In A Nutshell

seeds

Ever since Isaiah and I planted his "tickle me" plants (wiki link), I have been itching to grow something that I can eat. I really miss our community garden days. There is so much satisfaction to be had in growing your own food.

I did a little research on the internets and found a list of things I can grow now, even though it is late in the season. I picked what I thought we would have the most fun with and get the most use out of from Johnny's. I figured that would be a good place to start when selecting seeds for ones garden. 

Here's what we'll be working with:

beets

kohlrabi

runner beans

pok choi

Now, when I say "garden", I actually mean a bunch of pots. We live in a condo with a front and back patio, and no ground space, so I have to do what I can in pots. Hmmm... anyone have any tips for growing edible food in a container garden? I'm just kind of winging it here. 

broiled salmon salad with creamy blueberry mint "vinaigrette"

I'm just going to jump right in and tell you that I'm on a diet. Yeah, a diet. Before I had the baby, I spent many, many nights curled up on the couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry's. I will also tell you that I took full advantage of "eating for two", and "It's not me honey, the baby wants more ice cream." Oh lordy, am I paying for it now.

So lately, I've been on a quest to find healthy and nutritious meals on a calorie budget. My budget for lunch is about 300 calories or so. This little concoction fits the bill quite nicely, while taking advantage of those fantastic blueberries I got at the farmers market last weekend. 

It all starts with a bed of fresh spring baby greens, followed by a layer of cooked quinoa and broiled salmon, then topped off with the blueberry mint vinaigrette, black olives and capers. I know, it may sound a bit weird, but I promise, I won't steer you wrong. 

I call the dressing a vinaigrette because it has vinegar in it, but I suppose it isn't a true vinaigrette because it lacks the oil. That's why I'm using "".

Creamy blueberry mint vinaigrette dressing:

1/2 c. blueberries

1/4 c. non-fat greek yogurt

1 medium shallot, chopped

3 T. good quality balsamic vinegar

1 T. light brown sugar

6-8 mint leaves

1/2 tsp. olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Warm the oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat, add chopped shallot and saute until lightly browned. Dump the shallots from the skillet into a food processor along with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. Easy peasy. 

After a while the dressing will start to thicken up. Just give it a good stir and you're back in business.

For the salmon:

8 oz. salmon

1/2 tsp. olive oil

scant 1/4 tsp. dill

1/8 tsp. dried, ground ginger

sea salt & black pepper

Place a rack in the middle of the oven, and turn the broiler onto hi. Place the salmon on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Brush 1/2 tsp. olive oil over the top of the salmon. Sprinkle dill, ginger, S & P evenly over the top of the fish. Place on middle rack in oven and broil for 6 - 8 minutes. Fish is done when opaque in the center. If it's not done when you check it, it's okay to break it up a bit and place it back in the oven for 2 - 3 minutes until done. 

For the salad:

3 c. mixed spring baby greens

1/2 c. cooked quinoa

4 oz. broiled salmon

3 T creamy blueberry mint vinaigrette

1 T sliced black olives

1 tsp. capers

Layer the ingredients in the order above. 

saturday morning breakfast

This was an Irish mist brownie. It was good. Real good. It had cream cheese frosting with chocolate drizzled on top. That was good too. I ate not one, but two for breakfast. So much for my bikini body... not that I would actually wear one.

I even shared with the kids. The almost three year old licked off all the cream cheese frosting and didn't want to eat the brownie. Whose kid is he anyway?

 Recipe in this book.

new years commitment #2 & 3

Eat at least one serving of fruit per day (I'll admit it, I'm not a "fruit" person). 

Make use of my small kitchen appliances at least once per week.

With this millet melange recipe, I was able to kill two birds with one stone. It got in my daily serving of fruit, and I made it in my slow cooker. Slow cooker breakfasts are the best. I love getting out of bed knowing that my hot breakfast is there in my kitchen, ready and waiting. It's just about as satisfying as breakfast in bed... almost.

