Lamburgers with Tzatziki & Fresh Mint

What an honor.  In April I learned I had been selected to be a recipe tester for Clean Eating Magazine.  I was so excited - you may have heard me shout it from the rooftop!  About a week later the first recipes arrived and I was immediately intimidated - 9 recipes.  How do I pick? 

I selected 3 recipes that would be sure winners and that did not involve too many out of season ingredients, I look forward to trying the rest of the recipes as the ingredients come in season here in WNY.  With a desire to eat as much local and seasonal as we can this can be quite difficult when testing recipes in late April/Early May for a July issue - a fact I never considered when I applied.

A word on "Clean Eating".  Clean Eating is an eating lifestyle used by many body builders and some folks like myself.  I'm not 100% converted - I love me some cheese! - but the principles are sound (for the most part outside of the limiting of cheese...) and healthy and that is what I love.  With a focus on truly whole foods, avoiding added sugars, trans fats and hydrogenated fats it is easy for someone who loves wholesome cooking to convert.  Plus, if you ever glance at the magazine you will see the food is amazing and so easy to make AND quick to put on the table!!  I've come across very few complicated recipes.  A book to read on the topic is "The Eat-Clean Diet" by Tosca Reno - Tosca's testimony of the benefits of a clean eating lifestyle should convince anyone it is worth a go, weighing over 200lbs in her early 40's, not so much in her 50's!

Back to the recipe of the week, one of my first reviews made it into the July 2011 issue of Clean Eating Magazine - due to be on sale by July 5th so keep a lookout for it!  Lamburgers with Tzatziki & Fresh Mint - oh my YUM!  And a little something I didn't tell the Magazine staff - I quadrupled the meat side of the recipe - using 1lb of lamb and 2lbs of beef.  I made extra burgers and a batch of meatballs, so plenty to last a few extra meals which is always appreciated!  This was a huge hit at our house and will definitely be making a come back, especially as the cucumbers and dill make their appearance in our garden - I love Tzatziki.

Here goes the recipe:

Lamburgers with Tzatziki & Fresh Mint

INGREDIENTS:
½ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
¼ cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut into chunks
2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ small shallot, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic
8 oz 95% lean ground beef
4 oz ground lamb
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 whole-wheat pitas, cut in half to make 4 pita pockets
1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
4 romaine lettuce leaves, torn in half crosswise

INSTRUCTIONS:

ONE: In a food processor, combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, lemon juice, shallot and garlic. Pulse to make a chunky sauce. Set aside in refrigerator.

TWO: In a large bowl, combine beef, lamb, salt and pepper and mix gently. With dampened hands, shape mixture into 4 patties, about 4 inches long and ½-inch thick.

THREE: Heat grill to medium-high and lightly oil grate. Grill patties to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium. During final minute of grilling, toast pitas lightly on grill.

FOUR: Place 1 lamburger in each pita pocket. Add mint, lettuce and tzatziki, dividing evenly.

My beef with the Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen

Have you heard of the Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen?  It is a list of produce - 15 items that are deemed safe to buy if grown the conventional way (Clean 15) and 10 items that you should buy organically based on the pesticide levels in the foods.

When you take a look at the lists you may not be surprised, the Clean 15 is full of items that we don't eat the outside of, while the Dirty Dozen is made up of items where you traditionally eat the skin.  When I first heard of the list I had a mini ah-ha moment.  But then I thought, wait, something doesn't seem right.  I need to research this a little more.  So I asked the person I knew who would have the answer, my friend Laura. 

I first met Laura about 3 months after we moved to WNY in January/Feburary of 2010.  I found her family's farm on localharvest.org, Laura raises heritage Turkeys and Chickens for meat and eggs and her father keeps bees.  I immediately became a loyal egg and honey customer and Dann & I developed a fast friendship with Laura and her parents.  You see, Laura was 15 when I met her.  Laura is the reason Dann & I have our fabulous ladies right now, they are chicks that she hatched for us.  And Laura is the reason that Patches lives on, she saved Patches by introducing us to one of her egg customer's that was looking for a rooster! 

