Cranberry-Orange-Apple Relish Ferment

"Pickled" brined sardines, Cranberry Relish Ferment

In my last post I said I had cranberries to make a ferment with. I'll give you the recipe. It's my favorite winter ferment, and while fresh cranberries are in the store ... tis the season to keep making it. I jar it up in pint-size canning jars and store it in my cool (wine) cellar. Then can keep eating it till gone. Like I just ate, finishing one up from last year. I like to mix in my soaked and dried crispy walnuts and sometimes mix it with yogurt.

I've mentioned it before, but my favorite ferment book is - The Complete Idiots Guide to Fermenting Foods. This recipe comes from it. The book has a lot of similar recipes as Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions - but a lot more, and more taste friendly to us (Sally Fallon's book has WAY MORE in another way - an encyclopedia of info, like my soaked, crispy nuts ... and why). Like I need to start another Ginger Bug for the Ginger Soda which we've been missing. The Pickled Herring (I did Sardines) is in one of the jars I'm showing you a pic of, is in the book too. I often make larger batches than she does. She, Wardeh Harmon, probably does too, but is making the book user friendly with quart canning jar sizes. So here goes with my 3 Liter size amount -

Pulse in Food Processor

Cranberry-Orange-Apple Relish Ferment

About 36oz of cranberries, rinse well
10 tangelos (usually no seeds), wash skins
4-6 apples depending on size (more is fine), washed
3/4 cup organic raisins
3/4 cup shy of sucanat
2 heaping tsp of cinnamon (I suppose I could just say 1 Tb)
1 Tb Real Salt
1/3 C Kefir or yogurt whey
1 lemon's juice to cover top of ingredients in jar

Combine first 5 ingredients, in batches, pulsing in food processor. You want to chop somewhat fine, not puree. Combine all in large bowl to mix well. I like to do all my ferments starting in a large bowl - both sugar or salt start breaking down the juices in the veggies or fruits for your "brine". Some people, like with sauerkraut will stomp and stomp with a maul, taking a lot of muscle, to break things down. As I said, I prefer the large bowl method. Plus, I'm getting older and don't like to do that, or can't do that, much muscle/ hand use! Mine turn out just fine. They do create more juices in the ferment container, so leave some head space. Also submerge whatever you're doing beneath the brine. Online shows lots of people's methods. I bought glass weights on EBay, and my Pickl-It jars came with glass weights.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl

A lot of my ferments I leave out 2-3 weeks. This cranberry ferment I leave out several days to a week and then jar up and refrig or cool storage. The sardine "pickle" (it's not in vinegar, but a salt brine) was out 24 hrs and then refrigerated.

Sardines

I said in the last post that I'm smoking the rest of the sardines. I did. Yum. We froze what's left for pulling out to flavor stuff, kinda like canned sardines. I like mixing with avacado and spreading on toast, having with salad . . .

Masterbuilt Electric Smoker

Tomato Aspic ... Grandma's?

I'm researching ways to use gelatin. When first married I made some jellos using gelatin and fruit juices. I even did a coffee one. But now I'm looking for veggie ideas ... and others ... Anyone got ideas?

Tomato Aspic

I had a quart of V-8 style tomato juice from the health food store and wanted to use that. I'm using a quality gelatin. Many recipe I found used lemon jello. I don't want to use jello - totally unnatural and full of sugar. Here's what I settled on ... a good thing!

TOMATO ASPIC

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (my container says 1 Tb to gel 1 C liquid, so I used 4 Tb, I'm wondering if I can use a bit less)
4 C V-8 Juice
1/2 C lemon juice
1 Tb parsley (fresh or dried)
1 tsp sugar (I used sucanat)
pinch of dill weed
1/2 tsp celery seed
dash of cayenne pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp worcestershire sauce (Annie's from health food store since I've not made my own yet. And since hers does not have anchovies in it, which is a must for worcestershire sauce, I added 1/2 tsp fish sauce.)

Dissolve the gelatine in 1 cup of the juice. Heat the rest and simmer about 10 minutes. Add the gelatin mixture and stir well. You can pour this into a greased mold, and chill about 8 hours. But you can also add veggies to the mold too.

