Birkenmommy

Soup for Supper: Beet and Parsnip Soup

2012-01-09T08:07:00.000-05:00

I really love the smell of parsnips. They're clean and earthy smelling. When you peel one in the dead of winter you are instantly reminded that spring is, hopefully, not too far off. However, an uglier vegetable you may never find. No matter how much you scrub them, they never look quite clean. They have an unappealing woody texture. Parsnips look like an albino carrot gone wrong.

Fortunately for the parsnip, looks can be deceiving. Parsnips taste wonderful. They are also amazingly versatile. You can roast them, dice them and throw them in a stew as an alternative to potatoes or steam and mash them in with the mashed potatoes.

For my first new recipe of 2012, I simmered them in chicken stock and paired them with beets to make a wonderful Beet and Parsnip Soup. This recipe is based on one found in Simply Organic by Jesse Ziff Cool. I pureed the parsnips and beets whereas she leaves them cubed in the broth. Next time, I will omit the added sugar. It was unnecessary and made the soup a little bit too candy-sweet for my taste. Otherwise, this is a wonderful deep winter recipe featuring simple, seasonal ingredients. Added bonus - the amazing jewel like color of the beets. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo so the photo of the parsnips from Cooking Light and my word will have to suffice.

Beet and Parsnip Soup
adapted from Simply Organic

6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
6 beets, trimmed and scrubbed clean
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
3 whole cloves
3 peppercorns
salt and pepper to taste

Bring stock to a boil in a large saucepan. Add parsnips, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until parsnips are tender. Using a slotted spoon, remove parsnips to a bowl.

Add beets, shallots, cloves and peppercorns to the simmering broth. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until the beets are tender. Using a slotted spoon, remove beets to a cutting board and allow to cool. Reserve the broth.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins and cut into cubes. Don't worry about uniformity as you will be pureeing the beets shortly.

Strain the broth using a fine sieve or cheesecloth and return the broth to the saucepan over low heat. Add the parsnips and beets. Using a food processor and working in batches or using an immersion blender, puree the beets, parsnips and broth until smooth. Ladle into bowls and top each with a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy!

- birkenmommy

Soup for Supper: Daikon Radish, Napa Cabbage and Carrot Soup

2012-01-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

In the past week and a half we've celebrated two birthdays, Christmas, New Years and a farewell to my sister who is moving to Switzerland. I feel, ugh. Tired, sluggish, just generally ugh. No more sugar, no more heavy meals. Just simple, clean dishes to cleanse my body and soul.

Daikon radish, napa cabbage, julienned carrots and a nice clear broth create a wonderful soup that will make you feel light and maybe even enlightened.

To make a meal of the soup you can add cubed tofu, chicken, or thinly sliced beef to name a few. Top it with a few drops of dark sesame oil or chopped scallion. One word of caution, unless you are in love with the strong flavor of regular cabbage, I suggest using napa cabbage.

Daikon, Napa Cabbage and Carrot Soup

6 - 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth (click here to learn about making broth from scratch)
2 peeled and thinly sliced daikon radish
4 slices fresh ginger (about 1/4 inch thick)
2 cups chopped napa cabbage
1 carrot, julienned (I use a julienne peeler to make it easy)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot bring broth, daikon and ginger to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until daikon is tender (about 20 minutes).

Add cabbage, carrot and any other ingredients you choose and cook for about 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

What's Your New Year's Revolution?

2011-12-24T10:54:00.001-05:00

When my daughter was younger, she loved to make New Year's "Revolutions". Interestingly, she always phrased them in the affirmative. "I'm going to eat more cookies!" or "This year, I'm going to draw more." I wonder at what in point in life our resolutions morph from the affirmative to the negative?

So, this year in stead of making negative resolutions, I'm going to make affirmative revolutions.

My 2012 New Year's Revolutions

I will try to cook one new recipe per week.

I will volunteer more time in my community.

I will support local businesses and eat local foods whenever possible.

I will finish unfinished projects before I embark on new projects.

I will try to make what I could otherwise buy (except clothes, that would be really scary.)

What are your revolutions for 2012?

Have a safe and happy new year!

Love this Post: Box Playhouse Tutorial

2011-12-19T14:28:00.000-05:00

Whenever someone is looking for the perfect gift for my two daughters, I always suggest crayons or markers, construction paper and maybe tape. It's almost universally true that whenever they are given a gift, the box that it comes in turns out be infinitely more interesting. This also holds true for empty tissue boxes and cardboard tubes. I am lucky to have wonderfully creative kids who are able to conjure imaginative worlds from inside their own heads.

I am also lucky to have a wonderfully creative husband who can turn something as ordinary as a moving box into a medieval castle for his two special princesses. And lest you think it stops with castles, he also made them a box playhouse and I hear that there may be a rocket ship or race car in the works.

The playhouses were inexpensive (a $10 box from Home Depot and $1 paints from the sample bin) but have already provided numerous hours of fun. And when they're played out, they can be recycled.

He's written a terrific tutorial to take you step-by-step from plain box to magical playhouse. You can find it here.

Have fun!

Homemade Chicken Stock - Why & How

2011-12-16T08:16:00.000-05:00

Homemade stock is something I avoided doing for a long time. It takes too long. I can just buy it at the store. It takes too long. While this is all true, another truth is that making homemade stock is practically effortless, tastes much better than store-bought and is really worth doing. I generally use my own twist on Mark Bittman's recipe from his wonderful book How to Cook Everything.

When you've got the time - and the chicken bones - try my slightly simplified version of Mark Bittman's recipe. His version is pretty simple but I do omit some things. For example, I don't pat the chicken bones dry with a paper towel before submerging them in water which is part of Bittman's recipe. That doesn't make sense to me. Why should I pat them dry if I'm just going to get them wet again?

Chicken Stock

1 chicken carcass with some of meat left on (just the yucky parts you wouldn't eat anyway)
1 onion roughly chopped (I don't even bother to take the skin off)
1 carrot roughly chopped (if it's clean, I don't bother to peel it)
2 ribs celery roughly chopped
Pinch of dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
4 quarts water

Combine all ingredients in a stock pot and bring to a boil, partially cover and reduce heat to a gently simmer. Cook until meat falls from the bone - about 2 hours. Strain and press on the vegetables and meat to extract as much juice as possible. Refrigerate to allow fat to harden and them skim fat from top. Will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator or freeze but remember to leave head space to allow for expansion when frozen.

Give homemade stock a try, I promise it's worth doing.

Nothin' Says Loving Like a Yummy Pumpkin Muffin

2011-12-14T09:46:00.000-05:00

I admit it, I love a good muffin. Heck, I even love a not so good muffin. They're portable, and good for breakfast or lunch. So versatile! Add whatever fruit or berry is in season for a seasonal snack. Best of all, they're easy to make.

Here's a recipe for one of my all-time favorites - the pumpkin muffin. I've adapted the classic recipe from the American Club, in Kohler, Wisconsin via Gourmet Magazine which you can find many places on the web.

I've lessened the amount of sugar by 20% but, trust me, these are still plenty sweet. I've upped the amount of pumpkin from 1 cup to an entire 15 ounce can. I'm not sure why but the muffins are puffier and much less dense with the added pumpkin. Plus, you aren't left with less than half a can of pumpkin.

Amazing Pumpkin Muffins

1 can solid-pack pumpkin (15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Enjoy!

How to make a healthy snack fun

2011-12-12T07:47:00.000-05:00

It isn't easy being the mom who likes to bring healthy snacks. I vividly remember my older daughter coming home during her first week of Kindergarten asking me if I was aware of something called Chips Ahoy. I also recall being absurdly nervous when it was my turn to be snack mom. Could my homemade pumpkin muffins compete with the cupcakes other moms sent in, not for their child's birthday, but "just because". The answer, by the way, was yes.

It was with some trepidation that I suggested to my daughter that we bring popcorn in addition (and as healthy alternative) to our Bingo Cupcakes. I knew I had to find a way to make it fun. Years of experience as a mom has shown me that packaging is everything. Sandwiches, no matter what lies between the bread slices, are better when cut into fun shapes. Just like everything tastes better when sipped through a bendy straw - it is the same scientific principle at work.

So, how could I make plain popcorn stand out as the fun snack on a bake sale table laden with cupcakes, cookies and chips? By making the packaging pop.

I feel I must stop here to confess that part of my motivation also lay in finding a way to package the popcorn that was eco-friendly. Meaning, no little plastic bags that will still be sitting in a landfill when my third grader is in college.

Fortunately, my local market sells snack bags made by a company called If You Care. Made from the unbleached pulp of spruce trees - a natural, renewable resource - these bags are totally chlorine free.

My next challenge lay in finding a way to label the opaque bags in a fun way. We got out some stampers and ink and went to town. This was a great project because both of my kids could participate. My 8-year old did the stamping, I filled the bags with popcorn and my almost 3-year old sampled the popcorn as part of our quality-control.

I love the old fashioned look the paper bags and block print give to the popcorn. It was a great compliment to the vintage Bingo set at our school.

The next time you want to give your kids a healthy snack and don't want to listen to the backlash - try changing up the packaging.

Soup for Supper: Herbed Carrot Soup

2011-12-09T07:53:00.000-05:00

Fresh from the farm or from the root cellar - carrots are a perennial favorite in our house. Carrot soup is one of my favorite soup recipes both for its beautiful color and wonderful flavor. Here's a classic recipe for Herbed Carrot Soup from the Moosewood Cookbook.

Herbed Carrot Soup

2 lbs. carrots peeled and chopped

1 medium potato peeled and chopped

4 cups water

1 Tbs. butter or oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. oregano or marjoram

1 tsp. basil

1 to 2 Tbs. lemon juice (I forgot the lemon at the market but the soup was great even without it)

Place chopped carrots and potato in the water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until tender (abt. 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, heat oil in a small skillet. Add onions and salt an sauté over medium heat for abt. 5 minutes. Then add garlic, dried herbs and sauté for another 5 minutes until onions are soft. If you did not forget the lemon at the market, add it now.

Puree everything together in a blender or food processor. Return to pot and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.

No one has died from my preserved food!

2011-12-07T07:45:00.000-05:00

One of my most favorite childhood memories is of watching my grandmother and great aunt can tomatoes. They would buy tomatoes by the bushel and spend what seemed like endless hours cooking up huge, steaming vats of delicious tomato sauce to last them through the cold upstate New York winter.

Though I've always wanted to try canning and preserving, I was terrified that I would make someone sick - or worse.

I've looked at probably a half dozen canning books over the past few years but always found them lacking. Either the recipes were weird or the batches were HUGE or the process wasn't explained in a way I felt comfortable with. I didn't want to inadvertently give someone a gift of jarred pickles with a side of botulism.

Over the summer I found a great book called Put 'em Up: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook by Sherri Brooks Vinton. It completely de-mystified the process and showed me things I'd never even thought of like homemade fruit leather and cucumber sake. The book covers a wide variety of food preservation techniques including freezing, drying, infusion and classic canning. She also has helpful sections covering things that are potentially hazardous and things that may look bad but are probably not.

