the Friday Feeding; VOL. 38

It’s too hot to cook. But cook we do here at the store so you don’t have to. Pizza, salads, meals and little bits and bites. In the cases right now…

Click here for this coming weeks food specials…

Warm weather recipe hacks

I think we all like recipes that can do dual purpose; start with one meal and turn it into a second.  And with the heat of summer, when we might not want to be in our kitchen, this is especially desirous when we might instead want to be sipping and dripping near some water or under a shady tree.

Consider these…

Take a moment to make this quick low-fat meat loaf that dubs as a cold cut on crackers.  I developed this recipe for Dave’s and my wedding.  We served it cold on a buffet table.

Turkey Piñon Loaf

Squish together (hands are best) in a medium sized bowl:

• 1lb ground turkey.  Try the Vermont Stonewood Farm brand we carry…it stays firm and is not watery like store brands.
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cream of wheat cereal uncooked (OR, as I did with these photos, use Masa Harina corn meal for a gluten-free option. NOTE: the Cream of Wheat makes for a more firm slice)
• 1/4 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp granulated onion
• a pinch of ground black pepper
• 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 2T pine nuts

Press into a 6 cup loaf pan—my grandmothers shown here—that has been oiled or sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake 350º 40 minutes.  Turn out of pan immediately from oven to serve or cool on a rack.  Chill completely before slicing as a cold cut.  Serve with mustard on crackers or rye bread. Check out our selection of artisan crackers and tangy or sweet mustards.

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Danielle Krautman called in to ask about how convert my granola recipe into bars. She shares her hack here:

“Thanks for talking it through with me this AM. It worked!

Here’s what I ended up doing…

Added All the ingredients from your recipe. [Get it here in this post]

Plus:

Added 2 eggs

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup honey (so 1/2 cup total) 

2tbs chia seeds

2tbs ground flax

1/2 tsp salt

I mixed it all together, pressed it into a parchment-lined Pyrex and baked at 350 for 50 mins.

I recommend cooling completely before cutting them up.  It gets more firm during the cooling.

Then I cut them into bars that are almost gone now. So I’ll make more tomorrow.   Big hit in my house.  The nice thing about making granola bars at home is that it’s easy and you know what ingredients are going into it. These are Definitely tastier than any store-bought granola or energy bar I have had so far”.  

Thank you for sharing Danielle!

And a final warm weather hack…

Stir fried left overs

We pay good money in an asian restaurant for a stir fry. Do it better at home with what you have for nicer flavor in only 15 minutes on the stove top.

Heat in a large fry pan over medium heat until hot:

• 2T toasted sesame oil

When oil is hot, add the following in this order letting each layer cook for a couple minutes or so to crisp up, then stirring after each addition..

• 1 cup left over rice or our barley/rice salad or some cooked pasta
• 2 cups left over green salad with all the additions; tomatoes, peppers, seeds, cheese (what ever, even if it has dressing on it) Cook until wilted. NOTE: lettuce is wonderful cooked just like any kind of cooking green. It is finer in texture than kale, for example, so wilts more easily, which in this case is to your advantage.
• 2 beaten eggs drizzled over. Cook stirring until eggs are white and the lower layers are crispy.

Serve with hot sauce and drizzle with more toasted sesame oil.

No Friday night pizza until fall since we are doing it live at the Farmers Market, in the library parking lot Wednesdays from 4 to 6:30pm.

Have a great week,

Jane and Dave

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