Short Story Long

  As I was pulling dill from between my radishes and lettuce, I remembered that I wanted to dry more of my own herbs this year.  A little bit of my garden in my pantry all year; looking forward to harvesting a bunch of lemon thyme! 

There went March, April, and most of May!   I'm already pulling arugula from the garden that's about to bolt, and eating through some lovely lettuce while it's in its prime.  Pictured above, arugula, lettuce Landis Winter, lettuce Rouge d'Hiver.  The string is for the square-foot flower garden this will eventually be; I planted these cold weather crops while I was waiting patiently for flower planting!   I love having my own lettuce for this Asian chicken lettuce wrap, below, ( original recipe here ).  We use chicken instead of veal and I definitely skip the cilantro, but it's a great recipe to use some garden goodies - green onions, lettuce, carrots, etc.  We used two fresh heads of green lettuce but I couldn't tell them apart once we were making food, and I definitely had a favorite!  So I will have to pull another two apart and figure it out.  I am thinking of starting more lettuce under a grow light and put them out in a shadier spot...

  Making time to make the things that say 'holiday' - pizzelles, homemade marshmallows, dried orange slices, gingerbread men, and enjoying time with all my guys.   Tonight, fifteen of us went caroling, which was a foreign concept to some in our group of carolers, and to all the houses we went caroling to, but it was so much fun.   I know my people think I'm old-fashioned but now and then I see they realize why people used to do these things, because real things are worth doing.  Saying 'Merry Christmas!' to friends who are recovering from surgery, or moved to assisted living, or are going through a difficult relationship spot, or financial hardship - so many challenges in life... it's so nice to celebrate the good moments together!   I hope you are having a season of wonder and peace, love and joy!  

HOW did I reformat my whole blog after I spent hours customizing it?  I clicked something irreversible and have not had time to go back through and edit it all again.   Moving on.  Happy autumn!  We're in the thick of it now, with leaves changing and the garden done.  Cool mornings, no more cricket sounds, and that light that gets a little lower every day.  At my house, we are cooking dinners inside instead of out on the grill.   We have spent too much time at home this year.  None from fear; mostly because the things we would do are not open, and possibly a bit of laziness.  It is easy to stay home and not do hair - or cut hair; not worry about matching clothes; not worry about timeliness.  It all blends.  I know you are there, too.  We have spent most of our church hours watching church online; it has been nice to have a quiet morning in pajamas, with hot drinks and fresh pancakes while we listen to a sermon.  ...

With the flu going around, one of my go-to dinners is chicken noodle soup.  I know it sounds cliche, but it really seems to help.  I'll tell you the secret:  making it yourself means that you can make sure all the best ingredients are in it - lots of garlic, carrots, and love.  Recipe from my mom. Chicken Noodle Soup Broth: 1 pkg bone-in chicken (I usually get 4 thighs) 6 c cold water, or enough to cover chicken 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 2 stalks celery, chopped small 1 onion, diced 1 bay leaf 2 whole black peppercorns 2 or more cloves of garlic, minced Noodles: 2 beaten eggs 4 tbsp milk 1 tsp salt 2 c flour To make soup:  Fill pot with water, place on stove on High.  Add all vegetables and spices.  Bring to boil and add chicken.  Turn down to medium heat and simmer one hour.  I find I sometimes have to add more water; it's better to do so early on, to avoid thinning it out too much at the end.   ...

Today, I finished painting, and then planted, the flower box I've wanted ever since we built the shed.  Unfortunately, it's been long enough since we built the shed that it needs a new coat of paint, as well!  We get eggs from a friend with lots of chickens, and made scones today.  We had a nice morning in the shade, including fresh scones, cherries, tea, coffee or milk, and a few games of checkers.  And now, I will be attempting to finish reassembling the screen door I took apart last week.  Then I might have time for weaving in a few of the thousands of ends on the Oriental Jacket I am working on.  The knitting is done, at least!   What are you working on this weekend?  Finishing any projects?  Reading any good books?  

Quick.  The tomatoes are terrific.  If you use tomatoes for anything , they are so much better fresh.  I keep picking the peppers before they have a chance to change color.  The tomatillos are taking over, I don't know what to do with them!  We've done green chili and tomatillo sauce.  I planted them for salsa, but that only uses one.  Suggestions?

