RECIPES

• Sun-dried Tomatoes
• Some Thoughts About Bread
  • High Protein Squash Bread
  • French Bread
  • Multigrain Bread
  • Bread sticks and Pizza
• Woodchuck
• Lambs Quarters Pie
• Friendship Starter Recipes
• Rachel's Pasta and Vegetables ($0.24 -$0.46 per serving)
• Lentil Stew ($0.10 per serving)
• Cream of Salsa Soup
• Soy Milk
• Enchiladas ($0.44 per person)
• Tabbouleh ($0.17 - $0.35 per serving)
• Special Breakfast pan bread($0.13 - $0.35 per serving)
• Pork Shoulder Roast(.37 - .69 per serving)
• Planned Leftovers (many meals for pennies)
• Cookie recipes
  • Ed's Oatmeal-Walnut Cookies

Sun-dried Tomatoes

To crumble sun-dried tomatoes, freeze them first, then break them up by placing them in a plastic bag and sharply rapping them on a counter with the back of a knife or small wooden mallet.

Store sun-dried tomatoes in glass jars in a cool, dark place. It is best if large quantities are stored in jars no larger than 1 quart so that if one jar starts to spoil the bulk will not be lost. Low moisture content is the easiest way to insure that your dried produce does not mold. We have tried drying tomatoes to a chewy consistency and storing them in olive oil, but that quickly becomes expensive. Even better is to store the tightly sealed jars in the freezer; moisture content is not so much of a factor then. Even better than that is to purchase a Pump-n-Seal(tm), if you can find one, and suck some of the air out of the jars and then freeze them. We were given one of these devices last year and didn't think well of it until we used it: with a push-pin you punch a small hole in the middle of a sealing jar lid, then place one of the band-aid-like seals over it, then pump out the air. It works well to keep the jar's contents from oxidizing so quickly. We have seen them in stores that specialize in remaindered items for only a few dollars and intend to go back and buy a couple before they become totally unobtainable. It should be possible to make one's own reusable seals out of plastic tape and a soft rubber, perhaps inner tube or the rubber used in mason jar seals, but we haven't needed to do that yet. The company does sell extra seals for about $.10 each but I am not sure it is still in business. If you compare dried tomatoes that you produced last year with freshly dried ones it is easy to see the effect exposure to oxygen has on them.

Of all the varieties of plum tomato we have tried we like Roma best for sun drying. They have the best flavor and texture when dried and are of a good size. We grow large quantities of Super Italian Paste tomatoes for sauce, paste, and salsa, but find them too moist and meaty to dry well, and the flavor is not as intense. We tried the traditional drying tomato, Principe Borghese, but the smaller size just increased the amount of labor involved, also the skin to pulp ratio, without a payback in flavor. Since we scoop out the seeds to hasten drying time before placing the tomatoes in the dryer, the larger Roma fruit save time. Over the years we have selected the earliest and best fruit and saved the seeds for the next year's crop. In this way the genetically most apt plants for our micro-climate gradually emerge from the mix. We now expect and get large yields on usually healthy plants, provided we rotate crops adequately. Six quarts of tomato halves will fill a quart jar when dried. We plant a 25' row of Roma plants, spaced at 2'intervals, and have more dried tomatoes than we know what to do with.

It takes a little experimenting to find just what dried tomatoes are good for, so here are a few suggestions:

• crumbled and partially rehydrated in salads, bread, casseroles, sauces, pizzas, etc.
• added to pasta dishes while the pasta is cooking (along with other dried vegetables)
• eaten as a snack instead of candy or cookies
• in soups and stews
• in scrambled eggs and omelets
• crumbled or powdered, added to salad dressings
• powdered and used as a flavoring on fish, meatloaf, anywhere that a tomato taste would be appropriate
• as an ingredient in a dip or mixed with cream cheese for making stuffed celery

Just remember that dried tomatoes will add tomato flavor without adding any moisture and you will find yourself wondering why they haven't been a part of mainstream American cuisine all along. Be inventive-what about garnishing a Bloody Mary? As an ingredient in poultry stuffing? As a rich layer in your next lasagna?

Many other fruits and vegetables can also be dried. We especially like dried summer squash.

