Fertile Fridays: EATEN!
July 11, 2009
Growing food at home is hard. Really hard. And not in the way I expected it to be. I expected it to be challenging to get plants to grow strong enough to grow up and develop into good. That was the easy part, as it turns out. The hard part? Keeping the critters away from them! Last week it was slugs. This week? Deer. One of my tomato plants shrunk more than I care to think about at the mouths and hooves of deer. I was and am devastated, but we are doing the best we can to move forward.
And by moving forward, I mean erecting rudimentary fencing. Oh yes, that black monstrosity is my temporary barrier to keep deer out and plants in. We need a more permanent solution, but I am afraid it’s just not in the budget yet. Read more
» Filed Under garden | 5 Comments
Wordless Wednesday: Happy Summer
July 9, 2009
» Filed Under Just Photos | 4 Comments
Garlic Scape Risotto, And the Benefit of the Doubt
July 8, 2009
Before I tell you about this delish recipe, I want to stop for a moment and say something …
I’ve avoided the coverage that’s been everywhere about Michael Jackson’s death. Frankly, I found it pathetic that the same media outlets that have made him out to be a bizarre individual for the past decade and a half are now exulting his contributions to music and humanity. He was never allowed in the media to forget his past mistakes. Ever. And that, my dear readers, is very, very sad.
But today, the kids and I watched much of the memorial service for Michael Jackson. It was touching to see his family come together in such solidarity and to hear the sincere remembrances of the King of Pop. Michael Jackson had a wonderful gift and he willingly shared it with all of us for so many years. It is absolutely tragic that he has died at such a young age.
Furthermore, if you watched today, then you saw his young daughter Paris speak very briefly about her father, saying that to her, he was simply the best daddy in the whole world. Michael Jackson, the man who wasn’t allowed to forget his past or live a normal life, was a father, a brother, a friend and a son. He was a person who will be greatly missed by the people who loved him and knew him best. Those people are the ones who stood by him all the while … Rest in Peace, Michael.
Take a lesson from this: Michael Jackson was an amazing, talented, generous individual all along … He should have been shown the love and respect that he’s been afforded since his death while he was alive. Next time you read an allegation in a tabloid, stop for a minute. Does that person deserve the ridicule? Is the allegation even true or just a tidbit from “a source?” Do you really know the facts?
As a member of the mainstream media, I am the first to say that many reporters do their best to provide only the true, verified facts. But, that said, you also cannot believe everything you see in print. Some publications have no scruples. Some reporters aren’t honest … So, when you see allegations - whether it’s of child abuse, infidelity, drug abuse or whatever - read with a grain of salt, and give people the benefit of the doubt.
Now, about the recipe. A friend saw the above picture of risotto on my Flickr feed and sent me a note saying that I am torturing her with risotto since she ate the artichoke one I wrote about recently and loved it. Honestly, I have been a little obsessed with risotto lately. With the cool start to summer, this creamy, magnificent comfort food just warms you from the inside out with rich, bone-coating goodness. So, when I noticed that I had some garlic scapes begging to be used, I wanted to try them in a risotto.
The result is a heavenly, hearty dish with a mild garlicky-ness to it. It won’t overpower your senses, but rather tickle them just a bit … Will, Paige, Shawn and I all ate it with gusto. Mmm.
» Filed Under rice | 2 Comments
Fertile Fridays: The Slug Problem
July 3, 2009
For the better part of June, and too much of May, we had a little problem: rain. It has rained almost every day for a month. Seriously. Sure, we had a good day here and there, but it’s been a crazy wet season. And what comes with the overabundance of wetness? As my cousin, Farmer Jim, told me recently: slugs. And boy, when I went to take these photos yesterday, did I see what he meant. There were slugs all over my cabbage. It took a good 10 minutes to get them all off of my plants.
I hate slugs. So I Facebooked my frustration and a friend of mine immediately offered a solution: place a bowl of beer under the plants and the slugs will naturally be attracted … and then they won’t be a problem to anything any longer. That sure beats the salt method I was threatening them with. So, I am going to try this ingenious slug removal technique. I’ll report back next Friday on the success of it.
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Grilled Beets With Feta Recipe
July 2, 2009
It’s funny. It seems like with beets, people either love them or hate them. And of the people that hate them, I find that most haven’t ever actually had fresh beets. If you fall into the latter category, my condolences and I urge you to give fresh, wonderful beets a try. Seriously.
Now for those of us who love them, it’s a whole different ballgame. Boiled with a touch of salt? Perfection! Roasted? Even better. But tonight, oh tonight, I found something better and more wonderful - Roasted beets! With rosemary! And feta! The salted and peppered beets pick up a lot of the rosemary flavor, blending and melding in a wonderful, harmonious symphony of flavor. And then the creamy, but slightly salty feta just makes it burst in your mouth.
So. Good. These qualify as one of those OMG dishes where the serving might be for two people, but chances are you will eat them all yourself. Don’t worry, I won’t tell.
» Filed Under breakfasts, vegetables | 6 Comments
Summer Salads: Recipes for Homemade Croutons
July 1, 2009
One of the great joys of summer is salad made with local greens. It’s vibrant, green and refreshing. It tastes of cool breezes on hot days and warm paperback pages read on a sunny porch. It’s something that you really start to appreciate the older you get …
Today, the kids and I scored a few heads of Boston Bibb lettuce at the farmers market. I like romaine and iceberg and other lettuces just fine. But I relish in a salad made with either fresh spinach or Boston Bibb … I love the firm, smooth leaves - not firm as in hard, but firm as in solid and having some mass.
