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.

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.

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.

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

I saw this bacon, onion, and cream pizza over at smitten kitchen and couldn’t help but give it a try.   To be honest it was the first time I had ever used fromage blanc or creme fraiche so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.

It was great.  The spouse and I loved the combination of bacon and caramelized onions with the blended cheeses.  The locally made fromage blanc I found at my co-op had some garlic blended into it, but no worries, the hint of garlic was perfect.

I served it along side our new favorite pasta dish.

creamy parmesan orzo with peas

2 Tablespoons butter

1 1/4 cup orzo pasta

1 1/4 cup chicken broth

1 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan

1 cup cooked peas

salt and pepper

Melt butter in medium saucepan.  Add orzo and cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.

Stir in broth and water.  Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer.  Simmer until liquid is absorbed.  Stirring occasionally.  (around 15 – 20 minutes)

Remove from heat.  Stir in cheese and peas.  Season with salt and pepper.

I was up and ready for the day so I sent the kids off to school and caught up on some things in the kitchen.

The spouse drank his way through another batch of cocoa mix, so I stirred up yet another batch.  Our milk was getting a little close to the edge so I made some rice pudding.

I have had a box of chocolate chex on the shelf since Christmas and finally mixed up some puppy chow.  I also bit the bullet yesterday and started cutting up the echino helicopters for cj’s quilt.  I have been stitching on those today too.

When cj saw the first few block he announced they were “perfect!”

Tuesday night, my friends and I got together for a big potluck/gift exchange party.  I made this tote for the exchange.

It was an appetizer/dessert potluck (let’s all be honest those are the best parts of  a meal anyway)

I made cayenne parmesan twists.  I wasn’t sure how much cayenne to add.  In the end I think I went a little heavy, but the spouse disagreed.  So that’s why I’m giving a range for the amount of cayenne.

cayenne parmesan twists

one package puff pastry – thawed according to package directions

2/3 grated parmesan (divided in half)

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix 1/3 cup of parm with spices in a bowl and set aside.  Dust rolling surface with remaining 1/3 cup of parm and place pastry on top.  Dust pastry with parm/spice mixture and roll pastry to 1/8″ thickness.  Cut pastry into 1/2 inch strips.  Give each strip several twists and lay on parchment line baking sheet.

Bake until golden, 9-10 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly on sheet pan and then remove to rack to cool completely.