Score! Mid-Century Sugar Bowl in 1948 Dove Gray “Ballerina” Pattern

 

Oooh, I’m so excited to have found this wonderful mid-century sugar bowl for my microgreens!

I love the fat round “coupe” shape of the bowl, the lacy ring-shaped handles and lid finial, and most of all, the beautiful dove gray color!

This piece is from the “Ballerina” pattern, union made in Cambridge, Ohio by Universal Potteries, designed by Alf Robson.

Universal Potteries introduced the Ballerina pattern in 1948, in four colors: Periwinkle Blue, Jonquil Yellow, Jade Green, and this Dove Grey.

At left is a Ballerina advertising brochure showing one of the 4 new colors introduced in 1949 – Burgundy – along with Forest Green, Chartreuse and Sierra Rust.

Then in 1955 the last 4 color sets were released, in Pink, Charcoal (which looks black), Turquoise Blue and Antique White.

In addition to the solid color pieces like mine, Ballerina pieces were also made with decorative decals. (Personally, I prefer the solid colors.)

The size & shape of this sugar bowl make it the perfect mini-garden planter: the bowl interior is about 4-1/2 inches wide and 2-3/4 inches tall. It's ideal for growing a larger crop of microgreens than a teacup, but it’s still counter top scale.

Here’s how it looks planted with organic arugula microgreens … sweet!

So far I’ve only found one of these – and I was especially lucky to find this one WITH its original lid, AND in pristine condition. Woot!

I’ve already made up the microgreens kit in my Etsy shop, and I also offer the organic arugula seeds separately. For the time being at least this planter kit is one of a kind … but I’ll keep looking …

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Grower, Maggie’s Microgreens
Sandia Park, New Mexico

Homemade Tomato-Beef Soup with Microgreen Garnish

While most cooks use microgreens only in cold dishes like salads and smoothies, I like to find ways to incorporate their tasty goodness into hot dishes as well … especially soup.

This can be a challenge, as heat rapidly wilts the delicate greens. My secret technique to keep microgreens bright and crisp atop a steaming bowl of soup, all the way to the table? Float the freshly-snipped greens on a protective – and delicious! – layer of grated cheese, or a dollop of cool plain yogurt, just before serving.

While you can use this layering strategy for any hot soup, with any microgreens you like, I am particularly fond of peppery Oriental mustard microgreens atop hearty, homemade tomato soup.

This past week has been wintry, so I found myself craving the warmth and comfort of tomato soup.

I started with a new-to-me recipe from Onceamonthmom.com, and tweaked it to our family taste for hot stuff – adding roasted New Mexico green chilies to the mix, and topping it with sharp Cheddar cheese and the aforementioned Oriental mustard microgreens.

Here’s what I made:

Tomato & Beef Soup with Microgreen Garnish

Makes 4 Servings
Adapted from Christine @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients

2 cans (14.5-oz ea) fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk, canned or carton
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 cup diced onion
1/4 cup peeled & diced roasted green chilies
1 pound ground beef
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup homemade chicken broth

Garnish: Grated cheese and freshly snipped microgreens

Directions

In a blender or food processor, combine diced tomatoes and coconut. Blend until smooth. Reserve.

Heat coconut oil in a large stockpot. Sauté onions and green chilies together until the onions are soft and translucent.

Add ground beef, garlic and salt. Cook, stirring to break up large chunks, until beef is browned and crumbly. Drain off excess fat.

Return stock pot with drained beef mixture to heat. Stir in blended tomato/coconut mixture and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Ladle soup into 4 serving bowls. Top each with grated cheese of choice (I like sharp cheddar), then sprinkle freshly snipped microgreens over the cheese. Serve immediately!

Note: You can substitute a tablespoon of plain yogurt (low-fat or full-fat) per bowl for the grated cheese. The yogurt should be at cool room temperature before garnishing your soup.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I like Christine’s technique of blending the tomatoes and the coconut milk before adding to the soup! And when winter forces you to fall back on commercially canned tomatoes, choosing “fire roasted” tomatoes really adds color and texture to your soup.

I should note that the original recipe works beautifully for a Paleo diet. Just leave out my grated cheese if you’re Paleo-ing – what the heck, so your microgreens wilt a bit, right?

