My Bit of Earth

Pretty Bits In My Kitchen

We often have a shriveling orange or lemon in the bottom of the crisper drawer, so I loved this idea of slicing it up and dehydrating it to make citrus powders.  I added some salt to the lemon, but left the orange plain, just separating the true powder from the bigger bits to make it easier for cooking with.  We've been using both in everything--salads, pasta, meat, cookies.  It's my new favorite trick for reducing food waste.

Our ladies are back to laying enough eggs that we have no need for store-bought right now.  But for these gorgeous, tiny quail eggs, I made an exception.  Really, truly, they were so pretty I would have not eaten them, but (speaking of food waste, ahem) Sweet Husband insisted.  

So we hard boiled them and made a batch of scotch eggs.  It felt a little strange to make something so delicate into such big, hearty comfort food, but--with a little mustard-y sauce on the side--they were darned good.

Five Senses, Right Now

A few sensorial experiences of note this week....

Taste, Smell, Touch, Sight.  

I bought a handful of these zingy little kumquats as a treat last weekend, and have been pulling them from their tiny bowl on my windowsill and nibbling at them all week.  Their plump, smooth skins, and tart, puckery interior would bring me out of even the deepest Winter funk.  (If we were having Winter this year, that is.  Because apparently we've just skipped ahead to Spring.)

Sight, Hearing, Touch.  

Sweet Husband bought an India Stone yesterday to sharpen our knives with.  They were getting terribly dull--particularly a problem when you're trying to cut every meal into toddler sized pieces.  

Last night he stood in the kitchen and carefully scraped each blade along the stone until they were all nice and sharp again.  The rhythm of it--schhwoop...schhwoop...schhwoop--was soothing, and I love watching his hands as he works with them.  (Loved having sharp knives to cook dinner with tonight too!)

Sight, Touch, Hearing.

I found a whole cabinet full of bargain knitting needles at the flea market this weekend.  While bamboo needles are undoubtedly easier to manage, I like the colors of the anodized kind.  And although I know it disturbs some, I find the more pronounced "click, click, click" they make very satisfying.

(Just to let you all know, I am tickled to be guest blogging on the Rhythm of the Home blog this month.  The plan is to leave a note here whenever I post there, and my first post is up today.  If you're so inclined, please pop on over and say hello!)

Human Food Processor

Our way of cooking has been evolving over the last few months, as the Kid is joining us more and more in eating.

First things first, I love dinner.  I often have a coffee for breakfast and little-to-no lunch (not the healthiest way to be, I know), but come dinner time I really want to cook a meal.

The food is part of it, of course.  Who doesn't like yummy food?  But I love the process too.  I think it's possibly because my day job is so much thinking.  When I get home, I want to chop and stir and knead and drizzle.  

When it was just the two of us, that worked better.  I could tell Sweet Husband, "Grab a beer and a snack--it's going to be a bit."  But when a 1 year old is hungry, you can't explain that the food will be ready soon.  Dinnertime is when the Kid says it is.

So I've started getting better about doing a little prep right when we get home from the grocery store, which is where I found myself this evening.

I washed and chopped two bunches of greens (chard and kale) to be made into chipotle beans and a pasta dish later this week.  I also cooked the beans themselves, because--even using the cheater's method--there's no way that would ever get done on a weeknight at our house.  (And I love the dried beans so much better than canned....love them, love them, LOVE THEM...so I always make a double batch to have some for the next week.)  Since the oven was on anyway, I tossed in a couple of beets to roast for this orzo salad, too.

As I was chopping greens, I considered what to do with a quartet of pears and some sliced up strawberries that we were gifted.  We're not big pear eaters, but I remembered that we also had a suspicious bottle of brandy in the back of our cupboard (you know, the kind smells strong enough to knock you over and no one remembers bringing it into the house), so I googled a recipe for pear brandy.  The strawberries went into a batch of "Happy Muffins" for the Kid to take to school.

