Recipe: Vibrant Black Bean Chili

Yikes, time flies!  Life has been full of activity, and I've been neglecting this space.  But I'm back now, don't worry.

One of the recent activities that has kept me away from my computer was a family gathering in the San Juan Islands.  I suppose you might call it a family reunion, but that sounds too formal.  We've been gathering there during the summers every year or two for as long as I can remember.  Call it what you will, there were 25 of us, mostly on my mom's side of the family, monopolizing a row of rustic little cabins on the pebbly beach.  Our gathering happened to coincide with the 4th of July, which meant we added fireworks to our usual list of island pastimes: puzzles, card games, fishing, campfires, agate-hunting, clam digging, and lots and lots of eating.

My immediate family was in charge of one of the dinners while we were there.  My mom made her tried and true sweet chili with beef and kidney beans, and I made a colorful and mildly spicy black bean chili.  Unfortunately I failed to photograph it, so you will have to imagine the colorful part.  Here's the recipe:

Vibrant Black Bean Chili

olive oil for sauteing
1 large or 2 small sweet onions, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
4 bell peppers (I used one each of red, yellow, orange, and green), diced
1 tsp. cumin
2 cans green chilies
2 large cans black beans
2 large cans diced tomatoes
1 small can corn
salt and pepper to taste
a tiny splash of vinegar to finish

Saute the onion in olive oil until soft, then add the garlic, bell peppers, and cumin.  Saute, stirring regularly, until the peppers start to soften.  Add all of the canned items (partially draining the cans for a thicker chili, leaving undrained if you like a soupier consistency).  Bring the chili to a simmer, stirring regularly, and then reduce the heat to low and let bubble, uncovered, for at least a couple of hours if you have the time.  Better yet, make it the day before, then cool and refrigerate overnight and reheat the next day.  Chili, like most soups, will improve over time as the flavors meld.  Before serving, add salt and pepper to taste, and then the vinegar.  You can also season with chili powder or more cumin.

This makes a giant vat of chili (great for big family gatherings), and is delicious topped with chunks of avocado, shredded cheddar or cotija cheese, and a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Leftovers you'd like to use differently? Try mixing it with or serving it over cooked brown rice or quinoa, warm or at room temperature.  Wrap in a large tortilla with shredded chicken or pork and some guacamole for a killer burrito.  Nestle with shredded cabbage, grilled fish, and your favorite salsa in fresh corn tortillas.  Cold, it makes a pretty tasty dip for tortilla chips, too.

Do you have a favorite chili recipe?

Recipe: Pickled Beets

Few things make a tastier and more colorful addition to a salad than pickled beets.  The earthy sweetness of the beets is balanced by the tang of the vinegar...yum!  Add some tender greens, slices of avocado, a few crumbles of feta cheese, and some balsamic vinaigrette, and you're in business.  Or top some whole-grain crackers with a smear of goat cheese and a single slice of garnet-colored beet, and you have a tasty snack.  I love pickled beets so much that I try to keep a big jar of them in the fridge at all times.  They're easy to make, and even if you don't devour them as quickly as I do, they keep well enough that you can make big batches.  Here's how it's done:

Step one: cook your beets.  You have several options here, none of them difficult.  It's best to cook them whole, and make sure they're about the same size, so they get done around the same time.  You can boil or steam them (or pressure cook them), but I usually prefer roasting.  Crank up the oven to 400 degrees or so, wrap each washed but unpeeled beet in foil or put them together in a foil-covered baking pan.  If you use a pan, you can add a little water (a quarter inch or so) to help them steam a little more quickly.  Depending on their size, it will take them about 45 minutes or so to cook.  You'll know they're done when you can easily pierce them with a sharp knife.

The light pink ones are Chiogga variety, the deep red ones Detroit Dark Red.

Step two: peel and chop the beets.  Once the beets are cool enough to handle, slip of the skins with your fingers.  If they are a little stubborn, you can help them along with a paring knife.  It's more fun to use your fingers, though, because then your hands will temporarily turn pink.  Chop the beets into whatever size or shape you like.  Sometimes I do quarter-inch-thick slices, other times half-inch dice.  Put them into a glass jar with a sealable lid.  Mason jars work really well.  For three medium-sized beets, you will want a quart-sized jar.

Doesn't get much prettier than this!

Step three: make the pickling liquid.  For each pound of beets, you'll want about a cup of pickling liquid, just enough to cover the beets in the jar.  The proportions are 1 part water, 1 part vinegar, and 1/2 part sugar.  Heat the water and sugar until the sugar dissolves (the microwave is handy for this), then add the vinegar and pour it over the jar of beets.  I usually use apple cider vinegar, but you could use other kinds if you prefer.  And feel free to adjust the proportions.  I sometimes use more vinegar if I want a little more tang, or less sugar if the beets are already super sweet.  Just remember that it's the vinegar and sugar that help to keep the beets from spoiling, so if you make the liquid too watery, they won't keep as long in the fridge.  You can also add spices to the liquid.  Cinnamon sticks, whole cloves or allspice, even peppercorns are good.  Feel free to experiment!  The longer the beets sit in the spiced liquid, the more spicy flavor they will absorb.

