We’ve had kohlrabi a few times in the past.  Historically, what I’ve done with it is added it finely chopped to a green salad, or used it shredded in place of cabbage in a coleslaw of sorts.  The taste is pleasant-it’s a lot like the center part of a broccoli stem, to give you an idea of the flavor.  It’s a little milder though, without that bite that can be found in broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.  So this year I thought I’d try growing kohlrabi.  It grows okay, but for my small garden space I’ve discovered it’s definitely not worth devoting the space to. It takes up a lot space to grow one bulb of kohlrabi- much as it takes a lot space to grow one head of broccoli or cauliflower.  I’d determined that we were done with the kohlrabi and I wasn’t going to grow it again.  And then my family tasted a bulb.  I kid you not when Andy, Abigail and Zander literally fought over a few slivers of raw kohlrabi.  Really and truly, they argued over who got more pieces, and they staked claims to future bulbs.  What on earth!!??

Abigail makes it a point to check the garden and check the kohlrabi almost daily, looking for another bulb to be ready.  The plants themselves are being decimated by cabbage loopers and ants, so hopefully the bulbs continue to produce here and there.  When they’re not howevere, we have our local farm stand and farmer’s markets to provide us with kohlrabi for all.  As was the case last week.  On our last trip to the farm stand, Abigail caught site of the biggest kohlrabi she’d ever seen- and truly, it was a special variety that was the size of a cantaloupe.  There was no was we were going home without one of those bad boys.  The plan was to slice it up into sticks for dipping in some ranch dip.  But when I sliced into it and took a taste, it was really starchy- more potato like than broccoli like.  It would not be even remotely tasty for eating raw, as planned.  After a few minutes of thought, I diced up the entire bulb and threw it in a pot with some water to cover.  I decided that it would make a tasty mash and was going to cook it up and mash it like potatoes.  So it boiled away for a while, and when I went to check for tenderness, I was very surprised to discover that the kohlrabi appeared cooked through, but still had some texture to it. There was no way it was going to mash nicely.

My game was being thrown off by this giant kohlrabi!! I plucked out another cube from the pot, tasted it, and decided that the mild flavor of the cooked kohlrabi would be perfectly paired by some sharp cheddar cheese.

So the next step was to drain the kohlrabi.  I added a few pats of butter to the warm cubes and gave them a toss as I spread them out in a baking dish.  I grated up about 2 cups of cheddar cheese, sprinkled that on top, and then tossed the whole thing under the broiler.  In a minute or so I had bubbling, toasty cheese on top of kohlrabi, and dinner was ready.  At first glance, the kids were disappointed, reminding me that they preferred their vegetables to be uncooked.  Then they tried the kohlrabi.  Abigail’s eyes lit up and she was smitten. I think we all enjoyed our kohlrabi for dinner, and we discovered that it’s delicious cooked as well as raw.  Next up for this strange looking vegetable is a gratin.  As we ate it with cheese, I thought the most delicious treatment would have been like a scalloped potato- only using kohlrabi.  In fact, this would be a great sub for potato in a lot of things I suspect.  We have become rather fond of the kohlrabi.  Will we grow it again?  Not in a small space like we have now, but we will most certainly be buying up plenty of it at our farm stands and farmer’s markets!

Last night I think it got down to 40-some degrees outside!! Yikes! That means fall is just around the corner, and changes are afoot for Tummy Treasure.   Next week is back to school for us- but not only does Abigail go to third grade, but Zander starts preschool!!!! He’ll be going for a few hours three days a week, and I’m sooo not looking forward to my baby growing up.  However, that does mean some changes here for a while I think.  I’ve been so regular with my morning posting here that I feel it’s only feel to warn my readers that for a few weeks I’ll be playing around with when I do my postings.  Mornings are going to get busy, so please bear with me while I find a new groove that works well for me here.  In addition, we’re actually changing the night that Abigail has her dance classes.  She’s moving to Tuesday nights for the coming year (tonight being the first) so you can probably look for posts on Wednesday that feature soups or other crock-pot creations.

