Old Fashioned Pecan Pie Recipe

Pecan Pie is my dad's favorite dessert, so for his birthday this year I found a recipe for this delicious pie made the old fashioned way. It is not even close to low fat or low calorie, but it is amazing! Using real maple syrup instead of corn syrup can be more costly, but it is worth it. I recommend trying it out, you won't be sorry!

Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie

From Cook's Country

Why this recipe works:The pecan pies of today bear little resemblance to their 19th-century inspiration. Could we recreate Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie without using modern-day processed corn syrup? Many traditional syrups (cane, sorghum) produced a great pie, but we had to mail away for those ingredients. In the end, combining maple syrup with brown sugar and molasses replicated the old-fashioned versions perfectly. We started the pie at a high oven temperature and then dropped the temperature to ensure the bottom crust was crisp and golden brown.

Tools to Make Canning and Preserving Easier

Canning and preserving food the old fashioned way takes time and effort, there is no doubt about it. I think it is worth it, so I have found some new fashioned tools to make old fashioned home canning easier and take less time.

Over Sink Cutting Board

When you are quartering, chopping or peeling fruits or vegetables, it helps to have an over the sink cutting board. It's close to where you need it to be, and keeps juices and scraps contained instead of dripping all over the floor. Juicy tomatoes are notoriously messy to cut. I found one that is adjustable and has a drain type area to put scraps. If I had lots of money to spare I would get one with a colander attached.

Food Processor

A food processor is very helpful for quick slicing, dicing, shredding, chopping, and pureeing. I love my KitchenAid 12-Cup Food Processor. It works great for soups, salsas, and purees when I don't want to spend too much time chopping. It is also a very useful machine for everyday in the kitchen. KitchenAid makes a very good food processor. It is powerful, well made, easy to clean, and they provide a great warranty and customer service. 

KitchenAide Mixer Attachments

My KitchenAid Stand Mixer is an integral tool in my kitchen. I use it all the time. You can also get some wonderful attachments to make fruit and vegetable processing easier. 

The Mixer Attachment Pack for Stand Mixers has a grinder/shredder and a strainer. The grinder/shredder works really good for shredding or slicing large quantities of vegetables. The strainer attachment is great for tomatoes and fruits. It removes seeds and skins effortlessly. I use it all the time to prepare big batches of tomatoes for juice or sauce and for fruits to make jam or sauce.

Easy Jambalaya

Until I figured out this recipe, Jambalaya sounded complicated and exotic. Once I made it and it turned out awesome and super easy, I realized that it's basically a thick soup or stew, and it all made sense from there.

This was one of the first dishes I made for my husband when we first met. It is hearty and spicy and perfect for impressing a man who likes to eat.

It's a pretty easy, relatively quick recipe, and you can make it from scratch or with leftovers. It can be a great way to use up leftover meats and rice.

This recipe is a 'creole style' jambalaya, as opposed to the 'cajun style' which does not have tomatoes.

I always serve it with my skillet cornbread (I will post the recipe for that one next!)

In my last post about making soups , I broke down soup into a basic formula with basic instructions.
Basic Soup Recipe= Stock + Bulk + Flavor + Seasonings + Extras 

Jambalaya 

2 T vegetable or olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1/2-2/3 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

4 gloves minced garlic

1/2 can tomato paste

4 cups chicken broth

28oz can diced tomatoes (undrained) or 1 quart of tomatoes from your garden

1.5 cup long grain rice

2 t dried thyme, 1 t dried basil, 2 bay leaves, 1/2 t dried red pepper, 1/4 t black pepper

6-8 cups of any 3 meats (cubed ham, shrimp, sausage, chicken)

Stock: The stock in Jambalaya is made from the vegetable trinity and tomato paste. 

