Bear here... It's time to harvest the wild raspberries, aka black caps, in our yard, and time to find something different to do with them. We added instructions for making creamy drinks to our wild raspberry page. Basically, I mixed chocolate milk, raspberries, and ice cream. Time to drink them while they're still cold. Type at ya later... |
I steamed the asparagus and beet stems until soft (around 10 min.).
In a recent cooking class I learned about tempering as the key process in Indian cooking. Tempering involves heating oil to a high temp and then adding spices. When the spices stop spitting, it's done, which usually takes less than 10 seconds. For this dish, I tempered the bacon fat and some olive oil with dried cumin and mustard powder. I used roughly 2 tblsp of oil and 1 tsp each of the spices. Then I added the chopped up chicken and 1 1/2 cup of the rice. I mixed in the cooked asparagus and beet stems and kept stirring until it was all hot. Then I stirred in 2 tablespoons of coriander. I added the beet greens last and when they wilted it was done. I felt the dish needed crunch so I put roasted sunflower seeds over the mix. As a bonus Theresa and I recently canned red currant jelly. It is supposed to be good with savory dishes so we tried it on the side and the sweet-tartness really worked with the other flavors. Time to go back to watching TV. Type at ya later...
IMPROVISING A SOLAR OVEN: I like to experiment with cooking in different ways and Theresa is always looking for ways to save energy, so in honor of the Sun on the Solstice, she suggested we build a solar oven. Simply put, a solar oven is a tilted box with a glass lid that you point towards the Sun so it will heat up enough inside to cook food. Theresa has instructions on how to build a more permanent one that we hope to try, but today we wanted to improvise with the items we had and see what would happen.
HOMEMADE ICE CREAM AND COBBLER IN A DUTCH OVEN:
FIRE PIT (GROUND) GRILLING, in a kilt:
BEGINNING OF THE LONGEST DAY: END OF THE LONGEST DAY: The view from the bike path across the street. Good night Sunshine.
HAPPY SOLSTICE! Bear here...Tonight we will be having pasta with butter, garlicscapes and much much more...
No picture of finished dish...Why you ask? I type too slow and when we are done cookin' we want to eat, not blog. Have a good weekend everybody... type at ya later.
From Theresa: Here's the Sunday morning harvest from our gardens. I've been trying to convince Bear that all the money I spend up front on the garden gets paid back to us in food to eat, so I asked him to come look at what I brought in. Just to make it fun, I asked him if he could identify everything I picked. (Bear here... Tests are fun? Only when food is involved... just sayen.) 1. Here's what we got from our new annual vegetable garden: Bear correctly thought this was (counter clockwise in the colander): orange nasturtium flowers, nasturtium leaves, green onions, and lettuce (center). (From the big guy... Doin the seat dance & showin' off now... uh Huh...) I harvested these annuals for salads. We're growing them in stock tanks: Bear wasn't sure about this one from the stock tanks- and said it was "that weed we've been eating a lot lately" This is lamb's quarters. The young leaves are great raw in salads, or the older leaves are great slightly steamed and used any way that you would use cooked spinach. We add them to rice dishes. (Bear here... To be fair... we have been using a lot of LAMB'S QUARTERS lately.) 2. He got this one from our perennial vegetable garden right away (probably because I had pointed it out to him when we were sitting in our bay window eating breakfast this morning): (Bear here... It still counts as a right answer... so there...) This is Turkish rocket. This is the first year we've harvested it, so I am still learning how and when to do it. You're supposed to eat the flower buds before they flower, when they look a lot like broccoli, but I am too late this time. We can also eat the flowers, so I harvested them. I think this will make more grow back for another harvest. Here's what the full Turkish rocket plant looks like (this one is 3 years old): Here's what's the Turkish rocket flower buds look like when you're supposed to harvest them, before the buds flower. You use it like broccoli, which it obviously resembles, eating it either raw or steamed. It feels like broccoli in your mouth, but tastes a lot more tangy. Bear offered his usual comment to his first bite- "Tastes like plant." (You know who here...WELL... it does taste like plant...) 3. On the right is more Turkish rocket. On the left Bear wasn't sure if this was parsley or cilantro- but he said, "Wait a minute," and put a little leaf in his mouth. Then he knew it was cilantro. (Yep, it's me... Right answer, a little late... Enough said) 4. And here was the real stumper.... Bear blurted out that this was broccoli!! We got a great laugh out of that, since he knew immediately that he was wrong. (Me... Duh...) We've been growing lots of rhubarb around the foundation of our bay window for a couple years now, where it seems really happy, but this is the first year we've found the time to figure out how we like to eat it. Today, I'm putting it in a crock pot with some lamb to make a savory stew over noodles. Last week we stewed it with brown sugar and almond extract to make a sweet rhubarb sauce side dish. It's been wonderful to see Bear get more and more interested
in our gardens as the years have gone by, because I surely need his help keeping it going and learning how to cook the harvest. I'm thankful we're in this homesteading adventure together! (Me getting the last word... Hah... I got her to blog. Summertime is Theresa's tome to be outside and do the yard stuff. To kinda quote her "Now is the time to garden and take pictures, Winter is when I can blog about it." Ain't team work grand... Type at ya later...) On the side... Simple Sunchoke Hash- Remember to get the hash close to done before starting the eggs.
As I am typing, this picture is making me hungry again. Just sayen. The turkey eggs tasted like our neighbor's chicken eggs, and were just as good. Type at ya later.
Bear here... Ever wanted to improve some pasta, butter, and lettuce, but didn't want to buy extras at the store? Here is another EAT YOUR YARD blog from the Shelf Chef. Enjoy.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
There you have it. Anybody think grass is the only thing that should be grown in a yard? Heh... look up.
Type at you later.
The Quick How to:Grill Bread: Saturday morning's breakfast was grill bread from Friday night's leftovers reheated in the oven. For instructions on grilling bread, see my Grilled Pizza page. This is Friday's grill bread: The herbs were fresh from our garden and the ambrosia was from our freezer. We made it last summer by baking chopped tomatoes and garlic, tossed in olive oil at 375 degrees. Bake until all the liquid from the tomatoes is gone, then use or freeze. This is the first time we tried reheating grill bread (there aren't usually leftovers). For a crispier crust, reheat at 400 degrees. For a softer crust, try 350. Theresa recommends the crispy crust.
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Theresa & Bear's Blog
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Theresa will be posting notifications of the new pages we add to the website and Bear likes to share inspirational posts about our homesteading experiences. If you'd like to follow our blog: Note that if we include a link to a product in our blog, it means we have used and authentically recommend it. Though it doesn't cost you any extra, we may receive a small commission if you click on the link or buy the product. Some day it may be enough to help support our work so we can do more of it. We gratefully thank you. Archives
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