First Harvest

I came home from San Diego to find that my garden had exploded in my absence.

About 15 Sungold tomatoes are missing. They taste so good that Ellie thinks they're orange grapes. Shh. Don't tell.

Lately, I can't stop making my sister's invention of Mango Avocado Pico.

1 (or 2) mango, diced
1/2 purple onion, chopped
1 (or 2) avocado, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
juice of one lime
salt to taste

And a bag of freshly-fried restaurant nachos. Devour.

Lion House French Bread Recipe and Spring!

Lion House French Bread

2 Tbsp yeast
1/2 c. warm water
2 C hot water
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
5 Tbsp shortening, melted or veg. oil (I always use oil)
6 C Flour
***
1 egg white, sesame seeds


Dissolve yeast in 1/2 c warm water - let stand 10 minutes. In a large bowl combine 2 C. hot water, sugar, salt, shortening (or oil), and half of the flour, beat well (I throw it in my Bosch and don't mess with a spoon). Stir in dissolved yeast. Stir in remaining flour. Mix well until it balls up, pulls completely away from sides of bowl. Leaving spoon in batter, allow to rest for 10 minutes. Stir vigorously.

Allow to rest again for 10 minutes. Repeat 3 more times. Cover with towel/lid while resting. Turn out onto floured board. Knead once or twice until lightly coated with flour. Divide dough in half for french bread loaves (or 5 sections for soup bowls, ). Roll each half into a 9"x12" rectangle. Starting at long edge, roll loosely, seal edges. Place both rolls seam side down on large cookie sheet (I use the largest rectangular Airbake pizza pan and place the loaves diagonally). Gash the tops 3 times each with a sharp knife. Brush with beaten egg white. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (I skip this step). Let rise 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
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I am so happy to have my camera back. Perfect timing, if you ask me.

I took it into Kew's Camera Service and they replaced the mainboard. It was their first time doing this procedure, so they gave me a steal of a deal on the labor in exchange for being their guinea pig.

I know they had my camera a very long time, but only having to pay 1/10th the cost of replacing it was well worth it. Don't you think?

Happy Easter, everyone.

It's Alive!

Witness: Michelle's first attempt at solo bread-making.

The only advice I gave her was to egg-wash extensively. This is the Lion House french bread recipe, and she used it to make soup bowls for navy bean soup. It smelled heavenly.

I think I could get used to having another baker in the family.

P.S. The camera is back from the dead. Hallelujah!

Holiday Recipe Roundup

Yes, we've been eating healthier in the Organic household, but Christmas is not a time to give up traditions. It just wouldn't be Christmas without these sweets:

M&M Chex Mix - wonderfully corn syrupy (sweet and salty)

Reindeer Fodder - White Chocolate delight (sweet and salty)

Homemade Chocolates - Peanut butter (also try Smitten Kitchen's Buckeyes) and new this year, Oreo truffles (mint and regular)

Homemade Fernwood Mint Squares - super easy and therapeutic to make

What are your holiday must makes?

It isn't ThanksCursing at your house is it?

So, Thanksgiving was lovely. We had a last minute change of venue over to our house, which was perfect because with 25+ people milling around we need every advantage to help Ty feel at ease. So our home, it was. We played table jockey and squeezed all of us into the family room and dining room. Everyone brought food to serve or finish cooking up here.

Earlier that day I decided to add three more pies to our growing collection and about the only good thing I have to say about the frigid temperatures lately, is that at least they allow me to use the great outdoors as my own personal Frigidaire.

The prayer had been offered, the tables were beautifully set, the food fabulously warm, and the people, they were squeezing into their chairs (it's a tight fit with all of us) and somewhere in there my chair landed on my foot and a word of the four letter variety (my horrible memory fails me as to just which beauty it was) fell out of my mouth. I felt sort of deflated. Because, hello! WE'RE TRYING TO BE ALL THANKFUL UP IN HERE AN' STUFF, not forking over class-less auto shop vernacular.

And then without skipping a beat my brother said, Great! It's officially Thanksgiving now. Let's eat! And so we did and it was wonderful. We were thankful for each other's company and contributions to such a feast of plenty. But most especially, we were grateful for the door on the basement separating the kids from the adults for our after-dinners.

How about you? Did you have a Happy Thanksgiving

Gingerbread House - Falling Water

This is by far my favorite entry from the Gingerbread festival:

Impressive, no? Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water

I tracked down the designer of this entry

Pop on over to learn more about its creation.

Pie!

Every other year all the women and children gather at my mum's house to make pie.

Loads and loads of Pie (isn't Nicole lovely?)

We start by mixing up the pie crust dough

Only, go easy on the dough - you don't want to over work it.

