1. What are you really proud that you made happen in 2014, despite the gremlins? And what will you do anyway in 2015?
2. Soul food: What food did you discover this year? Or maybe you
discovered a new way to prepare your favorite food. Or a new cookbook.
Or a new restaurant. Tell us about your culinary adventures.
1. Here's the broken record again....I went to the cardiologist and EP for tests and monitors and an ablation...despite HUGE fear and anxiety and what-ifs and gremlins. Yay me!!! And I will continue to go in 2015.
Seriously, that was an enormous step for me, overcoming 12 years of fear because of a misdiagnosed heart attack that turned out to be a gangrenous gall bladder back in 2002. Finally instead of waiting until I actually DID have a heart attack or something else, I actively sought out a cardiologist who did testing and worked with me to determine what my issues are, and then went to an EP for the ablation which, hopefully, has fixed the afib and aflutter. If I still have issues surrounding the heart -- and that's likely, given my high blood pressure and family history -- I'll deal with them, one at a time. I want a quality of life and a freedom from that kind of unreasonable fear enough to continue to do that.
2. Oh, I do love to eat and cook. But I don't recall finding a new food this year. I did some stuff with quinoa again this year and liked it; I found a couple of good bread and muffin recipes using winter squash -- which we're not fond of as a veggie. But new? No.
So I'll share some of my favorite recipes, the ones I use often, or that are my 'go-to' recipes for potlucks and events.
Favorite dessert (although I seldom meet a dessert I don't like): Tiramisu Anacapri. As reasonably healthy as tiramisu can get. Everyone loves this stuff.
Favorite way to eat brussels sprouts: Addictive Brussels Sprouts Salad. Addictive might be a bit too enthusiastic, but this is a wonderful way to serve sprouts as a salad.
Favorite green salad: Apple, Bleu Cheese, Pecan Green Salad. From the Pioneer Woman. Big yum, and very easy to throw together.
Favorite pasta dish (although I love pasta): Angel Hair Pasta Delight. Use rotisserie chicken and you've got a very quick, easy, delicious meal. Especially good with fresh tomatoes and spinach from the garden.
Favorite appetizer to take to gatherings: Marinated Ham and Cheese Buns. This always gets great reviews although there is nothing low-fat about it. I usually use whole wheat buns at least!
Favorite cookie: Taku Lodge Ginger Cookies although with my own additions: I use slightly less ground ginger and add about a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger and 1/3 cup of chopped crystallized ginger. They are FABULOUS cookies. We got to eat them at Taku Lodge in 2001 and I've been making them ever since. These are best made as is -- they don't healthify with the same good results.
We eat a lot of fresh food. I never buy frozen or boxed meal starters -- too expensive, too much sodium and other bad stuff, and it is very easy to cook from scratch, or nearly so. I confess I do use the ubiquitous 'cream of ...." soup in some recipes although I usually use the low fat low sodium versions. I do not use salt except in baked goods, figuring we can salt at the table if necessary. We eat a lot of fresh veggies and salads and fruits. I like to bake bread in my wonderful Zojirushi breadmaker -- better control over what goes into it -- although I do buy bread too, mostly based on carb counts and fiber.
We eat a combination of a diabetic diet and an atrial fibrillation diet, and we are very consistent with the amount of veggies every day (the afib part of it), and also the carb counts per meal (the diabetic part of it). I'm grateful for the number of products now that are high fiber/low sugar.
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
August Moon 14: Day 3 -- Loving what?
Day 3:
What do you love?
Today we’re going to delve a little deeper. We’ve had a think about what
it is that we do. Now let’s make some space for what we love.Say someone found all of this evidence many years after you’d gone: what conclusions would they draw about the things/ideas/people you loved? Angels watch over us in our great room, perched on the high ledge over the wood stove. Most are my mother's collection; a few are ours -- one from a grateful client. Angel chimes sit near them atop the built-in bookshelves. They make me feel connected to the Universe and to those we cherish. A bouquet of mostly floral teacups surround a pretty floral teapot in our china cabinet, and sad to say, they are all mostly unused. The teapot was a wedding gift to my parents and has a few mended cracks visible, casualties from my childhood. The cups are from my grandmother's, great-aunt's, and my mother's collection, plus a few from my former mother-in-law, and I love them all. That cabinet also holds white curved twin Red Wing Pottery vases -- another inherited wedding gift that somehow escaped breakage. We rarely have flowers because our two kitties like to nibble on them, but the connection to the past and my parents is strong there. Books are everywhere: old ones, oft-read childhood ones, the brown leather and gilt Shakespeare from my childhood displayed in the great room shelves along with a few china knickknacks and some handmade birdhouses. In the salsa-colored den on the white woodshelves that cover one whole wall -- the bulk of the collection, arranged by non-fiction subject and fiction alphabetical author, at least mostly. Colorful covers pop at us -- trade paperbacks mixed unashamedly with jacketed hardcovers and somber Bibles and hymnals. It's our personalities in there, a pretty accurate representation of what we love to do, love to read, and who we are -- or at least were at some point. Our newer interests rest sedately in the Kindle cloud, unseen by eyes other than ours. And that, I think, is a loss of sorts, although I love my Kindle. Magazines too, in stacks waiting for periodical files; on end tables waiting to be read or finished; in baskets by the bed and my favorite reading chair. Cookbooks are crammed into a built-in kitchen niche -- worn church and service club collections next to the ubiquitous red-and-white Better Homes and Gardens, A much-taped-up recipe file is stuffed with computer-printed samplings and long-ago hand-written recipe cards. My mother's and grandmother's recipe files rest in a cabinet nearby, and when I pull one out, the handwriting always brings them into the kitchen with me: Jule Kage and fruitcake cookies and pecan shorts every year at Christmas, especially. Two paintings, one from each daughter, are almost the only non-photographic art on our walls, although our bedroom also holds the Holstee Manifesto which reminds us every morning as we get up about what is really important Otherwise we are surrounded in every room by photographic memories of events, trips, scenic vistas, and a few taken to illustrate my freelance articles that are particularly interesting. There is no planned decorating in our house, other than coordinated, rather vivid, wall colors of red-dirt clay (although my brother snarkily referred to it as 'dead salmon'), muted oak-tree-leaf green, salsa red, and a few lighter peachy tones -- colors that reflect the outdoor landscape where we live, so visible in the big windows that are everywhere. But a theme? No. Each collectible, each knickknack has a history and is something we enjoy seeing daily. Kindly put, our style is eclectic.( And probably not helped much by the 6-foot-plus cat tree and numerous scratching posts in varying degrees of shredded sisal that sit next to the scratched-patina leather chairs and mostly intact cloth upholstery and quilts and afghans and pillows. We like comfort. So do the kitties.) While we have many music CDs, we like the country quiet and seldom think to play music in the house. It's a broad mix: Grateful Dead, Loreena McKennitt, John Rutter, Vaughan Williams, Traveling Wilburys, Johnny Cash, Mark Knopfler, the Beatles, Broadway shows. Our preference in television series and movies swings to drama, but often with a twist, and yet we enjoy the Pixar movies too. We are both generalists -- we enjoy a broad range of styles, of subject matter, of content, of delivery. We like things around us that mean something to us, although we are slower to eliminate things that no longer reflect who we are or serve our needs, probably mostly out of habit. We like comfort and warmth. We love the outdoors and the ocean -- there are many ocean photos on our walls. We enjoy the feeling of being connected to our past and to those we loved, and also to the greater Universe. We are hodgepodge,diverse, a bit unorganized. Eclectic. |
Monday, March 26, 2012
The Scintilla Project - Day 9
The menu du jour: We'll attempt to list 23 recipes, doing #2. (Or maybe we'll do 10 recipes. Or whatever...)
1. Talk about the ways in which your body is awesome.
2. Write a list of 23. (23 things to do, 23 people you owe apologies to, 23 books you've lied about reading, 23 things you can see from where you're sitting, 23 ten-word hooks for stories you want to tell....)
*******************
In no particular order, here are some recipes (and links to them) that I love making, including, if applicable, my adaptations. I'm all about lower fat, lower carb these days, and little sugar, although some of these do NOT fit any of those, but I've included them because they're so good.
1. Easy No-Rise Pizza Crust. This has been my go-to recipe for homemade pizza for some time, but last night I figured out how to make it diabetic-friendly! Cut the recipe in half, using whole wheat flour, and stir in two cups of grated zucchini, well-drained. Let it rise at least 10 minutes. Pat the crust onto a pizza stone, or a cookiie sheet, and bake it 5 minutes. Top with a homemade (sugar-free) sauce and all the healthy veggies you want -- I added some sliced turkey sausage, grated Parmesan cheese, and maybe 3/4 cup of grated mozzarella. Bake about 15 minutes or until brown. Nice, thin, good-for-you crust!
