The Dog Days of Summer

This has been a crazy summer for our family!

We have braved the wilds to take our 1 1/2 year old camping, we have played in Eastern Oregon, celebrated multiple birthdays and decided to sell our house and move into a rental.

We are finally settled into our new house. I am still getting used to the kitchen, it isn't as large as my old one and not all the burners work on the stove. I never realized how much storage I had for all my kitchen toys until I realized I couldn't keep them all at my finger tips. I have what looks like a mini Sur La Table in my basement now. :)

We had to leave our large garden but are making due with hitting up a friend's farm garden on a regular basis. This week we are eating our weight in Sungold cherry tomatoes! Once we started to slow down on popping handfuls of the sweet, fresh tomatoes into our mouth I remembered how much I enjoy them cooked.

Here I sauteed them in a touch of butter, garlic, and salt. Over very high heat, just until they popped open. One night we ate these as a side salad, sprinkled with fresh basil and oregano. The next night I mixed in a spoonful of pesto and slurped it up with long spaghetti noodles.

How do you like to eat your cherry tomatoes?

Also, any ideas on how to best enjoy Patty Pan squash? We have had them shaved, raw in this salad. But my attempts to cook them have ended up with a soggy mess, as did grilling.

Roasted Stawberry Muffins (The Hoods are Here!!!) (Sorta)

This recipe is majorly inspired by from White On Rice's recipe for Roasted Strawberry Whole Wheat muffins. I just wanted to get that out of the way. Although I am a bit obsessive about roasting vegetables it had never occurred to me to roast strawberries.

Also, they have much prettier pictures on their blog! Stunning, actually. I tend to take pictures while balancing a toddler in one arm who is reaching for the Iphone yelling "BIG TRUCK MOVIE!!!" while I try to take a photo.  I feel this may affect the quality of my photos. :) Perhaps.

The Hood Strawberries are FINALLY ripening around here. The season for these sweet little gems is very short so you have to get while the getting is good. We were lucky enough to be gifted a large bowl this week! But sadly, they weren't as sweet and perfumey as we had anticipated. Then I remembered the roasted strawberry recipe (again here, I want anyone to think I am stealing recipes!). Twenty minutes in the oven and the house smelled like jam and the berries were browned and a bit sweeter. And the flavor was just more strawberri-er. (That is a word now.)

I tossed the berries with a bit of olive oil and then folded them into a vanilla muffin batter. They are not too sweet - I think next time I would double the sugar in the muffins. I also wish vanilla bean paste was in my budget, because I think that would have taken these to the next level.

Makes about 12 muffins
Roasted Strawberry Muffins
1 pint of not so fabulous strawberries
1-2 teaspoons oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup yogurt ( I used nonfat Greek)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour ( I did half whole wheat flour, and half all purpose flour)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder

Heat oven to 400 degrees
1. Rinse and hull strawberries, cut in half if large. Lay in a single layer on a baking tray. Drizzle with oil and roll with your hands to coat the berries.
2. Roast for about 15-20 minutes or until the berries look a little browned and shriveled. Cool while making the muffin batter.
3. In a small bowl combine eggs, melted butter, yogurt and vanilla. Mix with a fork until smooth.
4. In a larger bowl add flour, sugar and baking soda. Stir to combine.
5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture. Combine using as few spoon strokes as you can.
6. Put paper liners in muffin tins. Spoon about a tablespoon of batter into a cup. Lay 3-4 berries on top of the batter. Cover with another tablespoon of batter. Top the muffin with 1-2 more roasted berries.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

The Harvest

Fall officially here, the rains have arrived in Portland.

Today I pulled out the ends of my garden. I now have bags of potatoes and apples, and a fridge full of cukes, tomatoes, and greens. I also harvested my first ever cauliflower. It was beautiful and delicious - and gone really fast. We roasted it up (surprise!), before we knew it, 4 months of growing had been eaten.

Luckily, I have managed to can quite a bit of food this year to make the summer last a little longer.

Here is a list of what we have in our pantry:
pints of tomato sauce
quarts of tomatoes
endless jars of pickles - roasted beets with rosemary, yellow beets with garlic, celery, fennel, cucumbers with dill and jalapenos, zucchini, and carrots.
blueberry jam
strawberry jam
rhubarb sauce
"chicken jam" - garlic, chili, ginger, and apple jam

I am also enjoying garlic confit. This slow simmer garlic is fall apart tender and perfect for smearing on bread. The olive oil is also nice and garlicy. I have been using it to saute veggies and adding to salad dressing. The recipe is from The Earthbound Cook, I highly recommend both this book and Food to Live By.

Garlic Confit
1 cup garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/2 cups olive oil

1. In a small sauce pan add garlic and olive oil. The oil should cover the garlic.
2. Simmer garlic 30 - 45 minutes, until very soft and fragrant.

