I’m not a very crafty person – arts and crafts and even baking really aren’t my thing. But I try to come up with ideas for my daughter. When she likes an idea I get the supplies and supervise but let her create it however she wants.

For a pre-Halloween treat we made cemetery brownies.

This was a pan of brownies decorated with frosting and candy. We made a fence out of candycorn, which I have to admit I can’t stand, gravestones from peppermint patties, and found marshmallow ghosts and pumpkins at the drugstore. I guess they are like the Halloween version of Peeps.

And here is what we came up with.

Now, I could say that it’s a little sloppy because an 8 year old decorated it but honestly, it wouldn’t look any better if I had done it. ;-) Oh and the red pieces are licorice which Alex said were bloody zombie arms. How sweet ;-)

We each had piece after dinner and it was super fun and yummy. We both got wound up from the sugar and then about 30 minutes later we were both really cranky. It was kind of funny in an annoying way.

Have you been doing any fun Halloween projects?

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Halloween Fun: Cemetery Brownies

Last year I went to a birthday party where one of the dishes was Beetroot Hummus. I loved it and immediately decided that I was going to make it. I’m not a huge fan of beets so this was the perfect solution for what to do with the ones that I got in my CSA box.

I don’t think it tastes all that different than regular hummus but it does have a festive red color.

The recipe I use is from All Recipes

Ingredients

* 8 ounces chickpeas
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 pound beets
* 1/2 cup tahini
* 3 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cover chickpeas with cold water and soak overnight.
2. Drain chickpeas and place in a large heavy saucepan; add onion, cover with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 1 hour, or until chickpeas are very soft. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid. Allow to cool.
3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan cover beets with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until tender; drain and allow beets to cool before removing the skins and chopping.
4. Puree beets in a food processor; add the chickpeas and onions, tahini, garlic, lemon juice and cumin. Process until smooth. Slowly, while the machine is running, pour in the reserved cooking liquid and olive oil. Continue to process until mixture is thoroughly combined. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

You can also do the quick version by using a can of chickpeas rather than dried ones. Then you don’t have to soak them overnight or cook them prior to using.

I also use less than garlic. I think 3 cloves makes it taste too garlicy.

We like to serve this for Halloween so we call it Blood Hummus. It gets kids who claim they don’t like hummus, to eat a ton if it because it’s “gross”.

Do you have any special Halloween recipes?

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Halloween Recipe: Blood Hummus

I’ve been reading a lot of books about food, agribusiness, and urban homesteading lately. Since I’m also trying to eat locally and in season organic food as much as possible (coffee isn’t grown in PA), I decided to try canning. That way when all my Winter CSA has are potatoes, carrots, and old apples, I will have a supply of my own canned vegetables. Now that I’ve been eating fresh locally grown produce, I can’t stand the taste of produce from the grocery store. And I’m not comfortable with eating food that has traveled thousands of miles.

So, I bought a whole bunch of tomatoes and cucumbers and decided this would be my first canning experiment before branching out. I know it’s a little early to start canning but I’m not going to have as much time in August as I do this month.

Since I had never canned before and stupidly didn’t pay attention when my grandmother was canning when I was a kid (I spent more time watching my Grandfather make maple syrup), I didn’t have any supplies at all. I decided to buy this starter set
that had all the supplies in one kit to start canning and then bought more canning jars from my small local hardware store. (That place is tiny but the only thing they haven’t had that I’ve gone in there looking for was a sled ;-)

The kit also came with a howto book and there is also a lot of information about canning online.

Sometimes I am stupidly stubborn and when I get an idea in my head I refuse to reschedule the activity even if it’s best to put it off. I’ve mentioned before that I only use air conditioning in one room and only when it is really hot. The rest of the house is usually 90F. The day I decided to can was about 95F, my kitchen is about the size of a large closet and the only cooling in there is the box fan in the window. But I decided to go ahead with the project – I was thinking, it’s already so hot in here I doubt canning will make it worse. Well, I was wrong. My daughter was reading and hanging out in the air conditioning and when she would come into the kitchen to check on me she would say, “wow, it’s really hot in here” – lol. I think on a different day she would have wanted to help but that day she decided to stay as far away as possible.

I made 6 pints of tomatoes and 2 quarts of dill pickles. I was just going to do the tomatoes but I already had the water going and the kitchen steaming so I decided I might as well do the pickles.

One thing that didn’t occur to me about being a problem before I started canning was the size of my kitchen. I joke that I have a Manhattan sized kitchen in Philly ;-) I wish I could switch it with my bedroom – I’m in the kitchen all the time and rarely in my room – even in the summer I sleep in the living room because it’s cooler. I had very little counter space to work with and the canning pot was way bigger than the stove burner. It worked out ok but it took a lot longer to heat up the water that it would have on a larger stove. Too bad I can’t can in the winter – I could probably heat the entire house.

