Ok strange title. I'll explain. Last night I had some beets to cook but I didn't want to eat them plain roasted or boiled. I thought that a honey balsamic glaze or something like that would be good over them with a bit of goat cheese. So I mixed together some white balsamic and honey and drizzled it over the top of microwaved beets. Then I thought it would be a good marinade/glaze for some grilled chicken. And it was.
So today we had 1 chicken breast left over which I thought would be great sliced thin with some goat cheese and red leaf lettuce on a sandwich. But alas I needed more chicken to be grilled. I so like the combo of flavor last night that I wanted to do it again. I added honey and garlic to a sauce pot and opened my kitchen cabinet door. I found a packet of lime jello. I thought hmmmm lime and honey and vinegar on chicken, why not. So I added a couple of tablespoons of the jello powder to the honey, a bit of water and a bit of balsamic vinegar. heated it up and used it as a glaze for my cooking chicken on the grill.
Eric thought it was a bit weird that the chicken had a green tinge but it was really great on the sandwich.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Dandelion Greens (just in case you needed to know)
Ok, my second try at dandelion greens.
Dandelion Greens are called bitter greens. Boy that's not a joke. I nibbled a bit raw and whew that was rough. Like a terrible medicine. However you are supposed to be able to eat them. All the recipes I came across said to cook first in boiling salted water for around 6 minutes and that would remove some bitterness. I tried that the first time and the finished product was still too bitter for my taste. So in my co-op box this past week guess what was there. Dandelion greens!
It has been a fairly busy past 4 or 5 days since the greens were picked and I haven't had time to try them again until today for lunch. This time they were MUCH better so I will share what I did.
First they were a bit on the wilted side and still had GA clay on them so I removed the bottom stems and chopped the leaves/stems into roughly thirds. Put them in my salad spinner with the drain basket and added water for them to soak and "pep" up. I changed the water about 3 times as the dirt settled to the bottom after about 15 or so minutes each time(trick I saw on an Alton Brown show).
Then I put water into a small pot (it was a small mess of greens) and salted it VERY well (much more that I put into a bigger pot for pasta). Brought that water to a boil, added the greens, brought that back up to a rolling boil and boiled for 6 minutes.
Now during all of the primary soaking time I had minced some fresh garlic and a very small yellow onion (probably ended up with tablespoon of onion) and sauted that in some butter and bacon grease until cooked and set aside before the garlic burned.
After the greens had boiled for 6 minutes, I had lined my salad basket with a tea towel and poured the greens and water into that and then ran cold water from the sink on top of the greens to stop the cooking. Then took the tea towel and squeezed the water from the greens until they were fairly dry.
Added the dryed cooked greens to the garlic mixture and heated it on the stove for about 5 or so minutes until it looked yummy. There seemed to be some stems with no leaves after all this prep so I removed those before eating but I tasted one and it didn't taste bad so I guess you could leave them in.
Final story, the greens were very tasty, buttery and wonderful. Maybe a tinge of bitterness but not much. I really do think the water has to be extremely salty to boil the greens in first as the key.
Here's to eating well!
Dandelion Greens are called bitter greens. Boy that's not a joke. I nibbled a bit raw and whew that was rough. Like a terrible medicine. However you are supposed to be able to eat them. All the recipes I came across said to cook first in boiling salted water for around 6 minutes and that would remove some bitterness. I tried that the first time and the finished product was still too bitter for my taste. So in my co-op box this past week guess what was there. Dandelion greens!
It has been a fairly busy past 4 or 5 days since the greens were picked and I haven't had time to try them again until today for lunch. This time they were MUCH better so I will share what I did.
First they were a bit on the wilted side and still had GA clay on them so I removed the bottom stems and chopped the leaves/stems into roughly thirds. Put them in my salad spinner with the drain basket and added water for them to soak and "pep" up. I changed the water about 3 times as the dirt settled to the bottom after about 15 or so minutes each time(trick I saw on an Alton Brown show).
