Things I make!

End of summer veggies!

2010-09-06T06:39:00.000-07:00

Ahoy there!
It's September and I'm already beginning to feel fall in the air! We deserve an early fall after this very toasty summer. My summer garden is looking terrible and overgrown, and will soon be pulled out for an early fall/late summer garden. Amazingly my cucumbers and bell peppers are still producing. Since my garden is looking grim, I've been visiting the local farmer's market for most of my produce. Last weekend I purchased: green muscadine grapes, yellow squash, tomatoes, eggplant, okra and some green onions. Yum! I put up most of the okra and broiled the rest with onions, garlic, and olive oil. Delish! I know some folks don't like okra, since it's a bit on the slimy side, but it really is a versatile and tasty veggie. So, here are a few end of summer recipes to help use up all those tasty farmer's market finds.

Greek Baked Stuffed Tomatoes
2 large tomatoes
1 cup ground chicken (or not, to make it strictly veggie)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese
Fresh oregano
Fresh mint
Salt/pepper to tast

First core your tomatoes, scoop out as much of the "guts" as possible, then salt and turn upside down to remove excess moisture. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, saute your chicken, adding onions, celery, garlic and salt and pepper. When cooked through remove from heat and add herbs and cheese. Stuff the tomatoes and place in a greased baking pan. Bake 20-30 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and cheese is bubbly. I made these with a side salad and sauteed summer squash. Yum!

Okra Pickles
I wish I could tell you how many pounds of okra I used, but I never measured it. A rough guess would be about a pound, but enough to fill four pint jars.
2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
8 TSP pickling spice
2 1/2 TBS canning salt or Kosher salt
4 cloves garlic
4 dried chile peppers (optional)

Sterilize four pint jars, throughly wash okra, and bring pot of water to a boil to seal jars. Bring vinegar, salt and water to a boil in a separate pot. Meanwhile add to each pint jar: one garlic clove, one chile pepper, 2 TSP pickling spice, and pack with okra. Pour boiling vinegar mixture over okra with 1/2 inch headspace. Seal and place in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. As always, once your jars cool the lids should "pop" indicating they are sealed. If they don't, no worries, just keep the jar in the fridge. These pickles should last up to one year.

It sure has be a while!

2010-06-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

Whoops, it's been nearly a year since my last post! Things get busy and so it goes! For my return I bring a new jam recipe, salad dressing and summer dinner. Oh, and a look at the summer garden's gifts! In the basket: banana peppers, miniature orange bell peppers, an eggplant, Rutgers heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, and a few straggler onions.

Mixed Berry Jam
4 cups crushed mixed berries (I used blueberries and homegrown blackberries)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup honey (I used delicious wildflower honey harvested right here in the Apalachicola National Forest!)
2 tsp Pomona's Pectin
2 tsp calcium water (comes with Pomona's Pectin but must be made before hand)

As always, sanitize your jars, lids and rings. Crush berries and combine with lemon juice and calcium water, bring to a boil. Meanwhile, combine pectin and honey in a separate bowl. Add the honey/pectin mixture to the boiling berries and stir well. Allow the mixture to return to a boil for two minutes. Fill jars to 1/4 inch from the lip and seal in a water bath for five minutes. The beautiful thing about Pomona's Pectin is that you can use honey or lower amounts of sugar, as opposed to the six cups it takes to make traditional jam.

Quick Creamy Salad Dressing
1 1/2 tbs mayonaise
1 tbs coarse ground mustard
2 tsp red wine vinegar
Dash of olive oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar

Adjust to taste, these measurements are guesstimates. Yum!

Summer Veggie Pasta
1 small eggplant, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small bell pepper, sliced
1 tomato, cubed
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup pine nuts
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Salt/pepper to taste.

Saute the veggies lightly in olive oil, meanwhile toast the pine nuts at 350 degrees until lightly browned. Combine the cooked vegetables, pine nuts, and fresh basil and serve over pasta. So easy! All of these veggies, minus the mushrooms, came from the garden and could easily be substituted for whatever you have available.

Fall was here!

2009-10-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

Greetings and salutations!
Fall arrived and then left just as quickly. Last week was cool enough to sleep with the windows open but today we're back up to 92 degrees! The good news is that even though the weather is gone, the fall food has arrived! It's squash season, yum! Last night we had salmon cakes with a dipping sauce over leafy greens and a savory squash soup on the side. Delish! Also, coming soon to a blog near you: homemade granola bars, easy white bread and roasted squash seeds.

Simple Salmon Cakes
1 can Alaskan salmon
1/2 cup crushed savory crackers (any kind will do)
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp dill
Salt and pepper
Olive oil for pan frying

Drain salmon very, very well. Combine all ingredients, add more crushed crackers if salmon is too juicy. Shape into patties and place in hot oiled skillet. Cook on medium heat for approximately five minutes on each side. The outside will be nice and browned when they're done. This recipe makes three medium patties or four smallish patties. One medium salmon cake is definitely a serving.

Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup light mayo
1 tbs Dijon mustard
The juice from 1/2 a lime
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Dash of salt

Combine all ingredients, add more or less lime/chili/sesame depending on your tastes!

Savory Squash Soup
1 medium sweet dumpling squash (Acorn or Butternut would also be tasty)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp marjoram
Approx. 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup milk
Salt and white pepper to taste

Cup squash in half vertically, remove and save seeds (for roasted squash seeds, of course!), place squash cut side down on a baking dish and add water to cover 1 inch. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until a fork easily penetrates the squash. Allow to cool enough to be handled. Meanwhile, saute onion, garlic and herbs lightly in butter. Scoop out the meat of the squash and add to onion herb mixture. Allow squash and onion mixture to get aquatinted. Add enough stock to cover the mixture, approximately 1.5 cups. Remove from heat and pour mixture into blender/food processor. Blend until smooth. Return to pot and add milk, salt and pepper to taste. If soup is too thick add additional stock. Top with croutons or nothing at all!

Dinner Bonanza Day 3!

2009-09-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to dinner bonanza day 3! Today we're eating Japanese food, yummo! Here's miso soup and marinated tofu served with white rice and pickled daikon radish. The daikon radish can be found in your local Asian supermarket in the refrigerator section. They may be an acquired taste, but they're a staple of Japanese food and are usually served with white rice. Delish!