Some Thoughts About Bread

Making bread is an individual pursuit with many variables. Only experience in your own kitchen, with the ingredients available in your area, with your own equipment, will teach you how to make bread that you like. Recipes are only a guide. Variables include but certainly are not limited to:

• moisture content of ingredients-As relative humidity changes, so does the moisture content and weight of the dry ingredients in your recipe. Hold back 1/2 cup of flour when mixing up your dough and add a bit at a time until your dough feels right. Bear in mind that dough feels stickier until kneading has begun to release the gluten. For most breads there is a magic feeling to the dough when it is just right. It has to be learned hands-on. The dough feels alive, with a tack but not so much that it leaves the mass and stays on your hands. Exceptions to this are doughs heavy with vegetables, Syrian bread and other related flat bread doughs which need to be stiffer, rye and pumpernickel which contain less gluten hence are always sticky (sometimes maddeningly so), and pasta doughs which need to be very, very stiff.

  Always start too wet and add dry. One experience trying to work in a little bit more liquid will persuade you of the wisdom of this approach.

• oven temperature, size and thermal mass/stability-Every oven is different; for a good relationship with yours get to know how it behaves and adjust your recipes and techniques accordingly. We use an old Magic Chef™ gas stove. It has no insulation and large vent holes top and bottom; when we bake we don't bother adding wood to the wood stove in the other room. Your 35-year-old Glenwood™ or GE™ are different; larger, smaller, better insulated, electric. Some bakers use a stone or ceramic plate under their bread and consequently need to preheat for much longer before baking.
• freshness of ingredients-We buy yeast in 2-pound packages. We keep it in the freezer and share it with our baking friends to insure it gets used before the expiration date. A 2-pound package costs under $5 locally, which sure beats the same cost for a 4-ounce jar at the local supermarket. We have never had any problems but friends who buy bulk and store the opened package on the kitchen shelf have, so if you bake often, buy yeast in bulk and watch the expiration date and store it in your freezer.

  White flour will keep for a year if it wasn't old on the grocer's shelf when you purchased it. Real whole wheat is another story, and a somewhat complicated one. Many commercial brands of whole wheat should be labeled "whole wheat style flour" because they are not what they seem. If whole wheat berries are ground into flour, the flour will contain all the bran and all the germ. The problem is, when the germ is ground and its oils exposed to air, it immediately starts to oxidize. Many of the whole wheat flours therefore omit the wheat germ, so you end up buying white flour with bran added, wheat germ removed. Even worse, if the germ is present, the flour packaged and shipped and shelved it absolutely, certainly, has oxidized (read: rancid) that's why many people think whole wheat tastes slightly bitter. Real, fresh, whole wheat is not at all bitter...in fact it smells and tastes wholesome and sweet. We would not buy or use whole wheat that had not been ground the same day we planned to use it unless we knew it had been kept tightly wrapped and frozen and was not more than a few weeks old. The solution? Grind wheat berries fresh as needed. Whole, unground grain will keep in a cool dark, dry place for years, though it is probably best to use it up within a year.