Resist the urge to store them in a sunny window.

So that's it!  Keep them in the fridge with the lid tightly sealed, and dip into the jar whenever you feel the urge for a little bit of nature's most colorful candy.  They should keep for a few weeks.

Perishability – Why Long Shelf Life Equals Low Nutrition

Food items with a long shelf life are convenient. You can keep them tucked away in your pantry for weeks, months, or even years without them spoiling. This means you can buy them in bulk, which can be time-saving as well as cost-effective, and you can avoid throwing away foods that have gone rancid, moldy, or otherwise gross (a big bummer when you've paid good money for this food). Advances in developing non- or less-perishable foods over the last couple of hundred years has transformed the way that we feed ourselves, especially in the way it has allowed food to be transported over greater distances. The development of refined white flour from whole-grain flour, for example, helped to fuel the industrial revolution because grain could be grown in the countryside for a population living (and eating) in the city. More reliable long-term storage of food staples has also helped populations survive and thrive through harsh winters, droughts, etc. I would argue that many advances in civilization could not have happened if people were struggling just to survive. The pursuit of art, science, philosophy, literature, etc. requires free time and a full belly.

Dried grains: super convenient.  These have been in my cupboard for months.

So, refining and preserving food is a good thing, right? Unfortunately there's a dark side to this equation, and it makes sense if you think about what food spoilage is, and why it happens. If food goes moldy, rancid, stale, contaminated, or otherwise becomes inedible, it is generally because something else is eating it. That something may be a fungus, bacteria, insects, or rodents. The more nutritious something is, the more appealing it is to the microbes and critters that are ubiquitous in our environment. White flour goes rancid or stale more slowly than whole-grain flour because the process of refining flour removes its most nutritious elements, the germ and the bran, leaving behind the starchy parts that contain calories but few vitamins, minerals, or other chemicals that our bodies need to thrive. It also removes much of its flavor (I'll come back to this).

Apparently I buy all my non-perishables at Trader Joe's.

There are other methods of food preservation that make foods inhospitable to microbes without directly removing the nutritious parts. Pickling, canning, brewing, culturing, and jam-making fall into this category. These methods increase the acidity or the concentration of sugar or salt to the point that fungi and bacteria can't thrive. Some of these methods harness the powers of beneficial microbes. Think cheese, beer, or sauerkraut. And then there's dehydration, which removes the water that many microbes need, and, in the case of fruits, thereby concentrates the sugars naturally present in the food. Many of these foods still have beneficial nutritional qualities but must be eaten in small quantities because they are also concentrated sources of salt, sugar, and fat. And many of them do lose, through processing or over the passage of time, some of the nutritiousness present in their fresh state. Even freezing, which is probably the least chemically transformative method of preservation, does cause changes to the food over time (especially if the temperature fluctuates much within the freezer, resulting in that freezer-burnt taste), and requires an ongoing input of energy to maintain.

The bottom line is that if foods have been changed to make them less attractive to food-spoiling microbes, then they are almost certainly less nutritious for you. This means that it is in your best interest to eat foods that are more perishable, not less so. Does this mean eliminating all non-fresh foods from your diet? Of course not. But it does mean that you will be healthier, and will probably feel better, if you build your meals around fresh foods, filling in the gaps as needed with pantry items.

The drying process preserves many of the nutrients in sweet and savory fruits.

I mentioned that food refining removes flavor. Through human evolution, our bodies have become exquisitely adapted to detect whether something is good to eat. Our palates can identify when something tastes fresh and full of flavor, versus stale, bland, or a little bit off. Our eyes also identify bright colors as evidence of good nutrition, and with good reason. Fresh green leaves contain phytochemicals important for good health, and bright red, blue, and yellow berries have sugars that are rare in nature. Manufacturers of processed foods are well aware if this, which is why these foods have added colors and flavors to simulate fresh foods. There isn't necessarily anything deliberately insidious here; they are simply augmenting these products so that we will enjoy and buy them. Unfortunately they are taking advantage of our natural instincts to eat the things that will make us healthy, and are helping us to do exactly the opposite. Food science has become so advanced that it is possible to produce food products that are convincing facsimiles of fresh, healthy foods. Add this to the persuasive efforts of advertisers, and is there any wonder we are a nation full of malnourished people?

