their flavor than he gets over the price of fuel. My elderly mother was more demure. She said they were “good” but wasn’t particularly interested in having more. My father wanted more, which I was happy to oblige.
My second green smoothie recipe:
Gave it to a coworker to taste-test.
(For The Good of All, I force people to try my recipes because my tastes are different from most. I’ll eat squirrel brains–have done and will again. I’m from the Ozarks!)
She took a taste, another, then another. “This tastes like…kiwi!”
In the meantime, I’m spooning mouthfuls (less water helped that “too watery” problem from the first try at a green smoothie!). She’s right! It does taste like kiwi and not only because kiwi is often paired with strawberry. There’s something kiwi-esque about the above recipe. I love it, like scrape the bowl clean.
opinions expressed may be incorrect 