The recipe came from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. This is the first one I have tried from the book, which I enjoyed, but I think needs a few tweaks to suit my individual taste. I'll let you know how that goes...

i'm still here + a yummy bread

First, I want to say a big "Thanks y'all", to those who still subscribe to this blog and who hang in there with me, even though I pull these random disappearing acts. It's very cool when you check in to say hello, and I truly appreciate it when you do

I've been doing the Christmas thing, the schooling thing, and the cleaning the house like a mad person before relatives come to visit thing. Tonight, I let myself unwind a bit, and did the trying out a new recipe thing, which I always enjoy. Do you remember this book from way back when? I still have it, I still use it, and I still love it.

Here's where I'm going with this: steamed bread. Logan now affectionately calls this ghetto bread.

I assure you I did not grow up in a cave, but I had never heard of it before. How about you? 

When I read about this great wonder that is steamed bread, I couldn't get over two things. First, the bread is cooked or rather, "steamed" in a can. In a CAN! Second, because it is cooked in a can, the bread comes out round. ROUND! It does not take much to amuse me people. I found these two things to be mildly tacky, and decided that I must try it.

Truth be told, I'm surprised this recipe worked and that it didn't backfire on me in some way. I had convinced myself that this bread was destined to fail. 

Fail, it did not. It came out amazingly moist, yet firm without being overly dense, and it very easy to cut - no crumbly bits and what not. Oh, and my kids loved it, which means that it officially rocks. 

Here's the recipe and how I made it:

Steamed Brown Bread

1 c. sifted flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 c. cornmeal

1 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. black strap molasses

2 c. buttermilk

1 c. raisins, prunes or nuts (I used raisins)

four 15 oz. cans (you know, like used and saved soup cans) thoroughly greased with either butter or non-stick cooking spray

Place empty cans in a large pot (you will need to hold them down because they will float), and fill the pot with water up to the middle of the cans. Remove cans from water and set aside. Put the pot of water on the stove, turn up the heat, and bring the water to a simmer. Also, the cans should not be sitting directly on the bottom of the pot, and should be slightly elevated. I used the "canning rack" that came with my pressure cooker. That did the job nicely.

Whisk together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together buttermilk and molasses. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well. Fold in fruits or nuts. Fill cans about 2/3 full, cover tightly with aluminum foil (I used a rubber band around the top to keep the foil in place). Carefully place cans in simmering water, cover pot and simmer/steam cans for about 2 hours 15 minutes.

afternoon tea w/ sweet potato fries - day 5

I'm sure most of you read Amy's sweet potato goodness post the other day. Yeah. After reading about those fries, I got a hankering for them that would not go away. So what else was there to do but indulge?

I found Ina Garten's baked sweet potato fries recipe online here and went for it. I also tried out the blue cheese dressing Amy recommended. Although I did make a few adjustments that took advantage of what I had on hand. First I cut the recipe in half, as this makes a lot of dressing; more than I would want to eat before it were to go bad. Second, I used goat cheese instead of the Roquefort because, well, that was what was in my fridge. I also substituted seasoned rice wine vinegar for the tarragon vinegar because I didn't have any. Although, I did have fresh tarragon on hand, and blended four or five sprigs of that into the dressing. It worked out very well. However, if this dressing gets even the slightest bit warm, it starts to get runny. I would recommend adding a pinch or two of xanthan gum to stiffen it up a bit. 

Of course, tea was involved as well. 

During my search for the above recipe, I also came across this one by Ingrid Hoffmann that I am now ferociously craving. I may have to report back... soon.

 

does evening tea count? - day 4

I love mail. Really, I do. I love this time of year in particular because I get lots of goodies in the mail. It doesn't matter that it's mostly gifts, and I give them all away. Well, maybe I don't give everything away, but you know... most of it. Sometimes if I'm placing a gift order, I'll order a little somethin' somethin' for me too. Like this order of tea I got in the mail today from Tea For All Reasons. I ordered myself some Belgian chocolate rooibos tea, and some English caramel black tea; the little baggies are samples. Gotta love that.

