The Portland Greens

Real Food Real Easy: Cheat Sheets

**Sadly, I have been away from my blog for way too long. Happily, I am coming back and have lots of things planned to kick it all off and get back to regular blogging. 

Life has taken many turns (as it always does) and I have spent most of my last few months writing for money. And frankly, after writing for work, I just don't feel like writing for fun. 

While I haven't been writing on my blog, I still have been obsessively talking with people about food and cooking daily for my family. What I have learned is that for those that do not cook real food, the biggest obstacles to doing so are time and skill. 

As I always tell my boys, skill is only learned after lots of practice. Sure, you may not like practicing, but if your health is counting on it, you may want to consider it. Many people feel that cooking at home is the key to ending the obesity crisis in our country. I agree. 

I can't help so much with making you skillful, but I do have lots of timesaving tips that make it easier for me and my family to eat real food. For this reason, I have started this weekly column named Real Food Real Easy. Here I plan to write about tips and tricks I have learned over the years that help me save time and money making real food work with a busy lifestyle. 

Hope you enjoy it!

Real Food Real Easy: Cheat Sheets

For as long as I have been cooking real food, I have kept cheat sheets. While it is all fine and good to look up recipes some of the time, realistically, if you are going to be cooking everyday, you need to save time somewhere. 

I have created a few standard cheat sheets. These are mostly baked items in my house, but could work for a whole host of recipes depending on your frequency for making them. This is my standard cheat sheet that I use pretty frequently:

These are all items that I know the steps to make them. I don't write any directions on my cheat sheets, but you could also do that too. The idea is that the recipes are easily accessible and able to be viewed hands free. I tape mine on the inside of my cabinents. 

I write mine out. However, this could also be easily done on the computer for a cleaner look. I also laminate them so that if they get wet or dirty they are easily wiped clean again. 

Biscuits: Mmmm. I make these buttermilk biscuits every Sunday morning, always substituting homemade yogurt for buttermilk.

Try making some cheat sheets today to save some time and allow you to easily cook items you may not otherwise. 

How do you save time in the kitchen? 

 

A New Love Affair: The Pickled Beet Feta Pesto Sandwich

Planning is an important part of canning. It is also something that I am not super skilled at doing. For this reason, I am often left with multiple random jars of preserves, chutneys and pickles at the end of each year that I dole off on unsuspecting visitors to my house. 

In my absense writing here, I have been working on improving my planning skills. I have turned a new leaf in life and discovered a myriad of awesome recipes that I love making in my slow cooker (more on that later). I have also, thankfully, found a way to use up all those looming jars of pickled beets that I feel so compelled to make when I see huge bags of beets at the market in the summer. 

Presenting ... the pickled beet feta pesto sandwich. And seriously, it is delicious! Even my kids like it. I went a little crazy and ate this every day a couple weeks ago. Though my love has not waned, I am back to eating other things for lunch, but still, this is so good. 

Pickled Beet Feta Pesto Sandwich
 

adapted from Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry  

• bread
• pickled beets
• feta cheese
• pesto

Toast your bread. Spread it generously with pesto. Add a layer (or two) of pickled beets and a couple slices of feta cheese and boom. You are done and ready to go. 

*The original recipe called for a cilantro pesto, but I have made it with several different kinds including mint and basil pestos and all were great. For the cilantro pesto, I made it with cilantro, sunflower seeds, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper pureed together in a food processor.  

 

Mama Green's Jam Free Giveaway

For those of you that don't know, I run a small jam company, Mama Green's Jam, that I started this past year selling CSA-style jam shares. I am now selling jam online too and wanted to kick it all off with a couple of free giveaways!  

I am giving away two gift packages each containing 1 - 16 ounce jar of Raspberry Jam and a brand new Thai sarong. To enter, simply like my Portland Greens Facebook Page and leave a comment on this entry or the same one on Facebook and you are entered! 

The giveaway ends on Thursday, December 13th at midnight. Good luck!

Hot Japanese-Style Chicken Noodle Soup

Many people give me the side eye when I suggest making bonito and kelp stock. So for those that aren't convinced that sounds good (or those that have some spare chicken stock), I bring to you, hot Asian-style noodle soup.

This is basically the same as its more traditional fishy cousin, kakejiru, however it is made with chicken stock. Kakejiru is made with dashi stock and would normally be served with udon noodles. Any Japanese food purists would surely balk at this chicken stock substitution, however, this is a perfectly satisfying, comforting and simple meal for me. 

My family all puts hot sauce in this too, which kind of makes me cringe, but they also all scarf it down, so I don't let my annoyance show. This is one of my quickest meals I throw together on a busy night and pretty much always have the supplies to make more - it is just that good. 

 Chicken Hot Noodle Soup

• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1 1/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 T soy sauce

• vegetables
• dried udon noodles (or ramen, chuka soba type noodles)
• eggs
• cooked meat (chicken, pork)

First you must season the soup. Bring the stock to a simmer and mix in the three ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Maintain a simmer. If you are using meat, I add it to the broth and let simmer until the rest is prepared.

