Urban Homesteading LITE: Pickles

I'm not a real urban homesteader. I can only fake it up to a certain point. I will (likely) never raise chickens. I will never own a goat. I don't sew or make soap. But, I'm doing what I can to use what I have with as little waste as possible. Maybe I'm more of a modern-depression-era gal than an urban homesteader. No matter, it often shocks me to learn how easy it is to make things from scratch. I bake nearly everything from scratch. I'm starting to cook nearly everything from scratch as well - with the exception of bread, pasta and cheese - all of which are apparently easy to make as well. Periodically, I'm going to share the little nuggets of knowledge I've gained over the past few years.

I've been meaning to make pickles for the past few years. I assumed it would be hard - canning and all. I heard about refrigerator pickles, but never really looked into them. Until this year when The Real Dill posted a tutorial on quick pickling. Did you know that you can pickle in about five minutes?!? It's true.

What you need:

• Large or small jars (I used old applesauce and tomato sauce jars)
• Cucumbers, onions, garlic, carrots, etc., etc., etc.
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup vinegar
• 2 tbsp. herbs (I used chili peppers)

What you do:

• Cut the vegetables if you want them to pickle faster. The bigger the veggies, the longer it takes to pickle them.
• Stuff the veggies in the jars as tightly as possible.
• Boil the water, vinegar and herbs.
• Pour the liquid over the veggies, seal and put in the fridge.

We're on our third batch of pickles now. They are phenomenal. They will keep in the fridge for weeks, but they're delicious a few days after pickling.

Snowday Schmoday

I have a feeling that my #everdayonabike posts for the remainder of February are going to be pretty sparse. After experiencing a very mild winter so far, we were hit with a snowstorm on Thursday and another one today. We were able to take a family bike ride to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset before heading home.

Side note: Thanks so much to Casey at Life with Roozle for featuring #everdayonabike on her site this weekend! I've been "meeting" so many cool people through this challenge and I'm not even through the second month. Once the weather is more bike friendly, I hope to meet many more.

The snow started on Saturday evening and hasn't let up yet. It's the closest we've experienced to blizzard conditions all winter, but we still attempted some sledding. Lila made it down the hill three times and was ready to call it quits. Benny would have stayed much longer, but we bribed him with hot cocoa. No kid can resist hot cocoa.

After some much needed naps, Benny and I ventured out on his new snowshoes. He only made it to the end of the block, but seemed to catch onto the process pretty quickly. I walked back home with him and then set off on my own hike. The city was so peaceful this afternoon and it was a rare treat to be out by myself, save for a few people shoveling their sidewalks.

We finished the weekend with butternut squash (from the garden!) pizza. I'm a pizza purest (tomatoes, basil, mozzarella), so it was a little out of my comfort zone, but everyone else seemed to love it. Thanks to {never} homemaker for the recipe! Benny and Lila helped me make homemade brownies for dessert.

Typically we don't spend the entire weekend together as a family, but this weekend was a nice change of pace. Although I've been busy with work, I was able to clean the house and make a few decent meals. I was also motivated to finish preparing two lectures, which is something I typically can't get completed over the weekend.

It seems that a snowday was just what we all needed to slow down and recharge.

Super Fresh Feast

As noted previously, we pulled out all the stops on dinner Sunday night. It was Pretty Girl's last night in town and the gorgeous weather practically begged us to barbecue. Some of the garden is maturing rapidly, so it was a good excuse to make a meal from what was fresh in our backyard. We were able to make everything, minus the pork chops, from stuff in the garden. I'll list everything here and tag it appropriately.

Uber Sinful Corn on the Cob

Ingredients

8 ears of corn
1 cup mayonnaise
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 block of Cotija cheese

Method

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the corn. Bring water back to a boil, shut off the heat, and let corn sit for five minutes. Remove. Combine mayo and lime juice. Spread corn with mayo and sprinkle with cheese.

From this ...

... to this!

