Earthbound Kitchen

Aside from my slow cooker, I have a couple of tricks that I use to make sure I have delicious, satisfying, and healthful food despite working three jobs.  (Three jobs is actually an improvement for me, after a tussle with the flu a few weeks ago I had to cut down from four.)  Having food ready when I get home in the evening is a life saver, but each morning I also need to think about the rest of the day.  How do I start myself off on the right foot?  And how do I do it without missing the bus?

Over the summer I wrote about smoothies for Mass Farmers Markets.  Smoothies are quick, and fresh, and easy to carry out the door if you’re in too much of a rush to eat your breakfast sitting down.   And, fortunately for me, after a summer of working at the Central Square and Copley Square farmers markets I now have loads of fruits and berries saved up in my freezer.  With the addition of a banana, a splash of orange juice, and a dollop of Greek yogurt I have breakfast on the go.

Since we’re dealing with an interminable winter up here in the North East, I’ve also gotten fairly addicted to instant oatmeal.  It’s warm, it’s quick, and it has that Surviving-The-Winter feel when it’s all steamy and cinnamony.  Instant oatmeal doesn’t have quite the same fiber benefits as the slow cooking kind, but depending on the brand it can still be tasty and low in sugar.  I personally go with either Quaker Instant or Whole Foods 365 brand oatmeal.  Both are tasty and quick, and both have unflavored varieties that do well with additions.  Maple syrup and pecans is a favorite, as are apples and cinnamon, or pears and brown sugar.

My final go-to breakfast, which I try not to do more than once a week, is eggs.  Eggs are delicious, and such a good source of protein that all others are judged by their standard.  However, eggs are also an excellent source of cholesterol, something that it’s best to eat in moderation.  I try to eat my eggs on whole wheat toast or mixed with greens or (in summer) tomatoes to balance them out.  On the farm we grew a delicious mix we simply called “braising greens.”  These were a mixture of arugula, red mustard, green and red kale, and spinach and they were the BEST mix of greens to sear and toss with eggs (or anything else for that matter).  If you’re a planning ahead person, which I only occasionally am, a great idea could be to make a quiche with sauteed braising greens in it and eat a slice in the morning.

Next up, quick dinner to lunch conversions!

I’ve been working a lot lately.  Maybe 70 hours or so a week.  This is good in many, many ways.  I enjoy the things my extra hours buy me, like a personal trainer at the gym and the occasional dinner out.  I’ve also gotten unexpected press lately, like this article in the Boston Globe or this one on SlashFood that feature quotes from a press release I wrote for the Culinary Guild of New England.  And I also love the interesting people I’ve gotten to meet recently at places like Mathematica Policy Research, Cambridge Culinary, and Cook’s Illustrated.

On the down side I haven’t had a lot of time for cooking lately.

Fortunately I have a slow cooker.  My slow cooker was a present from Asta at Only an Almond Bean and it has served me well for over a year now.  At first I was a little scared of it, and assumed I could only makes things like beans and soups.  Now I have access to the myriad slow cooker recipes at Cook’s Illustrated, as well as a year’s worth of experience of discovering what happens when I throw various ingredients into the pot in the morning and return 8-10 hours later.

I’ve learned several important lessons with my slow cooker.

1. You don’t need to make soup.  When I first started I assumed I needed to drown everything I cooked in broth to avoid having the liquid evaporate during the day and coming home to scalded food.  Because of the low temperature and lid, a little liquid goes a long way.  The one exception is dried beans and grains.  As they hydrate these foods seem to have an endless capacity to absorb water or broth and you’re better off guessing too generously.  For dishes such as chili con carne, beef goulash, chicken and artichokes, or mushroom stroganoff, a little thickener (such as cornstarch or tapioca) plus a dash of broth will result in a silky sauce and no fear of burning.
2. A little acid goes a long way.  I love cooking with wine, but I’ve discovered that a just a cup is more than enough for most slow cooker recipes.  Personally, I like to set my slow cooker for 8 hours or longer, and this tends to concentrate the flavors quite a bit.  A wine that tastes bright and light can become acrid and syrupy over the course of the day.  There are two ways to deal with this.  The first is to use less wine.  The second is to add the wine as soon as you get home and them let the cooker continue going for an hour or two.
3. Be choosy in your vegetables.  Some vegetables work well in a slow cooker.  Others, not so much.  I’m a big fan of tomatoes, kale, squash, sweet potato, carrots, beans (shelled or pod), and mushrooms (not technically a vegetable, but work with me here).  Other vegetables, while I love them for roasting or sautes, just don’t work as well in a slow cooker.  I’m thinking of spinach, zucchini, white potatoes, celery, and beets here.  Most of these veggies turn to mush over the course of a day, while potatoes dissolve and then thicken whatever dish you’re making.  Beets actually hold up well in a slow cooker, but turn your resulting dish a somewhat shocking fuchsia.

