Overeating Processed Foods? check for these key addictive ingredient combinations

I made the mistake last week while I was house-bound after surgery of sending my husband to the local health food store to pick up some things that we needed.  He came home with a few things that we almost never eat. I’m guessing he was thinking, “Hey, these are at the health food store, so they must be okay!” Among the “treats” were two bags of processed snacks, one a bag of Barbara’s baked jalapeno cheese puffs and the other a bag of Kettle’s “fully loaded baked potato” potato chips (fried, not baked).  The cheese puffs were okay but not addicting.  The potato chips didn’t taste that good, but I didn’t want to stop eating them.  I looked at the ingredients and discovered why.

The Kettle chips had the key mix of ingredients, combining salty with sweet and flavor enhancers, to make you keep reaching in the bag.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t add sugar or maltodextrin (processed in your body as glucose) or autolyzed yeast extract (MSG under a deceptive name) to my loaded baked potato.  Do you add these things to your baked potato?  Do you add citric acid?  Me neither.  Put these ingredients together with salt and starch, though, and you have a perfect blend of flavors–salty, sweet, sour–that will have you and your children reaching into the bag over and over again until you break the cycle by stepping away from the bag and cleansing your palate.

Americans weights have increased dramatically since 1960–25 pounds on average, the difference between fit and fat.  Part of that increase is due to our sedentary lifestyles compared to earlier generations who were less dependent on cars and television, computers, and electronic games, but another big part of it is due to food flavor engineering.  Old-fashioned french fries taste good because they are starch, fat, and salt.  Add the sweet-sour ketchup, and you’ve got a mouth party.  McDonald’s puts together the favor party in advance by adding ingredients like sugar to the fries themselves.  So do many of the companies that make fries for your freezer.  Look back at the potato chips you can’t put down; any chip starts with the potential for overeating, but enjoy it with a sweet drink or put weird ingredients like sugar in it, and you’ll end up eating too much.  The same is true for processed salad dressings.  Hidden Valley Ranch, for example, includes not only MSG but also significant sugar.  No wonder it’s become the dip of choice for kids.

If you want to keep your family healthy, keep the processed foods to a limit in your house.  If you do have to buy processed foods every once in a while, read the label and avoid products with that lethal combination of sugar, salt, flavor enhancers, and sour.  Go for products that have no more than two of the four.  For example, salty baked Kettle chips have no sugar (although they do have yeast extract, another flavor enhancer variation on MSG).  Be aware too that making homemade products like ranch dressing without nasty, addictive stuff and with better flavor overall is really, really easy–just mayonnaise, buttermilk or kefir, and garlic powder and other spices to taste–and much cheaper than the store-bought products.

Truth in Labeling has provided a great list of other names for MSG, and I found a decent list of sugar naming games at IVillage.  Print out these lists and stick them with your shopping list, along with the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list of foods with high pesticide levels.  Eliminate these foods from your family’s food, and you’ll have a healthier, slimmer family.

Update:  My husband read this post.  He says I asked for chips to eat with a sandwich.  I have no memory of the incident, but, then again, I was on pain medication.  Honey, see, I ‘fessed up! Please go to the store for me again some day.

Have you found weird ingredients like sugar in savory food or any of the many forms of MSG that you didn’t know were in the foods your family eats?  Share a comment!

Copyright 201o Ozarkhomesteader.  Short excerpts with full link and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome.

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Why we need diversity in seed and plant sources

Last summer, a major supplier of nursery plants, Bonnie’s, sent tomato plants infected with late blight to nurseries across the southern and eastern United States.  We only had two Bonnie plants, but with our unusually wet summer, those two plants infected all of our other plants, seriously reducing our tomato yield and encouraging me to start all of our plants from seeds this year.  The Bonnie’s blight didn’t just hurt our little homestead’s tomato harvest; it ruined the tomato season for eastern growers everywhere.  Like with recent food scares (for example, the peanut- related salmonella outbreak in 2009 and the more recent HVP recall), the Bonnie’s disaster demonstrated the problem of a few companies’ domination of anything that has to do with our food supply.

