Is winter over yet?

It's been months since Seattle gardens looked anything like this, but I have a hunch we will be harvesting spring crops in the blink of an eye.
This Saturday we will be waking up the garden by turning compost, adding compost, weeding, and possibly sowing seeds at the Alleycat Acres Beacon Hill location (3656 24th Ave. S, Seattle, WA).
If you live in Seattle, now is a good time to sow peas, arugula, spinach, garlic, onions, and fava beans.

Sunday morning

Jacob and I enjoyed a hearty meal this morning, and we deserved it. Waffles, chicken-apple sausage, and scrambled eggs were good and satisfying nourishment, helping us recover from yesterday's bike ride.

To help raise money for Alleycat Acres: urban farming collective, we bicycled 60 miles around Lake Washington yesterday. I was super nervous about the ride. Frankly, I was scared that I would be too weak to finish. At one point I suggested that we get a lift over the 8 mile steady hill climb section. My friend Amber, a fellow co-founder of alleycats, nixed the idea. She told me that we had to at least try. Jacob and our new friend, Brock, told me that I could easily do it.
The elation I felt at the top of the hill was the most incredible feeling. It was a feeling of empowerment, competence, and excitement. These are feelings that make life truly wonderful. Thanks for pushing me beyond my comfort zone guys!!

Here's a pic of Amber and me getting ready with the other riders, early Saturday morning. Doing the ride with Amber was especially cool, because as teenagers, we used to ride in an annual bike-a-thon with our high school, Windward. All day we kept encouraging each other by shouting "Bike-a-thon 2011!!" The last time we did anything like this was in 1995, so the notion was pretty hilarious to us.

 

  Bikes gathered before the start.

Fist pumps were in order upon finishing the ride.

Tired cyclists enjoying some warm food and beverages after the ride.
Amber, Jacob, and Brock: thanks for being part of bike-a-thon 2011! (AKA alleycat acre's Ride Hard Grow Forth, spring fundraiser).

Ride Hard:Grow Forth with chocolate cookies!

About a year ago I helped to found a not-for-profit urban farming group called alleycat acres. During our first year we converted two vacant lots in the city of Seattle to urban farms, and harvested around 800 pounds of produce. Much of that fresh, healthy food was donated to the Beacon Hill Food Bank, the rest was enjoyed by our volunteers and neighbors of our farms. We are anxiously awaiting spring, so that we can do it all over again. As a 100% volunteer-based organization, we don't need much to operate, but we do need some money for seeds, water, and equipment. To raise money for our 2011 operating budget, we are hosting a bike ride. Each rider must raise a minimum of $60, but I challenged myself to raise $1000 (what did I get myself into???). To donate scroll to the bottom of this page, and click the donate button!
To help gain pledges from my co-workers, I've been baking cookies, and putting them out in the lunch room next to my pledge form. The Girl Scouts figured out this scheme long ago, and I'm not one to shy away from a good idea.  So far we have had a couple different types of chocolate chip, coconut macaroons, and triple chocolate. The triple chocolate is definitely my favorite.

This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten's 'Barefoot Contessa' show on the food network. Ina calls them "Kathleen King's Double Chocolate Almond Cookies". After making them the first time I tweaked the recipe just a tad, to my personal taste preference (less salt, fewer chocolate chips and almonds, and less baking time to yield a softer, more perfect cookie).

Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup almonds, toasted and chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. Add the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined.

Add the chocolates and almonds and mix until combined. Using two tablespoons or a small ice cream scoop, drop the dough two inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment. Lightly pat down to a hockey puck shape with wet hands. Bake for 12 minutes.

Mostly cool the cookies on the cookie sheets, then transfer to a cooling rack. The cookies should be very soft when they are removed from the oven. They will firm up as they cool.

Birthday party for Alleycat Acres

Alleycat Acres turned 1-year-old last month, and we celebrated at a restaurant called Local 360 in Belltown. I found Local 360 to be a down-to-earth, cozy spot, aligned with my personal food ethos. They are dedicated to sourcing ingredients raised, grown, or produced within 360 miles of Seattle. Wines from the Willamette valley, dairy from Lynden, meat from Walla Walla, etc... I dig.

Most importantly, however, the food was delicious, and the seven of us had a wonderful time celebrating.

We started by sharing a smattering of small plates: PB&J bon bons, roasted beet salad, pork belly and beans, crispy pig ear, corned beef reuben bites... yumm.

My favorite conversation of the night...
Scott: "Amber, do you want some of this?"
Amber: "No thanks, I'm a vegetarian."
Scott: "Wait, this isn't vegetarian? Kate, what is this?"
Kate: "That's the crispy pig ear we ordered."
Scott: "Oh cool. Wait... this isn't really the ear of a pig though... is it?"
Kate: "Yeah, it's the ear, sliced really thin into strips. It's super good right?"
long pause...
Scott: "Yeah. It's really good"
Scott and I finish the platter together. Amber and Gia giggle.

Can we say comfort food? Amber ordered the risotto mac 'n cheese. That's comfort on comfort.

I thoroughly enjoyed the short rib "pot roast" for my main course.

Notice that Sean's fried chicken is completed with a sunnyside-up egg on top!

Strawberry banana smoothie with almond milk

Last week a co-worker noticed me drinking a smoothie, and asked for the recipe... turns out she's tired of regularly forking over the big bucks for the blended drinks at juice bars. This post is for you Maile!

Note* this post does not involve local, homegrown food. Instead, it somewhat revolves around my favorite non-local indulgence: the banana! Sinful? maybe. Delicious? yes.

