Diary 4/3/12

Looks like kale soup for dinner tonight.  In this case, I have a little leftover Italian sausage to use, but you can start with linguisa, sausage, or a vegetable or miso base.  I like to fry the potatoes a little before I add the stock just because it give them a flavorful coating.  Then add your stock and a whole bunch of kale, like a cup and a half coarsely chopped or more if you have it and you like it.  Easy dinner, and it uses up quite a bit of kale which is one of the greens that flourish this time of year. YUM!

Diary 6/19

Grama Boot's Green Beans consists of green beans, potatoes, and a little bacon if you want. Basically you fry some potatoes with seasonings and/or in bacon pieces if you choose, until beginning to be soft, add water enough to cover, and snapped green beans. Cook for another while until beans are fully cooked and broth has absorbed flavor. The proportions of each can vary as to what you have; less beans, more potatoes, more beans, less potatoes, it doesn't matter. Add a pan of corn bread and you have a meal. Growing bush green beans in the greenhouse is worthwhile. They don't take too long, 55-60 days, no framewark is necesssary, and they don't sprawl too far from where they are planted. All in all a good return for the effort.

Diary 6/10

Cabbage Rolls for dinner tonight. Tonight's version consisted of a grilled veggie( small chopped bits of carrot, onion, squash, and celery), rice, parm cheese and egg stuffing with a little seasoned and watered down ketchup on top and grated cheese. Cooked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I used the outer leaves of this cabbage because they were so big and happy, but some more inner ones might have been more tender. Not bad, not bad...

Diary 5/8

For me, the main point of having astir fry besides making a delicious, nutritious meal, is cleaning out the vegetable crisper in the refrigerator. I was pretty excited to add to those bits and pieces the freshly picked snow peas I had in the other cooler outside. Somewhere between chopping, talking, playing with a grandchild and my last bite of dinner, I declared,"I forgot the peas!" Ah well, it was still tasty. When cooking a stir fry, get your vegetables all chopped(I use just about everything; last night turnips, bolted cabbage tips, and an old half of a pepper went in.) and your meat cooked because after that it goes fairly quickly. The idea is to lightly cook the vegetables until tender and not a bit past that. Start with hot oil and your seasonings: things like garlic, ginger, seeds, etc. that you want the flavor to pervade the dish. Then cook your toughest stuff next and stir constantly to cook all sides. After only a minute or two depending on the size of your chopping, keep adding the next toughest stuff until you are adding greens and mushrooms at the end as they only need another minute and they are still bright green or have texture and yet are fully cooked through. You can add soy sauce, fish sauce, a bit of sweetener or? at the end and heat for only a little longer. Serve immediately as things start to create liquid and get limp as they cool.

Diary 5/1

Happy May Day! It is very May Day here with a switch in the weather about every five minutes. Sun tomorrow and then back to rain. Wildflower Show was slow; there are tons of events this weekend all over the Rogue Valley. It is what it is and we had a great flower display. Hope tomorrow is OK, always slower than Saturday. Meant to show you a picture of fried rice, but we ate it before I took my picture! I like to use bok choy in it. Make 2cups rice. Stir fry pork until well done if you want or stir fry bokchoy, green onions, like 1/2 cup each in 2 Tbs. sesame oil and add a whipped egg. When egg looks scrambled, start adding cooked rice in until mixed. Add enough soy sauce to make the mixture light brown, mybe 1/4 c. or more if you like. It is so easy even a cave man, oh sorry, even a busy gardener can do it! Hello to my first follower in WA. who is not directly connected to me or my family. Welcome aboard!

Diary 4/23

Rhubarb Quick Bread

Mix togather 2 c.flour, 1/3 c.(at least) brown sugar, 2tsp.baking powder, and salt.

Melt and cool 2 Tbs. butter. Beat 1 egg until light and then beat 1 c. milk into it. Add butter, mix and then add to dry ingredients. Mix well and add 1 c. chopped(small chunks) rhubarb. I didn't, but I will next time add 1tsp.vanilla, 'cause I love vanilla. Place dough in greased bread pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Make ingredient substitutes at will. Enjoy!

Diary 4/17

Even if you have only a small handful of asparagus, you can make soup. I make all the vegetable soups about the same in that I start with a sauce of 1Tbs. butter(or substitute) and 1Tbs. flour, and 1 c. broth. Melt the butter add the flour until a sticky paste forms, then add the broth whisking like mad until smooth. Then start adding your vegetable; broccoli, asparagus, celery, mushrooms, you name it. This makes one serving, so I usually do 3 or 4 Tbs. butter, 3 or 4 Tbs. flour and 4or5 cups broth. I use the Better than Boullion vegetable paste, but they have beef and chicken, too. There are the boxed organic broths I have used also. Cook the vegetables down for almost an hour and add more broth depending on how thick you want your soup. At the very end, I add a 1/2 cup 2% milk and any seasoning I think it still could use. Thyme is a nice herb that gives a background flavor without taking over. The milk just makes it taste a little more like a cream soup. Not necessary for the flavor really. Add a salad or bread and voila!, a hearty fare.

Diary 4/9

My over-wintered Napa cabbages are bolting, so we have quite a bit to eat. It is much milder tasting than bok choy and not anything like a cabbage. I like it. My daughter taught me to make an oriental salad with the Napa leaves and the crunchy white stems as a base. To about 6 cups of chopped Napa, I have been adding different things, and especially in the peak of garden time it is delicious: tomato, cucumber, onion, green or mild, cilantro, and mandarin orange slices. Yeah, no tangerine trees in my garden.) One time I didn't have a can of mandarin oranges to add, so I just chopped one navel orange up and it was great, so now I am apt to do that rather than open a can of slices which is too many. To make the salad dressing, make a vinegrette with soy sauce 1/3 c. (or substitute Tamari and a little honey or amino liquids?) a little fish sauce 2tsp., and sesame oil 1/2 c., and lime juice 1tsp. These measurements are approximate, so take a taste to see if you like it more sour, more soyish or salty with fish sauce and of course make enough to cover your cabbage and stuff. Serve with crunchy oriental noodles as croutons or platform for salad. Serves 2 pigs or 4 light eaters.