An Alton Brown sort of day...

Ok let's face it, we are both Alton Brown's Good Eats junkies! We love the shows, sad that it is no longer being made but thank goodness for reruns! So yesterday it was a little rainy and just the right weather to bring out one of my Christmas presents ...

I gave Andy the book and salt cellar (just like AB uses of course) and he gave me the burr coffee grinder and the popovers tray.

So can you guess which one I used?

Yep! Made popovers! First time in ages!! And maybe the first time with a "proper" popover baking tray!  Used the AB recipe and they turned out great!

I haven't used the burr grinder yet because I was not out of coffee last week, but now I almost am. We got some good beans (Brazilian) from Chocolate Fish the other day, where I might add, Andy had the best mocha he said he has ever had! So I will test out the grinder in a day or two.

Hamentaschen and some sewing...

I did these last week but am finally catching up on the blogging side of things... 

Ok they are pretty lopsided but they were still yummy. I love this time of year because the spring makes me think of hamentaschen, the 3 cornered treats that come out around Purim. I haven't made them for a few years because for a while Solo apricot filling had high fructose corn syrup and I don't want to eat that. Now they don't but the formula is changed. It is no longer that thick rich with apricots filling, but more of a gelatinous pie filling. Still it was what I had so I made them. I morphed a couple of recipes from online but mostly went from THIS one but they needed a little more flour and some baking powder.

And not only cooking... I did some sewing!

I took this WASHI dress class at Country Sew and here is the tunic version I made:

I took the class because there were some dressmaking skills in it I wanted to learn/relearn:  shirring, including hand rolling the bobbin with elastic thread, fitting darts (which I hate), and finishing the inside for a more professional look. I used her online sleeve addition too because I didn't like the little sleeve that came with it. I serged most of the seams and understitched the neckline as well as topstitched it. I forgot to serge the sleeves and when I look at it I can see the difference between nicely finished seams and those seams. Learning curve!

Potatoes...

I love potatoes. It thrills me to think that I can go out into my yard and pick my own. In my fantasy yard I would have rows and rows or barrels and barrels of little yummy taters. Considering that organic yukon gold or red potatoes are anywhere from $1.50 up to $3.00 or more a pound, it makes sense. 

In my real world however, my harvests are pretty tiny. But this was just an experiment. In September I took a few old yukon golds that had sprouted and were destined to be thrown away and chucked them into an empty planter barrel. Tossed some soil on them and as they grew, kept adding more soil and straw. Then I forgot about them. And yesterday morning when I went out to check the lemon tree I found the barrel. All the plants had died down so I figured I should check for potatoes. And I found these... not much but it did tell me they do grow in fall and into winter here. Like I said, an experiment. And I am sure they will be delicious steamed with some butter and dill.

I will try again in the Spring... 

Sunny Christmas morning...

After a few days of much needed rain, Christmas opens with a sunny sky and a lot of birds! I heard some hummingbirds fighting outside my window so went out to investigate. Apparently they all wanted to feed at the feeders, which of course was an impossible thing to photograph but I did manage to get one hiding in the shadows.

This is the orange tree they like to hang out in as it is right near 2 feeders. I am glad to see they are still around. I was wondering where they had gone when I didn't see them for a couple of weeks. Guess they hide out from the rain just like we do! This year the oranges actually taste good too! Goes to show what enough water and nutrients will do!

So out in the back my lemon tree is starting to show ripe lemons. Glad there are still a lot of them. A lot of the branches had to come down earlier so Andy could get the roofing materials in place for the carport roof that he re-roofed right before the rains came. Yay Andy!

And I am trying again for a small winter garden of greens. Hoping the rats stay away this time... some kale and lettuces are starting up again.

And I noticed my potatoes container had all died back so later today I will empty it out and see if I got any late potatoes.  Time to put some energy back into the garden!

Green smoothies...

I gave myself a birthday present: a Vitamix blender. Costco had a good deal (over $100 savings) and I had wanted a better blender for a while, so I bit the bullet and got one.

My intention was to try green smoothies.

I've tried a few now, slowly working up to more than one raw kale or a handful of spinach at a time. I don't process raw cruciferous veggies (cabbage family) or raw spinach all that well so it is a slow journey to get my tummy used to it and not produce enough gas to power a small substation.  The nice thing is there is an abundance of fresh fruit this time of year so there are all sorts of flavors to try too!

I am still working on the serving size. I keep adding more stuff and then have way too much to drink at one time. I save off the rest but I would like to make a little less each time. Since the Vitamix is so super easy to clean (whirl in some dish soap and there you go!), it is not a problem to make a fresh shake smoothie each day.

Do you have a favorite green smoothie recipe? I would love to know about it!

Hot late July days...

