Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I'm in love with pumpkin right now. All things pumpkin all the time is what I've been thinking about. Even though I've been roasting up my own sugar pie pumpkins that I grew in the garden almost every day (I have 8 left, I started with 13.) I went to the Olympia Farmers Market today to buy more. Sounds pretty crazy, but I want to eat and experience different varieties that I have an interest in to see if they are worthy of garden space next year. I went home with an orange Kabocha squash that looks like a pumpkin, and I took home a beautiful white pumpkin called "Lumina".
More pumpkin stuff to come, sweet and savory.

These pumpkin whoopie pies are my new favorite thing. I sent some to my husband's work and I also took a batch to a party, and they were loved by all. They are all of the things a whoopie pie should be, moist, soft, spicy pumpkin cake with a yummy cinnamon cream cheese filling.

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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling

adapted from this recipe. This recipe makes about 20 small whoopie pies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin puree or 1 15 oz can pumpkin (make sure it's pure pumpkin, not pie filling)
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light olive oil (or other neutral oil)
2 TBS molasses
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups all purpose flour

For Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3-4 cups sifted powdered sugar
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
1-2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 and cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Beat together pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil and molasses.

In another bowl add flour, salt, spices, and baking soda.

Add flour mixture to wet mixture and beat together, make sure all is incorporated.

Scoop batter onto cookie sheets lined with parchment. I used a medium sized cookie scoop, about 1-1 1/2 Tablespoons in size. If you don't have a cookie scoop I'd use a tablespoon for this task to make sure they are all the same size.

Bake 10-12 minutes. Mine took 11 minutes.

Cool completely then make sandwiches with frosting.

Frosting Instructions

While cookies are baking, add the cream cheese and butter to a bowl of stand mixer. Beat together until whipped, 3 minutes or so, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Or alternately, use a large bowl and hand mixer, beat well.
Add the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar, 3 cups first, then beat well. Add more if you wish your frosting to be more stiff. Add cinnamon to taste, I'd start with 1 teaspoon, and go from there. I ended up using 2 to 2 1/2. This amount will also depend how fresh or what variety of cinnamon you are using, and your taste of course.

You will probably have frosting left over. It freezes well. Or add a little milk to it and use it as a frosting for cinnamon rolls. Or use it as a filling for my next whoopie pie recipe coming soon! Banana whoopie pies, stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

As a side note: Look at all of these pumpkin recipes at NY Times.com! 

Fall foods: Pumpkins and Apples

Dried Apple Rings

This post is to accompany my talk on BTO for Tuesday, October 19th, 2010.

Oh how I love the fall. Living in the Pacific Northwest where apples are dripping from the trees makes life even sweeter here. When I was a newbie here about 4 years ago, I couldn't believe my eyes. It seemed everywhere I looked there were apple trees with literally hundreds of apples dripping off them! It was like a happy mirage. Apples are indeed abundant here. I'm lucky enough to acquire apples every year from people who can't keep up with them all and are more than happy to share. Which means this time of year I'm busy making things like pies, tarts,

applesauce, apple butter, dried apple chips, etc. So below I will be sharing some of my favorite ways to use apples.

Pumpkins are one of my favorite things! I love to use them to decorate my porch as a sign that fall is here, and Halloween near. I love the taste of them and I love how versatile they are. I grow them, and am now harvesting them so they are on my mind. So here are some awesome pumpkin recipes too!

Apple Tart

Apples

Apple Tart
This is absolutely one of my favorite things to do with apples. It is an amazing dessert that is loved by all. This is the thing I make if I need a dessert quick. I usually have all of the ingredients and I can whip it up in 20 minutes, throw it in the oven, and in an hour have something great. The crust is buttery and tender.
This recipe comes from my mother. It is something my sister makes, and is loved by her family as well. I use Granny Smith apples, but any cooking apple will work well.
Ingredients
3 large apples
1/2 cup (one stick) soft butter
1/4 cup unsifted powdered sugar
1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 TBS melted butter
For pastry, cream butter with powdered sugar until fluffy.(I use a hand mixer for this.) Then mix in 1 cup of the flour (still using hand mixer) to make a soft dough. When the dough comes together mix dough with hands until you can shape it into a ball. Using fingertips, press dough into a tart pan, or flat on a foil or parchment paper lined cookie sheet, to make a free form tart.
(I usually make it free form.)
Core and slice peeled apples, (you can also use unpeeled apples) and arrange overlapping on top of dough. In a bowl stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and remaining 1/4 cup flour and cinnamon. Sprinkle over apples. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake in 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.
Dried Apple Rings
Did you know that you don't need a dehydrator to dry stuff? You can do it on the lowest heat in your oven. For me that's 170 degrees Fahrenheit. I've been drying apples for years with my abundance. The wonderful thing about these is that they last a very long time. I had some in my pantry for 2 years, I kid you not, and they were perfectly good. I do use sugar and dry them well. It's the moisture that would make them mold so if you plan to keep them for long unrefrigerated, I would also make sure they are quite dry.
Instructions
Core and slice some apples as thin as you can. I use a V slicer or a mandoline similar to this one for this task. It makes it super easy to get the slices as thin as I want them. If you are using a knife, just slice them as thin as you can get them.
I coat the slices with powdered sugar using a sifter and dusting it on. I use powdered sugar because it dissolves well onto the apples. I'm sure regular sugar would work also. You can also choose not to use sugar. I do because I like it, and I was using Granny Smith apples that were tart so the sweet contrast was nice. I also believe that the coating of sugar helps to prevent them from browning.
If you don't use sugar you may need to treat them with lemon juice to prevent browning. Other ways to accomplish this is using a vitamin c tablet dissolved in some water. Dunk the slices in that for a few minutes, dry them and they are ready to go. Or dunking them in a bowl of salt water also works well to prevent browning in fruits.
Preheat your oven to 170 degrees.
Line some cookie sheets with foil, or you can only use foil with no cookie sheet. Lightly grease the foil and place your apple slices in rows next to each other without overlapping.
Put them in the oven and bake them for anywhere from 2 hours to 4 hours or so. It depends how thin you are able to slice them. After an hour of so I turn them over to cook on the other side. This can usually be done with your fingers, since the oven temperature is so low.
When they are quite dry, remove them and store them in an airtight container, after they have cooled.
Apple Leather
Here is another great thing to do with apples. Perfect for snacks. And you can do this in the oven too!
Instructions
Make some applesauce. To do this just peel, core and chop up some apples. Throw them in a pot with a little water, just enough so the bottom of the pan won't scorch. On medium high heat, cook the apple, stirring often. They will get soft cook down and look like applesauce in 15-20 minutes or so. Add sugar and spices to taste if you'd like. Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cloves all make good choices. Or you may use prepared applesauce, or really any fruit puree. Like plums, or peaches, just dice and cook the fruit in a pan, then puree in a food processor or blender.
Here is a good site with numerous fruit leather ideas.
Pour the applesauce into a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides) lined with foil and greased. It should be about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch deep. If it's deeper it will just take longer to cook. It will take 2-3 cups of applesauce to fill a typical jelly roll pan.
Cook it on the lowest setting of your oven for 8 hours or so. You can also cook it overnight. It should be dry not tacky but still pliable when done. Peel it off the foil and cut it into strips, or leave it in one piece and roll it up in plastic wrap like a fruit roll up. Store it in the refrigerator.
Make Your Own Pectin from apples
Apple Recipes from the Washington State Apple Commission