Quick Miso Soup (Serves 3-4
6 cups dashi soup stock*
7 tbs white miso paste (or red if you prefer)
1/4 block firm tofu, cubbed
2 green onions, chopped
1 sheet of wakame or nori seaweed, shredded

Bring dashi to a low simmer, add remaining ingredients and cook for five or so minutes. Yum!
* I use instant dashi stock. It's a fine powder (almost like instant coffee) that you can find in most Asian markets.

Marinated Tofu (Serves 2-3)
3/4 block firm tofu, in 1/2 in slices
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 tbs fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced

Combine soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic and onion. Marinate tofu in mixture for at least two hours, basting occasionally. After marinating, pour off and reserve marinade. Dredge tofu in four and lightly pan fry. Top with marinade and serve.

Dinner Bonanza Day 2!

2009-09-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

There's a theme for tonight's dinner! Egg drop soup, Chinese chicken salad and sweet bean paste manju. The soup is so easy and delicious, not nearly as heavy as the egg drop soup you get at a takeout restaurant. The salad is my favorite salad of all time, and the manju was an experiment but came out well !

Egg Drop Soup (Serves 2-3)

4 cups chicken broth

4 green onions chopped

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

2.5 tsp corn starch

Dash soy sauce

2 eggs

Pepper to taste

Bring broth, ginger, green onions and soy sauce to boil. Take 1/2 cup of the hot broth and mix with corn starch. Reduce heat to low. Lightly beat eggs in a bowl. Straining through a fork, pour the eggs into the soup while gently stirring in a circle. Season with pepper and serve.

Mom's Chinese Chicken Salad (Serves 6)

Salad:

1.5ish cups cooked, chopped, cooled chicken (use yesterday's leftovers if you're following the weekly menu)

Lettuce, I use romaine but any is fine

6 water chestnuts, chopped

6 green onions, chopped

1 package ramen noodles

1 cup slivered almonds

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Crumble ramen noodles and brown with almonds and sesame seeds in a small amount of sesame oil. Combing all remaining ingredients and toss with dressing. So good!

Dressing:

4 tbs apple cider vinegar

4 tbs sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp accent

1 tsp pepper

1/2 c. vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients, except oil, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, allow to cool and combine with oil.

Manju

From: http://japanesefood.about.com/od/japanesecake/r/manjucake.htm

2 1/2 cups flour

4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 can sweet azuki bean paste (anko if you're trying to locate it at the Asian grocery store)

Sift dry ingredients together. Add water and knead into smooth dough. Separate into twelve pieces, rolling into ball. Cut 12 squares of parchment paper. Take each dough ball and flatten, place approximately 1 tsp of bean paste in the center, fold the edges around the bean paste, reforming a ball. Place on parchment square and into bamboo steamer. Steam on high 12 minutes.

Dinner Bonanza Day 1!

2009-08-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

Here's dinner! Hang on to the leftover chicken because it's going into tomorrow's dinner!

Hope you enjoy!

Whole baked chicken

1 medium roasting chicken

Poultry seasoning

1 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat chicken in poultry seasoning. Bake for thirty minutes then pour white wine over chicken. Bake an additional 30 minutes or until juices run clear. Baste in wine juices occasionally.

Mashed sweet potatoes

3 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 cup milk

1 tbs brown sugar

2 tbs butter

1 tsp apple pie seasoning

Bake/microwave sweet potatoes until tender. Chop sweet potatoes and mash with remaining ingredients. I keep the skin on to hang on to some of the nutrients, but you could also peel before mashing if you prefer a smoother dish.

Creamy cucumber salad

1 large cucumber, peeled, halved and sliced thinly

1/2 cup sour cream

3 tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp dill

Salt and pepper to taste.

Combine all ingredients and allow to hang out 15 minutes before serving. Season with salt and pepper.

Balsamic strawberries

Got this one from Runner's World Magazine and boy is it yummy!

1 pint strawberries

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Slice strawberries and combine with sugar and vinegar. Allow to marinate 15 minutes before serving. Delish!

This week's menu!

2009-08-31T13:12:00.000-07:00

This week I'll be trying something a little different. I'm posting my weekly menu and updating daily with recipes. Here's this week's menu, tonight's dinner should be posted later this evening. Hope you enjoy!

Monday-Whole baked chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, cucumber salad and balsamic strawberries

Tuesday-Chinese chicken salad, egg drop soup and sweet bean paste manju

Wednesday-Marinated tofu, white rice, miso soup, and Japanese pickled daikon

Thursday-Quick chicken pot pie and cakey cookies

Friday-Soba noodles, miso soup and salad

Blue-tailed skinks and yummy stews!

2009-08-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Having finished my internship/grad school I now have lots of time to make yummy dinners! First up is an easy recipe for Chicken and Dumplings, followed by a (not quite as easy) recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon. Finally, I leave you with a picture of a Blue-tailed skink that was hanging out on the back porch. Ever since moving a bird feeder to the back porch we've had nature galore! Lots of squirrels, some skinks, lots of cardinals, Carolina wrens and even a few hummingbirds. The cats fantasize about eating them.

Chicken and Dumplings (serves 2-3)

For the soup:

1 large chicken breast, chopped into small pieces

1 large carrot, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup peas

1 can cream of celery soup

1.5 cup water

1 block chicken bouillon

For the dumplings:

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1/2ish cup cold water

Combine chicken, onion, carrot, celery, 1.5 cups water and chicken bouillon cube in a pot. Simmer on medium-low heat until chicken is cooked and veggies are tender. Meanwhile, combine flour and salt in a bowl. Slowly pour cold water into mixture while kneading. Once dough is well mixed (should be firm), roll into a thin "snake" and let it relax for a few minutes. Then slice into 1 inch pieces. Add cream of celery soup and peas to the soup and simmer over medium heat. Add dumplings while stirring slowly. Allow dumplings to cook for approximately 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper. A few notes, for a thicker soup add less water and for an easy variation add the mixture (minus dumplings) to an over safe casserole dish and top with pre-made biscuits. Bake at 350 for 30ish minutes or until biscuits are fully cooked.