The book said to wait 4-6 weeks before eating the pickles so all the flavors have mixed and I won’t use the tomatoes until the middle of winter. I’m eager to try them though – I keep looking at my jars like they are special little creations.

Next up will be pickled green beans – or dilly beans.

Have you done home canning? Do you enjoy it? I found it to be very satisfying although I was worn out the next day but I think that was from the heat.

photo credit: Chiot’s Run

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

First Attempt at (Anti) Social Home Canning

It has been really hot here in Philly recently. I try not to use air conditioning but when I do, I only use it in one room and we spend all of our time in that one room. I do this because I have window units rather than central air, trying to reduce energy usage and the cost.

Because of this, my kitchen is unbearable. There is a box fan in the window but the part of the house that isn’t cooled is about 90 degrees. I don’t want to cook and try to come up with different salads and cold food. Many salads, however, require potatoes, pasta and other ingredients that need to be cooked. I am a morning person so I usually cook these items first thing in the morning before 7am.

My daughter and I love Quinoa but I had never tried eating it cold in a salad before. Quinoa is still not widely available through this country. I haven’t seen it at the two bigger supermarkets in my neighborhood but a small little market down the street sells it because we asked them to stock it and they are awesome that way – they will get almost any product that customers ask for. And my food co-op sells it. I suppose Whole Foods probably does too but I don’t shop there – I think it’s overpriced and the location isn’t very convenient. Anyway, this same recipe would also work work with couscous.

This is another recipe where I add whatever veggies I have on hand and what I think will taste good.

1. Cooked quinoa – servings based on size of salad. Cool.
2. Feta Cheese – this is important because I didn’t use spices or a dressing. The feta I used can from a local farm and was delicious.
3. Red Onion
4. Peas
5. Orange Bell Pepper
6. Cucumbers
7. Tomato

This was delicious and my daughter loved it too. I’ve already made it twice. The only issue I have is that Quinoa comes from so far away.

Have you ever had Quinoa? Do you like it?

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Quinoa Feta Salad – Hot Weather Cooking

In the summer we eat a lot of salads and if I need to cook anything I do it very early in the morning. Lately, I’ve been waking up by 6am even on days that I don’t need to (I kind of hope that trend ends soon and that I can sleep until at least 7 ;-)

One thing that I frequently make in the summer is potato salad. I despise mayonnaise though so I use a different dressing.

I’ve been making this for a long time so I don’t use a recipe for it. Except for baking I rarely use a recipe once I learn it and since I switch ingredients around and measure by sight, I don’t really like using the recipe. This is probably why I like cooking more than making – cookies don’t come out so great if you don’t follow the directions.

Ingredients

1. Potatoes – I use whatever kind I’ve have in my CSA box. Lately I’ve been using small red potatoes. The amount you use depends on how big you want the salad to be. Typically, I boil them. Recently, however, I’ve been roasting the potatoes instead and really like the salad this way. Cut the potatoes into quarters, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 30 minutes at 450 degrees.
2. Veggies – I tend to use what I have available. Red onions, celery, scallions, peas, cucumbers, corn, and egg turnips all taste great in this salad. I’d say use your favorites if you think they will taste good with potatoes.
3. Topping – I usually cook some green beans and place them on top of the salad after the rest of it has been mixed together. Although I haven’t seen them at the Farmer’s Market, cherry tomatoes can make the salad look really festive. Cut them in half and then place them around the edge of the bowl to make a pretty red ring along the top.

Dressing

The dressing is simple but I don’t measure it. It’s olive oil, balasmic vinegar, spicy mustard and black pepper. Use equal amounts of olive oil and vinegar. Shake in some pepper. Then add a spoonful of mustard. Mix it all together and pour over the potatoes and other veggies. Sometimes I don’t make enough so I mix together a little more. If you don’t like spicy mustard, any kind will work.

Validation

Recently I came across a cookbook called Hippie Kitchen: A Measurefree Vegetarian Cookbook. In it you learn how to make recipes with ingredients on hand and leftovers without worrying about the measurements. I was happy to find it because it validates my preferred way of cooking.

Do you follow recipes? Do you make up your own? Do you even like to cook?

photo credit: bmhkim

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No Mayo Potato Salad

This article could also be called the CSA challenge. I got a bunch of rhubarb in my CSA box and didn’t know what to do with it. I’ve never cooked it and I’ve never eaten it unless it was accidentally. I also had a feeling that it wasn’t going to work with my throw in with some tofu and quinoa that I usually do when I’m not sure what to do with a food item.

And then I discovered that rhubarb is used with desserts. Oh joy! I like a good piece of chocolate but I’m not a ‘sweet’ person. I don’t care for pies, cakes, and ice cream. I know, I know – weird.

I didn’t want the rhubarb to end up in the compost bucket so I looked around for a recipe that I might like and found Holly B’s Rhubarb Bette on Dana Treat’s website. Dana Treat has a wonderful site with vegetarian and baked goods recipes. I highly recommend checking it out.

