Thanksgiving Countdown and Forbidden Stew

This past Sunday we did some epic meal planning. Since we had a week and a half before Thanksgiving, I only wanted to go to the grocery store once. We planned for 7 meals plus whatever we had on hand in our fridge/freezer/pantry already, hoping to get us to the holiday. 

Here's what we picked:

Roasted Chicken with Squash and Broccoli (a recipe from this book)

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping

Lentil and Mushroom Ragu

Squash & Cabbage Quesadillas

Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup

Crock Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Crock Pot Beef Tikka Masala

We did the roast chicken first because I needed stock for almost everything else and the chicken for the chicken pot pie, and we even had more chicken left over for lunches. The squash we cooked with it was the top end of a butternut squash and I saved the bottom part to cut into rings for this recently discovered fall yumminess later in the week or on the weekend. I went ahead and made everything between Sunday and now, so my fridge is full of premade meals that we can just pull out and eat. I have the feeling that I'm going to be a little frenzied between now and Thanksgiving and want to simplify as much as possible. 

So far, we've demolished the roast chicken and the chicken pot pie, with rave reviews all around for both. Today I made the potato soup, the tikka masala and the wild rice soup. The first two turned out perfect. The third? Complete failure-turned-amazing-dish.

See...when we went to the store on Sunday, wild rice was something silly like $10.99 a pound, while the forbidden rice right next to it was $3.99 a pound. I had never cooked with forbidden rice and had no idea that it would turn everything purple. PURPLE CHICKEN. Not only that, but as I was cooking, I accidentally grabbed what I THOUGHT was chicken stock but in fact was an apple-boozy-concoction made my a good friend for Christmas last year when I was pregnant so I waited until chilly weather to drink it...and when I stored it, as I do most things, in a Ball jar, I didn't label it, and it looks a whole lot like chicken stock. I may have been able to say, "Oh well dumb luck," if this isn't the second time in as many weeks that I've done this. The first time was to some brown rice that ultimately became unsalvageable but since this was a giant pot of food and I was NOT going back to the store, I had to get creative. In my defense, last night my mom gave me a second-degree burn when she spilled some hot tea on my leg that I had to get treated today so my head wasn't entirely in the right place.

At first it was off-puttingly sweet and I doubted that we were going to salvage the thing. I had everything in the pot and had to figure out a way to save the meal because I hate throwing out perfectly good food. So I started adding savory spices like a madwoman...big chunks of garlic, onion powder. Still horrid. Then we added smoked paprika and cumin, then tomato sauce and more cumin and finally decided to make chicken chili and threw in a bunch of chili powder, then some beans...and it started coming together.

We decided finally that we had made a sweet chicken chili that tasted a whole lot like chicken mole. And thus, a new dish was born! Not that I'll ever make it like that again. I was proud that I could improvise enough to save the dish. We ended up serving it with cilantro, tomato and sour cream, and it was delightful and my husband is taking it to work for lunch tomorrow. Bam.

Squash Fall Celebration Soup

Today I created an insanely delicious and super easy soup that you need in your kitchen this fall:

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

1 acorn squash

1 Tbs  oil

1 red bell pepper

2 poblano peppers

3 slices of bacon

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

stock of your choice

salt and pepper

Create:

Fire up your oven to 400F

Slice your squashes in half, scoop out the insides, and brush some oil (I used almond) on the insides and place them flesh side down on a baking sheet. Roast them for about 45 minutes.

Slice the peppers in half and seed them, and coat those with oil. Put them in a smaller oven safe pan and roast them about 15 minutes.

While your veg is roasting, take a dutch oven or large pot and start cooking your bacon. You're not going to want the bacon crispy but you want to get some oil from it. Throw your onions and garlic in and sauté them until the onions are translucent and the garlic smells good. Next, the peppers out of the oven and put them in the pot as well.

When your squash is done, peel it and put it in the pot, then add just enough stock to cover everything by half. Get everything simmery for 15 or so minutes and then blend everything either in a blender or with an immersion blender.

