Peggy's Blog

Staples

2008-09-22T20:16:23Z

What are your grocery shopping staples – foods you use up each week and need to replace (because your universe would come to a screeching halt if you didn’t have your small glass of orange juice every morning with your breakfast)? Here are some of mine:

Fat-free milk (2% for my husband)

Reduced-fat plain yogurt

Cheese – at least 2 kinds in the fridge at all times – usually Muenster and Colby-Monterey Jack (remember I live in Wisconsin, the dairy state)

Calcium-fortified orange juice

Fresh seasonal fruits and veggies

Bread, although I’d like to aspire to bake my own each week

I also check my baking stock – flour, sugar, butter, oil – you never know when you’ll need to do some last-minute baking!

Gardening - what I've learned so far this year

2008-08-11T21:38:36Z

If you've read my previous blog post, How Does Your Garden Grow, you'll know that I'm a novice gardener with great expectations. Since it is now August, harvest is just about in full swing (most of my tomatoes are still bright green) so here's what I've learned so far:

-$.79 is not a bargain for a tomato cage, it is a flimsy excuse for a garden aid

-When in doubt, space veggies farther apart or it will be difficult to wade through the jungle in August to actually do the picking

-Keep an eye on the cucumbers or else they will grow too big to pickle and you'll be stuck with more cucumber salad, sandwiches and giveaways than your neighbors can handle

-Plant more basil - it's amazing how much basil it takes to make enough for pesto!

Below is a photo of my garden taken a couple weeks ago-before the tomato cages buckled, toppled and now teeter precariously in the wind

Crisp season

2008-07-22T20:10:36Z

Crisps are a great summer dessert. They are quick and easy to make and are a smart way to use up an abundance of berries and rhubarb.

Here's one trick to make it even simpler - make up a double batch of crisp topping from and keep it in the refrigerator (I use the topping from one of my favorite Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie recipes).Then, if you're in the mood for crisp combine just enough berries, rhubarb, sugar and cornstarch for one or two, spoon into individual baking dishes and sprinkle on some already-made topping. Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees and bake until the filling is bubbly and the topping is golden brown.

How does your garden grow?

2008-07-10T18:36:07Z

I do not have a green thumb. I've been known to kill the hardiest of house plants. Despite this, I have great aspirations to grow fruits and vegetables and I'm not talking about just a few salad tomatoes. Ultimately I'd love to grow enough veggies to can or freeze and use all year long. If I could grow and can enough tomatoes to not have to buy a single jar of salsa, can of diced tomatoes or container of pizza sauce I'd love it!

After reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver I was inspired to expand my very small garden to a larger one and to do more canning this fall. My husband and I spent a chilly spring morning digging up sod - him muscling a rented tiller through stubborn grass and me digging up the edges and removing patches of sod. A couple hours later and I had my very own dirt canvas with which to paint my garden masterpiece (did I say that I may be overly ambitious?).

I'm hoping the next few years will be a 'test period' of sorts to find my favorite veggie varieties, epxand my garden further and also figure out tactics to keep bunnies at bay (they seem to like the tops of my still delicate pepper plants). Then it will be smooth sailing - I'll have my system down and move from beginner to a solid amateur gardener status. I’ve got over a dozen tomato plants, bell peppers, hot peppers, peas, radishes, yellow summer squash, cucumbers, basil, sage, thyme, mint, carrots and sweet corn. I’ve also planted a patch of onions and lettuce.
What have you planted in your garden this year? Do you have any tried and true gardening advice for a beginner?

4th of July Foods

2008-07-02T14:37:53Z

What are you making for your 4th of July parties? I'm heading to my husband's hometown this weekend and will be making Watermelon Slice Cookies and Patriotic Cupcakes. Not into cake mix? Neither am I but I love the look of those very cute cupcakes so I am going to make white cake batter and buttercream frosting but add red and blue food coloring to the the batter as directed in the Patriotic Cupcake recipe.

Go to My Page for the recipes. Enjoy!

New web page

2008-06-19T14:27:52Z

Check out a brand new page on the Taste of Home web site! Click on 'Recipes' in the top navigation bar and scroll to 'Recipes We Need' at the bottom of the dropdown box. The recipe requests listed on this page are direct from our Food Editors that are looking for recipes that they need right now. This page will be updated frequently so come back often. By sending in a recipe that meets a need listed on this page, you'll be more likely to get published.

Click here to go directly to the new Recipes We Need page.

We hope to hear from you!

