It can really only mean one thing: pancracks! This lonely yogurt was hanging out at the back of the fridge - leftover from a work breakfast, I'm sure. I was thinking I'd have to wait until the end of the pseudo-freegan challenge to go buy some yogurt and try these babies, but it turned out I got to skip the PB&J and have something delicious for dinner on the last night. These pancakes are super-fast and easy to make - a big plus for a poor cook like myself. Singles, note: you'll be perfectly stuffed if you use the 6oz yogurt and multiply all the recipe's measures by .75.

I used another savory pancake recipe earlier in the week to clean out my freezer. From the great Vegetarian Planet cookbook, I'm renaming these the Anti-Food-Waste Pancakes, as you can literally use any leftover vegetables in these, as well as a whole cup of leftover rice. I had some spinach that was going bad so I cleaned it and steamed it for a minute and stuck it in the freezer - it went right into the batter and tasted great! I also had some carrots going south so I grated 'em up; zucchini would work well, too. The only veggie that doesn't seem negotiable is the green onion, but I'm sure a creative cook could come up with a good substitution.

Anti-Food-Waste Pancakes

1 egg

1 1/3 c. water

1 c. unbleached flour

1 c. glutinous rice flour (or additional cup white flour)

1/2 t salt

1 c. cooked short-grain brown rice or 1 cup glutinous rice (any rice is fine, IMO)

8 oz. firm tofu, cut into small cubes

2 large carrots, grated

6 scallions, green and white parts chopped fine

3 T canola or corn oil

Whisk together the egg and water. Stir together the flours and salt, and then add the egg mixture slowly. Add everything else - and your extra veggies (diced or grated, cooked already could work). I also like to add sesame seeds to the batter. Cook pancakes in a skillet using the oil. Spread the batter with a spoon - it takes about 5 min per side.

Meanwhile, make some dipping sauce:

3 T soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

1 t dark sesame oil

1 t apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar or lemon/lime)

1 pinch chile flakes or hot sauce

1 pinch sugar or honey

This is kind of approximate - it should be sweet, salty, spicy, tart in the relationship that you happen to like. It is important because the pancakes can be a little bland on their own. The batter will keep for a couple of days so you can keep whipping yourself up some fresh, tasty, veggie-laden pancakes. (Appx 3 filling servings)

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The challenge has been great in getting me to clean out my fridge and use up the stuff in there that has been lingering unnecessarily. I found a pasta recipe that uses bread crumbs, something I have by the ton in my freezer; I also made some veggie burgers out of some beans, bread crumbs, and rice that had been sitting around. The truth is, I have about another month's worth of food in there - I may have to continue trying to eat freegan indefinitely!

I can't think of a worse buzzkill than blossom-end rot.  I've tended my tomato plant carefully, watched the magic green babies appear, only to see them literally rotting on the vine as they grow.  So depressing!   This happened last year, and I chalked it up to my housesitters missing some waterings.  But I've been really careful this year and the same thing is happening all over again. 

Anybody have any suggestions?  I'd rather not have to buy some chemicals, but I'd love to end up with at least one home-grown tomato this year.  I trimmed all the rotten babies and I'm slowly watching the new ones turn grey on the bottom...Boo hooooooooo....

Last night I went to a community meal hosted by some folks in Brooklyn, something I've been wanting to check out for some time.  From their site:

We are a small group of people who do a lot of other things in New York, like decorate subways and throw parties in the streets. At Grub we're just offering dinner. Whether you are active in other collectives, your neighborhood, your backyard garden, or just new to town, we invite you to our table. To get a little squishy, we are looking for practical ways to build community. We are particularly inspired by weekly dinners served at squats in Amsterdam and Berlin, where you can get a cheap, tasty meal and catch up with friends in a cozy room. We like parties as much as anyone, but we think there should be places to talk without a pounding sound system. 

 

Some of the other listings I've seen for the event mention that 99% of what they serve is freegan, collected from dumpsters behind supermarkets and other sources.  I liked the community idea and the freegan idea but felt way too shy to go by myself.  One of my faithful readers, Julia The Wounded Chef, who is newly mad about cooking and sustainibility, generously offered to accompany me.  Thus began a series of firsts and a bike ride on a beautiful Sunday evening.

I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had a general idea who might be involved, but hadn't met any of them myself.  I went to one of the aforementioned dinners in Berlin, as part of a magical wine-fueled evening that ended on the Night Bus, one of the most hilarious European inventions.  That seemed less intimidating somehow -- more Left Bank and less gutter-punk -- even while my Berlin friend was telling me about it.  I guess I've been to enough Critical Mass and Time's Up events to be afraid of having my faux-freeganism to be taken to task by someone who hasn't had a job or apartment in several years.  I took the copy of Newman's Own Guide to a Good Life (thanks Student Doctor Green!) out of my backpack and replaced it with a Brooklyn-produced art magazine, lest my bag fall open mid-dinner and I lose all of my cred.