Beer Battered Japanese Eggplant

Ingredients

Olive oil (for frying)
1 cup whole wheat baking flour
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (more or less for your liking)
8 oz. lager beer
8-10 Japanese eggplants, cut in long slices (picture below)
4 oz. Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. salt

Method

Pour oil in large heavy skillet and heat on high. Mix flour, cayenne pepper and lager beer together. Dip eggplant slices into batter. Fry eggplant slices for about two minutes, or until golden brown and then flip.

Combine the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic and salt for a dipping sauce.

From this ... 

... to this!

We also ate slices of fresh tomato with nothing more than a little salt sprinkled on top. We finished the feast with a delightful peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream. Our peach tree didn't produce any peaches this year (thanks to all the squirrels that knocked them off in the early summer). A neighbor was kind enough to give us a bag full of peaches from her tree.

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

6 large peaches, cut into thin wedges
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. cornstarch

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 stick of cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water

Method

Preheat oven to 425. Mix peaches, 1 tbsp. sugar, lemon juice and corn starch into an oven-safe casserole dish. Cook for 10 minutes.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend in butter with a pastry blender until mixture looks like coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.

Spoon flour mixture on top of peaches in clumps. It will spread while baking. Bake for 25 minutes.

Fresh from the garden: corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, Japanese eggplant and peaches (from someone else's peach tree).

Got Basil?

Check out the size of these basil plants!

Two enormous bushes, plus three or four smaller plants. Never in my life have I produced so much of the herb. What to do with all of it? Why, eat and drink it, of course.

My first attempt at homemade pesto went OK. Pine nuts are uber expensive, so I opted for walnuts. Not too shabby tossed with some fettuccine. However, I'd love a better pesto recipe. Anyone have a good, easy method?

As for the libations: Gin Basil Smashers. I've attempted to perfect these since the basil plants were small. I think I finally found the right concoction:

Gin Basil Smashers

This recipe makes two small martini-sized drinks.

1 hearty handful of basil
1 lemon, cut in half

Muddle the basil and the lemon in a shaker. And when I say muddle, make them one with the shaker! Then muddle some more. I usually put one lemon half in with half the basil to start the muddling process. After the first half is sufficiently muddled, add the second half.

2 oz. simple syrup

Muddle away again and top with ice cubes.

4 oz. gin (this drink is gin heavy, so the better quality the gin, the better the drink will taste)

Pour on top of the ice. Shake until you can't hold the shaker any more.

Serve over ice. Delish!

Apparently this was the drink of the summer in 2008.

Oh, and check out the jungle of a garden we have going on right now!

What's that you see? Broccoli, pumpkin, basil, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, bolted lettuce, carrots, beets, lavender, oregano, cabbage, peas, beans, cucumbers and much more!

Introducing ... Recipes!

I'm shaking things up a little here. I've created a Recipes tab up top to organize the recipes I've included on Life's a Bear. I started posting recipes to have them handy when I'm cooking. The list of recipes was getting a little overwhelming, so I organized them by dish. I hope to include more and more recipes now that I have a bit more time to cook. Check it out. If you make something, let me know what you think!

 Some of my favorite recipes so far...

Super Baby Food

Scrumptious Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Cocoa Crackles

Basic Quiche

Is it a coincidence that most of my favorites are filed under Sweet Treats? I think not. I've also included a link to Struckman Consulting under My Biz. Check it out if you haven't already.

P.S. I'm sorry to keep everyone waiting on the BIG news. Trust me, as soon as everything is in place, I will share on the interweb. Until then, hang tight. Hopefully I'll be able to share the news tomorrow... Monday at the latest.

Best. Damn. Chicken. Ever.

The crock pot is slowly becoming one of my most used kitchen accessories. Knowing that summer heat is here to stay and the oven is not comfortable to use for the next two months or so (no A/C in this here house), I've been collecting crock pot and other oven-less recipes to get us through the hot months. I've made this chicken recipe several times over the past few months and I'll make it again tonight.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 onion
1 large chicken

Method

Combine the dried spices in a small bowl. Loosely chop the onion and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker. Remove any giblets from the chicken and then rub the spice mixture all over. Put prepared chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, cover it, and turn it on to high. There is no need to add any liquid. Cook for 4 – 5 hours (for a 3 or 4 pound chicken) or until the chicken is falling off the bone. Don’t forget to make your homemade chicken stock! I made stock for the first time last time I made this dish. It lasted me several rice and orzo dishes and it freezes fabulously.

