Monday, January 22, 2024

2024-- A New Year - a new start -Eat Your Vegetables (and fruit)!!!

Happy New Year!  Cheers!



We are 3 weeks into 2024 and many of us have set our goals for the new year.  I wish for all of us abundance, joy and good health so let's start out with a great resolution:

I will eat more vegetables!

It's not hard....don't reach for the Balance of Nature jars.  Reach for tomatoes, eggplant, sugar snap peas, grapefruit, cauliflower, peppers, celery, beets, carrots and beyond.


I started out the year by making a big leap of faith and planting two avocado trees.  I had help from my great niece, Teagan, and great nephew, Kellen


Bacon Avocado, Teagan and Kellen


Teagan is 6 and Kellen is 3 and this little Reed avocado is half Kellen's height so it has a long way to grow before its fruit lands up in a guacamole.  


But things start small and with nurturing, sunlight and a place to shine they grow.



Sugar snap pea planted 3 months ago and ready to nibble on

"Cheddar" cauliflower start planted this week. Estimated harvest: April

And after 2 1/2 months of no eggs my hen, Joleen< gave me a beautiful gift.

So let's get started.  All of my January veggie dishes are inspired by what my farm gives me in the Winter month of January.  All are meatless.  Most are packed with fruits and vegetables and all are delicious and nutritious 

Caponata

This vegetarian dish is native to Sicily and is very similar to ratatouille but with zucchini out of season and an abundance of eggplants and tomatoes this was my choice

Caponata served on crostata* with a chicken looking on


Based on the recipe from Love and Lemons blog  (click on link for full recipe) I added about 1 cup of chopped fennel

mis en place
veggies:  Let's count them: tomatoes*(1 pound), celery* (2 ribs), roasted eggplant* ( 1 1/2 pound), 1 bell pepper, 1 chopped onion*, garlic ( 3 cloves), parsley *,capers, fennel (1 cup chopped) and cranberries (not a veggie)





Roasted eggplant
About 1 1/2 eggplant cut into about 1 " cubes tossed in olive oil and seasoned salt and roasted at 425 for about 15 minutes or until tender


 


Vegetables sautéing in a copper pot

The ramekin in the mis en place picture above is capers, dried cranberries and sherry wine vinegar which add a nice contrast of flavors.

Caponata is easy to assemble and cook and tastes better the second and third day so perfect to make ahead 




Next dish
Cauliflower gratin

This recipe came straight from Ina Garten's "Barefoot in Paris"   Here's the recipe https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/cauliflower-gratin

You can make a classic gratin with any veggie.  I love zucchini when it is in season but this gorgeous "cheddar" cauliflower was in the market so I grabbed it.  Gratins are basically Bechemel sauce and a crumble of cheese and bread crumbs popped into a hot oven (375 deg) until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts.








mis en place...only veggie in this dish : cauliflower


Cauliflower start

Steamed "cheddar" cauliflower (5-6 minutes)

Bechemel sauce

Speaking of classic French

Quiche Lorraine:

A classic French quiche is a pate brise (basic unsweetened pie crust) baked unfilled and then baked again with a custard filling over sautéed onions and Gruyere cheese with bits of bacon tossed in.  There are many recipes available for quiche Lorraine but I used this one from Food Network: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/quiche-lorraine-7077405
The crust part is very flaky and more like puff pastry.
  
I did not set up a mis en place but only have the final pic:

Quiche Lorraine
veggies: onions* made with High Tide Farm goat cheese and gruyere 


Quiche for one 




Chinese chicken salad:

Oodles of veggies in this salad and so delicious  I roasted bone in skin on chicken breasts and pulled the cooked chicken off the bone. I always use the bones for a little stock making before throwing them in the trash.


salad mis en place: 
veggies: broccoli slaw (Trader Joe's), chopped Napa cabbage (Trader Joe's), red cabbage (already planted in the garden), cilantro, cucumber, peppers, radishes, sugar snap peas, slivered almonds (TJ), sesame seeds, 3 oz chicken breast, won ton noodles and salad dressing


Salad dressing recipe:

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce or Hoisin 
3 Tbs honey
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/3 cup peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, grated or pressed
1 1/2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated fine.

I used my mini food processor to homogenize this dressing but you can also just make sure the ginger and garlic and in very small pieces and just put all ingredients into a jar and shake well

I have a pint of this dressing in the fridge so that I can chop whatever veggies I have and assemble this salad quickly
The wonton noodles are optional but add a nice crunch

If your watching your protein intake with 3 ounces of chicken and the sesame seeds (toasted) and almonds added this salad has 26 grams of protein...almost half of my daily intake so even though it's a lot of prep it's a nutrient dense salad.