Enjoy!

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Cream for Knitters
Grower, Maggie’s Microgreens
Sandia Park, New Mexico

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Margarita Chicken Recipe

I whipped this up last night, and it was delicious! Since it’s still a little cool outside for grilling – up here in the high mountain desert, that is - I baked my marinated chicken in the oven.

Margarita Chicken

I adapted this from “Mexican Tequila Marinade”, a recipe in the Marinades & Rubs cookbook by Carol Wilson.

Marinade Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup tequila
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

1 to 2 pounds of chicken pieces (I like leg/thigh quarters)
1 to 2 tablespoons of coarse salt (kosher or sea salt) for sprinkling

Thoroughly whisk marinade ingredients in bowl or measuring cup (not metal). Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes so flavors will meld.

Trim fat from chicken pieces, then place in shallow baking dish (not metal) or plastic bag. Pour marinade over chicken, turning to coat.

Seal or cover, and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, but no more than 3 hours.

Transfer chicken pieces to a non-metal baking dish – if you haven’t already – along with the marinade. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with coarse salt, if desired.

(I really like this crunchy seasoning on the baked chicken skin, reminds me of the salty rim of a margarita glass. If you don’t, just add 1 teaspoon of table salt to the marinade, and skip the sprinkling.)

Bake chicken pieces along with the marinade, uncovered, in preheated 375-degree oven for 55 minutes or until done.

(Note: this cooking time is for my altitude of 7,000 feet; at sea level, check for doneness after 50 minutes.)

Serving suggestions: Great served simply, with plain white or coconut rice drizzled with pan juices, black beans, and a green salad.

Grilling: This is fantastic on the grill when weather permits. Add 1 teaspoon table salt to the marinade & skip the coarse salt sprinkle. Then, instead of baking your chicken in its marinade, drain the marinade into a small saucepan & boil vigorously for 5 minutes. Drizzle over the grilled chicken at serving time.

Seafood: It’s an equally good marinade for seafood, especially shrimp or scallops. Marinate seafood in the fridge for only 30 minutes. Any longer and the lime juice will “cook” the seafood!

¡Buen provecho!

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Creams for Fiber Artists
Sandia Park, NM

Blast from the Past: Pressure Cooking

 

I know, I say “pressure cooker” and you think (1) dangerous explosions, and/or (2) gray, flabby, over-cooked food.

It’s true, I witnessed a spectacular pressure cooker explosion back in 1968. Aunt Dee left me and my cousin Judy home alone, with vague instructions to “watch the pressure cooker”.

What’s to watch? We watched cartoons instead. Two hours later the pressure cooker went “BOOM”! We ran into the kitchen to find it had blown its lid, bashing a cantaloupe-sized hole in the ceiling and splattering green beans all over the walls.

Judy & I were in deep doo-doo for that one.

So I never considered trying a pressure cooker myself, until I moved up here to the high mountain desert. At 7,000 feet we have some unusual cooking “challenges” – my worst one being that I couldn’t cook beans. Seriously! I could not make a decent pot of beans up here.

My neighbors all advised pressure cooking to solve the high-altitude bean problem. And that’s when I discovered that “modern” pressure cookers are vastly improved over my Aunt Dee’s mid-century model. They’re electric, they’re digital, and they promise explosion-proof operation.

Okay … I decided to try pressure cooking.

After reading the reviews I purchased a Cuisinart CPC-600 1000-Watt 6-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker, shown here.

I’ve used it for almost a year now. And I have to say, this was probably my best purchase of 2010.

 

 

Top 5 Reasons to ♥ Electric Pressure Cookers

1. Dang, they’re fast! I’m talking 10-minute potato soup (although that project did make milk come out its nose), or a 40-minute brisket for 8.

2. They’re programmable. Punch in your settings and walk away (cartoons, anyone?). You don’t have to “watch” them, or adjust the heat, or anything. When the cooking cycle ends, they’ll automatically switch over to Keep Warm mode.

3. Yes, a pressure cooker IS the best way to cook beans. No, repeat NO, pre-soaking needed. And you can season the beans during cooking, even add a little salt, and they’ll STILL cook up beautifully.

4. They don’t heat up the kitchen. This past summer was the hottest of the century, so I really, really appreciated not having to turn on the oven, or even the stove burners, for weeks on end.