Mad Greens

The garden is in full swing now - especially with the hot weather we've had since, oh, mid-March. It's one of my favorite phases of the garden - the first loot of spring. Lettuce, spinach, arugula, radishes and sweet peas. Tonight we're having quiche with garden spinach (recipe to follow) and a salad of fresh greens (ditto on the recipe) from our significant green patch. Oh, and there's a bit of lavender in the patch too.

Quiche

I've  been using my Better Homes and Gardens quiche recipe for years. I just use it as a base. I typically throw in whatever we have in the fridge, including carrots, zucchini, prosciutto, broccoli - you get the picture. Tonight we happened to have some ham and fresh spinach.

Crust Ingredients
1 1/4 cups of white flour
1/3 cup shortening
5 tbsp. water

Method
Mix the flour and shortening with a pastry blender, then add the water one tablespoon as a time. Roll it out and bake it at 425 degrees for eight minutes. Set it aside.

Base Quiche Ingredients
8 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheese)
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or your favorite cheese)

Method
Pour into the pie crust and bake it at 325 degrees for 50 minutes, or until it is set up. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
 

Fresh Greens Salad

Ingredients
1:1 salt and pepper
1:1 olive oil and balsamic vinegar
1-2 tomatoes, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced

Method
Cover the bottom of a medium bowl with a light layer of salt and pepper (very light if you don't like things salty). Then put in a 1:1 ration of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The amount will depend on the amount of lettuce you use. Throw in the sliced tomatoes and onions and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. Cover with lettuce and toss when ready to serve.

I learned how to make this salad when I studied abroad in Tours, France, and lived with a host family. We ate this salad regularly. Now it's a staple of our summer diet and my signature dish at BBQs in the early summer!

The Redeemers (with Lemon Zest)

This weekend I made cinnamon rolls for the first time. Benny was so excited to make them with me. I used a recipe from a friend and assumed that they would be perfect. They weren't. They were so bad Nate asked me to throw them out a day after I made them. I was a little hurt until I tried to eat one. It was like eating a rock. Seven cups of flour wasted.

I'm not much of a baker. I tend to cook more. But after having an outstanding lemon poppy seed cupcake during a family bike ride on Saturday and following it up with a lemon poppy seed pancake at breakfast on Sunday, I had lemon poppy seeds on the brain, so to speak. Wonder if it was the opium...

I found this recipe at the Brown Eyed Baker. Overall, it was good. There wasn't nearly enough liquid though, so I threw in some milk (about 1/2 cup) at the very end. They are definitely more muffin-y than cupcake-y. I think they would be fantastic with a little sour cream frosting, but I just didn't have the time to throw that together today.

The Redeemers (adapted a bit from the Brown Eyed Baker)

Ingredients
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (throw in zest from 2 lemons - 1 isn't enough)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4-1/2 cup milk if the batter is too dry
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Method
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffins cups.

3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

The History of White Bread

I had hoped to start this month's Green Means Go(od) with my journey in bread making. Sadly, I haven't thought beyond making my own bread to actually making it happen. It's certainly something I'm going to do, but it may be a few weeks before I get there. So, until that time, here's a fantastic history of white bread - a kind of "how we got here" in terms of highly processed bread.

My own history with bread is deeply rooted in the bread-making process in this country. I don't remember anything but white bread until I was in high school when my mom started buying wheat bread. My dad still insists on eating white bread. Nate and I have shifted to multi-grain bread. It's more expensive, but I think it tastes better and it certainly has more nutrients in it. I've even started spending a few more bucks on whole wheat hot dog and hamburger buns.

I have mostly cut white flour from our house completely. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a good way to make pie crust and some other baked goods without at least half white flour.

