Calling all gardeners.
My garden sucks... please help me.
Ok, I'm being a total drama queen here.  It's mostly doing ok it's just the seeds that I put in that are sucking.  My zucchini seeds haven't taken at all.  Only one plant started to peak through the ground and the next day it was dug up by a stupid squirrel.  I even followed the directions on the stupid seed packet, Geez.  My carrot seeds haven't faired much better.  So far I've only gotten a handful of seedlings and I planted a whole packet.  I'm not sure what I've done wrong.  I seem to have consistently bad luck with zucchini - a few years in a row now - but the carrots, that's a new one.  I'm trying to stay focussed on the positive.  My beans and tomato plants are going gangbusters and my herbs are doing well (parsley, chive, basil, dill and oregano).  It's not a complete failure but the stupid zucchini/carrot crap is really bumming me out.  I've gotta figure something else to plant there so that I'm not constantly looking at this bare patch of ground with nothing happening on it.
This whole garden 'thing/crap/bum/downer' got me to thinking though.


Just a little while ago I was emailing my friend C back and forth.  She is holding down the fort while B works out of province.  Right now she's swamped with a very large garden and a small orchard to tend.  I have volunteered to come up every couple of weeks to help out with things.  I can't wait to get my hands in there and learn some gardening chops from a serious gardener... plus, I'll bet that she has carrots and zucchini coming up.
I've got a strawberry season coming up too so C and I are going to pick together and then do some jammin' ... that sounds funny.  I'm still working at clearing out my freezer.  I'm obviously not working hard at it though because I've been at it for a while and I've got a small freezer... and remember, I'm not a horder.  Anyway, slow and steady wins the race after all.  I pulled out a container of egg whites and a bag of frozen blueberries and I don't want to think about how long the blueberries have been hibernating in there Please.  I know that I have to try making meringues or something with egg whites - maybe a 'pavlova' but at the moment when the egg whites and the blueberries were in my hand something magical happened.  And then I was making this....

I think that my angel food cakes still come out looking weird.

So I'm now feeling better about my garden blank spot (thanks for the blog therapy) and looking forward to helping my friend and wondering what the hell is going to come out of my freezer next.


Blueberry Orange Angel Food Cake
adapted from foodnetwork.com

1 1/2 cups egg whites
1 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/8 cup cake flour
zest of one orange
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (tossed in flour)

Glaze:
juice of one orange
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 3    degrees F.
Grease and flour a tube pan.
Combine the cake flour, sugar, salt and cream of tartar.  Sift the mixture four times in total and set aside.
Whisk the egg whites until they form peaks and have at least doubled in volume.
Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg whites using a big whisk.  Add in the orange zest and whisk a little more.  Fold in the floured blueberries.
Gently pour the batter into the tube pan, running a knife through the batter to remove air bubbles.
Bake for about 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool completely before removing from the pan (the sides of the cake should be completely pulling away from the pan).
Glaze:
Combine the juice and the sugar.  Simmer over med/low heat for about 15 minutes or until the mixture thickens to a syrup.  Pour over the cooled cake.

I think that I can now announce with confidence that my yeast fears are behind me.  I hope.
Admittedly, I have kinda set myself up though.  I have organic bread from Ace Bakery delivered via my food box every other week.  I was finding that we weren't getting through an entire loaf each week.  Might have been just a phase.  Maybe all things like this are a phase.  Either way, right now we are in a bread eating phase... school lunches, toast and jam, toast and honey.  It means that we're getting through more bread now than we have all through the school year.  I know it's weird but the upside is that I've made more bread.


