Balcony Garden and Canning update

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats awaiting updates of my adventures in growing and preserving local food. Wait no longer!

Balcony Garden:

There's good news and bad news. First the bad: despite rosemary growing like a weed most places in North Carolina, I couldn't keep it alive in premium potting soil on my balcony. I'm guessing it never got enough sun so I had to pull the poor thing. The thyme is also not looking great but seems to still be hanging in there. The good news: everything else seems to be pretty happy. I've added a red basil plant from a friend and re-potted the green basil. The Roma tomato is absolutely thriving and the Early Girl is, well, not dead.

Look how high that Roma tomato is on the far right!

Canning:

The strawberry jam has been delicious the last couple weeks. I've been using it instead of store-bought jelly, local peanut butter from Simply Local, and Nova's Bakery bread for all my sandwiches. These PB&Js are the perfect triathlon training snacks especially because they have no preservatives and just the sugar of the jam. They also make great gifts for friends!

Because the first experiment was so successful, I tried my hand at peach jam yesterday. I used the same ratio of fruit to sugar as the Pioneer Woman's strawberry jam but added a half cup of lemon juice. I also opted to use pectin this time. After doing some reading up on what it is, I decided pectin isn't that bad for us and will be helpful in keeping the jam good for longer.

My peach jam jars waiting for their lids to pop

Next stop on the gardening and canning adventure ride is tomato sauce once tomatoes are more prevalent at the market and are growing on the balcony!

Not Your Ordinary Tomato Sandwich

Tuesday was a special day. It was the first day that Atherton market vendors had real tomatoes. Not green-housed, not unripe, not from some South American country. Tomatoes grown right here. It mightbe the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

In addition to tomatoes, blueberries and corn are still filling the market stalls. Houston Farms has had some delicious sweet corn and Berry Busy Farm has had blueberries, blackberries, peaches and small plums. They also sell a variety of great jams and preserves from their berries.

Tuesday, I picked up a beautiful green and red heirloom tomato from the Lomax Farm. I also happen to grab a loaf of Duke's Gorgonzola bread, a gallon (yes, a gallon) of blueberries from Berry Busy and half a dozen ears of corn from Houston. All of these items, alone, would be a treat in the winter months and combined they made a feast.

I used some mayo I made a couple weeks ago for potato salad and some seasoning salt and made delicious tomato sandwiches served with lightly boiled corn and fresh blueberries.

Five minute lunch or dinner!

More fun with Tofu

Avid readers will know that I went vegan for a month last Fall after reading Dr. T. Colin Campbell's landmark work, The China Study. Since then, our household has cut most animal fat from our diet except for local meat, eggs and cheese. During the Vegan Experiment, I got really into tofu. Like so many ingredients, this is one I knew nothing about and wasn't convinced of until I learned more about it (see, also: turnips).

One recipe I've started making recently is pan-grilling tofu like a pork chop or steak. What's local about tofu, you ask? Not much. I'm pretty sure most tofu is made on the Pacific islands or in some factory somewhere but tofu can be used as a vehicle for local ingredients like green onions, mushrooms, zucchini, squash and shallots that may not stand on their own.

The onions, cucumbers and zucchini came from Houston Farm and you can get mushrooms from Landis Gourmet Mushrooms.

Tofu Steak with Sauteed Vegetables (V)

1 pound extra firm tofu

1-2 green onions, chopped

Handful of mushroom, chopped

5-6 tablespoons olive oil 

1. Slice tofu into 1/2 inch thick slices. Heat oil in a large skillet till water flicked on it sizzles. 
2. Place the slabs of tofu in the skillet and saute on both sides until golden brown.
3. Remove to a plate and drain the oil, leaving just enough to coat the vegetables you've selected.
4. Toss the veggies in the pan and saute till tender.
5. Serve veggies over the tofu.

I served with some local cucumbers.

So easy and so good!