How about you, readers... Do you still eat white bread? Do you still use white flour? Do you have any good wheat flour pie crust recipes :)?

Preservative-Free Pancakes

I know, I know, I haven't posted to Green Means Go(od) with the most regularity lately. Life: sometimes it gets in the way of blogging. But, I'm back today with a great preservative-free recipe. I'm going to continue the No Preservative theme into March since I'm planning on making my own bread starting very soon. Watch for reports on the successes and setbacks of that adventure! Today, however, I'm providing another great, easy way to cut a few preservatives from your diet: Homemade pancakes!

Raise your hand if you make pancakes from a box. Go ahead, don't be bashful. I was raised on Bisquick pancakes (and waffles and biscuits). And, I have to admit, they were delicious. My mom was a big proponent of breakfast and woke up nearly morning to cook all five of us breakfast. It never really occurred to me to make my own batter as a result. That is until we had Benny and decided that once a week we'd make a nice, big family breakfast (since we don't go to church and all).

It took a few tries to find the right recipe, but we did. This is, hands down, the best pancake recipe you'll find anywhere. And the best thing about it? It's low on sugar and full of whole grains. Delicious and nutritious.

Preservative-Free Pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour (or any flour will work)
1 tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp. olive oil

Method
Mix solids. Mix liquids. Mix together and cook on a skillet. Add things like blueberries, walnuts, bananas, etc. for an extra special treat!

Cookie Monsters

Changing my work situation has led to countless improvements in my life: Teaching at the University of Denver, being able to set my own hours as a consultant, making more money. One of the biggest benefits has been staying at home with Benny and Lila two days a week. When I hatched this crazy plan, spending more time with my kids was one of the biggest motivators.

Being at home with both kids has been such a great experience. They play together now and make each other laugh. We get to do fun stuff and I can actually clean and cook and do things around the house. Benny and I now make cookies together every Friday. He gets to pick the recipe from his cookie cookbook and then we spend Friday afternoon making the cookies. As a result, I have created two cookie monsters! Lila is especially fond of our Friday afternoon activities and how they benefit her.

Cocoa Crackles (aka Our Current Favorite Recipe)

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir together wet ingredients and sugars in large bowl. Beat wet ingredients until mixed then gradually add dry ingredients.

Form small balls of cookie dough and then coat with powdered sugar. Bake for about 11 minutes.

All You Need Is Love

Ugh! It's Valentine's Day and Lila and I are both getting over a nasty bug. We had to ask our favorite babysitter to come over and watch her so I can get some work done today. The whole day of love thing kind of got lost in the shuffle with all of that.

Although Lila cuddled with me for approximately 8.5 of her 9 waking hours yesterday, Benny and I did manage to make some homemade Valentine's for his classmates. I didn't get any pictures. Shocking.

As a parent, I find there's a lot of pressure to give "stuff" on these relatively insignificant holidays (not that love is insignificant). Nate and I are trying really, really hard to provide the guidance for our kids to appreciate experiences and small symbols of love rather than to expect gifts. I also hope my kids understand that I love them EVERY minute of EVERY day without the influence of gifts and other stuff. I'd rather give them an extra hug or read them an extra book or take them to see a cool exhibit or help them make homemade Valentine's.

Although it's not technically a Green Means Go(od) day (totally missed it yesterday - see the reference to being sick), here's a great homemade double chocolate cookie recipe. It's completely sans preservatives. Benny and I have started a ritual of making cookies together every Friday. It's one of my ways of showing a bit of love without buying stuff.

All You Need is Love (and Chocolate) Cookies

Ingredients
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
.5 tsp. salt
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup applesauce (trust me)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
8 oz. chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method
Preheat oven to 350. Melt the unsweetened chocolate on low, cool slightly.

Sitr together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat in the sugar, olive oil, apple sauce and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs; beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the melted chocolate and then gradually add the flour mixture, beating well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 11-12 minutes or just until set. Cool cookies on wire rack.

