Souper Saturday

This time of year, and as the weather turns colder, we make and eat soup at least once or twice a week.
One of our favorite soups is Italian Bean and Squash Soup from Moosewood Restaurant's New Classics. You can use just about any type of winter squash and any type of beans.

Here's the recipe:
1 T. Olive Oil

3 1/2 cups finely chopped onions

6 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 celery stalk with some leaves, finely chopped

1 3/4 cups crushed tomatoes with juice (15 oz. can)

1 quart vegetable stock

1 t. dried oregano

pinch of crushed red pepper

4 cups diced peeled butternut squash

3 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans ( two 15 oz. cans, rinsed and drained)

1 t. salt

freshly grated pecorino chees (optional)

Heat the oil in a large soup pot and saute onions, garlic and celery about 10 minutes, until soft. Add the tomatoes, broth, oregano, red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer. Add the squash and cook until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the beans and salt and pepper. Cook until beans are heated through. Serve hot topped with the cheese if desired.

I use my own canned Vegetable Stock, which tastes wonderful and compared to store bought, is so much cheaper. (Store bought vegetable stock ranges from $1.79 per quart to $2.99 per quart for organic). Canning your own stock takes some time and effort but so worth it! I also can tomatoes out of my garden and dried beans so they are ready to use. It's a great way to use your own garden harvest or support local farmers. Canning fresh produce in season tastes better and can be much cheaper. I can usually find dried beans from one of the local farmers down at Eastern Market.

For the batch pictured above, I used pinto beans. I also used the sweet dumpling squash, garlic, onions and tomatoes from my own garden. Enjoy

We Bought A Cow!

Her name is Amy and she lives in Kington, Michigan at Hampshire Farms, a family owned, certified organic farm in Kingston, MI. (The photo at the left is not at Hampshire Farms, but it was the only one I had of us with cows in it.) We met Randy and Shirley Hampshire several years ago when they began selling their certified organic grains, flours, cornmeal, beans, popcorn, bread, eggs and other products at Eastern Market. In June 2009, we were among the first families to invest in their cow share program. We had been thinking about switching from organic to raw milk for some time and when the Hampshire's started their program, we knew they were the people we wanted to invest with. Check out their website at http://www.hampshirefarms.com/ and be sure to stop by their stall at Eastern Market in Shed Three.

My family and I have been on a journey that started for me, in 2000 when my older son joined our family. I was a vegetarian for three years and started eating meat again when I was dating my now former husband. I made my son's baby food and started my own backyard garden in 2004. We have made a concerted effort in the past six years to be more thoughtful about what we eat... leaning toward local, in-season food. When I adopted my second son, I did a lot of reading about traditional diets. The Weston A. Price Foundation and the local Healthy Traditions Network have provided a lot of information to consider. Their website is http://www.htnetwork.org/

Some of their strongest recommendations are related to animal products-- grass fed meat, unprocessed (raw, real) dairy. etc. Unfortunately, in Michigan as in many other states, it is illegal for farmers to sell unpasteurized dairy products directly to consumers. So, we bought a share in a cow. We pay a monthly maintenance fee that covers Amy's room and board and every week we pick up a gallon of milk at Eastern Market from the farmers.

This past week, I made a soft cheese with our milk. This is a cheese that my mom (and Situe and other members of our family) made on a regular basis when I was a child. It is unbelievably simple and even more delicious with raw milk.

Here is how it is made:

Put 1 gallon of milk in a stainless steel pot and add 1 teaspoon rennet. I use vegetable rennet purchased online from http://www.leeners.com/

Heat the milk over medium heat. As the curds form, push them down into the milk. Once the liquid is cloudy, scoop the curds into a small strainer and press the whey out of the cheese back into the pot. One gallon of milk should yield about 6-8 patties of cheese.

Sprinkle the cheese with salt and add about 1 teaspoon salt to 4 cups of the whey (remaining liquid). Place the cheese and the whey in separate glass containers and chill in the refrigerator for several hours. Store the cheese and whey together once both are chilled.

We enjoy our cheese with calamata olives and pita bread.