Robin's Nest

Remodel Part I

2011-06-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

The extension rooms have been the epitome of our house (before all the work we've done since moving in). Nothing in them was broken necessarily, but they weren't particularly nice either. The carpet was stained, the walls were covered in poorly installed panelling and none of the trim matched. For all it's faults however, I love those rooms. I love that it has two large windows looking out at our apple trees, a sliding glass door into the back yard, a warm pellet stove to rotisserie yourself in front of on cold winter days, a large amount of space for hosting parties and a slanted roof that makes it feel somehow special and tucked away.

While we were away in Mexico, our house sitter burned a whole in the carpet with a misplaced heat lamp. This finally gave us the push we needed to look into new flooring. We bit the bullet and decided to go with hardwood to match the rest of the house. It costs a pretty penny more than just replacing the carpet, but this is a HIGH traffic area from the backyard and is often the site of family dinners and parties. I could ignore the falling food as long as the carpet was already terrible, but new carpet + food = crazed Robin. Our beautiful hardwood will be installed as soon as we finish....the WALLS!!

If we are going to replace the floors, I thought to myself, why not go all out and just redo the room. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Jeffry say he thought that was a good idea, and I set to work researching how to hang drywall on the Internet. The process is really pretty simple. What isn't so simple, is the fact that nothing in the room is level/straight so our attempts to hang matching seams in the drywall have been, well, a character building exercise. We were lucky in the fact that two of the four walls we have to deal with have drywall hung behind the panelling already so those just need to be taped and mudded. This was a merciful discovery that has greatly reduced the amount of work we have to do.

There were also two windows in the wall that used to belong to the outside of the house that we also had to take care of. A large portion of one of our days was spent figuring out how to remove said windows and then frame them in so we had something to nail the drywall to. Many petitions have been sent up to the saints of mud and texturing to plead with them to cover the sins we've committed while hanging the drywall. At the end of the day I must simply remember that anything is better than what we had, and we have a lot of furniture along the walls in that room anyways!

At this point we are a bit behind where I thought we'd be but not bad. It took us an evening and a day to move all the furniture into the garage and tear out the panelling. The carpet tear out has been a bit more of a pain because the interior walls of the room were build ON TOP OF the carpet. Who does that!? It has meant that tearing out the carpet in a nice clean line along the walls has taken much longer than expected. First we had to cut it as close as we could to the wall and then use pliers to tear out the rest of it. I don't know how anal we have to be about it, but I don't want the flooring guys to show up and charge us saying they had to do some clean up (we got the quote reduced by saying we'd have the room completely ready for them).

So on Sunday my mother came down to help us estimate materials and then brainstorm how to deal with the windows. By the end of the day we were able to start hanging drywall. This process has continued through today thanks to Jeffry and some friends and family members who have come over to help him while I'm at work. By the end of today we will hopefully have all the drywall up and will be ready to start mudding, sanding, mudding, sanding, mudding.....well you get the idea. there are several layers involved. I'll be checking in over the next couple of days with updates/lessons learned as the process progresses!

I think I can, I think I can...

2011-05-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Although we haven't had an overabundance of hot sunny days so far this year (What's with the rain storm, it's almost June!), we have managed to avoid the late freezes that seemed to plague gardens last year. Not that things are growing with reckless abandon, but they are keeping a slow and steady pace as the days get longer and the sun spends more time out in the open. My squash patch has been soaking up that sunshine and putting it to good use.

The crooknecks have been making the most progress. All of my plants have several female flower setting.

Not to be left behind, the zucchini plants have just started forming little buds. I remember as summer came to a close last year I thought if I ever saw one again it would be too soon. Now however, I'm craving a large hearty scoop of sauteed zucchini with my dinner!

Well they still have a long way to go, and the butternut hasn't even been planted yet, but I am happy to report a healthy set of squash this year. My heart goes out to the poor victims of the Sacramento hail storm a few weeks ago. I hear many good squash plants perished in those parts as a result. Don't worry, my plants will carry on the good fight.

Herb Garden Revisited

2011-05-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

Back in March I shared with you my new herb garden. All the plants were such small hopeful babies that barely made a blimp in the dirt. In case you forgot, here's a reminder.

Over the past couple of months, these little blips of plants have stretched their legs and filled in the space with great enthusiasm. They have also been joined by a few friends, both intentional and unintentional. I have since planted two dill and two Thia basil plants. Some intruders who snuck in there are chives and tarragon that apparently refused to die when I dug up the original herb garden.

Its really hard to get a good full picture of the herb garden since the raised beds start right behind where I'm standing to take this picture. Here is another that gives you a better idea of the different colors I was able to get out of plain old herbs.

The amazing purple flowers are from thyme. I know I need to cut them but they are just so pretty. I bet they would make a great salad garnish. Behind that are two different kinds of sage with drastically different leaf colors, and behind those are bright green parsley. Love it. Love it. Love it.

OK, I might be basking in this a bit at this point, but a lot of times my big plans don't come together as well as I would like, and this one is just like I pictured it in my head. I have an herb garden that is beautiful to look at and provides me with a ton of herbs. I know have fresh rosemary, genovese basil, Thai basil, tarragon, thyme, marjoram, chives, dill and parsley growing right outside my door. I even have room for a few more varieties!!!

What a Difference a Week Makes

2011-05-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well friends I am now back from my cruise and got a chance to briefly toodle around my yard this morning, and what I found surprised me a bit. Everything has exploded! I was concerned with the crazy storms our area had while I was gone that I would be coming home to stunted and possibly destroyed plants, but the opposite has occurred. Take a look at this giant handful of strawberries I picked this morning.

Now, strawberries don't often make it from the bed all the way into the house because they generally get eaten right off the vine. This morning however, they made a beautiful addition to my bowl of cereal. I'm not generally a big cereal eater, but with these added to the bowl it made a nice light breakfast after the past week of gluttony.
Something else that has done quite nicely are my tomato seedlings. They spent the whole week outside and seemed to handle it just fine. My Amish Paste tomatoes seem to have done particularly well.

If your tomatoes didn't fare so well in the past week of inclement weather, feel free to take a few of these off my hands. I'm happy to share. I think I'm going to give these guys one more week in the red cups and then off to the garden with them!

Tune in tomorrow when I will hopefully share with you the wonderful progress my herb garden has made!

If Life Were Like The Movies...

2011-04-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

...I would have been a florist. Well, actually, if life were like the movies (where everyone is beautiful, has plenty of money and plenty of spare time) there are a lot of professions I'd love, but florist is toward the top of the list. To feed my inner florist, I can often be seen tip toeing around my yard filling a basket full of clippings of this and that. I never know what I'm going to do with it until I am inside with my bundle of blooms and an assortment of bottles, but that is all part of the creative process.

Grandpa George plants and Chives

I have discovered over the years that I have a certain aesthetic when it comes to flower arranging that comes partly from personal taste and partly from the reality of using garden blooms from my own yard.

Roses and Thyme

First, I like mini-bouquets. This is because in addition to being adorable, they allow you to stretch the number of blooms you have (which can vary wildly between seasons). Instead of having one large lush bouquet on your kitchen table you can have five little ones scattered about your house, bringing little bursts of joy in unexpected places.

Carnation and Mini Roses

Second, I like tightly bunched short flower arrangements. Packing a large number of blooms into a tight space makes them pop and look far more lush and put together than a loose bouquet. Short arrangements are also easier to make because long straight stems are often not what you find when collecting garden blooms. I only go for sparse if I have a few particularly beautiful roses and an equally beautiful/interesting vase. In that case, I clip them at different heights and sort of let them lounge in their vessel.

Roses and Mint

Third, I like to incorporate non-traditional plants. There are plenty of things growing in most peoples yards that they wouldn't think of as traditional choices such as herbs, horsetail reed and vining flowers. These work great to add a new texture to your arrangement or to simply act as filler around some beautiful flowers.

Roses and Lavender

Lastly, and I suppose this is more of a recommendation, interesting containers are a good way to shake things up. When working from your garden you are going to be using the same types of flowers a lot, so different containers can add variety and pose fun new challenges. Thrift stores are a great place to look and don't just think traditional vases, old soup cans, canning jars, and carafes make great "vases" too!

Grandpa George plants with Jasmine buds

Rouge Tomato

2011-04-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I have been pretty sick since coming back from Mexico, only leaving my couch to heat up some tea or refill my water cup. Today, however, I was finally able to return to work. As I made my first weary steps out the front door toward my car, some weeds in the herb garden caught my eye. Being unable to help myself I stopped to pull a few of them, only to find this little guy hiding amongst them.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the plant above, it is a tomato. Now before you call me silly for planting a tomato in the midst of my herb garden (which would totally destroy the herb garden theme) you should know, this was never meant to happen. I racked my brain trying to figure out how this ridiculously healthy looking tomato plant (it puts my intentional seedlings to shame) popped up in this location. I envisioned trixy little hobbitses running around my garden at night scattering seeds, or an equally trixy little Jeffry planting a single seed on purpose because it broke his heart to see it go to waste.

After much speculation, this is what I think happened. When I was putting the herb garden together, I stole some dirt out of my raised beds because it needed just a touch more in the elevated areas. A tomato must have fallen in the raised bed last year and decomposed, leaving its seeds behind in the soil. This seed was then transferred to my herb garden along with the soil, where it has been carefully watered and pampered along with the herbs. I have no idea what kind of tomato it will be. I think I shall try to transplant it to the tomato section of our yard and wait to be surprised!

Garden in Bloom

2011-04-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post some pictures up all week, but getting ready for our Mexico trip has left me running out the door late in the morning and not finishing with stuff I need to get done until well after dark! Then last night of all things it was hailing when I got home! Luckily everything seems to have come through pretty unscathed so enjoy some lovely photos of Asbury Farms in bloom.

One seedling tray sprouting away.

Strawberry blossoms waiting to transform into plump red fruits.

Green strawberries ready to ripen.

Tomatillo flowers.

I love how tomatillos look like little paper lanterns hanging from the plant.

I can't believe our citrus is already blooming again!

Sweet apple blossoms outside our bedroom window. The bees
are in heaven.

English lavender.

Our wild tangled mess of jasmine. The sent that greets my nose each
morning when I go out to water.

The first set of blooms on our double delights are especially red.
By far my favorite flower in our garden.

This ground cover has endured a winter's worth of
attacks from Baby Chick and somehow still lives.

Liquid Chicken Fertilizer

2011-03-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I must admit, I only started writing this post because it's the only thing I could think of to stop me from reading more baby blogs. I've been reading dearbabyblog.com for over a week now. While this woman's life is about as far from mine as I can imagine, I can't help but fall in love with her little family that is filled with all the happiness I hope to one day grow in my own home. She is also a proponent of many ideas I favor, cloth diapering, natural child birth, etc. so I have found her experiences most educational. If you find yourself suffering from a deficiency in cuteness, I recommend taking a little stroll through the pages of her blog.

Now, on to non-baby related topics, POOP. Yes you heard me right, P-O-O-P. It comes out of my chickens and sits there until Jeff or I clean it up. We honestly don't clean the coop out all that often. I had read from another blog/magazine/book (I can't really remember) where one woman says she just throws down a new layer of wood chips every now and again and then does seasonal cleanings of the coop. The new pine chips seal in the old ones and when you clean it out to throw in the composter, the bottom layers have already started breaking down. We have used this same method and found it to be easy on us and the chickens don't seem any worse for wear.

So right about now, as spring starts to take full bloom, it is time for another cleaning. I recently read an article in Mother Earth News which gives instructions for making homemade liquid fertilizers out of the wood chip/poo combination from chicken coops. It also had a fertilizer recipe involving urine (dilute it 1:20 with water and go to town if you're interested), but when Jeff asked, "where do you get the urine?" I figured we weren't ready to take that plunge yet.

So on to chicken poop. You fill a five gallon bucket 1/5 of the way with the chicken poo/wood chip combo and then fill with water. Let the mixture steep for three days (giving them an occasional swish) and then dilute your "tea" 1:1 with water and use as you would any other liquid fertilizer. I'm looking forward to not spending so much on my seaweed liquid fertilizer this year!

Oh and in case you're wondering, "where are the pictures?!" Well, many of you already know what chicken poop in a bucket looks like and would probably rather not be reminded, and for those who haven't you'd probably honestly rather not see it (which I'm happy about since I'd also rather not take my camera near that much poop). Of course there is at least one of you coughHelencoughcough that probably does have a morbid curiosity for pictures. If that turns out to be the case, you are more than welcome to come over next time we need to clean the coop!

All-In-One Wash

2011-03-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

As most of you know Jeff and I will be shipping off to Mexico soon to spend a week cooking for 250 teenagers. While I still haven't gotten a handle on mentally preparing for being surrounded by 250 hormone crazed creatures for week, I have made some progress on the more tangible preparations.

The shower situation in Mexico will be, well, M*A*S*H-esk. There is a wooden stall with a hook on which you hang a sun shower. Since I will only have 2.5 gallons of warmish water to shower with, I figure time will be of the essence. Taking this into account, I was delighted to stumble upon Burt's Bees All-In-One wash. Considering it's a Burt's Bees product, the price of $4 a bottle is pretty reasonable, and I ordered a few to give it a try. The point of this soap is that it is made to wash everything from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. I assumed it might dry everything out a bit, but I'm not going for pretty in Mexico, just clean.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, after giving it a test run a few nights ago. It smells like you are walking through an herb garden in the middle of a pine forest. This smell does not linger after you wash so if it is a little much for you have no fear. It also is just conditioning enough that your hair and skin feel soft but not greasy afterwards! I really put it to the test too. I used it after doing a P90X work out and with mouse and hairspray that needed to be washed out. I've used it two nights now and I love it, five out of five stars. A lot of the reviewers said they use it for whenever they travel so that they only have to pack one bottle and I am definitely sold on it. This all-in-one wash takes care of four different containers that I would normally have to pack for a vacation, and since it only comes in 4 oz. bottles, it's a great travel size. I imagine it would also be good for young kids that you just want to get clean and out of the bath.

The only downside is I haven't been able to find it in any stores so shipping costs also have to be factored in.

Potting Shed Revisited

2011-03-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

I must admit, I didn't really button up my potting shed before winter came. In fact, I kind of ignored it, piled more stuff in it and apparently threw some dirt around for good measure. The result of my behavior was that a few days ago when I went out to start some seeds, I was greeted by this...

and a little of this...

and a very good reason why you shouldn't leave your pots all a jumble and ignored for extended periods of time is that they'll be full of this...

So an hour and a half after I went outside to start some seeds I had swept, organized and generally restored my potting shed to it's former, pre-winter, glory. I threw away or recycled about half of the random plastic pots I had so they are now a more realistic and manageable pile.

The seed sewing itself only took about ten minutes, and I now have a nice little smattering of potential plants to enjoy this summer. I should have: 6 Love Lies Bleeding, 3 Golden Jubilee tomatoes, 3 Purple Russian paste tomatoes, 18 Rutgers tomatoes, 9 Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, 9 Amish Paste tomatoes, 9 Romain lettuce, 3 Pak Choi, 3 Cozella di Napoli (like a zucchini), 3 yellow peppers, 3 lemon balms and 3 butter crunch lettuces. I'm sure there will be many more seeds started over the coming month, but this is a nice smattering to get me started.

Oh and how early is too early to listen to christmas music? I'm not saying I was listening to it while I cleaned my shed, but if I was, would that be wrong? What if it was raining and felt christmas weatherish?

Why You Clip A Chicken's Wings

2011-03-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd say this about a chicken, but as much as one can love something with a brain the size of a pea, I love Baby Chick. She's adorable, she comes running when she sees you come out the back door and she adorably shadows you as you do work around the yard. I mean come on. Look at that face.

But Baby Chick has a dark side. A quiet voice that lurks inside of her otherwise gentle body and tells her to do things. Bad Things.

Case and point, look at my beautiful barrel of carrots. Lush, beautiful, still in need of some maturing but holding the promise of sweet roasted carrots this spring.

They had grown so well in fact, that I had to thin them out and enjoy some wonderful baby carrot side dishes.

This photo makes me think of another article I read from a professional gardener who was contrasting what she normally looks like when she gardens, to what she looks like when she appears "gardening" on television and in magazines. The reality might not be pretty, but I think it has it's own charm.

Baby chick has co-existed with these carrots beautifully for months. Never once has she jumped into these barrels to hunt for bugs or lay her eggs. I can only imagine The Voice returned to her. That it used its honeyed voice to convince her to do bad things again. I don't blame her, who could resist such a one as The Voice? This is what I found this Saturday, the dirty work of The Voice.

In order to protect our yard from future possessions of our otherwise docile chicken, we had to clip Baby Chicks wings. I feel bad, she doesn't understand why she must be exiled to the chicken coop when she obviously belongs with us. Well, I felt bad that is, until I found her still mysteriously able to get out into the yard. I can only assume The Voice was involved.

Herb Garden Beginings

2011-03-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I finally took the first steps toward my new herb garden. I have wanted an herb garden in the little rectangular patch of dirt outside our front door for a while now, and in a way, I've had one. It was, however, a flawed herb garden. Sure it had the sage, thyme, marjoram, etc. that any good herb garden should have, but it was smushed in under a couple of rose bushes and two invasive plants that didn't really belong there. Let me tell you, getting caught on a rose thorn while quickly trying to grab some sage for the dinner you currently have cooking on the stove is no fun, no fun at all.

So after finally getting the blessing from my please don't prune or rip anything out husband, I took the first steps toward my new herb garden by ripping out everything that was currently there, which was quite a bit.

The only plant I felt bad about ripping out was the rose near the door. Every year it has given us a plethora of the most beautiful magenta roses you've ever seen. It was so pretty and healthy looking I had to stare at it for a few minutes before I could get the resolve to start hacking away at it. Here is a loving close up I took of it's leaves during this period of introspection and struggle.

I reget nothing else I did that day. In fact, tearing out the succulent that was next to this beautiful rose was down right fun. I hacked it to pieces with a hatchet, and every time the blade cut into the juicy leaves green ectoplasm came pouring out. It also smelled amazing, like a mix of fresh aloe and green beans. I imagine it would make a very refreshing sent for a soap. The thing was also huge (the picture below is just one of it's many heads) so it was quite the work out.

Two plants technically survived the slaughter that was reaped by my hatchet and shovel. The first is a plant whose name I can never remember, but that my family call grandpa George plants. It was found originally in our backyard in a pot, forgotten under a pile of over grown horsetail reed. It was then moved to the front yard, and now lives next to our raised beds. I wasn't very delicate with it, but this thing is a trooper and should do well in it's new home.

Upside down and waiting to go in it's new hole.

The other plant that survived was a little baby rose that i found hiding behind the big ones. I didn't know roses grew little babies, but it was saved and put in a pot in hopes it will some day find a new home. I'm not a monster after all. Who could kill a baby rose?

Now that my slate is clear, I am ready to plan the herb garden. I've done a few sketches of what I envision for it. I want a little path with three stepping stones going down the middle. Looks wise, I'd rather have no path, but without it I'd have a hard time reaching all the herbs. Around the stepping stones I'm thinking either the low creeping mint or baby's tears. Then I want the ground to slope up to mounds on either side of the path where the herbs will be planted. I'll play around with it a bit once I get the plants and dirt, but I'm thinking the herbs should be oriented towards the path in arches. You can see some drawings that make this clearer bellow.

Birds eye view

ground view

If anyone has any suggestions or herb recommendations I'd be glad to hear them!

