Food Connections

English Toffee Cookies and Bedtime Stories

2012-01-30T08:18:00.000-08:00

Guest post by Finn the Cooking Assistant (aka the dog picker)

Once again I discovered a misplaced recipe in heap of recipes destined for recycling. As I sniffed the pile, a faint but delicious scent of vanilla and cinnamon with a hint of walnuts teased my nostrils.

The recipe said, "English Toffee Cookies. 4/29/74." The words "Excellent & pretty rich" scrawled off to one side caught my eye. I placed the recipe near the basket of nuts from Grouse Mountain Farm.

To make things happen around here, everything has to be in the right place at the right time.

I love walnuts but I can't remove the shells myself. That's where humans come in--a person can crack these nuts from Grouse Mountain Farm with their hands. FYI--it's more work than you think to bring the nuts to the canine who has an expanded range of tastes. Check out this video.

Canines must be super-obvious about what we want. I'm talking over-the-top--an intense stare with saliva trailing out the side of your mouth is your best bet, otherwise humans are so tuned into their Iphones and Ipods they'd never get the message.

My dog park buddies can't believe I like nuts. "You like what??" they'll ask pausing over a stick or ball, as if I'd said I love eating drywall. Clearly we're a nation of dogs who have been eating the same things for much too long. Got kibble. Really? It's time to branch out. But try and get dogs to change, move beyond their usual routines and that's when they seem most like humans mired in their ways and living in denial about it.

It's really not all that surprising, but then again, none of my dog park buddies grew up listening to bedtime stories or learned to read books as puppies (not even the know-it-all German shepherd, though he claimed he read Garth Stein's book when I first met him.)

These were my favorite stories when I was young.

An interruption of one of those stories led to my discovery of walnuts.

I mentioned in my last post old Abe was my unwilling mentor, and he was possibly the greatest unsung food thief that ever lived, at least in our house. I wanted to be just like him. But Abe was always one step ahead of me.

It was just the three of us then, plus Gino the cat, who played with me from time to time and occasionally knocked things off shelves, but Gino never shared our love of the carrot or walnut.

Abe liked every thing edible, and some nonedible stuff such as pretzels, which barely pass as faux food in my book. The old guy slept with both nostrils open and never missed an opportunity to steal food. An open cupboard door, a market bag parked on the floor, a bowl of hummus carelessly left on a low table--Abe ate everything. The sly old coot once polished off an Irish coffee, licking the entire mug clean.

A surly, unrepentant lifetime sofa surfer, Abe wanted nothing to do with me, and when I didn't take him seriously and followed him where ever he went, he curled a lip and growled. But all I wanted was to be just like him--without the sorry-ass sour attitude.

So one afternoon, we sat around the lady as she read a story. I gazed at the picture of Boswell climbing the stairs as she read, "No obstacles deter me in my search for higher things." No one noticed when Abe left.

CLUNK! We all turned to look in the kitchen. Abe had spilled the basket of walnuts in the kitchen.

"Hey!" shouted the lady, standing up. I peered over the sofa and watched walnuts roll across the floor and Abe slink out of the kitchen. The lady tossed the book aside and we heard: CRUNCH, CRUNCH! Abe had stopped to chew his treasure.

The lady pried his mouth open. Pieces of walnut and shell fell out, and she said, "Who knew you liked walnuts?" She laughed, surprised.

First dog rule: laugh, and no one takes you seriously.

But humans are inconsistent and we canines use their predictably inconsistent behavior to our advantage.

Instead of taking the nut away, the lady peeled the shell, even took care to remove all the sharp pieces.

Whoa--if you can get your humans to peel nuts for you, you can get them to do anything. She handed Abe the nut. Anything that geezer dog wanted, he got.

What dog wouldn't want what Abe had?

I was by his side in a flash, as was Badger my co-conspirator. The lady cracked another nut; handed us each a piece. Badger spit out her nut, which I quickly snapped up and wolfed down.

You learn to eat first and think about it later when the pack surrounds you.

I wouldn't be surprised if the lady found empty shells in the back of Abe's crate, he'd probably been stealing them for years. Oh I was learning a lot already and I hadn't even set foot in dog school yet. (to be continued)

As a species, canines have come a long way thanks to humans--Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire, comes to mind. I think dogs were manipulating humans long before plants picked up that idea.

This recipe is a little more decadant than the usual recipes here, but in order to qualify according to Management the following can be procured locally:

Whole wheat pastry flour (Nash's Organic Produce)

Eggs (River Farm, Growing Things, Stokesbury, Skagit River Ranch)

Butter (Golden Glen Creamery)

Walnuts (Grouse Mountain Farm)

Vegans could use half a mashed banana instead of the egg (and omit the egg white brush) and a vegan equivalent of butter. The bars may not hold together as well.

English Toffee Cookies

(Makes about 3 dozen cookies)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 275F. Butter a 7 by 9-inch cake pan.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth.

3. Add the egg yolk and vanilla, mix in thoroughly. In another bowl combine the flour and cinnamon. Mix the wet and dry ingredients, using your hands to blend the mixture together.

4. Spread mixture into the pan and press the dough over the entire surface. Whip the egg white, then brush it over the top of the dough. Sprinkle the nuts over the entire surface and gently press them down before baking.

5. Bake for 1 hour. Cut into 1-inch squares while still hot. Wait until cool to carefully remove from the pan.

Carrots, Market Bags, and Stolen Treasures

2012-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Bark--a guest post by Finn the Cooking Assistant (aka the dog picker)

I read an article in a local paper the other day titled "How to Get Your Dog to Listen." Seriously? Have humans run out of other family members to write about?

According to this article, the first step is to say your dog's name.

FYI: We hound dogs don't feel any compulsion to respond to incoming messages. People have too much to say. TMI--apparently someone didn't get the email about this. And how exactly can you hold a biscuit in front of your eyes and maintain eye contact? Let me just say when you learn to get the biscuit when we point to the biscuit jar, we'll think about responding when you call our names.

Cross-species communication--all we canines hear is the human side of it.

That brings me to the subject of the day--carrots.

Management mentioned carrot season is ending soon, and those fill-in carrots from California are edible but they just aren't the same as local fare.

So I was thinking about carrots as I sniffed around for recipes. I pulled a cookbook from a discard pile and I figured it had to be some kind of mistake because the book hadn't been used enough to even pick up food scents. I pawed through the book, and found this simple carrot salad recipe. It was perfect so I left the book open for Management to find.

The lady arrived home first and picked up the book, as expected. She perused the recipe and I knew what was coming next--carrot salad. Humans think they're unique but they can be embarrassingly predictable.

I was over-the-top crazy to find 3 bunches of carrots in the market bag this week. "What to take a picture?" the lady asked. I was on my picture-taking bench in a flash.

If you love carrots as much as I do, put your order in now because carrot season at Northwest markets is winding down. And if you aren't a fan, you'd best work on it because everyone could use a few more veggies on the plate. Nash's carrots will only be around for a few more weeks, and unless we're making a special trip to the Ballard Market, which seems to have a bigger produce selection in winter, I put in my order.

The U-District farmers' market the sign says "please" and "thank you," but the message is definitely not pleasant for the canine community.

My dog park buddies rib me when I wax on about carrots, but seriously what's a dog to do in a vegetarian home? Get with the program, that's what. No spare bones at our table, unless you count celery or carrot bones.

Speaking of carrots, I'll share a story about stolen treasures.

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been adopted into this home with three dogs, two certified geezers. The aging alpha bitch passed away within days of my arrival, that left three of us: bassets, plus Gino the cat.

Abe (certified geezer with one blue eye)
Badger (Tom's dog or the girl)
Me (Finn, the Cooking Assistant and Dog Picker)
Gino, the former barn cat

Abe, slipped reluctantly into the alpha role, giving me the cold shoulder from day one.

The best days were when old Abe ignored me, but more than once he nipped me from behind, and one time when I helped myself to his food, he bit me extremely hard, even drew blood. I never whined about him to Management because I wanted to learn his tricks. I wanted what he had.

For one thing, Abe had his own easy chair that swiveled and rocked. On cold days, Management brought him warm blankets from the dryer. The word pampered comes to mind. He'd grown to be so lazy over the years that he rarely left the house except to bark at the pit bulls next door, to sleep in the sun, and to savor food finds that humans carelessly left within his reach.

I was shocked when I learned Management bought Abe's I've-got-a-bad heart routine. And sometimes he had a suspicious limp when he walked and I'd seen him run, so I didn't believe the limping either. And when I heard he'd had cancer and recovered, I figured he'd made that up, too. I once overheard Management once say, "Abe is one lucky dog."

The truth is, I wanted to be lucky, too.

Abe's con was brilliant. Feigning sleep in that overstuffed easy chair, as soon as everyone walked out the door, Abe waltzed into the kitchen like the compulsive-obsessive that he was, he pushed his nose into every cupboard. Sometimes a door would magically pop open, but most doors were hooked with rubber bands. With so many unmoveable doors and pushing them day after day, you'd think he'd get discouraged, but not Abe. After he tested every cupboard twice, he stood on his hind legs, leaned on the counter and sniffed the air just like a bear. He stretched as high as he could, laid his head sideways, then licked until the entire front of the counters were spotless, as if Management had gone over them with a sponge. Mostly he came up with crumbs, but sometimes he got lucky.

Once he snagged a buttered roll; another time he made off with a package of blue cheese. And I can't tell you how many apples disappeared when Abe was around. Management often discovered empty packages in the back of Abe's crate. Sure he'd hang his head when scolded, we all did. Abe never gave up the search for food.

One day Management came in the front door and carelessly placed two produce-laden market bags on the floor. Then they walked quickly out the front door. In less than five seconds, Abe had poked his head into a bag and came out holding a bunch of carrots. He didn't waste time looking around for Management to return; he was headed out the back door just as young Badger grabbed a head of cauliflower from the bag.

Badger was making off with the entire head as Management rounded the corner. She was caught in the act with the cauliflower heavy in her jaws. Management confiscated it as I sneaked past the shouts of "Bad Dog!" You'd think it was really bad if you heard the shouts, but none of us took Management's obligatory objections to our daily food gathering seriously. Our job is to get food; their job apparently was to yell about it. I didn't feel bad for Badger, I just wanted to know what happened to the carrots.

Abe was still gnawing on carrot number one; his teeth weren't very good anymore and the other carrots in the bunch had been tossed aside. I didn't waste time, either. I grabbed the bunch, spirited them off behind a bush and thoroughly enjoyed munching down these stolen treasures. The only trace left was the tops that practically blended in with the grass.

Within a few short weeks, I'd learned the art of counter surfing and discovered market bags were produce gold mines. Occasional scoldings with the appropriate head hanging and paw wringing from the dog who was caught came with the territory. Apparently around here the idea was to convince humans they were the leaders.

But just who the leaders of the pack are depends on your point of view. (the story continues)

Did someone say carrots?

Three cheers because we hounds finally get our own bunch of market carrots. We've come a long way since old Abe set the course.

This salad was adapted from a recipe in the Nourishing Gourmet's book, Fresh Nourishing Salads for All Seasons which was mistakenly placed in a discard pile. In the book, the author mentions that these carrots lose some of their crunch if allowed to marinate too long. I wouldn't know about leaving food too long because that just doesn't happen when I'm around.

Simple Winter Carrot Salad

(Serves 4 to 6)

4 cups grated carrots (about 2 extra-large carrots)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar(or Rocksalmic from Rockridge Orchards)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/2 teaspoon honey, or to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Place shredded carrots in a bowl.

2. Whisk together balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey and olive oil in a small bowl. Gently mix in with carrots. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Snow Days Equal Soup Days

2012-01-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

I was sure I was tired of soup after making it every week for a year, but I confess, soup remains one of my favorite meals in the winter and since we've been snowed in here for the past week, I'm hungry for a bowl of comfort. That's why I was happy to find the latest issue of Vegetarian Journal in my mailbox.

Inside the magazine was the article I'd written about South American soups. As soon as I spotted the Peruvian Quinoa Chowder, I knew our dinner doldrums were on the decline.

Seriously, back to soup and Vegetarian Journal. I've been a fan of Vegetarian Resource Group before I started writing articles for Vegetarian Journal. It's hard to believe that in 1999, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Vegan Desserts was the first article I'd published with them, and I've got to say I still look forward to reading every issue. The current issue is compelling. I can't wait to read "The Ghetto Vegetarian" by Holly Green and reviews that include Big Vegan by Robin Asbell and World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan are on my "must read" list tonight. Even though I'm not big on buying more of anything these days, I have allotted myself 6 new books for 2012, so I may put these on my wish list.

(FYI: Last time I checked, you could buy Vegetarian Journal at Third Place Books and maybe at University Books, if you're interested, or you could just subscribe here.)

South American Soups

South American soups range from delicate consomme to hearty stews. From breakfast, to lunch, to dinner and dessert, soup plays an important role in daily fare since pre-Colombian times and most soups are simply flavored, drawing inspiration from the foods of indigenous populations and evolved over time as Europeans, Asians and Africans contributed flavors and ingredients.

When I started to research South American soups, I'd expected to see them laden with meat. And many are, but surprisingly meatless soups thickened with grains--dried maize (corn) or beans, quinoa, amaranth, potatoes and squash soups have ties to pre-Columbian times. According to Maria Baez Kijac in The South American Table old fashioned, thick-as-polenta soups were mostly all meatless before the Spaniards arrived. Who knew?

Meat consumption increased after the Portugeese and Spaniards arrived but even today one can find meatless porridge like hominy soup called locro in Argintina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. (However, don't ask me where, my own Cooking Assistant won't allow the vacation days.)

This recipe is a rerun from last year, but it's so perfect now because most ingredients are pantry staples. I don't have a sweet potato, so I'll use carrots and I have frozen corn not peas. But that's the beauty of soup, it's adaptable to what you have in your pantry.

One should always have a well-stocked pantry for those crazy random snow days.

Check out this cool chowder.

Whine a little for Brussels sprouts and oranges

2012-01-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

Bark--A Guest Post by the Finn the Cooking Assistant (aka the dog-picker)

I'd wanted to bark about oranges, but Management has pointed out that oranges aren't grown locally in the Northwest. Still, I'm holding out hope that some farmers might be planning for global warming by planting citrus orchards. Until then, I decided to pair oranges with Brussels sprouts and the Management finally relented. Human regulations are never totally clear to canines.

To the canines, oranges and Brussels sprouts may sound innovative, but seriously, if you can think of flavor combinations, they've already been done. But the concept gives oranges a local twist and oranges are paws down one of the best things winter brings.

Oranges

When I say orange, I'm talking about those little Mandarins where the peel slips off, and each segment squirts sweet-tart juice. I don't know about you but my taste buds do cartwheels and somersaults around the tingling flavors. And if you're a canine that loves the orange orbs, you must establish that you love it beyond compare. Then you'll do anything just for one taste, and then one more, and one more.

Communicating with humans is tricky at best. A canine can feel like a circus clown with the over-the-top-Oprah excitement needed to get humans to pony up oranges. Take my advice, for oranges, it's time to let your inner puppy go, and oddly, the more foolish your antics, humans enjoy the show and they'll willingly hand over good stuff again and again.

Let me just add some humans are incredibly slow learners, that's why over-the-top is the key begging success, if only the cardboard sign holders had this secret.

I'll tell you a story about how I came to love oranges.

In the last post, I mentioned I'd been adopted and that I'd expected to land in a a one-dog home. That's not wishful thinking but just about every dog I know visualizes the best-case scenario. We're good at that, why do you think they chose canines to be therapy dogs? Doesn't matter what's happening in the world, us canines are an upbeat bunch. Still, what a shock when I learned I'd be living with three gray-haired bassets, two were certified Geezers.

Here is the lazy cast of characters I first encountered:

Hunter (the former pampered model)
Abe (the Curmudgeon with one blue eye)
Badger (Tom's Dog or the girl)

Hunter passed away shortly after I arrived. I didn't get to know her, and when she didn't come home with Management one afternoon, Badger quickly claimed Hunter's former bed. No tears shed there. The Curmudgeon slipped outside and started singing. Mournful and bluesy, he started out so quiet you could barely hear him but once he cranked it up, it was the most beautiful dog voice I'd ever heard. The Thrill is Gone and B.B.King comes to mind.

Apparently Management approved of singing because they slipped him an orange segment.

I was intrigued and wanted what he had, so I tried my chops. Sadly, what we think as so easy-to-do usually takes more talent than we realize. No reward was forthcoming.

Still, I was determined to discover the geezer dog's secret to snagging rewards, so I hung in the background, watching. The classic movie All About Eve comes to mind. I've seen my share of old movies, too and that understudy to Betty Davis was a con artist.

Abe's best con was laying on the sofa in a deep coma-like sleep. With his oversized tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, he could've passed for dead, but when Management peeled and orange, that old boy was on the alert. In a flash he'd be sitting waiting for that orange before the first segment came off. He'd stare, shift his weight from side to side and hum quietly. If the segments didn't come fast enough, he trembled and drooled like crazy. Management laughed and rewarded him with one segment after another.

Management around here is a conundrum with reward requirements.

If I shimmied close and did exactly what Abe did, I got an orange segment after he snagged one. The old guy kept his gaze on the orange until until it was all gone.

And after the orange was clearly gone, he pushed past me with a low bad-ass low growl. Seriously, how bad ass could grandpa be? My apprenticeship apparently irritated old Blue Eye. We weren't about to bond over citrus any time soon. (to be continued.)

