I make lots of soup in the winter.  It’s easy to do, lasts for several meals, and I can freeze small containers of it to take to work for lunch.  Most of the soup I make is broth or vegetable-based without lots of cream or cheese so it is low in calories.

This quick soup is made from garbanzo beans, which are also called chickpeas.  All my adult life I have avoided garbanzo beans because I thought they were too starchy but now I like them.  Maybe adult tastes change just like kids. Like all legumes these beans are high in protein and fiber and low in fat.

There are two features of this recipe that make it a winner.  First, it uses only one pan, and second, it calls for ingredients I keep in stock, except for the zucchini.

Since I don’t want to struggle with the winter weather and fortunate enough to have power, I think I will make some for lunch.  Instead of the zucchini I think I will add some frozen peas.

Quick Garbanzo Bean Soup

Serves: 8 | Serving Size: 1¼ cups | Per Serving: $.51

Ingredients:

• ½ onion (about ½ cup)
• 3 garlic cloves or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes
• 2½ cups water
• 1 can (15.5 ounce) low sodium garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• ¾ cup sliced carrots (about 12-15 baby carrots)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole-wheat pasta (rotini, shells, etc.)
• 1 small zucchini, sliced (about 1-2 cups sliced)

Directions:

1. Wash, peel, and chop onion. Peel and mince garlic cloves.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic, and cook over medium low heat for 5 minutes.
3. Add broth, tomatoes, and water to saucepan. Stir in garbanzo beans, carrots, and seasonings.
4. Cook on medium high heat about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in pasta and zucchini. Reduce heat to medium low.
6. Simmer about 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
7. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

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I am concerned that almost one in five Iowa children live in poverty.  We don’t like to think about anyone going hungry at any time of the year, and especially not during the holidays.

Food pantries and the food banks that supply them are grateful for all kinds of donations and help: food, money, volunteer time, and advocacy for reducing hunger.

If you want to give the food items that are the most needed, they are canned fruit and vegetables, canned meat, peanut butter, hearty soups and stews, toilet paper, baby formula, baby diapers, laundry detergent, and toothpaste.  Please don’t give dented cans, expired items, and other food you wouldn’t eat. Sorting these foods out and disposing of them consumes precious resources.

If you can afford to make a financial donation, food pantries and food banks can make your money stretch.  One food bank says they can purchase 2-6 times more  food than what you can purchase at the store because of wholesale and bulk buying.  The Food Bank of Iowa estimates that a donation of $1 will provide 4 meals.

The Iowa Food Bank Association (IFBA) is a collaboration of the eight Feeding America Food Banks that serve all  99 counties in Iowa. (see map)  Together, the food banks serve over 1,000 non-profit organizations serving ill, infant, or needy individuals. These organizations include food pantries, emergency meal sites, congregational meal sites, emergency shelters, and other sites that provide food to clients. The IFBA website can help you do the following:

• Find a list of food pantries in each of the food bank’s service areas… Or just call 211 and you will find the closest food pantry and their hours of operation.
• Donate money using a convenient form for credit card donation.
• Find various opportunities to volunteer.

For a larger version of this map click here

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My sister is having her annual cookie making “party” Saturday afternoon. She invites two of her friends, her daughter, and me to bring ingredients for cookies to her house. We all work together for 2-3 hours and end up with a nice variety of cookies. The conversation is always lively plus, we have lots of fun with many different tunes from cell phone timers going off all the time.

I am searching for a recipe for the Mexican Christmas cookie that is round and white. This is my Dad’s favorite. Last year he declared there weren’t enough nuts in the one we made, so I am on the hunt for another recipe.

I use my share of the cookies for gifts and to take to potlucks plus, I freeze some for last minute guests. I always try to buy a few holiday containers on sale after the holidays (presentation is everything!).

My friend and colleague, Cathy Strohbehn, provided some good ideas about keeping food safe at cookie walks a couple of years ago on her blog.

If you haven’t signed up for Cathy’s blog, you should. She provides lots of helpful information related to food safety in short messages. To sign up, follow the link above, find the subscription box to the right of the article, put your email address in the box, and then when you get a note from FeedBurner, verify your request.

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My daughter shared with me that she spent the afternoon helping her friend make meals to put in the freezer. Her friend has young children, a new job, and a husband who has to be out of town a night or two each week. It sounded like the girls had a great time working together plus they came up with several meals that will be ready to go on hectic nights.

Our featured recipe this month, Sweet and Sour Rice Dinner, could be doubled or tripled for make ahead meals. The recipe includes ingredients for a tasty sweet and sour sauce but you could also use a bottled version if you prefer. The dish goes together smoothly if you measure and prepare all ingredients ahead of time.

