Alexander Lee

Alexander Lee, born 7-26-10

Holding our newest grandson, Alex

Pete and Alex

Both mine and Pete's middle name is Lee, so Krystal's choice for Alex's middle name honors both of us!

If only they would stay so little and sleepy!!!

He looks JUST like his big brother, Austin!
Can't tell those baby pictures apart!

There is SO much to blog about and I have never been so dang busy!
Lots to say and not enough time in the day.

Coming soon...Trena and the tomato.

xoxo,
Cindy

Trena meets Cherokee Purple

Trena, meet your 1st heirloom tomato!

Her mama and daddy were making homemade pizzas and she needed something to keep her occupied.
We had just yesterday harvested our 1st bunch of the heirloom tomatoes, Cherokee Purple being our favorite.
The tomatoes are a bit early this year due to all the hot weather and ample amounts of rain.
Giselle and Jon were thrilled with the early crop...
Fresh tomatoes on homemade pizza...
YUM!

Trena ate two big slices of it!

Done swimming for the day, it was time to just sit and chill.

More comin' real soon!

xoxo,
Cindy

Memere Love...

My Trena

I could just eat her up!

Jon and Trena

LOOK at that face!

Giselle and Trena

The pool was a warm 84 degrees...
Hardly takes any gettin' used to

Grandson Austin

He has been here a LOT this summer, what with the hot weather and all.
Right now he's stayin' with us for a few days while his mama is in the hospital TRYIN' to have a baby!

I'll be back real soon...
xoxo
Cindy

Fast & Fresh and my cutie patootie

Queen Anne's Lace

Some say weed. I say flower.
And they are bloomin' everywhere around here!

Bleu Cheese sauce

Over a nice, juicy grassfed steak?
The best!
Fuzzily recalled from Pioneer Woman's blog

Brown some red onions in a bit of olive oil and butter...hmmm...maybe 1 medium sized.
Add 1 cup heavy cream, or 1/2 and 1/2
Add a few oz of bleu cheese, maybe 6oz.
A couple dashes cayenne
Simmer till thickened, stirring often.
Weep for joy.

Mahogany Mushrooms and Zucchini

These mushrooms were SO dang good!
From "Fast, Fresh and Green" by Susie Middleton... a cookbook I was asked to check out by Anja, our CSA's farmers wife.

1 TBL soy sauce
1 TBL lemon juice
2 tsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp ketchup
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 TBL unsalted butter
1 TBL water
2 TBL olive oil
1 LB crimini mushrooms (halved or quartered, depending on size)
3/4 teas. kosher salt
2 tsp minced garlic
fresh ground black pepper

Whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, ketchup, worcestershire, and water and set aside.
In a 10" skillet heat 1 TBL of the butter with the olive oil over med/high heat. When the butter has melted, add mushrooms and salt, stir right away and continue stirring until the mushrooms have absorbed all the fat.
Let the mushrooms sit and cook for 2 min., then stir once. Don't worry; the pan may look crowded and dry, but keep the heat up at med/high. Let it sit and cook, stirring infrequently (they squeak when you stir 'em!), until the mushrooms are shrunken, glistening, and some parts have developed a deep orange-brown color, about 10 minutes.
Turn the heat to low and add the garlic and remaining 1 TBL butter. Stir and cook until the butter is melted and the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk the soy sauce mixture again and very carefully add it to the pan. Stir and cook just until the liquid thickens slightly and coats the mushrooms, 15-20 seconds more. Season with pepper.

Weep some more.
These are going to become THE way to cook our mushrooms.

Let me tell you, after last week, I was SO ready to just hang out here at home!

I did some cooking.
I did some cleaning.
I did some reading.
I did some praying.
And it's only Wednesday!

And did I tell you?
My favorite granddaughter in the whole world will be here in a few days?
That's right!
Our daughter Giselle, hubby Jon, and granddaughter Trena are driving in from Montana to spend some time here.

Trena Constance
Can hardly wait to get my hands on her!!!

I will definitely be in touch!
xoxo,
Cindy

Re-invented leftovers, and a book review

Lamb with tzatziki sauce on homemade naan
with...
Italian potato salad

Lamb burgers earlier in the week adapted from Lydia's July e-book were fab-u-lous!
But...with only 2 of us eating, we had the usual leftovers.
And tho I had been extremely busy and on my feet pret' near all week with shopping, prepping and co-teaching the Ethnic Spices 101 class, I wanted to do some home cooking.
So, put together some homemade naan, crumbled up the lamb burgers and warmed them in the cast iron skillet, and threw together some tzatziki sauce.
The potato salad was one I just had seen on the Food Network this morning, and I knew I had all the fixings for it.
Sounded easy and fresh tasting so I quickly boiled up some new potatoes and gathered some lemon thyme and parsley from the garden and....

VOILA!

SO good!

And now for my first (of many!) book reviews...

Lydia, of Divine Health, is putting together monthly e-books dedicated to cooking wholesome "real" food, that is lower carb and gluten free!
I have tried several of her recipes so far and can honestly say they are real keepers!
You can get July's at a discounted price right now, and she is tying up the loose ends on August's e-book, which will be available in less than 2 weeks.
Lots of seasonal cooking with some extra special goodies thrown in there too.
Cherry chocolate walnut bliss....YOU could be next!

What is your week looking like?
Mine is full of endless possibilities!

xoxo,
Cindy

The Days Are Filling Up...

Wild canned salmon patties with caper butter

These were perfect on one of the hottest days of the year.
They take just minutes to fry up and leave the kitchen as cool as a cucumber!