5. They don’t use a lot of juice. It’s about the same wattage as a hair dryer, and the actual cooking time is short, so the energy consumption is way less than a standard oven, or even a slow cooker.

Plus there are serendipitous benefits. For example, I’ve discovered that my electric pressure cooker makes the best stocks imaginable – chicken, beef, pork, vegetable, whatever. And it’s now my go-to method for ribs: cook ‘em with pressure, finish them on the grill.

Best Pressure Cooker Cookbooks

I’ve since acquired a number of pressure cooker cookbooks, and of them all I recommend two to get you started:

Victoria Wise’s Pressure Cooker Gourmet

From the first chef at Chez Panisse, this book is all you need to convince unbelievers that you can cook delicious food in a pressure cooker. (I started with her Brined Pork Roast & Figs, a revelation.)

This one’s also available in a Kindle edition.

 

 

Any of Lorna Sass’s pressure cooking cookbooks are great to have on hand, but I especially like her Pressure Perfect: Two Hour Taste in Twenty Minutes Using Your Pressure Cooker. Her substitution charts are pure gold when it’s time to convert your favorite traditional recipes to the pressure cooker.

 

Bon appetit!

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Creams for Fiber Artists
Sandia Park, NM

What’s for Dinner"? Emeril’s Boudin with Jambalaya Grits

 

First let me confess that although I love both Cajun & Creole food, I was never all that fond of jambalaya. (I prefer Étouffée.) Guess that means I’d just never had a good recipe for jambalaya?  So I was thrilled to find Emeril Lagasse’s Boudin with Jambalaya Grits recipe on the Food Network site.

Not only did Emeril’s recipe sound quicker than Étouffée, it sounded equally tasty. I’d never thought of making jambalaya with grits instead of rice; I do dearly love grits. And I didn’t mind skipping the roux.

So I made this recipe and we absolutely loved it, but I want to note some caveats, quibbles and modifications here.

1. First of all, it’s going to take most home cooks way more than 30 minutes to get this dish on the table. There’s a lot o’ chopping involved, but also I think there’s a problem with the instructions. If you’ve ever cooked real grits, by which I mean stoneground grits rather than instant grits, you know for darn sure they ain’t gonna cook “tender and creamy” in the 4 to 5 minutes Emeril advises.

He fails to specify “instant” grits in his recipe, but by golly that’s what he means. Shame on him, instant grits are an abomination. If you actually own a box, throw it out or feed it to the dogs. If you can’t find stoneground grits in your local grocery stores – that’s certainly a challenge here in New Mexico – then you can get them online. Trust me, it’s worth the effort.

Once you’ve got real grits, adjust your cooking time in this step to about 25 minutes.

2.  Emeril calls for 1 cup veal reduction. Aw, c’mon! If you seriously want to pursue this, Epicurean.com has a recipe for veal reduction; just add 9 hours to your cooking time.

However, not having a ready supply of veal reduction doesn’t mean you should just skip it. That meaty flavor adds a lot to the finished dish, which I think would otherwise backslide into the bland register. Instead, I substituted a cup of good homemade beef stock, brought it to a boil with the milk, and dropped in 3 or 4 beef bouillon cubes. Perfect.

3. I did try poaching then pan-searing the boudin. I think this was pretty much a waste of time. Since you don’t eat the casing, why sear it? (Unless it’s because it looks so nekkid without a little browning, but do you care, really?) I got equally good results by microwaving the boudin, piercing the casing first to prevent explosions. You can deduct 15 minutes from your cooking time, and have 2 fewer pots to wash.

4. And no, I didn’t bother to make Emeril's ESSENCE “Bayou Blast” Creole Seasoning. Making it from scratch would add another 15 minutes to your prep time.

But you do need Cajun or Creole seasoning of some sort; use whatever you’ve got.

My personal favorite is Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning, shown here. And I can even buy this in New Mexico.

5.  And my last quibble: what’s up with the “Spoon the sauce over the sausage and serve” direction? What sauce? Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t find any sauce in that recipe. Fortunately, we didn’t miss it.

But hey, it was delicious and I’d certainly make it again, even for company. Thanks, Emeril, this one’s a keeper!