Speaking of changes.  One of the things that I’ve been trying to do with the garden this year is preserve every little bit that I can.  At first, I started doing it to be mindful of expense, every vegetable I freeze or pickle is one less that I need to buy down the road.  But this past weekend, even my husband got geeked up about my preserving when he saw all the pickles I’d made last week, and asked if there was anything I couldn’t put up in some form or another.   I took that as a challenge, and when I saw the package of baby carrots in the fridge, and found a recipe for Pickled Baby Carrots with Oregano and Peppers in that Small-Batch Preserving Book, I went right to work.

This recipe came together fast!  I used dried oregano, and all I really needed to do was chop my peppers and boil the liquid.  Obviously I needed to prepare my jars and equipment for canning, but overall, this was an incredibly easy recipe to put together.  I have no idea how it tastes though.  In my experience, pickles need at least two weeks for the flavors to come together, so I can’t speak completely about this recipe for now.  But what I can say is what a great idea!  I love that this is a recipe that uses packaged baby carrots- something that everyone buys now and then.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ll pick up a large bag for a get-together, only to have most of it go uneaten.  Then the carrots sit around and sometimes get used or eaten, but sometimes they get tossed too.  This is a perfect recipe to use those carrots up with! No more being wasteful of those baby carrots, and I LOVE that.  I love not being wasteful, and since I was just reading yesterday that leftover food was our country’s biggest waste item, this is especially important.

Pickled Baby Carrots with Oregano and Peppers

from “Small Batch Preserving”

3 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano or 1 tablespoon dried

2 Tablespoons chopped sweet red pepper

2 Tablespoons chopped green pepper

1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

2 small cloves garlic

1 pound peeled baby carrots

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon pickling salt

1.  Combine oregano, peppers, and hot pepper flakes.  remove hot jars from canner and divide pepper mixture between them.  Add 1 clove garlic to each jar and fill each with half the carrots, leaving 1/2-inch head space. (There may be a few carrots left over.)

2. Meanwhile, combine vinegar, sugar, water and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

3. Pour hot liquid over carrots to within 1/2 inch of rim.  Process 15 minutes for pint jars.

Makes 2 pints.

Yesterday morning at church I walked home with a sweet surprise, a bundle of rhubarb!  A couple in our church generously brought in a mountain of rhubarb to share with anyone who wanted it.  It was surprising, because rhubarb season, for the most part, has been over for a while.  The variety this couple has though, is clearly hearty through the summer, and it has a delicious flavor! I grabbed a handful of it, knowing that as soon as I was home with it I’d be preparing it to make Rhubarb Crunch, a dessert from my new cookbook “From Amish and Mennonite Kitchens”.

I did just that.  But before I get to the part where I go on and on about how fantastic this crunch was, I have to share a few thoughts about it, because it didn’t come out quite right.   If you’ve ever made a crisp or a crumble, you would be familiar with the step where you add in your fat.  You combine flour, oats and whatnot, and then you cut in a stick of cold butter to get a nice crumbly mixture.  Well, this recipe was different in that it called for melted butter.  I figured I’d go along with it and give it a shot, but once I poured the butter in and started stirring it, it was clear that I was not going to have crumbs to work with.  It was more like a thick dough or batter.  I took about half of it and pressed it into my dish, and I wondered if I should pre-bake it for just a tad.  I didn’t, and in a few minutes I had a thick rhubarb syrup to pour on top of the base, followed by the rest of the dough.  I just picked up the dough in my hands and sort of sprinkled it over the top as best I could.  It looked okay, so I popped it in the oven, and was rewarded a few minutes later with the most tantalizing aroma! Oh, that crunch smelled fantastic the entire time it baked.

After it had cooled, I set to scooping some out and encountered a problem.  That base crust?  The bottom that seemed strange? Was totally stuck to my pan.  I used pyrex, so it takes a lot for something to stick! But stick it did, so I ended up pretty much scraping everything and leaving that bottom behind.  When I took a knife to it and pried a piece up,it was very chewy and not the most pleasant thing to eat.  But the rest of it! Oh my goodness, that rhubarb and crunch topping was fantastic! The rhubarb flavor was accented with the perfect amount of sweetness so it didn’t totally eliminate the tartness of the rhubarb.  It really is delicious with a scoop of whipped cream, or plain and unadorned with the morning coffee.

