Vanilla beans have been on that list for years. Whenever I see a recipe that calls for scraping a vanilla bean, I get excited. But whenever I look wistfully at vanilla beans in the store, the price tag is enough to keep me from getting them this time. And since I never have them on hand, I never cook with them.

Then Marisa over at Food in Jars posted a how-to on using vanilla beans, and it was like she was talking directly to me. I was that person who kept avoiding them because they’re expensive and intimidating, and she linked to a couple websites where you can buy vanilla in bulk so cheaply that it would be a crime not to buy it.

So I took the plunge, and now I’ve got 40 vanilla beans in 4 varieties (which is approximately 40 more than I’ve ever owned before), and only a couple fledgling ideas of what to do with them. It’s a whole new territory in baking that I’ve never visited before. So I’m looking for help: what should I try? Do you have favorite ways to use vanilla beans?  Favorite recipes?

My first thought is to scrape one and mix it with the mascarpone I’ve got in the fridge, and eat it with strawberries. It should be hard to go wrong with that.

We’re replacing almost everything: cabinets, counters, floor, lights, some appliances.  After a wild few weeks of decision-making – which we survived somehow, even though, under normal circumstances, we could have spent that long deciding about any one thing, never mind picking out everything at once – the builders started working this week.

So, while our kitchen looked like this last week…

… after one day of demolition, this is what we have left:

Goodbye, kitchen. There’s basically nothing left. I always find it a little disturbing to see behind the walls in my house – it’s a reminder that the structure I think is so solid is really just a few boards and some drywall.  Fortunately, they’ve already started patching up the walls, and any day now it’ll start to look like a room again.

Living kitchen-less hasn’t been so bad, though. We put a lot of thought into how to deal with it, and 4 days in, it’s working all right. We set up a mini-kitchen in our living room: fridge in one corner, and next to it, a little kitchen cart holding our microwave, toaster oven, plates, silverware, glasses, and a few useful odds and ends.

We did some cooking in advance to help us through. The weekend before we had to pack everything up, we spent a day baking empanadas (stuffed with potatoes and cheese) and spinach pies. We froze them, and we’ve been reheating them in the toaster oven for dinners. They are super tasty, especially the spinach pies, and filling enough that two count as dinner.

Will we get sick of them?  Probably.  The question is how long it’ll take. The builder has told us it’ll be 8 business days to get it all done.  My ever-cheerful friends and coworkers have used this to make their own predictions, ranging from 10 days to a month.  (If it takes a month, I swear I’ll be eating catfood before it’s over. It had better not take a month.)

So depending on how long it takes, here’s our strategy for feeding ourselves while we have basically no kitchen:

1. Homemade freezer food. So far, the spinach pies and empanadas are just fine. We will eat them until we’re sick of them.
2. Pre-packaged freezer food. We’ve already made a preliminary trip to Trader Joe’s, and stocked up on a few handy, microwave-friendly dinners.
3. Mooching. Last night, we had a great dinner with some friends at their house, which has such great amenities as a working stove.  I’ll make an open offer here: anyone who wants to make dinner for us while we’re kitchen-less, I will return the favor once our kitchen is done.
4. Restaurants. This is the most expensive choice, and the one that we’re trying not to do too much. But as long as we can’t really cook, we might as well enjoy some good dinners out.

We won’t starve. We might even have fun with it. But, in all seriousness – any suggestions of good freezer food we should try?

However, his food processor is not mine, and mine couldn’t do half of these things. (I’m not sure it could do any of them well.) Our blender/processor is one of the kitchen appliances we bought when we first moved to DC, and were so overwhelmed by bills, up-front rent payments, and new furniture purchases that we bought the cheapest one we could find… and it acts like it.  Pesto is a challenge for this thing.  And it’ll puree vegetables for you, as long as you don’t mind lumps.

So, let’s just say that Bittman has me dreaming of a new food processor, and all the wonderful things my dream-self would make once I get it.

There aren’t that many gadgets in the kitchen that single-handedly encourage me to cook more. Certainly nothing like the inspiration that Bittman is describing.  The only thing that comes close is my stick blender, and possibly my microplane.  Do you own any kitchen tools that actually make you spend more time in the kitchen?

I’ll be joining them.  Will you?

Earth Hour is a symbolic action to raise awareness about climate change, but it’s a very powerful one.  How powerful?  It’s already started in New Zealand, and you can see a slideshow on the site of places that are turning out the lights (with before and after views).  It’s visually impressive.  It’s also easy – just about anyone can do it.  Even my office building is participating, which is both cool and a little strange (why should an office building ever need lights on a Saturday night?).  But still, I’m proud of them for making a point of it.