1. Heat oil in a pot
2. Cook the Vegetable Trinity (onion, celery, pepper) in the oil until tender
3. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic and 1/2 can tomato paste
4. Heat and stir until fragrant and mahogany in color

Bulk & Seasonings: The bulk is the rice and tomatoes

1. Add uncooked rice, broth, and tomatoes to the mix (if you have pre-cooked rice, omit the chicken broth and add at the end. May need to add salt and pepper to taste)
2. Add dried seasonings
3. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for 15 minutes or until rice is done

Flavor: The various meat or seafood you choose to add make up the flavor of the jambalaya. My favorite combination is ham, shrimp, and andouille sausage. It's easiest to use already cooked meats, but if you choose to use raw, you may have to modify the cooking time.

1. Add your chosen meat and heat through.
2. Taste and add more salt, pepper or hot sauce if needed. 

Slow Cooker Directions:
You can use a slow cooker if you choose, but as I learned the hard way, the rice turns into a gluey unappetizing mess if you slow cook it. For the best results, add cooked rice and meats and heat through just before serving. If you are using raw meat you could slow cook it with the rest (except for shrimp).
(Low 7-9 hours, High 3 hours)

Super Soups

I love making soups, because they are easy, fun, and healthy. Soups also take very little time or thought to prepare, both of which are in short supply on busy days. Plus, it’s almost impossible to make a bad batch of soup. You can always add more seasonings, or more water if it’s too strong, and if you overcook the vegetables you can puree and turn into a chowder.  Soups are also a great way to make meat go farther, and a creative way to use leftovers.

If you learn the basics of making soup, you can whip up a pot in no time without a recipe. I enjoy the spontaneity, making it up as I go. You can make a big pot and freeze or can for later enjoyment. I can my soups in the summer and we enjoy wonderful healthy homemade soups all winter long.

There are options for every schedule. You can throw ingredients in a crockpot and have magically ready for dinner, or you can throw ingredients in a pot on the stove and have ready in a couple hours, mostly unattended.

Basic Soup Recipe

1. Stock
2. Bulk
3. Flavor
4. Seasonings
5. Extras 

Stock or Broth

Every soup starts with a stock or broth. This is the liquid part of the soup. It can be meat or poultry stock, or vegetable stock. You can use homemade stock or store-bought. If you do buy it at the store, look for low salt, no MSG, and say no to the bouillon cubes. I like to use a high quality concentrated liquid stock. It’s expensive but well worth it.

Ambitious folks make their own stocks, but I don’t have the time or storage space.  For vegetable soups, you can make a simple stock of onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf and seasonings, simmered for 20 minutes.

Bulk

The bulk of the soup is the vegetables. The combinations are up to you. See the list below for ideas. Keep in mind strong flavored vegetables can overpower others. Chop the veggies into uniform pieces so they cook evenly.

Flavor or Base

The flavoring of your soup can be a meat or poultry, or a strong flavored vegetable. Examples of strong flavored vegetables are broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, tomato, and cabbage. Chop into uniform pieces and add to the stock.

If you are using raw meat or a soup bone, you will probably need to separate the fat when the soup is done.  I prefer to precook the meat or use leftover meat. If you do have to separate the fat you can do it by skimming off the top with a spoon, using a special fat separator, or refrigerating and removing the solid fat off the top.

Seasonings

When you have all of your ingredients in the pot, bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for a half hour to an hour (depending on the size and rawness of your ingredients). Now comes the fun part, the tasting! Taste the liquid part of the soup and season to your tastes. Add salt, pepper, herbs, and red pepper as needed. Let it simmer a bit longer and taste again.

If the flavor seems to be missing something, try a splash of something acidic. I’ve found that this is the secret ingredient that seems to round out the flavor of the soup. Depending on the flavor of your soup, you can add red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar, or even regular white vinegar. Lemon or lime juice is good in tomato based soups. You can experiment, but try a little at a time and see what happens. Have fun! The soup is done when the vegetables are cooked through and the taste is how you like it.

