Coping without an oven

The igniter (a.k.a. pilot light) in my oven gave up the ghost two weeks ago. Chuck did his part as the Engineer in the Family and did an Internet search to help locate the problem. He figured out what was wrong, decided what part it needed, and realized this was something he could not do himself. I give him credit for that. After that, he looked for the name of the appliance repair guy we’ve called in the past.

I handed him a can snuggy – not just any snuggy, mind you, but a souvenir snuggy from the appliance repair dude’ s last visit.

So anyway, we survived almost two full weeks without an oven. How? Well, I cooked supper in the crock pot three times – four times if you count the apple crisp recipe I made in the smaller crock while I cooked lamb stew in the big one. Lamb stew, tomato soup, and finally, chili kept the family tummies satisfied.

We grilled outside a couple of times, too. It’s just the end of autumn, and we can still light up the charcoal despite the chilly wind.

Then there’s the stove top and the microwave oven – stove still worked, as did the broiler. Those parts have their own ignition switches.

So anyway, we managed. Now that we have a working oven again, I baked cookies! Oatmeal raisin cookies never tasted so good. When those are gone, I’ll honor the season by making pumpkin cookies. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy meatloaf followed by baked mac and cheese and all the other dishes I craved during the oven outage.

Good thing it’s fixed. I’m planning a Minnesota Hotdish in a few weeks – recipe courtesy of Mr. Food’s Kitchen. Look out, Vikings! But first, Da Bears. We had pizza last time. Chi-town style hot dogs, maybe? Or bear claw pastry for breakfast? We’ll find something delicious and suitable for toasting Aaron Rodgers’ continued good health.

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October comes to a close

The last outdoor market

The last outdoor market!

We didn’t do much stocking up this time. Today’s market, the final outdoor market of the downtown season, was more about watching little kids in their Halloween costumes trick-or-treating at the various vendors, picking up a few things for tonight’s supper, and just enjoying the fresh air one more time.

I did buy apples for my lunches, lettuce for several days of salads, and kettle corn just for fun. We picked up a little cheese and honey just because we could, and Chuck picked out Moroccan squash soup and curried chicken salad from the little deli we like so much.

But on the way home, we stopped at the corner meat market, where the head butcher has joined the Eating the Opponent project. He looked at the Packers schedule (at New Orleans on Sunday Night Football) and decided to put Andouille sausage on sale. We had gumbo for supper tonight. Look out, Drew Brees, we’ve got the neighborhood butcher on our side!

So on we go – out of the summer, and into the fall, and eventually, on to the cruel world we call Wisconsin Winter. Our family, at least, will be well fed.

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Eating the Opponent – Miami

We made Cuban sandwiches a few seasons back. We joked about buying tuna not certified “dolphin safe.” I was ready to go with the Cuban again, but then I found something else.

And I have a staff meeting on Thursday after school.

How do these two go together? You might be surprised – or not. If I have supper in the crock pot on a staff meeting day, we’ll have something better than pizza delivery for supper. And this week, my friends, our Miami recipe works very well in a slow cooker.

Ropa Vieja, it’s called, and that translates literally as “Old Clothes.” When it’s done simmering for hours and hours, the end result resembles threads of old cloth. It’s much more descriptive than “beef simmered until it shreds.” Some recipes suggested serving on tortillas, but at least one said that it would not be authentic Cuban or Miami style on tortillas. Rice is the preferred side.

And so it goes – eating the opponent plus a staff meeting yields a good meal.

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Eating the Opponent: Minnesota

For newcomers: We have a fun culinary tradition in our family. During the NFL season, we look at the Packers schedule, see who they are playing, and then plan to “eat the opponent” by serving local fare – the other team’s local fare. It’s a little tougher for our North Division opponents because our Packers face them twice every year – three times if it happens again in the playoffs.

The Minnesota Vikings are probably settling in for a nice long nap downtown in my fair city right now as I’m blogging. Consider the following: It’s about a 45 minute drive from our downtown to Lambeau Field, Green Bay hotels often fill up as soon as the schedule is released in the spring, and what opponent wants to stay in Packerland City surrounded by cheeseheads, anyway? The jokes on them, really. We have as high a percentage of Cheeseheads as Green Bay itself. But I was talking about food.