If you join by signing up on the website, you can be counted towards your state’s participation.

Will you be turning off your lights tonight?  What will you do during your hour of darkness?

Plus, they look as pretty as they taste:

I found some dried porcini mushrooms at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago, early in January when otherwise there wasn’t much there.  I came home with a ziploc bag full, which I expect will last a while.  I love porcinis especially, because they have a very dark, meaty flavor, but chantrelles, morels, shiitakes, and others are all an equally good buy.

You can find dried wild mushrooms in most grocery stores, especially higher-end ones.  They are expensive – don’t look at the price per pound! – and they come in small bags, but when you’re cooking with them, a little goes a long way.  These dry, shriveled things pack a whole lot of flavor.

To use dried mushrooms, put them in a bowl and cover them with warm water.  Then just let them sit for about 15 minutes, until they’ve absorbed the water and become soft and squishy.  Then fish them out, chop them up, and add them to your cooking.  But save the liquid!  Carefully pour it off into another container (dirt and debris from the mushrooms will sometimes settle to the bottom of the liquid – don’t be grossed out, but don’t save those bits, either) and stick it in the fridge.

You can put dried mushrooms in lots of things – just about anywhere you’d use regular button mushrooms.  In fact, one of the best ways to use them is alongside button mushrooms, to enhance the flavor while the cheaper mushrooms provide most of the substance.  Try:

• Add them to soup (porcinis make the best mushroom soup you’ll ever taste)
• Putt them on pizza
• Add them to stir fries (especially shiitakes)
• Stir them into risotto
• Put them into pasta sauce, or just serve them over pasta, sauted with a little butter

You can use the liquid anywhere you’d use stock – and since you can use stock almost anywhere you’d use water, there are lots of possibilities.  You can use it with the mushrooms, or for extra flavor in another dish. It’s especially good:

• In soups
• In risotto
• In the cooking water for rice or pasta
• In sauces and gravy

If you’ve never used dried mushrooms, you’ll be amazed how much they boost the flavor in a dish.  They’re like a secret weapon of deliciousness.

One pitfall: don’t hoard them.  I have a bad habit of not using them except on the most special of occasions… but they’re not that pricey when you use them in small quantities. And when you let them get pushed to the back of your pantry, you’ll forget they’re there.  So get them, and use them!

But what about when you’ve whipped something up, you’re about to serve dinner, but you find that it tastes a little… bland.  Flavorless.  Needs a little something.

I’ve got a little list in my head of ways to rescue this situation – little-noticed and under-appreciated ingredients, maybe ones that have overwhelming flavors on their own, but when you add just a bit, suddenly the whole meal sings.  And the funny thing is, probably no one will taste it in there, even though they would certainly have noticed their absence.  These types of ingredients are the unsung superheroes in home cooking.  Superheroes, because with just a touch they can magically transform dinner from dull to delicious.  Salt and pepper are the most ubiquitous, but I also like to use:

• lemon juice – to bring out an edge in neutral-flavored foods
• vinegar – like lemon juice, a splash of vinegar can bring out a nice brightness… but too much will turn the whole dish sour.
• maple syrup – on the opposite end of the spectrum, a dish with a lot of acidic flavors (like cooked-down tomatoes) can be balanced by a little sweetness
• mustard – gives food a touch of tanginess, without the risk that comes with using vinegar

What you use will depend on the situation, and is best guided by your own instinct, but it’s handy to keep these tricks up your sleeve just in case.  And, this list is by no means complete – what are your favorite last-minute additions to fix up a dull dish?

I’ve already touched on soups this winter with the tomato soup I made a few weeks ago.  Before I write about more, though, I want to take a few minutes to talk about stock.

All soups start with a base liquid, which enhances the flavor and adds character.  You can use boullion cubes dissolved in water, or broth from a store, but my favorite is making stock.  It’s fantastically easy, very flexible, and if you just make it well ahead of time, you can freeze it and keep it on hand until you need it.  I know you’re saying now: “you mean I need to plan ahead?  Another thing I have to remember to do in my busy life?”  But I’m telling you: don’t worry, just do it.  If you cook at all, it’s worth it.  It’s so simple that I’m not even going to write out a recipe; I’m just going to tell you how to do it.