This time I cut up fine -
about 1 C celery
1 poblano chili
a bunch of chives from my garden (1/4-1/2 C)
1 mashed avocado

Other options could be adding in olives, or artichoke hearts, or shrimp ...

We had dinner guests and they liked it. One man said (for two dishes I served - the other being roasted brussel sprouts) that he's not had this since his Grandma made it!



This post has been linked to Simple Lives Thursday, Food Renegade, The Healthy Home Economist, The Prairie Homestead, Real Food Wednesday, Little Farm in the Big City, Friday Food Flicks, Beyond the Peel.

Veggies and Dips

Tea Party veggies and dips and tiered foods

I'm always wanting veggies in a format that will encourage the eating of them. Tea parties consist moreso of sandwiches and scones and desserts, so I wanted the nutritional addition of veggies. Having dips is the main way I find I'll eat more veggies.

We were crafting all day at my Valentine Tea Party, so I wanted everything to be finger food. Probably every time I passed by, I'd grab some veggies to eat, so that accomplished what I was hoping for.

First off, my dip recipe book, suggests par-boiling some veggies, for ease in digestion, then chilling them. Monte asked me to do this years ago, recognizing his body's needs (Monte is a great "body listener"!) Baby potatoes (or small sized potatoes cut later in wedges) boiled and then chilled are EVERYONE'S favorite veggie to dip! So I put the potatoes in a large pot to boil and put my steamer basket on top. Once the water comes to a boil I'll dump in the baby carrots (I know, I know, baby carrots are not truly baby carrots - did you know that?!). Steam veggies  3 minutes, dump them in a strainer basket and run cold water over them, drain, and bag up and chill. I do this with broccoli and sometimes the cauliflower too. So I had these, and green onions, celery sticks, red pepper slices, and radishes all ready the day before my party to keep refilling my large serving platter.

Since I have a three bowl serving dish, I made three dips the day before.

FRESH HERB RANCH DIP

2 C sour cream (sometimes I'll do this with 1/2 Hellmanns Mayo)
1/2 C buttermilk (sometimes I'll just use buttermilk powder - 3Tb)
3 Tb fresh parsley
2 Tb fresh chopped chives
1 Tb fresh oregano
1 1/2 tsp fresh tarragon
2 minced cloves garlic
2 Tb grated lemon zest
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix this all up well. Most of the herbs I have fresh in my greenhouse. If you're using dry, you use a lot less - like 1/2 - 1 tsp. Sometimes when I make this dip I like to slow cook thin sliced/chopped onions till caramelized and add.

ROASTED GARLIC, ARTICHOKE, AND PEPPER RICOTTA DIP

This was SO GOOD I'm going to be making it a lot!

The recipe calls for 4 artichokes to peel and roast their hearts. Since it's not artichoke season yet, I just opened a 15 oz can of plain artichoke hearts (not marinated), drained, and dumped on the foil-lined baking sheet to roast.

2 whole garlic heads - cut off tops, pour on some olive oil, salt and pepper, and put the tops back on to roast.

1 red pepper - cut off both ends, slit down side and open out flat on the foil with the skin side up, along with both ends.

Roast in a 400 degree oven about 40 minutes. Don't let anything burn, but 'yes' to darkening. Remove the hearts and garlic to cool, and close up the foil around the pepper to sit and cool, so you can peel in a bit.

In a food processor squeeze out all the garlic cloves, add the hearts, and skinned pepper and puree along with

2 C ricotta
1/2 C grated parmesan
2 Tb fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

BLUE CHEESE DIP

2 C sour cream
1/2 C Hellmanns Mayo
2 scallions, including greens
1 1/2 C blue cheese
1/2 tsp pepper
4 shakes of Tabasco
1 Tb Worcestershire Sauce

I didn't have any Worcestershire. I need to look for a recipe substitute since I'm no longer keeping it stocked, as it's got high fructose corn syrup in it. I know it's main ingredients are vinegar and fish sauce (which is made from anchovies - an umami [the fifth taste] you want - it's what makes most salad dressings, etc, yummy). So I put a dollop each of vinegar and fish sauce. You want to puree this mixture as well.