Pumpkin Seeds ready to give

Pumpkins
Pumpkin is a great vegetable. It is sweet and mild and has so many sweet and savory applications as well as being great for you. It is extremely high in beta carotene which is an antioxidant that converts to Vitamin A in the body Only one cup of the vegetable provides 171% of the daily requirement of Vitamin A. It is full of minerals and low in calories. The seeds are great for you as well, they are high in magnesium, manganese, iron and copper, and a good source of protein. That's my kind of healthy eating!

Scooping out the cooked pumpkin

Why not just use canned pumpkin? Canned pumpkin is fine, but I find comfort in knowing I don't have to rely on canned if it's not available. Like the great Pumpkin Shortage of 2009. When Libby, the biggest producer of canned pumpkin in the U.S. makes 85% of all of it, that's a big responsibility if something goes wrong, like it did last year. Since I grow my own, I know it's organic and where it came from. Not to mention that it's not from a can, so no BPA from the lining of the can. Of course you don't have to grow your own, you can easily find them in stores this time of year.
Sorting out the pumpkin seeds

Let's start with selecting pumpkins. Pumpkins are a type of Winter squash. Most of these squashes taste about the same. A popular eating variety and the kind I grow in my garden are Sugar Pie pumpkins. They are small and tasty. If you don't see small eating pumpkins in your local store, you can use Butternut squash or Acorn squash like you would pumpkin and no one would be the wiser. I recently used only butternut squash to make a pumpkin pie, it was delicious and I would never know it wasn't pumpkin if I didn't make it myself. These other squashes also have seeds, and can be treated the same as pumpkin seeds.

Jack O Lantern pumpkins are not the kind you want for eating. They are grown for size and structural strength, and can be bland, watery, and stringy. They are edible, but really should just be used for carving. But definitely eat the seeds from them! (I've included some seed recipes below.)

Preparing Pumpkin

First let's talk about how to prepare the pumpkin or squash in a pureed form similar to the form that's in a can.

1. Cut your pumpkin (or other winter squash) in half and dig out the seeds and put aside.

2. Place the squash cut side down on a cookie sheet. (Lined with foil for easier cleanup if you'd like.)

3. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes to an hour or so. Until very tender. Prick it with a fork to test.

4. Set on counter to cool.

5. When cool, with a spoon scoop out the flesh into a bowl. You will be left with just with the thin skin remaining, discard the skin.

6. Puree the flesh of the squash in a food processor or blender. This can be done with a food mill also. It's not absolutely necessary to puree it, it's smoother and silkier in a pie if it is, but I've also made a pie by just using the pulp after scooping it. It gave the pie a little more texture. I liked it, but it is not traditional.

This puree freezes very well. Now the puree is ready to make a pie, or a silky soup, or for making pumpkin leather! (recipe below.)

Pumpkin Leather

Making pumpkin leather is a great way to get children to eat their vegetables. It tastes like pumpkin pie!
It can also be cut into jack o lantern shapes for a fun Autumn party.

Ingredients

2 1/2 to 3 cups pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1/2 to 1 cup sweetener (honey or maple syrup works very well) sugar or brown sugar can also be used. If using brown, sift it first to eliminate lumps.
cinnamon to taste (about 1 tsp.)
pumpkin pie spice to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
other spices to taste, like ginger, allspice, nutmeg, or cloves (optional)


Mix all ingredients together and taste as you go. The taste will be a little more concentrated once it is transformed into leather, but not by much. So make sure it tastes good now!

Pour this mixture into a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides) that is lined with foil and greased pretty well. The thickness should be on the thicker side (about 1/4 inch), as when this leather dries, it has a tendency to shrink and break apart as it dries, more than a fruit leather. When it is thicker, it is less likely to do this.

Alternately, you may use part pumpkin and part applesauce. It will be less likely to break as it dries.

Cook in low oven, 170 degrees for about 8 hours or overnight. When it is done, it will be dry, not tacky, but still pliable. When cool, roll up with plastic wrap or cut into strips or shapes. Keep stored in airtight container.


Pumpkin Seeds

This is one of my favorite snacks this time of year, and this is my favorite way to prepare them!

Salty, Spicy, Sweet Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

2 cups Pumpkin seeds
olive oil
1/4 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon
cinnamon, about 1 tsp
pumpkin pie spice about 1/2 tsp
cayenne pepper just a little, about 1/8 of a tsp (optional)
salt


Take your seeds and wash them and pick off the bits of squash. Dry them on a clean towel.

Toss them with about 1 tablespoon olive oil and some salt.

Line a cookie sheet with some foil and dump the seeds on it. Lay the seeds out in a single layer.

Cook them in a 275 degree oven for an hour and a half or so. You can raise the heat if you are in a hurry to 300, it will take 40 minutes to one hour. Stir and check them every 20 minutes or so.
They will be done when they have some color, when they've browned a bit. Eat one, it should be nice and crunchy.

You can go ahead and eat them now if you like, roasted and salted.

If you'd like them spiced, then place the seeds in a bowl.

Put a skillet on medium high heat and add the 1/4 cup sugar and another tablespoon of olive oil.

Wait for the sugar to melt. This will take a few minutes. Meanwhile, mix the spices together with the extra tablespoon of sugar.

When the sugar is melted, add the seeds and the spice mixture. Toss it all together and lay it on a cookie sheet. When cooled, you may need to break them up a bit.

By cooking them a second time in a pan with the sugar, it makes the spices, sugar and salt stick to the seeds well.

Some clever pumpkin seed variations over on Chow.com

Some Pumpkin Links

How To Cure Pumpkins from The University Of Illinois

How To Prepare Pumpkin from AllRecipes

Lots of Pumpkin Recipes from Pumpkin Nook

4 Soups, $5.00, 15 Minutes Prep in the Crockpot, Again!

Tuscan White Bean and Spinach Soup topped with fresh Parmesan

This blog post accompanies my talk on BTO for Friday July 30th.
**Edited to add- cinnamon roll recipe I spoke about here!

I had such a great time last time making soups in the crockpot for 5 bucks or less I decided to do it again! This time with a few more exotic options.

Lets get to the recipes!

Tuscan White Bean and Spinach Soup

Ingredients

3/4 lb dried small white beans- a whole bag is 1.09, so for this about .80 cents
2 sm cans (15 oz each) diced tomatoes, mine are .59 cents each, so 1.20
pkg frozen spinach, chopped (sm box) 1.25
4-8 cloves garlic, minced (I used about 6) .30
1/2 med onion , chopped.20
1 stalk celery diced .10
1 large carrot chopped .12
5 cups water or homemade broth or a combination of both
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
dried Italian seasoning, or if you don't have that, you'll want some basil, oregano, parsley and thyme and perhaps some rosemary, about 1 tsp each, or start with 1/2 tsp each, and taste it, adjust accordingly.

TOTAL $3.97

Directions

The night before, place beans in a bowl covered with water by 4 inches or so. They will expand.

The next morning when you are ready to make the soup, drain the beans and place in crockpot. And everything else except the spinach. Cook on high for 6-7 hrs. or low for 10-12. During the last half hour of cooking add the spinach and heat through. Remove the bay leaves. You can puree some of the beans to thicken it if you wish. Delicious topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Options- Use fresh spinach, it will take 4-6 cups or so. The directions for it are the same, just add it in at the end of cooking. Or you can use kale or escarole.

If you want to add meat, ground beef is good, or small meatballs, add them precooked at any time.

You can add pasta to this also to make it very hearty. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup during the last hour of cooking. It expands alot, so beware.

Pesto would be a good topper for this as well.



Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients
1 lb red lentils-mine are from the bulk dept. at Fred Meyer-1.99 lb
1/2 med size onion, chopped .20
1 cup potato peeled and diced, I used 1 med potato .25
2 cloves garlic, minced .10
1 sm can (15 oz) diced tomatoes .59
8 cups water or homemade vegetable stock
2-4 tsp paprika (I used part sweet paprika, and some smoked paprika, your choice)
1-2 tsp salt (to taste) be careful if you are using bouillon or broth it may add a good deal of salt
cumin about 1 tsp (or more if you like)
coriander about 1 tsp (to taste)
2 bay leaves
2 or 3 pieces roasted red bell peppers chopped(from a jar) .50 (or if you have a fresh red bell pepper, than by all means add that, chopped.)
1/2 to 1 tablespoon vinegar for the end of cooking
TOTAL $3.63

Directions

Add everything to the crockpot except vinegar. Cook for 6-8 hours on high, or about 10 hrs on low. At the end of cooking, taste and adjust spices as necessary, add the vinegar. And remove the bay leaves. Puree with a stick blender, or regular blender or food processor if desired. Red lentils cook down alot, they don't keep their shape as well as the brown variety, so it will be sort of almost pureed.

Beef Barley Soup

Ingredients

1 lb. Beef Stew Meat (which is Round Steak) or you may use Chuck Roast or Chuck Steak, Chuck has a little more fat, and some would say a little more flavor, Round is much leaner, your choice.

Mine is from Stewarts, both are about the same price at $3. 39 lb.

1 onion chopped .33

1 lg carrot chopped .12

one stalk celery chopped .10

one clove garlic chopped .5

one cup barley (the whole pkg of barley at Fred Meyer is .59 cents for 1 lb.) one cup is less than 1/2 pkg. .30

bay leaf

4 0r 5 shakes of Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp dried Thyme

1/.2 tsp dried Basil

1/2 tsp dried Oregano

4 cups water or broth

Salt and pepper to taste

TOTAL $4.74

Directions

Cut the beef in cubes if it's not already. Salt and pepper all of the beef. In a large pan add a little oil. Heat the pan to med high. Wait until the pan is very hot. Sear the meat in batches, making sure not to crowd the pan. Turn the meat to get a nice sear on all sides. Add the meat to the crockpot.

** If you are on a very tight schedule and don't have time to sear the meat, go ahead and throw it in the crockpot as is. (After it's been salt and peppered.) The sear you get from pre browning it gives it a nice flavor, but the meat is still going to be nice and tender.


Add everything else to the crockpot as well. Cook on low is best for 10-12 hrs. Cooking the meat low and slow is going to result in yummy falling apart tender meat. If you need to cook it on high go ahead, for about 7 hrs. When finished taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Remove bay leaf.

Options- You can add sliced or chopped mushrooms to this. Or you can omit the beef and add a pound of fresh mushrooms sliced or chopped and have mushroom and barley soup.

If you want a more meaty soup, you can increase the beef, up to 2 lbs.

