September 29th is National Coffee Day. If you brew your own coffee, what do you do with the spent grounds?

Here are green alternatives from Folgers Coffee and our own archives.

WAYS TO RECYCLE COFFEE GROUNDS

BEAUTY

 
CRAFTS

 
GARDEN

She created a Cobb Salad with fall ingredients, that serves as the inspiration to many other fall salads to come.

Since tomatoes are now entering the sub-optimal period, she uses grilled squash in her Cobb Salad. She doesn’t use cheese, but if you want to, make it a deep orange or gold color*.

As another shout-out to the fall season, there’s maple vinaigrette.

Audra does it all in a little New York City apartment with a tiny kitchen and no grill. She says, “The chicken and corn are fabulous on the grill. I used my large cast iron skillet to cook pretty much everything—squash, corn, bacon and chicken. Either way works.”

Salads are very adaptable, and you can add your favorite mix-ins, from dried cranberries to toasted pecans.

Our own signature fall salad is modeled after Thanksgiving dinner:

Ingredients For 4 Servings

For The Salad

 
For The Vinaigrette

 
*For a deep harvest orange or gold cheese, check out Basiron Pesto Rosso, Cahill’s Farm Flavored Irish Cheddar, English Cheddar With Harissa, Extra Triple Aged Gouda, Huntsman Cheese, Mimolette, Pecorino With Chile Flakes and Saxonshire Cheese.
 

Preparation

Audra notes: “The ingredients for the salad can be prepped in any fashion/order you choose, but I have laid out the process which found to be pretty efficient, both in terms of time and dishes used.”

2. HEAT a cast-iron skillet to medium high. Drizzle a bit of olive oil into the pan; when hot, add the squash rings in one layer. Add 2 tablespoons of water and cover the skillet—you want to create steam. Steam for 3-5 minutes; flip and repeat. When the squash is browned and tender, transfer to a cutting board. When cool, cut into chunks.

3. WIPE the pan and reheat to medium high. Add another drizzle of olive oil. Place the ear of corn in the center of the pan and let it cook without flipping for 3-5 minutes; rotate slightly and repeat. (Letting it sit on the heat for a few minutes is what makes it char.) Keep flipping the corn until it is golden and a bit charred. Remove from the heat and transfer to the cutting board. When cool enough to handle, use a sharp knife to remove the kernels from the cob. Set aside

5. COOK the chicken. Season the breasts with salt and pepper and a bit of paprika for color (you can add other spices if you wish). Cook on medium heat, adding a touch of olive oil if pan seems dry. Flip each breast after 3-5 minutes depending on thickness. Cook for another 3-5 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer to a cutting board and chop into bite-size pieces.

6. COOK the eggs. This part can be done while some of the other ingredients are cooking. Place 3 eggs in a small pot of water and turn the heat to high. Once boiling, cook for 5 minutes. Drain the hot water and immediately submerge the eggs in cold water for a few minutes. Peel and slice the eggs.

7. MAKE the dressing. Whisk together the maple syrup, vinegar and olive oil, tasting to see if you’d like it sweeter or more vinegary. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. ASSEMBLE the salad. Top the greens with all the prepared ingredients except the avocado and bacon. Halve, cube and add the avocado right before serving. Drizzle the dressing over the top. Add the bacon at the table (or immediately before bringing the dishes to table) so it acquire moisture from the salad and lose its crunch.
 
COBB SALAD HISTORY

Cobb Salad was invented in Hollywood. Late one evening in 1937, Bob Cobb, owner of The Brown Derby restaurant, was scrounging in the kitchen’s refrigerator for a snack. He grabbed a mix of ingredients: a head of iceberg lettuce, an avocado, some romaine, watercress, tomatoes, a cold breast of chicken, a hard-boiled egg, chives, cheese and some old-fashioned French dressing.

He then took some crisp bacon from a chef’s station and started chopping. He shared the snack with his friend Sid Grauman of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, who came back and asked for a “Cobb Salad” the next day. It was put on the menu and became an overnight sensation. Movie mogul Jack Warner regularly dispatched his chauffeur to pick one up.
  

The Oktoberfest Burger, with breaded pork
cutlets. Photo courtesy Hard Rock Cafe.

Available September through October 31st, it has German flavor accents: schnitzel (breaded pork cutlets) instead of beef patties, sauerkraut, whole grain mustard and beer-accented cheese sauce, all on a pretzel bun.

The Oktoberfest burger is similar to the Schnitzel Local Legendary Burger served year-round at Hard Rock Cafe locations in Germany. Here’s more about schnitzel.

The Oktoberfest Burger is served with a side of seasoned fries and a Samuel Adams Octoberfest beer.

What’s an Oktoberfest beer?

Oktoberfest Beer, or Märzen, is a smooth and malty amber lager with an ABV* of 6% or higher. See our Beer Glossary for the different types of beer.

