summer veg
uber cool
snitched from mama’s garden
roadside loveliness
sweet cherries from williamson
he’s for real
will heaven look like this?
what the farmer left in our field
being incredibly eager to go
golf at papa’s (in maine)
jameson’s new passion
balancing ball on tee = hardest part
papa bruce is the MAN.
yes, they really were fantastic on the road to and from maine
“mom, i’m like a big boy. take a picture, mom.”
One of our favorite summertime meals is hummus (heavy on the garlic!), flatbread, and a big salad of fresh greens, feta, peppers, and olives. Yum! I’ve tried a few different pita and flatbread recipes, and then realized there was one in my go-to cookbook, Baking Illustrated. Yup, that’s the book I’m always linking to. You really should buy one!
Here’s my version:
makes 16 6- to 7- inch breads
4 1/2 tsp instant yeast
4 tsp sugar
3 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour*
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups water, room temp
1/2 yogurt**
2 T olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl
1. In your mixer, combine yeast, sugar, salt, flours. Add water, yogurt, and olive oil and quickly mix. With dough hook, knead on medium speed for 8 minutes, adding flour in 1-tablespoon increments if necessary for dough to clear sides of bowl (it will stick to the bottom of the bowl, though. This is a wet dough!) Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
2. Transfer kneaded dough to a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 45 minutes to an hour, until doubled.
3. Punch down, turn onto lightly floured work surface and sprinkle with flour as necessary. With chef’s knife or pizza cutter, divide into 16 equal portions. Roll each portion into a round ball. Roll each ball into a 4-inch circle, let rest for 10 minutes, then roll to 6-inch circle.
4. Heat your grill, high heat. (Alternatively, you can use a large, heavy skillet, but I always end up with burned flour when I do it that way!) Life the dough circles, gently stretch to about 1-inch bigger, and set on grill. Cook until small bubbles appear, about 30 seconds. With tongs, flip, and cook until there are deep golden brown spots (2 minutes). Flip again; cook until bottom has deep golden spots, 1-2 minutes.
5. Transfer to wire rack, cool for 5 minutes. (Brush with melted butter if you’re going Indian!) Serve the breads warm. Or, wrap the breads tightly in foil and store at room temp for up to 2 days; reheat on the grill or in a 300-degree oven.
*Or you can figure out your own combo of whole wheat and white. This bread can stand up to quite a bit of whole grain without losing its tender chew.
**Or, if you’re like me and can’t seem to keep yogurt in the house, mix half sour cream, half milk, and a splash of lemon juice together.
*****
My other favorite recent discover is Garlic Scape pesto! These crazy little things were in my CSA box, and since I hadn’t the foggiest, I googled them. As soon as I saw the recipe for pesto, I scrapped my previous dinner plans and pulled out my blender. Yum!
For my pesto, I used more oil in order to get a better consistency. I also threw in some fresh basil. I served it on penne, with chopped fresh tomatoes. It was hot and spicy in a fresh garlic sort of way. Delish!
I think garlic scape season is probably over, but should you happen upon those strange creatures next summer, make pesto!
It’s summer. And so far, it’s been gorgeous. Warm, sunny days, the smell of fresh cut grass (okay, okay, AND fertilized fields), just enough rain, and vast amounts of green space. Boy, I sure missed the space.
Summer also means:
:: first boxes from the CSA. It feels like I had to wait forever (because I did!), but I guess that made it all the more fun to see boxes and boxes of huge, beautiful heads of lettuce. When I arrived at the pick-up site on Friday morning, bright and early, the excitement around that table was palpable. Like Christmas morning with a bunch of kids — except it was June, we were adults, and the excitement was about cabbage. I think you have to live in the frozen tundra of Upstate New York to truly appreciate the beauty of radishes and baby carrots.
:: slipping out of the house before 7 in work clothes and gardening gloves. I can get more done in those uninterrupted 30 minutes than I do the rest of the day. Unless you count refereeing light saber wars as “getting more done.” Also, I don’t know why I’m constantly berating myself for my lack of exercise, since working in my vegetable garden means running up and down a huge hill to check on why the boys are screaming, where they’ve disappeared to, how much dirt they’ve tracked through the house, etc. I’m pretty sure sprinting uphill is exercise, right?
:: watching my first attempts at gardening. And reminding myself to be stalwart, resilient, ready to do better next year. I’ve already learned several things: When you’re in the last 30 minutes of planting, and your baby is screaming his head off because he’s wanted to nurse for at least an hour (or more), better to take a break than to just scatter carrot seeds all over — and then beet seeds, basil seeds, and spinach seeds. Especially if you don’t know what these little sprouts will look like, and are then forced to wait for all sprouts to grow two inches or so — at which point, half your garden is thickly populated with grass. Did I mention that half my garden = about 175 square feet? That, folks, is a lot of grass. Next year, I foresee many more seedlings and not quite so many seeds in my future.
:: housework going out the window. No, really. I pick up, do laundry, cook, and occasionally vacuum. And every morning, I wake up telling myself that really, today needs to be cleaning day. But it’s summer! When I start to worry that I’ll never regain routine, I remind myself that autumn comes every year, and summer is only a season. In the meantime, I’m just trying to make sure that the boys have their teeth brushed before they head out to find their bikes — in their pajamas, crocs, and helmets, the ultimate summer uniform.
:: riding my new-to-me bike down the country road. Breathing deeply of clean, sweet country air. Stopping to fill my basket with cheerful little flowers. Catching the first glimpse of my very own house on my way back — and loving it.
Two days ago, we collected our spades and rakes, hoes and edger, gloves and wheelbarrow, fertilizer and baseball bats, and we headed to the small corner chosen to be the vegetable patch. It’s a beginner’s sized patch — maybe 4×6? — and I’ll confess to a niggling fear that clever deer will outwit me and eat everything I manage to grow, but perhaps there will be a bit of success. Wouldn’t that be nice?