Boeuf Bourguignon

Here's Martha's version I modified

5 slices or regular (not low fat) bacon

2 lbs stew beef, cut into 2 inch pieces

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup beef broth

5 carrots, sliced into 2 inch pieces

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbs tomato paste

3 cups dry red wine

1 cup pearl onions

2 cups white mushrooms

1 tbs dried thyme

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Chop bacon into one inch pieces and fry in a medium sauce pan. While the bacon cooks, season meat with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Once cooked, remove and save bacon. Brown meat in the bacon fat in batches, brown meat on all sides cooking for approximately 5 minutes each batch. Transfer each batch to a waiting bowl. Once all meat is cooked add 1/2 cup beef broth to the pot. Bring to a boil and stir to get all the delicious meat/bacon bits on the bottom of the pot. Once broth has cooked down slightly, add onions and garlic. Cook until translucent over medium heat. Add tomato paste and cook for an additional minute. Add carrots, wine, 1/2 tbs dried thyme, meat and bacon. Bring to a boil while stirring, then reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer on low for 3ish hours, until meat is tender. 30 minutes before stew is ready prepare mushrooms. Wash and quarter mushrooms. Combine mushrooms and pearl onions in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme. Bake at 350 degrees for 2oish minutes, stir occasionally. Once roasted, combine the mushrooms/onions with the stew and serve with a tasty loaf of French bread.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, a Blue-tailed skink!

Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly

2009-07-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

Dear world,

As you may have noticed, we have an abundance of jalapeno peppers at the Davenport ranch. So for the last few weeks I've been trying my darndest to put them in everything I make! Tonight I tried a new jelly: Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly! I'm pleased to say, success!

Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly

Makes 2.5 pints/5 half pints

6 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and quartered (wear gloves!)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1.5 cups cranberry juice cocktail (I'd stay away from anything low sugar or diet though)

5 cups sugar

2 packets Ball liquid pectin (6 oz. total)

Bring jalapenos, vinegar and juice to a boil. Reduce and let simmer 10ish minutes. Remove pepper bits by straining. Combine pepper juice liquid with sugar and bring to a hard boil, stir continuously. Add pectin, keep at hard boil and cook for one minute. Remove from heat. Skim the foam and ladle into sterilized jars. Place in water bath for five minutes. Once cooled make sure the dent in your lids is depressed, otherwise just keep them in your fridge.

Jelly jelly, yum yums!

Note the pickled green tomatoes in the background. I'm waiting to eat them in a few weeks to determine if they're delicious enough to share with you! Stay tuned!

A great many things

2009-06-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Today's post is brought to you by summery goodness! There are some new garden pictures, more pickles and jalapeno jelly!

First off, my adorable baby watermelons! Not only are they very cute, they're also yellow inside! Or at least they're supposed to be, they're still a few weeks away from harvest.

Here's a picture of the garden taken two or so weeks ago: yellow squash, tomatoes, lots of jalapenos, banana peppers, okra, and watermelon.

Sweet (but not too sweet) Refrigerator Pickles

6ish cups of cucumbers (speared, sliced, however you like them!)

1 cup vinegar

1.5 cups sugar

.5 cup water

1 cup sliced onions

1 cup sliced bell pepper

1 tbs salt

1 tsp mustard seed

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp dill

Combine vinegar, sugar, water and spices in a pan and bring to a boil. Boil long enough for sugar to dissolve. Pour mixture over cucumbers, onions and bell peppers in sterilized canning jars. Keep in the fridge and enjoy! Note- some recipes use much more sugar than this, if you like your pickles extra sugary you may want to adjust the sugar content.

Jalapeno Jelly (from the Ball Blue Book of Canning)

12 oz jalapenos (about 12 jalapenos, depending on size)

6 cups sugar

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 box Ball liquid pectin (two packets come in each box, you need both)

Green food coloring (if desired)

Stem and seed the jalapenos, wearing gloves (trust me, you want to use gloves). Process until finely chopped in food processor. Add 1 cup vinegar to help blend. At this point you can strain the mixture with cheese cloth for a clear jelly, or not. I did not strain mine. Bring the remaining vinegar and sugar to a boil, add pepper vinegar mixture and food coloring (if desired). Stir frequently. Boil approximately 10 minutes. Sugar should be fully dissolved. Add two pouches liquid pectin. STIR STIR STIR. Keep at a hard boil for one minute . Note, I boiled mine for slightly longer about two minutes because it hadn't quite jelled enough. Ladle the mixture into sterilized jars and seal in a hot water bath. See my earlier posts on pickled peppers if you want more info on how to properly seal your jars. The jelly is especially good on crackers with cream cheese, yum!

Note- For something a little different try adding 1.5 tsp raspberry extract. Raspberry Jalapeno Jelly in no time!

It must be summer!

2009-05-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived with it's gardeny goodness! We picked tons of blackberries this year, which Joe requested be converted into a cobbler. Here's a quick and easy cobbler recipe you can use with any type of berry. I've also included a recipe for pickled peppers. If you don't want to bother with a hot water bath, just store the jars in your refrigerator and treat them like regular pickles. They should be good and tasty after two weeks.

Blackberry Cobbler Yum!
2 1/2 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter

Combine berries and sugar and let them hang out for 15 or so minutes. Meanwhile, heat over to 375 and combine remaining ingredients. Try not to over-sir the batter. Pour batter into greased 8x8 inch pan and spoon berry mixture over. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown.

Pickled Pepper Mix (makes 1 pint)
2 cups vinegar
1 cup water
1/8 tsp alum (per 1/2 pint jar)
1/2 tsp salt (per 1/2 pint jar)
pinch of dill and mustard seed
Sliced peppers or whole jalapeno or banana peppers*

Sterilize your jars and lids. Bring vinegar and water to a boil, meanwhile fill jars with peppers, salt, alum and seasoning. Pour boiling vinegar mixture over peppers to 1/4 inch from the mouth. Seal jars in a boiling water bath for 7-10 minutes. Make sure lids are properly sealed. If a lid doesn't seal, simply keep the jar in the fridge.
*Note- If using whole peppers, be sure to slit them in several places

Curry Rice Yum Yums!

2009-04-19T18:19:00.001-07:00

Hi there,
Wow, long time no post! Here is tonight's dinner: curry rice and ginger lime cabbage salad. We used to eat this curry at least weekly in Japan. And, now, thanks to the new Asian grocery store that has opened by our house, we can have it all the time!

Japanese-style curry

1 pound beef/pork/chicken/shrimp
2 baked potatoes, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 portion curry roux (this time we used "Golden Curry" brand)
6 cups water

Stir fry veggies and meat, season with salt and pepper. Once mostly tender add the roux and 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until nice and thick. Serve over short grain rice and garnish with Japanese style pickles if you like.

Start with this....

And end with this!

Stay tuned next week for Dewberry Cobbler and pics of the new summer garden.

Down home dinner

2009-01-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hi there!
Here's what we had for dinner tonight: breaded tilapia, black eyed pea salad, collards and herb bread. Here are the recipes so you too can have this for dinner!

