(T-minus 11 days to) 30 Days of Eating Local (1): Vegetable Whatever Fritatta, Banana Bread, and Orange Marmalade Bread

The past couple of days have been fridge cleaning days. The day after “Beet Green Soup Day” was “Leftover Beet Green Soup Day” (that recipe makes a lot!) and there was additional grazing on random fridge contents. Yesterday I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, thoroughly cleaning out the fridge, and was far too exhausted to post the results by the time my work was complete. This means I have quite a bit to catch up on today!

First off, lets begin with the “Vegetable Whatever Fritatta”. This was partially an effort at bacon evacuation, but mostly a means to use the last little bits of “fresh” (and by that I simply mean as-yet-uncooked) vegetables that have been lingering in the crisper. Due to the miscellaneous nature of this fritatta, I will not have hurt feelings if you feel its contents are unappealing to your particular palette.

Vegetable Whatever Fritatta. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Vegetable Whatever Fritatta

Next to the ingredients I have listed my sources for the purposes of documenting localness. This is not meant to be advertorial. Use the ingredients/products you have access to or like best.

6 eggs (from a local farm at the City Market – can’t remember who – usually I get them from my mom’s farm)
1/2 c. cream (I used the rest of my Shatto Milk cream from the other day) or whole milk
1 tbsp. fresh chopped dill (my back yard!)
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1 tbsp. olive or canola oil
1/2 c. thinly sliced onions (bought last week at the City Market from a local farmer)
3/4 c. julienned potatoes (non-local)
1/2 c. julienned carrots (my garden in Belton, MO)
1/2 c. Royal Burgundy green beans (my garden in Belton, MO – They start out purple but they turn green when you cook them. I was very disappointed to find this out, but they taste so good I planted them again this year and some day I will get over the color thing. You can eat them uncooked, but they taste a bit grassy.)
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12 strips of bacon, cooked until barely crisp and crumbled (non-local)
9 slices swiss cheese (non-local)

Pre-cook potatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes and strain. Heat a medium sized skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp. oil and add all vegetables (including the parboiled potatoes). Sautee, stirring occasionally for around 15 minutes or until onions are translucent and some browning is beginning to occur. Remove from heat and set aside.

Fresh dill from the herb bed in my back yard. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Whisk eggs and cream in a medium bowl until thoroughly blended. Whisk in the fresh dill and pour mixture into a large skillet (use one with a lid, if you have it), greased (cooking spray or oil) and heated to medium. Allow egg mixture to cook one minute before putting in vegetable mixture (this will help keep the veggies from sinking entirely to the bottom of the pan).

Jullienned potatoes and carrots, green beans, and onions, sauteeing in a skillet. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Spread vegetables evenly across the pan, then add the crumbled bacon. Cover with slices of swiss cheese so that the pan is uniformly covered. This may be less than 9 slices depending on how big your pan is (so you may end up with a thinner or thicker fritatta). Place the lid on the skillet and allow to cook until eggs appear firm throughout (but don’t let them cook for too long!). Remove from heat, cut into sections using something that won’t scratch the surface of your pan, and serve. This fritatta is also good cold!

Fritatta in a giant electric skillet, pre-bacon. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Fritatta in giant electric skillet, post-bacon. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Of course, you can substitute any of the vegetables with any other vegetable of your liking.

Sliced Banana Bread. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Banana Bread and Orange Marmalade Bread

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c. mashed ripe bananas (4 bananas, depending on size – if you don’t have enough you can sub in the rest in applesauce, which is what I did because I only had 3 bananas)
1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar (or in my case, I used orange syrup that I had on-hand as a by-product of having made candied orange peel months ago and it didn’t manage to impart any orange flavor to the bread)
2 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan (I prefer ceramic or glass to metal because it transfers the heat more evenly, leaving less opportunity for a too-brown crust on the inside of the pan).

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, mix bananas, milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs until blended.

Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and beat with a fork or electric mixer until thoroughly mixed. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for one hour or until whatever you poke in the center of the bread comes out clean (toothpick, knife, chopstick, skewer – whatever you have on hand to check doneness with). When the loaf is done, cool in the pan for 10-20 minutes before releasing from the pan. Loaf can be frozen for future enjoyment.

Regarding the orange marmalade bread, follow the same recipe and instructions, but substitute the bananas and milk for 1 c. applesauce and 1c. orange marmalade. You can add or not add the vanilla.

This post will have to be cut short today as I’ve got prior engagements awaiting me. It’s “The Wonder of Aviation!” night at Bob and Renee’s Driveway Drive-In, celebrating their 5 year anniversary.

Tomorrow I will follow up with the cucumber, onion, and tomato salad that I made yesterday as well as some of Paul’s glorious photographic documentation of all the local produce I picked up this morning at the City Market.

Have a great Saturday!

(T-minus 13 days to) 30 Days of Eating Local: BLT, Cream of Beet Green Soup, Fresh Peaches with Whipped Cream

Young carrots thinned from my garden and a handful of Detroit Red beets (and one golden beet). Photo courtesy Paul Andrews.

Yesterday I made dinner with mostly local fare, but have been trying to use up a ridiculous quantity of bacon left over from making bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed, jalepenos for my mother-in-law’s Miata Club party (I just bought the bacon and peppers – Todd, Paul’s brother, did the prep-work). It is possible that the next few postings may involve a lot of BLT sanwiches because of the overflowing bacon stream. The BLT was the star of last night’s dinner.

Note the beets in the photo above. Beet greens taste very similar to spinach and can be eaten fresh in salads, wilted in olive oil with garlic, salt, and pepper, or can be made into a creamy and delicious soup. Cream of beet green soup was my accompaniment of choice for last night’s BLT.

For dessert, I cut up some fresh peaches from Beckner Orchards in Wellington, Missouri, and topped it with homemade whipped cream made with vanilla and Shatto Milk’s heavy cream.

The following are photos and descriptions of products, process, and the result, along with recipes.

Note that this chicken boullion includes tomato. I didn't notice a discernable difference in flavor because of it. Also, note that it was best used by 3 months ago! I'm pretty sure it would take a lot for boullion cubes to go bad. They worked out fine, despite being 3 months past-due. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Cream of Beet Green Soup

Make sure you have a blender on hand as this is a pureed soup. If you don’t have a blender, chop the greens as finely as possible before you add them to the soup.

2-3 cubes chicken or vegetable boullion
4 c. water
(or replace the boullion cubes and water with pre- or homemade stock)
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlice, diced
10-15 c. fresh beet greens
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1 1/2 c. 2% milk (or whole or 1/2 & 1/2 if your arteries enjoy living on the edge)
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. butter (salted)
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1/3 c. flour
2/3 c. cold water

Shatto Butter. It's local and it's twice as expensive as regular butter, but that gives all of us health-concious individuals a good reason to be more conservative in our butter consumption. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Shatto Cream. Delicious and comes in adorable glass hand-granade-sized jars. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Add the first section of ingredients to a large stock pot and cook on medium-high heat until greens have cooked down. Turn off heat and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes. Pour contents into blender and cover blender with a large dish towel. The mixture may still be hot and when you turn on the blender, some may sploosh out. I don’t want anyone to burn themselves, so use the towel for your protections. Blend on high for 5-10 seconds or until the contents appear to be of even consistency. Pour mixture back into stock pot.

Beet greens from my garden. I keep my greens in those handy plastic, yellow-tinted veggie sacks. Things do in fact keep much longer in those sacks versus regular sacks. I highly recommend them, especially to gardeners with lots of produce to store. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Take 1/3 c. flour and 2/3 c. cold water and whisk together until dissolved and relatively lump free. In a medium sized bowl, pour milk, cream, and the water/flour mixture together and blend with a whisk for 5 seconds or so.