Brussels sprouts

Show me a dog that doesn't like Brussels sprouts and I'll show you a dog who hasn't been exposed to fresh 0ff-the stalk Brussels sprouts. I'm told the old model Hunter the one who passed away when I first arrived loved finding the sprouts in winter under farm vendor's booths at the market. Once Management discovered Hunter loved raw Brussels spouts, they were soon sharing with everyone.

For best results get Brussels sprouts right after a cold snap. The sprouts that are the sweetest are the ones that have been left on the stalks. This recipe calls for cooking, but I love Brussels sprout raw and this salad from 101 Cookbooks is one of my favorites, but then I'm not the chef, I only make suggestions.

My suggestion for you is to get your favorite chef right on this recipe. These Brussels sprouts came from Whistling Train Farm.

Here is the recipe:

Orange Brussels Sprouts

(Serves 4)

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 to 10 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

1 1/2 pounds of Brussels sprouts, rinsed and cut in half if big

Zest and juice of 1 organic Mandarin orange

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add oil and garlic cloves. Stir and cook until garlic begins to caramelize.

2. Add Brussels sprouts. Stir until coated with oil, then add orange zest and juice, cover, lower heat. Sprouts should be firm yet tender when done. Start testing at 3 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

A few tips for this recipe:

1. Don't get carried away and eat the sprouts before you even get started.

2. Go ahead lick your plate when you're done.

Here's to empty plates. Until next time--The Cooking Assistant.

Brazilian Black Beans

2012-01-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

When I was in San Francisco I picked up a bag of Rancho Gordo black beans at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. I wondered what the difference was between store bought black beans, Northwest farmers' market turtle beans and Rancho Gordo Midnight beans.

First I'll address the grocery store black bean experience in one word. Gas. Sure these bargain beans are easier on your budget but don't be fooled by low prices, these beans are old. To cook them, you should soak them overnight, pour the water off and cook with a strip of kombu, a sea vegetable, for easier digestion. Even then you may experience gas. Also cheap dry black beans don't have much flavor. Still I have to admit, these bagged beans are inexpensive protein source and maybe it's good to have a back-up bag in your pantry. But be sure to eat these beans within a year, because old beans are no good for your digestive system.

Check around; prices at the market vary with type of beans and farm growing them. From blogs I've read, it costs around $4. to grow a pound of beans in the Northwest, so be prepared for higher prices for this year's crop at the farmers' market.

Rancho Gordo Midnight beans actually taste different from Turtle beans. More firm to the tooth, yet with a soft sweetish creamy interior than the black turtle beans. The flavor was definitely worth paying farmers' market prices. I'm putting Midnight beans on my "must have" list.

If you're intrigued, you can order Midnight beans from Rancho Gordo. Rancho Gordo beans, grains and popcorn also make great gifts for the foodie on your gift list. If your Cooking Assistant doesn't spot them first, that is.

Brazilian Black Bean Soup

(Serves 4)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup shallots or onions, chopped

8 to 10 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 carrot, diced

1 small sweet potato, diced

1 tablespoon cumin

1 cup dried, soaked overnight and drained dry black beans

2 cups water

1 6-inch piece of kombu (cut into tiny pieces)

10 sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 orange, juice and zest

Pinch of cayenne (or to taste)

Sea salt to taste

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

1. Heat oil over medium heat in the bottom of a pressure cooker. Add shallots or onions, stir and cook until lightly browned. Stir in garlic and cook until caramelized and fragrant. Add carrot, sweet potato, cumin, black beans, water and sundried tomatoes.

2. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Turn heat to high; when the button pops up start timing for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove pot from the heat and let the pressure come down naturally. Taste to be sure the beans are cooked, then add about a tablespoon of orange zest and orange juice. Add cayenne and sea salt to taste.

3. Garnish with cilantro, if desired. Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Got Granola?

2012-01-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

Bark More:

A guest post by the Cooking Assistant (the dog picker or Finn, if you prefer)

I found this recipe buried in a pile of papers. Dotted with grease stains it still held faint traces of maple syrup and cinnamon. I inhaled and detected toasted nuts, oats, and vanilla. Wasn't hard to guess--granola.

Before I knew it the paper was in my teeth and I was placing it on top of the pile.

Neither one of the management team has ever suspected us hounds of moving things to enhance our advantage. But seriously, what do you think we do when management is out? Sure we read a lot, who wouldn't with all that time on our paws?

Lately I've been into dog stories. I love to identify with the protagonists--the classic is Kafka's "Investigations of a Dog." Of course there are others--A Dog's Life and The Art of Racing in the Rain come to mind, but the latter strikes me as a phoney dog memoir. I mean, dogs do not want to be reincarnated as people, really, only a person would assume that.

I digress, the thing is, we hounds are hardwired to focus on what's right under our collective noses--where the biscuits are kept, whether the pantry door is locked, and whether pockets hold treats. Scents lure us. Which brings me back to granola.

When management breezed through the door, the lady picked up the recipe and I wasn't a bit surprised. After all I've been doing this sort of thing since I was a pup, I had some good teachers.

A Dog Eat Dog World

My love of the hippie cereal goes back to when all us puppies were all clamoring for the management's attention. We all wanted to go to a good home, and apparently I wasn't the only pup who'd caught the maple nut aroma on her clothes. But I was the only one with the audacity to lick her hand when she reached in the enclosure.

I stuck close by that hand until she picked me up. I snuggled close and I knew I had her. The other puppies yipped as I snuggled close. Easy chairs, squeek toys and home baked treats were within a paws reach. I went all mushy inside when the lady said, "I'll take this one." The easy life yawned before me.

What a rude shock I had sharing my new backseat with a smelly geezer dog, who apparently was part of my package deal. The old fogey was silent and all the way home the smell of rotten teeth and bad skin overwhelmed me. This dog was ancient, and as born optimist, I held out hope smelly old bitch woke she might play with me when she woke.

It never happened. And once we arrived home, two more geezers appeared. I'd landed in a retirement home--and the gruff blue-eyed geezer growled and when management wasn't looking, he snapped at me, letting me know he was onto my game plan. I was an interloper.

I stood my ground. I growled back.

That strategy didn't win any brownie prizes from management who continually sided with the geezers. If you were to ask about the most difficult part of my life, this was it. Fights errupted and I wasn't even sure I'd be allowed to stay, especially when I knocked the old bitch off her feet one afternoon. But what was I supposed to do? Roll over and take it?

I'd expected to be in a one dog home and there I was surrounded by arthritic bonebags trudging around like zombies. (To be continued . . .)

Got Granola?

The good news was that the granola was as sweet as I'd imagined, even better than it had smelled. If only I hadn't tried to steal more. But I can't help myself when food is at hand. Okay, I got off to quite a rocky start, and I didn't recieve the kind of welcome I'd expected, but I still think of granola as my comfort food from the puppy years.

A version of this recipe came from Cheryl Harrison of Skagit Valley Co-op. Management claimed was supposed to be in The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook, but when the manuscript was due, management couldn't find it. Obviously she didn't enlist us hounds to find it. Humans are way too busy with their many meaningless activities. It's no wonder they forget sandwiches on tables and apples on counters.

Can't find your keys? Next time check the dog's bed. Forgot about your sandwich? Don't even ask.

We dogs have a distinct advantage when it comes to getting just desserts, and that includes granola.

One thing you need for granola is walnuts. Local walnuts have the best flavor, and the best walnuts I've ever tasted come from Grouse Mountain Farm. I can practically crack them with my paws.

I'm pretty sure you can get the honey, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and wheat flour from local farms. And as for the fruit, use local fruit that you've dried yourself--apples, pears, tart cherries, nectarines, peaches or apricots--it's all good.

For canine companions--avoid raisins or chocolate, these are toxic.

Maple-Nut Granola

(Makes about 8 cups)

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (or use whole almonds)

5 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup dried chopped fruit (apples, apricots, pears--no raisins)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix wet ingredients together in a saucepan. Heat gently until well combined and very liquid.

2. Cook and combine nuts, oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, flour, sea salt and cinnamon, while wet ingredients cook.

3. Pour honey-maple syrup mixture over oat-nut mixture. Spread on baking sheets, and bake for 15 minutes. Stir gently, then return to oven for another 15 to 20 minutes. Mixture should be lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before transferring to a bowl. Not stirring encourages plenty of big clumps. Carefully mix in dried fruit.

4. Enjoy for breakfast, snacks or as a topping for coconut sorbet.

Plant a seed and watch it grow

2012-01-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

.When the Irish Eyes Seed Catalog arrived last week, I stayed up late thumbing through it, dreaming up my fantasy garden.

It was like a Julia Cameron artist date, but I didn't go anywhere. Lush vegetable gardens start with seeds, but once planted, it takes work keeping the weeds and pests at bay. And when your produce doesn't quite look like the high quality stuff at the market, you realize hard work and plant and soil knowledge are essential ingredients for good produce.

From gardens to projects

It's the same way with projects. Like gardens they start with ideas and I've got plenty of them this year. Not that I haven't in the past, but I'm thrilled to have a long project in mind, and since part of it involves this blog.

Here's what's coming down the pike for early 2012:

1. Book reviews:

The Essential Wines and Wineries of the Pacific Northwest by Cole Danehower

The Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Grower's Guide: Steve Sando's 50 Favorites and Varieties by Steve Sando

2. Food Budgets--I dropped the ball on my $100 a week food budget way too many times in the summer, but I haven't given up. In 2012, I plan to explore a budget that accommodates more fresh vegetables and fruit in the summer. I also plan to explore alternatives such a dumpster diving with freegans, though I could never give up fresh food from local farms.

3. More farm, farmers' market and food news. Plus at least one post about what's happening with the honey bees.

4. Meatless Monday's recipe blog post for 2012 will be a year-long guest post by my Cooking Assistant (aka the dog picker or Finn) because I think food deserves a fresh point of view. And he's definitely got his own point of view.

5. A look at what other food bloggers are talking about. In reality, 5 numbers look better than 4, so this idea doesn't really have priority yet, but I love to check blogs like this one and this one, and I can't forget this one. So look for an upcoming post on on my favorite food blogs and if you have ideas about who to include, let me know.

The Soup Project: 50 soups and 10 things I learned from making them

2012-01-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Soup Project has come to an end.

I'd started the Soup Project partly to save our food budget and partly to see if it could be done. Sure books of soup recipes exist, but every one of them depends on meat, poultry or fish soup stocks and soups for variety. I wondered if I'd hit a wall doing all vegan soups (some had a bit of cheese for garnish) but it turned out, I didn't hit a wall, I could have kept going.

As I look back over my year of soups, I figured the best post for today would be a wrap up of all the things I learned about soup making this year.

Here are ten things I learned from making soup this past year:

1. It's incredibly easy to make soup. Homemade soup doesn't even even require a cookbook, just ideas jotted down from recipes that catch your eye. Anyone can create soup, just let your imagination go.

2. Mind the season. Make asparagus soup in the spring, fruit soups in the summer, and kale, potato and carrot soup in the winter.

3. Go with local choices because the flavors are better, you support local farms and doesn't it feel good to say this dinner came from a local farm.

4. Create layers of flavor with homemade stock. The prepackaged stock is usually loaded with sodium and will give your soup a "boxed" or "packaged" background flavor. If time is short, do a faux layer by adding carrots, celery, onion and parsley to the soup. Toss in a bay leaf. Sample as you cook. Before serving, ladle a cup of soup out and puree it. Return to the pot and season to taste with salt, pepper and add a bit of lemon juice to brighten the flavors.

5. Use a heavy soup pot, pressure cooker or crock pot. No need for special or expensive equipment, just the basics makes soup a great food budget meal. It really is a budget meal. Other things you might need include a colander for pasta and beans, measuring spoons and cups, a ladel and a few good knives.

6. Add less ingredients. I'd always thought if one carrot is good, two will be better. This is not always true with soup. It can become overcrowded and too many vegetables can be distracting. It takes practice to the perfect consistency for soup, but in the meantime it's all edible.

7. If you catch burned soup right away, carefully ladle the soup into another pot, avoid scraping the burned part. I've rescued many burned soups this way. FYI if you get a heavy soup pot, you won't have the "burned soup" problem very often.

8. Don't double hot peppers or salt in recipes. One folk remedy for too much salt in soup is to add a chunk of potato, bring the soup to a boil, then remove the potato.

9. Think of the bowl as a frame for your soup. The colors on our plates influence how we feel. I found most soups look best in black or white bowls. Red was a loser soup bowl color, and green or yellow didn't fare much better. Blue came in second to black and white. We instinctively eat with our eyes first so be aware of how your soup looks.

10. If the flavor is bland and you're near the end of cooking, consider the five flavors our taste buds experience--sweet, salty, sour, pungent, and spicey. Balancing these flavors isn't as tricky as it sounds. Often a squeeze of lemon, a dash of salt or a pinch of sugar is all the soup really needs.

Soup really is good for the food budget. (Except for the fruit soups of summer.) You can savor soup one day with warm crusty bread and the next day ladle leftovers over quinoa or rice another day.

Stay tuned for my new recipe project next Monday. I have a few ideas and my Assistant has more than a few. In the meantime, check out this collections of soups and take your pick.

The 2011 Soup Project

1. Sweet Potato and Kale Soup

2. Quinoa Chowder

3. Basic Soup Stock

4. Locro Guascho Argentino (white beans, sweet potatoes and hominy)

5. Deborah Madison's Rustic Lentil Soup

6. Black Bean Chili

7. Meyer Lemon, Leek, Mushroom and Potato Soup

8. Dilled Cabbage, Mushroom and Potato Soup

9. Jamaican Red Bean Soup with Lime and Coconut

10. Chickpea and Kale Soup with Bread Crumbs

11. Roasted Potato and Leek Soup with Cashew Cream and Broccoli Raab

12. Masoor Dal

13. Caldo Verde: Portuguese Kale Soup

14. Long Life Miso Soup

15. Creamy Curried Nettle Soup

16. Red Velvet Soup (with beets)

17. Mushroom Rhubarb Soup with Baby Collard Greens

18. Yellow Split Pea Dal

19. Garlic-Asparagus Soup with Smokey Blue Cheese

20. Rhubarb-Cherry Soup with Cashew Cream

21. Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Asparagus

22. Spring Vegetable Soup with Red Lentils

23. Spinach Soup with Cashew Cream and Morels

24. Creamy Broccoli and Arugula Soup with Caramelized Zucchini and Avocado

25. Coconut Strawberry Soup

26. English Pea Soup with Mint and Apricots

27. Zucchini Chowder with Fire Roasted Tomatoes Basil and Parmesan Cheese

28. Cooling Creamy Mint Infused Apricot Soup

29. Dilled Fresh Tomato and Quinoa Soup

30. Creamy Carrot with Fennel and Pecans

31. Corn Chowder with Basil, Eggplant and Fire-Cracker Goat Cheese

32. Raw Creamy Cucumber Soup

33. Grilled Red Pepper Chowder

34. Lentil Soup with Smoky Eggplant

35. Borscht

36. Creamy Celery and Split Pea Soup with Carrots

37. Hot Apple Soup

38. Tortilla Soup with Corn and Red Beans

39. Dairy-Free Fresh Tomato Soup

40. Curried Pumpkin Soup

41. Butternut Squash and Pear Soup with Red Currants

42. Autumn Harvest Soup

43. Minestrone

44. Mushroom and Arugula Soup with Ravioli

45. Enchilada Soup with Black Eyed Peas

46. "Creamy" Parsnip Soup

47. Old-Fashioned Navy Bean Soup

48. Winter Mushroom Soup with Lemon-Hazelnut Gremolata

49. Black Bean Chili with Hominy

50. No-Turkey Noodle Soup

The Soup Project: "No-Turkey" Noodle Soup

2011-12-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

I don't have any turkey leftover, but since it seems a tradition to make turkey noodle soup after Christmas, I thought it would be interesting to make a vegetarian version of this soup without the bird. Could it be done? I think the flavor mostly depended on the bird.

I scanned my vegetaran cookbooks and didn't find the "no turkey" noodle soup that I'd started dreaming up.

My biggest quandary is flavor. A meaty texture can easily be found in mushrooms or Field Roast, but the flavor--it's got light notes of poultry seasoning, not dark notes of say rosemary or sundried tomatoes.

I found a recipe on Chow Vegan for chicken noodle soup and thought I'd use that as a pattern for my creation. But her recipe used a packaged broth, which in my opinion is first--cheating, and second--a second-rate or cop out choice for flavoring soup. But the comments she got were all good and her blog actually looks like a great blog to follow for recipe ideas.

I thought I'd use this mushroom broth that I'd made for a Winter Mushroom Soup a few weeks ago. It would make the soup a little darker, but would add a rich flavor.

I got out the carrots, onions, celery and the udon noodles that I'd thought were perfect for this soup.

My assistant is trying to reach his favorite celery. I guess I should count myself lucky that he loves the green stalks. It's right up there with carrots in his book.

If you aren't into faux meats such as Field Roast, use mushrooms, if you Pan fry the mushrooms in a dry pan until their juices appear. They develop a nice texture and the flavor becomes more concentrated and used in soups they add great texture and flavor.

I've gotten garlic powder from the farmers' market for years now. Occasionally I find onion powder. I got a couple large bottles of it from Rent's Due Ranch.