We need your recipes

2008-06-10T19:05:28Z

We know you make delicious recipes every day for your family and friends and we’d like you to share them with us. Right now Simple & Delicious magazine is in need of entrees that can be made in 30 minutes or less. They need entrees that include beef, pork, seafood, turkey or meatless meals (anything but chicken).

Click here and you’ll be directed to our recipe submission form. On the form be sure you select Simple & Delicious under "Submit recipe to one of our magazines". In the "notes" section at the bottom of the page please indicate that you saw this request in Peggy’s blog.

Thanks for your help! We are able to publish great recipes because we get them from readers like you.

Peggy

Where's the food in my food?

2008-06-02T19:37:52Z

There is a whole aisle of bread at my local grocery store but you wouldn't know it by reading the ingredients listed on the bread bags. Bread is basically four simple ingredients: flour, yeast, water and salt. I have a bread bag at my desk from one of the most popular brands out there (I won't mention names, not that it matters because most are oddly similar in terms of ingredients). It lists 22 ingredients and that's not including ingredients listed in parenthesis that describes the ingredients in the ingredients!

Of the 22 ingredients listed only 10 are ingredients that one might find in their pantry. Is this something other than bread that is just disguised as bread? Even bread from the bakery section has unidentifiable ingredients. Since imitation crab must be labeled as such because it contains little to no crab, should this food be labeled as imitation bread?

The same goes for most other packaged foods out there. You'd be hard pressed to read the ingredient label on any processed food and have more than half of the ingredients in your pantry or even the pantry of your most Martha Stewart-like girlfriend. Should we be concerned about that? Food additives have been deemed "generally recognized as safe" (although that phrase doesn't make me feel very confident) by the FDA so we have nothing to be concerned about, right?

Does your familiarity with the ingredients on a food label influence your decision to buy it?

If you are looking for some good reads on this topic check out Michel Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. If you read that and think, "where do we go from here" follow it up with his next book, In Defense of Food for some inspiration.

Should I eat bananas?

2008-05-12T19:11:40Z

They are a staple on my weekly grocery list, a highly nutritious food, convenient to pack in workday lunches but should I be eating bananas? What about pineapple? Trendy pomegranates? Strawberries in early May?

Those are all foods that 'they' say we should be eating, right? (being a dietitian, I realize I am included the aforementioned 'they') But I live in Wisconsin where there are no banana trees nearby, no pineapple and certainly no pomegranates within a 200 mile radius. Strawberries, on the other hand, can be cultivated in our short growing season. But Thompson's Strawberry Farm, which is 30 miles away, has a sign posted that says I have to wait until mid-June to 'pick my own' from their 'pick your own'.

But I wanted sweet juicy strawberries to go with the lemon pound cake that I served for Mother's Day yesterday so I bought a quart from my local grocery store, direct from California, where much of our produce comes from. To my disappointment, these trans-continental berries were anything but juicy and longed for a sprnkle of sugar to make up for their lack of natural sweetness.

Barbara Kingsolver, mother, adventurous gardener and author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle writes passionately about putting food back into the center of family life - from growing your own, buying locally and taking the time to make a meal that is shared with family and friends. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles the year she and her family vowed to "buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it". It's very entertaining and really makes you think about how little thought we give to the groceries we put in our cart even though food is such an important part of our well-being, culture and community. Most of us don't know how far our food has traveled to reach us, how it was grown or who grew it. Perhaps if we did we'd be making different choices.

buying from a local farmer

2008-05-07T18:09:48Z

I've recently started looking into buy beef, eggs and chicken directly from a local farmer. Not only will it support my local community but I can choose a farmer that farms in an environmentally responsible way, treats the animals humanely and does not use hormones or antibiotics.

I found two web sites that were great in helping find local farms and do some research:

eatwellguide.org and savorwisconsin.com

After I did some initial searches based on location and foods I was looking for I contacted the farmers via email or phone to ask about pricing, availability and minimum purchases. I learned that many farmers require you to purchase more beef than I could handle for just my husband and myself. There were other farmers that only offered 1 type of food that I was looking for and I was hoping for a one-stop shop if possible.

I decided on Prairie Hill Farm located in Palmyra, WI. I called to make an appointment and drove up on a beautiful fall day. The farm owner, Will, was incredibly nice and even took the time to show me around his farm, teach me a bit about rotational grazing methods and how he raises his chickens and turkeys. I was confident that I chose the right farmer to buy from.

