More Thyme Than Dough

Get Fresh

I have never liked to throw food away. It is a waste of money.

My biggest waste problem is with fresh produce. This is because of two things. One, I am a small eater, and two stores sell produce in such huge quantities. It is difficult when single AND a small eater to use up, say a huge stalk of celery.

I think this is a common problem and wasted produce can put a big dent in one’s budget. It is like throwing money down the garbage disposal!

And with produce SO expensive these days every penny saved is of utmost importance.

Over the years I have tried many different ways to make produce last. I have learned a few tricks for keeping produce fresh as long as possible.

I am happy to share some of those tricks with you today.

Bananas

I am not sure anyone really knows how to keep bananas fresh for very long. First thing I recommend is to buy only what you will need or eat for only one or two days.

I do know this much: Do not refrigerate. Do not place in a bag of any sort. Do not store in a dish with any other fruit. All of these things will make the bananas ripen sooner.

The best tips are to hang on a banana holder if you have one. Another way that has worked for me is to pull them apart when you get them home. You can often find lose bananas at the store. I get those.

Celery

I have tried several methods here too. Best way I have found is to cut off the bottom of the celery and any brown looking leaves, and then wrap it all completely and tightly in aluminum foil. Then place it in the crisper of your refrigerator. Do not wash before hand as the dampness could cause early rot, mold, or both.

I have been able to extend the freshness of celery about 5-7 days doing this.

Lettuce

Wash the leaves and then dry, dry, dry the leaves with towels very thoroughly. Water is what makes lettuce leaves spoil so quickly. If you have one, and I recommend you do, also spin the leaves in a lettuce spinner. That too will help dry the leaves.

Then put the dry leaves inside a plastic bag with 1 or 2 paper towels to absorb any lingering moisture. Place in your crisper and you should get a few extra days from your lettuce.

Mushrooms

Place the mushrooms in a paper bad and loosely fold over. Then place in the refrigerator, not the crisper. The crisper is too moist for mushrooms.

Raspberries

Do not wash them. The water will make them spoil faster. Gently remove them from the container and turn them upside down and place on a large plate so that they are not touching each other. Place a small but taller than the berries, object in the middle of the plate. I use an egg cup. Then place aluminum foil over them and wrap tightly. They will last several days this way. Wash them when you are ready to eat them.

Strawberries

First, choose the ripest berries you can because strawberries do not ripen any further once picked. Leave their caps on and do not wash them until ready to use. Store in a colander in the refrigerator until ready to use. Do not cover.

Tomatoes

Do not store uncut tomatoes in the refrigerator as it ruins both the flavor and the texture. Store them above 55 degrees stem side down, especially if you buy stem less tomatoes. If you can, buy tomatoes on the vine. They will last a bit longer. Do not wash them until you are ready to eat.

These fruits and vegetables are the main ones I have trouble with. If there is a fruit or vegetable I did not include and you want to know how to store it just let me know and I will do a sequel, Get Fresh II.

Featured Recipe Savory Mushrooms

I love mushrooms any way you make them or serve them. I love them sliced and mixed in scrambled eggs for breakfast. I like them in salads and pastas. I love them on steaks, chicken, or pork chops. And I like them as appetizers like in this recipe.

Answers.com defines ‘savory,” as “Piquant, pungent, or salty to the taste; not sweet.” I think that sums up this very delicious recipe.

You can serve this as a side dish to any meat entrée, especially steak. You could even serve these mushrooms over the steak.

You could also serve it for party food, like the Super Bowl. Just set out some party toothpicks and let people stab their food.

You can use this recipe in other ways too.

SERVING SUGGESTION —–> You could chop the mushrooms, lightly sauté them, add the Worcestershire mixture, cool the mushrooms completely and serve on top buttered bread. So elegant. With some soup and salad you could have an entire meal.

SERVING SUGGESTION: —–> You could follow the recipe in the first suggestion and top some pasta or rice with them too.