And speaking of the Kid's lunch, that's another area we're working on, to put it charitably.  I won't lie, last Friday his lunch was a pretty random assortment of what we could lay our hands on at five 'till eight that morning.  As I said, lunch is not my strong suit!

To help keep that from happening again, in addition to the muffins, I made a frittata (eggs, a little cilantro pesto, milk) and some polenta fries.  We'll eat part of the polenta fries one night this week, and the rest are going into the freezer (with the frittata and some of the muffins) to be pulled out in case of morning emergency.

It all sounds very corny and (insert TV salesperson voice) "You, too, can have dinner on the table in five minutes!" but pre-cooking just a little on Sunday nights has been our salvation as far as continuing to eat real food post-the-Kiddo.

And now I shall spend the rest of the night sitting in a chair with my feet propped up.

Oatmeal and Eggs

The Kid eats an egg for breakfast every morning.  Or, he did, until our hens decided to take an extended Christmas vacation and just not lay eggs for the month of January.

We could buy him eggs, of course--and to some extent we have been--but part of trying to eat seasonally is living with the off-season.  And, although you wouldn't know it from the grocery store, in January, eggs are off-season.

So Sweet Husband--the morning chef around these parts--has been trying to get the Kid used to eating oatmeal for breakfast instead.  Oatmeal with a little frozen strawberries or other fruit.

Only, the other morning, Sweet Husband made too much.  So I dutifully took the extras out to the hens for a treat.

They were very excited about it, yet confounded at the same time.  I could almost hear their little chicken brains, "It tastes so good!  But it's stuck to my beak--help!  But it's tastes so good...."

In any event, I believe it was well-received, because each day for a few days after that, I found one of these in the coop:

Two Bowls of Popcorn, Both Alike in Dignity

I'm told some families fight over pizza toppings.  We have never had that difficulty (hello there, Hampy Special), but popcorn is a different matter.  Not that we ever fight over it, per se, because, of course, it's not hard to separate it out into two bowls.  But we do generally have to have the two bowls.

Sweet Husband likes Parmesan cheese on his.  I like Parmesan and I like popcorn, but together they have a funny wang.

I like a healthy amount of furikake.  Sweet Husband likes his nori wrapped around spicy tuna and no where else.

I have to wonder, do husbands and wives normally divide up their popcorn like this?  Besides a little butter and salt--which are givens--what do you like on your popcorn?

The Kid's Cookie Club: Good Ole' Chocolate Chip

I was much too pleased with my own cleverness this year in settling on a Christmas gift for our grandmothers.  Both Sweet Husband's grandma and mine have downsized to small apartments in recent years, so getting them "stuff" always makes me feel like we are burdening them.  

What I really wanted was a gift that would keep giving.  Something that would let them know we were thinking of them from time to time throughout the year.  One year we went in with Sweet Husband's cousins and did a flower of the month club for his grandmother.  The idea was perfect--and as a group gift it was great--but a bit expensive to strike out on our own.  Nonetheless, I knew I wanted to do something like that.

Then I got to thinking, they both live within a day of us by mail.  Why couldn't I make my own "of the month" club?  Flowers would be too perishable, of course, but people send cookies by mail all the time, right?  And I could add notes and pictures of the Kid from time to time, because all grandmas like those, yes?  Thus, "The Kid's Cookie of the Month Club" was formed.

For January, we decided to start the year simple with a jar full of classic chocolate chip cookies.  A half-dozen cookies--just the right portion for one--fit perfectly in a wide-mouth canning jar.  Although I did do quality-control to be sure they tasted OK, the cookies this time were Sweet Husband's doing.  I'm happy to report that he has overcome his lack of chocolate chip cookie gene splendidly.  The recipe--which is the one we always use--is the one on the back of the Ghirardelli chocolate chip bag.