For starters I thought I'd share a quick cost saving tip: make your own breadcrumbs. Bake bread that's getting a little old at 400 degrees for just a few minutes. Grind the toast in your food processor with whatever herbs you like. This time I made Italian breadcrumbs by including parsley, basil and oregano. Saves you from having to buy breadcrumbs and saves you from throwing away old bread!

Now with your handy breadcrumbs you can make this recipe for crunchy baked tilapia!

Crunchy Baked Tilapia
Baste the fillets with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge the fish in your tasty homemade breadcrumbs and bake in a greased pan at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until firm and flaky.

Black Eyed Pea Salad
Combine 1 tsp sugar and 1/4 cup rice vinegar (alter to taste, more sugar if you don't like it too tart). Finely chop one tomato and 1/2 onion and combine with one drained can of black eyed peas. Combine with vinegar dressing and season with salt/pepper, 1 tsp cilantro, 1 tsp parsley. Let marinate for at least an hour.

Herb Bread
3ish cups flour
1 packet dry active yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbs shortening
herbs of your choice
Combine 1 packet dry active yeast with 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour and 2 tsp salt in a large bowl. In a small saucepan warm: 1 cup milk, 2 tbs sugar and 2 tbs shortening. Heat until just warm (115ish degrees). Pour the heated mixture into the large bowl. Add 1 egg. Add 2 tsp celery seed, 2 tsp basil, 2 tsp sage (or the herbs of your choice). Beat on medium for three minutes. Add additional 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour, just enough to make a moderately soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth, about five minutes. Place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough and place in greased loaf pan or large pie pan. Recover and let rise until about double in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour.

See my previous entry if you want instructions on collards. Hope you enjoy!

The Unpublished Year in Review

2009-01-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hi there!
In honor of the passage of 2008 I'm posting an assortment of things that never quite made it on to this blog last year. Also, I'm resolving to get back on the posting wagon, so check back frequently for updates. Here ya go!

Chickpea Dip with Crostini
1 can chickpeas
2 TBS roasted garlic (add more or less, depending on how much you love garlic)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Olive oil
1 loaf french bread
Salt and peppers

Combine the first four ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley. For the crostini, simply slice the bread, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake a 350 degrees until crunchy.

Quick Collard Greens
Collards (or any type of green)
Sliced smokey bacon
Chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper

Fry your bacon in a pan large enough to accommodate your collards. Add the onion while the bacon is crisping. Make sure your greens are washed and sliced. Once the onions are tender, add the greens and enough chicken broth to nearly cover them. Put on a lid and let them simmer until tender.

Campfire Chili
1 (or 2) can chili beans
1 can red beans
1 can corn
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
Ground beef/turkey/or nothing at all
Cumin
Cayenne pepper
Chili pepper
Onion powder
Salt and pepper

Brown meat and onions, add rest of ingredients. Season to taste. Let it hang out over hot coals, not open flame. Yum!

Okonomiyaki
Cabbage, chopped finely
Onion, chopped
Flour
Milk
Eggs
Toppings (Shrimp, bacon, fried eggs, green onions, just about anything)
Okonomiyaki sauce (I know this isn't authentic but I use a mixture of: Worcestershire sauce, mayo, ketchup, and a dash of soy sauce)

First of all, let me apologize for the lack of measurements, I made these many months ago and I always wing the batter. Just think of it like making pancakes, the batter should be nearly the same consistency. Anywho, make your batter (eggs, milk, flour) and combine it with the cabbage and onion. Throw your toppings onto a hot, greased griddle and allow to cook briefly. Next, ladle your cabbage/dough mixture onto your toppings. Let it cook on medium for a few minutes, flip and cook some more. Serve the oknomiyaki sauce or mayonnaise or both, and a sprinkling of chives. A Joe favorite, he likes his with a fried egg on top.

And last, I leave you with a current look at the garden. We've got savoy cabbage, broccoli, carrots, celery, collard greens and snow peas. The broccoli is coming in nicely and the cabbage is getting close. Yum!

Happy New Year, folks!

Halloweenies!

2008-11-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hey there!
Gosh, I sure have been gone for a long time! Sorry about that! For my triumphant return to blogging please enjoy my Halloween party. Here are an assortment of crafts, food and costumes. Hope you enjoy!

Joe and I were "Fall" and "Winter". Joe put together his costume very quickly and easily (PJs, fake snow, blue face paint, blue and white hair, a Christmas mug and a pipe). Isn't he handsome! Trick or treaters thought he was a little scary...

My costume began with a plain white dress purchased from Goodwill. First, I dyed the dress in tea overnight, to give it a nice aged look. Then, I hot glued fall leaves to the dress. The head piece is made of floral wire, lots of hot glue, fall leaves, small pine cones and gold ribbon.

The wings were made from two wire coat hangers, floral wire, hot glue and lots of leaves. Just shape the hangers to look like wings, wrap your floral wire across the wings so your have something to glue your leaves to. Glue, glue, glue until you run out of leaves. I wired the hangers together and attached two pieces of gold ribbon used to tie them on. You could use this basic formula to make all sorts of wings (flower petals, feathers, ivy, etc.).

I used a bat template from Martha Stewart and taped them inside this lampshade. Very cute and very easy.

I also got this idea from Martha Stewart (because I love her). Take plain tortillas and use Halloween cookie cutters to make fun chip shapes! Brush with oil, sprinkle with salt, garlic powder and cumin (or whatever you want) and bake at 350 degrees until lightly brown. Be careful, these go from done to overdone very quickly. I've made these for Halloween two years in a row and they're always a hit.

Okay this is my last Martha Stewart rip off. These are delicious puff pastry pumpkins. Take a piece of thawed puff pastry and cover in dijon mustard and parmesan cheese. Take a second sheet of puff pastry and lay it on top of the first. Use a rolling pin to mold the sheets together. Use a cookie cutter to make pumpkins, score lightly with a pearing knife and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Oh, one more thing. Brush the pumpkins with a mixture of melted butter and paprika before you bake, it gives them a nice color. Keep an eye on them, they also can become overdone very quickly.

Ginger spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and orange sprinkles. It's nice to have a dessert that's not too sweet after a night of candy bingeing.

I hope you enjoy these ideas!

(Imitation) Crabby Patties

2008-08-31T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hi there and happy three day weekend!
I made these dudes last night and they were delish! I have to admit these were an experiment so I wasn't particularly precise with the measurements. So here's my best guess, just play around and I'm sure they'll come out delicious!