Creamed Whiskey

2011-03-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

A Little Ramble Before We Begin

I have found that writing a blog often puts one in the situation of asking why. For example, why did I decide to bake a cake at 10 pm when I am supposed to be on a diet, or why am I making twice as much work for myself by having to constantly wash my hands so that I can take pictures? The answer to these types of questions is generally something along the lines of because I love to do domestic things and I love to write, and to do the latter I must do the former and to do the former I must force myself to find the time.

Then however, there are these other types of questions. For example, why did I decide to pull out the crystal champagne coupes for this picture, why did I decide to take it on a bookshelf and best of all why did I wait until 9:00 am as I was getting ready for work to do my taste test of the different creamed whiskey's I'd made? Well, I don't really have a good answer to any other those, especially the last one, but I can assure you that somehow it all works out and I'm most appreciative that you all seem to just go along with it. Especially my husband who caught me in the kitchen this morning drinking booze. Thanks for understanding.

And Now, The Whiskey

Note: You don't need a great whiskey for this. Put the cork back in the 12 year McCallan and pull out the Bushmills.

Last year I made the mistake of not trying out any of my St. Patricks' Day stuff ahead of time. Not that this was a problem for the party, but it did result in my posting about all the wonderful Irish goodness after the event was no longer relevant. So this year I decided to start trying out a few things ahead of time to share with all of you. The first thing I have decided to try is to make my own creamed whiskey (think Baileys).

A simple internet search can pull up many recipes for homemade versions of Baileys, but most of them are pretty similar. The biggest difference seems to be whether people added eggs or not. I decided to not bother with the recipes that had eggs in them because it would drastically shorten the shelf life of my beverage, and despite what you might have been told, I can't drink a whole jug of Baileys in a week. I did decide to try two different batches, one sweetened with honey and one with condensed milk, to see if one yielded noticeably better results. I got the idea after reading that Carolans (my personal favorite) uses honey in the production of their creamed whiskey. I thought that a rich dark honey could add an earthy flavor to the mix.

I also changed my recipe from the norm by omitting or substituting a couple ingredients in both batches. First, most recipes call for instant coffee powder to be added. This kind of grossed me out. I said thanks but no thanks. While I don't doubt the addition of coffee flavoring would be good, I just have a mental block against using instant coffee. If you have an espresso machine though, a shot added to the batch could be quite good. Second, all the recipes call for chocolate syrup. I don't own any chocolate syrup, so I melted the equivalent amount of bar chocolate and added that. It mixes in just fine and doesn't separate back out once the mixture is chilled. Third, while both batches I made have almond extract in them, I would leave it out next time, or just add the tiniest splash. It has an overwhelming scent and the taste leaves the kind of burn in the mouth feel that bad whiskey does. Now granted, I was also using bad whiskey, but when I sampled the batch before adding the almond extract, the taste was far less pronounced.

Alright, now that I have taken you on the journey of exploration that is creamed whiskey making, here's the recipe I worked out.

Creamed Whiskey

Ingredients

1 cup of heavy cream

1 14 oz. can condensed milk

1 3/4 Cups Irish Whiskey

2 Tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. melted chocolate/chocolate syrup

Optional Additions

1 shot of espresso

1/2 Tsp. almond extract

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a blender for 30-60 seconds until well combined. Pour into a tight sealing, preferably cute, jar and place in the fridge to chill.

Now you may remember I said I tried two batches but only gave one recipe. What's up with that?! Well, I found the honey version to not be noticeably different taste wise. If you wish to make that version, substitute the condensed milk for 2/3 cup of honey. This will however, be more expensive than using the condensed milk. I wouldn't have tried it if I didn't have an over abundance of honey at the moment. In addition to not changing the flavor, I found the honey version to be a little less pleasing in terms of mouth feel. The version with condensed milk feels creamier and fuller, while the honey version feels a little weak and thin. Finally, the honey version also separates out and doesn't look as nice as the condensed milk version in the fridge. Of course a good shake can take care of that. So experiment, it's up to you!

Lemon Curd

2011-02-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

In the continuing what can I do with all these lemons saga, I decided to try my hand at some lemon curd. I had read a blog a while back about making curds and had filed it away under the someday category of my brain but I had honestly forgotten about it as I stared at my pile of lemons over the last couple of weeks. I had been waiting for them to speak to me, like a sculptor staring at a blank rock waiting for it to tell him what it's meant to be. Then, a week ago I had a baking day with some friends, one of whom brought a jar of lemon curd her mother had made. Suddenly that filed away blog post came running back into my mind and I felt silly for not having remembered it earlier. A brief Internet search later I marched into my kitchen with a recipe in one hand and a basket of lemons in the other, ready to create that beautiful mixture of sunshine and happiness that is lemon curd.

Before I launch into the recipe, I know some of you may still be stuck thinking, lemon what? Lemon curd, which is sometimes also referred to as lemon cheese, became popular in England and America in the 1800s as an accompaniment to toast, scones, muffins, etc. during afternoon tea. It can also be used as a filling for cakes and tarts. The most popular form in which you are most likely to have encountered it is in lemon meringue pie, the bottom half of which is lemon curd. Lemon curd is similar to lemon custard, but curds contain more juice and zest than custards, which makes their flavor more intense. Oh and just in case you aren't particularly fond of lemon, curds can be made with any citrus and even other fruits such as blueberries and raspberries!

Lemon Curd aka Sunshine on a Spoon
recipe from Fine Cooking

Ingredients

6 Tbsp. soft unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup of lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest

Directions

1) In a large bowl beat the sugar and butter together with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes.

2) Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Fully incorporate each egg/yolk before adding the next one.

3) Beat mixture for 1 minute then add the lemon juice. Be sure to strain the lemon juice to get all the bits of pulp out so your curd comes out smooth. Cheese cloth works great for that.

4) Heat the mixture in a non-reactive pan over medium heat for about 15 minutes stirring gently but constantly. Do not let the mixture boil. The curd is done when it reaches 170 degrees or when it has thickened significantly and your finger leaves a path through it on the back of a spoon.

5) Remove curd from heat and add zest. Allow to cool slightly then transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap is touching the curd. This will prevent a skin from forming on top of the curd as it cools. Refrigerate overnight and then transfer to permanent lidded containers such as canning jars.

*Notes
-When you first add the lemon juice the mixture may curdle a bit, don't worry, it'll all melt together.

-The curd is very hot at 170 degrees. Be prepared for it to hurt your finger if you use the spoon test.
-This batch should make roughly two cups of curd (total estimate, I didn't measure).
- Curd will keep in the fridge for a couple weeks, or you can freeze it and use it over the next six months or so.
-Be careful when heating your curd that you don't overcook it. It quickly goes from being about 150 to being 170. I got surprised by that and ended up cooking mine up to about 180. It tastes fine, just not quite as awesome as it would have.

Lemon Pickles

2011-02-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

There is a blog I very much enjoy reading called Tigress in a Pickle. While I rarely get to pickle things because I live with a pickled food hater (and pickling for one seems like a lot of work), I still enjoy reading her always interesting recipes and partaking of her brief but witty posts. She does a lot with Indian flavors which I find rather interesting, and when she posted about Indian sun pickles I just had to give them a try.

You see, I have a plethora of lemons from my lemon tree/bush right now and have been at a loss for what to do with them. One can only drink so much lemon aide and I already have a batch of limoncello steeping! If you do not find yourself in my position, I'm pretty sure you probably have a neighbor who is and would love to unload some produce on you. If, however, you're neighbor is a stingy mean old man who would rather see his lemons rot on the ground than give a few to you, just remember, the cover of darkness is your friend.

These sun pickles also don't really resemble what westerners would consider to be a pickle, so I think Jeffry will find them tasty. Sun pickles are like preserved lemons, but with more interesting flavors than salt and cinnamon. The lemon juice and good old fashion sunshine are what pickles the lemons, so no vinegar taste here. I'm not entirely sure what I will do with these once they are done, but the Tigress recommends chopping them up and mixing them with some basmanti rice and a dollop of yogurt on the side. I figure I'll start there and then begin experimenting. Perhaps some mixed in with fresh steamed cauliflower? I halved her original recipe to be more realistic with my uses. Whether one is canning, gardening or crafting it's always important to keep your production in line with reasonable use (are you really going to use 30 handmade doilies?). No point in storing two liters of pickled lemons in your fridge if you're not sure you're even going to like them. If you do end up loving them, you can always make more!

Sweet n' Spicy Lemon Pickle
from tigress in a pickle

Ingredients

8 small very fresh lemons, no blemishes

2 small lemons, juiced

1 Tbsp. cayenne powder

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1.5 Tbsp. sea salt

.75 Tbsp. whole fennel seeds

.75 Tbsp. whole cumin seeds

.5 Tsp. whole fenugreek seeds

.75 Tbsp. whole peppercorns

1 liter jar with a tight fitting non-reactive (no metal) lid

(I got my jar at cost plus, but I imagine ikea carries some good options too)

Directions

1) Wash your lemons and scrub any dirt off them. Make sure they are completely dry before moving to step two. Any water or yuck on your lemons could add to the risk of the batch going bad as it pickles.

2) Roast the fennel, cumin and fenugreek seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for a few minutes until they turn a shade darker and start to give off a toasty aromatic smell. Careful not to burn them. Once toasted, remove from the pan and grind the toasted seeds along with the salt and peppercorns. You can do this with a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. This is a good task for your spouse/helpful friend while you do work on #3.

3) Cut off the two bump or scar ends on the lemons. Then cut them into medium sized chunks. I quartered mine, then sliced each quarter into two or three pieces. Remove any big seeds you find.

4) Mix your ground spices with the brown sugar and cayenne pepper.

5) Fill your very clean, very dry jar half way with lemons. These will shrink a lot over the next few days so don't be afraid to really pack them in there. Pour half the spice mixture over them and fill the jar the rest of the way with lemons. If your jar isn't full, you can always add more lemons than the recipe calls for. Top with the remaining spice mixture and the juice from two lemons.

6) Close the lid and shake vigorously!

7) Place jar in a sunny window for 8 weeks and shake once a day to distribute the spices. After the 8 weeks you can place the jar in the fridge where it should keep for a year.

*Notes

-Fenugreek is an indian spice and I highly recommend buying from a food co op. A whole jar of spices from the bulk bin at a co op costs about 50 cents. Refilling your spice jars from the bulk bins will save you a TON of monies.

-You can check the mixture at 7 weeks to check for doneness. If the liquid has thickened and the skins are soft they are done and can be put in the fridge.

Doodles by Andre Jordan

2011-02-16T15:57:00.000-08:00

While I plan to post a delicious little recipe for some hobbit sized treats later this week, I thought I should give you all a little something to tide you over until then. Really though, I was just looking for an excuse to introduce more people to the wonderful twisted honest and sometimes dark humor of Andre Jordan.

Andre Jordan is a British cartoonist that now lives somewhere in the middle section of America with his wife and blind pit bull named Little Man. He started doodling in 2005 (before the wife, the dog and the house) as part of therapy to deal with his depression. Eventually these dark and tragic doodles led to a book called If Your Happy and You Know It which was later followed by another doodle book, a memoir, titled Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. In addition to books, he also has a doodle series that he does for the BBC on the topic of mental health.

So you're probably thinking to yourself, jeeze this is all a bit heavy and what does it have to do with gardening or homemaking? Well, in addition to his other projects, Andre Jordan also does a weekly doodle for the gardening blog A Way To Garden. In it he shares the joys, frustrations and the inherent comedy of life in the suburbs.  His doodles cover the spectrum of life's events from the constant back and forth of keeping up with the Joneses, planning sweet revenge against your neighbor who mows his lawn at 6 am on a weekend, the battle of wills between a husband and wife who both garden or the pitfalls of desperately trying to grow things outside your climate zone. Since I didn't ask for permission to post them here, you can follow a link to his doodles here and below I have linked to a few of my personal favorites. He's done a lot so I promise these can keep you occupied for quite some time.

We've all been here.

                                 Compromise in the garden.

                                 My all time favorite as I've lived through it.

                                 Dead Heading.

                                Enjoy!

Using Your Pack Rat Horde

2011-02-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

So, I don't throw things away. Well, let me modify that, I don't throw away anything that could possibly have even the slightest bit of meaning to me. This means that every movie stub, unremarkable pebble, etc. that I can attach to some greater meaning or memory I keep. I still have notes I passed in elementary school and if you've ever given me a card, I probably still have it stashed away in a box somewhere.

You might think this is a crazy thing to do, but I have learned to harvest such things for crafty purposes. For example, say you have a box of random bits and bobs from a vacation you took that was particularly memorable for you. Take said bits and bobs (as long as they are flatish) and get yourself a collage style frame from Michael's. Then scatter said bits and bobs throughout the frame. If things are too small to fill a specific picture spot, you can attach them to a coordinating piece of paper that is big enough to fill the space. You could even step it up a notch and pick a theme or color to tie everything together. For example, if you did a trip around Europe you could fill a frame full of money from the different countries you visited, or if you're a big sports fan perhaps some old ticket stubs, button or stickers and some pictures of you at the game would be most appropriate. Even things that don't seem that exciting can work great for this. I have one from my London trip that has everything from a half filled coffee punch card to torn movie stubs to my student ID.

So where am I leading you with all of this rambling? Well, since I painted my kitchen a much darker color than I originally anticipated, I decided to put something bright on the walls to spice it up a bit. Originally I was just going to go with some generic happy food pictures from Ikea, but after I found these three slot frames for $10 a piece I knew they would be perfect some some sort of memento collection. After scavenging around the house for a bit I landed on the back drop I had used for photo's at my engagement party. It had lemons on it, which are definitely in the bright and cheery category and it had said "Asbury Farms" across the top. I had found it shoved into a high shelf in my garden shed and figured if I hadn't done anything with it for the last 6 months then I could probably cut it up without fearing that I'd destroyed my memento. Besides, people now can actually see part of it which is one of the big upsides of using such things around your house. So here is how it turned out.

I had a terrible time trying to avoid glare on these, but you can get the idea. The A is from the Asbury and the Fa is from Farms. I would have rather just gotten the F by itself, but the A was nestled too close. While projects like this won't have instant meaning for those who visit my kitchen, they are cute by themselves and give my the opportunity to share the story with those who ask.

Here is my wonderful husband making me a Valentine's Day breakfast in our newly purple kitchen and the two frames on either side of the cabinets.

So to recap, using mementos from life events to decorate you home is great because:

1) Its free

2) It keeps said memories out in the open where you can enjoy them

3) It gives your space an instantly personal non-generic feel

Is Anyone There?

2011-02-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

So I know it's possible that I have lost all of my devoted readers after my 6 month hiatus, but hopefully after I call all five of you later this evening we will once again be up and running as a wonderful blog about my little slice of domestic life. Just in case this blog had some silent followers out there who aren't relatives and therefore have been left in the dark as to where I've been, or you are simply one of my devoted readers who would love to hear a recap of the last six months, here you go.

First, I did this...

I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful ceremony or for better friends to share it with. Everyone who was a part of it either as a member of our family, the wedding party or simply as a witness was a blessing and made the whole day exactly what we had hoped for. Oh and my brother's shirt never officially came off, so I count that as a victory indeed.

After the wedding of course, we did this...

Thanks to my mom we were able to spend a little over a week in Florida at Disney's Vero Beach resort and on the Disney cruise ship. We were both battling colds for much of it, but luckily I married a guy who took care of me even when he felt bad too. Our first day on the boat felt like we were sailing straight into a hurricane, but the final day (when this picture was taken) was so smooth it looked like we were drifting across an ocean of glass.

Since there is no rest for the wicked, we returned just in time to gear up for the wedding of our dear friend Helen (which I unfortunately have no picture of) followed directly by....

With the weddings and honeymoon I must admit we missed Halloween all together. Not a single decoration went out, but we did get to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas. I managed to get my Christmas cards out in the first half of the month and attend/host several different Christmas gatherings all filled with the joy of good people and good food.

Even with the wonderful madness of the holidays, I did find time to try out one new craft....

I've been toying with the idea of an etsy shop again lately and decided to try out some new crafts to see if anything would stick. The above is my effort at glass cutting. It was exciting because it involved fire and explosions. I have since learned a new not so exciting technique involving hot water but its far more efficient so alas, bye bye fire.

So where have I been since Christmas/New Years? Watching television!!! It takes a lot of forethought to get projects going and since I hadn't had time for that sort of planning I found myself in January with nothing in the works. I am gearing back up now though and look forward to the rest of the winter which will be filled with some home improvement projects and spring garden planning! Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Blackberry Oat Buckle

2010-08-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

I've been eyeing all the blackberry bushes in my area over the last couple weeks. With the abundance of rain we had late in spring, combined with my areas already high water table, I figured this season would be filled with plump juicy blackberries that would certainly find their way to my table. Over the weekend I couldn't wait any longer and took a little trip down Hwy 29 to see what I could find. Unfortunately they were all growing on pretty steep embankments, and I wasn't eager to repeat my spill last year when I slid down a blackberry hill (note: it's not the falling, but the getting back up that hurts the worse), so I just got what I could from the slightly less treacherous parts. Even with that restriction, it only took 30 minutes, and about twenty thorn scrapes, to have three and a half cups of bulging berries tucked away in my bag. Of course that not counting the ones I ate along the way!

From what I saw, only about half the berries on the bushes were ripe last Saturday. I'm sure there will be several more trips down to the patch before the season is over. Here is the first of my recipes involving one of my favorite parts of summer.

Blackberry Oat Buckle

Recipe adapted from
Cory Shreiber's
Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More

Ingredients

1 tbsp. butter for pan
1.5 cups flour
.5 cups oat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
.5 tsp. baking soda
.75 cups butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2.5 cups blackberries
.25 cups rolled oats
2 tbsp. brown sugar

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 and butter a nine inch square backing dish

2) Mix the regular flour, oat flour and backing soda. If you don’t have oat flour, simply chop up regular oats (aka oatmeal) in a food processor until it resembles a coarse meal.

3) In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar with a hand held mixer at high speeds until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at and time and then the vanilla.

4) Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture in three additions, alternating with the butter milk. Start and end with the flour mixture. The resulting batter will be much lighter/airier than a normal cake mix.

5) Fold in half of the blackberries and pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

6) Sprinkle the top of the buckle with the remaining berries, oats and brown sugar. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

This cake can be served right away with ice cream as a wonderful dessert. The blackberries stay nice and juicy inside and ooze a bit when the buckle is sliced. It's also good the next morning without the ice cream as a delectable coffee cake. Its not an overly sweet buckle so you don't feel like you've started the day off with a sugar rush. Also feel free to substitute your favorite berry or even a mix of berries!

Squash Update

2010-08-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, my squash patch may have died off once early in the season, but the second time seemed to take. The sea of green is making our front yard look a little more planned.

Up front is the strawberry patch that has grown in nicely.

As you can probably imagine from the above photo, it's pretty easy to miss a growing squash. I've been trying to go out and tip toe amongst the squash every couple of days to see how things are progressing, but I still seem to end up with over grown summer squashes. Luckily, they still taste pretty good even when they get big. Here are some close ups from my last tip toe.

A handsome Peter Pan squash ready for the frying pan.

This is either Honey Boat or a Pumpkin. We planted them right next to each other...bad idea.

This one is my favorite. A four inch long Butternut Squash. So cute!!

This is a new experiment, Papaya Squash. What I find intriguing about them is that they are almost a neon yellow and VERY shiny.

