Give me a cast iron, some butter, and a glacial lake!

Skillet fries with herbs and scapes and 

lentil burgers with balsamic pesto spread

All I needed were some trusty cast iron skillets, carefully planned food and a heck of a view to make lunch yesterday for 10 lovely members of my family in Glacier Park!

We go camping at Glacier National Park at least once a summer with my parents and brothers, although one was conspicuously absent due to a "gig" and the fair. This year I was determined to help in meal prep as last year I left my father to most of the duties (which to his credit, he still did follow, and he is such a great cook!)

We knew we would not be at our camp site but at Lake McDonald, one of the most beautiful glacial lakes in the world, in my opinion (although my travel scope is rather limited.) I planned on something with my little Coleman stove and something fairly quick to hungry swimmers and boaters.

I decided on camping fires (an idea from a friend of mine that camps far more often than I do) with garlic scapes and other herbs and lentil burgers, items I have created on my own, but for ease this time around I ordered from my CSA the week before our trip (someone there makes them, joy!) For the lentil burger I made a balsamic pesto from scratch to lather on the buns as the burgers were served, and they were delish!

Herbed Camp Fries with Scapes

Here's what I did. Take as many potatoes as you think you'll need for fries (I used 4 large russets and it was plenty for 10 people.) Cut them into french fry shapes and par boil them briefly, until not rock hard but not mushy. Put them in a big zipper plastic bag, add a cup or two of garlic scapes and chopped green onions, chopped fresh parsley, salt, pepper, and a few big gobbs of butter. 

When ready to cook these beauties, I heated my cast iron on medium heat, through them in and occasionally turned until cooked and brown, num!

Lentil Burgers with Montzarella and a Balsamic Pesto

I bought premade patties, although you can find recipes for these beauties all over the place online. I bought the buns, although I have premade in the past. I did, however, order Lifeline dairy Montzarella (absolutely delsih, by the way.) I also premade a balsamic pesto, which is essentially pesto but when you add in the olive oil, add in a few tablespoons of balsamic too. I toasted buns, heated patties on the cast iron, without worrying about doneness because they were not meat. I melted cheese, threw them on buns and slathered the pesto on top of the inside of the bun. Now I will admit by over zealousness led to a few burgers cold on the inside, but still fabulous and filling to boot! All in all, we filled 10 people for around $18, and made some great memories to boot!

Summer Squash Fritters for the Win and Homemade Hangover Food

Squash Fritters and a Roasted Chicken on Whole Wheat Biscuit with Fresh Pesto Sandwich

A beautiful mountain setting can lead to way too much fun.

Our family spends a lot of time in the woods, and this past weekend was no exception. We were with family at a reunion in the woods outside Lincoln, Montana and as we readied ourselves to leave, we needed to create a dinner Friday night. I knew there would be copious amounts of meat at the reunion, so we decided to stay on the veggies until we visited. 

Our CSA delivery Friday came with our first batch of summer squash, a little yellow crookneck and a green monster that was definitely not a zucchini. I thought and thought and eventually remembered a recipe I had seen in an organic cookbook that compiled recipes by season, not by category. I decided we would make squash fritters, and after we did, they were so salty, cheesy, delicious that no one needed the leftover pork chop I refried alongside just in case. 

Summer Squash Fritters

 Ingredients: * means its local

2 regular sized summer squash, grated *

1/2 an onion, diced *

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg *

handful fresh parsley, chopped *

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole wheat flour *

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup oil for frying in a cast iron pan, I did half camelina oil, half olive oil

Grate your squash and toss the salt into it. Mix it together with your hands and put it in a colander to drip off the moisture. Let sit at least 10 minutes.  

Squeeze out the excess liquid of the squash and then put it in a bowl. Add in the onion, cheese, parsley, beaten egg, salt and pepper and mix together.

Add your flour and baking powder mixture to the squash and mix thoroughly. It was very sticky, not soupy, but sticky. 

Heat your oil in a cast iron pan at medium heat. I used a cookie disher to plop little fritters in the oil. I let them cook about 4-6 minutes a side but had to keep checking them.

When done, they were brown and crispy on the outside, but soft and cheesy on the inside, like hash browns, but without potatoes. They did not taste squashy at all either!

Hangover Food aka Chicken in a Biscuit with Pesto

Needless to day, I had too much fun in the woods and spent most of Sunday hurting for it. The breakfast at our reunion of sugar and more sugar did not sound very appetizing after my dinner date the night before with margaritas.