Imitation Crab Cakes
1 package imitation crab, finely flaked or chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
3ish TBS mayo (you might need more, just eyeball it)
5-6 saltine crackers, crumbled
2ish TBS course ground mustard
1 TSP dry mustard
1 TSP garlic seasoning
1 1/2ish cups italian bread crumbs

Run your crab, onions and bell pepper through a food processor until finely chopped. Combine rest of ingredients except for your bread crumbs. Once everything is good and mixed up, shape the mixture into patties. This made about ten large cakes. If your cakes are a little liquidy just add some of the bread crumbs to firm things up. Dredge the patties in the bread crumbs and fry in vegetable oil until nice and brown on both sides. If you're making several batches you can keep them warm in your oven on low. Oh, and when I got them out of the oil, I gave them a dusting of old bay and sea salt. Hope you enjoy!

Stormy Storms

2008-08-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

Boo, Tropical Storm Fay has been sitting on Tallahassee for the last two days. It's finally starting to let up this morning, but we sure have gotten a LOT of rain. Our retention pond next door (which is always empty) is currently at capacity. Sweet, lake front property! We, unlike my parents, did not lose power (except for a few minutes here and there). And that means that I spent all day yesterday cooking/eating. Here are just a few of the things I made:

Slow cooker split pea soup
1 bag dried peas, rinsed and sorted
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
A couple of carrots, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Smoked ham hocks, 2-3
3 TBS celery seed or a stalk or two of fresh celery (I didn't have any fresh celery and wasn't about to leave the house to get some!!!)
Season with salt and pepper
6 cups water

Combine all your ingredients in your crock pot and cook on high for about four hours or low for about six hours. The timing kinda depends on your crock pot, the soup is ready when the peas are mushy. Veeeeerry easy, just put it together and check on it occasionally.

Ninety-Minute Soft Pretzels
(from "A 1993 Hometown Collection: America's Best Recipes")
1 cup water
1 TBS butter
3 1/4-3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 TBS sugar
1 TSP salt
1 package dry yeast
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 TBS water
Kosher salt

Combine 1 cup water and butter in a small saucepan, heat until butter melts, stirring occasionally. Cool to 120-130 degrees.
Combine 1 cup flour, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl; stir well. Gradually add liquid mixture, beating at low speed of an electric mixer until blended. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Gradually sir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Turn dough onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Place in a well greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Punch dough down; divide into 12 equal portion. Roll each portion into a 20 inch rope. Twist each rope into a pretzel shape. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet.
Combine egg yolk and 1 TBS water in a small bowl, beating with a wire whisk until blended. Brush dough with egg yolk mixture, sprinkle with Kosher salt. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden.

Phyllo Rollups!

2008-08-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
On Friday I had a silly moment at the grocery store and brought home phyllo dough instead of puff pastry! Eek! So today I started messing around with the (sort of) finicky sheets of dough. Here's what I came up with this evening, stay tuned later in the week because I still have about a million more sheets to use up!

Spinach Phyllo Rollups
(Think of them like lazy spanakopita!)
Five sheets of phyllo dough
1 cup chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (or more, just as much as you like!)
Pinch of salt
Olive oil, about 1/4 cup

Delicately brush each sheet with olive oil and stack on top of each other. Combine the cheese, spinach and salt. Spread the mixture about an inch from the edge (these sheets came 11x13, so you'll be rolling them up the "long" way). Roll it up, doesn't have to be super tight, but it should be firm. Pinch the edges shut and bake a 425 degrees for about seven minutes.*

*Okay, I actually didn't time this tonight, I just took it out when it looked brown and flaky so seven minutes is my best guess but it might be a little high

Eat them dudes up!

Quichey Quiche

2008-08-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Whoa, blogging at 3:30 in the AFTERNOON!?! How can this be??? Well, I took off work today to take kitties to the vet for their annual checkups. The vet prescribed Chippy some Valium for his next visit, that lets you know what kind of patient he was... Baker on the other hand was a perfect angel. They're now conched out and recuperating.
It was nice to have time to make a substantial lunch, instead of the usual salad or sandwich. So here is an incredibly all purpose quiche recipe, you can add pretty much whatever you want and it's always tasty.

Spinach Quiche
1 pre-made pie crust
2 cups frozen chopped spinach
2 eggs
1/2ish cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, one chopped and one sliced
Salt/Pepper to taste
(You can stop here or try some of the tasty additions: mushrooms, Italian sausage, artichokes, shrimp, red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, pretty much whatever!)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, thaw and drain your spinach and combine with remaining ingredients (except sliced tomatoes). Spread the mixture in your pie and top with the sliced maters. Bake for about 25 minutes or until firm. Yummo!

Brownie Wows!

2008-08-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Geez louise, it sure has been a while since I posted! Sorry 'bout that, but we've been busy busy! Well, here are some tasty brownies that only take about thirty minutes to make. PS- Totally better than box brownies. Eat 'um up yum yum!

Brownies (Courtesy of the Nestle Cocoa Powder box)

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Nestle baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine butter, sugar and water. Incorporate eggs and vanilla into the mixture. In a separate bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients. Slowly mix the wet and dry ingredients and spread in a greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (use the toothpick test to make sure they're done). Eat 'em up yum yum!

PPS- These require vanilla ice cream to be 100% perfect, sadly I made them thinking there was some in the fridge. When I was plating them I discovered WE WE'RE OUT!!! WWWAAHHHH! It's okay, they were still tasty.

Crafty Crafts

2008-08-05T03:48:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different! Okay, well, not completely, but sort of different! These are two small cross stitches I made over the weekend. I have big cross stitch I'm working on, but sometimes its nice to work on something a little more manageable. Anywho, they're small but cute. Hope you enjoy!

Flutterbye!

2008-08-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

Remember those pretty purple flowers I posted a few weeks ago? Well a whole bunch of Gulf Fritillary caterpillars have been munching away at them, getting ready to turn into beautiful butterflies! Here are some pictures of the caterpillars and newly emerged butterflies!

Mostly Authentic Asian Dinner

2008-07-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
Whoa, two posts in two days! What madness! Last night we had miso soup, a carrot salad and beef gyoza (AKA pot stickers). I must be feeling a little nostalgic for Japan!
Here's the recipe for the pot stickers.

