greenpioneerwoman

Pantry Cooking: Black Bean Taco’s

March 27, 2012 at 10:23 am (Food storage, Pantry cooking, Recipes)

Black Bean Taco Filling

1 can black beans drained (when I am out of cans I use an equal amount of cooked black beans but I have also used other beans as well)
3/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 to 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon mild chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon curcuma
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (if not in season I use a bottled version)
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

Fry the onions and the garlic until light brown in some olive oil, add all the spices (chili powder, cumin and curcuma) and stir some more. Combine black beans and lime juice in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Fill your Taco’s with the black bean mixture and top with some fresh tomatos, sour cream and grated hard cheese.

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Pantry Cooking: Clafoutis aux Cherries

March 11, 2012 at 10:10 am (Food preservation, Food storage, Pantry cooking, Recipes)

The ‘real’ Clafoutis aux Cherries comes from Limousin in France and is always made with cherries but in other parts of France other fruits are also used. A Clafoutis is not really a pie but is more like a thick pancake. Traditionally the pie is eaten slightly cooled but it sure does taste nice cold as well. In France the Clafoutis is eaten as dessert but serve it whenever you want, it is delicious!

Ingredients:
500 grams fresh cherries or 1 can cherries
4 eggs
75 gr (powdered) sugar
125 grams flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag of Vanilla Sugar
250 ml milk
for decoration: powdered sugar

When you use fresh cherries pit them and set aside. When you use canned cherries drain the liquid. Preheat the oven on 175 degrees Celsius and grease your baking mold.

Mix in a bowl the eggs, the sugar and the vanilla sugar. Mix in the flour and stir until all the flour is absorbed by the wet mixture. Mix in the milk and the salt until you have a nice batter.

Cover the bottom of your mold with a thin layer of the batter and put the mold for just a minute or so in the oven so it is a bit more firm. Then cover the bottom of batter with the cherries and pour in the rest of the mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven about 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

I added the original recipe which calls for butter as well. I don’t feel it is really necessary to use it. If you want it you can add another 80 grams of butter in the batter.
Variation: you can use most fruits in the Clafoutis, but do avoid sour fruits like red berries or rhubarb. You can use about 250 grams of fruits in this recipe.

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Pantry Cooking: Easy Corn Bread

February 14, 2012 at 10:31 am (Food storage, Pantry cooking, Recipes)

Today I ground whole corn kernels with my Fidibus grain mill. I thought it wasn’t possible but in new information I received, it was stated it was possible. So I took the change and got my corn kernels out of the pantry. I think it will be a good storage item to buy whole sale. I run the grains 5 times to the grain mill and ended up with a wonderful flour!

This is my recipe for an easy Corn Bread

150 gram home ground corn meal
2 teaspoons of honey
125 grams of home ground whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
250 ml buttermilk (but I also use whey when I have if it left from cheesemaking)
60 grams melted butter

pre heat the oven on 210 Celsius. Butter or oil your baking pan and put some baking sheet on the bottom for easy removal. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix in another bowl the buttermilk, egg, honey and melted butter. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Pour the mixture in the prepared pan and bake the bread in 20-30 minutes.

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Pantry Cooking: Elderberry Muffins with a crumble topping

February 14, 2012 at 10:06 am (Dehydration, Food preservation, Food storage, Recipes)

I love Elderberries, I always make some elderberry syrup, elderberry jams and of course elderberry tincture for my herbal medicine cabinet. This year I also have dehydrated some wild picked elderberries and it is a good time to try them, with the flu hanging around!

Elderberry Muffins with a crumble

500-600 grams/2-2,5 cups home ground, whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup applesauce or oil (I use organic, extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup buttermilk
⅔ cup sugar (or substitute with your favorite sweetener)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rehydrated (after rehydration it totals 2 cups!) or fresh elderberries when in season, rinsed and drained
1 egg

Crumble Topping
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup almonds ( I had sliced almonds in stock, when you use whole almonds, just cut them into smaller pieces)
¼ cup home ground, whole wheat flour
¼ cup butter

Heat oven to 190 Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit.
Mix crumble topping ingredients and set aside. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (applesauce or oil, buttermilk or whey, sugar and vanilla).
Place elderberries in a small bowl and add enough tablespoons of the flour mixture to coat the elderberries.
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Add the berries. Put the batter into muffin tray and sprinkle with the crumble topping and bake for about 20 minutes.

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Pantry Cooking: Easy Lentil Dhal Recipe

February 8, 2012 at 8:49 am (Food storage, Pantry cooking, Recipes)

DD1 had a complain about having soup with lunch, she wanted something else. That is a good idea. The weather is still cold so I like to have something warm for lunch. I got my dhal recipe and will make some yellow dhal for lunch, with toasted home ground, whole wheat, home-baked, bread!

