Sour Potatoes

Look, Plums!

Check it out! We’ve had another “harvest” and this time it’s plums! Not the red plums, which usually ripen in August and look like this…

Nope. These are your blue plums. Damson plums I think they’re called…and they are delicious.

This Plum is happy to see you!

Lauren and I spent an afternoon picking them…

and washing them…

Even Dash wanted in on the action but quickly retreated when he realized that plums contain no bacon…

"These have bacon in them, right?"

And then we decided to make a Plum Pie. The Pie, itself, was lovely with the tartness of the plums and the sweetness of the sugar in perfect juxtaposition and very tasty over a bit of vanilla bean ice cream. Here’s the recipe I used if you happen to find yourself in possession of fifty pounds of fresh Damson plums and feel like you wanna give this dessert the old college try. If you don’t have any plums, let me know, I know where you can score some…

Delightful Plum Pie 

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients; pour into the pastry shell. For topping, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling. Bake at 375 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Cover edges of crust during the last 20 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Cool on a wire rack.

When we all finally settled into the family room with our dessert, and Adam decided to read aloud to us (which are the best nights of all, even without any pie!) it was the perfect way to end a long day of “bringing in” the plums.

Read Full Post »

I have certainly been subjected to my share of unsavory blueberry muffins. C’mon, you know what I mean, you have been the unwitting recipient at a potluck, or maybe your Aunt Bessie makes them, or, worse, perhaps you (like me) have actually exchanged currency to partake of a muffin that tasted something like a pair of fine cotton socks, which are great for feet but bad for taste buds.

Et Voila!

Well, my friend Gwyneth* has decided to save us all by including in her awesome, new cookbook, My Father’s Daughter, the recipe for her mother’s prodigious Blueberry Muffins! Nothing ho-hum about these babies! They are the perfect muffin-y combination of sweet and light and moist and tart and their tops are ever-so-slightly crusty with a light dusting of sugar…sigh…so darn tasty!

*(Yes, that is Gwyneth Paltrow and actually, we’ve never met, but I do subscribe to her blog and so sometimes I pretend that we are just some Besties blogging away and making blueberry muffins together…yes, get a life, I know.)

So hear we go, straight from the pages of My Father’s Daughter…

Blythe’s Blueberry Muffins

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled all the way
• 2 large organic eggs (I confess I do not always use organic and they still come out scrumptious)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I always use King Arthur because I am in love with it)
• 3/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt (regular salt works, too)
• 2 1/2 (2.5) cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with papers (or use silicon cups, like I do)

Whisk the butter, eggs, and milk together in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, the 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold in the blueberries. Divide among muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining teaspoon of sugar. Bake until a toothpick test comes out clean and the muffins are golden brown, 25-30 minutes. These are best eaten warm! This will make 1 dozen delicious muffins.

Oh, look, here they are now…

So much Muffin-y Goodness...

Um, I think it might be time for a spot of tea and muffin (or two)…

Happiness…

Read Full Post »

I used to have a tab on here labeled “Things I Hate”, I have since removed it because it obligated me to workout (and that is perhaps a story for another time). However, so that you do not stay up tonight wondering what exactly made the list, I shall enumerate it for you here. I hate exercise, spiders, and raisins. And then, during a recent time of deep personal reflection I realized I’d forgotten to mention the loathsome gelatinous mess that is cream soup in cans. I don’t know about you, but I do not like to feed my family anything that looks like someone has just sneezed it out. And that can not be real chicken. And the noise it makes when it comes out of the can is the stuff of bad sci-fi blob movies. Not that I don’t like that kind of movie because I do but as mentioned above, I do not like that soup.

Regardless, we all know that in the course of human events it becomes necessary for us to use something of the creamed soup variety. Where would our Broccoli Cheese Bake be without its creamy center, or Potatoes Au Gratin, sometimes you don’t have all day to brew up cheese sauce from scratch, and I don’t even want to think about my Chicken Pot Pie, all sad and dry.

Enter Stage Left…

Ta-Da!!!

The answer to our cream in a can issues? Dried ” Cream Of ” soup mix you make yourself! Yay!

(Okay, I Googled this forever ago and I don’t remember exactly where I got it from so if this is your recipe please let me know because Dinner Makers all over the world would love to to give you one long standing ovation for you have single handedly made “Cream of” cooking not disgusting.)

