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.

The salad that I’ve been waiting for finally made its appearance last night! I had enough assorted tomatoes in the garden to make my first Heirloom Tomato salad.  I have to tell you, I can taste the difference in each and every heirloom tomato.  There’s a flavor there that simply isn’t in any other tomato.  Even regular tomatoes from the farmer’s market can’t match the flavor of the heirlooms.  They’re simply bursting with tomato flavor.  Whether they’re juicy tomatoes or not, they have so much more flavor than a standard hybrid tomato.  Yesterday we got to try three more varieties of tomato.  The first was another early tomato, called a Sub-Arctic Plenty. This one is bursting with juice and tomato flavor, and when these ones start to go nuts, these are the tomatoes that I will use to can tomatoes for chili and such.  They’re a simple standard red tomato- slightly smaller in size, but oh my, are they tasty.

I also was excited to find that three of my Roman Candles had turned yellow, and two of my Green Zebras had picked up their yellowish hue.  The Roman Candles are definitely very much like a roma.  Their flavor is less pronounced, and they are also far less juicy than other tomatoes. They’re perfect for a salad, because they don’t get all watery like other tomatoes.  I bet they’d be fantastic roasted too.   But my clear favorite of the season so far this year is the Green Zebra.  This one has flavor that I have never experienced in a tomato.  It was like a party in my mouth- it has a citrusy tang that other tomatoes don’t, yet it’s not acidic at all like I had actually expected.  They are delicious, and go right to the top of my favorites list, barely edging out the German Red Strawberry in terms of flavor.  Here is a picture of the Green Zebra on the cutting board.

So what did I do with all these gorgeous tomatoes?  I chopped them up along with some fresh basil from the garden.  I added some buffalo mozzarella that I cubed up and then I dressed the salad.  I added a drizzle of olive oil, a drizzle of real balsamic vinegar, and then I pulled out the fleur de sel. Only the best would do for these tomatoes.  This was the best salad I have ever had.  Maybe I just anticipated it so much, wanting all those tomatoes to combine in a medley of deliciousness, but it was just so fantastic.  I ate two helpings at dinner, and then a few hours later while watching Olympic swimming, I helped myself to a rather large bowl of the leftovers.  I love how each and every tomato made each and every bite different.  The caramel notes from the balsamic and the basil played together beautifully, and I can’t wait to make it again.  The heirloom tomatoes are definitely worth the trouble to grow.  If you can get your hands on some, don’t hesitate!

The other day the kids requested a trip to the bookstore after Abigail’s ballet class.  Bookstore? I’ve been… sort of needing inspiration this week, and nothing gets me going like a new cookbook.  So I was only too willing to “acquiesce to their request.”  It was a successful trip, with several promising kids cookbooks- reviews coming in due time, a cookbook for Andy, and one for me which I wasted no time in curling up on the couch with.

From Amish and Mennonite Kitchens is exactly the inspiration and pick-me-up I needed.  I have a real affection for the Amish and Mennonite people, and I’ve often found myself wondering wistfully what life would be like among the plain people.  I’ve always said that I wanted to be Amish, to live a life wearing my faith on my sleeve and enjoying what’s important and simple in life.  What I particularly love about the Amish and Mennonite cultures is that food is a celebration to them.  Each and every meal is an intrinsic part of their lives.  It represents all the hard work that has gone into producing it, processing it and cooking it.  It represents their dedication to their way of life and provides the much needed sustenance to maintain their active lifestyle.  But most importantly, the food is delicious.

As I’ve been enjoying the produce out of the garden, I’ve really been treating a lot of it with new eyes.  Sure, we’ve had plenty of salads, but we’ve also been exploring other cuisines and exotic ingredients while trying these new vegetables.  That’s all well and good, but sometimes, you just want to do something homey and comforting with those vegetables- even though it’s the middle of summer and hardly comfort food season.  I suspect this new cookbook will provide plenty of inspiration.  Sure, there’s been a few surprises lurking within, but for the most part, the recipes just scream deliciousness to me.