I didn't use Mama Lil's peppers in the version I made but I know they'd be good in this soup. How could they not? Seriously, these peppers enhance everything except dessert. If you don't know them, maybe you should give them a try. I know I sound like I must get paid, but I don't. I just love them and there isn't anything else like them on the market. My New Year's wish is that the creator and owner of Mama Lil's, Howard Lev, never goes out of business.

Here's the recipe:

"No-Turkey" Noodle Soup

(Serves 4 to 6)

4 ounces dry udon noodles

1 tablespoon canola or olive oil

1 cup diced onion

6 to 8 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 cup diced celery

1 cup carrots cut into batons

1 small potato, diced small

1/2 teaspoon garlic or onion powder

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped Mama Lil's Peppers (optional)

5 to 6 cups mushroom broth

1/2 teaspoon hickory smoke flavoring or 1/2 tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos

1 cup diced, pan fried Fieldroast

1 cup of finely chopped kale

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Boil 8 to 10 quarts of water and add udon noodles. Cook according to package directions to al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water.

2. Heat a soup pot over medium heat. When it's hot, add onions and olive oil. Stir and sweat the onions until they're translucent. Add the garlic. Stir and cook until garlic caramelizes.

3. Add celery, carrots, potato, garlic powder, fennel seeds. Stir to coat with oil. Add Mama Lil's Peppers if you want. Stir in the mushroom broth and hickory smoke flavoring. Simmer on low for 20 minutes.

4. Stir in Field Roast and kale. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Divide the noodles between the bowls and ladle soup over them.

Chop sticks or spoon? Take your pick!

Wish Lists

2011-12-23T12:42:00.000-08:00

I spent a few days in San Francisco last week where holiday themed cookies and treats lured me. These were definitely on someone's wish list.

Sure he looks cute, but he's probably wondering whether he could snarf the cookies before I grabbed him.

At the Ferry Plaza Market I found the biggest carrots I'd ever seen. I suspected they were as sweet like Nash's Best carrots. Someone on Facebook said they were "horse carrots." I didn't happen to have a knife back at the hotel to cut these babies up, and I didn't think they'd last till I got home, so I reluctantly passed on them.

Winter citrus-- all I've got to say is it's one sweet reason to take a vacation to warmer climates during winter. "Just headed to the farmers' market, see you tomorrow." Not quite that bad, but I bring things home when I go anywhere, don't you?

The best thing about another city is its farmers' market. Plays, restaruants, museums, skiing, hiking--it's all meaningless when great food is neglected.

Brussels sprouts--in season, but pricey everywhere it seems; but the thing is, fresh sprouts are heavenly. After a good frost is the best time to get them; they're sweetest then. These were on my wish list for our holiday dinner.

And if you wished farm laborers made fair wages this year, check this out:

This is the first time I've seen a "Union Labor" sign on produce but I bet it won't be the last. These strawberries were totally worth $3.50 a pint--amazing flavor, the best I'd ever tasted.

And check this sign at Ranch Gordo beans.

If Rancho Gordo beans, weren't on your list, they should be. The flavor, texture and well to put it delicately, the digestability--all make these beans true treasures. I only got red pop corn and midnight beans because my suitcase was too small. First rule in food travel--bring a big suitcase.

I also picked up my favorite almond butter and roasted almonds. Bringing a lot of food home from a mini vacation is expected at our house. Food hunting in 2011 takes on a new look.

The Satsumas didn't really make it long enough to be stocking stuffers.

May your holidays be warm and peaceful.

The Soup Project: Black Bean Chili with Hominy (and 48 more soup recipes)

2011-12-19T11:04:00.001-08:00

I was so busy last week, but it was all fun, and I'll tell you more about that in another post, but when my schedule is full, I bring out my favorite default recipes, like chili.

I posted this chili recipe from The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook last February, so I suppose this makes the second chili recipe this year, but the truth is it's one of my favorites and I never get tired of variations of chili.

I found another version in Lorna Sass's classic Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. I added hominy to because chili and corn are meant to be together and since fresh local corn isn't available in the winter, dried cooked hominy is a great option with a sweet flavor.

I used Rancho Gordo hominy this time. I first tried this hominy last year and my Cooking Assistant was willing to pose with the package, but he didn't like this little school boy outfit I made him wear for the picture. He definitely isn't a "dress-up" dog.

Rancho Gordo hominy has a different appearance than Ayers Creek hominy and the recipe for cooking it seems a bit less labor intensive than the posole or hominy from Ayers Creek Farm, but the flavor of these dried versions are more rewarding than canned hominy, which I've never really liked.

I mean seriously, take a look at those cans of hominy in grocery stores, how long have they been sitting there? Who eats that stuff?

Here is the post on how to cook hominy the Ayers Creek way--it's a bit of a process, but the colors are lovely and the flavor, stunning.

Cooked in a pressure cooker this recipe is ready in minutes. My Cooking Assistant almost missed posing with the soup of the week. But he runs fast, at least he thinks he does.

I don't think he realizes how goofy he looks when he runs.

This chili is definitely worth racing to the table to eat. I hope you like this version adapted from Lorna Sass's recipe.

Be sure to check out the other recipes I've posted since last January. The Soup Project only has a few more weeks to go, and I've got a few ideas for themes I'm noodling about for my Monday posts for 2012. If you have any suggestions for themes--sides, salads, etc., let me know.

You can make this chili as hot as you like, depending on whether you leave the seeds in the smoked jalapenos or take them out. Also I taste as I cook and if the flavor is too acidic, add a half a teaspoon of honey or sugar to the mix.

Black Bean Chili with Hominy

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 cup dried black beans, picked over, rinsed and soaked for at least 4 hours

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 cup minced onions or shallots

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 or 2 dried chipotle, stemmed, seeded and minced

1 heaping tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried whole fennel seeds

Pinch of ground cinnamon

1 28-ounce fire-roasted canned tomatoes

1 large carrot, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup cooked hominy

2 to 3 cups boiling water

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup minced cilantro

1 lime cut into wedges

1. Drain and rinse the beans and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle until they begin to pop--5 to 10 seconds.

3. Add onions and garlic; stir and cook for about 1 minute. Add reserved beans, chipotle chili, chili powder, oregano, fennel seeds, cinnamon, fire roasted tomatoes, carrot, hominy and 2 cups boiling water. Add more if you want a more soupy texture.

4. Lock lid in place Bring to pressure over high heat. Then reduce heat, just enough to maintain temperature and cook for 12 minutes. If using a regular soup pot, simmer, covered, on medium low for at least an hour, stirring every once in awhile.

5. Allow pressure to come down naturally or use quick release and if beans aren't quite tender, simmer a few more minutes. Open lid away from you. Add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving stir in cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

The 2011 Soup Project

1. Sweet Potato and Kale Soup

2. Quinoa Chowder

3. Basic Soup Stock

4. Locro Guascho Argentino (white beans, sweet potatoes and hominy)

5. Deborah Madison's Rustic Lentil Soup

6. Black Bean Chili

7. Meyer Lemon, Leek, Mushroom and Potato Soup

8. Dilled Cabbage, Mushroom and Potato Soup

9. Jamaican Red Bean Soup with Lime and Coconut

10. Chickpea and Kale Soup with Bread Crumbs

11. Roasted Potato and Leek Soup with Cashew Cream and Broccoli Raab

12. Masoor Dal

13. Caldo Verde: Portuguese Kale Soup

14. Long Life Miso Soup

15. Creamy Curried Nettle Soup

16. Red Velvet Soup (with beets)

17. Mushroom Rhubarb Soup with Baby Collard Greens

18. Yellow Split Pea Dal

19. Garlic-Asparagus Soup with Smokey Blue Cheese

20. Rhubarb-Cherry Soup with Cashew Cream

21. Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Asparagus

22. Spring Vegetable Soup with Red Lentils

23. Spinach Soup with Cashew Cream and Morels

24. Creamy Broccoli and Arugula Soup with Caramelized Zucchini and Avocado

25. Coconut Strawberry Soup

26. English Pea Soup with Mint and Apricots

27. Zucchini Chowder with Fire Roasted Tomatoes Basil and Parmesan Cheese

28. Cooling Creamy Mint Infused Apricot Soup

29. Dilled Fresh Tomato and Quinoa Soup

30. Creamy Carrot with Fennel and Pecans

31. Corn Chowder with Basil, Eggplant and Fire-Cracker Goat Cheese

32. Raw Creamy Cucumber Soup

33. Grilled Red Pepper Chowder

34. Lentil Soup with Smoky Eggplant

35. Borscht

36. Creamy Celery and Split Pea Soup with Carrots

37. Hot Apple Soup

38. Tortilla Soup with Corn and Red Beans

39. Dairy-Free Fresh Tomato Soup

40. Curried Pumpkin Soup

41. Butternut Squash and Pear Soup with Red Currants

42. Autumn Harvest Soup

43. Minestrone

44. Mushroom and Arugula Soup with Ravioli

45. Enchilada Soup with Black Eyed Peas

46. "Creamy" Parsnip Soup

47. Old-Fashioned Navy Bean Soup

48. Winter Mushroom Soup with Lemon-Hazelnut Gremolata

49. Black Bean Chili with Hominy (see recipe above)

The Soup Project: Winter Mushroom Soup with Hazelnut-Lemon Gremolata

2011-12-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

I love mushrooms, but I didn't grow up eating them, not even common button mushrooms from the grocery store. Campbell's mushroom soup was about as close as I got to mushrooms as a child because Mom never bought mushrooms, not even the canned variety. "Too risky," she'd once told me.

So I became a mushroom fan after I moved out and started cooking. In college I took a foraging class, and I'd never consider adding Campbell's mushroom soup to my pantry today. And with Found and Foraged at Seattle farmers' markets, I'm lazy and don't forage for my own mushrooms.

I keep at least one package of their dried mushrooms in my pantry all the time. Dried porcini is my favorite, but I'm fond of their wild mix as well. These dry mushrooms are the secret to great tasting meat-free gravy and their texture is chewy and can easily replace a meat in shepherd's pie or stews.

I was dreaming about mushroom soup and I looked for recipes that incorporate both fresh and dry mushrooms. I wanted strong earthy tones. My usual cookbooks wern't much help, but when I checked Barbara Kafka's Soup: A Way of Life, I found a mushroom broth recipe that seemed the perfect base for this soup. Then I looked online and found this mushroom soup by Paul Grimes which looked good, but half a stick of butter? Who needs that?

Right below Grime's recipe, I found another intriguing mushroom soup with dried porcini mushrooms and a gremolata. A what? A garnish made of minced parsley, lemon peel and garlic. I thought about replacing the parsley with mustard greens, and since the recipe had added hazelnuts, I kept that and changed the orange to lemon.

I imagined all the flavors flowing together, hazelnuts and that earthy mushrooms with the tang of lemon zest.

I combined the two recipes and adapted Kafka's soup broth for my recipe.

At the market I found chanterelles and hedgehogs. I chose the hedgehogs because chanterelles might get water logged too easily. I bought about a pound, but ended up only using half of that because I figured they'd also be good in a stir fry.

I had a package of dried shiitake mushrooms for the broth, but if you want local, Cascadia Mushrooms is often at winter markets. You can get mushroom logs to grow your own shiitake mushrooms. We did that one year. I'd ordered a shiitake log from a catalog. We kept it in the living room and it was damp all the time since we had to spray it, and it was ugly and it took forever before we got one huge mushroom. Finally a couple smaller ones appeared; we ended up with about five all together. Big woopie. I talked to mushroom expert Paul Stamets who said this was unusual. If you're interested in growing your own, check out Cascadia Mushrooms because they guarantee the mushroom kits they sell.

My Cooking Assistant likes the sweet carrots in this mix. With the chilly cold weater we've had, the carrots are very sweet.

I added a garnet yam to the line up because it also adds sweetness and can add more texture if you cook it long enough so it falls apart.

Winter Mushroom Soup with Hazelnut-Lemon Gremolata

(Makes 6 servings)

1 pound cremini mushrooms, rinsed and sliced

1 pound wild mushrooms like hedgehogs, sliced

1 cup diced shallots

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped hot peppers (Mama Lil’s)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup coconut milk

2 celery ribs, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

1 small garnet yam or sweet potato, diced

5-6 cups mushroom broth (see below)

1. Dry-fry mushrooms in a heavy soup pot over medium heat until mushrooms lose their juices. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Add shallots and oil to pan. Stir and cook until shallots soften, add garlic and hot peppers. After a few minutes, stir in tomato paste and continue to cook for a few more minutes.

3. Blend in coconut milk, celery, carrot, sweet potato and 5 cups mushroom broth. Simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Remove 1 cup of the soup and puree.

4. Return to pot. Stir in mushrooms Season with salt.

5. Garnish with gremolata (see below).

Hazelnut and Mustard Greens Gremolata

2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup minced mustard greens or kale

1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

1 garlic clove, pressed

2 teaspoons finely chopped organic lemon zest

Mix olive oil, kale, hazelnuts, garlic and lemon zest in a small bowl. Top each serving of soup with it.

Mushroom Broth (adapted from Barbara Kafka’s Soup A Way of Life)

3/4 pound cremini mushrooms

1/2 ounce shiitake mushrooms

1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

6 cups water

Chop fresh mushrooms to a smooth paste in a blender or food process. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Bring the mushrooms and water to a boil in a stock pot. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, then through a damp cloth lined sieve. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 3 days.

From Farm to Cookie

2011-12-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

The best thing about baking for the holiday season is that so many of the ingredients can be sourced locally. But that wasn’t always true. Five years ago at farmers’ markets, eggs were scarce, butter was hard to find, and freshly ground flour was just a pipedream.

With the increasing demand for everything local and with more farms diversifying, growing everything from seed crops and test trials for WSU, to quirky crops that chefs love, we’re seeing crops that haven’t been grown in the Northwest for decades.

One of those crops is wheat. But mention wheat and many people conjure images of Montana or even the Palouse in eastern Washington. You don’t usually think of the Olympic Peninsula.

That’s changing thanks to WSU extension center and farmers like Nash Huber in Sequim who have been growing test trials of wheat to determine the varieties of wheat that grow best here.

Nash Huber’s Organic Produce

Sequim lies in a rain shadow and it’s possibly one of the best places to raise wheat west of the Cascades. And Nash’s Organic Produce has been growing the whole-meal-deal—from row crops, apples, and berries, to eggs and pork, beans and grains.

Patty McManus-Huber, Nash’s wife, recently told me “What Nash really wants is to have a farm like the one he grew up on in Illinois.”

Nash’s parents and grandparents on both sides had been farmers—“all the way back,” he'd told me. When he was young, in the 1950s, farms grew a variety of crops with livestock and grass. An average farm size was about a hundred acres. “We didn’t call it organic then,” Nash explained. “That’s just the way we farmed.”

But agriculture changed after World War II. Farms grew and began specializing in one or two crops, using pesticides and chemical fertilizers. A drought in 1953 drove a lot of Illinois farmers out, and by the 1960s many farms had already converted to single-crop farms of a thousand or more acres. Nash left his family’s farm, got a degree in chemistry, and worked for an agribusiness company before he was drawn to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in 1968 and back to farming.

Nash started his farm by growing hay and raising bees on a few acres. Eventually, he bought a dozen acres and leased additional farmland, and in 1979 his farm was the fourth in the state to be certified organic. He built a packing shed and sold produce at his farm store and farmers’ markets, to restaurants and through wholesale accounts.

Today, Nash farms 400 acres, all certified-organic, and his dedicated crew also grows, harvests, processes and grinds flour for local consumers and chefs. I've mentioned before how the flavor enhances cookies and cakes, and if you're up for checking out this flour, why not search out other local ingredients baking quick breads and cookies.

Holiday baking

For baking during the holiday season, look for locally grown and processed wheat flour. The fresh flavor recalls memories of what baked goods were meant to be.

And speaking of adding local to your holiday baking, look for locally produced eggs, butter and hazelnuts or walnuts.

Nuts and oils

If you haven't heard about Holmquist Hazelnut Orchards, check out markets and local stores. I found a bag of raw Duchilly hazelnuts at Top Foods. You can also get hazelnut oil and hazelnut butter from this vendor at local markets. The oil is probably best used for salads since nut oils tend to be more fragile.

Eggs

Five years ago, if you didn't get to the markets early, you missed out on eggs, but now many farmers offer them but they tend to have less in the winter when chickens tend to quit laying because of the low levels of daylight.

I love the eggs from River Farm because the yolks are a deep yellow and have great flavor. These market eggs are more expensive than grocery store eggs but when you talk to farmers who raise these chickens you know how many chickens they have and how they are raised. At $6 to $7 a dozen you tend to eat less and appreciate them more.

Butter

If I buy butter, I usually get it from this Skagit Valley Farm, and if you're making locally-sourced cookies, local butter is probably a better idea than seed or nut oils.

I posted this recipe before but it's so good, it deserves rerun. It's from my book and it was one of my mom's favorite recipes when I was young. She used to hide a personal stash of these cookies in Tupperware behind the pans because we all devoured the cookies so fast. I discovered them one day quite by accident and I remember helping myself, thinking she'd never notice if I left the ends--her favorites. She never did let on that she knew I'd raided her treasures, but those cookies were soon moved and I never did find her final hiding place.

What you have to keep in mind, is the texture of the biscotti must be stiff enough so you can touch it and form it into logs. All whole wheat pastry flour doesn't always work very well because it contains too much moisture, the cookies spread out and crumble too easily. It's the gluten that holds the dough and cookie together. Also, these cookies are just as good with walnuts and when you add some chunks of dark chocolate, they are amazing.