So what went wrong?  Gosh, it could be a few things.  First, the melting of the butter itself is suspect, I would try it next time with cold butter and cut it in.  I also didn’t spray my pan initially, as I figured with all the butter in the crumbs, I wouldn’t need it.   But honestly? I have to say that when I make this again, I want to try it with no bottom crust at all.  I want to make the rhubarb sauce, and pour it into the pan, and then top it with all the crumb mixture.  I think that would work the best, and would keep the crust from getting that unpleasant stick-to-your-teeth chewiness.  But here is the recipe as written.  Look it over, decide to play with it as you like.  At the end of the recipe there is a note that you can swap in other fruit as you like, so if rhubarb is all but a memory for you, grab some berries or some apple slices, I think any fruit would be delicious here. Oh, and yes, that is a 9 x 13 pan, I doubled the recipe, which filled the pan perfectly.

Rhubarb Crunch

Yesterday for my birthday I’d decided to spend the day clothes shopping with my children.  Abigail loves to shop for clothes, and since she needs school clothes anyway, I thought that would be a great way to spend the day.  I wasn’t disappointed, as we had a great time together, but on the way home I decided to swing by Wagner’s Market in Black Creek to see if they had anything I wanted for dinner.  I can always count on them this time of year to have produce that makes my mouth water.  When we got there, I headed for the garlic, as I was out and needed some, when I spied the large bushels of pickling cucumbers.  They never have those when I’m there.  By the time I get there every day, the pickles have been snagged by the early rising pickle-makers.  I decided it was destiny, and grabbed a half-bushel of cucumbers and a few bunches of dill before heading for home.  The lady who checked me out was also surprised to see that pickling cucumbers were available so late in the day and wished me luck with my pickling.  It was providence.

We got home fairly late, but I was still determined to make some pickles yesterday!  A few years ago I’d made this pickle recipe which we all enjoyed, but last year I tried something different.  Last year I bought pickling mix and was really impressed by it.  Mrs. Wages Kosher Dill Pickle Mix was very impressive for coming out of a package- and that’s what we enjoyed last year.  This year though, since I had all the ingredients on hand, I was determined to make our favorite Kosher Dill Pickles, and really, once you have everything in place, it’s really a matter of assembly, and then waiting for the canner to finish each time.  This recipe also multiplies very easily, so I just went ahead and doubled it each time I put the mix together.  It went fairly quickly, and in the very late hours of the day I was thrilled to see that I’d put up 20 quarts of dill pickles.  I still have enough cucumbers for one more run through the canner, so we’ll see if I get to that today- that will bring my total up to 26 or 27 quarts,  That’s a lot of pickles!

So that begs the question- why do I make pickles?  I’ll tell you, we love pickles and could eat them every day!  This particular recipe is also very reminiscent of the pickles my grandmother used to make.  I remember going to their house and just sitting and eating the pickles that Grandma had made.  She used to pick on me for eating all the pickles, and I remember her telling me that eating too many was going to give me a stomachache.  Grandma is no longer with us, and every year when I make pickles I think of her, because I could just imagine… my grandfather was the gardener, and I could just see her getting annoyed with him when he would announce that it was time to make pickles and drop a few bushel baskets on the table.  Grandma’s basement shelves were literally packed to the max with canning jars of this and that, and I just know that pickle-making was not something she accomplished in just a few hours.  Of course, my grandparents were from an era where if you didn’t can and preserve, you were going to starve during the long winter.  And when I do all this silly stuff like pickling and canning and freezing garden-fresh produce, I can’t help but think of my grandparents and wonder if they would approve.