If I was going to do this again I would have added sage and chives but today it was one of those baby-screaming days so I straight up forgot. 

Let me know if you try this! It's delightful and you could so easily riff on it a million different ways. Also, this is something hat would be great for the whole family as a first course and to freeze for your baby food stash.

chicken salad one two punch

I just made a chicken salad that made the hubby say, "You've got to write this down. It's so good." 

Unfortunately for you, it's probably going to be the most obnoxious recipe ever in the history of recipes because I threw in a chard stem relish that had been sitting in our fridge for a couple months...but I think there are some adjustments to make that will make it doable. I hadn't made chicken salad in a good while so I kind of went nuts, trying to use up random little bits from our pantry that never get used.

So first, the relish. 

NO! First, a tasty little trick I learned at a farmer's market that involves getting a tiny ball jar, filling it with mustard seeds, drowning the seeds in white wine or plain vinegar, and letting it sit for a couple weeks until the mustard seeds get soft. I have quite the addiction to this and love putting it on just about everything. We always have a little jar or two of this stuff on hand, and find ourselves tossing it in whatever needs a little acidic zesty zing - salad dressings, chicken marinades, on crackers with goat cheese, in barbecue dippy, really anything you can think of, try it out. Okay so first, do that.

NOW, the relish. We were introduced to the concept of a cooked "pickle" condiment by The Lee Brothers' Pan-fried whiting with pickled peppers and onions (page 191) and by watching copious amounts of Chopped when we had cable.

Also frustrating? We don't really measure. Everything depends on how much chard you currently have at your disposal. For us in the fall/winter and spring, we grow absurd amounts of chard. According to Tamar Adler in An Everlasting Meal, the French do the opposite of Americans and eat their chard stems, giving the leaves to their chickens, because the colorful stems of the rainbow variety are more nutritionally packed than the leaves *

Inspired, we wanted to come up with creative ways to eat chard stems. Luckily, I'm not really a fan of celery, so we sub it like crazy in places that call for cooked celery.

Chard Stem Relish

Ingredients:

white wine vinegar (this is the base of the pickle)

one garlic clove, minced

mustard seed marinade

honey or agave 

celery seed 

red pepper flakes 

salt & pepper

chard stems, chopped
onion, chopped

Method:

1. Heat up the vinegar, mustard seed marinade, sweetener, celery seed, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper in a sauce pan on medium heat. You don't really want this stuff to boil, just be like a nice hot bath base.

2. Once the liquid is good and simmery, add the chard stems, onion, and garlic and let it simmer long enough to get the raw crunch out of the stems and onion, but you still want a little bit of crunch. Pack it up in a Ball jar and let it sit in your fridge for a couple weeks.

Pro tip: The Mister would like to add that this stuff is heavenly on bratwurst.

Um, you're going to hate me. We also roasted a chicken (recipe also from the above mentioned Lee Brother's book) the day before making this. So...besides the mustard seed and the chard pickle, roast you a chicken. Or buy a chicken already roasted, or roast some chicken parts.

NOW without further ado:

Christina's Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 whole roasted chicken or the equivalent, chopped **

Mr. Stock's chard pickle ***
A couple spoonsful of nutritional yeast
Sesame seeds

Sunflower seeds

Greek yogurt ****

Mayonnaise (don't worry - I didn't make this myself...this time...)

Sweet pickle relish

Black pepper

Method: 

1. Chop chicken, put it in a big bowl

2. Dump everything else on top of the chicken, mix.
3. Garnish with butter lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, and grapes. 

4. Die of happiness

* hopefully you don't toss your chard leaves - that stuff is so versatile...put it in your pot of beans, sauté it with olive oil and vinegar, make it up into a pot of greens like you would with collards, eat it raw in a salad...oh and okay the gnarly leaves that we grow that are eaten by bugs or just weather worn we toss to our chickens.

