Promo image for documentary film King Corn

The public is concerned we’re consuming too much HFCS, and in response food and drink manufacturers, including giants Kraft and Pepsi, are cutting it out of numerous products, and advertising it as HFCS free. (Been to Starbucks lately and seen how they’re advertising that their food case is HFCS free?)

Well, guess what? Now the corn industry is telling us it’s not really bad for us in their latest round of advertising targeted at moms. Read the full article: Corn Refiners Fight Back as Kraft, Pepsi Tout Revamped Products

Based on the headline to this post, you’ll probably know my point of view. Thank goodness many consumers are telling food companies they want HFCS out! I’m not surprised corn is fighting back. I make my choices as often as I can to avoid products with HFCS.

Bonus tip: want to learn more about corn and HFCS? Check out the not so well-known (yet) documentary King Corn, all about America’s favorite subsidized crop.

Here is my mushroom patch. It is in the rubbermaid bin to keep spores from dirtying the carpet. The mister bottle is to the right. The plastic beyond the mister bottle is a humidity tent, and the skewers in the patch help hold the tent up. You can see a new mushroom at the right of the far end of the patch.

Here is one shiitake mushroom that I clipped from the patch.

The kit came with a number of recipes, but so far I've just been sauteeing the mushrooms in a bit of oil or butter. It's delicious.

I have read that the stems get too tough for cooking, so I boil the stems for soup stock. I then freeze the stock for future use.

Here’s my shitake cooking recipe so far.

Ingredients

• fresh shiitake mushrooms
• oil or butter

Directions

• Wash the mushrooms
• Cut off their stalks, save for boiling in water to make soup stock
• Slice caps in half, then cut into sections
• Heat oil or butter in pan on medium-low
• Add mushrooms
• Sautee until done.  The color will change and they will cook down.
• Serve hot

Mmmmmmm…..

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water or vegetable broth (vegetable broth will add more flavor)
• 1 tsp very thinly sliced red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers (red, green, yellow)
• 1/4 cup chopped tomato
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach (or chopped regular spinach)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin (Be forewarned, this salad is generous on cumin. If you’re not a fan, you can scale it back.)
• juice of 1 lime
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa and remove any debris or discolored grains.
2. Add quinoa plus liquid (either water or broth) to pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for approx 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
3. Meanwhile, combine olive oil, lime juice, cumin, peppers, onion and tomato and set aside. (This is all the ingredients except the spinach.)
4. After quinoa is cooked, move to colander and set aside to cool.
5. Combine warm quinoa, bowl of spices and veggies and spinach. Mix well.

Note: Let the quinoa cool based on your preference for crisp spinach or wilted spinach or somewhere in between. I like my spinach ever so slightly wilted, and I let the quinoa cool for about 7-8 minutes before combining with the spinach, so the heat from the quinoa can soften it up just a little.

Here are some tips on freezing corn.

• The first step is to get some good ears. Get to know your vendor. Choose ears that have been kept cold. Avoid ones with “dry” cut ends. With fresh corn, the silk will still be moist. It should be brown, but not black. The husk should feel tight.

• DO NOT PEEL THE HUSK BACK! This is a big no no because it ruins the ear for anyone else. If you feel the need to peel it back — buy it. The husk keeps the kernels moist and fresh.

• Ask WHEN it was picked. (You want to hear “last night” or “early this morning.”) Keep it cold. Bring a cooler and take it directly to your fridge.

• Before I get to husking, I get organized. I like to husk outside, so I pile up all my ears next to a clean pan for husked ears. I use a wheel barrow to throw all the husk and silk in.

• When I peel back the husk, I think the most efficient way to do it is to split the silk at the top and grab at least 1/3 of it firmly, then peel it off. Repeat this until you have it all off. If you just pull on the green parts, it will take forever. Grabbing from the silk ensures you will get most of that off at the same time.

(Make sure you keep an eye on your dogs while all this is happening.)

• While I husk, I put my biggest stock pots on the stove to boil. This time, I broke the ears in half before dropping them into the water. This allowed me to get 3x as many ears in the pot.

• Blanch the ears for NO MORE THAN 3 minutes.

• Take them out and drop them into cold water to stop the cooking. I use one half of my sink. (Make sure it’s sparkly clean.)

• Beside the sink, I have another set-up: a cutting board with a towel on top. The towel does a pretty good job of keeping the “corn juice” from bouncing all over the place.

• Make sure you hone your knife. In the 40 ears I cut, I stopped to clean and hone my knife three times.

• Try not to eat too much of your cut corn. It is y u m m y !

• As I cut, I transfer corn into a large bowl. I don’t bag it until the very end because I feel it is more efficient (unless you have a little helper that is willing to bag while you cut.)

