The Sunflower State entered the union as a free state on this day in 1861. That's 150 years of awesome and counting. The state is named after the Kansa Native American tribe. Rumor has it that the tribe name Kansa means "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind." I believe it. Many of the Kansans I know have that airy, powerful, independent spirit of the wind in them. The wind is a powerful element.
Kansas is the home of Buster Keaton (yay), Bob Dole (boo), Amelia Earhart (yay), and Superman (double yay.) Crazy resident Fred Phelps is not a native. He's a wacko from Meridian, Miss., who won't leave poor Kansas alone.
However, author Laura Ingalls Wilder only lived in Kansas for a year--in her childhood--but her time there inspired her write the entire Little House on the Prairie book series. I've visited the house near Independence, Kansas, where her family lived. Let's say that it looks "pretty good" for a cabin built in the late-1800s.
To celebrate 150 years of Kansas statehood (always a free state! Never a slave state!) I borrowed some beautiful sunflower photos from my friend, Amanda. She found these beauties along the highway near Arkansas City. Both she and I have family there; Ark City itself is a wonky-weird place, but the country surrounding it is gorgeous. Dad would take my sisters and I for weekend drives near Ark City. We'd just drive for hours, drinking sodas and singing to the radio and enjoying the prairie roll by. That's entertainment. I don't remember a time, growing up down the road in Wellington, when we were not surrounded by fields of sunflowers. They broke up the fields of wheat and alfalfa along Highway 160 and 81. They followed the sun through the sky, like fragrant sun dials. You can always find a field of sunflowers in Kansas. Amanda and I both live in the Pacific Northwest now. I'm glad she captured these shots on one of her recent trips home. Aaah. I like the mountains, but sometimes you just need the prairie, you know?
I found another way to celebrate Kansas today: with sunflower seed scones. They're crunchy and lightly sweet, thanks to some whole wheat flour and raw sunflower seeds. You'll get bonus state-pride points if you use a flour that's made from Kansas wheat, like Hudson Cream, Norm's Flour, or Heartland Mill. A boiled citrus glaze seals in some moisture and adds the fragrance of summery fruit. Breakfast never tasted so progressive.
Here's to another 150 years of oddball, independent, kind, and sunny years of statehood, Kansas. I'm proud to be a sunflower from the Sunflower State.
Sunflower Scones with Boiled Citrus Glaze adapted from Flax World-Class Recipes
2 cups whole-wheat baking flour
1 cup all-purpose baking flour
1/2 cup ground flaxmeal
1/4 cup. brown sugar
1 Tb. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup cold butter
1 cup citrus juice (from oranges, clementines, tangelos, tangerines, etc.)
2 Tb. citrus rind
3/4 cups raw sunflower seeds
2 Tb. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Make sure your oven racks are set in the middle of your oven. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine flours, flax, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter or two sharp knives, crossed. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Set aside two tablespoons of citrus juice (for the glaze.) Pour the rest of the juice slowly into the dry mixture, fluffing the batter lightly with a fork as you mix. Stir in the sunflower seeds. After the juice is incorporated, you should have a lightly moist, flaky dough.
Turn the dough onto a cutting board and gently knead four or five times (just until the dough holds together.) Divide the dough in half, and press each half into a 6-inch circle that's about 1 inch thick. Cut each circle into six wedges, and place the scones on the prepared baking sheets. Pierce the tops of the scones with a fork.
Bring the 2 Tb. sugar, remaining citrus juice, vanilla, and citrus peel to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally. Let the glaze boil for 2 - 3 minutes, then remove it from heat. Use a pastry brush to coat the tops of the scones. (You'll add another coat of glaze after the scones bake.)
Bake the scones for 16 to 20 minutes, swapping oven racks halfway through. Remove from the oven when they begin to brown and brush with the remaining glaze. The scones will keep on the counter, wrapped in a plastic bag, for 2 - 3 days. Happy Kansas Day!
Meet my new friend, red cabbage. Ain't she cute? Cabbage and I had a rocky start in my teens and early twenties. I'd placed it firmly in the Savory/Sour Foods category. Cabbage meant boiled lumps of inedible greenery! Picnic "coleslaw" with mysterious, untrustworthy mayonnaise dressing! Stinky sauerkraut heaped onto a stadium brat! Thanks, but I'll pass.
My perspective on cabbage changed when I took a German class in Wichita. One night after two hours of vocab and verb conjugation, we all ate at Imbiss Grille downtown, taking the time to (slowly) order our dinner aufDeutsch. That's where I got hip to rode kool--a warm, sweet-spiced cabbage dish featuring cloves, apples, sugar, and sometimes raisins. It tasted like tart apple cobbler filling mixed with a cherry sweet tart. Who knew that cabbage could taste like candy?
Cabbage and I were so back on.
On Monday afternoon, when the sun shyly peeked out from the rainclouds, I experimented with a new ways to prepare my cruciferous friend. I wanted to create a sweet-tart cabbage salad like rode kool, but without all the fruit add-ins. Instead of a cooked dish, I started with a raw cabbage slaw. To that, I added a dressing of sugar, olive oil and raw apple cider vinegar (for its pucker factor.) I scrapped the three cloves my Melting Pot of Mennonite cookbook advised and instead added enough cinnamon to kill a mule.