So keep some of those non-perishable items in your kitchen as a backup, but whenever you can, eat things that were recently alive, with vibrant and varied colors that came from nature. And the shorter the shelf life, the better.

Food Communities: Know Your Farm Supply Store

It's dark and the winds are howling out there, and I'm thinking about days to come that aren't dark and howling. That's right, I'm mapping out my veggie garden. Since I'll be getting most of my daily-eating veggies from my farm share, I'm focusing my own growing on plants that lend themselves to preservation. This means carrots, beets, and beans for pickling, basil and cilantro for pesto, and tomatoes for sauce and salsa. I will be supplementing my annual summertime jam-making with preserving of a more savory variety.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's only March, and it's garden-planning time. I've found that one of the best ways to start the process is by visiting the local farm and garden supply store. There are two in town that I really like: Urban Farm Store and Naomi's Organic Farm Supply. These are the kinds of places to go to if you want seeds, starts, and tools that are especially suitable for growing tasty things in Portland. The people who run these places are passionate about everything the urban homesteader might need to know, so they are a great resource when you're planning your garden. These are also the kinds of businesses where you can chat with the owner because they actually work in the store rather than in a corporate office. If you're looking for something in particular and they don't have it in stock, there's a good chance they'll be willing to order it for you. If you're wondering what the best tool for the job is, they can make a recommendation. If you have questions about which cucumber variety is best for pickles or what soil amendments to add to the raised bed, they can give you expert advice.

Early spring starts from Wildcat Mountain Farms, a grower of many
of the starts I've bought over the years.

One thing that makes these places stand out from larger nursery chains or garden centers is where they source their vegetable seeds. They carry seeds from local and regional growers, most of them organic. This is more important than most people think. Plant varieties that have thrived in the Pacific Northwest are much more likely to do well in your garden than ones that has been grown in the Midwest or Northeast. Our climate is very different from most of the country. We get farm more rain in the winter, which proves favorable to a number of fungal diseases. We also have a relatively short growing season (remember the cold and rain last June?), so heat-loving crops like tomatoes and peppers have trouble producing fruit before autumn arrives. Veggie varieties that have been grown in this climate by reputable seed companies tend to be resistant to fungal diseases and productive even in our short summers. What goes for seeds also goes for starts; you want veggies that were grown here in the valley, not shipped in from a greenhouse somewhere.

Both stores carry seed from several different growers, but Naomi's carries mostly seed from Uprising and Adaptive, and the Urban Farm Store carries mostly Uprising, Territorial, and Seed Savers Exchange. Of course you can order directly from any of these seed companies, but you can avoid shipping costs and support a local business buying in the store. Prices per seed packet are the same. Both stores re-order regularly and can add your special request to their order if you give them a few days advance notice.

Edible Horizons is another local grower that I recently discovered.
Don't those lettuces look delectable?

I'm sure I'll have more to say about both businesses next fall after I've spent more time perusing their shelves and pestering their staff for information, but for now I can say that both stores are good sources of information and supplies as you start your garden. The Urban Farm Store seems to have a more extensive selection of chicken-keeping supplies (including baby chicks....super cute); they've even published a book on chicken-keeping, which they use as a text book for their chicken keeping classes. They also had three store cats napping on bags of feed when I was there last.  Naomi is an expert when it comes to soils (she taught about it in an organic gardening certification class I took a couple of years ago), so I would recommend her shop if you're looking for soil amendments and fertilizers, especially if you want advice on how to use them. I also noticed she had a pretty dreamy display of garden tools when I was there last. Yes, I just described garden tools as “dreamy”.

Is there a good farm supply store in your neighborhood? What resources are you using to plan your garden?

Spring Cleanup: Fruit Tree Pruning

The last week has been very, shall we say, “entertaining” in the weather department. A week ago, we had snow. It was beautiful...but kind of ridiculous for mid March.

The irises were not amused.

Luckily it melted fairly quickly, and a few days later we are back to the business of springtime. Crocuses are up, trees are starting to bloom (firing up my pollen allergies, unfortunately), and it's time to get to those early spring garden tasks. One such task is prepping veggie beds for planting: pulling weeds, cutting back any perennials, tilling in cover crops, and raking aside mulch and tossing it in the compost bin. Cats like to think of this task as “preparing the giant litter box”. Depending on the cat population in your yard, you might consider putting down some chicken wire over the top of the newly-prepped soil. I'll be talking about more veggie garden tasks soon!

Forsythia, in all its garish glory, heralding the end of winter.