2. Hearty Vegetable Soup. My standard veggie soup recipe, and my, oh, my, it is GOOD and freezes well. Resist the urge to add additional spices, although I love adding a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis to zip it up. I also make a smaller quantity for just us. Like so many veggie soups, this gets better as it sits.
3.Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread Muffins. I halved this recipe too, and used sour non-fat milk (because I had no buttermilk) and omitted the raisins when I made them to serve with our St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage. Satisfying and healthy.
4. Crustless Cranberry Pie. Okay, so this isn't something that's necessarily all that carb-friendly, but it is good. I made it sometime in December and probably used half to two-thirds the sugar and at least half whole wheat flour. Especially with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipping cream, this makes a tangy, nice sweet treat.
5. Crockpot Lasagna. Especially when it is way too hot to light the oven but you're tired of salads, this recipe gives you some good lasagna taste without heating up the kitchen. I always use low or no-fat cheese options when I can, including the cottage cheese, and whole wheat lasagna noodles.
6. Bread Machine Focaccia with Sundried Tomatoes. Not low-carb, but great to take to a potluck or for an appetizer. I've got jars of dried tomatoes in my pantry from past gardens, so I use those, reconstituted, and substitute half whole wheat flour. Works really well with a bread dipper too.
7. Hot Sour Chicken and Noodles. I cut this out of Family Circle decades ago and it is our family's preferred home remedy for colds, especially with extra vinegar and hot sauce. We call it Spicy Chicken Soup. I often use leftover rotisserie chicken in it, and boil the carcass and skin for the broth. I omit the miso, mainly because it's not an ingredient that I can easily find in the grocery store. It always makes the sickie feel better.
8. Apple Pie by Grandma Opie. NOT, so NOT, a low anything recipe. But it is an amazing apple pie. I spice the apples with cinnamon and nutmeg because I like a spicy pie, and I pile 'em high. The caramel sauce makes it wonderfully rich and different.
9. Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. So while we're on rich desserts, this one came from my friend Melissa, and I made it for a couple of Christmas gifts last year, in addition to keeping one for ourselves. Big yum. No healthifying this one, I'm afraid.
10. Whole Wheat Zucchini Herb Bread. Love my Zojirushi bread machine! And this is a great way to use up some of those surplus summer zucchinis in a healthy bread that tastes great. If I don't have the sesame seed, I omit it.
11. Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert. Oh, another not-healthy recipe, but fun and easy. The hardest part is unwrapping all those ice cream sandwiches. Sort of like a Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait in a cake pan.
12. Layered Ice Cream "Cake". Better than Baskin Robbins, and you can customize the flavors! I made this for my friend Maureen's birthday -- she wanted an ice cream cake with lots of chocolate, so I used chocolate chip, triple chocolate, and fudge tracks ice creams, layered with hot fudge and caramel toppings. Sent big chunks home with the honoree and guests, too!(Clearly I refused to even look at the sugar, carbs, and fat content.)
13. Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup. We like the spicy hot Italian sausage in this, and red potatoes, and I usually use fat-free half and half instead of the heavy cream just because. But it's a delicious soup.
14. Garlic Bubble Bread. Fun and easy to take to a potluck! I used the frozen rolls (thawed) rather than bread dough, but I'll bet you could do this like the ever-popular overnight monkey bread recipe and leave it to rise for several hours. This is comfort food, not health food.
15. Mediterranean Kale and White Bean Soup. This is a non-creamy soup with tremendous flavor. I also used a can of diced tomatoes, and you could substitute swiss chard or spinach for the kale. We prefer the hot Italian sausage.This is a good low-fat and lower carb recipe, as long as the sausage is well-drained. I usually cut that amount in half -- still get the flavor, but not all the fat.
16. Pimiento Cheese Spread. Nobody can live in the South and not taste pimiento cheese. This is pretty close to what I make, although I do NOT use Miracle Whip, and certainly not that much mayo either. I've been known to use some Velveeta if I have it, or to use up odds and ends of cheese too, but it is best with the sharp cheddar. This is also yummy on party rye for an appetizer, or as a sandwich on regular rye. Not especially low calorie or carb, however.
17. Grapefruit Pie. My mother first served us this pie when we visited my folks in the Rio Grande Valley over the Christmas holidays back in the mid-1990s. They wintered there and tremendously enjoyed the citrus orchards and fresh veggies that were available at the famer's markets. The grapefruit take some time to peel and pith, but the results are delicious. I've successfully used sugar-free jello and Splenda in this recipe. If you use a nut crust, you can limit the carbs.
18. Spinach-Apple Salad with Almonds. The sugary almonds really make this salad special. I've used either agave or stevia in the dressing to sweeten without the sugar. Love the Honeycrisp apples in this.
Okayyyyy. My Internet connection is not doing well at the moment -- too many gusty winds blowing our next storm in, so we're going to call it a post at 18.
1. Talk about the ways in which your body is awesome.
2. Write a list of 23. (23 things to do, 23 people you owe apologies to, 23 books you've lied about reading, 23 things you can see from where you're sitting, 23 ten-word hooks for stories you want to tell....)
*******************
In no particular order, here are some recipes (and links to them) that I love making, including, if applicable, my adaptations. I'm all about lower fat, lower carb these days, and little sugar, although some of these do NOT fit any of those, but I've included them because they're so good.
1. Easy No-Rise Pizza Crust. This has been my go-to recipe for homemade pizza for some time, but last night I figured out how to make it diabetic-friendly! Cut the recipe in half, using whole wheat flour, and stir in two cups of grated zucchini, well-drained. Let it rise at least 10 minutes. Pat the crust onto a pizza stone, or a cookiie sheet, and bake it 5 minutes. Top with a homemade (sugar-free) sauce and all the healthy veggies you want -- I added some sliced turkey sausage, grated Parmesan cheese, and maybe 3/4 cup of grated mozzarella. Bake about 15 minutes or until brown. Nice, thin, good-for-you crust!
2. Hearty Vegetable Soup. My standard veggie soup recipe, and my, oh, my, it is GOOD and freezes well. Resist the urge to add additional spices, although I love adding a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis to zip it up. I also make a smaller quantity for just us. Like so many veggie soups, this gets better as it sits.
3.Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread Muffins. I halved this recipe too, and used sour non-fat milk (because I had no buttermilk) and omitted the raisins when I made them to serve with our St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage. Satisfying and healthy.
4. Crustless Cranberry Pie. Okay, so this isn't something that's necessarily all that carb-friendly, but it is good. I made it sometime in December and probably used half to two-thirds the sugar and at least half whole wheat flour. Especially with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipping cream, this makes a tangy, nice sweet treat.
5. Crockpot Lasagna. Especially when it is way too hot to light the oven but you're tired of salads, this recipe gives you some good lasagna taste without heating up the kitchen. I always use low or no-fat cheese options when I can, including the cottage cheese, and whole wheat lasagna noodles.
6. Bread Machine Focaccia with Sundried Tomatoes. Not low-carb, but great to take to a potluck or for an appetizer. I've got jars of dried tomatoes in my pantry from past gardens, so I use those, reconstituted, and substitute half whole wheat flour. Works really well with a bread dipper too.
7. Hot Sour Chicken and Noodles. I cut this out of Family Circle decades ago and it is our family's preferred home remedy for colds, especially with extra vinegar and hot sauce. We call it Spicy Chicken Soup. I often use leftover rotisserie chicken in it, and boil the carcass and skin for the broth. I omit the miso, mainly because it's not an ingredient that I can easily find in the grocery store. It always makes the sickie feel better.
8. Apple Pie by Grandma Opie. NOT, so NOT, a low anything recipe. But it is an amazing apple pie. I spice the apples with cinnamon and nutmeg because I like a spicy pie, and I pile 'em high. The caramel sauce makes it wonderfully rich and different.
9. Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. So while we're on rich desserts, this one came from my friend Melissa, and I made it for a couple of Christmas gifts last year, in addition to keeping one for ourselves. Big yum. No healthifying this one, I'm afraid.
10. Whole Wheat Zucchini Herb Bread. Love my Zojirushi bread machine! And this is a great way to use up some of those surplus summer zucchinis in a healthy bread that tastes great. If I don't have the sesame seed, I omit it.
11. Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert. Oh, another not-healthy recipe, but fun and easy. The hardest part is unwrapping all those ice cream sandwiches. Sort of like a Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait in a cake pan.
12. Layered Ice Cream "Cake". Better than Baskin Robbins, and you can customize the flavors! I made this for my friend Maureen's birthday -- she wanted an ice cream cake with lots of chocolate, so I used chocolate chip, triple chocolate, and fudge tracks ice creams, layered with hot fudge and caramel toppings. Sent big chunks home with the honoree and guests, too!(Clearly I refused to even look at the sugar, carbs, and fat content.)
13. Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup. We like the spicy hot Italian sausage in this, and red potatoes, and I usually use fat-free half and half instead of the heavy cream just because. But it's a delicious soup.
14. Garlic Bubble Bread. Fun and easy to take to a potluck! I used the frozen rolls (thawed) rather than bread dough, but I'll bet you could do this like the ever-popular overnight monkey bread recipe and leave it to rise for several hours. This is comfort food, not health food.
15. Mediterranean Kale and White Bean Soup. This is a non-creamy soup with tremendous flavor. I also used a can of diced tomatoes, and you could substitute swiss chard or spinach for the kale. We prefer the hot Italian sausage.This is a good low-fat and lower carb recipe, as long as the sausage is well-drained. I usually cut that amount in half -- still get the flavor, but not all the fat.
16. Pimiento Cheese Spread. Nobody can live in the South and not taste pimiento cheese. This is pretty close to what I make, although I do NOT use Miracle Whip, and certainly not that much mayo either. I've been known to use some Velveeta if I have it, or to use up odds and ends of cheese too, but it is best with the sharp cheddar. This is also yummy on party rye for an appetizer, or as a sandwich on regular rye. Not especially low calorie or carb, however.
17. Grapefruit Pie. My mother first served us this pie when we visited my folks in the Rio Grande Valley over the Christmas holidays back in the mid-1990s. They wintered there and tremendously enjoyed the citrus orchards and fresh veggies that were available at the famer's markets. The grapefruit take some time to peel and pith, but the results are delicious. I've successfully used sugar-free jello and Splenda in this recipe. If you use a nut crust, you can limit the carbs.
18. Spinach-Apple Salad with Almonds. The sugary almonds really make this salad special. I've used either agave or stevia in the dressing to sweeten without the sugar. Love the Honeycrisp apples in this.
Okayyyyy. My Internet connection is not doing well at the moment -- too many gusty winds blowing our next storm in, so we're going to call it a post at 18.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Icky cold -- we has it
I'd forgotten how icky it is to have a cold. And I'm very grateful that I don't feel especially sick: my nose is drippy but my sinuses are congested despite using the nasal irrigator, and I occasionally have a bitty cough. My chief complaint today is that I can't taste anything.
Not sure where I got it, but there are so many who have been so sick for weeks with flu and cold and stuff, so I'm glad mine seems very mild. I'm drinking tea and sucking lozenges and wishing the Cold FX had gotten here in time for this. Fortunately I've had no trouble sleeping at night.
I think it's been a number of years since I had a cold or been sick, and I'll be happy to resume that schedule. I probably failed to wipe off a grocery cart or wash my hands once I got home. Won't make that mistake again.
Here's the tea recipe that I got from a friend a few years back -- thanks! Also known as chai tea, but without the milk although you could add it, it really helps and is full of flavor, not that I'm tasting it today:
Not sure where I got it, but there are so many who have been so sick for weeks with flu and cold and stuff, so I'm glad mine seems very mild. I'm drinking tea and sucking lozenges and wishing the Cold FX had gotten here in time for this. Fortunately I've had no trouble sleeping at night.
I think it's been a number of years since I had a cold or been sick, and I'll be happy to resume that schedule. I probably failed to wipe off a grocery cart or wash my hands once I got home. Won't make that mistake again.
Here's the tea recipe that I got from a friend a few years back -- thanks! Also known as chai tea, but without the milk although you could add it, it really helps and is full of flavor, not that I'm tasting it today:
Masala Tea
2 inch piece of ginger
9 cups cold water
1 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
6 to 8 small green cardamom pods
6 to 8 whole cloves
1 tablespoon tea leaves, preferably a blend of Indian teas, or 2 or 3 tea bags
honey to taste
Scrape the ginger. Place it on a board and give it a few gentle blows with a mallet so that it breaks into several pieces.
Pour the water into a medium-size pot. Add the ginger, cinnamon, cardamom pods, and cloves and bring to a boil. (I use a tea brewing basket to hold the spices.) Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Add tea and boil 2 to 4 minutes. Strain and serve the tea with honey to taste.
May you be well and not need to drink this for a cold remedy!
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Reverb 11 -- Day 7 -- Forgiveness and Food
#1 Prompt: Forgiveness - Who have you forgiven this year and what was the journey like that brought you to forgive them?
#2 Prompt: Food: What did you eat this year that stayed with you? Did you experiment with a new meal? Try a new restaurant? Reflect on your good (or less desirable) eats with detail and explain why it stayed with you!
#1: Well, this certainly sparked some soul-searching on my part, and a lunch-long conversation with Tony as we discussed forgiveness.
In 2005, before my mother died, I had a long conversation about forgiveness with my uncle when we were both in Springfield visiting her. I'd read something recently that included a variation of the Lily Tomlin quote "Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past." He liked that, and we talked at length about a family situation that clearly was going to require some forgiveness on both sides.
When I was contemplating who I've forgiven this year, or IF I'd forgiven anyone this year, I realized that I don't actually forgive. I move through a situation, I can move past and move on from a situation, but my relationship with that person is forever after colored by the experience requiring forgiveness. I may continue a friendship or relationship, but I'm a little more guarded, a less less trusting, much more aware of what I say and share and do with that person. I'm rarely without a filter after that point.
Something requiring forgiveness is an event which is going to change how I relate thereafter to that person, and therefore change my life path, even slightly. By forgiving, I still can't undo that change. It happened. It caused whatever reaction it caused. I can choose to include or not that person in my life, or to change the level of involvement, but the solid fact is that the event still happened.
(Disclosure: I am a Scorpio. It has been said that Scorpios don't forget or forgive, they get even. There is some truth to that, even though it may take years to do so.)
I'm pretty good at moving through and on, except when it comes to forgiving myself, probably the most important act of forgiveness any of us ever perform. While I've grown through a lot of events I've done to myself, there are still those that linger in the depths of my memory, and occasionally -- usually when I'm feeling down anyway -- I drag them out yet again and continue the flogging. This year I've made some progress on a couple -- at least I recognize when the cat-o-nine-tails is about to come out, and I can usually put it away. But there is still forgiveness that needs to be generously applied to some of the other memories in that dungeon.
#2: Oh me. I like to eat. I love sweets. And pasta. And fresh bread. And, to be fair, fresh veggies and crisp, fresh salads. I like to eat good food, too. I'm not big on junk food, although I'll admit to a strong craving a few months ago for potato chips, and while I did not break down and buy a bag, I did indulge most heartily in the big bowl of them that was present at a picnic gathering.
I'm not instantly recalling a stand-out meal or dessert this year, however. I enjoyed many such foods, in fact. I think the first, perfectly ripe watermelon of the season, or a fresh, juicy tangerine at Christmas is a delight to taste buds and memory alike. Or a still-warm tomato sliced on good sourdough bread spread with real mayonnaise and topped with a fresh basil leaf is a thrill to the senses. An overflowing black and white sundae, dripping with chocolate and real whipping cream, answered my sweet tooth's plea for deliciousness.
Sometimes a bowl of just-made hot vegetable soup and a slice of fresh bread and butter is perfect for the moment, or a plate of spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and fresh parmesan.
A few years ago -- gasp, in 2007! -- a friend made a birthday cake for Tony and me that was seriously amazing. I wrote about it at the time. It remains in my memory one of the most delectable things I've ever eaten. (Although that group no longer is together and sharing wonderful food (at least with us, anyway!), it was a precious time.)
I'd love to find that to-die-for taste again in 2012. (But I'd also like to get rid of the extra pounds that have slowly crept on this year before they do lasting damage. Right now it's not too many, but if I keep writing about food, it definitely will continue climbing.)
#2 Prompt: Food: What did you eat this year that stayed with you? Did you experiment with a new meal? Try a new restaurant? Reflect on your good (or less desirable) eats with detail and explain why it stayed with you!
#1: Well, this certainly sparked some soul-searching on my part, and a lunch-long conversation with Tony as we discussed forgiveness.
In 2005, before my mother died, I had a long conversation about forgiveness with my uncle when we were both in Springfield visiting her. I'd read something recently that included a variation of the Lily Tomlin quote "Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past." He liked that, and we talked at length about a family situation that clearly was going to require some forgiveness on both sides.
When I was contemplating who I've forgiven this year, or IF I'd forgiven anyone this year, I realized that I don't actually forgive. I move through a situation, I can move past and move on from a situation, but my relationship with that person is forever after colored by the experience requiring forgiveness. I may continue a friendship or relationship, but I'm a little more guarded, a less less trusting, much more aware of what I say and share and do with that person. I'm rarely without a filter after that point.