Glamorous Saturday

(First, hello there, letter writers!  There are more of you than I thought there would be--very exciting!  [If you don't know what I'm talking about see this post.]  I'm still taking names/addresses until midnight Tuesday, so if you want to sign up there is still time.  Also, there were a few people who did not send me their address [I have emailed you back if you are one, otherwise you can assume everything is good].  If you are one of those people, please get back to me 'soon as you can if you still want to play!  On to the news of the day....)

Was chatting with Nice Mom Saturday night, telling her about our day.  She teasingly, sarcastically said something along the lines of, "Sounds like you guys had a glamorous day."

I'll let you be the judge.

We went to breakfast at our favorite place, and then walked Sweet Husband to work.  The Kiddo and I then went to the library, where he discovered the lego table was nice to bang things on and I got a new stack of books.  (Did you all know Margaret George has now done Elizabeth I?  Haven't started it yet, but George is probably my favorite historical fiction author.  Also got Astrid and Veronika, which lots of people seem to be enjoying lately.)

The Kid and I eventually went home and napped and lunched.  Then, when Sweet Husband got home, we all walked to the park, where I pushed the Kid "too high" on the swing.  (He didn't seem to mind, but his dada got a little nervous, so we scaled it back.)  We were going to check out the other equipment when some Big Kids invaded, and everyone with a child under five suddenly left.  I thought we should probably leave too...they did look...well, big.

So we went home again and had a nice little thrown together dinner.  I mixed some leftover beans with some spicy pork.  We couldn't decide if it was a sort-of white chili or "upscale pork and beans"?  Whatever it was, I want to make it again.

 Then I made chicken stock.  Well, I had been making chicken stock all day, but I jarred it up.  

There's always a fine line as to the number of jars in our house.  Some days we have so many that I'm tripping over them, but then it comes time to can tomatoes or make chicken stock and we never have enough.  Saturday night I considered putting out an all call on Facebook, "Free chicken stock, bring your own container!"  

Fortunately it didn't come to that, but it was dicey for a minute there.  I had to draw on every jar and lid in my arsenal, and pack the freezer like a professional...um, freezer packer.

A stack of thrilling new books, a death defying swing, battling over the playground, the drama of my cupboard...and a gourmet meal to boot?  That sounds glamorous to me!  ;)

My Gramma's Stuffing

It's just bread and sage, mostly.  No sausage or rice or anything that you might find in fancier stuffing.  But the simplicity is what makes it awesome.  Not just awesome, actually, it's food of the gods.  (The Kid especially thought so!)  Here's the how-to.

You'll need:

• 16 ounces of breadcrumbs (I cut up a standard size baguette and let it sit out for a day to get a bit stale).
• 1/2 box chicken stock
• 1 onion
• a few ribs of celery
• 1 stick of butter
• 3 eggs
• sage, lots of sage (suit your own tastes, but 5 or 6 tablespoons is a good place to start)
• 2 tablespoons of thyme
• salt, to taste

Put the breadcrumbs in a greased, rectangular pan.  

Dice up the onion and an equal amount of celery, and put in a sauce pan with the stock.  Simmer until the veggies are tender.  

In the meantime, melt a stick of butter and pour it over the breadcrumbs.  When the veggies are done, pour them and the stock over the bread crumbs.  Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, and add them to the breadcrumbs as well.  Last, add the seasoning and (using clean hands) mix it all together.  Smooth it out evenly in the pan.  The stuffing will seem very wet, but it's all good.

Put the whole thing in the oven, and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until it's brown on top.

We had this with our Christmas Eve crab this year, and--although it sounds like a funky combo--it was absolutely perfect.

On Peppermint Bark

Sweet Sister was up this weekend.  We sent our Mom off to a rock concert (more about that tomorrow), while Sis helped me with my holiday baking.

We made the old stand-bys--peanut butter balls, orange shortbreads, and some failed candied orange peels.  (I'm not sure if it was the humidity or if they got soaked for too long--either way, gooey mess!)  But we also tried something new--peppermint bark.