Over the past year or so, there has been a rising tide of discontent with another root supplier of our chain of food and clothing, Monsanto.  Monsanto now controls, directly or indirectly via patented technology, more than 90 percent of the soybean crop and about two thirds of the corn and cotton crop in the US.  Monsanto dodged questions about anti-trust violations in the past, but this year the Justice Department expanded its investigation of Monsanto for a rapid increase in prices that farmers pay for seeds.  As the New York Times explained, “Including the sharp increases last year, Agriculture Department figures show that corn seed prices have risen 135 percent since 2001. Soybean prices went up 108 percent over that period. By contrast, the Consumer Price Index rose only 20 percent in that period.”  In other words, farmers are imperiled by an increase in seed prices of 5 to almost 7 times higher than the rate of inflation over an eight-year period.  American agri-business already requires tremendous price supports from the federal government to make a profit or even just break even.  It now appears that a significant portion of the subsidies are going into the pockets of Monsanto.

Whether it is a single nursery grower like Bonnie’s that spread blight to the entire eastern half of the US, or a supplier like Monsanto that controls an obscenely large percentage of the seed in this country, concentration of our food and  clothing in a few companies is bad for the future of the US.  You can do your part to combat agricultural concentration by buying your plants and seeds from smaller suppliers and by purchasing your food from farmers that do not use genetically modified feed, into which most of Monsanto’s seeds grow.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.

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Pastured Eggs: just better for you

Labels on eggs in the grocery store can be pretty confusing.  First, you can buy the standard eggs.  Grocery stores also have what they are labeling “free range” and “organic.”  You need to start by asking, what access do the chickens have to scratch and eat bugs and green stuff?

Do you remember that golden glow on the mini pound cakes I made a few days ago?  That’s not a trick of the camera.  (I’m not that good with the camera.) Compare it with the egg yolk from my cast iron basics (fry pan) piece.  That egg yolk has good color but not quite as striking as the one from the pound cake.  Although both of these eggs came from pastured chickens, at this time of year they don’t get as many bugs and as much green stuff as they will as spring comes on, so neither one of them is as dramatic as the eggs you can get in late spring and early fall from pastured eggs.  Now compare them to the eggs in your refrigerator.  Are the yolks pale yellow?

That bright golden yolk indicates higher nutrition.  Pastured chickens produce eggs with much higher levels of the good oils you find in fish, and they have much lower levels of cholesterol.  Pasturing makes them less vulnerable to disease, so chances are pastured chickens never needed drugs to keep them healthy.

Do you want to find pastured eggs?  You can look for eggs through a source like Locally Grown or Local Harvest, ask around, or call your county extension agent.  I’ve heard some people think pastured eggs just taste better, but my palate isn’t that subtle.  Instead, I like pastured eggs because they are better for me and my family.  (That said, pastured chicken is like a taste of heaven!  Surely their eggs taste better too.)

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Favorite Salad #2: Mediterranean, and other than that you’ll just have to read

We eat a lot of salad around here with various permutations and combinations, but two have come to have names.  One we call “favorite salad #1.”  No, I have not posted about it yet.  You’ll just have to come back to find out about it.  (Grin.) Tonight I’m talking “Favorite salad #2.”  Favorite salad #2 is Mediterranean in influence, incorporating some things we grow and some things we buy.  Actually, this salad has a larger percentage of non-local products than we usually eat; maybe that’s what makes it name worthy.    The ingredients are sweet, tangy, salty, and ever so slightly bitter, making for a wonderful blend.  For each individual salad, layer the ingredients from top to bottom in roughly this order:

• 1-2 cups mixed baby greens, big pieces gently torn, or in summer chard and/or mustard greens
• optional if in season:  cucumber, quartered lengthwise and then sliced thinly–put on outside edge of greens
• course grated carrot (a couple of tablespoons per salad)
• 1-2 thinly sliced radishes
• 1-3 dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon of feta cheese (goat cheese feta makes it really special)
• a few sliced pitted kalamata olives
• optional if in season:  halves or quarters of cherry tomatoes
• 1-2 tablespoons slivered or sliced almonds, toasted (325 degree F for 5-7 minutes)
• 1-2 tablespoons dried black currants
• optional:  chives, thin slices to garnish (I cut these with kitchen scissors straight over the salad)

You can serve this salad with a homemade oil and vinegar dressing or get even more non-local and try it with a store-bought Mediterranean-inspired dressing like Drew’s Lemon Goddess Tahini or Annie’s Goddess Dressing. Both of these are tahini-based dressings, the sesame paste featured in  hummus (chickpea dip). We like the salad with Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern food.  In the winter it may be a part of a big meal.  In the summer, it may be the meal all on its own (or maybe with some watermelon, mmmmmm).

Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Do you have a favorite salad combo?  We’d really like for you to share it with us.

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Seasonal Affective Disorder in the South: fighting back against cabin fever

With temperatures running 10 to 15 (and even 25) degrees F below normal for weeks, snow on the ground, and most days looking like twilight at noon, I’ve found myself slipping into the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that I used to battle when I lived in the northern tier of states. Once I recognized the problem, I vowed to stay in control of my life.  Scientific research over the past decade or more has given us the tools to fight SAD, wherever we live:  get out when we can, increase cardiovascular exercise, and find (or make) green spaces.

SAD is caused by a deficiency of light.  The most obvious way to fight it is to expose ourselves to as much natural light as possible.  Folks who live in the far north sometimes park themselves in front of full-spectrum light boxes.  I prefer just getting out and walking.

Brisk walking has a second benefit, that of cardiovascular exercise.  Research has indicated that 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise several times a week is more effective at lifting depression than all of the front-line anti-depressant pills–and exercise costs you nothing and has no nasty side effects.  Moderate cardiovascular exercise can boost your immune response too, making you less vulnerable to the viruses that can bring you down in the winter.  Taking your cardiovascular exercise as walking or jogging outside can also give you glimpses of green, another mood lifter.

Much more recent research has found that 71% of people with depression were less depressed after spending time in green space.  I’m surprised how much green our landscape has even in winter.  While it’s not spring green, it’s still green.  If you live in a big city, consider seeking an indoor garden, such as St. Louis’s Climatron (Missouri) or Madison’s Olbrich Conservatory (Wisconsin).  To find an indoor garden near you, try googling “conservatory” and “garden.”  Chances are you may find an indoor oasis of green in the midst of snow.  I also find great joy in starting my summer garden seeds indoors at this time of year.  (For more on seed starting, see here.)  Even that little bit of new green life perks me up.

If the dreary days have you down, get out, work out, and find some green.  You’ll live happier and longer for it.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.  Short excerpts with a full URL and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome.  Please contact me for permission to use photographs.

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Catalan Stew over Spanish Rice with Quinoa: Columbian exchange on a plate

Catalan is the language spoken in Catalonia, near the border of France and Spain, and in the tiny country of Andorra (which was so small it was excluded from the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI and therefore remained at war until the 1950s!).  The food from this part of the world is rich in flavor, inspired by the conquistadors’ travels in the Americas as well as the influence of north Africa and even Asia.  Catalan food was fusion food long before fusion became cool.  Catalan stew over Spanish rice with quinoa draws on the flavors of the old world and new world.

Alfred Crosby coined the term “Columbian Exchange” to bring the proper focus to the era of Columbus’s voyage.  To say that Columbus “discovered” the “new world” is inaccurate; the Columbian Exchange was not just about Europe finding the Americas but rather was people the world over discovering the rest of the world.  The era of the Columbian Exchange all comes together in this dish.  Turkey, avocado, and hot peppers all originated in the Americas yet were embraced by Europeans.  The original Americans also taught Europeans that not all nightshade plants (like tomatoes) were poisonous.  And from Africa and Asia Europeans learned to eat health-giving turmeric (popular in Indian cuisine), which I’ll use as a frugal substitute for saffron in my “Spanish” rice.  Even more recently the world has re-discovered the ancient South American grain quinoa*, which is rich is protein.  This fragrant, nutty stew full of familiar and exotic flavors is a great way to get your family to try new food.

Tip:  Start the onion for the stew first, and while it starts to cook you can prep the rest of the onion for the rice.  You can prep the peppers and garlic while the rice starts cooking.  Just keep working back and forth, and both dishes will be ready at the same time, about 45 minutes from when you start.

