Veggible Molebake

Here's another yummy vegetarian casserole adapted from The Redwall Cookbook.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, plus some for pan
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup heavy cream (we used evaporated skim milk instead)
3/4 cup vegetable stock or milk (we used vegetable stock)
2 egg yolks
salt and pepper, to taste
8 oz cauliflower florets, cooked
8 oz carrots, sliced and cooked
10 oz peas, cooked
2 large tomatoes, hulled and sliced (depending on size of pan)
1 cup (4 oz) grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400' F. Butter a casserole dish or 9-by-13 inch baking pan. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Sprinkle the flour in and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Gradually stir the cream and stock or milk into the mixture. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks well. Gradually whisk a few tablespoons of the hot mixture into the yolks, then whisk the yolks back into the saucepan. Heat, stirring, until the mixture begins to steam (do not let it boil). Take the pan off the heat and stir for another minute or two to cool. Season the sauce with salt and pepper
Spread the cauliflower in the bottom of the buttered baking dish. Layer in the carrots and then the peas. Pour the sauce over the casserole, then layer the tomato slices on the top. Season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle the grated cheese on top.
Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Torn on the broiler and broil the casserole, watching carefully, until the cheese is browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

The Green Lantern website

There is a weekly column in the Washington Post about environmental questions and since I had a question about recycling bags, I tracked it down. The website has a bunch of interesting articles for your occasional perusal.

Vegetable Casserole a la Foremole

This recipe is adapted from The Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques. Robert and I fixed it last night and it was a yummy vegetarian dish. This was the first time I bought, cooked, or ate a turnip or leek, that I know of!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Butter for the casserole dish (non-stick spray likely fine as well)
4 large potatoes, scrubbed and sliced
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced (about 32 baby carrots)
1-2 turnips or 1/2 a rutabaga, peeled and sliced (we used 2 small turnips but would use more next time)
4 leeks, cleaned and sliced (not the leaves)
1 cup vegetable stock (prefer organic in a box)
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup breadcrumbs, preferably whole wheat (we like Panko)
1 cup (4 oz) grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease large casserole with butter.
Arrange the vegetables in alternate layers in the dish, beginning and ending with potatoes.
Pour the stock over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper (and other herbs if desired).
Cover with a lid or foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
In a bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs and cheese and sprinkle them on top of the casserole.
Return the dish to the oven and bake, uncovered, until the topping is crisp and starting to brown, 10-15 more minutes.

Dad Y's Chunky Gazpacho Soup

We have enjoyed this greatly during summer months as the seasonal local vegetables come in. It’s great as a main course or appetizer with other summer dishes. It is frequently a staple on Wolf Trap or other picnic events. This recipe was developed by combining the recipes from the Joy of Cooking and Betty Crocker Cookbooks.

Liquid Base:
1 Large Can/Bottle of V-8 Juice (64 oz) can use low sodium if you want.
3 T Olive Oil
¼ cup Red Wine
Worcestershire Sauce-to taste (4-6 T)
Tabasco-to taste (2-3 t)
2 beef bouillon cubes (not critical)

Vegetables:
4-5 Tomatoes-cut in small pieces
1-2 Lg Cucumber-peeled, sliced and cut slices in quarters
2-3 Lg peppers-cut in bit size pieces (Yellow, Green, and Red)
1 Large Onion (sweet-Vidalia)-cut in bit size pieces

Herbs (to taste):
Parsley
Sage
Tarragon
Garlic
Basil
Black Ground Pepper

Chop vegetables in small, bite size pieces

Pour liquid base in large cook pot, put on Low-medium heat;
Add Vegetables and Herbs, stir

Cook for approximately 10-20 minutes

Cool, and then chill before serving. Add croutons, fresh parsley and sour cream as garnish on top.

The nice thing about this soup of Spanish origin, is that it can be prepared in advance (actually gets better each day!), is a wonderful summer soup, can be adjusted to individual tastes by adding favored herbs or other ingredients. I emphasize the cooking of the broth as I believe this blends the ingredients-some recipes will skip this. Additionally,, you can put mixture in a blender for a smooth texture as some advise-we like the chunky style. Enjoy!

Rain Barrel Art

You will need:

• Rain barrel
• Krylon Fusion Spray Paint for Plastic (we used a gray-blue color) or other spray paint for plastic
• MinWax Indoor/Outdoor Helmsman Spar Urethane or other urethane
• Paint brushes
• Acrylic paints
• Newspaper
• Tape
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Start with a completed Rain Barrel
2. Wash area to be painted of Rain Barrel according to Krylon directions
3. Cut out a pattern form from your newspaper that allows a large paintable space on your Rain Barrel (We used an oval shape)
4. Tape pattern on Rain Barrel
5. Tape newspaper around form to keep spray paint from getting on other parts of Barrel or surfaces nearby
6. Spray Krylon onto Barrel within form according to Krylon directions
7. Remove form
8. Paint using brushes and acrylic paints
9. Once dry, spray Urethane onto painting according to Urethane directions
10. Enjoy!

Buying from your own back yard

So its pretty common to hear of your local farmer's markets selling fruits and vegetables, but maybe not so common to get locally grown meat? Thats the subject of this recent cnn.com article on the emergence of CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) of beginning to also offer locally "grown" meat from their farms.

As they say "Buying from a local CSA or just shopping at a local farm, you can see where it's coming from. You can talk to the farmers and figure out how the animals or the produce is raised."

We spend so much of our life eating, it would be nice to know for sure exactly where your food is coming from!

Take a look and see if you can find a CSA near you and we can maybe test it out for ourselves.

Garbage Patch Kids

I ran across this article from cnn.com on the garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean. Not too much "new" info or findings from their studies, but what they did re-iterate is that the garbage patch we may picture (mountains of garbage floating like icebergs) is more realistically tiny particles of plastic and debris floating just beneath the surface of the water. Of course this covers thousands of miles of ocean, quite a huge area!

Sometimes I feel most people will say "who cares!" unless it directly impacts them. Two sentences I saw were:

"Brainard says they find a lot of skeletons of seabirds on the Islands and "their gut content is just filled with plastic." Brainard says that has scientists wondering what other animals are eating this plastic. As the larger animals and marine life eat the smaller animals, this plastic eventually ends up in the human food supply, too."

Hard to think about your McDonalds wrapper ending back in your Big Mac after you throw the wrapper out the window! Hopefully with our reduce, re-use, recycle mindset that is slowly spreading, we'll be able to keep these garbage patches at bay until we can figure out a way to clean them up!