I was out shopping a few weekends ago with my high school bff, when we were offered a sample of peppermint bark in Williams-Sonoma.  I'm ordinarily not a big fan of peppermint, actually, but holy bejezzus was that stuff good!

But it was also expensive.  And the few little bars I bought were quickly eaten right up.

The Ghiradelli peppermint bark was less spendy, but commensurately not quite as good...what's a girl to do but figure out how to make her own, eh?

We used Orangette's recipe.  It's a little different than the W-S peppermint bark, because it has three layers.  The inner layer of bittersweet chocolate has just a bit of cream melted in, which makes it just a little softer and chewier.  I can't decide which one I like best of the two, but apparently I can't keep either in the house for very long!

The Last Tomatoes

All decked-out mismatch-style (a skeleton romper, striped wool socks, and his baby surprise jacket--really we were very tired), the Kiddo curled up in a little ball against my shoulder to hide from the cold as I carried him into school this morning.  Between my grey window and the weather forecast, I'll be surprised if we don't get a real frost this week.  And although the Kid was technically a February baby, it felt like the Spring came last year before either of us had properly woken-up from his birth.  Which makes this his first Winter, really.

We didn't get a lot of tomatoes this Summer.  (They're heat-lovers, true, but a few weeks at 110 degrees is bit much for any plant.)  However, this beautiful Fall we've got going has brought a tiny resurgence.  This weekend our farmer's market was full of little paper pints of cherry tomatoes.   Add in a sack of homegrown toms that our dear friends brought when they came for dinner last night--part of the reason for the sleepy morning and silly clothes--and all of a sudden this year's tomato crop is feeling less dismal.

One advantage of tomatoes in October is that you actually want to turn on the oven to slow roast them.  And the last herbs lingering in the garden?  Better toss those in before they freeze.  And garlic?  Well, that just goes in everything around here.

Whether we get that hard frost or not, I predict that, for the grown-ups, tomorrow's dinner will be a steamy, cheesy pot of risotto with roasted tomatoes on top.  For the Kid, the last tomatoes (which will also be his first tomatoes) might go well with one of Florence the Chicken's beautiful scrambled eggs.

Makin' Bacon

Following the directions in the book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, we've been making pancetta in our basement for the past month.

When I say it that way it sounds a bit illicit, doesn't it?  "Basement bacon"....it seems like it should be akin to bathtub gin or growing marijuana amidst your tomatoes.   It has that wicked connotation, yes? 

Following the directions in the book we (legally) obtained a pork belly.  After removing the skin, we rubbed it down in curing salt and spices.  It hung out that way in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few days, then we rinsed it, patted it with more spices, rolled it up tight, and hung it in the basement for most of a month.

The outer skin grew a tiny bit of mold, but (per the internets) we wiped it off with vinegar.  Our "pancetta log" is now sliced into thick slabs and living in our freezer.

We tried the first bit for breakfast on Sunday morning.  It's been over 48 hours, and neither of us has been food poisoned.  Yay!  

The resulting bacon was a bit fatty for breakfast-style bacon, but as the start of a bolognese sauce...or a bowl of creamy risotto....mmmmm.

Next attempt, prosciutto....

And We Even Worked In a Farm Tour

Several years ago, my Nice Dad married a farmer.  It was really considerate of him, don't you think?  Marrying to suit my food-nerd-side-hobby--what a guy!

I kid, of course.  But he did choose well.  Because in addition to being a pretty great Step-Mom and a very fun Grandma, my Nice Step-Mom is now running her family's farm. 

Actually, they call it "the ranch".  In the Midwest, that would mean cows, but Nice Step-Mom primarily grows rice and prunes.  (The differences in terminology would make an interesting study by themselves--in the Midwest, it's a "combine", in California, it's a "harvester", and so on.)