So late at night as I was flipping through, devouring each and every recipe with my mind, it was this cookie recipe that stuck out the most as the first thing I was going to make.  This cookie intrigued me first by including sour cream.  And then upon reading further, I saw that it only used white sugar, and shortening for fat.  Yet, it was called a chocolate chip cookie?  I simply had to make it.  I’ve never made a chocolate chip cookie like this before- this was going to be new territory.

As I beat the first few ingredients together, it struck me that this was very similar to making a cake batter, and the alarm bells started going off-big time.  I hate cakey cookies.  Hate them!  You know those Lofthouse sugar cookies that are sold everywhere? The big fat ones with all the frosting and sprinkles?  They make me want to vomit.  If I wanted cake, I’d eat cake. When I want a cookie, I want a cookie! Not something that’s actually cake masquerading as a cookie!  And I love cake, mind you, but cakey cookies?  No, you can keep them.

So I stopped with the batter for a minute, read the recipe through and decided that the 2 teaspoons of baking soda gave me hope that there would be some semblance of a crispy cookie in here.  I decided at the last minute to throw in a teaspoon of vanilla, and upon tasting the batter, I knew I’d made the right choice.  My next moment of decision came with the add-ins.  Chocolate chips were a given, as were the pecans I’d just chopped up.  But the raisins… I was trying to decide if raisins in chocolate chip cookies were a good idea.  I loved the directions and the fact that they stated to boil the raisins, cool and then drain them first.  They must really have some tough raisins in Amish country!  I decided that I would throw caution to the wind and add the raisins, although I used the ones that are already plumped for baking, so I had no need to boil them and plump them up first.

As expected, the cookies baked up light and cakey.  I really wasn’t sure I was going to like these cookies!  I was sort of regretting not making a half batch, because 8 dozen cakey cookies is kind of a lot to have to get rid of.  But as it turns out, there was nothing to be concerned about.  Let me just say for the record- I.Love.These.Cookies!  They’re not as crumbly-cakey as I’d anticipated, they are actually a nice cross between a thick cakey cookie and a crispy one.  There’s no chew at all, but the overall cookie is such a delight to eat.  The cookie part itself is light and sweet- lightly tangy from the sour cream, lightly scented from the vanilla, and just enough salt to balance out the flavor.  The pecans, chocolate chips and raisins take turns playing with the cookie, making each bite just a little bit different- and making you go back for just one more cookie to make sure it was really that good.  The kids loved these as well.  I made them large enough that they’re really appealing, and when you grab just two of them, it looks like you’re in for a lot of cookie.  It turns out to be the perfect amount.  Two cookies is enough to satisfy the sweet tooth, plus have a little extra to make you feel like you got away with something.  I’m going to put a few in the freezer, because at the very end of the recipe there was a little notation that they are more moist after being frozen.  I didn’t find them dry at all, so I’m interested to see how a freeze works out for them.

Trust me when I say to not be tempted to play with the ingredients here.  Put away that butter- use the shortening.  Go ahead, use the full-fat sour cream.  And whatever you do, do not be tempted to use some brown sugar instead of white.  Try these cookies just as they’re written here.  They’re delightful.  And while they won’t replace my favorite old standby, the Tollhouse Cookie, these are fantastically different and a nice change-up of a plain old cookie.  And yes, I did add the vanilla, so technically, I did change them up, but it was the perfect change to make.  Try them-you’ll see!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Two nights ago I had a dud.  And not just any dud- but a big one.  I’d made a recipe from my “A Year In A Vegetarian Kitchen” which I have heard recommended over and over- a recipe for Potatoes and Swiss Chard in a Green Curry Sauce.  How could that be bad?  I love Swiss chard- and green curry?  I have yet to meet a curry I don’t like.   So I followed the directions to a tee, and it smelled heavenly while cooking.  I sat the kids at the table, gave them their alternate dinner and spooned up a nice hearty bowl of this luscious looking potatoes and chard.  The kids had no interest, but still watched me take a bite.  And watched me have to choke it down.  NO- this can’t be! So I tried another potato and a bit of greens.  There was no mistake, I didn’t like this dish.  Not even a little.  I pushed the bowl aside and concentrated on the rest of the meal, but my eagle-eyed son had noticed.  He was floored- “Mommy! You mean you don’t like some foods?”  I laughed a little bit and explained that I really didn’t like the sauce on my potatoes- but that I still liked potatoes, just not these ones.  I think he was a bit surprised to see that there was actually something that Mommy didn’t like.