This is my rather large Spagetti Squash. It hasn't even started to ripen yet and it's already bigger than I'm used to seeing.

Last but not least we had a Yellow Crookneck Squash. I believe this one is going in a chicken soup tonight!

Thanks for coming with me on a walk through my squash patch. While I am pretty happy with how it's turned out, next time I might space them further apart to make harvesting easier. Then again....

Nail Polish

2010-07-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

So if you know me very well you might be asking yourself, why does the girl who hates feet have a picture of her own feet on her blog. Well my friends, don't think I didn't ask myself a similar question as I was taking this picture earlier today. The answer is, I found a great new nail polish which fits in with the less chemically lifestyle I've been trying to live. You see, I do my nails every week. It's not a chore really because in addition to the fact that I can't tolerate chips in my polish, I actually enjoy the process. What I have never enjoyed however, is the smell. By the time you're done you feel like you just huffed a tube of glue and if your significant other happens to be in the room then so do they. Enter, water based nail polish (ta da)!

Water based nail polish has a lot of things going for it. First, it has no smell. Literally, none. The remover also has practically no smell, or you can also just use some good ol' fashioned grain alcohol. Both work just fine. Second, going hand in hand with the no smell is the lack of harsh chemicals in water based nail polish. No solvents involved. Third, it comes in a wonderful variety of colors just like regular nail polish. Finally, depending on the company you go with, it's not much more expensive than a normal high quality nail polish.

There are only two negatives I can think of regarding water based nail polish. First, it does not wear as well as regular polish. If I was using it for my hands I would be very disappointed because it chips a lot fast than regular. On my feet however, it lasts perfectly for at least a week and for me that's plenty. Its definitely worth having to touch up my nails to not have to endure regular polish smell. Also, you can combat the chipping by making sure your nails are clean and dry before you begin, and doing it before bed so they have all night to cure. Second, it takes a little longer to take off. I noticed this more at first than I do now, but you will spend a little more time rubbing to get it off. I think over time you just figure out how to rub better and how much remover you need on the cotton swab.

If you're interested in learning more about water based nail polish or wish to order some you can find it here.

Simple Sauce

2010-07-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

Being a tomato lover who lives with a raw tomato hater, I have had to adjust. Big juicy slices of raw tomato sprinkled with salt no longer cuts it as a veggie option at dinner time, so I've had to come up with new ways to incorporate my lovely beauties into meals other than just slicing them. One that I've become quite fond of, is making a fresh chunky sauce out of them. It can go over just about anything from pasta to fish. This is an especially good use for tomatoes that are left over from other meals (such as burgers) and are about to go bad. Last night I cooked up this sauce and then quickly cooked two tilapia fillets in it. Yum.

Simple Sauce

3-4 Roma tomatoes (or whatever you have lying around)
2 tbsp. of olive oil
1 tsp. each of assorted dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano, parsley)
.5 tsp. of dried rosemary and thyme
a small handful of Parmesan cheese
several gloves of garlic or the dried equivalent
salt and pepper to taste

1) In the pan of your choosing add the olive oil, all the herbs/spices and Parmesan cheese. I used the shaved Parmesan and chopped it so that it was finer. If you are using the powdered Parmesan, a couple good shakes should do.
2) Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan.
3) Cook over medium heat until the tomatoes are nice and hot. Really once this happens you can stop anytime. The longer your cook, the less chunky your sauce with be so go with your mood. I prefer it just barely cooked because you can really taste the freshness of the tomatoes, but if you cook it longer it will more closely resemble store bought sauce in texture.

Fruits of Our Labor

2010-07-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

I know my mother already has a ripe tomato sitting on her counter, but I'm still very excited for this little guy.

He is my first of the season to set. In fact, I was just going out to take a picture of the fact that one of my tomatoes was finally flowering, and instead found this little guy sunning himself in the early morning rays. While many of my tomatoes appear to finally be getting their growth spurts, a few seem to be destined for the green waste bin. This includes my German Lunchbox tomato which hasn't grown at all over the last month and is now turning yellow. It was our first year trying to experiment with doing all our tomatoes from seed. Honestly, I think I'd rather buy them at the nursery, but alas, this way was much cheaper. Perhaps next year we will be a bit more experienced and have more success and less heart break. Of all the tomatoes we are growing this year, only one was purchased at the store. Who can resist a giant Roma for only $1.99!? It will soon take the German Lunchboxes place.

In the backyard even more good news awaited me, my Rattlesnake Pole Beans are going crazy! They are now almost six feet tall and we had to add a new level of fencing for them to grow up. In addition to their beautiful purple flowers, they now have many healthy bunches of beans. I will pick some for my favorite green bean recipe, but most will be allowed to get bigger for shelling and eating fresh. It's always fun when experimenting with new plants go so well.

The Truth About Fruit Trees

2010-07-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, most of the places we lived had a few fruit trees in the yard. I remember in Indiana we had three apple trees, none of which ever seemed to do very well, but during the summer rains I loved to go out and pick apples. I'd hang a plastic bag from my wrist as I balanced precariously on the low crook of the tree, reaching for the green rain washed apples. They might not have tasted very good, but there was something about the rain that made them taste sweeter to me.

At my current home, I may not be able to pick apples in the rain anymore, but fruit trees have become an even bigger part of garden life. We inherited two wonderfully established green apple trees, a Mandarin orange tree and a lemon tree with our property. Since we've moved in we've also added an apricot tree and a pineapple guava tree to our front yard. I think we've about maxed out our tree potential, but I always have my eye open for a new spot I could wiggle in another one (perhaps an olive or fig).

Even though full size fruit trees offer many of the same benefits of non-fruiting trees, such as shade and beauty, there are a few things to consider before you plant one in your yard. The first is, what are you going to do with hundreds of peaches/apples/pears/etc. that suddenly become ripe in your backyard? Do you make preserves? Do you have family and friends that would like some? Along this last line, trading with family, friends and neighbors who have different fruit trees can be fun. There is nothing sadder than driving by a fruit tree with half it's fruit on the ground because it's owners really don't have a use for it or have forgotten it's even there. I had a friend a few years back who had an orange tree that was brimming with ripe fruit, when I asked her if I could have some for making marmalade she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, I forgot we even had one. I just bought a bag of oranges at the store!"

The second thing to consider, is the mess a fruit tree makes. Even if you try your best to pick the fruit as it ripens, there will be some that ends up on the ground. If you are planting citrus or apples, this isn't such a big deal as their smell isn't bad and their decomposition is slow. If you are planting stone fruits such as peaches, apricots, plums, etc. you are in for a different mess entirely. They attract all kinds of bugs rather quickly, have a smell that tickles the nose in an unpleasant way and turn into mush quite fast. I might be being a bit dramatic about this but you should know what your in for and be prepared to regularly pick up fallen fruits.

The last thing I want to mention is dwarf vs. regular fruit trees. I have become a fan of either regular or semi-dwarf fruit trees over dwarf varieties lately. From my readings and personal experience, the dwarf varieties never seem to produce enough to make them truly worth the work. Semi-dwarf trees will still stay on the smallish side and you're getting more bang for your buck; and if you have room a properly trimmed full sized tree will give you even more. Of course if you just want enough to enjoy as a summertime snack here and there (or something that can go in a pot on your patio), dwarf is fine, but if you are looking to can produce for the winter, try to fit in a semi-dwarf or regular.

If you feel you are ready for the above mentioned things then you are ready to try a fruit tree. Just be sure to research the specific needs of the species of tree you're buy so that you are sure to get fruit and no just a sickly barren tree.

Soy Beans

2010-06-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit delayed getting going, but our final raised bed is planted chuck full of soy beans! I've been waiting because the package said not to plant them until the temperatures consistently didn't fall below 50. With this unusually cold spring that meant I couldn't sew these seeds until the beginning of June! The only thing I didn't get to do with them that I had planned was to coat them in an inoculant first which helps them fix nitrogen to their roots. It's supposed to increase their yield, but the only nursery in my area that carries it is one I don't go to very often, so I eventually gave up on trying to get over there and just went without. I planted enough seeds though that I think we should be OK. In addition to freezing a lot to take as a snack to work, I'm sure we will be making this refreshing edamame salad as the grilling season heats up!

Edamame Salad

Ingredients:
Dressing
2 T Sesame oil
2 t soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
½ t Asian chili garlic sauce

Salad
1 lbs. edamame
2 green onions thinly sliced
¼ c chopped mint
¼ c sliced almonds

1.) Cook edamame according to package directions (or simply thaw if already cooked) and place in the refrigerator until cool.

2.) Whisk together all dressing ingredients and set aside.

3.) Once edamame has cooled, combine the remaining salad ingredients and toss with the dressing. Serve chilled.

Ooops, I Did it Again

2010-06-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I got excited when I experimented with onion flowers. I cut them and sprinkled them over a garden salad. It was delicious and tasty and I would highly recommend it if your onions flowers. I did a little research however, and found out that unlike garlic, onion flowers are a bad sign. I could paraphrase this, but I think a direct quote will work best.

"Flowering of onions can be caused by several things but usually the most prevalent is temperature fluctuation. An onion is classed as a biennial which means it normally takes 2 years to go from seed to seed. Temperature is the controlling or triggering factor in this process. If an onion plant is exposed to alternating cold and warm temperatures resulting in the onion plant going dormant, resuming growth, going dormant and then resuming growth again, the onion bulbs prematurely flower or bolt. The onion is deceived into believing it has completed two growth cycles or years of growth in its biennial life cycle so it finalizes the cycle by blooming."

Ok, so this doesn't sound so bad. You plan to pick your onion at the end of it's first year anyways. Then I read this.

"What can one do if flower stalks appear? Should the flower stalks be removed from the onion plants? Suit yourself but once the onion plant has bolted, or sent up a flower stalk, there is nothing you can do to eliminate this problem. The onion bulbs will be edible but smaller. Use these onions as soon as possible because the green flower stalk which emerges through the center of the bulb will make storage almost impossible."

Dangit. No more storage or hopes of giant onion bulbs for those plants. Well at least in my case the ones that flowered as a result of our warm then cold then warm again spring were few, and most of my crop is still on track to grow into big beautiful onions. So if yours happen to be in bloom, enjoy the flowers, and then enjoy some green onions!

Quotes were taken from here.

Pickin' Stawberries

2010-06-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

No friends, I still haven't gotten around to covering my strawberry plants, but today I did manage to find four berries that hadn't been attacked by birds yet! Luckily my plants are getting so bushy that they are starting to hide their tasty treats from the local wildlife. For some reason I always thought strawberry's would be hard to grow, but as long as they get plenty of water and sunshine they seem to do just fine. I think our exceptionally long spring also helped by giving them a long time to get established before the heat set in. Take a look at these beauties.

While I was good and saved half the berries for my poor sick Jeffry, who was still in bed while I was foraging in my pj's in the front yard, I was able to enjoy one of my favorite weekday breakfasts. I really should buy a coaster for my desk....

Invasive Plants

2010-06-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

My response to this picture should be one of great joy. I bought this bush months ago for a great price at OSH (in fact I bought two). I knew exactly where I'd plant them, all I needed to do was build a couple small planter boxes. No problem right? Well if you're me projects are easy to think up and hard to get around to. Months later I'd repeatedly forgotten to water them and they were looking rather pathetic and snail bitten out on my front patio. By the time I put them in the ground they were half dead, but I still had hope. A week later maybe a quarter of the plant was left alive. I decided it was time to take serious measures. I chopped back both the plants to just their core and fertilized them heavily. MONTHS later, they are green and even starting to bloom again. I should be over joyed.

Why am I not you might ask? Well, look carefully at the center of this picture. That green stalk that is growing is NOT part of my bush. That my friends, is horsetail reed. This is yet another one of the plants I inherited from my home's previous owner and in case you haven't guessed it, its invasive. The bed of horsetail reed is about eight feet away from this bed, yet low and behold, it's found its way over to my bushes.

If you see horsetail reed and are considering buying it, don't let this post completely discourage you. It has a wonderful history of being used for scrubbing pots and such. If you're a pioneer it could be quite useful. It also looks quite lovely cut at different levels in a vase, and makes a delightful popping sound when you pull apart its sections. I will strongly caution you however, to put it in a pot. This is a good lesson for any invasive plants you might have your eye on, and this is not just limited to ornamentals. Plants such as mint and horse radish are a pain to get rid of once they find a home they like. Just a thought.

Some Stoop Shots

2010-06-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Jeffry and I checked out the San Fransisco Botanical Garden with some friends. While I forgot to take pictures of the many different garden styles the garden displays, I was pretty shocked by the number of plants I recognized from my own yard! On the hike back to our car I started to take notice of some very pretty or interesting planter options that we passed and snapped a few photos to share with you.

Alright, I know it's hard to see in this picture, but on the bottom left balcony they turned a cinder block wall into homes for plants. They stacked the cinder blocks so the holes were facing up, and then placed plane pots (like the type you get the plants in from the nursery) in those holes. Since the ends are like steps, it made a lot of different heights for the plants to sit. I imagine you could also do something with placing boards between the layers of blocks. That way you could plant directly in the holes. Its a great mix of industrial and organic.

I liked this one because it looks like a little cottage stoop. Like if your turned around you wouldn't see a row of houses, but your favorite vacation spot. Unlike some urban porches and balconies, which seem to try and fit a whole forest worth of plants into a teeny tiny space, these porches look like the owners just invited a few of their favorite friends over to brighten up the space.

This last planter design I enjoyed because of it's clean lines and structure. So much in SF seems to look a little worn around the edges and unstructured, but this planter stands firm with sharp corners and tidy containers to keep the chaos inside them in order. I imagine it also provides a nice place to sit on a sunny day.

Morbid Plants

2010-05-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

I have been developing a fascination for plants with morbid names. You might have noticed it starting when I blogged about Burning Hearts a few months ago. A patch of Bleeding Hearts, check. A pot full of Burning Hearts, check. So what shall be next on my morbid plant list you ask? Well, I have already purchased seeds for a little beauty called Love Lies Bleeding. Oh yes. It will be mine. Not only does it have a fabulous name, but just look at this amazing plant.

Love Lies Bleeding comes from more humid regions of the Americas, and is also apparently edible. It can be adapted, however, to grow in more arid climates. The plant can grow into a small bush, up to 4 feet tall. The cascading flowers can grow as long as 18 inches.

Another beauty I discovered today is a ground cover called Sweet After Death. Its name comes from the fact that while the plant has no scent while alive, its leaves smell like vanilla once they've dried. This would be a welcomed whiff as you walk down your garden paths in the fall. It does also flower, sending up white spires high above it's broad leaves.

I'm not sure how well this plant would thrive at my house. It is quite prevalent in the Pacific Northwest, which has a somewhat similar climate to the bay area. Perhaps I could sneak it in to a dark corner of the yard.

I think a rather tragic storyline could play itself out in my yard. Imagine if you will, walking down the side walk next to my house, first you pass some bachelors buttons, then a patch of (insert some sort of innocent female named flower, I'm sure it's out there), a few Burning Hearts (ah, young love), then Forget Me Nots (gasp, the lovers have parted), then Love Lies Bleeding (could no longer take the separation) and finally Sweet After Death. Very Romeo and Juliet I must say.

Testing Pea # 212,000

2010-05-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

As I have lamented on this blog before, peas don't like to grow for me. I believe in all my attempts to grow them I have eaten two pods over the last two or three years. This year I already tried one batch of peas. They were all eaten by my other nemesis, senor snail.

I was not to be discouraged however, and for the first time in my pea attempts, planted a second crop. I put them in a shadier spot with worse soil and they are doing fantastic! I do fear that when I go home tonight they will all be dead (perhaps as I type this little snails are gnawing away at the leaves), but as of this morning they were all several feet high and one had even set a couple pods. I think this is the year my friends. Yes, this is the year.

Rattlesnake Beans

2010-05-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

One new plant I'm trying to grow this year is beans. Jeffry doesn't eat green beans so they will be mostly for drying and using in stews over the winter. This will be a nice way to extend the harvest as we'll eat fresh stuff out of the garden during the summer, and have the dried beans to munch on during the fall and winter months.

I had hoped to get them in the ground sooner, but our unusually cool spring has forced me to hold off on many of my garden plans. Not only are daytime temperatures not getting above the mid 70's, but about a week and a half ago it was in the 30's when I woke up. That wonderful ocean breeze that I love so much in the heat of summer is also not helping. It blows in at about 5 o'clock and quickly rids the air of any warmth it had managed to accumulate during the day. I finally couldn't wait any longer however, and so far these little seedlings seem to be doing OK.

I've chosen to grow rattlesnake beans, which I purchased several months back from Baker Creek Seed Co. You might be wondering why I picked this bean over all others, the honest truth is unfortunately not filled with wisdom and research. I though they looked pretty, and the back of the Baker Creek seed package raved about how wonderful they are. Their pods are green with purple stripes running through them, and the seeds themselves are cream colored with reddish brown streaks running through them. Their colors just sounded like a work of art to me. The vines also grow to be 10 feet tall with 7 inch pods! That's gigantic, and another reason I wanted them. I can't wait to until later this summer when these colorful bean vines will dwarf me!

Anyone else excited about trying something new?

Where Have I Been?

2010-05-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

It always seems like I stumble upon new blogs when the writer has just returned from a long absence. I have thus read a lot of posts with titles like, "Where I've Been" or "What I've Been Up To" and they usually contain some sort of apology for not writing more and a dash of self importance as they tell their readers not to fear, for they have been off doing exciting things but they appreciate the concern. As I was new to these blogs I hadn't been worried for their safety or pondering why on earth they hadn't written a new post in a week or more, but none the less I read their post describing their generally exciting exploits and by the time they were finished I was also happy that they were back so that I could look forward to future posts. Well, it's my turn.

I know you all have probably been wondering where on earth I have been. Was I in a car accident? Did I suffer amnesia and was waiting alone in a hospital room for someone to come claim me and tell me my true identity? Did I suffer a stroke in the back yard and was currently becoming the main course for my chickens who were now starving because I hadn't been feeding them because well, I was dead? Did the snails finally fight back and decide it was time to launch an offensive? Did I finally go crazy pulling weeds and run off to the dessert to escape the daily chores required just to try and keep up with my yard? No dear friends, this is not it at all. In fact, wait for it....I've been up to some rather exciting things.

First, I went away for Mother's Day weekend with the best of mothers. We stayed in cabins and ate at East West Cafe in Sebastapol (highly recommend stopping their for lunch if you're ever in the area). It was on that trip that I saw my first Banana Slug ever in the Armstrong Redwoods. He looks like he's about ready for bread making.

Later that week I was taken out to Chez Pannise for the first time. The food was amazing with a main course of lamb. The first course however, involved anchovies. I did not like them. I figure if Chez Pannise can't make them tasty then I will never learn to like them. Oh and while I was there, this happened:

Since then (in the past 7 days) we have booked the church, set a bridal shower date, set up consultations with two wedding dress shops, picked our wedding favors and purchased our wedding rings. Oh, I also had a 50's themed birthday BBQ at my house on Saturday. I made my own dress.

So as you can see dear friends. You had no reason to fear, other than for the fact that you missed my witty and informative posts. Those shall now resume again, so grab a glass of cool iced tea and read along.

Robin's Birthday Mac & Cheese

2010-05-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

With Robin having a 50’s theme for her birthday, I thought back to my childhood days in the 50’s (OK a couple were in the 40’s) and remembered one of my favorite foods was macaroni and cheese. Of course, that was the “chedder only” version because, in the Midwest where I grew up, you didn’t ever do anything unusual or unique with food…mac and cheese was mandated by social law to be made from chedder cheese only.