Most of the recipes I tried yielded 4 to 6 jars. Once I got the hang of it, I could do a batch from start to finish in the time between the kids going to bed and me passing out on the couch. I think the best thing about Put 'em Up is the wide variety. Everything you might grow in your garden from early spring through late summer is covered.

If you ever wanted to try preserving food, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Put 'em Up.

From left to right: Bread and Butter Pickles, Heirloom Tomato Salsa,
Squash and Onion Relish, Roasted Red Pepper Ketchup, Tarragon Vinegar,
Tomatillo Salsa and Pickled Beets.

Cooking with Kids: Bingo Cupcakes

2011-12-02T21:43:00.001-05:00

Cooking with my children is one of my most favorite activities. It's a fun way to spend time together. It's nice to show them where food comes from (as in, not from a box) and always provides a good opening to talk about healthy food versus treats.

Tonight was Bingo Night at my daughter's new school and, as the newest member of the PTA's Baking Committee, I wanted to bring something special. I also wanted to include my daughter in the process.

We decided to make Bingo Cupcakes as a treat. We started with plain white cupcakes and used liquid food coloring to make bold green and purple/blue frosting.

Next we took plain Nilla wafers and added bingo letters and numbers (B15, N42) using food color markers.

This was a fun and simple project to do and could be used for a variety of occasions. My daughter was so proud to add our treats to the bake sale table and grinned from ear to ear whenever someone complimented her handiwork. As a parent, it was wonderful to see.

Freezer Bag Alternative

2011-12-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

Why would you put a plastic bag inside a plastic bag when you can simply do this:

One.....

Two....

Three.....

Simple isn't it?

Barley Sweet Potato Hash

2011-11-29T19:40:00.001-05:00

Tonight we had a really wonderful dinner of Sweet Potato Barley Hash topped with a poached egg. As I was eating I thought, "Wow, this is good. I should write a blog post about this!" But by then the food was all gone so I didn't get a chance to take a photo. So the picture of the raw barley that you see above will have to suffice.

You could serve this hash alongside some ham or maybe topped with crumbled bacon or panceta. I like it topped with an egg either poached or over easy. The barley and sweet potato give the meal some heft and the egg provides protein so it's a nice vegetarian alternative.

This recipe is from Simply Organic by Jesse Ziff Cool.

Sweet Potato Barley Hash

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pearl barley
2 tablespoons olive or other light oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4 pieces
2 cups vegetable broth or water
Salt and pepper to taste

Put the barley in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and toast, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. Transfer the barley into a bowl.

In the same saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion and sweet potato until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the barley and broth (or water) and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally until the liquid is absorbed.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Soup for Supper: Potato, Leek and Green Pea Soup

2011-11-26T14:12:00.001-05:00

In case you haven't guessed, I'm a big fan of soup. It tastes good and it's really easy to make. Often, all that is required is some chopping, add liquid and let it rip. I'm particularly fond of pureed soup because you don't even have to chop all that well since everything will be blended smooth.

Yesterday, when I just couldn't stomach another meal of Thanksgiving leftovers, I made a big batch of Potato, Leek and Green Pea soup. I've made this recipe hundreds of times and it's always good. I used butter and stock but this soup can be made using olive oil and water or vegetable stock for those looking for vegetarian/vegan options. It also freezes wonderfully.

Unfortunately, I did not remember to take a picture of my finished soup and now it is all gone. Suffice it to say, the leeks and peas combined to make a vibrant bright green contrast to the snowy Vermont landscape outside my window.

A note about leeks and a confession concerning potatoes. Always remember to wash your leeks as sometimes sand and grit can hide between the layers. I confess, I almost never peel potatoes. I scrub them until they are spotless and leave the skin on. And it's not because of the old adage that the vitamins are in the skin. I'm just lazy.

Leek, Potato and Green Pea Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced crosswise
2 medium potatoes, quartered and sliced thinly
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
2 cups frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste

Melt butter in a soup pot or dutch oven. Add leeks and potatoes, stirring occasionally until both begin to soften - about 10 minutes. Add stock and water and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Add frozen peas and let simmer for another 3 - 5 minutes. You don't want to overcook the peas or they will lose their color.

Puree using either an immersion blender or food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Dinner on the fly: Feta and Spinach Pie

2011-11-24T13:35:00.001-05:00

Try as I might to plan meals for the entire week, inevitably something comes up and I find myself pulling together dinner on the fly. Sometimes its a disaster but sometimes I end up with a happy accident. Just because you can't follow the recipe exactly is no reason not to try something new. Also, a well stocked pantry can almost always save any meal.

Our weekly CSA contained a beautiful block of whole milk feta made just down the road at Maplebrook Fine Cheese in Bennington, Vermont. I'd crumbled some on salads during the week but still had quite a bit left and since the thought of wasting food just kills me, I looked for a seasonal recipe that would use up the feta along with some greens and potatoes we also received.

Luckily, I found a great recipe for Feta and Chard Pie in one of my favorite cookbooks - Simply Organic by Jesse Ziff Cool. If you're trying to cook with the seasons, this is a great book to have on your shelf. Ms. Cool divides the year into 8 seasons, not just the usual 4, which is a wonderful idea. When you think about it, the vegetables available at the beginning of summer are very different from what's in season come late August.

So, I had planned to make Feta and Spinach Pie (no chard) with a wonderful shredded potato and green onion crust. But, my sister's bus was over an hour late which negated the potato crust. Fortunately, I had two frozen crusts from Vermont Mystic Pie on hand and plowed ahead. Here's the recipe:

Spinach and Feta Pie

Ingredients:
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
sprinkle of nutmeg
2 bunches spinach, coarsely chopped (you could also use chard)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup crumbled feta
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
pinch of salt
1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
Prepared pie crust (I used an 8 inch crust)

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add red onion and cook until soft (about 4 minutes). Add garlic, nutmeg and spinach and cook until spinach is wilted (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat, drain off any extra liquid and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine feta, eggs, milk and salt and then add to the spinach mixture. Pour into the crust and top with breadcrumbs. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Simply Organic

Natural Sweetness: Honey

2011-11-21T19:09:00.001-05:00

I've posted before about hidden (and not so hidden) sugar in foods - especially food marketed to kids. According to the USDA, the average American eats approximately 1,500 pounds of food every year. Of that, 160 pounds are primarily refined sugar. Less than 100 years ago, the average American ate only 4 pounds of sugar per year. Often, sugar can be found places we don't think to look for it. For example, some brands of ketchup may contain up to 20% sugar.

I've been trying to replace sugar in my cooking lately. I've started using applesauce in baked goods and maple syrup to sweeten oatmeal and other foods. One thing I love is candied vegetables. I used to use sugar and butter to get that glossy sweetness but now I've taken to using honey. Here is a great recipe for honey-glazed carrots and parsnips:

Honey Glazed Carrots and Parsnips

2 pounds carrots (1 to1 1/2 inches in diameter), peeled, halved lengthwise
2 pounds parsnips (1 to 1 1/2inches in diameter), peeled, halved lengthwise
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Position 1 rack in center and 1rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F.

Line 2 rimmed baking sheetswith foil. Divide carrots and parsnips between prepared sheets. Sprinklegenerously with salt and pepper, then drizzle 3 tablespoons oil over vegetableson each sheet; toss to coat.

Roast vegetables 10 minutes; stir.Roast vegetables 10 minutes longer, stir, and reverse sheets. Continue roastinguntil vegetables are tender and slightly charred, about 15 minutes longer. (Canbe prepared 2 hours ahead. Tent with foil and let stand at room temperature.Rewarm uncovered in 350°F oven 10 minutes.)

Melt butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat. Stirin honey and vinegar. Drizzle honey glaze over vegetables and serve.

Enjoy!

Soup for Supper: Celeriac, Potato & Apple Soup

2011-11-20T19:46:00.001-05:00

Celeriac, potato and apple soup. You'd be hard pressed to find a dish more seasonal than that in Vermont in mid-November. It's hearty without being heavy. It's quick because when it gets dark at 4:00 you start thinking about dinner mighty early. Add a side of buttered crusty bread and you can't go wrong. Best of all, tomorrow it will taste even better.

I found this recipe on Tiny Urban Kitchen a favorite new site of mine (great photography - I wish mine looked half as good). The only thing I wished I had done differently is to top my soup with some crispy, crumbled bacon. Bacon seems to make everything better.

Celeriac Potato and Apple Soup

Ingredients
1 celeriac root (peeled and chopped)
2 medium sized Idaho potatoes (peeled and chopped)
1 large apple (peeled and chopped)
1/2 onion, diced
1 Qt chicken broth
1 T butter
1 T oil
1/2 tsp dried Thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions in butter and oil under medium heat for a few minutes until browned and translucent. Add the celeriac and potatoes. Saute for about 8-10 minutes until they are cooked. Add broth and apples. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender or blend in batches in the blender or food processor. Return to pot to keep it warm.

Enjoy!

I may be a little bit addicted to kohlrabi

2011-11-18T08:55:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about joining a CSA is that it ~~forces you~~ introduces you to vegetables you might otherwise pass up. Take kohlrabi for instance. It just looks weird. It provides no obvious visual clue as to how to cook it. Do you peel it? Do you bake it? What are those weird things sticking up from the top? Or is that the bottom?

My daughter thinks it looks like Mike Wazowski. I think she's right.....

But if you did pass by kohlrabi you'd really be missing out on something special. Kohlrabi, also known as a German Turnip, is a member of the brassica family. Among its helpful attributes are:

Low in calories, only 19 for a half cup raw, sliced
High in dietary fiber, 2.5 grams for one-half cup
Potassium content peaks at 245 grams for one-half cup
Vitamin content includes 25 I.U. vitamin A, 43.4 mg. vitamin C, 11.3 mcg folic acid, and 16.8 mg. calcium in just half a cup.

I love it steamed and then pureed with a little stock to help it smooth out (it also freezes well). You can try it raw in a salad or roasted. The bad boy pictured above is going into a Kohlrabi Ham Souffle which is a new recipe for me (you can find it here). I'll let you know how it turns out but, since I'm a little bit addicted to kohlrabi, I'm not the most impartial judge.

If your tastes don't run to puree or soufflé, the good people at Clear Brook Farm swear by this recipe for Kohlrabi Salad.

Kohlrabi Salad

2 medium red or green kohlrabi bulbs
1 large carrot, peeled
1 teaspoon fennel seed or 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel (optional)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small garlic clove, pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 to 2 Thai bird chilis (optional), minced

1. With a sharp chef's knife, peel the tough outer skin and cut the stems from the kohlrabi. Julienne the kohlrabi with a mandoline or sharp knife (you will have about 4 cups), and then julienne the carrot.

2. If using whole fennel seed, toast the fennel seeds in a small dry sauté pan over medium heat until they begin to brown slightly and smell toasty. Transfer them to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, and grind them into a coarse powder.

3. Combine the ground fennel seed, vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic and chilis, if using. Slowly whisk in the two oils. Pour over the vegetables and toss to coat. Taste for salt.

However you make it, don't be afraid to try some kohlrabi.

The hunt for good food

2011-11-16T08:33:00.000-05:00

One of our main goals in moving to Vermont is to eat both as locally and seasonally as possible. I firmly believe that you vote with both your feet (where you shop) and your dollars (what you buy) on the 364 days that you don't pull the lever in the voting booth. Shopping for locally produced foods sends an important message in addition to supporting local farmers and cottage businesses.

Despite the fact that Vermont is home to many wonderful family farms, eating locally proved difficult at first. It took a lot of work to pull it all together.

We found a local CSA before left NYC that provided us with a handy supply of eggs and organic veggies for the summer months. However, the CSA proved to be run by a pretty disorganized group of hippie farmers who, in light of having a large farm, didn't seem to produce much. They had a lot of heart, just not a lot of product.

We visited our town's weekly farmers market but, to be honest, found it a little disappointing (lots of crafts and "healthy" junk food). We found a small health food store which has proved to be a bit pricey for us so shopping there is reserved for things we absolutely, positively cannot find anywhere else.

Our local supermarket is tolerable. It carries the bare minimum amount of organic staples. It is clean and staffed with nice people but it is really just part of the industrial food complex we were hoping to escape.

On a whim, we drove to the Dorset Farmers Market and found something really wonderful. I don't know a lot about the politics of local farmers markets - why some are better than others that are just down the road but the Farmers Market in Dorset, Vermont is really special. It hosts more than 30 vendors for 42 weeks per year who sell an impressive variety of products.

There is Heleba Potato Farm, which sells nothing but potatoes, and Saratoga Apple, which sells 26 varieties of apple throughout the season. Lewis Waite Farm sells amazing organic, grass fed beef and pork and the best prices I've found anywhere. The women of Mighty Food Farm sell stellar veggies (even now in mid-November I am amazed by how much variety they still have). Someday Farm sells, hands down, the best chicken I've ever had. And, my new favorite thing is Maple Skyr from Gammelgården Creamery.

Our personal food system is far from perfect and it has taken some work to pull it together in a way that does not require us to spend all of our time chasing down the kinds of food we want to eat. I can understand why so many people think eating locally and seasonally is just too much work.

But, we've really enjoyed getting to know the people who produce our food. Now that we've been going for a few weeks, they recognize us as regular customers which creates added value to our shopping experience and is what shopping local is really all about. We're voting with our feet, our dollars and our stomachs and it tastes really damn good.

You Don't Need the Manhattan Project to Make a Compost Pile

2011-11-14T09:08:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was listening to farming guru Joel Salatin on NPR. The interviewer asked him a series of detailed questions about composting and the perfect proportions of greens to browns, and finally Joel said (in I believe, mock exasperation) that "you don't need the Manhattan Project to make a compost pile."

Those few words hit me like a ton of bricks. Of course you don't. So often the perfect becomes the enemy of the good. Which is a semi-long-winded way of explaining why I haven't blogged in an age despite the fact that I really enjoy it. I allow myself to worry so much that what I say isn't going to be perfect that I don't allow myself to say something that might be even pretty good. And, more often than not, pretty good is good enough.

So, I am going to try to revive the birkenmommy blog. It's not going to be perfect but it just might be pretty good.

Kale Chips

2010-07-27T15:24:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I attended a party where someone brought a small bag of kale chips to share. I’d never heard of kale chips but found them delicious until I saw that the small bag was $6.99!

I wondered how hard it would be to make kale chips at home. The other day I had a few extra leaves of kale so I thought I’d give it a try. It turns out that making your own kale chips is really easy. My children loved them. My husband, not so much.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Tear kale into bite sized pieces avoiding the stems and thick veins.

Wash and dry thoroughly – a salad spinner works well for this.

Spread kale in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with either parchment paper of a silpat mat.

Drizzle kale lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with a little bit of kosher sale.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes – look for the edges to turn brown.

Let cool and enjoy.

Blog Crush: Still Made In the USA

2010-07-22T09:51:00.001-04:00

Okay, so it's a website but I'm seriously crushing on stillmadeinusa - a really comprehensive list of products made in the USA - with links! It covers everything from major appliances to toys and games. What an amazing resource!

Exposure to Plants and Parks Can Boost Immunity?

2010-07-15T15:18:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite columns in the New York Times is called Really? Really. It examines the veracity of all sorts of kooky (and not so kooky) health claims like the claim that milk thistle - a common ingredient in cleanses - is good for the liver (nope) or that refrigeration can stem the loss of nutrients from fruits and vegetables (it can’t).

Really recently tackled the claim that exposure to plants and trees can create increased immune function. It turns out that a number of recent studies have concluded that being in nature can increase ones exposure to phytoncides, the airborne chemicals that plants emit to protect them from rotting and insects. Apparently, phytoncides are a benefit to us too.

So, how can you and your kids get closer to nature? Check out Nature Rocks! a new website sponsored by (among others) REI, The Nature Conservancy and the American Heart Association.

The Nature Rocks website provides age-appropriate suggestions for outdoor activities your children will enjoy. It also allows you to plug in your zip code to access a database of outdoor resources near you. Nature Rocks also features a great Resources section with links to all sorts of information regarding the benefits of spending time outside.

So get outside cause nature really does rock!

Cooking With Kids

2010-07-13T12:42:00.001-04:00

While it can take a good deal of planning and patience I do love cooking with my kids. They are capable of doing more in the kitchen than we think and the experience uses all of their senses. The other day my youngest , Quinn (18 months) and I made focaccia with a little help from my oldest, Kendall (7).

Standing on a chair with me behind her, Quinn was just tall enough to watch the packet of dry active yeast mix and bubble in the cup of lukewarm water. She was able to help me dump the flour (one cup unbleached and 4 tablespoons whole wheat) in the bowl and add a teaspoon of salt. To her great delight we turned on the stand mixer and slowly added the yeast/water mixture to the flour and salt and watched as it magically turned into squishy dough.

Quinn was reluctant to touch the dough at first but after seeing her big sister come over and plunge her (hopefully slightly clean) fingers into the dough, Quinn was happy to give it a try and spent a few minutes happily sticking her (hopefully slightly clean) fingers into the mushy mass.

Next we covered the bowl with a dish towel and told the dough to take a nap. Over the course of the next hour we quietly checked on the dough and saw it get slightly bigger each time. Finally, it was time to wake the dough up and we had fun poking and pushing at it saying,“Wake up dough! Wake up!”

Finally, we plopped the dough onto a large, silpat lined cookie sheet and patted, pushed and pulled the dough into shape. A sprinkling of crushed rosemary and sea salt added the finishing touch and, with Quinn safely in her pack and play, we baked the focaccia and enjoyed it with our dinner.

The next day, Quinn wandered around the house saying “focaccia, focaccia” and trying to drag a chair into the kitchen. I think I’ve got another little chef on my hands and I couldn’t be happier.

What’s the Opposite of Greenwashing?

2010-07-08T09:32:00.001-04:00

If greenwashing is an attempt by a company to make their product seem greener than it really is - what is the opposite? A recent 15-page study published by Canada's Environment and Plastics Industry Council would have you believe that reusable shopping bags may be dangerous to your health and that they are "a breeding ground for bacteria and pose a public health risk" due to high counts of yeast, molds and bacteria.

What possible ailments might you catch from your reusable bag? Well, according to EPIC, "food poisoning...bacterial boils, allergic reactions, triggering of asthma attacks, and ear infections" are a few of the possible health hazards associated with reusables.

Um, is it possible that the Canadian Environment and Plastics Industry Council has never heard of washing machines or do they really assume we are just that dumb?

In honor of EPIC, here are links to some of my favorite brands of reusable bags:BuiltNY

BlueAvocado

BAGGU

REISENTHEL

When It's Not A Shady Day

2010-07-01T09:36:00.000-04:00

One of the things I dread about summer is the application of sunscreen on my wiggly, non-compliant children. Like many parents, I feel like I've tried everything - sticks, lotions, mists. All have their pluses and minuses. This summer, I've found something different and, I think, pretty fantastic - sunscreen wipes.

I'm currently using Shady Day wipes - although there are many brands to choose from. They are SPF 30+, contain no artificial ingredients or synthetic fragrances and are made in the USA. Generally speaking, sunscreen wipes do cost more than a bottle of conventional sunscreen but it seems like a worthwhile trade off.

Whatever you use to protect yourself and your little ones this summer, always remember:

The hours between 10 am and 4 pm are the most hazardous for UV exposure.

There's no escape from the sun! UV rays can reach you even on cloudy and hazy days.

For maximum effectiveness apply sunscreen at least 20 minutes before you go out and every 2 hours thereafter.

Wear protective clothing and accessories.

Follow the "shadow rule" - if your shadow is shorter than you are, the sun's damaging rays are at their strongest and you are likely to sunburn.

The US Environmental Protection Agency's website has a bunch of helpful information on protecting yourself from overexposure to UV rays. They even have a service that will send you a daily email containing the UV index for your location.

Recycling Terms 101

2010-07-01T09:04:00.000-04:00

I admit, I'm often confused by the exact meaning of the terms pre-consumer, recycled and post-consumer. What do they mean? If I'm trying to purchase the most earth-kind product, which label should I be looking for?

Here's a simple breakdown:

PRE-CONSUMER

Items made from scraps, trimmings or other waste left over from the manufacturing of a new product.
This keeps waste out of landfills but isn't actually reusing anything.

RECYCLED

Items made from a combination of pre- and post-consumer content that has been diverted from a landfill.
Look for the ratio or pre- to post- consumer content to know how green the product is. The more post- the better.

POST-CONSUMER

Made from items collected through recycling programs.
This is, by far, the greenest option. Products made from post-consumer content give a second life to stuff otherwise headed for our landfills.

Good Reads

2010-06-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

As anyone who has read this blog knows, three areas of great interest to me are children, food and the environment. Here are a few good articles I've recently read on these topics:

Tuna's End

Paul Greenburg has written a fascinating article in the New York Times Magazine about the overfishing of bluefin tuna and what that means for our global ecosystems as well as our global economy.

The Plastic Panic

Jerome Groopman takes an in-depth look at the dangers of BPA in this New Yorker piece.

Online Bullies Pull Schools Into the Fray

When online bullying happens between students, what role should our schools play in trying to stop it? Jan Hoffman of the New York Times looks at the issue of cyberbullying and examines how different schools are approaching the issue.

Cobb Salad with a Twist

2010-06-24T15:00:00.002-04:00

The July issue of Cooking Light magazine has a bunch of super easy summer salads. We tried their Southwestern Cobb Salad but altered it slighly by exchanging chicken for turkey and omitting the cheese. Here is a link to the original recipe and my altered version follows.

Ingredients:

Vinaigrette:

3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

2 tablespoons canola oil

Salad:

3 slices bacon, chopped

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch pieces

6 cups torn lettuce

1/2 of an avocado diced

1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained

Fresh pico de gallo used as a garnish.