**If you're using a whole chicken, be sure and save the bones and make your own chicken stock in a crock pot. Easy peasy and saves you money. 

*** Substitute chopped celery, a dash of mustard, and some white wine vinegar

**** I did about half Greek yogurt and half mayo

This recipe is killer on so many levels. I'm in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy and need to pack in as much nutrition as I can into several tiny meals throughout the day because room in my stomach is just getting scarce. I have found that when I don't eat nutritionally dense foods, I'm just starving all day, and between that and having to drink lots of water so I don't get headaches or go crazy...it makes for a maddening daily existence. So, this recipe is extra jammy packed with protein, plus random goodness that is good for my body and baby.

hospitality and contemplation

This past weekend I had the opportunity to first drive down to NB to see my brand new niece and take the fledgling family dinner. I stayed with a dear friend and the next day drove to Austin for a women's conference called IF:Gathering and stayed with Austinites. I had the best time, and was struck over and over again by the hospitality of my friends. Both houses I stayed in, these are folks I have known at least a decade or more, and man. They know how to host a guest. I am so thankful.

I walked away inspired by both women immensely. At the first house, I quizzed her on her morning routine (she gets up at 5am! I wish I had that kind of discipline!) to drink coffee, eat an apple and some peanut butter, watch the news, gather her thoughts. She explained all this while stirring extra salt into her crunchy peanut butter. I have never lived by myself, but from this brief overnight started thinking that even though I don't live by myself now, I can still have routines and order just because that is who I want to be and how I want to live. Kind of like, living independently while living in community, if that makes sense. It is something that is difficult to do while trying to run a house and take care of two other people but I think maybe cultivating some practices that are just my own - ie: doing the dishes because I like a clean slate before starting a project/meal, and not because I am obligated to the other people in my house to do it - will help me retain my me-ness in this season. 

I am intoxicated by the thought of a morning to myself. A quiet, pre-breakfast snack, tea-filled time of contemplation, journaling, and whatever I want, before the day gets rowdy and hectic. Because oh man. Until about the end of March, life is full to the brim with things that have to get done, and life with a toddler and husband and being pregnant...hectic. rowdy. I just have to start putting myself to bed at 9:30 to make this happen. It's worth a shot.

The second house I stayed at I felt such freedom to find rest and be nourished. This friend moved recently from Dallas back to her house in Austin and I realized that I had never actually stayed at her house in our near decade of friendship because we had always lived close by each other. The first morning there, she made me this bowl of greatness for me that I have to share: 

Quinoa Love Bowl: The only things that are essential here are some quinoa and a fried egg. Everything else is optional, so feel free to riff on it. The original one made by my friend had quinoa, egg, turkey sausage, and avocado. This morning's variation features avocado, tomatoes, and parmesan cheese. Think seasonal and delicious when creating yours. I know that tomatoes aren't in season right now but Whole Foods tricked me into buying local heirloom ones that I thought were ready, but they're not. Still a little too crunchy...and I was too hungry to wilt them in a hot pan before eating. We have some pickled beets in the fridge and right now I'm dreaming of one with pickled beets, goat cheese, and wilted kale. 

Let me know what your favorite morning or evening routines are. I am inherently a person who loathes routine, but lately find myself craving the development of little regular oases...anchors in the storm of life.

Food for the Kiddos

I just got back from a MOPS meeting where we had a presenter on the importance of nutrition, and it reminded me of an Email that I recently sent to my sister-in-law and cousin about little miss A's pretty amazing eating habits. My kid eats like a rock star. Mr. S. and I made the decision early on that growing an appreciation for food in our daughter is super important to us and we took specific steps accordingly. Anyway, what follows is the Email I sent.

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Hey Loves,

I wanted to tell you how awesome it was to have you notice what a good eater A is. It is something I really wanted to focus on and have her be a diverse eater. I am so proud of her and it made me feel so good to have someone notice. I wanted to send y'all resources and thoughts that have been helpful to us when tackling food and approaches and such.