Something requiring forgiveness is an event which is going to change how I relate thereafter to that person, and therefore change my life path, even slightly. By forgiving, I still can't undo that change. It happened. It caused whatever reaction it caused. I can choose to include or not that person in my life, or to change the level of involvement, but the solid fact is that the event still happened.
(Disclosure: I am a Scorpio. It has been said that Scorpios don't forget or forgive, they get even. There is some truth to that, even though it may take years to do so.)
I'm pretty good at moving through and on, except when it comes to forgiving myself, probably the most important act of forgiveness any of us ever perform. While I've grown through a lot of events I've done to myself, there are still those that linger in the depths of my memory, and occasionally -- usually when I'm feeling down anyway -- I drag them out yet again and continue the flogging. This year I've made some progress on a couple -- at least I recognize when the cat-o-nine-tails is about to come out, and I can usually put it away. But there is still forgiveness that needs to be generously applied to some of the other memories in that dungeon.
#2: Oh me. I like to eat. I love sweets. And pasta. And fresh bread. And, to be fair, fresh veggies and crisp, fresh salads. I like to eat good food, too. I'm not big on junk food, although I'll admit to a strong craving a few months ago for potato chips, and while I did not break down and buy a bag, I did indulge most heartily in the big bowl of them that was present at a picnic gathering.
I'm not instantly recalling a stand-out meal or dessert this year, however. I enjoyed many such foods, in fact. I think the first, perfectly ripe watermelon of the season, or a fresh, juicy tangerine at Christmas is a delight to taste buds and memory alike. Or a still-warm tomato sliced on good sourdough bread spread with real mayonnaise and topped with a fresh basil leaf is a thrill to the senses. An overflowing black and white sundae, dripping with chocolate and real whipping cream, answered my sweet tooth's plea for deliciousness.
Sometimes a bowl of just-made hot vegetable soup and a slice of fresh bread and butter is perfect for the moment, or a plate of spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and fresh parmesan.
A few years ago -- gasp, in 2007! -- a friend made a birthday cake for Tony and me that was seriously amazing. I wrote about it at the time. It remains in my memory one of the most delectable things I've ever eaten. (Although that group no longer is together and sharing wonderful food (at least with us, anyway!), it was a precious time.)
I'd love to find that to-die-for taste again in 2012. (But I'd also like to get rid of the extra pounds that have slowly crept on this year before they do lasting damage. Right now it's not too many, but if I keep writing about food, it definitely will continue climbing.)
Friday, March 18, 2011
Tomato soup warms us up
Instead of corned beef and cabbage on yesterday's St. Patrick's Day, I made ham salad sandwiches (open-faced and toasted) and homemade tomato soup for dinner. (Tony had planned to go to a program after work but changed his mind at the last minute because others had decided not to go.)
The soup was really good and very easy, and beats the canned stuff all to pieces. So I thought I'd share.
I started with a recipe from Food.com, which I often browse, but then adapted it enough that it really isn't the same recipe.
Tomato Soup
Saute in 1-2T olive oil a medium chopped onion and four cloves of minced garlic until soft. Throw in a couple of bay leaves and a few sprinkles of basil leaves if you like that flavor (we do) -- maybe half a teaspoon.
When veggies are soft but not browned:
Add a 28-oz. can of whole, diced or stewed tomatoes, whatever you have in the pantry.
Pour in a couple of cups of chicken or veggie broth, or -- as I did, not wanting to open a quart of broth for just two cups -- two cups of chicken bouillion (low sodium preferred)
I added two small cans of V-8 to this mix; you may choose to add 1/4 c of tomato paste.
Generously pepper.
Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. At that point I also added about a slice of bread, torn into pieces. (Use whatever you have, or omit if you like. It thickens the soup just a little.) Simmer maybe another 10 minutes until you really can't see the bread. (I suppose you could add the bread when you add the other stuff too.)
Using your handy-dandy immersion blender (which I got for my birthday last fall and while I don't use it often, LOVElovelove it), puree until everything is smooth. In lieu of that, you can puree small batches in your blender, but be careful to hold the lid on so soup doesn't explode over your countertop. Or you can mash it all together with a potato masher (the low-tech version).
It turned out warm and smooth and peppery, warming us up all the way down. I'll choose this soup any day over anything canned, and it's very easy.
I'm guessing you could add some cream at the very last to make it cream of tomato, or put in other veggies or rice or macaroni to stretch it or to use leftovers.
Corned beef and cabbage tonight!
The soup was really good and very easy, and beats the canned stuff all to pieces. So I thought I'd share.
I started with a recipe from Food.com, which I often browse, but then adapted it enough that it really isn't the same recipe.
Tomato Soup
Saute in 1-2T olive oil a medium chopped onion and four cloves of minced garlic until soft. Throw in a couple of bay leaves and a few sprinkles of basil leaves if you like that flavor (we do) -- maybe half a teaspoon.
When veggies are soft but not browned:
Add a 28-oz. can of whole, diced or stewed tomatoes, whatever you have in the pantry.
Pour in a couple of cups of chicken or veggie broth, or -- as I did, not wanting to open a quart of broth for just two cups -- two cups of chicken bouillion (low sodium preferred)
I added two small cans of V-8 to this mix; you may choose to add 1/4 c of tomato paste.
Generously pepper.
Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. At that point I also added about a slice of bread, torn into pieces. (Use whatever you have, or omit if you like. It thickens the soup just a little.) Simmer maybe another 10 minutes until you really can't see the bread. (I suppose you could add the bread when you add the other stuff too.)
Using your handy-dandy immersion blender (which I got for my birthday last fall and while I don't use it often, LOVElovelove it), puree until everything is smooth. In lieu of that, you can puree small batches in your blender, but be careful to hold the lid on so soup doesn't explode over your countertop. Or you can mash it all together with a potato masher (the low-tech version).
It turned out warm and smooth and peppery, warming us up all the way down. I'll choose this soup any day over anything canned, and it's very easy.
I'm guessing you could add some cream at the very last to make it cream of tomato, or put in other veggies or rice or macaroni to stretch it or to use leftovers.
Corned beef and cabbage tonight!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
November is my favorite month
November is a big month for me: not only is it my birth month (21st), but also Tony's birth month (15th). It's my sister-in-law's birthday on the 9th, and my dad would have been 94 yesterday. My ex's mother died 14 years ago today. And my daughter Vanessa's birthday is the 24th.
It always has marked the beginning of winter for me. I remember a birthday, either my sixth or seventh, in Wayzata, Minn., and watching the flurries outside the window as I unwrapped a big book of stories from my grandmother, who usually sent me books for Christmas and birthdays. I would anticipate the first snow of the winter on my birthday -- of course more often than not it didn't happen quite that way, but I liked to think it did. (And for the record, I don't miss snow...just sayin'.)
It's Thanksgiving month too, with a four-day weekend, and then countdown to Christmas -- lots of food, lots of shopping, lots of activity everywhere, with concerts and fall plays and bazaars and the last of the fall festivals.
Weather is more unpredictable than October, colder than September, but without the surety of cold and rain that mark the early winter days of December. We usually get our first frost this month, and definitely some rain, but leaves still cling stubbornly to the trees. Out here it also means the greening begins, since our 'green' season is winter, and the ground springs to life a little more after each bit of rain. The deer begin to fatten up again with the bounty of acorns on the ground and the new grass, and the big six-point buck that's been roaming our property is looking for nookie as the does hustle out of his way.
It's nearly 70 degrees today -- hardly wintery -- and mild temps are predicted for several more days. It's a good time to get the last red tomatoes out of the garden, pick the peppers, and start cleaning out the spent vines. We'll insulate the water spigots and outdoor pipes on one of these mild days so that we're not out there in cold wind at the last minute.
The outdoor kitties have been preparing for weeks: the twins, Snitch and Squib, are fat and furry, with thick tails that they wrap around their noses as they snooze in the kitty beds on the front porch. Harry Potter, Weasley and even little Minnie have their winter coats on too, although they aren't as chunky -- the twins like to periodically chow down on lizard, mouse or bird tartare, (fur, feathers and all) usually on the front sidewalk where they demonstrate to the other cats the fine art of decapitation on their unfortunately slow victims. crunchcrunchcrunch
The gutters are clean, the chimney likewise, the wood rack is stacked, and the flannel sheets are on the bed. The kettle is on the woodstove ready to humidify the air and the AC and swamp cooler are shut down for the season. I've already made one big pot of veggie soup and have broth ready for another. It's comfort food time: perhaps my Minnesota roots are showing, but I love the stews and soups and roasted meats and warm breads perfuming the house with their aromas. Salad -- our typical summer fare -- simply doesn't smell, y'know?