Turn the burner back on, set to medium, and pour the milk mixture into the stock pot. Now is the time to throw the butter in as well. As the soup heats up, stir intermittently to make sure the soup isn’t developing a film at the bottom (which could scortch – yuck!). Heat the soup until it’s boiling and stir continuously until it thickens a little. This is not an extremely thick soup – it’s more like a bisque – so don’t wait for it to get to porridge consistency because you’ll be standing over it all day to no avail. Once the soup has thickened a bit (about 10 minutes), turn off the heat and allow it to cool for 10 minutes or so before serving.

Makes 8-10 servings

BLT

Really, this is just an excuse to show pictures of bacon. I’m betting you can figure out how to make a BLT all by yourself.

Farm to Market's Grains Galore bread. At almost $5/loaf, it had better be good. Oh... and a cherokee purple tomato from a local farm (can't remember which one). Retrieved from the City Market. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Lettuce from my garden. It is possibly in it's last two or three days of usability, so many salads will be consumed henceforth. Baby romaine and Red Leaf (for those keeping track). Photo courtesy of Averagewhitewoman.

BACON! Applewood Smoked, to be exact. From the restaurant supply in the West Bottoms over by the 12th street bridge. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Since a recipe is really not necessary, think of this as a pictorial guide to the BLT. Add mustard and/or mayo of your choice to complete the project.

Fresh Peaches and Homemade Whipped Cream

Peaches from Wellington, Missouri. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

Slice up some delicious fresh peaches and then top them with some homemade whipped cream.

1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/3 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pour vanilla and cream into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk with an electric hand-mixer on medium (or you can do it by hand if you have the patience) as you gradually add in the powdered sugar. Whip on high until cream forms stiff peaks and immediately stop mixing (otherwise you will have vanilla-flavored, sugary butter). Dollop on top of peaches, devour.

This quantity would be enough for 4 people with 1/2 c. bowls of peaches, easily.

Dinner, complete with Boulevard Brewery's new Pilsner (which I highly recommend). Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

A little more up-close shot of dinner. I am not as great of a photographer as my husband. I should really have him be my food stylist for these blog posts. Photo courtesy Averagewhitewoman.

So there you have it. Last night’s dinner. Tonight’s dinner is as-yet unplanned. I didn’t have breakfast and I’m working through lunch today. I also have a busy evening ahead of me, so I’m suspecting tonight’s dinner may be some variation of yesterday’s. Sorry to disappoint

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Lead-up to the 30 Days of Local Food Project

Okay, so I’ve done an inventory of the contents of my kitchen and it looks like I probably have about two weeks worth of food that is a mix of local and non-local, so you’ll just have to bear with me as I attempt to creatively and responsibly get rid of it (in other words – cook and eat it) before we can get this project under way. So, as a conciliatory substitute for the 30 Day project you have been so anticipating (and by YOU I mean the two or three people that read this blog), I will simply document my creative pantry usage over the next two weeks in recipe/photo format. Sadly, i don’t know where the SD950 is so you’ll just have to visualize strawberry banana smoothie and toast, which is what I had for breakfast. I cannot justify posting a recipe, either, considering it is simply toast and a blender fully of strawberries, bananas, yogurt, and ice. I have faith that you can figure out proportions.

Later today, however, there will be BLTs (lettuce from my garden, tomatoes from a local farm), cream of beet greens (from my garden) soup, and fresh peaches from Wellington, Missouri topped with whipped cream from Shatto Milk (located about 30 minutes from my house). So… it’s a beginning.

30 Days of Eating Local

Vendor in the City Market, River Market, Kansas City, Missouri. Photo courtesy Paul Andrews

I’m in the mood to start an experiment. Other people have done this experiment and they’ve probably done it better and more interestingly than I will do it, but what the heck – I’m going to do it anyway. I will attempt to eat and drink nothing but locally produced food for the next thirty days. There may be some exceptions when attending family dinners, etc., but I will do my best to stick to the “eat local” plan.