Another early spring task is planting and pruning fruit trees. On Saturday I attended one of the Portland Fruit Tree Project's workshops. This one was on selection, planting, pruning, and care of young fruit trees, led by Rick Shory (really knowledgeable...contact Rick if you want someone to whip your fruit trees into shape), and it was a great refresher for me, as well as a reminder to give some attention to my own plum and apple trees. When I arrived home from work today, the lingering sunshine beckoned me out to the yard, and I spent the next three hours climbing around in the plum tree and getting it cleaned up. I made an unfortunate discovery in the process. The tree is suffering from a serious case of bacterial canker. Big bummer. If you see signs of this disease in your plum, cherry, or peach trees, make sure to address it right away before it spreads and becomes systemic.  This is what one of the symptoms looks like: oozing wounds on the branches. If you catch it early, it's treatable.

Do you have fruit trees in your yard? Are you thinking of pruning them yourself? If so, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. With the exception of removing dead, damaged, or diseased branches, trees don't “need” pruning. Usually tree pruning is done for our benefit, not for the benefit of the tree. The “right way” to prune a tree will depend on what you want from it.
2. Trees may not need pruning, but they will respond to it in fairly predictable ways. Some of these responses may be counter-intuitive to folks who don't know much about trees. For example, hacking back a tree canopy will encourage it to put on a burst of new growth, not very helpful if you pruned it because you thought it was too big. (If you plant a tree that wants to be too big for your landscape, you are setting yourself up for a lot of work and potential frustration. Planting a smaller tree species is much wiser than planning to control a tree's size through pruning.)
3. For fruit trees, pruning is usually used to influence the shape/size of the tree for easier harvesting, or to influence the size/quantity of the fruit to your preference.  For young fruit trees, pruning in the first few years can be used to establish the overall structure of the tree.  Those first little branches will become the limbs that support the whole canopy down the road.
4. In our wet climate, fungal and bacterial diseases tend to be a problem, and one way to combat them is to encourage air circulation through the canopy. Thinning out some of the branches in the interior of the canopy can accomplish this goal, and it also serves to bring sunlight into the canopy so that fruit can develop there. Bonus!
5. Tree branches that grow horizontally tend to produce more fruit than those that grow vertically, so pruning out vertical branches or bending them into a more horizontal position can give you a more fruitful tree.
6. When trees produce fruit, their goal is to make seeds to reproduce, so they will tend to produce lots of small fruits. If you snip out about a third of the immature fruits while they are still small, then the tree will put all of its reproductive energy into the ones you leave behind, resulting in larger fruit.
7. If you do remove a branch, whether because it is diseased, crowding the interior of the canopy, or too vertical, make sure to cut it back to a vigorous bud or an intersecting branch. Leaving a stub will impede the tree's ability to grow over the cut and heal completely.
8. If you're cutting out a large branch, chop off part of it first to get it out of the way, then go back and do the final cut close to the trunk or intersecting branch. The weight of a large branch can cause it to break as you saw it off, and you don't want that to happen on your final cut. The final cut should be at the “branch collar”, or the thickened bark ridge at the base of the branch. There's a good illustration here.

Here's an example of how I applied some of the aforementioned principles to my plum tree. See the big branch shooting straight up in the middle of the canopy? I wanted to remove this one to bring sunlight and air circulation into the tree.

That vertical branch only produces fruit at the top of the canopy where I can't reach it.  Boo.

I started with a first cut to get most of the branch out of the way, and I didn't have to be careful that it was nice an tidy. I just chopped it off.

I had to climb the tree to do this cut, which made it extra exciting.  I live an action-packed
life of danger and adventure, people.

Next I went back in and cut off the stub neatly. Looks like it was never there!

But you know it was there, because you saw the evidence.  You'll notice I removed quite a
 few of the smaller branches since the first picture, too.

Hopefully we'll get more fruit inside the canopy now, and the shade under the tree will be more dappled, allowing for a healthier lawn underneath. For this pruning session, I was lucky to have a supervisor on hand to oversee the process:

She runs a tight ship, this kitty.

Have you done any pruning of fruit trees?  If so, how did it go?  Is there a specific type of fruit tree that you would like to know more about pruning?

Veggie Garden Crash Course

It has been a wild week of snow and cold, but the sun has come out today, spring is in the air, and I'm excited to announce the new service I'm offering to all of you would-be gardeners out there.  Below are the details:

You've had enough of winter and are ready to grow carrots, right?

PORTLAND VEGGIE GARDEN CRASH COURSE

For first-time gardeners (or busy folks that just want a helping hand with all those logistics)

Provides guidance through one full season of growing veggies on a 4x8-foot plot, featuring veggies that lend themselves to both fresh cooking and processing:

• tomatoes
• beets
• carrots
• green beans
• onions
• cilantro
• basil
• garlic *(if you're planning to roll over into next season)

The program will start (soon, in early April!) with all the seeds you need, plus instructions for building a raised bed (and where to go if you'd like one built for you) and tips on how to prepare the soil for planting. Harvests will begin around June 1^st and should continue through September and beyond. I will deliver tomato starts in June, when it's warm enough to plant them out. If you opt for rolling over into next season, I will deliver garlic in September.