And I prefer the cozy sweats and fleece of winter to the linen and thin cotton of summer as well: alpaca socks on my feet on the coldest days, fuzzy slippers ready for my cold feet. I like the darker colors, the rich jewel tones punctuated by black, more than I like the whitewashed pastels of warmer weather.
So I'm finishing up the closet changes today, tucking away the summer clothes and light-colored rugs, and winter-fying the decor. I'm ready for the change, ready for whatever the new season will bring me, ready to do something different.
“Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils” -- Cyril Connelly
It always has marked the beginning of winter for me. I remember a birthday, either my sixth or seventh, in Wayzata, Minn., and watching the flurries outside the window as I unwrapped a big book of stories from my grandmother, who usually sent me books for Christmas and birthdays. I would anticipate the first snow of the winter on my birthday -- of course more often than not it didn't happen quite that way, but I liked to think it did. (And for the record, I don't miss snow...just sayin'.)
It's Thanksgiving month too, with a four-day weekend, and then countdown to Christmas -- lots of food, lots of shopping, lots of activity everywhere, with concerts and fall plays and bazaars and the last of the fall festivals.
Weather is more unpredictable than October, colder than September, but without the surety of cold and rain that mark the early winter days of December. We usually get our first frost this month, and definitely some rain, but leaves still cling stubbornly to the trees. Out here it also means the greening begins, since our 'green' season is winter, and the ground springs to life a little more after each bit of rain. The deer begin to fatten up again with the bounty of acorns on the ground and the new grass, and the big six-point buck that's been roaming our property is looking for nookie as the does hustle out of his way.
It's nearly 70 degrees today -- hardly wintery -- and mild temps are predicted for several more days. It's a good time to get the last red tomatoes out of the garden, pick the peppers, and start cleaning out the spent vines. We'll insulate the water spigots and outdoor pipes on one of these mild days so that we're not out there in cold wind at the last minute.
The outdoor kitties have been preparing for weeks: the twins, Snitch and Squib, are fat and furry, with thick tails that they wrap around their noses as they snooze in the kitty beds on the front porch. Harry Potter, Weasley and even little Minnie have their winter coats on too, although they aren't as chunky -- the twins like to periodically chow down on lizard, mouse or bird tartare, (fur, feathers and all) usually on the front sidewalk where they demonstrate to the other cats the fine art of decapitation on their unfortunately slow victims. crunchcrunchcrunch
The gutters are clean, the chimney likewise, the wood rack is stacked, and the flannel sheets are on the bed. The kettle is on the woodstove ready to humidify the air and the AC and swamp cooler are shut down for the season. I've already made one big pot of veggie soup and have broth ready for another. It's comfort food time: perhaps my Minnesota roots are showing, but I love the stews and soups and roasted meats and warm breads perfuming the house with their aromas. Salad -- our typical summer fare -- simply doesn't smell, y'know?
And I prefer the cozy sweats and fleece of winter to the linen and thin cotton of summer as well: alpaca socks on my feet on the coldest days, fuzzy slippers ready for my cold feet. I like the darker colors, the rich jewel tones punctuated by black, more than I like the whitewashed pastels of warmer weather.
So I'm finishing up the closet changes today, tucking away the summer clothes and light-colored rugs, and winter-fying the decor. I'm ready for the change, ready for whatever the new season will bring me, ready to do something different.
“Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils” -- Cyril Connelly
Monday, March 29, 2010
Back to more normal fare
and off the politics, at least for now.
Yesterday I made a big pot of minestrone and another of chili in preparation for our brief return to cool, wet weather this week -- although the forecast indicated that the rain would begin yesterday afternoon and become heavy this morning.
Guess what. As of 9:30 a.m. local time, we have had barely a drop. Lots of wind going on now but no rain yet.
We'd planned to RoundUp the driveway and street frontage, but hated to see the expensive stuff literally washed away, so postponed it yet another week. Turns out we probably would have been fine -- but you go on forecasts. So we busied ourselves inside instead, with laundry, more paper pitching in the office, and finally putting together my new jewelry workbench.
But back to minestrone.
A few weeks ago the USA magazine that is in Sunday newspapers had a recipe for minestrone, and it sounded good and easy so I tried it. And it is both. Nearly any veggie will work; it is practically no fat (a little olive oil), and chock full of healthy stuff. Yesterday I used some frozen veggies including some of my frozen zucchini, the remainder of a head of cabbage, and the usual onion-celery-garlic trio. I used some chicken bouillion too since I didn't have two full quarts of vegetable broth. Served with a sprinkle of parmesan, it is a satisfying meal. And I love that it is so healthy.
Everyone makes chili differently. R uses canned spaghetti sauce in hers, so I tried it this week with a can of garlic/herb sauce, also adding a large can of diced tomatoes. It's thick and tomato-y, not very authentic, of course, but with plenty of garlic and onion and chili powder, plus kidney beans (from dried) and ground beef. Like the soup, it will get even better as the flavors blend. But with some fat-free saltines, carrots and celery sticks, it made a nice Sunday evening meal.
The trees are sporting vividly green leaves, daffodils are blooming, and spring has definitely come -- but I am not yet ready to let go completely of winter and really look forward to the cool and rainy weather that is supposed to be coming. We head into April this week, and we've already seen temperatures of 80+. I'm just not looking forward to those blazing blast-furnace days of 110 degrees that our summers always include. If we can ease into it over the next two months with cool temps at night, a bit of rain here and there, and nothing too far over 80, I'd love it.
Yesterday I made a big pot of minestrone and another of chili in preparation for our brief return to cool, wet weather this week -- although the forecast indicated that the rain would begin yesterday afternoon and become heavy this morning.
Guess what. As of 9:30 a.m. local time, we have had barely a drop. Lots of wind going on now but no rain yet.
We'd planned to RoundUp the driveway and street frontage, but hated to see the expensive stuff literally washed away, so postponed it yet another week. Turns out we probably would have been fine -- but you go on forecasts. So we busied ourselves inside instead, with laundry, more paper pitching in the office, and finally putting together my new jewelry workbench.
But back to minestrone.
A few weeks ago the USA magazine that is in Sunday newspapers had a recipe for minestrone, and it sounded good and easy so I tried it. And it is both. Nearly any veggie will work; it is practically no fat (a little olive oil), and chock full of healthy stuff. Yesterday I used some frozen veggies including some of my frozen zucchini, the remainder of a head of cabbage, and the usual onion-celery-garlic trio. I used some chicken bouillion too since I didn't have two full quarts of vegetable broth. Served with a sprinkle of parmesan, it is a satisfying meal. And I love that it is so healthy.
Everyone makes chili differently. R uses canned spaghetti sauce in hers, so I tried it this week with a can of garlic/herb sauce, also adding a large can of diced tomatoes. It's thick and tomato-y, not very authentic, of course, but with plenty of garlic and onion and chili powder, plus kidney beans (from dried) and ground beef. Like the soup, it will get even better as the flavors blend. But with some fat-free saltines, carrots and celery sticks, it made a nice Sunday evening meal.
The trees are sporting vividly green leaves, daffodils are blooming, and spring has definitely come -- but I am not yet ready to let go completely of winter and really look forward to the cool and rainy weather that is supposed to be coming. We head into April this week, and we've already seen temperatures of 80+. I'm just not looking forward to those blazing blast-furnace days of 110 degrees that our summers always include. If we can ease into it over the next two months with cool temps at night, a bit of rain here and there, and nothing too far over 80, I'd love it.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Where did the week go?
It's already Sunday night again, and the beginning of another week -- this one is Tony's birthday week and for six whole days he'll be a year older than me. gloat
And it's been a bit of a roller coaster as well: from my brother in the hospital on Sunday to being home and becoming just a tad cantankerous yesterday (which is fine -- I'd much rather have him that way than sick and scared, and I'm sure my sister-in-law would agree).... from weather in the 80s to our first fire in the woodstove yesterday.
We also got serious about losing the extra 15 or so pounds we've both put on since we first moved here, and we've both been doing a pretty good job of controlling portions and leaving the sugar alone. My scale yesterday morning was happier than it's been for a while.
And then.
We celebrated both our birthdays last night at a gathering of good friends, all of us around the same age -- give or take 10 years, all of us transplants from other places. And there are some terrific cooks. Our wonderful neighbors hosted, and cooked delicious food which was further seasoned with all the laughter and teasing and warm conversations filling their home. Others brought appetizers, wine, dessert -- and oh. Dessert. Birthday cake. THE. ULTIMATE. COCONUT. CAKE.
But you ain't never seen -- nor eaten -- anything like this one, folks. By a long shot it was the most decadent thing I EVER put in my mouth (and I'm no stranger to decadence). I found the recipe today, and I swear you could gain 10 pounds just reading it. (Note: there are several parts to the recipe, and the links to each part e are on the bottom of the page that this link takes you to.) The cake supposedly weighed 12 pounds, but I think it was more: the half of it that is left must weigh nearly 10. According to the cook, the recipe was featured on a Martha Stewart show by a chef from South Carolina who will ship the cake anywhere for $100 (bet that doesn't include overnight, refrigerated shipping costs, though).