You may ask why I am starting this experiment and you might suspect that I am buying into the hype of the “eat local” movement. You would be right, but that’s not entirely why I’m doing this. I already try to buy local when it’s an affordable option for me. I am a loyal customer of Shatto Farms dairy products and my eggs come from my mother’s farm in Farley, Missouri. So why deny myself avacados and pinapples, bananas and oranges, and… I suppose by this experiment’s logic… most condiments? Why would any sane person put themselves through the rigors of self-denial for no particular reason!?

>shrug<

I dunno. Just seems like it would be fun to try to do.

Of course, I still have a fridge full of non-local food that needs to be eaten. I will not be ridiculous and throw it away. The 30 days of “eat local” will begin after the next 7-14 days of “dispose of the experiment inhibitors” and during that time I will only buy local-grown/made foods.

Experiment Parameters

Define local: Within a 300 mile radius of my house.

Center of radius. Photo courtesy Paul Andrews.

Does this “local” term apply to processed foods? Say…. breads, pasta, etc? And if the bread is baked locally, do the flour, eggs, salt – any and all ingredients – have to be locally grown/raised/produced?

I mean… salt? Local salt? Is that possible?

Okay okay – that is a legitimate concern. There will be exceptions to the “local” rule. Cooking oil, salt, and possibly also ingredients used to create the Amish/Menonite baked goods and the local-made pasta will not be questioned. Oh, and coffee. That is non-negotiable. This experiment will not be possible without coffee. I have always bought primarily locally-roasted beans (or from coffee shops that use them) so that is going to have to do.

Peaches at the City Market during the Tomato Festival (hey... you say tomato - I say PEACHES!!!!) Photo courtesy Paul Andrews.

So, how will we know that you are abiding by this “eat local” experiment and not just making up fancy stories?

Well… the best I can do is take pictures of the process and report as I go. This also serves the dual purpose of keeping me in the habit of actually updating my blog. I will include recipes, when I can, alongside the images. This will make the experiment serve the more utilitarian purpose of helping other midwesterners figure out how to survive without exotic foods and store-bought condiments (you know – for when the apocalypse comes or whatever).

I’m really wondering how I will survive without Grey Poupon. I suppose I’ll have to look up a recipe and see what I can do. My resolve is strong!

It’s a tough time just keeping up with myself…

Really. I’m losing steam here. I’ve got a full-time unpaid job, two demanding freelance gigs, and I have suddenly made a commitment to personal fitness so as to avoid looking like a wet pile of laundry when I am old. This week I have boxed, done weight training, swam, and biked. I’ve been working at getting in shape and trying to suppress frustrations with the slowness of it all – all while trying to turn my concentration on to the other work – freelance and unpaid job – that I have to do. I could be doing worse, but I could be doing far better at all of the things that I am working towards. I’ve been feeling terribly distracted lately and am having urges to go on adventures. I don’t want to be stuck behind my desk. I don’t want to do any work.

I know. This post is far too whiny for a Friday. I will keep my chin up. I will post more often and more constructively. I will get back to my freelance work and stop my bitching since, frankly, life could be far, far worse.

I will go to the pool later and lose myself in salinated chlorine and sunshine.

Clinically Obese Tuesday

Today I quietly replaced myself with an attractive blonde in the role of personal assistant that I had been playing since January 27th. My friend Holly and I have known her for a few years in mostly a professional setting, but we also think she is generally awesome. My term as personal assistant was up for (by me at any rate) evaluation on February 20th and luck would have it that just a few days before that Holly called me to tell me that this friend needed a job as she had been laid off. She has a son – I have freelance clients and (theoretically) Review. Besides, landscaping is starting up soon and… you know… I don’t really want to be a personal assistant anyway. I would MUCH rather be working on building my freelance practice back up, making work for my upcoming show, and spending some quality time with my to-do list.

Oh, and working for Review.