Am I totally happy with my bread?  Do I feel like it's awesome and rises so high and tastes mind blowingly different and all that crap?  No and No.  It's bread people.  I make it and it tastes like bread.  It's not the biggest loaf going but it fills a whole (I'm really not selling this here).  I guess that what I'm trying to say is that because I don't have a big bread obsession that I don't really care if it's the best bread in town.  It's bread.  It gets sliced and then stuff is put on it to make it taste even better.  There.
Having said all that.  This bread upped the ante a little.
Mixing the oatmeal and sugar together first and then soaking it for a while was a really cool idea and made for a sweeter loaf with a nice chewing texture (I'm not sure if that's a real turn of phrase or not).  I'd make it again.
The bigger deal is that I'm making my own bread.  It's not hard.  It's really not.  The kneading part is like 10 minutes at the most - I doubt that I did it for that long.  I'm just using plain old all purpose flour, nothing fancy.  I'm not going out of my way by doing anything extraordinary... just some flour, yeast and liquid.  And you know what?  It's a nice feeling, that 'bread rising and then baking in the oven' feeling.  Baking a loaf of bread feels substantial and almost subversive at the same time.  That's a weird combo, I know.
If you decide to give it a try, making that loaf of bread you've been thinking about for so long, then let me know what it feels like for you once it comes out of the oven and doesn't suck.  It's good to share these things.  If you have a recipe for two loaves (like this one) then you could do more than just share your feelings.



Oatmeal Brown Sugar Bread
'More with Less' Cookbook
makes 2 loaves

1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water

1 pkg yeast (not instant)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water

5 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the oats, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, salt and boiling water together in a bowl and set aside for about 15 min.  Letting it cool to room temperature or so.


meanwhile combine the warm water, sugar and yeast together.  Set aside for 10 minutes to proof (it will smell yeasty, get very foamy and double it's volume.
In a large bowl combine the oat mixture and the all purpose flour.  Mix until the two are well incorporated. Add in the yeast mixture and combine.
Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes.  Place in a buttered bowl, cover with a clean cloth and let it rise in a draft-free spot for 1 hour or until doubled in volume.
Punch the dough back down and shape the dough into two loaves.  Place each in a greased loaf pan, cover with a clean cloth and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake the loaves for about 35 - 35 min. or until golden on the top.  Remove from the over and brush a little butter over the top.  Cool about 20 minutes before slicing.

A couple of weeks ago Kid #1 came home from her Granny's and made a declaration.  You see, both kids go for an overnight together each weekend at their Granny's.  They get a piano lesson while they are there.  They get to watch tv.  They get ice cream and cookies.  It's a kids dream of course.
Kid #1's declaration made it to my blog because it's the reason that I made this ice cream.  She came home and declared that Granny made the best peanut butter ice cream ever!  Ever!
That's a challenge if ever I've heard one.  My Mother-in-law is a great cook.  She makes great pelau, stewed chicken, curry, paella... savoury dishes.  I have never been able and will never be able to match her chili as far as my kids are concerned.  Sweets however, are usually not her forte, that's my thing.  She does make a mean coconut ice cream.  Oh yeah, and Lychee ice cream too.  So I guess ice cream is her thing. After all, she is the reason I have an ice cream maker in the first place.  Anyway, it was still a challenge.  I knew I would have to rise to this challenge.
I found this recipe at epicurious and was intrigued.  Chocolate ripple is something that I have tried before in ice cream but it just hasn't worked for me.  I always find that the ripple thing hardens too quickly and turns to hard chocolate chunks before it can 'ripple' through the ice cream.  I didn't know if the water/chocolate combo would do the trick.  Why would that work anyway?  Water freezes, right?  Wouldn't you think that the chocolate/water thing would just get too hard and freeze?
So the thing is... it didn't.  It didn't harden at all.  It stayed syrupy enough that it rippled really well through the ice cream.   I have a exciting new ice cream tip for you.  Just last week I was making my regular batch of this ice cream (which I make regularly for D because he loves it and it's amazing and he deserves it) and I decided to try whipping the custard first.  So I let the custard cool and then whipped it nice and light (but not too fluffy) and then let it set again overnight.  I finished it off the next day in the ice cream maker and it was absolute heaven.  I could hardly stop eating it and that's sayin' something for me.  So with that tip in hand, I would try this ice cream again and do that too.