“Cream Of ” Recipe

Read Full Post »

Close your eyes for a moment (and then open them so you can read this) and imagine with me a world where all the members of your family come home for two hours everyday to eat lunch, made from scratch (with loving hands, I might add), where it’s safe for children to walk over an hour to school and the tv doesn’t even work until 6pm because until then there’s nothing on (not lame Incredible Hulk rerun nothing on, literally, nothing on.). Such is the world my husband grew up in in Rabat, the capital city of Morocco on the very northern most tip of Africa.

When I first met Adam’s family, I was concerned about the fact that they were always yelling at each other. One day I asked him about it and was informed that they were not yelling but that is, in fact, the way it sounds when Moroccan people communicate with one another in their native tongue. I had a lot to learn about the big world…still do.

I don’t know what this was, some sort of Moroccan style crepe, I think. It was delicioso!

Let me say this…Moroccan food is good. Very good. It’s very, very good. My adorable mother in law hails from the city of Fez, which is apparently where the very best Moroccan fare derives from (or at least that is what I was recently told by a North African tourist, also an excellent cook) and I have been lucky that she is extremely forthcoming with both her recipes and technique. Moroccan foods run the gamut in taste and flavor, with some regions using dried fruit or pickled lemons in their meat recipes for a lively, sweet, piquant combination, and others taking more of savory approach. My mother in law makes more of the savory variety, with most of her dishes being of a deep, rich, meaty flavor with vegetable, grain (rice), or pasta (couscous) compliments, lots of texture and always a bit of bread. The following recipe is my own, adapted from what I have seen my mother in law do. My husband assures me it is not authentically Moroccan…nonetheless, I present for your taste enjoyment:

Mo-Rockin Couscous with Chicken or Beef

Serves 6 Adults and 2-3 Munchkins…I often serve this without any meat for a vegetarian twist.

• 3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 Tablespoons Cooking Oil (I use Canola)
• 2 Tablespoons Better Than Bouillon, chicken flavor or 4 cups chicken stock or broth
• 3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into large cubes OR 1.5 lb. beef cut into 3″ pieces
• 1 White Onion, cut into wedges
• 3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
• 2 Small Handfuls of Baby Carrots, halved
• 2 Medium Sized Russet Potatoes, peeled and 1/2″ diced
• 1 (19 oz) can Garbanzo Beans AKA Chickpeas
• Finely Chopped Fresh Parsley
• Finely Chopped Fresh Cilantro
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 5-6 Strings of Saffron or a pinch of ground Saffron (mostly for coloring)
• Salt, to taste
• Black Pepper, to taste

Couscous

• Couscous, 1 cup per person
• Chicken or Beef Broth, 1 cup per cup of couscous
• Cling Wrap

This version, made by Adam’s best friend’s Moroccan mama, uses chickpeas and beef…SO good!

Heat oils, garlic, onions, and a pinch of salt and pepper over medium heat. When the pot is hot add in beef and sear on both sides. If you are not using beef you don’t need to add the meat yet. Add Better Than Bouillon, saffron, and 4 cups of warm water and simmer for about 3 minutes, then add in chicken, carrots, potatoes, and chickpeas, if you’re using them.Add parsley and cilantro. Cover entire concoction with water and cover. Cook approximately 30 minutes or until the veggies are tender and the chicken is cooked through. You can make this right before your guests arrive but it is really one of those dishes that tastes better the longer you let it sit. You can make this in the morning or even the night before and reheat it right before you want to eat. When you’re ready to serve dinner place dried couscous in a large mixing bowl (1 cup per guest) and cover with cling wrap and then fold back half way. In a sauce pan, heat 1 cup of chicken or beef broth per cup couscous to a just boiling. Pour both into couscous and cover with cling wrap. Fluff couscous with a fork and serve in a large bowl with veggies and meat stacked up in an artistic pyramid shape…or just put it on top of the couscous. Spoon some of the sauce over the whole dish and divide the rest into small dishes and place around the table. Snarf down with warm crusty bread.

B’ saha (With Health to You!)

Read Full Post »

Oh, the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need

The Sun, the Rain, and the Apple Tree

The Lord is good to me.

– song sung by Disney version of Johnny Appleseed

Photo courtesy of Miss Lauren

Indeed Johnny, I must concur. The Lord truly has been good to me in so many ways only one of which being the two apple trees growing in my backyard. One day a few weeks ago I went out to “harvest” said fruit and in 15 minutes I had 72 apples! Can you believe that? 72! That’s a whole lotta apple goodness just outside my back door!

Snack possibilities, you ask? Absolutely. Pie? No question. Diced up in a Summer Slaw, you offer? Already done it and it was delicious. But the apple-y recipe that has always reigns supreme at our house is the Apple Crisp. Here’s my recipe, ideal for a cold evening but surprisingly delicious in the summer, too. Kinda like when you inadvertently eat a turkey dinner at some time other than Thanksgiving and you remember just how amazing that meal really is.

