it’s the very end of august, and we’ve reached the time of year when everyone’s going back to school, and tomatoes, corn, zucchini, etc, etc, are all coming out of the garden like crazy. but it’s not just the garden that’s going crazy – our lives have also been a tad nuts over the past few weeks as we squeezed in as much time as possible with my sister (who just left for grad school waaaay across the country), and juggled parties and work events.

no matter how busy we are, every time we walk into the house we’re greeted by beautiful, overflowing bags of produce that our lovely friends and family keep gifting us, and are filling our moments of spare time trying to use all of this produce. so what did we come up with?

well, we’ve made at least four winning recipes – the first of which is pie. yes, pie. have you made one lately? this week, we made two – a gorgeous blackberry pie with smitten kitchen’s amazing crust, and a tomato pie. i know that the latter one sounds weird, but it’s really amazing. since i didn’t edit smitten kitchen’s recipe at all, i’m just going to link to it here, strongly suggest you go there to try it out, and i’ll get to work writing the next installments.

amidst the spring time feasting that goes with easter (see the delicious tagine above!), i stumbled across the website and you tube videos of great depression cooking with clara.  clara is a 93 year old woman whose grandson decided to film her cooking recipes and offering tips she learned during the great depression. i was instantly drawn in by clara’s frank and no frills approach to both food and life, and watched almost all the videos in a row. while watching clara, i started to think about our current recession, and how the impact will last much longer than the recession itself – i think many of us have already changed our behaviors, thoughts, and ways we approach food as a direct result of the national financial crisis.  the videos also made me appreciate the abundance of beautiful foods in my life.

i hope you enjoy clara’s cooking videos as much as i did, and while you’re watching them, i’ll be cooking up some new recipes to post!

my second suggestion to you stems from the second harvest food bank dinner i attended last night.  mike’s company facilitates the donation of tens of thousands of pounds of canned goods to the second harvest food bank, and every year the second harvest food bank holds a dinner to thank those involved in the food drive.  the dinner is a very interesting juxtaposition of networking, abundant food and beverages, and speeches about ending hunger.  this is the second year we’ve attended, and there was a remarkable difference in the speeches this year, reflecting the great need for food in our community (and nation) as the economic situation gets worse.  listening to the presenters and award recipients, i began to think about how lucky i am to never have missed a meal in my life, and furthermore to be able to blog about food – for fun!  so my second suggestion is that if you have a few extra bucks, it might be worth it to donate some of that to the second harvest food bank…or at least look at your next meal and feel extremely thankful for that plate of food.

suggestions aside, where’s the recipe, i bet you’re thinking!  ok, disclaimer: this is sort of a cheater recipe.  it’s a green pizza – not green in the sense of the environmental movement – but actually green from pesto. it’s super easy, but something i hadn’t thought of before seeing it in the may 2006 vegetarian times.  all you do is take a pizza crust (either purchased or made), open a good pre-made pesto, spread it on the pizza, place slices of zucchini over that, and then top with ricotta and parmesan cheeses.  simple, delish, and reminiscent of the summer, when basil is plentiful.  i hope you enjoy this green pizza as much as mike and i do – i can’t believe we’ve been making it for almost three years – and please do ponder my two suggestions while you eat!

green pizza

adapted from vegetarian times, may 2006
yields 4 servings

• pizza dough (you could use my recipe or yours or a pre-made crust)
• 4oz prepared pesto (i love the refrigerated trader joe’s kind)
• 1 large zucchini, sliced
• 5oz ricotta cheese
• 1/4c shredded parmesan cheese__________________________________

1. preheat oven to 450 and place pizza stone in oven (or press dough into pan that can go right into the oven)
2. if using a pizza stone, shape dough into a circle, then allow to cook for 5 minutes
3. pull the crust out of the oven spread pesto over it, and place zucchini slices on top of pesto
4. drop spoonfuls of ricotta in between zucchini slices and sprinkle with parmesan cheese
5. place pizza back into oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until crust is golden brown
6. serve with a salad and enjoy!

recently, a good friend sent me an article from cnn.com with ideas for $10 meals and challenged me to “better and more vegetarian friendly version.”  so i am responding to the challenge with my own twist on saving money in the food realm, because i got frustrated quantifying how much money i spent on a specific meal, mostly since i pull lots of ingredients from my stocked cupboard (spices, flours, bouillon cubes, canned beans, etc).  let’s just say this post was inspired by the article above, but does not direct speak to it…and i promise to hone my pricing skills and get back to you.

