A Day in the Kitchen

Today was a cooking day, and it It was a good day to be inside a warm kitchen, as the weather changed from spring-like to a coming winter storm.

 
I started this morning with shopping at my favorite grocery, MOM's Organic Market. They have an interesting history and they are earnest in their beliefs. I feel good shopping here.

Once I had all the food ingredients needed, including kale, broccoli, leeks, dried black beans, unhomogenized milk, dried beans, some spices, apples, cheese, local pastured ground beef, and yogurt among other items, I began my food prep and actual cooking. On the menu for the week - broccoli and cheese soup with fresh tomato and herb bread; whole roasted chicken with garlic and rosemary, served with winter squash and sprouted lentils; slow-cooker black beans with corn bread; homemade cottage cheese with homemade herbed crackers and fruit; miso soup; and kale chips to snack on.

First was the broccoli soup.

4-5 cups of broccoli
2 leeks, washed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 small potatoes
Water just to cover the tops, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the broccoli becomes soft
Allow to cool, then blend til smooth
Add 1 cup of cream, salt and pepper to taste
Add thinly sliced or shredded cheese of your choice just before serving

Great served with fresh bread and a little red wine.

Today I also made some kale chips for the kids to snack on. The kale was absolutely beautiful, husband and I marveled at its freshness.

The blurry fingers are Sean's as he ate the chips as fast as I could make them.

To make, simply wash the kale, dry it carefully (I used a clean kitchen towel), spread it out on the baking sheet and add plenty of sea salt. Bake at 350 until the "chips" are dry. Mine took about 45 minutes.

While waiting for the soup and kale chips, I started preparing ahead the roasted chicken for the oven tomorrow. I will be working, so husband will need to start it before I get home. I also starting preparing the slow-cooker black beans by chopping the onion and garlic and grating the carrot. The night before, I will wash and soak the beans, then in the morning throw everything into the crock pot.

I love to prepare ahead of time, as the days can be hectic and busy, and I find it easier to have things ready to go. Being prepared is the only way I can have the home-cooked food consistently, without relying overly on packed and convenince foods. Although there were many other things I could have been doing (knitting, playing with kids, preparing lessons, hanging out with husband!) spending the day lovingly preparing wholesome food for those I love is a satisfying way to spend a day.

I still have a long way to go on my whole foods journey. If you are interested in learning more about whole food cooking, may I suggest you check out Beauty That Moves' Whole Food online Workshop. It looks to be a beautiful and nourishing event, with a wonderful chance to connect with others on the same path of wholesome eating. I'm looking forward to it.

What good things are you cooking?

Sweet Potato Biscuits

When my husband and I first began dating years ago, he frequently took me to his favorite restaurant on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They served a basket full of sweet potato biscuits with every meal. They were so tender, so moist, with little chunks of sweet potato. He loved them. I wanted to learn to make those biscuits for him, because I loved him.

It wasn't until many years later that we were finally able to settle down. Last summer we tore out the lovely landscaping of rose bushes, azaleas, and enormous hostas in our small townhouse back yard to create a raised bed garden. It took a lot of work between the two of us to create the beds and amend our awful, heavy, red clay soil. Lots of manure, organic compost and topsoil, and a good many blisters as well.

As we were getting a late start to our planting, I had no real plan about what to grow, I just knew I wanted to grow something, and something we liked. The garden eventually included green beans, cucumbers, several varieties of peppers, squash, tomatoes and strawberries. I came across the sweet potato plants accidentally as I was looking for trellises. I didn't really expect them to do well, since the soil still had the clay characteristics.

The sweet potato vines grew happily all over the yard, and the heart-shaped leaves were attractive enough. But what was happening underground? Would there be anything worth harvesting, I wondered all summer long? Finally, last fall, I started to dig, and dig, and dig sweet potatoes. Big ones, small ones, twisted ones, round ones, long skinny ones, and GIANT ones.

All together I have had mashed sweet potatoes; baked sweet potatoes; five sweet potato pies (shared with family and friends); and three batches of sweet potato biscuits. Each batch of biscuits better than the last as I have perfected both my recipe and my technique.

I love these biscuits, and I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then again for dessert.

Here is my recipe:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is similar in texture to coarse corn meal.
In a small bowl, combine the sweet potato and milk, then add to the flour mixture.
Stir just until moist.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly five or six times.
Roll dough to about a 3/4 inch thickness and cut with a two-inch biscuit cutter (I used a small glass).
I gently rolled and patted the scraps into small biscuits.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Enjoy!