Persian Split Pea and Barley Stew

This recipe is based on one from the Moosewood Cookbooks

Ingredients

1/2 cup barley (from 1 lb bag which is .59 cents at Fred Meyer) .20

1-2 garlic cloves minced .10

bay leaf

1 cup split peas (from 1 lb pkg, less than 1/2 the pkg) .42

one small onion chopped .33

1 lg carrot chopped .12

2 medium potatoes peeled and diced into cubes .50

one 15 oz can diced tomatoes .59

1/2 to 1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 to 1 tsp ground cardamom

pinch to 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

6 cups water or broth or combination of both

bay leaf

lemon juice for finishing (optional)

fresh parsley chopped for finishing (optional)

TOTAL $2.26 This amount baffles me! This stew has so much flavor and is so unique. But I warn you, you must like cardamom to like this dish. It's not for everyone, but I think it's absolutely delicious.

Directions

Place everything besides potatoes in crockpot. Cook for 10-12 hrs on low, or 7-8 on high. Add the diced potatoes at the last hour or 2 of cooking. OR if that isn't convenient for you, you may add the potatoes in the beginning, they will just be quite soft, but if that doesn't bother you, then go for it! When the stew is done, taste and adjust seasonings as necessary, remove bay leaf, and if using, stir in some lemon juice, and top the bowls with some chopped parsley.

Spices

A note about the spices in these recipes. I talked last time about buying spices, but if you are reading this and didn't read my last post, this is for you. The best place to buy spices is in bulk at a natural food store. In this area, the co-op in Olympia has bulk spices very inexpensively. Also Fred Meyer has a bulk spice section. This allows you to buy only the quantity that you wish. It really cuts down on waste, and lets you try different spices you wouldn't have tried otherwise.

Crockpot and Energy Usage

Did you know? Using the crockpot instead of the stove can save you money.
This Blogger Energy Miser 101, states that using her stove for 3 hours to cook a soup takes one dollars worth of energy, whereas using her slow cooker for 8 hours to make the same soup only cost .20 cents! She states that if she cooked a soup in the crockpot every week with a savings each time of .80 cents, she could save $50.00 a year!

This article, How to Use Less Energy While Cooking, states that using a crockpot costs .2 cents an hour, whether on high or low. Using an electric oven costs .30-.60 cents an hour, a gas oven is between .5-.10 cents an hour.

4 Soups, 15 minutes, less than $5.00!

black bean and vegetable chili

This post is to accompany my talk on BTO for Monday 6/21/2010

I told Nancy and Elena this week I wanted to do a talk on making soups and stews in the crockpot, and that each one would be, under $5.00 (for the whole pot), take less than 15 minutes in prep work to make, and be made in the crockpot. I let them know I would take them some of the soups to taste for themselves.
The reason I wanted to do this is because I just know that if the people who don't cook, knew how easy it could be, so simple, and so inexpensive, that perhaps they may give it a try. I thought doing it in the crockpot would work well since you can leave it unattended. Perfect for us who want delicious food with very little effort. The crockpot (or slow cooker) allows you to leave your dinner cooking away unattended while you are away at work. To come home after working all day to a delicious and healthy meal hot and ready to be eaten is a wonderful thing.

These soups are really the definition of alchemy itself. Which is turning something of little value, into something of great value. I love that about cooking with simple inexpensive ingredients.
The great thing about these recipes specifically, is that they are based on dried beans and peas, and canned tomato products for the most part. Since these are good food storage items, you can learn and feel comfortable about using them. Also since you may store these items in the pantry, if you don't have alot of fresh food in the fridge, you can throw together a great pot of food! And if fresh vegetables aren't readily available, dried garlic, or dried onion can be used instead of fresh. Dried celery or celery salt and dried carrots may be used, instead of fresh, or be omitted altogether.

Here are some points I want to make before getting into the recipes.

1. Broth or soup base- The best broth available to you is broth you've made yourself. I buy chicken with the bone so I can freeze the bones until I have enough to make chicken broth. Also when I have celery or carrots that are wilting, I freeze them to make vegetable broth in the future. I figure since these items would be wasted anyway, the broth is basically free. You'd be surprised how much flavor you can coax out of a few vegetables. Once I only had some celery and some onion to make a broth out of, this time I used the celery leaves as well. (You normally wouldn't use the leaves because the flavor is very strong in the leaves and it might overpower your broth.) So I basically made a celery broth. I used it as the base of a chili recipe.
So the cool flavor of the celery worked well with the boldness and spiciness of the chili.
If you don't want to make broth, you don't need to buy it. Canned broth doesn't add very much in my opinion. On the other hand, you can make a broth with bouillon, (there are many good makers of bouillon these days, natural stores are a good place to find them.) You can also purchase a soup base. In the bulk spice section (locally the Olympia Co-Op is a good place for this) they sell vegetable, chicken and beef soup base.
Also, sometimes you don't need bouillon or broth you just need water. I'll specify what I think will work best in the recipes.

2.Spices- The best place to buy spices is the bulk section of a local natural food store. Locally, for me it's the Olympia Food Co-Op. Another option is Fred Meyer also has a bulk spice section.The great thing about buying spices in bulk is if it's something you aren't going to use much of you can just buy a teaspoon of it. So many times in the past I've purchased a jar from the grocery store of a spice I never needed to use again until 5 years later. Spices are best if used within 1-2 yrs so this is such a great way to purchase spices. Also even if you buy a whole jars worth, it's going to be a fraction of the price of that jar in the store. I'm always shocked about how little my spices cost there.

Another local source for spices that you can't find at the co-op, is a wonderful place in Downtown Olympia called Bucks Fifth Avenue. They carry every spice imaginable at very low prices. They will also ship to you, no minimum. This is a wonderful little store! If you go into downtown Olympia often this is a wonderful place to check out.

If you don't have a store with spices in bulk nearby, in regular grocery stores they have a "Hispanic" section where you sometimes can find basic spices in packages for .99 cents.

Shopping-I noted where I found most items in the recipes and the price I paid for them, but another option if you want organic beans and peas, the Co Op in Olympia has organic lentils, split peas and beans in their bulk section for not a whole lot of money more.
Onto the recipes!