If you have already cooked chicken to use just cook the sauce ingredients (step 6) and stir in the chicken and veggies. Cook for about 5 minutes to heat and serve over rice.

All you need to make this a full meal is some fruit and a glass of milk.

Sweet and Sour Rice Dinner

Serving Size:  2/3 cup rice, 1¼ cup topping

Servings:  5

Ingredients

• 16 ounces chicken (skinless, boneless)
• 1 bag (16-ounce) frozen stir-fry veggies
• ¼ cup prepared sweet and sour sauce
• OR make your own mixture
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• ¼ cup water
• 1½ tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ketchup
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups instant uncooked brown rice
• 1 can (8-ounce) pineapple chunks with juice

Directions

1. Cut chicken into ¾ inch pieces. Wash your hands thoroughly.
2. Remove stir-fry veggies from freezer to thaw.
3. Optional: Make sweet and sour sauce. Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir in water, soy sauce, vinegar, and ketchup. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add chicken and cook until done. Remove chicken to a bowl and set aside. Set frying pan aside.
5. Heat water for rice to boiling. Add rice. Let rice cook according to the package directions.
6. Return skillet (used to cook chicken) to the stove. Add sauce ingredients from above. Cook over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly OR add the prepared sweet and sour sauce.
7. Stir in the pineapple (undrained), vegetables, and chicken. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook about 5 minutes.
8. Serve chicken and veggie mixture on top of the rice.

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I am amazed at the number of dumb (silly) small appliances that are on the market today: cotton candy maker, chocolate fountain, cake pop/donut hole baker, mini pie baker, snow cone maker. And that’s just for the sweets. You also can have a hot dog roller, pretzel maker, corn dog maker, pigs in the blanket maker, and more. Most of them cost around $20 except for the soda maker and a jam and jelly maker that cost around $100! Why do I think they are dumb (silly)? An appliance that cooks just one food is a silly use of money and a waste of space in the kitchen.  It will end up in the landfill in a year or two.

If you are thinking about giving kitchenware this holiday or helping someone set up a home, consider buying the best basic cooking tools you can afford; they will last a lifetime.

More Expensive

Knives –The three I use the most are a paring knife for peeling and trimming, a chef knife for chopping, and a knife with a serrated edge for cutting bread and tomatoes.

Pans –The three pans I use all the time are a medium (3 quart) sauce pan with a lid for cooking sauces, vegetables, rice, etc; a large skillet with a lid (12 inches or more) for stir frying, browning, sandwiches; and a stock pot (10 quarts) for pasta and soups.

Less Expensive

Measuring Cups and Spoons – Correct measuring tools are especially important for baking, but I use them when cooking also. Look for sets to measure dry ingredients that include four measuring cups: ¼ cup, 1/3 cup, ½ cup and 1 cup measures. Add measuring spoon sets including ¼, teaspoon, ½ teaspoon, 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon. Complete this gift with a clear cup that has measuring marks on the side and a spout to pour liquids.

Cutting boards – I like the plastic boards because they are inexpensive, flexible, easy to store, and dishwasher safe. I use several boards at once so I don’t mix vegetables and raw meat on the same board. Some people designate one board for meat and poultry, another for vegetables and fruits, and another for breads.
Peeler – I use this all the time for potatoes, carrots, apples, kiwi, and mangos because I don’t trim off as much of the food as when I use a knife.
Wooden spoons – These are great for stirring without scratching your pans, and they don’t conduct heat so you can leave them in the pot if you like.
Rubber spatulas – I have two sizes. The large one I use to stir and fold batter and to scrape the inside of bowls. The small on I use to scrape small cans like tomato paste or peanut butter.
Whisks – These are great for making sauces and beating eggs or thin batters. Even though a cook can get by with a fork, but the whisk works better and is easier to grasp.
Colander/strainer – This is a handy tool for draining pasta, vegetables, berries and more.
Instant read thermometer – Very important for knowing when meat and poultry are done and for reheating food.
Mixing bowls – A basic set is one large and one small.
Can opener – Give a basic turn-the-crank model that can be cleaned when dirty and stored in a drawer.
If you are gifting someone who loves to bake, you might consider:
• 9 x 13 pan  (used for cakes, bars, casseroles)
• Baking sheet (used for cookies and rolls)
• Loaf pan, pie pan, or muffin pan
• Cooling rack
Not necessary, but nice:  garlic press, weight scale, grater

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Recently when making supper for my family, I realized part way through making the pizza that I did not have any pizza sauce! I thought I had some, so didn’t check to make sure before I started making the pizza.  So supper got put on hold while I sent my husband to the store to get the pizza sauce. If I would have practiced ‘mise en place’, I would have known before I started that I didn’t have any sauce and could have run to get it before starting to cook or went to Plan B.

