Things you need in your freezer

I probably sound like your grandmother who survived the Great Depression here, but people waste WAY too much food in this country!  It wastes a whole lot of money, time, and is horrible for the environment.  I could go on a eco-feminist rant here, but I'll stop.  Instead, I am going to offer up some simple solutions.

Your freezer is a glorious place, where food can be preserved with very little effort.  Trimmings you regard as garbage may not actually be garbage.

Beets are a staple in my house.  You should most definitely be buying the ones with all the leaves on the top, as they are edible too.  If you already eat beet greens, as they are called, you may not know that the purple spine that many people remove and toss out, is also edible.  It is also edible in kale, collards, and every other member of the "greens" family.  No, you cannot eat it raw.  It adds loads of delicious flavor and VITAMINS to soups, stews, and stocks.

When trimming and washing my greens, I stash all my stems and spines in a freezer bag, then toss in the freezer for the next time I make soup, stew, or a stock.  They are already washed and ready to go when I am.   We could all use the extra vitamins and minerals, right?

Next on the scrap table is celery tops.  Too many people toss out that leafy goodness, regarding it as either garnish for a bloody mary or trash.  Its not trash!  In those leaves is an intense celery flavor.  Yet again, it can be used in soups, stocks, and stews, along with meats, stuffing, rice dishes, and anywhere you would want celery.  Its tasty shit, so save it.  When I'm done prepping my veggie tray, I toss the leafy tops into freezer bags and freeze them for later.

I always seem to have a few pieces of produce that I just won't get to before they go bad.  They aren't bad yet... but they will be in another day or two.  It doesn't take a psychic to guess what I do with it, at this point. Prep it up and freeze that shit!  Chop it, peel it, and/or seed it.  I toss fruits or veggies that could turn brown in a little lemon juice.  Chopped and ready onions and celery from the freezer have saved my ass many a time.

After a party, I somehow end up  with way more veggies from the veggie tray than we can eat in a few days.  They all get chopped up and frozen, then I don't feel obligated to eat it for days or bad about being wasteful.

Pitted and chopped fruits are great for pies, smoothies, jam making, or frozen blender drinks.   Random strawberry daiquiri on a Wednesday night?  Yes, please!

Now onto bones.  Don't have time to make a stock or soup the same night you cook your meat?  Bag it and freeze it for later.  I shamelessly call dibs on turkey and other carcasses at friend's dinner parties.  I bag it up and bring it home to my freezer, then make stock another night.  Making your own stocks is easy, insanely delicious, and will impress people with your culinary skills.  Plus, you aren't buying into Big Food Corporations that are soulless, cruel, and patriarchal.

There are so many other bits of kitchen scraps that are actually useful if saved.  Its too many to list here, but I hope I have inspired others to start thinking about their food a little more.  Frugality can most definitely equate to responsible consumerism and eco-feminism, if you do it right.

Adventures in Cheese Making

Cheese making is one of those things I have always wanted to try.  Now that I have a regular supplier of RAW milk, I am totally amped about it.  

Raw milk?  You say.  

Yes, raw milk... straight from a grass fed, free-range cow's utter.  Big food corporations like the national dairy counsel have done their best to convince the us that non-homogenized, unsterilized, and non-chemically treated milk is BAD for us.  Well, its not.  Studies are showing otherwise and crunchy moms also know raw milk is where its at too.  Big dairy = patriarchal oppression of what's natural and good.  (or at least that's how I see it.)  

In Florida, it is not technically sold for "human consumption," so its my cats that drink a shit load of raw milk.  Uh huh... yeah.

Back to the reason for my post.  Raw milk is what you need to start with, in order to make cheese.  Pasteurized and homogenized just won't work.  If you're going to try this, you'll need to get raw milk.  Find a supplier, know your cows or goats, and you should be fine.  No promises, as I only know my farm is awesome and tasty.... according to my cats, that is.

My "cats" love cheese, so this is how I made some for them.

I was a little nervous about my first time making cheese, so I decided to go with a simple recipe, before diving in with rennet and investing in a slew of cheese making utensils.  

Queso Fresco is a simple, easy to make cheese that was pretty good (according to the cats), for my first adventure in cheese making.

