One Local Summer: Week 11, part 2 - Cherry Oats

I have whole oats in my pantry from the grain CSA and have not known quite what to do with them. Rolled oats are familiar; even steel cut oats have their found crockpot love from me. But the whole grain, well, I wasn't sure where to start. I found the liquid:grain ratio and cooking time on the pressure cooker and figured I'd make them like I would steel cut oats - milk, fruit, cinnamon, vanilla - and see how that works.

Well let me tell you, they smell fantastic and taste even better! With local oats, cherries, and milk, this is another local meal this week. This makes a HUGE batch - I wanted to have it available for quick breakfasts this week.

Whole Oats with Cherries

2 c. whole oats, rinsed and drained
6 c. water or milk, or a combination of the two
2 c. frozen cherries (ours were frozen earlier in the year from a local cherry orchard)
1 t. each cinnamon and ground ginger
1/2 t. nutmeg
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. brown sugar (optional)

Pour all the ingredients into pressure cooker and stir to combine. Cook over high pressure for 18 minutes or until grains are tender and liquid absorbed.

The baby's still cooking and so am I - One Local Summer: Week 11

Despite a due date that has come and gone, and with every effort made on my part to bring this baby on, she has still not made her appearance into the world. I'm hopeful that it will happen in the next few days, since I'm so darned uncomfortable, but in the meantime I'm cooking away!

I've got a pot of soup on the stove that smells fantastic. Using tomatoes, corn, onions, garlic, and basil from my CSA box, zucchini from the front yard garden, barley from our grain CSA, and some of the meatballs that I froze from our Chileno Ranch beef, this is a very local soup.

Summer Vegetable and Barley Soup with meatballs

1 T olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 medium zucchinis, diced
5-6 LARGE tomatoes, diced, seeded and drained or 10-12 medium
2 c. fresh corn
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 t salt
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 c basil, bay leaf, and a sprig of thyme (I did this like a bouquet garni, tied up to be removed from the pot)
2 c. barley, soaked and drained
1 lb. cooked meatballs
Basil and parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top of the finished soup

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add zucchini, tomatoes, salt, pepper, herbs, and barley. Bring to a boil and reduce heat; simmer for 1 hr. 15 minutes or until barley is tender. Add meatballs and simmer until they're just heated through. Remove bouquet garni and serve with basil and parmesan cheese on top.

Polenta rounds with tomato sauce

I made a seriously delicious, easy, and toddler friendly meal today and wanted to share. Last night, I steamed broccoli and carrots, sauteed bell pepper, onion, and garlic, minced it all very fine and added it to cooked polenta (yellow cornmeal). I spread the mixture out on an oiled 9"x13" pan and put it in the fridge overnight to set. At dinner tonight, I cut the polenta into rounds with a biscuit cutter and pan fried them in olive oil, served them with tomato sauce, and enjoyed a healthy, whole food dinner with Jax, who loves them (he loves anything he can dip.) I have a plate full of polenta rounds to pop in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking.

I served the polenta rounds with kale and cottage cheese. Yes, I've eaten a real meal! Hopefully it's part of a trend away from the bland carbs that have kept the nausea at bay for these past few months. :)

Hooray for Hot Cereal

I prepared a big batch of hot cereal this morning to be reheated for breakfast the rest of the week. It is my standard oatmeal recipe made with milk and applesauce, cinnamon and vanilla, but I added raisins and a touch of maple syrup. I drizzle it with 1 t. flaxseed oil when I serve it, since flaxseed oil shouldn't be cooked. Delicious, filling, very healthy, and comforting on an upset stomach - it's a winner! I'm glad that I have a few portions now packaged in the fridge for mornings when I can't stand to stand at the stove for 30 minutes stirring. I used the grains from my grain CSA (they're stacking up since I haven't cooked much lately!), home made applesauce, Organic Valley milk from Modesto, and California grown organic Thompson raisins. Yum!

Applesauce Oatmeal

Here is a satisfying way to start the day! It is hearty, warming on chilly mornings, and keeps me full all morning long. With milk, fruit, healthy oil, and whole grain, this breakfast has everything you need and it tastes great, too.

Applesauce Oatmeal
(serves 2 hungry grown ups and 1 hungry toddler!)