This is truly an all purpose recipe.

This is what you need for 4 servings:

¾ pound small mushrooms

¼ cup butter

2-3 anchovy filets

1 garlic clove

2 tablespoons minced parsley

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt & pepper to taste to taste

Here is what you do:

Mince the parsley.

Combine anchovies, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper, and parsley in a bowl and set aside. Leave the anchovies whole. They will melt right into your sauce when you heat the mushrooms.

Prepping the Mushrooms

Clean the mushrooms.

NOTE: I just discovered my mushroom brush is missing. I hope I do not have to go out and buy a new one. Where did I put it? Not where I always keep it. Drat!

So I had to use one-fourth of a dry paper towel to clean the mushrooms. I just lightly waved it back and forth over the mushrooms to get the big surface dirt off. In many ways it worked better than my brush. I do this right over the sink. These were really dirty little mushrooms.

Then using one-fourth of a damp paper towel lightly rub off any remaining dirt.

Last job in prepping the mushrooms is to cut off a small part of the stem. Not all of it. Just a wee bit.

NOTE: All of this sounds like a time consuming process. It is not. Maybe 10-15 minutes, less if you have your children help out. It takes longer to write it out than it does to actually do it. And the rest of this recipe goes very fast. I woud say making the whole recipe takes 30 minutes or less.

Onward fellow cooks…………

Now melt the butter over medium low heat.

Add the mushrooms and stir the mushrooms to make sure each of them is well coated with butter. Sauté the mushrooms about a minute or two gently stirring constantly over medium low heat.

Stir the anchovy mixture into the mushrooms and heat until mushrooms are heated through about 5-7 minutes. It will not take 2 minutes before all traces of the anchovies are all gone. Anchovies melt when heated forming a great savory sauce.

Spoon the mushrooms into a bowl. Pour the sauce over the top of the mushrooms. Serve hot.

Bon appétit!!!

Cost

¾ pound small mushrooms* $3.07*

¼ cup butter $0.36

2-3 anchovy filets $0.36

1 garlic clove $0.03

2 tablespoons minced parsley $0.07

1 tbspn Worcestershire sauce $0.12

Salt & pepper to taste

* I had a $2 off coupon which is why I decided to make this recipe.

Total cost = $4.01

Cost per person = $1.00

If you are making the recipe for a party this recipe makes about 35 mushrooms.

Quote of the Day

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

Albert Einstein

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Food For the Soul

Food for the mind, soul, and spirit.

I received this in an email last week. I thought it was interesting. Nothing new, mind you. Just a gentle reminder.

1. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

2. Always put yourself in the other person’s shoes. If you think or feel that what you want to say or do would hurt you, it would probably hurt the other person too.

3. A kind and loving word can heal and bless.

4. The happiest of people do not necessarily have the best of everything they just make the most of everything that comes their way.

5. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word and then walk away feeling as if it was the best conversation you have ever had.

6. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and often ends with a tear. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so that when you die, you are the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Featured Recipe Corn and Bacon Sauté

I kid you not!

I could eat this dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is that good!! I could eat this dish for snacks. It is even better than pop corn.

I love corn. I love corn any way I can eat it. Fresh right off the cob, or frozen or even canned.

On cold gray and dreary winter days, it is like eating a little pieces of yellow sunshine. Sunflakes. Like the poem yesterday. The bright yellow corn brightens up both my plate and my spirits.

Then, of course, in this recipe there is the bacon. Oh my! Bacon can make any food taste better.

This is a wonderful side dish to any meat, but it is especially good with pork chops for some reason.

SERVING SUGGESTION ——-> Just sprinkle a little salt and pepper, and dried oregano on some chops. Then dredge them in some flour. Shake off the excess and sauté in a little oil. Serve with the corn and a salad, and voilà, almost instant dinner.

SERVING SUGGESTION ——-> This could also be a salad if you let the corn cool and then serve it on a bed of lettuce; or even better yet, served in a scooped out tomato. Very pretty in a red tomato; yes indeedy!