So this is the belgian chocolate rooibos. It smells absolutely heavenly with a hint of dark mint. The taste is very mild. I got the rooibos because it is not caffeinated, and because I'm pregnant I'm not supposed to be drinking caffeine even though sometimes I do anyway, hence the English Caramel black tea, blah, blah, blah.

So I got around to making my brew after dark, which is the reason for the heading on this post. Hey, any time after noon is afternoon, right? Who cares if it's dark outside?

I made these stuffed mushrooms to enjoy alongside my tea. 

Before I go any further, I should let you know that Logan despises mushrooms with a passion, and shoots me dirty looks if I ever bring any home. Well, I wanted to make these for me, so I told him to fughettaboutit.

For the most part, I went along with this recipe here. I used parmesan instead of the Pecorino Romano, and used about 1 tsp of Italian seasoning instead of the mint... and while I didn't measure out the olive oil, I'm sure that I used way more than the recipe called for because I am an olive oil lover. 

So out of the oven they come, and to my astonishment hubby strolls casually into the kitchen and pops one into his mouth. I wanted to say something witty, but I was speechless. 

He says, "These are really good. What ever you did got rid of the mushroom-y taste that I hate so much." 

I say, "Thank you honey. Feel free to have more if you want."

He says, "Oh no. Those are for you. I don't want to take any more of your food."

I say, "Really honey, it's okay. I don't think I'll be able to eat them all anyway."

He says, "Okay." and pops two more. Then says, "These are really good. I could eat all of those."

Um. In the entirety of our relationship, I have never seen him voluntarily eat a mushroom. This is BIG people. So now I have to say that the recipe comes highly recommended, not just by me, but by the man I live with that "despises mushrooms".

pumpkin spice pancakes

The can of pumpkin sitting in my pantry was calling my name this morning. Pumpkin spice pancakes for breakfast it was. Here is the recipe. It makes enough for four big eaters and a plate full of extra pancakes for freezing later. If you have a smaller family, you will probably want to split the recipe in half. 

pumpkin spice pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground allspice

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

3 3/4 cups milk

2 cups canned pumpkin

4 eggs

generous 1/4 cup applesauce or plain yogurt (depending on your preference and what you have available)

In a large bowl combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. If you have the time and the means, sift them together - otherwise use a wire whisk to blend the ingredients together thoroughly. 

In an even larger bowl beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Add the milk, pumpkin and applesauce or yogurt and mix well. Add in the dry ingredients, and stir until just evenly moistened. If the batter looks too thick, you can always add a little extra milk; about two tablespoons at a time. 

Heat a buttered or oiled frying pan over medium heat. About 1/4 cup of batter makes one pancake. Pour batter on pan, brown on both sides and serve warm with maple syrup. Yuuuummmmm.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful and safe Halloween! 

they're (finally) done

The sugar plums underwent a third and final soaking. I rinsed them off under cool running water, as instructed by my handy dandy tutorial. Instead of placing them in the oven (I have an electric oven) or putting them outside to dry (bugs), I opted to put them in my food dehydrator. This worked like a charm, although I think I may have put them in a wee bit too long. They're slightly dry on the outside, and I believe they are supposed to be a little more sticky so the sugar can uh... stick to them. Either way, it's not a flavor issue, just a texture issue, and I don't think it's really that big of a deal. I'm happy, and I still can't wait to try this with figs. 

second soaking

The sugar plums finished their second soaking on Monday. I finally got around to preparing them for the third soaking while the sun was still up, so I was able to take them outside and photograph them in natural light. 

As you can see, some are falling apart, and some are holding up rather nicely. I'm wondering how much they're going to shrink after being dried. ??? Time will tell.

According to the recipe/tutorial I am going by, you can also do this with a variety of other fruits, including figs, which sounds utterly delicious. Unfortunately, I will probably have to wait until next year to do that.