We each wore our favorite aprons that grandma had made for us.

And then made and filled several pies.

Everyone helped. Even the littles.

We made Apple, Blueberry, Raspberry, Pioneer Woman's Dreamy Apple Pie,

Compulsive's Sour Cream Lemon, Carina's Coconut Cream, and

of course, Pumpkin.

So tell me, do you do pie? What flavors?

Our Thanksgiving feast was bountiful and lovely. I hope yours was too.

Technical Difficulties, Wardobe Malfunctions, The Usual

I was so excited to share this giveaway with you and then I went and blew the photos - meaning I took a bazillion and didn't realize until I was processing them that *ahem* there was a slight wardrobe, erm, complication. And then pretty much everything snowballed from there and I regret to inform you that the giveaway is rescheduled for next Monday.

But. BUT. You will love it. I promise.

And. AND. You will want to come back and enter. And enter. And enter. Because there will be multiple chances to win.

In the meantime, please to enjoy this clean eating cookie recipe review:

Almond Butter Cookies with Dark Chocolate (from The Best of Clean Eating)
1 C. unsalted almond butter
3/4 c. sucanat
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
3 oz. dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Stir first five ingredients until well blended, then add chocolate chunks (I went easy on my family and used semi sweet chips) and drop by rounded spoonfuls onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, transfer to rack and let cool for another 10 minutes. (It seems to keep cooking as it sits). Yield: 24 cookies.

This recipe received 4 thumbs up, and 2 "It's not my favorite" - I was one of the ones who really liked it. I ended up using salted (but definitely not sugared) organic almond butter and not adding any salt to the recipe. The sucanat gives it a nice texture and flavor. These are not fat free or low calorie by any means, but they are a pretty good option for when your sweet tooth comes calling. And if you can handle dark chocolate, they're high in anti-oxidants too.


Yum.

My Civic Duty

Yes, I did it. You should be so proud. Last time, I didn't vote and look what happened.

And right here and now I am announcing to you that I am back on the Clean Eating Wagon. My taste buds will be happy to wake up after their summer hiatus. Yes, I dabbled in processed foods worship and in the middle of beach season, even (I know!).

I am determined to get some jiggle out of my wiggle. The site has a handy dandy body fat calculator so you can get an idea of your starting point (I fall in the average range and woul like to attain a Fitness level by Christmas). I will be making and reviewing one to two recipes per week and giving you the family's feedback on whether it earns a thumbs up or down. Because I'm sure you will be dying to know if something so good for you could possibly taste good, too. And basically will your kids want to eat it? Am I right, or am I right?

My kids have super finicky palates and chances are if they'll eat it your kids will too.

It's Torture Up In Here, Y'all

The only upside to this chilly weather is that it puts me more in the mood to use the kitchen for more than just piling up stacks of paper.

Which means I have cooked 5 out of the last 7 nights (6 if you count leftover's night), and that is something of a record lately. It also means that my plans to lose 20 pounds by Christmas have hit a bit of a snag. (I'm down 14 lbs so far, but the smells of cinnamon and pumpkin are TORTURE and Heaven at the same time).

I made this pumpkin bread from Toni's Dutch Oven Madness site to share with my grandma.

I substituted -
the pumpkin for a homemade acorn squash/pumpkin puree
unsweetened applesauce for half the butter
1 cup of whole wheat (finely ground) flour for one of the cups of white flour
and honey for about 1/3 of the sugar
and I baked it in 3 loaf pans rather than a dutch oven.

And it was fabulous. I know because I sneaked a taste. And now that taste is residing on my hips, time to serve that fat an Eviction Notice.

Menu this week:
Homemade chicken BBQ pizza, and homemade crazy bread (cinnamon rolls for an after dinner)
Breakfast Burritos and a side of peaches from our tree
Chicken enchilada soup with cornbread
Baked potatoes and chili
Caramelized chicken salad with pomegranate and citrus
Tri-tip roast with garlic roasted veggies

****
In other news, the kids found a lost dog on Sunday and have been keeping her in the yard with our dog (on the right) while they pass out "Found: Lost Dog" flyers. Our dog tolerates the newcomer and the kids, well they are in love and secretly (or not so secretly) hoping the owners meant to lose her.


I overheard Ellie laying down the law with the dog:

These are the rules of the backyard:
Number One: No sniffing butts!
Number Two: Be quiet (no barking)!
Number Three: Share!

And there you have it - The Keys to a Long and Happy Life, courtesy of a 5 year old.

Orange Chicken

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

To bread Chicken
Dip chicken in the following mixture:
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Then coat chicken in the following mixture:
1 c. flour
1/2 c. cornstarch

Repeat if you like a more battered chicken. Fry 3-4 minutes in hot oil until chicken is a goldeny brown. Don't overcook the chicken (cut a few nuggets open to see that it's cooked when you're first starting out).

