There's a pepper for everyone!

Wow, September always goes quickly with kids preparing and heading off for the beginning of school and colder fall weather hitting us hard with it's unpredictability. To celebrate a wonderful month of learning and plenty of dancing in the rain, we have some tasty and healthy recipes using our Harvest of the Month, Peppers! Peppers are a wonderfully diverse food and can make a dish hot and spicy or sweet and savory. They can be incorporated in to so many everyday dishes, it's hard to widdle down do our favorites. We dug up some interesting recipes for this week, including a different way to add peppers to your sandwich, as well as a slightly more involved soup that will have you heating up your mornings OR nights.

Have a good weekend, and don't forget to pick up some fresh peppers at your local farmers market!

Hot Chile Bread (squidoo.com)
We knew you could put about anything in bread, but hot chile peppers?! I'm pumped to try out this recipe! Let us know how you're loaf turns out if you make it!

1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten, 1 beaten egg
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, plus extra
4-1/2 cups flour, plus extra
1/2 each of a red, yellow and green bell pepper, seeded and diced
4 scotch bonnet chiles, stemmed, seeded and minced

In a large bowl, mix the water, yeast and sugar together. Cover and leave for 10 to 15 minutes, or until it froths and bubbles appear on the surface.
Beat the eggs, salt and oil into the yeast mixture until combined, then add the flour and peppers, stirring.
Sprinkle flour on work surface, then knead the dough 5 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. If sticky, add more flour. Lightly oil the bowl and return the dough, turning so it is covered with oil.
Cover and let rise 2 to 3 hours, until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Form 2 loaves and place on a baking sheet. Cover and let rise 1 hour until doubled. Preheat over to 375 degrees. Brush loaves with remaining egg and back 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack before serving.


Sweet Red Pepper and Crab Bisque (recipesia.com)

You can make the bisque up to two days ahead; cover and refrigerate it after pureeing. Serves 4.

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons Old Bay or other seafood spice blend
3 cups fish stock or bottled clam juice
1/2 cup diced peeled russet potato
1/2 cup half-and-half or skim evaporated milk
1 pound crab meat (or artificial substitute)

Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, and seasoning. Cover; cook 10 minutes, stirring twice.

Add stock and potato; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover partially, and simmer until potato is very tender, about 30 minutes.

Working in batches, purée soup in blender. Return soup to saucepan. Add half-and-half; bring to a simmer. Mix in crab. Season to taste. Cover; let stand 1 minute.

Ladle into bowls.

Enjoy!

Luchroom Reading

Now that we're all back to school, it really gets you thinking about what kids are getting for lunch. What nutrition do they have to get them through the day? It's something our community is working hard to improve and now we have some more great resources to help us get momentum!

Here is a great article just posted in the Atlantic discussing books on the exact topic of school lunches, how we can effect the school lunch system and what aspects need our focus most:

Back to School: Books Packed With Ideas for Fixing Bad Lunches

By Marion Nestle

Sep 11 2011, 10:02 AM ET

Have you wanted to do something about school meals but didn't know how? Now that you have this list, there are no more excuses.

If you want to work on improving the meals at your kids' schools, much help is available. Just in, for example:

From the Center for Ecoliteracy: Rethinking School Lunch: Cooking with California Food in K-12 Schools: a Cookbook and Professional Development Guide. You don't have to be in California to take advantage of this resource. It's full of recipes and good ideas, as are other resources from the Center.

From Amy Kalafa: Lunch Wars: How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children's Health, Tarcher/Penguin 2011. Kalafa is the writer and producer of the film about school food -- Two Angry Moms. This is her how-to guide for getting involved in and doing something useful about your kids' school food programs.

From Sarah A. Robert and Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower: School Food Politics: The Complex Ecology of Hunger and Feeding in Schools Around the World, Peter Lang, 2011. This is a collection of essays (one of them mine) from writers and thinkers about school feeding programs, domestic and international. It ends with a long list of groups working on school food issues.

And on my bookshelf from the last couple of years:

Janet Poppendieck's Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, University of California Press, 2010. My blurb says "Extraordinarily well thought out, beautifully written, sympathetic, and compelling. Anyone who reads this book will find the present school lunch situation beyond unacceptable. Free for All is a call for action on behalf of America's school kids, one that we all need to join." Poppendieck is a strong advocate for universal school meals. Me too.

Institute of Medicine: School Meals: Building Blocks for Health Children, National Academies Press, 2010. This influential committee report says what needs to be done to establish food-based (rather than nutrient-based) standards for school meals.

Kevin Morgan and Roberta Sonnino: The School Food Revolution: Public Food and the Challenge of Sustainable Development, Earthscan (U.K.), 2008. The U.K. has its own problems with school meals and so do other countries. This book presents international case studies focused on sustainability and social justice.