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Creator, Happy Hands Hand Creams for Fiber Artists
Sandia Park, NM

Can You Freeze Guacamole?

There was some discussion on the Albuquerque City-Data forum recently as to whether one can successfully freeze guacamole.

After repeated experiments, my opinion is no, you can’t freeze guacamole – but you can freeze mashed avocado pulp, then gussy it up into guacamole at serving time.

Is frozen pulp as good as fresh? No, of course not. Is it better than nothing? Yes!

I used to do this all the time in Belize, where avocados ripen all at once in August & September. For two delirious months we’d be up to our elbows in buttery, ripe avocados … then we’d have to do without for the rest of the year. Wah!

So I would gather up all the ripe avocados I couldn’t eat then and there without exploding, and in a single marathon session I’d peel, pit and mash them with lashings of freshly squeezed lime juice, about a teaspoonful per avocado (count the pits). Here in the States, lemon juice works too.

(Despite what Diana Kennedy, the maven of Mexican cooking, says about this, I like the flavor of lime juice in my guacamole.)

Without adding anything more to the pulp, not even salt, I’d measure it into vacuum seal freezer bags, one to two cups per bag, and freeze it.

I strongly recommend the “suck ‘n seal” packaging method for this project. But whatever freezer bag you use, you want to remove as much air as possible. Oxidation is avocado’s enemy, turning exposed pulp an unattractive brown. The citric acid in the lime or lemon juice also helps preserve the color.

Depending on your freezer temperature and the bags you use, avocado pulp will keep nicely anywhere from two to six months in the freezer.

When it’s time to make the guacamole, first thaw the sealed bag of pulp overnight in the fridge. If you’re in a hurry, you can submerge your freezer bag in a bowl of warm water; but I don’t recommend defrosting it in the microwave. (I tried that once, and it got ugly.)

Once thawed, you’ll notice your avocado pulp may be a bit watery. Just punch a little hole in the freezer bag and drain off any excess liquid.

Then de-bag the pulp and mix in whatever fresh fixings you like – chopped tomatoes and Serrano chiles, minced onion, cilantro, etc. Salt to taste, maybe add a pinch of sugar, and serve.

Voila! Guacamole on demand.

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Have you seen my “Second Story”?
Vintage Knitting & Fiber Arts Patterns

I won a bag of AlbuqCookies!

I can’t believe I actually won a contest drawing – I almost never do! – but I did, I won a bag of AlbuqCookies, yay!

And you can, too: just enter the monthly drawing on the AlbuqCookies website. Quick, go enter right now, because the cookies are wonderful!

Here’s the pic. Isn’t the bag design great?

Okay, so, somehow half the cookies got eaten before I got the camera out, but I’m sure you can just imagine how the bag looked when it was full.

I discovered this great local product back in February, at the Fiery Foods Fiesta in Albuquerque.

As I noted at the time, AlbuqCookies were one of my three favorite foods at the Fiesta!

The flavor I sampled at the Fiesta was Leah Rosie’s Chocolate Pepper Chile. Mmm, crisp spicy chocolate.

In the mail, I’ve just received my prize bag of Chocolate Pinon Biscotti – also delicious, but not spicy. Better for breakfast, I suppose!

Other AlbuqCookie flavors include Green Chile Pecan Sandia Cookies, Lavender Lemon Biscotti, Toffee Almond Biscotti, and Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cherry/Cranberry Biscotti.

In Albuquerque, AlbuqCookies can be found at La Montanita Co-op, Kellers Farmers Market, and Model Pharmacy. And AlbuqCookie owner Steve Hoffman tells me that within the next couple of weeks, Triangle Grocery in Cedar Crest will start carrying them, too!

I can’t wait.

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM

A brightly-colored Easter

Just a quick note to post our doings this holiday weekend.

Last night we went wild coloring Easter eggs. Of course we had to try Martha Stewart’s technique of dyeing eggs using patterned silk. We used a 50-cent silk tie we found at a yard sale on Friday.

They came out kinda cool, we thought! To make the egg at the upper left, we used the maroon lining of the tie; the other three were made using the maroon tie fabric itself, which had blue and yellow stripes.