Breakfast for Dinner

On a recent trip to the market, I took a page out of Barbara Kingsolver's book and went up to the Berry Busy Farm and told them to give me every berry they had left. This cost me over $20 but it was so worth it. Right now they have blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and peaches as well as jellies and jams. It was pretty amazing. I froze a lot of the berries for later but not before making a delicious breakfast for dinner.

Menu:
Pan-sautéed new potatoes with green onions (all from Houston Farms)
Scrambled eggs (from Windy Hill Farm)
Blackberry pancakes with strawberry jam (jam I made from berries I got from Houston Farm a couple weeks ago and the blackberries from Berry Busy)

Potatoes:

3-4 cups potatoes of choice chopped into 3/4 inch pieces
1-2 green onions
1/4 cup mushrooms (optional)

1. We cheat in our house and microwave potatoes for about 6 minute
2. Put them in a large skillet with some olive oil and sauté for 10 minutes or so on relatively high heat
3. Add the onions (and mushrooms) and saute until the potatoes are your desired tenderness

Note: I strongly encourage adding some Team Sweet Mama's Kansas City BBQ seasoning from the Savory Spice Shop

Scrambled eggs:
For this much dinner, I would use 1 egg per person (usually I use one and a half per person)

2-3 tablespoons milk, Greek yogurt or soy milk

Seasoning salt 

(I'm guessing everyone knows how to make scrambled eggs...)

Pancakes:

(This is the recipe from The Joy of Cooking and is so easy to whip up any day of the week!)

1 1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup berries of choice

1. Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl.
2. Melt butter then add eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix well.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
4. Pour 1/3 cup batter onto hot griddle. Place 1-2 berries in the center.
5. Flip once bubbles appear on the surface and press down to flatten berry(ies) and release juices.
6. Remove and serve warm with jam or syrup!

 

Canning and Balcony Gardening

Now that I'm not writing weekly posts, I've had time to do some more long-term and or involved projects with local food. This weekend was a banner one for such endeavors: not only did I purchase and plant some organic herbs and tomatoes on my balcony, I also tried my hand at making and canning strawberry jam. This is my first real attempt at both after a half-hearted and failed stab at herb gardening last summer. I know I have some tweaking to do but here's my start and I shall update you on my progress throughout the summer:

Balcony Gardening

Contrary to popular belief, us urbanites have lots of options for growing our own food in small places. As long as you have a balcony (or a very understanding management company or HOA), you can plant in large pots or balcony planters. I have a second story unit which faces southeast and thus gets a moderate amount of morning sun then a lot of afternoon sun. With this in mind, I headed to the Atherton Market on Saturday morning to see what would grow well on my balcony.

I split my buying into two sections: herbs which I think will love the partial sun on the eastern-facing part of my balcony and tomatoes that can handle the full afternoon sun on the south side. I selected Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, a small Basil and Parsley, one Roma tomato and one Early Girl tomato.

I planted the herbs in a long hanging balcony planter and the tomatoes in larger pots. The Oregano was ready to be replanted by itself so it got its own pot as well. I filled in the pots with Black Kow potting soil, a brand made from cow manure and compost using minimal petroleum products and watered the whole set. Fingers crossed my new wards survive the unpredictable May weather!

Even our cat was excited about the new garden!

Strawberry Jam Canning for Dummies

If you haven't heard of or read The Pioneer Woman's blog, you must do so immediately. She has tons of no fuss, simple recipes that use minimal special tools or equipment. I've made and tried several of her desserts (her Blackberry Cobbler and Cinnamon Buns are always huge hits) and she has great practical tips for the non-professional cook. So it's only fitting that when I Googled "easy strawberry jam canning", her site was the top of the hit list.

I have always been scared of canning because I thought it took fancy pots and secret, ancient knowledge that only grandmothers still possess. Boy was I wrong. All you need is a huge pot, some sturdy tongs, and fresh (or overripe) fruit. I won't recount the whole recipe because you can find it on her website here but suffice to say it only took an hour or so to make 7 jars of delicious strawberry jam. This method would work for other berries as well and I will continue to experiment as our local options become available in the market.