The first thing to do is gather your ingredients.  These can be just about any vegetables or trimmings.  If you know you’re going to make stock, save your vegetable trimmings (like carrot ends, potato skins, and broccoli stems) in a bag in the freezer for a week, and you should be about set.  Note that it’s much better to use organic vegetables, if you can – pesticides in conventional vegetables are strongest in the skins.  Also avoid anything with a super-strong flavor, as it will dominate the stock; bitter greens are a no-no.  And never, never use anything that is spoiled or that you wouldn’t want to eat straight!

As your stock expertise grows, you can pick and choose your ingredients to make a stock suited to a particular soup, but for a good general-purpose stock, anything goes. Supplement your trimmings with onions, garlic, fresh vegetables, and other ingredients.  You’ll want a couple cups’ worth altogether, chopped small so there’s plenty of surface area exposed.  Here are some common stock ingredients:

• onions
• garlic
• carrots
• potatoes
• asparagus
• stems from greens
• broccoli stems
• bay leaves
• roasted nuts
• lentils or other fast-cooking legumes
• cheese rinds

Once you’ve assembled your ingredients, heat a smidge of oil in the bottom of your biggest pot (you’ll want to make batches of a gallon or more).  Saute the onions and garlic, and other hard vegetables like carrots, for a few minutes until they soften.  This will help to release the flavor.

Then, just add water, bring it to a boil, and let it simmer, covered, for about an hour.  That’s it: just boil it until the vegetables have released most of their flavors.  When it’s done, turn off the heat and let the vegetables (and any stow-away dirt) settle to the bottom, and pour off the liquid into storage bowls, mason jars, or ice cube trays.  The ice cube tray is my new favorite method, because you can turn your stock-cubes out into a plastic bag and use them as needed.  (Just let your family know not to use the “ice cubes” in their drinks!)  You can freeze mason jars if you leave an inch and a half or so of space at the top of the jar, so it doesn’t explode when the stock expands in the freezer.  Or, you can store it in a bowl in the fridge for about a week.

As an alternative, you can try making stock in a slow cooker (if you’re planning to use it soon – it won’t keep as long) or a pressure cooker.  I haven’t tried the pressure cooker method, but I’m hoping to do so soon.  If you try it, comment and let me know how it works for you!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at some ways to turn stock into soup (and maybe some other uses for it, too)!

• Looking for ways to eat more sustainably?
• Hoping to make your house more eco-friendly?
• Want to invest in companies that do good for the world?
• Interested in hearing from leaders of the green movement?
• New to this whole “green” thing and trying to figure it out?

You should check out the Green Festival.

This weekend, the Green Festival hits DC.  This big event is put together by Co-op America and Global Exchange, and the name says it all: it’s a festival celebrating all things green.  It’s held at the Convention Center, and it features eco-friendly (often vegetarian) food, local non-profits, speakers, videos, vendors, demonstrations, free samples, and an organic beer and wine garden.  If you’re looking to make any part of your life more green, you’ll probably find resources here.

It’s good fun.  I went the past two years.  My first year, I was new to the area and spent a lot of time browsing the vendors, gathering samples and coupons, and checking out local initiatives.  Last year I was deep into job hunting, so I spent the whole day looking for non-profits that might be fun to work for, attending career workshops, and making awkward attempts at networking.

This year, my plan is to hear as many speakers as possible, and do lots of the special events.  They’ve got an impressive line-up including Lester Brown, Madeline Kunin, and Bill McDonough.  And I may take the opportunity to buy a bunch of fair-trade chocolate and other goodies that are hard to find in stores.

If you don’t live near DC, there will be Green Festivals in San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Chicago over the next couple months.

So I was excited when one of my tea-drinking coworkers came to my desk a few weeks ago and handed me a catalog from Special Teas, a company that exclusively sells loose tea in more varieties than I knew existed.  Their catalog held page after page of long lists of tea varieties, all sold in bulk ranging from 1/2 oz samplers to 1/4, 1/2, and 1 lb bags.  These guys do tea like some people do wine (though they try to be beginner-friendly with teas marked “staff pick” and descriptions like “great for the novice tea drinker”).  Even their descriptions have more than a hint of wine description in them:

Wuyi Green - The Wuyi Green grows high on the steep mountainside of Northern Fujian Province. Far below, the Nine-Bend River winds its way around the Wuyi Mountains like a great black dragon. This is the home of the fabled “monkey-picked” Oolong teas. We are delighted to offer this economical green tea. It is unusually full-bodied with a slightly wild taste and colorful character; an excellent pick for everyday enjoyment.