First up is 'Super Baby Food' by Ruth Yaron. It has tons of great healthy recipes and foundational principles of child nutrition. I get into ruts and this book is my go-to for new ideas and reminders of why we are doing this. It's a huge book, and so useful. Don't read the whole thing and get all overwhelmed - I have found it much more manageable to get in there and read just the developmental level appropriate for whatever stage A is in. There are SBF kits you can get including ice cube trays to make it all easier - just look them up on Amazon. I used to think the mini prep baby food maker things were dumb but if I could have something that would steam AND purée my food with the push of a button? Maybe I will get one for kid #2. The author of the next book talks about using these things and as far as I am concerned, whatever makes it easier is totally worth it. I stay home and I have the time, but something more convenient would be worth it.

Next is 'French Kids Eat Everything' by Karen le Billon. I am not a French-culture worshipper or anything and was hesitant to read this because I hate parenting books that make you feel bad about what you're doing wrong. I ended up really liking this book because it read more like an anthropology book. It did a lot of comparing of the subtleties of Western and European food culture and Mr. S and I had a lot of conversations about what kind of food culture we wanted to create within our family. It raised a bunch of questions of our own personal eating habits and where those come from, and there were some things we wanted to tweak - especially me because I come from a cultural heritage of, "hungry? Eat! Sad? Eat! Bored? Eat!" It has good recipes at the end, which the whole family has enjoyed. This is the book where we got our no snacking rule - that's a lot of why A eats the way she does - home girl is hungry :)

Another good resource is Weelicious.com but it's more of a supplement to the above books.

More things we think about are local availability and seasonality, where our food is coming from (what we wanted to buy organic or not - EWG.com has a clean and dirty list that we try and shop by. There is also emerging research on how pesticides and GMO foods effect children that I can track down and send if you want) and also what A sees us eat. Food in season just straight up tastes better. We hate eating tomatoes in December because they come from far away and are mealy and gross - I wouldn't expect A to be passionate about food that doesn't taste good. Some books and videos that have guided our food philosophy include Food, Inc. (there is a whole chapter in this film about a child who contracted E-coli and died after eating a fast food burger on a road trip. It is incredibly informative) and anything by Michael Pollan. In terms of watching us eat, we make sure to eat meals together as often as possible. We sometimes eat breakfast all together, and A and I sit down and eat together for lunch (if we're not out and if we are we have packed a lunch or are sitting at a restaurant), and we always always eat dinner together. Babies are little imitators and it almost goes without saying that if they see their parents eating food, then they'll get curious and want to eat. Also, if we have hangups or things we won't eat, we can't expect our kids to have diverse tastes. I have started tackling the things I tend to avoid (fish), and adding different foods (leeks or kohkrabi or fennel) to our menus. Being a part of vegetable co-op has helped with all the above.

Out of sheer laziness I didn't want to make or buy separate meals for her so would start her on purées of stuff we were already eating, having her food be simpler versions of ours but also simplifying our food to make it more accessible. If the developmental stage called for starting her on bananas and avocados, we would have bananas and avocados more in our meals, and so on, as her choices broadened.

Mr. S has a couple things to add. First, we skipped baby food meat altogether, and just waited until she had almost if not all of her teeth to introduce it. I am pretty sure she ate salmon before any other kind of meat because it was so soft. She also may have gnawed on a pork rib before actually eating the meat. Keep in mind that the addition of meat makes their poop more like real person poop. I therefore put it off as long as possible and we had actual conversations as to whether we wanted to wait until she was pooping in a toilet before making her an omnivore. We learned that for a kid to go from not liking to liking a food it takes something like 15 to 20 tries. I can't remember if the above books talk about it, but I do know that the French book suggests offering the foods a bunch of different ways to keep 'em guessing. We tried a bunch of different textures of the same things - making different consistencies of the same food (cauliflower steamed or in a puree) as well as adding different flavors (cauliflower with fennel in a puree). Something we have run into recently is getting her to eat her vegetables first if there is also, say chicken and noodles (her passion) on her plate. This has translated to eating more in courses (another French trick) - there is a squash and spinach soup we love to lead with - and making sure that the most important things make it onto her plate first. Mr. S is also really good at keeping things light at the dinner table, making eating exciting and fun.