My go-to default for Minnesota games is wild rice. I can cook it as a side dish, stir it into a hotdish, or just about anything. Wild rice is delicious. When former Packer Brett Favre donned the dreaded purple and played for the Vikings, we served turnovers for breakfast. Long time fans will understand. This time around, I was searching. Simply making wild rice on the side didn’t feel like enough.

I did a quick Internet search for Minnesota game – hunting game, that is. I printed a list of game animals that are hunted in Minnesota, tucked the list in my purse, and headed to a nearby corner meat market. Everyone should have a corner meat market. It’s just an awesome little place. But I was talking about Minnesota.

I bought a pound of ground elk meat. It was pricey, but can you put a price on a Packer victory? Never mind. Don’t answer that. I pondered the possibilities, and by the time I pulled in the driveway (5 minutes later) I’d decided: Elk chili.

At this moment, while the Vikings are staying in a hotel with a restaurant called Vince Lombardi’s Steakhouse, I’ve browned the elk meat and I’m cooking a pan of home grown tomatoes for sauce. It’ll simmer in the crock pot all day long while I’m in school. If I do this Wisconsin style, Amigo will add noodles to it late in the afternoon. And there you have it: Eating the Opponent — Minnesota, with a Wisconsin twist.

Go! Pack! Go!

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Kitchen Sink Stew or Pantry Raid?

When I was looking through Homecoming posts for yesterday’s encore, I stumbled upon an early Pantry Raid. This one had a “recipe” for what I called Skillet Stew. As I read it, I realized that I could make it, almost exactly as noted, with the foods in my pantry and kitchen today. And then I realized I’d made pantry raids a few times in the past few weeks.

There was the tomato soup. I realized that I had too many tomatoes for BLTs or salads, so I quartered them and loaded the crock pot. Chef Daisy added in a few herbs and a small onion, diced, along with a hint of garlic, and then it simmered all day. Upon arriving home from school, a potato masher squashed the tomatoes, an immersion blender blended the pulp and pulled out most of the skins, and it was almost soup. A little Worcestershire sauce took the edge off the sweetness of fresh tomatoes, and then a little powdered milk helped thicken it to soup consistency.

Mmm. A little grated cheddar and we had a Wow supper.

Later…I had a chicken rice soup that wasn’t a big hit. The broth was weak. So, with the brilliance of an experienced Kitchen Raider, I drained the soup in a colander. I then added what was left (chicken, rice, and vegetables) to a container of tomato soup. It was thick, tasty, and delicious.

Now, inspired by reviewing my old Skillet Stew, I can see that I might be able to use the leftover lamb chops for a Hunger Games style Lamb Stew. Let’s see if I can find dried fruit to represent the dried plums that Katniss liked. I don’t have any plums at the moment, and for a true raid, I should use what’s on hand here.

By the way: there was no Farmers’ Market today because of a huge celebration that our fair city calls Octoberfest. It’s okay; I have enough fruits and vegetables in the house to feed the family quite well this week, thank you very much.

And another aside: Eating the Opponent this week means Chicago style pizza from Papa Murphy’s take and bake. Sometimes I ask the pros to help out. 

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Updates

Life goes on, even when the blog isn’t working. Now that I can post again, here’s the update from Saturday’s market.

It's fall - apple season and more!

It’s fall – apple season and more!

I was on a field trip Monday to an urban farm in Milwaukee. They did the container gardening thing to extremes – awesome extremes. I think I need one of these.

Roll Out the Barrel

Roll Out the Barrel

I really liked this one.

We'll have a barrel of fun!

We’ll have a barrel of fun!

Oh, it feels good to be back online again. Bear with me, people. I may be a little punchy this week.

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And still more tomatoes!

You heard about last week’s tomato sauce marathon, but you didn’t see it in progress. It started like this: with four crock pots simmering.

one and two

one and two

three

three

and four.

and four.