Laura's passion is local and sustainable agriculture and she devours any literature/seminar on the topic and has a mental retention that I recall at that age (..at least I think I used to have that kind of mental retention).  I guess my years in corporate management have helped me delegate out what I need to know and remember, so when I started with my "hmmm, something doesn't sound right with this whole clean 15/dirty dozen thing" rather than research it myself, I turned to Laura and the conversation went something like this:  "Laura, this clean 15 and dirty dozen thing just doesn't sound right to me, but I can't put my finger on it."  Laura responded something like "The clean 15 still support the use of pesticides, so you are supporting the effects of pesticides on our farmers, soil and environment.  You can do that if you want...." 

I don't want to.  I want my farmer and the farmer's family and community to be safe and healthy.  I want soil that swarms with worms and bugs and grubs and all sorts of creepy crawlies that I can and cannot see.  One of my new experiences this summer has been spying worms in the morning, it's not just the birds and the bees if you know what I mean.... And it makes me happy, it is a sign that we have healthy soil where they want to live.

You see, the effects of pesticides don't go away just because you ingest lest pesticides when you enjoy the pulp of the pineapple, or that sweet summer corn.  The farmer, his/her family and their neighbors, the soil and the environment are all still impacted by the horrible effects of pesticides.  And I won't even start on the whole GM (Genetically Modified) seed thing where they put the pesticide RIGHT IN THE SEED.  Think about it. I give you just one second to figure out how to wash off pesticides from anything grown from GM seed that contains pesticide....
Don't get me wrong, I have my reservations about organic also.  There are still pesticides used in organic, they may be "less" harmful, but they are still there, especially as organic is becoming more and more commercialized.  I trust organic from the farm down the street that manages only a few acres, where I know the farmer and the farmer's family.  I'm not sold on corporate organics.

As Barbara Kingsolver wrote in Animal Vegetable Miracle " 'Certified Organic' does NOT necessarily mean sustainable grown, worker friendly, fuel-efficient, cruelty-free or any other virtue a consumer might wish for."  This is why we buy our grass-fed/pastured meats from local farmers and not at a grocery store.  When a friend stated "You can buy grass-fed beef at Wegman's."  I responded, "It's from Uruguay!"

I'll stick to local thank you.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Last night was a beautiful evening, the day had been hot and humid, but as evening arrived Western New York did what Western New York does, the humidity decreased and the cooler temperatures where welcomed with the setting of the sun. 

We had friends over for dinner who are moving away next week.  We are very sad to see them go as we have enjoyed getting to know them over the last year and a half.  What better way to celebrate their time with us than FOOD!  Food is the center of all kinds of celebrations and cooking for folks that share our deep appreciation for local and healthy eating is such a joy.  We enjoyed cucumbers (Duink Farm) with goat cheese (farmers market) and fresh dill (our garden) as an appetizer, hamburgers from locally pastured cows on hamburger buns from a local baker, potato salad (farmers market potatoes) with mustard greens (our garden), carrots and radish (our garden), green salad (our garden) with cucumbers and tomatoes (both from Duink Farm).  The finishing touch was the Strawberry (fresh picked locally) Rhubarb (farmers market) Crisp. Everything was so easy to pull together and so flavorful this time of year.

The strawberry rhubarb crisp was made using about 5 cups of strawberries cut in half to 4 cups of rhubarb cut into 1/4 inch pieces.  I than topped it with a combination of oats, brown sugar, wheat flour, ground nutmeg, chopped walnuts blended with butter and cooked it for 45 minutes at 375.  To be honest, I did what no baker should do, but what every cook does - I just added the amount of ingredients I thought would be good - no measuring, just a pour and blend.  Of course we topped the dish with fresh made whipped topping.

And not to stop there, we had our first bonfire of the season and roasted marshmallows and made smores for the kids - both young and old (yes, this dish isn't so local, but a summer staple regardless!).

Strawberry Shortcake

Of course the first thing I did after purchasing strawberries on Saturday was make my favorite shortcake to go with them. I am nuts about almonds and this cake has the perfect hint of almond without being too much (Dann is not a fan like I am). This is my most anticipated summer dessert, followed by peaches and blueberry upside down cake which is Dann's favorite and a close second for me.