As with all things in the 'good food' category I bought more than I intended (the same happens during peach and blueberry season) but am very happy with my purchase of 25 pounds of assorted beef, 4 chickens, 1 turkey and 4 dozen eggs. I look forward to going back regularly.

Have any of you bought from a local farmer? How did you go about your search and what criteria were important to you? What is the name of the farm and where is it located?

Thanks for reading--

cozykitchen

Mother's Day

2008-04-28T19:19:46Z

Mother's Day is right around the corner and my husband and I are looking forward to hosting this year; both of our mothers will be coming. We'll be eating at noon but I'm on the fence about whether I'd like to serve brunch or lunch. I do enjoy making brunch foods more than lunch foods so I am guessing that is the way I'll go. We'll also be attending a wedding the night before so I think brunch foods are easier to make ahead than lunch, which will be helpful.

What foods are you making (or looking forward to having made for you) on Mother's Day? Are there any foods that you have as a tradition year after year? A

-Peggy

April Fools Food!

2008-04-01T14:17:38Z

Are you a prankster? Coming up short on tricks to play for April Fool's Day? Then try a fun food to surprise your family at dinner tonight like April Fools Berry Soda. The recipe calls for fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries but feel free to substitute your fruit of choice since it's still a bit early for berries.

If you've played any fun pranks today please share them! It will give me some good ideas for next year

What we're working on

2008-03-24T18:48:19Z

The holidays often get out of synch here at Taste of Home - in 'real life' we just celebrated Easter complete with ham, asparagus and lemon pie for dessert but the test kitchen staff is decorating Christmas cookies, baking pumpkin pies and roasting turkeys for our October/November and December/January issues.

It can be tricky to find out-of-season produce or specialty items, like prepared eggnog in the spring, but we always seem to make due. In the case of the eggnog, we simply make it from scratch and use the same volume as what's available in the dairy section during the holidays. Sometimes we have to contact specialty produce suppliers to find out if a fruit or vegetable we need is in season somewhere else in the world; typically we only do that if we need it in large quantities.

Testing recipes out of season can also confuse our taste buds. I've been known to crave pumpkin muffins just as daffodils start to decorate our landscape and whip up a pot of chili in the middle of a summer heat wave!

Cravings

2008-03-11T12:52:20Z

What foods do you crave? There is no heistation to my answer - chocolate. A close second would be cookies. If there is a cookie with chocolate within my arm's reach, look out! For some it might be freshly baked bread or salty snack foods, but for me, sweets take the cake (pun intended).

It's not uncommon for my husband and I to finish a great dinner at home followed by my, albeit childish, exclamation that I'd like a cookie. Most nights, that's all that it is - a statement that that's what I'd like because I try not to keep cookies or chocolate in the house. My willpower crumbles under the weight of, well, cookie crumbs, and neither would last very long.

For him it's cheese and bread with butter. To be more exact - Shullsburg cheese from Shullsburg, Wisconsin (his home town) - and if he had his choice (which he usually does) he'd go for Muenster.

Foods of the Emerald Isle

2008-03-05T20:43:45Z

My husband and I just got back from a trip to Ireland. It's been at the top of our list of places we'd like to visit and my grandfather was born in Belfast so we were very excited to go.

'Pub grub' was our staple while we were there. However, 'pub' food is very different in Ireland than it is in the US. Pubs there even advertise that they have 'great bar food', which we thought was amusing because American bar food is nothing to get in line for - greasy fried mushrooms, mass-quantity freezer-burned chicken fingers or maybe some nachos with plasticy processed 'cheese' that is far real cheese.

Our pub lunches and dinners were hearty, from scratch and made with pride. The classics that we tried included shepherd's pie, corned beef and cabbage, lamb stew and champ (mashed potatoes with chopped green onions) with sausage. The corned beef was more like braised brisket than the traditional American version that may be brined and/or pickled. We washed down our dinners with pints of Guinness stout (the black beauty with a blond head), Carlsberg lager, Smithwick's ale (pronounced 'smith-icks') and Bulmers cider. We were surprised that almost everything is served with chips (French fries) - from lasagna and pizza to shepherd's pie - all come with a side chips!

Favorites of the trip:

Town - Dingle

Accomodations - Dingle Marina Lodge

Historic Sight - Megalithic passage tomb at Newgrange

Landscape - Cliffs of Moher and ring of Beara

Pub - Small Bridge tavern in Dingle

Shop - Louis Mulcahy's pottery studio/shop in Dingle

Food - Shepherd's pie and brown bread (served with breakfast and with soups)

Drink - Guinness