Preparation:

1. Prepare vinaigrette by comining all ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake, shake, shake until combined.

2. Cook bacon in a non-stick skillet until crisp. Remove bacon, drain fat and add chicken to pan; saute until done.

3. Arrange 3 cups of lettuce on each plate and top each evenly with bacon, chicken, avocado, and beans. Garnish with pico de gallo and drizzle with vinaigrette.

Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of Cooking Light.

Super Simple Vinaigrette

2010-06-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

My husband says that I make the best salad dressing in the world. Since I’m not a big fan of salad dressing, I can neither confirm nor refute his claim. What he obviously does not know is that salad dressing is the easiest thing in the world to make. It’s all in the proportions - 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil.

Vinaigrette for 2:

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar – either traditional red balsamic or white balsamic

2 tablespoons olive oil

pinch of salt

freshly ground pepper

squirt of mustard

tablespoon of minced shallots (optional)
I often forget to buy shallots and the dressing works fine without them.

Put all ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake, shake, shake. The mustard acts as an emulsifier and helps to make a wonderfully creamy vinaigrette.

Enjoy!

Rutabaga? Parsnip? Wait, no – turnip!

2010-06-17T14:55:00.000-04:00

My grandmother was an amazing cook. Nothing fancy, just simple, traditional meals. She kept a wonderful garden (as did her brothers) and delighted in eating tomatoes as if they were apples.

The turnips in this week’s CSA basket reminded me of my grandmother and her garden. Candied turnips and carrots are something she would make.

The recipe is easy and takes just minutes to make. If you’ve never tried turnips this recipe is a great introduction. Turnips are high in fiber and contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, calcium and potassium.

Candied Turnips

Clean and cut one bunch of turnips into 1-inch wedges. I’ve seen recipes that called for peeling turnips but I’ve never done it. As long as the turnips are fresh, you should be fine.

In a skillet, heat turnips with ½ teaspoon salt and enough water to cover to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 7 to 10 minutes, just until turnips are tender when pierced with knife. Drain. Wipe skillet dry.

In same skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat. Add 2 large pinches of sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until amber in color, about 2 minutes. Add turnips and cook, stirring frequently, 5 minutes or until well coated.

Enjoy!

Roasted Radishes ?!?

2010-06-15T14:41:00.000-04:00

Roasting is my favorite way to prepare vegetables. It’s really simple and infuses our home with an amazing aroma. That is until summer when the thought of cooking anything is just too horrible to contemplate.

But if you can make an exception or find yourself amidst some unseasonably cold weather, I highly recommend roasting some radishes. Roasting completely transforms radishes; it removes their bite and makes them almost potato-like.

Just clean, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and roast at 400 until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside about 30 minutes depending on the size of the radishes.

Eaten as a side dish or tossed in a salad – amazing!

Guilty As Charged?

2010-06-10T11:35:00.001-04:00

Just the other day, my daughter and I were at the playground and I felt like I was the only grown-up not talking on a cell phone. Don’t get me wrong, I did take furtive glances at my email as we played, I’m by no means perfect.

The New York Times has been running a series on how the deluge of data and ready access to it can affect behavior. Today’s installment is of particular interest to me as it looks at “The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In.” Maintaining the balance between being readily available to my children and being readily available to my job is something I struggle with everyday.

I was amazed by the graphic illustrating the difference in number of words spoken by adults to a child when a device is on versus when it is off. After seeing that, I’m pretty sure I’m cured.

Arugula Fava Bean Pesto

2010-06-09T14:37:00.001-04:00

I’ve fallen a little behind in my plan to blog about our wonderful CSA. Since I’m a firm believer in the idea of “start where you are,” here goes.

The first week of our CSA occurred two weeks ago and we received – spinach, arugula, radishes, and lettuce. The spinach we ate steamed and turned the lettuce into salads.

I struggled with what to do with the 3 lbs. or arugula and how to do something fresh and interesting with the radishes.

My sister had the great idea of making arugula pesto. It’s simple to make, freezes beautifully (just make sure to leave the cheese out before freezing) and it’s versatile. We ate it on warm pasta, on cold pasta with poached chicken but you could also use it to make bruschetta, spread it on pizza or put a dollop on a fillet of poached salmon.

We decided to change it up a bit by adding fava beans.

Arugula Fava Bean Pesto

Boil 2 cups shelled fresh fava beans 2 to 3 minutes; plunge into an ice-water bath and when cooled, slip off skins. If you cannot find fresh fava beans, frozen will also work.

In a food processor, process fava beans with:

1 medium bunch arugula (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
One small handful of pinenuts that have been lightly toasted in a dry pan

Process until smooth adding more olive oil as needed.

I found that I didn’t need to add garlic since the arugula gives this pesto a nice pepper-y flavor.

If you’re not a fan of fava beans, edamame makes a fine substitute.

Magnetic Memories

2010-06-09T09:23:00.001-04:00

Photographs, journals and mementos are all wonderful ways of keeping memories alive. Another way I’ve found is by collecting magnets.

Magnets have the advantage of being colorful, inexpensive and durable. Like snowflakes, no two are the same.

My older daughter can tell my younger daughter the story behind almost every one. I can bring one back from a trip and my children want to know why I picked just that one.

Or, when we travel together as a family, Kendall delights in picking out the magnet that will serve as the symbol of our adventure together.

Meeting the Dalai Lama

2010-06-03T17:35:00.001-04:00

Recently, I was blessed to participate in planning for a visit from His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the college where I work. Months of preparation went into his brief, but meaningful, visit. I’ve had the opportunity to meet a former President and a few famous politicians, actors and activists but nothing prepared me for the almost palpable aura that surrounds the Dalai Lama. He radiates warmth and compassion. Throughout the morning he almost always had a smile on his face and a ready laugh. He's actually very, very funny. This photo of him laughing is my favorite.

Photo by Phil Kessler.

Learning to Swim

2010-06-03T09:55:00.001-04:00

I don’t remember ever learning to swim. I must have been taught at some point but there are many pictures of me as young as 3 where I am in the pool by myself or with friends. Young children swimming wasn’t something to be feared. Then again, we never wore seatbelts which in retrospect seems crazy.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently revised their policy on young children and swim lessons. In the past, they reasoned that a child or parent could gain a false sense of security if a child has had formal swim lessons. However, armed with new evidence that children ages 1 to 4 are less likely to drown if they’ve had swim lessons, the AAA now suggests that it is okay for children as young a 1 to take part in swim lessons if their parent/s feel the child is ready.

The AAP’s policy paper on the issue contains other helpful information concerning water safety. You can access it here.

I’ll Have Some Sugar With A Side of Sugar

2010-05-28T09:42:00.001-04:00

According to the site World of Mysteries, a Tropicana Tropical Fruit Fury Twister, a drink clearly aimed at children, contains the sugar equivalent (60 grams) of two 7-oz. canisters of Reddi-whip. That’s about 10 percent juice and 90 percent sugar!

World of Mysteries has produced a thought provoking post about the 20 most harmful drinks in America – each has an amazing photo accompanying the comparison. Not every comparison works but even if you take your latte no whip – it’s worth checking out.

Photo courtesy of World of Mysteries.

Codes of Concern

2010-05-14T11:47:00.001-04:00

According to Time magazine, "A recent biomonitoring survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found traces of 212 environmental chemicals in Americans - including toxic metals like arsenic and cadmium, pesticides, flame retardants and even perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel." (Time 4.12.10)

Now, I'm not so naive as to think that one can live in the modern world and remain chemical free but rocket fuel? Really?

How much do you really know about the materials that you use in your everyday life? What’s in your plastic drinking glasses, your shower curtain, your chewing gum or diaper cream (both of which contain similar ingredients)? Just because something has a recycling code on it, doesn't mean its not harmful to you or your environment.

What does it mean to see that symbol? Well, it means that whatever product you are using contains polyvinyl chloride or PVC. PVC is used in shampoo bottles, food packaging, rain coats, medical equipment, shower curtains and pipes among other things. PVC is a health concern because it may contain phthalates, a group of chemicals which can pass from packaging into food, water or cosmetics. Phthalates act as endocrine disruptors and animal studies show reduced sperm counts and reproductive abnormalities and there is evidence of a link to liver cancer in humans. In 2008, Congress passed legislation to ban six phthalates from toys and cosmetics. PVC also contains chlorine which can be dangerous if heated.

What can you do?

Look for cosmetics marked phthalate free. Burt’s Bees, Aubrey and Tom’s of Maine are a few companies whose products are certified to be phthalate free.
Buy toys that are phthalate free. Healthystuff.org has compiled a database of over 5,000 commonly used products (including many toys) and reports on the chemical composition of each. They even have a mobile text messaging program where you can text in the name of the product and they will text you back with a list of toxins (if any) that are in that product.
Educate yourself! Momsrising.org is a terrific resource for anyone interested in the politics and policy surrounding consumer products.

It’s official. Nothing is safe anymore.

2010-05-11T14:22:00.001-04:00

Just the other day I posted about my concern that nothing is safe anymore. Apparently, the President’s Panel on Cancer seems to agree. The panel, which the Times’ Nicholas D. Kristof refers to as “the Mount Everest of the medical mainstream,” has come out with a landmark report on the direct link between regular exposure to chemicals and cancer. You can read Kristof’s Op-ed here and the Panel’s report here.

The report contains a number of important recommendations – the best one being:

Each person can become an active voice in his or her community. To a greater extent than many realize, individuals have the power to affect public policy by letting policymakers know that they strongly support environmental cancer research and measures that will reduce or remove from the environment toxics that are known or suspected carcinogens or endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Individuals also can influence industry by selecting non-toxic products and, where these do not exist, communicating with manufacturers and trade organizations about their desire for safer products.

What can you do? Email your Senators and Representatives in Congress and let them know that you support the Safe Chemicals Act. The Safe Chemicals Act is legislation introduced by Senator Frank Lautenberg and is an overhaul of the antiquated Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.

The Safe Chemicals Act would give more power to the EPA to regulate chemicals and hold manufacturers to higher reporting and testing standards. Click here to learn more about the proposed legislation. The website saferchemicals.org is another wonderful resource for information.

Crayon Rocks Rock!

2010-05-03T13:46:00.001-04:00

My younger child chooses to experience the world through her mouth. There is little she won't lick, nibble or chomp. So, in addition to near constant use of the pacifier, I actively seek out products that will not harm her should she decide they look good enough to eat.

I know that traditional, famous name-brand crayons are non-toxic and conform to the government's standards of what is safe. I'm looking for more. Luckily, I found Crayon Rocks.

Crayon Rocks are all natural soy wax crayons made from soybeans grown in the United States and are colored with natural mineral powders. They were invented by a special needs teacher and their unusual shape is meant to encourage a correct tripod grip which aids in fine motor development.

Crayon Rocks are a more expensive that a regular box of crayons due to their higher quality ingredients and because each is made by hand using silicone molds. Also, Crayon Rocks are made in California using workers earning a fair wage. However, considering that they are non-toxic and certified to not contain phthalates - I think Crayon Rocks are worth the extra cost.