Gyoza
Round won ton wrappers
Ground beef/pork/chicken (Last night I used beef, but I prefer pork)
Soy sauce (sorry, didn't measure, just add to taste)
Ginger (fresh is better, but powdered is okay too)
Mushrooms, chopped real tiny like
Yellow onion, also chopped up real good
Oil for frying

Brown your meat and onions, drain excess grease and add the veggies, ginger and soy sauce. Put about 1/2 tsp of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wrapper with water, fold in half and pinch the edges until they're nice and sealed. Once you've got a bunch ready to go, toss them into the hot frying pan (with oil) and cook until lightly brown. Add about 1/2-1 cup of water (depending on the size of your pan, cover and let steam for about three minutes. Please don't burn yourself when removing the lid, it's going to be steamy in there. Serve with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce and rice vinegar (in nearly equal proportions). Yum! PS- These make great party appetizers, you can make a bunch, refrigerate before frying and bust them out right before company arrives.

Kiss My Grits!

2008-07-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
Last night I asked Joe what genre of food he wanted for dinner and he requested Southern. So here's what he got! An appetizer of fried green tomatoes, okra and eggplant. And a main course of shrimp and grits. Now, I just want to say that this is one of my top three dishes. Holy moly is it bad for you, but it's so good! On a side note, all the veggies in the appetizer were home grown. Without further adieu, here are the recipes:

Fried Green Tomatoes
Vegetable oil for frying
1ish cup milk
1 cup cornmeal*
1/2 cup flour*
1 tsp onion powder*
Salt/Pepper

Slice your 'maters 1/4 inch thick, dredge in milk, salt and pepper and coat in cornmeal mixture. Fry for just a few minutes, until golden brown on both sides. Eat.
*Pre-packaged hushpuppy mix works just as well

I didn't plate these up all pretty because we ate them too quickly.....

Shrimp and Grits
(Serves four, or two if your husband is really hungry)
Grits:
1/2 cup stone ground quick grits
1 1/4 cups chicken stock
1 1/4 cups milk or cream
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Salt/Pepper

Heat the stock and milk, as they begin to boil slowly add the grits. Stir to make sure they don't clump up. Lower the heat and cook for 15ish minutes. Finally, add the cheese a bit of pepper and salt (if needed).

Shrimp:
Three strips bacon
Two cloves garlic, chopped
Peeled shrimp, I used about 10-15
Sliced white mushrooms, about a cup but really, as much as you'd like
1 cup chicken stock
1ish cup hushpuppy mix/fried green tomato mix listed above
1 tsp black pepper

Cook the bacon in pan, remove and crumble the bacon but save the grease. I warned you, this is not low cal! Coat your shrimp with the hushpuppy mix and fry in the pan with your delicious bacon grease and your garlic. Once the shrimp begin to brown add the mushrooms. Saute for just a minute or two. Add the chicken stock and pepper. Let the mixture cook down for a few minutes on a low heat. Top with the bacon you fried earlier. Oh man, so good!

Yum!

Well, tonight is Japanese night at the Davenport Ranch so I'll be back later in the weekend with recipes for miso soup, gyoza and a ginger carrot salad. Until then!

Figgy Wiggy Jam

2008-07-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Boy, we sure have been busy with Summer! Last Saturday we went to Cherokee Sink and swam and swam and swam. On Sunday Mom and I picked five pounds of figs and made delicious fig jam. Here's the recipe!

Fig Jam
From the Ball Blue Book of Canning
5 lbs of fresh figs
6 cups of sugar
¾ cup of water
½ cup of lemon juice

Boil your figs until they're nice and squishy, about ten minutes. Drain the figs, slice off the stems, and mash 'em up! Add the sugar and water and slowly bring to a boil. Make sure you sir continuously, otherwise the sugar will burn. Once the mixture gets to the jell stage (should slide off the spoon in a sheet, as opposed to drops). Add the lemon juice and stir for another minute. Pour the mixture into your sterilized canning jars, fill up to 1/2 in from the top. Seal in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Yum!

Boil them figgy wigs!

Waiting for the figs to boil, I know they look a little gross, but they taste delicious!

Ladling out the jam

The final product!

Tour D'Yard

2008-07-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Okay well, I didn't make these per say....but I grew them, so that counts a little, right? Here are some nice looking things from our yard! Hope you enjoy!

Purple Passion Flower/Maypop/Apricot Vine- Wild in the southeast, have an edible fruit, and a favorite of monarch butterflies.

Wild Gladiolus

Dunno, some kind of cute mushroom!

Ichiban Eggplant- Eat em up yum yum!

Dunno this one either, it's part of my butterfly garden.

Moonflower/Moonvine-Related to the morning glory, blooms in the evening and all night long.

Please help our neighborhood!

2008-06-25T05:27:00.001-07:00

Tell City Commissioners “NO” to Sale of Northwest Park
(Time is of the essence. The City’s budget workshop is July 1, 2008.)

City of Tallahassee Commissioners are holding a budget workshop July 1, and the NW Park is again on the chopping block.

The NW Park is a 78-acre parcel owned by the City of Tallahassee and is bordered by Fred George Road on the north, Mission Road on the west, Settler’s Creek neighborhood to the south, and Settler’s Springs neighborhood to the east. The NW Park was purchased by the City in 1995 from Susan Cavanaugh to satisfy the need for active park facilities in this area and to meet commitments from previous annexations in this quadrant.

The site included adequate land for the construction of a stormwater facility to accommodate runoff from the Mission Road widening project, as well as future park amenities. To date, only the stormwater pond has been constructed.

In 2005, the City attempted to sell the NW Park to a private developer to build multi-family residences on the site. Fortunately, citizens in this area, as well as folks from the Sierra Club and the Tallahassee Council of Neighborhood Associations, put together a grassroots campaign that convinced the City Commission to not sell the land. Construction was slated to begin in 2009, but now the City wants to sell the NW Park AGAIN.

The northwest quadrant of the city is densely populated with young families, and is severely lacking in park facilities.

Unless you get involved, it is likely that that the NW Park will be sold to meet short-term budget shortfalls. However, the loss of the NW Park is forever.

Please contact your City Commissioners either through e-mail or telephone calls to let them know that you oppose the sale of our promised NW Park for multi-family residential development, which will leave us with more children with no city park.

Please forward this message to anyone you think is interested in saving the NW Park, and email the City Commissioners to: CityComis@talgov.com or 891-2000.