It just so happens that my very first job, in the summer of 1995, was at Jamba Juice. That job was SO MUCH FUN. Every day that summer I would blast disco tunes, and make fruit smoothies. While I learned how to make loads of smoothies (don't ask for the recipes, I'm sworn to secrecy for life), I also learned that most juice bar smoothies are absolutely loaded with sugar and fat, and easily pack in more than 400 calories per order. Unless it's the fruity flavor you love, you might as well get a milk shake.
In the 15 years since that summer at Jamba, I have developed my own smoothie recipes. The trick I learned from Jamba Juice? Frozen bananas. Yep, frozen bananas are the key to a good beverage, both for texture and sweetness.

While I find it easy to find all kinds of frozen berries at the grocery store, for some reason no one seems to carry frozen bananas. No worry, they are easy to freeze at home. Just wait for them to get very ripe (starchy banana is no bueno), then slice and freeze in a single layer, before storing in a freezer bag. By freezing them in a single layer, it will prevent the slices from sticking together later.

Here is a recipe for my favorite smoothie: strawberry banana with almond milk. I use almond milk because I like the flavor best, and because it is low in sugar. If you like, you can easily use regular cow's milk, orange juice, apple juice -- whatever you like. Also, I use frozen strawberries because I like them, but you can substitute the frozen fruit for whatever you like (mixed berries, mangoes, peaches, etc...).

Strawberry banana smoothie with almond milk
makes one serving
1 cup almond milk (or liquid of your choice)
1/4 cup greek yogurt (I use Stoneyfield farm Oikos organic -- vanilla flavor)
1/4 cup frozen banana
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 scoop vanilla flavored protein powder
Blend all ingredients until smooth. If you like a sweeter drink add a tablespoon of sweetener like honey or agave nectar (not needed if using fruit juice).
Also, some people, like my mom, really like crushed ice. Experiment to see if you like that or not. I tend to like crushed ice when I'm using fruit juice, but not when I'm using milk. 

I like the immersion blender both because it's a new gadget,
and because the cleanup is less than that of my regular blender

nutritional information (if you use the same ingredients as I do)
218 kcals
5g fat
22g carbohydrate (13g sugars, 4g fiber)
23g protein

I like to drink smoothies as a post workout snack (hence the mega amounts of protein). I pop a couple of ice cubes in a blender bottle along with the smoothie, and it stays nice and cold while I'm wrecking myself in the gym. The blender bottle has a little whisk in it, so it is easy to shake up if anything has settled or separated while sitting in my locker.

Sweet Nantes

I just dug up the last of this year's carrots. Why don't I ever plant enough to make it through the winter??? The last harvest is always full of the tiny rejects... the little carrots I didn't bother pulling in earlier harvests. They still taste good -- tiny but sweet. I like nantes, so that is what I plant. They are super sweet and crisp, and I have had good luck growing them in very loose soil, both at home and at alleycat acres. Don't bother if you have any sort of hard pan. Carrots like their soil loose, and won't stand for it any other way. 
Carrots are nice for us urban gardeners because they store best in the ground. Plant them in late summer and leave them outside all winter long, harvesting only what you need. To protect against hard frost, just give them a good mulch before the snow comes (don't bother if you live in a mild climate).

Kale two ways -- both spicy

 Supposedly kale is one of those "super foods" that is super good for you. For many people this is a motivating factor to eat the stuff, but for me it is a bit of a put off. When I hear that I should eat a food because it is good for me, I automatically conjur up images of bitter, tough, chalky, not-good-tasting foods. I don't eat kale because my mom or doctor or nutritionist say I should, but rather I eat it because 1) when prepared well, it is delicious, and 2) it is really easy to grow in the home garden*.

Admittedly, when prepared poorly, kale is a god awful, disgusting food, and I pity the child whose mother makes her eat it. At its worst: tough, leathery, bitter leaves. At its best: tender, hearty, rich and complex flavor.

This weekend I clipped several leaves off my 'Lacinato' kale plants*, and tried two new ways of preparing it. I made a spicy minestrone of white beans and kale, and also a kale salad with a spicy peanut dressing.

The kale salad is actually a recipe that was sent to me by a reader early last summer. I finally got around to making it, and it was a hit at my house. Definitely something I will continue to make throughout the winter.

Spicy kale and white bean minestrone.
Unfortunately I don't remember exactly how I made it, but I sorta remember.
1 onion diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 12oz can white beans (rinsed)
1 bunch kale (about 9 lacinato leaves), chopped or torn into bite-size pieces
handful of roasted tomatoes, use a 12oz can if you don't have these in your freezer
2.5 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked pasta
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red pepper
Olive oil 
Parmesan cheese rind (if you have around)

Sweat out the onions in olive oil until they are translucent. Add the crushed garlic, salt and red pepper flakes. Cook until the garlic becomes fragrant (about 30 seconds), then add the kale. Stir in the kale to coat with olive oil. Let it begin to wilt before adding white beans, tomatoes, chicken broth, and cheese rind. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, then add pasta. continue cooking until pasta is al dente. Serve with grated parmesan and/or a drizzle of good olive oil.



*A note about growing kale at home: aphids LOVE it! Since the plant is so hardy, aphids won't actually kill it, but a leaf covered in insects is not appetizing. I control the aphids by blasting them with a strong stream of water from the hose. Spray the stems and under the leaves to get those bugs where it hurts. Do this a couple times a week (not a one time deal).

*'Lacinato' is an Italian heirloom kale variety (AKA 'Dinosaur', 'Tuscan', 'Black', and 'Nero di Tuscano'). It is easy to start from seed, flavorful, and frost tolerant.