Comforting Apple Crisp

• 6 cups apples, preferably, Granny Smith, peeled and sliced

Topping

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats
• 1/2 cup cold butter

This one was so tasty, I was almost too late to take the photo!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 9 x 9 baking dish with non-stick spray.
3. Place apples in bottom of dish.
4. Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and oats in a small mixing bowl.
5. Using two butter knives, cut in butter into flour mixture.
6. Pour flour mixture over apples.
7. Bake for about 50-55 minutes.
8. Serve over French Vanilla ice cream.
9. Smile, you’re eating Apple Crisp.

Read Full Post »

Happy Friday to you all! I don’t know about you but I have been loving these beautiful Colorado (Deet necessary) evenings, long and cool, enjoying large meals and cold drinks with friends and family out on the back porch. A new staple and one of the easiest and yummiest sides to ever grace our summer table has been the Cole Slaw, or as I like to call it, The Summer Slaw.

Easy Summer Slaw

• 1 head green cabbage
• 1/4 – 1/2 head purple cabbage
• 1 cup carrots, shredded
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• 1 cup Light Vegenaise or 1/2 cup each Vegenaise and Mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 3 tablespoons Sour Cream
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• Salt & Pepper to Taste
• Favorite Pandora Station

Slaw is of course a most versatile date. She can swing spicy or mild, creamy or light. She goes well with steak and chicken and all manner of BBQ. And she is terribly crunchy and refreshing stuffed inside a fish taco. She also gets along well with other veggies, highlighting the beautiful creaminess of the mashed potato and the sweetness of corn on the cob. Here it is served alongside sautéed Sweet Peas and a Lemon Tarragon Hake Filet and it was, well, it was delicious.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and have a chance to slow down and savor this beautiful summer weekend with someone you love and a big bowl of Summer Slaw!

Read Full Post »

Some of you have asked for the Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus recipe…well, ask, and you shall receive!

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

• 12 Asparagus Spears, trimmed
• 6 Slices of Prosciutto, cut in half lengthwise
• Olive oil or Balsamic Vinegar
• Cracked Pepper

Start by trimming the asparagus by holding it on each end and bend gently. Okay, go ahead and break it in the place where it has the most give, nearest the woody end.

Now your ready to take your prosciutto slices and wrap them around your asparagus spears in a diagonal pattern, like a beautiful, salty meat ribbon.

Time to cook! You can go about it in two ways. One, you can drizzle them with a bit of olive oil, toss those asparagus onto a cookie sheet and put them in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes OR you can fire up your grill and cook over direct heat for 5-6 minutes. Either way, you want to cook until asparagus is tender enough to be pierced with a fork and your prosciutto is crisp and golden. Drizzle with olive oil or balsamic vinegar (my personal favorite!) and finish with cracked pepper.

Delish.

Read Full Post »

When we were in the market to buy ourselves a home, one of the things we didn’t want was a big yard because of the upkeep, well, as they say, “The heart wants what the heart wants”, and just like that we ended up falling for a cute little bungalow with a huge yard and more vegetation than you can shake a stick at. Part of our little jungle is a group of fruit trees which we refer to as The Orchard but it is in reality ten trees of the following varieties: 2 apple, 6 plum, and 2 cherry. Last summer, our first year in our home, I felt like a vegetal prisoner, hemmed in on every side by some plant species, not the least of which were those fruit bearers, all sticky and bee attracting. Well, this year it seems that The Orchard and I have made our peace and my children and I have been loving being able to “harvest”, “put up”, and turn our little fruit friends into delectable items to grace our humble table…it is so Little House on the Prairie you wouldn’t believe it!

The first of the produce to be ready has been the illustrious cherry: juicy, succulent, darn cute in a mason jar, and destined for a lovely jelly, after some careful research I have found there are actually quite a few things to do with cherries and here are just a few:

• The ever classic Cherries Jubilee
• Roasted Sour Cherries to be served along side pork, duck, or even rabbit (the other day I had a beef based broth in my mouth and decided to eat a cherry at the same time…don’t ask…and it was actually quite good so I am thinking that it will work with beef, too)
• Cherry Chutney
• Cherry Cookies
• Sangria (more on this soon!!!)
• And, of course, Cherry Pie (pronounced with a Southern accent like Paula Deen)

I will keep you all posted as all this fruit-y excitement unfolds…stay tuned for photos, recipes, and other very cherry ideas.

Pretty sweet, huh?

Read Full Post »