Winter picnic

Come join us ...we've got heaps of new fallen snow. Everything is frost covered but it's really not too cold. Bring out your sleds and we'll dine at the top of the hill- today's menu: freshly baked potatoes washed down with a mug of hot chocolate.

Apple goodness

My weekend wishes were fulfilled: apple picking and a festival (more on that tomorrow).
This year the crop was so good that the farm was practically giving them away. We filled up two half bushel bags in no time. Rowan made me laugh as he just had to use the stool and the grabber pole to aid with his picking. There was plenty of fruit hanging low and heavy on the branches, but he just needed the added challenge of reaching up to the tippy top of the tree.
Some of the apples have been put to immediate good use. While I was at work the other night Ava whipped up an apple crisp for the rest of the family. She's quite the baker these days and is especially motivated when sweets are involved. I returned home to find just a bit left- and stole a few delicious bites.
Today Rowan put his chopping skills to work helping prep fruit for applesauce. After simmering and letting the apple-y fragrance fill the kitchen, we sat down to share our snack with a favorite friend.
And the dishes were scraped clean.

One more piece of summer

At the beginning of September, I was thinking about my blueberry stockpile...thinking that I didn't get quite enough berries in the freezer for the coming months. Thinking that I had missed the boat and would just have to settle with the berries I had collected, frozen and jammed back in July. But then last week a friend told me about a u-pick farm that still had berries. She said the picking wasn't great, but on a whim we headed out there to find plenty of berries still clinging to the bushes. Sweet, small, lovely berries. I couldn't get enough of the old-fashioned, self-serve scene: picking the berries in the overgrown hillside field full of bushes and the honor system payment plan of weighing the fruits myself on the farmer's porch and then dropping my money in the jar.

With purple stained fingers, we picked berries until sunset and brought home enough fruit to fill a gallon size freezer bag, eat too many fresh ones and make a blueberry pie (Mark Bitman's pie recipes are my favorite!).
And then just as I was beginning to accept the fact that summer was over, we headed south for the weekend to visit family. And my, it was one hot, full-fledged mini summer vacation. I'll have more on that tomorrow. Today I am unpacking (why did I think I needed so many long-sleeved shirts and pants?), organizing and sifting through nearly five hundred pictures from the weekend. We just got a new camera and  I can't restrain myself from clicking away.

I heart Indian food

(These aren't so beautiful, but they are delicious! )

Those flavor combinations- the spicy/savory/sweet/sour- and textures are just heavenly to me. But the disappointing thing is that most Indian recipes I've tried don't come close to the deliciousness to be had in restaurants.

When we lived in the city a few doors down from the famed (to us anyway) Punjabi Dhaba restaurant, we would go there every week or two. And my favorite dishes- either saag paneer or beigan bharta- were just perfect.  We used to go- with little Ava toddling along and for twelve or so dollars would roll out like stuffed pigs. It was SO good.

Though I've never been able to successfully reproduce my favorite dishes at home, there are a couple recipes I've found that rival those I can get out and about. Today I'm talking about pakoras. Normally I don't love deep frying food at home. But that little rule must be broken occasionally, if only to make pakoras- those delightfully spiced vegetable fritters.

A forewarning to the following recipe: it will make your house reek with the pungency of onions and hot oil.... the vent over the stove helps a bit...but the odor is persistent. For most people this is not so desirable, but I'm the kind of girl that uses up a ten pound bag of onions every other week. On a side note, a dish of white vinegar left on the counter will help quell some of the cooking odors.
Onion Pakora Recipe (from A Taste of Julie Jordan)
6 onions sliced into thin cresents
juice of two lemons
1 tablespoon salt (yes that's a lot of salt)
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 cups chick pea flour
Light vegetable oil for frying

1. Mix together the onions, lemon juice, salt and spices. In India the mixing is done vigorously with the hands. Squeeze the spices into the onions. Let sit for 30-60 minutes. The onions throw off juice which will become part of the batter when mixed with the chick pea flour.