It has been in the 100s during the days this week in Sacramento. I think yesterday got up to 108 or 109 degrees Fahrenheit! Way too hot for me.

And the heat is affecting the garden. Even though I water as much as I can, the plants do not like these temperature extremes either!

My Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundiflolia) finally flowered! But even this plant isn't liking the heat much!

My squash plants are staring to die back, although there are still zucchini here and there.

My flowers are also dying or setting seed. HERE is a link to the milkweed I planted. The other day I noticed the seed pods are starting to pop and the seed is pouring out. I need to capture the seeds and plant them next Spring!

I did get a few ambrosia melons this year. Only one has been ripe enough to eat so far. I am hoping the other 2 will last long enough to ripen on the vine.

And the scraggly grape plants are holding on and still producing some grapes. This is near the last of the bunches. Very small but very sweet!

I have been ordering seeds for my Fall and winter garden of salad and other greens. Once the heat goes down in a few weeks I plan on pulling up the dead vines and other plants, planting lots of lettuce and some Tuscan kale. I may even sneak in some Swiss Chard plants. Andy doesn't like it so much but I love chard so I can just make it for myself!

Lots of garden tasks in the coming months. With yoga teacher training starting this weekend and the garden and more sewing I want to do, I think the next few months will be pretty busy for me. Busy and fun -- just what retirement should be!

Apricot heaven...

They're here... well half the tree is nearly ripe and the other half which is a little more in the shade is waiting its turn for the big ripening...

Now to decide what I want to make with them...

• dried apricots
• apricot fruit leather
• apricot pie filling
• apricot jam

Of course I am sure a good number of them will just be eaten right off the tree! Off to Google some recipes!

Crafting and gardening...

Last night I made a new quilt block in one of LisAnn's fun classes at Country Sewing Center. This one was from the modern block party group that meets monthly. We have 2 blocks to chose from and I made the Tula Pink City Sampler book one here:

And last week I got together with a couple of other gals from the quilt groups and we channeled our inner 60s with tie dyed tshirts!

And come outside now into the garden...

Here is the harvest from my garden just this morning:

The peppers in the pan with the tomatoes are hot (salsa and jalapenos) and the other dish has the mild ones (Italian sweet, gypsy, and bells). This squash was hiding from yesterday -- I have been getting on average a squash a day from my zucchini and yellow squash plants. And yes that is an eggplant -- the first of my Japanese ones that are supposed to be small and longish although this one is sort of fat. And the tomatoes are mostly cherry (yellow grape, currant red and black krim) and a couple of San Marzanos that I toss into the bag in the freezer until I have enough for a sauce. And a few strawberries to round out the plates. My plants are not producing as much as I had hoped but it has been really really hot and I don't think strawbs like it quite so toasty.

I have been enjoying the fruits of my garden a lot these last weeks, and apparently so has another critter:

What do you think it might be? I suspect a rat! We have started putting out bait and traps... gotta have patience with an animal who likes tomatoes and when you have around 10 tomato plants! What irks me is that those were my heirloom Brandywines! Apparently I have a gourmet rat!

And a couple of weeks ago I took up one of the potato plants because I thought it was ready to check and ended up with this motley small group of taters. It is more potatoes than I have ever grown before but really, it is barely a couple of bites! The other plant is starting to really die off now so I will check it in a few days and hope I got more!  I started them both rather late this time (in April) and I think they needed some of the cooler months before to get started. Oh well, I will try again next year after the beginning of the year and then see what happens!

Oh and I almost forgot -- this was my blueberry harvest this year:   (ok stop laughing)

What they were actually we from a couple of new plants I got this year for a crop next year and they happened to have a few berries on them. My old plants out did not fare well and so this year I got a couple more, replanted everyone into more of a boggy soil environment and will hope for the best for next year!

I thought this was a crafter's blog...

Or a painter's blog... or a quilter's blog...?

(And then I look at my sewing table which is covered with gardening items)

Uhhhh... yeah, it is... sort of.... but I seem to have this new love... of gardening. And that has taken over my life lately. I go out into the garden, I go to garden shops, I watch gardening videos on YouTube, I go to bed thinking of what I want to do out in the garden the next day... I think I am smitten.

I am sure I will find time for art and sewing soon enough, but for now, I am basking in the deliciousness of fresh strawberries and veg for a morning egg scramble, or greens for my salad, zucchini and yellow squash for my dinners, herbs for my cooking or tea...

The tomatoes are green yet and peppers are barely a whisper, but they are coming.

As are beans and kale...

But my flowers seem to be lacking attention and I do want to attract bees and butterflies into the garden so aside from some very young attractor plants I have going in a wine barrel, I realized I needed something that is already flowering... so off to the garden center this morning to find more flowers.