When Robin and I were last in Disneyland we had some 4 cheese mac and cheese that was fantastic so I got on the internet and searched 4 cheese mac and cheese and came up with a very simple recipe that sounded like it was similar to the Disneyland version. I brought the ingredients to Robin’s and made it there. It went into the oven a soupy mess that I thought looked inedible but cooked up fine, and all the comments I got on it were great. It is not the creamy type that comes out of the Kraft box but more like the macaroni was coated with a very thick layer of dry cheese. Very unusual but very good. So if anyone wants to try it, here is the recipe as I made it.

Cook macaroni until just tender (I put the macaroni in the water before heating and timed it for 8 minutes after it began boiling). You definitely don’t want it mushy. Drain and set aside.

Heat 4 cups of cream (I used 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and 2 cups half and half because that is what I had) to scalding, remove from heat and stir in 4 ounces each of shredded chedder, jack, guyere and asiago cheese and mix until smooth. Mix with macaroni in an appropriate overproof casserole dish, top with bread crumbs and a small amount of grated parmesean. You can also add some Cajun seasoning to the bread crumbs…I added ½ teaspoon but would suggest more as the flavor was extremely mild…maybe 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons.

Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until top is browned. I let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving to let it set up some.

What little left overs I had went great with some ham and homemade applesauce the next day.

Tough Enough for a Man, but Specifically Designed For...

2010-05-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! I just have to share with you this silly but adorable tool set that I saw at Wal-mart last night. Women of the world rejoice, you can now be handy without sacrificing your femininity! All it takes is dyeing the handles of your tools to create this magical transformation from sweaty man work to lady like industriousness*. Honestly though, as much as a pink tool set seems silly, the kit does include some good basics if you have the need. I believe there was also one in blue if you'd like a his and hers set. If you have an aversion to shopping at Wal-mart, you can also pick it up from amazon here.

*string of pearls and high heels not included.

Lemon Garlic Dip

2010-05-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Last night Mr. Jeffry and I got to enjoy our first real harvest dish, home grown artichokes. In addition to our artichokes, we grilled chicken legs and sweet corn on the cob. Considering the fact that we don't have corn holders, it was a rather messy finger lickin' meal, but going animal style every once in a while has its appeal.

I've never really been satisfied with dipping my artichokes in butter or mayo, I always feel like something was missing, like it could be better than it was. So last night I tried a little experiment. I chopped up about a tablespoon of preserved lemon and added it, along with a 1/4 tsp. of garlic powder, to about 4 Tbsp. of mayo.

I mixed it up about an hour before we ate so it would have time to steep and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Jeffry didn't seem to be quite as excited about it as me, but he was satisfied by the original butter/mayo options, so for him it was not a moment of long awaited fulfillment. We had some dip left over so I used it like regular mayo on the deli sandwich I was making for lunch. Once again, very pleased.

Green Strawberry Love

2010-05-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

They're Heeeeeere! Yes my friends the time has come, soon I will taste the sweet summery goodness of strawberries grown with our own four hands. They've been weeded, they've been fertilized and they've been watered, and now they are sending out runners (surprising considering this breed was suppose to not send many out) and setting what looks to me like some seriously tasty fruit. This guy even has some red starting to show!

It won't be long now until I have to find ways to use these guys up (I know, poor me!). I imagine many will simply be eaten as is, perhaps still wet from the sprinkler and warm from the sun, but I'd love to hear any recipes you may have. Dipped in chocolate? Strawberry shortcake? Preserves?

Hen and Chicks

2010-04-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

Our baby chicks are starting to look like sturdy tweeners and with the beautiful sunshine we had earlier this week we decided it was time to introduce them to the rest of the flock. This visitation was of course highly supervised, and if the chicks really needed to escape an angry hen we quickly learned the chicken run was not capable of containing them. I had read a few really terrible stories recently about chicks getting pecked to death by older hens so I must admit I feared a little bit for our crazy baby leghorns.

All my fears were for naught however, as once again we were blessed by the quiet gentle personalities of our Buff Orpingtons. I must say, the chicks seemed a lot more comfortable moving around the hens then they are around Jeff and I. They quickly integrated themselves into the group and enjoyed their first chance to really run around freely in the great outdoors.

(Yeah its a terrible pic, but getting them to hold still for a photo is like asking the sasquatch to pose.)

While they busied themselves chasing bugs and Jeffry cleaned out their cage, I sprinkled lots of baking soda around the spot their cage had been in the extension and let that deodorize for a bit. Honestly, I didn't think the smell was really all that strong, but I also think I might have just gotten used to it over the last month that they have been our housemates, so I didn't want to take any chances. I will also be seeing if I can borrow a carpet cleaner in the next week or so just to be safe. The chicks are now securely settled in to their transitional home in the garden shed, until they are big enough to be contained in the regular chicken run.

Return It Better Than You Found It

2010-04-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

Over the last year, I have dug gardens in areas of new construction and old established neighborhoods. In both these places I have learned and relearned an important lesson, burying something doesn’t make it disappear. It’s still there, and thirty years later those cement chunks that you intentionally buried five inches below the surface (grr) or those pesky plant labels that blew away in the wind will still be there to bother some other gardener.
I have found all sorts of things in the ground in which I planned to grow my food. The afore mentioned cement chunks and plastic plant tags have presented themselves in great abundance, but I have also found bottle caps, sardine cans, random chunks of plastic and packaging, a horseshoe and my most recent favorite, an old rusty razor blade (good thing I wear gloves). While finding these things buried in my yard has given rise to more than a little frustration inside this otherwise mild mannered gardener, they have also served as a great reminder to me of another lesson I have learned, the ground I’m working isn’t really mine.

In saying this, I’m not trying to espouse some political view on land ownership but simply stating the truth that this land will not be mine forever. Eventually, someday, I will be gone and someone else will take up stewardship of my little plot, and when that happens they will inherit everything I have ever done here. Any short cuts I ever made on house repairs or other building projects will be theirs. Any time I tried to save a few bucks by not disposing of waste properly will be theirs. Or any time I was careless and didn’t make sure all the bits of garbage where picked up when I was done with a project, those will also be theirs.

I find the idea that I am passing on something, instead of just creating a little oasis for myself, adds a new level of thought to my gardening. It motivates me not only to be more careful with my own behavior, but to make sure I take the time to clean up the carelessness of previous owners. As I reset boards in the garden, lay pavers or dig holes for new plants (cleaning up the soil as I go), I like to think about how someday another young gardener will be digging in that same dirt, and her work will be a little easier because I passed on the land a little better than I found it.

What has gardening taught you?

Flowers and Foothills Part II

2010-04-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to part two of a day trip to the foothills. After we had stuffed ourselves silly with pizza, tested our trivia on things such as history, Knight Rider, and science and hit a few thrift stores we headed toward the town of Grass Valley and our second nursery stop.

Prospector’s Nursery is definitely a different experience from Bald Mountain. Yes, you’ll spend more on plants there than at Bald Mountain, but you will also be able to purchase harder to find ornamentals such as Burning Hearts (they do not carry edibles except for a few fruit trees). In addition to having rarer plants, they also just have a wider variety of non-tree plants than you will find at Bald Mountain. I do think Bald Mountain has them beat when it comes to tree varieties, but its close.

Out front you’ll find all their sun loving plants (I recommend bringing a good pair of sunglasses), but when you head out back you are suddenly surrounded by pine trees and can slowly meander through their shade loving plants. If you have a shady nook that you are having trouble finding the right plants for, look no further. Their selection of shade adoring ornamentals is impressive.

Another major difference between the two nurseries is that Prospector’s has a large indoor area of home and garden stuff. They carry all sorts of cute décor items (often with a garden theme), table cloths, serving wear, plant tags, lotions, cute garden tools, candles, etc. Generally I find some little reasonably priced thing that I never new I needed so badly. Inside they also always have complementary cookies with either hot or iced tea depending on the season.

Lastly, although Prospector’s Nursery is more upscale than Bald Mountain (and therefore charges accordingly) they are NOT snooty. In fact, I have always found their staff to be one of the most pleasant parts of their establishment. They are energetic, sincere and interested in the projects you have planned with the plants you are purchasing and are happy to offer advice and encouragement. I think the differences between the two nurseries make them a perfect match to visit in the same day. Visit Bald Mountain for a slow relaxing country stroll and to get your Johnny Jump Ups, Petunias, fruits trees, etc. and then take the beautiful drive up to Prospector and enjoy the more exotic varieties, the indoor goodies and of course, cookies!

When the trunk is full it's time to head home!

Mom and I had to get back to Sacramento after Prospectors, but if you have a little more time you should take a stroll through Nevada City or Grass Valley. There is a nice old theatre in downtown Grass Valley called the Del Oro where you could catch a movie and there are plenty of places in that area to grab some dinner. The two main streets in downtown Grass Valley are also far more level than the hill that is Nevada City.

*Pictures from the lense of K.E. Fisher

Flowers and Foothills

2010-04-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my mother and I decided to take a Saturday to get out and enjoy some sunshine and flowers while Jeff enjoyed a cold one and a baseball game. We turned it into a day trip up to the foothills and visited a couple of nurseries that my mom has been quite fond of. If you are into flowers and a pretty drive I recommend you do the same sometime in the next month before everything turns brown. If you have kids, there is even a huge park complete with a swimming hole, playgrounds and Frisbee golf course to let them burn off some steam. Today I’ll share the first half of the trip with you.

If you go up highway 99 for a long time and then make a few lefts and a right you will find yourself on a narrow road near the town of Brown’s Valley. You may think this is just some dead end country road with nothing of interest, but you’d only be half right. Less than a mile off the main road is Bald Mountain Nursery, a family run establishment that makes you feel like you are just wandering around a friend’s front yard. You’ll find cozy benches nestled under shade trees should you need to take a break from browsing and friendly doggies running around keeping an eye on things.

While this location definitely focuses more on ornamental plants, it still has a very good selection of fruit trees and a few tables of basic vegetables. If you are looking for a specific kind of fig, they probably have six or seven different varieties, all at a very reasonable price.

This nursery also has a very strong focus on the plants themselves, not garden decoration. You will find no statuary or little miscellaneous garden bobbles for sale. About the only thing you’ll find in the actual store is a cash register, fertilizer and ice cold bottled water for 50 cents. When you’re ready to check out, just leave your cart outside and get an employee to come ring you up by hand. Of course, there might be a security inspection first.

After you leave Bald Mountain you should head to the equally small town of Penn Valley for the previously mentioned park, some of the world’s best pizza at Northridge Restaurant (complete with a trivia booklet at each table) and a little thrift store browsing. Personally I think the better of the two thrift stores is the Penn Valley Fire Dept Auxiliary Thrift Shop‎ located behind the fire station next to the rodeo ring. The Hospice Gift and Thrift next to the pizza place is way more expensive.

*pictures from the lense of K.E. Fisher

BBQ

2010-04-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

I just have to share something with you all. Until last night I had never started a fire in a charcoal grill. Until recently I was usually just grilling for one and found gas grills too convenient to give up. Last night however, Jeffry was coming home late from work so I decided that gosh darnet I could start our Webber all by myself, and I did. It was way easier than I expected and I didn't even get that smoky. The smoke is another reason I didn't like cooking with charcoal. I can't stand the smell saturating my clothes and more importantly my hair. Its not a girly thing, the smell is just REALLY unpleasant to me. That's not to say I don't enjoy catching a whiff of a passing BBQ, but I don't like the smell of it absorbed into my hair where I can't get away from it.

I think what made it so easy to start was that I used brown paper grocery bags to light the coals. They seem to burn a little slower than newspaper so they really got the coals going before the paper was all burnt up. I've seen friends and family trying to get their charcoal going and they have to add more newspaper and mess with it a lot which results in a waste of time and even more of the afore mentioned smoke saturation. I simply tore up 1 1/2 brown paper bags, crumpled the pieces into little balls and shoved the bottom of the chimney full of them. I only had to light it once and then stand back a good distance from the smoke and watch the coals take light. If you can't tell, I was quite proud!

Life Cycle of Snails and Other Stuff

2010-04-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

As I am sure I have mentioned on multiple occasions, I have been trying for several years to grow peas. In that time, however, I have never enjoyed a meal that involved peas from my garden. In fact, I have only been able to eat two pea pods in that entire time. Perhaps I am crazy for doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, but this year I have already planted a crop of peas. They all died. Unwilling to give up, last night I planted a second crop of even stronger looking peas. I only turned my back for a moment and....

Oh hell no. This is what happens when you mess with my peas.

Enjoy your fate senor snail.

I have however, become more interested in snail life since I discovered how much my chickens love eating them, and I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm psycho running around the yard in my pj's with a bucket hunting for them. Here are some fun facts I've learned.

1) Snails do not reach sexual maturity until they are about two years old. You will know they are mature because the opening of their shell will have a lip on it signifying it has stopped growing.
2) All snails have both male and female reproductive organs so when they mate, both become pregnant with about 100 eggs.
3) Snails mate once a month, and then the eggs take another month to hatch.
4) A snail can live anywhere from 5-15 years depending on the species.
5) Snails are deaf and almost blind.
6) Snails will hibernate during inclement weather by pulling into their shells and sealing the opening with either a chalky substance or mucus. They leave a small hole to allow air in.

If you say to yourself, "I NEED MORE SNAIL INFO!!!" Well then you’re probably a wierdo, but since I don't judge you for that, here are more sites you can check out:

http://animals.about.com/od/mollusks/ig/World-of-Snails/Snail-3.htm

-has great pictures and general details

http://animals.about.com/gi/o.htmzi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=animals&cdn=education&tm=4&gps=213_680_1004_612&f=20&tt=33&bt=0&bts=0&st=23&zu=http://www.arnobrosi.com/snails/snail.html
-Everything you ever wanted to know about snails, and probably a little bit you didn’t.

http://www.petsnails.co.uk/care/breeding.html
-snail breeding, kinda gross.

Dogs and Desks

2010-04-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

On design sponge there was a post today showing how designer and photographer Jamie Kovach combined a desk and a dog crate. Once her dogs out grew their puppy crate, she noticed they still seemed to want a small space to curl up in. Now she has place to work, and her dogs have a dark cozy place to snuggle up in and feel secure. I think its both a stylish and adorable idea. I only wish she'd included a how to!

Olive Tapenade

2010-04-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last week Jeff and I had a couple friends over for a tasty Mediterranean inspired feast. When I realized that I should have purchased more meat for the main course, I decided I’d throw together a few extra appetizers to fill out the meal. Remembering that I had a good number of olives in the fridge, I decided it was time to try and make my own olive tapenade. This dish was so simple I think it will go on my go-to list for quick appetizers or last minute potluck dishes.

Easy Olive Tapenade
1 cup of kalamata olives, pitted
2 tbsp. olive oil
Skin from 1/3 of a preserved lemon
2 cloves of garlic

1) Roughly chop lemon and garlic.

2) Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until finely chopped and well combined. Add more olive oil is necessary to get it to blend.

3) Scoop your tapenade into a bowl and serve with pretzel thins, crackers or pita!

Notes:
-you are not limited to only kalamata olives. Use your favorite or mix and match. I actually threw a few green ones in mine (minus the pimento) because I had them lying around.
-If you don’t have preserved lemon, you can substitute it for about a tbsp of lemon juice and a little zest.
-Tapenade traditionally has capers in it too; I didn’t have any on hand, but feel free to add a tablespoon of them as well.

Ode to Spring

2010-04-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

Onto happier things, after spending a while cleaning up the garage this evening, I had a sudden urge to re-read my favorite section from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which shows the passage of time by intimately describing the four seasons. Luckily I found my copy in one of the unlabed boxes I was organizing. I'll spare you the old english and share the translation with you. Describing Spring the author wrote:

After Christmas came mean-spirited Lent,

That tries the body with fish and plainer nourishment;

But then the weather on earth battles with winter,

The cold shrinks downwards, clouds rise higher,

And shed sparkling rain in warming showers,

Falling on smiling plains where flowers unfold.

Both open fields and woodlands put on green dress;

Birds hasten to build, and rapturously sing

For joy of gentle summer that follows next... (lines 502-510)

I love to think of the cold of winter shrinking downward out of the air and deep into the ground where it will lurk until its season comes again. As I looked outside my office window this morning, I'm pretty sure I saw the winter weather battling to hold on to its last moments. How about you guys, do you have any books, movies, etc. that call out to you this time of year?

If you interested in reading Sir Gawain but not quite ready for the original, Tolkien did a translation of his own that keeps a rhyming scheme. You can pick it up for pretty cheap used here.

The Circle of Life

2010-04-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

I try to keep things lively and upbeat here at Robin's Nest, but alas, just as raising plants and animals can be wonderfully rewarding and exciting, sometimes it is also unfortunate and sad. In the last week we lost one of our little chickies and my favorite of our chinchillas, Buttercup. Our little chicky wasn't much of a surprise. It was the third to be born and never seemed quite right. It had a rather bulbous bottom and it took a long time for its feathers to fluff up. We thought after a couple of days it seemed to be getting on track. It's feathered started looking normal and its bottom seemed to shrink, but then it never really progressed from there. He/She finally stopped eating after about a week and nature took its course.

Buttercup on the other hand had a problem with her teeth, and although it had been going on for a little while, we didn't think it was anything fatal. She was also preggers, so we waited for her to have her babies to see if the problem would correct itself afterwards. We finally started talking about finding a local vet that sees chinchillas, but she didn’t make it. Luckily our other chin, Yeti, had recently also had a litter and took in Buttercups babies without incident. The poor girl is going to have her work cut out for her raising 5 babies with only two teats!

Well, that's about it at Asbury Farms for now. Your regularly scheduled happy posts will resume shortly. That is, until our baby rooster matures...

Homesteading Efforts

2010-04-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

Today the ladies over at Design*Sponge are running a little contest for their readers. You share with them your homesteading/urban farming endeavors or future plans for the chance to win Amy English's two new books Canning and Preserving and Keeping Chickens. The following is my entry for the contest.

A little over a year ago my boyfriend and I purchased a fixer upper in the Napa Valley. Up until this point I had been held back in my gardening ambitions by the fact that I was a renter with lots of roommates and a full time student at Sac State. I still however found/made the time to can my own marinara sauce, tomato soup, peach salsa, chutney's, jams, etc. made from produce that I had either grown myself or scavenged from others. It didn't always go without a hitch and there was a lot of improvisation as pots boiled over, timers went off and ingredients that I swore I had disappeared, but every time I put up a batch of some new homemade concoction I was rewarded with a sense of accomplishment and pride in carrying on tradition.

Now however, I am not so limited, I have a whole yard and house just waiting to produce more and more of our everyday food. Here are a few things we are looking forward to this year.

When we bought the house, Jeffry instantly decided that where there is a coop there must be chickens. Our four baby buff orpingtons arrived shortly thereafter. This year, Jeffry is experimenting with hatching his own chicks. This little baby was born just last week from a package of Trader Joe's fertilized eggs which Jeffry grew in a homemade incubator. I really hope it isn't a rooster.

This year we are also trying to grow more of our own plants from seeds instead of buying seedlings at the store. I am learning the ever important virtue of patience as I wait for them to be ready to go outside. Above are some sprouting plants that will hopefully produce okra for some home made gumbo this summer.