I’m thrilled to have made some pickles this year.  It was an unexpected find at the farm stand yesterday, and I already know that my Thanksgiving table will be graced by some delicious pickles.  Now if only we can wait a few weeks before trying the first jar…

Kosher Dill Pickles

Since my garden is only putting out little bits of this and little bits of that, I’ve decided that I need to do more small-batch preserving.  More of those things like blanching one batch of beans to freeze instead of waiting for enough for a large batch.  Picking and blanching one bunch of kale and putting it in the freezer one package at a time.  Making one small batch of salsa with the yellowing tomatillos instead of waiting for enough to do a large batch.  That seems to be working pretty well.  One freezer bag at a time I’m putting vegetables in the freezer.  Last night I did up some cauliflower that I’d bought at the farm-stand without having a use in mind for it.

But two days ago while at the library I picked up the actual book, Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard.  I’d checked it out before, but really hadn’t been too interested in making one or two jars of this or that.  Not so this time.  I wasted no time in gathering the ingredients to make Tomatillo Mexican Salsa, since I had everything on hand.  It intrigued me with all the ingredients in it, and since I had 2 pounds of tomatillos, I was also going to quadruple the recipe right off the bat and see how it did.

I am so glad I did!! This salsa is fantastic! It’s also completely different from any other I had made.  First of all, this is confirmation that it has not been ideal weather for hot peppers, as I put 8 chiles in it, and there isn’t a trace of heat.  But it also has a freshness, a tang to it from the tomatillos, and then the onions, peppers and carrots combine to add some sweetness, and really, it is a great salsa.  It’s sweet- and not unlike a chutney of sorts, actually.  Yet it’s not as sweet as, say, a sweet pickle relish.  It’s just overall really nice and tasty, and I could gobble up an entire jar in one sitting.  Given the list of healthful ingredients, that can’t be such a bad thing.  It’s also gorgeous to look at with all the colors blended together in one jar.   I will say this.  If you’re going to make a batch of this, for just 2 cups of salsa, I’d be tempted to just put it in the fridge.  It won’t last long enough to make it worth canning.  Unless you want it for several months down the road.  Additionally, since the ingredients called for are pretty normal, you could make this in the dead of winter with supermarket ingredients and it would be spectacular then too.  Trust me, this is a good one- just make sure your chiles are spicy if you want some heat!

Tomatillo Mexican Salsa

I cannot believe I am the mother of an eight-year old! Time has literally flown, and I certainly wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything.  The day Abigail was born completely changed our lives for the good, and every day we marvel at how she manages to grow just a little bit more.

The day she was born was a little unexpected.  I’d been “ready” for several weeks according to my doctor, but I hadn’t had any real signs of her impending birth- no contractions, no discomfort, nothing.  That morning I woke up, disappointed that I’d made it through another night without a hospital run.  I spent that morning cleaning the apartment, followed by a nice long walk to the store to get the ingredients for a pie.  I was keeping myself busy, and with each step I took, I wished that would be the one to jiggle my child loose.  I was anxious to meet my little boy! (Or so I thought!)  I baked up a delicious pear pie and made a nice dinner for Andy and I.  We ate together, watched a little TV, and just as we were about to head to bed, we saw there were fireworks out our patio door.  We lived in an apartment that backed up to a dirt race track, and that night they concluded the races with some fireworks.  We stepped out onto the patio and as we watched them we both lamented the lack of birth signs and the end of another day without any sign of an impending arrival.

Once the fireworks were over, we both got ready for bed, and Andy crawled in before I did.  I took a little longer, but by the time I headed for bed, I was ready for sleep.  I was tired from a busy day!  No lie.  The second my head hit the pillow I felt my entire body go “SSSSNAP”.  I can’t explain how it felt, other than odd- like a giant rubber band had snapped somewhere inside me.  I immediately got up, went to the bathroom, because something felt funny, found nothing awry and headed back to bed.  As soon as I tried to lie back down, “woosh” the water flowed and labor quickly set in.  I went from no labor to hard labor in seconds, and in the 10 minutes it took to call the doctor, my mom, our closest friends, and make sure we had everything, I was contracting every 2 or 3 minutes.  Andy had the drive of his life in front of him.

