In memory of fresh spinach....

Meatless Mondays often include for us a meal of black eye peas with sautéed spinach and cheese grits. This week with the recent e.coli scare across our nation, I was faced with throwing out two packages of fresh spinach. It is hard to believe that sautéing the spinach would still be dangerous, but I decided to not take a chance and I threw it away.

It bothers me to waste spinach….it is so incredibly healthy and good for me. But my uneasiness pales in comparison to the devastation of the spinach growers this scare created and the long term damage to the production and sale of fresh spinach in our nation. I wonder how long it will take before I see fresh spinach on our grocer’s shelves once again. On NPR Monday I listened to a farmer talk about having to plow his spinach crop underground. Other farms will have to prove their farming practices don’t spread E. Coli. Many may never recover financially from this scare. The same thing happened to our friend with his cattle several years ago with the discovery of mad cow disease in the US. Farmers walk a tightrope trying to make a living from feeding our nation.

This recent scare is a reminder of how fragile our food supply chain is and how far our food must come to make it safely to our table. Those who grow spinach in their backyards are the winners. The rest of us will have to adapt to chard (if we can find it in our grocery) or kale to get the benefit of greens in our diet.

In the meantime……here is my favorite way of eating spinach (adapted from the Moosewood Cooks at Home cookbook) in hopes that soon I’ll be able to buy spinach once again.

BLACK-EYED PEAS WITH SPINACH

1 medium onion, chopped
1 T. olive oil
10 oz. fresh spinach, rinsed, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 12-oz. package of frozen black-eyed peas or 3 cups fresh B-E peas
Pepper and salt
1 t. Hot pepper sauce

Cook the black-eyed peas according to the package (about 45 minutes….and it can be done ahead of time and then the peas refrigerated) If using fresh B-E peas, the time is reduced to about 15 minutes.

In large skillet sauté onion in oil for a few minutes, until soft. Add the spinach to the skillet and stir until the spinach is wilted. Add B-E peas, salt and pepper and the hot sauce and stir until mixed and heated through (about 2-3 minutes).

Serve right away with cheese grits (and this time of year….sliced tomatoes as a salad).

CHEESE GRITS

3 C. water
¼ t. salt
¾ C. quick cooking grits
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese (or 3 oz. cubed)
Black pepper

Bring water to a boil and add salt. When the water boils, slowly stir in the grits, lower to medium heat and cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally until the grits are soft and thick. Add cheese and stir until melted. Serve immediately or keep warm in a crock pot or double broiler.

cigarette butts......

I spend a lot of time thinking about cigarette butts. Recently I learned cigarette filters are not biodegradable. They look like cotton, but in fact are a plastic fiber that traps toxins and poisons that leach into the ground water with rain. These butts last forever and are litter.

In addition, they are ugly. That is why I spend so much time thinking about them. When I walk with Ron as he plays golf two or three times a week, I am unable to ignore the cigarette butts and cigarette paraphernalia that litters the tees and greens. I don’t understand how people who try so hard to get little white balls into little holes seem incapable of hitting a big trash can with a cigarette butt.

Knowing that they are not biodegradable, I thought something should be done about this litter on our beautiful golf course. After several years of wondering how to do it, I decided to use rubber gloves to collect the butts. Last night I was walking along carrying my plastic bag with the butts when someone who lives on the golf course walked by and asked what I was picking up. I replied “cigarette butts”, and he said “that is a nasty job”! That is why I wear rubber gloves. Cigarette butts are the definition of nasty. Knowing that they are not biodegradable makes them even nastier. They smell terrible, they look terrible, they’ve been in someone else’s mouth, they contain chemicals, and they won’t go away.

I’m sure each person who throws a butt on the green or the tee thinks it is so small no one will notice. But it is impossible to collect all the butts on the golf course because there are so many. I just pick up the ones I see and I know I miss a lot. You would be surprised how many butts are thrown within a radius of three feet of a trash can or sand bucket designed for butts. Litter experts say cigarettes are by far the most tossed object, outpacing fast-food wrappers, cups and lids, and soda containers, which come in a distant 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively. During land and underwater cleanups in 2003, cigarette butts and filters accounted for 34 percent of debris collected, according to Keep America Beautiful. Food wrappers and containers represented 10 percent of trash.

