Forkable U: Beginners Guide to Canning and Preserving

Maintain a higher quality of living for less; take our canning class:

Beginners Guide to Canning and Preserving:  Saturday, Sept. 11  12 – 4 p.m. Reserve your spot today!

We all want to eat the best quality organic foods, but its not always affordable.  Canning is a great way to make the most of basement bargain prices on organic and high quality produce during the harvest season and make it last year round.  When you can your own foods, you can guarantee you won’t be eating foods stuffed with preservatives and gross additives.

Are you intimidated of the process?  Think you need all kinds of fancy equipment? Well, here’s your chance to learn this simple process in a stress-free environment.   Our intro canning course will give you all the info and experience to help build your confidence to start your own kitchen cannery.  Reserve your spot today!

Beginners Guide to Canning and Preserving:  Saturday, Sept. 11  12 – 4 p.m. $30
This class will give an overview of the various tools and techniques needed as well as important safety information for safe canning practices as well as give you hands on experience with two of my favorite basic fool-proof canning recipes, a simple pickled green bean as well as a simple fruit jam.

Canning is a hot and steamy process, so wear light, cool clothing.  Although canning is very easy to do at home, there are a few safety precautions necessary.  This class will be mostly a demonstration course, however, we will have a few hands-on sections to give you the feel of the tools and techniques.

We always maintain small class sizes to create a casual welcoming social environment.  We want you to just relax and have fun hanging out while you learn.  Register your spot today! Space is VERY limited!

Forkable U: Class Schedule

Here’s our schedule of classes for upcoming fall and winter:

.Sept. 11  Beginners Guide to Canning and Preserving
.                     4 hrs          12 – 4 p.m.          $30
.                    Register now!

.

Oct. 16          Halloween Bootcamp: Treats to Terrify
.                       3 hrs          12 – 4 p.m.          $30

.

Nov.  13        Beginers Guide to Thanksgiving: Potatoes, Poultry & Pie
.                       4 hrs          12 – 4 p.m.          $40

.

Dec. 4          Christmas Baking Bonanza: Cookies, Cookies & More Cookies
.                     4 hrs          12 – 4 p.m.          $40

.

Jan. 15         Simple Soup:  Fool Proof Guide to Making Any Soup
.                     3 hrs          12 – 3 p.m.          $30

.

Contact us with questions or for more class information!

Conquer The Kitchen : Take Our Cooking Classes!

Do you love food, but break out in cold sweats the minute you enter the kitchen? Do you hide the fact from your other foodie friends that you can’t make anything more complicated then toast? Fear no more!

Forkable is launching a new series of monthly cooking classes targeted to help the helpless find their way through the kitchen of doubt to the table of delicious and fun home made foods.

No matter what the fancy-schmancy restaurants might make you think, cooking is not rocket science. Its just mixing a few things together and possibly adding heat. Our classes are all about bringing food prep back to the people – taking snobbery (and fear!) out of the kitchen.

“I don’t bake much, but I’d like to do more, and this was the perfect no-stress way to get me excited about it. We felt totally at home in the cozy red and white kitchen, and the recipes were indeed easy but so yummy!”  -Bengi speaking of our Christmas cookie class.

We have a really down-top-earth approach to food and entertaining.  Our specialty is making good food on tight budgets so you don’t need to be made of money to enjoy our style (although it certainly doesn’t hurt!) Our straight forward approach is taught in an intimate setting of a real kitchen, with a class limit of five persons to allow for as much personal attention as possible. I love to cook and I want you to love it, too.

“Great class! Extremely informative and well organized with some good company and delicious results”  -Mike M.

So, if you can’t stand the heat, come to my kitchen!  Check out our calender of upcoming classes!

BBQ Beet Salad

In the summer time, nothing can be as delicious as fresh veggies straight from the garden. Here’s a photo essay of my Aunt Dottie making a quick easy beet salad with young beets thinned from the beet patch of my parents garden.

This salad is easy:
Take fresh picked baby beets, and rinse, cut in half and sear over a hot grill until wilted.
Mix with salt, pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Serve. Yum!

Lazy Lamb Kabob

My 5 week long hiatus in the kitchen has finally come to an end.  Sort of.  I mean, if you consider grilling pre-made frozen meat patties, cooking.  Since I’ve been off my game for so long, I’ll say it does!  This week, I took some frozen lamb patties out of the freezer and grilled them up for a quick lamb kabob dinner.  It was delicious and quick, so I’d say it fits with my websites mission.  The original recipe has you mixing the kabob patties and chilling them for an hour to marinate.  I mixed it together and froze them, so they had a few weeks to stew in their spice juices.  The result was hot and tasty.  Here’s the scoop.