The Baby Eats and Lemon, Mint, Vanilla Soda Syrup

Zucchini pancakes are yummy!

 Don't worry, I won't go all baby food blog here. There are a million great baby food resource blogs out there. (If you want some of them, just email me.) My little dude has started eating real food and it is a hoot! I knew I was going to love cooking up food for my son, but I had no idea just how fun it would be to watch him eat it!

Me eating blueberry muffins? No, why do you ask?

Just the other day he was enjoying zucchini feta pancakes and an apricot. Other self feeding favorites have been roasted sweet potatoes dusted with cinnamon, whole wheat bread with hummus, and corn meal blue berry muffins. He recently discovered ice cream when I was enjoying a cone of vanilla. You can't eat in front of him without sharing, so he figured out how to lick the cone pretty fast. :)

Eating lamb in front of the lambs. So wrong, but so funny.

 The best though, was when we took him to Sundan Farms for their open farm day. They were grilling up all sorts of delicious lamb. Justin and I were enjoying the lamb chops when we hear a small but demanding voice asking for a taste. Next thing we know we have a baby squealing with joy as he tastes his first meat. He is his father's son. He spent the rest of the visit sucking on the bones. 

One of the best things about being home for the summer is all the family time we are getting. We are trying to all get out for a long walk each day. The other day, while wandering through the ally behind our house I came across a HUGE patch of lemon balm. Lemon balm is basically a mint like weed around here, popping up through our fence, giving us an almost daily chore of ripping it out. But, on this day I decided to take an arm full of fragrant stems home with me. I stopped at my neighbor's garden for a large handful of mint. Once home I simmered them in just enough water to cover the leaves, with some sugar until a dark sweet tea was made.

After tasting it I added a tiny drip of vanilla to round the lemon, mint flavor. Now we have a great syrup to make lemon mint soda with our handy Soda Steam. I also really like it mixed with my strawberry drinking vinegar.

Funny thing, the next day I was reading the Oregonian FoodDay and found a recipe for Lemon Verbena Soda. Great Minds!  :) 

Lemon, Mint, Vanilla Soda Syrup
2 large handfuls of lemon verbena, washed and stems broken into smaller pieces
1 large handful of mint, washed and stems broken into smaller pieces
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
3 drips of vanilla

1. In a large sauce pan add verbena, mint, water and sugar. Simmer 10 minutes or until the water takes on a dark tea like appearance.
2. Strain leaves from tea. Add vanilla.

3. Pour into a pretty bottle. Add a tablespoon or more to a large glass of bubbly water for a refreshing soda.

PS. I want to welcome all my new visitors! I hope you like my little blog and come back again. Please become a follower. :)

Jam Dressing

 

Photo by Amy Wing

I don't know about you but I am a huge fan of jam. Eating it, canning it, licking it off of toast. I think I learned that from my dad who eats a bit of toast with his jam.

Two summers ago I experimented with interesting jams. I now have a few jars of them sitting around and want to use them up. I have started using them as bases for salad dressings. I generally like sweet dressings (poppyseed dressing, I am talking to you!) so a sweet fruity base fits my preferences.

Photo by Amy Wing

I have posted about fig jam vinaigrette here. This recipe is slightly different then the following because it using balsamic vinegar rather then rice vinegar. The strong fig flavor can handle the darker vinegar. For lighter jams I think a bit of lemon juice and rice vinegar provide just enough bite to let the fruit shine through.


In these pics I am using a pear ginger jam I made two summers ago. It was used to dress a grain salad I will be posting, but is also great on a green salad.

Photo by Amy Wing

Experiment with different jams and let me know what you think. I imagine apricot would be lovely with roasted veggies. Blueberry with a steak salad would be fancy, and strawberry over spinach and goat cheese would be very Springy.


Thank you Amy Wing for these beautiful photos!

Basic Jam Dressing (Makes about 1 pint)

1/4 - 1/2 cup jam (start with less and add more until the flavor pops)
1 cup rice vinegar (not salted vinegar)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic minced
a bit of fresh herbs if you have them
1 tablespoon kosher salt (use less if using table salt)
1/2 cup good olive oil

1. Add all ingredients, except oil, into a clean pint jar. Close with a tight fitting lid and shake well.
2. Add olive oil and shake until it appears slightly thick.
3. Taste and adjust jam if needed.


Store in the refridgerator and shake well before using.

Other jam recipes:
Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Grilled Figgy Sandwiches
Fig Jam
Daily Yogurt
Roasted Tomato Jam

Exciting News!

I am still feeling quite under the weather and I am not cooking anything these days. But, I did get a little news to lift my spirits.

My recipe for fennel and pear salad was published in the Obama's White House Garden Cookbook!!!