So I think about butts out on the golf course, which amounts to 2-3 hours per week. I’m glad pocket ashtrays have been invented and I am in the process of trying to track some down to give away on the golf course. For as hard as people work to put little white balls into little holes on the golf course, I suggest that golf courses make the holes on their trash cans much smaller to encourage people to practice putting things in small holes. Maybe that would take care of the plastic wrappers, beer tabs and plastic cups and lids that I also pick up on the course.

With all the news these days of light cigarettes not really being “light”, I wonder if filters really do what they suggest. Maybe we should work to make cigarette filters illegal and have smokers go back to the original cigarette without a filter. Then again for as expensive as cigarettes are, I wonder why people don’t suck on the filters to get to every last bit of nicotine. And for as unhealthy as our diets are in this area, I’m sure the filters would make great roughage in our diets…….smokers should suck and chew the filters.

Cigarette butts are nasty and are unhealthy. But I can’t ignore the fact that I have my own unhealthy habits. They may not be the definition of nasty, and they may not be littered around the golf course for everyone to see, but I do not stand on higher ground. My own care for my health leaves much to be desired. Not smoking is a good thing, but as I thought about and picked up butts last night on the golf course, I realized I have my own nasty habits. I am guilty of not eating properly, of too many nasty habits like butter and mayonnaise and cream. I am guilty of not being disciplined in my exercise, or increasing my heart rate and strengthening my muscles and bones. (Although I will admit that stretching and bending to pick up the butts on the golf course does increase my level of exercise!) These may not be as destructive as smoking, but they are destructive nonetheless.

I complain about smokers because their litter messes up my world. But I understand how difficult it is to make good choices and to rid my life of things that could destroy and lessen my quality of life. Maybe the act of picking up butts will remind me that I need discipline as much as anyone to do what is good for me and good for our earth.

Labor Day........

A day to catch my breath and sit at the computer and look back over a busy, busy summer. I remember thinking on Memorial Day how nice it was to be done with the usual meetings scheduled during the winter months and to anticipate a slower pace of life with time to write, time to garden and time to can. I don’t know why I ever waste energy anticipating a slower pace of life. It is not to be. So it is time to make time to look back on the summer and appreciate the activities of the last few months that won’t happen again for another nine months. Below are several posts about "how I spent my summer vacation......"

Farmer's Market 2006

Not only did I spend time shopping at our local farmer’s market around the courthouse every Saturday this summer, several Winchester Friends worked with me to sell baked goods several times a month to profit the Shareholders in Shalom Project. This project encourages Friends to take $10-$50 of Best Trust special project money to be invested and grown and returned at Christmas time with any increase to be used for peace/nonviolence work. I made and sold cinnamon rolls, health rolls and pickles; Doris made jams, Virginia made cookies, bread and cinnamon rolls; Val made caramel corn (above), Delilah knitted dishcloths and pot holders and when we had extra Compassion Garden produce, we made that available at market. Everyone made a profit even though we only asked for a donation and did not mark a price on the items. I turned my $50 into $250 and I still have salsa and jalapeno jelly yet to make. Last Saturday was the last Farmer’s Market for the season and I am glad that it is over. It was a lot of work, but it was also a great time to visit with people in the community and to spend time with Winchester Friends who sat beside me at the market. All in all, it was a good use of the summer.

Compassion Garden 2006

This year we had the BEST tomatoes ever! The garden produced well and is still producing tomatoes and green peppers. We grew yellow cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, pineapple tomatoes, and early girls. I grew roma tomatoes in the back yard for salsa and spaghetti sauces and to dehydrate for black bean soup. The jalapeno peppers did not produce as well as I expected and I’m looking for people who have an excess to make jelly. The green peppers and cucumbers both did extremely well and I made over 4 gallons of bread and butter pickles and 3 gallons of dill pickle chips in addition to moving bowls and bowls of fresh cucumbers through the table at the meetinghouse (above). Today I hope to finish up some of the cucumbers to make gazpacho. Thus far the garden has raised over $250 to pay the school fees of a Compassion girl in Uganda. We still have more Sundays of produce to put out on the table in addition to cans of tomatoes that were canned by Mary and Bettye. All in all, a good use of a strip of land between two parking lots.