Easy Peasy Cakey Cookies

2008-06-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Today is Wednesday even though I've been wishing it was Friday all day long. Summer makes me not want to work. I feel like I should be at the beach/pool/park/movies/anywhere that isn't an office. Oh well, what can you do? Come home and do fun things, that's what. My fun thing tonight was baking some cookies. These are amazingly easy and can use whatever you have around the kitchen. Tonight I used walnuts but any kind of candy, dried fruit or nut should work just fine. So without further adieu:

Easy Peasy Cakey Cookies
1 box of any kind of cake mix (tonight I used butter cake)
1/3 cup of oil
2 eggs
1 TBS-ish cocoa powder
A handful of nuts/chocolates/dried fruit/pretty much anything good in cookies

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes and let them cool on racks. Things really don't get much easier than that!

Oh, and I dusted them with a bit of extra cocoa powder. These cookies are tasted, tested, and approved by Joe.

Peter Piper Picked A Peck

2008-06-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

Of these guys! Today I pickled a couple of batches of banana peppers. I used my Aunt Karen's recipe so they should be delish! Also, today I pulled out all my cucumber plans (they were mostly done producing) and put in okra and white eggplant. I also shifted around some of the herbs since it's getting quite crowded in the herb box. I'm planning on pickling some cucumbers later this week, since I have about a million (and we don't want them to go to waste!). So stay tuned for more canning, pickling and preserving!

Aunt Karen's Pickled Peppers
Lots of tasty peppers, I used banana peppers
4 cups vinegar
2 cups water
1 tsp salt per mason jar
1/4 tsp garlic powder per mason jar (I also added some fresh sliced garlic)
1/8 tsp alum

Sterilize your mason jars-I boiled them, though I know some people just run them through the dishwasher. Bring the vinegar and water to a boil. In the meantime, fill your jars with the peppers, salt, alum and garlic. Pour the vinegar mixture into the jars until there is only about a 1/4 inch from the top. Screw the lids on real tight and let the jars hang out on the counter. The lids should pop, letting you know they're sealed. It's okay if they don't pop, that just means you have to refridgerate them.

And here they are:

Tasty and delicious!

Yummo Rye Bread

2008-06-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

Oh no, can't talk, in the middle of reading two books for a test on Tuesday, yuck. Here's the bread I made for dinner on Friday (Friday was German night: bratwursts, sauerkraut, potato salad and rye bread.) Very tasty and very easy, I got the recipe from :
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004274georges_light_rye_bread.php

This recipe makes two tasty loaves, one I made with caraway seeds and one without.

Back to the books!

El Jardin

2008-05-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

Cucumbers galore! We've got tons and tons and tons. Our garden is so very happy! Here are a few pictures:

Main bed: Cucumbers, onions, banana peppers, green bell peppers, cayenne peppers, and patio tomatoes

Herb garden: Valerian, sweet basil, mint, rosemary, greek oregano, lemon thyme, dill, chamomile, lemon balm and chives

The plant birthing room, currently seeding zinnias, flax, sunflowers and marigolds

Quick Caraway Bread

2008-05-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Sure is tasty! This morning Mom and I toured UF's Agricultural Extension Office (which just a fancy way of saying a very large garden) and I got a native blueberry plant! I look forward to eating the tasty berries next spring. Joe put a hammock in the back yard. We ripped out a bunch of poison ivy. I seeded/planted a bunch new flowers AND a new hot pepper! What a terribly productive Saturday! Since it's getting pretty toasty outside we've retired to the relative cool of our un-airconditioned house to read and try a new bread recipe:

Quick Caraway Bread (courtesy of The Friends of Prince Memorial Library Cumberland, Maine)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 TBS baking powder
1/4 cup plus 1 TBS sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 TBS caraway seeds
a pinch of salt

Combine first three ingredients, cut in the butter. Add additional ingredients and combine (not too much, though!) Bake at 350 for 30ish minutes. How easy is that? I'll be revisiting this recipe with some fresh dill in the future.

Yummo!

Sliced and buttered!

The reason I bake tasty things...

Reaping the benefits...

2008-05-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Of our wonderful garden! Tonight's dinner was 2/3 things we grew! Stuffed banana peppers, polenta with bacon and motzarella and a cucumber wasabi salad.

Look at all these banana peppers! These are just from the last two days! Holy smokes!

And a giant cucumber!

And the final products:

Stuffed Banana Peppers:
Bread crumbs
Boca (or beef, sausage, chorrizo, whatever!)
Yellow onion
Sage
Celery
Salt and pepper
Banana peppers

Finely chop and saute the suffing ingredients, carefully core your peppers and discard seeds. Stuff the peppers and bake at 450 for 15-ish minutes. Yummo!

Joe's B-Day!

2008-03-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
Just wanted to post some quick pictures of Joe's B-Day cake. Hooray!

Smiley red robot!

Birthday wishes!

The aftermath....

Turkey Lurkey

2008-03-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
I've gotten home after 8PM every single night this week! Except tonight, which is why I cooked a "real" dinner. Stuffed turkey breast, carrots and an herb pasta. That's not the half of it though, all the herbs came from our garden! Yay! Here's how to stuff a turkey breast real good:

1 big delicious turkey breast
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1 egg
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Basil
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

First you need to butterfly your turkey breast (slice it down the middle but don't cut all the way through). Take your handy dandy meat mallet/meat tenderizer/hammer/something with which to smash and pound the turkey to about 3/4 of an inch thick. Be careful not to punish your meat TOO much, you still need it to hold stuffing! In another bowl combine your herbs, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, egg and a little olive oil. Season your turkey breast, I use a little olive oil, salt and pepper (on both sides). Spread your stuffing on the meat, not quite to the edge, and roll the turkey up! Use some kitchen twine to keep your meat masterpiece from going to pieces. Cook for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Eat it up yum yum!

PS- Tomorrow is Joe's Birthday! He's gonna be 25 years old! Yay Happy Husband Birthday !!!

This time it's not food!

2008-03-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

Boy, it sure has been a while! Well, here's what we've been up to. Joe and dad built a brand spankin' new raised bed garden! So in the main bed we have: white onions, cucumbers, banana peppers, sweet green peppers, french sorrell and oak leaf lettuce. In the adjacent herb/tea garden we have: chives, lemon thyme, rosemary, valerian and....one other thing that I can't remember. In the house I'm seeding dill, chamomile, mint, lavender and basil. So here are some pics of our new garden!

Soupy soups!

