Gardening

Zibby counted ten green baby tomatoes last night, and 2 baby bell peppers. The two tomato earthboxes are doing great. Growing very tall. My neighbor tried to tell me not to water them so much. There is a language barrier, but she just doesnt understand how the earthboxes work. She is very much a traditional gardener. The two tomato plants I just put in regular old pot containers dont look good. One had aphids all over it. I sprayed it with some insecticide soap (organic). The one lettuce box is still going ok, and the cuke box I planted looks good.

I also planted a golden zuke box, but there were a bunch of flowers that are now gone, and it looks kind of… bleh. Dont know if it will recover. Im not sure if zukes are supposed to grow up stakes or spread out laterally. ?

At any rate, Im learning a lot and Zibby is enjoying the garden too. She cuts all the lettuce.

Frisee with bacon and Champagne viniagrette

None of this is from my CSA, but its one of my favorite recipes.
Get a huge plate of fresh, washed and chilled frisee.
Saute a couple of strips of bacon, cut up into a large dice.
When bacon is crispy, remove from pan to bed of frisee.
Pour some of your favorite vinegar into the pan and mix with rendered bacon grease. (I love Trader Joe’s Orange Muscat Champagne vinegar)
Add dressing to greens and devour.

Summer Saute of Asparagus and Golden Zucchini

Fresh from the CSA garden came some golden zucchinis and tender aspargus. I decided to saute them with some of the summer butter I bought made with milk from grassfed cows. Wowza. Henry laid on the table and insisted I feed him bite after bite. He ate about half my plate!

Zucchini and Swiss Chard Bisque

A couple of weeks ago I had a bowl of soup at a restaurant that really blew me away. It was a creamy zucchini and swiss chard. My most recent CSA box had some of beautiful zukes and chards, so I attempted the soup.

I shredded the zucchini and de-stemmed the chard. Sauteed them together with some olive oil and then added chicken stock and simmered until everything looked very tender, about twenty minutes. Cooled it for a bit, then put it in the blender. Added salt, pepper and a smidge of nutmeg. It was really, really delicious. Mine was thicker than the restaurants, I could have thinned it out, but I liked it. It would even make a very interesting sauce for a pizza or even on noodles.

Mango Salsa

Our friend Bonnie introduced me to this salsa. I had it for the first time at a party at her house. I had never had anything like it, but I got her recipe and have been making it ever since. These flavors just go together so perfectly, and I love it best on El Milagro corn chips, which are thick and crunchy.

I think it tastes perfect when the amount of chopped mango equals the amount of all the other ingredients. This time I used 2 large mangos, which gave me around 2 cups diced fruit. Then you need about 1 1/4 cups diced cucumber and 3/4 cups diced red onion. Add a few squirts of lime juice and then as much jalapeno as you like. To be honest, sometimes I dont even put any jalapeno. But if I was making it for a party, I would. And, if you like cilantro you can put some in. Yum.

market totes and tutu

I found some really pretty drapery samples at the Ravenswood Manor garage sale. I used one of the panels to make my friend Hilde a set of market totes. I even made a small drawstring bag to put them all in. She could reused that to wrap another present or to carry something small.

I also made a tulle tutu for my mom to give to her step granddaughter. Zibby tried it on to see how long it was. I used this tutu-orial

May Gifties- Vanessa, NO PEEKING!

So, I was cruising around Etsy and came across several shops selling reusable sandwich and snack size bags. I immediately decided I should make some for my mom (and everyone else I know). I messed around until I sort of figured out what I was doing, and made 5 in various sizes. I used up a pillowcase I had thrifted from Goodwill recently. Sent them out for Mothers Day.

Later, I found a tutorial online for them, realized this was much easier than how I was doing it, and made a few more for my sister. Its her birthday soon.

For hers I used fabric from my stash. Last year I made my daughter an outfit from it.

My other recent project turned into a purse for my aforementioned sister. It started out as maybe being a diaper bag for a friend, but then it got kind of large. My friend is short and my sister is very tall, so I turned it into a purse/tote for my sis. Luckily her birthday was coming up. No project goes to waste around here! I got both the denim skirt and the diamond printed lining material at the Goodwill. I bought a zipper and straps. I also used some quilt batting as an interliner to give it some structure and a nice feel. I have to say, sewing an existing garment poses special problems. It was murder to sew in the lining over the front zipper in the skirt. I used a dark purple thread that didnt show very much, which is hiding a multitude of sins.  But overall, I think it turned out pretty cute.

matzoh ball soup

There is an amazing store in Sunny Isles, Fl, called Epicure. Its like a more expensive and more sexy Whole Foods. I bought some of this matzoh ball soup and it was everything I hoped it would be and more.

Since my husband has lately been on a matzo ball kick, I made some with the ubiquitious Package Mix except I used schmaltz instead of vegetable oil. My husband said his Jewish coworker told him this is key. My broth turned out a little too salty. And I didnt know that the balls would plump up like dumplings. I was worried about how small the recipe said to make them.

Overall, this recipe was super easy and delicious. We all had some while we were sick this last week. Now we dont have to spend 5$ a bowl at the Bagel for matzo ball soup!

best chocolate chip cooky ever

Well, I found the perfect chocolate chip cooky.

They are thick, substantial, sturdy, chewy, full of chocolate and exactly the type of cooky I love. 8 minutes left them slightly pale and chewy (like DH likes) and 9 minutes created golden brown, crispy outsides, (like i like). man, these are good.

This came to me via Tastespotting, but here is the link to the recipe

My Favorite GF, DF breakfast

This is one of my favorite breakfasts, especially in winter. It is so filling and warm and tasty.

I use coconut oil to fry the eggs in. I like my eggs over medium-the whites totally cooked, but the yolk warm and oozy.

I chose a long garnet sweet potato, peeled and cubed it, boiled until soft, then thru the ricer. I added a T of coconut oil and about 1/4 cup lite coconut milk. Stir together, then fashion a bed of this puree on the plate. Lovingly lay the eggs on top, cut the eggs so they yolk spill out and then enjoy them one bite at a time.