1 1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup fat free milk
1 cup water
1/2 t. each cinnamon and ground ginger
1/4 t. nutmeg
raisins (optional)
3 t. flaxseed oil (optional)

In a big, microwave safe bowl, mix together all the ingredients except for the oil. Microwave, covered, for 2 1/2 minutes, then stir. Microwave, covered, another 2 1/2 minutes and stir again. You may need another minute or two, depending on your microwave. Divide into servings and top each serving with flaxseed oil and more milk if you want it.

The Grains are Here!

I picked up my first Grain CSA shipment last weekend, and it included:

2 bags of pancake mix
1 bag of rye flour
1 bag of hot cereal
1 bag of hard red wheat
1 bag of whole barley
3 dried red corn on the cobs
1 spray of wheat

Each bag weighs about two pounds, some more, some less. The newsletter tells me that the whole corn can be used as posole, added into soups, breads, or whole with butter. I'll be looking through the whole grains cookbook for posole recipes!

The pancake mix has this to say for itself:

Rafael's Pancake Mix
You can use this pancake mix for waffles, pancakes, muffins, cakes, or any non-yeast kind of quickbread in place of all-purpose flour or pastry wheat. Rafael shucked all the corn for this and the San Francisco Waldorf's 4th grade class picked all the corn. This is Rafael's special blend of many rare grains, including: Oaxacan green dent corn, teff, flax seed, orange popping amaranth, len wheat, ry, Ethiopian hulless barley, and hulless oats!

I made up a batch of peach pancakes this afternoon, and the mix is made delightfully fluffy, light pancakes with a more complex flavor than standard white flour mix. I froze them flat between layers of wax paper for quick breakfasts; they'll be easy to reheat in the toaster. Everything but the spices and baking powder is locally grown, with pancake mix from the CSA and peaches frozen after our August trip to Frog's Leap.

Peach Pancakes
3 c. pancake mix or all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. ginger
1/8 t. nutmeg
2 eggs
2 T honey, melted to liquid consistency, or 2 T sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1 T canola oil
2 c. fat free milk
2 peaches, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
(optional, 1/4 c. chopped pecans)

Sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, then beat in honey, oil, and milk. Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Gently fold peaches into batter.

Preheat griddle, then spray with non-stick spray (I use Canola oil in a Misto sprayer.) Ladle about 1/8 c. onto the griddle to make 4 inch pancakes. Cook until bubbles are just set, then flip to cook the other side. Serve immediately or freeze flat between layers of wax paper. Serves 8, 3 pancakes per serving.

Pancakes are not CORE because flour is not CORE. Each serving is 4 Points.

Dinner tonight is leftover lentil-rice soup with kale. I made a big batch last night. This had just 10 minutes of hands on time and made the whole house smell yummy. You might want a dash of Tabasco sauce for the heat-seeking eater, but it's really warm and hearty, full of fiber and protein, and lots of healthy veggies.

Lentil-Rice Soup with Kale

8 servings

1 T olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 cup red lentils, rinsed and picked over

1 cup brown rice

8 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 bay leaf

1 t. thyme

1 t. oregano

1/4 t. pepper

1 bunch kale, chopped into bite sized pieces

Saute onion, garlic, carrot, and celery in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add lentils and brown rice and stir together for a few minutes. Add stock and spices. Cover and bring to a boil; reduce to simmer for 45 minutes. Add kale and cook 5 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Lentils and beans and whole wheat, oh my

I love lentils. They're quick-cooking, high in protein, fiber, and iron, listed by Health Magazine as one of the five healthiest foods, and are a go-to staple in my kitchen. There are a number of lentil varieties, and I usually have two or three on hand. Green, red, and brown lentils all have their place in my pantry, and in the past two days, I've made two lentil dishes with two varieties of the hearty legumes. Last night, we had dhal, an Indian curried brown lentil, with summer squash and rice. For lunch today, I made a quick Greek-style red lentil soup with mint and oregano with fat free plain yogurt stirred in at the end. Delicious, and ready in 30 minutes.

***
Greek-style Red Lentil Soup
serves 8
1 T. olive oil
1 diced onion
1 diced carrot
1 diced celery stalk
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 lb. red lentils, rinsed
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 1/2 t. dried mint
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 t. paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the veggies and garlic in 1 T olive oil in a Dutch oven or stockpot. Add the lentils to the pot and stir for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Remove the bay leaf and puree with a stick blender. Serve with a dollop of fat free plain yogurt.