Since alot of our backyard is taken up by things like coops, patios and storage sheds we recently turned our front lawn into a garden space. Last night I planted these beds with turnips, garlic, onion and Asian cabbage around the edges. In a week or two our tomato seedlings will go in as well. My goal this year is to try to use every little bit of space to increase our growing potential, in this case, growing root crops around the tomatoes. We are growing about 7 different kinds of tomatoes this year in hopes of producing all our own pasta sauce, tomato soup and salsa for the year.

Hope you enjoyed this quick little tour of some of our future urban farming plans. I'm sure Jeffry would love it if I had a couple new books to distract me so that he could finally have some time to play his video games again!

Nemesis

2010-04-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Meet my new nemesis for the coming gardening season.

Yes my friends that is a cup of snails. I picked them up in about 60 seconds out in my front yard, and there were still plenty more sliding across the dirt in an attempt to escape my grasp. While I still feel too much pity for them to squish them outright, I have become totally immune to the grossness of picking up giant handfuls of them with my bare hands. They are then loving transported with great care to our chicken coop, where the massacre ensues. Oh yes dear friends, a massacre. The next morning I couldn't even find the plastic cup.

I am currently only using hand picking in my battle against the snails, but when the plants go in the ground in the front yard I may need to get more aggressive. I read an article recently by Organic Gardening on tips to keep slugs from eating your plants and I think many of the recommendations are still applicable to snails. I was suprised to learn that Sluggo isn't a poison in the traditional sense and so it perfectly acceptable for an organic garden. Another option is diatomaceous earth sprinkled around your plants which is the option that Jeff and I are going to try first. A little D.E. sprinkled in your chicken coop will also keep mites down, just make sure it's food grade (not D.E. intended for pools) because they will also eat it. A final option they list is the beer trap. Just fill a small bowl with beer and place it flush with the ground. Apparently slugs favorite is Bud. I tried guiness (it's all I had) and apparently snails don't like that because they didn't go near it! These are just a few of the tips, you can check out the full article here for the rest of their recommendations.

Pasta with Sage Browned Butter Sauce

2010-04-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

Picture from Something Extra Magazine

As I mentioned in my last post, vegetarian meals aren't generally my thing, but I have found yet another vegetarian dish that I can't help but recommend. I am also a little shocked by the original source of this recipe, Raley's free monthly magazine Something Extra. Don't get me wrong, I always enjoy thumbing through this little magazine each month, but a lot of its energies are generally spent on getting you to buy some specific products over sharing tantalizing recipes. This month however, as I sleepily flipped through its glossy colorful pages, I found a dish that is amazing both in its taste and its simplicity: Pasta with Sage Browned Butter Sauce on page 28.

I have read several places about browning butter, but it was a new experience for me and definitely not hard at all. Just stir it a bit so it doesn't burn. I put this dish together in under thirty minutes before Jeff and I ran out the door for Good Friday services (hence the lack of my own picture) and it kept us nice and full all evening. I recommend pairing it with a fresh spinach salad to add a healthy dose of veggies into the mix. Enjoy!

Oh, and did I mention this was super cheap?

Pasta with Sage Browned Butter Sauce
adapted from Raley's Something Extra

Ingredients

8 oz. spaghetti
1/2 cup of butter
1.5-2 cups of peeled and diced butternut squash
2 tbsp. of fresh sage
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 minced garlic cloves or 1 tbsp. of pre-minced garlic
shredded parmesan
2 small handfuls of toasted pine nuts

1) Cook the pasta according to packages instructions.

2) Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 tbsp. of butter. Add finely diced squash and cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes until soft. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

3) Add the remaining butter to the skillet and melt over medium heat. When the butter begins to foam, cook and stir for 2-3 minutes, just until it turns golden brown and smells nutty. Swirl or stir the pan several times to keep it from burning.

4) Remove the pan from heat and stir in the squash, sage, vinegar and garlic. Add pasta, toss well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

5) Serve immediately topped with toasted pine nuts and parmesan cheese.

Notes:

-This reheats really well in the microwave so make enough for leftover or you can make it ahead and pack it up if you’re going on a trip.

-Use the same seasonings used in this recipe to make a squash side dish. Just chop the butternut squash into large bite sized chunks, sauté in butter until soft and then add the vinegar, garlic and sage after you've turned off the heat. We had it this evening with fish and I got Jeff to actually say he enjoyed eating squash by itself now! Coming from him that's a major compliment!!

-One butternut squash can last for several meals, so plan to make something else out of your leftovers later in the week.

Book Review: Market Vegetarian

2010-04-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

I've often been told that I am a hard person to shop for. As a result, it is very rare for me to be too surprised by a gift because I always make sure to keep my Amazon list up to date for my friend’s sake. This last Christmas however, I was very surprised when my friend David showed up with a present for me that I had never mentioned, never heard of and certainly wasn't on any of my lists! It was a beautiful cook book called Market Vegetarian: Easy Organic Recipes for Every Occasion.

This book is by Australian chef Ross Dobson who is not a vegetarian. I think coming from that background, he has been able to craft recipes that, while they don't contain meet, are still mouth watering and fulfilling. Coming from a very carnivorous family, this is not something I usually encounter in vegetarian cooking. Another wonderful thing about many of his dishes is that you could easily add meat to many of them, or use them as a side dish to a fresh grilled lamb chop or marinated chicken breast. Lastly, the book tends to go for simple over elaborate (always nice), although he does use a decent amount of fresh herbs, so those could get pricy if you don't have an herb garden going. Being for every occasion, the book also has a good section of appetizers and desserts. Though, I think desserts are generally vegetarian anyways!

For those of you who don't like to try a recipe without seeing it first, this book will not disappoint. Every page is bedazzled with beautiful photography by Richard Jung that dares you make a trip to the farmers market. NOW.

So I encourage you to grab this book. Be sure to have post-it notes in hand when you sit down with it because if you're anything like me, it will only take you a few minutes to have this bad boy loaded down with bookmarks!

Burning Hearts

2010-03-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have been a fan of bleeding hearts for some time now and recently planted two outside of my bedroom window. While I love them, I now wish to rip them out viciously and plant Burning Hearts in their place! You can see a little post about them on Sunset's website here. In case you are feeling too lazy to follow that link, I stole their picture.

And who wouldn't love to say, "I have a bed filled with Burning Hearts outside my bedroom window." Oh my, how delightful. Mwahahahaha. If anyone sees these at a nursery near them, could you pick me up two?

Finished Raised Beds

2010-03-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

As of last night Jeffry and I have three completed raised beds filled up with dirt and connected to irrigation. We ordered the dirt on Sunday with a planned delivery of Monday afternoon. In our excitement to fill in our beds and get to planting, we didn't think about the fact that the weather forecast was calling for rain on Monday evening, Tuesday and Wednesday. Once we got home and realized our foolishness, we decided we'd just have to set straight to work the second we got home Monday to get the dirt into the beds before the rain. Even though the wheel barrow had a flat tire, Jeff managed to get the largest raised bed filled up during his lunch break. When I got home I grabbed a couple of five gallon buckets and shuttled dirt from the driveway to the beds while Jeff fixed the tire. It sprinkled on us a bit, and for a while I felt like Dorothy as the wind picked up speed. Luckily it only took us about an hour working together to get all the beds in the front yard and the wine barrels on the side of the house filled up. It made our pile small enough that we could cover it with a tarp and then we headed inside for some hot showers and a warm meal.

Getting dirt delivered in bulk is definitely the way to go. It cost us a little under a dollar for a cubic foot instead of $1.95 for 3/4 of a cubic foot at Wal-mart, and the place we ordered from was just up the street so there was no delivery cost. That cost difference is a big deal when you're ordering 100 cubic feet of dirt! We will be ordering some bark from the same place in the next couple of weeks to fill in around the raised beds.

Some good things to know before you go shopping for dirt: know exactly how much you need and take a calculator. I had calculated how much we needed in cubic feet, but they sold it by the cubic yard. Jeff and I felt quite silly when we were trying to figure out the math and originally thought that there were only nine cubic feet in one cubic yard and left because we thought the landscaping company was a rip off. Oh did I feel ridiculous in the car on the way home when I realized how wrong we had been. In case you are wondering, there are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard, not nine. Math is not my strong suit alright, but at least we got it all straightened out in the end. I felt extra silly though when we had to return to the place five minutes after we just drove off.

Easter Banner

2010-03-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Coming later this week I will fill you all in on the exciting construction projects and births that have been happening in our home for the last couple of days, but for now, I'd like to share a cute craft project with you. Since the window of decorating/prep time between St. Patrick's Day and Easter is only two weeks this year, I decided not to go overboard on trying to get the house decorated for Easter. By the time I purchased/made everything I'd need and put it up I'd be broke and then probably have to take it down the next day because the holiday was over. One of the few things I have purchased for decorating this year were these cute little bunny clips from Cost Plus for $2.99. That's all I spent on this project. Everything else was just stuff I had lying around the house. If you guys have any fun Easter craft ideas feel free to share.

Ingredients

1 sheet of Eastery colored construction paper

scissors

twine

magic markers, colored pencils or crayons

hot glue gun

2 push pins

mini bunny clothes pins

Cards:

1) Cut 8 rectangles that measure 3 inches by 4 inches out of the construction paper. Then trim the longer sides so that the rectangle becomes a parallelogram. Don't worry about being precise on your measurements, the differences is size/shape will just make it look quirky and fun.

2) Practice how you are going to write out Easter on a scrap sheet of paper. Once you like the way it looks, write out one letter on each piece of construction paper.

3) In different colors, add little decorations to the corners of the cards. I picked swirls and polka dots.

4) With your two remaining cards, draw an Easter related picture such as eggs, bunnies, etc. Clip these into your first and last spaces.

Garland:

1) Plug in your hot glue gun to let it start heating up.

2) Measure out 15 inches of twine before you start attaching your clothes pins. Starting at 15 inches, place them every three inches, attaching them with the hot glue gun. After you attach your last clothes pin, measure out another 15 inches and cut the twine.

3) Once the glue is completely cooled, tie a loop on each end of your garland, and attach to wall with push pins.

Notes:

-Instead of writing Easter our by hand, you could also do it with a printer and a cute font. My color cartridge is empty, otherwise I would have chosen that way.

-If you don't live near a Cost Plus, you could also use plain mini-clothes pins which are available at most craft stores.

-When writting the T in Easter, be warned that doing curly swirls on the top or bottom may turn you word to "Easfer" or "Easjer." Just add your swirlys to the bar of the t, instead of the body, to avoid the frustration of redoing your t three times.

Irish Lamb Stew

2010-03-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

Dear friends, we have come to the last day of Irish week and will resume regular posting come Monday. For my final post I've saved one of the main courses, traditional Irish stew. We also had corned beef and cabbage of course, but I can explain the makings of that in about 30 seconds. If you need it, give me a call. Irish stew, however, is more of an evening event that, while its not difficult, takes some time. For this recipe I chose to use lamb since it's the traditional choice and some of our friends don't eat beef. Beef is cheaper and more readily available, so feel free to substitute that if you like. I also think this recipe would be awesome with some herby or cheesy dumplings cooked on top!

Irish Lamb Stew

2 lbs. lamb shoulder
½ cup of flour
salt and pepper to taste
4 Tbsp. olive oil
2 bottle of Guinness Draught
2 cups of red wine
10 cups of beef stock
4 Tbsp. dried thyme
5 bay leaves
4 Tbsp. ketchup
6-7 medium sized red potatoes
6 large carrots, peeled
2 yellow onions, peeled
4 Tbsp. butter
2 large handfuls of chopped parsley

Chop lamb into bit sized pieces, removing any tough bits. In a bowl mix the flour, 1 Tbsp. of thyme and salt and pepper until well combined. Add the lamb to the flour mixture and stir to coat it. Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a large stock pot then add the meat. Cook the meat for several minutes on each side until all sides are nice and brown.

Once your meat is well browned, add the Guinness, red wine, beef stock, remaining thyme, bay leaves and ketchup to your pot. Stir well, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and place a lid on the pot. Let simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

While your pot is simmering, chop your potatoes and carrots into bite sized pieces, and finely chop the onion. In a separate pot from the meat, melt the butter on medium-high heat and add the potatoes, carrots and onion. Cook the veggies for about twenty minutes, stirring every few minutes. Try to time it so your veggies are done at the same time that your stew is done simmering (but remember its stew not rocket science, going a little over on the simmering time won’t hurt anything).

Once the veggies are done, add them to the stew pot. Simmer the ingredients together for another 20 minutes to combine the flavors. Ladle the stew into bowls and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

This dish is really better eaten the next day, so make this up the night before and just reheat before serving. If this is more stew than you think your family can eat, the recipe is easily cut in half, or freeze the extra portion to have as a quick dinner for another day. The original recipe I based this one on came from a beef Irish stew recipe from dianasaura dishes.

"Irish" Sweet Potato Bake

2010-03-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

We have a new guest blogger with us today!! The lovely Miss Helen from Vacaville kindly agreed to share a post with us about the delicious sweet potato bake she brought to the St. Patrick's Day party. Unfortunately, Helen had to leave before we all sat down to dinner, so she missed most of the guests asking who made the sweet potatoes, followed by, "Tell Helen her sweet potatoes are amazing!" This dish would also be great as a substitute for the traditional candied yams when the Holiday Season rolls back around.

It was my great pleasure to attend the completely delicious St Patty's day party held by my dear friends Jeff and Robin last Saturday. Given that it's a party, especially one given in honor of a dude who drove snakes out of Ireland a la Samuel L. Jackson, how can one not bring food?I decided from the get-go that I wanted to make something different. Something homey and delicious, but devoid of potatoes since I knew they'd be prevalent (this comment should not in any way be construed as "oh look at me, I don't eat potatoes" because that simply isn't true. In fact, I'm eating a potato right now. Raw). But I still wanted to maintain the ethnicity in some way, which meant that my typical dates-stuffed-with-goat-cheese appetizer (ooooh that's a post all its own!) was out. Eventually after googling Irish side dishes I stumbled upon a recipe for a Sweet Potato Bake. I know I'm not alone in saying "I LOVE sweet potatoes!!!"

You may be asking yourself "how are sweet potatoes Irish?" Well, dear reader .... they're not and I was just as baffled as you are as to what about them would make them Irish. Sweet potatoes themselves have their origins in South America, so my guess is that it's more about the preparation and less about the main ingredient; this recipe calls for butter, flour, heavy cream, milk, all ingredients that one may find in scalloped potatoes, which *may* have an origin in Ireland. That's my most educated guess.

Another neat little tidbit is that sweet potatoes are high in complex carbs, fiber, and loads of other goodies the translation of which is that they are extremely good for you. How good for you they are after drowning them in whipping cream and butter isn't important right now. The point is that the decision on what to bring was made, and delicious consequences ensued.

I found this recipe at littleshamrocks.com. More specifically here: http://www.littleshamrocks.com/Irish-Side-Dish-Recipes.html#IrishSweetPotatoBake

8 c. sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced very thin

6 tbsp. butter

1/2 c. flour

2 c. heavy cream

1 c. milk

1/2 c. brown sugar

Oven 350 F

Place potatoes in 3-4 quart casserole. In saucepan, melt butter, stir in brown sugar until dissolved. Stir in flour, then gradually add cream and milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat until thickened. Pour sauce over potatoes. Place casserole on a cookie sheet and cook covered at 350F for 1 hour. Remove cover and cook for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Yield: 12 servings

I was amazed at the amount of sweet potato it actually took to come to 8 cups; only two huge potatoes! I'd bought and peeled five just to be safe, so I had plenty of extra which I froze until such time as the world (or more importantly my sweet tooth) needs them. The preparation was remarkably and blissfully easy using the blade feature on my trusty food processor (I'm not a fan of chopping...I just don't have the knack!). It got the potatoes to the perfect width and took all of 15-20 minutes including the peeling and cutting pieces to fit through the portal, so I'd say this is definitely the way to go.

I followed the recipe exactly regarding the cream mixture and I would say that constant stirring is essential. There is an odd satisfaction with working with whipping cream since there is a moment when it is liquid, and then suddenly it isn't; the moment of "catch" as it were. I'd say immediately after boiling, it must be removed from heat and poured over the potatoes. I've only done this once, but the burn probability seemed extremely high. At first I was a little concerned since the cream mixture just sort of sat on top, but of course it was all for naught. As it baked, everything sunk in perfectly and away we went.

I had to run for a few hours, so I didn't get to see the initial reaction of the beloved masses as they sunk their teeth into the concoction, but I have it on good authority that it was well received :-) Oh, and it's great for leftovers. It doesn't need much heating up, and it's also pretty good cold!

Much love,

Helen

Easter Eggs

2010-03-24T13:50:00.001-07:00

I know I said this week would be about highlighting the fun foods I made for our Irish night, but I figured maybe I should throw in something about Easter, since that is a holiday you still have time to prepare for! I read an article today from Mother Earth News that I found very interesting about using natural plant dyes for your Easter Eggs that seems easy, fun and educational.

Eggs done with natural dyes.

Picture from MEN's website.

My mom never seemed too big a fan of doing Easter eggs. Perhaps the idea of trying to control the chaos that can ensue when you hand dye over to a couple of rambunctious prone to fighting kids wasn't her idea of a good time. I, however, love doing Easter eggs every year and even as a high schooler would sometimes do a little basket of them just for fun. I did experience a bit of the fear I imagine my mother felt last year when I dyed eggs with small children for the first time. Watching those little cups of dye teeter tottering on the table top as the parents tried to focus the little ones on gently dipping their eggs in them was...a bit scary to say the least. That's not to say I'm not looking forward to dipping a few eggs with the same family this year, I'll just be a bit more prepared for what's in store.

Like many mothers who hear the, "when I'm a mom I'll..." stories and chuckle with the knowledge of what motherhood is really like, I think the mother of the children mentioned above gets a kick out of many of my future child rearing schemes (cloth diapers being a prime example). This natural dye thing might be added to that list, but I think it sounds easy enough to replace the store bought dye sets. If you have a range of kid ages, it can also give the older kids something to contribute by letting them take the reigns/assist in the dye making process.

I could rewrite the basics of the Mother Earth News article, but honestly, theirs was pretty awesome. You should just follow this link and check it out for yourself. It teaches your how to easily make the three primary colors, then you can mix them from there (also educational). Enjoy!

Soda Bread

2010-03-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

When I saw that stew and corned beef were on the menu for our St. Patrick's Day festivities, I new right away that an Irish Soda Bread was in order. Then I got to thinking, if one soda bread is good, then two soda breads must be great! I did a quick search online and came up with a pretty basic herby soda bread recipe. For the second bread, I left out the herbs and added giant handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese. I think the cheesy one was a bit more popular, and beautiful, but next time I would opt for a sharper cheddar and perhaps a head of roasted garlic thrown in as well. Whatever you do to modify this bread with add ins, mix them with the dry ingredients before adding the buttermilk/oil. Also, my food processor did a decent job at mixing the dough, but eventually it just became too much for it. I simply kneaded the bread a bit longer to make sure the ingredients were all well combined.

Basic Soda Bread

Ingredients:

4 cups bread flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325°.

1)In your food processor or mixing bowl, combine 4 cups flour, the chopped herbs, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Mix for 1 minute. If you are adding any extra flavorings, add them now.

2)Whisk together the buttermilk and vegetable oil in a bowl. Gradually add the buttermilk mixture to the combined dry ingredients while mixing on low speed and continue to mix until the dough forms a ball, about 30 seconds.