• mixing and kneading method-It is difficult to over-knead dough by hand, though a "type A" personality can over-do anything. It is possible to over-knead if you use a mixer with a dough hook. You will be able to tell if your bread is always tough. We love our Kitchen-Aid™ mixer, but we had to learn to think for it; most machines are pretty aggressive.
• room temperature-In the winter we heat our home with a wood stove. We also prefer to wear sweaters and not keep the house above 65°. Frequently it is closer to 60°. Naturally, unless steps are taken, the yeast will be less active at these temperatures since it prefers 80°; in fact it may "stick", go dormant. Either warm the oven and proof the bread there, or use a proofing box constructed out of a low-wattage light bulb and a Styrofoam cooler. On hot days in the summer you can have the opposite problem. In the summer start with cooler water. Or add a little ice to the proofing box.
• One important ingredient that modifies how quickly yeast grows is salt. Many bakers reduce or even eliminate salt when the weather is cold and add extra salt when the weather is hot. This changes the flavor of the bread quite a bit, though, so controlling the proofing temperature is more rewarding, if a little more effort. Also note that salt is a factor in determining the character of the gluten strings in your dough and if you eliminate it completely your bread is more liable to fall while baking.
• Dietary restrictions that modify ingredients list--If you or a member of your family is on a salt- or fat-restricted diet, you know how difficult it can be to buy low-salt low-fat baked goods. The general public is addicted to fat, salt and sugar. Speaking as a corn chip addict I know what I'm talking about here. The natural oils and sugars in whole grains and seeds and vegetables like squash that we frequently add to breads are frequently enough. The pleasure derived from the aroma and flavor of even the blandest freshly baked bread made from fresh ingredients far exceeds that from any commercial product and even most commercial bakeries. Bear in mind that most bakeries don't have the time to use fresh-ground flour and they need to standardize their recipes, eliminating as many variables as possible. Industrial bread mixes are not uncommon. Dough conditioners are not uncommon. Preservatives are not uncommon. Too much salt and fat are not uncommon. Mediocrity is not uncommon. You deserve better.
• size of bread pans-bread pans come in a number of sizes so recipes must be modified to accommodate the size you plan to use. With the exception of very dense all-whole-grain loaves, anticipate that your dough will about double in bulk. If your recipe makes too much or too little dough for the pans you intend to use, you know what to do....
• preferences that affect procedure and ingredients (i.e., crunchy or chewy crust, heavy or light loaves, moist or dry, pale or dark crust, etc.) You're on your own here. Experiment, read, try a variety of recipes and proceedures until you get what you want.
• type of flour--white flour comes in three basic forms. All purpose flour is a combination of hard and soft wheat and will work fairly well for most recipes except delicate cakes and breads high in grains that do not have much or any gluten. Cake flour has a lower percentage of the protein that forms gluten and is higher in starch; it is best suited for cakes and non-yeasted breads. Hard wheat flours, commonly labeled "better for bread" or "high gluten" are best for yeasted breads. They will make a decidedly more chewy loaf, and are ideal when mixed with grains like rye which have little gluten of their own. To complicate your decision slightly, these flours are available in both bleached and unbleached forms. I prefer the unbleached just because it is closer to the grain. Some flour makers claim that the American public demands flour be as white as possible and that bleaching chemically changes the flour for the better. May be so, but I keep a mantra running in my head that goes something like this: "There is no minimum dosage for a carcinogen. We don't know, really, all the things that negatively impact our health. I am safer with 'as fresh as possible, as natural as possible' 99% of the time."
• Bread that contains honey does not become moldy as quickly, in our experience.

Any recipe can be modified and should only be considered a guide for your own creativity.

High Protein Squash Bread

This bread is made with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, powdered milk, soy flour, and 14% protein red hard spring wheat. The squash helps make this bread moist without the addition of oil.

Ingredients

3 cups fresh ground hard red spring wheat

4 cups unbleached white bread flour

½ cup raw sunflower seeds

¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds

½ cup rolled oats

1 cup non-fat instant milk powder

2 tbs.soy flour

1 tsp.sea salt (more or less to taste)

½ pinch fresh-ground black pepper

¼ pinch fresh-ground nutmeg

¾ cup cooked winter squash

2 oz.unsulfured molasses

2 cups hot water

sesame seeds

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients and add to dry. Mix and then knead. Dough will be a bit more sticky than usual. Add flour as needed to facilitate working the dough. Let rise, punch down, form into loaves, roll in sesame seeds, rise in pans, bake at 350° until done.

French Bread

This recipe is for two football shaped loaves of chewy white bread. The crust is crunchy and the texture is firm. It has no oil, so it doesn't keep more than a few days and if frozen should be used the day it is thawed or it will become too dry.

Ingredients

7 cups unbleached white bread flour

2 1/8 cups hot water

1 tsp.salt (more or less to taste)

1½ tbs.yeast

1 tsp.sugar

Combine and mix dry ingredients. Add water, mix and knead. Let rise, punch down, form into loaves, slash the tops with a sharp knife or straight razor to allow for expansion and proof on a cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 375°, spray loaves with water-filled mister and bake, spraying loaves and oven several times during the first 20 minutes which will create the moist heat necessary for a crispy, chewy crust (French bakery ovens actually have steam injectors). Bread is done when golden brown and when a tap on the bottom of the loaf sounds more like a hollow thump than a dense thud. Cool on a rack, cover the loaves with a kitchen towel if you want a less crispy crust.