Mise en place is a French phrase that means to put in place. This means that before you begin preparing a dish, you gather all the items you need and prep what needs to be done ahead of time, such as chop onions. Mise en place allows food professionals to be efficient in the kitchen so they can get food prepared quickly and out to waiting customers. This handout from ISU Extension and Outreach gives you a visual explanation of mise en place.

However, you don’t need to be a professional chef to practice mise en place.

If you are preparing the Thanksgiving meal this week, practicing mise en place will help you be more efficient in the kitchen and less stressed about getting everything on the table on time! Looking at the recipes you are making will tell you what ingredients you need and what steps you need to complete. If you neglect to practice mise en place, you run the risk of not having all the ingredients on hand (like me!) or your food might burn or overcook as you rush to measure ingredients that need to be added to the dish.

I plan to start practicing mise en place more regularly to help make my time in the kitchen more efficient and enjoyable. I have a 3-year-old son, Parker. Therefore, it’s important that I get supper on the table quickly at night before he gets too hungry and wants to snack. Since I’m busy with work and other activities during the week, I try to prepare some items on the weekend so it’s easy to put supper together when I get home. I cut up veggies and put in the refrigerator and cook some meat ahead of time so it is ready when I need it. This is part of mise en place as well. A little planning and prep ahead of time saves me time (and a headache!) in the long run!

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Thanksgiving is about 10 days away. Have you started to plan your dinner? The biggest expense of the meal will probably be the ham or turkey (or both) that you buy. The grocery ads are full of deals, like buy a ham and get a turkey free. Or buy $50 in groceries and get a $5 off coupon for your turkey. I was curious, so I stopped by 5 different stores to check out prices. I went to Hy-Vee, Fareway, Aldi, Dahls, and Wal-Mart.

Here are the costs I found. Whole turkey prices range from $.88 to $1.19 a pound. Boneless, spiral cut hams are about $3.50 a pound. Bone-in ham varies from $1.48 to 1.98 a pound. Both ham and turkey are priced to lure you to the store.

The simple answer is turkey and the bone-in ham cost about the same with boneless ham costing significantly more. But, as usual, every situation is different. Below are some comments/questions with some of my thoughts.

Doesn’t matter what it costs. I want to serve both ham and turkey and make sure we have enough. Ok, but when you are buying, remember you can cut back on the amount you buy because people will eat some, but not a whole serving of each.

Is the buy a ham, get a free turkey a good deal? That deal was to buy about 7 pounds of boneless ham at $3.50 ($24.50 total) and get a 12 pound turkey free. You would get about 28 3 oz. servings of ham and 24 3 ounce servings of turkey. So you would get 40 servings for $24.50 at .61/serving. If you want a boneless ham it is a good deal. But it would be cheaper to by the bone-in ham and turkey separately.

We are saving for Christmas gifts so I don’t want to spend a lot. I would get either a boneless ham or the turkey. If you have time, go for the turkey and make soup from the turkey bone (that way you can stretch the cost over several meals). A couple of years ago we developed a Healthy Holiday Dinner Menu with Recipes.

I am exhausted after our Thanksgiving meal. Maybe we should just go out to eat. Last year in the blog I shared my Top 5 tips to save time, money, stress and calories for Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe you will find an idea that works for you.

My turkey is always dry so I think I’ll have ham this year. Are you cooking the turkey too long? Try using a meat thermometer (sometimes the pop-up timers fail). Put the thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh because the dark meat of the turkey thigh takes longer to cook than any other part. When the thermometer is at 165 degrees, it is done.

My grandpa says he can’t eat ham so we will have turkey. From a health standpoint both ham and turkey are great sources of protein, but turkey provides significant less fat if you skip the skin. Ham also has more than 10 times the sodium and may contain nitrates.

Have a Great Holiday.

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I grew up on a farm in northwest Iowa.  My dad raised hogs, beef, soybeans and corn.  Guess how many times we had salmon when I was growing up.  That’s right,  NEVER.

Fresh, frozen and canned fish now is much more available and I enjoy it regularly.