Black Bean and Vegetable chili (pictured above)

Ingredients
1-1lb bag of dried black beans, $1.55 at Safeway if you go to Walmart, it's under a dollar
1or 2 onions chopped, (I used 1 and 1/2 in mine) .33 cents. Based on 3 onions in 1 lb, at 1.00 a lb.
2 carrots chopped fine, carrots loose, were 60 cents a lb at Fred Meyer where I bought mine, there were 6 in a lb, so the price here is .20 cents.
2 cloves of garlic, chopped. garlic is cheap. My estimate is .10 cents.
2 stalks celery. chopped fine. Celery is usually 1.00 for a bunch. The estimate is .20 cents
1 large, (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes, or 2 smaller ones, Safeway large can tomatoes is $1. 69, but at Fred Meyer I bought some small cans (15 oz) of diced tomatoes for .59 cents each, so if I used those, this estimate would be even less!
2-3 tablespoons chili powder (I chose not to figure in for the spices, since most people have a basic spice cabinet, but if you need to purchase them in bulk separately, they will be very little.
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

total cost for whole batch $ 4.07 serves 4-6 big servings

optional for more spice- a diced jalapeno, a canned chipoltle pepper, or dried chipoltle pepper, or cayenne, or crushed red pepper. Depending on how spicy you like it.
optional for more vegetables, you could add some diced squash or some bell pepper, corn would also be great in this.
optional for meat-add some browned ground beef or some browned stew meat. Or even browned ground turkey or ground chicken, shredded chicken would be good too.
optional for topping-cheese or sour cream
Directions

Soak dried beans overnight in water. The next day rinse beans and place in crockpot with 2 cups of water or water mixed with bouillon. Either is fine. Add all other ingredients and stir.
Cook on low for about 12 hrs at least, on high for probably 8-10 hrs, this recipe takes some time because the dried beans need time to cook. Sometimes that's a good thing if you have to be away all day. Like most soups and stews this tastes better the next day. It also freezes well.

split pea with ham

I grew up eating split pea soup, this is one of my very favorite things to eat.

Super cheap too if you don't need the ham. I made mine with the ham, (My husband is a meat eater) although I can take it or leave it personally.

Ingredients

a 1 lb bag of split peas at Fred Meyer where I bought these they were a whopping .85 cents!

1 carrot chopped fine, .10 cents

1 or 2 stalks celery .10 cents

one onion or 1/2 onion chopped fine .33 cents

bay leaf

ham -which is optional, 3.50 for a ham steak I found at Fred Meyer

salt and pepper to taste

Total cost for whole batch which serves about 4 people $1.38! without ham

with the ham, $4.88 (still under 5 bucks)

also optional- a ham bone for cooking to accentuate the ham flavor if you have ham lovers, if it has meat on it, you can shred the meat off of it and use it in the soup.

Directions

Throw it all in a crockpot, along with 5 cups of water to start if you want it thick, you will probably need to add more later, otherwise you can use 6 or 7 cups. (I like mine thick). As it cools it will thicken more, just add a little water to reach your desired consistency.

Cook on low for 8 hrs or high for 6.

Minestrone with ground beef

This soup is so hearty and flavorful. Since it is broth based, it is one that benefits from the use of homemade broth or a broth made with a soup base, or bouillon. The meat really is optional, it's great and filling without it.

Ingredients

2 Sm cans (15 oz) diced tomatoes. Mine were .59 cents each. so $1.18

1 onion, chopped .33 cents

1 can kidney beans or garbanzo beans or a can of each if you wish, I used kidney, .85 cents

2 chopped carrots .20 cents

2 celery ribs, chopped .20 cents

3 cloves garlic, chopped .15 cents

1/2 to 1 cup pasta (I used macaroni) and I used 1 cup, it's alot of pasta, if you don't want that much just go with the 1/2 cup. 1 cup pasta .50 cents (based on 1 box being 2 cups and 1.00.)

4 cups homemade broth or broth made with soup base or bouillon

1-2 tsp dried basil

1-2 tsp dried oregano

2 bay leaves

a pinch of dried crushed red pepper (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

total cost for whole batch $3.41 serves 4-6

optional for more veggies, add some chopped zucchini or other squash, or add some spinach

optional for meat, add 1 lb browned ground beef

Directions

Add all ingredients to crockpot except pasta. Cook on low for 6 hrs or on high for 4 or so. The last 45 min. of cooking add the pasta, and turn to high (if it's already on low.) And cook an additional 30-45 min. until pasta is done.

This is nice with Parmesan cheese on top, or even a spoonful of pesto.

Lentil soup with kielbasa

Lentil soup is so wonderful and nutritious. It's full of fiber and iron. This is another soup that doesn't need meat, but my husband likes to eat meat in most main dishes. (And all of these we ate as a main dish.) So that's why mine is shown with the kielbasa in the above picture. If you are also a meat lover, kielbasa is a nice choice for this soup, but sausage is good too.

Ingredients

1 lb bag of lentils .97 cents at Safeway

1 Sm (15 oz) can tomatoes .59 cents Fred Meyer

1 onion chopped .33 cents

2 ribs of celery chopped .20 cents

2 carrots chopped .20 cents

2 cloves chopped garlic .10 cents

4-5 cups homemade broth or water with bouillon or just plain water works too

1-2 tsp dried basil

1-2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried parsley

1 pinch of dried red pepper flakes (optional)

a splash of vinegar at the end for finishing

salt and pepper to taste

total cost for whole batch $2.39 serves 6 at least

optional for meat- add a diced browned kielbasa, or a pound of browned Italian sausage

optional for more veggies- add a package of chopped spinach

Directions

Add everything except vinegar to crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hrs, or high for 5 hrs. When done cooking add a splash of vinegar for a little brightness. Or lemon juice works for this too. You can't really taste it, it just wakes it up a little bit.

What to look for when buying hens and What to Do with an Abundance of Eggs

This post is to accommodate my talk on BTO for Thursday, June 26th, 2010.