Back in my youngster days of the 20's I loved good hangover food, greasy, salty, fatty, usually McDonalds, to make things right again. Now that we've sworn off the big McD, what now? (Irony, I know, that I'll drink alcohol but not eat fast food, well I picked my poison, and yes, I paid for it in spades.)

I decided on something else delicious, salty, sort of fatty, and delicious. 

By the time I'd righted myself Sunday I attacked a chicken in my fridge.  Actually, I coated it in olive oil, fresh parsley, lemon juice and minced garlic. I sprinkled it with salt. I roasted it at 375 degrees for about an hour and a half, occasionally adding butter to its crispy top. When it was done,  I peeled off all the beautiful skin and ate it immediately, forgetting about McD's all together.

I baked biscuits. Whole wheat, home made biscuits based on this recipe: Fluffy Biscuits 

I made pesto from fresh basil from our CSA. I used this recipe and ate much of it with my fingers when done:Walnut Pesto.

When all were done, about one hour 45 minutes later, after the chicken rested, I made sandwiches. Pesto, on each inside piece of the biscuit, hot roast chicken, and lusted after the greasy goodness. 

I felt amazing after. God bless good hangover food!

 

 

 

Find yourself some good tortillas!

The Tortilla Guy at the Farmer's Market and 

Black Bean and Chard Quesadillas

Good tortillas can step into so many different roles!

We have been out of good tortillas since we stopped doing Bountiful Baskets a few months ago. We had purchased 72 tortillas in one haul and froze most of them, thawing the corn and flour tortillas as we needed them. We used them for wraps, quesadillas, corn chips, crispy pizzas, and anything else you could think of to use bread, but with less real estate.

Last week, we discovered the tortilla guy at our Helena Farmer's Market. He had a booth, laden with tasty goodness of spinach and herb, corn flour, garden veggie, and whole wheat tortillas. We grabbed the spinach and herb and garden veggie to try and they have been so soft, delicious and versatile. Next trip to the market, we're storing up and freezing some!

Tonight we used the spinach and herb tortillas to make a delicious treat for dinner:

Black Bean and Rainbow Chard Quesadillas on Spinach and Herb Tortillas

Ingredients: * means its local (served myself and three kids)

3 spinach and herb tortillas *

1 cup sliced or shredded sharp cheddar cheese *

2 cups chopped rainbow chard greens *

1/2 cup cooked black beans *

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees. On a cookie sheet put down your three tortillas and put a little less than a third cup of cheese down on half the tortilla. On top of the cheese put chopped rainbow chard down, a palm full of cooked black beans, and smidge more cheese on top. Fold your tortilla in half and bake for 8-10 minutes, keeping an eye to make sure nothing burns.

Nourishing Picnic at Moose Creek, Montana

Scratch pulled pork on Homemade Buns, 

Coleslaw and Potato Salad

A nourishing meal for my legion of men!

 

We have had the awful luck as of late to be in a terrible heat wave, as has much of America. It is very odd in Montana, even in our little valley at an elevation of 4000 feet, to be so hot and so dry. We recently discovered, with thanks to an old acquaintance of mine from high school, a cool oasis to the west of our little valley, up in the mountains before the continental divide, called Moose Creek. 

We've been there three times in the past two weeks, swimming in the creek and wandering about, and tonight we decided to pack a heck of a picnic and take along dinner for kings.

My first goal when we decided to picnic and to invite my brother in law with was to make something yummy without grocery shopping. This is an off week for us where we made the goal not to hit the store. I went through our freezer, cupboards, and fridge, and decided upon pulled pork sandwiches (we had frozen pork shoulder) cooked in a scratch BBQ sauce (I didn't have any premade), homemade buns (I didn't have any premade), potato salad with homemade mayonnaise and coleslaw with my overabundance of cabbage.

Here's How I did it with a notice of about a day:

Step 1) Buns

I didn't have any. I had to make some. With it being so hot and my house having no air conditioning, I baked them the night before, and here is the recipe I used, except with whole wheat flour, and I halved the recipe to make eight hot dog like buns.

Hot Dog Buns recipe 

Step 2) Mayonnaise

Surprise! I didn't have any of this either, but I do keep eggs and oil and made my own to use in potato salad, coleslaw, and other things! Here is the recipe I used for mayonnaise, but I quadrupled it:

Homemade Mayonnaise

   

Step 3) Potato Salad

I have never eaten this before, so I surveyed to friends and recipes and I came up with this:

Ingredients: * means its local

4 cups of baby red potatoes, cut into half inch pieces and boiled until soft, but not falling apart, then chilled*

1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise *

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 

pinch pepper

8 basil leaves, minced *

8 mint leaves, minced *

Mix these pretty things together in a bowl you can pack covered in a cooler.