Ingredients Per Burger

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE the schnitzel (recipe—substitute pork cutlets for the veal) and toast the buns.

2. LAYER atop the bottom bun: mustard, arugula, schnitzel, cheese sauce, sauerkraut, schnitzel, cheese sauce, sauerkraut, bacon, mustard. Fasten with a toothpick if needed.

Cheese sauce can be used on everything from breakfast eggs to dinner grains, potatoes, rice and veggies. This recipe is adapted from on TheBeeroness.com, a great resource for cooking with beer.

Ingredients

1. COMBINE all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Process on high until very well blended, about 5-8 minutes.

2. EMPTY the contents into a saucepan and cook over medium high heat. Whisk rapidly and continuously until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as desired; for an extra kick use the cayenne or chili flakes. For a perfectly smooth sauce, use an immersion blender as necessary.

3. SERVE warm.

_______________________
 
*ABV is Alcohol By Volume.

†Do not use pre-shredded cheese.

Are you astonished by the sudden jump in price of fresh blueberries?

That’s because blueberry season is over. But there is a substitute: dried blueberries. Use them in and on:

 
Make a blueberry trail mix snack with the recipe below. You can also use it to top desserts and cereal.
 
RECIPE: BLUEBERRY TRAIL MIX

Ingredients For 4 Cups

1. COMBINE the blueberries, walnuts, pretzels, granola and any optional ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to blend.

2. STORE in an airtight container, but consume within a week.
 
Find more blueberry recipes at BlueberryCouncil.org.
  

 
We far prefer the heft and sizzle of ginger beer to the more pallid ginger ale.

You can buy ginger beer in grocery stores, or you can easily make your own. Here’s a shortcut recipe from Chef Jamie Oliver, no fermenting required.

Ginger beer goes well with all spicy or highly-seasoned foods, as well as foods with sweet glazes and sauces, like barbecue or glazed ham. Find recipes below.

Below:

> Why call a drink a mule?

> Ginger beer vs. ginger ale: the difference.

> Cooking with ginger beer.
 
 
Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of ginger beer.

> The history of ginger.

> The year’s 11 ginger-related holidays.

> The year’s 40+ beer holidays.

> The year’s 24 non-alcoholic beverage holidays (including juice and soft drinks).

> The year’s 50+ cocktail and spirits holidays.
 
 
WHY CALL A DRINK A MULE?

Mule and buck are old names for mixed drinks made with ginger ale or ginger beer, plus citrus juice. They can be made with any base liquor.

Some experts claim that a Buck is made with ginger ale, while a Mule uses the spicier ginger beer.

Why buck? Why mule? That answer is lost to history, but here’s a detailed discussion.

A bit of cocktail history: The Moscow Mule was invented in 1941 by John C. Hublein, importer of the than-not-well-known-or-popular Smirnof vodka. Here’s the history

A Dark ‘n’ Stormy is traditionally made with Gosling’s Black Seal rum. Ginger beer was brought to the Caribbean by the English colonists, and full-bodied dark rum was first made by the Gosling family in 1860. It wasn’t a big jump to combine the two (one historian notes that Bermuda is only 20 square miles).
 
 
GINGER BEER VS. GINGER ALE: THE DIFFERENCE

The main differences between today’s ginger beer and ginger ale are the sweetness and spiciness. Ginger beer is less sweet than ginger ale and has a sizzling ginger kick. The spicier ginger beer provides a bite to cocktails, while the lighter ginger ale provides more sweetness and effervescence.

Historically, both were fermented. Today only ginger beer is fermented, a reason for the higher price. Here’s more about fermented soft drinks.

According to an enlightening article by Bill Norris, mass-produced ginger-based soft drinks began to appear in the U.S. by the mid-1800s. Back then, the ginger flavoring extract was aged in oak barrels for four years before use!

Ginger ale was the most popular soft drink in the U.S. until the 1930s (Coca-Cola first was bottled for distribution in 1899 more).

These early ginger ales were closer to what we now call ginger beer, described as “powerfully spicy.”

[2] Gosling’s Ginger Beer is our go-to. There are Caribbean brands that are stronger if you want an even bigger hit of ginger (photos #2 and #4 © Gosling’s

[3] Fresh ginger root gives good ginger beer its zing (photo © Good Eggs).

[4] Avoid refined sugar and save calories with Gosling’s Stormy Diet Ginger Beer. It’s sweetened with sucralose and acesulfame potassium. Stormy is the name of the seal mascot. The ginger beer is also available in the conventional sugar-sweetened form.

 
 
COOKING WITH GINGER BEER

Create a spicy, lightly sweet sauce for meat and poultry with a base of ginger beer. Try:

 

[5] Ginger Beer-Glazed Butternut Squash With Gremolata. Here’s the recipe (photo © Christopher Testani | New York Times).
 

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