You know how there’s never a cop around when you need one?  Seriously! He was going like 95 miles an hour down country roads because our hospital was a full 25 minutes away, and my contractions were on top of each other.  Visions of those Reader’s Digest stories of babies born in cars flashed through both our minds.  Thankfully, baby waited just long enough.  We weren’t at the hospital even 30 minutes before our beautiful daughter Abigail came into the world.  I think both of us were shocked! We’d both had that “feeling” that we were having a boy! She was born at 12:16 am, meaning that her birthday was actually on the 20th instead of the 19th, although to me, and in my mind, her birthday will always be the 19th, because we hadn’t closed the book on that day yet.  And thus began the whirlwind of being parents and learning everything that goes along with it.  The ride has been wonderful, and every day I count my blessings as I see the world through my little girl’s eyes.  She finds such joy in the simplest things, and I am so grateful that I get to experience that joy through her.

So Happy Birthday Abigail! May this next year be the best one ever!

Last week I was tagged for a MEME by the lovely Lia from Swirling Notions.  It took me a few days to find a day to post it, but it was interesting, and I decided I wanted to participate.  For those of you not familiar with what a meme is, it’s a little ditty all about me.  Usually they’re a little survey of sorts with questions to answer about yourself and your personality.  What I love about reading memes is that after a while you start to get a sense of who that person behind the computer screen is.  While I blog daily about food and cooking, it seems that sometimes that personality gets left behind.  So from time to time, I like to do a meme which I have been tagged for.

This meme has two parts to it.  The first is a question: Are you a morning person or a night owl?  And the second questions is: As it relates to food or drink, what would you do if you could change your ways and become the opposite?

This is a question!  Like Lia, I used to be a night owl.  In high school I would easily stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning reading a great book or finishing up a paper.  In college I frequently found myself awake until 5 or 6 only to have a class as early as 7:30.  (And no, I wasn’t exactly studying…) But then life happened.  It started with a job- managing a retail store with regular shopping hours does not exactly translate to night owl life.  I still had to be at work at 7:00 in the morning, and to put in a full 12-15 hour day of work, I had to have sleep the night before.  Then of course, the twist in life came along with Abigail, my beautiful daughter who turns eight years old tomorrow!  It seems that right off the bat she was determined to be a morning baby.  I frequently found myself awake in the wee hours with her, watching plenty of sunsets rise.  I anticipated the days when she would start sleeping in a little bit.  And eight years later, I’m still waiting for those days.

Alas, both my children are morning creatures, waking no later than 6:30 on most days- winter or summer. The alarm clock during the school year is strictly a formality, a “just in case” we actually sleep in a bit.  As time went on, and Zander came along and proved no different from his sister, I realized that I just needed to suck it up and in the words of Tim Gunn, “make it work”.  I have gradually turned into a morning person, and I really have come to enjoy getting the household chores accomplished early in the morning.  It leaves a whole day in front of me to do with as I please.  Yet… I wish I had the oomph to do more.  I read about people getting up at the crack of dawn and baking a few loaves of bread or making a full breakfast before the family wakes up.  While I can enjoy the time in the morning, it does take a few cups of coffee and the morning rounds in blog-land before I can really function well.

But what if I could change? What if I could become the night owl that I once was?  What would I change food-wise?  The late night hours, in my mind, are the ones that are permissible for snacking.  In a few words, I would explore the world of tapas.  Little bites, little appetizers and amuse bouches that just give you a bite of this or a bite of that.  To me, there is no time more appropriate for those little bites than the late night hours, when you want just a little bit of something.  I could just see myself having a little corner of my fridge dedicated to all the little condiments and ingredients for nibbles of this and that.  I imagine the possibilities… and then I come back to the real world and I know that if I want to try all these little bites and nibbles, I need to throw more parties. 

Thanks Lia for the fun meme! As for handing out a few tags… I think I’ll share some love with a few of the fine folks from the CLBB:

Josie from 1 Kitchen, 2 Dogs and a Girl

Elisabeth from Cooking In Cathedral Hill

Ana from Kitchen Space

Tracy from Rah Cha Chow

and last, but certainly not least,

Laura from The Spiced Life

And if you haven’t visited with any of these blogs before- here is a great opportunity for you to do so.  They are all blogs I enjoy visiting from time to time, and they definitely deserve notice.