Extras

You can make your soups more fun and more filling with some extras such as pasta, grains, and dairy products. Pastas and grains can be cooked in the soup, but will absorb much of the liquid and make the soup thicker. The texture can be a little different, so some people will cook separately and add at the end. Egg noodles and smaller pastas work well in soups. Grains such as barley and rice are also a nice addition to make soup more substantial.

To make a creamy soup, simply puree the vegetables after they are cooked, and add cream, milk or sour cream before serving. Mashed potatoes can also be used to thicken a soup without adding fat.  You can also use flour or cornstarch to thicken a soup, see the Condensed Cream of Anything Soup recipe for more.

Cooking

If using a slow cooker, cook on low for about 10 hours or high for about 6 hours. If cooking by stovetop, simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until vegetables are the texture you like.

Storing Your Soup

Soups make fabulous leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer. The only issues you may have are with the extras. Pasta, grains, and cream don’t always reheat well. The soup will still be edible and taste the same, but the texture can change. This has never stopped me, but if it bothers you, you can keep those ingredients separate and add before reheating. 

Good Old Fashioned Percolator Coffee

Percolator heating up

Coffee snobs will tell you that percolator coffee is far inferior to other fancy methods of brewing coffee. We use a vintage Pyrex glass percolator to make our coffee, and we are very happy with the taste. The fact that there is no plastic contaminating our coffee is a big bonus.

We became hooked on the percolator after using a small aluminum pot on our camping excursions. Nothing can quite compare to coffee made over an outdoor fire. One day we decided to buy a glass percolator for home use, and we never looked back.

Starting to bubble up

You can find the vintage Pyrex percolators many places online in various sizes, and they are pretty reasonably priced. Replacement parts are also readily available, in case you break something, but we have used ours for years without any problems.

The only issue with percolator coffee is the risk of over-heating, which can make the coffee bitter. It takes some practice, but after you have the method down, you can make a pretty decent cup of coffee.

1. Add cool water too percolator.

Coffee is done!

2. Place the tube and filter basket in the percolator.
3. Add coarse ground coffee to the filter basket, 2 tsp per cup and put the basket lid on (no paper filter needed)
4. Place the glass lid on the pot and heat on Medium until it starts to percolate
5. Once you see bubbling in the top, turn to low and let it perk for 2-3 minutes.

You don't want to let the coffee boil, because this can make the coffee bitter or acidic.

The best coffees to use are smooth and low acid beans that are ground very coarse. We like to use fresh ground, locally roasted, Organic Fair Trade whole beans.

The glass percolator is easy to clean- all parts can go in the dishwasher, and stains clean up nicely with vinegar.

It takes more time than a drip coffeemaker, but we enjoy the ritual and love the clean, plastic and paper-free taste of old fashioned percolator coffee.

Time to Plan Your Garden!

It's my favorite time of year again! Time to plan the garden for spring!

How hard it that, you may wonder? I may be strange, but I look at it as a yearly experiement, trying new things and researching what works together. It's as complex as you want to make it, but to maximize the health of your garden, and get the best yields, there are some steps to follow. I start in late winter, when it is cold and dreary and you need something to look forward to.

1. Select your seeds- peruse your seed catalogs and find the best varieties for your zone and site. Pay attention to disease tolerance.

• Try Heirloom Varieties: Bakers Creek is an excellent company with a nice website and catalog.
• Save Your Seeds: Even better, use your own seeds! See the book Seed to Seed for all about how to do just that.

2. Research- find out what growing conditions each plant needs and group together by light, water, soil needs as well as bed rotation and preferred companions.

• Rotation: To avoid pest and disease problems and to give the soil a break after high feeding crops, it is important to rotate plants of the same family each year. I highly recommend the book The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, I refer to it each year to plan my garden.
  
• Companions: Plants have friends that they like to hang around with. They may help each other grow in some way, or help deter pests. They also have plants they don't like like to hang around with. There is a good chart here and lots of good information in Gardening reference books like the one mentioned above.
  

3. Plan your beds (This assumes that you have an existing garden and have kept good records of previous years) If you are starting from scratch, there are plenty of pre-designed garden plans out there. I think it's fun to do myself though, and everyone's garden is different.