Turns out I needn't be worried: these people were friendly and fun, mostly talking about food and aparments and other non-militant topics while we looked out over the BQE from the roof garden.  My vegetarian dinner, pictured here, was terrific - salad and cooked greens and zucchini flowers and frittata and bread and "weird pasta" and chocolate-beet cake.  One of the girls who helped prepare it said that the food had come from someone's garden (the flowers), a CSA share (bought for this purpose?), behind a grocery store nearby, as well as some leftovers from a local Food Not Bombs group.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I paid $5 but probably could have gotten away with contributing nothing; their sign mentioned that the organizers had spent $36 on the meal, which served approximately 40 or 50.  I noticed only two unwashed khaki-and-black-clad guys with big packs, who bolted right after the food.  Everyone else looked like most of the other people I've encountered in Brooklyn - maybe even less bike-ey and more art-y and garden-y.  As we were leaving, the hosts begged us to take from this pile of vegetables - they had too much and were going to compost whatever didn't get grabbed.  I walked away with a bunch of sunflower sprouts and a head of lettuce.  Thanks, Grub!  

Corn and Tomato Chowder, courtesy of Vegetarian Planet

Get the corn and tomatoes (and onions and jalapeno) from the farmers' market, and voila!  The Best Soup Ever.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onions

2 teaspoons garlic

4 ears of corn (cut off the cob)

3.5 cups of whole milk

2 tablespoons tequila 

3 tablespoons cilantro

1/2 jalapeno

2 ripe tomatoes (chopped)

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

heat the oil over medium in the soup pot.  cook the onions and garlic for five min, add the garlic a little later if you've used a press.  add the corn and cook for five more minutes.  add the milk and simmer for ten minutes.  add the tequila, cilantro, and jalapeno and cook for five more minutes.  remove from heat.  add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper.  serve.  YUM. 

Thanks to Alyssa for filling in some of the details.

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I will also leave you with a link to Barbara Kingsolver and Krista Tippet's conversation about Kingsolver's year of "good" eating, described in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. 

 

Guess where the tomatoes came from?

 

I harvested the first tomato this evening!  It was a little small and a little tart - maybe not ripe enough? - but waaaay better than a supermarket tomato.  The picture didn't come out so well...more coming soon, I hope!

week 1

          

week 7 

So.  Too busy and tired to cook, I took an out-of-town friend to the original Patsy's in my neighborhood.  And then I couldn't stop.  The combination of flavors elevated itself to need from want, demanding that I buy pizza twice more over the weekend.  One might suggest that I'm searching for the Ur-pizza, Plato's pizza, the taste of a perfect pizza I had once when I was ten.  But really I just love it.  Need it.  I promise I'll try making it.  

(Pizza might have to become a Fix exception.)

Slippery slope?  I was hungry and it was Friday and my work friends invited me out to eat.  And I was tired and I didn't really feel like talking about the project or defending its imprecise terms.  So I caved: I wanted to eat something delicious. Tapas, paella, and sangria fit the bill. 

As you might guess, food is the hardest part of Fix so far.  Not eating in restaurants means that I have to think about how to feed myself for the whole day, examining what my plans are and figuring out if I have time to run home and fix something.  And this weekend I reached a critical point: I'm almost completely out of convenience foods like cereal and crackers, and I've used up my stores of mac and cheese, frozen spinach pie, and some turkey chili I made and stashed in the freezer. 

When I designed this part of the experiment, I was imagining putting more consciousness towards what I put in my body, and integrating food preparation/consumption more intelligently into my lifestyle.  I was also envisioning myself as more self-sufficient somehow, not susceptible to the lures of drunk food or street food because I'd already eaten a balanced healthy meal that I prepared myself.  Though I've enjoyed a few Fix food experiences very much - some meals I've made myself, an adventurous eating weekend in Boston, making pancakes and bacon with my friend Chad - so far I've basically had the equivalent of what happened in high school when I decided I was a vegetarian and ate pizza, cookies, Cheez-its, and bread instead of the meat my mom prepared.  This year I haven't eaten in restaurants - I get drinks or coffee when I go out with friends who are eating - but I also haven't done any serious planning or cooking yet, relying instead on leftovers from work or the aforementioned food stores.  The little cooking that I have done relies on the recipes I've used forever: my friend Laura smiled knowingly, "you been making a lot of stir-fries, haven't you?"

So here are the issues:

I'd rather not buy processed packaged stuff -- and I've got to figure out where the line is.  I know I can't go without buying any dry pasta this year, but I'm not sure that things like cereal, crackers, and granola bars should be allowed.

I'm athletic and I'm a grazer: I eat often and I require a lot of calories to get through the day.

I'm away from my apartment for long stretches of time, meaning that I need stuff to carry with me (not too heavy!) as well as quick stuff to fix when I get home. 

Like anyone trying to solve these problems, I did the logical thing and participated in an email recipe chain letter that came my way a couple of weeks ago.  With a cry for help referencing Fix, I received five responses. (I also got a couple "what the hell are you doing sending me a chain letter!" responses - sorry!)  I organized my recipe book: of the 60 or so that I have, half are everyday kinds of recipes, and half of those I'm not sick of -- 15 new ideas!  Looks like I'm going to have to do a big plan-shop-cook this week...I'm hoping that I'll get used to the process and actually enjoy it eventually but for now it feels really painful.  Let me know if you have any better ideas...

 P.S. I'll be looking for a crockpot and a blender in my secondhand forays - email me if you have one you're not using.