Multigrain Bread

This is a rich multigrain bread without whole wheat, good for a change of pace. We used corn, rye, oats, and white flour because it is what we had on hand when we made it, so be daring and substitute to suit your taste. The molasses can be omitted or replaced with honey if you prefer. The soy flour is optional and can be increased if you don't mind the taste; the amount shown is nearly undetectable; recent reports indicate that soy beans contain a plant analog of estrogen that may be useful in lowering the risk of heart disease and aiding women in menopause, though the levels involved may not be sufficient to actually do this. Other reports indicate that estrogen may raise the risk of some types of cancer. Who knows? We add it to increase the protein content and give a bit more variety to our diet. If you are adding it to taste, be aware that the beany flavor greatly decreases when the bread is cooked. Due to the non-glutinous flours, bread flour is recommended rather than all purpose flour.

Ingredients

¾ cup corn flour

¾ cup rye flour

¾ cup rolled oats

2 tbs.soy flour

1 cup powdered skim milk

¼ cup unsulfured Barbados molasses

2 cups warm water

1 tsp.salt

5 cups bread flour

Mix dry ingredients save 1 cup of flour. Dissolve molasses in warm water and mix into dry ingredients. Knead adding the last of the flour until dough feels elastic and somewhat more sticky than usual. Proceed as usual.

Bread sticks and Pizza

While bread sticks can be made all by themselves, we usually make them with part of a batch of dough when we are making pizzas. A six-to-seven-cup-of-flour French bread recipe will make two thin crust pizzas and a cookie sheet of bread sticks. Kids seem to relish bread sticks, I don't know why-no salt, no sugar, no fat, it flies in the face of conventional wisdom. We use the cheaper all purpose flour for bread sticks and pizza.

After the first rise, punch down the dough and divide into thirds. Roll out two pizza crusts and set aside to rise. Roll out the last third until it is about 3/8" thick in the shape of a 5" wide strip. Cut the strip into 12-to-15 5"-long slices about as wide as you want the bread sticks to be and let rest for 5 minutes to allow the gluten time to relax. Oil a cookie sheet and place the 5" strips on it. Don't bother trying to roll out the dough to 10-12" lengths-just pick up each strip by both ends and it will stretch out as you transfer it to the sheet. If you wish, spread sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced garlic, crumbled dried tomatoes, whatever you wish before rolling out the dough; it will adhere to the dough, then turn the slab over before slicing it into individual strips. Set aside to rise while you make and bake your pizzas. When the pizzas are out, lower the temperature to 375°, load in the bread sticks and bake till done. Alternatively, set aside the pizza dough until the bread sticks have risen, then roll it out and let it rise while they are baking. Turn up the oven when they are done and bake the pizzas.

Woodchuck

Prepare as follows:

• skin, remove musk glands from under arms
• remove legs (plant rest of body in the garden under the offended row)
• rinse and place on drain board in sink
• cover legs with kosher salt for ½ hour
• rinse well
• soak in water in refrigerator over night

Lamb's Quarters Pie

• pick 10-15 cups of lamb's quarters wash and remove leaves from stems
• saute diced onion in 1 tablespoon oil or butter
• add slightly chopped lamb's quarters, (if desired, spinach and/or swiss chard may be included)
• remove from heat and add:
  • ½ pound feta cheese
  • 1 or 2 pounds ricotta cheese
  • 3 or 4 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice
  • 15 grinds of pepper
• spread melted butter between 5-8 sheets of philo dough
• place in bottom of 9"x12" pan
• add lambs quarter mixture
• top with 5-8 sheets philo dough separated with melted butter
• bake 350° for 40 minutes, let cool slightly before serving

Friendship Starter Recipes

Occasionally we are given some friendship starter that theoretically came from the Amish. It is similar to a chain letter. You are given one cup of starter with instructions to each day stir for three days then increase starter. Then you stir for another four days and then give one cup of the starter to three other people who repeat the process. It is kind of fun the first time but invariably someone ends up with a lot of starter and no one to give it to. The recipe can also be a boring after a while, so we devised a series of recipes that can be used.

