well, i'll beet...

when my grandmother was mildly surprised by

something she would say, 'well, i'll be.'

i inadvertently planted beets in my garden this year

and, for once, having my head in the clouds

worked in my favor.

i've never been a fan; stubbornly sticking by

my childhood line in the sand about them.

somehow, they ended up in my garden this year..

remember this? 

so, regardless of whether i intentionally 

planted them or not (i really have no idea and 

bought a bunch of seeds from the bulk bin at the 

feed store and the packages got wet and illegible)

my feelings about beets are warming. 

i've been taking them straight from the garden and 

adding them raw, leaves and all, to my smoothies.

the greens are as good (maybe better)

than spinach when sautéed.  next, i'm trying roasted.

raw beets have loads of folates, niacin, vitamin c,

antioxidants, vitamin a, fiber, iron, potassium.

you get the idea. 

• 
  

against the wind...

today was a long one.  

i'm not even sure why. worn out and a bit deep down sad. 

i fell asleep at a stop light

after picking up roxie.  startled awake when someone

honked.  what's that about?  

i think i even drooled.  

sometimes just moving my hands, keeping them

busy can ward that kind of thing off so i 

made some soup and bread for supper. 

this soup is always just right, especially 

when the garden is full of kale.  the bread is 

 'everything bread'. 

i don't have exact amounts for the soup, but you can't

mess it up.  the pic above is all washed out

and misleading. 

it's actually rainbow bright.

Kale Soup

yellow onion, diced

couple serrano peppers, minced

2 Tbsp. garlic, minced

15 oz. diced tomatoes

potato; peeled, diced

sweet potato; peeled, diced

can cannelloni beans (or great northern) rinsed

1-2 bunches kale; stemmed, chopped

6-8 cups vegetable stock

parsley

3 tsp. italian seasoning

salt

saute onion, peppers, and garlic in olive oil.  add remaining ingredients and simmer until potatoes are tender. top with parmesan. 

i've added summer sausage and almost always add cheese tortellini the last 10 minutes. 

sourdough pretzels..

as if i don't have enough things to feed already.

dog, cats, kids, husband, fish, plants, me.

add to the list my sourdough starter. i try to 

make something at least once a week from it. this

means it has to be 'fed'.  feeding it requires

discarding a cup each time so you don't get 

overrun with a fridge bulging with starter.

i have trouble throwing the discard away so i've been

finding recipes that call for the discard. 

today was pretzels.

they were mostly eaten with really spicy mustard,

but i'm thinking a warm bowl of queso alongside 

would have been perfection.

old flame

really, i'm blushing just thinking of the things i have

planned for me and my old flame this spring.

it's gonna be dirty, randy, fleshy, and tender.

smokin'.....

make your big toe shoot up in your boot!

you will embarrass yourself if you eat these

biscuits in public! i substituted whole wheat

for half of the flour. that way, i didn't give a second thought

to eating (the exact number will remain unnamed)

so many of them.

saturday morning we had them with homemade

mustang grape jelly (thanks tata)

and pure-d butter.

Classic Buttermilk Biscuits

2 tbsp flour, for sprinkling

2tbsp cornmeal, for sprinkling

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter cut into pieces

1 egg

3/4 cup cold buttermillk

preheat oven to 425. Grease baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal and flour. in large bowl mix flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.

cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. add egg and buttermilk, stirring to moisten. dough should be shaggy, but not sticky.

turn onto floured surface. knead about 6 times. roll to 3/4" thick. don't add too much flour or will be tough. cut out with biscuit cutter....cutting straight down without twisting. bake 1/2" apart for 15 to 18 minutes.

it really helps to make sure your buttermilk and butter are very cold.

cookie snatcher.....

roxie and I made the cookies from a cookbook i love, super natural cooking.

her blog is great, as well, and i probably cook from it at least once a week.

these are quinoa whole wheat cookies and they had trouble staying together.

i'm not sure that it's any fault of the recipe, but because it's 106 degrees outside

and not a whole lot cooler inside and the butter was just too warm and soft.

nevertheless, i couldn't even get a photo without sneaky fingers making a go for it!

these are the eggs that inspired the whole enterprise! i have a neighbor who

shows up periodically and drops off a dozen eggs at a time. we even got duck eggs this

delivery!

arab bread

my mom used to make this 'arab bread' when we were kids. i remember hovering around the

oven with my brothers and fighting over each piece as it came out. i loved popping the

bulges in the bread and seeing the steam pour out. we would fill the burst pockets with

butter and honey. one piece. then another. and another. i'm pretty sure we acted like

complete heathens, but clearly, this bread is worth the embarrassment.

arab bread

5-6 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 pkg. yeast

2 c. very warm water

In a large bowl, mix 2 c. flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Gradually add water to dry

ingredients and beat at med. speed of mixer for couple minutes. Add 3/4 c. flour

and beat at high speed for another 2 min. Stir in enough flour to make a soft

dough. Turn onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic (@ 10 min.)

Place in greased bowl, turn to coat. Cover and let rise in warm place for @1

hour, until doubled in size. Punch dough down, turn onto floured board.