Then I put water into a small pot (it was a small mess of greens) and salted it VERY well (much more that I put into a bigger pot for pasta). Brought that water to a boil, added the greens, brought that back up to a rolling boil and boiled for 6 minutes.
Now during all of the primary soaking time I had minced some fresh garlic and a very small yellow onion (probably ended up with tablespoon of onion) and sauted that in some butter and bacon grease until cooked and set aside before the garlic burned.
After the greens had boiled for 6 minutes, I had lined my salad basket with a tea towel and poured the greens and water into that and then ran cold water from the sink on top of the greens to stop the cooking. Then took the tea towel and squeezed the water from the greens until they were fairly dry.
Added the dryed cooked greens to the garlic mixture and heated it on the stove for about 5 or so minutes until it looked yummy. There seemed to be some stems with no leaves after all this prep so I removed those before eating but I tasted one and it didn't taste bad so I guess you could leave them in.
Final story, the greens were very tasty, buttery and wonderful. Maybe a tinge of bitterness but not much. I really do think the water has to be extremely salty to boil the greens in first as the key.
Here's to eating well!
Post Father's Day
Ahhhh made it through the weekend. Spent some great time with my friends I hadn't seen for several years. Dined at Bonefish. Wow, that's my new favorite restaurant. Tried my first ceiveche. A big bowl of that could have been my dinner.
Trying to figure out what is a halfway point for us so we can have a couples weekend on the beach sometime in the future. Looks like North Myrtle Beach is a good point. It's halfway from everywhere in my life!
Father's day came with a round of golf for him with friends and a cookout with family. Church nursery for me. He also got the shirts that every father should get and the big plus, a new Blackberry! The youngest didn't get her nap so she was out as soon as we buckled her in to come home at 6:30ish. Bascially slept through bathtime and didn't wake up until 6:30 Monday morning.
Had a new roof put on. The roof looks great, however the roofing crew did a job on our siding pulling off the old roof and now we have to figure out how to get it looking good so they can get their final payment. Because right now it doesn't look so good.
Dentist appt today. Then I've got plans to scrub my shower curtain outside. Oh the excitement.
JJ
Trying to figure out what is a halfway point for us so we can have a couples weekend on the beach sometime in the future. Looks like North Myrtle Beach is a good point. It's halfway from everywhere in my life!
Father's day came with a round of golf for him with friends and a cookout with family. Church nursery for me. He also got the shirts that every father should get and the big plus, a new Blackberry! The youngest didn't get her nap so she was out as soon as we buckled her in to come home at 6:30ish. Bascially slept through bathtime and didn't wake up until 6:30 Monday morning.
Had a new roof put on. The roof looks great, however the roofing crew did a job on our siding pulling off the old roof and now we have to figure out how to get it looking good so they can get their final payment. Because right now it doesn't look so good.
Dentist appt today. Then I've got plans to scrub my shower curtain outside. Oh the excitement.
JJ
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Kale Soup
Needed to use my kale. Thought Kale soup. All the recipes I found had beans and some sort of smoked meat. I had neither beans or smoked meat. This is the ad lib recipe I came up with. Not bad.
Kale rinsed and torn to pieces.
3 cups of water
3 chicken boullion cubes
1 can of hominy drained
garlic powder to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
vinegar to taste
dissolved and heated to a boil water and boullion and hominy. Added kale, vinegar, pepper and garlic powder. Cooked until kale was tender. Served with a sprinkling of cheese on top. Would have loved some good homemade bread to help sop up the liquor but I haven't made any in a while.
I had roasted some beets last night so I had the beet greens that I added to the kale also.
Kale rinsed and torn to pieces.
3 cups of water
3 chicken boullion cubes
1 can of hominy drained
garlic powder to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
vinegar to taste
dissolved and heated to a boil water and boullion and hominy. Added kale, vinegar, pepper and garlic powder. Cooked until kale was tender. Served with a sprinkling of cheese on top. Would have loved some good homemade bread to help sop up the liquor but I haven't made any in a while.
I had roasted some beets last night so I had the beet greens that I added to the kale also.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Cabbage and Kale
Found a recipe that uses dinosaur kale and cabbage. It's a vinegar slaw basically.