FYI: According to The Daily Green, phthalates are known as "endocrine disruptors" because they mimic the body's hormones and have, in laboratory animal tests, been shown to cause reproductive and neurological damage. California banned the use of phthalates in toys and baby products as of 2009.

How long have you been in business?

2010-05-01T15:06:00.000-04:00

Saturday, I was informed by the New York Times that several over-the-counter medications I give my children are being recalled. Checking our medicine cabinets, I found 5 nearly full bottles of infant's Tylenol, children's Tylenol, and children's Zyrtec and Benadryl. Then I found a totally unopened package of infant's Motrin. All told, about $70 dollars worth of medication that I now have to dispose of and replace.

Why the recall? Well according to the McNeill website:

"Some of the products included in the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified; others may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles."

Seriously?!? May contain tiny particles or a higher concentration of active ingredient?!? How f-ing long have you been in business? McNeil's parent company, Johnson & Johnson, touts its more than 120 year long history. Haven't they figured out how do do this correctly?

Grrrr. What are my options?

I’m in love with Baggu!

2010-04-27T12:19:00.000-04:00

Do you feel guilty every time you use a plastic produce bag at the grocery store? I do. I try to reuse them but they are almost impossible to wash and dry. You can’t reuse them for garbage bags and they take something like 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill if they are exposed to direct sunlight.

Luckily, I’ve found a low cost, easy alternative. Baggu bags. Baggu bags are made of mesh so they are easy to dry after being washed. They are see thru so it is easy for supermarket cashiers to see what you are purchasing. They are big enough to hold a dozen apples or a large head of lettuce. And, they are cost efficient – $3.45 each from reusablebags.com.

I was apprehensive when I saw that Baggu bags are made in China. I’m trying to avoid things made outside the USA – not that things made in the USA aren’t without their problems but at least we have some manufacturing standards. (Insert sound of husband guffawing here.)

However, I’ve since learned that, according to the reusablebags.com website, Baggu bags are “made ethically in China. BAGGU Bags are manufactured in a modern factory outside of Shanghai. The factory adheres to a strict code of conduct that limits working hours and provides a fair wage. An independent company inspects the facility regularly to ensure compliance.”

You can find Baggu bags at reusablebags.com or baggubag.com.

Kids & PVC

2010-04-21T11:46:00.000-04:00

Is there anything safe anymore? Are there hazardous chemicals everywhere? I feel like I cannot buy anything safe for my family – especially my children. Case in point – I recently tried to buy a raincoat for Kendall. Seems simple enough until I started looking and found that many raincoats are made with PVC. The same was true when I went to purchase a new lunch bag – look out for the lead! Of course, once you know that something contains possible cancer causing chemicals, you cannot unknow it.

It turns out, PVC (which many European Union nations are trying to ban) is in a lot of things made for kids. Here’s the skinny on PVC from a website called eco-cycle:

Plastics with the #3 symbol are made from polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. PVC plastic is used to make hundreds of everyday consumer products, such as cosmetic bottles, pets’ chew toys, construction pipes, plastic packaging, food wrap, babies’ toys and teething rings, vinyl siding, computer parts, and credit cards. Not only are these plastic products not recyclable, they are far more toxic in production, use and disposal than other plastics and for that reason, many communities and businesses are phasing out their use.

According to an alarming new report on the dangers of PVC by the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, PVC production fuses vinyl chloride molecules with toxic metals such as lead and cadmium, which are added as plasticizers and stabilizers. Because of the chemical properties of chlorine, the by-products of PVC production tend to be far more toxic, more persistent in the environment, and more likely to build up in the food supply and the bodies of people than otherwise similar chemicals that do not contain chlorine. PVC is the only major plastic that contains chlorine, so it is unique in the hazards it creates.

In use, the toxic substances added to soften or stabilize the plastic do not bind to the toy, bottle, or other product and are therefore prone to leaching. When your child or pet chews on a plastic PVC toy, for example, they can be ingesting these chemicals. One such chemical, DEHP, has been designated a “probable carcinogen” by the EPA.

Because so many different additives are used to make PVC, recycling the plastic is extremely difficult, and any #3 bottles that make it into the recycling stream can contaminate and ruin a load of #1 bottles. When incinerated, PVC forms dioxins, a highly toxic group of chemicals that build up in the food chain. When landfilled, PVC poses significant long-term environmental threats as chemical additives can leach into groundwater.

Fortunately, a number of US clothing manufacturers offer PVC-free alternatives. Lands End, LL Bean and Pluie Pluie are a few. Which makes me wonder, if a company knows enough to make a green alternative, why not make all of their products green?

Some things are just worth paying for….

2010-02-04T13:11:00.001-05:00

especially when they cost .99.

We are preparing to go on a trip that requires a short plane ride. I’ve got a handle on entertaining the 7 year-old – books, coloring, etc. but am not sure how to entertain the 1 year-old.

Fortunately, my husband passed along a link to Talking Carl a cute iphone app that reacts when you poke, tickle and talk to him. So far, my daughter thinks Carl’s a hoot – I hope it lasts.

What other great iphone apps are out there for kids?

Winter Greens with Carrots, Feta Cheese and Brown Rice

2010-01-28T11:00:00.001-05:00

Maybe its the time of the year, or my current state of mind, but I am really into DFH* food right now. And what’s more “cookin’ on the commune” than winter greens with carrots, feta and brown rice – another great recipe from Whole Foods. Remember to start the rice ahead of time. After that it’s a quick dish that’s chock full of calcium and protein.

Ingredients

2 carrots, shredded
2 bunches dark leafy greens with tough stems removed, leaves very thinly sliced – I used red chard but you could also use kale or collard greens
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled
2 cups cooked brown rice

Method

Put carrots, greens, onions, 1/4 cup water, salt and pepper into a large, deep skillet and toss well. Cover and cook over medium heat, tossing once or twice, until greens are wilted and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Toss with feta cheese and spoon over brown rice.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 14oz/410g-wt.): 290 calories (70 from fat), 8g total fat, 4.5g saturated fat, 25mg cholesterol, 900mg sodium, 46g total carbohydrate (7g dietary fiber, 5g sugar), 11g protein

*dirty f-ing hippie

I’ve got an app for that!

2010-01-19T10:41:00.001-05:00

I must admit, I love my iphone but use hardly any of the apps. The other day I was considering deleting some of them when I came across a voice memo recording of my older daughter that I made last year. It was the day of her kindergarten graduation and she says - with great exuberance - “I graduated from school today!!” in her teeny, tiny 6 year-old voice.

I realized that I can use the apps in any way I want to – even in a mommy way. Now I have a recording of Quinn babbling and Kendall chatting away about how I am the best mommy in the world. I can listen to them anytime I’m feeling blue or feeling like I’m not the best mommy in the world. Hopefully, technology will allow me to save Kendall’s message and use it to torture her when she’s 15.

Hoppin’ John

2010-01-15T15:38:00.001-05:00

My second new recipe for the new year, courtesy of Whole Foods, is Hoppin John – a traditional cajun recipe said to bring luck in the new year. We paired it with freshly baked whole wheat bread slathered with butter. Yum!

Ingredients

2 cups dried black-eyed peas
6 cups water
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 all-natural smoked ham shank or hock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup long-grain rice
1 medium green pepper, chopped
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sea salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste
Red chile pepper hot sauce (optional)

Method

Rinse black-eyed peas and soak in water to cover for 6 hours or overnight. Drain peas and transfer to a large soup pot. Add water, onion, ham shank and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until peas are tender but still whole, about 45 minutes. Add rice, green pepper, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. If desired, season with red chile pepper hot sauce. Remove ham shank before serving.

Nutrition

Per serving (About 6oz/173g-wt.): 170 calories (30 from fat), 3.5g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 12g protein, 23g total carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 15mg cholesterol, 580mg sodium

Photo and recipe courtesy of Whole Foods.

White Bean and Kale Soup with Chicken Sausage

2010-01-07T15:07:00.001-05:00

The first of my New Year’s resolution recipes courtesy of Whole Foods. It was really good - hearty but not heavy. I halved the recipe since it was just me and Terry but you can find the original here which serves 8.

Ingredients

1 (32-ounce) box low sodium chicken broth, divided
2 chicken sausage, sliced (we used some delicious spinach and feta sausages)
1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 (15 ounce) cups cooked white beans (cannellini, navy or great northern), drained
1/2 bunch organic kale, stems and tough ribs removed, leaves roughly chopped

Method

Heat 1/4 cup broth in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage slices and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and sausage is just browned, about 10 minutes. Add onions, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 10 minutes more. (Add a generous splash of broth to the pot if onions begin to stick.)

Meanwhile, put beans and 2 cups broth into a blender and purée until smooth and add to sausage with remaining broth. Add kale, reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until wilted and softened, about 5 minutes.

Per serving (about 16oz/446g-wt.): 310 calories (50 from fat), 6g total fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 25mg cholesterol, 510mg sodium, 45g total carbohydrate (16g dietary fiber, 2g sugar), 22g protein

This is my year to.....

2010-01-05T12:13:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! Welcome 2010!

I have to admit, I'm a big maker of New Year's resolutions. Most of which start with what I'm NOT going to do. I must also admit, I've kept very few of these types of resolutions. So, new year, clean slate, new way to make resolutions.

This is my year to.....

- cook one new thing per week
- work on knocking off the small projects
- use the closet rather than the baby stoller for hanging coats
- remember that I'm really a very, very lucky girl

To Stick or Not To Stick It To The Man?

2009-12-07T15:22:00.000-05:00

Sadly, at this point in our nation's history - despite the fact that we are almost into the second decade of the new century and despite the fact that we have the first African-American first family living in the White House - there are still a lot of people getting the shaft.

The other day I was checking out at Whole Foods. I had remembered to bring my reusable shopping bags but after I had paid and was ready to go, the cashier took one of the very nice, 99-cent, Sheryl Crow designed WFM bags, ripped the tag off and gave it to me. Slightly shocked, I took it and said thank you and was on my way.

The cashier was trying, in her own way, to stick it to the man. I am a full believer in sticking it to the man while fully realizing that, by some people's definition, I am the (wo)man.

Should I have thwarted her effort since by not doing so I was participating in something illegal? Even now, days later, I am still not sure.

Tomatoes and Soy – who knew?

2009-09-22T15:29:00.001-04:00

Do you ever put things in mental categories and then have a hard time getting them out? In my head, tomatoes are Italian and soy sauce is Asian. I never thought they’d mix and mingle but in this installment of The Salad Project they do – and happily. For those of you keeping track, this is salad #15 on Mark Bittman’s list of 101 Simple Salads for the Season.

The recipe per Mr. Bittman:

Cut cherry or grape tomatoes in half; toss with soy sauce, a bit of dark sesame oil and basil or cilantro.

What I did:

I used a pint of mixed cherry tomatoes (mixed meaning red, orange, green and yellow tomatoes) and added some freshly chopped basil. In a separate bowl I combined 2 tablespoons of soy and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. I liked the flavor but you could play around with the proportions until you are satisfied.