Susan Levine: School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America's Favorite Welfare Program, Princeton, 2008. If you want to understand the history of how school lunches came to be in America, here's the source.

Ann Cooper and Lisa M. Holmes: Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, Collins, 2006. Cooper was one of the first chefs to get into schools and get fixing. This is a how-to from one who did it.

Robert W. Surles: Chef Bobo's Good Food Cookbook, Meridith 2004. I have a soft spot for this one because I've been keeping an eye on Chef Bobo's program at the Calhoun School in Manhattan for years now. He revolutionized school meals at one school and this book explains what he had to do to do that. He's still there and still cooking!

You would like to do something about school meals but don't know how? No excuses!

Image: Creative Commons.

It's good for you cooked OR raw

We hope every one had a great first week back at school! Try one of these tasty pepper recipes to help celebrate this weekend, it should be a warm one.

Did you know that while fiber an potassium decrease, the Vitamin C in a Bell Pepper can actually increase when it is cooked? Vitamin A increases in a cooked GREEN bell pepper, but decreases in RED bell peppers! Food is Fascinating!
learn more about cooked vs. raw @ http://www.livestrong.com/article/520566-does-cooking-bell-peppers-affect-the-nutrition/

Homemade Pizza

1 (12 inch) thin pizza crust (homemade or prepared, such as Boboli)

3 cups chopped bell peppers (red, green, yellow)

1 cup sliced red or yellow onion, pulled into rings

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs

Salt, to taste (optional)

Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

3/4 cup crumbled herbed feta cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lay crust on pizza pan or cookie sheet. In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients except cheese; spoon over crust. Top with cheese. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until vegetables are crispy-tender.

Spicy Salsa

4 cups chopped tomatoes

2 cups green bell pepper, chopped

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup jalapeno pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 1/4 cups cider vinegar

Place tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, hot peppers, salt, garlic, and vinegar in a saucepan or pot Bring mixture to a simmer. Cover, and let simmer 50 to 60 minutes. The longer the salsa simmers, the spicier it will become.

^All Recipes.com

The Mighty Pepper

This Month’s harvest we’re celebrating is the pepper! I suppose this isn’t really a single harvest, but a group of tasty foods. From sweet Bell Peppers to the spicy Jalapeño, we’re excited for a lot of cooking fun. What is your favorite kind of pepper? Do your kids eat and like peppers? We’ll have recipes that give peppers the spotlight and some to let their flavor stay more subdued.

This is a great dinner go-to I came across on the "Simply Recipes" blog:

Mom's Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

Red and yellow bell peppers have a very different flavor than green bell peppers. The red ones especially are much sweeter. Any bell pepper can be used for this recipe; use the type you like the best.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked white rice (starting from about 3/4 to 1 cup raw white rice)

• 4 to 6 bell peppers (red, yellow, or green), use 4 large, or 6 medium sized
• 1 to 1 1/4 lb of ground beef (ground chuck, 16% fat)
• 6 large fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil)
• 1/2 teaspoon dry summer savory
• 1/2 teaspoon ground marjoram (or 2 teaspoons of fresh chopped)
• (Can substitute herbs with other herbs such as an Italian herb mix)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Paprika

Method

1 If you haven't already made the rice, start cooking the rice following the package instructions (usually 1 cup of raw white rice plus 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, bring to boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.)

2 Cut the tops off of the bell peppers. Remove and discard (compost) the stem and seeds. Place bell peppers cut side up on a steaming rack over an inch of water in a large covered pot. Bring to boil, let steam for 10 minutes.

3 Heat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, basil, summer savory, marjoram, salt, several turns of black pepper, and rice.

4 Remove bell peppers from steamer pan. Place cut side up in a pyrex or other oven-proof casserole. Gently stuff the peppers with the ground beef rice mixture. Drizzle olive oil over the stuffed peppers, along the outside of the peppers, and into the pan. Rub the oil over the outside of the peppers; it will help with browning. Sprinkle the tops generously with paprika.

5 Place on middle rack and cook for 35-50 minutes, or longer, until the meat is cooked through.

Serves 4 to 6. Serve with ketchup.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/moms_stuffed_bell_peppers/

Jalapeño Hummus

Ingredients

• 1 cup garbanzo beans
• 1/3 cup canned jalapeno pepper slices, juice reserved
• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• crushed red pepper to taste

Directions

In a blender or food processor, mix the garbanzo beans, jalapeno peppers and reserved juice, tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. Season with cumin, curry powder, and crushed red pepper. Blend until smooth.

