Refrigerator Pickled Beets

31 Jul

 

I recently got beets in my Sunizona Family Farms FarmBox and in my Bountiful Baskets organic basket, and instead of trading them away, I kept them and decided to try to find a way to use them.  Since the Refrigerator Pickles turned out successfully, I decided to see if I could pickle the beets in a similar manner.  Turns out you can, and it’s relatively easy.  And, after this process, my head is full of ideas on using the beets to color Easter eggs in the spring, similar to how I used onion skins this past Easter.  I’m excited!

 

Refrigerator Pickled Beets
Original recipe found here

What you need:

1 pound fresh beets
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cloves garlic

How to make it:

Remove greens from beets and wash well.  Place beets in a heavy pot and add enough water to cover beets in the pot.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to medium.  Cook for 25-30 minutes or until beets are fork tender.  Remove from water and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, place the remaining ingredients in saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar into the liquid.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Once beets have cooled, remove the outer skin of the beets.  It may be easy enough to peel off with your fingers, otherwise use a paring knife.  If you have smaller beets, they can be pickled whole; otherwise, slice the beets.  Place sliced beets in a jar or container.  Pour the pickling brine over the beets in the container and cover.  Place in refrigerator and leave for at least 5 days to allow the pickling process to occur.

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Basket Breakdown: 7/28/2012

30 Jul

I am very behind in posting!  I have been very busy in the kitchen making new things, plus getting ready for school to start (1 more week until one starts Kindergarten and the other starts part-time pre-school, yikes!), that I haven’t had much time to sit and type up everything.  I’m hoping to get caught up here in the next few days, or at least maybe in the next week or so.

So, this week’s Bountiful Baskets, I got a conventional basket ($15), an organic basket ($25), and a 25 pound bag of lentils ($20).  Here is how it all looked:

This was the conventional basket which had grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, red potatoes, baby carrots, red seedless grapes, peaches, mangoes, plums, Rainier cherries, Romaine lettuce, cantaloupe, and cucumber.  The baby carrots and grapes are almost all gone.  The red potatoes I will probably use to make mashed potatoes (with the skins) as a side for dinner one night.  The cucumber has already been made into Refrigerator Pickles, which are half gone.  Peaches, I may try to make peach fruit leather or will freeze.  Mangoes will most likely go into a fruit smoothie.

 

 

The organic basket contained broccoli, blueberries, plums, green seedless grapes, green bell peppers, peaches, beets, eggplant, tomatoes, cantaloupe, and radicchio.  I tried to make a slaw with the radicchio and some cabbage and carrots I had, but the radicchio is just so bitter and overpowering that it doesn’t taste all that great.  I think I will make Sesame Chicken again this week with the broccoli and some green pepper.

 

Finally, the 25 pound bag of brown lentils.  What on earth can you do with all those lentils?  Well, I love lentils in soup, especially Slow Cooker Spinach, Lentil, and Tortellini Soup.  They also can be used in place of ground beef, such as in spaghetti sauce.  I’m excited to get to explore more possibilities with the lentils!

 

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how case ends are distributed once everything is distributed evenly. I also volunteered and got an extra item for volunteering.

 

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New Booster Law for Arizona

24 Jul

On August 2, Arizona will become the 48th state to have what is referred to as a booster law.  Why call it a booster law?  Because this law will now include children in the age group where a booster seat is most likely the appropriate child restraint for them to use.  Currently, the law in Arizona states that children need to be in a child restraint until the age of 5.  The new law, taking effect on August 2, now adds that children between the age of 5 and 7, that are under a height of 4’10”, will need to be in a child restraint.

However, you know that saying that age is just a number?  Well, when it comes to boosters, age, height, and weight are just numbers.  The best way to know if your child should still use a booster seat is the 5 Step Test from SafetyBeltSafe USA:

The 5-Step Test

1. Does the child sit all the way back against the auto seat?
2. Do the child’s knees bend comfortably at the edge of the auto seat?
3. Does the belt cross the shoulder between the neck and arm?
4. Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the thighs?
5. Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?

If you answered no to any of those questions, your child still needs a booster seat.  Boosters help make sure the seat belt goes across the strongest parts of your child’s body for better protection in a crash.  They are relatively inexpensive, most backless boosters are $20 or less.

 

Do you live in another state or will be travelling through another state, and are unsure of the child restraint laws there?  Click here to see a summary of the laws in each state.

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Kale Pesto

24 Jul

So, what do you do when you start making pesto and realize you don’t have enough basil?  Use some of the kale in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator, of course!  That’s what I did tonight, and luckily it was a success!

 

Kale Pesto

What you need:

1 1/2 cups kale, removed from stems
3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, optional (I omitted them)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

How to make it:

Blend the kale, basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor until nearly smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Drizzle the remaining olive oil into the mixture while processing until smooth.

