|
|
| Back to the Table of Contents |
What I Choose to Buy
at the Co-op . . . and Why:
Mid-Winter Abundance
|
| A series of monthly
articles by members of our Nutrition & Education committee |
by Louise Frazier
|
Winter deepens and the pot
on my stove thickens—with warming fare from the Co-op’s bulk aisles,
dried herbs, produce, cheese and groceries sections. Local farmers take
a break from growing and we still reap the benefits of their labors
from the summer that is spent. Sun-filled root vegetables from our
region can include carrots, beets, celeriac, rutabaga and parsnips,
along with cabbages red and green. They will form the base of my
cookery through the winter. Combining them with Northeast apples,
pears, and sometimes quince, will make for delectable fare from soups
and stews to salads and desserts.
Oats, barley, millet, different varieties of rice and warming buckwheat
are sure to fire my imagination towards armchair travel with suppers on
blustery, cold nights, transporting us to lands near and far, lifting
our spirits as we gather around the table. A Friday-night favorite is
putting a layer of fresh sauerkraut between whole oats groats that have
been cooked with minced onion, grated celeriac, dried leaf thyme and
savory, topping it with a Gruyere-type cheese to melt as the dish heats
through for 20 minutes in the oven. Think of being warm in an Alpine
Swiss chalet après ski. Or replace cheese topping with tofu
slices sprinkled with allspice and tamari for an Asian evening. On
another night, instead of oats, the same ingredients will top our
Berkshire Bakery spelt pizza crust, with the cheese or tofu covering
the sauerkraut, protecting its probiotics from getting too hot, as we
travel to Italy via Russia.
Dried bean dishes, redolent with onions, celeriac, carrots, herbs—leaf
savory for digestion—and spices are simple to prepare, leading us from
northern climes to southern. Erie Canal beans made from white great
northerns with lots of onion, dried mustard, molasses or maple syrup
start us off in our own region. Adding fresh-made corn bread and a root
vegetable and apple slaw will fill us and soon send us into our quilts
for a long nights journey to the stars. If it’s only the two of us, the
dish can be made with Eden canned beans, supplemented with all the
other ingredients, saving time and gas with less cooking! The deli
makes delicious corn bread, so we might buy that or their spelt-flour
blueberry muffins. They have glutenfree varieties as well.
Lentils can take us from Central Europe—cooked with chopped leek
greens, parsley and celeriac—or to the Middle East made with onions,
prunes and cinnamon! Use curry spices for lentils India style, served
with brown rice and tangy chutney from the specialty food and cheese
section. Our January Farm-and-Food tip reminds us that winter cheeses
bring the richness of summer, made with the milk from sunny
meadow-grazing cows, goats and sheep—linger there in front of your wood
stove with some Clover Mead Farms or other local raw milk varieties
from the Co-op cheese section!
Take a trip to the Caribbean serving black beans and rice—or Brazil,
where they cut up an orange and add it to a pot of Black Beans
Fejoiada. We like to serve it over baked sweet potatoes for Sunday
night supper in winter. A salad of finely grated carrots or beets
tossed with coarsely grated apple or canned crushed pineapple, a little
oil and grated fresh ginger complete the meal. Sometimes we add fresh
sauerkraut to the salad as well!
We plan on serving such a salad for lunch at the School Food Conference
on January 31. The menu will feature mid-winter “Whole Enchilada” made
with sautéed minced onions tossed with grated butternut squash,
kidney beans, garlic and spices wrapped in whole wheat or corn
tortillas, baked in a pan with salsa at 300° for 30 minutes. “Happy
Burgers” is planned as second choice, combining baked or cooked sweet
potatoes mashed with black beans, then mixed with oat flakes, maple
syrup, mustard, salt, onion and garlic powder. Formed into patties,
they bake on oiled baking sheets at 350° for 30 minutes. (One can
also roast Julienne fries from sweet potatoes, celeriac—even
rutabaga—cut French style, sprinkled or tossed with safflower or olive
oil and put in the oven, for healthy alternatives to deepfat potato
fries.) Baked apple or apple crisp, sweetened with New York State maple
syrup, complete this mid-winter menu—which could be satisfying fare for
any age!
School fare can be enticing for children, as can our daily meals at
home for everyone at our table. Success has been achieved in many
efforts to bring healthier lunches to school children, when ethnic lore
and recipes, using farm fresh foods, have been featured, capturing
their interest. Hands-on food projects heighten their imagination as
well, and they eagerly help themselves to school salad bars. In
Massachusetts, it was found that school children ate more vegetables
when they were locally grown! So let them create their salads from
fresh Northeast winter ingredients— apples, cabbage slaw, grated
carrots and beets—Waldorf style.
|
| Back to the Table of Contents |
|
|
|