This is an email-based service, so computer access is essential. You will get an email once a week throughout the growing season (April through October) outlining the garden task or tasks for that week. Once harvests are in full swing, emails will feature recipes to help you enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can contact me at any time via email to answer questions or troubleshoot problems. The course also includes one free half-hour visit to your garden during the season. I can help you choose a site for the garden, answer any questions you might have, or just take a look at how the garden is progressing and give you my thoughts. I would also be happy to make additional site visits at my regular rate of $50/hour, with free travel within the Portland metro area.

A few things you can expect to learn:

• how to maintain soil fertility organically
• how to time your planting so you can harvest a little bit each week
• how to build a trellis for beans and tomatoes to climb

• how to thin, train, and prune plants to maximize productivity and keep them under control
• how to know when veggies are ready for harvest
• what to do with all those fresh veggies
• how to use a cover crop to prepare for the next season
  

In late summer I plan to arrange a potluck gathering for all of you to meet each other, share your challenges and victories as rookie gardeners, and feast on the fruits of your labors. We have a great community of garden-lovers, and we would like to welcome you all into it!

Since this is my inaugural season, I will be offering the course at a discounted price of $170, which includes seeds and starts. In exchange for this discounted price, I will be asking for your feedback to help me shape future seasons of the course, so please share your thoughts and suggestions. My goal is to make this as useful and rewarding a service as possible to you and to my future clients. I want you all to end the season having enjoyed the process and feeling confident that you can do it again on your own!

*If you live outside of the Portland metro area and would like to participate, I offer a course that provides everything listed above minus the site visit and the starts. You will receive the seeds in the mail, and when the time comes to plant tomatoes, I will recommend what starts to buy and where to find them. The Remote Veggie Garden Crash Course costs $140, with the option of adding a site visit for the $50/hr travel fee.

Email me at courtney(dot)skybak(at)gmail(dot)com to sign up! Feel free to contact me through Facebook, too.  Registration deadline: April 4

Garlic scapes: you could have some of these delightful little curlicues in your garden!

In the Kitchen: Fridge/Pantry Staples

I mentioned in the last post that I get most of my veggies from a CSA, but that I keep other items handy in my kitchen so that I can easily adapt my meals to whatever arrives in my weekly share. Here are a few of them, in no particular order:

EGGS: Just about any pile of cooked veggies is better with a fried egg on top, and hard-boiled eggs are a great addition to salads. Eggs are my primary source of protein, nutritious (don't believe the stories about their high cholesterol being unhealthy) and cheaper than meat and fish. If you can get them from a local farm (or raise your own), then you will be guaranteed really tasty, high-quality eggs.

One of the joys of having a mixed flock of hens is that I get eggs in a fun
variety of colors and sizes.  At this time of year, they sometimes come with
a little extra mud, which luckily washes off easily.

AVOCADO: Great in salads, cubed on top of chili or spicy tomato soup, and also delicious on scrambled or fried eggs. Avocado is a great source of healthy fat, essential for brain development and many bodily processes. It's even good spread on toast. A dash of salt really brings out its flavor.

CHEESE: usually keep a good Parmesan and some tasty feta in the fridge. Both have a strong flavor, so a little bit goes a long way. Since you'll be using it in small quantities, you can afford to get the good stuff. I like

Trader Joe's for cheese, but there are plenty of other good sources. And it's important to buy organic! There are local dairies making some great cheeses, like this one, this one, and this one. Either of these cheeses can work miracles when finishing a dish, adding just the right touch of savory saltiness. I especially like using feta in salads together with pickled beets, avocado, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

BEANS (canned/dried): I usually keep garbanzos and black beans in stock. Both are good added to soups, and garbanzos are tasty in salads too. They can add a bit of extra substance to cooked greens. They can also both be made into creamy spreads like hummus, which make great additions to sandwiches and are much healthier for dipping carrots and other raw veggies in than ranch dressing or the like. I'll share my recipe for hummus (and a black bean translation) in a future post.

Beans!  Pretty little things, aren't they?

MILK: I like to drink tea, and occasionally eat oatmeal or cereal for breakfast, and I like to prepare both of these with milk. My milk of choice is cow's milk, but there are lots of great alternatives like goat milk or almond milk. I grew up drinking skim, but lately I've switched to the higher-fat versions, since the richer milks are more satisfying and can be enjoyed in smaller quantities. I recently learned that Oregon is actually one of the nation's leaders in organic milk production. Who knew?