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Lots of Produce!

22 Jul

This week, since I wasn’t going to be able to pick up a basket from Bountiful Baskets (I was doing a community car seat check at the same time), I didn’t participate this week.  So, I decided to once again pick up a FarmBox at Sunizona Family Farms again this week.  Instead of a standard box, I chose to get a Custom Box.  This means, that I went through their Web Store of items they currently have available to build my own box.  I selected 1 package Baby Heirloom Lettuce, 1 bunch Carrots, 1 Cucumber – Seedless, 1 head Purple-tinted Broccoli, 2 bunches Radish, 1 Squash – Patty Pan, 1 Big Ol’ Beef Tomato, 1 loaf Bread – Sprouted Khorasan Plus, and 1 1.5 lb bag Peaches – Sierra Rich.  My total was $28.25.  Here is how it all looked (also shown is a zucchini they gave me when I got there):

I was again happy with all that I got.  The peaches were not grown on their farm, but are from an orchard near them, Briggs & Eggers,  that is organic as well.  They are AMAZING peaches!  Very fresh and juicy.  The bread is again very good, this bread has added seeds and grains on top (hence, the Plus in the name), similar to the 9 grain bread that I usually get from Bountiful Baskets.  My husband immediately came home and used the bread to make a grilled cheese sandwich, also with the Big Ol’ Beef tomato.  I’m looking for a recipe to use the patty pan squash.  I’ve never had it, but I’m sure it’s similar to other squash.  Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to drive over this upcoming week, but I’m hoping to the week after.

After we were done at the farm, we headed to Willcox on the other side of I-10 to go to an orchard.  I had wanted to go to Briggs & Eggers, but we had already been in the car enough that I decided on Apple Annie’s, which also has some other goodies (homemade fudge!).  Right now, it’s peach harvest time, so we went through the orchard with a bucket and picked peaches right off the trees.  I ended up with about 9 lbs of peaches, which cost $14.

 

I will make a Peach Crisp and hopefully, some Peach Fruit Leather.  If I don’t get to make the fruit leather, I will probably freeze the peaches and make the fruit leather another time.  I haven’t had a chance to try one yet, but they look delicious.

Then, after getting all of that, I stopped in at Safeway and got even more produce!  They had 2 lb containers of blueberries for $5 again, plus lots of other produce on sale, along with my Just 4 U personalized deals, including a 20% off produce one time use coupon.  I spent $15.84, and here is what I got:

 

It is 1.41 lb broccoli crowns, 2.54 lb red seedless grapes, 1.39 lb black plums, 4 limes, 2 bunches radishes, 2.98 lb Gala apples, 1 head iceberg lettuce, 2 2-lb bags of baby carrots, and 2 lb blueberries.  Can you tell we like radishes in my house?  Well, I’m not a big fan, but my husband and 2 daughters are.  My youngest was excited to see plums, and half a bag of baby carrots is already gone between her and my older daughter munching on them.  Now, I would have preferred more of this to be organic since I’m trying to purchase more organic, but right now, my budget isn’t allowing it.  However, I’m still getting more produce in the house and snacking on this, not chips or other junk, so we’re getting there.  Baby steps, right?

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Cherry Apple Fruit Leather

19 Jul

My kids love fruit snacks and roll ups, but most are so full of crap, that I don’t like to buy them.  So, in trying to use up my cherries, I decided to give fruit leather a try.  It was pretty easy to put together, it was just the time in the oven to dry it out.  It would be a lot faster with a food dehydrator, but I don’t have one right now.  I’m working on figuring out how to use other fruits to make this in the future.  The original recipe I found just used cherries and also had sugar, but since I didn’t want to use sugar, I decided to use some applesauce I had in the freezer to add some more sweetness.  Although, honestly, the cherries I got were sweet enough, they probably wouldn’t need sugar.  If you use tart cherries, you will probably want to add sugar for sweetness, but you could probably substitute honey to give it a more natural sweetness.

 

Cherry Apple Fruit Leather
Original recipes here and here

What you need:

4 cups cherries, stems and pits removed (I used a whole bag, which was about 2 1/4 lbs of cherries)
1/2 cup Homemade Applesauce (alternatively, you could core, peel, slice, and chop an apple or 2 to cook with the cherries)
1/4 cup water
1/4 – 1/2 cup sugar or honey, depending on your desired level of sweetness

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 170 F, or the lowest setting your oven will go.  For me, this was 200 F.

Place cherries (and chopped apples) in a large pot with the water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until fruit starts to break down, about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a blender to puree well, then return to the pot.  Or, keep in the pot and use an immersion blender to puree fruit.

Add applesauce and/or the sugar or honey, and stir well.  Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens.

Line a jelly roll pan or baking sheet with raised sides with parchment paper, plastic wrap, or a silicone baking mat (I used plastic wrap).  Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to use 2.