****EDITED TO ADD 5/29/2010 the link for battery hens in the UK, down where the links are.
And at the end of this article, more things to do with an abundance of eggs!****

I wanted to talk about buying full grown hens, since I figure that many people must be like me, in that when they are ready for chickens, they are ready for eggs too! Meaning they don't want to wait 6 months for fresh eggs by raising chicks. The minute my hen house was ready I was out purchasing laying hens from anyone I could find. I made a few mistakes, so now that I'm a little wiser, (just a little) I wanted to share what I've learned.

I also want to mention that raising chicks, or buying fertile eggs and hatching them yourself is the safest way (less likely to have disease) by far. Also people have mentioned to me that it is rewarding raising them from chicks to hens.

1. Determine what breed suits your needs

Do you want hens only for the eggs?

Do you want them to be raised for meat and for their eggs?

Do you care what they look like, do you want them to be pretty? And what's your definition of pretty?

Do you want a rooster to eventually raise chicks yourself? I don't recommend getting a rooster at first, unless you are sure you are going to want to raise chicks soon. And if you do get one, I'd suggest reading up on the pleasures of dealing with a rooster.

If you do want to raise chicks you will want at least a few hens that will go broody. (Which means they will want to sit on eggs to hatch as chicks. If you don't want to raise chicks you will want birds that have the broodiness bred out of them. (A common example is a Rhode Island Red.)

Do you want them to be "nice" and let you handle them? Cochin's are good in that sense.

Do you care about the color of their eggs? Brown eggs and white of course are typical, but there are chickens (a popular type is an araucana) that lay "Easter egg" colors. Like pink and blue. That's a fun thing to have.

Here are a few guides to different breeds of chickens to look at.


Backyard Chickens-Breed Chart

Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University

The Omlet Guide to Buying Chickens A UK site

UK site for battery hens

another UK site for chicken adoption for battery hens



2. Find a local source that sells the breed you are looking for

call them and ask some questions.

How many chickens do they have?

How long have they been raising chickens?

What is their method of preventing bugs/worms?
If their answer is they spray the birds and the coop with Sevin, be aware that is a poison, and you need to wait 10 days or so after spraying to eat the hens eggs. That's how toxic it is.

A good way of preventing or doing away with worms is food grade Diatomaceous Earth. Read more about DE here Wolf Creek Ranch. Including dosage amounts for animals and humans.

Some will say they don't really do anything, and they've never had a problem. Be aware if they are free range chickens wild birds can come and bring in bugs with them.

Have they been vaccinated?

Note that if you want a more natural approach to the raising of your chickens, you might want to find a source that raises organic chickens.

You might not find a source that has everything on your list of criteria, but you can concentrate on what's most important to you.

3. Go and look at the birds in person

Now that you've found someone that has birds you are interested in, it's time to look at the birds for yourself.

Note that some farms have tight bio security, meaning they don't like visitors coming on their land and tracking in diseases that may spread to their flock. If this is the case, find out if there is a way to use plastic bags to cover your shoes, and if wearing gloves would be o.k.

Also if they are free range birds you are going to want to go when the sun is going down for the day and they are going in to roost for the night, it's not fun chasing after chickens.

Pick up the chickens. Look for bright eyes, make sure their eyes aren't watery.

You want them to be heavy, not skinny feeling at all.

You want them to be feisty, trying to get out of your hands, and flapping their wings. If they don't have alot of energy, I'd be concerned. Note that chickens are prey animals so they are good at hiding their sickness. Once they are showing sickness they have probably already been sick for awhile.

Look at their vent. This is where the eggs come out of. Make sure it looks moist. Make sure there are no signs of worms, this is where you see them usually. Also make sure their vent feathers are relatively clean.

Look at their feet. Make sure they are smooth. Not scaley. If they are scaley they might have scaley leg mites. also make sure they don't have swollen pads at the bottom of their feet, which is something called Bumble foot.

If you live in the city, here is a good site to refer to

City Chicken

I hope you find some great hens and that you enjoy raising them as much as I do!

What to do with an Abundance of Eggs

1. Make powdered eggs

It's pretty straightforward, you can do it in an oven, or a dehydrator. The video below is directions on how to do it in a regular oven. They will last 5-10 years at room temperature.
A video on how to dehydrate eggs

2. Freeze Them
There are a few ways to freeze eggs. All of them are without the shell.

*Freeze the yolks and whites seperately

*Scramble them and freeze them in ice cube trays. It will take roughly 2 "egg cubes" to equal one egg. After they are frozen remove them from trays and store in a container, or in a ziplock bag. Thaw at room temperature, or in the refrigerator. Don't thaw them in the microwave. This can cook parts of it and leave other parts still raw. If you are in a hurry, place the frozen egg cubes in a baggie, in some warm water.

*Cook them first. This can be done in a few ways. First you can scramble them and pour in a jumbo muffin pan to create the size used for a breakfast sandwich. You can do this with the eggs alone, or you can add chopped bacon or sausage or even veggies. Think of it like an omlet sandwich. You can store them in baggies to remove when needed. Or you can make up whole breakfast sandwiches and freeze those. You can also scramble them and cook them up and use them for breakfast burritos, then freeze the burritos.


Here are some dishes that use eggs

*Hard boiled eggs
*egg salad
*deviled eggs
*homemade mayonaise
*bread pudding
*french toast
*fried rice with scrambled eggs
*egg drop soup
*frittatas
*quiche
*custard or creme brulee
*crepes
*spaghetti carbonara
*egg nog
*pound cake

here are a few that use yolks only

*lemon curd
*custard based ice cream
*creme brulee

and whites only

*angel food cake
*pavlova
*meringues

What is your favorite thing to do with eggs? Let me know in the comments. Also let me know if I've forgotten any! I'm always looking for more ideas!

How to clean, green, easy and effectively!

On Tuesday, Jan. 26th, I will be talking about how to clean green and easy on my radio show on BTO.
This post is to put in writing what I'll be talking about, if you need names of products, or details etc.

Some of this information comes from my own knowledge, some of it comes from my friend Cindy Perloff who I interviewed for this article. Cindy has done cleaning professionally and is extremely good at it, I have seen her work!