What I’d do differently next time:

Nothing. This was a great salad. If you served it with some cheese, fresh bread and a nice glass of wine it would be a great light lunch.

Roast Beets with Walnuts

2009-09-18T15:12:00.001-04:00

We eat a lot of beets in our house – roasted and sprinkled in salads during the summer; cooked, cubed and warmed in the pan with butter in the fall or pickled during the winter months. Mr. Bittman’s salad #31 is a great twist on a family favorite. I served it as a side dish for a meal that included a small steak and a large green salad. However you cook beets, please always use fresh ones. They’re worth the effort.

The recipe per Mr. Bittman:

Roast beets whole (or buy them precooked), then slice or cube and toss with a little chopped garlic (or a lot of roasted garlic), toasted walnuts, orange juice and olive oil.

What I did:

Using 4 medium size beets that I had roasted a few days before (see note below on roasting and storing beets), I cubed the beets and added in a handful of chopped walnuts that I had toasted in a dry frying pan. Next, I added the juice of one orange and approximately a tablespoon of olive oil. Last, I added one minced clove of garlic. I like garlic a lot but I’m not a big fan of raw garlic which is why I minced it rather than chopping it.

What I’d do differently next time:

I wouldn’t change a thing. This is a great salad that can be paired with many different dishes.

Note: Beets are very easy to roast and are extremely forgiving. Here’s how I do it: Preheat the oven to 400. Trim greens off beets (and reserve for eating steamed later) leaving about ½ inch of stem. Trim the long tail piece off the bottom. Give the beets a good scrub in the sing paying special attention to the point where the stem meets the body of the beet. Wrap each beet in foil and roast on a baking sheet for about an hour.

Once the beets have cooled, the skins will slip off easily and you can enjoy them right away. Beets also keep wonderfully in the fridge for a week or so. Just keep them wrapped in the foil and peel them right before you use them.

Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of sciencedaily.com

Salad with Peppers and Salami

2009-09-15T13:26:00.001-04:00

This is salad #74 from Mark Bittman’s list and is probably the prettiest salad I’ve made thus far. It is also one of the easiest.

The recipe per Mr. Bittman:

Julienne red, yellow and orange bell peppers; mix with thinly sliced red onion, olive oil and cooked crumbled sausage or chopped salami.

What I did:

I julienned one each of red, green and yellow peppers (the orange ones looked skanky that day) and mixed with 1/3 of a red onion sliced very thinly and cubed chunks of salami. I drizzled it lightly with olive oil and mixed it altogether.

What I’d do differently next time:

This is a great salad as is. Before I made it, I was nervous that the raw peppers mixed with the raw onion would take too, well, raw. I think the thinness of the slices helps to combat this. The saltiness of the salami also helps. I’d definitely make this again.

Swine Flu and Children

2009-09-08T14:38:00.001-04:00

With school starting tomorrow (finally!), I’ve started to get more and more worried about the H1N1 virus. Let’s face it, children are Petri dishes with legs. Here’s some of the better info I’ve found on basic prevention.

For kids:

And for grown-ups, here is a link to an informative piece from the Well blog in the New York Times.

Salade Niçoise #56

2009-09-08T10:49:00.001-04:00

I love, love, love salade niçoise. It’s fresh tasting, looks deceptively complicated and you can use whatever you have on hand.

The recipe per Mr. Bittman:

Salade niçoise, sort of: On or around a bed of greens, make mounds of olives, cooked new potatoes and green beans (warm or at room temperature), good tomatoes, capers, fennel slivers, hard-cooked eggs and good quality Italian canned tuna. None of these is crucial; you get the idea. Serve with vinaigrette or aioli.

What I did:

On a bed of red leaf lettuce, I added roasted beets, hard-cooked eggs, tomatoes, green beans, and fresh tuna steak that had been seared and thinly sliced. Vinaigrette on the side.

What I’d do differently next time:

I’d add cooked new potatoes to give the salad a little heft. Otherwise, it’s perfect.

Note: Homemade vinaigrette is easy to make. Since it’s based on an exact ratio of ingredients, it is easy to scale it up to accommodate any number of guests.

In a jar mix together 2 parts olive oil to one part balsamic vinegar. Add some minced shallot (a little more than a teaspoon), a heaping teaspoon of mustard and salt and pepper. Shake, shake, shake until combined. The mustard is important as it acts as an emulsifier helping keep the oil and vinegar from separating.

I find that this amount of vinaigrette is enough for my husband, who likes his salad heavily dressed, and me. I like my salad underdressed almost to the point of nakedness.

Enjoy!

Small Victories

2009-09-04T10:33:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I took my 6 year-old daughter to Starbucks to get her a treat for being brave at the ear doctor. If you’ve never seen the implements used to clean out an ear – trust me – a reward from Starbucks is proportional to the discomfort caused by the long pokey tools.

I try to let my children make decisions for themselves, where appropriate, and Starbucks is one of those places where a child can choose what to have. None of it is healthy (some a little better than others). So, you can imagine my surprise and delight when my daughter announced that she would forgo the doughnut she wanted for something smaller since she’d recently had a doughnut and knows that doughnut’s are “sometimes” foods.

Could it be that all our dinnertime discussions about food have seeped in and reemerging in thoughtful choices? Or are we making our children neurotic about food? It’s really hard to know.

When I was a kid, we didn’t discuss food. It appeared on the table, we ate it and that was it. I made no connections between where my food came from and what I ate. I supposed we ate somewhat seasonally but that was more due to availability rather than conscious decision making.

Now, my kids know a lot about food. My older daughter has visited the farm where our CSA comes from and helps to pack up the food on pick-up days. She knows the difference, generally, between a “sometimes” food and an “anytime” food (thanks for the terminology Cookie Monster). We recently sat down together to make a list of healthy snacks we can bring during the coming school year and she know that I am making lots of peaches and plums now for her her baby sister so that she can eat them through the winter when such fruits are out of season. She thinks drinking soda will make you hairy. In my defense, she came up with that one on her own and I did not correct her.

And still, I worry that we are putting too much emphasis on these issues. But, today, I will take my small victory for what it is.

If you’re interested in reading more on this issue, Frank Bruni recently wrote a wonderful piece in the New York Times. You can find it here.

Photo courtesy of tomdouglas.com

The Salad Project: Cukle Salad

2009-09-04T09:52:00.001-04:00

I’m continuing with The Salad Project by making salad #3 – Cukle Salad.

At one time, New York City’s Lower East Side teemed with over 80 different pickle sellers. Today, there is still a handful of pickle shops selling pickles from barrels on the sidewalk just like the good old days.

Today’s salad can best be describes as cukles – not quite cucumbers but not quite pickles. My husband coined the term “partial pickles” which I like.

The recipe per Mr. Bittman:

Slice cucumbers thin (if they’re fat and old, peel and seed them first), toss with red onions and salt, then let sit for 20 to 60 minutes. Rinse, dry, dress with cider vinegar mixed with Dijon mustard; no oil necessary.

What I did:

I mixed one thinly sliced cucumber with about 1/4 of a red onion, also thinly sliced. I sprinkled the mixture with salt and then promptly fell asleep. So, by my best guesstimate, the pickles steeped in the salt for longer than the directions said but I’m not entirely sure. It’s all a little hazy. However, I did rinse them, pat the dry and served them with dinner nonetheless.

What I’d do differently next time:

I’d probably cut down on the amount of time the cucumbers and onions sat in the salt but even with my mistake, this salad was quite good. I served it with cheeseburgers cooked on the grill and fresh corn on the cob. It was a great meal.

The Salad Project: Weird Shrimp Toast Panzanelle

2009-08-20T14:49:00.000-04:00

This is the second installment in my attempt to cook my way through Mark Bittman’s 100 Simple Salads for the Season. This is salad # 57 – weird shrimp panzanella.

The recipe per Mr. Bittman:

Toss cubes of day-or-more-old good bread with soy sauce, chopped sautéed shrimp, chopped radishes and cilantro. Like a weird shrimp toast panzanella.

What I did:

I used equal parts of cubed bread and chopped shrimp with about 4 good sized radishes also chopped. I sautéed the shrimp in a little butter and added the soy sauce (about a tablespoon) and the cilantro (a small handful of fresh cilantro). I added the warm shrimp mixture to the radishes and bread and gently mixed it all together.

What I’d do differently next time:

The shrimp part of this dish was wonderful. Once it was added to the bread – things got a little funky. The bread got a little soggy and mushy. I used homemade bread which is pretty light so next time I’d try something with a little more heft to it. Also, the color of this dish once cooked was unappetizing (hence no picture). It was all a little beige. Next time, I’d add fresh snow peas or maybe sugar snap peas to give the dish a hit of color and freshness.

While, I wasn’t crazy about this salad – I will try it again with some modifications. I think it would be good on a chilly autumn night with a mug of good tomato soup.

Pizza Pizza

2009-08-20T14:45:00.000-04:00

Lately, I’ve been reading an interesting book called The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. The Tightwad Gazette was a newsletter published for a six year period in the early to mid-90s and is full of useful ideas for saving money. The book compiles all of the newsletters in one volume. Some of it is a little dated, but the “big ideas” are more than relevant today.

One of those big ideas is about the money that can be saved by cooking at home. Take pizza for example. A large pizza from our neighborhood place costs $18 ($20 if I’m lazy and have it delivered). And that’s just a cheese pizza. We have pizza about twice a month. If I only ordered take-out pizza – the cost per year would be $432 (or $480 if it’s delivered).

$432!! That’s a lot of money for not much return. I can make a pizza that is just as good (if not better) using mostly organic ingredients for around $5. Pizza is also a great recipe to cook with kids. They can help to measure the ingredients, roll out the dough and add the sauce, toppings and cheese. No matter how many times we make pizza together, my daughter loves to check to see how high the dough has risen.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. unbleached flour*

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 package active, dry yeast

1 c. lukewarm water

salt

tomato sauce

cheese

toppings of your choice

* You could make this with all unbleached flour. However, the whole wheat flour adds fiber and protein.

Method:

1) Add one package of yeast to 1 cup of lukewarm water and let sit for about 10 minutes.

2) Put 1 1/2 cups of unbleached flour and 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour and a large pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached.

3) Turn mixer on and slowly add water/yeast mixture until a ball forms.

4) If the dough is sticky, add more wheat flour flour by the teaspoon to the mixing dough until it is smooth.

5) Allow to rest and rise for 1 – 2 hours.

6) Roll or press the dough into your desired shape and size on a floured board. The smaller the pizza, the thicker the crust will be. We split the dough to make a large, thin crust pizza for grown ups and a smaller pizza for kids.

7) Add tomato sauce, toppings and cheese. Bake at 425 for 10 – 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

8) Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Enjoy!

Waste Free Lunch

2009-08-20T14:38:00.001-04:00

Only 19 more days until school starts!

Not that I’m counting or anything.