3-4 servings

Spanish Rice with Quinoa:

• 1/4 cup sweet yellow onion, finely diced
• 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small pat butter (about a teaspoon)
• 1/2 cup nutty brown rice, like Basmati or jasmine
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water  (Yes, you can skip the chicken broth and just use 1 cup of water, but why?)
• 1/2 cup quinoa (I used a combination of red and regular)
• 1 cup water (again)

rice after sauteing

Begin by sauteing the onion in the oil and butter on low heat.  After the onion has sauteed for a minute or two, add the rice, and continue to stir regularly over low heat for about 5 minutes. Most of the rice should transform from translucent to opaque as it toasts in the oil.  Add the 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric, stir, and then saute a minute more.  Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and 1/2 cup of water, stir, and put a lid on the pot for 20-25 minutes minutes.  Add the quinoa and another cup of water, and cook for 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Catalan Stew:

• 3/4 sweet yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (or pushed through a garlic press)
• 1 Hatch (Anaheim) chile, seeded and sliced lengthwise and crosswise
• 1 jalapeno, roasted and seeded and finely diced
• 14-16 ounces diced tomatoes (canned is actually best here, whether home canned or good organic store-bought canned)
• handful of raisins
• 1/3 pound cooked turkey (or chicken or raw shrimp, cleaned.  I used leftover turkey, frozen and thawed.  You’re family will never spot it as Tom from Thanksgiving!)
• handful of toasted, slivered almonds (Toast the almonds in a 325 degree F oven for about ten minutes.  Since ovens vary, watch closely!  You can do this after the stew and rice go on autopilot in the last 25 minutes of cooking.)
• avocado, sliced in half lengthwise twice and then into thin slices.  (You can do this after you start toasting the almonds.)

Saute the onion in  the olive oil over low heat for about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and chiles and saute for about three more minutes, taking care to keep the garlic from burning.  Pour in the diced tomatoes with juice.  Add the handful of raisins.  Put the pot on a gentle simmer.  If you are using turkey or chicken, add it now. Otherwise, wait until the last ten minutes of rice cooking to add the shrimp to the stew.  The stew will be ready at the same time as the rice, about 45 minutes after you start.

To serve, fluff the Spanish rice with quinoa and pile it on each plate.  Make an indentation in the middle of each serving, and spoon on the Catalan stew.  Garnish with toasted almonds in the middle and avocado slices around the edge of the stew.  (Unfortunately, I covered the beautiful, nutty, yellow-tinted Spanish rice and Quinoa.  You can see a little of it on the lower right of the plate.)

*Quinoa is a nutty-flavored South American grain that, unlike other grains, contains a complete protein all by itself.  Quinoa is incredibly healthy and raises the protein quotient of Spanish rice.  If you haven’t cooked with quinoa yet, give it a try.  I think you’ll like it.  If you’d like to make this dish tonight and don’t have quinoa, go ahead.  Just use one cup of rice and two cups of water/chicken broth.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.  Reproduction of short excerpts (not full recipes) with attribution to Ozarkhomesteader and the full URL for the original post are welcome.

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Health Care Facility “Nutrition”

For the past month, I’ve been in and out of health care facilities with a dear relative.  Today he told me that he called in the nutritionist after he got his lunch.  It was fried chicken, with so much oil that it squirted out when he tried to remove the skin.  Last night’s supper?  a pimento cheese sandwich on white bread.  Whether he’s been in the hospital, an acute care rehabilitation center, or a skilled nursing facility, the only fresh fruit he’s been offered has been bananas.  He’s had one vegetable per meal.  He has had an endless parade of white bread.  When he’s asked, he’s gotten “wheat bread”–in other words, bread made from mostly white flour with a tiny bit of whole grain flour added in.  He’s gotten white rice, white rice, and white rice, never brown.  Truth is, on his own he doesn’t eat enough and his choices aren’t well balanced, but he still recognizes that the food he’s been served is a heart attack, colon cancer, and a stroke, all on one plate.  Please excuse me if I come off as ranting, but I can’t help but wonder if the health care facilities are trying to make sure they have an endless supply of patients.  If we are going to fix health care in this country, we need to start with the food on our plates.  And what better place to introduce healthy choices to the people who need them most than a health care facility?

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Homemade Vegetable Soup (with or without meat): a bowl full of coziness

I learned this recipe for vegetable soup from my Georgia grandmother.  She made it with whatever meat she had on hand, often pot roast.  My mother rarely made pot roast, so she cooked up ground beef.  I use whatever poultry I have on hand, but you could easily make this a tasty, healthy vegan soup that meets all your nutritional needs in one bowl by leaving the meat or poultry out.  This soup fits the old Southern “meat and three” (or meatless and three!) meal of beans, grains, and nutritious vegetables.  It is a bowl full of warm flavors.  You’ll want to make a big pot of it, because the flavors will continue to meld into something even more wonderful after the first day.  And if you think you’ve made too much, don’t fret!  This soup freezes well too.