This is what you will need for 4 people:

2 cans of corn (11-14 ounce cans)

8 slices bacon

1 small onion

2-3 tablespoons butter

6 green onions

Salt and pepper to taste

IDEA ——-> For a prettier effect use one can of white corn and one can of yellow. I used a 14 ounce can yellow and an 11 ounce can white.

Here is what you do:

Cut the bacon into a medium dice and cook over medium heat untill crisp.

While the bacon is crisping, chop the white onion into medium pieces.

Wash the green onions and cut white and green parts into slices. Set these aside for garnish.

Sliced green onions set aside.

When the bacon is nice and crisp, if you have lots and lots of grease in the pan, drain off all but about 2 or 3 tablespoons. Save the grease in the refrigerator for another use. I use Center Cut bacon so I barely had 2 tablespoons grease at all in the pan.

Push the bacon to the side of the pan and add the butter to the bacon grease. Let it melt. This will not take long.

Add the white onion only to the skillet, mix the bacon into the onion and let it cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begins to brown around the edges.

The aroma of the bacon and onion sautéing together is insanely divine. OK. So I am not that far from insane anyway……but you know what I mean. I hope.

While the onion is sautéing drain the corn.

When the onion is browned add the corn and sauté until heated through. Mix the corn, bacon, and onion very well and make sure the corn is thoroughly coated with the bacon drippings and butter mixture.

When the corn is done check for seasonings. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Put the corn in a serving dish . Garnish with the green onion slices. Serve and enjoy.

Bon appétit!!!

Cost

2 cans of corn $2.43

8 slices bacon $1.92

1 small onion $0.12

2-3 tbsns butter $0.27

6 green onions $0.48

Salt and pepper

Total cost =$5.22

Cost per person =$1.31

Quote of the Day

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

Theodore Roosevelt

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Sunflakes

There is enough snow in enough places today for me to share this delightful poem with you. It is about snow. Kinda. Sorta.

But for those who prefer warmer weather and sunshine this delightful poem has something for you too.

You will need your imagination to fully enjoy this poem.

Sunflakes

If sunlight fell like snowflakes,

Gleaming yellow and so bright,

We could build a sunman,

we could have a sunball fight,

We could watch sunflakes

drifting in the sky.

We could go sleighing

in the middle of July

Through sundrifts and sunbanks,

we could ride a sunmobile,

and we could touch sunflakes –

I wonder how they’d feel.

Frank Asch ~ Author

Featured Recipe Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce

My first introduction to gnocchi was in a small restaurant nearWesterville,Ohio. They had a marvelous dish of gnocchi in an au gratin dish with tomato sauce and cheese on top. Part of the delight was the great tomato sauce.

It was a very simple and basic dish. There was nothing fancy about it. It was all about the gnocchi, the tomato sauce, and the cheese. Simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity!

Whenever I went to that restaurant that was what I ordered. I am so predictable.

The restaurant closed and I have never found anything like it since. Came close once inChicago, but cannot remember where. Or was itDenver?

I have played around with gnocchi ever since and this recipe is the closest I have been able to get to that wonderful first introduction.

Gnocchi are just small dumplings made with potatoes. They are delicious and very filling.

This is what you will need for 4 people:

1-16 ounce box gnocchi (or home made*)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 – 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

½ cup Sweet Vermouth or water

1-2 small cloves garlic

1 small onion grated

Shredded Mozzarella cheese to taste**

Grated Parmesan cheese to taste**

Spray oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional for garnish only: 4 basil leaves (not pictured.)

*If you have the time.

** I use about 1 tablespoon on each dish, or 4 total of each cheese.

ALSO NEEDED: You will also need four au gratin dishes OR four ovenproof dishes.

You will also need a garlic press and a fine grater.