Cover, let rest 30 min. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Shape into balls. Roll each

into 8" circles. Place on lightly floured baking sheet. Slide circles directly onto

floor of very hot oven (450 degrees). Bake 5 minutes.

Brown tops w/ hot broiler for couple minutes.

chili domination......

5:30 am involuntary beginning of day.

6:00 am feel like a slug crossed with a sloth crossed with a gharial

7:00 am thoughts becoming more appropriate

8:14 am decide to enter chili cook-off

9:16 am at store, list of ingredients at home

11:10 am chili complete, one eye is burning

2:00 pm internal debate to take a nap or eat some halloween candy

2:15 pm still awake, feel kind of sick

3:00 pm off to chili cook-off. quick stop at fiesta for bowls, good luck candles (cheating),

and beer

6:45 pm congratulatory photo taken with winner's ladle and two charming gift baskets

8:30 pm adoration from family trying to score chocolate from winner's basket.

8:32 pm hide chocolate in mud room

my adaptation of...

pierce street veggie chili

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

12 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tbsp. ginger, peeled and grated

3 tbsp. san antonio chili powder

2 tsp. cumin

1 serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped

4 chipotle peppes w/ adobo, chopped (i also added as much of the adobo as i could spoon out)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

8 cups broth

2 cans hominy, drained

2 1/4 cups black, brown or green lentils (i used combo of green and black)

2/3 cup pearled barley

2/3 cup bulgar wheat

1-2 tsp. smoked salt (i used alderwood smoked)

In large stockpot, over med. heat saute onions in olive oil. when translucent, add

garlic, ginger, chili powder and cumin. stir and cook until fragrant. stir in serrano,

chipotle pepper, tomatoes,and broth. now add hominy, lentils, barley, and bulgur.

stir. i began adding the smoked salt here and kept adding and adjusting as it

cooked. simmer for about an hour until grains and lentils are cooked. as it cooks

you might need to add additional broth or water. i needed to make sure this was

very chili-like and thick, but next time i make it for the family i will add more to

be a bit more soupy.

*i made chipotle guacamole to top it with. holy guacamole it was good. just add

some of the left-over canned chipotle peppers, chopped, of course, to your guac.

i also offered a dollop of crema if someone was scared of the heat. this is a pretty

spicy chili. adjust the pepper amounts as you feel like. you can get a little less

heat if you use only 1 or 2 chipotles and scoop out the adobo to add without the

actual peppers.

pesto for winter.....

i finally cut back most of my basil plants. i had around 100 plants that i got for free from a nursery out near my parents' place. they were leggy so i pinched them back and stuck them all around the house in all of the flower beds. some of them i pinched back and some flowered like crazy for the butterflies. i cut enough to put away several jars of pesto (and give some away) for the winter. being in texas, i think there should be plenty of warm days left before the first freeze for the plants to bounce back for another round to hoard away for winter.

some of the cut plants.....

toasting the pine nuts in a dry iron skillet....

ta da.............

fresh from a southern garden...

i went to visit my folks last week and, like always, they sent me home with fresh vegetables from their gardens. their okra plants are like small trees and the squash is so plentiful there is plenty to freeze for the winter. they have two really large gardens going most of the time. this will be the first year they are letting the lower one lay fallow for the winter with a cover crop of vetch growing to turn in early next spring. the upper garden is already planted with fall crops like the kale, more squash, fall tomatoes, spinach, and lettuce. every time i'm out there i have plans to take some photos of how pretty it all is and then time gets away from me and i get home sans pictures but with loads of food. the chard in this picture was bought at the market and i should have known better. it wasn't good at all and won't be until the weather cools off.

i love sauteing the squash with onions and a bit of cumin and lemon pepper and topping it with some parmesan. i know that spice concoction might seem odd, but that's how my dad did it and, trust me, it's worth a hot kitchen in august.

and everyone know there is nothing like cornmeal battered fried okra. i soaked it in whole milk for 15 minutes before dredging it in the cornmeal and it was fantastic. still crisp and fresh....not greasy at all.

sweet!

i have two close friends who share an august 1st birthday and i wanted to make them something.  i had heroic plans to make them bags for school (they are both art teachers~interestingly enough) but having all three kids home put a quick end to that project. anywho, i had a bunch of strawberries that needed to be used and i found this great recipe for strawberry jam. it doesn't call for pectin, but the apple is supposed to provide enough to make it set along with the acidity of the alcohol.  mine didn't set perfectly but i don't mind it being a little runny.  better for pancakes.  and i love that it has grand marnier. i cut the sugar by a third and probably could have used even less.  it tastes great and they look like jars of jewels. 

mmmmmm.....

This morning Hank and I made a batch of Blackberry Muffins.  My sugar sweet neighbor went berry picking and shared the fruits of her labor with us.  Actually, I think she was getting swollen gums from eating too many and had to get them out of the house.  We definitely loved them and made them with organic everything and a ridiculous amount of streusel topping.  Best. Neighbors. Ever.