2. After sitting time, mix in chick pea flour to onions.

3. In a medium sized frying pan ( I love my cast iron for this) measure oil about 1/2 inch deep and heat until a tiny bit of the batter dropped in sizzles. Pull out small handfuls of the onion mixture and drop in the oil. Fry each pakora until brown and crisp, turning once. Drain on paper towels or a brown paper bag.

4. Serve hot. Best absolutely fresh, but heat up nicely in the oven.

Variations:
replace 2 onions with a total of 2 cups of either (or a mixture of) finely chopped cabbage, spinach, grated zucchini or carrots.

Serve with:

Julie Sahni's Sweet and Spicy Tamarind Chutney:
4 ounces tamarind (about 1 tangerine size ball)
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/12 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dry ginger powder
2 teaspoons dry mango powder (or tablespoons lemon juice)
1/2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon course salt
1/4 cup sugar

1. Put tamarind in a nonmetallic bowl and add two cups boiling water. Soak for 30 minutes. Strain liquid, squeezing and mashing pulp to extract as much juice as possible, into another bowl. Add another 1/2 boiling water to the residue. When cool enough to handle, squeeze pulp again and strain the liquid. Measure the tamarind liquid. There should be 2 3/4 cups. Discard fibrous pulp. (I cheat on this whole process and just use tamarind concentrate mixed with hot water because I'm too lazy to soak and strain and repeat. I used to use the tamarind pulp, but it's a pain and way more messy).

2.To the bowl of tamarind liquid add all the other ingredients mixing well to blend. Serve as a dipping sauce aside the pakoras. Yum- yum.

Healthy cookies

My sister in law Carrie sent along a fun cookie recipe for kids to make. The ingredients are simple, wholesome, and might just be sitting in your kitchen right now! Mix 1 1/2 cups oats and 1/2 each: peanut butter, apple juice concentrate and raisins (supposed to soak a bit if hard, but we skipped this step and they were fine). We also threw in a dash of cinnamon and a few drops of vanilla. Once mixed, form into balls and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. This afternoon, Rowan and I tried our hands at making these healthy little bites. Rowan was a natural:
Since Lea was coming over for dinner later on , I thought I'd do a little experimenting and make a second batch with the addition of chocolate. Wouldn't want to deny myself my sister of chocolate... So I substituted 1/2 chocolate chips for the raisins and used 1/2 cup maple syrup instead apple juice concentrate, but otherwise followed the above recipe. Both cookie variations were dense, not overly sweet and easy to make. And you can nibble a little of the raw batter without fear. I like that.

Candied violets

This time of year before the mower gets to it, the lawn turns into a carpet of violet blossoms. Since violets are edible and we don't spray with any chemicals, the little flowers end up adorning some of our food- the fresh flowers look pretty tossed in salads or placed atop cakes. I don't know why, but to me eating flowers seems a little luxurious. But the delicate blooms won't last long after picking. So this year I thought I'd try to preserve them a little longer by crystallizing the flowers. I followed the basic recipe over here.

The process is a little fiddly, but also a little addicting. Now I'm wondering how peppery nasturtium tastes when coated in sugar...hmmm.

Vanilla

In yesterday's post about the muffins, I also wanted to include a note on making one's own vanilla extract. But then I figured two recipes in one post would be silly. So instead I thought I'd bore you with two days in a row of recipes. If you haven't already tried making your own vanilla extract, you should. It takes very little effort and the reward is a virtually limitless supply of vanilla extract. Well, don't quote me on the limitless supply I've only had mine going for about 6 months. But I do bake a lot and the extract is still going strong.

Perpetual Vanilla Extract Needs:
1 glass bottle with tight fitting lid- I used a 4 oz bottle
2 vanilla bean pods
vodka- cheap variety is just fine

Slice bean pods down the middle lengthwise. Place pods in glass bottle. Pour alcohol over to cover. Screw on lid and shake bottle. Then let sit in a cupboard for 6 weeks or so. Now you can use it. And as you use it, keep pouring fresh alcohol over the beans to keep them covered, thereby creating your perpetual vanilla.