So after one more small taste tonight, and saving a piece for a friend who adores coconut anything, it goes to work with Tony tomorrow to help harden the young supple arteries of the 20- and 30-somethings with whom he works. Better theirs than ours.
And yes, there were presents even! Fun, thoughtful, personalized gifts that just warmed our hearts.
What we have found since moving here is not only a whole new way of life in the country, but more good friends than either of us can remember ever having -- certainly since we were in high school, at least. We feel tremendously blessed and honored, and very grateful for the friendships and caring people. What a great way to enter our seventh decade (*yikes*)!!!
Life is not perfect, nor does it stay the same for long: we know change is inevitable, and indeed we hold in our hearts one close friend who found out about some serious health problems this week, and always hold close our daughters with their various issues, and my brother with his immobilized shoulder.
But this weekend was lovely, and we capped it by going out late this afternoon and taking photos at the Sacramento River Discovery Center just when the light went golden in late afternoon. Although we had some good rain yesterday and a cozy day spent indoors enjoying our first fire, today's cool but crystal-clear air and sunshine was a bonus finish.
This week is another chance for all of us: a chance to work hard, to enjoy each other, to communicate honestly and lovingly, to be grateful every day for something in our lives. It's easy for us tonight.
And it's been a bit of a roller coaster as well: from my brother in the hospital on Sunday to being home and becoming just a tad cantankerous yesterday (which is fine -- I'd much rather have him that way than sick and scared, and I'm sure my sister-in-law would agree).... from weather in the 80s to our first fire in the woodstove yesterday.
We also got serious about losing the extra 15 or so pounds we've both put on since we first moved here, and we've both been doing a pretty good job of controlling portions and leaving the sugar alone. My scale yesterday morning was happier than it's been for a while.
And then.
We celebrated both our birthdays last night at a gathering of good friends, all of us around the same age -- give or take 10 years, all of us transplants from other places. And there are some terrific cooks. Our wonderful neighbors hosted, and cooked delicious food which was further seasoned with all the laughter and teasing and warm conversations filling their home. Others brought appetizers, wine, dessert -- and oh. Dessert. Birthday cake. THE. ULTIMATE. COCONUT. CAKE.
But you ain't never seen -- nor eaten -- anything like this one, folks. By a long shot it was the most decadent thing I EVER put in my mouth (and I'm no stranger to decadence). I found the recipe today, and I swear you could gain 10 pounds just reading it. (Note: there are several parts to the recipe, and the links to each part e are on the bottom of the page that this link takes you to.) The cake supposedly weighed 12 pounds, but I think it was more: the half of it that is left must weigh nearly 10. According to the cook, the recipe was featured on a Martha Stewart show by a chef from South Carolina who will ship the cake anywhere for $100 (bet that doesn't include overnight, refrigerated shipping costs, though).
So after one more small taste tonight, and saving a piece for a friend who adores coconut anything, it goes to work with Tony tomorrow to help harden the young supple arteries of the 20- and 30-somethings with whom he works. Better theirs than ours.
And yes, there were presents even! Fun, thoughtful, personalized gifts that just warmed our hearts.
What we have found since moving here is not only a whole new way of life in the country, but more good friends than either of us can remember ever having -- certainly since we were in high school, at least. We feel tremendously blessed and honored, and very grateful for the friendships and caring people. What a great way to enter our seventh decade (*yikes*)!!!
Life is not perfect, nor does it stay the same for long: we know change is inevitable, and indeed we hold in our hearts one close friend who found out about some serious health problems this week, and always hold close our daughters with their various issues, and my brother with his immobilized shoulder.
But this weekend was lovely, and we capped it by going out late this afternoon and taking photos at the Sacramento River Discovery Center just when the light went golden in late afternoon. Although we had some good rain yesterday and a cozy day spent indoors enjoying our first fire, today's cool but crystal-clear air and sunshine was a bonus finish.
This week is another chance for all of us: a chance to work hard, to enjoy each other, to communicate honestly and lovingly, to be grateful every day for something in our lives. It's easy for us tonight.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
The garden delivers...
The lettuce in the garden is bolting -- not surprising, after our recent 112+ degree temps, although the romaine still appears okay. Green onions are still okay, although with our rocky soil, you gotta get them when it's damp. I doubt any of them will stay good for much longer-- just too hot.
Sugar snap peas are about done, too, and this has been a nice, long season for them, with ample supplies for salads and stirfrys. The vines are browning, and the deer will get the last bits when I yank them up, probably this week.
Green beans have been slow, but we've had a few suppers with them. The plants didn't do as well as I'd hoped, and I may put a few more in the ground when it cools down a bit this week (to high 90s and low 100s -- )
Even though the tomato plants are runty and small, they're loaded with tomatoes, and I'm about to get the first big one. The grape tomatoes have given us a handful -- about enough for a salad. Zucchini, also runty, has a few small ones coming along and the plants are healthy and blooming....just small. I've picked a small eggplant and a green pepper, and we had a quick sauce with those and with fresh tomatoes from someone else's garden over pasta the other night. Very yummy. I don't know what happened with the pepper plants this year: I planted a dozen or so, and something ate all but two of them -- nothing else in the garden, just the pepper plants. Whatever it was hasn't touched the three I planted a few weeks ago.
Tonight we had our first mess of swiss chard, and -- also the first one -- a half a sliced Asian cucumber that I marinated in white wine vinegar, along with a boneless chicken breast that I used a dry rub on and sauteed, then cooked briefly in a little red wine. Love those cukes, and with just one plant this year, I hope we won't get overrun as we have in years past.
But the swiss chard was just exquisite. A neighbor gave me the ultimate recipe and I could just savor this as a whole meal. Here 'tis:
Thank you, Deb!
I also made a very small batch of fresh plum freezer jam with plums from another neighbor's tree. They're the tiny prune plums that are at least half seed, so I washed them and put them with a little water into a pan and cooked it down, then ran the results through a food mill -- had to manually pick out the stones, but it was easy. Got about 3 cups of pulpy plum, to which I added a cup of Splenda (they were very flavorful, but rather sour), and then used the no-sugar pectin to blend with the mixture. I'll put the jars in the freezer tomorrow -- I think it will be fairly soft, but it was really tasty.
I am so grateful for the luscious fresh veggies we get to enjoy from our garden, and the bounty of fresh fruit that we have in this area! It is such fun to cook with whatever is ripe today. The Wednesday farmer's markets begin this week, so there will be even more to choose from. I hope you enjoy this summer's harvest!
Sugar snap peas are about done, too, and this has been a nice, long season for them, with ample supplies for salads and stirfrys. The vines are browning, and the deer will get the last bits when I yank them up, probably this week.
Green beans have been slow, but we've had a few suppers with them. The plants didn't do as well as I'd hoped, and I may put a few more in the ground when it cools down a bit this week (to high 90s and low 100s -- )
Even though the tomato plants are runty and small, they're loaded with tomatoes, and I'm about to get the first big one. The grape tomatoes have given us a handful -- about enough for a salad. Zucchini, also runty, has a few small ones coming along and the plants are healthy and blooming....just small. I've picked a small eggplant and a green pepper, and we had a quick sauce with those and with fresh tomatoes from someone else's garden over pasta the other night. Very yummy. I don't know what happened with the pepper plants this year: I planted a dozen or so, and something ate all but two of them -- nothing else in the garden, just the pepper plants. Whatever it was hasn't touched the three I planted a few weeks ago.
Tonight we had our first mess of swiss chard, and -- also the first one -- a half a sliced Asian cucumber that I marinated in white wine vinegar, along with a boneless chicken breast that I used a dry rub on and sauteed, then cooked briefly in a little red wine. Love those cukes, and with just one plant this year, I hope we won't get overrun as we have in years past.
But the swiss chard was just exquisite. A neighbor gave me the ultimate recipe and I could just savor this as a whole meal. Here 'tis:
Sweet-and-sour Swiss Chard with Dried Currants
4 Servings
3 pounds green and/or red Swiss chard (about 3 large bunches), tough ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces.
1 tablespoon olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
3 Tablespoons dried currants
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
COOK Swiss chard in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well.
HEAT oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add Swiss chard and currants; saute until heated through, about 3 minutes.
Drizzle vinegar over and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.