We weren’t sure how well this would work, after reading MaryBT’s CraftFail tale of her attempt that inexplicably yielded utterly white eggs … but fortunately our efforts went smoothly.

Then we dyed a bunch more eggs using a variety Paas dye kits. I’d gotten some crazy ones, including a Marbleized Egg kit and a Tie-Dye egg kit. Frankly, neither of these worked very well. They were fun to play with, but the resulting eggs were oooo-gly. (I’ll spare you the photos.) The best news is that the dyes did not permanently stain the granite countertops.

And once you start coloring things, it’s hard to stop. Here are a couple of shots of our Easter table, ready for our feast this evening.

Isn’t it great when you’ve bought a bunch of crazy random things over the years, and one day they all just come together? And look as if you planned it all along?

For Easter dinner, we’re making the maple-syrup-braised ham from Ruth Reichl’s revised Gourmet cookbook – my idea of a “desert island” cookbook -- plus cheese grits, a tossed salad of spring greens, and oven-baked zucchini and onions Parmesan. (Yeah, that probably sounds like cheesy overkill, but that’s the family’s vote so I’m going with it.)

Then, if we’re not too sick from eating chocolate bunnies and malted milk “robin’s eggs” all day, or maybe even if we are, we’ll have Ghirardelli brownies and peanut-butter ice cream for dessert.

Happy Easter, everyone!

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM

What’s For Dinner? Local Gringos’ Green Chile Stew

I can’t believe how many people offered to come over for dinner last night, after I tweeted that I was fixing Green Chile Stew! And it was gooood, too, heh-heh.

Since I didn’t invite any of you over to share the stew, today I realized I could at least share my recipe.

Mind you, my version isn’t completely traditional, but I think an improved variant … try it, see what you think, and post yer comments below!

Local Gringos’ Green Chile Stew

Green chile stew is an ancient dish, first attributed to the Native American people known as the Navajo, or Di’neh. Simple, hearty and filling, today this stew is a staple throughout New Mexico and Arizona, and there are dozens of different ways to prepare it.

This is my own “local gringos” version of green chile stew, diverging from traditional recipes in two respects: I add potatoes, and I don’t use tomatoes. (Why would a green chile stew be red?) But don’t be afraid to exercise your own creativity with this flexible and forgiving recipe … for more ideas, see my notes & suggested variations at the end of this post.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon
• 8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 6 red-skinned or gold potatoes, or enough to make approx. 3 cups peeled & diced
• 1 large yellow onion
• 3 to 4 garlic cloves
• 1-1/2 lbs pork shoulder
• ½ teaspoon Mexican oregano
• ½ to 1 cup diced roasted green chiles (to taste)
• Salt & cracked black pepper

Directions

Pour chicken stock into large Dutch oven or stock pot. Peel and dice potatoes into ½-inch cubes and promptly add to stock. Place pot over medium high heat, covered, and bring to a rolling boil.

Next, brown bacon slices in a large skillet. Remove bacon to paper toweling to drain; reserve. Tip skillet to estimate amount of bacon fat remaining: you should have about 2 tablespoons. Dip out any extra, or make up any difference with olive oil.

While bacon is cooking, dice onion into medium bowl. Peel and mince garlic; add to bowl. Trim fat from pork and cut into ½ inch cubes; add to onions & garlic. Toss to mix thoroughly.

Add pork mixture to the hot bacon fat in skillet. Season with oregano, salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Stir to lightly brown pork cubes on all sides, and cook just until onion is softened and translucent. (Don’t overcook, it will toughen the pork.) Add the seasoned pork mixture to the pot of boiling potatoes. Stir in the green chiles, and crumble in (whatever you didn’t eat of) the reserved cooked bacon.

Return pot to boiling. Adjust heat and maintain slow boil, uncovered, for 45 minutes to one hour, or until liquid is reduced by approximately half and stew is thickened to your preference. (Test the potato cubes: they should be done, but not falling-apart mushy.) Taste for salt and adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve hot with fresh cornbread and a green salad.

Notes:

The starch from the potatoes I use thickens the stew, and adds a slightly earthy flavor that I like. Red-skinned “new” potatoes, or Yukon golds, work best at holding their shape in soups and stews, I’ve found.

