FIRST KITCHEN BLOGS

I am like a proud mommy all over again. After 3 months of daily watering, weeding and watching I finally birthed my first tomato harvest! Granted, only one of the two plants that I started off with survived (hail storm in July…) but still, I am happy! The tomatoes are big beefy “mortgage lifter” heirloom tomatoes. Supposedly they got that name when the man who first bred them used the profits to pay off his mortgage…I have a looooong way to go until my gardening is that profitable ;-).

For now I am enjoying the fruits of the harvest, literally. The mortgage lifters are sweet and earthy tasting. Supposedly they are good cooking/roasting tomatoes. Since I had about 10 in my first harvest I decided to eat a few and cook a few so nothing would go to waste.

I made a fresh tomato sauce that is easy to freeze and take out as an alternative to canned sauces. It is a good recipe to make on a Sunday or a day that you don’t have to rush out of the house, as it takes a few hours to simmer. Here’s the scoop:

Garden Fresh Tomato Sauce

Makes about 3-4 cups

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time 2-3 hours

You will need:

5-6 large tomatoes , chopped (I used my heirloom tomatoes but any beefy variety will be fine, could also use double the amount of Roma tomatoes as they are much smaller)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped (*optional…could substitute a number of different vegetables such as green pepper, red pepper, mushrooms, etc)

¼ cup olive oil

1-2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 large handful of fresh basil, stems removed

Directions:

Chop all ingredients, set aside.

In large and deep saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until transparent (~2 minutes). Add zucchini and garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and salt. Bring ingredients to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and cover. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring every so often. 

After about an hour, add brown sugar and basil (mixture will be more sauce like now as the tomatoes will have cooked down and formed a liquid). Cover and simmer another 1 hour.

Remove

from heat and let cool for ½ hour. Place sauce in Tupperware and put in freezer.

May also use right away with pasta. You could add ground turkey or beef to make a classic meat sauce or pour it over roasted/pan seared chicken as an alternative or eat simply with noodles and parmesan cheese.

That's amore!

I’m baaaack! It has been a BUSY few weeks here in Minnesota. “Wedding Season” is in full swing as well as vacation season, road construction season and now back to school season!  I was hit by wedding bells (no, not literally) two weekends in a row and one of the weddings I had the honor of being a bridesmaid! Very fun but very busy. We did a lot of quick meals and even resorted to take-out despite my meal planning expertise (ugh, the pressure got to me, I had to give in!). Hey, we’re only human.

Now that this first wave of weddings are past us I can catch my breath and do some cooking before the next wave (3 weddings in September…) hits! After such a busy few weeks and a cold spurt here in Minnesota, I was craving a not-so-healthy-but-sorta-healthy comfort food: Fresh Artichoke and Spinach Dip. Yum.  I had a ton of spinach leftover from one of the many wedding gatherings and instantly thought of my favorite dip. Usually, people use frozen spinach but fresh spinach is excellent to use in this recipe if it’s available. The spinach cooks down quite a bit, so you’ll need a good amount. The not-so-healthy part of this recipe will definitely be the sour cream and mayonnaise. There are no great substitutions that taste the same. Low fat versions of either work fine but please don’t use ‘fat free.’  Fat free tends to use more sugar and non-food ingredients to make it ‘taste’ like fat. Instead, control the amount you consume instead of trying to trick your body (trust me, your body will find out and it won’t be happy..). Ok, here’s the recipe:

Fresh Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Serves 8 (as an appetizer)

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 30-40 minutes

You will need:

1 (16oz) large container of fresh spinach, chopped

2 cans artichoke hearts, chopped

2 cans water chestnuts, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

½ lemon, squeezed

8 oz shredded parmesan or Italian cheese blend

Dash of cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Chop spinach, water chestnuts, artichoke and onion and place in large bowl. Add sour cream, mayo and lemon juice and mix well (I used tongs). Make sure all of the spinach is coated. Add seasonings and mix again. Place in a small (9x9) baking pan or glass casserole dish. Cover the top with the shredded cheese.

Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes. Turn oven up to 425 and bake uncovered for  an additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and slightly brown.

No doubt this upcoming holiday weekend will have you running between bbqs, beaches and bonfires! I know that’s what we will be doing. The tricky part with holidays is getting off your normal routine. When I’m off my routine and on the go, that is when I am reaching for fast, convenient and UNHEALTHY foods (take for example, potato chips and dip). Soooo, what to do?

Well, we are in luck because it is BERRY SEASON! Delicious, healthy, anti-oxidant rich berries are abundant and available for a fast, convenient and HEALTHY snack (desert, salad, etc etc).

I was just at the store and picked up a carton each of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries and paid just under $6.00! That is just as much as a bag of chips and dip, if not cheaper! Mostly, I like to have the berries washed and stored in a container in the fridge for convenient snacking but if you want to get a little more creative (and add some protein and more fruit), check out this tasty treat:

Berry Banana Split

(serves 1-2)

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: none!

You will need:

½ carton blueberries

1 whole banana

2 medium-large slices of watermelon

¾ cup vanilla yogurt

1 Tablespoon pecans

Slice the banana length wise and place on plate. Fill the center with blueberries (you can add any kind of berry you want!). Place the watermelon slices (remove from core) on each end of the banana. Top with vanilla yogurt and sprinkle with nuts.

This is a very flexible dish. You can substitute any combination of berries and use different flavors of yogurt and nuts. Make it fun and make it work to suit your tastes and what is around in your kitchen!

Happy weekend!

So what is the difference between organic and sustainable?

We were a little confused about this. How about you?  We certainly want to buy foods that are healthy and help save our environment so what does this all mean?  We did a little research to try to sort it out. 

In theory, something that is organic should be sustainable, right?   Or sustainable should be organic?  The two are often used in conjunction with one another but they are not necessarily the same.

Here are a few key differences:

 Organic is regulated, but not necessarily small or local.  Organic products are regulated by the USDA and must meet specific guidelines in order to be labeled organic.   It means growing food without the aid of synthetic pesticides, growing livestock without administering antibiotics or hormones.  Organic, however, does not necessarily mean small or locally grown.  Many corporations have jumped on the organic movement by using organic practices because they see the consumer demand for it.  Now organic products can be available anywhere, any time.  For example, we can have citrus or asparagus in cold weather climates in the middle of January.   So while organic maybe healthier for you and environment, mass production and long distance shipping still uses many non-reusable resources.

Sustainable agriculture is local. Sustainable farms by definition are not large-scale mass producers. Sustainable practices use local resources and tend not to move food farther than 200 miles from the site of production- another words, bringing the farmer closer to the consumer. 

 In theory it means using limited resources, minimizing waste and implementing farm practices that lessen the impact on the environment. For example, rather than relying on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, it means more reliance on methods such as crop rotation, animal manure fertilizers and/or biological controls to manage insects, and weeds.  So while sustainable products may not necessarily be organic, sustainable agriculture is a method of farming that minimizes environmental damage and depletion of resources. 

The moral of the story- stay educated on your food choices and how they are grown or manufactured.  It is our consumer dollar that influences the way in which our food is produced. 

Do you have any comments or questions about organic or sustainable production??  Let us know!