3)Scrape the dough away from the sides of the food processor and turn the dough ball over. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds longer.

4)Transfer the dough ball to a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 2 minutes. Form the dough into a round loaf, pinching and twisting the bottom a bit to make the loaf taller. Place the loaf, pinched side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a nonstick silicone liner.

5)Whisk the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water, then lightly brush the mixture over the top of the loaf. Score the loaf by cutting a 1/4-inch deep "X" into the top.

6)Bake the loaf in the preheated 325° oven for 55 to 60 minutes. The bread is done when a hollow sound is heard when the bottom is tapped with your finger. Allow the bread to cool to room temperature before slicing.

Notes:

-For an Herby Bread add 1 heaping teaspoon of dried dill and thyme (one 1 heaping tablespoon of fresh) plus about four shakes of garlic powder. The original recipe also said to add an equal amount of tarragon, but I didn't have any on hand so I left it out.

-For a Cheesy Garlic Bread add about four giant handfuls of coarsely shredded cheddar cheese and one head of chopped roasted garlic. For roasting instructions check out this blog.

You can find the original recipe I used here.

Creamy Stuffed Strawberries

2010-03-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

I know this isn't the best pic, but I was literally holding a friend back from eating one at the time!

As I said in my last post, this weekend was filled with Irish goodness as we had a group of friends over for an evening of Guinness and savory foods from the Emerald Isle. While I’m not sure if stuffed strawberries are very Irish (hey I had made a loop hole for it by saying the savory foods were authentic), they are very delicious, so I threw them in with the appetizers. These are simple to make, impressive to look at and will quickly disappear once placed within reach of your guests. These would also make a great dessert for an at home romantic evening.

While I made up how to make these, the idea was not originally mine. An old friend of mine used to make a similar dish for potlucks and guarded the recipe with his life because he didn’t want anyone else to start bringing them. I had always respected his secrecy, until we stopped hanging out regularly and having said potlucks. One day I decided that I could probably guess the basic ingredients and gave it a go. Honestly, with these ingredients, it would be hard to make something that wasn’t to die for. Enjoy!

Stuffed Strawberries

Stuffing:
One 8 oz. package of cream cheese
¼ cup of powdered sugar
a few shakes of vanilla extract

several splashes of milk

2 small packages of strawberries
½ cup of chocolate chips, or dipping chocolate

1) Wash strawberries and remove their tops and the white insides. Make sure strawberries are completely dry before moving forward.

2) Use a hand mixer to combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Add the milk a splash at a time until the mixture is completely smooth and just thin enough to squeeze easily through a piping bag. It should be similar to a thick frosting.

3) Use a piping bag or make your own out of a Ziploc bag to fill each strawberry with the stuffing.
4) Melt the chocolate either by following the instructions on the bag (if it’s melting chocolate) or using a double boiler.

5) Either dip stuffed strawberries in chocolate and place on wax paper to dry or use the piping bag method again to do some swirls of chocolate on one side of each strawberry. The second method is quicker and less messy, but it’s really a matter of personal preference and time.

6) Refrigerate the strawberries for half an hour to make sure the chocolate sets.

Notes:

-I bought three packages of strawberries and picked out the bigger ones and had about one package left over of smaller ones. They became part of a fresh fruit salad the next day.

-If you don't have a double boiler, fill a small pot a couple of inches with water and place a glass measuring cup with your chocolate in the pot. Presto! A homemade double boiler. Just be very careful not to get any water in with your chocolate.

Easy Roast Chicken

2010-03-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, while I am preparing for a Saturday filled with lots of homemade Irish foods (which will all appear here next week), I wanted to share a new recipe I've found with you. Lately I've been cooking a lot more with bone-in chicken, as opposed to breast, and I'm always on the look out for a new easy recipe to try. This chicken recipe from David Lebovitz's blog would make a great addition to your reliable standby collection, perfect for both a casual mid-week dinner or for company. Although the baking time takes a little while, the prep is very simple. All you have to do is chop a few shallots and measure a few liquids and you're done; the oven does the rest! To make a simple meal you can also chop up some potatoes and roast them at the same time as the chicken.

I went ahead and made this recipe for Jeff and I and ended up with enough for two meals. I reheated it in the oven adding a dash of oil, vinegar and soy sauce to keep it moist and it was even better the second day.

Have a great weekend and happy cooking!

Roast Chicken with Caramelized Shallots
Serves 4 to 6

Adapted from French Farmhouse Cookbook (Workman) by Susan Herrmann Loomis
I use a whole chicken cut into eight pieces; two legs, two thighs, and I cut each breast piece in half, crosswise, keeping the wings attached. You could also just use eight of your favorite chicken pieces.

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 large shallots, peeled and minced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
One whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
generous handful of coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC).

2. In a large baking dish, one which will hold all the chicken pieces in a single layer, mix the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, shallots, and some salt and pepper.

3. Toss the chicken in the mixture, so they're completely coated with the shallots. Turn the chicken pieces so they are all skin side up.

4. Roast the chicken for about twenty minutes, until it starts to brown on top. Turn the pieces of chicken over. Scrape any juices and shallots over the chicken that may be clinging to the pan, and bake for another twenty minutes, or until the pieces of chicken are cooked through and the shallots are well-caramelized.

5. Remove from oven and toss in the chopped parsley, then serve.

Irish Bloom Day

2010-03-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know it's the day after St. Patrick's Day, but I meant to post this yesterday so please, indulge me.

I would like to take a moment to share with you why I think holidays are so important, before we get to the pretty flower photos. I think that holidays, no matter how silly or commercial, serve to create a sense of community. When you see everyone wandering around wearing green on the same day, eating "traditional" Irish foods, drinking Guinness, etc. it makes you feel a sense of connection to the people around you even if you don't know them. In celebrating a holiday together you have one day when you can't help but recognize cultural connection with the strangers around you.

In addition, holidays give us a way to mark the year. There is always something to look forward to in the coming months as we think of the family gatherings, bbq's, church services, special foods and decorations that will be filling our lives with color and unique memories that we will treasure for the rest of our lives. For me, in addition to being an excuse to get together with friends who would normally never tolerate my love of Celtic music, St. Patrick's Day is when Spring begins (did you know that traditionally you are supposed to plant your peas on St. Patty's Day). It's a day when the world is filled with bright green after the long grey of winter. In celebration of this, I took some snapshots of the pretty flowers that woke up in time to say hello to St. Patrick.

New Note Cards

2010-03-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

While strolling the aisles at Michael's today in search of some marked down St. Patties Day decorations I stumbled upon some awesome new note cards. I have never been good at remembering to send thank you cards, but I often feel that if I have the note cards I might actually remember to send them. This plan hasn't worked so far, but I still couldn't resist putting these guys in my cart.

A Robin's Nest! Seriously how could I pass that up?! Oh and the sly fox, well that's just sassy, and we could all use a little of that now and again. Perhaps I will use these to start sending random notes of appreciation to people in my life. I know most of us would love to get a little old fashion correspondence in our mail box.

Rediscovering Old Friends

2010-03-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend, before I was struck with the plague, I rediscovered two things that had gotten lost in the weeds of our back corner garden. For Jeff's mother's sake, I will begin with the one that relates to turtles.

Last year, as summer was coming to an end, Jeffry decided to let his turtle Ichiban (which he and his mother have cared for since Jeff was a teen) roam the yard and soak up the last rays of the season. Ichiban however, decided that she did not wish to spend her winter in her terrarium, and would rather bury herself somewhere in our yard and wait for spring there. Being a stubborn and trixy little turtle she eluded all our attempts to find her, but I often worried when I had need to dig in the yard or mow the grass that she might come to an untimely ending. Had I not been more observant, she might have meet this end on Saturday as I was hacking, yanking and digging the weeds out of our corner garden. Luckily she caught my eye as she gazed out at me from the overgrown patch of mint which, until very recently, existed in the garden. Jeffry's mother will be happy to know that Ichiban is now safely returned to her cage.

The second thing that was reclaimed from the wilds was the garden itself! Over the winter the little garden patch in our backyard had become quite overgrown and was in desperate need of some TLC. Unfortunately I was in full on yard work mode when I started so I forgot to take a before picture, but it looked something like this:

This photo doesn't really do it justice, but just take my word that it was bad. Very bad. I had to reset several of the boards that hold the dirt in and the rock out, and i discovered several potato plants and green onions that had weathered the winter and were starting to grow again. I think the happiest part was getting rid of the giant mint patch that Jeffry had, until now, refused to let me get pull out. I will be planting a pot full of lovely not overgrown mint to make it up to him, and the chickens thought it was Christmas when I gave them all the weeds and creepy crawlies I had harvested.

As soon as we recover from the plague this patch will be planted with some onion sets, peas and (when the weather warms up a bit more) soy beans.

Recent Sproutings

2010-03-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

I can only assume that Blanket was sleeping too soundly one day when a pea thief snuck into the house and plucked the seeds I'd planted before they even had the chance to sprout. The only other possibility is that many of my pea seeds were no longer viable. I think the former seems more likely. Aside from my rather dismal pea sproutage, many of our other planties are growing quite well. I took a few snapshots of their progress.

(so many empty pea spots)

(Borage upfront, with Rutger Tomatoes behind it) (Okra)

I will be trying another round of peas shortly along with several other kinds of tomatoes such as Amish Paste, Golden Jubilee, Purple Russian (sounds like a drink), German Lunch box and Tomatillo (mmm green salsa). Yes my friends I think this summer will be the Summer of the Tomato at our house. I expect several long canning days are ahead of us as we make our own salsas, pasta sauces and soups. If you have any good recipes I'd love to hear them!

We also need to start a round of pepper seedlings such as the traditional Bell Pepper, Jalapenos and Anaheim. In the bean department we are going to try to grow some of our own for drying this year with Scarlet Emperor and Rattlesnake Pole (honestly I picked it for its name) as our two options. Mom will be growing most of our squash seedlings, but we'll be starting some Cocozella di Napoli and the prehistoric looking Australian Butter Squash which grows up to 15 lbs!

Raised Beds Part I

2010-03-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, Jeffry and I plan to turn our front yard into edible garden space this spring. Since Fall I've been dreaming up different configurations and ways of setting up our garden, wanting something that was both pleasing to look at and functional. Finally we settled on "The Perfect Raised Bed" plans which are available on Sunset's website. I like that they are low profile, made out of lovely redwood and have built-in removable row covers to keep out the large number of wild birds which like to call our little plot home (how our neighborhood has both millions of stray cats and millions of wild birds I still haven't figured out). Hopefully we can find alternatives to using the row covers since they aren't very attractive, but its nice to have the option.

Another fear of mine was that having big rectangular boxes in our front yard would look harsh. I think having them only be 1 foot instead of 2 feet tall combats this somewhat. In addition, I have decided to scatter some wild flower seeds on the ground sort of willy nilly next to the raised beds. I am also thinking of getting either mint or thyme ground cover to plant next to them. I think adding a little wild unplanned feel to them will help soften their impact on the yard. The flowers will also help attract beneficial insects to the garden. I'm not sure how well all of this will work in actual application but hey, wild flower seeds are cheap and the experiences that experimentation brings are priceless.

After spreading a bit of time in the front yard with some wooden dowels and some bright orange surveying tape (that yes went right back into the emergency kit) I decided that we could fit three raised beds on the left side of our yard. They're measurements will be 8' x 4', 7' x 4' and 6' x 4' with the longest one being up by the house and the smallest by the street. I decided to make them progressively smaller to fit in with the meandering path we have doing down the middle of our yard.

It only took us two weeks or so to get around to it (first Jeffry had to sand one side of all the boards to get rid of some unexplained stains), but we finally have the first one built. It still needs to sit for a week or so before we seal the outside of it because we happened to get some of the freshest wood in the world and it needs to dry out a bit first. I did give us an excuse to clean out the garage though because we have to store this big sucker in there while we continue to make two more! I'll post more updates as our little construction project progresses. Thanks Jeffry for working so hard to indulging all my crazy projects!

*UPDATE: Since I wrote this post earlier today another raised bed has been constructed! Jeffry and I were apparently full of energy this evening and decided to bust out another raised bed after dinner. We had two drills this time so things went alot faster since we didn't have to keep changing from a drill bit to a screw driver head. The above picture is of the 7' x 4' bed we just finished building.

Strawberry Patch

2010-03-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I got out Saturday morning (ok it was really the afternoon) and finally accomplished some of the planting/building we've been meaning to get around to for the last several weeks. In our defense, it has been quite rainy, and it's dark by the time either of us get home at night, so I don't feel too guilty for enjoying a bit of winter "laziness" lately.

One project I am glad to finally have in the ground and establishing roots is my strawberry patch. A while back I read about a garden designer who likes to line walk ways with strawberries. I thought this would be a great idea for the meandering path that leads from the sidewalk to our front door. My gaze quickly turned however, to the two large built-in planters we have at the end of our front yard. Our yard is raised several feet higher than the sidewalk so it's flat instead of having a gentle slope from the sidewalk to the house. This is great for our plans to have a front yard garden, and resulted in two large planters being created by the retaining wall. This unused weed infested sun drenched location seemed to me to be the perfect place for an even bigger strawberry patch then we had originally envisioned along the walk way!

A few weeks ago we bought a very healthy flat (about 32 plants) of Quinault strawberries from our local nursery for a very reasonable $2.75 per six pack. I had toyed with the idea of buying bare root strawberries since they are even cheaper, but the only local place to find them was at Wal-Mart, and I don't have a lot of faith that their nursery department has properly cared for them. Bare root strawberries are also said to have a higher fail rate than regular strawberry packs, so I figured the initial money savings would probably even out in the end.

I chose to go with Quinualt out of the millions of available strawberry varieties for several reasons. One, they are said to be one of the most disease resistant strawberry varieties available. Two, they have very large fruit and flavor. And third, they are an everbearing variety. I had originally thought of planting two varieties, one june-bearing (determinate) and one everybearing (in-determinant), but ultimately decided given my uses for strawberries that I would be better suited by one that bears fruit all summer. If you like to make a lot of strawberry jam, then a june-bearing variety would be a better choice for you. (A little secret: I don't really eat jam, I just love to make it so I end up with tons of cans that I have to find creative uses for!)

Now all I have left to do is pick a mulch for the area and I will be on my way to a summer filled with sweet homegrown strawberries!! Oh and um, maybe I should weed the front "yard" while I'm at it...

Notes:
If you plan on growing a strawberry patch of your own, do not plant it where you grew tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant or okra the year before. These plants all can carry Verticillium Rot which can infect your strawberries.

Granola Round II

2010-02-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

I took another stab at granola making the other night and I think this batch is by far superior to the first (although Jeff's shock and exclamation about how much better this one was made me question how much he actually liked the first batch). Not only did I not burn it, but I changed up a few of the ingredients or modified the amount of them. This granola was not sticky at all like the first batch. Enjoy!

Georgia Peach Granola

1/2 cup canned peaches liquefied in blender (use a little of the syrup too)

1/4 cup honey

splash of no sugar added banana syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. walnut oil

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cardamom

2.5 cups of rolled oats
1 cup chopped almonds
2 cups chopped walnuts

dash of salt

3/4 cup chopped dried apricots

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1.) Preheat oven to 300, and mix all ingredients in the first group listed above in a blender until liquefied and well mixed.

2.) In a separate bowl, mix together all the ingredients in the second group listed above. Then add the wet ingredients to the bowl and stir until the granola is evenly coated.

3.) Spread mixture onto two cookie sheets and place them on the rack/racks (depending on the size of your sheets and oven) farthest from the heat source in your oven. Bake for 20 minutes stirring three times.

4.) If you are using two racks, rotate the racks and cook for 10 more minutes stirring twice (you will still cook for 10 more minutes even if using only one oven rack).

5.) Remove from the oven once your granola is nice and golden brown. Immediately pour the granola into a large bowl and add the chopped fruit. Allow it to cool completely before placing it in an air tight container.

Seed Sharing Part II

2010-02-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well we might be starting a bit early, but this warm sunshine has inspired the Man and I to start a few seedling trays. Since we would like to try and organize some "Seedling Swaps" this year, we made sure to plant quite a bit more than we actually needed for ourselves. If the Seed Swaps end up not really being that sucessful, I'm sure we can always throw some of them together as presents or maybe even sell them on craigslist. Hey, there's a way to get out of looking for a real job....

(Blanket guarding the seedlings while we're away)

Anyways. Last night Jeffry planted some Rutgers and Mortgage Lifter tomatos, some spinach and made plans to grow large amounts of basil (pesto anyone?). After letting the seeds soak over night, I planted two different types of regular peas, 2 types of snow peas, mustard, Kale and borage (mostly as a chicken treat). I am going to have A LOT of peas this year so I will definitly have plenty to share. I have never sucessfully grown pea plants, but they are the closest thing to instant gratification you get in gardening since they germinate in a matter of days! I have a bit of a war going on with the pea world. I've tried every year since I began my gardening fixation to grow a big healthy pea vine only to never have them grown more than a couple inches tall. One of these years I'll get it right, and I'll be able to plop down on the cool grass with handfuls of freshly picked pea pods, feasting to my hearts content (imagine a child with a plate of cupcakes).

Aside from sharing my excitement over the first seedlings of the year, I wanted to take this opportunity to touch base again with anyone interested in doing the seedling exchange this year. If you still are, and you have a clearer idea of what you wish to contribute, or what you wish someone else would contribute, leave a comment here. Don't forget to pass this on to anyone else in the sacramento area you think might be interested in participating. I envision it working like a cookie party where you get to take as much as you bring, and any leftovers are up for grabs. Of course if anyone has any other ideas feel free to share them. Nothing is written in stone.

This would also be a good time for anyone with seed starting tips to leave a comment and share your secrets!

If you happen to be terrible at starting seeds or for some reason really just detest it, but would like to participate, try to think of something else you could provide at a seed swap. Perhaps some food since I would also like to make this a casual time for us gardeners to get together. Now get outside and enjoy the warm weather!

Gut-Loaded Nachos or Lacking in Restraint

2010-02-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I saw a post about making nachos for dinner as a quick, affordable and not too terrible for you meal. Her nachos were pretty, but a little scant on toppings so I thought I'd spice it up a bit. This is why I have trouble making affordable good for you food.

Her's

and mine...

Alright so this version was affordable for us because we had most of the ingredients on hand from Superbowl leftovers. If you happen to find yourself with an over abundance of vibrantly colored Mexican food ingredients, perhaps you are in need of a nacho night as well.

Gut-Loaded Nachos

Ingredients
avocado
onion (any type)
Roma tomato
jalapeño
chicken breasts
shredded Mexican cheese

Red Bell Pepper

sour cream
salsa
chips

olive oil
cumin
chili pepper
garlic powder
salt and pepper

1.) Marinate chicken breasts in a heavy dose of chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder and olive oil.
2.) Chop all veggie into small chunks. To gage the amount to cut up, plan on a generous handful of each item for each person eating. That goes for the chicken breasts as well.
3.) Cook chicken breast either on the stove top or on a George Foreman grill until no longer pink inside. Allow to cool slightly, then cut into small pieces.
4.)Place the desired amount of chips on each plate, then sprinkle the veggies and chicken over the top. End with cheese.
5.) Place plates in the oven on high just until cheese melts. Remove from oven (don’t forget to wear mitts) and spoon the desired amount of salsa and sour cream on top of each plate.
6.) Consume with a beer and reckless abandon in front of the TV!