At the end of the day I pulled some turkey broth I froze after Thanksgiving from the freezer, put it in a soup pot with the leftover dip veggies, chopped. Added the rest of the sliced chicken not used in the tea sandwiches. And added a chopped chipotle chili in adobo. Serve with some cut up avacado and a dollop of homemade yogurt. An easy end of the day supper.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with fruits

Everyone raves about this brussels sprouts dish. Though I tend to make all recipes my own with my twists and variations, I rarely tweak this recipe from The Splendid Table, an NPR weekly radio show - I subscribe to their free weekly recipe email from www.splendidtable.publicradio.org/ (have gotten a lot of great recipes from them!).

 

I so crave this dish, that I make it often. We especially like it with grilled, smoked salmon. Monte dumps it on top of his salmon.

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

2 1/2 lbs brussels sprouts, halved if small or quartered if large

(A key when roasting vegetables is to have a lot of the ingredients chunked about the same size)

1 large onion, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 apples (any kind, I tend to use Granny Smith), cored and cut in 1-inch pieces

2 firm ripe Anjou or Comice pears, cored and cut

2-3 slices bacon, cut in pieces

1/2 tsp each thyme and sage (fresh is always best if you have it, and use more)

5-6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup good tasting extra-virgin olive oil

1/8 tsp spicy red pepper flakes

1 Tb brown sugar (I use Sucanat - unprocessed sugar cane)

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste



Toss all together. Bake in a 450 degree oven on a very large shallow pan (I line it with foil). You want the mixture to spread into a single layer. Stir it a couple times - baking about 40 minutes to an hour till nicely browned.



It, like the smoked salmon, is great leftover cold on lettuce as a salad.

COUSCOUS

Monte wanted me to share his creation. We had some couscous leftover from a supper, so the following morning he simply added some egg till it held together and then dropped spoonfuls onto a heated oiled griddle or skillet, flattening them out. Cook on both sides till golden brown.



We've tried it a few times more. He's added a no-salt seasoning full of herbs. I've added some cinnamon and vanilla, and of course topping them with maple syrup.



Love the simplicity, since couscous with added hot water is done in a minute. And love the bit of crunch!

________________________



A salad we really like is with couscous. My taste buds were having quite a craving for it for awhile.



In a bowl put

1 cup couscous and 1 tsp salt.

Mix in 1 1/3 cups of the hottest tap water and come back and stir it occasionally while mixing up the rest of the ingredients.



Anything can be mixed in, but for starters, try this:

Chop 2 cups loose parsley

Mix with

1 Tb fresh lemon juice

1 Tb olive oil

6 green onions chopped (green tops included)

4 cups spinach cut in ribbons



Make dressing and add as much as you like:

2 Tb fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup half&half



I like to add cherry tomatoes

&/or roasted red pepper chopped

or mint, making the dressing of orange juice, zest and vinegar

. . . . . . .



I only use olive oil in all my cooking. I buy three kinds. The cheapest kind in a large container is virtually flavorless. A virgin kind I use for sauteing. Then I have a more expensive extra virgin kind for salads, and other times it's not cooked, and for dipping bread in - yum!!!! Good flavored olive oil with a seasoning and great whole grain bread--I crave! but can't eat a lot of or I'd be a fattened cow.



I always have a pretty wooden bowl or basket of lemons and limes. We use these ALL the time--whether just in water or squeezed onto salad alone with the good olive oil...



I also love green onions.



I love lots of things...

Coleslaw

I was asked to write out a coleslaw recipe. But as I said in the last post, use grated broccoli and/or cauliflower stems with or in place of the cabbage.