Lazy Man’s Lamb Kabob

• 1 lb. Ground lamb
• ½ medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers
• ¼ c. finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 T. fresh ginger
• 2 tsp. coriander, ground or freshly crushed
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt

In a food processor, pulse garlic and ginger until finely minced.  Add onions, jalapeno and cilantro, and pulse until well chopped and mixed.  (If you don’t have a food processor, just mince/chop all ingredients by hand- with a knife, dummy!)

In a bowl, mix onion mixture with spices and ground lamb.  Kneed and squeeze ingredients until well mixed.

Form mixture into 4-5 patties, about 5 inches long and ¾ inch thick.

Wrap each patty individually in plastic wrap and then put in a ziplock bag and freeze for up to 6 months.

When ready to cook, oil the grill grate over hot coals, or heat a cast iron skillet/grill over medium high burner. Arrange the patties on the hot grate and gill, turning with a spatula, until nicely browned on both sides and cooked to taste 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium.

Serve with Tzatziki sauce, fresh tomatoes and pita.

Kiwi Attack

I haven’t cooked anything in a month.  Its been baby central at our house and I’m lucky if I can get a moment to get a nap let alone a bite to eat, so having quick snacks handy which I can eat on the go is a must.   Dried fruit is always a healthy snack, but one gets sick of raisins and prunes.  If you want a dried fruit with pizazz, check out dried kiwis!  This is my new favorite snick for the afternoon snack attack!  The odd grainy/pulpy texture of the kiwi lends itself perfectly to the dried state, and the little discs have a sweet tartness is delish.  With their plastic container in hand, once I pop, I just can’t stop.  I don’t feel too badly since Kiwi is a superfood.  Also, you don’t have to be a new Mom to enjoy this treat.   I suggest you all get out there and don’t rest until you find a source of this delicacy.  If you live in Chicago, Cermack Produce is your hook up.

Thank You!

Having a baby means finding out how well your friends can cook, and we certainly haven’t been suffering.  Since Thora was born, we’ve been so lucky to have friends and family dropping off care packages of delicious foods.  I just wanted to take a quick post to thank everyone who’s been such a help!

Thank you:

My Mom and my Aunt Dottie who have both made us countless delicious dishes!
Jenny Addison for the delectable quesadilla and cleaning,
Laurie Chipps for the yummy BLAT’s: Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato sandwiches,
Sarah Higgins for the healthy and hearty burrito fixens,
Britt Wiley for the light and summery beet salad with chicken breasts and all the other fancy foods,
and finally Ira’s Mom Janice, for a weeks worth of night time treats.

Thank you and we love you all!  Thora says thanks too, I think.  I’m not sure.  Either that, or she’s just pooping.

The Forkable Baby Is Here!

Ira and I had our baby! With no further ado, I’d like to introduce you to:

Thora Ellen Cox
June 16th at 7:55 a.m.
8 lbs. 4 oz.
Chicago, IL

We succeeded in having a fully natural childbirth with no interventions!   Thora is thriving with a steady weight gain.  She likes her boob juice.  Sorry, I can’t share my recipe for this!  Ha ha.  Here is the full set of Thora’s first photo shoot we set up on her third day of living!

Our first family portrait with me holding Thora and Ira holding Gertrude.  Yay! We’re so happy.

The Stupidly Simple Secret Ingredient of Hummus

Here it is, at long last, my New Year’s Hummus Resolution:

Hummus

• 1 can (36 oz.) garbanzo beans, water from can reserved
• 1-2 Tbs tahini
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 – 1/2 c. garbanzo water
• 1-2 lemons juiced
• salt to taste

Video shot, directed and produced by Meena K. Singh.  Thanks Meena!

Deliciously Easy Peach Cobbler

Video shot, directed and produced by Meena K. Singh.  Thanks Meena!

Peach Cobbler

• 1/4-1/2 c. butter (depending on your preference for fat)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 c. milk
• 1 can (16 oz) sliced peaches

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a 8×8 square glass dish, melt butter.

Mix dry ingredients.

Add milk and mix batter.

Spoon batter into dish with melted butter.  Spoon peach slices into batter.  Sprinkle top with extra sugar.

Bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes, until golden.