I like to do things, but only in the simplest, most efficient way.
Essentially I’m lazy. If you are too, here’s your tip for the day: Next time you’re making a recipe that says, ‘on a floured surface’, use a pastry board. Sounds fancy, yes? No. All we’re looking for is something to contain your mess. Something you can pick up and throw in the sink or dishwasher. A cutting board, a tray, whatever you’ve got. No sticky counter, no gross sponge covered in flour paste, no excuse not to get cooking.
I don’t know whether we’ll get the 12″ of snow and power outages predicted for our area tomorrow, but I do know we’ll be eating well.
I did my usual storm-prep cooking marathon today, making everything I could think of that can be eaten as is or warmed on our propane stove. Dishes are done, laundry is clean, firewood is in the house. Throw it at us, mother nature, we’re as ready as we’re going to get.
This recipe makes 24 muffins. If you’re fairly sure you’ll have power over the next few days, you can bake half, stick the rest of the batter in the fridge, then bake the other half when you run out.
Blueberry Muffins
Preaheat oven to 400.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
8 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
2 cups milk
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
Cream the butter.
Add the sugar.
Add the eggs.
Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, stirring til everything is well-combined.
Fold in the blueberries.
Pour into lined muffin tin and bake for 22 minutes.
Word to the wise: when choosing a life partner, be sure they like garlic as much as you do. You want them to be so distracted by their own garlic breath they don’t notice yours.
At our house, dinner prep begins with chopping garlic more often than not. That being said, this recipe uses a ton of garlic even for us. Other than that bit of work, though, it’s quick to throw together, and it makes enough to keep us in leftovers for a good while.
You’ll notice I don’t give amounts for the spices. Don’t panic! I’m not cooking dinner, you are, and you’re going to make this your way. If you end up over-spicing, just serve it with some extra rice or wrap it in a tortilla; under-spicing, sprinkle on some more curry powder. Once you’ve made it a couple of times you’ll have found your perfect balance.
Curried Peas
1/2 cup chopped garlic
Olive oil
Curry powder
Ground black pepper
Red pepper flakes (optional)
3 Tablespoons butter
2 bags frozen baby peas
3 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Fill half of a one cup measure with chopped garlic.
Sprinkle a layer of ground black pepper over it.
Add a few red pepper flakes if you like.
Pour olive oil over the garlic to fill the cup measure.
Melt the butter in a very large frying pan on medium high heat.
Sprinkle curry powder over the surface of the butter. Don’t be shy.
Add the olive oil and garlic.
When the oil and garlic are dancing, add the peas.
Before stirring, add another layer of curry powder, along with a bit of black pepper.
Continue to cook at medium high for 5 or 10 minutes, until the peas are warmed through, stirring occasionally.
Add the chickpeas, topping with curry powder as you did with the peas, then stirring and cooking til everything is hot.
Serve with jasmine rice.
Little did I know, as a teenager eating soup at my boyfriend’s house, that 30 years later that same soup would be a long-loved staple for our kids.
Every family develops its own food culture. We construct it without intention, for the most part, picking up bits and pieces along the way, but it becomes infused with meaning. What this soup means to me is this: Welcome. No need for fuss. We’re family.
Vegetable Soup
6 or 8 or 10 carrots – whatever you’ve got – peeled and sliced
Celery, optional (My mother-in-law says yes. Everyone has their shortcomings.)
1 onion, peeled, quartered, and sliced thin
lb can crushed tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce (whatever you use for spaghetti is fine)
1/4 cup barley
6 vegetable bullion cubes
4 cups water
Bring everything to a boil in a large pot, then turn down the heat and simmer, covered, for about 40 minutes, until the carrots are soft.
Granola is a perfect foundation food.
If you’ve got some in the house, you’ve probably got other things that will go well with it. With milk and raisins you’ve got cereal. With yogurt you’ve got a parfait. With nuts, dried fruit, seeds, and/or chocolate chips you’ve got a bowl full of yum, and a good source of energy to boot.
Granola
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
5 cups oats, or 4 cups oats and 1 cup nut of choice
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup maple syrup
4 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pinches salt
Mix the ingredients in the order listed, stirring til well combined.
Spread in a thin layer on two silpat, parchment, or tin foil-lined baking sheets.
Bake for 15 minutes, then stir it around a bit.
Bake for another 15 minutes and stir again.
Bake 10 more minutes, and you’re done.
Store in an airtight container.
Halloween is coming.
Your payback for scooping mounds of stringy, wet, goopy mess with nothing but a spoon and your bare hand? Something good to eat.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Preheat oven to 400.
Rinse seeds.
For every 1/2 cup of seeds, mix 2 cups water with 1 Tablespoon salt.
Put the seeds in the salt water and bring to a good boil.
Remove the seeds from the water, spread them on a cookie sheet, and sprinkle with salt, cayenne, cinnamon and sugar, whatever you like.
Bake for 10-20 minutes, til crunchy.
Granola bars are a most versatile snack.
They’re tasty at any time of day, and you can easily switch up the ingredients depending on your mood and what you’ve got in the house.
This is our standby recipe. We individually wrap the bars so they’re ready to go when we are.
Granola Bars
Preheat oven to 325.
3 1/2 cups oats
1 cup rice krispies
1 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flax seed (optional)
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup honey (approximate)
Combine oats, cereal, flour, baking soda, salt, flax seed, and sugar.
Melt butter and combine with vanilla.
Add butter/vanilla to oat mixture and stir to coat.
Add chocolate chips.
Add 2/3 cup of honey and stir well.You will probably have some dry parts that won’t combine well with the other ingredients. If you do, add more honey, up to 1/3 of a cup, until everything’s sticking together pretty well. It should be pasty, not soupy.
Butter a 9″x13″ baking pan and press the mixture into it firmly using the back of a spatula.
Bake for 19 minutes.
Let cool and then cut into bars. We cut them in thirds the long way and then into the desired width.
These will last at least a couple of weeks in plastic wrap, but you’ll likely eat them sooner.
What happens if you take applesauce and keep cooking it?
With a few more spices, you’ve got apple butter.
This recipe can be divided or multiplied. I double it for 40 pounds of apples. Well, 40 pounds of apples minus enough to make a pie.
Apple Butter
18 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 cups sugar, divided
Fill a crockpot with applesauce. It might not all fit, but that’s ok, you can add more later. If you’ve got 2 crockpots you could get both going – that’s what I do.
Add spices and 1 cup of the sugar.
Prop the lid on your crockpot with a wooden spoon or chopstick so the steam can escape.
Set the heat on low.
Cook for 6 hours, then add the rest of your sugar and more sauce if you’ve got room.
Continue cooking and adding applesauce as needed until it looks and tastes like apple butter. Mine generally takes a total of about 22 hours. (That includes the 6 hours above.)
Prep 12 half pint jars.
Ladle hot apple butter into jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace.
Process in hot water bath for 5 minutes after water has returned to a boil.
Is there anyone who doesn’t like applesauce?
Never mind, if there is I don’t want to know.
Applesauce
Apples (As many or as few as you’ve got. Don’t forget to ask your local farmer for seconds -you’ll pay half the price.)
Sugar (optional)
Cut the apples into chunks, peeled or not depending on what you like, and put them in a pot.
Add a small splash of water to keep them from sticking before their juice starts to flow.
Cook on medium-high heat until the apples are soft enough to break with the back of a spoon.
Add sugar to taste.
Puree with an immersion blender for a smooth sauce, or leave as is for chunky.
Ladle into clean jars, leaving 1/2″ headspace.
Process quarts for 20 minutes or pints for 15. If you’d rather not can, just store in the fridge.
Abundance Acre 