Coleslaw Recipe

1 lb shredded cabbage (about 6 cups)
1-2 carrots shredded
4 scallions or some red onion, finely chopped
2 Tb fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 Tb lemon juice (or whole lemon)
1/2 c yogurt
2 Tb each mayo & sour cream
1/4 tsp dijon style mustard
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
(finely sliced celery)
(finely chopped green pepper)
(1/2 tsp sugar or 1 Tb maple syrup)
(cilantro and lime juice can replace the thyme and lemon)
(vinegar can replace the lemon juice)
(I like options--depending on the 'mood' of my taste buds)
(other veggies too--like radishes, turnips, cucumbers)

Mix these all together well and serve.

Chicken Divan & Broccoli Stalk Coleslaw

Chicken Divan, Artisan Bread, Broccoli Stalk Coleslaw

We have had SO MUCH COMPANY!!!!!!! A friend emailed today asking how my hermit soul was doing?! This Velveteen House is turning into a retreat center. We've had investors and geologists overlapping with  visiting friends. Currently a couple who used to live here but are now in Florida are here. Tomorrow a family is coming to cut firewood and are bringing pizza for lunch.

I made chicken divan for supper tonight along with an artisan bread and a coleslaw made from the broccoli stocks I refrigerated when I harvested and froze all that broccoli. Did you know you can grate broccoli stalks for a coleslaw? When I don't want to slice stuff real fine for a slaw, I put chunks in the blender, cover to floating with water, pulse, so to keep it somewhat chunky and not pureed, then pour in strainer to drain off water. So I chunked the broccoli in batches, then some garden carrots and radishes, and then a batch of red onion. Mixed them all together in a large bowl and made up a sauce with homemade yogurt, mayo, a bit of sour cream we had left over with chives from baked potatoes the other night with guests when I baked meatloaf. Then just added some mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, and parsley.

Draining blended red onion - the EASY way!!

CHICKEN DIVAN

2 - 10oz packages of frozen broccoli or use fresh

2 C cooked chicken or turkey pieces

4 Tb oil

4 Tb flour

2 C chicken broth

1 egg

1 Tb lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 seeds cardamom

3 cloves

3/8 tsp whole cummin

12 peppercorns

18 coriander seeds

1/8 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp ground fenugreek

(Probably not in your typical grocery store. This is the spice that makes the curry flavor in curry spice. In fact, all the the ingredients from cinnamon down make up typical curry spice. I don't buy it, making up my own from scratch, grinding whole spices in a mortar & pestle or coffee grinder I have for spices. You could use a couple teaspoons of curry spice.)

1-2 C shredded cheese

a few slices old bread, blended to make crumbs



Arrange broccoli in a casserole dish and cook a few minutes in the microwave. Place chicken on top of the broccoli. Make a white sauce with the oil, flour, and broth - heating in microwave, stirring till thickening. Wisk egg in a little bowl and add some of the warm broth in with it, which prevents the egg from cooking, wisk, then wisk this mixture back into the heated white sauce (Most recipes just use a cream of chicken or mushroom soup can and add mayo. The white sauce and egg are creating this combo.) Add the spices and lemon juice - pour this over the chicken. Mix the bread crumbs with the grated cheese and sprinkle over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. We like the top to get browned.



Last night's was made in a larger casserole and I had 1 1/2# of broccoli and more chicken, so did a larger batch of everything. And I hardly measure anymore!



I love chicken divan. It took a long while for my kids to acquire a taste for it.

Quinoa & Buckwheat Salad (or Cereal) with Fruit and Nuts

Yummm... I am eating this salad and loving every bite! I get daily recipe emails from AllRecipes.com. I may not keep all the recipes by adding them to my recipe box at that site, but they give me lots of ideas. I got the idea for this recipe from the email that came in today. I altered it a bit and made a smaller proportion.

QUINOA SALAD with FRUIT and NUTS

They cooked 1 1/2 C quinoa with 1/4 tsp salt and 3 1/2 C water, having been brought to a boil and then simmering covered until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Then allow to cool for 20 minutes.