Hazelnut Biscotti

Makes about 3 dozen

3-4 cups flour (use a combination of unbleached, whole-wheat and whole-wheat pastry flour)

1 teaspoon each: baking powder and baking soda

Zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped

1 cup chopped hazelnuts, lightly toasted

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest, and hazelnuts in a large bowl and mix well.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a separate bowl and blend in the eggs. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Stir the wet into the dry ingredients, adding enough flour for a very stiff dough, if necessary.

4. Divide the dough in half and roll into 14-inch logs. Place on an ungreased baking sheet, flatten the tops of the logs, and bake until lightly browned on the bottom, about 25 minutes. Turn the oven off. Remove the logs from the oven and let them cool completely.

5. After at least 1/2 hour has elapsed, reheat the oven to 325ºF. When the logs are cool, slice 1/2 inch thick at approximately a 45º angle. Lay flat on a baking sheet or pizza screen. Bake until lightly browned, about 25 minutes. If using a baking sheet, turn halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Store the biscotti in a covered container at room temperature for up to a week or freeze.

The Soup Project: Old-Fashioned Navy Bean Soup

2011-12-05T08:16:00.001-08:00

I discovered this old recipe for Navy Bean Soup last week when I was going through files and found a thick red file labeled "Recipes." I hadn't looked the file in years, but it was thick and when I opened it, I found a treasure trove of old memories. A few recipes from clipped from old magazines, but most were my creations. Among the finds were Shiitake Pot Pie with Polenta Crust, Curried Lentil Salad, Smoked Chile Barbecue Sauce, Triple Chocolate Banana Cake and even a granola recipe from a friend's son that I'd misplaced when I was gathering recipes for The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook.

A version of Old-Fashioned Navy Bean Soup (with vegetables) is in my book, but this was the original recipe, typed on my old Smith-Corona about 30 years ago. It brought back memories of early soup making, when I was insecure about making stock and unsure about ingredients. I documented everything in those days and I recall wanting a soup that tasted like but better than Campbell's navy bean soup. I know, true confessions--my mom loved convenience and when I was young, I thought all soup came from a can.

I love it when recipes bring back sweet memories--like mushroom soup and our visit to the beach over Thanksgiving. (And that's coming as soon as I get some local mushrooms.)

The salty damp scents, the wind blowing the dogs' ears back as they raced across the sand, this rusty "free spirit" bike on the dock--who really wants to leave those memories behind?

Anyway, I needed something easy, something pantry-oriented because I didn't get to the market for the Cascadia Mushrooms that I'd wanted for mushroom soup.

Instead, my Assistant and I went to Woofstock--the Smiley Dog (delivery service) annual open house on Saturday. When we got there, the warehouse was all festive with hippie posters and heavy on the peace sign-tie dye theme. I loaded up on holiday gifts even got a free catnip joint for Mair Farm cat. My assistant was so happy to be in a room filled with people and dogs he went a little wild, acting like we were at a dog park. From Boston Terriers to Great Danes, Finn greeted them all.

And the cake? First time I'd ever seen a tie dye cake. It was definitely not for the dogs.

They also served the best vegan chili I've had in a long time. With grated cheese on the side, the chili had a variety of beans, carrots, corn, great flavorings and just the right amount of heat. While I enjoyed it, my Assistant tried to poke through my bags and grab his Christmas gift. Could be some coal in his stocking this year if he keeps it up, but then again he might just eat that too.

The chili put me in the mood for beans when we got home. In my pantry I found beans leftover from the markets--about a half a cup of Tarbais beans from Ayers Creek Farm, near Gaston, Oregon, and half a cup of cannellini beans from Willie Green's Organic Farm, just outside Monroe, Washington.

Any white bean works in this recipe. I originally wrote the recipe for navy beans because that's what you find in grocery stores, years ago that's all we could get, and that's what Campbell's bean soup is made with.

Navy beans are common and can be found in any grocery store, and you'll notice the cost of these conventionally grown varieties is much less (about $1.50 per pound, a dollar if you're lucky) than locally-grown organic (between $4 and $8 per pound, in Oregon a little less.) If you're on a food budget, these kinds of ingredients add up, and in that case, consider local beans as a treat, kind of like a vegetarian's version of grass-fed beef. Also consider this: when cooked these beans still cost less than a hunk of grass fed beef. Plus beans have a lot to offer--fiber, B vitamins and minerals with beans.

Shallots, celery and carrots make up the base of this soup. I got quite a few shallots a few weeks ago, and these store well over the winter in a cool room. Some farm vendors at the market still have celery, but it's fading from the local scene. Carrots are just getting sweet now because the colder it gets the sweeter the carrots become. I'm crazy about Nash's carrots, the big clunky variety , so recognizable about town.

If you have white beans from the market, use those, otherwise use navy beans from your pantry. And, it's not exactly locavore fare, but I'm crazy about South River Miso for the best flavor.

Old Fashioned Navy (or White) Bean Soup

(Serves 6)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive or canola oil

1 cup diced shallots

3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 cup navy or white beans, soaked overnight and rinsed

5 cups stock or water

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons barley miso

Sea salt

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1. Heat a stock pot or the bottom half of a pressure cooker over medium heat. Add oil and shallots when hot. Reduce heat, stir and when shallots turn translucent, add garlic and continue to stir and cook for a few minutes.

2. Add celery, carrots, white beans, stock or water, oregano, basil, fennel, bay leaf and pepper. Cover and cook on low until beans are tender, about one to one and a half hours. Or if using a pressure cooker, lock lid, bring pressure up over high heat. Reduce heat, keeping pressure up, and cook for 10 minutes. Allow pressure to come down naturally, then carefully remove lid, tilting it away from you.

3. Remove 1 cup of soup. Puree with barley miso, return to pot and blend in. Add sea salt to taste. Garnish with parsley.

Heat your favorite crusty artisan bread or warm some corn tortillas and enjoy a bowl of old-fashioned comfort food.

Happy Meatless Monday.

The Soup Project: "Creamy" Parsnip Soup

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to this parsnip soup after our trip to the beach this past weekend.

Since our families live far away, we decided to escape for Thanksgiving to Long Beach, Washington, definitely not to be confused with Long Beach, California.

It wasn't the first time we'd gone here on Thanksgiving, but last week predictions for rain had dampened my spirits just a bit. Don't get me wrong, I love the beach and I can wave watch in any weather and big waves are scary fun at first. But when the rain starts pelting me sideways and the drops sting like black flies, and the wind roars so loud I know the dogs won't hear me, it's time to get close to a fireplace inside and curl up with a good book.

We must have driven horough a foot of water over the road in Raymond. And of course, all the vehicles ahead of us had big wheels. It looked like the police were getting ready to rope off that section of road, and I breathed a sigh of relieve as we drove through it. But the road got better as we approached the beach, and when we arrived at the lodge, the sun was shining through dark clouds.

We were just north of Long Beach. But turn south off the highway and you'd end up in Illwaco, a historic fishing village that looks partly run down with empty storefronts that need repairs, tiny restaurants all offering "the best" clam chowder, and artist galleries with pricey art on the waterfront. Of course there were lots of fishing boats.

And bright cheery colors.

Lots of people think coastal towns are all grey with fog in winter but on the streets in Long Beach many buildings and houses have strong yellow, blue, purple and red colors. Look up, and you see rainbows just after a rain.

In the summer, kite flyers flock to the beaches. In Long Beach you can check out all the cool places to get kites for the annual kite festival in August. If you haven't been, you must go because kites aren't the simple affairs they used to be.

I never get tired of looking at the murals like this one of Jake the Alligator Man who appears to have just celebrated his 75th birthday party this past year. I wondered what kind of cake they served.

But the best part of Long Beach is the beach. We've stayed at the same place for years. It's nothing to brag about but they take dogs and they're right next to the dunes. It's all about location when we go to the beach. (And who will take our motley crew.)

In the winter, the beach is fairly empty. Clammers (is that what you call the people who dig for clams?) come around sometimes, and you pass walkers, runners, sometimes cars drive past, and you meet other folks with dogs, but most of the time in winter it's just you and the ocean waves.

On a sad note--I wish people who use plastic water bottles would get a close up view of how the beach looks after a storm. Then go grab a bag and start filling it with bottles. Quit using plastic water bottles people! Our world is filled with way too much plastic.

Racing across the wet sand, ears flying, this trip was Chloe's (right) first trip to the beach with us.

Finn has to be lead dog. He's all about big drama. He runs and slams into Chloe like he's in a mosh pit. It's all great fun for him. He leaps and growls and mouth wrestles and he even bites Chloe's tail if she doesn't react in any way, but when he crosses a line, she runs out of patience, lets him have it. He hangs his head like a wayward husband who has stayed out late with his buddies. Times like this I wonder--who's the boss?

Flocks of birds gather at the shore moving north. Sometimes the flocks are big, but I can't say how big because these birds are small and they don't let you come very close. These birds land, run up to the waves, to get what?

They're moving north on the migratory bird superhighway. Sometimes the flocks pass each other and fly tandem or swirl around, flying in an uneven path heading north, looking for shore food.

On Thanksgiving we spent hours on the beach instead of at the kitchen table. The next evening we dined at the Shoalwater Restaurant. Tom had his annual steak; I chose Wild Mushroom Soup and had greens from a local farm with a lemonade vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was really good and seemed easy to make. Add more sweetener to a lemon vinaigrette and isn't that lemonade vinaigrette? As for the soup, while it was vegetarian, I'm dreaming up ideas for a vegan version for next week's soup.

I thought it would be hard say goodbye, but once the rain started pounding down on Sunday, even the dogs refused to head out to the beach for one last goodbye. They curled up on fluffy blankets, draming about biscuits and sunnier days ahead.

A kitchen vacation was exactly what I needed. On the drive home I looked forward to a bowl of steaming soup and crusty Italian bread.

Parsnip is the vegetable that inspires this week's soup. I didn't grow up with parsnips and for me, it seems like a vegetables that more people appreciate in the Midwest, but every winter when farmers bring parsnips to market, I try different recipes with them.

Parsnips are carrot relatives, first brought to this country by Europeans in the 1600s, but they never really gained popularity. Winter is the best time for these nutty roots that produce more sugars as temperatures plunge. This vegetable likes a long cool growing season--like the Northwest. That's why many farmers sell them at markets in the Northwest.

This parsnip soup was inspired from "Cream of Parsnip Soup" in the Victory Garden Cookbook (1982), by Marian Morash and "Creamy Spicy Parsnip and Carrot Soup" in Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini (2001) by Elizabeth Scheneider. Neither version was vegan, but I ofen turn to these books again and again for inspiration.

"Creamy" Parsnip Soup

1/2 cup dry porcini mushrooms

4 cups boiling water

3/4 cup cashews

1 cup apple cider

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 onion, diced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 to 1 1/2 pounds parsnips, peeled and sliced

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Lemon juice

Chopped chives, croutons or Parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Pour boiling water over mushrooms. In another container pour apple cider over the raw cashews and add the lemon juice. Set both containers aside for a few hours. Place the cashews in the refrigerator if leaving for more than a few hours. Strain mushrooms from broth.

2. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion and oil. Stir and cook until onions become transparent. Add garlic and continue to cook until lightly browned.

3. Stir in parsnips, turmeric, coriander and cardamom. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes, then add mushroom water. Simmer for 20 minutes or until parsnips are very soft.

4. Puree 1 to 2 cups at a time until creamy. Return to soup pot. Chop the porcini mushrooms and add them. Heat on low for 5 to 10 minutes.

5. Place the cashews and apple cider in a blender and liquefy. Blend into the soup mixture. Add salt, pepper and a bit of lemon juice if desired to adjust the flavors. Add more water to thin, if necessary. Garnish with chives, croutons or Parmesan cheese.

Finn waiting patiently for leftovers.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

A Thanksgiving post by The Dog Picker

I've noticed at the dog park lately many dogs have been feigning a humble attitude toward Thanksgiving. Let me just say, a humble attitude is not something I endorse because a table heaped high with food and the gluttonous feast that follows only comes once a year.

I say make the most of this holiday. Here's to glasses filled with wine and plates left unattended.

Oh sure, be thankful for tiny crumbs tossed your way, but let me add whining and a stubborn attitude can take you a lot farther than you might expect.

People say they don't like whiners but why are they continually rewarded?

And while I'm giving thanks, let me add I'm also thankful for the school kids who continue to toss away their lunches. On weekdays the grade school routes are gold mines for hungry hounds. This week was no exception. I found two decent apples in the gutter. Carry your treasures home, then whine and pout. Someone is bound to give in and let you eat the apple. Trust me, whining works.

I'm also thankful for snacks left at eye level on the coffee table. Best advice--pretend to be in a deep sleep, but listen closely for the sound of foot steps leaving the room. People forget plates on tables a lot faster than you might think. Distractions, my friend, are a dog's best friend when it comes to snacks on plates. Celery and almond butter anyone?

I'm also grateful for memory foam, daytime naps and bedtime stories. Notice how I position myself in the middle of the bed? I say let the Golden Retriever be humble, I'll take the bed any day. "Off" is a dirty word in my world.

And coffee breaks? Kudos for Anne Bramley's Lemon Meyer Tea Bread--a treat to revive any napping hound.

And I especially give thanks to the management who brings home great food from the farmers' market every week. Our home is continually filled with the scent of vegetables roasting and desserts baking like this cherry crisp.

One of my favorite dreams is that I'm left alone with the entire dessert. Oh, I think you know how that dream ends--with a smile on my face!

Never lose sight or scent of your dreams.

May your holiday be filled with outrageous treats.

Yours truely--the dog picker.

The Soup Project: Enchilada Soup with Black-Eyed Peas

2011-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

Enchilada soup is one of my go-to recipes when I haven't decided what to make for dinner and I'm running out of time to decide. And as you might guess, the most important ingredient is enchilada sauce.

I found the best farm made enchilada sauce when I visited Gathering Together Farm. They bottle it at Sweet Creek Foods and if you live in Washington, Oregon or California, you can mostly likely find the Sweet Creek brand of enchilada sauce, which is pretty similar. It's sold at co-ops and natural food stores. I'm down to just one jar of Gathering Together Farm enchilada sauce, so I'll be first in line when their store opens next season.

Grocery stores around here mainly have Hatch brand enchilada sauce. Look for a more natural brands of enchilada sauce in natural foods stores.

This is the outdoor patio for the restaurant at Gathering Together Farm. Revisiting this pic makes me nostalgic for summer. I try to stop in at least a few times each season and now I'm long overdue for a visit, and now the farm store closed for the season this past Saturday. I can't wait till it opens again next spring.

An optional ingredient for this soup is a sweet potato or yam. The soup cooks until the small diced potato falls apart and this makes the broth thicker and adds sweet tones. Some farmers in Northwest grow hearty varieties of sweet potatoes and yams. These roots are typically grown in the Southern U.S. because they have a long growing season. They also need to be "cured" or stored in a very warm humid room for 5 to 10 days to develop the sweet flavors.

I also like to use grey shallots in this soup, but the truth is, the enchilada sauce can overpower them and onions work just as well and cost a lot less. I'd go for sweet onions, but it's entirely up to you.

I grew my own grey shallots for the past few years. I got quite a few from planting some of the shallots I bought at the market from Grouse Mountain Farm and the ones I got from Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, Oregon. Sadly I gave the job of planting shallots to Tom, possibly when he was paying attention to something else and jsut yesterday I saw those same shallots for planting in the same place on his desk. So much for grey shallots from our garden next summer. Do it yourself comes to mind for next year's garden plan.

One good reason for growing your own is the expense. I spotted grey shallots at the Bellingham Food Co-op last fall for $13.00 a pound last fall, making it worth it to try and grow your own.

Another optional addition to this soup is kale. It doesn't matter what kind of kale. I often have a bundle in the refrigerator no matter what time of year it is, and it's another way to use this great vegetable. Sometimes I sauté it with shallots and scoop it on top of each soup serving.

Finally, a word about the black-eyed peas. I have never found them at farmers' markets in the Northwest, so I concluded they must be a southern legume; after all Hoppin' John originated in the south with African, French and Carribean roots. I've used other beans in this and black beans seem to be a good second choice. But there's something so compelling about black-eyed peas--the texture, the flavor. I think I could eat them every day. Even if you don't like beans, just try black eyed peas and see what you think.

This recipe takes little prep and it could use other vegetables you have on hand. Rutabaga, celery and potatoes come to mind. If you're pressed for time this week or you just want an easy dinner plan, try this soup. All it needs for accompaniment are warm tortillas and a tossed green salad.

Enchilada Soup with Black-Eyed Peas

(Serves 4)

4 small or 6 grey shallots, diced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large carrot, diced

1 cup frozen corn

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced small

1 1/2 cups dry black-eyed peas, rinsed

1 16-ounce jar enchilada sauce

4 cups water

1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped (optional)

Salt to taste

Parsley for garnish (optional)

1. Heat a heavy stock pot or pressure cooker over medium heat. Cook the shallots in oil, stirring constantly until browned.

2. Remove pot from heat and add sweet potato or yam, black-eyed pears, enchilada sauce and water. Secure lid or cover soup pot. Bring pressure cooker up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Allow pressure to come down naturally. For a soup pot, bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until peas are soft.

3. Add kale and simmer over low uncovered until kale wilts. Add salt to taste and garnish with parsley. Serve with cornbread or warm corn tortillas.

PS--A special thanks to Jill Nussinow and her new book for her excellent tips on pressure cooking. I've got to say my pressure cooker was the best investment I made this year.

