hi
I’ve been sewing, honest, I have. I’ve been sewing so much that a lot of other things have been thrown by the wayside. Important things like taking pictures of projects and writing posts and ironing.
I’m doing surprisingly well at keeping up with my 365.
These are a couple of photos from February.
I’m also following along with Faith’s Solstice series over at Fresh Lemons Quilts.
Here’s what I have so far…
I’m loving how they are coming together.
Last Saturday was our last CSA pick up for the season.
We added to our stock pile of potatoes, onions, and butternut squash, along with some greens and a bunch of green tomatoes.
Normally I would have let these sit and ripen, but one night while I was in Salt Lake, Katherine ordered fried green tomatoes for our table. I loved them so much, I knew what I would have to make with these.
I served ours with a buttermilk dip, but a fresh made marinara would be great too.
fried green tomatoes
5 small green tomatoes
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup panko
1 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper
oil for frying
Cut stem out of tomatoes and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices, set aside.
In a shallow dish, whisk together the eggs and milk, set aside.
In another shallow dish, mix flour, cornmeal, panko, paprika, salt, and pepper.
Dredge the tomato slices in the flour mixture, then the milk, then again in the flour mixture. Place the slices in a single layer on a plate until you are ready to fry them.
Pour 1/4″ to 1/2″ of oil into frying pan and heat to 370 degrees and add tomatoes in a single layer. You will probably have to cook them in two batches. Cook for 2 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from pan to drain on paper towel lined platter for a couple of minutes then serve.
buttermilk dipping sauce
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup sour cream
juice of 1/2 lime (and some zest if you like)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
1 Tablespoon chopped chives
salt
Just whisk all of these together and pour into a serving dish. If you would like it to be thicker, use less buttermilk and more sour cream.
The spouse’s birthday was last week. I made his favorite cake.
I also made a chicken, stuffed with garlic and onion, roasted on a bed of carrots and more onion. Served along with mashed potatoes with gravy, sliced carrots, corn on the cob, and fried eggplant. We sat down to lunch and the spouse stopped to thank me for the meal, when lulu piped up to add a thank you to Laura. She’s our farmer, and lulu figured she deserved some credit with this meal since every one of the vegetables involved (and the eggs in the cake) came from her farm. Props to Laura, she has one heck of a green thumb.
This was my first try at frying eggplant. I prefer my eggplant chopped and baked under layers of cream, fontina, and parmesan. I also know that one should only eat so much of anything baked under layers of cream, fontina, and parmesan. At the same time I have to grab those eggplants at CSA pick up because Laura notices if you don’t get all your veggies.
This recipe completely won me over. I will be grabbing all the eggplants I can now.
sweet and salty fried eggplant
1 medium eggplant – sliced paper thin
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
1 cup panko crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil for frying
In a shallow dish, mix powdered sugar, corn starch, panko, and salt.
In a large pan, heat oil to 360 degrees. I use a stock pot for frying to minimize splatters.
Dredge a few of the pieces of eggplant into the panko mixture, pressing to coat well. Fry pieces in oil for 1-2 minutes or golden brown. Use a mesh strainer to remove from oil. Cool on rack placed in a sheet pan to catch drips. Season with salt if you like.
Repeat with remaining eggplant slices once oil has returned to 360 degrees.
Can be made ahead (1 hour or so) and served at room temperature.
My mom is the oldest of four and when she was growing up these were one of her specialties. I was told they named them after her because no one else in the family could make them as well as she could.
We always called them chocolate oaties, instead of Linda’s cookies. Why limit your mom to one special cookie when she could be making all sorts of great ones?
There are the thing to make, when you don’t know what else to make, especially when the weather turns hot and you don’t want the oven heating up the kitchen. Basically, they are quick, simple, and everyone likes them.
The trick is in the boil, not too hot, you want the sugar to melt before it starts to boil so the cookies have smooth texture. Also, wait to start your three minute count until after you reach a rolling boil (that’s when the mixture continues to boil even while stirring it). These are really more of a candy than a cookie, so it also helps to have a heavy bottomed pan like you would use for candy making. It helps heat the mixture at a more even rate and keep it from scorching. Sometimes even when you think you’ve followed all the rules, they still don’t set up and the only way to eat them is to scrape them off the tin foil with a spoon. Don’t worry, just call them spoon oaties and enjoy!
linda’s cookies (chocolate oaties)
2 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 stick butter
5 ounces evaporated milk (one small can)
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (you can use crunchy, unless you are making them for cj)
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
Lay a sheet of aluminum foil (or as we call it tin foil), about 18″ long on your counter. In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan, stir the sugar and cocoa powder together (this keeps the cocoa from clumping together). Add the stick of butter and stir in the evaporated milk.
Place over medium heat and stir constantly. Once the mixture reaches a rolling boil (still boiling even when stirring) cook stirring continuing to stir constantly for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in oats, peanut butter, and vanilla. Drop by spoonfuls on the foil and allow to cool.
…we decided it was
because that’s how we roll.
saturday brunch
cranberry champagne cocktails
strata with ham, fontina, and spinach
iced mocha cheesecake with whipped cream
almond cake with lemon curd
fresh berries
various teas