All measurements are approximate.  As I’ve said before, use what you have!  By the way, I used frozen garden okra and beans and home-canned tomatoes.  The home-grown frozen and canned ingredients make this recipe even more frugal.

Makes at least 5-7 cups

• one large yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup okra, cut into thin slices across the grain and then chopped
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 cup beans (baby limas or “green” (wax, pole, bush) beans–if using “green” beans, cut into short pieces)
• optional:  1/2 cup to 1 cup leftover turkey, chicken, or pot roast or browned ground meat
• 1 pint to 1 quart tomatoes and tomato juice (start with less, add as you need or want)
• 1/2 cup-1 cup corn, off the cob
• salt and pepper to taste

Begin by dicing the onion and sauteing it in a heavy-bottomed pot.  While it sautes, prepare the okra.  Are you turning up your nose at the okra? Trust me on this one.  Okra, it is true, can be slimy and disgusting if improperly prepared, but we’re using it to thicken the soup.  It’ll add a mild flavor similar to a bell pepper, and if you don’t tell anyone there’s okra in it, they’ll never know. Once the onion gets a little  color, add the okra.  Turn the heat down to almost nothing, and put a lid on the pot.  Set the timer for an hour.  Stir occasionally, adding a small amount of water or broth as needed to cook the onions and okra into a soft mass.

Meanwhile, prep the rest of the vegetables.  After an hour, add the carrots and celery and a bit more water or broth to cover and cook on low heat about 10-15 minutes.  Now add the beans, the meat or poultry (if you are using any) and about half of the tomatoes and tomato juice.   Add more tomato juice and tomatoes if you’d like extra tomato flavor and/or juice. Simmer for twenty minutes to half an hour or even an hour, adding more tomato juice as the liquid cooks down.  Add the corn, heat thoroughly, and serve. You’ve got a delicious, rich, virtually fat-free meal, all in a big bowl.

We like this soup with traditional cornbread and bread-and-butter pickles (sweet and sour pickles with onion and mustard).  If you’re feeling decadent, a good sharp cheddar alongside tastes good but by no means is necessary.

Slow Cooker (Crock Pot) Directions

To make this recipe work in the slow cooker, I recommend pre-sauteing the onion.  I also recommend pre-cooking the okra.  You can put everything in at once, but you’ll risk folks recognizing the okra if you don’t pre-cook the okra.  Of course, if your family likes okra, it’s no big deal!  Just toss everything in, turn the cooker to low, and walk away for the day.

Copyright Ozarkhomesteader 2010.  Short excerpts with full links to this site are welcome.  Contact me for permission to use photographs.

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake: flavorful, healthier

I’ll concede from the start:  pineapple is not local to Arkansas.  At least I use organic pineapple.  Pineapple is a treat food, one of those things I buy infrequently and then relish.  And it was available, in canned form, when my grandparents were kids.  Now that we’ve gotten the question of whether pineapple is seasonal, organic, old-school, and local out of the way, let’s talk cake.

This pineapple upside down cake is probably much lighter and considerably healthier than the ones you remember from childhood, but it is full of great flavor and texture.  I have reduced the sugar (the classic recipes are all cloyingly sweet) and used whole-grain pastry flour.  I’ve also used a pineapple juice and lime juice reduction to moisten the cake.  It’s still dessert, but you can feel a little bit better about serving a slice to your family, and chances are they won’t know it’s a light version.  My husband initially told me he just wanted a sliver.  Next thing I knew, he was returning for a big slice.

Don’t be off put by the ingredient list.  You can put this cake together in about ten minutes or less of active work.

As always, please use organic if you can.  I had organic ingredients on hand for everything.

For the bottom (which will become the top!)

