Forever Figs

Forever figs, we have sooo0Oo many of them this year, so I went searching online for something quick to make with them. I found a recipe that was a play on the melon/prosciutto taste, but substituted figs for the melon. Turns out it was awfully tasty. Looked kinda weird as you can see in the above picture. Also, if you have a problem with the texture of the seeds of figs, I probably wouldn't recommend it for you.

Figs, Tomatoes, Prosciutto and Fresh Mint~ the Recipe for this very excellent salad. 

Next up tonight (if *someone* hasn't eaten the fresh mozzarella,)  I'm going to try making the Fig Caprese Salad, and then maybe if I get super ambitious, I'll try and make my own Fig Newtons.

Friday Recipe

 

As I shared back in March, we're in a club, a delivery club--for beans, yes beans. And for the second time these gorgeous Christmas Lima Beans showed up in our box. Aren't they beautiful? Who would have ever thought that beans could be exciting/beautiful/gorgeous hasn't tried these.

I remembering hating Lima Beans as a kid, and I'd never really eaten them in adulthood. 

The name of these lovelies in Italy are Fagioli del Papa or "Pope's Beans" and in the US as "Chestnut Lima"  or "Calico" beans. They're different than usual lima beans because they have a  very nutty, chestnut flavor to them.

The arresting packaging really got me when I saw these in the store for the first time. Imagine a whole shelf-full of this graphic excellence.

Here's how they look after about 7 hours soaking in water. They soaked up almost all of it, look at how enormous they've gotten.

And here's how they look all cooked up and in my bowl.

The color changes quite a bit as with so many colorful foods. Delicious.

Definitely nutty or Chestnutty to be specific.

Here's the recipe I came up with just in case you're interested in trying these:

EZ Beans

Soak the beans if you have time, greatly shortens the cooking time later. 

When you're ready to cook, drain them, but make sure to save the water.

Add to a soup pot over medium heat:

 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 

8 cloves of minced garlic, 

chopped white or yellow onion, 

Give it a good stir and cook until the onions and garlic are turning translucent.

Then add into the pot:

3-4 stalks of celery, chopped, 

3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped.

and the drained beans. 

Stir and cook a minute or two.

Then add in the reserved bean soaking water, also add more water so that the water is 2" above the beans/vegies.

Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until "done". Done is however soft you like your beans. Remember they'll continue to cook internally even after you turn off the heat.

Serve over rice, make sure to scoop up some of the broth, top with feta cheese.

Rhubarb Day

Got to harvest my rhubarb crop yesterday. All in honor's of Father's Day.

 I didn't realize until I took this picture how pink one of our cutting boards really is, wow.

Here's the Father's Day connection, I made this recipe, for Rhubarb-Almond Coffee Cake (no coffee involved, just the type of cake). Oh boy was it ever good. I used more sliced almonds than called for, and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top. 

The two fathers involved loved it, (my dad and DH) and since I cooked it in pie plates instead of cake pans, they were almost fooled into believing it was a pie. A long going argument in our family, I will always choose cake over pie, and thus that's what I like to make. Everyone else is the reverse case, but I almost fooled them this time.

So the leaves to the rhubarb are amazing and huge. I had to take a picture of them.

 Surely there must be something you can do with them, (don't eat them, very poisonous). According to this, you can polish stainless steel pots, and make a natural pesticide.

The Recipe for Mother's Day

 My mother gave me a gift on Mother's Day, of course, that's how mothers are right? She had recently had lunch with a friend and they served a Chinese Chicken Salad that she really enjoyed, so she made it for us when we came over to visit. This is a cellphone photo of a copy of a hand-written recipe by her friend's mother. The mother-chain of recipes so to speak, right?

Turns out the trick to making it taste really good is to replace the Top Ramen noodles we've all been using all these years for that crunch for these Japanese flavored (maybe roasted) noodles. They're smaller and much more flavorful, and still add that great crunch. She's lucky enough to have a Japanese grocery store nearby where they cary them, or you can of course find them on amazon here.

I hope that you had a good Mother's Day if you're a mother, or are lucky enough to have one in your life to celebrate with.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all!

I am resolution-free as of the moment, although that may change.