Bring another pot of water to boil to prepare the remaining ingredients. I use these noodles:

Cook noodles until tender, remove from water with a strainer or other utensil and run under cold water until are cool. Julienne any hard vegetables like carrots and cut others into small pieces. I almost always use carrots and cabbage, but often add all sorts of other things like corn, spinach, green onions, etc. 

Parboil all vegetables you will be including for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from water. Hard boil eggs - one per bowl. 

Arrange everything in bowls. 

Fill bowls with broth and meat and enjoy. 

3 Easy Ways to Reduce Food Waste in the Kitchen

It has been one year since Portland started collecting food waste as part of its recycling program. While I have enjoyed new composting program, it has brought to my attention in greater detail how much food my family wastes. 

The effects of the citywide program here have reduced residential garbage collection by 38% and tripled the compostable waste to 85,400 tons, both pretty sizable achievements in terms of reducing waste. 

A lot of attention is paid to stories about food waste in the media here, but when you literally can see all your food scraps piled together in a lump for any given week, the image of actual personal waste becomes much more clear.

There is not much that can be done about food scraps from cooking (carrot and celery ends, spent chicken carcasses, potato skins), but what I find alarming is the amount of stuff that just goes bad because it doesn't get eaten. I am on a mission to change that in my house, and this is what I am doing. 

These are all pretty simple, but I have found that just being more mindful of these things, decreases our food waste quite a bit and that sickening pile at the bottom of my green composting cart is not quite so sickening after all. 

1. Clean Your Refrigerator Weekly

Though this seems so simple, I have overlooked it so many times too. However, if I keep up with it continuously, it becomes like habit and much food is saved by simply being eaten before its prime has passed. 

I love leftovers and eat them nearly everyday for lunch. It saves on food prep time and I love combining random leftovers together for different combinations. One quick sweep through the refrigerator before the start of a week lets me shuffle things around, freeze large portions that will not be eaten in time and plan accordingly for utilizing the leftovers in the kitchen.

2. Keep Your Refrigerator Tidy

I recently heard a story on the radio (I think?) about how your refrigerator should not be so stuffed that you cannot see all around it. The person speaking suggested putting a picture at the back of the refrigerator and if you cannot see the picture, you have too much stuff in there. So I have done that and it does make the inside of my refrigerator kind of cute, don't you think?

I actually have decided on having the picture on the middle shelf, but I could not get a decent picture like that. Place it where you think it would be best utilized. 

3. Repurpose Leftovers 

Leftovers can only take you so far. After that point, they often linger in the fridge and then get thrown away. I love making things that can be repurposed later and plan accordingly when deciding what we will eat. Extra rice and nothing to go with it becomes fried rice. Meats are great for this type of repurposing and the possibilities are really endless when you have cooked chicken, beef or pork. Leftover taco fixings can be made into burritos and frozen for later. 

Here are some of my favorite ways to repurpose leftovers for different meals:

Creamy Chicken Pasta

Chicken Caesar Salad

Hiyashi Chuka Soba

Freezer Burritos

Belizean Biscuits: Johnny Cakes

I love biscuits and make them regularly. Once you get the hang of them, they are really quite simple to throw together in a pinch and really always taste great in my opinion. They are fabulous with jam for breakfast, great to sop up some soupy juices with dinner, and make a nice midday snack when you feel like you need some carbs in your life. 

While my favorites are buttermilk and cream biscuits, I recently ran across an old recipe for the Belizean equivalent - johnny cakes - and they have made a reappearance in my kitchen. Using less butter than either of my other regulars, and coconut milk instead of buttermilk or cream, these are a nice change, easy to make, and great for savory dishes. 

I remember eating these in Belize both times I went, both for breakfast and dinner. While I have made them with dinner stews, as I love sopping up the juice as I eat, they are also fabulous as part of a beans, rice and egg breakfast or just with jam. 

Johnny Cakes

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 4 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups coconut milk

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut butter with forks, knives or a pastry cutter until it is coarsely combined into flour. Add coconut milk until the dough comes together and is not wet or sticky. Knead on a floured counter for several minutes until it smoothes out.

Roll into 12 2-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Rest for 30 minutes uncovered. After 20 minutes, heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.  

How to Freeze Corn

Right now corn is super cheap and plentiful in Oregon. It is not difficult to find it for 5 for $1 at local farms or farmstands. This is when I freeze corn. Otherwise, it is just not really worth it. 

I freeze a lot of vegetables and for me to do it, it has to be at least cost effective. I love fresh peas that I freeze and shuck myself, but shelling peas are pricey and it is hard to spend $6 a quart when you can buy frozen peas for so much cheaper. 