He was being so good, but suddenly he couldn't resist. And I didn't see it, until . . .

Then I laughed. Now he doesn't take me seriously. I wonder if he ever really will? Training lessons continue on a daily basis with hound dogs since they fake deafness whenever a command doesn't appeal to them. One can only hope for the best with a willful hound. Sometimes I think I'd have the same issues with a bear or raccoon, but hound dogs have an appealing way of making you forget their food obsessed faults.

I believe he gave it four paws up.

The Soup Project: Mushroom and Arugula Soup with Ravioli

2011-11-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Cool weather makes me more appreciative of chunky soups. And adding hearty greens like kale, collards and even turnip greens to soup makes me feel like I'm doing my body a favor. You put all these pampered vegetables from local farms into one pot and how can it not be good for you?

Arugula

I wasn't sure what my soup of the week would be, but I knew the market would provide inspiration, and when I saw the bundles of arugula, I knew it was time to make a soup featuring this distinctive green.

Rain or shine, arugula shows up at markets almost all year in the Northwest. If you count your lucky stars by the amount of arugula we have at markets, you'll see there really is a "dark" side to too much warmth and sun. Greens wilt with too much heat. Just taste California arugula compared to Northwest arugula and you'll notice a big flavor difference. Cold enhances flavors. Hearty and resilient--I like to call arugula the optimistic green because it loves cool damp weather. No seasonal affective disorder for this baby. It's so hearty, I've even seen this green in February at the markets.

Lately, I've been dreaming about arugula's peppery, slightly bitter, assertive flavor that spikes salads, wakes up sleepy sandwiches, and perks up pasta. I puzzled a bit about using it in a soup, and when I asked a farmer what he thought, he said he'd only heard of people adding it to salads and maybe lightly sauteing it. Was it a gamble? Would it get tough? Lose it's flavor?

I had read how other people used arugula in soup recipes, but I wanted to make it a star. I didn't want to go with the obvious and puree it with cream, or the vegan equivalent. What's the fun of doing something expected?

I confess, I really just like to play with food. I didn't grow up an Italian grandmother, and I didn't go to culinary school, where I imagine budding chefs learn about every possible vegetable, so I thought back to the time when arugula first came into my life.

The first time I tasted the spiky green was from Lombrici's Organic Farm at Pike Place Market in the early 1990s before the U-District Market opened. Katherine Lewis and Steve Lospalluto of Lombrici's in the Puyallup Valley grew the most amazing organic vegetables and every Wednesday I'd drive from Edmonds to Pike Place Market. On "Organic Wednesdays," and I drove there with the faith that Katherine would be there selling her organic produce. She often gave me tips about how to cook and prepare things like salsify, celeriac and probably arugula.

I don't remember when they moved but, the U-District Market opened in 1992, and now Katherine and Steve's farm in Skagit Valley is called Dunbar Gardens. I'm not certain whether they sell produce to the public anymore, but Katherine is well-known for her amazing woven baskets. Check out her baskets here.

Yes, I'm certain it was Katherine who first introduced me to this amazing green.

In case you don't know, arugula is a member of the brassica family whose relatives include:

broccoli
cabbage
cauliflower
kale
collards
turnips

These brassica or cole crops love the cool damp weather. So whine about the weather all you want, but upside of rainy weather is we have an abundance of cole crops year-round here and that makes up for the rainy days.

If you love greens with an attitude like the spicy mustard greens that grow in the winter, you'll love arugula. It transforms salads and adds pizazzz to pasta and pizza.

Sometimes you have to look for it at the market because lots of other greens compete for attention at the market. Kale, collards, spinach, these are all bigger leaves and usually more prominently displayed. Arugula bunches are a bit smaller, and as greens go, they are a tad more expensive than kale. If you're on a food budget, it's a cool splurge because the flavor makes it worthwhile, but remember you only really need one bunch for this soup.

Last last summer I grew arugula in containers. We had it in salads all summer. I probably should have planted more for fall, but I'm a sissy gardener and once it starts raining and gets cold, I retreat to my books and writing inside.

Thank goodness farmers are still harvesting. The bunches were small, so I grabbed two, but at $3.50 a bunch, one is enough for this soup. My Assistant isn't so sure about the greens. I think he was hoping there was something more on the plate.

If you buy two bunches, use one for a salad.

I searched my books and favorite websites for soup ingredient ideas. I found a creamy version with cream. Where's the imagination there? I found another with white beans and that had ocurred to me, but I was feeling like pasta since I found the secret to adding it to soup when I made Minestrone. You can add other vegetables like cauliflower and potatoes if you want. Soup is forgiving, you can alter just about any recipe.

A Few Notes

If you buy local celery, remember that it may wilt more easily than store varieties. Plan on using most of it for the soup. As for the carrots--I can't believe the size of the carrots from Nash's Organic Produce. The sweetness of these carrots is a testament that you can't judge a carrot by it's cover.

I used a packaged ravioli, cooked it al dente ahead of time and cooled it with cold water. The soup warmed it again. You can use another kind of pasta and make your own or substitute for the ravioli, something else that you love like white beans or sweet potatoes. You can also top it with bread crumbs--just crumble some croutons--if you pass on the cheese.

As for where I finally found a recipe--when I thumbed through my first book I found a recipe called Torteillini Florentine Soup. I revised it here, this time featuring arugula. It's funny the useful things you sometimes find in your own backyard.

Mushroom and Arugula Soup with Ravioli

(Serves 4)

1 1/2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms

1 to 2 tablespoon canola or extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion or 1 large leek, copped or sliced

2 stalks celery, diced

4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped Mama Lil's peppers (or use 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes)

3 to 4 cups stock or water

1 28-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

2 large carrots, sliced

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 sprig of thyme

1 teaspoon honey (optional)

Sea salt to taste

1 washed bunch of arugula, roughly chopped, about 4 cups

1 to 2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar

Cooked ravioli for four

Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Heat a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add cremini mushrooms. Stir and cook in dry pan until onions lose their moisture. Add oil, onions, celery, garlic and peppers. Stir and cook until celery softens and onions and garlic are lightly browned.

2. Pour in stock or water and tomatoes. Add carrots, basil and thyme. Simmer over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until carrots are soft. Add honey and salt to taste. Stir in greens and cook until wilted.

3. Stir in balsamic vinegar to taste. Divide ravioli into four bowls. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

The Soup Project: Minestrone

2011-11-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about Minestrone soup for a long time. For me, the best thing about Minestrone is the pasta. But I have to say, the worst thing about Minestrone is soggy pasta the next day. Waterlogged pasta isn't anything I look forward to.

I stumbled over a secret for the pasta in Minestrone in one of my favorite cookbooks.

I'll share the secret, but first I must share a few photos and tidbits about Nash's new farm store in Sequim Washington.

Last Friday I went to Nash's Farm store grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony.

Nash's Farm Store

I took the Kingston Ferry and from Kingston, it's about an hour drive, north towards Port Angeles.

I look forward to the reader boards at Nash's farm that change depending on the season. Saturday was kid's day at the farm store with a bunch of cool planned kids activities. Makes me wish I'd grown up near a farm like Nash's.

Nash's new store is just down the road from the old store. The building was once an old Tavern. It took a lot of work to get the smoke out of the walls and to turn the old building into a bright cheery store.

They hit a few snags along the way. Permits were higher than anticipated and the work cost more than they'd planned. So the farm crew solicited the community for donations to help make this store happen.

And the community came through.

The result is amazingly cool--just check out all the produce. Much of it comes from Nash's farm. Some produce, that Nash doesn't grow, comes some of the farms I profiled in my book, like Dennison Farms near Corvallis. Sometimes I see things from Oregon here and wonder if it came from Tom Dennison's farm. The Organically Grown Company delivers it. All the produce is organic.

I got to the farm store early, but it wasn't long before people began arriving. Must have been everybody in the community that came to see the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Music was provided by Kia's husband, Cort Armstrong.

This beautiful carrot cake was cut after the ribbon cutting, and tasted was good as it looks--sweet cream cheese frosting, and cake made with Nash's flour and carrots. It was the kind of cake I dream about. My Cooking Assistant would have been impressed.

Nash said a few words, thanked his farm crew and everybody who helped make the store possible.

This is Patty McManus, Nash's wife. She does the bookkeeping and marketing for the farm. The carrot ribbon--a priceless idea.

The picture behind Patty and Nash is a "mock up" of a mural that's going to be painted, I think on this wall. Everyone who donated for the store will get their name painted into this painting. You could buy your level--starting with helpful ant at $10, then butterfly, honey bee or lady bug. I wanted to be a butterfly. Kind of like the tiles at Pike Place Market.

Now the butterflies mean something.

Every wall inside the store is a different bright color. They have coolers for meat, dairy, eggs and nuts, and nice displays for the produce.

I love that they offer these overripe and damaged fruits and vegetables for less money. There was a basket filled with leeks that said "free," and everyone who came to the store opening got to take home a free leek. That's how leeks became the first ingredient for my Minestrone soup.

Five Cool Things About Nash's Farm Store

1.Offers great selection of farm grown organic fruits and vegetables.

2. Supports local crafts people and neighboring farms by selling their products.

3. Shows food movies like Food Inc. on a regular basis. (All I want to know is: is popcorn included?)

4. Has a great childrens' play area and tiny shopping carts for kids.

5. Offers bargain priced produce, marked down from regular prices. I love this as a way to save on my $100 a week food budget.

Creating Soup

When I got home from the event, I perused a few cookbooks to get some ideas for Minestrone soup. I checked out Barbara Kafka's Soup, A Way of Life from the library last week, so I scanned the index for Minestrone. Under the title Kafka wrote, "There are as many Minestrones, all somewhat different, as there are regions of Italy."

Just the kind of soup, I like. I had celery, carrots, onion as the main ingredients. Kafka's ingredients were vegetarian. I saw a few changes I wanted to make--dried tomatoes for canned and bread crumbs in place of Parmesan cheese.

I checked Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and she listed parsley and thyme. Seemed like the linking ingredients for Minestrone are tomatoes, pasta and vegetables. I took out a note card and made a list of all the ingredients I wanted to include in the Minestrone soup.

The next day I went to the market.

This is Nash's produce from the market. After paying $25 for round trip ferry rides, I wondered how much the farm pays to bring their produce to the markets here. We don't usually think of those kinds of farm expenses when we purchase foods, even at the market. It may be within 100 miles but that ferry ride is expensive.

Carrots are essential in a soup where you plan to use water not stock. One of the basic building blocks of stock, I always include them along with celery and onions when I don't to use a stock. Since I'm looking for ways to add flavor without a stock, I soaked dried porcini mushrooms. Soak these mushrooms and you end up with a deep rich flavored water, without going to the trouble of making stock. To bring the soup flavor even deeper I added dried tomatoes. I used to think organic sundried tomatoes preserved in oil were the best, but at $9, I'm looking for other options to boost the stock's flavor. I'm not out to impress royalty, I just want to eat well on a budget.

This was a perfect opportunity to try out my dried tomatoes.

The big secret is to cook the pasta ahead of time. Maybe you already knew that, but I like the idea of adding the amount of pasta you want after the soup is cooked. The hot soup heats the cold pasta.

Here's my recipe:

Minestrone

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 cup small shell, alphabet or orzo pasta

Handful of dried porcini mushrooms

6 to 10 dried tomatoes, chopped (or cut with kitchen scissors)

1 bay leaf

4 cups boiling water

1 very large leek or two medium leeks, sliced (about 2 cups of sliced leeks)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 jalapeno or habanero pepper, seeds removed, minced

1 to 2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 to 2 carrots, sliced

1 potato or 1/2 sweet potato, diced

1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked red beans

2 sprigs of thyme

Apple cider

Water

2 cups chopped arugula or spinach, chopped (optional)

Handful chopped parsley

Parmeasan cheese (optional)

1. Cook pasta, according to directions, until al dente. Remove from heat, cool with cold water. Drain and set aside.

2. Pour boiling water over mushrooms, tomatoes and bay leaf. Allow mushrooms and tomatoes to soften. Drain, reserve liquid, chop vegetables.

3. Heat a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add leeks and olive oil. Reduce heat, stir and cook until leeks begin to get tender. Add garlic, jalapeno and tomato paste. Stir and cook for a few minutes.

4. Add liquid and bay leaf from porcini and tomatoes and celery, carrots, potato, beans, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add mushrooms and tomatoes. Simmer until potatoes are and carrots are tender--about 20 minutes.

5. Remove bay leaf and thyme. Adjust seasonings by adding salt, pepper, and apple cider. Add water to thin. Stir in chopped arugula or spinach. Add the amount of pasta you want to each serving and stir it in before serving. Garnish with Parmeasan cheese (if desired) and chopped parsley.

Learning to read with alphabet soup.

Nash's New Farm Store

2011-11-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm going to the opening of Nash's new farm store. For years, I visited this little store. I'll miss the retro 70's hippie look, but I can't wait to see what the new farm store will look like.

Last summer I contributed to the building of this store. I don't really have a lot of spare change to donate, but even just a small amount made me feel like I'm part of this food web that feeds the community, Seattle farmers' market customers, and supplies PCC Natural Markets with amazing local produce.

Since I'm going to this farm store grand opening, I thought I'd share a few photos of Nash's farm and produce from my files.

These photos were taken when I visited the farm in 2008. Kia Armstrong gave me a tour and told me all about the various parcels of land that add up to 400 acres. Nash's farm is also growing young farmers who will eventually take over the helm of Nash's Organic Produce.

At the market in the U-District, I always look for fresh whole wheat pastry flour. The flavor is amazing. Whenever I use it, I'm reminded of how stale whole wheat flour from bulk bins and bags in grocery stores tastes. Really, I can taste the stale flour in baked goods all around me now. The light nutty flavor of Nash's flour wins fans for my recipes who wonder what my secret is. I won't tell. If you buy some, it keeps best in the freezer

Nash's Organic Produce also sells triticale and field peas. My friend David loves these peas cooked with rice. I haven't found the right herbs and ingredients to pair with them yet. Maybe I'll get some good tips tomorrow.

The big clunky carrots from Nash's farm have become famous. At PCC Natural Markets on the "Walk and Talk" store tour, Goldie Caughlan used to call them carrot candy. Recently I asked Nash why these carrots taste like candy in the winter months. He said when the ground gets very cold the sugar in the carrots becomes more concentrated.

Last winter it seemed like no matter how many carrots I came home with, they disappeared right away. My Cooking Assistant loves them as much as I do.

I taught him the phrase "Nash's carrots" He's into learning new words now.

Nash's farm profile in my book deals with saving seed and saving land. This is what a carrot seed crop looks like. If I didn't know and I wasn't a gardener, I might mistake it for weeds. (Even though my roots are in small towns, the word city slicker comes to mind.)

A farmer needs additional acreage to grow seed crops because you have to let the plant stay in the ground long enough to produce seeds. The seeds are tightly bound in these dry flower pods. Getting them out and cleaning them up is a skill, and it's not something you usually think about as you grab a package of seeds to plant in your garden.

Nash's farm crew sells vegetables at a number of Seattle markets, and the Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Sequim markets. They also offer a CSA. When you sign up you get recipes and farm news. Sometimes I check their farm newsletter on their website for recipe ideas. Occasionally I'm surprised to see my own recipes there. But I shouldn't be because I got some of my best ideas at Nash's farm stand. Check out the "Carrot Hummus" recipe in my book.

Nash Huber won Land Steward of the Year Award in 2008. In 1999 a farm near his went up for sale, he contacted Joe Hardiman from PCC Natural Markets. After taking the idea (of buying the farm) to the Board of Directors, the co-op Board bought the farm and started PCC Farmland Fund, later changed to PCC Farmland Trust. Nash has long term leases on most of the farmland he tends now. That's how he's able to grow carrot seeds. The farm feeds the community. Farms not tract homes!

I can't take my Cooking Assistant tomorrow. It's not good manners to bring your canine friends to the farm, so as I piddle around getting ready, Finn pulls a long face even if Tom is home.

It's an act, and I have my suspicions about where he'll spend the day.

Dreaming of carrots, no doubt.

The Soup Project: Autumn Harvest Soup

2011-10-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

I'd been thinking about an autumn harvest soup ever since the weather turned cold. This is the kind of soup Tom likes too--thick and chunky with lots of vegetables and just the right seasonings. It's also a good way to use up a pumpkin since many CSAs include them this time of year.

The market is shifting to a winter focus now. Not only are the vegetables changing, but farmers are leaving and new farm and food vendors have been arriving to fill their spaces. One of the farms leaving is Rent's Due Ranch where I got quite a bit of produce for this soup.

I'll miss the vibrant produce, JoanE's cheerful smile and her great produce displays. This week she had purple and golden cauliflower, as well as Romanesco and corn. Maybe it's the damp and rainy weather, but I chose golden cauliflower. Golden cauliflower is like a little piece of sun on a cloudy day.

I created Autumn Harvest Soup for my first book. In 2003, it was was before the U-District Market continued through the winter, and I had signed up for Willie Green's Winter CSA. We got our weekly vegetable boxes delivered in a church parking lot behind Dick's Drive In in Wallingford.

Michaele Blakeley of Growing Things had arranged this little market with the church pastor. Michaele sold eggs and at that time, it was really had to find local eggs. She also sold vegetables and soap. Donna, the mushroom lady sold mushrooms was also there and I think there was a baker, too. John Huschle of Nature's Last Stand delivered CSA boxes across the street.