This is a picture of the cake I made for the Winter Solstice this year. It is a conglomeration of a few recipes and I'm going to write it out here so I can make it again because it was worthy of being enjoyed for many more years. Someday I will successfully turn out a bundt cake without it breaking, but alas, it was not to be, luckily that does not affect the taste.

So...the recipe along with my best-wishes for a wonderful new year:

Cranberry Almond Mandarin Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
3 Large Eggs
1.5 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup + 2T Butter, melted
1t Baking Powder
1/2t Salt
1.5 Cups Cake Flour
2 1/3 Cups Chopped Almonds
1.5 Cups Whole Fresh Cranberries
1 Cup Satsuma Mandarins, peeled, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350F

Beat eggs, gradually adding the sugar.
Continue to beat while adding the melted butter.
Add flour, salt, baking powder, missing until well-blended.
Stir in the almonds, gently mix in the cranberries and mandarins.

Pour/Press mixture into spray-oiled bundt pan.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes., use the toothpick test to check.

Frosting:
Combine
2T melted butter
1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

Add in 1/2 t Lemon Extract
1T Limoncello
1 T Key West Lime Juice

Mix until smooth. Drizzle over cake.
Decorate as desired.

The Bears Will Not Quit

I had to try it.  Gummi Vodka Bears.
Apparently the "new thing" in bars, replacing Jell-O shots.
I used the Big Bear size, which are about 3x the size of regular gummi bears.  I saw some recipes that used gummi worms and gummi sharks, so anything gummi is supposed to work.  And the only thing I read not to use was Swedish Fish, which are more wax based I guess and they just melt together.

How do they taste you ask?  Well, depends on the color, some of them taste very medicine-ish to me, especially the red, but I've always been sensitive to the taste of food colorings so I'm probably not a good judge on that.  Some just tasted like cheap popsicles, with a blast of vodka.  The texture is still chewy, slightly slimy but not too much and just a little bit squishy.  On the whole, pretty good, and just a fun treat, plus they're pretty, see above.

The "recipe" if you want to try it is to:

1. Put the gummis in a bowl, I'd recommend glass or ceramic
2. Mostly cover with vodka
3. Cover with plastic wrap 
4. Refrigerate for 2 days or until the vodka gets absorbed completely.  
5. Don't eat too many at once.  
6. Hide from teenagers if at all possible (I told him I was keeping track of how many were left!).

Beets For Dinner, Why Not?

 I recently made up a new salad that was so delicious and looked so good I decided to take some pictures and share it with you here.  Let's say it's related to my blog subject because, yes, it's probably has "High Fiber Content".  So, not turning into a food blog or anything, don't worry about that, this was just too yummy not to share.
First of all don't you love the color combination here?  Makes me want to get my dye stuff out and try and make a fabric that has these colors.

Here's how to make it:
Roasted Beet/Pear/Feta Salad
3 or 4 large beets, peeled and cut into less than 1" thick cubes or slices
1 firm Bartlett pear sliced
1 package crumbled Feta cheese, maybe 8 or 10 ounces
1 big red onion sliced
olive oil
salt
pepper
thyme

Pre-heat oven to 425F.
Peel and cube the beets, lay out on a roasting pan , drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried thyme.  Roast for about 30 minutes, or until tender.
While the beets are cooking, cook the sliced red onion in the olive oil until slightly caramelized
Slice the pear into thin wedges
When the beets are cooked, place in a heat-proof serving dish, toss in the onion and pear as well as the Feta cheese.  Mix and toss well.  Serve when still slightly warm.  The pears will cook just a little bit absorbing the heat from the beets and the Feta will melt just a bit as well.
The only hard part of making this is making sure you clean up after yourself after cutting up the beets, the bright pink juice tends to get everywhere and it can stain so be careful.

This is so rich and tasty and filling and sweet and savory and just plain yum.  I made it when my teenager and his friend were agitating for dinner and they both scarfed it up and had seconds.  It's based on something I had recently at a very fancy restaurant and thought the combination of flavors was too good not to try and recreate.  I am not someone who has always loved beets, but I'm now happy to call myself a beet-lover.  Maybe you will be too if you try this.  Let me know if you like it!