Orange Sauce
10 Tbsp Sugar
10 Tbsp Vinegar
3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
Zest of one orange
1 Tbsp corn starch

Mix all together and boil over medium heat until thickened. I also add OJ one Tbsp at a time, to taste. Set aside.

In a large wok/pan, saute
2 cloves of pressed garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger root (can sub 1/2 tsp ginger spice if needed)
in 3 Tbsp chicken broth

until you can smell the garlic, gingery goodness. Add 1 bunch of chopped green onions and crushed red pepper to your desired level of spiciness. Then dump in the sauce and the fried chicken pieces. Serve over rice (we use Basmati - smells absolutely divine).

Enjoy!

Just curious, have you ever had a day like this:

Thankfully, it ended with one of these:

Ahhhh.

'Tis the season

Finally, a little blustery weather to bring out the baker in me. Not that I'm glad about fall finally coming, but there's nothing like baked goods to cozy up a home.

I've been experimenting with a friend's whole wheat pumpkin muffin recipe, using kamut flour instead. It makes for a rather spongy muffin, so I'm not quite satisfied with the results - must tweak some more. My poor family. At least there's chocolate in every batch so they're not complaining too loudly.

I'm hoping to add back in some bread-making and Scottish oats for breakfast in the mornings, maybe some home-made yogurt for smoothies. And to finally find the perfect home-made hot cocoa recipe.

***
Last weekend I visited my Grandma B and she showed me a quilting project her mother had worked on. She asked if I would finish it. It's a 1940's sunflower quilt on a black background, and I think it's just the thing to get me back into quilting.

So, tell me - What does this colder weather bring out in you?

And another one down and another one bites the dust

We strained 2 gallons of tomatoes into the makings of a sauce.
I finished the owl hat for my sister's dress, finally. The first time I made it I used the wrong color of yarn. The shades of pink were off just enough so that I knew it would bug me, but they're a perfect match now.

And that's it. Other than sit around on my tookus to knit or cook, or peel something, that's all I did today (unless you count watching The Sound of Music, too). It feels fabulous having one more project on the list done.

The girls thought the best part was turning the handle that magically made seed-free juice and pulp come out of the strainer. And then we cooked it down from 8 quarts to 3 and it is going on some homemade pizza crusts tomorrow. For a thorough test run.

Our last batch turned out "spiceky" as Ellie would say, meaning it had quite a kick to it. Maybe growing them in some proximity to the peppers was a bad idea.

Summer means pulling out the Barbie

Barbie as in BBQ. Have you made Sun-dried Tomato Chicken yet? You should, it's delightful.

Basil, tomatoes, and cheese - oh my! (also, chicken)

Roasted sweet potatoes, peppers, sweet onions, new potatoes, and butternut squash all drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

These red chili peppers are from the garden. I added them for a bit of color. I thought - These are so small I bet they aren't hot at all. I even cut off the top and squished out the seeds with my fork. I put half of one in my mouth. Holy Toledo! Was it ever a firecracker! I spit it out. I think my lower lip grew 3 sizes in 3 seconds. Burny, burny, burny!

Mr. O tried his, Hot? that's not hot.

I'll admit it my pride was hurt and I felt rather wimpy. I invited him to try the other half of mine. I think he bit into it. Holy mother of HOT!

Pride restored. And that was Mr. O's birthday meal.

Frou-frou Fail

Pork Loin with Port Wine & Cherry Sauce, Roasted Garlic and Potatoes, sauteed Asparagus

I liked it and Mr. O liked it, but the kids? Not so much.

At least I know there's little danger of them growing up to be winos. Also, more for us!

Death by Garlic-Roasted Beta carotene

I would like to say that every mealtime is a joyous occasion, that everyone is loving and polite but that would be uh, overstating things a bit. Sometimes we are just happy when dinner is over and no one has died. To that end, in spite of what my son thinks, here is a recipe that won't kill you or stunt your growth.

Assemble various veggies
Some of our favorites: sweet potatoes, yams, carrots, butternut and acorn squash, pearl onions, garlic, sweet onions, asparagus

Peel all (except for squash) and chop into largish chunks
Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper

Bake at 375 for one hour (toss in the asparagus for the last 10 minutes)

Can't you just smell it?

The squash just peels right off the skin, enjoy! I promise it won't kill you.

Stacked! Also, Ambienesia

I'll be sending off a box of handmade chocolate mints to Heffalump, winner of the bribery mentioned in the last post (Heff, email me your address). Thanks to everyone's reading suggestions, I have a stack of 20 books on my night stand and am also 77th in line to read The Help at the library (I may just have to break down and buy that one).