Paloma cocktail:

Since I'm pushing fruits and veggies let's add a cocktail:

A Paloma is a cocktail made from grapefruit juice and tequila.  It's sweet and sour and a little smoky.  If you like a Margarita no doubt you'll like a Paloma:


Start with a juicy grapefruit.  I picked this one from my tree literally 5 minutes ago

Paloma recipe:
per serving:

grapefruit juice* - 2 oz
tequila, 2 oz
sparkling water - 2 0z
lime juice* - 1 Tbs
agave or simple syrup - 1/2 Tbs
smoked sea salt

mis en place, agave skipped the photo shoot

Paloma cocktail




Cheers to a very Healthy and Happy New Year! 
And of course lots of love!

*** all grown and harvest at High Tide Farm

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

A Very Merry Christmas to all Old Fashioned Gingerbread and candy cane treats

 The packages have been sent to family members so it's time to reveal the 2023 theme.  

Gingerbread Man and girls..with a lot of old fashioned sweets.  An Old Fashioned Christmas.

Last year as I was putting away my Christmas ornaments I noticed my gingerbread men were sort of "tired".  They had been taken out, displayed and stored in their boxes for over fifty years.  I decided not to store them in 2023 but to do some repair and freshening up.  

circa 1970

When I was a young newlywed I wanted to start my own ornament collection for my tree as all young adults like to do when they've moved out of their parents home. Because I loved to sew and because money was tight I decided to make these little guys.  I used a cookie cutter for a pattern and cut  out from velvet and brown gingham fabric scraps.  Then I appliquéd and embroidered the eyes, mouth and cheeks and apple buttons.  A velvet necktie and rick rack around the edge dressed them for display. I still love to hang these old ornaments on my tree each year.  They send my mind back to another happy Christmas time as so many ornaments do.  My friend, Jan, just recently described it as "my life's history is presented on my tree.  So true!

Usually my Christmas theme inspiration comes to me in October or November but this year in early January I knew what 2023 would be.  Gingerbread.  I decided to make more gingerbread men and share them with others:


Start with a set of gingerbread people - yes I have a few..  In my kitchen "more is more"



The originals are on the top and 7 new pairs of gingerbread fabric ornaments made from both old and new materials



white felt, "apple" appliqué , blue felt eyes, embroidery and vintage ribbon

As I decorated the tree I pulled out all the old ornaments that supported the theme of old fashion candy canes and ribbon candy, sweets like cupcakes and chocolate truffles.  Then I added gingerbread houses and candy cane striped ribbon

Here's a look at my tree:

Candy cane paper, gingerbread bags and boxes
Old fashion Christmas tree
Topped with a gingerbread girl  "Jellycat"
ribbon candy, candy cane ribbon, gingerbread garland - all sugar free!

Sweets on the tree from Christmas' past
Ribbon candy tree, Gingerbread nutcracker and a corner of my poinsettia quilt from 2006


And now for the cookies:
It's just fun making cookies: cut out cookies, decorated cookies, chocolate cookies and red cookies:
This year gingerbread men were a must. Then Ella requested peanut butter cookies with the iconic chocolate kiss on the top.  Red velvet crinkles and sugar cookies made the cut this year.  I first made a batch of each gluten free ( for my Denver family) and then an additional batch of each for others.  Really the G-F choice does not compromise the taste at all and I encourage everyone to try it.

Red velvet crinkle batter
so pretty and delicious
Don't forget to let your cookie cutters go swimming in the flour before they cut

Red velvet crinkle cookies plus peanut butter kisses  Here's the recipe 



And sugar cut out cookies candy cane, Royal Icing (with 1 drop of peppermint extract)  I use the recipe from Rose's Christmas Cookies book - secret ingredient is lemon zest but if you don't have that bible Allrecipes has a good one too https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10402/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/

And finally it would not be a complete Christmas without including my High Tide Farm animals
A big wag, hug, nestle, cackle, and meow from all of us


The newcomers
Charlotte


The 4 funny goats......plus 6 chickens


And my favorite girls:


 Reina (16) and Gabriela(13)  Visiting from Seattle


Kate(16)  and Ella(20) - my Denver girls - on their trip to New Zealand

May this upcoming year be filled with love, adventures and joy in your lives
Happy New Year 💗