Step 4) Coleslaw

Again, have never eaten it before, but tried something and it was not bad!

Ingredients: * means it local

2 cups shredded cabbage *

1/4 cup homemade mayonnaise *

1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard

1 teaspoon honey

Mix it together, seal it up!

Step 5) Scratch Pulled Pork

I did not have BBQ sauce, I did have the things to make it. 

Ingredients: * means its local

1 pork shoulder roast *

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup molasses

1 onion, cuts into rings *

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Put all things in the crock pot, turn on low and let sit for ten hours. Then drain off the liquid, pull the pork. I carried my pork to our picnic in the ceramic container and a warming cover that came with the crock pot.

We served our pork alongside coleslaw in the buns!

  

 

   

Experiments in Pesto

Pesto Pizza, Pesto Lamb Chops, and Pesto Cream over Peas

A very green Friday night dinner of totally local and homemade pesto pizza with bacon and tomatoes and raw snap peas. We even had green mint tea to go with! Long live green!

After buying a pound of beautiful basil from our local co-op, I knew immediately I had to make pesto. I was a pesto virgin, and my first try was a decent success! I have, so far, only used half a pound of basil and have more pesto to make today, but with so much beautiful goodness, I had to share how we've used it so far!

To make my pesto, I chose to use walnuts instead of pine nuts, for no reason other than they are less expensive. This is the recipe from Food.com that I used as my base: http://www.food.com/recipe/basil-walnut-pesto-45348. I doubled it and it still turned out yummy.

Pesto Use Recipe #1: Pesto Pizza with Bacon and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 cup pesto

4 ounces (half a small container) of sour cream

2 tablespoons good olive oil

Raw, unbaked Pizza dough, either home made or bought from a bakery, I used a pita bread recipe and added flax seeds:

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm

two cups grated cheese of your choosing-we used raw milk cheddar and paremsan

precooked bacon pieces

1 fat tomato

We cut the pita dough into individual serving sizes when the rise was complete, it turned out they made about 8 little balls. We flattened them out, coated them in some good olive oil, and then in a bowl mixed the sour cream and pesto together.

We used the sour cream and pesto mix as sort of a pesto Alfredo mix. I ate a lot of it off the spoon. It was amazing. Each little pizza got about 2 tablespoon of the pesto cream, then some grated cheese, bacon pieces and a few slices of tomatoes. I baked them on cookie sheets for twenty minutes at 425 degrees, watching them closely. 

Pesto Use Recipe #2: Pesto Crusted Lamb Chops

Ingredeints:

8 lovely little lamb chops

8 tablespoons pesto

2 tablespoons butter

Rub each side of the thawed lamb chops with about a half tablespoon pesto a piece. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium high heat and turn your oven on to 450 degrees. When heated, melt butter in the skillet and sear each side of your pesto lamb for about 2 minutes a piece. Transfer your cast iron skillet to your oven and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes. Five minutes for rare, seven for a little more well done.

They were so delicious our two year old begged for the bones to munch on. Seriously.

Pesto Use Recipe #3: Pesto Cream over Butter Poached Peas

Ingredeints:

2 cups fresh garden peas

2 tablespoon butter

Warmed Pesto Cream

Pesto cream :

1/2 cup pesto

2 tablespoons plain whole fat yogurt

2 tablespoon sour cream

Saute your peas in melted butter until soft (about 5-7 minutes). Microwave your pesto cream for about 45 seconds. Spoon cream over peas for a sweet, tangy and springy treat!

 

 

Nurturing Corn and Sausage Muffins-They are POSSIBLE!

What's for Dinner on the Fourth?

Ooooooooh, its basil season friends, and in our home, it goes in everything!

 (Yes, even corn dog batter)

Today, we returned from a few days with family near Beaver Creek, Montana, and we were suffering from our lack of our "normal" food. The time with extended family was lovely, but meals of premade donuts, chips, and other things unnatural hurt some tummies. Most notably, my four year old, a normally sweet, chipper and charming little man grew quickly exhausted in the heat, ate nothing but chips and before you could say "oops" was vomiting everywhere.

We knew this would happen, but there is still a part of me that wants our kids to be able to experiment with their food choices, even if it means getting sick. Needless to say, when we left Beaver Creek and arrived at our next "base"-my parents house-we gleaned their garden and quickly gorged on garlic scapes, fresh strawberries, hot foccacia bread and roasted red potatoes. After a good meal and 13 hours sleep, our little guy was right as rain.