I made a batch of these this weekend - Twix bars

photo from Foodaphilia

You should make them unless, of course, you enjoy fitting into your jeans. The only change I made to the recipe was to use half the suggested amount of butterscotch chips.

*****
Ambienesia - the syndrome wherein one~who, having taken an Ambien approximately 15 minutes prior~has an entire conversation with one's spouse regarding said spouses' big, important meeting, and upon waking the next morning has no recollection of alleged conversation, AND politely inquires as to how said meeting went down. Spouse may or may not roll his/her eyes in response to said inquiry.

Still, all potential eye rolling aside, sleep is SO worth it.

Do you ever?

Do you ever make a meal that doesn't taste all that wonderful, perhaps even horrible, but you eat it, and perhaps even insist that EVERYONE eats it - just on principle?

Me either.

Even Former Foodies Relapse

Turns out one is never safe from the allure of the Pecan Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie (of which I'd have a photo except for the teensy problem that I immediately INHALED it) Trust me to write about something as if I've put it firmly behind me when in reality it continues to haunt me.

Some days I am on-top-of-the-world invincible and I want nothing but to strengthen my body, to fuel it with life-affirming food. Spinach-berry salad, anyone?

And then there are other days--and they may or may not involve the sister letters P, M, and S--when any and all crap-food must get in mah bellay. Especially the afore-mentioned cookie or essentially any white flour/white sugar carb. Pizza, anyone?

Strangely, I don't have a problem still working out or running when I've had a crap-food day. Crap food = deep-fried anything, chocolate anything, or ice cream, but so far absolutely NO soda (so that's something, at least). In fact, I somehow rationalize eating the crap because after all I am working out so it won't be that bad if I indulge. Right? Right?

How backwards-thinking is that? Mostly it makes all my working out POINTLESS. I mean, I run anywhere from 25-40 miles a week and weight lift HARD 3x a week all to get my body back into some sort of recognizable shape. And then I go and muck it all up by letting a combination of butter, flour and chocolate in the door. The door which is my mouth, ahem.

These last 30 lbs are going NOwhere, they will just stay right here on my hips, thankyouverymuch. Dain-it!

The point is we all engage in backwards-thinking to some degree. I just need a little "A" to get me through a little "B" and that's where the negotiation kicks in. Where the importance of getting through "B" seems to outweigh any number of factors and therefore the need for any "A" is okay.

A:	B:
cussing	stress
music (you know the kind I mean)	running
comfort food	stressful situation/bad day
book/medication	insomnia
medication	stressful situation/insecurity
sex	emotional stress/insecurity
speeding	being late
yelling (not that I, uh, er, that is)	STRESS

Looking at these few examples, it's obvious that stress plays a huge role in how we rationalize the things we do. So right now I'm going to give myself a little permission to be stressed out and to realize that I will come out the other end of it - ALIVE, even - with or without the aid of one (or two, or three) Pecan Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies. And if I can manage it without turning to my ever faithful cookies then my hips, as I used to know them, may be back sooner rather than later.

How do you cope with stress?

I've been converted

Here is the latest garden photo, it's looking a bit like my hair these days - quite untidy and wild.

Last year's onions were pitiful, however this year they are gargantuan.

Each is the size of both my fists together or a newborn's downy head. I've set them out to dry and will braid them together to hang in my pantry. The largest onion last year was roughly the size of a walnut - I think they received a little too much moisture. (I know that word just made some of you cringe, imagine how I felt typing it out. Shudder.)

My largest brandywine tomato so far has weighed in at just over 2 pounds. Somehow, despite my black thumb, things are growing here. We have a bounty of peppers this year due to an amazing fertilizer mix and just the right combination of water and sun. Serranos, Anaheims,

Jalapenos,

and bells. I spent the better part of yesterday roasting peppers, cooking a batch of Brandt's Lime Salsa, and





making these: oven-roasted tomatoes. I tell you, I've been converted. I tried it on both Romas and Better Boys, both are equally delicious. I put a handful of fresh basil and 6 cloves of peeled garlic into the food processor until it was all nicely minced. I added it to peeled, quartered, and seeded tomatoes, then dowsed the whole mess in olive oil. I poured them out onto a lined cookie sheet and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.

I put them all in a 375 degree oven for about 40-60 minutes, turning the tray every 20 minutes or so until most of the water had evaporated. Then I put them into gallon-sized freezer bags for a taste of summer this winter. Thanks to Emma J's friend Lisa B. for preaching the gospel of roasted tomatoes. They are divine! I put them on a wrap with oven-roasted turkey, baby romaine, chevre, and spicy mustard - what a treat. Try it, I promise you won't look back.