Spread the fruit mixture as thinly and evenly as possible.  The thicker it is, the longer it will take to dry out. (Note: in the picture below, I also have a pan of whole cherries that I was attempting to dry out as well.  They have taken much longer because I left them whole.)

Place pan(s) in the preheated oven.  If using 2 pans, be sure to rotate every hour.  Let sit in the low heat oven for 3-6 hours, or until fruit mixture is just slightly tacky.  Remove and allow to cool.

Cut the fruit leather into smaller pieces, as desired.  I used a pizza cutter to make a cut in the middle lengthwise, then cut into 1″ strips.  The pizza cutter cut the plastic wrap as well, so I kept it on to help prevent the roll from sticking to itself.  I used twist ties to hold the rolls together, you could also use string.  Store in an airtight container, and it should be good for a few weeks.

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Kale Carrot Peach Juice

17 Jul

I’ve been trying to use my juice extractor more, so with getting kale this week from Bountiful Baskets, I decided to try a juice with kale in it.  In searching for other vegetables and fruits to juice along with it, I found that carrots and apples were a good combination with kale.  I had carrots, but no apples.  I did, however, have some peaches, so decided to give it a try.  This is my first juice using vegetables, and I thought it tasted pretty good.  My 3-year-old thought it was good too, but my husband and 5-year-old turned it down.

Kale Carrot Peach Juice

What you need:

1 bunch kale
2 medium or 1 large carrot
4 peaches, pits removed

How to make it:

Remove kale leaves from the stem and push leaves through juice extractor, using the carrot to push the leaves through.  Follow with the carrots, then peaches.  Serve over ice.

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Cherry Lime Chiller

17 Jul

 

Oh, this was yummy!  My kids are loving all the fun drinks we’ve been making lately, like the Watermelon Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonade Chiller, I’ve made recently.  This Cherry Lime Chiller was no exception, it was great!  This time, I added no sugar, and it didn’t need it, it was sweet and tart with the cherries and limes as is.  I have plenty of cherries still, but will either have to go get more limes or try it with lemon juice next time!

 

Cherry Lime Chiller

What you need:

4 cups frozen pitted cherries
1/2 cup frozen lime juice (I froze the lime juice in ice cube trays previously, and used this)
1 cup water
Ice cubes (I used 4 cubes that were about 1 oz each)

How to make it:

Add cherries and water to blender; puree until smooth.  Add in frozen lime juice and ice cubes to blender, and blend until smooth.  Serve immediately.

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Basket Breakdown 7/14/2012

16 Jul

This week I went a little crazy with contributing!  I got the conventional basket for $15, the Bountiful Baskets Granola for $15, the organic 9 grain bread for $12, and the 18 lb case of cherries for $24.

Here is this week’s conventional basket:

We got red corn, cauliflower, tomatoes, kale, radishes, yellow squash, honeydew, peaches, bananas, black velvet apricots (also called pluots), and blueberries.  The blueberries and radishes were gone within an hour of me being home.  I had hoped to maybe make some Radish Dip, but my kids were happy eating all the radishes, so it’s ok.  I may make Yellow Squash Casserole since I have a lot of it now.  I will be making a cauliflower pizza crust again this week.  Not sure about the red corn yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

Here is how the granola looks.  It’s just as yummy as it looks!  This granola has oats, honey, canola oil, roasted & salted cashews, dates, diced pineapple, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and almond & vanilla flavor.

 

Finally, the case of Washington cherries.  They are so good!  I’ll be freezing most of them, probably make some desserts and maybe try out cherry limeade.

 

 

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how case ends are distributed once everything is distributed evenly. I also volunteered and got an extra item for volunteering.

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Eggplant Bruschetta

14 Jul

I had a medium-sized eggplant from Bountiful Baskets and a small eggplant from my trip to Apple Annie’s yesterday, and I was searching for a way to make it.  I finally decided on a little  twist on bruschetta.  Most bruschettas that I have had, the tomato, basil, and mozzarella are cold, but I decided to make this hot and with the cheese melted.  It turned out really well!

Eggplant Bruschetta

What you need:

1 medium eggplant
Olive oil
Salt
3 tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut the tops and ends off of eggplant and slice.  Line a baking sheet with foil, and lay eggplant slices out in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Brush or spray both sides of the eggplant with olive oil and season with salt to taste.  Bake in the preheated oven for 10 – 15 minutes.  Note: You could also grill the eggplant instead of roasting in the oven.

Meanwhile, chop tomatoes, removing seeds.  Mix together in a small bowl with the basil.

Remove eggplant from oven and turn oven to broil.   On each piece, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, then top each piece with some of the tomato mixture.  Finally, put mozzarella on each one.

Place eggplant on the pan 6 inches from the broiler, and heat about 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned.

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