I used a 1/4 head of cabbage sliced very finely and a handful of kale. a 1:1 ratio. added the juice of 1/2 lime, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, 2:1 ratio approximately on the oil vs vinegar, green onion, salt, garlic powder, pine nuts and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Let marinate. Yum to me
I used a 1/4 head of cabbage sliced very finely and a handful of kale. a 1:1 ratio. added the juice of 1/2 lime, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, 2:1 ratio approximately on the oil vs vinegar, green onion, salt, garlic powder, pine nuts and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Let marinate. Yum to me
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Coffee
I have none. It's early in the morning and I have no coffee. Do I leave the kids at home and run out to a drive through coffee place to buy beans? Going into a store is out of the question as I am not dressed for that. Drive through places though don't sit well with my budget. However I am having company this week and as a good hostess I should buy a better lot of coffee for my bed and breakfast guests than the "spotlight" Kroger brand we had last time.
Have you noticed the price of coffee per 12 oz (not even a pound anymore!). If I could make it to DeKalb Farmer's Market, they have great coffee prices but I need coffee NOW.
Back in March my family decided to join the Dave Ramsey Nation and take his Financial Peace University. It was fabulous. Now at the end of this month we will have paid off 2 continuing debts. However I have become acutely aware of how the stores vary their prices. For coffee, surprisingly Target is the best place to go for "Eight O'clock" coffee. Here it runs about $3.54 a bag of beans. Whereas the grocery stores are atleast a dollar over that. Now when I get those $1 coupons and it's on sale at Target, I am getting such a great deal! Target has good prices on NameBrand cereal. We don't have a full blown grocery store Target so I can't do the major shopping there.
You would think Walmart would have the best prices, but from what I've seen, it doesn't. It has the same or more. And for the antiWalmart person that I am, that is terrific. I used to go to Sam's for milk but even now they don't compete at $2.59 a gallon with anyone!
I have found Aldi to be a great help forbananas and some fruit and some cheese. But the other prices are comparable (and a bit more) to the main stores namebrand items. I am wary of buying eggs and milk there because of the whole added hormone thing. I occasionally buy canned tomato products for spaghetti there.
But back to the coffee. I guess I should splurge and go get Starbucks beans. Especially as time is not standing still and the morning is waning and I have guests coming.
JJ
Have you noticed the price of coffee per 12 oz (not even a pound anymore!). If I could make it to DeKalb Farmer's Market, they have great coffee prices but I need coffee NOW.
Back in March my family decided to join the Dave Ramsey Nation and take his Financial Peace University. It was fabulous. Now at the end of this month we will have paid off 2 continuing debts. However I have become acutely aware of how the stores vary their prices. For coffee, surprisingly Target is the best place to go for "Eight O'clock" coffee. Here it runs about $3.54 a bag of beans. Whereas the grocery stores are atleast a dollar over that. Now when I get those $1 coupons and it's on sale at Target, I am getting such a great deal! Target has good prices on NameBrand cereal. We don't have a full blown grocery store Target so I can't do the major shopping there.
You would think Walmart would have the best prices, but from what I've seen, it doesn't. It has the same or more. And for the antiWalmart person that I am, that is terrific. I used to go to Sam's for milk but even now they don't compete at $2.59 a gallon with anyone!
I have found Aldi to be a great help forbananas and some fruit and some cheese. But the other prices are comparable (and a bit more) to the main stores namebrand items. I am wary of buying eggs and milk there because of the whole added hormone thing. I occasionally buy canned tomato products for spaghetti there.
But back to the coffee. I guess I should splurge and go get Starbucks beans. Especially as time is not standing still and the morning is waning and I have guests coming.
JJ
Friday, June 12, 2009
HULU
I have discovered hulu.com. I LOVE "Arrested Development" and guess what. HULU has all the episodes. So while my children are watching Spongebob (or whatever other deviant children's programming I object to) I'm watching AD. Is that so bad? I've watched through the 11th episode of season 1. I've seen most of them but not so completely. It is great fun
Grievences
Ok I'm trying to load up new pictures and I can't! The little thing just goes around and around.