If you like rhubarb and if you like desserts, I am sure you will like this recipe. I do not care for either and while I’m sure my creation is quite tasty, I didn’t care for it. Now I need to figure out what to do with an entire Rhubarb Better when before I was simply trying to get rid of some rhubarb ;-)

It sure is pretty though.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Rhubarb? What do I make with that?

This time of year the end of the winter CSA isn’t too exciting. I’m getting a lot of carrots and potatoes and some apples.

We’ve had so many carrots that I needed to find a new use for them. We put them in salads, in any veggie/tofu stir fry I make, and I cut up one for the kid’s lunch each day. But, we still have so many carrots and we don’t have any bunnies ;-)

I love spicy food and decided to make Curried Carrot Soup. Here is the recipe.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive)
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder (I used an unmeasured too much – my soup was super spicy)
2 pounds carrot, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water, or as needed

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion until tender and translucent. Stir in the curry powder. Add the chopped carrots, and stir until the carrots are coated. Pour in the vegetable broth and simmer until the carrots are soft – about 20 minutes.

Transfer the carrots and broth into a blender and puree until smooth. Pour back into the pot and thin with water to your preferred consistency.

I used too much curry powder and my soup was really spicy but it was really good. Plus, this recipe is easy and a great way to use up an abundance of carrots.

photo credit: talkoftomatoes

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Curried Carrot Soup Recipe

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of turnips in my CSA box. Turnips are another one of those vegetables, like squash, that I have no experience cooking.

I have discovered, however, that I really like them and so does the kid. And the purple is SO pretty!

Of course, at first, I didn’t know what to do with them. I knew they could be mashed but I wanted to make something a little more exciting than mashed turnips.

I located a recipe for Turnip Souffle on Recipezaar and decided to make that. Souffle sounds fancy and complicated but it’s actually an easy recipe.

When I got started I realized that I didn’t have enough turnips. I added potatoes and carrots to the turnips so I would have enough filler for the souffle.

And it was delicious!

photo credit: h-bomb

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Turnip, Potato, and Carrot Souffle

At this time of year apples are plentiful. Maybe you’ve been eating them plain and making apple pie but apples are also wonderful in a stew. (Plus I don’t like pie).

Country Captain Stew is a recipe that I use when I have extra apples and potatoes. I never make it exactly like the recipe but use it as a base. I always include the tofu, apples, potatoes, and spices but everything else varies depending on what I have on hand. Plus, my CSA gave me the largest apples I’ve ever seen – they are huge! The picture above shows a normal sized apple next to the enormous ones that I used for the stew.

Potatoes, Apples, Tofu, Onions, Garlic and Spices

One thing I really like about this recipe is that the sweetness of the apples offsets the spices like Garam Masala. And the kind of apple that you decide to use changes the flavor of the stew. I really like to use a sour one like Granny Smith.

Baked Tofu

And, of course, you don’t have to include the tofu. Just please don’t tell me it’s gross. I don’t make comments about things that most people eat that I think I are gross. ;-)

Added the Green Pepper Strips

Bowl of Stew

What do you do with extra apples?

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Gigantic Apples: Time for Country Captain Stew

Every week for the last month or so I’ve been getting a different type of squash in my CSA farm box.

I’ve cooked butternut squash a couple of times in the past but otherwise have very little squash experience.

Since they were starting to takeover my kitchen counter, I decided it was time to cook something squashy.

I’m a little tired of soups and stews so I decided to make something like this Autumn Squash Pepper Casserole. Of course, I never have all of the ingredients so this recipe was changed like most of the ones that I make. I didn’t have any red peppers but I did have one tiny sad looking green one. So I used the green one, an onion, and frozen peas. I LOVE peas so will happily add them to almost anything I make – seriously. I also used garlic cheddar cheese instead of parmesan and a lot of curry powder. Oh, and since I had so much squash I used three different kinds. I figured why not mix and match. ;-)

My first problem was cutting them!!! I was doing this after exercising and thought that I should have just skipped the workout but because cutting squash was WAY harder physically. I quickly became frustrated, turned to the laptop and googled “how to cut squash”. I then discovered the ultimate answer, which better cooks then me probably already knew – microwave for 3-4 minutes. After I did that I didn’t need to develop my upper body strength to cut up the squash.

All of the ingredients with lots of curry powder.

Shredded Cheese on Top and Ready to Bake.

All Done!

I mostly liked this. Next time I make it I’m going to stick to one kind of squash as I didn’t really like the mix and match flavors too much. And I will put the cheese throughout the dish rather than just on top. The cheese tasted great with the squash so I added more to the bowl that I ate.

Do you have any awesome squash recipes? Is mix and match squash not a good idea?

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Squash, Squash, and More Squash