I'm sure there's tons of online sources for beans, jars and recipes. I just got my at the local food co-op because it was there.

Since Rowan and I have been coming up with lots of rhymes (and I'm a goon) and Lilla rhymes with vanilla, I thought I'd share a photo of her instead of the brown glass jar of extract:

Tea time!

Or breakfast time. Or just because you need a muffin. I like this combination of lemon, poppyseed, and blueberries, so I added those to Moosewood's basic muffin recipe. And the glaze... oh I needed that bit of tart/sweet.

If you want the recipe, here it is:
Wet ingredients

6 tbsp. butter at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 c + 2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 small lemon... organic if you can
1 1/2 cup blueberry (fresh or frozen)

Dry ingredients

2 cups flour ( I like to use 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour and 1 cup unbleached white flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Glaze

confectioner's sugar
lemon juice from half of a lemon (the same one zested for the recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil 12 cup muffin tin. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and mix. Then add milk and beat some more. Mixture will look lumpy. Now add your vanilla extract and the lemon zest. Set aside.

In a separate large bowl blend the dry ingredients together. Now dump the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold together until almost mixed, then add your berries and mix until just blended. Do not over mix.

Evenly disperse the batter into your muffin tin, filling each well about 0ne-third to half full (should be about a 1/3 cup of batter, but I never measure it out.)

Put in the oven and bake about 30-35 minutes. When done, put muffin tin on rack to cool for 15 minutes, then remove muffins from the tin. Careful, these muffins are delicate and crumble easily when still warm.

Now stir together the glaze. I squeezed the juice of half a lemon and mixed it with confectioners sugar (I'm sorry I didn't measure how much) until it was the consistency of glue (hmmm, it actually looks remarkably like glue, sound appealing?). The glaze should be thin enough to drizzle without being watery and running all over the place.

Now comes the fun and messy part: dip a spoon or fork into the glaze and drizzle away on the muffins.

Eat. Or save. The saving part did not work well here. I doubled the recipe imagining that I would freeze half of it. But in just 24 hours, not a single crumb remained. Well, I guess it helped to have 5 extra kids and 2 adults over for the afternoon.


Happy May Day!

Summer in a jar

Early this week I pulled some sour cherries out of the freezer. As is our yearly tradition, the cherries were picked last summer. I clearly remember that beautiful summer day. The orchard was brimming with trees bent over from the weight of the glistening fruits. Our buckets were filled in no time. In fact, we brought home so much fruit that the thought of processing all of it was simply too daunting (and this was already our second time cherry picking that summer). I made jam and pie, and we gobbled up many fresh cherries. The rest of the fruit was washed, pitted and put in the freezer for a later date.

Well that later date arrived as we just finished the very last jar of jam. All the many jars of blueberry, strawberry and sour cherry jam that I made and tucked away last summer are gone. So out came that remaining container of frozen cherries and I set to work bottling up last summer:


I love this jam. And I love the jam served atop the previous night's leftover cornbread. Here is my current favorite recipe for that:

Homesteader Cornbread (from all recipes.com)

* 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
* 2 1/2 cups milk
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2/3 cup white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, combine cornmeal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs and oil until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.

This is almost as perfect as cornbread I used to get from Bread and Circus when I lived near there. It is cake-like and a bit sweet. For dinner the other night we served the bread aside some roasted sweet potatoes and black beans simmered with onion, crushed tomato, carrot and spices. Be sure to reserve some bread to eat the next day with jam and tea.

Dinner and a movie

Julie Jordan's Corn Chowder Recipe:
3 potatoes
3 tbsp butter (could easily use less)
1 onion, finely chopped (I use 2)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced (I use 3)
3 stalks celery, finely diced
3 cups fresh or frozen corn
1/2 tsp. marjoram (I use basil since I never have marjoram)
1 heaping tsp thyme
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 black pepper
1 tsp salt
2-3 cups milk
optional parsley or chives for garnish

1. Scrub potatoes, but don't peel or cut yet. Cook in water until potatoes are cooked but still firm- about 30 minutes after the water boils.