QUINOA & BUCKWHEAT HOT CEREAL

This reminded me of a hot cereal Monte and me often crave - Quinoa & Buckwheat with yogurt and maple syrup. It's in my Hearth & Home cookbook. Now my understanding of quinoa, besides it being a revived high protein South American grain, is it needs to either be rinsed first or toasted. Quinoa is an acquired taste. It is very unusual. And buckwheat isn't even a grain, but a vegetable, tho it falls in the grain category - probably because it's used as such. For our cereal I toast 1 C Quinoa and 1 C buckwheat, stirring occasionally (you'll hear the quinoa popping) then add a bit of salt and 4 C water, bring to a boil, and then simmer covered, cooking till tender. We store what's left in the fridge for more breakfasts.

BACK to the SALAD

So I basically made the above cereal recipe instead of their suggestion. Their mixture with the below ingredients was said to serve 10. I used 2 C of my cooked cereal for 2 servings, eating as a main dish, rather than a small side (we Americans need to think of veggie side dishes moreso as the main meal with meats as sides - I like to grill marinated meats and slice some of it to add to salads). With their quinoa proportion I'll give you the rest of the salad ingredients and you can mix what amount you want.

-1 bunch green onions, chopped (I used a bunch of chives)
-3/4 C chopped celery
-1/2 C raisins (I used craisins - and probably more)
-1 pinch cayenne pepper
-1 Tb vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
-1 Tb distilled white vinegar (I don't ever use this kind of vinegar for any cooking, only with my textile art when dyeing - I used a mixture of rice and balsamic vinegars)
-2 Tb lemon juice (I used lime, cuz that's what I already had cut. And I used less, using more of this proportion with my vinegars)
-2 Tb sesame oil (I used toasted sesame oil)
-1/3 C chopped fresh cilantro (I probably did more)
-3/4 C chopped pecans (I toasted them)
-(I added some fresh minced garlic)

Mix it all together and let set at room temp for an hour to allow the flavors to blend. I bet this would even taste better as a left over!

I get a weekly email recipe from SplendidTable.org. Our NPR radio station no longer carries this program, but I used to listen to it all the time. I've gotten great recipes from Lynne Rossetto Kasper. I also have a recipe box at FoodNetwork.com - I can add recipes to this box, which is a great place to have things organized. But now I'm doing this blog in the hopes of organizing my kitchen escapades!

Zucchini Boats

'Tis zucchini season. What comes to your mind when you think "zucchini". I know ... there's SO many zucchini jokes! Several dishes I like made with zucchini are what I think of. I've posted a Mexican Zucchini Salad recipe already. In my old blog I posted a Zucchini, Potato, Onion soup - and I'll post it here some day. It's a great food for zucchini use that freezes well and we enjoy it all year round. Guests have liked the soup too. I don't plant TOO many plants, and then try and pick them when small, like 5". They are another veggie I like to grill slices of - good any way, but think of sandwiches. Thin zucchini slices are even good in lasanga, replacing some or all of the pasta. And then there's always a quick saute/stir-fry. Lemon juice, good tasting olive oil, and parmesan are my most favorite veggie flavorings.

I'm currently freezing 1/4-1/2" unblanched slices. Simply put on cookie sheet till frozen and bag up. These are good in stir-fry, or breaded and skillet fried. I've dehydrated slices too. All veggie flavors are accentuated when dried and make very good snacks (maybe I'll pull out my dehydrator this year). One year I tried freezing grated zucchini and didn't really use it much. But Heather often made a bunch of zucchini bread we'd freeze, and I make sourdough zucchini bread too. So that's another food to pull from the freezer. Monte loves to toast zucchini or banana bread. His latest bite he had me taste with my eyes closed was some crushed pineapple on a toasted banana or zucchini bread slice. I could not guess what it was!!! It was very good. These toasted warm slices are good with a thin slice of cheese. Don't forget about zucchini relish or pickle possibilities too.

Another favorite zucchini dish that comes instantly to my mind is what I call ...

ZUCCHINI BOATS
I'll give you the recipe's proportions and then you can adjust for however many you want to make.