I am beyond thrilled to see my name in print. The cookbook is filled with lots of kid friendly, garden veggie using recipes, as well as White House stories.

Garden Dreaming

The air here has changed just a touch. It is starting to feel like Spring. The sun is out a little bit earlier and is hanging out a little later each day.

Yesterday, I celebrated the blue sky by tinkering in the garden. I cleaned up the last bits of leaves that have been lurking in the corners of the yard and took stock of the bluebells, crocuses, daffodils and assorted bulbs coming up. My daphne is perfuming the yard. My roses and flowering cherry trees have buds on them.

I noticed that my cilantro, parsley and arugula has self-started. This weekend I will be putting in my snow peas, pea pods, kale, and spinach. I am already plotting my garden beds for this year. I love looking at the Territorial Seed Company catalog. I dream of one day owning a hazelnut tree inoculated with truffles! How cool would that be. Then I could train the pug to be a truffle hunter. :)

Are you ready to get some dirt under your fingers? What will you be planting this year? Spring crop? Summer crop? Do you plan to try growing something different this year?

As soon as my parsley gets big enough I plan to make this tuna steak recipe. With local tuna, home grown parsley and peppers from last year's garden it will be a perfect Spring dinner.

First Greens From the Garden

I interrupt this temporary blogging hiatus to announce the first garden harvest of the season!

This spinach is out of control! The leaves are getting bigger than my head, but are still sweet and tender. I have no idea what I planted. (I look WAY too tired in this picture.)


So I did what anyone would do when faced with bowls of arugula, kale, and spinach. I made pizza. :) This one is goat cheese, sauteed kale and garlic, chili flakes and apple sausage. Not pictured was the arugula and prosciutto pizza (always a favorite), spinach and feta pizza, and zucchini, olive, roasted garlic and parmesan pizza. That should keep us going this week for lunches. Have eaten anything from your garden yet?

How Will My Garden Grow?

It is only February and it snowed yesterday (that never happens here in Oregon!), but my thoughts have turned to Spring. I am ready to start planting. My three little backyard beds look so sad and brown. I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt, encourage little seedlings, and give up completely on clean fingernails.

This year I will be gardening in a much bigger space. My parents have generously allowed me to "sharecrop" at their house, in return for free range to eat whatever I grow. My dad has always been a big time gardener. We could eat out of his gardens all summer and most of the fall, with more then enough veggies to share with neighbors. Lately though, he doesn't have the same urge to garden. As his interest wanes, mine is growing. In addition to the original 300 or more square feet of raised beds, my brother built another 150 or so square feet this winter. Did I tell you there is a sprinkler system too?

I think by April I will be able to put in some greens, lettuce, spinach, peas, and green garlic. Any other suggestions for early spring growers?

I have already planned out my hardy greens bed, my lettuce bed, canning tomatoes, and slicing tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, tomatillos, garlic, zuchicini, cucumbers, beans, squash of all kinds. I would love to try some new or unusual vegetables - I am particularly fond of Asian flavors. I would also like to try to grow a shell bean as well as string beans.

Readers: Do you have any breed recommendations? Vegetables that thrilled you last year? A plant that you have been meaning to try? Have I forgotten to add something to my list?

Hop To It!

It is time to harvest those hops. Get them off the vines before the rain ruins your chance at brewing some homegrown beer. Last Spring, we planted a little hop vine. We did not have high hopes for the hops, but we were very pleasantly surprised! For a little plant we used to cover an ugly fence, it sure did a good job producing Cascade Hops. The vine did a great job covering the fence and climbed the neighbor's tree!

Pick the hops when they make a papery sound when you rub a "flower" between your fingets. We picked them on a sunny afternoon and then dried them in 200 degree oven that evening.

It took about 2 hours to dry the hops and the house smell sorta, well, hoppy. Pleasant.. but also sorta wierd.
When the hops are dry stuff them into gallon ziplock bags. Press the air out of the bag and store in the freezer until ready to brew.

Things are Finally Growing

Summer had been slow around here. I am still waiting on tomatoes. We have had a few handfuls of bush beans, and an oversized zucchini. I finally had some edible rewards for all my hard work.

My heirloom potatoes are finally ready. Last week, I started digging and when my elbows were underground I hit pay-dirt. Handfuls of baby potatoes: red, purple and cream colored babies. Aren't they pretty?

I tried out a salt-roasting technique, from 101 cookbooks, with mixed results. I covered the potatoes with a paste made from kosher salt and egg whites. It baked up into a rock hard crust that was difficult to crack. Underneath, the potatoes looked beautiful. The potatoes tasted creamy on the inside, but sadly, they were so salty that we hardly enjoyed them.

I can't really recommend the recipe. I think tossing them in olive oil and BBQing or roasting them would have the same creamy results, without the painful saltiness.