ok, so as i sidestep the challenge and share some of my humble tips to keep food costs down to save as much money as possible, as well as reduce the amount of food waste we produce each week, please keep in mind that you have to do what works for you and your life.

i start out by sitting down on sunday and writing out a menu plan for the week.  i write down what outside events we have going on, and count how many meals we need to make to cover lunches and dinners from sunday night through friday lunch (we almost always eat out on friday and saturday nights).  i then start flipping through my recipe box and cookbooks and mike and i discuss what sounds good for the week – because if you’re not going to enjoy the food, what’s the point in cooking it?  we try to vary the proteins, veggies, and starches to create a well-balanced menu as we pick and choose what we want to make.  we also often try to finish off partially used perishables with the recipes we select as well (for example, if we make a prepared-pesto topped pizza one week and didn’t use all the pesto, we’ll choose a recipe that can use up all the leftover pesto the next week). once we’ve settled on several dinners, i ensure that the number of servings they will make matches the number of meals we need so that nothing is wasted.  then i write up the grocery list and voila, we’re ready to go for the week.

planning aside, i always go to the store with a semi-full stomach so i don’t do lots of impulse shopping.  at the grocery store, i try to buy as many items as possible out of the bulk bins, so i leave with the right amount of beans, grains, nuts, spices, etc, so i don’t end up with random dribs and drabs of leftover food we probably won’t consume. the bulk bins also have the least expensive breakfast cereals, chocolate chips (which i need to have on hand at all times!), flour, and sugar.  yay for bulk!

also, if we get our act together on saturday morning, we head down to the farmer’s market where produce is much cheaper (and locally grown!), which reduces our food costs, keeps us eating seasonal food, and inspires recipes.

i think the biggest change i have made overall is that with careful meal planning, we now make less dinners overall. instead, we make a few big meals that can be reheated throughout the week.  i think it’s it’s always cheaper to make food in large quantities, and it saves a lot of time on weeknights if we make some big meals on the weekends and reheat as available.  i know this isn’t an original idea, but it’s a huge shift in the way i used to approach dinners, and i think it’s been the main contributor to our lower grocery bills.

with that in mind, the recipe i would like to share with you is called wild chick soup, from eat, drink, and be vegan, and it makes about 6-7 servings in one pot. the soup is full of veggies, plus wild rice and chick peas, creating the clever title and make the soup as hearty as i remember chicken noodle being way back when i still ate meat.  there are also lots of herbs and nutritional yeast involved, which will fill the house with warm aromas as it boils.  a bowl of this with a slice of warm, crunchy toast is very satisfying on a cold winter day – and won’t hurt the pocketbook much either!

wild chick soup

adapted from eat, drink, and be vegan
yields 6 servings

• 1T olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 4 stalks of celery, ends trimmed and sliced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2c uncooked wild rice
• 1/4t salt
• 1/4t pepper
• 1t dry mustard
• 1t dried thyme
• 1t dried sage
• 3½c cooked or caned chick peas
• 4c vegetable stock (we use bouillon cubes)
• 3c water
• 2 bay leaves
• 2T nutritional yeast
• 2T fresh sage, minced
• more salt and pepper to taste
  __________________________

1. heat oil in a large pot over medium heat and add onion, carrots, celery, garlic, wild rice, salt, pepper, mustard, thyme, sage, and stir for 5 minutes
2. add 2½c chickpeas (save 1c!), stock, water, and bay leaves and bring everything to a boil
3. once the mixture is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 50 minutes, or until rice is fully cooked
4. with a hand blender, pulse the soup 5(ish) times to create a thicker texture (i under did the pulsing because i was afraid i’d lose the large pieces of veggies and texture of the rice, but once i sampled i went back and re-pulsed – don’t be afraid to pulse away!)
5. stir in the 1c chick peas, nutritional yeast, and fresh sage, and cook 5 minutes longer
6. serve your bowl full and save the rest for later meals!

while i agree with most of the article’s points, what really made me think was the statement: “We’re all full of gastronomy, recipes etc. Turn on a TV anywhere in the world and you will see an idiot with a spoon. And every newspaper and magazine has recipes and a photo of the dish taken from above like a cadaver…We must normalise food rather than put it on a pedestal far out of reach.” ok, so i am most certainly full of recipes, i may just be another “idiot” with a spoon, and i definitely take tons of pics of food, but my goal with this blog is to share with all of you how much fun i have cooking with seasonal and simple ingredients. i also try to convey my personal belief in the importance of enjoying the process of taking care of yourself by making healthy and delicious meals instead of eating calorie laden and nutrient deficient fast foods.  so stay tuned for many, many more recipes!