No Preservatives

Welcome back to Green Means Go(od)! I know I said that I was going to write about winter running in February, but after the massive snow storm we just received (over a foot of snow!), I'm guessing running outside won't be happening in the next week or so. Couple that with catching my heel on a step and nearly dropping Lila on her head and screwing up my foot, I'm not sure I'll be running in February at all.

So, using my Quality Comfort Food as an inspiration, I'll focus February's topic on eating preservative free. And, as luck would have it, NPR's All Things Considered just reported on the fall of lard and the subsequent rise of Crisco.

By no means have we cut all preservatives from our diet. We still eat crackers, cereal, boxed mac and cheese and canned tomato sauce. However, I try to make as much from scratch as I can. For example, I refuse to make cakes or brownies from a box. I make my own pizza crust and my own pie crust (using vegetable shortening, which I'll have to reconsider). We don't buy processed dinners and we try to steer clear of processed snacks. We almost never have soda or juice that isn't fresh squeezed. I realize that I have a long way to go to ensure that my family is eating preservative free, but I do feel like we're getting there.

Because the goal of these posts is supposed to provide small, easy changes in lifestyle, I thought I'd focus on a small, easy change that everyone can make to both cut preservatives from their diets as well as reduce the use of packaging: Popping popcorn on the stove.

Nate and I have never owned a popcorn popper. We have never purchased microwave popcorn either. Rather, we buy popcorn seeds and pop them in olive oil in a regular old pan on the stove. With a dash of sea salt, it's just about the best popcorn ever - and so much healthier for us. It's not just about health in terms of calories and fat either. Check out all the stuff that comes with microwave popcorn.

I am hoping to incorporate at least one guest post this month, so stay tuned! Happy popping!

Quality Comfort Food

Quality comfort food. Sounds a bit redundant, right? Comfort food is sometimes less about quality and more about the food we ate as kids. I'm thinking about mac and cheese from the blue box, Velveeta cheese, which never goes bad, cinnamon toast with margarine and super processed sugar.

Nate and I have been making a delicious potato corn chowder for nearly our entire marriage. I'm fairly certain that we got the recipe from a flyer at Whole Foods; I wouldn't know. I make the recipe from memory now. Side note: Making recipes from memory is a GREAT way to save time!

On with the potato corn chowder - it has a total of seven ingredients - all but one of them processed (the cheese). We make it so much that Benny considers it comfort food now. I do have a warning: Because this is from memory, the amounts are just guestimates. Enjoy!

Potato Corn Chowder from Memory

Ingredients

1 large yellow onion, diced
 6-7 large potatoes, cubed
6-8 cups of water
2 veggie bouillon cubes
1 cup milk
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup frozen or fresh sweet corn
S&P to taste

Method

Saute the onion in olive oil for about five minutes. Add the potatoes, water and bouillon cubes, bring to boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Mash the potatoes, add the milk, cheese and sweet corn and simmer for about five minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

If we have leftover bacon from a weekend brunch, we'll add some bacon bits to make this comfort food even more comforting.

What's Up Chuck (Roast)?

Benny, Lila and I spent last weekend with my parents in Brule. We were all getting over a cold, so I'm sure we weren't the most enjoyable company. My parents, however, reveled in spoiling Benny and Lila with attention. I got some reading done for my class, Benny visited Bud the Barber for a haircut (check out the pictures below of Benny's first visit to Bud) and my dad cleaned out his freezer and sent me home with a cooler full of meat. This seems to be a new past time of his. I don't know if it's a vestige his shock about of my being a vegetarian several years ago or if he just thoroughly enjoys giving people food (I think it's probably a combination). At any rate, he included a chuck roast.

I've heard of chuck roast, but never considered buying, much less preparing, one. This particular cut of meat is from a butcher in Arthur, Nebraska. That means is legit. Arthur is still cattle country, home to cowboys and cowgirls. I don't say this disparagingly either. I believe ranching and farming is a wonderfully complex lifestyle that has so many positive attributes. On that note, please check out The Whittaker's blog. I went to college with Hailey. She's now a mother of three cowgirls and her husband competes in rodeos all over the country.