After a few more tastings, I determined that the flavor I really didn’t care for was the coconut milk.  I just can’t get into it in a savory way.  I didn’t think it belonged with the potatoes at all- and since they were cooked in it, they just emanated coconut flavor.  Blech.  I think I’ll stick with my coconut in sweets, and I’ll have to figure out an alternative for all the curry recipes I have that call for coconut milk.  About a month ago I’d made a coconut rice that was pretty good the first night, but as it sat, that coconut flavor just got more pronounced, and I didn’t like it the next day- I’m certain it’s the coconut that’s repulsing me.  I’ll have to see if I can get away with using evaporated milk instead for certain dishes.

ANYWAY! After a dud one night, I really debated whether or not to try something new again last night.  The kids ended up requesting pizza, and since I didn’t want pizza, that answered my dilemma.  I’d make something new, and if it didn’t turn out, I’d have the pizza to fall back on.  So I flipped open my June issue of Vegetarian Times and a dish called “Golden Bowl” that I’d been eyeing up.  It was a tofu dish, and the picture looked tasty, and since the tofu is fried twice, I thought it had a good chance of being something that I would enjoy.

What was different about this one is that the tofu is fried until golden first, and then you add some soy sauce, which it immediately sucks up like little dehydrated sponges, and totally flavors the tofu in an unexpected way.  I could have stopped right there with the recipe and ate rice with tofu- it was that good!  But since I’d picked the first Ping Tung eggplant out of the garden to use instead of the yellow squash called for, I forged ahead and chopped up the vegetables called for.  When shopping this week, I’d decided to pick up some Shiitakes and portobellos as my mushrooms for this stir-fry, and I can’t agree more with the flavor they brought to the table- especially the shiitake.  For being so simple, this was a delicious stir-fry, and even better- I got to use an eggplant I grew!  The eggplant was sweet and wonderful- not a trace of bitterness, add that to the tofu, and I was a happy girl.

Instead of the saute pan called for, I pulled out my wok and was happy I did, it worked nicely.  I’m not sure why they called for already steamed broccoli here.  By the time the stir-fry was done, the broccoli was all mush.  Next time I’ll leave the broccoli uncooked to add it in and then give the whole thing an extra minute or two, I’m sure it will work fine.  I’ll apologize for the photo- it really doesn’t look like much, but for such a simple stir-fry, the flavor can’t be beat.

Golden Bowl

from Vegetarian Times June 2008

2 Tbs. vegetable oil, divided

15 oz. extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2 inch dice

2 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce, plus more to taste

2 cups steamed broccoli

8 ozs thinly sliced mushrooms

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup diced yellow bell pepper

1 cup sliced yellow squash

1/2 cup shredded cabbage

1/2 cup grated carrots

2 TBS nutritional yeast, or more to taste

2 cups cooked brown rice

1. Heat 1 Tbs oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat (I used a wok).  Add tofu, and saute’ 10 to 15 minutes, tossing with a spatula, until light golden brown all over.  Sprinkle with soy sauce and saute 2 to 3 minutes more to further brown the tofu.  Transfer tofu to a paper-towel lined plate.  Drain and rinse the skillet, and wipe dry.

2. Heat the remaining TBS oil over high heat.  Add the tofu back and all the vegetables. Saute 5 to 7 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the tofu nicely browned, tossing constantly with a spatula.  Sprinkle with additional soy sauce to taste.  Sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes, saute a few seconds more, and then remove from heat.  Serve over brown rice.