2. In a soup pot, melt butter. Cook onion for a few minutes, then add garlic, carrot, celery and saute until veggies are cooked but not too soft. Add the corn and cook for 5-10 minutes more. Add herbs, spices, salt and cook for 3-4 minutes more.

3.Dice 1 1/2 cups of the cooked potato and place in the pot with the veggies.

4.Blend the remaining potato with the cooking water (maybe not all of it) and the 2-3 cups milk. Add this mixture to the soup pot and gently heat. I like to boost the flavor with added bouillon cube or two ( you can add this to the blender).

5. Serve topped with chopped parsley or chives if you like.

The soup goes great with a green salad and some garlic bread.

Also, wanted to share a sweet little movie we recently got from Netflix. It's called Once. I think the simplicity of this lower budget movie is brilliant. Don't let the fact that it's a "musical" scare you away. It's not at all in Broadway style. Just my two cents.

Have a good weekend...I'll be back Monday.

Homemade

Today was baking day. I made three different kinds of yeasted breads: cinnamon rolls, a whole wheat loaf, and a few sheets of pizza. With all the ingredients out, the food processor churning and the oven raging, why not make a bunch of things? Dough is so delightful to work with- from the magic of watching the dough bubble and rise to the delicious smells and coziness in the kitchen as it bakes. And somehow the eating of fresh from the oven bread is doubly nourishing- feeding the belly and soul.

I couldn't help but to admire the gorgeous natural colors of these eggs from a local farm and the way the farmer carefully ordered them in the carton:Though there is a lot of fun to be had in all this baking and joy in offering it to my family, I do question the amount of time I spend in the kitchen. Between the cooking and cleaning up several times a day (we have no dishwasher!) the kitchen is one popular room.

Soup's on

Rowan and I made some soup the other day. Stone soup to be exact. Remember that story? "How are we going to make soup with just stones?" Rowan asked. Well, lucky for us we just happen to have collections of rocks stemming from Cape Cod beaches to our local creeks so it was easy to rummage around the house to find the perfect ones for our soup. After carefully cleaning them, we plopped three fist sized, smooth stones into a big pot half filled with water. "I want to see the stones turn into soup!" Rowan exclaimed excitedly. I set the pot on the burner and turned it on.

"Hmmm, stone soup is good, but I bet it would taste even better with a bit of onion" I said as I set to work chopping. "And some carrot too!" Rowan added. We decided some potato, celery and garlic would also be good additions. We worked together to cut the veggies up, added them to the pot and let it simmer. In the fridge, I spied some left over tomato sauce I had made the night before and some cooked red lentils- into the pot they went. We seasoned with salt, basil, thyme and a bit of Rapunzel bouillon for good measure. We let it all meld and ta da: Stone Soup. Oh, we also had to toss a few cooked noodles into each bowl before ladling the hot soup over top and a swirl of extra virgin olive oil for richness. Then we slurped all that soup down- excluding the stones of course.

Uh, oh. It's just the beginning...

...of a week long school vacation and the kids are already quarreling. Rowan runs in the kitchen to tell me Ava pushed him. I call Ava in and she says she pushed him because he wouldn't stop bothering her. The all too typical she said/he said business is beginning its circular argument. So this time I tried to stay out of it and told the kids to talk to each other. They talked and I think it worked- ending with Rowan saying sorry as he dashed out of the room. Whew.

Baking proved to be another good little diversion. Ava got to work making popovers...a simple recipe that she pretty much completed from start to finish. We opened the oven several times while they were baking (couldn't help but peek), so the popovers did a little topple over. They were absolutely yummy anyway and Ava was very proud to share her creation with the family. The recipe came from Mollie Katzen's kid cookbook called "Pretend Soup" and it's great for getting kids in the kitchen.
Here's the Popover recipe:

1-2 tbsp melted butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
extra butter, jam and maple syrup for the popovers

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Brush inside of 12 muffin cups with melted butter.
3. Break eggs into mixing bowl and add milk. Beat well.
4. Add flour and salt and whisk until well blended (doesn't have to be perfect though)
5. Pour about a 1/4 cup batter into each tin, so they are half to two-thirds full. To help with this step, we put the mixture into a 2 cup measuring cup so that Ava could easily pour it into the muffin tins.
6. Bake 30 minutes without opening the oven.
7. Remove popovers from the pan, and prick with a fork so steam can escape. CAUTION: steam is HOT.
8. Serve up with butter, jam and/or syrup. Dee-lish!