• Organize: Number your beds for easy record-keeping and refer to previous year's garden plans.
  
• List: Write down a list of the plants you want to grow, and group by family. Next to each plant, write the bed numbers that are possible for that rotation and preferred growing conditions as well as it's preferred companions and/or plants to avoid.
  
• Puzzle Through: Look over your list and plan each bed. It make take a couple tries and shifting plants around to get the right mix.
  

4. Draw your Garden Plan - Draw a map of the garden from your list. Include number of plants and spacing (more research!)

5. Wait Anxiously for the Ground to Thaw- This is by far the hardest part of this whole process. Hopefully you are starting some seeds indoors and that will help with some of the cabin fever (starting seeds is a whole other post, stay tuned!).

Fall Gleaning for Apples

A couple weeks ago, we spent a lovely fall afternoon picking apples, and came home with a big bushel full of the fresh crisp fruits for practically nothing.

It was the Annual Gleaning Day our local orchard. Every year, at the end of the season, they allow people to "glean" all the apples that are left on the tree. There were also pumpkins, squash and gourds, but we had our hands full with apples. All they ask is that you donate something to local food pantries (You are also limited to one bushel of apples and you have to purchase a basket for $3, but I can think of a million uses for a nice bushel basket!).

The apples that were left were not "perfect" like you see in the grocery store, there were some spots and knobs and misshapen fruit, but the taste is amazing. A cool crisp apple freshly picked from the tree is pure heaven. We have been eating them fresh for weeks, and I also made applesauce and canned some slices for pie.
I will be marking the calendar for next year's fall gleaning. It's a great way to get inexpensive healthy food, support your community, and it's a great way to spend an afternoon outdoors!

Where Have I Been?

I know, I haven't posted in a while, actually a really long while.

What have I been doing that could possibly be more important than this? Well, I'll spare everyone the personal, but I will tell you how I spent most my free time for the better part of two months.

CANNING!

When the the garden is at its peak, and fall is around the corner, putting up food is almost a full-time job! I spent my nights and weekends slicing, dicing, stewing, boiling, pickling, mashing, straining, and watching and waiting for the canners to finish processing. It's a lot of work, but I find it fun, and definitely rewarding to see the colorful jars fill the shelves in the basement.

I managed to put up about 100 jars, which will supplement our winter diet and cut down on the grocery bills, but it would not be enough to live on. I've heard of people canning several hundred jars of food, and I imagine that would surely be a full-time job!

Now it is November, and the urgency is gone. The garden is done, save for a few late fall crops of turnips, beets, and kale. There are a few boxes of green tomatoes and winter squash that could be processed, but they can sit a little longer while I spend some time writing posts again.

We plan to expand the garden for next year though... I'll need to find more jars, and maybe a team of helpers!

Kale: My New Favorite Greens

I'm not sure why but I never thought I liked kale. This year I have an accidental bumper crop of it, thanks to a mesclun mix that I planted this spring that turned out to be mostly red kale and arugula.

In the spring, the tender small leaves made their way into salads, but as the season progressed and the plants grew bigger, I wondered what I would do with all those giant kale leaves.

At first I tried cooking with it, drying it, and freezing it. Later as the lettuce gave way to the heat of summer, I tried using the smaller leaves in place of lettuce.

Kale and Potatoes

This is a pretty simple (but delicious!) recipe, basically mashed potatoes with kale, meat, and onion.

1. While the potatoes are cooking, fry up some bacon or sausage.
   
2. When done, remove from the pan, take out some of the fat, then fry up some slices of onion.
3. When the potatoes are done, drain the hot water over chopped kale. Let sit a few minutes until the kale is tender (while you mash the potatoes with butter and milk).
4. Add kale, crumbled bacon or sausage and onions to mashed potatoes. Season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic.