Back to school time – time for new clothes, school supplies and a new lunch box. In hunting around for a lunch box that meets my eco-friendliness test AND my daughter’s funkiness test, I’ve learned a lot about the lunch packing habits of the American mom. What I’ve found is not pretty:

Close to 2.7 billion juice boxes end up in landfills every year. (Container Recycling Institute)

Each child who brings a brown-bag lunch to school every day will generate 67 pounds of waste by the end of the school year - that's 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for an average-sized school(EPA)

Each year the U.S. consumes over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps. (EPA)

Lunchtime trash is second only to office paper as the leading source of school waste. (Green Teacher Magazine, Fall 2004)

So, what can we do differently?

Do pack:

An appropriately sized lunch for your child
Reusable fabric lunch bags or lunch containers
Sandwiches in reusable wraps, bags or containers
Drinks and soups in reusable containers
Snacks purchased in bulk and packed in reusable containers or bags

Don't pack:

Paper lunch bags
Plastic baggies that are not reusable
Individually- wrapped snacks, meals or desserts
Juice boxes
Disposable forks and spoons (unless your child will bring them home for washing)
Disposable straws
Paper napkins

Other ideas:

Instead of buying individually-wrapped granola bars, chips, cookies or cheeses, buy in bulk and pack in reusable bags and containers.
Do the same for yogurt, pudding and applesauce - pack in reusable jars or bottles, rather than buying single-serve portions.
Purchase (or make your own) large quantities of beverages and soups, then pack in reusable bottles and thermoses.

If we all did this:

According to the 2004 U.S. Census data, there are 36.4 million elementary school-age children and 16.8 million high school-age children. If every child adopted a waste-free lunch (including finishing all of their food), we could divert more than 3.5 billion pounds of trash from our landfills each year.

Resources:
http://www.wastefreelunches.org/

http://www.reusablebags.com/

Photo of Mimi the Sardine lunch bags courtesy of reusablebags.com

The Salad Project

2009-08-09T12:06:00.000-04:00

On July 21st, New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman published a column entitled 101 Simple Salads for the Season.

I'm going to try to make them all.

Okay, here are the caveats: I'm not going to go in order, I reserve the right to make simple ingredient swaps (for example, my husband loathes mint, so I'd substitute another fresh herb).

Here is the first one:

The recipe per Mr. Bittman:

Cube watermelon and combine with tomato chunks, basil and basic vinaigrette. You can substitute peach for the watermelon or the tomato (but not both, O.K.?). You can also add bacon or feta, but there goes the vegan-ness.

What I did:

I ended up using 3 medium tomatoes, an equal amount of cubed watermelon, 1/2 of a small package of feta and a handful of basil leaves.

What I'd do differently next time:

Not a thing. This salad was amazing! I never thought to put together watermelon and tomatoes but they work together so well. The feta added a little saltiness and a different texture and the basil added a hint of spice.

Whole Wheat Waffles

2009-08-09T11:50:00.000-04:00

If you're like me, you probably have a waffle iron hiding somewhere in your home. Maybe you got it as a wedding gift or perhaps your husband gave it to you for mother's day (hint, hint). Well, pull it out! Making waffles is easier and healthier than you think.

First, the recipe. I have a great recipe for healthy whole wheat waffles that don't taste healthy. Even my husband, who usually turns up his nose at anything whole wheat, loved these.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Add milk, eggs, oil and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
Turn on waffle iron while batter rests.
Cook per manufacturer's instructions.
Serve with your favorite toppings - seasonal fruit, warm maple syrup, a sprinkling of confectioners sugar or pumpkin pie spice.

Makes 12 - 16 waffles.

Notes: Don't let extra waffles or batter go to waste. Cook up all of the waffles. Place any extras in a single layer on a baking sheet and put in the freezer for 15 minutes (so they won't stick together later). Place in a freezer safe bag or container and reheat in the oven or toaster as needed.

Enjoy!

Baba Ganoush

2009-08-04T09:59:00.001-04:00

Once again, I am a guest blogger at one of my favorite sites, Spirited Cocktails. Since eggplants are just coming into season here in the Northeast, I chose to share my recipe for Baba Ganoush. You can check it out here.

Full Disclosure

2009-07-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

There's a lot of talk in the blogosphere about disclosure - or lack thereof. Even the government is getting involved. So, for the record, here is birken mommy's disclosure policy:

This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. I write for my own purposes. However, I may be influenced by my background, political affiliation or experience. The owner(s) of this blog will never receive compensation in any way from this blog. The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. I will only endorse products or services that I believe are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

Shoo fly! Don't bother me!

2009-07-10T20:21:00.000-04:00

Summer. Time to enjoy the fruits and vegetables of the season. Unfortunately, it's also fruit fly time in our house. Here's a green solution for getting rid of those little buggers.

Fill a small cup or jar with 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and add a drop or two of dishwashing liquid. The smell from the cider attracts the flies and the dishsoap breaks the tension on the surface so instead of landing on the vinegar, the fruit flies sink and meet their maker.

Photo courtesy of pbs.org

2009-07-09T10:19:00.000-04:00

School has been out for a few weeks and over the long weekend I was ready to deal with the voluminous amounts of work, drawings, poems, projects, etc my Kindergartner produced throughout the school year.

As a mom, I of course think everything my child does is magical and worthy of saving for posterity. As a human being living in an NYC apartment, I know this cannot be or else we will soon be overrun with drawings of fairies and ponies.

This year, I decided to put some emotional distance between myself and her work. After appropriately oohing and ahhing over everything as it came home, I put away anything I was tempted to keep and recycled the rest right away.

At the end of the year, I went through the pile with, as Tim Gunn would say, "an editing eye". Because I wasn't so emotionally attached to everything, I was really able to look at the whole sweep of items and save what was truly the best work. It was also fun to see how much she progressed over the months from September to June.

I packaged all of the work in a recycled box I purchased at the Container Store and put a copy of her school photo on the outside along with a label. It's now safely tucked away in a closet. In 12 years, when she's off at college, it will be there for me to cry over.

Free subscription to Vegetarian Times

2009-07-06T10:36:00.001-04:00

I try really, really hard to make everything from scratch but the one thing I cannot seem to wean my older daughter from is Annie's mac n' cheese. I know, it could be worse. However, there is a silver lining -

If you've purchased any Annie's Naturals product recently or plan to in the near future, you can get a free subscription to Vegetarian Times magazine. Click here for details.

Thanks, Annie's!

To market, to market

2009-06-30T16:00:00.001-04:00

Shopping lists are a little like snowflakes – no two are alike. What works for some, doesn’t work for others. Do you jot down a list with whatever pops into your head that you may (or may not) need? Do you mentally walk through the market trying to craft a list with some semblance of order? How do you compensate when you get to the store only to find they are out of that one essential ingredient you need?

Since having a baby in January, I’ve had to radically rethink the way I market. I have a finite window to get it all done before she decides we’ve done enough.

So, I’ve been surveying other blogs I like to see how those moms do it. Rachel at Smallnotebook lists the ingredients and corresponding amounts on a grid with a column for each day and a total in the last column. I found it a little confusing but it may work for some – here is a link demonstrating her method.

Simplemom takes a completely different approach. She shops once every two weeks (and visits her local farmers’ market) and has “theme nights” – Monday is Mexican, Tuesday is pasta, etc. Once she has her two weeks planned out, she repeats them for the next two weeks so she only has to menu plan once per month. She has a very comprehensive list of ingredients she uses on a regular basis with a check-box next to each.

I see pros (and cons) in each method. I like to see my menu plan so I can make changes on the fly if needed. I also like to be able to see the ratio of fruit/veg to meat/dairy – which neither of these lists provide. So, I came up with my own. I organized it by the major categories in my market in the order I experience them – fruit and vegetables first, then meat and dairy and then there’s the “everything else” section.

The blank list looks like this:

Blank Shopping List

Here is my completed shopping list for this week:

Filled Shopping List

Right now, I’m also including a list of foods the baby is currently eating as I’ve lately been having recurring bouts of “mommy brain” where I forget everything approximately 5 seconds after I think of it. Where appropriate, I also note the source of the recipe I plan to make. CYT stands for “Cook Yourself Thin” – it’s a cooking show on Lifetime. (Full disclosure: my sister was the food stylist on the show.) It’s full of some really great recipes and clever ingredient swaps to make indulgent food a little healthier. Here is a link to the show’s website. It lists all the recipes.

Happy cooking!

Image from: Provokare

Love this post.....

2009-06-26T08:46:00.001-04:00

Today, Simple Mom had a really great post dealing with organization. Not where to put what but how to first tackle the project with you head and then with your hands. I especially loved the synergistic ideas of first doing a brain dump and then using that data to create a mind map and, ultimately, a plan of attack.

Here is a link - it's definitely worth a read - and, for me, a bookmark.

Drawing by Michael Kowalski.

Hey, I made that…Hamburger Buns

2009-06-24T20:30:00.001-04:00

Recently, I posted about getting high fructose corn syrup out of my family's diet only to find that all of the hamburger bun options at our local store contained HFCS.

I scoured the web to find a bun recipe to try and finally found one courtesy of Recipezaar. You can check out the original recipe here but I made a number of modifications including cutting out most of the sugar and adding in whole wheat flour. Additionally, I proofed my yeast and made this in my stand mixer and not my bread maker (it's too small for the recipe as written).

Here is my revised recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup of milk

1 egg beaten

2 tablespoons butter softened

1/8 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups unbleached bread flour

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons yeast (proofed in 1/4 cup warm water and a little sugar)

Method:

Place dry ingredients plus butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
Beat egg into milk.
With mixer running on low, slowly add milk/egg mixture and then the proofed yeast.
If dough is too sticky, add more flour - a tablespoon at a time - until dough comes together into a smooth ball.
Turn out dough onto a floured surface and pat into a flat disc.
Using a rolling pin, roll dough into a 1" circle (cut dough in half if you don't have enough space).

Cut into 3 1/2" rounds using a cookie cutter or an inverted glass (you should have about 12).
Place on a cookie sheet and allow to rise until doubled in size, about an hour. Here’s what they looked like just before going in the oven:

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

Finished product:

Note:

You can freeze any buns you don't want to eat right away. Once buns are done rising, place them on a cookie sheet and in the freezer for 15 or so minutes - until they are firm and won't stick together. Remove from freezer and place them in a freezer bag or other container and store. When you are ready to eat, thaw as many as you want and bake as above.

Blog Crush...No Impact Man

2009-06-24T19:37:00.000-04:00

I admit, I have a serious blog crush on No Impact Man. It's one of the few blogs I look at religiously. If you've never heard of NIM, you can read more about him and his amazing effort to "experiment with researching, developing and adopting a way of life for me and my little family—one wife, one toddler, one dog—to live in the heart of New York City while causing no net environmental impact."

I love yesterday's post written by a friend of NIM's who lives in Japan and who discusses the Japanese notion of mottainai - how wastefulness is frowned upon in Japanese culture, so much so that it is considered shameful to waste. I appreciate how this idea is deeply ingrained into the Japanese culture rather than being trotted out each April 22 as it is in much of the United States.