• 7-8 slices pineapple in natural juice  (See below for what to do with the rest of the can, including the juice!)
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup brown sugar
• optional:  a few walnut or pecan pieces

The cake batter

• 3 eggs (could use 1 egg and three egg whites)
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup buttermilk or kefir
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1 to 2 tablespoons ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon vanilla
• optional:  1 teaspoon lemon or orange extract

The glaze

• the juice from the large can of pineapple
• about 1/4 cup lime juice (more or less to taste)–Yes, you could use lemon juice instead.

The method.

Start by pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees F.  Now heat a 10-inch cast iron frying pan on the stovetop.  (Yes, any stove and oven-proof pan in the 9 or 10-inch range should work, but the cast iron will give a really good caramel topping with the pineapple.) Add the butter and melt it. Now sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the surface, taking care to distribute it evenly as you put it down.  Don’t try to move it after you sprinkle it on, as you’ll likely lose it to the pan at the end of the process.  Turn off the burner (and remove the pan from the stove top if you use an electric range).  Put a single slice of pineapple in the very middle and then space the rest of the pineapple evenly around the central slice. If you want, add walnut or pecan pieces in the intervening spaces, including the pineapple slice holes.

In a small bowl or large measuring pitcher, beat the eggs lightly.  Add the sugar and buttermilk and stir.  Then quickly stir in the dry ingredients and the extracts.  Pour the cake batter on the pineapple in the frying pan and then pop the whole thing in the oven for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the pineapple and lime juices, starting with less lime juice, in a small, heavy-bottomed pot.  (Corning is ideal for this application.) Taste the mixture.  Is it a good blend of sweet and sour, a bit more sour?  Excellent, because you’re about to reduce and intensify the flavor!  If you’re not happy with the flavor, add a bit more lime juice.  Now bring the mixture to boil, uncovered. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the mixture is about 1/2 to 1/3 its original volume.  This glaze should be ready right about the time the cake comes out.

Has it been 30 minutes?  Take out the cake.  Let it sit for about 4 minutes–not much longer because it will stick if you leave it.  Then slide a knife around the edge to make sure none of the sugar is causing the cake to stick. Using two pot holders, invert the pan on a large, flat plate.  Now poke a few holes in the top with a toothpick and pour on the pineapple-lime glaze. Let the cake cool for at least a few minutes before serving. If you’ve made the cake in a round pan, cut it into wedges like pie slices.  Eat.  Enjoy.  Do what my husband did and cut yourself a second slice.

Nutritional information

Using the higher levels of butter and sugar, if you made 8 slices from this cake, each slice would have about 260 calories, including almost 6 grams of protein, 2.375 grams fiber, 8.4 grams fat, and 43 grams of sugar.  Go easy on it, though, and cut 16 slices, and each one will have just 130 calories, 3 grams protein, 4.2 grams fat, and 21.5 grams of sugar.  And if you go with the lesser suggestions on butter and sugar (and I can assure you you won’t miss them!), you’ll drop to less than 100 calories per thin slice.

What to do with the extra pineapple slices

You need a large can of pineapple to get enough slices for this pineapple upside down cake, but you won’t quite use the whole can.  We used our extra slices for homemade whole-grain pizza with (turkey, nitrite-free) Canadian bacon and pineapple.  By request of a reader in another post, I’ve started adding recipes for my homemade pizza.  It’s not pineapple pizza, but that one will be coming soon!

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Beans, Cornbread, and Greens: a frugal, healthy Southern classic

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader. Short excerpts with full links are welcome.

Beans and ham, beans and cornbread, navy bean soup, ham-bone soup, Senate bean soup:  no matter what you call it, this old Southern favorite that’s not quite soup, not quite vegetable stew can include pork ham, turkey ham, or no animal flesh at all.  The beans can be pretty darn healthy, really healthy, or phenomenally healthy.    Today I’m going to give you all three variations (smidgen of red meat for a low-fat bowl, ultra low-fat bit of poultry, or fat-free vegetarian) on classic Southern beans, any of which can be prepared on the stove top or in a slow cooker.  Oh, they are soooooo good!To duplicate the Southern experience, serve these beans with cornbread (to complete your vegetarian protein), good greens (like turnip or collard), and pickles, chow-chow, or tobasco.  My ancestors made these beans on the top of a wood stove or in a kitchen fire in a big cast iron pot in colder months.  They might have cooked them all day, slowly, on a March or April day after they’d polished off an Easter country ham and just had the bone left.  They might have gathered wild greens, or perhaps they had greens growing in their kitchen garden.  Regardless, these beans with cornbread and greens made great healthy, frugal cuisine then, just as they do today.  They are a classic case of “meat and three,” where any meat included is a seasoning, not the main focus of the dish, and they are a great choice for today’s environmentally and economically conscious culture.

