Well, I thought I’d start out with a shot of our raised bed SQFT garden. It’s been great this year. We have green ice lettuce, arugula, mesculin, spinach, and chard in the first box, four bell peppers (green, lemon (got one so far and 3 babies are growing), orange and tiny red), broccoli rabe, italian eggplant and a penthouse of nantes carrots in the second, lemon cukes (have two babies), burpless cukes (have 3 teenagers and 2 babies), bush beans, peas, acorn squash and zucchini (has female flowers just now) in the third bed, and the fourth bed is 12″ deep for the tomatoes…we have Brandywine (the Princess), Sweet 100, Green Zebra, Red Pear, Bush Goliath and Oregon Spring that has already produced a tom! I was replanting a Bush Goliath in May….I broke it in half. I stuck BOTH pieces in the bed and BOTH have flowers and seem to be very healthy. I hope the weather gets warm again. I’ve been sleeping under a sheet, blanket, bedspread and quilt the last few nights!
Here we go to the goodies. I made this chutney…just made it up with some help from my new favorite cookbook. I love Irish cooking and got this book on recommendation from another great cook, AND if you can find a 40% off coupon…it is well worth it. The onion jam recipe is a wonder. It reads like a novel, and if I ever get back to Ireland, I WILL go there. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cooking, cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Fruit, Gardening, Learning, Recipe, Recipes, Teaching
These nuts are very, very addicting. I absolutely love them. I use the seasonings for other things too, like stir fry and sometimes rice. I just sent my Sweetie off with a batch of them to a Permaculture emersion course in the Northern Cascades. They are nice to have on hand if you have an impromptu party for snacks.
Elizabeth’s Spice Roasted Almonds adapted from pen and fork
Adapted from Elizabeth Leite
Makes 3 cups
3 cups raw almonds
1 egg white
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Thai dried red pepper or those little packets you get with a pizza
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 teaspoons soy sauce (I use Chay Vegetarian Seasoning Sauce)
1 1/2 teaspoon coarse flake sea salt (or kosher salt)
Heat the oven to 300° F. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Roast for 15-20* minutes. Remove from oven (leave oven on) and cool for 10 minutes on a cookie rack. You want a nice cooked smell to the almonds. My cookie rack folds and is more like a “cookie screen”. I wish I could find another one like it!
Using a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle, grind the red pepper, fennel and coriander until crushed and fragrant but not powder.
Whisk the egg white until frothy and then whisk in the remaining ingredients (brown sugar through salt).
Fold in the cooled nuts and toss until evenly coated.
Spread the nuts on the baking sheet and return to oven for 15-25* minutes, stirring once halfway through. The nuts are done when the egg white is dry to the touch and the nuts smell toasted. Remember, the almonds will continue to cook after taking them out of the oven.
Cool completely on the cookie rack. Store in an airtight container.
*This all depends on how your oven works. My oven is really bad and I have to adjust everything. You want the nuts to be really toasted but not burned. The initial baking would be a nice light toast to the almonds. The second baking would be REALLY tossed and toasted so the spices really stand out and the almonds are really fragrant.
Tags: cooking, cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Learning, Recipe, Teaching
WOW! Is this a good combination of veggies or what? I am recovering from a jammed right thumb (gardening accident) and Sweetie was kind enuff to chop and dice all of these goodies. We got the golden beets from our friends Josh and Melissa at Newaukum Valley Farm. They always have the best things at our local Farmer’s Market. Using these beets and the beet greens was new to me. I now use the greens and always ask what I can do with the greens from other veggies (like radish greens). This is my developing stir fry sauce. I started with a kinda plain sauce and added lots of spices over time. It’s easy if you keep as many herbs and spices in your pantry as I do. I just get inspired! We went to the local and very good herb and spice store Friday and spent over $23/US on spices and seeds (we grow most of the herbs we use). Sweetie remarked that we spend alot on herbs and spices, and I said, “Only about $50-75 per year.” I figure if you are making, canning, freezing 95% of the food you eat and want it to be the best…..why not spend that much on the best spices/herbs/seeds? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cooking, cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Learning, Recipe, Recipes, Teaching
This was a surprise of a great dinner. Sweetie and I love Middle Eastern foods that sprout all over to the East, West, North and South. Fusion is good here. So, we have falafel and yogurt mint sauce, lentils and rice and golden onions, and an edamame salad. These flavors go together so well and leftovers are great! This whole meal can be put together in 1 hour or less. Add some sweet and hot tea and a nice baklava or sesame cookies for dessert and you have it. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Learning, Recipe, Teaching
A really nice, easy dish that goes together with things in your pantry and freezer and comes out of the oven in 45 minutes smelling and tasting wonderful! I used frozen blueberries from last years crop and some frozen lemon zest and juice. You can easily “take to” or “give to” this dish. This cookbook from Reader’s Digest, “Taste of Home: The New Potluck”, has some really great recipes for the neighborly thingy. You can find it at Amazon or some of the recipes here. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Fruit, Recipe, Teaching
This is what summer is all about on a Meatless Monday!