All of a sudden it's time for Thanksgiving!  Can you believe it?  Are you ready?

And all of a sudden we're hosting the family, and some friends, all together 14 people if everyone comes.  Which is awesome, and I can't even express how much I'm looking forward to it, but it is going to take some doing to pull off.  Good thing my son Zach is coming home from college for the first time on Wednesday, (yay!), another set of hands that like cooking will be helpful.  

I've dug out my recipes, made my list, now to steel myself for a trip to the store tomorrow.

Here's some of what I'm making, I recommend  all these recipes, I've used them before in case you're looking for something yummy to try this year:

Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing

Cranberry Orange Port Compote

Green Beans With Almonds and Shallots

One new thing I'm trying is Thanksgiving Star Cider, I have a feeling I'll be needing it...

We're also having plumbing issues (of course), and I have a big hole in the kitchen ceiling, lovely, so very very appetizing. 

 Hopefully this will go off better than the first time we ever hosted Thanksgiving when our stove element decided to go out in the middle of cooking the turkey.  Yes, we finished the whole thing by turning the broiler on and off every ten minutes for hours.  It actually turned out pretty well considering.  

In case you're looking for music for the holiday, you gotta check out the NPR All Songs Considered

  Songs for Stuffing Thanksgiving Mix.  It's awesome, and includes Alice's Restaurant naturally...

Hope if you're celebrating Thanksgiving this week it is filled with peace, joy and fabulous food.

Afternoon Snack

How about this for an afternoon snack?
Sliced sourdough baguette, drizzled with just a bit of olive oil, topped with slices of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and a fresh basil leaf. Salt and pepper if you want.
Just like Insalata Caprese, but with a slice of bread underneath to help carry it to your mouth successfully. I think I could eat this every day without getting tired of it. The flavors and textures are so perfect together.

Oh and Make Sure To Fight with your brother about how many you got to have.

Finding fresh mozzarella can be hard, not all grocery stores carry it, we just noticed they carry it at Costco of all places (3-pack please and thankyouverymuch). It is supposedly not too hard to make, although I haven't tried it, only have made feta so far under supervision.

By the way, don't bother making this if you don't have fresh mozzarella, the flavor and texture just doesn't work. But if you do make them up that way with the non-fresh type, I'd heat them up to melt the cheese. Which would be totally yummy also just different.

Now my mouth is watering and I'm out of basil.

Skordozoumi

I think I mentioned my excitement at perhaps making garlic soup, as our CSA gave us a recipe with a whole bunch of garlic. I finally managed to have all of the ingredients on hand on a day when it wasn't ninetybazillion degrees in the kitchen and who the heck wants soup when it is hot anyways?

So here is the recipe, because it was really really yummy and I'm sure I'll be making it again.

Skordozoumi (Greek Garlic Soup)

• 3 Cups Water
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 head of garlic (the whole thing, yup)
• 1/4 lb. feta cheese
• 1 Cup plain yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 2-4 slices of rustic bread for croutons
• Salt
• Black Pepper

1. In a medium sauce pan bring oil and water to a boil.
2. Separate, peel and slice thin the head of garlic. Add to pan, simmer for 10 minutes
3. Let cool down a bit, so no longer boiling then add yogurt and cheese. *Do not allow to boil*
4. Stir for 2-3 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, let stand 1-2 minutes, beat two eggs until frothy, add to pan, stir in.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Blend with hand blender or food processor to smooth.
8. Serve while warm with rustic bread croutons, rolls or pita

It isn't the most exciting looking soup, but the taste is very rich and complex.

Turns out this is probably not Greek in origin, although the name is, but from Sephardic Jews.

Salad Ennui

A peek into the Camp Joy basket for Week 3. Several types of lettuce, loganberries, garlic with the stem/flower still attached, kale, plums, carrots and small zucchini.

The best salad I made this week had the leftover grilled tri-tip from the night before, with some juicy tomatoes and feta cheese. Yum

Wanting to improve my salad repertoire I went looking for advice and found a helpful page on Whole Foods, which had some really great ideas for combinations, ingredients you wouldn't usually think of and then of course my favorite, the Recipe Finder at My Recipes.com.