3-4  5-6" Zucchini, ends removed, nuke about 7 minutes, turning and rearranging, slice in half and scoop out centers (sometimes if not seedy, I add this into the filling mixture)

Chop and mix-
1 tomato
1/4C almonds
1Tb parsley (double if fresh)
small bit of onion (like 1-2Tb)
(I did chives)
1/2 tsp salt seasoning

You're going to microwave again (or sometimes I'll toast tops in toaster oven) so put zucchini in a glass dish or plate. Brush with some melted butter or olive oil. Spoon filling into zucchini shells.

Mix 1Tb butter or olive oil with
1/4C cracker or bread crumbs
(I like adding in some grated parmesan)
Sprinkle on top and press in a bit
Heat uncovered 2-3 minutes.

There's so many possibilities for fillings! Could add potatoes. I added basil, garlic, and mozzarella for this meal. Corn, chipotle chilies, black beans and cilantro. Curry powder, currants, grd meat, and yogurt. Tomatoes, mango and parsley ...





I had some gals here for a felting class and we had a fresh garden salad and a small bowl of chili I'd made and pulled from the freezer. They really liked the corn chunks in it - not typical corn. I'd gotten the idea from making Pozole: Pork and Hominy. Pozole is a bit bland, so I make it moreso a chili. In Arizona I made it using the fresh made cooked field corn. I think I'll do a post about it.

Well ... enjoy zucchini!

Grilled Corn and Pesto Pizza

Monte's geology partner from Arizona flew in yesterday and I echoed grilled pizza from a previous post. But I tried some new things, learning more. We know Stan says he likes a pizza with anchovies, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, jalepenos, olives, and hot sausage. I'd have to try each of those things individually to test, but the pizza was too salty. I think the biggest culprit was the chorizo sausage I'd pulled from the freezer and crumbled and browned. I used it on another pizza with mushrooms and onions and mozzarella and that one was too salty too. The other night's pizzas were not too salty at all and all of the combos were good. In the future I'd just brown up ground meat and season it myself.



The best pizza last night was one I spread with pesto sauce, instead of the spaghetti sauce. I make up pesto from fresh picked basil every year and freeze, without parmesan, adding in fresh parmesan when using the pesto. Then I tossed on chopped tomato, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.



I did do a dessert pizza - good flavors but didn't work. I'd mixed some orange liqueur and orange peel into mascarpone cheese and spread on the pizza, scattering sliced fresh strawberries. The cheese started melting off the pizza. So I think this one would work with more of a crust lip, or not spread it to the edges. Too, because of the cheese running, we let it sit quite awhile to let it cool and not be so runny. But I also mixed up some yogurt ice cream, which I'm going to post next, which was a hit!

GRILLED CORN

The grilled corn was a hit with Stan. In the summer I grill corn all the time. I've read lots of recipes, and even have my son Travis's opinion, on grilling corn, and have tried probably all the options. Since I don't want to baby the corn and brush on stuff, I leave it in the husk and let the husk char black, with occasional turning. BUT I do peel off some of the outer husk and cut off the tip of silk and husk close to the corn top. Some will tell you leaving the husk on just steams the corn. Removing some of the husk eliminates this complaint. By charring, the silk is no issue either. So it's the simplest method for me.



I mixed up a butter for the corn. Plan on 1 Tb butter per ear of corn. So I did -

4 ears of corn

4 Tb butter

1 large canned chipotle with some of it's adobo sauce (I always keep this in a jar in the fridge), chopped

(1 Tb mayo - 0ptional)

1 Tb chopped cilantro

Mexican Zucchini Salad

We had house guests: investors interested in Monte's swashbuckling geology. It was an all-of-a-sudden event, and one, the only one we knew, stayed the night. Our typical first meal for guests is Mexican and usually I'll grill stuffed poblanos (I'll post that recipe another time), but didn't do that this time. Since it was a quick throw-together we repeated our mexican chuck roast and radish salsa meal I recently posted about. I did a rhubarb crisp, already posted too, along with rhubarb-ade, and tea. I also made another favorite guests like - Mexican Zucchini Salad. (Monte told me I better take a picture of his plate - he always makes a great presentation of food!)