You'll need:

1/2 gallon of raw milk

1 cup of acid (lime juice, lemon juice, or vinegar)

Salt and pepper

Pour milk into sauce pan and heat over medium heat.  Make sure you stir it often, to avoid scalding or burning it.  When its warm, but not yet boiling, add the acid (I used lime juice).  

I used bottled lime juice, because it has a more consistent and higher acid content.  If there isn't enough acid, its not going to separate.  Blame chemistry, for not being able to use an actual lime.  

 

Now stir over medium low heat.  Curds will form.  This is good.  Wait until you're pretty sure its as chunky and separated as its going to get.

Remove from the heat and stir.  Allow to sit for a few minutes.  While its sitting, you need to place a colander, lined with cheese cloth, into a large bowl.  

Next, carefully pour your curds and whey into the colander.  Press lightly and massage.  Gently work as much of the whey out of the cheese curds as you can.  Set the whey aside.  

Rinse your cheese with water, then squeeze as much of the water out as you can.  I folded my cheese cloth all around my ball of curds and squeezed it out.

Dump all the curds into a bowl.  Sprinkle with some sea salt and cracked pepper and mix up.

This cheese does not melt.  Its a firm, squeaky cheese that is absolutely delicious in salads, soups, Mexican dishes and anywhere else you want to put it.  Since I used lime juice as my acid, my cheese had a distinct lime taste.  Experiment with your acids, to achieve different flavors.   

I made black bean soup the next night, and I sprinkled my cheese over the soup.  It was simply divine, especially with the hint of lime in the cheese.

Sticking it to the cheese man never tasted so good.   

Get Stocky

I know all about being busy and burning the candle at both ends. I have to be Mary Fucking Sunshine at 7 am, after pulling an all-nighter for midterms. That's what 12 cups of coffee are for, and maybe a shot of Bailey's. (Just kidding, of course!)  However, quality and socially responsible foods are high on my priority list. With my tight budget, I have to get really creative to accomplish this.

Two ways of getting the most out of your feminist dollars comes from one simple meal: roasted chicken. (I can hear the vegetarians cringing and clicking off the page now.) Before you get your panties in a twist, the vast majority of my meat comes from a local, slow-food, free range farm.

Roasting your chickens, free range or not, is the single best way to get the best value from your bird. After you have carved off every succulent morsel of meat, you have a the best treasure of deliciousness left before you, in the bones and fatty bits. Don't give me any of that grossed out business. If you're going to eat meat, don't be squeamish and don't waste what's edible... or the GOP wins.

Dump the bones and whatever bits of skin, fat, cartilage, and juices are left over into a crockpot.

 

Then add whatever vegetables and herbs you have on hand. I usually add onion, some garlic, carrots, some celery tops (aka that leafy shit you usually toss out), kale or beat green spines (the tough parts of your greens that you probably didn't know were edible), parsley and sage from my herb garden (dried is fine too), and a healthy dash of sea salt and pepper.



Cover the whole thing with water, it's usually between 12 and 16 cups of water.



Then you turn your crockpot to low and forget about it for anywhere between 12 to 24 hours. I personally prefer 24 hours. The stock is richer and almost condensed tasting.

When you've deemed it ready to come out, you'll need the following paraphernalia:

- Quart sized canning jars and lids (sanitized)
- Large bowl or pitcher
- Canning funnel
- Mesh strainer
- Ladle

  

Strain everything out over a bigger bowl with a pitcher lip, then pour the liquid into my jars. You can also strain it into your jars, by using a canning funnel under your strainer.



You have two choices for storing your stock: the fridge or the freezer.

For the fridge: Fill your jars a quarter inch from the top, wipe the rims, and screw on the lids. Allow to cool on the counter, then stick in the fridge. Use within 30 days.



For the freezer: Fill your jars 3/4 full. DO NOT fill them up any more than this or they will explode stock all over your freezer. Then screw on the lids, allow to cool completely on the counter, and place in the freezer. Always make sure your jars are freezer safe.

There you have it. Now you have no excuse for buying chicken stock from companies that torture chickens and load you up with chemicals. You have also saved yourself a bunch of money and effectively stuck it to the man.

This method can and should be done with all of your leftover bones, whether turkey, beef, ham, duck, or fish heads (yes, fish heads... It's delicious, so don't knock it until you try it.)

Chicken soup, made with this stock, is good for the feminist soul.