Aside from that, this ice cream is nice.  It's very peanut buttery (awesome) and the ripple was a success (see above) and the whole thing is pretty darn cream already but try whipping it a bit and letting it set again for finishing it off in the ice cream maker.  If you give it a whirl before I do then let me know how it works.
So now the only problem I've got with it is that Kid #1 is pretty sure that it's either 'just as good as Granny's or even better' but she's gotta keep testing it to know for sure... yeah, right.


Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ripple Ice Cream
adapted from epicurious.com
makes about 650 g container of ice cream

1 2/3 cup whole milk (I used 4%)
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used organic but sweetened not natural)
1/2 cup and 3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp water
1 1/2 oz dark chocolate, chopped

Simmer the milk, peanut butter and the half cup of sugar just until the mixture is creamy.  I just left it on for a couple of minutes but stirred it constantly.
Add in the vanilla, mix well and remove from heat.


Cool to room temperature.  Once cooled add into the ice cream maker and churn until it's thickened and light and fluffy.
While the ice cream maker is doing it's magic,  combine the 3 tbsp water and 3 tbsp sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved (I let mine just come to a boil).  Remove from the heat and add in the chocolate.  Stir until the chocolate melts completely and the mixture is smooth.  Cool for a few minutes.
Once the ice cream is ready put about 1/4 of the ice cream in the bottom of a container.  Line that with a little of the chocolate.  Layer this way until the ice cream is done.
Freeze the whole mixture for a few hours or until sufficiently frozen.
Thaw slightly before scooping.

I live in the city.  I don't have a big yard.  It's big enough for the city I guess but it's not big.  It's ok though.  I can deal with it.  What's funny though is that even though the yard is so small, I feel such satisfaction at cutting the grass.  There is something energizing about it for me.  I love seeing all the plants crowding over into the grass space and the grass being cut and even.  I really can't explain why it's so comforting and energizing.  What's even more puzzling is how much the stupid little rectangle of green behind my house that holds my garden/shed/bike/toys/trees/tire-swing/bbq/etc brings me peace and joy.  And not just to me.  To my kids and their friends who love to play in the stupid rectangle, spraying each other, chasing each other, swinging on the tire swing, probably bugging the hell out of our neighbours.  Even though I can still here traffic and the noise from the houses all around me, it's still a sanctuary.  Somehow, the wind blowing through the trees is much louder in the back yard.  The bird are talking to each other much more loudly in the back than in the front.  The grass is greener in the back.  The wine tastes better and the rest is deeper.


I have been thoroughly enjoying, savouring even, each warm moment so far this season.  I'm watching the raspberry patch grow by the day and my poor little rhubarb patch underneath is getting lost in the growth.  I'm contemplating moving it but for now it will stay.  It hasn't stopped the rhubarb, I don't know if anything could stop rhubarb from growing.  It certainly hasn't stopped us from enjoying it either.
First I made these...
Then I made this...
And now this...


Truth be told it's the same recipe for both the muffins and the loaf.  We all preferred the loaf.  I adapted a little but the basics are exactly the same.  I'm still on the hunt for some exciting rhubarb recipes so if you know of any please pass them along.  In the meantime I wait peacefully and contemplatively in my backyard.... for strawberry season.  ;-)


Rhubarb Streusel Loaf
makes one large loaf

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
find recipe here...
pour batter into lined loaf pan (use parchment or something) instead of muffin tins.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Cool before removing from pan.
Slice.
Eat.

I read a comment from another blog recently.  The writer was making note of the changes in food presentation and ultimately in the food that we are making these days.  It's homier.  It's stew, it's curry, it's a mess on a plate.  We've turned ever so slowly from making food with ingredients that we have to source from expensive grocers and begun to appreciate a simpler way... and with it we get the pictures of  food ladled on a plate in a big glop.
I kinda like it though.  It's simple.  It's the way I cook.  It's the way I've always cooked and the way I prefer to cook.  I feel like I want to go out for fancy food.  I'm going to pay for the whole experience of it.  I love the creativity that you get from a high end restaurant and the appreciation for the whole experience beginning to end.  However, I don't feel the need to cook that way at home.  Plus, I want leftovers.  If I had to cook every single night I would have done something awful to myself way before now.  I like leftovers and some things taste better as leftovers than they did the day they were made.  Also, I don't have the time or the techniques to pull it all off successfully - and mistakes can be expensive when you are talking about fancy stuff.
I'm at that stage of life when I don't feel like I need to apologize for who I am.  I don't want to have to pretend that I'm something other than that.  I want what I want and that's the end of it.
This dish is nothing new necessarily.  Who hasn't  read about asparagus risotto before?  You know what though?  It's good.  It works.  It's not too difficult.  It makes leftovers.  It's homey.