Leek Pasta (from Smitten Kitchen)
3 lg leeks (use sliced white and lite green parts)
1 T lemon zest
1 T fresh basil or parsley or tarragon (I used tarragon) minced
2-3 T olive oil
1/2 tsp fennel crushed
1-2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste at the end
8 oz penne pasta cooked seperately
4 oz grated parmesan cheese
Cook leeks in 6-8 cups water about 8 minutes. Remove leeks and reserve. Boil water again and add pasta. Cook until 3/4ths done and drain, reserving 2 cups of the leek/pasta water.
In pot, gently brown the fennel seeds until fragrant, add everything else but lemon juice, pasta and parmesan, stir and cook gently for about 5 minutes. Add pasta and cook adding 1/4 C of the leek/pasta water at a time until absorbed and add another 1/4 C until pasta is “al dente” and coated in sauce. Toss in lemon juice and cheese. Makes 4-6 servings depending on what you are serving with it.
Watermelon Salad (from Epicurious)
1 small watermelon
2-4 oz dry feta cheese (your preference)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
fresh mint
Cut the watermelon in half and scoop out pieces with a fruit baller or just cut into 2″ x 2″ pieces. Drain and sprinkle with crumbled dry feta, freshly cracked black pepper and chiffoniered mint, toss and serve immediately.
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I don’t know what to say but that this is really good! Sweetie and I had a great meat moussaka at a lovely restaurant in Seattle, The Golden Olive. It was a really great meal with a good wine, Avgolemono soup and a great Greek salad! Yum! It started me thinking that this would be a great dish for Meatless Mondays. I just needed to think about how I could “make it so”. Well, it came together so well. I think it would freeze very well wrapped in saran in individual portions and popped in a big freezer bag. Then you could just microwave the portions at will. I really like this dish! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cooking, cooking wisdom, Food, Meatless Mondays, Recipe, Teaching
This is a very nice salad to take for lunches, a side salad for a picnic, Meatless Mondays with a green salad and some delicious homemade bread, or with a steak or chicken. It is one that you can make easily over a couple of days. Plan it and it will come! It doesn’t have to have dairy until you mix some feta into it….so, you control when, or not. I really like the blending of flavors: savory/sweet/salty, etc…really good! The recipe started out at Kitchen Parade. Well, you know, I did something to it!
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I made a big Southern picnic dinner the other day for a party and had some of the fried chicken left over. I wanted something that would do for lunches as Sweetie was working all week at the school. I have never really liked most chicken salads I have come across-too sweet and too sloppy. I like the balance of sweet/tart/savory, AND I wanted to use up what was in the crisper. This salad fits the bill. Good and unusual. Don’t make too much at once as you want that fried skin to not get mushy. Three days max. But, man is this really good! Especially on a sandwich of really good multigrain bread with some mayo and leaf lettuce. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Learning, Recipe, Teaching
I had some veggies left over from making stuffed peppers the other day and some egg roll wrappers that needed using, so, what’s the logical conclusion? That’s right! Indian samosas and fruited rice! Since I had all the veggies already prepared and rice and dried fruit at hand, this was a really easy dinner. With a little Apple Mango Chutney and some yogurt and fresh cilantro, it was delicious!
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Tags: cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Recipe, Teaching