Birthday party, Take five

In spite of blizzard-like weather, we went ahead and had Rowan's party with his friends. The party that was supposed to happen last weekend and because of the bad weather I probably should have canceled it today. The snowy roads left a few people stranded at home unable to join us.

How appropriate and funny that he ended up with five parties for his fifth birthday-a family party, school party, big sister created party after school, the sick day party that one friend ended up showing up for and today's party. Ugh...my stomach feels woozy thinking of all the cake and goodies we have consumed over the last week.

The kids made their own pizza, ran around chaotically and didn't want to play party games.

My second try with the dinosaur cake....the frosting press is FUN!

Blowing out yet another set of candles. This boy has a stockpile of wishes.



Thanks for letting me share more birthday bits- until next year!

Great Expectations

It's early morning here and all is quiet, except for the steady sound of melting snow drip-dropping from the roof in time with the clicking of the keyboard. The weekend had been full of expectations and plans. On Saturday there was a basketball game and girl scouts for Ava, practice for the Christmas play, tickets in the Advent stocking for the Nutcracker performance, and more shopping in preparation for Rowan's birthday party with his friends. Sunday morning was the Christmas pageant performance with our entire family in the play and Rowan's birthday party was supposed to be on Sunday afternoon. But a little bout of illness came our way and our tightly knit plans began to unravel. I guess it's just that time of year...
Here's a picture from the the ice sculpture tour that is probably to blame for the kids getting sick:

The biggest disappointment was postponing Rowan's party. On Saturday night Lea and I had already done much of the preparation- the dinosaur carrot cake was ready, decorations were up, snacks prepared and favor bags filled, but Sunday morning Rowan did not want to get out of bed. He really wanted to have the party, though. After some consoling, tea and the offer to watch a favorite movie, he was agreeable to postponing his party. With any luck, the party will happen next weekend and cake #3 will be rolling out of my oven. And since we're on the subject of cake I must share this recipe of our favorite carrot cake, courtesy of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:

2 cup All purpose flour
2 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon Salt (a little less is better)
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
3 cup Finely shredded carrot
1 cup Cooking oil

Combine first six ingredients, then add the remaining three. Mix well and pour into a 13x9x2 (50 to 60 mins at 325F) or two 9 inch (40 mins at 325F) lightly greased and floured pans. Cool well and frost with cream cheese frosting.

So easy, so good!

Breakfast Time

My kids- especially Rowan- have gotten really into saying a blessing before our dinner. This little ceremony includes lighting candles and saying something like "Blessings on the blossoms. Blessings on the roots. Blessings on the leaves and stems. Blessings on the fruits." Other meals of the day do not seem to require this. I guess breakfast and lunch are usually more rushed or only one person is eating at any given time.

But today is a slow day...no school at all and no plans until noon. So I made a breakfast that my kids refer to as "noris." No, it's not sushi, but Norwegian pancakes like the ones my Dad often makes. Of course they are not as luscious as Dad's version, I substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the white. Somehow, though, they pass as far as my kids are concerned. Rowan caught wind of this rare, relaxed breakfast and asked the candles to be lit so we could say a blessing. I love it.
Also if you look out the window in this picture, you might notice a dusting of snow. Yes, we had our first little snowfall and it's not yet Thanksgiving. Ava went out to play and Rowan went out to "shovel," but really it was too cold so they are back inside to play horse. A stall is being built and I hear some neighing in the corner. My sewing machine is calling for a harness to be made. Happy Friday!