I also made a very small batch of fresh plum freezer jam with plums from another neighbor's tree. They're the tiny prune plums that are at least half seed, so I washed them and put them with a little water into a pan and cooked it down, then ran the results through a food mill -- had to manually pick out the stones, but it was easy. Got about 3 cups of pulpy plum, to which I added a cup of Splenda (they were very flavorful, but rather sour), and then used the no-sugar pectin to blend with the mixture. I'll put the jars in the freezer tomorrow -- I think it will be fairly soft, but it was really tasty.
I am so grateful for the luscious fresh veggies we get to enjoy from our garden, and the bounty of fresh fruit that we have in this area! It is such fun to cook with whatever is ripe today. The Wednesday farmer's markets begin this week, so there will be even more to choose from. I hope you enjoy this summer's harvest!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
My new favorite bread dipper
When I was in SF with Julie, we ate dinner at The Stinking Rose, an all-garlic-all-the-time restaurant in North Beach. While everything was yummy (and I reeked of garlic for three days afterwards), I couldn't get enough of the pesto relish that was on every table. It was hot, tasted of parsley, and verrrry garlicky.
Tonight I have a big jar in the fridge that I've shared last night with neighbors and tonight with other friends -- I found the recipe on the restaurant's site as well as elsewhere, slightly modified. And here it is:
Stinking Rose® Garlic Relish
1 bunch flat Italian parsley, minced
1/4-1/3 cup (or to taste, which is what I did) minced garlic
2 T vinegar
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
Olive oil to cover
I whirled the parsley in the food processor until very finely chopped; ditto the garlic. Put it all into a glass jar, mixed it up, and covered with olive oil.
Is that easy or what!
It makes a great salad dressing, bread dipper, condiment for a sandwich, topper for griller chicken (or fish). The garlic is what gives it the hot kick, so vary your amounts according to how much you love garlic.
Carry breath mints.
I also made a dried tomato and rosemary foccacia, using tomatoes from the garden that I'd dried last year, and it was killer with this dip. And too easy -- do the dough in the bread machine, and it's very simple from there.
Did I mention that I love to cook? Well -- when I have a little time to do it and plan ahead. I don't like the oh-gosh-it's-7-p.m.-and-I-haven't-the-foggiest kinds of cooking, which seems to happen a lot. Lately it's a lot of salad from the garden, which also is featuring radishes and the tiniest green onions. You can't buy lettuce like this -- it's a good variety of kinds, so you get a peppery arugula in one bite, a juicy leaf lettuce in another.
Enough already. I'm hungry.
More magazines on the nightstand, and I'm working bit by bit on The Secret, but I'm nearly finished with JD Robb's Born in Death.
Tonight I have a big jar in the fridge that I've shared last night with neighbors and tonight with other friends -- I found the recipe on the restaurant's site as well as elsewhere, slightly modified. And here it is:
Stinking Rose® Garlic Relish
1 bunch flat Italian parsley, minced
1/4-1/3 cup (or to taste, which is what I did) minced garlic
2 T vinegar
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
Olive oil to cover
I whirled the parsley in the food processor until very finely chopped; ditto the garlic. Put it all into a glass jar, mixed it up, and covered with olive oil.
Is that easy or what!
It makes a great salad dressing, bread dipper, condiment for a sandwich, topper for griller chicken (or fish). The garlic is what gives it the hot kick, so vary your amounts according to how much you love garlic.
Carry breath mints.
I also made a dried tomato and rosemary foccacia, using tomatoes from the garden that I'd dried last year, and it was killer with this dip. And too easy -- do the dough in the bread machine, and it's very simple from there.
Did I mention that I love to cook? Well -- when I have a little time to do it and plan ahead. I don't like the oh-gosh-it's-7-p.m.-and-I-haven't-the-foggiest kinds of cooking, which seems to happen a lot. Lately it's a lot of salad from the garden, which also is featuring radishes and the tiniest green onions. You can't buy lettuce like this -- it's a good variety of kinds, so you get a peppery arugula in one bite, a juicy leaf lettuce in another.
Enough already. I'm hungry.
More magazines on the nightstand, and I'm working bit by bit on The Secret, but I'm nearly finished with JD Robb's Born in Death.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Living longer
There was an article in this weekend's USA magazine about longevity, featuring two Web sites you can visit to determine how long you'll live (barring accidents, catastrophic events, etc.). That's the one for folks over 50, and this is the one for the under-50 crowd.
According to that I'll get 89 years in. That's about right, I think....although my great-aunt Fran turned 100 last September, but she seems to have escaped some of the physical ailments that have afflicted others on that side of the family -- other than some dementia, anyway.
There are, of course, things they recommend doing that will help extend my life even more -- like cutting out those sweets to just once or twice a week and exercising more than four times a week.
But I'm not too bad. We seldom eat white anything -- bread, rice, potatoes, pasta -- and use the whole wheat or brown versions of rice and pasta, or substitute whole barley which is full of fiber and low on the glycemic index. Probably eat red meat too often, although not daily by any means. No smoking, no booze.
We do try to keep things healthy--well, maybe except for that stash of sweets. I made granola today which is full of healthy fiber and very low in fat and sugar. It's Adelle Davis's recipe, adapted somewhat.
Here's hers:
5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick)
1 cup each of sliced or chopped almonds, sesame seeds, raw sunflower seeds, shredded coconut (unsweetened, preferably not the fancy kind), soy flour, powered milk (preferably non-instant), and wheat germ.
1 cup honey
1 cup oil
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Combine dry ingredients; mix honey and oil and drizzle over dry ingredients, tossing and coating. Spread the mixture on 2 cookie sheets and bake for approximately 1 1/2 or 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes, until toasty brown. Makes 12 cups depending on what you add or leave out.
Now *I* use about half a cup of sesame seeds and half a cup of whole flaxseeds, and I've substituted wheat or oat bran for the wheat germ depending on what I have. I add about a tablespoon or a little more of cinnamon, maybe a splash of vanilla, and I use sugar-free pancake syrup in place of the honey (or mix it, using less honey than syrup), and use about half unsweetened applesauce and half canola oil, or even more applesauce than oil. It always turns out crispy and tasty, and it's very good for you.
I usually get my ingredients at Winco in their wonderful bulk food department and keep them in the freezer or tightly sealed.
Usually we eat it with a sprinkle of dried blueberries, Craisins, or goji berries, or fresh fruit -- strawberries and peaches are wonderful. You don't need much to fill you up, and it stays with you a long time. Of course it is superb with half and half....but it works with nonfat milk too.
And I feel so *virtuous* eating it!
The longevity quiz is interesting though, and the eons Web site also looks interesting. The more knowledge about this aging stuff, the better. I need to stick around long enough to teach my grandchildren how to irritate their mothers...(that is, when I have grandchildren. I'm in no hurry, and the girls aren't either).
Mother was right: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I'll take granola tomorrow, thank you!
According to that I'll get 89 years in. That's about right, I think....although my great-aunt Fran turned 100 last September, but she seems to have escaped some of the physical ailments that have afflicted others on that side of the family -- other than some dementia, anyway.
There are, of course, things they recommend doing that will help extend my life even more -- like cutting out those sweets to just once or twice a week and exercising more than four times a week.
But I'm not too bad. We seldom eat white anything -- bread, rice, potatoes, pasta -- and use the whole wheat or brown versions of rice and pasta, or substitute whole barley which is full of fiber and low on the glycemic index. Probably eat red meat too often, although not daily by any means. No smoking, no booze.
We do try to keep things healthy--well, maybe except for that stash of sweets. I made granola today which is full of healthy fiber and very low in fat and sugar. It's Adelle Davis's recipe, adapted somewhat.
Here's hers:
5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick)
1 cup each of sliced or chopped almonds, sesame seeds, raw sunflower seeds, shredded coconut (unsweetened, preferably not the fancy kind), soy flour, powered milk (preferably non-instant), and wheat germ.
1 cup honey
1 cup oil
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Combine dry ingredients; mix honey and oil and drizzle over dry ingredients, tossing and coating. Spread the mixture on 2 cookie sheets and bake for approximately 1 1/2 or 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes, until toasty brown. Makes 12 cups depending on what you add or leave out.
Now *I* use about half a cup of sesame seeds and half a cup of whole flaxseeds, and I've substituted wheat or oat bran for the wheat germ depending on what I have. I add about a tablespoon or a little more of cinnamon, maybe a splash of vanilla, and I use sugar-free pancake syrup in place of the honey (or mix it, using less honey than syrup), and use about half unsweetened applesauce and half canola oil, or even more applesauce than oil. It always turns out crispy and tasty, and it's very good for you.
I usually get my ingredients at Winco in their wonderful bulk food department and keep them in the freezer or tightly sealed.
Usually we eat it with a sprinkle of dried blueberries, Craisins, or goji berries, or fresh fruit -- strawberries and peaches are wonderful. You don't need much to fill you up, and it stays with you a long time. Of course it is superb with half and half....but it works with nonfat milk too.