I don’t qualify Review as an afterthought, even if it may seems so in my conversations about professional goals. Somewhere beneath the weariness and generalized resentment, is a firm belief that this organization is important and could offer so much to so many in the visual arts community and those who interact with it. It isn’t even that the road is difficult – it’s that it is difficult in all the wrong places where difficulty isn’t necessary. This is exasperating.

But I won’t go into further detail. Let it suffice to say that Review is getting back to business, although not “as usual” (praise all dieties etc, etc).  I will be working on getting it to a place where it is solid, effectual, and nice to look at and interact with. I just hope that I have the stamina to make it happen. However, when I am NOT doing that – I will be working on all the other things that I previously mentioned. I’d rather think about and talk about those things because they are things I have complete control over and can revel in imagining and concepting the outcome of my labors. Review, while I do imagine and concept, it is with a bit more nervousness and worry as it isn’t simply myself that I am answerable to, but an entire community, compounded by not every decision being mine and knowing that for good or ill the outcome of all decisions reflects on me professionally and personally (especially if it was my decision).

That’s enough of the seriousness, though. (Please see last post for some levity)

Paul and I at the pre-Mardi Gras bash: Societe De Sirenes Masquerade Ball. Photo: Michael Forester

Tonight is Mardi Gras. I woke up at 5:00a.m. to march around West Side with the Dirty Force Krewe de Maximon, playing my saxophone loudly and badly (which was mostly unnoticable considering the circumstances). It was a great way to start the day. The community vibe that Morning March engenders is palpable and envigorating. Makes a person want to accomplish something or buy a brother a sandwich. Tonight is the big street party. This is something I look forward to more than any other holiday each year. It’s like the best family reunion. It’s better than being five years old at Christmas. It puts me in the mood to say “I love you, man” to everyone, without having had any whiskey (although it helps).

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and even though I should technically be making pancakes today, I will make them tomorrow.

And I will like it.

The Dirty Force rocks the Sirenes Ball...imagine what they will do let loose on the streets of KC! Photo: Michael Forester

Valentine’s Day Art

This is what I do when I have a couple of free minutes. I wish I had time to make more Valentines.

I am almost done being too busy for you.

The day before Valentine’s Day is very likely a good time to slow the pace down of my work schedule. Exercise of free will is not culpable for my sudden status change from “Oh shit, I have to work 16 hours a day for the next two months!” to “Huh…I guess I have time to take a shower. That’s pretty rad.” Well, at least not this time. Currently it’s just a combination of being closer to finishing client work and having hit a stumbling block, entirely out of my control, on the Yellow Brick Road in Layout Land.

I know my blogging failures while in Colorado Springs have probably caused many of you to itch with curiosity as to what the HELL I could possibly be doing to leave you to languish for so long. Paul came to the conclusion that I had obviously forgotten that I was married to him and not to Thor Ignatious (my laptop). In a brilliant plan to win my heart back, he presented me today with the HUGE RUBY RING pictured below:

Good news, Mr. Andrews! I didn’t forget! I choo-choo-choose you!

Coming soon: Co. Springs re-cap on Sunday, catching you up on the adventure; Valentines! (new art); Two Pair of Aces Are Actually Four of a Kind: A Primer

Until then, I wish you all a pleasant Valenslime’s Weekend!

S

Car FAIL, ghetto chaps, and things that are tricky…

Okay, these aren’t the chaps I made. If I had a camera, I would have taken a picture of them on Justin at this last fitting and you would have seen that they are very similar to the chaps pictured above. Tan suede with a burgundy leather top piece, some silver flat-ish studs, a longhorn, two-tone silver and gold belt buckle, a decorative leather element under the top piece with a three-leaved clustery shape that we’ll be adding rhinestones to later, and they are the same bat-wing shape as pictured above. I’m hoping to get an image from the photo shoot they did today so that I can have a professional quality image of my very first chaps. I’ll put it in my scrap book with the heading “MY FIRST CHAPS” in crude third-grader handwriting. It’ll be awesome. I’m hoping no one casts too much of a discerning glance at them. I was in a hurry to get them on Justin for the photo shoot and the stitching is not terribly clean or precise. They’ll look good from in the audience, definitely, but they could be more symmetrical.