I sat right in the dirt, exhausted after an hour and half, and dug up sod, beat the dirt free of entangling roots, hurled the clump at the wheelbarrow, and dug up more sod. I thought of a dozen summers spent in just such a fashion, only I was but a girl then, in my mother’s garden. And now, now there were two boys playing beside me, and they are my boys. And this is my yard.
I looked up to see expanse of sky, meadows stretching into woods. I heard only wind and the song of birds. All over again, I was blessed. Do you know how many times I timidly hoped for a bit of space where I could grow things and watch my kids climb trees, pack paperbag lunches and send sons out to explore? No, you probably don’t know, but God knew.
*****
Tonight, carmelized onion quiche. Don’t ask me why, but it popped into my head last week, and I haven’t been able to shake it. I haven’t even ever had it, but I want it. So I pull out 3 speckled brown eggs from the fridge, all different sizes, and I crack them into a bowl. Deeply golden. I know they’re just eggs, but it makes me happy.
Today we visited the chickens that lay those eggs, and also the lovely family who owns those chickens. Jameson ran happily out into the field, right into the midst of a herd of goats, never once slowing down or fearing. He climbed happily into the chicken coop, and then pushed his way through a barn of energetic kids — goat kids, that is. Tractors, horses, a pregnant kitty, a dog — he couldn’t get enough. We even spotted him sneaking into the bull’s pen. In a few years, I tell her, I’ll send him down to help out. Perhaps we can get some of that delicious raw goat milk in return?
He declared it to be “an awesome, awesome play time, Mama!”
*****
I’m finding that all quiet moments lead to thoughts of Linda. Linda, the dear woman who lays 10 miles away in a hospital room. A hospital room where she’s dying of starvation and dehydration. I think of Psalm 18 — of a God of power and love who is stirred to action, who comes with clouds of darkness and thunder and who smites His enemies. A God who delivers, because He delights in us. And I ask. I ask Him to come and speak life.
One little word.
That’s all we need.
That’s all she needs.
It’s Friday — and that means tomorrow is Latte and Scones Day! Here’s the recipe I use:
Chocolate Chip Scones
adapted from Baking Illustrated, a cookbook I highly recommend
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
3 T sugar
1/2 t salt
5 T cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes*
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream/half and half/milk
1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Whisk dry ingredients together.
3. Using two knives or a pastry blender, cut butter into dry mixture until it resembles coarse meal with a few larger lumps. (Don’t be afraid of butter lumps!)
4. Add chocolate chips.
5. Stir in heavy cream (or your dairy of choice!) with a rubber spatula just until dough begins to form — about 30 seconds. The mixture will be very shaggy.
6. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead the dough by hand for a few seconds. Pat into a round, about 1″ high. With a sharp knife, cut into 8 wedges.
7. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Brush tops generously with cream, then sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake until tops are light brown, 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.** Serve warm.
*Cold butter is the key. If you get interrupted mid-recipe (’cause that never happens, right?), throw the bowl into the fridge. It’s gotta be cold in order to be light and airy.
**Don’t skip the cooling part. These are much better after they’ve had a chance to cool and firm up a bit.
Make ahead: I usually make a few batches at a time, whenever I have time. I shape them into wedges, cram as many as I can onto a baking sheet, and then throw them into the freezer. Once they’re hardened, move them to a ziploc bag. Then on Saturday morning, I pull out whatever I need and proceed from the “brush with cream” step. Frozen scones may need a few more minutes in the oven.
Don’t you love how right it feels to cook and bake when the cool weather sets in? Not much is cozier than an apron, a candle, some jazz in the background, and (of course) a couple set of little helping hands. Here are two recipes we’re enjoying. One is already a classic cold-weather dinner around here, and the other something we tried for the first time this week.
2 (biggish) butternut squash
2 T butter
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 russet potatoes
chicken stock
allspice
nutmeg
ginger
cinnamon
salt and pepper
cream (or milk)
Start by roasting the squash: heat the oven to 375; cut the squash in half and place in a pan, cut-side down; add about an inch of water; roast for an hour or until flesh is very soft.
Saute onions and garlic in butter until soft. Peel and dice potatoes. (A note about potatoes: I don’t really know how many I use. I just aim at having about as much potato as squash, so I eyeball it, depending on the size of my squash.) Add potatoes to pot, and then cover with chicken stock (or water with chicken bouillon with no MSG!) Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Scoop the flesh from the squash and add it to the pot. Now is when a stick blender comes in really handy. Use it to puree the soup; otherwise, pour in batches into a blender. (Be careful; it’s hot!) Once back in the pot, add spices to taste. I start with about 1/2 a teaspoon of the spices, and about a teaspoon of salt. But that’s never enough! I like mine a bit ginger-y. And I love nutmeg. Get it how you like it, then add about 1/2 a cup of cream or milk. Warm it through, and serve. It’s best with a slice of freshly homemade whole wheat bread. Yum!
*I’ve just been using whatever squash they put in my CSA box, and so far, so good!
These were actually even better the next day. How often does that happen?
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt
In a medium bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Stir in the pumpkin. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt; stir into the pumpkin mixture.
Chill dough for minimum of 1 hour (I did 2 to be safe!).
Preheat oven to 375.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes and place onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, till a bit golden on the bottom. Cool on sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to rack (or just dump then on the kitchen table. Ha!)
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
splash of vanilla
1-2 tablespoons of milk
Mix till smooth. You want a bit of a runny consistency, so add more milk if needed. I use a pastry brush to “paint” the cookies. Nice and fast!