My plants aren’t doing so well. I have four patty pan plants, but I’m thinking that’s just too many plants for my space, and as a result they’re all competing for nutrients.  It seems to take forever for a patty pan to develop, and I’ve actually only had one fruit up enough to use.  There’s one more out there today, and many babies, but it seems to be taking them a really long time to develop.  I planted patty pan this year because last year too much zucchini got to me.  I really got sick of it- big time.  Yet I still wanted to do a few things with zucchini, and patty pan seemed like the perfect solution because they are tiny. I’ve never had them though, and I wasn’t sure what to do with the first one, nor how to cut into it.  So I thought I’d share what I did for anyone contemplating these little yellow flying saucers.

The first thing I did was slice off the stem, and then the bottom end so that I had two flat surfaces to work with.  Then I simply sliced it into little wedges.  I was going to use them in that size, but decided in the end to cut them even smaller.

I used my patty pan for a small dish of a sort-of ratatouille.  I had some mushrooms, eggplant, and grape tomatoes to use up, so that’s what I did with them.  I really liked the patty pan.  It was sweet, not bitter at all, and that one small squash was plenty.  It also stayed together.  You know how when you cook zucchini sometimes the pieces just kind of melt away?  This didn’t do that, the pieces maintained their integrity.  I just wish my plants would put out more of them so that I could use them or share them.

Well, the peaches are here!  This week I decided to go ahead and order a few cases of peaches from a local farm who orders them in from Michigan.  Sunny Hill Farms is also where I got my blueberries and my strawberries this year.  Every time I go to pick up something (or pick, in the case of the berries) I am impressed with how friendly and knowledgeable the people are.  When I picked up the peaches, I was told that for the best flavor, I needed to take the peaches out of the boxes they came in and lay them out on a table or counter.  So I did that, because the first bite of a peach I had was kind of boring.  Sure they were good, but there was nothing special about them.  Ah, but two days later is a totally different story!  The juices are flowing and the peaches are fantastic!

When we first brought the peaches home I went ahead and made some jam.  I just can’t have enough jam- and since Zander’s favorite jam is peach, that was a no-brainer.  Some of these peaches were destined for jam.  And just like I did before, I simply followed the directions on the box of pectin.  And yes, you can do it too!  Jam is one of the easiest and safest things to start canning with.  In all my years of canning, I’ve only once had jam go bad on me- and that was likely due to poor storage conditions at the time.  I had a problem this year though.  Since I made jam right away with the peaches, they just weren’t juicy.  As I followed the directions, I wondered how they would turn out, and sure enough, a few hours later I tipped a finished jar, and I just knew that it hadn’t set properly.  The jam separated into one layer of jam, and a second, very distinct layer of syrup.  So the next day I re-made the jam.  While this added time to my jam-making, it really isn’t difficult either.  Once again, I followed directions on the box of pectin, opening up my jars and dumping the jam back into my pot.  This time, the jam turned out beautifully, and I now have lovely peach jam.

Yet, I still have a ton of peaches!  So yesterday I sliced a bunch of peaches, treated them with fruit fresh and then individually froze the slices for making pie in the winter.  Next, I decided that I wanted to make Peach Chutney.  I found these cute little 1/2 cup canning jars and I thought they’d be perfect for chutney.  So I followed the recipe I used last year for pear chutney, except that when it came time to add a hot pepper, I decided to just add some red pepper flake instead. Normally, this would be okay, except that I added a wee bit too much. That chutney has a bit of fire! It is delicious though, and I’m glad I took the time to make it.

I also made myself a fresh Peach Cobbler during the week.  That’s been rather tasty to munch on, but the highlight of the week is probably going to be later today when I make a fresh peach pie.  I haven’t made one of those in a while, so I’m looking forward to it!

In addition to trying to figure out what to do with the rest of this peach parade, we’re also getting ready for a very special occasion this weekend!  Abigail turns 8 years old next Wednesday, so we’re having her birthday celebration on Sunday when Andy is going to be around.  I’ve been charged with the challenge of coming up with a Super Mario themed cake… I have some ideas, but it’s going to take a whole lotta work on my part I suspect.  So when you’re looking for me this weekend that will be me in the corner hiding underneath the peaches, or buried in a mountain of technicolor frosting.