And I feel so *virtuous* eating it!
The longevity quiz is interesting though, and the eons Web site also looks interesting. The more knowledge about this aging stuff, the better. I need to stick around long enough to teach my grandchildren how to irritate their mothers...(that is, when I have grandchildren. I'm in no hurry, and the girls aren't either).
Mother was right: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I'll take granola tomorrow, thank you!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
'Twas a dark and stormy day
It was a good day to stay in and bake cookies.
I don't think it got completely light until about 9 a.m. and it was starting to get dark by 3. We have rain and drizzle, with more of the same predicted for the rest of the week, although daytime temperatures aren't bad -- in the 50s. This weekend will see lows right around freezing. Snow could come as low as 1500 feet, but I doubt we'll see even a flurry here. Which is just fine with me.
So I baked Jule Kage and two kinds of cookies, filling the house with yeasty, cardamom-y, buttery aromas, and listened to carols from Mannheim Steamroller and John Rutter. It was a cozy sort of day, and I expect to have a couple more this week, as business is very quiet -- not at all unusual for December in any kind of market, but this one is slow anyway. And I've still got killer fudge (this is almost mine -- I use unsweetened baking chocolate instead of the semisweet) and peanut brittle to make in addition to several more kinds of cookies, more bread, and a new holiday cake/loaf that sounds really yummy.
Baking is one of my favorite things about the holidays since I seldom do it the rest of the year -- we just don't need those extra calories. And even though it'll just be us here to enjoy it, I'll give lots of it as gifts. It's very comforting to make so many of the same goodies every year, although I always have to try a few new recipes. I remember baking the same recipes, years and years ago, and where I was and what was happening in my life then.
The fudge recipe is one I found in a Zionsville, Indiana, church cookbook sometime in the '80s, and have made it ever since. It never fails, is completely rich and chocolatey, makes a full, creamy 11x15 panful, and my brother raves about it. Even my daughter eats it, and she's not a chocolate lover (amazing, I know)...
Christmas is the only time I make it, and I savor every single piece.
And then there's peanut brittle. Now my orthodontist doesn't read this blog (at least I hope) or I'd be hearing about the evils of such candies, but honestly, homemade peanut brittle made with real butter and raw peanuts, cooked to a lovely brown, and then spread in a buttered pan, pulling it as thin as possible, is one of the joys of the season. Mother had two recipes from fellow teachers, and I'll usually make both. The recipe card, in her handwriting, is stained with butter and sugar from years and years of making it.
When I was working full time back in Alabama, I'd get up very early and mix a batch of cookies and refrigerate it until I could bake them. I'd do marathon baking sessions one December weekend and freeze everything. I'd always swear I'd start in November the following year, but that's never happened. I need the carols, the wintery weather, the time pressure! to feel the baking urge. Or the Christmas shopping urge, for that matter. Nope, I'm not done. Nope, nothing's wrapped (and won't be until I need to mail packages to the kids and my brother and sister-in-law).
But I'll get there. I always do. It just takes a little December winter to get me in gear.
I don't think it got completely light until about 9 a.m. and it was starting to get dark by 3. We have rain and drizzle, with more of the same predicted for the rest of the week, although daytime temperatures aren't bad -- in the 50s. This weekend will see lows right around freezing. Snow could come as low as 1500 feet, but I doubt we'll see even a flurry here. Which is just fine with me.
So I baked Jule Kage and two kinds of cookies, filling the house with yeasty, cardamom-y, buttery aromas, and listened to carols from Mannheim Steamroller and John Rutter. It was a cozy sort of day, and I expect to have a couple more this week, as business is very quiet -- not at all unusual for December in any kind of market, but this one is slow anyway. And I've still got killer fudge (this is almost mine -- I use unsweetened baking chocolate instead of the semisweet) and peanut brittle to make in addition to several more kinds of cookies, more bread, and a new holiday cake/loaf that sounds really yummy.
Baking is one of my favorite things about the holidays since I seldom do it the rest of the year -- we just don't need those extra calories. And even though it'll just be us here to enjoy it, I'll give lots of it as gifts. It's very comforting to make so many of the same goodies every year, although I always have to try a few new recipes. I remember baking the same recipes, years and years ago, and where I was and what was happening in my life then.
The fudge recipe is one I found in a Zionsville, Indiana, church cookbook sometime in the '80s, and have made it ever since. It never fails, is completely rich and chocolatey, makes a full, creamy 11x15 panful, and my brother raves about it. Even my daughter eats it, and she's not a chocolate lover (amazing, I know)...
Christmas is the only time I make it, and I savor every single piece.
And then there's peanut brittle. Now my orthodontist doesn't read this blog (at least I hope) or I'd be hearing about the evils of such candies, but honestly, homemade peanut brittle made with real butter and raw peanuts, cooked to a lovely brown, and then spread in a buttered pan, pulling it as thin as possible, is one of the joys of the season. Mother had two recipes from fellow teachers, and I'll usually make both. The recipe card, in her handwriting, is stained with butter and sugar from years and years of making it.
When I was working full time back in Alabama, I'd get up very early and mix a batch of cookies and refrigerate it until I could bake them. I'd do marathon baking sessions one December weekend and freeze everything. I'd always swear I'd start in November the following year, but that's never happened. I need the carols, the wintery weather, the time pressure! to feel the baking urge. Or the Christmas shopping urge, for that matter. Nope, I'm not done. Nope, nothing's wrapped (and won't be until I need to mail packages to the kids and my brother and sister-in-law).
But I'll get there. I always do. It just takes a little December winter to get me in gear.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Shared ritual binds us
I dreamed of my mother last night and trying to feed her, nourish her. There was plenty of food,and somehow we ended up with two turkeys in the oven. She was very fragile, and didn't quite understand what I was trying to do. I'm not really sure, either, except that was going to be a lot of turkey.
I miss her.
I miss being in Springfield for Christmas, going shopping there for last minute gifts, waiting for everyone to get there, bringing my mother a Clementine and some Jule Kage that I'd brought from home.
I miss the rituals we'd established there, and those we'd carried over from another life.
We're creating new ones, I understand that, but creating anything is hard work, especially in the beginning. Last year, the first without Mother, was hard, but in some ways this one feels harder, a little sadder.
Author Robert Fulghum wrote about ritual, especially family rituals. As we acknowledge the events, the losses, the beginnings in our life through ritual, we also honor the spiritual in them and in ourselves.
When we have wild rice and bacon and Jule Kage for breakfast on Christmas morning, we are continuing a ritual from my childhood when we'd visit Duluth. Many of my cousins also fix wild rice. It connects us in honoring those traditions and our grandparents and parents.
There are cookies and candies that I always bake at Christmas, from recipes my mother printed by hand into a notebook of her favorites. She is there in the kitchen with me when I stir flour, butter, and pecans together for Daddy's (and Tony's) favorite, Pecan Shorts.
We all have rituals around family, especially at holidays -- things we always eat, stories we always tell, songs we always sing, fights we always have.... Ritual connects us, binds us together. It honors our dead and celebrates our living.
Our family won't be here this year -- but I know what my brother and my daughter will be eating for breakfast on Christmas. I know there will be certain cookies in their homes, and that they'll hang stockings knitted by my mother nearly 30 years ago. And in those shared rituals, we will be together.
I miss her.
I miss being in Springfield for Christmas, going shopping there for last minute gifts, waiting for everyone to get there, bringing my mother a Clementine and some Jule Kage that I'd brought from home.
I miss the rituals we'd established there, and those we'd carried over from another life.
We're creating new ones, I understand that, but creating anything is hard work, especially in the beginning. Last year, the first without Mother, was hard, but in some ways this one feels harder, a little sadder.
Author Robert Fulghum wrote about ritual, especially family rituals. As we acknowledge the events, the losses, the beginnings in our life through ritual, we also honor the spiritual in them and in ourselves.
When we have wild rice and bacon and Jule Kage for breakfast on Christmas morning, we are continuing a ritual from my childhood when we'd visit Duluth. Many of my cousins also fix wild rice. It connects us in honoring those traditions and our grandparents and parents.
There are cookies and candies that I always bake at Christmas, from recipes my mother printed by hand into a notebook of her favorites. She is there in the kitchen with me when I stir flour, butter, and pecans together for Daddy's (and Tony's) favorite, Pecan Shorts.
We all have rituals around family, especially at holidays -- things we always eat, stories we always tell, songs we always sing, fights we always have.... Ritual connects us, binds us together. It honors our dead and celebrates our living.
Our family won't be here this year -- but I know what my brother and my daughter will be eating for breakfast on Christmas. I know there will be certain cookies in their homes, and that they'll hang stockings knitted by my mother nearly 30 years ago. And in those shared rituals, we will be together.
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