BIG TROUBLE

I am having some considerable trouble with my computer and am unable to access my Blog in any normal way. I am working on this for any of you who may be interested in reading it. I am posting this note simply to see if it actually posts. I surely do not need more stress in my life!!! I am so computer unsavvy it is unbelievable.

THE BOUNTY

Despite the stressful issues in our lives at this time, the garden never fails to bring beauty, joy and darn good eating.  This kind of nourishment is not only good, no great for the body, but it feeds the soul.  A day sweating in the garden under the hot sun renews the body and the sagging spirit as well.  May the Earth and the Sun and all of Nature, may the Great Spirit bring the healing for which we all pray.

I never cease to be astonished at the variety, depth of color, and brilliance of zinnias, my favorite flower.  They are in profuse bloom right now, and our house abounds with their beauty.

Two years ago I started planting San Marzano tomatoes, the first choice of tomatoes in Italy.  I have not been sorry.

The plants are loaded and have been ripening now for a couple of weeks.

These tomatoes are excellent for canning, for fresh salsa, for fresh, uncooked sauce over pasta, and of course for pizza, my favorite food ever, and if this is not too vain, my pizza is my favorite pizza ever!!

I roast  and can or freeze my own pizza sauce, and it really is delicious, and the aroma in the kitchen when it is roasting is wonderful.

I just roasted my first batch of pizza sauce....plenty of good olive oil in the bottom of a pan, cut up cleaned but not skinned tomatoes, onions, garlic, lots of fresh basil, (all directly from the garden) some dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste and a touch of sugar.  Roast until it reaches the desired thickness.  

And this very fresh sauce was used for our Sunday evening pizza...

...homemade dough, spread with the sauce, covered with thin pepperoni slices,

Organic Valley's Raw Milk Jack cheese shredded over, and topped with freshly grated Romano cheese...do not let rise, place on adobe tiles or pizza stone with only parchment paper beneath, in a preheated 450-500 degree oven.  It will be done in 10-12 minutes...

just out of the oven,

served with a salad of which all ingredients came from the garden as well.

I can honestly say this was the best pizza I had ever made, and the best pizza I had ever eaten...I am inclined to believe due to the fresh roasted sauce!!!

Dessert was a raspberry (few black berries) crisp

served with vanilla ice cream.

We do eat like royalty here on Jug Creek, and I am thankful for the ability to work my garden and bring the freshest of foods to our table. 

BOUNTIFUL

There is much on my mind these days dampening my spirits, and sometimes I find it difficult to do pursue the creative aspects of my life.  However going up to the garden, getting my hands down deep in the dirt, pulling weeds and reaping the bounty is a balm.  So too, is getting on my bike and riding my usual route, which having recently tracked the mileage, I now know is 18.3 miles.  I try to ride it at least 4 times per week, more if possible.  Also working up a real sweat in my Zumba class twice per week, is good for my soul.  

The garden is spilling forth with goods now, broccoli, dill, cucumbers, Swiss Chard, beans, especially beans aplenty, and then some.

One of my favorite broccoli dishes is this raw broccoli salad, which quite honestly I could eat and eat and eat.

Raw broccoli cut up, and I use the thick stems, peeled, as well.  An onion from the garden cut into pieces, a bunch of sun flower seeds, a handful of craisens, crisp, crumbled bacon, mayo, a bit of cider vinegar and a touch of sugar.  Unbelievable good.

This bean salad is a staple of my childhood, and is made about two hours before dinner and left at room temperature.  Blanch beans until desired tenderness and cut up.  Slice onions, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers (which are coming a couple a day), snipped fresh dill, olive oil, wine vinegar, salt/pepper and dried oregano.  Toss and let sit.

This dish, adapted from a favorite risotto recipe is dynamite.  Mild Italian sausage sauteed with onions, when onions soft, add a cup of Marsala wine, reduce heat and cook for about 25 minutes until liquid reduced by about half.  In the mean time cook your risotto (this recipe usually has sliced potatoes in it, and it would still be good, but I left them out for this version).  Many people do not do risotto because they think it is too  time consuming, adding broth a little at a time until absorbed, which can in fact take up to 25 minutes.  But it is really worth it.  While doing the risotto, steam or saute fresh from the garden Swiss chard until cooked to your liking.  When all is done place risotto in a large bowl, cover with the sauteed Swiss Chard, cut the sausages into slices, and put that along with the onions and the Marsala reduction sauce over all.  Oh, this is mighty good!!

An Amish friend has a warehouse where he gets fruit throughout the season, and he has both peaches and blueberries in at this time. 

I bought a lug of each, and here is our first peach pie....

 

It did not last long.

So, thanks to my friend Nora, who said she missed reading my blog, I posted again!!

NO NEED FOR MANY WORDS

This is, as most of you know, a trying time for our family, and we are doing our best to be positive, strong, and live normally.  I am deeply grateful for my garden which is a wonderful, daily stress remover. 

The Garden

the peas, planted in late March

 

pods to be ready in about a week...

...the lettuce...

been eating this for several weeks now

...the onions...

planted close together so we could pull the small ones and eat them now...

...the dill, none of which was planted, all came up as volunteers...

...the potatoes...

...the sweet potatoes planted as the Amish do...

...the kale, my favorite leafy green...

...the experiment...

tomatoes planted in straw bales, looking good.

I did not plant all the tomatoes in straw bales, this below is planted in the traditional manner

now this is really looking good to me!!

SPINACH AND PESTO (and a Ballerina)

Elsa had her recital on Saturday, a lovely little ballerina she was!

Jonel and Andy grow spinach in a cold frame and it has been prolific, and I, thankfully have been a recipient of much of it.

Huge, sweet leaves....

sauteed in olive oil with onion and lots of garlic.  (The little girls were astounded at the full, full, overflowing pan that ended up with what looked like a meager amount of spinach.)

Served with linguini, pesto, and grating of cheese.  It was so fresh and decidedly delicious.

Fresh from the garden lettuce salad...

homemade sour dough bread, buttered, with garlic and pressed in the panini machine.

Nothing quite like food fresh from the garden.

SIX YEAR OLD

She asked for the moon...and a bunch of stars, too.

And that is what she got!!

This year Elsa asked me to make a 'moon' cake for her, with stars sticking out.  (Her fourth birthday she asked for the sun, her fifth she asked for the earth, and this, her sixth, she asked for the moon.)

The moon cake, with stars.

...and she loved it, she pronounced it 'perfect'.

I also made her a sun dress with matching cap

and every year I include a wrapped gift for the birthday girl to give to her sister....

...so a sun dress with matching cap for Iris, as well.

The birthday party was held Friday morning at Wildcat State Park, and although a bit cool, it really was quite pleasant.

These girls are growing so rapidly, time seems to be a trickster, collapsing in upon itself whooshing away not just the minutes but it seems the years as well.

I feel deeply blessed to be loved by these girls.

EASTER

It has been close to 40 years now that I have been making this same recipe for Hot Cross Buns for Easter.  They are delicious, and we like the stories that go along with them, like the 'good luck' for the year if you hang one and let it grow dry and hard.  

Most years I make Iris and Elsa some kind of Easter Basket, and fill it with sundry things.  This year I decided to make an edible basket,

and using my regular bread dough fashioned these baskets...

which had quartz eggs, multiple tiny ceramic bunnies, and these cute little felt birds...

 

and with all the hard boiled eggs around,  I deviled some

and turned them into these little chicks.