Wednesday, November 29, 2023

November and Orange

 Before we move on to Christmas and all of the red and green I wanted to review my month of orange:  Orange pumpkins, orange persimmons, orange kittens, big bros and Mama cats, Orange apricots from the freezer, orange linens.  Fall has been gorgeous here in Southern California.  I still have  shorts on today.  Honestly I'll have to put on a sweater this evening but I can't remember when the last time I still had tomatoes on the vine and sleeveless shirts on my body on November 29.  Certainly not in Denver.  BRR

The fall sunsets set the color palette:


Even in California we get beautiful sunsets

Lots of purples, a little yellow but mostly orange.

Let me tell you about my orange:

Most of my extra energy was spent discovering and caring for a litter of kittens that was birthed in the back yard of an unoccupied home.  The Mama brought them over the fence to hide them in my orchard.  The Mama is not new to my orchard.  She naps there often and feels pretty safe.  My dog, Charlotte,  has an ongoing conversation with Mama "Ollie" about her hanging around so much.  So I knew that Ollie had brought her kittens to the orchard and where they were hidden.  Ollie is feral but trusts me a bit.  She trusted me enough to transplant her babes from the soggy place in an old trunk to the breezeway of the workshop:



Here's the whole family. Mama Ollie and her 4 three week old kittens - yes three of them are orange just like her.  The visitor to the side is Rodney who is from Ollie's last litter in March.  He's orange too





Rodney is a great babysitter and plays with his half bros quite often ( The white specks in the grass are the remnants of  avian hunting)  Feral cats know how to feed themselves
Lots of orange kittens

The kittens felt adventurous and safe enough to become part of the barnyard,  Axel sneaks in to have a morning conversation with Bullet


Well, Axel is the last kitten to be adopted.  He is finally big enough ( 2 pounds) to be neutered.  Here lies the biggest challenge:  There are many wonderful organizations who offer low or no cost neutering to feral cats but the demand is much higher  than the supply so I have been waiting months on many lists to have these little guys  and their Mama and brother neutered.  It's a real problem.  But guess what, Axel ? We are taking a road trip to Simi Valley and you are returning without the ability to ever be a daddy.  Yay!  
All kittens have been adopted by loving humans now so I'm just waiting for the teenager and Ollie to have an appointment
This has been a big focus of mine this Fall.  I'm not even a cat person.  Lots of orange!!!

Of course there are lots of orange pumpkins that color up the kitchen and good cuisine;

Jarrahdale pumpkins

pumpkin cut up and ready to roast



chunky pumpkin soup
Lots of orange.  Doesn't this table setting mimic all of the colors of the sunset?



Golden beets ready to roast

and a lobster salad- orange





Persimmons are orange too.  I love Fuju persimmons.  Raw they are kind of like an apple...crisp and slightly sweet with lots of fiber.  But they are pricy at about $3 each so a delicacy.  One of my neighbors has a tree and we will swap our harvests.  OMG he brought over nearly 50 pieces of fruit.

What to do now?




So knowing I had a lot of apricots in the freezer from my own bounty in June I decided to make jam



Butternut squash is orange as well.  The persimmon and apricot jam came out delicious...and not too sweet.  I used not only lemon juice but also lime which I will repeat very low sugar and a vanilla bean.

French onion soup is kind of orange.  I had a bounty of onions and some gruyere cheese.  Maybe it's the cheese that's orange.


Nasturtiums are orange among many other colors.  I just sneaked out to take this picture and the following:


My blood orange tree is bearing fruit for the first time since I planted it in 2018.  I just about gave up on it but patience won out.  These beauties will color up and be ready to pick in about January or February.  The tree is planted outside my bedroom window.  It's such a joyful view in the morning and reminds me of hope and anticipation for my next crop of fruit.

I could add some purple but I think this is enough of my sunset colors for my Autumn on the farm.  I am grateful tfor my lifestyle with fresh homegrown food to prepare into fabulous healthy dishes.  I am surrounded by loving animals who bring me great joy and this year a huge challenge.  Spending over an hour each day walking my dog is good for both of us and I get to visit with my neighbors.  Spending time around my goats makes me laugh and calm down with their amazing therapeutic energy.  The chickens are taking a few months off from laying eggs but they love taking dirt baths on these warm sunny days. 

LIFE IS GOOD ON THE FARM

AND VERY ORANGE


OK  time to get in the Christmas spirit