If you want a more traditional version – or you don’t happen to have potatoes on hand – you can use flour as a thickening agent instead. After dicing the pork, shake the cubes in a bag with flour to coat, then brown them in the skillet.

In this recipe, there’s really no substitute for roasted Sandia or Anaheim green chiles. Here in New Mexico, of course, it’s easy to get locally-grown and freshly-roasted green chile peppers, especially the hallowed Hatch green chiles. Outside the Land of Enchantment, look for canned or frozen in grocery aisles; or, you can order them fresh, canned or frozen online.

Many, many people make this stew starting with water instead of stock. But I’m a firm believer in the magic of homemade stock: it adds depth and dimension to the finished soup or stew, transforming “good” to “great”. I make stock all the time and keep a supply in the freezer for just such an occasion.

And personally, I never add any vegetable or meat to any soup or stew without browning or sautéing it first; my grandpa taught me so and I’ve stuck to it. I also believe that my method of seasoning the meat and vegetables during the browning step, before adding them to the liquid, yields richer flavor.

Variations:

While I prefer to make green chile stew with inexpensive cuts of pork like shoulder or Boston butt, this stew is often prepared locally with beef or lamb instead. If I were to substitute either red meat for the “white meat” pork, I probably would add tomatoes. Say, a 16-oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes? I wouldn’t use tomato paste because I don’t like its overly sweet taste.

Once your sautéed meat & veggies are combined into the boiling stew pot, you could also throw in a cup or so of cooked or canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas). Posole (cooked hominy) is also a tasty addition, but takes the stew in a different direction – posole is a whole ‘nother conversation!

I love using bacon and its rendered fat in this stew. But if you’re more virtuous than I, skip the bacon, substituting 2 tablespoons olive oil.

This recipe also works well as a slow cooker dish. Start with only 6 cups of chicken stock; combine stock, potatoes and browned pork mixture in a large slow cooker. Cook 7 to 8 hours on low, or 3 to 4 hours on high. If too much liquid remains in the pot at the end of the cooking time, remove cooker lid and cook on high until liquid is reduced.

~ * ~

Local Gringos Green Chile Stew recipe © 2009 by Margaret Briggs. This recipe is my original creation, which I’m sharing here for you to use for your own personal enjoyment. Just don’t re-publish it in any form without my permission, okay? Contact me directly via email.

Waste Not, Want Not: Fruit Breads from Juicer Pulp!

My dad loves gadgets as much as I do, but he tires of his toys faster. That’s how I wound up with his barely-used  Hamilton Beach juice extractor.

He’d chosen the 67800H model, shown here. Had it been me, I’d have gone for the more expensive 67650H that’s gotten better Amazon reviews … but for free, what the heck?

My biggest complaint about the (cheaper) 67800H model is the infinitesimal amount of juice the machine extracts from a whopping amount of (expensive) fresh produce.

I was dismayed to see whole apples disappear into its maw, producing maybe a tablespoon of juice? While at least a quarter cup of fruit pulp went into the “trap”?!

I like the fresh juice, and I like that you can use fruits & veggies complete with nutritious skins and seeds … but I couldn’t bear that kind of waste.

When Life Hands You Fruit Pulp …

After some culinary experiments with the pulp that were, ahem, less than successful, I hit on the idea of making “quick” fruit breads with it.

Quick breads are the un-yeasted sort, made from a batter instead of a risen dough. Banana bread, zucchini bread, and carrot bread are all quick breads, and are all based on fruit pulp, right?

My breakthrough discovery, not so startling really, is that you can substitute juice extractor fruit pulp, cup for cup, for the grated or mashed produce normally used in any of these quick breads.

My favorite recipe for fruit pulp reclamation is Beth Hensperger’s Glazed Zucchini Bread recipe, from her cookbook The Best Quick Breads: 150 Recipes for Muffins, Scones, Shortcakes, Gingerbreads, Cornbreads, Coffeecakes, and More.

(Like all Hensperger’s cookbooks, this one is chock full of great recipes that really work.)

I like her Glazed Zucchini Bread recipe because it makes 3 loaves at once that keep well and freeze well. But of course you could use any of your own favorite recipes for similar breads.

So now our standard operating procedure after juicing is to recover the pulp from the trap, and measure it in 2-cup increments (the amount needed to make a batch of Hensperger’s bread) into separate zip-lock plastic bags.

