Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Dave @ HappyAcres

When I think of comfort food, mashed potatoes often come to mind. Their creamy texture and yummy flavor warms your body and spirit. Potatoes sometime get a bad rap when it comes to nutrition, but actually they can be quite healthy for you depending on how they are prepared. They are a great source of potassium, and if you leave the skin on, they supply fiber and vitamin C, along with other vitamins and minerals. The problem comes when you fry them up into French Fries or potato chips, or load them up with butter and sour cream. This recipe avoids all that bad stuff, for the most part.

incredibly edible potatoes (click on any image to enlarge)

There’s no need to feel guilty when you eat these mashed potatoes. Using lowfat buttermilk and a little bit of real butter keeps the calorie count low. And they’re paired with roasted garlic, which adds lots of flavor and very few calories. Roasting the garlic tames the heat and mellows the flavor. If you’ve never roasted garlic before, you’re missing out on a real treat. And this recipe would be a good excuse to give it a try.

garlic cut for roasting

This recipe calls for butter that is mixed with both roasted and raw garlic for maximum flavor. If you want a little milder flavor you can omit the raw garlic. And lowfat buttermilk replaces more fattening ingredients sometimes added to mashed potatoes. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute with lowfat yogurt thinned with a little skim milk. Or you can add a little lemon juice or vinegar to sweet milk to make a buttermilk substitute.

Garlicky Mashed Potatoes


Garlicky Mashed Potatoes Print This Recipe Print This Recipe
a Happy Acres original

2 whole garlic heads
1 tsp olive oil
2 Tbs butter, softened
1 Tbs chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 1/2 lbs potato, cubed Yukon gold or red, with skin
1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. To prepare roasted garlic, remove white papery skin from garlic heads (do not
peel or separate the cloves). Cut away top part of garlic head to expose tops of
cloves. Drizzle olive oil over garlic. Wrap each head separately in foil. Bake at
400° for 45 minutes; cool 10 minutes.
3. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins. Combine garlic
pulp, butter, chives and raw garlic (if using)
4. To prepare potatoes, place potatoes in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring
to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes or until tender.
5. Drain and return potatoes to pan. Add buttermilk; mash to desired
consistency with potato masher. Heat over low heat 2 minutes more or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly. Stir in garlic butter, salt, and pepper.

Servings: 6 (about 1/2 cup each)

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 148 calories, 43 calories from fat, 4.8g total fat, 10.6mg cholesterol, 213.7mg sodium, 539.8mg potassium, 23.9g carbohydrates, 2.8g fiber, 1.5g sugar, 3.4g protein, 46.9mg calcium, 2.6g saturated fat.

 

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It’s Garlic Planting Time

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Once again, it’s time to plant garlic here in Southern Indiana. I generally wait until late October or early November to plant ours, which gives the garlic plenty of time to get established before really cold weather gets here. If it ever does get here, that is. Last winter was so mild that the ground never really froze solid here for more than a few days at a time. So who knows what weather will be like this winter. At any rate, based on my experiences it is time to get the garlic in the ground.

I wait until just before planting to break apart the heads of garlic into individual cloves, also known as ‘cracking’ or ‘popping’ the garlic. Waiting until just before planting helps keep the garlic from drying out. And that’s important, because you want to keep the garlic in the best possible condition before planting. After all, it’s a living thing! Though some gardeners like to do some form of soaking, peeling or treating the cloves before planting, I don’t do anything special. I do pick the biggest cloves that are solid, firm and free of bad spots. Big cloves make big bulbs, and that means more garlic at harvest time.

garlic cloves ready for planting (click on any image to enlarge)

Later on I’ll plant some of the smaller cloves of garlic in another area, to be harvested as green (immature) garlic.  If you have the room in your garden, you can grow green garlic by planting some cloves closer together than usual (2 or 3 inches apart) and then harvesting in spring while the plants are still green. Space is always at a premium here so I usually plant some more in containers for the greenhouse. Green garlic is a special treat in spring, and it provides a taste of things to come while you’re waiting for the rest of the garlic to mature.