We also talk all the time about not using food as a reward, and not bribing her with, say, dessert, to get her to eat anything. We want her to have a healthy and exuberant appreciation for food with no guilt attached and there are so many facets to consider and discuss. I don't remember where I read it - maybe in 'Unconditional Parenting' - but at some point we have to accept that our kids are their own person and there's no amount of cajoling, controlling, or forcing of food that is going to intrinsically motivate a child to love new foods. As they get older the best thing we can do is provide them with healthy and diverse food and introduce it in encouraging ways and the rest is up to the kid.

All that to say there are for sure times that I grab the Amy's mac n cheese. It took me a long time to work through all the questions I had of our own eating habits at the same time trying to stay on top of steaming, pureeing and organizing bags of frozen baby food but it has been all kinds of worth it.

Let me know if you have any questions or need advice on anything - we all know I am bossy as all get out and love telling people what to do ;)

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So...there you go.  Food is crazy important - I believe it's the foundation on which everything else in life (physically at least) is built. Immunity, mental health, behavior, all of that. If you have any questions, or have any recipes or things you have done to get your kiddos to eat, let me know.

meatballs.

A few years ago we came across this recipe for delightful winter pork balls and chard. It is probably the most requested dish I get from the hubby, and I generally oblige happily. On a recent road trip, whilst planning this week's menu he mentioned he'd like for me to make them, but wanted to find a way to get the same flavors but with less meat. 

Let's just say I nailed it. 

Here's what I did: 

1. Cook up a pot of white beans (I forgot to soak them last night, let's hope we're not too gassy for it) - like, as much as you would get in a 15oz can. I'm still on the dry beans kick. SO ECONOMICAL. Drain them in a colander and set aside.

2. Brown 1/4 lb pork in a medium sized pot. Add a splash of olive oil.  Throw half a chopped red onion on top, along with three or four cloves of garlic, stir.

3. Chop up a bunch of mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and add those to the pot. Add salt and pepper, a dash of cumin, some Caldo de Pollo (yes, I know it has MSG, yes I know it's not vegetarian ((neither is the sausage)) but I'm trying to use it up so I can get it out of my house. I have a problem with throwing away perfectly good food), and add a pinch of cinnamon. You can add more later if you feel like you need it. 

4. Stir it all up, and let the flavors combine a bit. I am adept at scorching pans, so I usually sautee things until they are browning the pan, then I add a little water, let the water cook out, add more water, and so it goes. When you get tired of this, add 4 cups of water, and add in the beans.

5. Bring to a boil, then let simmer at least half an hour to however long to get it to the consistency you like. I don't like my soups to be super runny, but not too thick.

6. Grab some bright lights chard out of your garden or a bunch from the store and tear the leaves from the stems with your hands. Toss the chard leaves into the soup pot and let them cook until the leaves turn bright green, about 5-10 minutes. You don't want to overly wilt the chard.

7. Grab some crusty bread and go to town!

In other news, I joined a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group called Urban Acres! Every other weekend we get a half share (15lbs) of local, organic produce! I'm super excited! I participated in one while I interned in Austin and it was absolutely wonderful - especially the part where you never really knew what was going to show up in your bin. I can't wait to see what the local farms have to offer!

there's an app for that

Margaret Mason over at Mighty Girl (holy cow that woman has a lot to say) posted this about apps to help you keep your resolutions. You know, in case you're not so great at that purely intrinsic motivation thing.

This weekend was an epic failure in the raw veganism department. I had breakfast tacos at least 10 times in 2 days (I mean, we were in Austin) and then at my friend's son's birthday, it was a "ball" theme so you best believe I not only put away a hamburger (for shame!) but equal to or more than my weight in sausage balls. Eesh. I heard on NPR last night that a lady quit smoking by her friend telling her that every time she smoked a cigarette she was going to send $5,000 to the KKK. That's my kind of motivation.

