Tag Archives: Cooking

Mornings

20130801-204109.jpg

The garden is GROWING out of control!
I love gardening. Each morning I roll out of bed, feed the dogs, take them out to do their business then let the chicks out. I then take about 20 minutes to observe what is growing in my garden. I scaled back from my normal 12 dozen tomatoe plants to only have 6 this year. I have hundreds of green tomatoes, each day a few turn red. Everyday I find something ripe, something I had not noticed the day before. With the addition of the chickens, I’m intrigued by their crazy antics too.

20130801-204451.jpg

I also have 3 zucchini plants that continue to produce lovely green beauties.
An easy recipe to use both tomatoes and zucchini is to make a gratin.
I slice tomatoes and zucchini into round slices. I alternate layers tomato, then zukes, drizzle EVOO, salt and pepper, crushed garlic if you prefer. Sprinkle mozarella on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. The flavors meld together and voila! Delicious!

Here are a few pictures of the garden and chicks…whom are so much fun!

20130801-205228.jpg

20130801-205340.jpg

20130801-205354.jpg

20130801-205624.jpg

20130801-205633.jpg

20130801-205639.jpg

20130801-205649.jpg

I also shredded zucchini and made lasagne using the zukes for noodles. So yummy, and gluten-free!!

Advertisement

New Chapter take 2

I began this entry on April 16 and finally got around to finishing today…
Yesterday morning I had fresh thoughts of a new entry. My husband began his internship at the hospital yesterday. It is quite a change from the white collar office job he had for the past 10 years, but strangely as we get wiser, happiness is the goal in life. And working in an office just wasn’t doing that for him anymore. He wanted to help people, make a difference and be happy. He definitely is happier now 🙂

20130422-144426.jpg

On a gardening note, I invited a couple friends over last weekend to enjoy the celebration of my husbands new job. I have been holding out on pulling beets and carrots until the perfect occasion. Although the temptation was strong to pull at times, I’m happy I waited. The veggies were beautiful and tasted amazing after being roasted with garlic, and new potatoes.

20130422-144943.jpg

20130422-144950.jpg

20130422-145001.jpg

I also pulled out all the arugula that went to seed the past couple weeks. They grew 6 feet tall! Amazing and at this size…BITTER and SPICY!

20130422-145343.jpg

Happy Monday everyone! Here’s a little love(ly) rose to start your week off positive…stop and smell the roses…

20130422-145507.jpg

Happy New Year!

Every year we have a New Years Party. The night revolves around eating and drinking, dancing and eating more. We have a great group of friends who make the trek from Sacramento to bring in the New Year with us. They stay the night and when we all wake up, we go on a New Years hike then back to the house for breakfast.

In case you would like to have a Non New Years Eve party/sleepover here’s the menu I created…
For starters
Black Bean Chrorizo dip the biggest hit among the friends
Onion Dip
Guacamole
Tomatillo-Arbol Pepper Salsa
Kale Chips

20130106-092850.jpg

For Eats
I got lots of help from a website called Mexico In My Kitchen and a great suggestion from a friend to make beef tacos.
Pozole
Chicken Enchiladas
Shredded Beef Soft Tacos
Making shredded beef tacos is way easy in the slow cooker. I learned a cooking tip from a friend of mine when making meat in the slow cooker…add dark soda as part of the liquid. I used 1/2 cup Coca Cola and a 1/2 c chicken broth for a 4lb sirloin roast. I browned the roast on all sides first in a Dutch oven, then cooked on low for 8-10 hours and voila!

For Dessert
My dearest friend Mark, brought me a gluten free cake, and a Red Velvet cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes

The signature drinks of the night were Tequila Mojitos and the Urban Bourbon.

New Years Day Breakfast
Beer
Breakfast Burritos
Chorizo and Papas
Tons of Bacon
Triple Berry Scones-gluten free

20130106-094228.jpg

Happy New Year Friends!!

20130106-094319.jpg

Little Lady Luck

20130106-085142.jpg
On the morning of December 31 I went out to my garden and found this little ladybug. Snug as a bug, on my piquito pepper plant. First, I love ladybugs. I always have, ever since I was a little. Im not sure why. They were spotted, red and cute.
In the 70’s my parents belonged to a CB Radio club and my ‘handle’ was even Ladybug…true story.
This past week, the Bay Area finally got it’s winter. The temperatures have dropped to the 20’s at night and in the mornings it’s COLD…So I was a bit surprised when I peeked in my garden and saw this cute little beauty. I took it as a good luck sign for things to come.
Little Lady Luck got me thinking about my garden in 2013. What should I plant?
I’ve been scanning over my seed exchange catalog. Lamenting what to do…
While I haven’t placed my order yet, I’ve made some decisions which i’ll share with you all a little later once my order arrives.
Any suggestions?
What do you grow?

Well until next time, Good Luck in 2013!!

Fall is here…

60 lbs of Persimmons!

60 lbs of Persimmons!

Our nice new neighbor invited us over to pick as many as we could, ripe fuyu persimmons! He doesn’t like the things! So now I have 60 lbs of persimmons to use within the next two weeks.

I really learned to cook when I was 30. I grew up in the 70’s when moms had to go to work and what was for dinner was straight from a box or can. I learned alot from the FoodNetwork and from a subscription to CookingLight magazine. I belong to the church of Fanny Farmer too! From her cookbook, I learned how to boil water and roast pumpkin seeds, make butter toffee and banana bread. Her recipes are simple and tried and true. It was a wonderful foundation to learn how to cook.

I’m adventurous in the kitchen. I will try anything, although watching Julie & Julia recently I would have second thoughts stabbing a lobster between the eyes! So what I have planned for the persimmons…definately Apricot Persimmon Marmalade, Persimmon Bread and I found a recipe for Persimmon Chutney to use with pork. I will share recipes as I go along…

Bon Apetit!