What is your absolute most favorite salad ever of all time?

Mine is Cobb Salad, but all chopped together and mixed up please.

Sunday Cornucopia

It is the end of a week, and there are always leftovers. Before I go off to niece's 3rd birthday party, I'll leave you with these goodies:

Kale Chips, an amazingly good snack. I made one bunch of kale into these chips and they were gone in two seconds, I barely got a picture of the remains of one as Alex was about to eat the last bit. Super easy and really really good for you. I'm destemming the leaves next time though, a little bitter for me on that part. But honestly, usually the kale ends up in my green smoothie as no one around here likes it cooked or stir fried. So chips it is!
Recipe from Camp Joy was as follows:


Kale Chips

• 1 Bunch Kale



• 1/4 C Olive Oil (I used spray olive oil)



• Salt & Pepper to taste
  

1. wash & pat dry kale



2. spray or paint on a thin layer of oil covering both sides of kale



3. lay kale on cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt & pepper



4. place under broiler for 2-3 minutes



5. flip kale over & broil 2-3 minutes or until crispy, yum!

*****************



I don't know if I missed the window for signups or not, time will tell. Anyways, even if I'm not an official participant in the Wardrobe Refashion blog, I'm still playing along at home. Have a few projects I've done recently that I need to take pictures of to share with you. Just overdyeing, but they turned out really cool.


**************
I'm attempting NaBloPoMo this month, where the subject is Food, so be ready for lots of food content in addition to the usual High Fiber Content. If you've posted every day already this month, then you can probably still sign up.
Visit NaBloPoMo

************************

And I didn't tell you yet about getting my very first ever pedicure while in Sedona. My sister-in-law Carolyn suggested it for the girls (Mom, Carolyn and I) and got these spa finder gift certificates at Costco, so it wasn't too spendy. It was really fun, and not all icky and horrible to have someone working on my feet. I don't why I was so worked up about it, but it was relaxing and my feet stil feel good a couple of weeks later. Plus I learned a few tricks to keep my toes looking better for the summer, we shall see if that works, right?!Believe me you don't want to see the "before" picture!

************************
Lastly, and truly most importantly, have you been paying attention to the FISA/Warrant-less Wiretapping/Telecom Company Pardoning/Law-breaking excusing debacle in the Congress? I've been writing letters and emails and calling my senators on the issue.
Go read up and decide what (pdf link) you think. We're about to become a monarchy....and even the future President Obama has completely reversed on his promises, yes flip-flopped even, and is voting on the side of getting himself some kingly powers.

Grocery MeMe

How fun, A MeMe from LauMe. About something mundane, but something that everyone does, even fiber artists must go to the grocery!

1. How often do you go to the grocery store? All together, I guess just about every other day.

2. Do you love or hate going grocery shopping? Neither, it is just a necessary part of life, part of keeping my family alive and healthy and fed. I would rather have the food come to me as a recluse-in-training, but the artist part of me does like going to the store for the visual stimulation (especially the produce section), and I do always get that chance to make a checker smile or interact if I feel like it.

3. Where do you go? We go bi-weekly to Costco, then weekly during the summer to our CSA Farm, Camp Joy for the basket of produce, then up to daily to NobHill, Safeway, Ben Lomond Market or New Leaf Market (the crunchy hippie granola store!).

4. Are you a faithful list writer? Yes, I try to have a list going otherwise I use my mental list which is renowned for getting an item "stuck" on it for months so that we end up with a cabinet filled with dry soup mix or toilet paper. oops. Can't trust the mental faculties so much anymore, so I rely on a list. And if I'm trying out a new recipe which require buying a new item or a specific ingredient then I definitely make a list.

My favorite recipe that I made recently was from Sunset Magazine: Vietnamese Calamari Herb Salad, which I will certainly make it again this summer. It took freakin' forever, was really complicated, but it was beyond delicious. And I swear this time I'll remove the seeds from the jalapeno peppers so that it won't take the roof off your mouth with the heat. (not my picture, this is from the magazine! but it did look this good, really truly!)