Snap-bang! The results couldn't have been more lovely. After 30 minutes of marinating, I had a crunchy-sweet salad that I could not. stop. eating. The next day, after more cinnamon and dressing absorbed into the cabbage, it tasted even better. If the salad had lasted 'till day five, I'm sure it would have tasted better still.
Cinnamon rode kool slaw (without apples) serves 8, 6, or....1
1 small head red cabbage, sliced thinly
2/3 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup agave nectar or maple syrup
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 heaping Tb. ground cinnamon
Using a sharp knife, shred a small head of red cabbage into thin strips. Scoop all the cabbage into a large bowl and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the dressing. Pour the mixture over the cabbage and stir well. Let the cabbage and dressing mingle for five minutes, then stir again. Repeat this process two or three more times. If you end with too much cabbage and not enough dressing, add more liquid in these proportions: 1 TB. honey + 2 TB. vinegar + 1 tsp. cinnamon + 1/4 tsp. oil.
The slaw keeps for five days or so, when covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. On day one, you enjoy both distinct elements with each bite--the delicately flavored cabbage and the cinnamon dressing. On day three, the cabbage is still crunchy. It's turned purple-red with a pink center and sopped up most of the liquid. By day five, the slaw is no longer crunchy, but crisp-chewy to the bite, like a good sauerkraut. A sauerkraut you'd pile onto some warmed apple pie with a bit of honey-spiked yogurt.
How should you eat this divine slaw? On a bratwurst, next to a pile of mashed potatoes, on a turkey or a creamy Swiss and pepper sandwich? It would pair well with some barbecued peach pizza, or you could stuff it into some bierocks. (I'll have a recipe for those soon.)
Bacon fat, you're the gift that keeps on giving, the black pumps that never go out of style.
You're a classy Christmas gift that rocks well into the new year. I can't believe I waited so long to make your acquaintance! Especially since you're a good source of healthy saturated fat. (That's the rumor 'round the Internet, anyway.) I know that bacon made the rounds as the rock star of 2010--wrapped around dates, on cakes and doughnuts, in chocolate and everything else decadent, but I've never been hip to food trends.
In bacon's honor, I want belatedly usher in 2011 with a skillet full of bacon-laced beans and rice. Don't worry your Spandex-clad self over the bacon, because the dish is still low-fat and tasty.
Speaking of the new year, and of fitness, and of implied New Year's Resolutions...well, I'm running behind on those, too. I'm finally busy enough that when I resolve to run three times a week or to bake my own bread, something else has to get dropped from the list. I fail every year. My plate is finally full with blogging and knitting and family and friends; I can't heap more onto it. So, this year I get to decide what to keep and what to toss. I'm taking my sweet time to write that resolutions list, letting each change percolate before I commit it to paper.
I've added calling my mother on Sundays and dropped handmade cards. And I'm keeping plenty of old things I love: good-luck peas on New Year's Day, making cookies at the drop of a hat, my ancient mp3 player, promising handmade gifts to people (then sweating it out over how to make them), walking to work and watching Steel Magnolias while making Hoppin' John. Traditionally, you're supposed to eat Hoppin' John on New Year's Day to bring good luck. I hope there's a grace period on that luck, because I'm running behind schedule. What a great blend of old and new--a traditional dish you eat as you think of the year ahead. Go make some. It should be listed in the "freezes beautifully" section of your cookbook.
Hoppin' Johnadapted from Betty Crocker serves 6
1/2 cup dried kidney beans
1/2 cup dried black beans
4 cups water
2 oz. thick-cut bacon or salt pork
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup long-grain brown rice
1 tsp. salt
1 - 2 Tb. hot chili sauce
Pour the beans into a three-quart saucepan and rinse well with cold water. Once the beans have been washed (removing any dust or small rocks in the batch) measure four cups of cold water back in the saucepan.
Bring the beans and water to a rolling boil for two minutes; cover the pan and reduce the heat to a cheerful simmer. Let the beans simmer for an hour, or just until the beans are tender. Drain the beans, but reserve two cups of the liquid. Set aside.
Cook the bacon or salt pork in a10" cast iron skillet, over medium heat. When the bacon is crisp, stir in the onion and garlic. Saute the veggies until they're tender, stirring occasionally. Pour the two cups of bean liquid, salt, rice, and beans into your skillet. Make sure the beans and rice are spread evenly in the skillet and that the bean liquid is distributed well in the skillet.
Heat the mixture to boiling. Stir everything once or twice, then cover the skillet and let everything simmer for 15 minutes. Don't lift the lid or stir the hoppin' john during this time. After 15 minutes, fluff the rice and beans with a fork. Recover the dish and let it steam for another 5 to 10 minutes. You'll know the dish is done when the rice is fluffy and chewy-tender. Stir in some chili sauce and serve hot.
"That's what really melts my butter!" --Truvy Jones