Snacks in Hand

Today we've got delicious recipes to help you send your child back to school. A PB + J is always a favorite, but why not mix it up? Things like homemade granola bars can be fun to make together and it can be done ahead of time so you have a little less to worry about during your week.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Beet Muffins

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup canola oil

2 cups applesauce

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup water

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup shredded peeled beets

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 24 muffin cups

2. Mix the whole wheat flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the canola oil, applesauce, sugar, eggs, and water. Pour the applesauce mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Gently fold in the blueberries and shredded beats. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cranberry Nut Granola Bars Recipe

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup hulled pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 cup mixed nuts

1 cup dried cranberries

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 13x9-inch pan with lightly-greased parchment paper; an inch or so of parchment paper should stick up on 2 sides to form lifting handles.

2. Mix the quick-cooking oats, old-fashioned oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds, mixed nuts, cranberries, and sweetened condensed milk together in a bowl; spread into the prepared pan, evenly pressing into the corners and out to the sides.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden brown, 20-25 minutes, using slightly less time for chewier bars and slightly more time for crunchier bars.

4. Allow the the bars cool for 5 minutes in the pan before using the parchment paper to lift them from the pan. Use a sharp knife to cut into bars. Let the bars cool completely and store in an airtight container.

recipes from allrecipes.com

Simply Summer

Wowza! The summer sure has gone quick, and now school is right around the corner. You know what that means? We've got to enjoy these fresh foods while we've got them! This week is brought to you by meals that have LOTS of tasty fresh ingredients in them. Don't think that means it has to be complicated. These dishes sure pack in lots of good colors, but aren't too much of a time suck to take over your night. Enjoy the rest of summer and watch for tips on how to store all these fresh foods to enjoy the rest of the year.

Southwestern Corn Chowder

½ cup sweet onion (chopped)

Sauté in 1 Tbsp olive oil in soup pot till soft

2 ½ cups corn (option to grill for a nice flavor)

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

add and cook 10 min. remove 1 cup of soilids with about 1/3 cup broth and place in blender or food processor- till smooth. Return the purée to soup pot and heat until NEARLY boiling.

1 medium red sweet pepper

1 small tomato

stir in and heat another minute

½ fresh lime – juice

3 Tbsp fresh cilantro

Squeeze lime into soup and top with cilantro immediately before serving.

Garnish individual bowls with Tabasco pepper sauce, lime wedges and a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream.

Summer Garden Ratatouille

2 onions (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

1 bay leaf

Sauté in 3 Tbsp olive oil for ~5 min

1 medium eggplant (chopped)

1 ½ Tbsp fresh basil (chopped)

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary (chopped)

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp fresh marjoram (chopped)

Add cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until eggplant is soft (15- 20 min)

2 summer squash (chopped)

2 green, orange or red sweet peppers (strips)

2 cups tomatoes (chopped)

Add and simmer until peppers and squash are tender (~10 min). Serve Over pasta or polenta sprinkled with chopped fresh parsley, black olives or freshly grated parmesan cheese.

*"Simply in Season" by Lind, Hackman-Wert

Snacks You Can't Beet

Beet Hummus

1/2 pound beets (about 4 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled,

and cubed*

2 Tbsp tahini sesame seed paste

5 Tbsp lemon juice

1 small clove garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)

Generous pinch of sea salt or Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

*To cook the beets, cut off any tops, scrub the roots clean, put them in a

covered dish with about 1/4-inch of water in a 375 F oven, and cook until easily

penetrated with a knife or fork. Alternatively, cover with water in a saucepan

and simmer until tender, about 1/2 hour. Peel once they have cooled.

Method

Place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until smooth.

Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients as desired.

Chill and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for longer

storage.

Eat with pita chips, or with sliced cucumber or celery, or on a crostini with

goat cheese and shaved mint.

Makes 2 cups.

From: KELLY AKKERMAN at Malek Family Stewardship Farm

Pickled Beets

Scrub beets. Leave on tails and 2-3 in. of tops. Place beets in tall pot. Add water to halfway. Boil until fork tender (1-2 hrs). Drain and set aside beet juice. Run cold water over hot beets while sliding off skins with hands. Slice or dice to your preferred shape!

3 cups white vinegar

2 ½ cups brown sugar

2 cups beet juice (left from cooking)

1 cinnamon stick

6 whole garlic cloves

1 ½ tsp salt

Combine in a large soup pot. Add sliced or diced beets and bring to a boil (3-5 minutes). Cool. Beets mat be kept covered and refrigerated for 4-6 weeks.

To keep for longer and into the winter, place hot bets and liquid into hot canning jars and seal with sterilized lids and rings. For more canning and preserving tips, head over to Pick Your Own