green garlic fresh from the garden in May

To prevent diseases and pest problems, I choose an area that hasn’t been planted in garlic or other members of the allium family for several years. A few days ago I prepared the planting beds by working in a healthy amount of compost and some complete organic fertilizer (Espoma Garden-tone 3-4-4). Garlic appreciates a well-drained and fertile soil, so it pays to spend a little time on soil preparation before planting. This year I am growing about half of the garlic in the main garden area, while the rest is in one of the beds nearer the house and greenhouse. Together these beds give me almost 70 square feet of growing space for the garlic. That’s a lot of garlic, but then we love our garlic!

garlic laid out in proper spacing before planting

Usually I plant all the garlic six inches apart in all directions, in a grid pattern.  I plant the cloves about 3 inches deep, pointed end up, using a trowel to dig the planting holes. Last year I experimented with a wider spacing, and I planted the garlic in one bed eight inches apart in all directions. I stuck with my usual six inch spacing for the garlic in the other bed. I didn’t see a significant yield difference between the two different spacings, but the wider spacing was a bit easier for me to keep weeded. So I will repeat the experiment this year.

trowel helps loosen the soil before planting

I’ll come back in a few weeks, before the ground freezes, and mulch the garlic with a layer of straw. The mulch will help keep down weeds, conserve moisture and keep soil temperatures from fluctuating so much this winter, which could cause the garlic to get heaved up out of the soil. And that’s all there is to do until spring when I’ll weed as needed and give the garlic a little side dressing of a high-nitrogen fertilizer like blood meal. The garlic should be ready to dig starting about July next year.

If you haven’t got your garlic planted yet, there is still time to get it in if the ground isn’t frozen. Garlic is easy to grow if you have the space, and there’s nothing quite like home grown garlic in the kitchen. And if you grow your own there should be plenty to enjoy fresh, dehydated, ground or pickled – it’s all good!

For more information on growing and preserving garlic, check out these related posts:

  1. Dehydrating Garlic
  2. Easy Refrigerator Pickled Garlic
  3. Growing Green Garlic
  4. How To Have Fresh Garlic All Year Long

 

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Homemade: Yellow Mustard

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Now is the time of year that many folks start thinking about making homemade gifts for family and friends. It won’t be long before my wife and I start making soap again for gifts and for our own use. And I’m guessing we will be making some lotions and other homemade potions too. But I’ve got another suggestion for a unique homemade gift that is surprisingly easy to make and incredibly tasty too: mustard!

If you don’t know already, this popular condiment is made from ground up mustard seeds, which are the dried seeds of several different species of mustard plants. Mustard seeds also come in various colors, with black and brown seeds generally being hotter and spicier than the yellow ones. Mustard seeds are available in specialty stores as well as by mail order (I got mine from Penzeys). You can also sometimes find them in ethnic groceries, since the whole seeds are popular in many of the world’s cuisines.

ingredients for yellow mustard (click on any image to enlarge)

Last year I made a couple of different homemade mustards. One was a Spicy Brown mustard and the other was a Dijon. The Spicy Brown was my favorite, and my wife loved it too. It had a great flavor and texture, and I wound up making another batch of it again a few months ago when the first batch ran out. This year I decided to branch out and try another mustard recipe.  I wound up making a mustard using only yellow seeds that is a bit milder than the Spicy Brown Mustard, but still tastes great and can be customized to suit your own tastes. The seeds are soaked for 2 days in vinegar, which helps to soften up the seeds for processing.

soaking mustard seeds in vinegar

Don’t think ‘ballpark mustard’ when you see this recipe. This mustard has a nice grainy texture and a lovely taste that is mild but definitely not boring. Use a good quality vinegar since it will be a big taste component of the finished product. My recipe calls for using turmeric and allspice, but you can experiment with different spices to make a unique one-of-a-kind mustard you can call your own.

Homemade Yellow Mustard


Homemade Yellow Mustard Print This Recipe Print This Recipe
adapted from this recipe

1/2 cup yellow mustard seeds
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp turmeric
1 dash ground allspice

1. Soak the mustard seeds in the vinegar and water. Cover and let sit for 2 days at room temperature.
2. Add salt, honey, turmeric and allspice to mustard seed mixture. Process with blender or food processor to desired consistency, adding more water if necessary.
3. Put mustard in clean jar or other non-reactive container. Cover and let sit for a week at room temperature to mellow the taste. Mustard can be aged longer for a milder taste.
4. Refrigerate mustard to halt the mellowing and preserve it. Mustard should keep for several months refrigerated.