The American Heart Association recommends eating two servings of fish, especially oily fish, at least twice a week. Examples of fish relatively high in omega-3 fatty-acids include salmon, trout and herring.  In the last few years I started enjoying salmon, both frozen and canned.  At first I was dismayed by the appearance of canned salmon because the skin and bones were included, but now when the salmon is drained and combined with the other ingredients I don’t notice them.

Our Crispy Salmon Patties are very easy to make plus they are one of my “Go To” recipes (the ones you always keep the ingredients on hand and are fast).   When you make these try to move the patties as little as possible so they don’t break apart.  I freeze any leftovers and take them for lunch.  Besides providing great protein one salmon patty provides as much calcium as a glass of milk!

Crispy Salmon Patties

Serves: 6
Serving Size: 1 Patty
Per Serving: $.52

Ingredients:

• 1 (14.75-ounce) can salmon, drained
• 1 egg
• 1 slice whole wheat bread, shredded, or 5 crushed saltine crackers
• 3 green onions, including the green stems, or 1/3 cup white onion, chopped fine (about 1/3 medium onion)
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced, or 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• Dash black pepper
• ½ teaspoon seasoning (paprika, chili powder, or dill weed)
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil or olive oil

Directions:

1. Mash any cooked bones and skin in the salmon.  Break into chunks with fork.
2. Break egg into a large bowl. Whisk with fork. Add salmon, bread or crackers, onion, garlic, pepper, and additional seasoning. Mix gently.
3. Form into 6 patties about ½ inch thick.
4. Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Place patties in hot oil skillet. Leave skillet uncovered. Cook 3 minutes. Turn over patties with a spatula. Cook the other side 3-4 minutes to a temperature of 145° F.
5. Serve immediately. Makes a good sandwich with whole wheat bread, tomato, lettuce, and onions.

http://recipes.extension.iastate.edu/2011/12/19/crispy-salmon-patties/

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A few weeks ago I invited myself to lunch at three different middle schools in Central Iowa.  My “hosts” were  two of my nieces and a friend’s son.  I learned a lot about the changes to school lunches during those visits. I also had a chance to observe some of what I call ‘sack lunches’, although hardly anybody uses paper bags anymore.

The majority of the sack lunches were not very healthy.  Most of them included some sort of bread (rarely whole grain), some protein food, crackers, chips, cookies, and fruit drink or fruit.  Vegetables were rarely included.  I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was so busy taking pictures of the school lunch trays that I didn’t get any of the sack lunches.  I did find a couple of images on the internet that are very close to what I observed.

I think some suggestions on lunches to take to school plus packing lunches the night before might improve the quality.

My colleagues, Ruth Litchfield and Cathy Strohbehn, collaborated on two new publications about lunches to go.  Whether you are packing lunches for yourself to take to work or for your children, these are free and worth a look.  Both can be ordered or downloaded from the ISU Extension and Outreach Online store.

The one page abbreviated version is called MyPlate Lunch Bag Ideas. In this publication, you will find great menu ideas to pack your child’s lunch bag with MyPlate healthy foods. You’ll find kid-friendly foods for fruits, veggies, protein, grains, and dairy.  You will also find preparation and packing tips to keep foods at a safe temperature.

The longer, more detailed version is What’s for Lunch? It’s in the Bag.  It will give you ideas and know how for packing healthy lunches your child will want to eat. It contains tips for preparing and packing food safely as well as menu tips for lunch bag meals. It also includes research data on best methods to keep foods at safe temperatures.

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School lunches have been front page news in the U.S. this fall with lots of discussion about the healthier meals.  Have you ever wondered what kids  in other countries eat for school lunch?  BuzzFeed, a social news organization, posted What School Lunches Look Like In 20 Countries Around The World about a year ago.  The lunches are random pictures but do give an idea of what kids eat in other countries.  I feel sorry for the kids in Kenya, Honduras, Ghana, and Djibouti (a tiny country in Africa).  Their lunches are very skimpy.  The U.S. lunches shown are higher in fat and have less fruits and vegetables than many of the other countries.  However, these pictures were taken before the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act became effective.

Another website I thought was very interesting was by Martha Payne, a nine-year-old from Scotland. She started the blog Never Seconds by showing her lunch each day and rating them.

Martha calls herself ‘Veg’ in the posts (look in the archives of Never Seconds to see the posts on school lunches.)  Soon kids from other countries were sending pictures of their school lunches to Martha which she posted, causing blog readership to soar. The lack of food in lunches in some countries led Martha to raise money for Mary’s Meals, a charity that sets up school feeding projects in communities where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education. Although Martha’s school has now banned her lunch pictures, she is still raising money for Mary’s Meals and blogging about her trip to  Malawi to help dedicate a new school kitchen.

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