I love the overblown poetry of wine descriptions, so I had great fun reading through the catalog.  But even if you find the descriptions to be overdone, loose tea is worth some consideration.  Variety is always a plus, in my book, and the economy of scale is hard to beat.  This is one case where the DIY approach can save you a ton of money over time, especially if you drink lots of tea.  It doesn’t sound like it, but 1/4 lb is a ton of tea – at 1 tsp per cup for most of them, I estimate that 1/4 pound of loose tea makes as many cups as 4 or 5 boxes of bagged tea – and many of the prices are just $4 to $8 for a 1/4 lb bag.

They’ve got a good selection of organic teas, too.  I can’t find the source now, but I’ve read that tea is among the most important foods to buy organic, because it isn’t possible to rinse the pesticides off conventional tea as you would with most fruits and vegetables.  (Do you know if this is true, and I’m remembering correctly?)

With so many choices, I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I got two 1/4 lb bags – one green tea, one rooibos – and a whole bunch of little sample bags of things that sounded interesting, along with a mug-sized tea filter similar to a permanent coffee filter.  Among my choices:

• Strawberry White tea (my favorite so far)
• Green Rooibos Organic
• Fine Ti Kuan Yin Oolong
• Raspberry Organic Fruit Melange
• Earl Grey de la Creme

I really like the ones I’ve tried so far, and can’t wait to try the rest.  I’m sure that once I’ve picked my favorites, I’ll be going back to order more.

I suspect too-tired-to-cook issue is too new for us to have found a good solution, as a society.  Until a few decades ago, there was an easy solution: every household had something called a wife, and the wife made good food and no one else had to worry about it.  Today, most families don’t have anyone to stay home and take care of the house and make dinner, so we have to squeeze it in after putting in 8 or more hours at work.  I hope that eventually that will change, and we’ll somehow make more free time to take care of ourselves.  But for now, as things stand, what do we do?

I have no answers, but there are ways to make cooking easier on days when you have no energy.  I’m sharing them here partly for your benefit, and partly for mine, reminding myself to do these things on weeks like this one.

1. On a day when you do have mental energy, make a list of five meals that are quick and easy.  This will be your go-to list when you’re too tired to decide what to make.  Keep the ingredients for a few of them on hand at all times.  Here’s my list:
   • Refried beans with chips, salsa, and grated cheddar cheese
   • Pasta with sauted garlic and vegetables
   • Stir-fry seitan or tofu with vegetables
   • Eggs, toast or english muffin, and veggie bacon
   • Quinoa with spinach, tomato, and cheese
2. When you go shopping, buy one or two foods that are special enough that you’ll feel obligated to use them – some artichokes, a fancy cheese, a variety of rice you’ve always wanted to try, whatever you like.  It may help to have a dish in mind when you buy them.  If they’re perishable, all the better.  Then when you’re feeling tired, remember these special foods and how you HAVE to use them before they go bad.  You might even enjoy cooking more when you cook with them.
3. Limit the amount of prepared food in your pantry or fridge, and keep plenty of quick-cooking foods on hand.  You can’t eat what you don’t have.  In the amount of time it takes to make mac-and-cheese from a box, you can make pasta with olive oil and fresh vegetables.  Couscous is a near-instant favorite of mine, and great for hot weather.  A jar of tomato sauce or grill sauce is a fast way to add flavor to a dish with few ingredients – just heat, add sauce, and serve.
4. Make extra.  Leftovers are your friend, and can be easy lunches or dinners.  If you make a lot of extra, freeze it in small containers and it’ll keep for a long time.  It will usually not be as tasty as it was the first night (though some things will be better), but it’s still home cooking.
5. Spoil yourself.  You’ve had a long day, and you probably deserve something special.  If you can get yourself excited about something unusual, like breakfast for dinner or homemade pizza, you can probably muster the energy to cook it.  Often the hardest part is getting into the kitchen – once you’re there, cooking can even be therapeutic.  The other night, I had strawberry shortcake for dinner, and it was just what I needed.  Not a good everyday dinner, but it’s perfect for an occasional treat.
6. If you find yourself eating out a lot, or getting takeout, start tracking how often you do it.  Takeout can be an expensive habit.  Set a limit on how often you do it, and slowly cut back.  When you’re tempted, ask yourself if now is really worth using up your quota.  Then go cook something.

What do you do when you’re too tired to cook?