The recipe is from a Cooking Light cookbook that is tagged and marked and on the brink of falling apart as it has been a go-to cookbook for many years and holds many of our favorite recipes. Over the years of course I experiment more, using the recipes as a basis, but adding our own little twists and turns and making as much from scratch as we can vs using the prepared ingredients that may be mentioned. An example of that is the whipped cream above - this is homemade, nothing but the best! and there is a story of course behind the tool used to make this delicious topping.

We have a friend, Margrit, who we met in North Carolina. Margrit hales from Switzerland. We hosted a dinner party one evening and Margrit brought dessert. When preparing dessert Margrit pulled out a contraption, added a little heavy cream, started turning the handle and in about a minute we had whipped cream. Dann & I fell in love again that night...with a kitchen gadget. Sadly we were informed that Margit had purchased "Betty Bossy" (the kitchen gadget's translated name) while home...in Switzerland. Dann & I combed every Kitchen gadget store in every town we went to for about 3 years, including kitchen gadget stores all across the UK, Northern Ireland, and Western Europe when we were traveling. Much to our dismay, we could not locate a Betty Bossy. Margrit, knowing our love of Betty, and hearing of our troubles, brought a Betty Bossy backed to the States with her after a trip to Switzerland and shipped Betty to us as a house warming gift after our move to Western New York.

YOU however are in luck. The other night I was tooling through the William Sonoma website and what do I find? Betty, beautiful Betty. Click BETTY and order her right now, your life will never be the same. But don't over turn the heavy cream...unless you really do want butter. You can also make eggs, batters, etc with Betty, but the sweetest treat of all is whipped cream.

Now to the shortcake recipe...

Ingredients
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
Vegetable cooking spray
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/3 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 egg whites (at room temperature)
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed and divided
Mint sprig (optional)

Directions:
Combine sliced strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl; stir well. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Line a 9-inch round cake pan with wax paper. Coat pan with cooking spray, and dust with 1 teaspoon flour; set aside.

Cream margarine at medium speed of a mixer; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

Combine 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt; stir well. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in almond extract.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed of a mixer (or in Betty as I did) until foamy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir about one-fourth of egg white mixture into batter. Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over top of cake. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Slice shortcake in half horizontally. Place bottom half, cut side up, on a serving plate. Drain strawberries, reserving juice; drizzle half of juice over bottom cake layer. Spread 1 cup whipped topping over cake layer, and arrange half of strawberries over whipped topping. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down, and drizzle with remaining reserved juice. Spread remaining cup whipped topping over top cake layer, and arrange remaining half of strawberries over whipped topping. Garnish with a mint sprig, if desired.

Devour!

A Happy Berry Bowl

STRAWBERRIES!!!!  They hit our local food shops earlier this week (Farmers & Artisans, Lexington Co-Op) and today I rushed to the Farmers Market to get them straight from the grower.  What a Happy Day!  Dann has to work this morning so I hope I can contain myself and wait until he gets home before eating too many.  Oh, the recipes!  Oh the joy!  Dann doesn't work next Saturday so I will be lobbying for a strawberry picking trip!

Speaking of Berries, last night when we had the laddies out for a walk we took a few moments to visit the berry patches around our place.  Last spring we planted 4 Blueberry bushes.  1 bush looks like we could have fruit within the next week or two, and 2 others look like they will follow behind with fruit in about 4 weeks time, 1 bush sadly had no blooms this season.

On the land adjacent to ours is an overgrown raspberry patch, you may remember my post "I ran through the Briars" well, it seems all my work did not impact the possibility of fruit this season!  There are now little tiny berries showing on the stems!  It has been amazing to watch the transformation from flower to berry on these plants. While I was not successful in cleaning out all the bushes, it is a huge overgrown patch, Dann informed me last night that he has designs for getting me to all of the berries.  Outside of being able to levitate over the bushes I do not see how my arms and legs will survive this endeavour no matter his schemes, but the reward will be well worth it!