I have a cookbook from when we were first married, so thirty-five years old, that this recipe idea came from (idea... since I don't totally follow). When Travis got married, Monte and me catered the rehearsal dinner all the way to Ft Collins from our Evergreen home - a Mexican fiesta! This salad was one of the dishes well received.

MEXICAN ZUCCHINI SALAD

3 medium zucchini

1/2 tsp salt

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and again in 1/4" slices. In a bowl, salt these with the salt, toss to mix, then spread on several layers of paper towel to sit and drain for 30 minutes. Pat dry before adding to bowl mixture.



Combine in a bowl-

5 Tb vinegar (I like to mix some balsamic, red wine vinegar and maybe brown rice, apple cider, sherry vinegar - the recipe uses all white vinegar - how boring!)

2-3 cloves minced garlic (instead of recipe's 1 - I always do more garlic in recipes)

1/4 tsp dried thyme (use more of garden fresh thyme)

1/2C good tasting olive oil

1 can drained garbanzo beans

1/2C sliced olives

1/2C+ sliced green onions (I always do more green onions and love the green tops)

1 canned chipotle chili in adobo, seeded and minced (I always keep these in a jar, once a can is opened, and when I take out a chili I make sure to shove all the chilis into the adobo for better keeping)

1/2C crumbled queso anejo (which I don't usually have, so I use cows milk feta [we don't like goat feta - fresh goat milk and cheese is good, but something happens to it in the processing and time])



I'll make this a bit ahead 30 minutes to 4 hours, and occasionally stir for the flavors to marinate.

After supper, and a rain sprinkle, we walked around the gardens, enjoying the flowers, texture, and mountain air. I had them all eat a sweet cicely seed pod - an after dinner mint. The plant is behind my tarragon plant - both a type of licorice/anise flavor. Sweet Cicely is very ferny and mine has been reseeding (I think last year's moist summer did it) so I moved them about the garden this spring.



An artist friend, Sarah, and me made my Sculpy Dough herb labels last year. They are weathering just fine - I didn't know how they'd hold up. Garden twine holds them to bamboo poles.

Radish Salsa

I made up a recipe several years ago I called "Salad on my Chip", made with lots of radishes. So often radishes get too big or hot and I thought they'd make a good salsa. Well, I'm needing to use up garden radishes again and Googled "radish salsa" and found lots of recipes. I used from the varying recipes what I had on hand - most from the garden - and it was great!



I'd cooked and shredded a chuck roast in the crockpot using 1 tsp Mexican spice mix called "Alan's Spices" in my Hearth & Home cookbook, about 1-2C beef broth, and 1 16oz jar 505 Organic Green Chili Sauce. It had some spunk, but when mixed with black beans, sauted slivered roasted poblano chilies, sour cream, and the radish salsa on top ... yummmm! ... The first meal was with homemade from masa corn tortillas, the next meal was with crisp corn tostadas. And too, we'll put some of all the leftovers on a large lettuce leaf freshly picked from the garden and eat as a lettuce wrap - so lots of options. All yummy!

RADISH SALSA

-1# radishes - amounting to about 2 cups chopped in food processor

-small wedge of cabbage - maybe about 1/4-1/2C chopped

-1/4-1/3C chopped cilantro

-1/2C chopped chives

-1 tomato chopped

-2 minced cloves garlic

-pinch each of salt and pepper

-2 Tb lime or lemon juice (I used both, using up halved pieces sitting on cutting board, which is what Monte always uses on his salads, and in water with ice to drink)



I wanted to put some jalepenos in it but didn't have any fresh or jarred in the fridge. But then, with the poblanos and spunking chuck meat, I didn't need any. Eating alone, it was still great without jalepenos. Also in the past I'd added a bit of cider vinegar, but prefer the limon juice better.

The kitchen garden is looking beautiful! Along the picket fence you see the tomatoes in walls-of-water. At my altitude I can get tomatoes if they have the benefit of extra warmth, so I leave them on the entire growing season, whereas most people just use them for early spring, and remove them. I'm trying exposed tomatoes in-between this year. So far, those in the walls are growing bigger. We'll see how those out of the walls-of-water produce ... like will I pick the first tomatoes just before our first frost?!