I'm also not much for meat and potatoes, so I wanted to shake it up a little. Here's what I settled on:

Spicy BBQ Chuck Roast in a Crock Pot

Ingredients
1 chuck roast (between 3-4 lbs.)
1/2 cup water

3/4 cup ketschup
1/2-3/4 cup cola
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. mustard
1/5 tbsp. liquid smoke
1/5 tbsp. Tobasco
cayenne pepper (as much or as little as you want)
S&P

Method
Cook chuck roast in 1/2 cup water on low in crock pot for 6-8 hours. Rip meat off bone and combine meat with sauce. Cook on high for an hour. Enjoy!

Mom's No-Fail Hashbrowns

Like I said, I'm not a fan of traditional meat and potatoes. But, since we have some potatoes leftover from Christmas that I really need to use up, I figured I could prepare them with a twist. My mom's method for making hashbrowns is no-fail. She pierces them and microwaves them until they're soft. Then she refrigerates them, grates them on a cheese grater and fries them in butter. They are perfect.

Since I'm covering starches with the potatoes, I'm skipping buns for the meat. Plus, I forgot to pick them up at the store today. So much for having a list. I meant to make a salad for dinner too, but heated-up frozen veggies won that battle.

The meat was to-die-for. I can't decide if it's because I crock potted (verb?) the hell out of it, if it's legit cow from cattle country, or because I'm just that good. Let me know how it turns out for you!

Benny's FIRST haircut. He's wearing a Salt Lick onesie!

Merry, Merry Minestrone

This is the first year that Nate and I have spent Christmas in our own home. No traveling, no planning, no schedule. Nate's dad and stepmom are in town, so we are doing a bit of hosting, but the house feels comfortably full and happy.

Now that we have kids and we aren't traveling, I decided to start some of our own traditions, which include a mishmash of our own family traditions. We are opening presents tonight. Santa will visit when everyone is in bed, so we'll have more presents tomorrow morning (new tradition). The naughty and nice list has come in very handy this year. Benny is acutely aware that I have Santa on speed dial. I've made a few calls. Tomorrow we're smoking a ham for lunch and we'll go to a matinee of The Muppets (Nate's family tradition). Tonight we'll have some warm soup (my family tradition) and go out to see some lights in the neighborhood.

My mom always made potato soup, chili, and chicken noodle soup on Christmas Eve. I'm adding a twist to the Christmas soup tradition. We're making minestrone. It's hearty, it's fully of good stuff, and everyone loves it. Nate and I have been making this minestrone since we received a great vegetarian cookbook for our wedding. Enjoy the Merry, Merry Minestrone!

Merry, Merry Minestrone

Ingredients
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium sized potatoes, finely chopped
6 cups veggie broth
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 zucchini, chopped
1 lg. can chopped tomatoes
1 can white beans
3 tbsp. pesto sauce
salt and pepper

freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Method
1. Heat oil, stir in onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Add carrots and celery and cook for 5 minutes. Add potatoes and cook for 3 minutes.

2. Add broth and stir. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cook for 12 minutes.

3. Stir peas and zucchini and simmer for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cover the pan to simmer for 8 minutes.

4. About 10 minutes before serving, uncover the pan and add the beans. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the pesto sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Voila! A relatively healthy, hearty Christmas soup. We're serving ours with some yummy bread. Can't wait to report out on our Christmas feast and activities! Have a great night!

Giving Experiences (Plus a Great Recipe!)

Benny is four yeas old and had not experienced a Christmas light show until last night. There's really no excuse - lots of places in and around Denver have light shows for the holidays. We did try to go to Zoo Lights two years ago, but the line of cars was so long that we opted for Thai food instead. Benny was none the wiser. However, he's such a fan of lights that we really should have humored him before now.

We decided to skip the crowds at the zoo this year and experience the lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens. We became members this summer and I haven't regretted it yet. I love the gardens. We've visited as a family three times already and we took advantage of our free tickets to the harvest festival around Halloween. We invited Benny's friend Toby and his family to join us. It was a magical night - the reason for the season, without the whole Christ part! (Can you tell from Benny's enormous smile in both photos? He told me, "Mom, I really love this!" as we walked through the gardens.)