I've had no luck finding local sources for the lentil, and if anyone knows of California lentil growers, please let me know! I'm currently purchasing organic lentils in the bulk bins at Country Sun, but they're not grown locally. Beans, legumes, and grains have been the hardest part of my diet to find locally grown, but I'm making headway.

Phipps Country Store in Pescadero grows some of their own heirloom beans (and has a U-Pick berry farm) and a field trip to the coast is in the works, both for beans and berries, which I intend to can and freeze.

Rancho Gordo in Napa also grows heirloom dry beans, as well as corn, masa, and chilis. They're available at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market in San Francisco and a storefront in Napa, and are served at a number of really wonderful restaurants all over the Bay Area and beyond.

Wheat and wheatberries are available from Full Belly Farm, where I get my CSA box of wonderful produce each week. Lundberg Family Farms sustainably grows brown rice (I buy it in bulk at Country Sun.)

I'm still looking for locally, organically grown:
bulgur
oatmeal, especially steel cut oats
quinoa (I don't think I'll find this locally, but a girl can dream!)
whole wheat pasta and couscous
cornmeal

The photo comes from the Wikipedia entry for lentils.)

More CSA goodness, YIPPEE!

Good News:
I found a grain CSA! I stumbled upon a review of Windborne Farms (no website) a few months ago and forgot about it; in my attempt to locate locally grown oatmeal, I found the review again and contacted Jennifer Greene, the farmer who is, with her family and draft horse Thor, growing organic grains and beans. Here's what she wrote to me:

We are a 30 acre diverse organic/biodynamic farm, located in Scott Valley Ca. We grow over 30 different varieties of grains and beans including, barley, wheat, rye ,Teff, Amaranth, oats, whole corn, Kamut and so on. Many of the varieties are hierloom varieties. The row crops are cultivated with our draft horse Thor. Sharholders pay 300.00 a year for 10 deliveries of grains and beans. A typical delivery would include 3# hard red flour, 2 # pastry flour either barley oat or soft wheat, 2 # of a whole grain such as barley or millet, 2 # pancke mix, 2# hot cereal mix 1-2 # dry beans.Deliveries are about once every 5-6 weeks and all of the flours are milled here on the farm with our stone mill. All of the share is grown here on our farm.

I'm signing up at the end of the month. Of course, flour and pancake mix are not CORE, and I'll have to count the Points on products made with them. But fresh, stone ground flour made into home-made bread is worth the Points.

I also found a Bay Area Meat CSA in the Bay Area Buy Fresh, Buy Local guide that I mentioned the other day. They have pick ups in San Francisco and the East Bay. I looked for something like this before buying the quarter of a cow but couldn't find anything in the area; I'm so pleased that this exists, even though I won't be participating as I already have a freezer full of beef and plans for an equal portion of pork and lamb in the near future!

Bad News: (the whining shall commence)
I'm woefully off track the past few days. I start out well, sticking to my plan, then vear off toward the chips and cheese, the last hold outs of 4th of July leftovers. Add to the unnecessary nacho munching and too many hours of sedentary computer time and general lack of activity, and I'm finding it hard to even see the track right now.

I started the Couch to 5k a few weeks ago and got one run in, but have had no luck getting out of the house sans toddler to do it again. Mr.M is busy and the 30 minutes that I'm feeling energetic are after he's left for the day;I can't take Jax along, as he'll want to be held the whole time and jogging is hard enough without a 26 pound squirmy weight (he will not ride in a stroller anymore.) I know I need to just DO it, get off the computer, get out of the kitchen, get out of the house, and I'll feel better. I'm sabatoging my own success and I hate it, but continue to do it. Blah.

***

Review of the Eye of Round recipe linked yesterday: it was a little overcooked by the time I hit 8 hours, and could have been perfect probably at 6 hours. I shredded the beef and made a gravy with the juice, defatted, and a little flour-water combo. It was flavorful but a little tough from the overcooking. Leftovers were made into barbecue beef with barbecue sauce and shredded beef, and those were better but still tough. I have to keep a closer eye on meat as it cooks and not rely on the recipe as directly.