• Bag in small freezer bags (just enough for one dinner), freeze and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• potatoes
• onion
• olive oil (or butter, if that’s your thing)
• balsamic vinegar (optional, but recommended if you go the olive oil route)
• salt & pepper

Preparation:

1. Peel and quarter the potatoes. (They’ll cook way faster in chunks, rather than a whole potato, plus it makes it easier to share.)
2. Reassemble the potato on a piece of foil.
3. Insert onion slices between the potato parts.
4. Splash with olive oil and a tiny bit of vinegar. Or insert a pat of butter in the center of the potato.
5. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the potatoes.
6. Wrap in foil and put on the grill.

They usually take about 25-30 minutes, which is usually longer than burgers or other grillables. So get them on first! If you’re not sure if they’re cooked, pierce them with a fork. If the fork goes in easily, they’re ready.

Pressure cooker filled with white beans and water, with sage leaves and garlic on top. The sage is tri-colored sage from my herb garden.

Ingredients (all measurements are approximate):

• White beans (1 1/2 or 2 cups)
• Fresh Sage (12-15 leaves)
• Garlic (5 cloves)
• Parsley (1/4 cup)
• Olive Oil (3 tbs)
• Green Onions (2)
• Lemon (1 tsp)
• Honey (1/2 tsp)
• Vinegar (1 tsp)
• Brown Mustard (1 tsp)
• Salt & Pepper

Part One:

1. Rinse beans and remove any ugly beans or hard debris.
2. Add to pressure cooker and cover with water about 3 inches above the level of the beans.
3. Peel and coarsely chop 5 garlic cloves, add to pot.
4. Add sage leaves.
5. Add 1 tbs olive oil.
6. Seal pressure cooker and cook for 60 minutes.
7. When cooked, empty the excess water and discard the sage. (Leave the garlic.)

Part Two:

1. Add lemon juice, 2 tbs olive oil, lemon, honey, vinegar and mustard to large bowl.
2. Add a dash of pepper, and some salt (approx 1 tsp).
3. Finely chop green onions and parsley and add to bowl.
4. Mix well.
5. Add the beans and stir to coat.

The beans are especially tasty when served still warm, but can be enjoyed at any temperature. Rich and buttery (without butter!), great side for any season.

The berry you see in the middle of the muffin is a mulberry (surrounded by chocolate chips. I picked several from a tree in our yard. Mulberries look similar to blackberries, with smaller corpuscles. Their flavor is a not as pronounced, but they’re just as juicy. You can use any berry in this recipe…

Mix Dry Ingredients Separately:

• 1 cup whole spelt flour
• 1 cup sifted spelt flour
• 1 tbs ground flax
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix Wet Ingredients Well:

• 1 large egg
• 3 tbs olive oil (or vegetable oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup rice milk (or other low-fat milk)
• 1/2 cup applesauce

Optional:

• 1/2 or 3/4 cup fresh berries
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (dairy-free)

Gently fold wet ingredients into dry with a spatula. When about 2/3 mixed, add berries and chips. Important: Do not over stir. Otherwise, the muffins will get hard and dense.

Spoon batter into greased 12 cup muffin tin. (I rub olive oil in the muffin cups with a paper towel). Bake at 400° for 12 minutes. Take out of oven, and let the muffins sit for 2-3 minutes. Then remove to cool on a baking rack.

While the muffins are warm in the muffin tin, you can sprinkle the tops with sugar, or mix sugar plus melted dairy-free butter (like Earth Balance) and brush it on top.

Makes 12 muffins.

Starting off with the “short cut” part of this: BUY PRE-MADE FROZEN WHOLE FOODS BRAND PIZZA DOUGH FROM WHOLE FOODS. They make the most out-of-this-world dough and it’s only about $3. Set it out until it reaches room temperature and then divide the dough in half (makes 2 medium pizzas). Roll it super thin and place it onto a pizza pan (my pan has little holes on the bottom to make the dough crispy). Then drizzle about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil onto the dough and add 2 crushed cloves of fresh garlic–now spread that around the dough, covering all of it. Next, top the dough with a layer of fresh baby spinach leaves. Then add slices of mozzarella fresca and top that with freshly grated parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Preheat oven to 425°. Place pizza into your oven for about 10-12 minutes. Enjoy. I recommend pairing this pizza with Vinyard Block Estates’ 2005 “Block 312″ Cabernet Sauvignon.

Parmesan Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (preferably organic)
1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Over medium heat, warm olive oil. Dredge chicken breasts in cheese, fully coating each breast. Gently lay breasts into pan and reduce heat to medium-low. Sauté breasts for approximately 5 minutes each side until cheese is golden brown and the juices of the breasts run clear. Serve.

Kinda makes me chuckle to think of possible tag lines for the modern-day big-box grocery stores…