Green Bean Fest 2006

Four friends gathered together on August 26 this year to can three bushels of beans. This year I tried something new I learned from my sister. I canned green beans with the herb savory to use in green bean soup. I make this soup quite a bit for our weekly soup and prayer suppers here at the parsonage.

GREEN BEAN SOUP

(recipe from the More with Less Cookbook - our Mennonite friends serve this with traditional Rollkuchen)

Serves 6

Saute in heavy kettle until golden:
3 T. butter
1 large onion, diced

Add:
6 C. water or stock
1 C. shredded carrots
1 C. diced potatoes
4 C. fresh or frozen green beans, cut up
Fresh chopped parsley
1 bunch of summer savory, tied for easy removal

Cook until vegetables are tender. Just before serving, remove savory.

Add:
½ C. cream or evaporated milk
Salt and pepper

Heat through and ladle into bowls. Sprinkle over each serving: diced hard cooked eggs.

Rollkuchen

Russian Mennonites (the heritage of group my sister married into) use these to accompany a watermelon feast. The salty version also goes will with soup.

Serves 6-8

Beat together:

3 eggs
1 C. cream, whole milk, or mixture
Sift and add:
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
3 ½ -4 C. flour

Add a little more flour if necessary to make a soft dough which can be rolled out. Roll on floured board to ¼ inch thickness. Cut in 2x4 inch rectangles, sut slit in each, and fry in ½ inch hot oil (375 degrees) until browned, turning once. Drain on absorbent paper. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or salt as desired.

To Scrape or Not to Scrape

This year we used the Labor Day weekend to freeze corn. On Saturday we husked, cleaned, blanched and cut corn from 16 dozen ears of corn. On Monday we just cleaned, blanched and cut corn from an addition 16 dozen ears. 16 dozen ears cost $40 and yielded 43 pints of corn PLUS 16 pints of corn cob scrapings.

Virginia used an electric knife to cut the corn from the ears, and she doesn't scrape the ears. I get incredibly nervous around electric knives and actually couldn't watch Virginia cut the corn (with the exception of this photo). Instead, I scraped the ears for the kernels to use in corn soup.

As with green beans....we don't save money by doing our own canning and freezing of produce, especially when we buy large quantities from Virginia's father, a local truck farmer. The real purpose of doing this is to keep fresh, healthy, produce in our pantry and freezer for the winter and know that it doesn't have preservatives. The bonus is to spend a morning or afternoon with friends working on this project together. Many hands made quick work of 200 ears of corn.

Since I'm gearing up for soups to serve the next 9 months, I'll include my two favorite soups for using the corn cob scrapings that I just spend 2 hours rescuing from Virginia's batch of corn.

SWEET CORN CHOWDER WITH WILD RICE

3 C. of frozen corn
3 slices of bacon, chopped
½ C. diced onion
4 C. chicken broth
1 ½ t. fresh thyme or ½ t. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. water
2 C. cream or rich milk
¾ C. cooked wild rice

Cook bacon in heavy large saucepan over medium high heat until fat is rendered. Add onion and saute until onion is tender, about 3 minutes. Add corn, stock, thyme and bay leaf. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 T. of water. Mix into soup, and then add in cream and rice. Heat thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper. Can be made a day ahead, chill, bring to simmer before serving.

EASTERN CORN CHOWDER

5 slices of bacon
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium potatoes, sliced
1 pint frozen corn, or one can of cream of corn
1 T. flour
1 T. butter
2 C. milk
Salt and pepper
1 t. thyme, fresh or ½ t. dried or parsley

In large fry pan, cook bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside. Use a small bit of the bacon renderings to fry onion until light brown. Add potatoes to pan with enough water to cover. Cook over med heat 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. In another saucepan add butter and flour and cook briefly. Add milk, corn and cook over low heat until thick and smooth. Add salt, pepper, herbs and the potato onion mixture and heat for 10 minutes. Top each serving with crumbled bacon.