January FotM: [Healthy] Soups and Stews

Happy New Year!  ….a little late, we know.

We’re trying our best to start the new year off right, but with all of the snow we’ve had in the Chicagoland area, we still want our comfort foods!  For us that means lots of soups and stews, which can sometimes get a little fat-filled and calorie dense.  So, this month, we’re talking about healthier versions of these classic comfort foods.

check out our recipe for

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Rosemary & Chipotle

Storage

Soups, stews and stocks should always be cooled before refrigerating or freezing to prevent the growth of harmful bacterias.  You can do this by placing the pot of soup directly into a sink full of ice water (being careful not to dump the soup, or water it down, of course!), or by allowing it to cool in the storage container on the counter.  After cooling, soup can be kept refrigerated for about 3 days or frozen up to 6 months (any longer and you risk freezer burn).  Be sure to leave about ½” of headspace when freezing to allow for expansion.

Of course, stocks and many soups can be pressure canned as well.  When canning, be sure to use only recipes written for canning and to follow them exactly, otherwise you run the risk of botulism and other foodborne illnesses.

Recipes

There are so many wonderful recipes available in a variety of places.  Here are a few of our favorite places to dig around for good recipes:

• MarthaStewart.com
• WholeLiving.com
• TastyKitchen.com
• Pinterest.com (Kassy has a pinboard dedicated entirely to soups and stews and a bunch of soup/stew recipes on her “recipes I love” board)
• Kassy has a post about canning chicken stock on her blog

Make it HEALTHY!

Most often, recipes for soups and stews are very forgiving and easy to tweak.  You can easily make small changes to recipes to cut the fat and calories without sacrificing the flavor by:

• reducing the oil/butter (sometimes you can get away with only using half!) or replacing half (or all, if you can get away with it) of the butter/oil for healthier oils such as coconut oil or avocado oil
• reduce heavy cream when called for or substitute with a lower fat milk, or even better, almond milk…  in some cases, when making a “cream of” vegetable soup, you can even get away with omitting any dairy at all as long as you give it a good blend (as our favorite broccoli soup demonstrates)

What’s your favorite soup recipe?

December's food of the month: Cookies!!!

Happy National Cookie Day! (Well, yesterday now...)

The holidays are upon us and with them come the arrival of lots of treats (and stretchy-waisted pants, gotta love leggings and yoga pants!)…  more specifically, COOKIES!  In the coming weeks, we’ll share some of our favorite recipes along with a few that are new to us.  

Mint meringue cookies from Tinsnips and Scissors

Storage

Many cookie doughs can be made ahead of time then refrigerated or frozen until you’re ready to use them.  The general rules are as follows:

• Chunky cookies (anything with chips, fruit or nuts), drop cookies, or cookies that you roll into balls before baking should be portioned as if to bake, then frozen.  Once frozen, the dough balls should be placed in an air-tight bag or container for storage.  Bake them all, or just one or two at a time.
• Slice-and-bake cookies (like shortbread) can be pressed into a log, then wrapped in parchment or waxed paper and stored in freezer bags.  Allow these to thaw in the fridge for a few hours prior to baking or give them at least a few minutes to warm up so they don’t crumble when you start slicing them.
• cookie dough can be frozen in discs (like you would do for a pie crust).  Again, allow to thaw for a few hours in the fridge if possible, or for a few minutes on the counter top.
• Most cookies will take a minute or two longer to bake after being frozen.
• Most cookie dough can be frozen for up to three months.

(reference: thekitchn.com)

When storing the cookies after baking

• Be sure to allow them to cool completely, then layer them between sheets of parchment or waxed paper.  
• Cookies will stay crisp and fresh longer in metal tins rather than plastic storage containers.  
• If you plan to give them as a gift in a cardboard box, be sure to line it with parchment or waxed paper.  
• Keep crisp and soft cookies in separate containers (the crispness of cookies can be restored by heating in a 300° oven for about ten minutes).  

(reference: marthastewart.com)

Recipes

There are hundreds of thousands of cookie recipes available around the world.  Pinterest is a good place to start your search for a cookie recipe that will suit your tastes.  MarthaStewart.com has TONS of recipes along with a plethora of cookie related knowledge that will get you through just about any holiday cookie crisis.