Anyway, one week, I created this vegetable soup using a sugar pie pumpkin. We'd already eaten a boatload of pumpkin bread and I couldn't take one more bite. Neither one of us is a pumpkin pie fan and I had to think of some way to get Tom to eat the pumpkin. Sometimes you have to think up creative ways to get people to eat squash and pumpkin. I learned to be sneaky with vegetables from a CSA box. That's part of the fun and the challenge of a CSA. You can use a whole little pumpkin in this soup and your guests may never suspect it's there, because as the soup simmers, the pumpkin melts away into the background.

Buy or harvest a small sugar pie pumpkin for this and you'll end up with about 2 cups of cooked pumpkin. That's the perfect amount.

I'm a lazy cook and I like to take the easy route in recipes, so instead of sawing through a pumpkin or winter squash, I usually just poke holes in the skin and bake the pumpkin or squash whole. Just a medium temperature, the same as you'd bake cookies or potatoes. It takes about an hour. I take the seeds out when it's done.

My Cooking Assistant hasn't figured out how to get into the pumpkin. But give him a few minutes alone with it, and you'll be sorry you left, because he works quickly once he knows you've turned your back and forgotten about "his" interest. I bet a dog choking down the last bite of stolen food is how we got the saying "wolfed it down." Finn would rather choke it down than let you take it away.

He did give it a few licks, but I took the skin off and he'll get that with dinner tonight.

This "Autumn Harvest Soup" recipe is also in my second book The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook.

This is how the recipe looked in my first book. I like to use that book for cooking because the pages flop open perfectly. The printing is big enough so I don't need to use glasses.

Besides pumpkin, I used golden cauliflower, a few peppers from River Farm, and carrots from Rent's Due Ranch. I like the sweetness of white cauliflower the best, but golden and purple cauliflowers are fun to use in recipes where you want some vibrant colors. Look close and you'll see someone has his nose in the top picture, too.

I added more produce and I toasted fennel for this version, otherwise it's mostly the same. The toasted fennel has a more intense flavor than untoasted. Buy the seeds from a bulk bin. Then roast the seeds in a medium oven (350F.) for 5 to 7 minutes. Don't let the seeds burn. Crush them in a mortar with a pestle. Fennel pairs well with tomatoes.

Autumn Harvest Soup (Revisited)

(Serves 6-8)

1 small sugar pie pumpkin

2 tablespoons canola or extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion (any size), peeled and diced

1 hot pepper, seeded and minced

1 red pepper, diced

1 small fennel bulb, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, sliced

1 rutabaga or turnip, diced

2 medium potatoes, diced

1 1/2 cups cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 1/2 teaspoons toasted fennel seeds, crushed

2 teaspoons dry basil

1/2 cup French lentils, rinsed

1 28-ounce can fire-roasted whole or diced tomatoes

4 cups water

Corn scraped from 1 ear of corn, about 1 cup

About 1 cup coconut milk to thin

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Poke holes in the pumpkin with a fork. Place it on a small baking sheet and bake at 350F. until tender, about 1 hour. The pumpkin should be very soft. Let cool before cutting it open and removing the seeds.

2. While the pumpkin bakes, heat a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the oil and onion. Cover and sweat the onion until soft.

3. Add the peppers, fennel, celery, carrots and rutabaga. Stir and cook until the peppers are soft. Blend in the potatoes, cauliflower, garlic, fennel, basil, French lentils, tomatoes and water.

Add the pumpkin and mix into the soup. Cover and simmer for at least 1 hour or until vegetables are tender and lentils are soft. The pumpkin should be blended into the background, so you don't really see it in the soup.

4. Stir in the corn and add coconut milk to thin. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.

I found this goofy headband with blond hair extensions at the dollar store.

I think Finn likes his new look.

Happy Halloween!

The Soup Project: Butternut Squash and Pear Soup with Red Currants

2011-10-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

The road to soup is sometimes filled with detours

Last Friday evening I flipped through one of my favorite vegan cookbooks and became intrigued with the "Butternut Squash and Pear Soup" recipe. Ginger was the first ingredient and since this is the time of year for fresh ginger at the market, I bookmarked the page.

If you want fresh ginger at the market, this is the time to get it in the Northwest. It freezes well, so you could buy extra. That's what I do. I found these tips at Steamy Kitchen if you want to freeze ginger.

I jotted down a rough list and the next day at the market, I got ginger from Mair Farm-Taki, and I bought bosc pears and a bag of organic golden delicious apples from Cliffside Orchards. Farmers Jeanette and Jeff Herman come to the market later (September through November) than row crop farms, and Cliffside is the only farm I know that grows and sells perfect golden delicious apples--my favorite apples. I thought about adding one to the soup, but I added apples to last week's soup.

I love these goldens, and I've tasted goldens everywhere--at PCC Natural Market, Whole Paycheck and even Top Foods--but none have goldens that compares with the crisp delicate sweet-tart flavor from Cliffside Orchards. "The problem," says Jeff Herman, "is these apples aren't keepers." The skin bruises easily, and the apple doesn't ship well. Picked green, they never get sweet and flavorful.

My friend Bill rolls his eyes when I mention golden delicious apples. He grows apples, works for WSU extension and he prefers Rubinettes. But look into the family of Rubinettes and you'll find golden delicious and cox orange pippin as apple parents. Golden delicious is one of the founding varieties of many of our favorite apples today. Try Jonagold, a direct descendant or Honeycrisp which came from a cross between Honeygold (a golden cross) and Macoun. With so many apple contenders in home gardens these days, it's easy to fall in love with an apple no one else has ever heard of.

Seattle Tree Fruit Show

I came home with soup ingredients plus a big bag of goldens, O'Henry peaches, elephant heart plums and bosc pears. Then on Sunday I went to the Seattle Tree Fruit Show where I'd vowed not to bring home apples but of course I came home with 5 pounds of Rubinettes. The price was right and they were good with a complex sweet-tart flavor and just a hint of golden flavor. Try them side by side and you'll see.

The Seattle Tree Fruit Society show was in my own neighborhood at the Lynnwood Grange. Next year, it will be held at Sky Nursery. Look for it around the same time next year.

There were lots of apples to sample and it was amazing how different they all tasted. Some had hints of spices, the tart varieties seemed more complex and even the sweet tones varied.

I spent a long time looking at the new blueberry threat--the spotted wing drosophila--under a microscope. Magnified, the big red eyes looked frightening. Home gardeners hang homemade traps for it--water bottles with apple cider vinegar on fruit trees where the flies will enter but drown in the vinegar. All soft fruit is at risk now in the state; fruit experts at the show said they start hanging the bottles in February since the fly attacks green fruit.

Apples

I also lingered over the table with all the apple and pear diseases. One often hears about coddling moth, apple maggot disease or scab but when you actually see it on the apples and pears you realize growing fruit isn't easy. And apples stay on the tree longer than any fruit, so plenty of things can go wrong.

When I arrived home from the Sunday event, Finn was intrigued by the tiny Rubinettes with stems. These apples are keepers and if you keep them cool (store them outside in the garage) they will keep until January. Tasted together, I think the Rubinette slightly edged out the golden in flavor but the skin of the Rubinette is tougher. Five pounds won't last long at our house.

Rubinettes

Golden delicious

The Soup

You could probably substitute apples in this soup, but my idea was to follow a recipe from a book. At first glance I thought the recipe listed cooked squash, so the minute I popped the squash into the oven to bake, the written recipe was altered in a major way. Also since it never specified what type of pear to use, I selected Bosc because it's my favorite. So use the any kind of pear you prefer.

I got Refresh by Ruth Tal last year when I went to Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks in Vancouver, BC. The book contains contemporary vegan recipes from a famous vegetarian restaurant in Toronto and not only are the recipes healthy with whole grain flour and fresh fruits and vegetables, they're all really good.

So for all those people out there who think vegetarians are bad cooks and serve up bland vegetables, they need to read this book. Flavorful, fresh and vegan--I'm tired of people like Anthony Bourdain who continually dismiss vegetarian cooks as people who don't know how to cook vegetables. Really? Is he serious or just drumming up more support for the meat camp?

Enough whining--my Cooking Assistant is tired of the costumes. One last Halloween outfit, I'd said. But from the stink eye he gave me, you'd think I'd asked him to fetch a stick.

It turns out, I changed this recipe more than I'd anticipated.

I had red currants in my freezer and decided to use them to tweak the flavor, much the same way fresh lemon juice does. I freeze the currants, stems and all. They're easier to remove when frozen but still take a bit of time.

If you don't have red currants in your freezer, no worries, add fresh lemon juice to kick up the flavors. Just make sure it's fresh lemon.

I used Rockridge Orchards Skipping Stone hard apple cider, but the original recipe listed white wine.

Butternut Squash and Pear Soup with Red Currants

(Serves 4)

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup minced shallots

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, diced

1 tablespoon grated ginger root

1 pear, core removed, chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1/3 cup hard cider or white wine

1/2 cup mashed potatoes (or cooked pureed celery root)

2 cups cooked butternut squash

2 roasted red peppers, seeded and stem removed

3 cups water or stock

1 to 2 cups coconut milk

Sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Red or orange currants or fresh lemon juice to taste

1. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add oil and shallots. Cook until shallots turn translucent. Add garlic and carrots. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Try not to let the garlic or shallots brown because the soup will turn a darker color.

2. Add ginger, pear, cinnamon stick and wine. Simmer over medium low until carrots are soft.

3. Remove cinnamon stick and puree shallots and wine with potatoes, squash, roasted peppers, water and 1/4 cup currants. Return to soup pot, heat and gradually add coconut milk until you have the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with red currants.

Someone doesn't mind clean up duties at our house.

Guest Post from the Dog Picker

2011-10-18T07:56:00.001-07:00

I recently received an email asking if I wanted a guest post. The content and focus weren't quite right, but it got me thinking, if I wanted a guest post who would I get? Guess what my answer was? And now a word from my Cooking Assistant.

Guest post by the Dog Picker

This is my first guest post and I must say "it's about time!"

If you want to know the truth, my sister came to live with my family a few years ago. She's more comfortable behind the scenes, but as for the rest of the original brood, I'm not sure any of them left the nest, so to speak.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I get to do what I love because I don't mind playing second fiddle to an apple, as long as I get a bite or two. Waiting can be a challenge when you've got a novice photographer. My motto is be patient and you'll be rewarded.

The beginning of my new found calling was the summer of 2009. A CSA comes to mind.

There I was just sitting there, taking it in, and now I've been posing for so long, it's what I do. I see a camera and I'm ready to strike a pose for a biscuit. I put my nose next to the food and look intently. It can be challenging with baked foods, but the only command I learned in dog school was "Wait," otherwise I'd have been drummed out that first day. Sit, stay, come--who are they kidding?

I've got a dream job now, and I'm not giving it up. Who would? A soft bed, a yard and people who believe in premium dog food and rarely go on vacation.

The job? Seriously it's a piece of cake. And get this: they pay me. Oh it's not much, a crumb here and there, but what joy to be appreciated for your true talents.

I'm good too, I could do this job anywhere. Well, the beach--you know, that's really asking a bit too much. I see another dog.

This my apple portfolio.

I can't complain about this job much, but occasionally, the photographer messes up. My contract clearly states, food photos. And I ask you, is apple cider food? Come on, can you smell it without taking off the cap? I can't even bring myself to pretend to look. Give me a raise.

Then there's Halloween. Devil horns--I'm sick of it. Every year. I think the last 5 dogs that lived here wore them. Who are they kidding? Can't they think of anything new?

This is one from last year. Same horns.

And the witches hat. First of all, let me say I am not a witch. Wasn't there a politician who said that?

And the pimp hat. Really! I was told it was once a cowboy hat. I wonder do other models complain about their lame outfits?

The whole fresh apples usually aren't mine to keep, but I once found an apple, discarded in the bushes. It was big and juicy. Hard to believe what people throw away. I got to eat the entire apple.

Another time a box arrived with apples. I didn't to eat the entire apple, but the core was pretty amazing. I know a few other dogs that appreciate a good apple core.

Most of the apples at home come from the farmers' market. I once went to the Ballard Market. and could barely control myself it was so exciting--all the food scents, people and dogs. I pulled this way and that. I heard a lot of "Nos," but what a great time. I don't know why I never got to return.

Now I stay home with sister Chloe on market days. I know exactly what day it is and when the photographer returns, we sniff the bags. I the first one to smell the carrots. But lately the scent of apples fills the bags.

Last week I helped myself. I mean what did she expect, a bag on the floor is an invite. The photographer calls is "stealing," said as if I should feel remorseful. I shrug it off. What's her problem? I say, when the opportunity arises, go for it. As for the whining afterwards, you've got to have a thick skin for the naysayers in life.

I'm crazy for apples anytime. If I'm lucky, I get a bit of Massa Organics almond butter left on the plate in the morning.

And if I can lick the crumbs of Margie's Raw Apple Cake in the evening, I'm in heaven. Seriously try this cake.

I love my job!

Signed,

Finn, the Dog Picker

The Soup Project: Curried Pumpkin Soup

2011-10-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I live in a house where no one but me and my long-eared kitchen assistants like cooked winter squash and pumpkins. Okay, you bond over food, get married for better or worse but there are bound to be a few food adjustments in every household. The line appears to be drawn over winter squash at our house. Okay, Tom eats meat alone, I eat squash alone.

Well, not exactly alone when two hungry basset hounds are eyeing every bite. Anyway, I wanted pumpkin soup.

I planned on making enough soup for a few days, then I'll freeze the rest for lunches. It's a no-brainer easy lunch. One of my friends always makes extra soup and freezes some for those times when you just don't want to cook.

I'd been thinking about ginger ever since I saw some at a Boston farmers' market. I kept imagining it with pumpkin and pears and maybe a few mint sprigs as a garnish. Ginger is something you have to look for at markets. I don't think very many farmers have tried growing it for market yet.

But look how pretty it is. How can you resist it? Only one farmer that I know of grows it around here. Mair Farm-Taki brings fresh over the mountains to the Saturday market in the fall.

That's where I planned on getting it, but I was shocked when I farmer Katsumi Taki behind the River Farm booth and he said his truck had broken down at the top of the pass. He couldn't get this produce to market this past Saturday.

I was sad also because he also missed a week of income at a crucial time. The season is nearing the end and it's usually a big push to sell squash and pumpkins in these last weeks and that's exactly what I wanted.

A pumpkin is really just another winter squash, but I was still focused on pumpkin and wondered what I'd do with it without the fresh ginger. I'm not really into going to a store for ingredients, so I was mentally checking off the options.

Sugar pie pumpkins and Jack o'lantern pumpkins are everywhere now. It's a big mistake to confuse the two. Sure you can also cook with the Jack 0'lantern varieties but they don't have much flavor and the bigger they are, the more likely they'll be stringy and tough. The first pumpkin pie I made was with a Jack o'lantern pumpkin. Oh, it was bad, nothing you'd want to serve to company. It was one of the big landmark mistakes in my cooking career, and I didn't have a Cooking Assistant willing to eat my mistakes then.

Use sugar pie pumpkins for cooking and baking.

This Anne Schwartz of Blue Heron Farm was harvesting sugar pie pumpkins three week ago. I love this picture. These sweet treats traveled to the produce department at Skagit Valley Co-op. Lately, I've been seeing pumpkins so many places that they were on my mind long before I got to the market.

Seriously, they're so beautiful, how can you resist them?

These sugar pie pumpkins are from Nature's Last Stand in Carnation.

I knew the soup had to have garlic after all it's also garlic season. I have 3 garlic braids from Rent's Due Ranch. Garlic is harvested and hung up to dry.

This is garlic dring at Blue Heron Farm. This garlic also went to Skagit Valley Co-op.

Buy garlic for winter now. Keep it in a cool dry place and it keeps till spring. While you're at it, plant a few garlic cloves in the garden, so you'll have your own garlic bulbs next summer. You can get special garlic to plant from a nursery or you can plant cloves from a head you buy from a farmer.

Here's another ubiquitous fall ingredient I wanted to use for this soup--apples. There was an apple tasting event at the market last week. The apple flavors I wanted for the soup are tart-sweet with emphasis on the tart because squash is sweet and helps balance the flavor.

I didn't really have any soup ideas beyond the pumpkin, garlic and apples, but after the market Ed, Patty and I went to this restaurant to celebrate Patty's birthday, and guess what was on the menu? Pumpkin soup, of course it's that time of year. (Sometimes I wonder--does anyone have an original thought at all? Seriously.) Anyway, the soup on the menu was also dairy-free, so we all ordered bowls of the steaming soup. The flavor was was light, yet creamy tasting with a mild curried flavor and just the right amount of heat. At last I'd found a place that serves not only decent, but delicious soup.

It was so simple and creamy. I was sure I could recreate it without even asking for the recipe.

The hard part about this soup might be picking the right bowl to eat it in.

Did I mention I'm a sucker for thrift shop/garage sale soup bowls? For me, it's part of the soup experience--eating out of the perfect soup container. Someday I'd love to host a soup bowl exchange, where you sample soups and bring extra bowls to exchange.

Which bowl would I take?

I wanted the soup to be simple--just a pureed soup, but I couldn't resist also adding roasted peppers as a garnish. I probably mentioned this before, but be sure to use only fresh lemon to tweak final flavors. I'm not sure about those plastic squeeze lemon concentrate containers. It just doesen't seem like the same thing and flavor is everything with soup. Lemon wedges on the side would do the trick.

