What I Love About Winter

Last week, on Ground Hog's day, I heard a conversation on NPR about mid-winter traditions that were started to spur us through the last six weeks of the season. Ground Hog's Day whether we should dig in our heels for six more weeks of cold or if we should start looking forward to warmer days. Some cultures have proverbs about making sure you have half of your wood and food left to get you through the rest of the season. I thought it would be fun to make a list of all the things I love about winter, things I think about in the middle of a run of upper 90-degree days in the summer.

• Christmas! - the holiday, not the consumerism
• Playing in the snow - sledding, snow angels, snow forts, snowball fights, etc. We usually don't get much around here, so if there's enough to play in, I'm happy.
• Hot chocolate
• Hot tea
• Soup cooking in the crockpot all day
• Sweaters
• Wool blankets
• Wool socks
• Heavy coats, scarves, and hats
• Snow days (it doesn't take much for things to shut down around here)
• Winter squash
• Fires in the fireplace
• Baking (too hot to do in the summer - I didn't turn my oven on for 2 1/2 months last year)
• Ice cycles
• Seeing cardinals in the snow
• Animal tracks in the snow
• Garden planning
• Curling up on the couch with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate or tea (although I'll do this in the summer with a glass of iced tea or water)
• Bare trees with the winter sun shining through
• Cold groceries staying cold in my car as I run all my errands

Food for thought, in the middle of a long, hot summer, I look forward to all the things I love about winter. However, as much as I may love many things about summer, even in the long cold of winter, I do not look forward to the possibility of a long, HOT summer (i.e. too hot, meaning dangerous, to go out and enjoy ourselves: upper 90s, low 100s). Last summer was way too hot for too long. Interestingly, it has been followed by the coldest and snowiest winter I think we've experienced here.

Seeing as how we had two ground hogs make opposing predictions last week, I think I'll look to the robins playing in my backyard. Then again, we're about to get hit with more snow.

New Cookie Recipe

I'm looking forward to trying this cookie recipe:

Oatmeal Bittersweet Chocolate and Cocoa Nib Cookies

I just need to figure out where I can buy cocoa nibs. We also have the same problem she has, how to make cookie dough last until baking time!

Rice and Beans

I have commented before that it sometimes feels like we live in a test kitchen. This recipe reflects that. We had a favorite Rice and Bean recipe made with a variety of canned beans and a packet of chili seasoning. It's a very healthy recipe and, in fact, I found it in the Champions in the Kitchen: Great Food for Healthful Living - a compilation of recipes published by the Arthur G. James Cancer Center Hospital and Research Institute at The Ohio State University.

Even though it is a healthy recipe, we felt there was some room for improvement. Our first adjustment was to rinse the beans, which can reduce the amount of sodium in a recipe by something like 40 percent. Then we used cumin and chili powder instead of the chili seasoning packet, which can have a lot of additives. Then, for budgetary and health/environmental reasons, we switched to organic dried beans (thank goodness for the Whole Foods bulk section!). At this point, I'm not sure how this compares taste-wise to the original recipe. I just know that our adjustments have evolved to a new recipe that received thumbs-up all around the table. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Rice and Beans

4 cups dried mixed beans (we used a combination of pintos, black, cannellini, kidney, and black-eye peas)

Rinse and soak overnight in 8 cups (?) of water. Drain and rinse in the morning.

Saute in pan spritzed with olive oil:
1 cup chopped onion
1/2-1 cup diced green peppers

Put beans in crockpot and add:
Sauteed onion and green pepper
Diced Tomatoes (28 oz can)
1 Tbsp Cumin
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
3/4 tsp Garlic Powder (I was feeling lazy or I would've used 3 cloves minced garlic)
Water (I used the tomato can and filled it 1 1/2 times)

Simmer in crockpot on high all day. Just before serving add:

2 tsp Kosher Salt

Serve with rice and top lightly with shredded cheddar cheese.

My husband, who loves really spicy foods, adds New Orleans Voodoo Hot Sauce, or something comparable as well.

In The News

My mom subscribes to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in her area and receives a newsletter each week with news and recipes as well as what will be in her box. We like to compare CSA offerings and share other foodie info, so she forwards her newsletter to me. I found the links to recent news articles this week particularly interesting and thought I'd share them with you.

America's Food Fight

Why the banana crisis doesn’t make me stop worrying and love GMOs

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Dear Lord,

Thank you for this true Sabbath! A "forced" day off, when everything is shut down - nowhere to go, nothing to do but enjoy the beauty of the snow. Although it is Sunday, and we were fully prepared to get up and go to church (admittedly partially because we didn't want to contribute to the low attendance on the day after Christmas), we appreciate being able to have a leisurely morning, make a breakfast reserved for days like today (yummy Beignets and fresh fried farm eggs), and spend the day playing in and taking pictures of the snow. Thank you!

Amen!

Corn Dog Muffins

I have been making these muffins for lunches lately. They are a huge hit! The recipe/concept came from my friend Monica (thanks!). I mentioned making these in an e-mail to my mom and sister and now my sister is making them as well. I hope they are a hit in your home. You can use any corn muffin mix/recipe. The following recipe uses Hodgson Mill Corn Meal Muffin recipe as the base.

Corn Dog Muffins

Combine:
1 1/2 cups Yellow Corn Meal
1 cup Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt

Blend together:
1 cup Buttermilk
1 beaten Egg
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Add-ins:
2 hotdogs, sliced length-wise into half-moons and then length-wise again. The slice across into 1/8" pieces (we use the Oscar Meyer Premium hotdogs, which are nitrate and nitrite free)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (we usually use cheddar)

Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare muffin tins by lining with muffin papers or spraying with no-stick cooking spray.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes. Fold hotdog pieces and cheese into batter.

Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling them 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of muffins are golden brown. Remove from pans and serve immediately or cool on racks. Makes one dozen.

Notes:

1. Monica makes these into mini-muffins.
2. I usually don't have buttermilk on hand, so I add a teaspoon of vinegar to a cup of milk instead.
3. This is another recipe that I double and freeze to make packing lunches easier. They thaw over the course of the morning and are ready come lunchtime.

Oatmeal Spice Muffins

As I mentioned before, muffins are a standard breakfast item around here. I have started making double batches of muffins and putting them in the freezer. This will get us through at least 2 weeks before I have to bake more, thus saving time. My go-to muffin recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. It has a basic muffin recipe with several variations, but I combine a couple of those for my basic muffin. Here it is:

Oatmeal Spice Muffins

Combine:
2/3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2/3 cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 cups Rolled Oats
1/3 cup Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 - 1/2 cup Chopped Nuts

In a separate bowl, mix:
1 Beaten Egg
3/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Cooking Oil

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Lightly grease muffin cups or use paper baking cups. Fill 2/3 full and bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans. Makes about a dozen.

Banana Muffins: Add 3/4 cup mashed banana to wet ingredients and reduce milk to 1/2 cup. Don't use paper liners.

Pumpkin Muffins: Add 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin to wet ingredients. Don't use paper liners.

Berry Muffins: Fold in 3/4 cup fresh or frozen berries after mixing wet and dry ingredients.

Note: These are old fashioned bread-like muffins, as opposed to the cake-like muffins usually found commercially.