Notes
-This meal would also work great with ground turkey/beef. Just leave out the olive oil.
-To make this an extra quick evening meal you can cook the meat in advance and then just assemble the meal at night.
-Store bags of unfinished tortilla chips in the freezer to keep them from going stale.

Some Like It Dirty

2010-02-11T13:17:00.000-08:00

I was ordered to do a new post by one of my adoring fans who also happens to be bored at work today. Luckily, I had snapped a photo of this little beauty late last night while catching up on the first Lost episode.

I discovered the tastiness of Kalamata Martinis one desperate evening when I realized I was out of olive juice but already had the vodka on ice in my cocktail shaker. What was I to do but reach for the kalamata olive and say c'est la vie! The result was a festively pink martini perfect for the soon to be upon us Valentines Day. With everyone still in recession mode this year, why not mix a few of these up and enjoy a romantic evening at home this February 14th?

Now I like it dirty so there is no vermouth in my "recipe." Feel free to coat your glass in vermouth and pour out the extra if you like yours, um, clean?

Pink Greek

(I made this name up myself. Delightful.)

Ingredients

2 shots of good vodka or gin (personally I recommend Finlandia vodka)

a health splash of kalamata olive juice

2-3 kalamata olives

1. Add the juice and vodka to a cocktail shaker that is half full of ice.

2. Shake vigorously for 30-45 seconds.

3. Pour into chilled martini glass, the drink should appear cloudy.

4. Garnish with olives and enjoy.

Daffodils

2010-02-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

I love when daffodils come in. I never plant any spring bulbs myself because I've always felt its weird to plant something that blooms for so little time. Daffodils, however, are one little flower I do love, and I get very excited when they start popping up at my local grocery store.

I love their shape before they open. Knowing that under that tan papery skin lies a beautiful bright flower just waiting to break out. All they need is a glass of water to rest in and 24 hours later they burst open in a riot of canary yellow. Their petals remind me of scenes from Alice in Wonderland, nature's tea cups just waiting to be plucked and sipped from, or trumpets that I can only imagine play the clearest and tearfully beautiful tune.

I know as a partially employed recent graduate I shouldn't spend $7.00 on some cut flowers whose beauty is oh so temporary, but every morning when I wake up I see these happy little flowers waiting for me on my bed stand and I can't help but think, today is going to be good.

5 Minute Ice Cream

2010-01-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I have always enjoyed running down to the local $1 a scoop ice cream place in our town after dinner, but now that we are eating dinner together almost every night instead of just on the weekends, I've been looking for easy and less guilty desserts for us to enjoy.

I found this recipe a few weeks ago on Dianasaura Dishes and thought it sounded perfect for our situation. In a matter of minutes you can have soft-servesk ice cream, minus the cream, sugar and hours other recipes require!

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients

3 bananas

+/- half a cup of milk

1) Peel and chop your banana's into small pieces. Then, freeze them.

2) When your ready to make your ice cream, simply throw the frozen banana pieces into the food processor along with 1/4 cup of milk and whirl. Continue to whirl and add milk until your bananas reach a creamy soft serve consistency. Hold onto your food processor while doing this step.

3) Either eat now or return to the freezer until firm if you want hard ice cream.

Alterations

The above was the original recipe I used, but as you can imagine, this recipe is very open to changes. For example:

-add a small amount of nuts and chocolate chips for added sweetness. We had a couple nut clusters lying around so we threw those in.
-substitute a different fruit for one of the bananas. We tried half a mango we had from breakfast and we substituted the regular milk for light coconut milk which we had left over from a curry the night before. The result was a refreshingly tropical ice cream!

There are some other additions I haven't tried yet but plan to are: strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, raspberries or a spoonful of jam! I'd be careful with how many berries you add simply because their water content is so much higher. You should be fine as long as you adjust the amount of milk you put in. If you happen to have some nilla wafers lying around, that could be tasty to add as well. Even if you do an add in like a little chocolate or a cookie, it's still better for you that the double chocolate marshmallow caramel crunch style ice creams you'd get at the store. Feel free to comment if you have any other recommendations.

A Note of Caution

*I know all of you would be wise enough to not freeze your fruit in one giant mass. If you did, your food processor would have to tackle a large hard frozen ball which would be pushing the limit of its powers. If you try and make it chop up said frozen ball of fruit, you might think for a moment that you have broken your beloved food processor, and you will start coming up with excuses that you will tell your boyfriend about how the food processor was really broken, that have nothing to do with your lack of forethought. I know you won't make this mistake, but just in case, you have been warned.

Mish Mash

2010-01-25T13:34:00.001-08:00

Hello friends, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend that was either productive, relaxing or a little bit of both! That last one is definitely the weekend I had. On Saturday Jeff and I repainted what is soon to be my office/hobby room/guest bedroom. It is now a blank slate for me to decorate! I'm torn between doing a Moorish look with lots of bright Mosaic tile type colors or giving it a quiet relaxing New England feel (like in Practical Magic). I'm leaning towards the first one as I feel a big splash of color could be fun. A lot will depend on what color the sleeper sofa I eventually buy is. I would like one that transforms into a full size mattress and is around $300. If you see anything send me an email!

The rest of my weekend was pretty relaxing. I bought a new pair of chucks that were only $12! I'm bit embarrassed to admit this, but I already have four pairs of chucks and i only bought these because they are in the same colors as this blog. Oh, and my mother told me to. I couldn't be a disobedient child now could I?

On Sunday one of my dearest friends came over and we enjoyed a great afternoon filled with food, mimosas and facials. I definitely want to recommend the Cornish game hen recipe I used along with the blog it came from. I have prepared this recipe twice now and it's both very easy and tasty. It is one of those main courses that looks a lot more impressive than its preparation is. As for the blog, Dianasaur Dishes focuses on making good low cost meals. I have made several of her dishes now and have been quite pleased with the results. I am also trying to practice her recommendation of taking a moment to think of food presentation when I'm at home. I've been practicing on our breakfasts and have found I really enjoy adding another layer of creativity to my cooking.

Lastly, I want to recommend a blog for my friends who have no yard. Life on the Balcony is a popular site that covers all the different types of plants you can grow on a patio or in an apartment. Even if you just grow a little herb garden and a few tomatoes it can save a decent amount of money and make your cooking more fun!

Granola Goodness

2010-01-21T12:43:00.001-08:00

You may not know this, but I am a granola addict. The only thing that keeps me under control is the fact that the granolas I like are six bucks a bag! I don't want chocolate chunks or tons of sugary sweetness in my granola, just crunchy nuts, some oats and dried fruit. My favorite is BareNaked's banana granola, but alas, it is in the six bucks a bag category. This would be fine if I only nibbled on it occasionally but the addict within me wouldn't allow it.

Recently I've seen several posts on various blogs about making your own granola, and then when I saw the movie It's Complicated last weekend there was yet another reference to it. I had never considered making my own granola before. I always assumed it must be some magical process that takes years to master. How else could something so delicious be made?

I took all these references as a sign however, and after going over several recipes decided to strike out on my own and give it a try. Since this project was about saving money I used a lot of ingredients I had lying around the house. I look forward to trying some other variation soon (perhaps a banana heavy variation), which won't be long considering the fact that this batch is almost gone!!! I will learn to pace myself. I will learn to pace myself. I will learn to....

Pantry Granola

ingredients:

1.5 cups steele cut oats

1 cup chopped almonds

1.5 cups chopped walnuts

.5 cups whole peanuts

couple dashes of salt

.5 cup of cooked apples pured
.25 cups of honey

3 Tbsp. walnut oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

a splash of no sugar added banana syrup (very optional)

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

.75 cups of dried apricots quartered

.75 cups of dried cranberries

directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the oats and nuts. I had steele cut oats on hand, but most recipes call for rolled oats.

2. Place all remaining ingredients in a blender and whirl until smooth. Pour over the dry ingredients stirring well.

3. Spread the granola out thinly on two baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes stirring twice. Then, if you are having to use two oven racks, rotate the sheets so the top sheet is now on the bottom. Bake for an additional 20 minutes stirring twice.

4. Remove the granola from oven and allow to cool slightly before pouring into a large bowl along with the dried fruit. Once the granola has completely cooled you can store it in an air tight container for up to a month.

Some Notes:

I love the taste of this granola, even though I burnt mine slightly, but don't expect the liquid ingredients to smell good in the blender. I cook with my nose so I almost threw it out but either out of laziness or a sense of adventure I decided to give it a try. Once it starts baking though it smells like happiness and hugs!

Also, if you like a very dry granola this one might not appeal to you. It has a slight stickiness that causes me to eat it with a spoon (I'm often typing while eating so sticky fingers just won't do). I think next time I'll go a little lighter on the liquid and see if that helps.

Lastly, if you love granola but don't have some of the liquid ingredients that I used on hand, just do a search for granola recipes. There are a ton of variations on the liquid, most of which don't call for the apples for example. Since I have apple trees I happened to have canned apples, but if you are missing some of the ingredients you can probably find another recipe that calls for stuff you have on hand.

Here are the two recipes I looked at to make mine:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2009/10/granola_recipe.html

http://tigressinajam.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-favorite-granola.html

The Dutch Oven's Madien Voyage

2010-01-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

You know when you spend days, weeks, months or years pinning for something but for one reason or another (usually price or availability) you are unable to have it. Then one magical day, you are given one as a gift and the wait is over and you wonder, "was this really as awesome as I thought it would be?" If it was a 6.5 quart red dutch oven you were pinning for then the answer is YES!!!!!!!

For the last year or so I have wanted one of these versatile pots, but unfortunately they are quite expensive and I just couldn't justify it nor risk it getting injured by roommates if I did splurge. Now however, I am roommate free and this little Christmas miracle ended up under my tree.

Mr. Red and I had our maiden voyage together last night making Grandmother's Chicken from Sunset. I did do a couple of changes so feel free to check out the original recipe. I did some substitutions for stuff I had on hand. It was the perfect meal for a blustery winter evening, and with this pot clean up was a snap. All I had to do was wipe out this one pot! I definitely recommend this recipe if you need a surefire hit. Jeffry not only went back for seconds but thirds as well!

Poulet Grandmere

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

6 Chicken Drum Sticks

1 tsp. of Salt

1 tsp. of Pepper

1 white or yellow onion chopped coarsely

6 whole garlic cloves peeled

2 sprigs of thyme

2 inch sprig of rosemary

1 pound of fingerling potatoes halved

3 slices of thick cut bacon cut crosswise into 1/4 inch wide pieces

1 pound of cremini or button mushrooms cleaned and quartered

2 cups turkey broth

Directions:

1) Heat the olive oil in the pan. Season the Chicken pieces with the salt and pepper and fry until the skin is crisp and deeply brown. Remove from oil and set aside.

2) Pour off all but 2 tbsp. of the cooking oil and reduce to medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, then add the potatoes and bacon. Stir occasionally until mixture is well browned, about 10 minutes. Pour off all but a thin layer of fat.

3) Add mushrooms and turkey stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Cook until the liquid is reduced by 1/4. Then arrange chicken skin side up on top of the vegetables.

4) Transfer the pot to the oven and bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Notes:

- I definitely recommend a sweet white wine with this meal. I had a Riesling with it and it was sooo tasty.

-On step 2 the bacon never truly seemed to brown, but don't worry, it won't be goopy when it's all done.

-Don't skimp on the mushrooms. An equal amount of mushrooms to potatoes may seem like a lot, but they will shrink up.

-Don't reduce the liquid any more than 1/4. A LOT of the liquid will be gone after you pull it out of the oven and you want some of that to pour over your veggies and chicken.

-I used drumsticks because it's what I had on hand, but feel free to use any bone in chicken meat.

Perfectly Organized

2010-01-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

In preparation for buying this springs seeds, I decided I needed to take stock of our current collection. I knew we'd have some duplicates since Jeff and I had separate garden's last year and I both wanted to take stock of those, so we didn't buy yet another duplicate, and see what we had used up. Now, some might think my organization is a bit over the top, but I am very excited about it. I decided to make a chart listing all our seeds ,and following Jeff's recommendation and tutelage, I created an Excel spreadsheet to do the job.

After going on a search for wayward and forgotten seeds and logging them into my chart I discovered that we have 56 packages of seeds. Of those, 4 of them are chives. Who buys four packages of chives? We also have way more types of spinach, lettuce and carrots than I realized, but at least those are of different species and are planted multiple times throughout the year. I now have my seeds organized by their overall type (ex. Carrot), their specific species (ex. Scarlet Nantes), the type of crop they are (ex. Root), their planting times and then a general notes section for each packet. Being so organized is...delightful. Now when I go to the seed store I can just print up my chart and take it with me.

In addition, I sorted all the seeds alphabetically into a binder. This binder has a divider which separates it in half. I sorted all my edible plant seed in the first half, and the ornamentals in the second half. Oh yeah, you know you're jealous!

A Room of One's Own

2010-01-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I cleaned out shed #2 at our house which is now officially a room for Robin. It has a window, a long counter space, running water, electricity and lots of shelves; which means it has everything I need to function as as a potting bench, bouquet assembly station, garden tool storage center, seed starting station and peaceful get away. Basically the room, which I'm considering naming Robin's Nest, will be the organization hub of all my outdoor activities. My favorite rose bush also happens to be sitting right outside the door (If it was flowering right now you'd understand why).

The shed is currently a bit, well, Shed-Like. Perhaps I have read too many remodeling articles on Sunset, and have thus set my expectations a bit too high, but I would like to make the space a bit prettier while not sacrificing it's functionality. Perhaps somewhere between Sunset's ideas and Jeff's response of, "It's fine. It's just a shed." This coming weekend my mom will be visiting and I intend to pick her brain on how I can fix a few of its flaws. For example, I believe they used regular tape to tape the drywall corners and it is now peeling up along with the plaster they put over it. The main plan is a fresh coat of paint on the walls and cabinets (after fixing the peeling tape of course), some gently wafting curtains, replacing the particle board shelves with plywood, and perhaps doing something about the old peeling floor. How hard can it be to lay some lino?

For now however, the shed is de-spidered, clean and organized which is good enough. If you have any ideas or recommendations (I get really intimidated by picking out paint colors) feel free to chip in your two cents.

Irish Cream Cookies

2010-01-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

Just incase you haven't had enough sweets over the last month, or if you are looking to reward yourself for doing good on your New Years resolutions, I've procured a cookie post for you all. This also looks like a great one to keep in mind for St. Patty's Day which is only a few short months away. Thanks for the post mom!

Our church was having a Sunday evening meeting for one of our members to report on a short term mission trip to Ireland. Since good Christians can never seem to get together without food being involved (See Acts 2:46) we decided to have cookies and ice cream. I was one of the women who were asked to make “themed” cookies for the occasion. OK, when I think of Ireland the first thing that comes to my mind is Bailey’s Irish Cream. Since chocolate chip cookies are my favorite cookie, the following recipe was perfect. They are delicious (especially warm from the oven) and were a hit at the meeting. I actually use Carolanns Irish Cream which I like better than Baileys (and is about 40% cheaper) but the added flavor of Irish Cream to a basic chocolate chip cookie is amazing. So grab a few warm cookies and enjoy the cold, foggy weather.

IRISH CREAM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

½ c butter
½ c granulated sugar
½ c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ c Irish Cream
2 ¼ c flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 (6 ounce) pkg chocolate chips
¾ c coconut
½ c chopped pecans

Cream butter, sugars and egg until fluffy. Add vanilla and Irish Cream. Mix dry ingredients and blend into creamed mixture. Add coconut, nuts and chips. Drop onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 374 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

The New Year

2010-01-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years everyone! I trust you all had a fun and safe time while celebrating. Although I've never been one to make New Years resolutions, the beginning of the year is a good time to take stock of different projects or goals I wish to accomplish in the next 12 months. Here is my list for garden/home related projects for this coming year. I have no doubt that more will be added, and a few dropped, before the year is out.

1) Install front yard garden
-building raised beds
-planting strawberry patches in front planters
-picking a cover for the ground instead of grass, perhaps bark
2) Practice the art of worm composting
3) Clean up out building #2 for use as canned goods storage and seed starting center
4) Finish decorating and weather stripping the hookah room
5) Research and install a rain barrel if possible
6) Replace the section of privacy fence that blew down in the last big storm
-This includes learning how to build a fence
7) Rebuild chicken coop roof, perhaps with a living roof
8) Rehab the poor overgrown corner garden
9) Turn the old metal bath tub into a pond (Jeff’s pet project)
10) Build bench seating around the second back patio
11) Battle the snails for dominance in the front yard
12) Find a local shelter or food bank that accepts fresh produce
13) Start a food and seedling swap group with other gardeners I know

Body Scrub

2010-01-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

Now that I am no longer a student receiving financial aid, I am taking the idea of saving money to heart even more than usual. In addition, I have had some spare time to look into homemade beauty products. Being on a rather small income doesn't mean that you have to forgo all of life's little comforts, it just means you have to be a bit more creative about it. One that is particularly easy in the area of skin care is making your own salt or sugar scrubs. They will leave your skin both moisturized and exfoliated and provide a perfect little pick during these short winter days. They also make great inexpensive gifts.

I purchased the oil I used at Marshalls of all places for $6.99, the Epsom salts from Wal-Mart for about $3.00 and the sugar came from my pantry. For the same price you'd pay for one jar of salt scrub from the store you can make a years supply at home!

Sweet and Salty Body Scrub

1/2 cup of Epsom salts

1/2 cup of white sugar

1/4 oil of your choice, I used walnut

Mix the salt and sugar together and then add oil. Store in a clean jar of your choice. I used some funky little half pint mason jars.

The recipe I took this from on Sunset used sunflower oil, but I had read that walnut oil was also a good choice. I especially like it because as opposed to a lot of store bought body scrubs I've used, the scrub with walnut oil is much lighter and I don't feel greasy afterwards. I accidentally bought toasted walnut oil because I was in a hurry, but aside from the scrub itself smelling like freshly toasted nuts (and you might be into that sort of thing), the smell does not linger on the skin.

If you want to add a scent, you could also add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, but make sure it is cosmetic grade which is different from the oils you'd use for aromatherapy. I don't know what the difference is but all the sites I've looked at warn about that.

Feel free to experiment with different oils (jojoba, olive, emu, sesame), but do a google search on whatever oil you plan to use first just to be safe. Also, as I did with my walnut oil, test it out on one arm first to make sure you don't have some weird reaction to it before you cover your whole body with it.

A Slice of Organic Life

2009-12-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

Well friends, I had no school or work today and I'm sick. This means I spent most of the day going through the book I got Jeffry for Christmas A Slice of the Organic Life edited by Sheherazade Goldsmith. Actually, I started last night by doing a basic breeze through most of the book to get a feel for it. Then this morning I started going through with little pieces of post-it notes marking things I found of interest (yes I miss school research). Jeff and I first encountered this book over a year ago at the embarcadero down in SF. Since then, this book seemed to follow us and would pop up at little book stores we visited. We'd always thumb through it but walk away for some reason. I final decided to end the chase and ordered it off amazon for him for Christmas.

This book isn't exactly what I thought it would be, odd considering how much I had already looked through it. Instead of being in depth into any one thing, it is exactly what it's title says, a little slice of everything you need to know to start living a more organic responsible lifestyle. For this review I think a simple pro and con list will be helpful.

Pro

- Beautiful pictures and presentation.

- Good general overview about ways to rethink your lifestyle. Covers everything from shopping to child rearing to pest control to gardening and animal husbandry to construction projects.