Here's the recipe:

Curried Pumpkin Soup

(Serves 4)

1/2 cup cashews

1 cup apple cider

1 small sugar pie pumpkin (about 4 cups cooked pumpkin)

1 Walla Walla sweet onion, diced

1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil

3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 sweet tart apple, cored and diced

2 teaspoons curry

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

3 to 4 cups water

Sea salt

Lemon

1 or 2 roasted red peppers, cut into strips

1. Soak the cashews in apple cider. With a fork, poke holes in the pumpkin and bake it in a moderate oven (350F.) for about an hour or until pumpkin is tender. Remove the pumpkin, let it cool. Then skin; scoop out the seeds and set it aside while you cook the onions.

2. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onions and 1 tablespoon oil. Stir and cook until onions soften. Add garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Reduce heat, add apple, curry, tumeric and hot pepper flakes. Stir and cook until apples become soft.

3. Puree the cashews and apple juice until smooth and creamy. Reserve.

4. Puree the onion mixture with pumpkin and water, adding them alternately. Add the cashew cream and enough water for the soup consistency you want. Add sea salt and lemon juice to taste. Garnish with strips of roasted red peppers.

Nothing says fall better than a simple "creamy" pumpkin soup. Who knows, maybe next time I'll actually get Mair Farm's ginger and try out Pumpkin Soup number 2.

The swirls of color are the cashew cream and soup. I like it better than one even color, but make it your way, and have fun with it.

It was so good, I ate some for breakfast this morning. My Cooking Assistant Finn didn't mind a bit. Clean up is his specialty.

The Soup Project: Dairy-Free Fresh Tomato Bisque

2011-10-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

You could probably tell from my last post I never get tired of soup. I often order soup in restaurants and one thing I've discovered is there are way too many boring soups out there. While imagination plays a big role in soup flavors, in my opinion using poor quality soup stock is a huge problem.

Here's my take on stock: make your own stock or use water, but stay away from the packaged stuff, no matter what brand it is. Aside from paying too much money for mostly water, when you use packaged stock for every soup, all your soups will taste the same. And sooner or later that packaged flavor starts eating away at you. It jumps out with every bite, and you recognize it any time someone else uses it. It's a soup turn-off, and if any food on the grocery store shelf can be considered a RIP OFF it's packaged soup stock.

If everyone refused to buy the stupid one size- fits-all soup stocks, and stores removed it from the shelves, the world might just be a much tastier place.

And while I'm at it, people should ask for their money back when they get a boring soup.

Waiter: "How's your soup?"

You: "Pretty boring. I'm not paying for boring today."

I digress. Back to my trip to Portland and the soup of the week.

I went to Portland after my publishers (Timber Press) invited me to WordStock, to sign copies of my book. And by the way, it's such a cool annual event for writers and book lovers.

I picked a time a few hours after the farmers' market opened; I figured I'd get up early (5am on Saturday), visit the market, load up on some good fall buys, enjoy a vegetarian tamale. Then I'd head over and spend the afternoon at WordStock. So, that's what I did.

The market had plenty of season's end offerings--peppers, eggplant, melons and tomatoes. I was in heaven and could have easily stayed another hour.

WordStock featured well-known authors and had tables for self-published and wannabe authors--all things connected to words and writing.

I served up biscotti from a recipe in my book. A few people noticed the nutty flavor of Nash's whole wheat pastry flour. I checked out all the tables, listened to an interview with Jennifer Egan, and met Cole Danehower, editor in chief of Northwest Palate (food, drink and travel in the Northwest) and author of Essential Wines and Wineries of the Pacific Northwest (2011, Timber Press). His book is on my wish list now.

When I got home, I spread out my Oregon treasures and realized, I had work to do if I wanted to preserve the tomatoes and peppers for winter meals.

My Cooking Assistant was eager to help. Pick up a camera and he's already waiting to inspect the peppers and sweet potatoes. I often wonder what it would be like to smell everything like a basset hound.

I'd gotten a box of Roma tomatoes for $25 at Deep Roots Farm. (Good thing I'd taken my market wagon to put the box in.) I'm not sure how much the box weighed, but it felt like at least 20 pounds.

Not many dogs like tomatoes, but if it's edible, Finn is willing to try it.

First, I sliced tomatoes and filled my dehydrator. The cost of a small jar of organic sundried tomatoes is up to around $9 at PCC Natural Markets and possibly more at Whole Paycheck.

I sliced more and drizzled them with olive oil. I popped them in the oven on the lowest setting. I did this last year with tomatoes I'd brought home from Ayers Creek Farm and I remembered the flavor of those amazing tomatoes in soups and sauces all winter.

After inspecting all the tomatoes, Finn seemed like he really wanted to try one. I had many tomatoes left so I handed him one. He bit it once, spit it out and then did it again. He wasn't sure he wanted to continue, until I asked him to hand it over.

He didn't want to give it back and finally ate it.

I decided to look for a recipe to showcase tomatoes and surprisingly I didn't have to look far.

I opened this calendar of recipes that I'd purchased from Whatcom Locavore Nancy Ging. I flipped through the 12 months of recipes not really expecting to find a tomato soup, but when I got to September, there it was--Fresh Tomato Bisque. I stared at the picture before flipping it over to read the recipe. It listed cream but then that's not unusual.

Ask for a bisque in a restaurant and you get a boatload of cream, so I thought cream was a requirement of bisque until I looked it up. Epicurious give this definition of pureed seafood. I thought that was a mistake but Culinary Arts supported that definition and also said thick vegetable soups are also sometimes referred to as bisques. I found a few vegetarian tomato soups but most were uninspiring and not worth repeating.

Nancy's recipe does list cream (after all it's a local product) but it's easy enough to replace--cashew cream, silken tofu, coconut milk or for the locavore, potatoes. Her ingredients also listed 3 pounds of potatoes. I wasn't sure how much that was so I weighed the tomatoes. That's about 14 medium Roma tomatoes or about 6 cups of chopped tomatoes.

I also changed the seasonings and used oil instead of butter, but that's the joy of soup. The vanilla bean was a bit of a risk, but I have to say this soup was astonishingly good because of it. It blended well with the other flavors and Tom had no idea vanilla was even remotely involved with this soup. Also this soup was so good before I added the coconut milk that you could leave it out and add more water.

For me, the soup was even better with a wood fired bagel from the Portland farmers' market.

Here's the recipe:

Dairy-Free Fresh Tomato Bisque

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 cup minced shallots

1/4 cup diced red pepper

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

1 vanilla bean, slit down the middle (lengthwise)

3 pounds fresh Roma tomatoes, chopped (about 6 cups)

1 tablespoon Mama Lil's peppers or 2 jalapenos, minced

5 small red potatoes, chopped

1 small to medium sweet potato, chopped

1 cup water

1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk

1 teaspoon honey or sugar

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (approximate measure)

Sea salt to taste

1. Saute shallots in canola oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Stir and cook until soft. Add garlic and continue to stir for a few minutes.

2. Add vanilla bean, tomatoes, Mama Lil's Peppers, half the potatoes and sweet potatoes, and water. Cook over medium heat until tomatoes and potatoes are soft. Remove vanilla bean and puree, a cup at a time until smooth can creamy.

3. Return to heat. Add remaining potatoes, sweet potatoes, coconut milk and honey or sugar. Cook on low until potatoes are done. Add lemon and salt to taste.

The Soup Project: 38 Soup Recipes and Still Counting

2011-10-03T09:51:00.001-07:00

Tortilla Soup with Corn and Red Beans

This soup is my ode to the last rays of summer. I'd wanted to make it for a long time. I wasn't really sure how make it, but I'd tasted a friend's version a few years ago, and I knew what I wanted. When I searched online, I found a number of recipes. If you can dream it up, someone else has already done it and I wanted to see how they tweaked the ingredients.

First there were a ton of recipes that relied on "chicken stock." I cut those out first. Then I found this vegetarian tortilla soup that featured canned tomatoes, canned corn and a cup of cheddar cheese. Way too predictable for me. Then I found this one with beef broth and pinto beans. I'm not quite sure why people feel the need to add meat stock to an otherwise fine recipe. Do they think they can't live without the flavor of meat in everything? Even with the meat broths, most of the tortilla soup recipes seem are tired and uninspired. Makes me wonder why so called "foodie" websites waste my time. I mean really--a can of this a can of that, we're seriously suffering from way too many insipid recipes in this country. Please All Recipes--and all the other so called "foodie sites" we don't need any more boring recipes.

River Farm from Ellensburg brings this big roaster to the U-District and West Seattle markets. The scent of roasting peppers is intoxicating. Everyone loves them. But the fire department--that's another story.

A few weeks ago Liz from River Farm said they now had to come up with $450 for a permit fee to roast their peppers. "Put a sign up," I'd said and they did.

Maybe somebody at the fire department should taste these amazing peppers.

Loyal customers ponied up the cash and River Farm paid this new fee.

I wanted to use fresh tomatoes as well as dried tomatoes in this soup. My dried tomatoes came from Deep Roots Farm at the Hillsdale Farmers' Market. The fresh tomato was blanched to remove the skin. (Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut out the stem and cut and X on the bottom of the tomatoes. Drop in the water for 1 minute or until the skin peels back. Rinse in cool water.) I take the skin off because it doesn't add anything to the recipe and the bits of skin can be distracting, but if it doesn't bother you, skip this step.

You can also grill or roast your own red peppers if you can't buy fire-roasted at the market. The smokey flavor and corn broth make this soup special.

Most of the ingredients came from around here--not the avocado, salsa, lemon or chips. (I love the fresh salsa from Gathering Together Farm, and I'll get some at the Portland Farmers' Market if they have it this coming Saturday.) I also found a use for corn husks and cobs in this recipe. The milky corn husk broth form a basic layer of flavor in this soup.

I cooked the beans ahead of time, but you can also make this soup in a pressure cooker, cooking everything at once. I've mentioned Jill Nussinow's The New Fast Food in previous posts like this one. It's my favorite book this year. I really can't say enough about how pressure cooking has transformed my cooking syle.

Here is the recipe:

Tortilla Soup with Corn and Red Beans

(Serves 4)

2 ears of corn

4 to 6 cups water

1 small red onion

5 or 6 roasted peppers (use your favorite variety)

3/4 cup dried roasted tomatoes

1 large heirloom tomato, blanched, peeled and chopped

1 red potato, washed and diced

1 1/2 cups cooked red beans (or use 1 to 2 cans, drained, rinsed red beans)

1/4 cup salsa (your favorite variety)

1 teaspoon honey

Salt to taste

1 avocado, pitted, peeled and diced

Lemon or lime juice

Tortilla chips

1. Husk the corn and remove corn from the cobs. Reserve corn; cut cobs into pieces, and place the husks and cobs in a pot with the water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain and reserve liquid for the soup.

2. Peel and diced red onion and roasted peppers. Reserve.

3. Place corn broth, dried and heirloom tomatoes, potato, red beans, and salsa in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Adjust salt to taste.

4. Toss avocado with about 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice.

5. Place onions, peppers, avocado and chips in a soup bowl. Ladel soup over vegetables and chips.

He really only gets a few chips and he does the "prewash" on the empty bowl because onions are toxic for dog. I think he's eyeing the chips anyway.

Just in case you're in the mood for soup, here are 38 weeks of soup and counting. Just a few more months of my "Soup Project."

1. Sweet Potato and Kale Soup

2. Quinoa Chowder

3. Basic Soup Stock

4. Locro Guascho Argentino (white beans, sweet potatoes and hominy)

5. Deborah Madison's Rustic Lentil Soup

6. Black Bean Chili

7. Meyer Lemon, Leek, Mushroom and Potato Soup

8. Dilled Cabbage, Mushroom and Potato Soup

9. Jamaican Red Bean Soup with Lime and Coconut

10. Chickpea and Kale Soup with Bread Crumbs

11. Roasted Potato and Leek Soup with Cashew Cream and Broccoli Raab

12. Masoor Dal

13. Caldo Verde: Portuguese Kale Soup

14. Long Life Miso Soup

15. Creamy Curried Nettle Soup

16. Red Velvet Soup (with beets)

17. Mushroom Rhubarb Soup with Baby Collard Greens

18. Yellow Split Pea Dal

19. Garlic-Asparagus Soup with Smokey Blue Cheese

20. Rhubarb-Cherry Soup with Cashew Cream

21. Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Asparagus

22. Spring Vegetable Soup with Red Lentils

23. Spinach Soup with Cashew Cream and Morels

24. Creamy Broccoli and Arugula Soup with Caramelized Zucchini and Avocado

25. Coconut Strawberry Soup

26. English Pea Soup with Mint and Apricots

27. Zucchini Chowder with Fire Roasted Tomatoes Basil and Parmesan Cheese

28. Cooling Creamy Mint Infused Apricot Soup

29. Dilled Fresh Tomato and Quinoa Soup

30. Creamy Carrot with Fennel and Pecans

31. Corn Chowder with Basil, Eggplant and Fire-Cracker Goat Cheese

32. Raw Creamy Cucumber Soup

33. Grilled Red Pepper Chowder

34. Lentil Soup with Smoky Eggplant

35. Borscht

36. Creamy Celery and Split Pea Soup with Carrots

37. Hot Apple Soup

38. Tortilla Soup with Corn and Red Beans (See recipe above)

Homemade Dog Biscuits

2011-09-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make--I eat dog biscuits. Oh not Milk Bones or any of those "gourmet biscuits" that have faux frosting at pet stores, and I'm not one of those freaky people from "My Strange Addiction," but ever since I started experimenting with nongluten flours and making crackers that my friends called "dog biscuits," I've been addicted.

The biscuits started out as crackers, and in the early days I put them in cute little bags as gifts telling people they were crackers. But even my Cooking Assistant has always acted as if they're dog biscuits that were created just for him.

He could hardly contain himself yesterday when I told him I was making Buckwheat Bones, and when I asked if he'd like to take a picture he was beside himself. He started licking the bowl the minute I set it before him.

These are made with buckwheat, yams and peanut butter--no bacon involved because that really drives him crazy. And I wanted to eat these "crackers," so I stuck with the vegan version--peanut butter and yams.

The basic idea for dog biscuits is you create a liquid with the flavors you want, then add it to the flour mixture. I didn't have any stock, so I just added water. Add additional flour until the dough is very stiff.

If you refrigerate the dough, it becomes more rigid, making it easier to roll out. One cool thing about nongluten flours is you can roll and re-roll and the texture never becomes tough.

Another cool thing about making your own dog biscuits is you can use any kind of cookie cutters you want. I once gave a bag of these crackers to a friend because her kids loved the simple flavor of peanut butter and molasses. A big bonus is they aren't too sweet.

Some dogs don't want to share. That would be my Cooking Assistant. He's just waiting for his share.

Here's the recipe:

Buckwheat Bones

(Makes about 60 2- to 3-inch biscuits)

3 cups buckwheat flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour or potato starch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes or canned pumpkin

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

Approximately 1 cup water

1/2 cup bacon (optional)

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Place sweet potato, peanut butter, molasses and 1/2 cup water in a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Add remaining water; then blend with dry ingredients. Add bacon, if desired.

2. Stir until the mixture becomes a stiff dough. Gather into a ball and place in a plastic bag or covered container in the refrigerator for at least one hour. (You can refrigerate this dough up to one week, if you like.)

3. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a few baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough in half. Put half in the refrigerator. Roll the other half out to about 1/4-inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters and place as many as you can on a cooking sheet. It doesn't matter if cookies touch.

4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Biscuits should be fairly hard when done. For extra-crispy biscuits leave in the cooling oven for an hour.

It feels a little odd to eat a dog bone shaped biscuit, but the crunch and peanut flavor are what I really like.

Go ahead and make them for "your dog" but I totally get it if you sneak a few of these cool biscuits for yourself.

The Soup Project: Hot Apple Soup

2011-09-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned the Hot Apple Soup that Shelby Slater made for the Sourdough Speaker series at the North Cascades Institute. Just the mention of the soup makes me think fall and hot apple cider.

I usually buy apples from Liz and Michael of Grouse Mountain Farm at the U-District farmers' market. But not this week because I left for the Institute on Friday morning.

I'll share a bit about my farm visit and the speaker event at the North Cascades Institute.

On my way to the Institute, I stopped at Blue Heron Farm owned and managed by Anne Schwartz. This is one of the farms that supplied the food for the dinner, and I was so excited to meet Anne and husband Mike Brondi since I'd heard about her farm for years.

Anne says she started farming organically in 1979. She and her husband Mike Brondi built this farmstead themselves. Anne worked for Cascadian Farm for 12 years and has served on the Washington Tilth board for 30 years. Her husband Mike was instrumental in growing and planting the native plants surrounding Cascade Institute's Environmental Learning Center buildings and lodges. In addition to growing food for the Institute, Anne grows for Skagit Valley Co-op and she grows food for a 20-week CSA.

When I arrived at her farm, I met some CSA members doing a work share. After Anne ate a quick lunch, she invited me back to her barn where she got busy packing boxes for Skagit Co-op. She reused some organic produce boxes and talked about the organic standards and how rigorous the inspections for organic farms are. Anne is like the grandmother or organics in Washington state.

Anne invited me to see the fields where the produce grows so I followed her and her border collie in their pick-up truck to the fields. The sun was shining and working outside looks inviting when the weather is fine. I woudn't mind being a "fair weather" farmer, but let it pour like it did today and that's another story. Farming is relentless and farmes put in time every day without many vacations.