Although, the rice fields were in the process of drying out while we were there, Nice Step-Mom estimated they wouldn't be ready to harvest for several weeks.  Because of the odd weather this year, we did manage to end up visiting right in the middle of prune harvest however.

(And speaking of terms, I've been told that the fruits Nice Step-Mom grows are always "prunes".  In their undried state, they are correctly referred to as "fresh prunes", but they are never "plums".)

I don't know why I expected it to be complicated, but I was surprised at how low-tech the process of harvesting prunes is.  The machine in the picture comes along and shakes each tree.  All the prunes that fall down are caught by the panels on the side, and funneled down into a big wooden crate that rides on the back.  When the crate gets full, it's dropped off right there in the orchard for later pick-up.

The smell of the orchard--which was, I think, a combination of the harvested prunes as well as some of the rotting windfalls laying under the trees--was incredible.  It was just ever so slightly wine-like.  I tried to resist the urge to sniff the fruit on the trees, but it couldn't be helped.

A few days later, Nice Step-Mom took us out to the Sunsweet drying facility to see how the fresh prunes are made into what you buy at the store.  Again, surprisingly low-tech.  Although there's some washing and sorting involved, it was basically just a much larger scale of my little home dehydrator.

The fresh prunes are popped onto these tall wooden trays, and dried at 180 degrees in huge "tunnels".  I sampled a hot prune fresh out of the dryer.  The inside wasn't solid at all, but rather had transformed into a gooey and sweet and sticky paste...it was like the wild--and maybe even slightly naughty--cousin of a cooled prune.

And because they sort by farm at this stage, we were also able to try some of Nice Step-Mom's prunes.  I had to limit myself to just a few, but I could have kept snacking much longer!

Even the Kiddo got in on the fun.  He enjoyed a little pureed prune later too, but he spent several minutes fascinated by the texture of a whole prune we let him play with.

Crack Popcorn and Grilled Cheese = Acceptable Dinner (Really, a Home Ec Teacher Said So)

Brief background story....

Many years ago, my Nice-Mother-In-Law was a home ec teacher.  I don't think it was for very long even, as I know she switched to special ed way, way before I met her.  But somehow the title has haunted her.  Whenever some question of the Absolutely Correct and Proper Way To Do Something In The Kitchen comes up at their house, Nice-Father-In-Law likes to joke, "Ask [Nice-Mother-In-Law], she's the home ec teacher."

Sweet Husband and I were making a grocery list the other day, when he said, "Let's have some of that crack popcorn with grilled cheese for dinner one night this week."  (A.K.A. the herb-y, mustard-butter popcorn form Super Natural Every Day.)

Me:  "Don't get me wrong, I love the popcorn, hon, but I don't think you can have popcorn for dinner."

Him:  "Yes you can.  Popcorn and grilled cheese.  My mom used to fix it all the time on Sunday nights, when we'd had a big lunch."

Me:  "Hm...well, I guess she was a home ec teacher...."

And so we had popcorn and grilled cheese for dinner.  And it was pretty darned good. 

The Bad Parent Chronicles: Mommy's Sorry She Maced You, Baby

Would someone please tell me how it is that you cook any dish with red pepper flake in a hot pan without macing your kitchen?

Really, I need help here folks.  Because I've done it at least four or five times now--each time following a recipe that insists I put a pinch of red pepper flake in a pan of hot oil.  (The quote about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results comes to mind....)  I promise that I really am only using the amount the recipe calls for...I have the pan set at the correct temperature....  

But as I was making this lovely blistered cauliflower the other night, ever so quickly my throat started to burn.  And then, from Sweet Husband in the dining room, "Um honey, are you heating up red pepper again?"  And then from the Kiddo the saddest two little coughs and a bewildered look.

At which point the house was abandoned in favor of dinner in the backyard.  Then--just to make sure everything was good and aired out--a stroll downtown for coffee and a Toy Store visit.  (I maced the Kid...figured the least I could do was get him a new toy.)