And then we made this great Coq au Vin recipe courtesy of the Whole Foods recipe website.

We served the dish with sour dough bread, simple French salad (I will write about this amazing side some day), and noodles coated in olive oil. It was a delicious, if fast, feast! We had to chow down in order to get the kids to bed at a decent time!

This is blatant plagarism:

Chicken in Wine (Coq au Vin) 

Ingredients

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 slices bacon, roughly chopped*
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or extra virgin olive oil, divided*
1 (12-ounce) package white or baby bella mushrooms, quartered
2 carrots, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth*
1 1/2 cups red wine
2 large sprigs thyme

Method

Arrange chicken on a large sheet of waxed paper. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Lightly coat chicken all over with flour and set aside.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until golden and just crisp, 3 minutes. Drain bacon on paper towels and set aside. Discard drippings and wipe out skillet. Melt 2 tablespoons butter (or heat oil, if using) in same skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned all over, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a large plate as done and set aside.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter or oil in same skillet. Add mushrooms and cook until edges begin to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add carrots, onions, garlic and salt and cook until vegetables just begin to soften. Transfer vegetables and broth to crock pot. Arrange chicken on top. Sprinkle bacon over chicken. Add wine and thyme sprigs. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours. Season with salt and pepper, then serve.

Creamy, Easy Dinner

Doesn't everyone want a creamy, easy dinner recipe every once in awhile. I know I do. So, I made Amanda's Tomato Sausage Risotto the other night. It's easy and fabulous (even if I mistakenly bought Santa Fe chili sausage instead of Italian sausage).

Check out Amanda's food blog. And check out the recipe here:

Ingredients:

• 1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1 lb. Italian sausage, mild or sweet (if in casings, remove)
• 1 small-med. onion, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 bunch of spinach, finely chopped
• 2 TB butter
• Garnishes: more parmesan cheese or parsley, goat cheese, basil

Directions:

1. Drain the tomatoes over a bowl to reserve all the liquid. Set tomatoes chunks aside.
2. Combine juice from tomatoes with 3 cups of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and keep warm on your back burner.
3. In a large-medium saucepan, heat oil, add sausage and onion, and season with S & P. Cook sausage, breaking it up with your cooking utensil until sausage is pretty much cooked through and onions are softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remember this will just keep cooking, so no need to cook everything through and through right now.
4. Add rice and tomatoes, stirring to combine and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, letting the rice coat and lightly toast.
5. Add wine. Cook and stir until absorbed, about 1-2 minutes, while stirring.
6. Add about 2 cups or 3 big ladles full of tomato liquid to the risotto. Cook this over a soft simmer, stirring occasionally to re-distribute the liquid and make sure all the rice is being cooked, about 5 minutes.
7. Add 1-2 ladles full of liquid at a time, waiting until the prior batch is almost completely absorbed before adding more. Stirring to combine and re-distribute after each addition, until rice is creamy and tender, about 25 minutes (you may or may not use all of the juice, I didn't on this batch). Taste testing is strongly encouraged.
8. Remove from heat. Stir in spinach, parmesan, butter, season with S & P and add some crushed red pepper if you like some spice! We served with parsley and goat cheese on top.

I skipped the spinach and goat cheese since we didn't have either. It turned out great. The secret to great risotto? Keep the broth hot and keep the stirring consistent. Easy. I could even do it while holding a not-so-happy toddler the WHOLE time. My left arm was sore, but the creamy goodness made up for it!

Save a Pig, Eat a Chicken

Over the summer, Nate and I spent way too much money on meat. We get so excited about grilling, we tend to overdo it a little for roughly five months. And anyone who knows me well, knows how much I love all things pork. Pork chops to be specific. Recently, we've realized that chicken is much more affordable. Typically I detest chicken. However, my good friend Jen opened our eyes to the magic of a roaster chicken (i.e. a whole chicken). My brother then sent me the most amazing chicken recipe that we'll be making tonight for some friends. My brother, Luke, is one of the best cooks I know. He makes a lot of stuff from scratch, so we try to exchange recipes whenever we think of it.