Hard to believe sugar pie pumpkins are here already. I'm thinking pumpkin bread. Make mine gluten-free.

When I asked Anne what she liked best about farming she said, "Being outdoors." Farmers do love the lifestyle. I don't think I could keep up with Anne she's got so much energy.

Check out the vegetables in Anne's truck. They unloaded big yellow tubs so fast, I barely got time to say hi to Anne's border collie.

Deer and elk are challenges at Anne's farm, so big fences surround her organic crops.

Anne and Mike couldn't attend the dinner because Mike was running in a marathon east of the Cascades on Sunday morning, but I was able to incorporate farm photos in the slide show for after dinner. Anne sent an amazing letter telling about her start in organic farming and their connection to the Institute. Someone from the Institute read her letter before dinner and it was great to be able to show pictures of their farm after dinner.

Other farms who also contributed to the dinner were

Jones Creek Farms

Viva Farms (a cool Skagit Valley farm that helps new farmers get started)

The North Cascades Institute is about 45 minutes east of Blue Heron Farm. You drive over Diablo Dam to get to the Institute. Seattle City Light offers ferry tours every summer on Diablo Lake. The lights along the edge of the dam came from Pioneer Square decades ago.

The buildings were finished in 2003. Each lodge has a larger gathering room and a number of sleeping quarters with two bunk beds and a desk. It's pretty basic with bathrooms down the hall but everything is clean and green--totally inviting, I can't wait to return as a participant.

No cell phone service meant no annoying people focused like zombies in one-way conversations, the insecure checking email and pounding out text messages, or the silently obnoxious bobbing around with earphones plugged into Ipods. I loved every minute of this trip and had never before realized how annoying cell phone use can be on a continual basis.

I stayed in Fir Lodge, and sipped wine with new friends. We stayed up telling stories and talking to each other.

Before my event workers arranged this cool table to display and sell books. The squash was from Blue Heron Farm.

The first course was hot apple soup served in acup. Chef Shelby Slater said he'd used apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider and he'd thickened it with cream. It was an interesting twist on the recipe from my book. I wouldn't have thought of using the apple cider vinegar as the base but I do love vinegar and using it in soup intrigues me.

For the version in my book, I used apple juice, lemon and hazelnut butter. But I hadn't made this soup since last fall, and it's actually a sweeter soup than Shelby's version. More like a dessert soup. Also I added the zest of the lemon this morning and that made it even better. Add a dollop of coconut sorbet and well . . .

I've been sipping it all day. It's hard to stop. That a hint of hazelnut butter and lemon zest, it's seductive. Sweeten it with maple syrup adjust the flavor with lemon juice and a dash of salt and you won't be sorry.

I used 3 large honey crisp apples that I bought at Skagit Valley Co-op.

Here's the recipe close to the way it's presented in the book:

Hot Apple Soup

(Serves 4)

3 sweet-tart apples, cored and sliced (I used honey crisp)

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 cups apple cider (I used Rockridge Orchards apple cider)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cardamom or cinnamon

1/4 cup hazelnut butter

Dash of sea salt

Up to 1 cup water

Freshly grated nutmeg

Dollop of coconut sorbet (optional)

1. Simmer apples in lemon juice, zest, apple cider, maple syrup, and cardamom or cinnamon for about 10 minutes or until tender.

2. Blend in a blender or with a hand blender, adding hazelnut butter, dash of sea salt and enough water to thin to desired consistency.

3. Sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg. Add a dollop of coconut sorbet, if desired.

It was pouring rain so I took pictures of this soup on a table near a window instead of on my Cooking Assistant's table.

He looked up with such sad eyes. But he got happy when offered his usual "prewash" job.

I'll Bring the Trail Mix

2011-09-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

I'm excited about this upcoming dinner event at the North Cascades Institute this weekend. Tom is staying home with the hounds and Mair Farm cat and I'm heading to the Institurte early because I'm attending a base camp and the Institute is also hosting their annual picnic on Saturday afternoon. The picnic is free to anyone who wants to attend, so if you want to stop by, be sure to say hello.

Their blog this week featured an article I wrote about the importance of eating locally. (Watch out, it might make you hungry for apples). They also had this post that spotlights two of my favorite recipes. Margie's Raw Apple cake is amazingly easy to make.

Chef Shelby Slater selected a number of recipes from my book--Zucchini Cream Sauce over risotto, Spicy Spinach and Red Cabbage Salad to name a few. I hope Shelby makes the carrot hummus for an appetizer, but whatever he creates, I can't wait to taste it. I got a glimpse of the menu yesterday and the Hot Apple Soup will make a perfect blog post on Monday.

After the dinner I'll present a slide show of local farms and food and my talk will include farms in Skagit Valley where the Institute gets food for their events. Blue Heron Farm is contributing vegetables for the dinner and it's on the way, so I'm stopping on the way there.

Is there anything cooler than an invitation to a farm?

I spoke with Anne Schwartz of Blue Heron Farm earlier this week and I learned a lot about her farm. I first heard about her farm a few years ago while shopping at Skagit Valley Co-op. A sign hanging over carrots displayed the name and it was such pretty farm name that it stuck in my mind. Later, I bought a copy of "Washington: Renewing the Countryside" and I found a profile of Blue Heron Farm. Not long after that I heard Anne talk at The American Farmland Trust's Farm Steward of the Land Award in 2008 in Seattle. I think she spoke before Nash Huber, the first Northwest farmer and the first organic vegetable farmer to win the award.

Check your local library for Washington: Renewing the Countryside, edited by John Harrington.

Anne's farm is on Highway 20 before you get to Cascadian Home farm where Anne says she worked for 12 years. Looks like I'll be stopping at this farm stand where I hope they still have a few berries.

Here are a few pictures I'm including in the slide presentation.

This is a picture taken Rockridge Orchards, where farmer Wade Bennett keeps his own bees. It's not exactly Skagit Valley but nothing much happens without bees in the produce world no matter where you live. It's one of the topics Ill cover the the presentation.

And how can you do a food and farming presentation in Washington in the fall without talking about apples? This is Bellewood Acres on Ten Mile Road near Lynden. It was at this farm store where I bought the book above that ultimately led me to Blue Heron Farm.

Seed growing and saving farmland are two other features of the presentation.

And for some reason, this picture makes the cut for just about every slide presentation. I love that Buzz at Rent's Due Ranch sits so confidently on this heaping compost pile that feeds the crops at Rent's Due Ranch.

I'm really looking forward to this event, but I hate to leave my Cooking Assistant behind since he's also my portable therapist and resident comedian who always makes me smile, even when he steals food, since it's usually my own fault.

I think he picks up little clues that I'm leaving before the bags ever appear. One clue is my standard homemade snack food--trail mix.

The little biscuits are gluten-free crackers. I'll write a post about those sometime soon.

Here is the Trail Mix that I adapted from my book:

Trail Mix Redo

(Makes 3 3/4 cups)

3/4 cup nuts (use walnuts and hazelnuts for Northwest selections)

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

1 or more tablespoons tamari

1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped dried fruit (apricots, apples, nectarines, peaches, pears)

1/2 cup dried cherries or grapes

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Roast hazelnuts for 7 and walnuts for 5 minutes. Add sunflower and pumpkin seeds and roast for 3 minutes or until they taste lightly toasted. Remove from oven and sprinkle with tamari.

2. Stir and return to oven to dry for just a few minutes.

3. Remove from oven and stir in dried fruit.

As I snapped pictures of Finn with the food, I almost missed Skinny Chloe behind me, who likes it best behind the scenes. "Oh no you caught me!"

And then quicker than a squirrel stealing plums, she whips her head around.

Some dogs are just born with a proclivity for posing, the love of the lens and the idea of their own Facebook fan page as long as it involves rewards. They can work it for 15 minutes or more of fame. Skinny Chloe is content to work behind the scenes, as long as she gets equal rewards.

The Soup Project: Creamy Celery and Split Pea Soup with Carrots

2011-09-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I put together a slide show presentation for the Sourdough Speaker Series at the North Cascade Institute. The harvest celebration dinner is scheduled for this coming Saturday, and as I perused the pictures, I ate this amazing celery soup soup I made on Sunday.

I can eat soup any time of day. The soup was as good as it gets, but as I sorted photos it was hard to resist writing about the soup. Or writing about about the past Saturday, where I spent part of the day at the Bellingham Community Food Co-op where an "eat local" barbecue of meat and veggie kabobs, a quinoa and black bean salad and grilled corn on the cob drew a crowd for lunch. I passed out samples of Garlicky Greens and met shoppers and fellow food writers. Check out Whatcom Locavore Nancy Ging's blog and Melissa Elkins, the Sassy Sampler and food co-op blogger. Also handing out samples of a cucumber salad was Tom Malterre a nutritionist and blogger and co-author of theWhole Life Nutrition Cookbook. Now there's an example of eating and working that totally works. Mostly the weather sunny but cool and soup would have been a great addition to this line up.

The Chordata Co-op--a bright spot just beyond The Bellis Fair Mall.

On the way to the co-op I'd stopped at the Whispering Winds Farm's new produce stand. If you haven't stopped by this place in Snohomish County, put it on your calendar. The produce is great and the prices are right. I love the refrigerator with the glass door that Char told me she got it at a garage sale. It's only open on the weekends right now. I got potatoes, celery, beets, zucchini and kale. I miscalculated how much time it would take me to stop and still make it on time, so I barely made it to the barbecue event on time.

I got the celery and I figured I'd pick up celeriac or celery root at the Bellingham co-op. Celeriac isugly--knobby and hairy-- and doesn't look like much at all, but peel the outside and the inside is creamy like potatoes with a hint of celery. In fact, it's great to mash with potatoes but I also love it in soup. Rent's Due Ranch in Stanwood sold it last weekend at the U-District market, and when I saw the celery at Willie Green's, I knew I'd celery soup would be on the menu this week. I just didn't figure it would be harder to get the farther north I traveled.

Eating locally isn't always that easy. You get an idea and suddenly can't find what you saw the week before. I couldn't find celery root at all in Bellingham. So I stopped at Skagit Valley Co-op in Mount Vernon on my way home. I scanned the produce section, spotted the celeriac from California and finally asked a guy working there:

"Do you have any locally grown celery root?"

He said he didn't think it grew well here, that he couldn't find any farmers who grew it. I didn't really want to sound like the local food snob, but I said, "Rent's Due Ranch in Stanwood grows it." This is actually why I don't do many Saturday events. I get spoiled by my own farmers.

And I was all stoked about making this soup. I love celery and I forgot to consider that celery may grow better in warmer weather. I settled for the stuff from California rather than take a chance on the Lake Forest Park market or the Ballard market the next day.

The recipe for this soup came from my book. And of course I changed it to fit my new vision. The thick creamy texture comes from a potato blended with split peas. The soup has a stick-to-your ribs feeling without adding lots of fat.

But the real star of this soup is celery. I couldn't wait to try the celery from Whispering Winds ever since Char showed me how she was growing it. It turns out her technique had a few flaws--the celery can get too hot on sunny days but that's the great part of small market farming. You can try things out and if you lose a crop for one reason or another, you have other crops to back it up. Char did have enough (2 cups, sliced celery) for my soup.

This is celery at the U-District market grown by Willie Green's Organic farm in Monroe. Before I met Char, I got almost all my celery in the fall from Willie Green's. I think Char's celery may be just a hint sweeter. I love the crunch, the slightly bitter tones and the fact that celery is so good at lowering your blood pressure. The only thing I hate about celery is the season is way too short.

Here's the recipe adapted from my book:

Creamy Celery and Split Pea Soup with Carrots

(Serves 4)

1 celery root, peeled and diced

1 fresh lemon, juice and zest

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 shallots diced, or 1 cup diced sweet onions

1 head garlic, cloves separated, peeled and sliced

Pinch of cayenne

2 cups sliced celery

1 sweet tart apple, cored, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 medium white potato, peeled and diced

2 medium carrots, 1 sliced and 1 grated

1/2 cup split peas

4 cups stock or water

Honey

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Soak celery root in water with 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

2. Heat a soup pot or pressure cooker over medium heat. Add oil, shallots and garlic. Stir, reduce heat and cook the shallots until they are soft--about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cayenne. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Add celery, apple cardamom, potato and carrots. Stir until all vegetables are coated with oil. Stir in split peas and water. If using a pressure cooker, secure lid and bring to pressure. Cook 10 minutes; remove from heat and let pressure come down naturally. If using a soup pot, bring soup to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or until peas and potatoes are very soft.

4. Blend 1 cup of the soup (without carrots) in a blender until smooth and creamy. Stir into the soup. Add remaining lemon juice and balance with honey to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Garnish with grated carrots.

I asked my Cooking Assistant if he wanted to come and pose with the soup.

Before I knew it, he reached down and grabbed the whole grain bread. And as he grabbed it sank into soup.

I think all he heard was "Would you like to help yourself!"

You don't really need to bob for the bread to enjoy this soup.

The Soup Project: Borscht

2011-09-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Catch the cool Northwest breeze or watch the leaves float down from trees and you know it's fall. It feels like eons ago since I made Red Velvet Soup with the baby beets of spring, but lately every time the cool breeze blows I'm feeling like beets would be perfect.

Fresh beets will be all over the market in a few weeks, but they seemed scarce this last weekend.

That's the way it is, go looking for something in particular at the market, and unless it's peak season, that particular produce item suddenly becomes hard to find. You'd think beets would be plentiful all year. I finally spotted these beets at Rent's Due Ranch, in the lowly last position, practically squeezed out by the kohlrabi.

If vegetables could talk maybe the kohlrabi is saying, "Excuse me, it's not your turn yet."

"Do you have more beets?" I'd asked JoanE.

"Oh yes," JoanE said, "But not many people are buying beets right now. People get beets all winter, most don't want them yet."

It's funny how even market shoppers get accustomed to certain months for vegetables. This feeling that we "know" seasons and only buy certain vegetables at certain times means for example that stores don't accept local corn after Labor Day or plant starts after Mother's Day. And melons for Thanksgiving? If a farmer grows it, that should determine the season.

And what about celery? It's one of the vegetables that people don't even think about seasons. But fall is the best time for local celery, so check it out now.

This celery is from Willie Green's and looks and tastes like it was covered while growing. Some farmers don't cover it. Look close before you buy, if the celery is more green and tough looking, it's likely the farmer didn't cover it and it will have more bitter tones. If you like celery less bitter, ask if the farmer covers the stalks when it grows. I could eat fresh celery every day. Celery is underrated and more than just a low calorie vegetable.

It's also a vegetable that won't last long in the refrigerator at home. Use it within a few days or it will get rubbery.

The original recipe for this soup came from a recipe column I wrote in the early 1990s for a newsletter called Vegan Network. I added the recipe to the line up in this article called "Beet It," for Vegetarian Journal. My first book Local Vegetarian Cooking also included the recipe and it can also be found in The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook. That must mean the recipe is timeless--for me anyway.

Onions and carrots are also part of the mix. If you're sensitive to onions, try shallots.

Many dogs love carrots, but when it comes to beets, like many people, dogs don't get the allure. Or maybe it's just that I walked away with "his" carrots, he needed to give me the stink eye.

Some people like beet greens better than beet roots. A spinach and chard relative, beet greens can be added to stir-fries, casseroles or pureed into dips. Lately, my favorite way to use the beet greens is in hot sandwiches with grilled onions, peppers, eggplant or mushrooms.

You can chop and add the greens to this soup when the soup is cooked. Heat until the greens wilt. One bunch of beets cut into chunks is about 2 cups of bite-size pieces.

I had just two carrots left because the dogs hit me up as soon as I walk in the door every Saturday. They don't leave my side until I pony up a carrot or two. I often get one bunch of carrots just for the dogs, but I was in a hurry to get to the Tumwater Library to give a talk about local farms, farmers and food.

Hope you enjoy this the soup of the week.

Borscht

(Serves 4)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, mince

2 to 5 stalks of celery, sliced

1 pr 2 carrpts, chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

5 cups water or vegetable stock (or half of each)

3 cups roughly chopped beets

1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) fresh dill, chopped

1 medium baked potato, skin removed

1/4 cup lemon juice

Zest from 1 lemon, finely chopped

1 to 2 tablespoons sugar or honey

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Sour cream, plain yogurt or lemon cashew cream (recipe follows)

Bagel chips and lemon wedges

1. Place a heavy soup or pressure cooker pot over medium heat. Add the oil and onion, cover and sweat the onions until soft. Add garlic, celery, and carrots, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Cook for a few more minutes.

2. Add the water or stock, beets, and dill. If using a pressure cooker, lock lid in place and bring to pressure. Cook for 3 minutes, then let pressure come down naturally for 7 minutes. For a traditional soup pot, bring soup to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

3. Puree one cup of soup stock with the potato, lemon juice and zest. Stir back into the soup pot along with the sugar or honey to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste; adjust seasonings.

4. Top with a dollop of sour cream, plain yogurt or drizzle some lemon cashew cream. (See recipe below.)

4. Serve with bagel chips. Use lemon wedges to adjust the flavors.

Lemon-Cashew Cream

(Makes about 1 cup)

1/2 cup raw cashews

1 cup apple cider

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1. Soak cashews in apple cider for about an hour.

2. Puree with lemon zest and juice until creamy. Add to soup instead of sour cream, cream or yogurt.

My Cooking Assistant is always intrigued by bread and garnishes. He gives four paws up to this seasonal treasure.