Kale Chips

I found a recipe online, and lots of people raved about how delicious they were, so I decided to try it. Of course now I can't find the recipe to link to, but it involved soaking in salted water, then draining and dehydrating. I put them in the dehydrator overnight and it stunk up the house something awful! I ended up moving it out to the porch to finish. My sister said she liked them, but I wasn't so sure about the taste.


Preserving Kale by Freezing

Freezing was pretty easy to do, and I found the kale held up better than spinach. You can find general instructions for leafy greens here.

By trial and error, I found the best method (that worked for me).

1. remove mid vein from bigger leaves
2. tear into large pieces (about the size of your palm)
3. blanch and cool
4. use a salad spinner to remove excess water
5. lay out on wax paper on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour
6. pack in freezer bags, remove air and label

I will have to report back later in the year and see how the frozen kale works, and try out some recipes.


Kale as Lettuce

Once we tried small kale leaves in place of lettuce, we realized how versatile this vegetable really is. It adds a nice crunch and an interesting flavor, and I'm sure it has more good stuff in it. It also holds up longer in the fridge compared to leaf lettuce. Kale made its way onto turkey sandwiches, burgers, BLTs (I guess they would be BKTs) and chopped for tacos or burritos or whatever else called for something green.

I Love my Garden!

I know I haven't written much lately, but my excuse is spending most of my free time canning and freezing (and eating!) the bounty of beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, and onions growing in my garden.

It's really turned out to be fun! I love just walking through the garden every day and watching things grow. Going produce shopping in the backyard is pretty amazing too!

I also love to see the variety of life when I walk through. By not using any chemicals and maintaining a healthy growing environment, all kinds of living things feel welcome. Yesterday I spotted this little green frog sitting on a pepper.

My garden is also host to...

• big fat earthworms that aerate and fertilize the soil
• frogs, toads and wasps that prey on bugs
• wildflowers that attract bees and other pollinators

Sure, I occasionally have not so welcome guests stop by, like the hoard of Japanese Beetles that descended on the pole beans, or the bunny that (so far) only nibbles on a few low hanging beans. We are maintaining a balance with hand removal and deterrents like spraying with compost tea (or dog hair in the case of the bunny) and keeping the pesky critters under control.

Without chemicals, and not too much labor, the small plot produces more delicious healthy food than we can eat, and I also get the pleasure of watching the wildlife that make my garden their home!

'This Lawn is Your Lawn' - Great Video!

Summer Foraging- Wild Fruits

This year I've harvested and made jam and other delicious treats from juneberries, mulberries, and cherries. I have plans for crabapples, wild plum, elderberries, chokeberries, and all other berries and fruits I can find at work, at home, and in wild areas where I live.

Go Wild!
Foraging for wild fruit is a fun, inexpensive way to have fresh fruit. Most freeze well or make wonderful preserves for year round enjoyment of seasonal fruits.

• Wild Fruit Jam Recipes

But Be Careful...
Most people can identify a raspberry or blackberry, but many other fruits are a little more difficult, and may look similar to other plants with poisonous fruits. Before you go foraging, learn how to identify the plants (and similar looking dangerous plants) and refresh your memory each year. If you are just starting out, it's best to go with someone who can identify the plants. Be careful picking fruits near roadways. Pollutants like heavy metals, may be found in fruit growing along highways.

• 'Foraging for Berries, the Special on Nature’s Produce Aisle' - NYTimes.com

The Art of the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Warm gooey melt in your mouth Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Maybe you have the perfect secret family recipe, but for some of us, the Chocolate Chip Cookie is an art that is perfected over time (with plenty of trial and error on the way).

What I've learned? The more butter and sugar the better. Bake until the chocolate is gooey. Serve warm, with milk, and use good chocolate.

Here's some tips from expert cookie makers:

Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie - NYTimes.com:

• "...read through the recipe first, make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature, use the best-quality ingredients you can find, don’t overmix."

• The Rule of Thirds- Let the dough rest up to 36 hours for more even cooking, better texture, and richer flavor. Bigger is better- cookies up to 6" can be a real treat and you will get 3 rings of textures.