After all of the turmoil, today I made the mistake of asking my boys what they wanted to fourth of July dinner. My six year old adamantly responded in favor of corn dogs. Those things, I dislike, muchly. Not that I hate the concept, but I hate the gas station memories of them in college. Like all other gross foods, I decided to modify, and without a fryer (or corn meal-oops), we came up with the most delicious alternative.

  

Corn Muffins with Sausages, Spring onions and Basil 

Ingredients: *-denotes a local ingredient

Makes 8 heaping Muffins (for us 1 a person with a large salad was plenty)

1 cup all purpose but unbleached flour *

3/4 cup whole wheat flour *

1/2 cup crushed corn flakes (I was out of corn meal and while these were not deal, they were organic and turned out to be a fab addition!) 

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup cooked corn kernals *

1/4 cup chopped greens of spring onions *

6-7 basil leaves, minced *

1 pastured egg *

1 cup whole milk *

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons of butter *

4 good quality sausages, tonight it was beer brautwurst from the Montana City meats man *

Turn your oven on to 400 degrees and put your sausages in a pan to precook them a bit, just to be safe, while you ready your other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. In a second bowl, beat the egg with a fork, add the milk and oil, and then combine your wet group with the dry ingredients, mixing until combined.

Use your butter to grease 8 muffin tins. Remove your sausages from the oven and cut them into quarters. Put a spoon of batter down in each muffin cup, put two sausage pieces on top, then another spoon of muffin batter. It should stay contained for the most part, but in baking will spill out a bit as it rises and puffs.

Bake your muffins at 400 degrees for 18 minutes, watching them so they do not get to looking burned. They will puff over the tins, remember. Let them sit a bit and then pop them out with a fork on the bottom.

My kids loved eating them dipped in some ketchup, holding them in their hands. We served them alongside a huge salad of turnips, radishes, and romaine lettuce under a peanut sauce dressing. It was prefect!

 

Another Look at Salad with a Grilled Medly with Scapes

Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad 

with Scapes and Garden Turnips

My own food with my own camera for a change! This is how we arranged our grilled salad and sausages, and yes, each of my kids ate it, loved it, and claimed a favorite part!

We may have been taking a break from greens in our family, but that doesn't prevent our farmers from producing them and sending them my way through my coop basket. We were gifted more this week, including a large head of Napa cabbage, a soft head of dark romaine, and spring mix. We are trying to eat locally and seasonally so we can not and will not shirk our new beauties. We are, instead, being creative.

Last night I concocted a surprisingly crowd pleasing version of "salad." Along with more greens in our basket, we received scapes and garden turnips. I did not know what scapes were until I saw and tasted them, then looked them up on Epicurious.. They are curly green stems from the tops of garlic, and can be cooked many different ways, grilled, sauteed and even raw. I took a bet that the turnips could go the way of the grill too, as it was 90 degrees in East Helena, Montana last night and I was not going to use the kitchen. Here's how I did it, and made some children and a husband very surprised.

Ingredients: * means its local

10 garlic scapes *

1 garden turnip, sliced into 1/2 inch or thinner slices *

6-8 Napa cabbage leaves, cut in half *

1/2 red onion, cut into rings

2 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste (about 1 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon salt for us)

8 minced basil leaves *

About 2 tablespoons Vinegar (any kind will do, I used rice wine vinegar because its what I had but balsamic would have been yummy)

I envisioned grilling all this on my gas grill, on the grate, without foil or a pan, so I kept all the pieces large enough they would not easily fall through the grates. I put all the veggies in a large bowl, coated with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then put my hands in and massage the veggies until thoughouly coated, letting the mix sit together and ruminate for ten minutes on my counter.

I put my gas grill on medium heat and then, with tongs, delicately dumped my bucket contents on the top rack of my grill to give it some distance from the direct heat. I was also grilled sausages below so put them on at the same time. 

I closely monitored the veggies, using tongs to move pieces to get prevent burning. The cabbage will burn a bit and look wilted, but it is yummy that way. The onions softened and caramelized, the turnips rounds needed to got directly on the heat so I shifted them around to be directly on the grate. It took about 320 minutes or moving, jostling and encouraging but evenly the pieces all looked evenly done, so I scooped them on a platter and drizzled the mix with vinegar. I served this will frozen Flathead cherries and local beer brats from Montana City Meats, all in all fairly local and very delicious.

Part of the inspiration for the olive oil and vinegar dressing came from one of the websites I frequent, Nourished Kitchen, which (if you click on this link) featured how to eat real food if staying cheap or cooking for one. One of the tips they gave is to skip the store bought salad dressing and use oil and vinegar instead. This we did.