In other news, yesterday we came home with the intention of going to the grocery store but then my hubs got a gleam in his eye...the one that says "We have enough food. Let's just create something out of what we have here." If there's something sexier than a man who will roast garlic just for funsies on a Sunday night, I dare you to show it to me.

Here's what we had:

1 butternut squash

bright lights chard from the garden

LOTS of garlic

leftover pasta

pine nuts

spinach

red onions & green onions

1 portobello mushroom

herbs from the garden: rosemary, thyme, parsley

We took the butternut squash, peeled it and cubed it into 1" pieces, then tossed it with olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted it in the oven on 450F for 10-15 minutes, then cut the mushroom up and added it to the pan in the oven. At the same time, we popped a couple ends-cut-off, olive oil drizzled, foil-wrapped garlic(s?) in the oven. While I fed baby A, he sauteed the red onions and chard stems on the stove, then added everything else including the yumminess from the oven and sauteed it a bit to combine all the flavors. I'd leave you with a picture but, uh, I ate the last bit of it for lunch. It was crazy good. 

My favorite thing in the world is cooking like that - deciding to forego the store and make it work with what you've already got. Is there a stroke of culinary genius you've had in a pinch like this? Please share!

chicken christina

For whatever reason I had a hankering for chicken piccata the other day, so I went to the grocery store to get the appropriate accoutrements and somehow made it back home with neither lemon nor capers. Duh. So with a little wrangling, I came up with something that was super yummy and really close to what I was going for. It's a riff off of this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis. I basically subbed 1/3 c white wine for the lemon juice and then added a splash of vinegar. I ignored all the crazy amounts of butter and went with olive oil in normal amounts, and then added 4 chopped artichoke hearts and a quartered zucchini and cooked 'em a bit before adding the chicken stock and the chicken back to the pan. 

I would've taken pictures but I was too busy devouring the greatness. I will for sure be making this MacGyver-type concoction again.

in a pickle

Last Christmas K got me the most amazing present - Country Wisdom & Know How, Everything You Need To Know To Live Off The Land. Seriously, people. It's a wonderful resource for EVERYTHING, including building chicken coops, gardening, home repair, and of course, canning.

At the farmer's market this weekend we got a ton of pickling cucumbers for CHEAP (hello, end of season abundance!) and here's what we did with them:

Materials
(6) 1 PINT mason jars. We always use Ball jars and get them from the local hardware store.
1 large pot (like you use to make spaghetti)

Ingredients
4 pounds cucumbers, 2-4 inches long
4-5 small jalepeños, sliced (optional)
1/2 onion, sliced
3 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt
1 1/2 tablespoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
3 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
6 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic
6 fresh dill heads
1 teaspoon DILL seed

First things first, clean your jars with soap and water, then rinse them off and put them in the oven (with lids, but make sure the lids aren't screwed on there, just set on top) at 200F for at least 20 minutes to sterilize them. Just leave them in there while you do the following:

Fill your large pot about halfway with water and start it boiling 'cos it'll take awhile.

Wash cucumbers and slice them into spears or discs.

Combine salt, mustard seeds, water, vinegar, onions, and peppercorns in a saucepan. Heat to boil.

Carefully remove your sterilized jars from the oven and in them put 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp celery seed, a piece of garlic clove, some jalepeños, and a piece of fresh dill.

Pack with cucumbers.

Using tongs, take the onions out of the boiling liquid and put it in your jars. Fill each jar with the hot liquid, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Seal the jars. Submerge in the water in the large pot for 10 minutes, and make sure all jars are covered with boiling water.

Remove the jars at once when the 10 minutes are up. At this point, you should be able to store them in the pantry but just to make sure nobody dies of botulism, we keep ours in the fridge. Let them hang out for about 2-3 weeks and then enjoy!