BUTTER/OLIVE OIL/COCONUT OIL: Most meals I cook start with a hot pan with a little bit of healthy fat in it. When I'm frying eggs, I usually start with butter. Most veggie sautes start with olive oil. And if I'm searing fish over high heat, then coconut oil is the way to go. Butter is also great for baked goods (yummy, yummy flavor), and olive oil is indispensable in vinaigrette dressing. These are both great added to any cooked vegetables right before serving for a little richness.

YOGURT: I prefer the whole-milk European- or Greek-style yogurts. Again, this is something you'll be eating in small quantities, so get the good stuff, and make sure it's organic. I always buy plain so that I can sweeten and flavor it to my own taste with honey or jam. That way I can also use it as a condiment with savory dishes like curry or chili. (And yogurt mixed with pesto? My new favorite condiment for sandwiches and burgers.) It's great with granola for breakfast, too. Or stir in some lemon curd and you have a decadent dessert.

FRUIT: My CSA share doesn't provide much fruit, and I don't generally eat that much of it anyway, but it's nice to have a little bit of healthy sweetness around the house. This time of year, that means a bowl of clementines or a couple of grapefruit. In summer I usually pick berries and peaches at some of the local farms, most of which gets transformed into jam. My jam cupboard (yes, I have a dedicated cupboard) keeps me supplied with tasty sweetness and gifts for friends even when my favorite fruits are out of season.

I love clementines, and when they are in season (winter!) I consume them
by the handful.

DARK CHOCOLATE: Don't think I need to explain what this is for. Yum.

With the above items in my kitchen most of the time, it's pretty easy to come up with something tasty no matter what arrives in the farm share.

What are the staples in your kitchen?

Food communities – Know Your Farmer

I mentioned food communities in a previous post; if you know your grocer, maybe you'll get better groceries, or at the very least you'll have a better time doing your shopping. I'd like to suggest taking it a step further: know your farmer. Now there are a number of ways to do this. One is to go to the farmers market and chat up the folks at the various booths. You can meet some interesting people this way, and if you ask the right questions you can learn a lot about what grows well around here, what's especially tasty at a given time of year, and what it's like to farm for the local community.

Another way to get to know your farmer is to participate in a CSA. For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym, “CSA” stands for “community-supported agriculture”, and it's basically another name for a subscription farm share. I'm just finishing up my second season of participating in a farm share. I've shared a large family-size share with my close friend/neighbor and her husband. This was something I had intended to do for some time, and once I did it, it completely exceeded my expectations. I can honestly say it has completely transformed the way that I cook.

It took me a while to bite the bullet and join a CSA because I was daunted by the price. Most farms require paying up front for all or a significant portion of the season. That means writing a check for several hundred dollars, a bit much to ask for someone on a tight budget. But then I sat down and did the math. The big check was intimidating, but if I calculated the cost per week for a bag full of produce, it turns out I would be getting a great deal. As long as I cooked everything that I got, rather than letting things shrivel up in the crisper drawer, the farm share would be an incredible bargain. That means that a farm share only makes sense if you cook regularly...and it also helps motivate you to cook regularly to avoid wasting the tasty veggies that will soon be joined with another bag of tasty veggies next week.

These are the contents of my latest share (minus the butternut squash that I
roasted and devoured last night): beets, potatoes, squash, leeks, celeriac,
spinach, rapini, and mizuna greens.  Grown a few miles away, the greens all
picked a few hours before I picked them up.  Doesn't get much better than this.

There are three main things that I love about my farm share. One is getting to know the person who grows my veggies. The farm we belong to, Big Leaf Farm, is run by farmer Chris with the part-time help of his wife. Chris is an incredibly smart, thoughtful, and hard-working farmer. He's still pretty new to this CSA gig, but he seems to have a natural talent for it, and really cares about growing fantastic food for the dozens of families that have shares. He writes a great newsletter every week with updates on what's happening on the farm, recipes for what's in the share, and his thoughts on food politics and other issues pertinent to growing veggies.

The second thing I love about my CSA is that it has completely changed my process of deciding what to cook (and eat) each day. Instead of planning a menu for the week or a meal for the evening based on what I might be in the mood for (or what comes to mind as I rack my brain for ideas), I plan my meals based on what fresh veggies I received in my weekly share. And I use the term 'plan' loosely. This usually involves me standing with the fridge open, scanning the collection of roots, leaves, stems, and fruits that crowd the lower shelves. Then I pull a few out that seem like they might go well together and build a meal around them. This is the sort of thing that gets easier with practice, and it also works better if you can be open-minded about flavors and atypical combinations. Occasionally a meal might turn out a little unorthodox, but sometimes there are pleasant surprises to be found. You'll learn pretty quickly what flavor combinations you like. As you get some practice at this process, you'll also learn what other items to keep handy in your pantry and fridge for adding to your veggies. This will depend on what you and your family enjoy eating, but if you'd like some ideas, I'll discuss a few of my staples and how I use them in my next post.