While perusing my canning cookbooks, I came across some pear recipes.  In the end, the one I used was online, here .  My boys were skeptical of the star anise but we made it once as-written and it is pretty great.  And we wondered, are there other kinds of anise?  I went and got more pears for another batch (and pictures, of course!) I made more peach preserves.  It's the easiest thing to come by in large quantity, a box of good peaches, and a crowd pleaser, definitely.    I used my favorite recipe as previously posted . And lovely strawberry... preserve.  Jam?  I'm not sure.  Poor strawberry stuff, no spices; just lemon and sugar - and I used all the lemons.  I ate that strawberry after the pictures, and it was delicious. I'm thinking that these would all be perfect for a tea party, and perhaps I should make some lemon curd.  Have you made lemon curd?  I'll have to look for a recipe unless you can sugge...

As you can see, the garden is doing its job.  I'm not sure I've done mine , but considering I only planted two thirds of the garden, and we had two hail storms early in the season, we're going alright.   We had a couple of rounds of snap peas - one of my favorite things.  I intended to plant more but I'm thankful for what we had, as they are so much better fresh than store-bought.    Currently, we have a daily allowance of tomatoes - perfect for throwing in salad or fajitas.  There is nothing like a fresh-picked tomato.  Soon, we'll have some big ones ready for salsa and marinara.  The tomatillos are taking over - how did I not know this would happen?  Their lovely little lanterns are fun, though. I wish I had planted corn, potatoes, onions.  They seem like no-brainers but since they don't come in pots, I did not get them done.  What should we plant next year??

I have learned my lesson.  After months of keeping finicky plants alive only to find out no one in my family likes it, our plants now have to pass a multi-use test!  Herbs, on the other hand, are just plain lovely to have around, although I like them to be multi-talented, too.  Here are my top seven (in alphabetical order), and why I grow them.   BASIL : Honestly, I love this one just for the scent!  But then there's pesto.  If I did nothing else but make pesto, we still could grow more basil.  We also use it fresh in pasta and in marinara sauce.  Beware, it needs constant picking.   CHIVES : Let's start with, the bees love  chives.  The flowers are lovely and are constantly visited by pollinators.  As far as culinary uses, we put it in Lime Chive Butter  (great on corn), as well as in mashed potatoes, breakfast casserole, and when I roast whole chicken.   DILL :  We need it for pi...

Continuing on with our baking spree , my middle kid and I made some nutty granola.   We used this recipe from Heather Ballard's blog.  It was a huge hit with everyone.  I feel lucky that in these times, my kids prefer to snack on nuts and fruits, and we have no allergies.  This is also a kid-friendly recipe, measuring out the nuts and oats was right up his alley.   We made a half batch, which was mostly easy except when it came to the canola oil, which we sort of eyeballed.  The two major changes we made were using just two kinds of nuts - what we had on hand, pecans and almonds.  We also used steel cut oats instead of rolled oats.  Again, what we hand on hand, and we didn't know the difference .  We do now, and luckily it worked out alright.  Everyone liked the steel cut, so we will use that again, actually!  As I said, the granola went over well.  It was requested for lunches and breakfast and after school ...

I don't know if it's the fall weather, or the episodes of The Great British Baking Show that I've been watching, but I've been on a baking streak.  I may start saying "that's lovely" with sincerity, and "proved" instead of "proofed." On Wednesday, I made a challah loaf, my first!  Not my first bread.  I was afraid I would have a problem with the yeast; I believe that happened last time I made bread (not recent.)  It was fine though; I think I'm more patient than I used to be.  Maybe?  I'm working on that.  The loaf turned out very well, although I was stumped a bit on rolling the ropes - fat in the middle, skinny ends, I now know.  I used a recipe from the Kitchn, here .  Easy as pie. Er, bread. the dough is "proved," in my grandmother's bowl four-strand braid not quite enough egg wash, but a lovely brown nonetheless It was a huge hit!  It was asked for until it was gone - two days.  We will b...

What a beautiful time of year: not too hot, in fact perfect for a sweater, especially in the morning!  And yet, there is still plenty of garden goodness to be had.  My boys are in school, and everyone has a little space and independence, including me.  I am always happy to discover another rose, a neighbor out walking dogs, a few leaves turning, a good book with just enough time to crack it open, and new yarn in my local yarn shop.  BFJ and I drove up to Boulder yesterday for some pictures, and I discovered a tin of my favorite tea - which I'd just recently run out of, in one of the culinary shops on Pearl Street.  Perfect timing. Today, I'm making some  Peach Preserves . It seems like everything is so readily available these days, at the store, on the internet.  Almost takes the fun out of finding things.  However, local, organic peaches - that are hopefully ripe, are not easy to come by.  I'm settling for local, ripe peaches this year. ...