As it turns out, this new Amish cookbook is going to be well-used I think.  This past weekend for Sunday Company Dinner, everyone spent some time leafing through it.  There’s just so many recipes that sound fantastic, and actually very few that are just beyond strange.  Our dinner this past Sunday was some simple Amish-style fare, actually.  Andy grilled up some pork tenderloin, and I gleaned the garden for edibles.  I literally filled the counter with garden bounty in different ways- as you’ve seen this week in the postings.  I thought I needed something starchy to accompany though, and my mind drifted towards rice.  I really contemplated pulling out the ingredients to make a cheesy broccoli rice of sorts, but that just sounded heavy to me, and with all the luscious veggies going on, I just wanted something on the lighter side.

From Amish and Mennonite Kitchens to the rescue.  I turned right to the recipe for Baked Rice and decided this would be my dish.  It cooked rice in a way that was crazy easy- bake it in the oven, so that there’s little hands-on time.  It also sounded like there would be flavor in the minimal ingredients, so I gave it a shot.  I doubled it first of all, to ensure there would be plenty, so for that I used my 9 x 13 pyrex baking dish.  This I sprayed with cooking spray and then dumped the dry rice into.  I used plain old long grain white rice, since that’s what the recipe called for.  Next, I added a drizzle of olive oil to a pan and sauteed up some chopped onion.  The recipe called for butter, but since it was just a few tablespoons, I chose to use the handy olive oil instead.  Once the onion was softened I added some beef broth and water to it.  The recipe called for “rich beef broth”, but since I didn’t have any homemade beef broth on hand, I simply used one of those powdered soup bases.  I debated using all beef broth instead of the broth and water called for in the recipe, but in the end decided to stick with the recipe.  I poured the broth mixture onto the rice, covered the whole dish with foil, and then popped it into the oven to bake.  45 minutes later I pulled it out, fluffed it with a fork, and it was ready to go!

It was very tasty rice!  By using part beef broth and part water, the beef flavor isn’t pronounced at all, but it gave a depth to the rice that certainly isn’t there with traditional boiled rice.  Really, it just was a very nice way to cook rice- I thought it was delicious just the way it was.  No doubt, you could swap out the broth for chicken broth if you prefer or veggie broth if that it your preference.  The method was great too!  I didn’t even need to stir it once or check on it.  I simply popped it in the oven, and then took it out when the timer went off.  I decided to leave off the almonds called for at the end- you could certainly use them to add some crunch and extra flavor, but I really though it was perfect without.   I also think you could play around with the basic recipe quite a bit.  You could saute some mushrooms with the onions, or even some carrots and celery to add even more flavor.  If you wanted to try brown rice, you’d need to play with both the liquid ingredients and the length of time to cook, but I’m sure that could be done too.

Sorry, I didn’t get a picture snapped, but hey… it’s rice!  It looked like rice before it cooked and it looked like rice after it cooked.  Doesn’t make for very exciting photography, that’s for sure.  But check out this recipe.  I daresay this may be how we’ll be making rice from now on.

Baked Rice

I finally was able to pick some tomatillos.  I’ve been picking them over the last few weeks, as some turned yellow and some split their husks, which are both signs that the tomatillos are ready.  The one thing I will say though, is that they’ve been on the small side.  I’m sure this is a direct result of being in a pot.  I would love to see how they do when planted in the ground- I bet the plants are massive and very prolific.  But as I’ve been picking them I’ve been popping them into a bag in the fridge, just waiting to have 2 pounds of tomatillos at my disposal. Here is a picture to the left here of the tomatillos.  Surely you’ve seen these before in the market and thought to yourself “what does one do with that?”  Well, here it is.  Use the tomatillos to make salsa- or they also make a fantastic green sauce for stewing meat or enchiladas in. I was so excited to that that 2 pound mark the other day, and immediately set to work making my first Tomatillo Salsa for canning.