• You'd be surprised, but a little coarse salt on top can make it even more amazing.

Also, check out this NPR Interview with Shirley Corriher- food scientist and author, about "how to build a better chocolate chip cookie".

Books about Chocolate Chip Cookies (I had no idea there were so many!)

A Touch of the News

• How do you know where your produce comes from? There is currently no labeling law, but this fall, a new federal law will require that fresh food is labeled by country of origin.

• Walmart has bought more and more local produce in the last couple years ($400 million worth this year). In the summer about one fifth of all produce is locally grown (in the state the store is in).

• Scientists are working on the problem of mercury in CFLs (in case they are broken or don't get recycled). They have come up with ideas for cloth or plastic for packaging or clean up that would capture the mercury.

• If you're trying to get drunk really fast, drink cocktails with diet soda. Alcohol gets to the bloodstream 15 minutes faster with artificially sweetened drinks!
  

• Phyto-nutrient citrulline in watermelon (among other benefits) has Viagra-like effects on blood vessels. This nutrient is found in higher concentrations in the rind. Watermelon pickles anyone?
  

It's Mulberry Time!

I just picked my first bowl of mulberries from the tree in my backyard. I have ambitions to make jam with them, but I can't pick enough before the bloodthirsty mosquitoes drive me out. I may have to resort to the old 'shaking' method.

Back in the day, when it was mulberry time my siblings and I would take an old bed sheet and some ice cream buckets, and walk down the fence line in the fields near our house. There were several big mulberry trees that were covered in the juicy black fruits. My brother would climb the tree and shake the branches, and the tree would rain berries onto the sheet that my sister and I held below. We would fill buckets and eat handfuls on the way home. While we scrubbed our purple hands, mom would make jam and syrup from the mulberries. Our favorite treat was fresh mulberries on vanilla ice cream. We still enjoy mulberry time in summer, but now my brother has a special pole and tarp to collect enough mulberries to make wine.

When I bought my house, there were several mulberry trees growing in the yard. They are considered a weed tree around here, and most were removed along with the buckthorn and other weeds. Somehow, one tiny tree in the back corner escaped the chainsaw. It is now almost ten feet tall and covered in berries. The birds and I share the fruit. Nostalgia has kept it alive this far, but it will have to convince the less nostalgic of my household by producing some delicious berry treats. I guess I better put on some more bug spray, find a tarp, and go shake the tree...

How to use mulberries: This sweet fruit can be used in any berry recipe, and they also mix well with other fruit.

• 12 recipes from justberryrecipes.com
• Sweet-Hot Mulberry Jam
• Wild Jams And Jellies: Delicious Recipes Using 75 Wild Edibles
• Mulberry Crisp (this one was so good it had people licking their bowls and fighting over seconds, I used a bit less sugar in the filling though, the mulberries are sweet already)
  

A Touch of the News

• Flooding in the Midwest was made worse by cornfields recently converted from CRP land and continued building on floodplains.

• New kitchen appliance allows you to scan empty containers and create a grocery list, and items are delivered to your door. It also reminds you which containers can be recycled. Sounds interesting, I wouldn't mind less trips to the grocery store, but I think delivery in my area is a way off.

• The debate over raw milk goes on. Supporters list the benefits and try to legalize selling it in all states, and the FDA lists the risks.

• Home Depot will now collect CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) for recycling. IKEA also collects them, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, you can search for your nearest recycling location at Recycleabulb.com.

• Greenpeace rated 18 major electronics companies in its Guide to Greener Electronics. Ratings are based on practices including using toxic materials, recycling programs, and political lobbying to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Quick Breads for Quick Breakfasts

Avoid the temptations of fat laden fast food for breakfast (McBreakfast, donuts, monster muffins...) by keeping some quick breads around. They are easy to make, store well (even freezing), are portable, are not greasy, and are cheaper than buying breakfast. The best ones hold together nice for one handed eating with limited crumb spillage.