While pork will probably always be my number one love (I'm pretty passionate about it), chicken is starting to make some inroads. So tonight, we'll save a pig and eat a chicken.

Senegalese Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces (leave the skin on) (or 8 pieces of chicken of the type you prefer, i.e. legs and thighs)
2 tablespoons olive oil (or any other vegetable oil)
4 medium-sized onions, sliced crosswise
8 tablespoons lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)
8 tablespoons vinegar (cider vinegar is best)
1 bay leaf
8 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons regular or Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons black pepper

Optional Spices:

1 hot chile pepper, cleaned and finely chopped -OR-
cayenne pepper powder

Optional Vegetables:

1 small cabbage, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 bell pepper, cut into chunks

Instructions

Poke holes in the chicken pieces with a fork to allow the marinade into the meat.

Mix all the ingredients (except the optional vegetables) and allow the chicken to marinate in a covered glass dish in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours. Remove chicken from the marinade and SAVE the marinade. Cook according to one of the following methods:

Cooking method 1: Grill chicken on a gas or charcoal grill until skin is crispy and meat is cooked through.
Cooking method 2: Broil the chicken on high in an oven using a wire rack or a broiler tray (About 40-45 minutes. Turn over at 20 minutes.)

While chicken is browning, Remove onions from marinade and sauté them in a large saucepan for a few minutes. Add remaining marinade and the optional vegetables and bring to a slow boil and cook at a boil for ten minutes. Cook the marinade into a sauce. Reduce heat.

Serve with boiled white rice. Garnish with sliced vegetables or a green salad.

Halloween Festivities Preview

How appropriate that Halloween falls on a Monday this year and we're planning a sustainable celebration! Thanks for visiting the final October installment of Green Means Go(od)! What are you doing for Halloween this year?

Halloween festivities to be complete with a homemade costume, a re-used costume and homemade pumpkin, chocolate chip cupcakes.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to actually comment on our Halloween festivities until later today, but I wanted to give preview for my final October installment of Green Means Go(od).

We're all but finished with Benny's Halloween costume. The helmet and jet pack have been painted, the space suit has been assembled and the snow boots have been temporarily renamed the moon boots. Lila is lucky to have a hand-me-down costume from Maggie, who contributed to Green Means Go(od) earlier this month.

After making Benny's costume, I wondered if it really was cheaper and more environmentally conscious to make it ourselves. Here's the rundown:

• NASA T-shirt: $12
• Blue sweatpants: $5
• Silver spray paint: $2.50
• Red duct tape: $5
• Papier mache helmet, personalized: $1 (the helmet was a re-used snack container with sparkly letters for personalization)
• Jet pack with NASA sticker: $4 (the jet pack was a re-used snack container that we sprayed silver)
• Moon boots: No cost
• Orange paper to make fake "fire" from jet pack: $1

Grand total: $30.50

However, I bought the t-shirt and the sweatpants as actual articles of clothing that Benny will wear again (over and over), so I'm going to subtract $17 from the total. That makes the costume a whopping $13.50. Plus, I feel good about re-using a plastic tub and newspaper and re-purposing a T-shirt, pants and snow boots. And we can use the tape and sparkly letters for other art projects (Benny has already made party favors for his friends by spelling their names in sparkly letters).

On the menu for our potluck sustainable celebration tonight: salad, butternut squash soup and homemade mac cheese. For dessert: pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Here's a preview of those delicious morsels (with pumpkin from the garden!)...

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 2/3 cups flour (I used half whole wheat, half white)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. all spice (or I used nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon in a pinch)

Mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the liquids:

1 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup melted butter (I substituted olive oil because I was out of butter)

Mix all the ingredients together and spoon into greased cupcake pan (no cupcake liners here!). Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese
4 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Use electric mixer to mix the first four ingredients together. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Frost the pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes and you have a seasonal yummy Halloween treat!

Happy Halloween!