The third thing that I love about my CSA is that the food is simply delicious. Really, I knew that the tomatoes would be head and shoulders above supermarket pseudo-tomatoes, but the carrots? I had no idea they could be this sweet flavorful. And don't get me started on the leeks, beets, squash, and kale. I could go on and on (and certainly will in the future). Oh, man, is it dinner time yet?

Do any of you have experience with a CSA? How have you liked it? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

And this is the time of year when farms are accepting new subscriptions; find one in your neck of the woods here.

In the Kitchen: Veggie Burgers

Earlier this week I went through a process in the kitchen that is one of my favorites: adapting a recipe to fit what I happen to have in the kitchen. The recipe was for black bean burgers, one I'd come across on one of the blogs I read regularly called Angry Chicken. I've made these black bean burgers successfully several times; they are bound with oatmeal and feature the flavors of fresh cilantro, garlic, and cumin. They are great served with avocado, jack cheese, lettuce, and tomato. I wanted to make them again, but I didn't have any black beans in my cupboard (and didn't have time to soak and cook dried beans). However, I did have a can of garbanzo beans. I could have made the recipe as written, just swapping the beans since the flavor wouldn't be that different, but I thought it might be more interesting if instead I tried adapting it to a food tradition that contains garbanzos...a Mediterranean food tradition in contrast to the original Mexican flavoring. I decided to go with Italian. Here's what the original recipe contained:

black beans

rolled oats

grated carrots

cilantro

canned tomatoes

garlic

green onions

salt, cumin, and chili powder

So the first swap was garbanzos for the the black beans. The oats could stay, since they waere just a starch to hold everything together and didn't contribute to the flavor. I figured the carrots could stay too, since I had one in the fridge and wanted some veggies in there. The cilantro had to go, and the perfect Italian substitute would be basil. I didn't have any fresh, but I did have some little cubes of basil in the freezer. Next, the tomatoes. Those definitely would stay. Same with garlic. I didn't have any green onions, but wanted something oniony, so decided to use the leek languishing in my crisper drawer (is that Italian? Not sure, but close enough). Salt definitely had to stay, but the other spices didn't seem appropriate. However, these burgers were going to be a little bland if I didn't find something to take the place of the spices. I looked to my spice rack for ideas, and didn't see anything appealing, but then I remembered the little block of really good Parmesan in my fridge. As I dug that our, my eye landed on the little bag of pine nuts. Perfect! Both would add a little richness and enhance the flavor in a very Mediterranean way. I grated a nice little pile of cheese and threw in a small handful of nuts.

The burgers turned out to be a great success! The cheese made them smell like pizza as they baked, which was heavenly. The basil cubes had unfortunately lost nearly all of their flavor since they'd been in my freezer for who knows how long, so next time I will definitely use fresh or add some basil pesto. These burgers (both versions) have a very nice firm texture; the oats do an amazing job of binding everything together as they bake. They freeze really well, and then they can be reheated in the toaster with no risk of falling apart or oozing all over the place. My only complaint is that their proportion of starch is a little much for my taste. I'd like to incorporate more green veggies (maybe kale - can't go wrong with kale) and more protein and healthy fats, probably in the form of nuts. I would probably add pepitas, or pumpkin seeds, to the black bean version, and more pinenuts to the garbanzo version. And maybe I could do a Greek version with oregano and feta? Or an Indian version with lentils and curry? The possibilities are endless. What do you think? What other translations could be made of this recipe? Is there an item in your fridge that could offer inspirations?

I'd love to hear your ideas!

Food Communities: Know Your Grocer

In my last post I mentioned that one way to eat better is to get to know some of the people who bring us our food.  Let's think about this some more.

When we go to the grocery store, how do we know if something is fresh or nutritious? True, we can look for the “local” and “organic” signs and scrutinize nutritional labels on boxes, keeping in mind whatever the latest news story tells us we should or shouldn't be eating. But I'd like like to suggest something different: what if instead of depending on a label to guide our choices, we actually get to know some of the people who sell us our food? Better yet, why don't we get to know the people who grow our food? One of the greatest things we've lost as our modern food system has become globalized is our food community, that network of relationships between those who grow and make food and all of us who eat it. Our industrial food system is one in which what was once personal has become anonymous. With anonymity comes a loss of personal responsibility, a loss of incentive to create foods that ARE good rather than only LOOK good.