Servings: 32 (serving size 1 tbsp)

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 16 calories, 7 calories from fat, <1g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 36.6mg sodium, 26.9mg potassium, 1.9g carbohydrates, <1g fiber, <1g sugar, <1g protein, 15.2mg calcium, <1g saturated fat.

You might also be interested in these related recipes :

1. Homemade Whole-Grain Mustard

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Road Trip!

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Lynda and I enjoyed a lovely, post MG conference road trip to Nashville this weekend. We went to the Ryman Auditorium last night to see Bonnie Raitt perform, and she was joined by a number of Nashville cats including guitarist Rick Vito and singer songwriter John Prine. John joined Bonnie onstage to help sing his classic Angel From Montgomery, which was a special treat for me and the rest of the 2000+ people that jammed the historic Ryman. Bonnie had the old Ryman rockin’ for sure!

But truth be told, the real highlight for me was visiting with our friends Lydia and Mark. I met Lydia while volunteering at the Evansville Christian Life Center, and I quickly discovered she was a fellow gardener, foodie and former propeller-head like me.  If that weren’t enough, she is also a crafty person like Lynda. Talk about having stuff in common! Lydia gave Lynda a lovely bookcase that she no longer had room for when Lydia and Mark moved to Nashville earlier this year, as well as lots of craft supplies and books. So it was great to catch up on things with them.

me and Lynda pose at Puckett’s (click on any image to enlarge)

Yesterday the four of us enjoyed a crisp, sunny fall day and toured historic Leiper’s Fork Village, which is home to several restaurants and art galleries. Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant is the kind of place where local pickers and singers perform while you chow down on a “meat and three” or other down-home vittles. We opted for lunch at Joe’s Natural Farm Store and Cafe, where we enjoyed grass-fed beef burgers served on fresh brioche buns and topped with smoked Gouda cheese, arugula and pac choi leaves. All I can say is YUM!

great burger at Joe’s Natural

Our weekend came to an end much too soon, as we hit the road after breakfast this morning to return home. We did stop at the Nashville Farmer’s Market before we left town, and got a variety of lovely fresh apples. We will be enjoying them in the days to come as a nice reminder of our great weekend getaway!

apples from Nashville Farmer’s Market

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Baked Cherry Tomatoes

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Cherry tomatoes could easily be called the overachievers of the gardening world. One plant can often grow to be 10 to 15 feet long if it is left unpruned and kept well fertilized and watered. And in the course of a growing season that one plant can produce hundreds of yummy little tomatoes, though sometimes it can seem like there’s thousands of them!

Cherry tomatoes are also very versatile in the kitchen. At Happy Acres we love them on (and in) salads, and lots of them get dehydrated and slow-roasted for use long after tomato season is over. You can also make a great Cherry Tomato Salsa with them. And of course many of them get eaten straight from the garden, not to mention all those that actually get eaten out in the garden. Now that’s what I call dining alfresco!

(click on any image to enlarge)

This simple side dish pairs tomatoes with a couple of their natural companions: garlic and basil. The tomatoes are tossed with olive oil and garlic plus a little salt and pepper and quickly baked until the skins start to shrivel and burst. Add a little basil and you’ve got a quick, easy and tasty side dish. These tomatoes are also great tossed with pasta. Add some beans or meat to the pasta and you’ve got a complete meal that’s ready in no time!

Baked Cherry Tomatoes

Baked Cherry Tomatoes Print This Recipe Print This Recipe
adapted from several recipes

1 qt cherry tomatoes, whole
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
1/4 tsp kosher salt
pepper to taste
2 tbsp basil leaves

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine all the ingredients except the basil in a roasting pan. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes are just bursting. Carefully transfer the tomatoes to a bowl and add basil. Serve warm or cold.

Servings: 6

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 65 calories, 42 calories from fat, 4.8g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 88.2mg sodium, 242.1mg potassium, 5.5g carbohydrates, 1.2g fiber, <1g sugar, 1g protein, 10.2mg calcium, <1g saturated fat.

 

 

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