On a different note, I'm totally enjoying the spring veggies that are taking the starring role right now.  After a long winter of root veggies and squash it's so wonderful to have the greens again and the short lived fiddleheads.  I think that this is my last batch of fiddleheads for the season and I've probably just got one more week of asparagus.  I love the cyclical nature of it all and I feel renewed.  So I'm going to go and plop some food on my plate (leftovers at that) and enjoy every second of my spring veggies with creamy rice and cheese and say a big thank you for it all.


Asparagus, Fiddlehead and Sausage Risotto
serves 4 - 6

2 cups (less about 2 tbsp) arborio rice
4 cups warm vegetable (or chicken) broth
2 cups (1 bunch) asparagus, ends off and chopped into large chunks
2 1/2 cup fiddleheads, cut into 1 1/2 pieces or so
1/2 cup chives, chopped
4 large sausages (mild), sliced thin (feel free to use less or even leave them out)
1 cup (or just under) cream
salt
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Heat a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan over med heat.
Add in about 3 tbsp of oil and add in the asparagus and fiddleheads.  Saute in the oil for about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and stir well so that the rice is coated with the oil.
Begin to add the heated broth one ladleful at a time.  Stir well and make sure that the liquid remains simmering the whole time.  You might want to turn down the heat to low.  Continue adding the liquid until it's all used up.
Add the sausage and stir well.
Add in the cream.


Add the salt to taste and the parmesan cheese.
Check the taste, adjust if necessary and serve.

Spring mania continues in my house.  It feels like summer now though... in fact it was so warm yesterday that in the course of about 12 hours my beans seedlings all popped through the ground and into the light.
We're cooking with asparagus, fiddleheads, wild leeks, dandelion greens... Spring Mania.
My rhubarb mania continues too.  A few weeks ago my Mom told me that she made this rhubarb recipe that was amazing and she was going to make it again and was totally over the moon about it and all that. She sent me the recipe and told me that I should make them ASAP... which I would gladly have done if I'd had enough butter... and sugar... and time.
The food box arrived yesterday full of wonderful spring vegetables... and butter... and sugar.  So, I made the bars.


Let's just be frank here, You. Need. To. Make. These. Bars.
Yeah, they're that good.  Truth be told, they're great.  Low in sugar they are not, so you will only want one at a time (not bingeing is always a good thing) but they are really really really good... and gooey... and sweet... and tart.  Ack, what a combination.
I shared, because I'm nice that way and I don't want fat hips and holey teeth, with my neighbours.  You could share too if you make them.  These beauties would be great at a potluck function, a spring festival, a bake sale... your own cookie jar.
I'm off to try another rhubarb recipe and I have to make sure that I save some for the strawberry rhubarb jam that will be coming with strawberry season.  Ahhhh!  I love spring!


Rhubarb Custard Bars... from my Mom
makes one square pan of bars

Base:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (hard is fine)

Filling:
2 cups (I used about 3 and it wasn't too much) fresh rhubarb, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Topping
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp butter, cold and cubed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a square 8x8 baking dish with parchment, leave a little draped over the edges so that it's easy to remove.
Make a crumble of the base ingredients by using a fork or a pastry cutter.  Press the crumbly dough into the bottom of the baking pan.  Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the edges are beginning to turn golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the chopped rhubarb over the baked base.  In a bowl combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt.  Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Pour the whole thing over the rhubarb.


In another bowl combine the topping flour and sugar.  Cut in the butter until it forms a crumb.  Sprinkle over the rhubarb/egg mixture.