What’s your favorite cookie recipe?  Let us know and leave a comment!

November's food of the month: Cranberries

Now that we're well into autumn and through the first of the BIG holidays... and just about pumpkined out... it's time to move on to another flavor of the season: Cranberry! YUM.

With a complex, tart flavor cranberries are very versatile: delicious dried on their own, spread across a roast or starring in a dessert, it's no wonder that people love cranberries so much.

Growing/Harvest

While the idea of growing your own cranberries sounds wonderful…  it isn’t very likely that you’d be able to.  Cranberries thrive in very specific conditions, needing acid peat soil, a growing season from April through November and lots of fresh water (really, they need marshland).  This is one case where we’re going to recommend that  you don’t attempt this without extensive research and go ahead and buy them when they’re at their peak…  which happens to be right about now.

If you are interested in learning to grow your own cranberries, this website is a good place to start your research:  How Cranberries Grow: "Cranberries 101" - An Introduction

Storage

Fresh cranberries can be stored in their original plastic bag, or in an airtight container, in the fridge for up to two weeks or in the freezer for up to one year (do not thaw them before using, simply rinse and go ahead and use them as usual).

Preserving

Cranberries can be preserved in a number of ways.  As we stated above, they can be frozen for quite a long time, but dehydrating or canning gives them an even longer shelf life.

Dried fruit can keep for up to five years if stored in an airtight container (vacuum sealing is even better) and kept at temperatures at or below 70° F, but will last indefinitely when stored in the freezer.  Check out these instructions for dried cranberries.

Canned cranberries can be kept safely for 1-2 years.  The domed lid on a canning jar, the color  and the smell of the contents are your most sure signs of freshness.  But, when in doubt, throw it out.  We will be sharing a cranberry canning recipe or two this month.

Recipes

There are so many, many uses for cranberries and there are tons of cranberry recipes available online.  Throughout November, we’ll test a few and let you know what we think of them.  If there’s something you’d like us to try this month, let us know and we’ll do our best to try it out for you.

Any questions or thoughts?  Let us know and leave a comment!

October's food of the month: Pumpkin and winter squash

Autumn brings changing leaves, a chill to the air and pumpkin spiced *everything*.  Our recent Trader Joe's shopping trip proves this.  I'm pretty sure that 7 out of the ten things I bought were pumpkin flavored.  Nom!

So, rather than encouraging you to go out and buy a bunch of pumpkin flavored stuff, let's learn to grow and make stuff together...

This month we're going to talk about pumpkins,

butternut squash, acorn squash and delicata squash.

So you don't have to "gourd" yourself on information, we've done some of the legwork for you:

Growing/Harvest

The growing conditions for pumpkins and winter squash are very similar.  Generally, it's a good idea to start seeds indoors 2-4 weeks before the last spring frost and the soil should be warm before transplanting (this means around Mother's Day in the Midwest).  Pumpkins and winter squash will be happiest in nutrient-rich soil and when watered frequently (daily or every-other day).

Storage

After you bring your pumpkin/squash home, store it out of direct sunlight and, if displaying outside, cover them with a towel or blanket to fight against frost if the temperature drops below freezing (32°).  Be sure to keep your pumpkins and squash on straw or cardboard, avoid concrete or linoleum, and they can keep for 3 to 6 months if stored properly (visit http://allaboutpumpkins.com/storing.html for more information).

Pumpkin growing/harvest/storage information from almanac.com

Winter squash growing/harvest/storage information from almanac.com

Preserving

We don’t want to squash anyone’s dreams but, it’s not safe to can any kind of squash, unless it’s pickled… so freezing is probably your best option here.  Fortunately, it freezes *very* well.  Here are a few ways to do so…

• purees (http://www.pickyourown.org/freezing_pumpkin.htm)
• cube, blanch then freeze
• butters

Recipes

There is an abundance of pumpkin/squash recipes available online.  In the coming weeks, we’ll try out a few and let you know what we think of them.  If there’s something you’d like us to try this month, let us know and we’ll do our best to try it out for you.

Any questions or thoughts?  Let us know and leave a comment!

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