5. Do you write it but never remember to bring it? Yes, I do this a lot, but if I've written out a list I usually can recall it (mostly) at the store by closing my eyes and picturing my hand writing it out.

6. Do you use coupons? Hardly ever as I'm usually buying store brands of packaged foods.

7. What do you ALWAYS have in your fridge? Condiments, SoyVay Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce, dairy products (milk butter cheese eggs), tortillas, tofu and maple syrup.

8. What is the thing in your fridge that is a "guilty pleasure"? Toby's Blue Cheese Dressing. The best blue cheese dressing you can buy at the store!

9. What is that one or two things that you feel like you buy every single day? I feel like I'm always buying bread. Even though I buy two loaves at a time and throw one in the freezer. I also mean sourdough or french bread. I buy one loaf a day practically and most times it is gone before dinner time. We go through spells of compulsive bread making, use our bread maker, or make the no-knead bread and I'm always thinking I ought to get a sourdough starter going. But around here, fresh-made bread gets eaten even faster which is good and bad I suppose!

10. What items do your children consume in ABUNDANCE? We don't usually have soda so if we do, it is gone in the blink of an eye. Cherries, berries and most fruit disappears super quick. And tortilla chips and salsa, gone daily if I buy it. But besides those things, Everything! They don't call teenagers grocery gobblers for nothing. We used to joke that I'd have to go back to work a paying job once our boys turned into teens, and now I'm starting to realize that isn't too far off from the truth, yikes! Our grocery bill is going up quickly and not just because of the food prices going up so quickly.

11. What's on your fridge? On top is the wine rack and the watering can and the lunchboxes. The rest is covered with magnets and papers that the magnets are holding up for me. Hey I did a quilt about this called Refrigerator Map. There was a whole challenge on QuiltArt Refrigerator Wardrobes, check out what other artists did with the subject.

12. Are the fridge magnets special, or random? Most are special, some are gifts, some are ones I've purchased on trips that we've taken, and the rest are those photo sleeve magnets with pics of our friends and relatives.

13. When you go to the store do you just throw things into the cart, or do you stack them neatly? I start out neat, then get messy towards the end. I try really hard to put the squishable stuff up in the baby seat part of the basket, but invariably the bread ends up on the bottom...

14. Brand name or generic? I like a lot of the store brands, so I usually go for those since they're cheaper, unless the brand names are on sale.

15. Do you read labels? On new products yes. And especially after I've read my Nutrition News newsletter where they talk about the latest thing we're supposed to avoid in our food. The list is getting longer. So as a result we buy a lot less of the processed foods to avoid all the extra chemicals.

16. Do you use paper or plastic? Cloth! Usually I use the bags I've sewn. And boy do I ever get comments on them which is always a nice ego-stroke in the grocery store! Sometimes I get plastic bags as we need a few of those for disposing of the weekly cat litter.

Bruschetta, Ah Bruschetta

We're on a bit of a bruschetta kick around here these days. Especially since we went to La Bruschetta for graduation dinner. They have a whole menu of just bruschetta, *squee*

I took these pictures to show off some of our recent creations, and by coincidence, Charlotte hosting Get To Know You over at Create a Connection asked us to share pics and recipes today.

So here we go, the Stiller version of making bruschetta.

To start off all of our bruschetta recipes so far to date:
1)We buy a nice fresh baguette, maybe sourdough, maybe not, slice kinda diagonally into pieces, 2) brush top of each slice lightly with olive oil, and then toast in a 400F oven for a little bit.

First up was Marc's Olive Love.

1 can of kalamata olives (pitted of course), 1/2 white onion, a tablespoon of olive oil and a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped up in a food processor.
I know it looks a bit dog-food-esque, but believe me, if you like olives, this was Olive Heavenly in your mouth.
Spread mixture on the prepared toasted bread slices, back into the oven for a little bit, maybe 6 minutes

This is Zach's TriColore
Slice ripe Roma tomatoes, top with a slice of fresh mozzarella (the kind sold in water!), and fresh basil leaves.
Bake atop the prepared bread slices for about 5 minutes.

Eat it all up in about two minutes flat. Fight over who gets the last piece.
Now loll around the living room moaning like a stuffed Roman after a big feast.