Crock post number four has been officially retired. Rusted in spot, with one handle falling off, I decided it was done. I kept the crock (the pretty blue removable crock itself), but I threw out the heating element. The blue part might become a planter or a crock for kitchen utensils or – who knows? With Pinterest around, it could become just about anything.

Back to the tomato sauce – eventually, the sauces boiled down to two crocks full. I had already stirred it up with my immersion blender and sorted out the skins with a food mill. It made seven quart jars and three pints. Two of the quart jars didn’t seal, so they’re in the refrigerator. I’ll make spaghetti or pizza soon. Freshly made sauce is inspiring.

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Salsa season!

One of my go-to books for canning is Put ‘Em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton. The first time I made this, I had a lot of tomatoes, but we had to buy the jalapeno peppers. Mine were not growing very quickly – or they’re being eaten by the furry creatures that bounce through the yard. Maybe that’s why the bunny was collapsed under the rain barrel? Never mind. Just kidding. This year I had the opposite problem – loads of peppers before the tomatoes were ready.

Heirloom Tomato Salsa
1 cup distilled vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
3 pounds heirloom tomatoes (any kind – or a combination of types)
1/2 pound onions, diced
1 cup chopped cilantro (optional; I use very little if any cilantro.)
Bring the vinegar, sugar, and salt to a boil in a large nonreactive saucepan. Add the tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos, and return to a boil for 5 minutes. Add the cilantro and remove from the heat.
To preserve:
Either refrigerate (for up to 5 days) or use the hot-water method.
For the boiling water method:
Ladle into clean, hot, half-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Release trapped air. Wipe the rims clean; center lids on the jars and screw on jar bands. Process for 15 minutes. Turn off heat, remove canner lid, and let jars rest in the water for 5 minutes. Remove jars and set aside for 24 hours. Check seals, then store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.
I made a double batch Saturday night. I’ve made triple batches some years. It all depends on tomatoes and peppers and how they grow. No matter how much I make, we seem to eat it or cook with it. None goes to waste.

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Early Morning Marketing

The downtown Farmers’ Market is winding down a bit. It’ll continue through most of October with the last weekend of September off for the big Octoberfest celebration. We were awake and ready earlier than usual, so we loaded our pockets with parking meter change, grabbed the shopping bag on wheels, and headed downtown. Amigo was sound asleep; he didn’t even miss us.

We spent only half the time we’d plugged into the meter, but we managed to fill the bags with good food despite the shorter time period. Earlier than usual and cooler than usual, there were far fewer shoppers on the Avenue. We moved a little faster through the smaller crowds.

Those that were there found good deals on peppers, potatoes, apples, and the big fall seller, squash of all kinds. We bought acorn squash, butternut squash, and a little green and yellow zucchini squash, too. The big winter squashes will store well in our cool back hallway pantry. We’ve been able to store the thick-skinned squashes into December and even January some years. The thin-skinned zucchini will be supper tomorrow night.

So now, without further ado, here is one of the last batches of goodies from the market.

Mmmmm.

Mmmmm.

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Tomatoes, Tomahtoes

Everything currently in my life revolves around tomatoes. Saturday night – salsa. Sunday – a quick stop at a small farmers’ market yielded a BIG BOX of tomatoes for a very small price. Upon further review, I got a deal. A few are bruised, all are ripe, several have marks that make them unaesthetic, but they’re all ripe and fairly solid. Tonight, I load up the crock pots with tomatoes and start the sauce process.

Last week I brought a quart bag of cherry and yellow pear tomatoes to work. I knew some of my coworkers would enjoy nibbling on them throughout the day. Heck, I enjoy nibbling on cherry tomatoes all day when I’m at home! Someone else had gotten there ahead of me with big tomatoes! Well, ’tis the season.

In our closet-lounge

In our closet-lounge

I took it in stride by arranging all of the lovely tomatoes on a platter. By the end of the day, all were gone.

That brings me to a piece of educational philosophy for you.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is knowing not to serve it in a fruit salad.

And with that, I’ll go find my crock pots.

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