Anyway, you can find the post here. It's definitely worth a look.

Photo of New York City's Fresh Kills landfill courtesy of industrial-landscape.com

Hey, I made that…Proscuitto Palmiers

2009-06-22T21:43:00.001-04:00

I did a guest blog on making Proscuitto Palmiers on Spritied Cocktails and thought I'd provide more detailed instructions here.

Ingredients:

1 sheet of slightly thawed puff pastry (storebought is fine)

1 heaping teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

5 slices proscuitto

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1) Mix honey and mustard together in a small bowl.

2) Gently unfold puff pastry onto a floured board.

3) Brush honey-mustard mixture onto the puff pastry all the way to the edges.

4) Lay proscuitto on top of pastry.

5) Sprinkle parmesan on top of proscuitto.

6) Starting from the edge, gently roll pastry to middle. Repeat on other side to achieve palmier shape.

7) Gently slice into 1/2" slices using a serrated knife. (It will be easier to slice if you chill the log in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up the puff pastry.)

8) Lay slices on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip and then continue baking for another 8 - 10 minutes. The palmiers are done when the pastry is puffed up and golden brown.

Note: Don't worry if there is a little black along the inside edges. They aren't burnt - the natural sugars in the honey have caramelized.

Makes 12 – 14.

Photos by Terrence Dorsey.

Start Where You Are....

2009-06-21T16:48:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when I feel frustrated for not accomplishing more I think of those 4 words - start where you are - and it puts things in perspective.

I am mother of two (one of whom is not quite 6 months old) and I work part-time so I try to cut myself a lot of slack. Still, when I read about someone my age who has accomplished a lot or see a great blog that makes me think "I could do that!" I sometimes find it difficult to remember to go easy on myself.

"Start where you are" is the title of a wonderful book by Pema Chodron. The full title is Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living and Pema Chodron is an American-born Buddhist nun who didn't find her calling until she was in her 40s.

I'm not a Buddhist but I find this book very inspirational. Chodron frames her teachings on compassion around fifty-nine traditional Tibetan Buddhist maxims. Here are some of my favorites:

Don't seek others' pain as the limbs of your own happiness.

Don't act with a twist.

Abandon any hope of fruition.

Don't transfer the ox's load to the cow.

Don't expect applause.

This morning as I was feeling overwhelmed at the messiness of our apartment, I took a deep breath and said to myself, "start where you are". I decided to tackle cleaning up our wall of books - getting rid of ones we'll never read again, ones given to us by well-meaning friends (aka books we will never read), outdated travel books, etc.

Before I knew it, my husband joined me in the task and we got through it all. We even brought our rather large discard pile down to our building's laundry room so that neighbors might pick up something new to read. When I went back to the laundry room later, all of the books were gone and I felt great.

Just four little words:

start where you are.

This beautiful photo of the post office in the village of Lukla in Nepal was taken by my sister when we made a trip to the Everest region a few years ago.

Why didn't I think of that sooner?

2009-06-20T19:56:00.001-04:00

My very sweet dog takes medicine twice daily to deal with a problem that sometimes strikes dogs (and people) in old age - think Depends.

I remember to give her the medicine about 75% of the time. More when I leave it out on the counter and less when I put it in the cupboard. For some reason, I seem to be able to totally forget about it even when the bottle is staring me in the face.

Then, today, I found the perfect place! I put it in the storage container with the dry dog food. The pills are in their child-proof bottle, in the measuring cup that is in the dog food container which is in the closet. The chances that little ones will find it are slim to none. However, neither I nor my husband can avoid it. We have to touch it in order to feed the dog. Yea!

Good deal.....

2009-06-19T21:40:00.000-04:00

I can't think of anyplace I've lived where I didn't receive that ubiquitous Valpak envelope every month or so. I'm not sure I'd ever opened one until a few months ago. Lo and behold, I found a coupon for $10 off at my favorite grocery store (Fairway - a local chain here in NYC) if I spend $100. Now, I can spend $100 bucks at the grocery store without batting an eye so, for me, this is a great deal.

On our limited budget, we try to buy organic as much as possible. Meat is the one area I do not consistently buy organic. Knowing I have an "extra" $10 allows me to feel I can buy organic meat while staying in our budget.

Better yet, none of my neighbors have caught on. Since, I live in an apartment building, I was able to score 9 discarded Valpak envelopes. And since the coupon doesn't expire until mid-September, I'll be saving all summer. Yea!

Really?

2009-06-18T12:20:00.001-04:00

Today I read that New York State has become the first state in the nation to allow participants in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program to use their monthly checks at New York farmer’s markets to purchase eligible fresh produce. (The full text of the Governor’s press release can be seen here.)

The press release reads, in part:

A pilot program conducted in 2006 by the Department of Health showed that WIC participants prefer fresh produce over canned or frozen products when fresh is available. In New York, approximately 520,000 women, infants and children participate in the WIC program every month.

While I think this is great and idea whose time has certainly come, I wonder why has it taken so long? How much longer will it take before all 50 states provide easier access to fresh produce for all who need it?

To learn more about New York City’s 46 thriving greenmarkets – visit the Council on the Environment of New York City. To learn more about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s) in New York City visit Just Food.

Hey, I made that……

2009-06-18T09:40:00.001-04:00

I’m always in a quandary when it comes to teacher gifts. Should I buy something? Should I make something? Do I even need to since we collect cash to give to our teachers? Usually, I contribute to the cash gift and write a nice note. This year, I decided to try to make something myself. I also contributed to the cash gift just in case my homemade gift was a monumental failure – which it wasn’t.

This year, I tried homemade, all-natural lemon hand scrub from a recipe I found on the blog Craftzine. It was posted by Katie of goodLife{eats} which is a fabulous blog to check out if you are even remotely interested in cooking.

This project has all of the things I like to see in a gift: it's all natural, homemade, comes in a recycled (or recyclable) package and, most importantly, my 6 year-old daughter helped me make it.

Ingredients:

Sugar

Olive Oil

Kosher Salt (table salt is too fine and won’t give any scrub to your scrub)

Lemon Zest

Lemon Extract (optional)

Materials:

Microplane or other fine grater

Medium bowl

Measuring cups

Decorative jar/s (I purchased mine at our local kitchen store but any sort of jar would work – mason jars, jelly jars, etc.)

Ribbons and/or tags

This recipe makes 2 cups of scrub – enough of a 1-pint jar or 2 half-pint jars.

Steps:

Combine 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup kosher salt, and 1 cup of olive oil in a medium-sized bowl. Stir until all of the ingredients are evenly mixed.
Add the zest of one lemon. If the scent is not lemon-y enough for you, add a few drops of lemon extract to the mix. Go slowly with the extract adding a little at a time and stirring until you are pleased with the scent.
Spoon into jar(s). Add a decorative bow or tag or both!

Note: I used unbleached sugar which I think gave the scrub a more natural look.

Photo by Terrence Dorsey.

So glad I'm not the only one....

2009-06-16T14:00:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad to find out I'm not the only parent driven to distraction by the food served to children - by other parents - at school (see my previous post/rant).

While I'm definitely one to get on my soap box about it, I'm pretty sure I'd never steal the sprinkles at an ice cream party. Check this out.

Kids & Food

2009-06-15T19:39:00.000-04:00

One of the few things I strongly dislike about my child's public school is its snack policy. In some classes, parents are responsible for providing a snack for their child only. In other classrooms, like my child's, families provide snacks for the entire class on a rotating schedule. At the beginning of the school year, our teacher made a token effort to encourage families to provide healthy snacks. It didn't take.

On the first week, my daughter told me that they had Chips Ahoy for snack and asked me if I was aware of Chips Ahoy cookies. The tone of her voice let me know that she didn't appreciate the fact that I'd been holding out on her for 5 years. So you can imagine her surprise to discover the existence of gummi-fruit, chocolate covered granola bars and 100-calorie packs of Oreos. Yes, all of these made multiple appearances as appropriate school snacks.

The Chips Ahoy incident was topped only by the day my daughter told me that they had cupcakes for snack. When I asked if it was someone's birthday she said no and that so-and-so's mommy brought them in "just because".

All of this made me a little nervous when it was our first turn as snack family. What should we bring? Do I mask something healthy (like spinach) in an unhealthy disguise (like brownies)? Or should I say it loud and say it proud "apples are good for you and tasty too"? Would I be committing my daughter to the Kindergarten version of social suicide by sending in something - gasp - homemade? In the end, I made a healthy version of mini-pumpkin muffins and paired them with apple slices. And you know what? It was all eaten. Not one kid balked at the lack of slick packaging or chocolate flavorings. Same thing next time I sent in a few bunches of ripe bananas. Not one came back at dismissal.

All of this leads me to an interesting article in today's New York Times regarding children's abilities to make healthy choices if they are provided.

Hopefully we are turning a corner on assuming that all kids want chicken nuggets every time.

Photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com

Green Clean Your Silver

2009-06-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

I'm always looking for ways to reduce toxins in my home. With 2 small, curious children why take unnecessary risks?

The other day I came upon some silver earrings that I hadn't worn in ages - and it showed. They were seriously tarnished:

So, I searched the 'net and the consensus solution was to give the a gentle scrub with white toothpaste, rinse and buff them with a soft cloth. The result?

Not perfect but much, much better. Plus, I used the toothpaste sample provided at my last trip to the dentist so it was free!

I also read that some people line a bowl with foil and adding salt and warm water to remove tarnish. However, others say the reaction between the aluminum and sodium chloride can ruin silver plating. Has anyone tried this method?

Free Sundiwear Stickers

2009-06-14T14:43:00.000-04:00

Click here to score a free package of Sundiwear stickers. They turn red when it's time to reapply sunscreen. Great for mom's with wiggly little ones!

Love this post!

2009-06-10T14:08:00.000-04:00

Today, Simple Mom has a terrific guest post by Lisa of The Well Grounded Life dealing with three omnipresent ingredients to avoid: high fructose corn syrup (HCFS), trans fats and artificial dyes. You can find it here.

Coincidentally, I went to the market after reading her post and avoided buying hamburger buns and hot dog buns - all the brands offered had HCFS. I am going to try to make my own later in the week. If anyone has a recipe to share - please let me know!

I still haven't found what I'm looking for...

2009-06-08T15:35:00.000-04:00

I've had the idea to start this blog for while now. Not because I'm an expert at anything (I'm not) or have a well defined point of view (I don't) but because I've searched and searched and I just cannot find the kind of blog I want to read.

I want to live in accordance with my personal beliefs all the time, not just when it is easy to do so.

I want to live my life more sustainably but I don't want to buy a bunch of crap in order to.

I want to spend money wisely but I don't want to enter the frugal olympics.

I want to be more creative and not judge the outcome.

I want to investigate spirituality but I don't want spirituality to define me.

I want to cook good, healthy food.

I want to be a great mom and wife because my family is what makes me happiest.

I want to learn to be present in every moment.

Tall order, I know.

Which is probably why I haven't found it.

So, here is my humble attempt at creating it......welcome!