Here are my favorite gardening YouTube channels these days:

Alys Fowler's Edible Garden (British)
CaliKim29
Kaye Kittrell
One Yard Revolution
Praxxus55712
Gary Pilarchik
MIgardener
Growing Your Greens

If you have a favorite organic gardening channel you would like to share with me, please leave it in the comments below. Thanks!

Making my own dried cranberries...

Still drying the next day...

Things I have learned:
1. Let them spend more time in the blanching water to fully pop open.
2. Dry them at a higher temp, maybe 145 degrees. I will try again in a few days and see what happens when I make the above changes.
3. They stick like crazy to the drier mesh. Maybe try spraying it first with coconut oil to see if that helps them not to stick so much.

From the garden...

The basil and tomatoes are from the garden.  Add fresh mozzarella from the market along with some nice oil and vinegar and we have tonight's starter... Caprese salad.  Yum!

This used to be one of my favorite salads when I lived in Italy that study summer (was it 2006?). Our little Florence apartment was near a lovely street for shopping and we could get all these ingredients easily. Good memories of good times! I will have to dig up some photos from that summer one of these days!

Making fruit leathers on a hot day...

I really hadn't planned this blog to be a cooking one, but I have been having so much fun with my new dehydrator that I wanted to catalog the results here. Today after the extreme heat (100s these days) has made all my apricots ripen and start to fall of the tree, I picked a bunch more and decided to try out apricot fruit leather for roll-ups. Yesterday we took the dehydrator outside so it wouldn't keep heating up the kitchen. I was working on a makeshift outdoor area for these today.

So I took a bunch of ripe apricots...

soaked them in a citric acid/water solution for 5 minutes then blended them up the best I could in my old funky blender...

spread it out on the mats  (which look just like my silicon baking and crafts mats) that are for fruit leathers...

and put them in to dry.

They should take around 4 hours so I will know later this evening if it worked. Seemed it was not as smooth as it should have been AND it was very hard to spread out evenly so that might affect how it dries. We shall see.

First batch results...

Here are the delicious results from the first batch of dehydrating.

Tasty beef jerky (not spicy enough for Andy but I like it just fine!):

And here is the first batch of fruits:  apriots (from our tree), apple, and pineapple:

Today we moved the dehydrator outside because it really does heat up the kitchen/house and it is already hot enough (today is day 1 of 5 days promised to be over 100 degrees!). So it is outside the kitchen door and now I am drying more apricots, another apple and trying an orange.

The trick to not having the fruit brown up is to soak them for 10 minutes or so in a solution made with water and citric acid. Andy got a package of citric acid from the Coop for me a few months ago when I told him I wanted to look out for it. I am eager to get more peaches and nectarines now at the Farmer's Market so I can dry those too! And then in the fall, pears! I think dried pears are my all-time favorites!

IKEA and the dehydrator...

Yay! My dehydrator came yesterday so today we went out to IKEA to get another one of these to put it on:

 

The dehydrator fits perfectly on top and this little table fit perfectly into a small space by our back door where there was also an outlet. And the amazing part is that we tested out if we could have the dehydrator and the microwave on at the same time and we could! Doesn't work with the toaster and microwave-- old circuits don't like that combo!

THIS  is the dehydrator I got from Amazon:  (Excalibur)

I wanted to be able to make my own beef jerkey from good (grass-fed) beef and without preservatives and soy sauce. That way I could limit the amount of sugars and salts in it as well and just be able to make smaller batches as needed. So I am experimenting today. 

I got a lovely 2 pound London Broil from Winterport Farms at the Farmer's Market last weekend. I am only using half of it to start with as my first experiment. So I sliced it very thin, then made my marinade, got the meat all juicy with marinade... (easy peasy: coconut aminos, maple syrup, salt, pepper, a little garlic and onion powders based on THIS recipe.)

then into a ziploc bag and into the fridge overnight. I will start the dehydrating part in the morning.

Meanwhile I started in on the apricots from our tree. I soaked them in a citric acid-water bath (so they hopefully won't get too brown) before putting them into the dehydrator...

 

On the dehydrator rack. Just making one rack to start with so I can see how they do overnight... lots more apricots to follow!

Tomorrow I will be adding the some pineapple and maybe an apple to the fruit trays, then when they are done, up the temp to 165 for the beef jerky. The nice thing about this dehydrator is that there are two controls: one for temperature and one a timer. AND it is square with top air flow from the back so all rows dry evenly. My funky old one was on-off and air from the bottom so you constantly had to change the rows around and there wasn't as much surface area since it had a big hole in the center. This one has already won me over!

Now that I am retired I have plans to do a lot more homemade foods and really focus on healthy eating. I usually eat pretty well anyway but now I have no excuses! And it's fun anyway... sort of Little House on the Prairie meets City Life. Without the dresses!