The walk was very nice...but truly, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Reading, Loving (Mostly) Food Books

I haven't been reading all that much this Summer, but nonetheless, a few winners have slipped into the house....and somehow they seem to be food related.  (Because, no matter how busy you may be, you have to eat, right?)  

*  Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen

My relationship with meat is a tricky one.  I go through phases where I don't even like it much, but I don't know how to really structure a meal without it.  I'm good at making vegetarian one-dish meals (pasta, pizza, soup) but the whole main course with sides thing--it just feels out of whack to have two or three different vegetables staring up from my plate.

Which is why we've been cooking out of this book for going-on two weeks now.  There's some pasta, but even that has a different twist--e.g. the yummy soba noodles with black sesame paste, pictured above.  And--although there is some tempeh, which I'm not a fan of--a lot of the main dishes are more creative than just "take-meat-out, insert-soy-product".  We've had the chanterelle tacos, also pictured above, twice now.  So tasty, and they certainly don't leave you feeling like you're missing anything.

And, I almost forgot the popcorn!  There's an entire chapter on snacks, which includes a recipe for popcorn with herbs and mustard-butter.  We might just get through our stash of Boy Scout popcorn this year (you know, before they start selling again) and it's all due to that recipe!

*  Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing

Hopefully this isn't too contradictory, but--as we've been eating our lovely vegetarian tacos--a pork belly has been turning to pancetta in our basement.  There will be more news about that when it's finished, of course, but for now I'm really excited about this book.  It has directions for just about any cured meat you would want to make--sausages, bacon, prosciutto--and it's very not-scary and low-tech.  

(And would you all please pray for me that our defenses hold, and Moe does not end up running through the house with a half-cured slab of pancetta in his mouth?  Thanks.)

*  Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods

Part of the reason I love our family doctor is because she's so laid back.  She's never said it in so many words, but the vibe I get from her is, "You guys seem like good parents.  Your kid is healthy.  So, chances of you doing something that kills him?  Pretty small."  On food, her position was, "Start him with fruits and vegetables.  One new food at a time.  And have fun with it."

And that is exactly what we've been doing.  However, although it may seem easy to just puree the entire grocery store produce section, eventually it's nice to get some outside ideas.  Like, did you know that you can make basically any grain into a cereal?  (And that toasted grain cereal tastes awesome, even if you're not six months old?)  

Plus, it's nice to have a reference book around for the inevitable questions that come up--should we start with egg yolks or egg whites?  (Yolks.)  What are easy finger foods that won't choke him to death when we're ready for that?  And so on.

I'm a little wary of it coming across as preachy, but--at least, for any mama-to-be who had already let me know she was interested in making her own baby food--this would make an awesome shower gift.

*  The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons

The hot-off-the-press newest SouleMama book.  This one is a lot more like her first book, in that it has plenty to make and do, but it's more about nudging your own creativity than it is a "how-to".  Maybe it's a side-effect of having my own wee-bub now, but I appreciate the bits of parenting inspiration and stories more than I have in her other books.  Curling up to read it in a quiet house with a sleeping baby and pups made for the coziest evening of reading....and it even included a few Soule family recipes, which I think makes it fair game to include in a post about (mostly) food books!

It's Hot....Bring Home Way Too Much Produce From the Farmer's Market

Watermelon and squash and beans and edamame and more squash and....it feels like there was some more fruit there, but I can't even remember it all.

We haven't cracked into the melon yet, but it may be time to very soon.  At 114 degrees this afternoon, I do believe it's the hottest it's ever been in my life.

It's Hot....Make Mocha-sicles

Really, you should....recipe here.

It's Hot....Eat Cherry Tomatoes Until You're Sick

It's Hot....Play Dress Up, Have a Picnic In the AC

It's Hot....Make Yourself a Cool Cocktail

This one is a rosemary cucumber gin and tonic, but this lavender vodka tonic looks delightful too!