2008-02-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

MMM soup! Last night it got down to 27 degrees! Sheesh! Since it was so cold I decided to make a tasty egg drop soup. This is one of the easiest tastiest soups a person can make. Here's what you need:

Chicken broth
2 eggs
Shitake mushrooms (reconstituted if they are dried)
Ginger
White pepper
Green onions, finely chopped
Corn starch

Dice your mushrooms and toss them in with your chicken broth. While your broth heats, whisk your eggs reeaaalllllyy well. Add 1 tsp of ginger and a pinch of pepper to the broth. Take a bit of the hot broth and add one tbs of corn starch, mix until you don't have any lumps and pour the mixture back into the broth. While stirring the soup in a circular motion begin to add your eggs. They should be forming thin ribbons. If they're not instantly cooking, your broth isn't hot enough. Last but not least, add the green onions. See, how easy was that? And here's what you get!

Nippon

2008-02-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

Hello my darling doodles!
This is a recipe taken from our last place of residence, Japan! This is a good easy place to start if you want to experiment with Japanese food. Here's what you need:
Salmon fillet
Cooked short gain rice
Quality green tea leaves
Soy sauce
Salt
Ginger
Wasabi

Salt your salmon generously. Let it hang out for a half hour or so before popping it under the broiler. Broil 5 minutes-ish or until nice and cooked. In the meantime, warm your rice and start boiling that tea. When warm, spoon your rice into a bowl and top with the salmon. Add a pinch of ginger to the tea before pouring it over the fish. Top with a bit of wasabi and some soy sauce. The end! By the way, I served this with a cucumber and tomato salad made with: rice vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and ginger. I think a tart side dish goes really well with this kind of sweet main dish. Oh, and I almost forgot! Today I planted: chamomile, mine, more basil, dill and lavender. Gardening, here I come!

Din-Dins!

2008-02-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

Hi there!
Today was 70 degrees and BEAUTIFUL! Also, I was in a climate controlled office all day. It was tragic! At least there was enough daylight for me to pull some weeds when I got home. Well, today I thawed a whole roasting chicken only to discover that it was actually a turkey breast! What? I know! How does that even happen! Oh well, we ate tofu instead! Fried italian tofu over a mater salad. Delish! Here's what you need:

Firm tofu
Basil
Oregano
Garlic seasoning
Flour
Salt
Maters
Mozzarella cheese
Olive Oil
Balsamic vinegar

Drain and blot your tofu dry. Slice it how you like it! In a bowl combine the herbs (about 1 TBS each), 1/2 TSP garlic seasoning, flour and a pinch of salt. Dredge your tofu in the flour mixture and slap those puppies in a hot oiled frying pan. It wont take long for these to cook, a couple minutes on each side depending on their thickness. Make sure your oil isn't too hot or they'll be toasty on the outside and cold on the inside. The same thing goes for oil that's too cold, they'll end up really mooshy and oily, ew. I digress, while your tofu is frying, go ahead and chop up your basil, oregano, maters and cheese. Combine with a nice olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt. I like to let this marry for a few minutes before serving. Once your tofu is nice and golden, blot 'em, salt 'em and serve 'em! The end!

Old fashioned gingerbread

2008-02-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

Hello my darling dearests!
Here's what I made for dessert last night, old fashioned gingerbread! Yum! I've included the recipe below. Tonight was my knitting circle, a little bit of a small turnout but still substantial progress was made on the shawl I'm making for Joe's Grandma. I hope to finish it sometime in the next millennia. Also, this weekend (if the weather is nice) I'm going to be putting in my tea garden! Mint, chamomile, lemon balm and lavender. I can't wait! It's almost t-minus three weeks 'till vegetable garden planting. I'll post pictures of my broccoli and herbs later this week. Until then!

Old fashioned gingerbread
Here's what you need:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 sugar
1/2 dark molasses
1 cup coffee
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp ginger

Mix the oil, sugar, molasses, coffee and eggs until well combined. In a separate bowl sift together the dry goods and spices. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the sugar/molasses mix until your batter is nice and smooth. Bake for 40ish minutes at 300 degrees. Serve with whipped cream or powdered sugar. Yum! PS- Don't forget to grease and flour your pan!

Joe's Jellyfish (Spring) Rolls

2008-02-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hi hi hi!

Poor husband Joe has been grading speeches for 72 hours straight so I made him an afternoon snack to keep his head from exploding. Tasty spring rolls with green tea. I call them jellyfish rolls because Joe says the rice paper looks like, well, a jellyfish. Here's a quick how to for spring rolls.

You'll need:

Spring roll wrappers (the dry kind)

Pork/tofu/shrimp/whatever

Cabbage

Carrots

Green onions

Garlic

Ginger

Soy sauce

Sesame oil

You want all your ingredients to be slivered. Saute your meat/non-meat in a pan coated in sesame oil. Add your soy sauce (I don't measure this, but I guess it's about 2 tbs) veggies, garlic and ginger. I like the cabbage to be a little crunchy so I leave this for last. While your filling is getting nice and tasty, fill a bowl with hot water. You'll need to soak the wrappers in the hot water for about 30 seconds or until they're nice and easy to work with. Take the wrappers one at a time and add about 2 tbs of filling. I've taken pics of the wrapping process, but to summarize: your filling should be in a line near the bottom of the wrapper, fold over twice before folding in the sides. Fold over one (or two) more times. That's it! I served these with a nice cup of green tea and a little duck sauce. By the way, these are great for parties because you can make them way before hand.

Tasty white bread!

2008-02-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a basic white bread recipe. I made two loaves: one pain old white bread and one with garlic, basil and rosemary. Oh boy!

2 packets dry active yeast

1 tbs salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups flour & 3ish cups flour

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Combine yeast, salt, sugar and the first amount of flour. Heat the milk, water and oil in a saucepan until quite warm. Incorporate the liquids into the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed until well blended (2 minutes or so). Incorporate 2 more cups of flour by hand. Place dough on floured board and knead in final cup of flour. NOTE- You just want enough flour to make a not too sticky dough, this might be closer to 1/2 a cup than 1 cup. You'll just have to eyeball it. Once your dough is kneaded, smooth and looking delicious put it in a greased bowl, cover with a towel and leave it someplace warm until it has doubled in size (30/40 minutes). Divide the dough into 2 loaves, recover and let sit for an additional 30 minutes. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes. Yummo!

MMM MMM Cake!

2008-02-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I've just started this new blog as a place to post some of the things I make/bake/eat. I'll post recipes to the best of my ability, I have an aversion to measurement so I'll apologize in advance for that. So to start things off here's a banana cake I made for my boss' b-day.