I plant all sorts of lettuce varieties and greens. I love a bit of spunk in my salad that a few mustard greens provide. We use a lot of spinach and kale. Lots of phytonutrients! Kale has more vitamin C than citrus. And eating fresh spinach and greens is the best defense against disease and heart attacks. All our food choices should be as fresh as possible and THINK COLOR! - lot's of variety of color.



Now to sit on the deck, under the umbrella, read a bit drinking tea, and eating my second breakfast of yogurt and fruit and sprouted dried flax seeds and a bit of granola, and enjoying all the flowers and birds. Then back to my textile art work (fun!).

Cowboy Caviar

I've been a MOPS Mentor Mom for almost 10 years now. Last week I went with some of the gals on an outing. For lunch, one of the moms brought Cowboy Caviar. I knew once I saw the ingredients, helping with the chopping, and then tasting ... yummmm ... that this would be something I would make for our family's 4th of July get-together. But of course, typical me, I altered her recipe some. I just now Googled it to see the variances. So what did I do?

COWBOY CAVIAR

1 can black beans

1 can black-eyed peas

1 can corn

(I grilled, in the husks, 3 ears of corn till the husks blackened, then cut off the grilled flavored corn)

2-3 chopped tomatoes

2-3 chopped avacados (we love avacados)

several green onions, including the greens, chopped (I love green onion tops!)

a whole bunch of cilantro chopped

probably about 1/2+ cup of salsa

1-2 Tb balsamic vinegar

2 Tb red wine vinegar



I had also made a buttermilk half sour cream and mayo dip. So I'd brought tortilla chips and potato chips and lots of veggies for the dips.



Looking at some of Google's recipes and back at the original given to me, I didn't use a hot sauce, but the salsa instead. I'd add lots of garlic next time and some lime juice. I was supposed to add some oil too, but forgot. For proportions, around 2/3C grn onions as well as the cilantro is given in one and 2 Tb vinegar and 1 1/2 tsp oil. Another used canned diced tomato and added chopped bell pepper. Monte wants me to add jalepenos next time and one recipe adds 1/2C chopped pickled jalepenos (which I often use when I don't have fresh). Another adds Italian salad dressing for the vinegar and oil, and frozen corn. And I used more avacado than suggested. So you see, there's lots of possibilities with this recipe.



Travis's first bite comment was "Complex". Everyone liked it. So here's the recipe everyone who asked for it!

Sarah's Baked Beans

Every time our family gathers for summer meals (typically 4th of July) at Travis and Sarah's, Sarah makes this dish (or I'll request it). Now I'm finally getting the recipe recorded for my own personal use.



Can Butter Beans (drain all the beans)

Can Garbanzo Beans

Can Lima Beans

Can Kidney Beans

Can Northern Beans

1 large can Baked Beans

1/2# bacon, cut up

1 onion, chopped

1/4-1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup red wine

2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce



Cook in crockpot all day or bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.



Sarah says when it's just her and Travo she'll just do a couple of the beans and other bits in a saucepan.

Coleslaw recipe

I was asked to write out the coleslaw recipe. But as I said in the last post, use grated broccoli and/or cauliflower stems with or in place of the cabbage.

1 lb shredded cabbage (about 6 cups)
1-2 carrots shredded
4 scallions or some red onion, finely chopped
2 Tb fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 Tb lemon juice (or whole lemon)
1/2 c yogurt
2 Tb each mayo & sour cream
1/4 tsp dijon style mustard
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
(finely sliced celery)
(finely chopped green pepper)
(1/2 tsp sugar or 1 Tb maple syrup)
(cilantro and lime juice can replace the thyme and lemon)
(vinegar can replace the lemon juice)
(I like options--depending on the 'mood' of my taste buds)
(other veggies too--like radishes, turnips, cucumbers)

Mix these all together well and serve.
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I'm typing this while eating a BLT salad with spinach and fresh bread croutons. Monte actually made it for me! And we just realized, I need to make more bread.