Original recipe that came with starter:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ tsps. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 tsps. cinnamon
• 2 pkgs. vanilla instant pudding (small boxes)
• 1 cup oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup walnuts

Place in 2 greased and floured loaf pans,(or a 9x13 baking pan). Bake 325° for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Other Friendship recipes

Sweet Pancakes

same as above then to

1 cup starter add

½ cup milk

1 large egg, stir then add

1 cup flour

¼ tsps. baking powder

¼ tsps cinnamon

¼ tsps. salt

2 drops vanilla extract

½ tsps. orange peel

spread oil (canola) 1/16" deep in frying pan heat and fry pancakes

Squash Cake

same as above then to

1½ cup starter add

¾ cup squash (can be left over from night before)

¼ cup Molasses

½ cup sugar

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1 tsp. orange peel

½ tsp vanilla

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsps. nutmeg

1 tsp. salt (unless used in squash) beat together then mix in

2 cups flour

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. baking powder

Spread in buttered 13x8x1½ oblong pan bake 350° for about 30 minutes frost if desired

Rachel's Pasta and Vegetables

Ingredients

1/2 pound dried pasta

washed and cut-up veggies (dried or fresh, including garlic and onion)
(whatever you like, I sometimes include olives if I am feeling extravagant, leftover meat, etc.)

lemon or lime

2 oz. Parmesan cheese grated

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Fill pasta pot with 6-7 quarts of water (should be about 2/3 full) add any dried veggies you choose such as dried tomatoes (especially good), summer squash, etc. bring to boil and boil about 5 minutes. Add pasta. Cook for length indicated on package, adding any other veggies of your choice with enough time to cook. For example, add broccoli 6-8 minutes before pasta is done, add fresh squash 4-6 minutes before done, add snow peas, mushrooms etc. 1-2 minutes before pasta is done, etc. Add fresh tomatoes just before pasta is done. Drain, reserving liquid for vegetable stock, (see lentil recipe) (I return stock to the pot and boil it down for future use).

While pasta is cooking put lemon or lime juice, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese in large bowl; stir. Add cooked pasta and vegetables and season to taste with salt and pepper. Parsley is nice also.

Lentil Stew

This is one of the best and cheapest meals going. It will serve 8 people for .10 per serving.

• Cook down water that the pasta and veggies cooked in to make a stock 'till you get about 6 cups
• add 1 pound lentils
• cook until almost soft (on a wood stove it can be 3-4 hours or 40 minutes on top of the stove)
• add 3-4 beef or chicken bouillon cubes
• add 6 small potatoes chopped into ½" pieces
• 3 carrots chopped into ¼"pieces
• 1 small turnip chopped into ½" pieces
• ground pepper
• Continue cooking until vegetables are done. Freezes well.

Soy Milk

Ingredients

1 cup soy beans

5-6 cups boiling water

Directions:

Soak soy beans overnight in several cups of water. Use a container large enough to allow them to swell. In the morning drain and rinse several times. Bring water to a boil. Soak soy beans in warm (not boiling) water. Put 1 cup of boiling water in a blender (glass or stainless steel is best) and carefully turn it on (low setting) to pre-warm the blender. Dump it out. Put in 1/3rd of the beans and two cups of boiling water (the boiling water deactivates lipoxidase which would otherwise give the milk a bitter-bean flavor). Blend for several minutes and empty into a cheese-cloth lined collander positioned over a large pot (a ten quart, high-sided kettle is not too big for this quantity recipe). Repeat with the second and third batch of beans. Allow to drain. The solids, called "okara", that are left in the cheese cloth can be used in pasta sauce or bread or soy burgers, etc. Next, you have to bring the milk to a boil. It will foam up, filling the pot; take it off the heat and allow the foam to subside. Repeat until it doesn't foam up any more, usually 3 or 4 times. Then simmer for about 20 minutes. Add a few teaspoons of honey (or sugar if you prefer, to taste) and another cup of water to make up for evaporative loss. You process the milk this way because soybeans contain an enzyme that prevents easy digestion and the boiling process destroys it.

Soy milk will spoil rapidly, so I pack it in sterile mason jars, seal them and allow them to cool before refrigerating. Enjoy. A cup of dry soybeans weighs about 6 oz. and makes about a quart and a half of soymilk (adjust the amount of water you use if you prefer it weaker or stronger). At our co-op, organic soybeans cost less than $6 for a 5-pound bag. That comes out to about $0.25 per quart.

Ways to screw up:

• burning yourself with the boiling water. Wrap a towel around the blender and hold the top down! Don't do what I did and start the blender on "high"....
• cooking the beans and then blenderizing. Well, you can do this, but you will get soybean puree, not soy milk. The milk contains most of the protein from the beans; if you cook the beans first the protein is rendered insoluable.
• letting the boiling water cool before blenderizing the beans. It's gotta be 180 F. inside your blender if you want to get rid of the bean flavor.
• using too small a pot to cook the milk.