Also not the g-strings I’ve been making, but they do look more or less like this, except in a red faux, slightly stretchy, leather material. G-strings are tricky creatures. They look so simple, yet drafting a pattern, cutting them out, lining them, stitching the pieces up in the right order, and putting elastic in them is time consuming and frustrating work. Through this experience I have found three new “anger-ogenous zones” in my brain and have made the executive decision never to make lingeree for a living.

I took a look yesterday at the list of costumes required for the cast of Full Monty and it seems that although there are only 23 characters, each character has between 3 – 7 costumes. If you can do imaginary guesswork type maths, that’s like 3,000 costumes (okay, it’s probably only 130 costumes, but still) in only 2.5 weeks. Granted we got some stuff rented and other stuff we cobbled together in-house and some of the actors are using a few of their own clothing items, but enough of it had to be made or researched and bought or rented that 2.5 weeks simply isn’t enough time. No WONDER Elizabeth wanted me to come out here and help!

Flashback to Friday morning: Elizabeth and I woke up and got ready to go look at this 1990 Subaru that I had found for her on Craigslist the day before. It was in excellent condition for its age and the seller only wanted $700 for it. After looking at a map to see how far away the car was, we determined that it would be better for Collin and I to go with the money and for her to just trust our judgment on whether or not to buy the car. At this point, she doesn’t really have a tremendous amount of time to go car shopping, nor many opportunities for transportation around town to all the cars she may want to look at. She had a 10 a.m. fitting and the clock read 9:30, so we needed to drop her off at the FAC and try to accomplish Project Transportation without her. After stopping at the 7-11 so Collin could pick up bottled water and cigarettes, we drove out to Westmark and Venetucci to take a look at my great hope for possible adventuring (or just going to the drugstore when I need to) but by the time we finally arrived, the car had been sold. It had only been on the market for two days.

So we are back to square one with the vehicle problem. Thus far we have had Collin, Elizabeth’s friend Sara, and a high school senior named Brianna who works in the shop a few hours a week carting us around when we aren’t taking the bus.

Last night, I was so tired I mostly just sat around and organized my emails and files for Review work (yes, I’m still doing it), downloaded stuff, made notes of things I needed to get done “over the weekend” (our weekend is Sunday and Monday) and then had a beer with Collin when he got home from rehearsal before finally going to bed… with a RAT TERRIER! I got to borrow Sara’s rat terrier, Lucy, for the night. It was great. She slept under the covers, under my butt, just like Little Dog used to do.

Tonight is very similar to last night except we had dinner at Sara’s house, accompanied by a semi-failed sponge cake dessert that Elizabeth concocted (saved by fresh pinapple and a home-made coconut and brown sugar sauce), then I came back to Betty’s to check email and post this blog before hitting the hay at a reasonable hour. Collin HAD invited us to go with him to the college kid birthday party he was attending down the street and under normal circumstances I would be happy to go mill around at someone else’s house and drink someone else’s booze, especially within stumbling distance of “home”, but not tonight. Nope. Theatre work is very exhausting. I’m rethinking my ambition to go into the business of set design and puppetry (a la Hellboy II, directed by Guillermo del Toro, or Dark Crystal if you can relate to a more 1980’s reference).

Also, no rat terrier this evening.

However, there will be a little sleeping in tomorrow, and that is excellent.

-S

Taking pictures with my camera phone sucks. I should get a camera of my own.

I made brussel sprouts with caramelized onions and a fig and vidalia onion sauce, a little salt and pepper and a bit of brown sugar. Delicious. It looked and tasted WAY better than this crappy phone photo would lead you to believe.

Most of my day was spent drafting a pattern for g-strings, then finding we didn’t have enough material for all twelve.

Today there is not much to report. I have lots of work to do later this evening. Better entry tomorrow. Promise.

Maybe a car, too.