Michelle Obama’s Shortbread Cookies

borrowed from npr.org

• 1½c plus 2T sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 3c cake flour
• 1t each orange and lemon zest
• 2T amaretto (almond liqueur)
• 1/4t salt
• 1 beaten egg white
• chopped nuts or dried fruit (the DC Central Kitchen chefs used pistachios)
  _____________________________

1. preheat oven to 325°
2. mix together butter and 1½c of sugar
3. add egg yolks one at a time and beat until smooth
4. stir in flour, zest, amaretto and salt, and mix only until everything is incorporated
5. spread dough evenly onto baking pan and brush top of dough with egg white and remaining 2T of sugar
6. sprinkle with nuts or fruit if desired
7. bake until golden brown, approximately 25 minutes
8. cool for a short time, then cut while still warm

as it gets darker and colder, i’m having a kind of reverse spring cleaning urge – i’ve been busy organizing closets and cupboards and getting things updated and reordered here on my blog. (although i may just hibernate soon – i think a lot of the cleaning fervor came from election anxiety, and now that i know our country will be in amazing hands soon, i think i can safely tuck in for the winter : ) ).

one of my latest projects was sparked by the discovery of flour beetles in flour we were about to use to make a cake for my mom’s birthday. we promptly threw out the flour, bought brand new stuff, and made a delicious cake. but the incident (and worry about future outbreaks) was enough to launch me into hours of consolidating bulk foods into existing containers and then buying new containers to house boxed foods (corn meal, corn starch, cake flour, couscous, etc). by the time all items were securely repackaged into airtight containers, as shown above, i was tired but excited to have accomplished the feat (i should have taken a before pic!).

the other big project mike and i undertook last weekend (after having tons of fun on halloween) was to make some changes to this website (ok, mike is the one who has made all the changes – i just had some ideas). on the right column of my blog, you’ll see that you can enter your email address to receive an email every time that i post, so you don’t have to keep checking the website if you don’t subscribe to the rss feed. also in the right column, you can now select a category (breakfast, entree, soup, salad, dessert) to look through all recipes or posts in that genre. and if you scroll past my blog lists, you’ll see a better tag cloud in case you’re looking for a recipe for a specific ingredient, and as always, the search option below that.

please let me know if there are any other ways i can make my site more conducive to you, my dearest readers, and thank you in advance for any input you might have!

http://www.meandgoji.com/CreateYourMix.aspx

the beginnings of my vegetarian preferences go back to my childhood – i never enjoyed eating meat unless it was disguised in the form of a hot dog or potsticker. although my mom, dad, and sister are omnivores, my parents prepared many meat free meals, and thus i knew the option of not eating meat (and eating lots of yummy tofu!) was possible. around the age of 10, after many years of bargaining with me to eat just one more bite of meat, my parents decided i was old enough to make my own food decisions and to help them prepare vegetarian meals. they suggested i read the book diet for a small planet, and from this book – and them – i learned about nutrition and how to combine complementary foods to create complete proteins (like rice and beans). i chose to be a vegetarian way before i learned about how meat is produced and the environmental impact of mass production of raising animals for human consumption – but once i learned about these issues, i realized that vegetarianism went hand in hand with my personal belief system.

october 1 is world vegetarian day, and while i am not the kind of vegetarian who tries to convert people to my way of thinking or eating, i would like to challenge each and every one of you to eliminate meat in your diet tomorrow. if that doesn’t sound feasible to you, maybe try eating a lot less meat than you usually do, just to see what it’s like to eat more veggies, fruit, and grains.

as you ponder this challenge and think about what you might be eating tomorrow, i’ll leave you with the seven word quote from the fantastic author michael pollan: “eat food. not too much. mostly plants.”