I'm sure there are other ways that I haven't discovered yet. BTW, I got the directions above from several posts on a newsgroup, the most useful of which got the information from the vegetarian cookbook Laurel's Kitchen; Laurel says she got the information from a pamphlet called FAO/WHO/UNICEF Protein Advisory Group Bulletin no. 10, 1970, "Recent Advances in Soybean Milk Processing Technology" Just so you know....

Cream of Salsa Soup

Since we grow about 150 tomato plants each year (we sell the seeds to a small heirloom seed company) we have had to be creative coming up with ways to use the fruit. Salsa is one of our favorite ways-we put up at least 50 quarts a year-which means we have had to be creative in finding ways to use it, and this is a very good way. I don't think it would be as good with commercial salsa.

• 4 tbs butter (2 tbs could be canola oil)
• 5 tbs flour
• 2 cups milk (skim is okay, whole will make a richer soup)
• 2 cups salsa (mild or hot) or you can use stewed tomatoes
• ½ tsp salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1/16 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
• 1 ½ - 2 tbs basil (fresh or fresh/frozen)
• 1 cup milk (skim's okay or, for a rich soup, add cream)
• 1 tbs sherry (optional)

Directions

Melt butter, add flour cook over low heat until bubbly and sort of whitish. Heat milk till very steamy (but not boiling). Add to hot butter and flour. Cook and stir until starts to boil and becomes thick. Heat salsa until very steamy. Add slowly to butter/milk mixture stirring at every ¼ cup or so. (It is important that each item be at approximately the same temperature). Add salt, pepper, basil, nutmeg. Thin to desired constancy with up to 1 additional cup of milk or cream. Before serving add sherry.

Wonderful served with garlic bread or fresh baked cinnamon raisin.

Enchiladas

First have a dinner of rice and beans and whatever vegetable is in season and tomato juice.
Serves 3 @ 0.44 per person

• 6 corn tortillas
• 2 cups beans (refried, see below)
• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 1 quart salsa
• 1/3 cup light sour cream
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• ¼ cup tomato juice
• 1/3 cup cheddar cheese plus 1 Tbsp.
• 1 tsp. salt
• refried beans

• put oil in skillet
• Add beans cook a couple of minutes; add cumin, salt and 1/4 cup tomato juice.
• Squash beans with a spatula and cook until paste-like.
• Put 1 cup salsa in bottom of pan.
• heat tortillas, 3 at a time in microwave for 30 seconds., put about 3 Tbsp. refried beans in each tortilla, add about 1 Tbsp. cheddar, roll and put in pan.
• Spoon on sour cream leaving it in clumps, pour over rest of salsa, sprinkle with cheddar and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Tabbouleh

I used to only make tabbouleh in the summer when fresh veggies were plentiful. However in the late fall our parsley looked terrific, lush and green. After a little frost its flavor improved, a little more mellow and sweeter. So I tried something different using dried veggies and turnips.

This recipe feeds 6-8 hungry adults as a main course for between $0.17 and $0.35 per person. If you are on a tight budget try substituting a nice vinegar or lime for the lemon, then the recipe will cost between $0.10 and $0.25 per person. Serve it with pita bread and a little beans, feta cheese or any milk product to compliment the protein, for an inexpensive and nutritionally complete meal. It takes 45 minutes - 1 hour to prepare. Since it will keep 3-4 days in the refrigerator I make the full recipe and save leftovers for additional dinners or lunches.

• 2 cups bulgur (cracked wheat) (0.15 if crack your own or 0.60 if purchased)
• 6 cups finely chopped parsley; curly variety (grow your own)
• dried tomatoes (grow your own)
• dried onion or fresh (grow your own)
• dried garlic or fresh (grow your own)
• (other veggies as desired such as dried summer squash, peppers etc.)
• 1 medium leek, chopped (grow your own or eliminate)
• ¼ cup fresh mint (grow your own) or 1 Tbsp. dried mint
• 1 smallish turnip chopped in ¼" pieces (grow your own)
• ½ cup olive oil
• 5 Tbsp. lemon juice
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 20 pepper grinds
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. allspice
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg

Boil dried veggies (and dried mint if you aren't using fresh) in 2 cups water for 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Add to bulgur. Let sit 30 minutes or until bulgur is soft. (If it is still too hard, cook it in the microwave stirring and testing it every two minutes until soft). When cool add parsley and all the rest of the ingredients. Stir and serve.