Each of us has the power to start mending these broken relationships, to rebuild our food communities. If you shop at the same grocery store each week (most of us do), you can start by paying attention to who you see in the produce, meat, bakery, and dairy departments. You see some familiar faces, right? Well say hello! Introduce yourself, ask a question, make a suggestion. Ask which variety of apple was grown closest to the store. Mention that you would really like the option to buy grass-fed beef. If the bread you bought last week was really tasty, tell them so! If you're planning a special meal and want to know which fish is the freshest, just ask! Get to know the people who bring you your food, and let them get to know you a little. Don't you think that they'll have more incentive to get the best for you if you're not just another anonymous body in the store? Won't grocery shopping be more enjoyable for you if you chat with some familiar folks while you're there? You'll find that even in a big chain grocery store, employees will happily order things especially for you if you ask nicely and give plenty of advance notice. Don't be afraid to make things personal (this coming from an admitted introvert). It will transform your experience of shopping for food, and take a little bit of the stress out of that part of the process. Plus, it's probably the way your great-grandmother did it.

Don't you feel a little bit better already knowing that you don't have to do it all alone?

You can take this a step further by getting to know not just your grocer, but your farmer.  I'll talk about this in another post.

Fostering a deeper connection to those who produce our food can enrich
the lives of our children as well.

Eating Well

Feeding ourselves is one of the most essential tasks of our everyday life. It is a necessity of survival; we literally have to eat in order to survive. But for many of us it can be a daily hassle, a time-consuming activity in an already packed schedule, a source of stress and confusion. We get so many messages (constantly changing, it seems) about what we should or shouldn't feed ourselves and our families to feel good and be healthy. We are overwhelmed by the wealth of choices presented to us, from where to do our grocery shopping (Farmers market? Food coop? Supermarket? Big box store?) to what ethnic cuisine (Thai? Italian? Mexican?) to draw from as we plan our meals. With so many choices, and so many voices telling us about the latest diet fad that will transform our lives (In 3 easy steps! Informed by the latest nutritional science!), no wonder the task of feeding ourselves is daunting. Who has time for all this hassle in our busy lives? How can we be certain that we're feeding our families well? Is it even possible to enjoy the process?

These are questions that I think about a lot. Over the years I've developed an approach to feeding myself that works well for me and that gives me a lot of joy. Don't get me wrong, there are days when dinner is a bowl of cereal before tumbling into bed. But the way I think about food has changed over time, and it's an approach that I would like to share with the people around me. I think you all might enjoy the discussion. And if my thoughts on the topic help you to develop a more satisfying relationship with your own food, then hurray! I will feel like I've accomplished something important.

Maybe we should step back a little bit. How did our ancestors eat? How does much of the world's population eat today in parts of the world where markets don't have fifteen kinds of frozen pizza and an entire aisle dedicated to chips and soda. If we look at the food traditions of the world, they vary widely in what foods are actually consumed, but what each of them has in common is that they have evolved over hundreds of years in a particular place. They have been dependent upon what edible things can grow sustainably (read: indefinitely) in that place. I see each distinct cuisine as essentially the expression of the sun's energy in that particular climate. Why does the traditional food of Norway feature lots of fish and potatoes, in contrast to Mexico's beans and hot chilies or Italy's eggplant and basil? Because that's what grows and thrives in that part of the world. Another interesting thing about ancient food traditions is that they have to be pretty healthy, at least healthy enough for populations to reproduce. Think about it: foods that make people sick in a culture where medicine can't easily undo the damage must eventually be eliminated from the diet. Even herbs and spices play a role beyond creating pleasing flavors. Have you ever wondered why black pepper, for example, is such a ubiquitous spice? I have asked myself this because I don't particularly like the flavor of black pepper. It turns out that it has preservative qualities, so it helps perishable foods from spoiling too quickly. The same goes for cinnamon, cayenne, and dozens of other herbs and spices that flavor our food. I personally think this kind of thing is fascinating, nerd that I am, but I'll save deeper delving for another post.

So, back to our ancestors' approach to food: eating the freshest and tastiest plants and animals that grow in the place we live. How does that work in the modern world? I think there are a couple of ways we can approach this. One is to eat with the seasons, depending mostly on foods grown close to home, and another is to re-establish and strengthen our food communities. I'll go into much more detail in the future on both of these points, but for now I'll keep it simple.

Of course the most extreme version of local, seasonal eating is growing your
own.  And then you get the sweet little pleasures of gardening, such as
witnessing the curled flower stems (or scapes) on garlic plants.  Such fun!

Eating locally and in season means eating fresh vegetables at the time of year when they can be harvested in our region (asparagus in spring and berries in summer, for example). If you occasionally want to eat foods out of season, then your best bet is to buy ones that were preserved at their peak of freshness. For example, canned tomatoes are the way to go in February. Remember this can be a guideline, not a strict rule, so you don't have to feel guilty about that basket of blueberries you splurged on in December. Find the right balance for your own family and lifestyle.

Strengthening our food communities means getting to know the people involved in producing and handling your food. I'll expand on this idea in my next post, so stay tuned!