How To Clean Green and Easy

Bathroom

To clean bathroom floors, first vacuum, then use warm water to clean the floor either by hand using a rag, or with a mop, or Swiffer type device using a rag in it. Or you can use a mixture of equal parts white vinegar and water to use if you feel water only won't do the job. If your floor is made of pergo, or wood, a general rule is to not let a lot of water sit on it for a long time. Just clean and wipe dry as you go.

mirrors- to clean the mirror in the bathroom use half vinegar and half water like you would Windex. Don't use paper towels, paper towels leave lint. When I worked as a nanny, the maids in the home I worked in used crumpled up newspaper for this job. If you don't have a newspaper, use an old rag that doesn't produce lint, or a microfiber rag, or a shammy type cloth.

bathtub or shower- the trick here is to clean it and maintain it. If it's quite dirty, use a mild cleanser or baking soda which is a natural cleanser and not very abrasive, or mix baking soda with a mild dish soap. A good cleanser is barkeepers friend or Bon Ami. Another cleaner that works well on tubs is Washing Soda.I mentioned in my post about how to make laundry detergent. The nearest place to buy this locally, is Fred Meyer in Lacey. It is quite useful in many areas of cleaning and natural.

A great tip Cindy gave me is after she takes a bath she uses the nylon mitts used for exfoliating or scrubbing your body, to lather up with soap (just whatever soap you've used to wash yourself) and clean the walls and tub with them. If you were to do that every time you took a bath, or even every other time, it wouldn't be much work to up keep. In the shower, Cindy uses a squeegee on the shower walls every time after showering to keep it clean, buildup and spot free. When you shower the steam helps loosen buildup, so why not clean while you're in there?

If you have a plastic shower curtain even the cheap ones can go in the washing machine. Wash it as needed. I use my nose to determine when it's time, when it smells of mildew. Don't put it in the dryer, just hang it to dry.

Toilet- to clean the toilet use the cleanser Barkeepers Friend, or another cleanser you may have, or even baking soda and vinegar. If you clean it regularly and keep the water in the toilet moving, (meaning if it's not used every day. just swish the water around every other day or so) it will prevent stains from building up. Once you have stains, it becomes a little more difficult. The two types of rings a toilet may have are either 1. stains, or 2. mineral buildup. Stains are a little easier to deal with, but the method for removing both are the same. If you have tried using cleaners and they haven't worked, use a pumice stone, (the kind to remove callouses from feet) or otherwise called a pool stone. Make sure the toilet and the stone are wet, and rub the ring. You can only use this method if you have a white porcelain toilet. Don't use this method if you have a colored toilet or a fiberglass or plastic kind of toilet.

A great tip comes from Shirley Jones (who is a friend of Cindy's) she owns a cleaning business called T and S cleaning, Shirley advises using something called an "Emery Cloth." Edited to add
my husband does not recognize this as Emery cloth, he says this is more of a drywall sanding screen. The guy at the hardware store told me it was called Emery cloth, so if it's a metal screen and flexible, and used to sand drywall, that's what you want.
This is a mesh looking weaved piece of metal material used by contractors for drywall. I purchased one a the local hardware store for a few bucks. The benefit of this over a pumice stone is that it is flexible, so you can get it in the grooves of a toilet bowl. The piece I bought was the size of a standard piece of paper. I cut off a small square to use to clean my toilet. Just make sure that it and the surface of the toilet is wet when using. Just rub it on the ring, and it will come off. I used mine on my toilet with excellent results. It didn't take much rubbing to remove a mineral ring, I am very pleased with it! With this method also, only use it if you have a porcelain toilet.

A very good discussion I found on the Internet about removing toilet rings is here at Thrifty Fun, if you are interested.

Showerhead-Unclog showerheads by filling a plastic baggie with vinegar, place the baggie over the showerhead and secure with rubber bands, leave overnight. In the morning use an old toothbrush to scrub it if needed.

Kitchen

Kitchen floors-know what your floors are made of. If they are Pergo, make sure you don't keep water on them, water gets in the seams and makes them buckle. Just wash and dry as you go. This is a good method for wood floors also which are usually laminated. Use plain water, or vinegar and water. Using a shammy or rag to dry. If you have greasy floors use anything that has a degreaser, such as dish soap along with the water.

Sink- Use a cleanser, whatever you have. Bon Ami, or Barkeepers Friend. Barkeepers Friend is good on Stainless Steel sinks.

Windows- a solution of equal parts vinegar and water, to dry use newspaper or a rag, or a shammy that doesn't leave lint.

Dishwasher- if you use a dishwasher here are some tips I have learned that I feel are useful.

-Only use the "normal" cycle. This is the cycle that has been tested the most by the manufacturer, and is the cycle that probably works the best.

-Don't use as much soap as recommended. Usually you can use about half that much with equally as good results. This will depend on what type of water you have. We have a water softener so we can use much less detergent. Too much detergent can also cause etching in glasses.

Don't put silver and stainless flatware in the dishwasher at the same time. You can however clean them separately in the dishwasher, just not together. The 2 metals react with each other and cause irreparable damage.

-Use a detergent that is labeled as "green". Or better for the environment. I buy the Trader Joe's brand I get from there. But I may start making my own, using Borax and baking soda, more on that here, at the Green Phone Booth. Traditional dish washing detergents contain phosphates which are hard on the environment.

Pots and pans- if you have a pan with caked on food, use baking soda mixed with a little water to make a paste and scrub. Use a little more water and boil it if needed and let sit for an hour. This method can also be used with salt, which is another natural abrasive as well as an antidote to grease.

Kitchen Sponges-If you use a sponge to clean dishes you probably already know how germy they can get. To keep the bacteria at bay you can microwave the sponge for 2 minutes (make sure the sponge is wet, because essentially you are boiling the sponge) or if you don't use a microwave you can throw it in the dishwasher when you do dishes, or you can simply boil the sponge in water.

Cutting Boards-My plastic cutting boards I throw in the dishwasher, however you cannot place wood cutting boards in the dishwasher because they may split. So for my wooden boards I use baking soda on them to rid them of smells from cutting garlic and other smelly things. Just make a paste with a little water and rub it on. Works almost immediately.