This could really not have been easier.  The toughest part was cleaning the tomatillos. The husks needed to be removed, and then the tomatillos washed to remove the sticky residue that they have.  Then these were chopped finely before being thrown into a pot.  From there though, it was a piece of cake.  I added two onions, a handful of chiles from the garden, cilantro, spices, vinegar and lime juice, and in no time, I had a zesty green salsa bubbling away.  I did have to cook mine longer than the recipe indicated, as I found it to be very watery- so I doubled the 10 minutes called for and simmered for 20.  It probably could have used more, but since no thickener like tomato paste is used, it’s going to be a touch watery anyways. After that it was a matter of pouring into jars and processing for just 15 minutes, and I had five little half-pints of Tomatillo Salsa.

I did manage to leave a little out which I sampled later with some chips, and it’s exactly what I wanted.  A touch spicy, a touch tangy, and so full of flavor!  I love my green salsa!  I have plenty more tomatillos growing outside, so hopefully I’ll have enough for a few more batches of salsa, plus I’ll be sharing some of these tangy delicious green orbs with friends who may very well be growing some themselves next year! Here is the recipe below.  Don’t be intimidated by the canning process, it’s easier than it sounds.  Don’t take my word for it though, click on over to this post from Tigers & Strawberries for another version of Tomatillo Salsa, as well as great words of encouragement about canning.

Tomatillo Salsa

A few weeks back, while I was camping, I left you all with a post on making your own basic vinaigrette.  It was a post I’d been meaning to do for some time, once I’d figured out how easy a homemade vinaigrette really is.  While there are still moments where I reach for the quick fix of a bottled vinaigrette, most often, I make my own.

But why stop there?  Why stop with just a vinaigrette?  What if I want something a little more creamy?  Do I reach for a bottle of pre-made creamy dressing? Well, actually, yes, usually I do.  But the other day, I was gazing at some freshly sliced cucumbers, and some blanched green and wax beans, and I was debating a salad of sorts.  I have a fridge full of bottled dressings, but nothing really seemed to be what I was in the mood for, when it occured to me to make it myself.  So let’s make some Creamy Dressing together!

I began with a trip to the garden to gather some fresh herbs.  Now, unlike the vinaigrette, which works with dried herbs for the most part, this time I’m going to have to insist that you you fresh herbs.  Of course, you can purchase them, beg some off of a neighbor, or pick that which you have grown yourself.  PIck any combination of herbs you like.  For this dressing, I opted for thyme, rosemary, basil, fennel fronds, parsley, and one sage leaf.  Any more sage than that is overwhelming in my mind. Go easy on the fresh rosemary as well.

I balled a good size handful of these herbs on my cutting board and chopped away.  Chop, chop chop…

Gosh, that smells heavenly!  Next I assembled the rest of my ingredients.  I pulled out one lemon, one small clove of garlic, salt, pepper, and mayonnaise.  I prefer a canola or olive oil mayonnaise, but use what you’d like.  Really, this is where anything creamy would come on handy.  You can use yogurt, sour cream, blended cottage cheese, soy mayo, etc.  For this one, I wanted it to be dairy free, so mayo was my choice.  I finely chopped the one clove of garlic and threw both the garlic and the herbs into a measuring cup.  Next, I squeezed out the juice of one lemon into the cup.  I added a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper, and then mixed it all together with a fork.  Finally, I added a few scoops of mayo- equal to about half a cup.

And then I stirred it all rapidly with my fork.  I tasted, thought it was nice, but it was missing…something.  A quick rifle through the pantry and I added a squeeze of honey to the mixture- no more than a teaspoon.  My dressing was ready.

All it needed were it’s dressable ingredients.  In this case, I had blanched a blend of green beans and yellow beans, and I had sliced some crispy Poona Kheera cucumbers.  I tossed both in the bowl and added the dressing.

The dressing was bright and vibrant from the medley of herbs and the lemon juice.  It had a perfect creamy texture to it, and was really a fantastic way to dress my vegetables.  I suspect that this dressing would keep in the fridge for about a week or so, and obviously, is completely changeable depending on the herbs you have on hand.  And you notice, there was really no measuring, a literal chop, drop and stir affair. Do try to make some of your own salad dressing- it just doesn’t get any better than this to dress those fresh-from-the-garden vegetables.