So, if you’re a busy person who loves a home cooked meal, I cannot recommend a slow cooker highly enough.  With just a half hour of prep in the morning I feel like I’m saved two hours of cooking in the evening.  I know that slow cookers can be one of the more pricey pieces of kitchen equipment, but if you can’t borrow one from a friend who received it as a wedding gift and has felt bad about hiding it in a cabinet for years, then I’m sure you can pick one up second hand at a yard sale or thrift store.

One of the up sides of being poor is the fact that you start really paying attention to how much the things you normally take for granted cost.  The example most people site is coffee shop coffees and lattes, which if you’re a coffee show junkie can easily add up to $12.50 a week.  Me, I’m a sucker for wraps and burritos when I hit the gym and am too pressed for time to make dinner.  The tofu spinach wrap at Blue Shirt Café in Davis Square is an especial favorite.  Do that a couple of times each week and you’re spending an extra $15 you could have for other things.

Now that I’m watching what I spend, I make every single meal and snack at home.  Breakfast is fruit and yogurt along with coffee that we grind ourselves and make in our little two cup drip coffee maker.  I bring apples for my morning snack and carrots with hummus for my afternoon one and either make a whole week’s worth of lunches on Sunday night or bring leftovers each day.  Since my days are full at the office or the library, dinner comes from glorious slow cooker.

But eating out isn’t just about convenience, it’s also about trying new and interesting combinations.  It’s about eating food that is either too complicated or too time consuming to make at home.  It’s about the feeling of indulgence that you get from a special night out with food and drinks and having someone else do the dishes.  This is why when Sam and I started being more careful with our cash and began saving $30 a week each, we made it a priority to eat out every two or three weeks.  Even if we go out to some of the nicest restaurants in Boston we’re still saving more money than we did before.

How do we pick the best restaurants?  Fortunately, we don’t have to.  Boston Magazine came out with its list of the top 50 restaurants in the city last month.  I dutifully cut the list out and posted it above my desk.  Now each time we feel like indulging we just go for the next place on the list.  So far we’ve check off four.

And this brings me to Hungry Mother.  For our big night out last week we chose this high-class comfort food restaurant that reminded us of our mutual past in the South.  Hungry Mother is small and intimate, maybe 10 tables in the whole place.  It’s delicious food, but not pretentious.  And you know somebody there has a sense of humor, because “The Champagne of Beer” is listed on the menu as coming in a 40 ounce bottle.

We started with deviled eggs, moved on to chicken and “biscuits” (actually a delicate gnocci) and fried catfish atop the best dirty rice I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting, and finished with a caramel pot de crème offset with just a pinch of sea salt to balance the sweet flavor.  It was a meal that was well worth saving for.

Voting is probably the most American thing you can do.  As a person who cares about the politics of this country, I have always felt that if I didn’t vote then I didn’t have a right to voice my political opinions.  After all, when are you being more effective at expressing those opinions than when you drop that ballot into the box?

As a person who was raised in a swing state, I’ve always felt that it was my duty to vote.  In 2000 I mailed my ballot back to Florida with pride.  Until the electoral college disappears, voting in swing states is one of the only ways to make a difference in elections.  Being raised in a swing state has made an indelible mark on me.  Even after 8 years in a red state and 3 in a blue, I still feel like my vote matters.

Mid-term elections are different though.  The electoral college doesn’t come into play.  This is a time when small districts get to have their voices heard.  It may not be as sexy as term elections, but it’s just as important, and you have a chance to make a difference just by caring.

That’s what voting really comes down to: do you care?  Do you care about the economy, health care, child care, the environment, immigration, reproductive rights, trade laws, the Farm Bill?  If you do, then you should care about who is representing you in the House.  And you should vote.  Because the people who care enough to make it to the polls are the people who win.

I’m not trying to get you to vote any particular way, what matters to me is just that you do vote.  Period.  So, if you haven’t already voted early or mailed in an absentee ballot, then I urge you to go vote.