I store the bags in the fridge if I’ll be baking within a day or two; if not, I pop them into the freezer for later use.

And so far, every fruit & veggie combo we’ve tried has worked beautifully in the breads: apples, carrots, pears, celery, kiwis, strawberries, bananas, and, yes, zucchini too.

Produce I probably wouldn’t use? Um, probably not anything strongly savory (onions, garlic) or colorful (beets). But these pulps might make a nice dinner bread, who knows?

If you do some juicer pulp experiments of your own, I’d love to hear about it!

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Website,www.LocalGringos.com
Sandia Park, NM

What's for Dinner? Lemon-Garlic Roast Salmon

We don't eat out often. Partly out of frugality, partly from lack of choices in our rural area. So I cook dinner just about every night ... which means every afternoon about 3:30 I start wondering what the heck I'm gonna fix!

Part of my goal in writing this blog is to create my own cooking journal, documenting recipes I liked (or didn't like), strategies and sources. 

And, I'd like to share them with those of you who might also be wondering what the heck you're gonna fix tonight?

Last night's solution: Lemon-Garlic Roast Salmon

Salmon is one of the few reliable seafoods we can get up here in the high-mountain desert (I have no idea why), so I'm always on the lookout for new ways to cook it. 

I found this recipe in Lynne Rossetto Kasper's emailed newsletter, "Weeknight Kitchen". I subscribe to her newsletter, and also recommend her radio show and/or podcast, The Splendid Table.

This is a loosely-Greek-inspired marinade of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, garlic, comino and chile powder (or paprika) that I used for salmon, but Lynne says works well with other fresh fish. 

I liked the chile powder with the salmon, but if you've substituted a more delicately flavored fish, paprika might be a better choice. Especially Spanish smoked paprika, mmm ...

Anyway, it's a short (20 to 30 minute) marinade, then quickly oven-roast the fish with its marinade, less than 15 minutes.

I skipped the potatoes from her recipe -- didn't have time, and I wanted something lighter. Instead I made buttered orzo with freshly grated Parmesan, and steamed broccoli.

Quick, tasty, and a keeper for our dinner rotation!

--MaggieBelize

Designer, kNotes for kNitters

Website, www.LocalGringos.com

Sandia Park, NM

Favorite Foods from Fiery Foods Fiesta

We went to the Fiery Foods show in Albuquerque last weekend, and really enjoyed tasting all the hot stuff. We were a tad bummed out by the $15 p/p entrance fee, which I thought was a bit much, but other than that, a great day.

I loved more of the incendiary concoctions on display than I could ever list, but here's what I actually brought home in my shopping bag:

AlbuqCookies

As the name suggests, these sweet little tidbits are cooked up locally (by East Coast transplantees). 

My favorite, a biscotti-type treat made of chocolate and red pepper, isn't listed on their website yet. (Dudes, update your site!)  The photo here is the Chocolate-Pinon version.

In ABQ, AlbuqCookies allegedly can be found at La Montanita Co-op, Kellers Farmers Market, and Model Pharmacy, but I haven't verified this yet.

Sauce Goddess

What first caught my eye was the great logo of this San-Diego based company - then I fell in love with their self-described "obscenely delicious", non-smoky grill glazes & rubs. 

Wish I could have gotten them all, but finally narrowed it down to two: "Moroccan Twist Rub Rub" and "Sweet & Spicy Grill Glaze".

You can buy Sauce Goddess online, or at many retail outlets in California - none yet in New Mexico, more's the pity.

Los Cuates Salsa

Los Cuates is a local ABQ restaurant dishing up darn good New Mexican cuisine in general, and a truly stellar cooked salsa in particular. 

Their salsa is deep, dark red, gravy-like, with a smoky whiff reminiscent of chipotles - I love it so much I could drink it. 

So I was thrilled to find them at the show, offering 16-oz jars for $4, cash & carry! I didn't know you could buy the stuff outside their restaurants, and haven't seen it on local grocery shelves - but I'll look again, just as soon as this jar's empty.

Mmm, mmh! Hot stuff.

--MaggieBelize

Designer, kNotes for kNitters

Website,www.LocalGringos.com

Sandia Park, NM