Life & Full Moon
Just finished dinner and listening to my kids create havoc in the background. Some days it just seems impossible...
Dinner was excellent! Pan seared green beans picked this morning with a bit of butter and garlic powder, fresh broccoli picked this morning steamed and garnished with evoo and sea salt. And chicken breast indoor grilled (out of propane for outside grill) with a dry rub of taco seasoning and then finished with shredded mozzarella.
I normally like to cook outside during the summer months so as to not heat up the kitchen. I mean cook EVERYTHING outside. It's amazing what a grill can do. I stir fry, bake, roast, sear, rotiessere, plain grill. Side dishes, main dishes. On cast iron, sheet pans, grates, baskets, woks.
I have beets, beet greens, squash, cucumbers, salad greens, and onions and FRESH garlic (LOVE garlic) courtesy of Full Moon farms in Athens GA. It's a co-op and I am so in love with the idea of buying local grown. I hate that I have to supplement at the local grocery store for bananas and such.
I just read that Georgia is #1 in so many agricultural products but like 80% of our money is spent on out of state produce. 1 in 7 people in GA are associated with agriculture.
If I could garden where I live I would but my yard is engulfed in hardwood trees. I am trying to grow jalapeno peppers this year but the plants are so small I don't think they will do much. When we first moved here I tried my hand at container gardening with tomatoes on my front sidewalk. I grew tomatoes but they were so small it was embarrassing. 9 years later we have lost 2 trees in the front yard but still not enough sun. So I looked elsewhere for home grown goodness.
I love Athens. My mother's family was raised there. There is a house on Buena Vista in Normaltown my great grandfather built. There used to be a man (according to a cousin) who worked at the hardware store that remembered my great grandfather.
I just happened upon Full Moon last spring through the internet. I think it is great. My kids and I love to walk down the road to the fields when we have time. Haven't had much time lately but hopefully before the season ends we will make a couple more trips down the road. I appreciate the hard work all the workers put into it so there is a bountiful harvest!
I can only hope one day I will be able to move closer to Athens than I am.
Dinner was excellent! Pan seared green beans picked this morning with a bit of butter and garlic powder, fresh broccoli picked this morning steamed and garnished with evoo and sea salt. And chicken breast indoor grilled (out of propane for outside grill) with a dry rub of taco seasoning and then finished with shredded mozzarella.
I normally like to cook outside during the summer months so as to not heat up the kitchen. I mean cook EVERYTHING outside. It's amazing what a grill can do. I stir fry, bake, roast, sear, rotiessere, plain grill. Side dishes, main dishes. On cast iron, sheet pans, grates, baskets, woks.
I have beets, beet greens, squash, cucumbers, salad greens, and onions and FRESH garlic (LOVE garlic) courtesy of Full Moon farms in Athens GA. It's a co-op and I am so in love with the idea of buying local grown. I hate that I have to supplement at the local grocery store for bananas and such.
I just read that Georgia is #1 in so many agricultural products but like 80% of our money is spent on out of state produce. 1 in 7 people in GA are associated with agriculture.
If I could garden where I live I would but my yard is engulfed in hardwood trees. I am trying to grow jalapeno peppers this year but the plants are so small I don't think they will do much. When we first moved here I tried my hand at container gardening with tomatoes on my front sidewalk. I grew tomatoes but they were so small it was embarrassing. 9 years later we have lost 2 trees in the front yard but still not enough sun. So I looked elsewhere for home grown goodness.
I love Athens. My mother's family was raised there. There is a house on Buena Vista in Normaltown my great grandfather built. There used to be a man (according to a cousin) who worked at the hardware store that remembered my great grandfather.
I just happened upon Full Moon last spring through the internet. I think it is great. My kids and I love to walk down the road to the fields when we have time. Haven't had much time lately but hopefully before the season ends we will make a couple more trips down the road. I appreciate the hard work all the workers put into it so there is a bountiful harvest!
I can only hope one day I will be able to move closer to Athens than I am.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