Bake for about 35 or 40 minutes or until it's not jiggling too much in the middle.
Cool completely before cutting.

Although you would never guess by the weather we've been having, it is technically spring.  Unbelievably, I've already cut the grass once and the green everywhere is almost cartoonish.  My lavender has come and gone.  The irises and poppies are well on their way and I've got about one more harvest of rhubarb before it fades away until next year.


This week in the food box I got asparagus and dandelion greens.  It was until after taking the dandelion greens out of the box, giving them a good, thoughtful lookover that the error of my ways hit me.  Why was I paying for dandelion greens when I've got them growing like mad in the yard.  I don't put pesticides on my grass and neither does anyone nearby (it's the law here in the Tdot and I'm not sorry for it).  I'm planting all kinds of other stuff in the garden, why not start foraging in the grass as well.  It's all greens.  So... that's this week's revelation for 'ya.
By the By, this blog that I've been keeping up with called 'Chicken Tender' is written by someone who is renting to own a plot of land outside of San Francisco.  She and family are really making a go of it as farmers to sustain themselves and learning by the seat of their pants.  Chicken Tender posted a very interesting article just a few days ago about her own struggle/frustration/disillusionment with both the urban environmental movement and with civilization itself.  I found the article both vulnerable and relatable.  Check it out here if you are interested.  I'm always in a state of sadness/anger/frustration at the world that I live in AND participate in.  I have to admit that I'm part of it.  Coffee cups are a perfect example for me personally.  It always makes me sick to think that in Toronto about a million (yeah... that's 1 000 000) cups go into landfill everyday.  Now, I'm not a coffee drinker but I do bow down at the alter of Starbucks a couple of times a week for my... get ready for it... half sweet/no whip/hot chocolate - which sounds ludicrous and I can't verbalize it without snickering.  Often I bring my own mug but sometimes I don't, cause sometimes I just feel like I'm the only one, that it doesn't really matter and that now there will still be 999 999 coffee cups going into landfill.  I guess that the honest answer is
a.  Absolutely everything we do has an effect on the environment around us 'cause we're human and we eat and all that.
b.  If I'm really looking for a way to leave the frustration/anger/sadness behind then I should just not go to SB and forgo the stupid sounding hot chocolate altogether.

Okay... so here I am getting off the stupid soapbox, pretty convinced that the end of the world didn't happen last week and moving on with things...


So, this recipe was using the above mentioned asparagus and dandelion greens and I put some bread in it and all that crap.  It was supposed to look beautifully golden on the top... then I started watching a show at about 9pm and forgot to take it out.  It baked for about 10 minutes longer than it should have.  The golden turned to burned brown... whatever... it still tasted good... just looks bad.   Does that qualify as a disaster?
I'm gonna think about that one while I'm squatting in my back yard cutting all my dandelion greens... YUM.


Asparagus, Dandelion Green Strata (I think that's what it's called when bread is involved)
adapted from Deborah Madison
serves 4 - 6

3 - 4 slices of bread (use something substantial that will stand up to being in liquid)
2 cups asparagus,
3 cups (or so) dandelion greens, chopped
1 cup baby leek, sliced thin
1/4 cup (or so) chives, chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 veggie bouillion cube
1 tsp pepper sauce (optional)
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp Worcestershire
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (or so) cheddar, grated
1/2 cup parmesan, grated

preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Butter a rectangular or oblong baking dish.
Combine the eggs, sour cream, milk, flour, Worcestershire together and set aside.
Heat a large pan over med/low heat.  Add some oil of your choice.  Add in the asparagus and leeks, stir constantly.  Heat for a few minutes then add in the greens, chives and garlic.  Moving around constantly, heat through for another five minutes.
Throw the veggies into the baking dish, add the egg mixture and mix that all up together.  Add in the cheddar and about half of the parmesan and mix that all up together.
Add the bread chunks and just immerse each chunk enough so that it's been glazed with the egg mixture.
Sprinkle the very top with the remaining parmesan.
Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes, or until it's bubbly and the top is golden brown... and don't watch tv while you are deciding exactly when that might be.