B
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
BETWEEN
THE ROWS
Cooking With What You Have At Home
WENDY SCHMIDT
Keep your
social
distance,
and grow
food for
others
With all the social distancing, one
of the favorite pastimes has become
poking around in the yard and garden.
Why not pick up a packet or two of
vegetable seeds and plant an extra row
for the hungry? There is a charity by
that name. Extra produce can be given
to food banks.
Gardening is the perfect way to do
your best social distancing.
To donate the best possible qual-
ity vegetables, pick them as early as
possible in the day. Refrigerate or keep
them in the shade until used or given
away.
There are many sources of online
gardening DIY classes in propagation of
plants, seeds, grafting methods, disease
control, irrigation methods, cultivation
and more. Many videos exist online
which actually demonstrate how to do
what gardeners do.
If you live in an apartment with no
yard and you miss gardening, you can
use these videos to watch someone
else do the work. You could also watch
the garden shows on public television.
Spring fever makes people need to be
outside — even if you just have to be
outdoors by watching others do their
yard work.
Garden chores
• Examine shrubs for winter injury.
Prune all dead and weakened wood.
• Start cucumber, summer squash,
cantaloupe and watermelon seeds
indoors in peat pots now.
• Plants started indoors should be
hardened off outdoors in cold frames be-
fore being transplanted into the garden.
• Finish transplanting broccoli, Brus-
sels sprouts, cabbage and caulifl ower
plants into the garden. High-phospho-
rus fertilizers help get transplants off to
a quick start.
• Make succession sowings of cool-
season crops.
• Try an early sowing of warm-
season crops such as green beans,
summer squash, sweet corn, spinach or
cucumbers.
If you have garden questions or com-
ments, please write to greengardencol-
umn@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading!
Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-TNS
Tomato curry is made with canned tomatoes, red onion and coconut milk.
P ANTRY P ICKINGS
■ Great recipes that use staple ingredients you might have stocked up on
fi re-roasted, pureed. They’re also versatile,
adding a bright, zesty fl avor to meat vegetar-
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
ian and vegan dishes. And leftovers freeze
Food brings comfort, which is much needed well if you don’t need to use the whole can.
in these unsettling days.
They’re perfect for Italian sauces, Indian
So how about turning to the pantry to fi nd curries, Mexican salsas and all sorts of soups
that comfort in the staple canned, bottled,
and chilis.
boxed and bagged items that you might
already have or that you stocked up on when Canned vegetables
Even those living in a cave know by now
the COVID-19 news broke?
As long as your cool and dry cupboard has that the beloved green bean casserole swears
by three items — green beans, mushroom
a decent variety, you will be able to whip up
family favorites and even prepare a surprise soup and fried onions — and they are all
from cans. Sweet peas, carrots and corn are
or two while you are all hunkered down at
key players in casseroles like potpies, and
home.
can be tossed with salads and pastas, tucked
In the event you don’t have something
into tacos and used for bulking up soups. The
called for in a recipe, don’t rush out to the
store to get it. Social distancing and substitu- dinner-savers also are relatively inexpensive.
tion should be your mantra. Be creative and
Lentils and beans
make do with what you have. Use water for
Variety is boundless when it comes to the
stock, combine fl ours if you run short of one,
replace one spice with another of your liking size and color of lentils and beans. Grab a pot,
and don’t get hung up over the type of rice or some stock and add lentils to make a soup
or combine them with roasted vegetables or
fret over the shape of pasta as they matter
meats. Or smash canned beans or cooked dry
only to some degree.
Here are some essential pantry items, with beans to make a burger patty. Then there
a good shelf life, which can be used in a range are the rice and bean combos, bean dips, and
lentil and bean salads. The results are not
of recipes that provide comfort.
only tasty but packed with protein, fi ber and
Canned tomatoes
nutrition.
They are a popular panty staple because
they’re super inexpensive and come in many All-purpose fl our
different varieties — whole peeled, chopped,
It’s the rare cook who doesn’t have a bag of
By Arthi Subramaniam
and Gretchen McKay
all-purpose fl our at the ready. It’s an essential
ingredient in baking products, from cakes to
cookies to pies to biscuits, and a cornerstone
for bread from every part of the world. Flour
also is what gives fried foods a crispy crust.
Remove it from its paper bag and store it an
airtight container to protect it from humidity.
Rice
It often gets a bad rap, especially from
ketonians and Atkin-heads, for being carb
heavy. But think of how versatile rice is and
how handy it comes in for making a quick
pilaf, risotto or simply mixing with tomatoes,
lemon juice or yogurt. Whether it is long-
grain, short-grain, black, brown, red or nutty,
it can be served as a meal in itself, as a side
and even dessert. When cooking rice, typically
the ratio of water to rice is two is to one.
Pasta
Everyone has at least one box of dried
noodles in their pantry, right? From elbow
macaroni and egg noodles to dried spaghetti,
penne, rigatoni and mini or jumbo shells,
pasta is the ultimate comfort food. Even
better, it has a super-long shelf life and is
inexpensive. All you need is a pot of boiling
water and a simple sauce — or maybe even
just butter and grated cheese — and voila,
dinner is ready.
See Pantry/Page 2B
Pizza flavor spices
up chicken burgers
By Linda Gassenheimer
Tribune News Service
Two of America’s favorite
foods, pizza and burgers,
combine in this pizza chicken
burger. This quick dinner
takes only 10 minutes to cook.
The burger uses ground
chicken. Make sure the pack-
age says made from chicken
breast meat only. If it says
ground chicken, then skin, fat
and dark meat can be used.
Countdown
• Make salad and set aside.
• Make burgers.
Shopping List
• To buy: ¾ pound ground
chicken breast meat only, 1
bottle pizza sauce, 1 package
part skim milk mozzarella
cheese, 1 small container
black olives, 1 package whole
wheat or whole grain ham-
burger rolls, 1 bunch fresh ba-
sil, 1 bag washed ready-to-eat
Helpful Hints
salad, 1 large tomato and 1
• Other pasta sauce can be bottle reduced-fat vinaigrette
used instead of pizza sauce.
dressing and 1 can olive oil
• Any type of cheese slices spray.
can be used.
• Staples: salt and black
• Any type of olive can be
peppercorns.
used.
PIZZA-FLAVORED
CHICKEN BURGER
Recipe by Linda Gassenheimer
¾ pound ground chicken
breast meat only
½ cup bottled pizza
sauce, divided use
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper
Olive oil spray
2 slices part skim milk
mozzarella cheese,
about 1 ounce total
6 pitted black olives, sliced
2 whole wheat or whole
grain hamburger rolls
Several basil leaves
Linda Gassenheimer / TNS
Pizza-fl avored chicken burgers and salad.
Mix chicken with 2 tablespoons pizza sauce
and add salt and pepper to taste. Shape into two
burgers about 4-inches in diameter and ¼ to ½
inch thick. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-
high heat. Spray with olive oil spray and saute
burgers 5 minutes. Turn and saute 3 minutes.
Place a cheese slice over each burger. Cover with
a lid and cook 2 to 3 minutes. A meat thermom-
eter should read 165 degrees. Place burgers on
bottom half of each roll. Mix olives into remain-
ing pizza sauce and spoon over the burgers.
Place several basil leaves over the sauce. Close
with top of the roll.
See Burger/Page 3B