-Promotes reusable diapers!!! (I don't know why I'm so into that)

-Provides some good recipes for each section whether it's bath time or herbal flea collars

-Contains a great index and list of resources related to topics discussed in the book, especially websites that go into more depth on specific issues or provide links to community organizations.

Con

-Layout doesn't follow logic, you can find information about organic bathing products in at least four different places. I have not idea why they aren't grouped together.

-Can feel a little preachy and make the reader feel guilty at times.

-Doesn't go into great detail. Will not work for a real how-to guide, but it does point you in the right direction.

In short, I think that this is a great book for a young family that wants to rethink their lifestyle and try to make some little changes here and there that will improve both their lives and the environment. This is not a good book however, if you lean to the Right (note the preachy con). I'm generally somewhere in the midlands between Right and Left but there were a few sections even I skipped more because I got the point already. This book also isn't very useful if you are already fairly knowledgeable in the subject. It is a fun read however, so I definitely think it's worth a look. It sort of feels like reading a string of Sunset articles (that's suppose to be a compliment).

Here are a few tips I learned:

1) If you are adding essential oils to a bath, first mix it with one tablespoon of milk. The fats in the milk act as a carrier to distribute the oil evenly.

2)Using reusable diapers is safer for babies skin because disposables are so absorbent that parents often leave them on longer than they should because they feel dry. This results in extra diaper rash.

3) Instead of paying $14 a bottle for face lotion or if you misplace your bottle, go into the kitchen and grab the olive oil. Wet your hands and then put a few drops of oil on them and rub it on your face. It doesn't feel greasy at all. I will enjoy saving that extra cash! Other good oils to consider are emu, jojoba, avocado, coconut and almond oil.

4) Store clothing made of natural fibers with a lavender sachet to keep bugs away.

5) Ants don't like herbs such as sage, mint, thyme or bay so if you crush them in their path or rub them on the area where they enter your home it will act as a deterrent.

6) Both flea collars and fly paper can be made from simple ingredients you might even have around the house. If you want the recipes let me know or by the book!

Preserved Lemons

2009-12-28T16:09:00.000-08:00

A sad event happened with the frost that came a couple of weeks ago, all our new baby lemons died. Our tree was chuck full of them and I had plans for fresh squeezed lemonade, lemoncello and preserved lemons. These plans are all gone now however, and I will have to survive on store bought (aka not free and not organic) lemons. I will be on the look out for old Christmas lights however, because I have since learned that if you run a string of those through your tree and turn them on when there is a chance of frost, the heat might save your citrus.

I had also been planning a post for a while now explaining how to make preserved lemons. Although I won't be making myself any home grown ones for a while, I did give several people preserved lemons for Christmas so I will go ahead and explain how I made them and how to use them.

Preserved Lemons

1 medium sized glass jar with a tight fitting lid (don't use metallic lids unless the underside is coated with plastic)

8 lemons( or however many it takes to fill your jar)

4 coriander seeds

1 bay leaf

1 Cinnamon stick

lots of coarse sea salt

1) Scrub all your lemons really well and pat dry. You'll be eating the skin only so you want them very clean.

2) Cut off the hard ends of the lemon. Make a large cut in the lemon by slicing lengthwise, leaving about a quarter of an inch on both ends uncut, then make a similar cut in the middle of the lemon along the width, so you've cut an x into the lemon.

3) Give the lemon a gentle squeeze over your jar to get rid of excess juice and make stuffing the lemon easier.

4) Stuff each lemon with about 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt and place in jar. After you've finished each layer of lemons in the jar, press down on the to help more juice come out. Continue to layer the lemons until the jar is full. I found the jars I used at Cost Plus for just $3.00.

5) Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and coriander seeds to the jar and press down one more time.

6)Once a day for the next five days you will need to open the jar and press down the lemons to get more juice out. If the lemons are not submerged after the fifth day, then juice a couple extra lemons and add the liquid to the jar.

7) Let the jar marinate in the fridge for one month and then use. It will stay good in the fridge for up to six months.

How to us Preserved Lemons

"Remove lemons from the liquid and rinse. Split in half and scrape out the pulp. Slice the lemon peels into thin strips or cut into small dices. You may wish to press the pulp through a sieve to obtain the flavorful juice, which can be used for flavoring as well, then discard the innards. "

-David Lebovitz

Preserved Lemons are used in many middle eastern and Indian dishes but can also be used to flavor basic steamed veggie dishes.

There are also many ways to season preserved lemons and recipes can be found both for making different kinds of preserved lemons, and dishes to use them in with a basic google search. Here are a few I found particularly interesting.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2009/11/israeli_couscous_with_butternut.html

http://www.recipezaar.com/Moroccan-Chicken-with-Preserved-Lemons-40736

http://www.recipezaar.com/Chicken-with-prunes-apricots-and-honey-24759

50s Coffee Cake

2009-12-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

Until I moved out of the country and into civilization, I had no idea that coffee cake did not specifically mean the flaky cherry frosted pastry that my family enjoyed every Christmas morning. The idea that this term applied to a whole host of different recipes with an innumerable range of flavors never occurred to me. I think it was actually at Starbucks in high school when I first ran into some other pastry which claimed the same name and was very confused.

I must admit, I have never tried any coffee cake other than my family's recipe and until yesterday I had never made one either. My mother however, was sick on Christmas, so I was given the sacred duty of coffee cake making. To me coffee cake is a very special dish that one only gets the chance to eat one day of the year(and considering what's in it that's a good thing for your body). This results in an overabundance of it being consumed with coffee and milk during present opening time! If you make this for your family next Christmas, be sure to schedule breaks during present opening for everyone to go and grab a second, third or fourth piece!

50s Coffee Cake
(just like grandma used to make it)

ingredients:

4 cups of flour
2 cups of melted butter
4 egg yolks
2/3 of a cup of milk
1 tsp. sugar
1 package of yeast

1 can of cherry pie filling

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 stick of butter
capful of vanilla extract

1) Add yeast packet to 1/4 cup of warm water and set aside.

2) Mix 4 cups of flour with the melted 2 cups of butter.

3) Add the teaspoon of sugar to the milk and scald.

4) After milk has cooled slightly, beat the four egg yolks and add to the milk.

5) Mix all ingredients from step 1-4 in a large bowl and blend with hands until well combined. The dough will be rather moist.

6) Cut the dough in half and roll each piece into your desired shape between 1/2-1/4 inch thick.

7) Spread pie filing evenly over one piece of dough leaving about an inch around the edges without filling. Place the other piece of dough on top. Crimp edges to keep the filling in.

8) Let the pastry rise in a warm place for an hour. Then cut a few slits on the top and bake for 35 minutes at 350 or until the top begins to brown and looks dry.

9) While the pastry is cooling mix together 2 cups of powdered sugar with half a stick of butter, a capful of vanilla extract and enough milk to make it all come together into a nice icing.

10) Once the pastry cools, spread the icing over the top and enjoy!

Momma's Poached Eggs

2009-12-23T12:47:00.000-08:00

Perhaps it is because I am feeling both overfed and I'm pretty sure a cold is about to take hold of me, but this morning I got a hunger for a couple of poached eggs. If I have made breakfast for you before, then you probably already know that I really love to season up my fried eggs with some dill or basil or if I'm feeling zesty a little chipotle pepper. This is because I generally see eggs as a carrier for some other delicious taste. There are times however, when I just really wish to enjoy the flavor of a farm fresh egg and don't wish for all the extra fluff. When I am in these moods, usually because I am ill or I have over indulged the night before, I like to enjoy a simple poached egg with salt and buttered toast.

I have read several recipes for poached eggs, and I have seen many contraptions for making them, but my favorite poached egg is still my mothers poached eggs. She has made them for me since I was a child and she has always referred to them as faux poached eggs because there is nothing fancy or technically challenging about the way they are made. Perhaps after you've over indulged this holiday season you will enjoy this simple breakfast as much as I do.

Momma's Poached Eggs

1. Fill your smallest pot with about an inch and a half of water and put on high heat.
2. Break an egg (or however many your making) and put it directly into the water and cover with lid.
3. This is the fun part. You will know when the egg is done because the pot will boil over. Don't worry, it's only water so it's not as messy as it sounds. I like my white especially well done so at this point I take the lid off and leave the egg in the hot water for another minute.
4. Remove with a slotted spoon and add a pinch of salt. Do not add any other seasonings. The point of this dish is to enjoy the simple wonderful flavors of the salt and egg.

Serve the egg(s) with some buttered toast to sop up all the runny yoke!

New Cook Book

2009-12-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

As much as I love a light delicate modern dish, I must say, there are few words that make me go all a twitter more than Rustic. Just the mention of that word and I am swept up in thoughts of roasted chicken with creamy garlic mashed potatoes, lamb chops cooked over an open flame and seasonal veggies covered with fresh herbs. All served with warm crusty bread of course! On the flip side, rustic can mean berry cobblers and apple galettes or rhubarb pies and blueberry pandowdies. Ok, so maybe I hadn't heard of a pandowdie before yesterday, but it has now made my list.

Last night one of my friends gave me a cookbook I have been coveting for at least a week since David Lebovitz, whose blog I love to drool over, told me I needed it. This book is Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson. Don't get me wrong, I love some tasty chocolate, but as a general rule I prefer fruity desserts (rustic + fruity = Mmm Mmm Good). They feel less sinful somehow, and instead of leaving me feeling heavy at the end of the meal they add a lightness that I quite enjoy. While I haven't had much time to thumb through it yet, I am already enjoying some of the books helpful hints and the fact that it's arranged by season so you can be sure your recipe is using fruit that will be in season at the time.

I think I will be trying out a few of these recipes over the next couple of days, along with my new french rolling pin (our house now has three rolling pins)! Perhaps a blackberry grunt and an apple galette and a peach cobbler and...

Turkey Soup

2009-12-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

Nothing warms the bones during these cold weather snaps like a big steaming bowl of homemade soup, and luckily, nothing is more easy to make. This year I froze the turkey carcasses (I wish there was a prettier word for that) Thanksgiving night and the next week I boiled them down into a delicious stock. I just threw the birds (you can also add the necks if you save those) in my water bather, covered them with water and let it simmer on low heat for a hour and a half or so. I wanted to make a plain broth, but you could also add a bay leaf or other herbs to it while its cooking. After the broth was done I let it cool overnight. then pulled the birds out, stripped any good meat off them and poured the broth into gallon zip lock baggies to freeze. From two birds I ended up with a little over 3 liters of broth and several cups of turkey.

This last weekend Jeff and I defrosted a bag of broth and made ourselves a hearty turkey soup with the last of our garden veggies. We served the soup with some left over rolls we had frozen from Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Turkey Soup

2 cups of left over turkey bits torn into little pieces

1.5 liters of turkey broth

Any veggies you happen to have cut into chunks:
Carrots

Zucchini

Celery

Onion

Chard (add right before serving)

5 garlic cloves minced

3 cans of white beans

1) Defrost broth and add to a large stock pot on medium heat. Toss in garlic and beans.

2) Cut veggies into large chunks adding those that take longer to cook first.

3) If you don't have any fresh veggies (or if its just too cold to go out and pick them), add a few vigorous shakes of Italian seasoning. Otherwise, add some fresh rosemary, parsley and a bay leaf. Salt and Pepper to taste.

3) Simmer soup until the carrots are soft but not mushy, 20-30 minutes. Add meat in the last five minutes just to heat it up.

4) Pour into bowls with torn up chard in the bottom. You can grate some cheese over the top if you have any on hand (we used Gouda).

I know this recipe isn't rocket science, but soup is a great way to use up some veggies from the crisper drawer that you might not know what to do with. The whole meal also only takes about 30 minutes to make, so it's a perfect weekday meal that is big enough for leftovers.

feel free to exchange the beans for any starch you might have on hand (potatoes/rice/pasta).

Cranberry Sauce

2009-12-04T11:54:00.001-08:00

I know its been a while, but this time of year I have trouble staying focused on gardening issues. Actually, this is the dreaded time of year when I often forget that I have a garden and I step out in the backyard a month later to find everything dead!

I have however, been cooking. Jeff and I hosted Thanksgiving this year, and since many Thanksgiving recipes also find there way to the Christmas table, I thought I'd share my simple cranberry sauce recipe with you. The ginger gives it some unexpected spice while the orange complements the cranberries and adds another dimension to the sauce. I tamper with the amounts every time I make it depending on my mood, but here is the basic recipe to start with.

Orange-Ginger Cranberry Sauce

1 bag of cranberries

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 tbsp orange zest

1) Bring 1 cup of water and the white sugar to a boil, add cranberries and reduce heat to keep it from bubbling over.

2) Add brown sugar, ginger and orange zest and cook for about ten minutes. You will know the cranberries are getting done when they have popped/split. Stir it regularly during this time and don't be too worried about over cooking it.

*tips:

If you don't have fresh oranges, you can also use a splash or two or Grand Marnier or the like.

You can also make this recipe a day in advance which gives the flavors time to blend together nicely.

Trying Out Turnips

2009-11-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

Several things have caused me to become more interested in turnips. First I have generally become more interested in root crops since I planted my first batch of carrots a couple months ago. Once they get going you just keep them watered and they magically turn into delicious food hidden beneath the earth. Second, I am always interested in expanding the variety of things I grow. Third and last, in the last Harry Potter book I read they ate mashed turnips, which lead me to believe that they can't be that different than a potato and strengthened my resolve to grow them.

My boyfriend, who is a bit more practical than me sometimes, recommended I buy some turnips and try cooking them before I fill the yard with them. This of course lead to a recipe search and when I saw the recipe I am about to share with you I fell in love. How can anything smothered in a creamy garlic and Gouda sauce be bad? It can't. I served this recipe with the roast chicken I posted about a couple of days ago and it was wonderful. I'm sure it would also make a great companion to your Thanksgiving turkey!

Potato & Turnip Au Gratin with Leeks

1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 lb turnips, peeled and thinly sliced
3 leeks, white section only, thoroughly washed, thinly sliced
1 cup whole milk
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cup shredded Gouda
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP butter

Salt & pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 365 degrees. In saucepan combine milk, cream, garlic and salt and pepper. Do not boil. Reduce heat and simmer for another 5 minutes, then set aside. Don't be shy on the salt, it will help flavor the potatoes and turnips.

2) In a large pan melt 1 T. of the butter and add leeks. Cook for 7-8 minutes until leeks start to brown, stirring frequently, then set aside.

3) Spread remaining butter around a 9x12 baking dish, covering all sides. Assemble potatoes and turnips in dish alternating each vegetable. Season each layer with salt and pepper.

4) Add 1 cup of gruyere and cooked leeks on top of first turnip and potato layer.Pour cream mixture over the top just barely covering. Layer remaining vegetables seasoning with salt and pepper. Top last layer with remaining cheese and cover with cream mixture.

4) Bake for 40-45 minutes until top is golden brown and potatoes can be pierced easily with a sharp knife. If you're worried about burning you can cover with foil and leave it covered until about 10 minutes before it's done. I would also recommend placeing the dish on a cookie sheet in the oven incase it boils over a bit.

This is a VERY rich dish so a little goes a long way. This recipe serves +/- 9 adults. For a normal family size I would cut it down to an 8x8 dish unless you like lots of leftovers. Mmmm, on second though, stick with the big dish! So delicious.

Year Round Salads

2009-11-18T07:55:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, my mother has graciously written another post for you. Enjoy!

Having grown up in the Midwest, I learned that after cleaning up the garden after the first frost (late September, early October), nothing else was done until Spring unless you were lucky enough to have a full fledged, heated greenhouse. But Sacramento is a different story; gardening can be a year around pursuit. Even without a greenhouse of some sort, veggies can be grown for 9 to 10 months of the year. However, with some sort of shelter, gardening can be a 12 month undertaking.

I found these little popup greenhouses at Emigh Hardware several years ago that are 4 foot x 4 foot and fit perfectly over my raised beds. They have lots of zippers to allow access and ventilation and fold up into a very small round carrying case. It is a bit of a trick figuring out how to fold them but I always seem to be able to get it done. When you take them out, you just throw them onto the ground and they spring up into a neat little greenhouse. They have grommets around the edges so I put some eyescrews near the bottom of my raised beds and either tie or bungie cord the greenhouses to the eyescrews to keep them from blowing away in a winter storm.

Of course, you can’t grown summer crops in them like tomatoes or peppers without supplemental heat, but they are great for onions, radishes, lettace, spinach and other cool weather crops. It means that with very little work you can enjoy fresh salads year around.

I put these up 3 weeks ago and have green onions almost ready to eat. For some reason this year my first planting of lettace and spinach did not sprout but I replanted them and the new ones are sprouting. My seeds were a bit old the first time but I used new ones the second. Sometimes old seeds will sprout with no problem, sometimes they don’t.

These little greenhouses also make great Spring hot houses for starting seeds when the evening temps are still too cold for most seeds to sprout.

My next project will be in January when I am going to try to build a 3 foot x 4 foot raised bed with a greenhouse top made from 2 x 2 lumber and clear vinyl from the fabric store that can fold flat for summer storage. If it works, I will post the design….if it doesn’t you will never, never hear another word about it.

I wish you all happy gardening, successful preserving, creative cooking and delicious eating.

My Little Friend

2009-11-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

This weekend I tried a new contraption for roasting chicken and let me tell you, I'm in love. This beauty only cost $3.99 and it made the most beautiful golden brown chicken I've ever made (though the upright cooking position looks a little freaky to me). The skin was so crunchy it started to crack as I pulled the bird off of the stand. I recommend everyone go and buy one of these immediately.

In addition to making a beautiful bird, they also leave enough room in your oven to cook a side dish.

To season my bird I finely chopped about a tablespoon of Rosemary, half a tablespoon of sage and five garlic cloves and rubbed this mix under the skin. I didn't add any olive oil. I then sprinkled a generous amount of salt on top and popped it in the over for an hour and a half and 450 degrees (cooking time for a six pound bird).

I never basted it and it turned out crispy and juicy. I then used the juices that collected in the bottom of the stand to make a tasty gravy. Mmmmmmm...

Seed Sharing

2009-11-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

I know it might seem a bit early, but I know at least Theresa is already talking of seed catalogues and ordering so I thought I'd bring up seedling swapping now. Also, I haven't posted in while and my research paper draft is now finished so I have a spare moment and desperately desire to post!

My idea for this spring is that those of us who have gardens, big or small, and those who might be inspired to start one, could participate in a seedling swap. I for one, do not get supper excited about growing my own seedlings, but I am resigning myself to the fact that it is much cheaper to grow them from scratch then to buy them from the store. I must learn to do without, or at least less, of the pure joy I get from walking the aisles of the Longs in Oakland, discovering new things I haven't tried, admiring flowers, sniffing leaves and letting them run between my fingers as I pass by. I must learn to be more responsible with how I spend my money on this gardening obsession of mine! One way to make the tedious act of seed starting more fun would be to make it a group effort.

The way the swap will work is if you have something that you have very good luck at growing from seeds then don't just start enough for you, but start a whole slew of them. Then, anyone who wishes to participate can bring their seedlings to a centralized location , I'm assuming my mothers, on a date to be set this spring and we can all trade seedlings. Mmmm, perhaps there could even be snacks and a punch involved!

Of course this could turn out to be chaos without a little organization, so I thought this post would be a place to start where people could say what they intend to grow extra of in the comments section. If things change, or you wish to add a new plant to your list, then you can just edit your comment later on. Also, if you see something someone has posted that you definitely want, you can comment on that too so they have an idea of who is interested.