Corn is the opposite of that. It costs almost the same as store bought, and it makes me happy to know that I am supporting local farmers and not eating corn shipped from far away. All that aside, everyone has to admit that corn on the cob is fabulous when its in season. Well, imagine if you could capture that taste all year long! You can! Freeze your own corn and you can enjoy that sweetness all year long. 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place corn on the cob in the pot for 3 minutes. While the corn is boiling, prepare an ice water bath in a bowl or the sink. If you are working on a large batch of corn, the sink filled with large amounts of ice and water, can be very effective. 

When the timer goes off, immediately remove the corn and place in the ice water bath for at least 3 minutes to cool. The corn should be cold so as to stop cooking. Hold corn upright and cut the kernels from the corn in four to five slices from top to bottom.

Pack into bags or containers, label and freeze. I use freezer safe zipper bags and they have always worked well.

A Little Love for Brussels Sprouts, Anyone?

 

Growing up, Brussels sprouts made a less than regular appearance at the dinner table. When they did appear, they were always the frozen variety, cooked in a small amount of water, drained and topped with butter and salt.

I did not look forward to them. Nor did I really want to eat them when they were presented. Sometime in college I remember having a craving for the bitter taste of these little mini cabbages, and I heeded my craving by preparing them as I remembered. Well, they were just as lackluster as I had remembered.

Several years ago while visiting my parents, they introduced me to Brussels sprouts 2.0. The new (or old), much more delicious way to prepare them - roasting! What a difference roasting makes. It brings out the sweetness and tames much of the bitterness, leaving them just perfect, if you ask me.

My kids love Brussels sprouts. Now they actually request them for dinner. My five-year-old even threw an all out tantrum around the age of two at a market because I didn't want to buy a stalk. I rarely give into distress cries for foods at the store, but it is hard to resist a sniveling toddler who just wants some Brussels sprouts.

Here's how to roast Brussels sprouts.

Update: King just came home from school, saw my many stalks of Brussels sprouts and said "oooooooohhhhh! Mom can we have Brussels sprouts for dinner?" with the same excitement level comprable with getting a piece of the much coveted candy.

If you are interested in freezing the bounty, here's how to freeze Brussels sprouts. As with many other vegetables, it is suprisingly easy.

Apple Love

I bought two boxes of apples last weekend and I just got done doing stuff with them. Sometimes things take longer than I plan; processing 500 pounds of grapes is one of those things, and so the apples got put to the back of the list. In the end, I went with a combo of hard cider, apple cider vinegar, apple sauce and apple pectin stock.

I normally just make applesauce and apple chips, but with my family's increased use of apple cider vinegar and my love of a nice hard cider, I figured I might as well branch out. I steam juiced about 10 pounds of granny smith apples and 10 pounds of red delicious to make a gallon of juice, cooled the juice to room temperature, and innoculated it with a dry white yeast.

Then I steam juiced 10 more pounds of apples, let the juice cool, and innoculated with with some raw apple cider vinegar with the mother in it from my cupboard. I covered the jar with a cloth and put the jar ring on to hold it in position.

I boiled all the skins and pulp down with water and let it drain through a wire mesh strainer all night to make a fabulous apple pectin stock to use in place of commercial pectin in jam and jelly recipes. And well, then I had to make some jelly. I gathered some various sized jars (canning supplies run real low at this time of year), some sugar, grape juice I had made earlier in the week, and said pectin stock and busted out several jars of Pinot noir jelly for my cupboard.

And then there was applesauce. I rounded out the apple preserving with several quarts of spiced apple sauce. So easy, so good.

And I still have a bunch left to eat.  Ah, Fall. I am about to call an end to the preserving season. Almost. What are you doing with apples this Fall?

Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Apple Dip

I went to a lovely baby shower in California last week. After an eight-hour drive, we stretched our legs with a walk to the park to let out some of that pent up child energy.

When we returned, my boys were joyously met with this lovely pumpkin cream cheese dip and a platter of apples; they loved ever bite of it. At this time of year my boys eat apples like they are crazy and I often begin to wonder where the line is for a child just eating too much fruit. When I ate this though, I didn't care one bit. I think I ate scarfed down a couple apples myself.

Today my youngest wanted a snack and I just bought some cream cheese and thought of this. I also have a lot of apples. It is Fall after all. We are more of a sweet potato pie family than a pumpkin one, so I improvised something similar with a sweet potato. And it is just as good. Try it on apples, or even on a bagel.

Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Dip

• 4 ounces of cream cheese
• 1 small sweet potato - to make about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potato
• 3 T brown sugar
• 2 T maple syrup
• 1/4 t of cinnamon
• 1/2 t pumpkin pie seasoning (make it yourself with an even mix of ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)
• 1/2 t vanilla

Bake the sweet potato in the oven or microwave, or boil it. When cool, peel the skin and mash the potato with a fork until broken well. Mix all the ingredients in a stand mixer, hand mixer or by hand.  Chill for about 15 minutes before serving.