Tabbouleh (summer)

Same as above but use fresh veggies, adding them with parsley, etc. to the bulgur that has soaked in plain hot water until soft and cooled.

Special Breakfast pan bread

High in protein, this recipe serves a nutritionally complete meal to two very hungry people who are physically active or two normal teenagers. It take about 1/2 hour to make and costs between .20 - .45 per person. For those on a real tight budget, Eliminate the sunflower seeds and cut the milk in half substituting water and your cost will be .13 - .30 per person.

• 1 cup whole wheat
• 1¼ cup white
• 1 tsp. soy flour
• ½ cup oats
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup milk (or more or less)
• 1/3 cup sun-dried blueberries
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. molasses
• 1½ Tbsp. canola oil
• (cinnamon etc. to taste)

• Beat egg and milk, add oats,
• Boil blueberries in 1-2 cups water, 5 minutes
• let cool a little (until still very warm but not hot)
• add to egg & milk mixture
• add flours, seeds and spices
• mix
• add slightly more milk or white flour to desired consistency (I like it stiff, like brownies)
• add 1½ tsp. oil to 8" griddle,
• heat griddle (or electric fry pan) until it sizzle when a drop of water in put on it,
• drop with ladle small globs ( 3") onto hot griddle
• cook on medium heat until crisp and brown , Adding more oil between batches
• serve plain or with any of the following: maple syrup. blueberry syrup, sour cream/yogurt (try yogurt with the maple syrup for a real treat)

Pork Shoulder Roast

Pork shoulder is one of the cheapest of meats. However it can be very delicious and is versatile. Although cheep for meat, it is still pricey. If you use it somewhat sparingly you can get a large amount of meals out of it and get some extra protein in your diet. The following recipes will give 8 servings at a cost of .37 - .69 per serving. It also isn't the best for you in terms of being a processed food, most often with nitrates and high in fat. Therefore we use it only once or twice a year trimming all the fat we can before we cook it.

• 3-4 pound pork shoulder, (picnic) smoked or not
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 5 cloves garlic
• ½ tsp. rosemary
• 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger
• 1/8 cup sherry (or old wine)

Heat oven to 425°. Cut all visible fat off pork roast. (in winter, feed to birds if desired) Crush and bruise together garlic, rosemary, ginger, salt and pepper. Spread on pork. Pour orange juice and sherry on top. Bake covered, 15-20 minutes per pound, basting occasionally.

Planned Leftovers (many meals for pennies)

Cheap and delicious meals can be prepared from "leftover" especially with a little pre-planning. For example, make your favorite "Italian" tomato (marinara, with or without meat) sauce only make A LOT of it. Then use some in a lasagna and/or use rest in chili. Simply add beans and cumin, chili powder and as much hot sauce or red pepper as you like. Freeze tofu and it makes a wonderful meat substitute. Tofu is also wonderful in the ricotta cheese section of lasagna.

Another planned "leftover" meal that works well is with stir fry. Stir-fry a massive amount of you favorite veggies with some fresh (if possible) ginger, lots of garlic, soy sauce and red pepper if you like it spicy. At the end of the cooking time add sesame oil. Serve with rice. Then the next day make some crepes (pancakes that have a lot of milk in them and are very thin). Cut up the "leftover" stir fry into very small pieces add any rice that is also left over. Heat and roll in crepes with hoisin sauce. Makes excellent Moo-shu, very much like the Chinese-American restaurants make.

Ed's Oatmeal-Walnut cookies

This recipe is relatively low in fat and sugar, compared with most oatmeal cookie recipes; the apple sauce makes up for the low fat content, substitute oil or some other substitute if you want to lower the cholesterol content.

• 1 stick salted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1/3 cup fresh-ground whole wheat
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 to 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 1/4 cups real rolled oats (not the quick kind)

• Cream the sugar and butter.
• Add eggs, apple sauce or grated apple, molasses,flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla and beat or mix until smooth.
• Mix in oats and nuts.
• Drop on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 375° for about 12 minutes, less if your oven is more efficient than ours.
• This dough does not spread much, so cookies can be placed pretty close to each other.
• If you like them crispy, flatten them before baking.

Last updated on 04PM, May 12, 2000