Misc. Tips

Cindy told me one of the smartest cleaning tips she knew had to do with mold. She said bleach does get rid of mold, but there is an essential oil based cleaner made by Young Living called Thieves that if you use it on mold the mold will NEVER come back.

Tortillas

Cinnamon Sugar flour tortilla chips with fruit salsa

I'm not Mexican, or Hispanic of any kind, so I'm not an expert on tortilla making. But I am a person who consumes tortillas. I think it is a good policy to know how to make some of the foods I buy. One reason for this is because there may be a day it won't be available at my local grocery store. Another reason is that I can decide if I want to keep buying it, or I can choose to make it from scratch from now on. It's a good feeling knowing how to make things, especially those things that come out much better than store bought.

My oven broke. Very sad for me, but alas, it will be repaired soon. Nevertheless, I had to decide what to talk about on my radio show on BTO. Anything that involved an oven was out. Last time I talked about flatbread and how wonderful it is. Elena did mention corn tortillas during that discussion, but I didn't know much about making them then. Now I do. I wanted to know how to make them, and now I want to share how wonderful it is to make them!

First I made flour tortillas. Flour tortillas are not that much different from the flat bread I talked about last week, pretty basic. You do need to roll them pretty thin to resemble tortillas. But it's easy and they make great chips. I fried these babies up, sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar and served them with fruit salsa. This dish is a real crowd pleaser. I think I'm going to make this for an appetizer for Thanksgiving dinner.

corn tortillas

Then I made corn tortillas. I am so happy I decided to make these. These are extremely easy as well. 2 ingredients, that's all it takes.Masa Harina which is corn flour, and water. You almost don't need directions, mix to make a dough, roll them up, cook them and they're done.

They have a great fresh corn taste, much better than store bought. My plan is to become a pro at making these. Never again will I have to run to the store for tortillas, with the Masa Harina in the cupboard, I will be ready at a moments notice to make these scrumptious treats.

Flour Tortillas

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tablespoon softened butter- or lard if you have it

3/4 cup water

Whisk dry ingredients together in bowl. Mix butter or lard into the dry ingredients with your fingers or 2 knives until it resembles cornmeal. Add water and mix until a dough forms.

Place on lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, just a few minutes. Then divide the dough into 12 equal portions. This is an easy task when you divide it into 2, then divide that one in half, then in thirds. Roll the portions into a ball.

On the floured surface, use a rolling pin, (or something that resembles a rolling pin) to roll out the dough into a thin round tortilla, about 6 inches across. If the dough is too sticky, use a little more flour. Repeat until you've rolled out all of the dough balls.

Preheat a sturdy pan to med high to high heat, or use a griddle. (I used a griddle on the highest heat it would go which was 400 degrees.) You want the pan hot enough so it blisters the tortilla to form little brown dots on the surface.

Cook the tortillas one at a time in a dry pan. (on my griddle I could do 2 at a time.)

On the first side cook 1 minute or so. Then flip it over and cook for about 30 seconds on the second side. Don't cook them too long, or your tortilla will become hard. If you aren't getting any color on them, (the little brown spots) you need to turn up the heat.

I made chips of mine by cutting them into triangles using a pizza cutter, then frying them in hot oil for just a minute or 2 until crisp. Then I sprinkled them with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar when just out of the oil. I flipped them over and sprinkled the other side as well.

Alternately, you can brush the tortillas with some butter, and sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture then cut into triangles with a pizza cutter and bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until crisp.

Fruit Salsa

This recipe is really just the fruit of your choice, try to use fruits that complement each other while being different, (i.e. sweet and tart) mixed with a little jam to bring the flavors together, some sugar if you think it needs it, and some lemon to keep the fruit from browning. Here's what I used this time.
1 apple
2 kiwi fruit
some strawberries
about 1 tablespoon of jam (whatever flavor you like that you think would meld well with the fruit)
1/2 lemon

Dice up the fruit into small bits. Add the juice of the 1/2 lemon. Add the jam and stir. Taste it to see if you think it needs anything else, it may need sweetener, add sugar or honey or whatever you choose. Let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so to let the flavors meld and serve.
This is wonderful the next day on yogurt or cereal.

Corn Tortillas

Since this recipe is only 2 ingredients, it's best to use good Masa Harina. I used the Bobs Red Mill brand which can be purchased at a health food store, or some grocery stores. Mexican or Hispanic markets will carry other brands as well. Try to get a brand where the only ingredients are corn and lime.

There are directions on the back of the package of the Bobs Red Mill brand, that's what I followed. I will put them here with some notes.

2 cups Masa Harina
1 cup water
a little salt (optional)
Mix them together in a bowl until a dough forms. Add a little water if necessary. Shape into 14 balls. and cover with moist towel to prevent from drying out. (they mean this, it does dry out pretty quick, but it's also forgiving. If you add a little water you can rehydrate it again easily.)
Place 1 ball between sheets of plastic (a gallon size heavy duty freezer bag cut in 2 pieces works well for this and is stronger than plastic wrap) and flatten into 6 inch disc. If you have a tortilla press, by all means use that. You will get more consistent results. I don't have one so I used a rolling pin. You want to get them pretty thin (especially if you are making them into chips) but if you are using for a taco or something else, reasonably thin is fine. The more you do this the more you will get the hang of it and how thin you want them to be.
You can work the dough over and over again if needed. Corn does not have gluten in it, so it's not like a typical dough where it would get tough if overworked.
Continue to roll out the tortillas and keep them on a plate between 2 damp towels. Or you can roll them out and cook them as soon as you roll them. Then roll another and cook it, etc.
Cook on a preheated dry griddle, or sturdy pan on medium high to high heat, one side for one minute, then flip to other side and cook for 30 seconds more. They should be pliable when done. If they are crisp, you've cooked them too long. Store them in a tortilla holder, or between 2 towels.
Tortillas freeze well and thaw quickly so it's a good idea to make more than you plan to eat and keep them in the freezer for the future.