Grilled fresh pineapple with a honey glaze

Super simple, and simply delicious!
Whole pineapple cut into spears, brushed with a thin glaze of honey, then grilled for just a very few minutes.
Up the ante and serve them with a dab of sour cream, or even better yet, a schmear of mascarpone!

Zucchini, olive oil, parmesan cheese.

Now THAT says "summer"!

Ollie by Gollie

The house is air conditioned, and Ollie takes full advantage, staing inside and just chillin'!
I thought for sure he was just gonna slide right off my bed!

Birdhouse and catmint

Somehow or another, those two just don't seem like they should be near each other!

Chickens, just barely tolerating this heat.

I make sure to let them out bright and early, as the night time temps are still in the upper 70's.
When I tuck them in for the night they are all inevitably panting.
The two hen house windows are left open (screened with ultra heavy screening so's not to be a temptation for intruders) for a cross breeze, but does little good when the air is still and hot.

My garden gate, as seen thru the camera lens of my dear friend, Jen.

Jen's photos ALWAYS make my garden, chickens, heck...even ME, look far better thru the lens of her camera, than in real life.

Another garden gate.

This time it's the tomato, pickle, pepper, basil garden.

Farmboy and me

I take back what I just said about Jen making even ME look good on camera!
Course, look what she had to work with that day!
Hotter than blazes, hair all nasty from the pool, and no make-up!

Farmboy grillin' chicken with one of his two besties, Dave.

"A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Proverbs 18:24

I LOVE the Proverbs!
They are each like little fortune cookies!
BUT... unlike the ones you get in a Chinese restaurant,
THESE nuggets are God's Holy Word!!!

I have a crazy schedule for the rest of my week!

I'll be busy doing demo's at the CSA farm today.
(on THE most humid day of the year so far!)

Friday I will be prepping for the Ethnic Spices 101 class I will be co-teaching on Saturday.

And Saturday, with high's expected to be in the low 90's, I will be co-teaching a class of 21, where we’ll be focusing on Turkish, Iranian, Lebanese and Mediterranean dishes that are cool and refreshing—think lots of lemon, yogurt, dill, mint and parsley.

Sunday....will TRULY be a day of rest!

Take care, and have a MOST blessed remainder of the week!

xoxo,
Cindy

I'm in a pickle!

PICKLES GONE MAD!

Pickle on the left...overweight.
Pickle on the right...average.

Had some rain this week and before I knew it, the pickles had turned into overweight cucumbers!
That's OK, cause I cut the big ones into spears and pickled them anyway!

I've been trying my hand at more and more lacto -fermented foods, and these pickles are my latest endeavor. They will taste very sour, dilly, garlicky...
kinda how your great-grandma might have fixed them.

I, once again, followed Michelle's lead, and will send you directly over to her blog for the recipe I followed.
I DID add grape leaves to the bottom of my jars as they are supposed to help keep the pickles firm.

My "average" sized pickle batch, sitting in a food grade plastic bucket.

These will set on the counter (weighed down with a ziploc filled with water and covered with a linen dishcloth) for anywhere from 1-4 weeks, being checked every day by me, to skim off any foam or impurities that come to the surface.

"Overweight" pickle spears

I will keep a closer eye on these, as the spears will likely be pickled before the whole ones are done fermenting. They also have more of a tendency to get soft quicker, so we will definitely be eating these first.

Lacto fermented pickles can keep up to 6 months or so in the fridge...
if they last that long!

Now I just have to make room in that basement fridge for all the goodies I am coming up with!

LOTS going on in the kitchen this week as produce from the CSA picks up and our at-home garden begins to flourish!

Am also teaching a "Spices/Herbs 101" class next Saturday at the CSA farm, so it will be a busy week indeed!

Keep in touch as we ALL enter this busy season of putting by and freezing or fermenting our blessings from the Lord.

xoxo,
Cindy

The tastes of summer...

14 cups of basil

Six weeks ago I planted 6 small basil plants.
3 days ago I learned how to harvest it.
I used to just go out there when I needed a handful and pick from each one of the plants till I got what I needed.
I could never figure out why my basil was always spindly and scrawny.
Now I know why.
It's all in the harvesting!!!
You can learn how too, from my neighbor and friend, Michelle.
She has a little video clip HERE and she will teach you better than I could.

PESTO!!!

ALL this from 14 cups of basil!
The recipe I used is also linked to Michelle's blog.
Into the freezer for those cold, snowy days of winter when we need a bit of freshness in our soups, pastas, and breads.

Lacto-fermented salsa

I've been experimenting with fermenting veggies lately and came across this recipe from Lydia, from Divine Health blog, for fermented salsa.
It is wonderful!
The whey gives it a kind of a fizzy taste that goes perfectly with the tomatoes and peppers.
Here's what I did....

1 1/2 lbs. tomatoes, chopped smallish
1-2 jalepeno, seeded and minced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
1 small onion, finely chopped
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon sea salt
4 Tablespoons whey (if not available use an additional 1 Tbsp. salt)
1/4 cup or so of water, (only needed if veggies are not completely covered in their own juices)

Mix all ingredients (except water) together in a bowl, then place in a wide mouthed quart sized jar. Press down lightly with a wooden pounder or a spoon. Add more water if necessary to cover the vegetables. The top of the vegetables should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temp. for about 2 days before transferring to cold storage.

I got my whey from making cheese a couple of weeks ago.
It will last for months in the fridge, so I am keeping it down in the basement fridge for more salsa!
Now, if only I could bottle this and sell it!!!

What is your summer tasting like?

xoxo,
Cindy