“Quick breads are the friend of the busy breakfast lover. ... Even if you can't help eating on the run, at least you can add some whole grains and nutrients to your homemade goodies instead of buying food that is just dessert masquerading as breakfast.” Julie O'Hara (courtesy of an NPR interview)

Quick breads can have many different ingredients and flavors and come in the form of scones, muffins, biscuits, loaves or cornbread. For recipes see...

• My No-Waste Banana Bread

• Julie O'Hara's Banana-Raspberry Muffins with Almonds, Mango Colada Muffins, and Oat Scones with Dried Cherries and Walnuts

• Quick Bread Cookbooks

Not Just a Garnish: More Uses for Radish

My garden is now in summer mode, and the radish season is about over. We planted 'Easter Egg', a mix of white, red, and purple radishes, and enjoyed a good crop of crisp, tangy globes.

I love fresh sliced radishes on salads (with radish greens too, I've learned the tops are edible too!) but towards the end of the crop I was looking for more creative uses for these seasonal vegetables.

In this country we usually think of radishes as garnish, but there are many cultures (and recipes) out there that use radishes in different ways.

Refrigerator Pickled Radishes

(Adapted from IL- Extension)

1/2 pound radish- sliced or shredded
1 carrot shredded or diced
1 tablespoon canning salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Wash and slice or shred radishes and carrots. Put in a bowl with water, sprinkle salt and mix well.

2. Let set, and after 30 min, drain and squeeze dry

3. Combine vinegar, sugar and red pepper and combine with vegetables in a jar.
   

4. Refrigerate overnight. Will keep in the fridge about a month.
   

These pickled radishes are a treat! Crisp, sweet, tangy- they can be served as a snack or on sandwiches or salads.

A slightly different and quicker version of this would be Radish Salad.

Other Delicious Radish Ideas

• Stir Fry- Add sliced radishes to any stir fry (I made a really good one the other night with snow peas, radish, green onions and carrots- all fresh from the garden)
• Soups (greens and radishes) and Salads
  
• Braised, Sauteed, Broiled, Glazed
  

Please Don't Take My Bananas!

I eat a banana every morning first thing. If I'm in a hurry but starving I grab a banana for the road. I snack on trail mix with banana chips. Bananas are cheap, filling, easy to eat, extremely portable, and good for you. They don't have a very long shelf life, but there's always banana bread.

I have been ignoring the little green voice in my head that says bananas are not so good for the environment. After reading the article Yes, We Will Have No Bananas, I can ignore it no longer. I may have to start looking for a banana alternative, or save them for a special treat (Although, even at $1/lb they are still cheaper than most fruits, unless they are on sale. It's difficult to find a balance between convenience, price, and environmental benefits).

"ONCE you become accustomed to gas at $4 a gallon, brace yourself for the next shocking retail threshold: bananas reaching $1 a pound. At that price, Americans may stop thinking of bananas as a cheap staple, and then a strategy that has served the big banana companies for more than a century — enabling them to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite — will begin to unravel.

The immediate reasons for the price increase are the rising cost of oil and reduced supply caused by floods in Ecuador, the world’s biggest banana exporter. But something larger is going on that will affect prices for years to come.

That bananas have long been the cheapest fruit at the grocery store is astonishing. They’re grown thousands of miles away, they must be transported in cooled containers and even then they survive no more than two weeks after they’re cut off the tree. Apples, in contrast, are typically grown within a few hundred miles of the store and keep for months in a basket out in the garage. Yet apples traditionally have cost at least twice as much per pound as bananas..." More Interesting Banana Info

A Touch of the News

• Flip-Flops can lead to foot and leg problems if worn for extended periods of time, mostly because they make you walk funny. The flip flop shuffle sound familiar?

• Vegetable gardening increases due to food prices (and cause it's so much fun!).

• Pollution is now found in marine life 3,000 feet under the sea. We've now contaminated even the deepest darkest areas in the world.