Here is what you do:

Put a large pot of lightly salted water up to boil first so that the water is boiling at around the same time the tomato sauce is getting thick.

NOTE: You want to aim for having the gnocchi cooked at about the same time as your sauce is ready so that the gnocchi stay warm. You don’t want them to sit around getting cold while you wait for the sauce to thicken up.

Heat the oil over medium low heat. Peel the garlic. Using a hand grater held over the sauté pan grate the onion straight into the pan with olive oil. NOTE: Grate as much of the onion as you can without grateing your own fingers.

Can you see the teeny-tiny pieces of onion?

Using a press add the garlic to the pan too. Mix the onion and the garlic together and sauté until you can begin to smell the garlic, stirring often, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the crushed tomatoes and the vermouth. Raise the heat to medium high and cook until you see the sauce begin to bubble.

Then turn down the heat to medium and simmer the sauce about 20-30 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken. Check for seasonings; and add salt and pepper if desired.

By now the pot of water should be boiling. Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions. This does not take long, 2-4 minutes. You will not have to worry when the gnocchi is done. When it is, the gnnochi float to the top of the water. Isn’t that so convenient!!!

I use a large circular spoon with holes in it to remove the gnocchi from the water and place them in a bowl right away. There is a name for that kind of spoon but being the non-professional cook that I am, heck if I know what it is.

Heat your oven to 250 degrees now.

Spray a very, very, very small amount of the spray oil in the bottom of the au gratin dish, or whatever kind of dish you use. Using your fingers spread the oil across the bottom of the dish. This is so the gnocchi do not stick to the plate while in the oven.

Divide the gnocchi between the four au gratin dishes or what ever ind of dishes you are using.

Top the gnocchi with some of the tomato sauce.

Then add some Mozzarella on top of the sauce; and then the Parmesan cheese on top of the Mozzarella.

Place the au gratin dishes on a baking sheet and put into the oven [Sorry. No picture. I forgot!] for about 5-6 minutes until the cheese is melted. Like me, you may have to do this in two batches.

NOTE: Do not bake the gnocchi. You just want the cheese to melt and be sure that the gnocchi and sauce are warm. So 5-6 minutes should be plenty of time.

Remove from the oven and serve in the au gratin dishes with a salad and some garlic bread. I added a leaf of basil for garnish.

Bon appétit!!!

Cost

1-16 ounce box gnocchi $3.18

2 tablespoons olive oil $0.24

1 – 28 oz can crushed tomatoes $1.99

½ cup Sweet Vermouth $0.76

1-2 small cloves garlic $0.08

1 small onion grated $0.15

Shredded Mozzarella $1.76

Grated Parmesan $1.76

Spray oil $0.08

Salt and pepper to taste

Total cost =$9.91

Cost per serving =$2.48

An elegant little dish for only $2.48 a serving, wouldn’t you say?

Quote of the Day

Life is a combination of magic and pasta.

Federico Fellini

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More Thyme Than Dough

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Get Fresh

Bananas

Celery

Lettuce

Mushrooms

Raspberries

Strawberries

Tomatoes

Featured Recipe Savory Mushrooms

This is what you need for 4 servings:

Here is what you do:

Total cost = $4.01

Cost per person = $1.00

Food For the Soul

Food for the mind, soul, and spirit.

Featured Recipe Corn and Bacon Sauté

I kid you not!

This is what you will need for 4 people:

Here is what you do:

Total cost =$5.22

Cost per person =$1.31

Sunflakes

Sunflakes

If sunlight fell like snowflakes,

Gleaming yellow and so bright,

We could build a sunman,

we could have a sunball fight,

We could watch sunflakes

drifting in the sky.

We could go sleighing

in the middle of July

Through sundrifts and sunbanks,

we could ride a sunmobile,

and we could touch sunflakes –

I wonder how they’d feel.

Featured Recipe Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce

This is what you will need for 4 people:

Here is what you do:

Total cost =$9.91

Cost per serving =$2.48

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