300 grams yellow lentils (you can also use red lentils)
2 teaspoons of olive oil (you can also use ghee)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed in the garlic press ( I don’t have one..)
2 teaspoons of ginger powder ( i use also some home dehydrated ginger pieces for extra flavour)
1 teaspoon Curcuma
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
2 Bay leaves
some salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
500 ml of water

Soak the lentils for 45 min. Drain. In a sturdy pan heat the oil and add the onions. After 3 minutes add the garlic and spices and stir for 1 min more.

Add the rinsed lentils and the water, put it on low and let it stew for about 15 minutes or until the water is dissolved. Be careful, at the end of the cooking it is easily burned!

Serve the dhal warm or at room temperature.

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Pantry Cooking: Fresh Whole Wheat Pasta from scratch

February 7, 2012 at 11:12 am (Dehydration, Food preservation, Food storage, Pantry cooking, Recipes)

One thing I have enough is, wheat. I buy that locally from one of the farmers. I grind my wheat with a lovely grinder I have with real milling stones. I like pasta and the taste of home made pasta is way better then what you buy in the stores.

This is my basic recipe for Fresh Whole Wheat Pasta from scratch:

450 grams or about 2 cups home ground, whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
Water, as needed (I use the water from my Berkefield)

Mix the ingredients except for the water. Add the water tablespoon at a time to create a firm dough and it doesn’t stick anymore. You can use either your pasta maker or role out the dough as thick as you can with a dough roller and cut it.

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Pantry Cooking: Carrot Soup

February 7, 2012 at 8:34 am (Dehydration, Food storage, Pantry cooking, Recipes)

We love a soup for lunch with some nice home baked bread, it makes a warming moment in the middle of the day. I like to make a lot of different soups. This is an easy soup with a lot of flavour but your kids will love as well. This recipe serves lunch for 3-4 ppl but you can easily double the recipe.

2 tablespoons of olive oil
400 grams of fresh carrots (or the equivalent of dehydrated carrots after rehydration)
1 leek (or the equivalent of dehydrated leeks after rehydration)
2 tbsp clear honey
Chili flakes to taste (optional)
1 or 2 bay leaves
1.5 liters of vegetable stock

Warm the oil in a pan, fry the leeks until soft. Add the carrots, honey and chili flakes, bay leaves and the stock and put it to a boil. Let it simmer for 30 minutes until all the vegetable are soft. If you use the rehydrated vegetables you can skip the frying step. You can just put all the ingredients in a pan and bring it to a boil.

You can blend the soup until soft but you can also leave it as it is.

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Leftover Cooking: Oat Porridge Breakfast Cake

February 7, 2012 at 8:08 am (Food storage, Leftover Cooking, Recipes)

Some days it is like that, you have, for all kind of reasons, a big pot of oat porridge left. I use it in 2 different ways: mix it up with my muffins or I make this nice breakfast:

2 cups of leftover oat porridge
1 cup of rolled oats
50 grams of butter
1/2 cup of fruits you have like raisins, apples
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup of milk
cinnamon to taste
some vanilla to taste

Mix all the ingredients and spread on a baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven on 175 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) until crunchy. I used a can of canned cherries I want to finish.

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Pantry Cooking: Pita Breads from scratch

February 5, 2012 at 5:29 pm (Food storage, Pantry cooking, Recipes)

We had a Marks & Spencer shop here, but unfortenately it was closed many years ago. I really liked their whole wheat pita bread, something you couldn’t buy anywere. I make my own bread since 1990 or so. When I couldn’t buy the whole wheat pita breads, I started making my own.

Here is a very easy recipe to make pita bread. We like them with all kind of stuffings. I do make them from home ground whole wheat, but you can replace the recipe with white flour if you prefer. You have to adjust the water, because whole wheat absorbs more water than white flour.

15 grams dried yeast
450 grams home ground whole wheat flour
300 ml of luck warm water
2 teaspoons of salt

Mix the warm water with the flour and give it a quick mix (I use my kitchen aid, with the stress on aid) and add the yeast, mix some more and add the salt. Mix until you have a firm dough. Leave the dough covered in a warm place to rise for about 1-1 1/2 hours until the dough is risen double in size.

Knead the dough again and make small balls of the dough. Push the dough balls into flat circles of 1/2 cm thick. Leave to rise for another 15-20 minutes, covered under a towel.

Put the breads on backing sheet, covered with baking paper, sprinkle them lightly with some water and bake for 10 minutes in an oven of 240 Celsius until they are done but not brown in colour.

Leave them to cool on a rack.

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Dehydrating Potatoes

February 1, 2012 at 8:44 am (Dehydration, Food preservation, Food storage, Pantry cooking)

I live in an area where a lot of farmers grow potatoes. When I buy directly from them, the potatoes are fresh and cheap, and evenly important: I support their business!

I love potatoes and I always buy some more to dehydrate. It is fairly simple: clean the potatoes, put them in a big pot and boil them until they are almost done. I let them cool off overnight so that I can peel them easily. Then I slize or grate them and dehydrate until they are completely dry.

Another way of dehydrating potatoes is peeling them and blanch them in a big pan and dehydrate. We always make our French Fries from scratch and one day I had some raw fries shaped potatoes left. I blanched them and put them in the dehydrators: