Colorful Harvest

This morning was such a lovely morning to be outside.  I pulled a few things from my garden after tending to the chickens.  We've had a bumper crop of yellow squash and zucchini, and also cherry/grape tomatoes.  I am starting to get a few eggplants and I am excited about that.  I bought the plants from an organic farmer from our farmers market.  I realized once I got them home that they had mites.  I separated them from the rest of my plants and treated them with an organic spray.  The plants were sad looking at first and now they are doing great!  The variety is called "Fairy Tale" and are picked fairly young and small.  I plan on grilling these up today along with some squash, onion and green peppers.
I think Charlie and I are going to a blueberry farm today to get some berries.  I've been freezing fruit lately to add to smoothies.  This week I had healthy smoothies twice a day (made with spinach, sprouts, fruit, ground flax seed and sometimes non-fat yogurt).  The frozen fruit makes the smoothie cold and it covers the flavor of the veggies and flax.  I have a bunch of reasons for doing this -- but what it all boils down to is HEALTH.  Although I am a vegetarian, I still have some bad eating habits.  I'm trying to make some positive changes right now and start to take better care of myself.  The smoothies definitely make it easier to get a bunch of healthy stuff packed into one meal.

Dutch Pancakes

When you start raising chickens for their eggs, eventually you start to look for recipes that make good use of your eggy abundance.  This past week I made a recipe that was both delicious and helped use the eggs that I've been stockpiling -- Dutch Pancakes (a.k.a. German pancake or Souffled pancake).

There are a variety of recipes available on-line, but I took my recipe from a book that I've been adoring lately.  I've omitted the fruit topping recipe that is in the book -- although it looks amazing, I just stuck with maple syrup for the topping.  I also omitted orange zest from the batter because I didn't have any.  I'm going to list the recipe as I made it, then encourage you to buy the book to get the real thing.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Beat together 4 eggs, 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla extract with an electric mixer on medium speed.  On low speed, beat in 3/4 cup milk then 3/4 cup bread flour and a few good shakes of cinnamon (who needs measuring spoons?).  The batter is ready -- it is just that simple.

I used a nice sturdy skillet that my Grandmother gave me -- one that she used for years.  You'll want something that can go in the oven and is non-stick.  Heat the pan on the stove top and melt 2 Tbsp butter.  After the butter stops sizzling, pour in the batter and put the pan in the hot oven.  Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.  Then lower the heat to 400 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes.

The pancake puffs up because of the eggs and also the gluten in the bread flour.  When you pull it out of the oven, the pancake deflates in the middle, but the edges stay crispy and raised.  Add whichever toppings you prefer and serve (up to 6 servings, but Charlie and I split one for a filling breakfast).  It tastes a lot like french toast -- yum!

Now, as I stated before, this recipe was adapted from a book that I absolutely love!  When I first got my chicks this past Spring, my mother bought this book for me as a gift.  It has lovely photographs (the author is a chef and food stylist) and 125 recipes that use either eggs or chickens as key ingredients.  It is also a memoir about raising chickens on a small scale -- like I am doing.

The book is arranged seasonally -- which is a unique approach that I really like.  For instance, it starts in early Spring -- with the arrival of young chicks in the memoir, and seasonal recipes like "Herb-Buttered Chicken with Spring Vegetables".  It moves through the seasons making good use of fresh fruit and vegetables.  As a vegetarian (not vegan, obviously) I really like the egg recipes.  My husband eats meat though so I will make use of the chicken recipes as well.  I'm looking forward to trying "Baked Eggs with Basil-Mint Pesto", "Cinnamon Breakfast Popovers", and "Rhubarb Ginger Custard Bars".

I highly recommend this book and think it would make a great gift for the chicken lover in your life.  Even if you don't have chickens, the recipes are great -- and not too complicated.  This is one that you will return to over and over.  Lovely!

Heirloom Tomato Panzanella Salad

I'm taking a break from all the nature photography to offer up a recipe I made from my last good haul of tomatoes from my garden (a few weeks ago).  It's called Panzanella salad -- it is easy to make and you can add or subtract from this recipe as you please:

Gather heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden, red onion, garlic, green olives, and fresh mozzarella -- chop, chop, chop.  Blend olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper.  Mix it all up.  Use day old crusty bread and chunk it up.  Mix the bread in a few minutes before serving.  It soaks up all the juices and softens up.  This salad doesn't really keep more than a day because the bread gets too soft -- but don't worry -- it disappears quickly.  Healthy and delicious!!!

See, I told you it is easy!  You could also use cucumber or bell pepper and feta cheese instead of mozzarella.  It is really up to you.  Look around the internet for other recipes to see the variations or if you are the kind of person who wants to know specific measurements.

Garlic Scape and Mushroom Quiche

I wanted to make something other than pesto with my garlic scapes this year.  I've also been wanting to brush up on my quiche making skills.  The chickens are still a couple of months away from egg-laying, but I must be prepared (I already have friends lining up to try a quiche made with happy chicken eggs).  So, the natural choice was to try making a garlic scape quiche.

For those that don't know, garlic scapes are the curling tops of garlic plants.  The are milder than the bulb of the garlic and can be used much like other vegetables.  They do make an awesome pesto and I've read that they are really good in stir fry.

Today I chopped up about a dozen scapes (cut off the flower part and just use the green "neck") into small pieces.  I also used a small can of mushroom pieces and some grilled onion I had left over from another meal.  Anyway, saute' them with 1 Tbsp. butter until they are softened a bit then add the mushrooms to join all the flavors for a few minutes.  Remove them from the heat and let cool a while.  

I used a frozen pie shell (deep dish).  If you have time to make your own pie crust - I salute you.  Maybe someday that will be me.  So, I put the frozen pie shell on a cookie sheet, then add the veggies to the bottom.  On top of that I grated parmesan cheese.  I was thinking a little swiss cheese would have been nice too.

I whisked 5 eggs and about 1 cup of half and half together then added salt and pepper.  Some recipes call for nutmeg -- I didn't add it, but the amazing thing about quiche is that you can pretty much make it however you'd like.  I then carefully poured the egg mixture over the veggies and cheese, then put it into my preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.  The timer is actually about to go off....

Wow!  It looks really good!  I can hardly wait to cut into it -- but you gotta let it rest at least 5 minutes.  It keeps cooking after you take it out, so don't worry if it doesn't look quite done.  I imagine there are a thousand varieties of garlic scape quiche that could be made.  Just pick and choose other veggies (or meat if you eat it) and different cheeses and herbs. 

I'd be very curious to hear what your favorite combination of quiche fillings are.  I've got to start stockpiling ideas because my little chicks are growing up quickly.  

My new friend -- puff pastry

My mother came over for a visit this past weekend for a much needed "girls weekend".  We had a great time, even though the Christmas shopping crowds seemed to start early this year.  I had absolutely no groceries in the house due to all the long hours I'd been working -- so we went to the store to figure out what to have for dinner.  Somehow we decided to make brie en croute with raspberry jam.  This was my first time using puff pastry and I have decided I love the results!!!

Have you ever had this stuff?  The brie gets all gooey and melty and the puff pastry is so flaky and delicious!  I really liked the seedless raspberry jam in there.  It added an interesting level of fruity goodness.  I don't think I need to add another recipe for this on the internet.  Just check out the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry site.

We had only used half the package of puff pastry, so the next morning I tried a recipe I intend to use Christmas morning (My family is coming my way this year).  Basically, you scramble an egg with oregano for about a minute then put it on one end of half a sheet of pastry.  Top it with some cheddar cheese and a thick slice of tomato.  Wrap it all up and bake it for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees.

You absolutely MUST try this!  I'm really sorry to my gluten-free and vegan friends -- you are missing out on one of the most amazing breakfasts I've ever tasted!  I'll admit, our dinner/breakfast concoctions were very rich and not exactly healthy -- but they were good for the soul.  They were a perfect addition to a lovely weekend with my mother.

Zucchini bread

It has been a long time since my last post.  I am sorry about that.  I just got back from vacation in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I have a couple of photos that I hope to post soon.  For now, I wanted to get this post completed.  I made zucchini bread and wanted to give out the recipe.  

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups zucchini - grated (and peeled if you like) -- squeeze off excess juice

1 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

optional - 1 cup nuts (I don't use the nuts myself)

Beat eggs.  Add next four ingredients and mix well.  Add dry ingredients and mix completely.  Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.  Makes 2 loaves.

This recipe has been widely used by my family.  Zucchini bread is definitely a childhood favorite of mine.  

Whenever I have an over abundance of zucchini in my garden, I grate it up and freeze it in 2 cup portions.  That way I can have zucchini bread all year long.  Yum!

Garlic scape pesto

I bought some garlic scapes at the farmers market this weekend.  I did some searching on-line to figure out what to do with them (I've never used them before).  Most of the sites recommended making a pesto with them.  Now I know why.  This stuff is amazing!

Cut off the flower part (don't use this part for the pesto) and cut the long green part into little pieces.  Throw them in the food processor (or blender if you are like me and haven't read the manual to your food processor yet) and chop it up into even smaller pieces.  I didn't have pine nuts on hand, but you would also chop them with the scapes at this point.  I only ended up with about 1/2 cup of scapes so I added some basil from the garden as well.  Slowly add in olive oil (about 3/4 cup oil for 1 cup of scapes) and blend some more.  Grate in some parmesan cheese.

Serve with pasta and fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden.  I think it would be really good on a pesto-based pizza too.  

I'm really happy I tried garlic scapes.  I've found a new seasonal favorite while supporting a local farmer and putting my garden to good use.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Spicy pickled carrots

Back when I was in college, I had the chance to experience some carrots that had been pickled with jalepenos.  The professor in the photography department held his office hours on Thursday nights at a local bar/restaurant called "Chico's".  They would serve you homemade tortilla chips and salsa and a small bowl of carrots.  These carrots have just the right amount of "kick".  I pulled a handful of jalepenos out of my garden the other day and decided to give this a try.  There are plenty of recipes for mexican pickled carrots on-line so I am not posting a technical recipe -- I just want to give you a general idea...

Use approximately 2 cups of carrots, cut 1/4 inch or less.  I also diced up 4 jalepenos, 1/4 of an onion and a few cloves of garlic.  In a sauce pan, dissolve 1/4 cup sugar in about a cup and a half of white vinegar.  I also added a splash of water (1/2 cup?) because some of the liquid is going to evaporate while heating.  After the sugar is dissolved, add the veggies to the pan.  No need to boil anything here, just let the veggies heat a bit in the vinegar to get the flavors combined.  I left mine on the stove about a half hour on very low heat.  Carefully fill a clean jar -- I re-used an old pickle jar.  These should be fine in the fridge for about 2 months.  There are recipes out there that will give you more exact directions if you would like to can preserve them.
Give these a try -- they are very refreshing and because they aren't really "cooked", the carrots stay slightly crisp.  They are delicious and pair nicely with a cold beer on a summer day.

Homemade elephant ears

I'm at my family's home tonight for Father's day because my Mom and I are going on a couple of day trips this week.  They decided to make some homemade elephant ears tonight so I thought I would learn how to do it and share the info with you.  Dad learned from a friend of his that makes them professionally (at fairs, etc).  

Start out with frozen white bread dough...

Let it thaw and rise...

Dad spread it thin -- very thin.  He says holes are OK...

Heat up oil to around 375 degrees -- you can test it with a little piece of dough.

Meanwhile, Mom was in charge of the cinnamon sugar.  There aren't any specific measurements -- just guess. 

Carefully drop the dough in...

Turn it over when it is golden brown...

Coat them in sugar when they come out and enjoy...

Yum!!!

Fruit salsa

A friend of mine threw a margarita/sangria party last night.  We had the most awesome food and drinks! She made a cilantro pasta salad, layered bean dip, and an amazing sangria.  Another friend brought homemade margarita mix and salsa and chips.  I decided to make a sweet fruit salsa with cinnamon tortilla chips.  It went over very well -- I was pretty thrilled too because I basically made up the "recipe".

I used strawberries, kiwi, mango and pineapple chopped into tiny little pieces.  The fruit was fairly sweet on it's own, so I only added a couple of spoons of homemade strawberry freezer jam to pull it all together.
I also made my own cinnamon tortilla chips.  Take some tortillas and spray them with butter flavored cooking spray or brush with melted butter (I did both sides).  Then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Then spray again with the cooking spray.  This step helps keep the sugar stuck to the chip.  Take a pizza cutter and cut into wedges.  I baked them for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.  Yum!
So the party was awesome.  It was a great way to celebrate the first day of my two-week vacation.  Woo hoo!!!

Pizza time

We made pizza for dinner with the cheese I created yesterday.  I split the dough I made into two separate pan pizzas.  Mine was topped with mushrooms, onion, green olives and Morningstar Farms sausage style veggie crumbles.  I love those crumbles!  They add so much taste to the vegetarian diet.  

Charlie's had pepperoni, mushroom and green olive.  He ate it -- so I guess he liked it.  I have a few slices of cheese left over after topping two whole pizzas.  Definitely worth the $2 for the gallon of milk and the small cost from the kit.  

I'm a cheese wiz!

I got out of work early today and found some time to finally try my hand at making cheese.  I'm not going to go in depth with the directions. If you are going to try it you will want to follow some fairly specific directions.  I bought a kit with everything I needed -- which was convenient but was not entirely necessary.  The whole process was described in "Hobby Farm Home" March/April 2010 which you should be able to find in stores right now too.

So -- here are the basics...

Start with whole milk - pasteurized is fine, ultra-pasteurized is NOT OK to use.  Heat it up then add some dissolved citric acid and stir.  It starts to look like soupy cottage cheese.

Then you heat it a bit more and add some dissolved vegetarian rennet.  It starts to look really nasty then.  It clumps up and the whey separates out from the curd.  

Then you scoop out the curd, drain off the whey, microwave the curds until they are hot enough to stretch, and add salt.  Then stretch it and form it however you would like.  I think I needed to get mine hotter because it doesn't look very smooth -- but overall I am very happy with the results.  I think tomorrow I will make pizza and see how it melts.  I can make the crust and the cheese -- now I just have to master making tomato sauces and canning them... but that is coming up this summer.

I saved the left over whey in the milk jug it originally came in.  They say you can give it to chickens (coming soon?) and cats.  So, that is what I did.  I let Sassafras try it first.  She tried it out -- but she isn't really an adventurous cat (she doesn't like much besides her own food).  I gave some to the orange outdoor cat who is coming to be known as "Ralphie".  He really liked the stuff -- so I will continue to feed it to him for the next few days.  

So, I am well on my way to being a cheese wiz.  It is going to take some practice -- but this was an encouraging first step.  

Mmm... bread!

I can't think of anything more satisfying that fresh bread with a bit of homemade jam. The problem is, I'm not a baker by nature -- I'd prefer to cook, anyday. But fresh "artisan" bread (not that fake white fluff that stays preserved for weeks in the bread isle) costs an arm and a leg at the store. I decided I am going to teach myself how to bake.

I am starting with a no-knead recipe from one of my favorite magazines -- Grit. If you are at all interested in homesteading and country living, may I highly recommend this magazine. Most of their articles are on-line, including the recipe that I am attempting to make. Click here for a link to the article with the recipe for this no-knead ciabatta.

So, the first step is done 48 hours before you plan to serve the bread. I'll be eating this for Sunday dinner, and take it to work for lunch on Monday. I should grill up some veggies for a nice sandwich, or maybe just peanut butter and strawberry freezer jam... yum.

Anyway, step one was easy. Just mix a bit of flour, water and yeast together then cover and let it stand at room temperature for 24 hours. I like to use a retro mixing bowl (that Mom gave me) on my lovely retro counter tops (this house was definitely built in the 70's). I think the old bowl will make the bread taste better -- call me crazy if you'd like.

Tomorrow is step two which involves adding more ingredients and letting it sit a bit longer. It helps that I have a long weekend to attempt this on.

I am also making a loaf of bread in my bread maker right now. Charlie wanted some to go with the goulash he just made. Bread maker bread is good -- but still expensive if you use a mix. And you can't make specialty items like ciabatta bread in a bread maker.

Hopefully I'm able to pull off this recipe. I will be posting more to show the results...

Last minute Christmas gifts

The Christmas tree is FINALLY up and decorated. This is one of my favorite ornaments -- a couple of love birds (perhaps turtle doves? I'm not sure I know what those look like) snuggling in the tree.

Today was nice and relaxing. Charlie came home from work in the morning (after running to Ohio and back yesterday -- hauling sugar to the cereal plant). He took a nap while I started assembling Christmas gifts with Christmas music on in the background. We scaled way back this year -- mainly because we have a house to pay for now. I needed a few things to fill a gift basket to Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary (our previous landlords) as we are going to see them this weekend. I thought I'd share what I made in case you too are looking for inexpensive last minute Christmas gifts.
These chocolate coated pretzel rods are easy to make and definitely yummy to eat! I just melted a block of "Candyquick" and cover the pretzels... then add some sprinkles before they harden up. You can find either chocolate or white chocolate flavored in the baking section in most larger grocery stores.
I had a lot left over so I decided to jazz up some caramel corn. I broke that up in to chunks once the chocolate set up and bagged it up too.

This last photo is of some spicy sweet pecans. This is my first year making these (Mom made them previously and I insisted on getting the recipe). I halved the recipe she gave me because I only had 12 oz of pecans. They made the whole house smell AMAZING and, well, Christmas-y.

Grease a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Blend 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 3/4 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne.

In a separate large bowl, beat an egg white until slightly thickened but still a bit frothy. Add 12 oz. pecans. Stir until all the pecans are well coated. Add the sugar mix and stir well until the pecans are evenly coated. Place in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Bake 1o minutes; stir. Bake 10 more minutes; stir. Bake 5 minutes more then transfer to a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and cool completely.

They have a bit of a kick from the cayenne and the pepper, but I like it.

So, anyway, Charlie is up now and we need to go out and grab a couple gifts -- and also deliver the gift to Dave and Mary. It finally feels like the holidays are here.

Birthday Weekend

Charlie and I had a 4 day weekend to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday.  It went by way too quickly, but we had a good time.  We headed "Up North" (a term Michiganders use to describe anywhere in the northern lower peninsula or anywhere in the upper peninsula - usually it involves a large body of water or campfires - or sometimes watching the black bears at a garbage dump).

We spent a little time in Traverse City.....

We went to Manistee.  Then we hit a beach in Ludington.  The Ludington beach is my favorite in Michigan.  It has clean white sand, shallow water to wade in, has free access along the road to the state park, and if you go on a weekday, it isn't very busy.

We also went to Grand Rapids to visit my family for a Birthday dinner.  Mom and I assembled the veggie skewers and Dad was the grill master.  He asked how I always manage to get photos of him cooking -- to which I don't have a good answer.  I suppose because we both have a fondness of cooking and coming up with new recipes.  The chicken he made had been marinated in lemon-lime soda pop!  Charlie says it was quite good.

Anyway, it was a nice visit - albeit a bit rushed.  We also swung out to the Quiggle Farm for a quick visit.  Jen hooked me up with some new plants (to replace the dead ones in my garden).  They got planted on Tuesday and fill up the holes in my garden perfectly.  I didn't get to see another good friend of mine like I had hoped.  We just ran out of time.  Luckily I have a week off in July so I can spend more time with my peeps.

strawberry jam, asparagus and morels

I made my very first strawberry jam last week.  It is freezer jam and was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  It is delicious too!  If you can get some fresh strawberries this year from a local farmer or the farmers market, I would recommend trying it.  Just buy a box or two of sure-jel and follow the recipe provided.

As I mentioned previously, we didn't have much luck looking for asparagus.  The one in the photo below was really thick in diameter.  I shot this photo to show what asparagus looks like in the wild.  Notice the pale dried up stalks from last summer's growth.  The old stalks are one of the better ways to find a patch in the Fall.  All you have to do is remember where they are in the Spring and you have free veggies!

Most of the asparagus we found was already branching out as seen below.  Eventually, they become quite large and look like wispy Christmas trees.  When we found a few like the one below we still checked the area for smaller ones.  We found plenty that had already been cut by someone else.  Oh well.

My friend from work brought me some morels today.  They are gorgeous and we can't wait to eat them.  These are cut in half and soaking in water to get rid of the bugs and dirt.

Happy Easter

Yesterday we had an early Easter party with Charlie's side of the family.  We all went over to Charlie's parent's place.  Charlie has one sister and one brother -- and they are both married and have kids.  I had 4 nieces and one nephew who were running around looking for plastic eggs.  I have good memories of doing that same thing as a child, although I remember getting a nickel or a couple of jelly beans inside when I found one.  These kids have it made -- Grandma gives them cold hard cash.  They are growing up so quickly.  Marina, the oldest, just got engaged!  She was still in junior high when I met Charlie.  I feel old.

I also wanted to throw in a photo of Lily the dog.  She is such a sweet dog.  Here she is begging for food after dinner.

Speaking of dinner, of course we had tons of food.  Mom-in-law always goes out of her way to make sure that I have something yummy to eat too (vegetarian).  She is always trying out new vegetarian dishes when she sees one in a magazine.  Yesterday was a southwestern pasta -- pasta and tomato sauce with corn, black beans, bell peppers and cheese.  It was quite good!  I just really appreciate all the effort she puts into cooking for me.

Overall, it was a very nice day.  The only thing that I disliked about the day was that my own Mother couldn't come out for a visit.  She has some very legitimate reasons why she couldn't come (family health issues) but I am still very sad.  Hopefully we can have our weekend together soon.

Happy Easter everybody!