It may seem like I spent my whole weekend with my hands in the dirt or slaving over a boiling pot of strawberry goodness. The reality is that I didn't - I ran a 5K, attended a baby shower, volunteered for several hours, coached a swim lesson and did a 10 mile bike ride and still had the energy to do all of this in one weekend. With just an hour here and there, I put up enough jam to carry me through several months of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and planted herbs and tomatoes to boot!

Book Review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Like many liberal arts undergraduates mildly if not avidly interested in the environment, I read some of Barbara Kingsolver's work in college. I even had the great honor of getting to hear her speak on campus my senior year in support of a ground breaking (no pun intended) organization, Rails to Trails. Little did I know that she and I are actually kindred spirits.

In her hugely popular book, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Kingsolver chronicles a year spent growing and finding food for her and her family with one limitation: it must be available  either on their farm or within the county. With few exceptions, they worked on their farm full time, growing all the food they would need for the whole year supplementing with produce and protein purchased from their local farmers market.

The book is literally full of amazing facts, ideas and thoughts on eating locally and how it helps not only your body but your community and the environment. Many of these thoughts and facts I've shared with you before and here are some others that jumped out at me while reading:

1. Transporting food is invariably the biggest energy-consuming part of the farm to fork process. If every American replaced just one meal on one day with locally-grown and produced ingredients, the US would save millions of barrels of oil.
2. The average ingredient in a grocery store has traveled further than the average American family does on summer vacation (including flights)
3. For products grown in third world countries like coffee and bananas, the actual farmers often make less than $1 per day. The rest of the profits go the farming conglomerates and transportation companies that support the practice of monoculture that can strip land of its necessary minerals.

But the book isn't just facts about where food comes from. It's an emotional journey being told by a mom who is trying to feed her family while supporting her local farmers, create minimal impact on the land, and also provide nourishing, wholesome and interesting meals. The book is interspersed with sidebars by her husband regarding the politics and big business aspects of industrial farming and insights and recipes from her teenage daughter on a local living lifestyle.

For anyone wondering about where their food comes from and whether that matters, this is the book for you. You'll come away with a renewed appreciation for the work that goes into our food. I also closed this book emboldened by the sense that I can grow some of my own food (even in my limited space) and that this whole local food mission I've been on for a year and a half really does matter.

Vegan, Vegetarian, 5% or less

You may have noticed recently that my blog posts have been featuring less and less meat or dairy products. After reading The China Study last year, I have been even more picky about what animal proteins I eat and subsequently limiting those to cheese and meat I get locally and the occasional fish at restaurants if no meat-free option is available. Is this going to lead me to eternal youth and perfect health? No, probably not, but the more I read about meat (especially low grade, fast-food type meat), the less I can stomach it. The only meat I've eaten recently is from Windy Hill Farm because I know where it came from (Dana and Charles Burrage, the best farmers around!) or from locally-sourced restaurants like Harvest Moon and Halycon.

To that end, I have gone back through all my recipes posted on the blog and added the following distinctions to each:

• V = Vegan. This recipe has absolutely no animal protein.
• v = Vegetarian. This recipe has no meat but may have dairy products or eggs.
• <5% = 5% or less animal protein. According to some studies cited in The China Study, a diet containing 5% or less animal protein can significantly improve your overall health, and decrease your likelihood of getting cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other serious afflictions.
• LPO = Local Protein Option. This recipe has protein that can be bought from North Carolina farmers that use minimal hormones, antibiotics, processing and additives. LPO's in NC include eggs, cheese, milk, cream, butter, pork, chicken, beef, lamb, goose, duck, ostrich and emu.

These distinctions are, of course, not mutually exclusive; all recipes indicated as vegan are also vegetarian, have less than 5% animal protein and no LPOs; vegetarian recipes vary in the amount of animal protein used; and <5% dishes may have some meat (and thus aren't vegetarian) but still relatively good for you.

I hope these distinctions are helpful for those of us trying to limit or eliminate animal protein in our diets as one way to lose weight or prevent diseases.