Top it with some fresh strawberries sliced up while they are in season, or some juicy, just off the vine, tomatoes later in the season. Even blueberries or sliced apples (at the end of summer) can make a nice salad topper.
And then comes the crunch. For me, a salad just has to have that crunch. And what better crunch than homemade croutons? Just slice up whatever left over bread you have (sometimes, for me, it’s my fav semolina bread ends. Other times, it’s leftover hamburger buns or even just slightly stale sandwich bread — in a pinch, of course), season and go.
» Filed Under bread, salad | 2 Comments
Garlic Scape Recipe: Garlic Scape Carbonara
June 29, 2009
Last year, while trolling a local farmers market, I discovered some curly green shoots that were unlike anything I had ever seen. Vibrantly green and mostly firm, save a slight grassy portion at the top, I took a few home and cooked with them … and promptly fell in love.
What were they strange, unfamiliar things? Garlic scapes. But since garlic scapes have a sadly short season (they are, afterall, the flowerings shoots that come off of young, immature garlic and are cut off on purpose), I didn’t get a chance to have them again last year.
So, I waited. And waited. And waited. And when the farmers market that I used to go to didn’t open earlier this month (it seems that a lack of popularity has shuttered the hit or miss event), I though I had missed another round of my delicious discovery all together.
But I didn’t.
Last week, when Will and I hit the farmers market in the pouring rain, the first thing I spotted as we snuck in between two booths was … bunches of garlic scapes. Of course, I immediately purchased some, with visions of this recipe already dancing in my head. Last summer, I was playing around and crafted a Garlic Scape Carbonara pasta. It was delectably creamy with lots of garlic taste (but without the bite of matured garlic).
I’ve literally been waiting for a year to share this. It’s divine, delicious and delovely. I suggest you try it too.
» Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
How to Freeze Fresh Strawberries
June 28, 2009
One of my goals for this year is to extend our local eating for as long into the winter as we can. I’ve done this hear and there in the past, putting up jams and relishes and freezing pestos and sauces, but this year I want a more comprehensive effort. As fruits and vegetables hit their peak, the kids and I will be gathering them, making some for the family to eat now and processing the rest to be stored for the winter months. First up: strawberries.
After picking strawberries last weekend, I quickly set about to use all the berries we brought home. When you pick as much as I did (somewhere between 10-12 lbs of berries … mmmm!), you have to do something with them quickly so that they don’t go to waste.
I immediately started work on jam for the winter (and a little for the summer too), which is a two-day process for my favorite canned version. About 12 cups of strawberries went into jam making using two recipes — four half-pints of my favorite fresh strawberry jam recipe and about a cup of fresh strawberry jam using a Cooking Light recipe. The Cooking Light recipe cooked way faster than it was supposed to, so that came out much thicker than I anticipated. But it’s still very tasty.
Next came some strawberry sauce, which we’ve been eating on pancakes and waffles all week. In fact, the picture above is the kids eating waffles with strawberry sauce on the front porch. Mmm.
Finally, I froze about eight cups of berries for the winter months. Locally grown strawberries taste so much better than the ones you buy in the store, so freezing local berries means that we can have fantastic tasting berries all year wrong … and not settle for what’s available. At first blush, I questioned whether this would be enough berries to last through the winter — and truth be told, I am still playing with the idea of picking some more — but I realized that we will also be storing peaches, apples, raspberries, blueberries and more (if all goes according to plan!), so we will have a big variety to eat from and don’t necessarily need tons of one type of fruit.
What do you think? Would you store more than eight cups of strawberries, given the opportunity?
» Filed Under Eat Local, Farm Fresh, pick your own, preserving/canning | 5 Comments
Strawberries and Cream Whole Wheat Crepes
June 27, 2009
Earlier this week, I mentioned that my birthday was coming. Thank you to everyone who left nice birthday wishes on that post — they made me smile big! Today is the big day, so the kids and I are taking it easy. Shawn will be home later and we will go to my parents’ house for dinner and cake (and presents!).
This morning though, I wanted a special breakfast. Being that Shawn had to work today, and the kids are a bit young, I was left to my devices to make it. At first, I thought it would be bacon and eggs. But really, aside from the bacon, that isn’t that special. We eat eggs for breakfast a lot around here … But crepes, those are a whole different story.
The first time I ate crepes was in Paris when I was 20. My friend, you know her as Virtual Frolic, had flown in from New York and I flew in from London and we met in Paris. Hungry one rainy afternoon, we stopped at a street vendor and got some delicious chocolately crepes. They were amazing and warmed us right up. I think we must have eaten different variations of crepes at least a half-dozen times in our four-day trip. They were just so delicious … and cheap too. But really, it was the tastiness factor that kept drawing us back.
» Filed Under breakfasts | 5 Comments
Fertile Fridays: Rain Be Gone!
June 27, 2009
This month certainly feels like it’s been one rain storm after another. Ok. Maybe it feels that way because it has been that way. We’ve had so few opportunities to get outside and enjoy our yard and work on creating more edible areas. But when we have had the opportunity, we’ve capitalized on it - whether that means a game of chase with the kids or weeding a little area that desperately needs it. I don’t know about you all, but I am ready for some serious summer weather.