Monday morning the mailman dropped off a brand new issue of Vegetarian Times just as I sat down to figure out a weeks worth of menus.  I decided that was providence and flipped through the issue, looking for something to inspire me.  Sure enough, there was a section on avocados, and despite the fact that it was very sticky and muggy out, the Mexican Rice Soup just sounded refreshing and exactly what I was in the mood for.  Over the last week I feel like I’ve been eating heavier, and I decided that this week, my meal selections would be lighter and vegetable dense to kind of kind of undo the heaviness I was feeling.  What intrigued me most about this soup was that it seemed simple and basic, but that it really was the garnishes that were the stars.  A simple broth is made, and then tortilla strips, avocado, onions, cilantro and a squirt of lime top it all off.  The garnish alone sounded good!  Even better, all I needed to make this soup was the cilantro and a lime and I was in business.

I started with the very simple broth- basically taking onion, garlic, oregano and lime zest and simmering them in veggie broth to add some body and flavor.  These are strained out, leaving you with a light broth with no chunks.  Next, a 1/4 cup of rice went in, and a few minutes later, some diced tomato and corn joined it.  Voila, the broth was done.  I tasted it, and was pleasantly surprised.  The lime zest in the broth really added something- but not too much of “that something”.  It was nice, but to be completely honest, not a wow either.

I finished the soup up, chopping all my garnishes before ladling myself a big bowl of soup.  I looked at the pot, looked at my bowl, looked at the magazine, and then back at the pot.  There is absolutely no way this soup as written serves 6.  No way.  Four would be pushing it- mine was three servings, and not a drop more.

The garnish looked fantastic on the top, actually, and I kind of mucked it all up before taking a bite, and it was exactly what I had been craving.  Let me tell you right off the bat to use a touch more avocado than called for- you want some in each and every bite, because that’s what made this soup sing.  But in addition to that, the tortilla strips kind of melded into the soup, but didn’t dissolve and come apart, so they were more like fun tortilla noodles.  I don’t think you could leave off a single item of the garnish and have a successful soup- they just all worked so well together with the light broth, tomatoes, corn and rice.  It was delicious.  The next day, I also assembled a bowl for my lunch, only this time, I had a small yellow tomatillo on the counter and I thought it would be fun to dice that up and add it to the garnish.  That was even better! The sweet-tangy crunch of the tomatillo added something completely new,and I think were I to make this soup again, I would make a little salsa fresca of the avocado, onion, cilantro, and tomatillo.

So would I make this again?  I don’t know.  I have to tell you, the broth itself was nothing special at all.  I think you could get away with simply using a well-flavored veggie broth and save yourself a few steps. But more importantly, this soup, while delicious, was not satisfying.  I ate my full bowl, felt full, but an hour later I was hungry again, and that totally defeated the point.  Plus, keep in mind, I followed the soup as writted and ended up with about 3 servings instead of the six originally called for.  Were I to make it again, it would be as a part of a larger meal- maybe with a quesadilla or a burrito of some kind. OR I would bulk it up a bit by using brown rice instead of plain, and maybe adding some black beans.  Then again, it was delicious, and I enjoyed it just as much for lunch as dinner, so that has to say something.

Mexican Rice Soup

from Vegetarian Times, Sept. 2008
Broth:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped (3/4 cup)
2 cloves garlic minced (2 tsp)
3 cups low sodium veggie broth
1 Tbs grated lime zest
1 tsp dried oregano
Soup:
1/4 cup short grain rice
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced (1 cup)
1/3 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 8 inch flour tortilla
1 avocado diced (1 cup)
2 green onions thinly sliced (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
6 lime wedges
hot sauce for garnish, optional

To make broth:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, saute 5-7 minutes or until softened. Stir in garlic and saute 1 minute or more. Add veggie broth, cover and reduce heat to medium low, simmer 10 minutes. Strain broth, discard solids, return to saucepan.

To make soup:
Add rice to broth, bring to a simmer over medium low heat, cover and simmer for 15 min or until rice is soft. Stir in tomatoes and corn, season with salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350ºF.  Spray tortilla with cooking spray, cut into thin strips. Arrange on baking sheet and bake 5-7 min or until crisp.  (Alternately, I simply tossed my strips in a dry non-stick skillet to brown- worked fine, and saved me from having to turn on the oven.)

Place diced avocado, green onions, cilantro, lime wedges, and tortilla strips in small bowls.  Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with avocado, tortilla strips, green onions, cilantro, lime wedges and hot sauce, if desired.

Serves 6.