makes about 7 cups

the vegetables:

• ½ large yellow onion (a full cup diced, give or take a bit)
• 1 cup  to 1 ½ cups (split) carrots, diced
• 1 cup to 1 ½ cups (split) celery, diced

the dried beans:

• 1 1/2 cups dried navy beans (the classic!), pinto beans (more like chili), black beans (think southwest), or another bean like Jacob’s cattle or Anasazi (I used navy beans, black beans, and Anasazi!)

the liquid:

• 5 -6 ½ cups water, vegetable broth, chicken stock, or turkey stock (or 1/2 smoked turkey stock*, half water)

Use the larger amount for Anasazi beans, the lesser for most other dried beans.  (Anasazi beans need 4 cups of water for every 1 cup of beans, whereas other beans of similar size need 3 cups of water for every one cup of beans.  We’re adding ½ cup more liquid to make the beans a little brothier.)

optional animal products:

• 1 ham bone
• 2-3 slices pork bacon, diced, rendered, and drained of fat (save it!)
• ¼ cup turkey ham steak, diced

Stove top method:

Measure, sort through for pebbles, and rinse the beans—something you should do with all dried beans.  Soak the beans overnight or at least all day in a very heavy-bottomed stockpot or a cast iron Dutch oven.  This recipe may be a bit too big for a 2-quart Dutch oven, but you could start with just a portion of the liquid and add the rest as the beans absorb it. You’ll need to cover the beans by at least double or possibly even triple the depth of water.  (You could easily start soaking the beans in the morning and then cook them in the late afternoon.)  Drain off  the soaking liquid and add the cooking liquid (water, stock), onions, half of the carrots and celery, and any animal product you are adding.  Simmer beans, covered, for 1 ½ to 2 hours (less for Anasazi, more for black, the full two hours for navy).  Stir occasionally, but if you’ve picked a suitably heavy pot, you shouldn’t have to worry much about sticking.  After the initial cooking time, add the rest of the carrots and celery and cook the beans for ½ hour to 1 hour to finish softening them.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slow Cooker (Crock Pot) Method

Measure, sort through for pebbles, and rinse the beans—something you should do with all dried beans.  Add the beans, the chopped onion, half of the carrots and celery, all of the optional animal flesh and/or bone, and all of the liquid to a slow cooker (known often by the trade-marked name Crock Pot).  Put on the lid and set the slow cooker to low.  Let the beans cook all day.  An hour or so before supper (depending on the type of beans—more time for navy beans, less for black and Anasazi–and your slow cooker), add the rest of the carrots and celery and crank the slow cooker to high for about an hour to finish cooking the beans.  What if you come home and the beans are already soft?  You could turn off the beans, saute the carrots and celery, add them to the beans, and then turn on the cooker right before dinner to reheat it. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In order to get the best nutrition from these beans, serve them with whole-grain cornbread (recipe to follow in a future blog post) to make a complete protein (something you can get by mixing whole grains with beans).  Add gently cooked seasonal greens, like mustard greens, turnip greens, or collard greens—or you could even just make a side salad of healthy baby greens.  Serve with cucumber pickles like bread-and-butter or chow-chow (pickled vegetables).  Some people add pickle juice or tobasco hot sauce to the beans and greens.

*Smoked turkey stock. Did you smoke a turkey this year or get one as a gift?  Did you toss the carcass?  Don’t do that again!  For a great smoky stock, cover the smoked-turkey carcass with water, add aromatics (a stalk of celery, some onion chunks, herbs), and simmer for about two hours.  Strain off the bones, vegetables, and herbs then cool the stock.  Skim off the opaque fat that forms at the top.  Use your stock in soups and beans.  I recommend using it for no more than half of the liquid in a recipe, since it is quite strong.

Do you have questions about cooking with dried beans, Southern food, or vegetarian options?  I’ll do my best to answer them!

I’ve posted a traditional, hearty cornbread recipe.  It is all corn meal and minimally sweet, like people used to eat before every bread came to taste like dessert.

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