Be sure to visit your local farmers market to find what is in season in your area.  Check out Local Harvest to find a market near you, check out Pick Your Own to find a farm near you to pick your own local fruit.

Now, back out to the garden!

Fresh from the Garden - Soup & Salad

While I'm fresh in from the garden, so was most of our dinner last tonight.  I still marvel at my Doctor's recent comment - she asked if I exercised regularly, I replied, I work on our farm.  She smiled and said, "That doesn't count."  REALLY???  Could she please spend some time with us here?  We have been busy, tilling, planting, watering, building boxes for the fingerling potato beds and just a touch of weeding.  Once the planting is all finished (will it ever be?) the weeding will start in spades....  And let us not forget - we still have to mow the fields of gold (that's what we call our dandelion lawn) with our push mower.  I figure the more we use it the more likely Dann will be to come over to my side and turn the whole yard into a garden!

I'm up at 5 am, and starting yard work usually within 30 minutes after having some quiet time.  By 7am I'm out the door to the office, by 5pm we're home and Dann joins me in the yard or helping with yard related projects.  Dinner happens sometime between 8pm & 9pm.  Phone calls go unreturned and family and friends probably think we've forgotten them. We haven't and we miss being in touch and promise to call and visit soon!  We are just taking advantage of every minute we can to get the garden set up.  I am enjoying the lessons we are learning and look forward to the many more lessons we will learn this year that will help improve next year.  The big project is setting up a system that will allow us to redirect our sump pump water to our garden beds.  Dann is developing quite the system that will enable me to direct water to 4 different sections of the garden either individually or all at the same time. 

So far we have the watermelon, musk melon, pie pumkin, butternut squash, corn, 3 different kinds of beans, most of our tomatoes seedlings, cucumber, basil, and 2 varieties of peppers, along with cilantro and basil - oh and let us not forget the salad greens and 1 batch of the fingerling potatoes planted.  There is so much more to plant!  But we are getting there.

Dinner is a celebration of our greens - salad and mustard greens.  I cut the salad greens first thing in the morning.  I learned while volunteering at Poplar Ridge Farm in NC that salad greens have a more tender flavor if harvested in the morning.  When harvested later in the day the greens can taste bitter and may not even be edible as a result.  The salad greens are growing right outside our front door so early morning harvest is just a short walk outside and times perfectly with the amount of time needed to steep my morning tea.

We had a tortellini soup with our salad.  I saute 1 onion (Farmers Market) and 1 lb of Hot Italian Sausage (Duink Farm).  Once the sausage is cooked through I add Chicken Stock (our boys) - use as much or as little as you like,  cheese tortellini (we use Gondola brand - a local pasta maker), and about 10 large mustard green leaves (from our garden) - I chifanade the leaves. 

We make a variation of this soup all year long changing it up with the season - kale, spinach, mustard greens, green beans, tomatoes, whatever we might have on hand.  And as Dann said last night "That was the best soup, until the next pot you make!"

Hamburgers - Anyway you like them

It's grilling time and grilling means hamburgers!  This weekend for our Memorial Day Celebration I jazzed up our burgers - I made Jalapeno Burgers for Dann and Sauteed Mushroom and Spinach Burgers for my parents and I.  I simply dropped a seeded Jalapeno in the food processor with 1lb of beef, a slice of bread and an egg to help it all stick together.  For the Mushroom/Spinach burger I sauteed the mushrooms with a teaspoon of butter, then added the spinach just at the end of the cooking to help the spinach wilt.  I let the medley cool to room temperature and then put the mixture, 1 egg and a slice of bread in a food processor along with 1lb of beef.

To compliment our burgers we had potato salad accented with mustard green chiffonade, cucumber slices with garlic dill goat cheese, and a garden salad with Roquefort cheese.  I topped my burger with a radish picked from our garden moments before eating, actually all the ingredients with the exception of the mushrooms and salad dressing where from either our garden or the farmers market! 

As the season progresses and burgers make there way more and more to your grilling menu think of ways you can mix it up just a little!  And be sure to share your ideas with the rest of us foodies!