Food poisoning really makes me not want to write about food, much less cook it. Weāve had a few soup and sandwich suppers lately, while Iāve recovered. Trying to boost my interest in cooking and baking again, I have picked a new cookbook to review. Iām hoping to go through them all again too and start weeding some out. Oddly enough most of the recipes have just been made up ones.
This is baked mac and cheese and roasted curry carrots. Both were yummy and I had a fruit as well. I did my usual āthrow all the cheeses in the fridge in a pot with a roux.ā Next time, I think I would toss the panko with some butter to get it brown and crispy. It was kind of insipid without it. The carrots came from a carrot that was as big as my wrist. It was ridiculous!
We decided that we didnāt like the texture of this Instant Pot chicken marsala and would rather have it made on the stove top so it would maintain the crispy coating. It tasted good though! The recipe is here: https://littlesunnykitchen.com/instant-pot-marsala-chicken/
This was a thrown together after food poisoning soup with mini Costco cilantro chicken dumplings. It was yummy and light.
Youāre probably tired of seeing Instant Pot Korean beef, but itās so yummy.
Beef noodle stir fry made for a quick dinner. I sliced up a steak and threw a bunch of sauces at it. It worked out pretty well.
I roped K2 into making a cookie recipe from my Pinterest while I was making bao. It worked out well for all of us! The frosting recipe with it made them ungodly sweet. Iāll use it on a spice cake for the distance Hobbit party instead where the spice will balance the sweetness.
I made a different kind of breakfast for dinner this week, so I could have some egg cups for breakfast. I need more protein in the morning and these generally work. I also made current muffins, but didnāt add enough oil, so they werenāt very delicious.
I like breakfast for dinner, but the Husband doesnāt, so sometimes I will make it just for me and heās on his own. This one worked out nicely. I like the egg cups for breakfast too, since theyāre really quick and keep me full through my morning appointments.
Iām hoping to have some more interest in food again. Iāve been trying to bake, as that can sometimes help. The Husband suggested food in movies, so let me know if you have any good suggestions!
I realized I hadnāt posted about our dinners lately and thought I should remedy that. I need to get back on track with trying some cookbooks, as we are having a lot of the same things again. Thereās nothing wrong with delicious favorites, of course, but it is nice to have a little variety. I was able to rework my schedule again to have one more night where I could actually cook at home too. Now, on to the foods!
A quick, but good dinner was these chicken sausages with onions and cheese. Also a little handful of garden veggies and probably a fruit of some kind, although itās not pictured.
Kebobs made an appearance over pearl couscous. I marinated the steak in Galena street rub from Penzeyās. They were yummy.
We had apple crisp after our trip to the apple orchard. I think this had three different types of apples in it. We used the extra donuts to make decadent caramel donut sundaes the day after. It was a very delicious idea, especially after toasting the donuts. It is in the featured picture.
We used the Instant Pot for this chicken and dumplings. It was so delicious! Iāll definitely be making it again, especially in the winter. I did use canned biscuits for a shortcut and they werenāt bad. Hereās the recipe: https://lifefamilyfun.com/instant-pot-chicken-dumplings/
Due to the meat issues, I made chickpea curry again. It wasnāt as spicy this time, but was still comforting and tasty. I have some dried chickpeas in my cupboard that I need to cook so I can make it again. I liked switching up the veggies. This version had corn, garden beans, carrots, and butternut squash.
The Apricot Rosemary Streusel bars were a hit at work. I used a recipe from the 9 by 13 pan book. I have been wanting to try this recipe for a while and recently found out that a few of my coworkers donāt like chocolate. I know, the horror, right? š³ The Husband declined to try them. I think I would make them again. They were quite tasty and it was unusual to have the savory rosemary with the sweet. I would skip the pine nuts next time though. They were really expensive and didnāt a ton of interesting flavor.
Some favorites that made an appearance were pancakes and bacon with the best maple syrup from our friendsā sugar shack, chicken divan, toasted turkey and cheese sandwich, and loaded potato soup. We totally watched the movie āRatatouilleā while we ate the soup. š
Iām looking forward to making soups and other yummy fall treats soon. I have a jar of apple cider in the fridge that wants to be something scrumptious, I know. I may even bring more treats to work, if I can get the school to stop thanking me so much. š
Hello from Canning Central! Iāve been busy canning delicious yummy things lately. K2 reminded me that we ādidnāt have to wait until winterā to use the things and I gave her a really funny look. In my head I have to wait until at least December! She is right though. Itās nice to have a shelf of home canned things, but even nicer to actually eat and enjoy them!
I joined a Facebook group about canning and itās absolutely inspiring, but yet also altogether intimidating to see othersā canning progress. I havenāt posted there yet with my measly looking 5 jar haul. š³ Luckily, I can post here, no matter how small my batches are.
Now, to get to the actual point of the post! The featured picture is my lemon verbena ready to be dehydrated for teas and other things. I used the arugula forest to make this lovely peppery pesto with parsley and walnuts.
The pesto is in the freezer for quick dinners later. I made this mimosa marmalade as well, for the fridge. Itās from the Little Jars, Big Flavors book.
I donāt have a picture of it, but did make cinnamon crockpot applesauce for the freezer, although we did eat some of it for dinner as well. I have more apples, so will make more after I make the apple chips. These were the not canned other things I made.
Dried lemon balm and lemon verbena (for teas,) dried sage, and freezer marinara sauce. The little jar is lemon verbena sugar.
I did can a marinara sauce from one of my canning magazines. A friend shared extra tomatoes with me, so I gave a jar to him and his wife as a thank you. Also, to encourage more excess produce sharing in the future. š
They are both pretty spicy. The Jalepeno salsa is more of an end spicy kick and the Fire Roasted is more spicy on the front end. We polished off the half jars that were left over pretty quickly.
I made another marmalade too. This one is a Citrus Vanilla Bean Marmalade. It was a pain to make and I was mad at it for being so much work, so havenāt tried it yet. It smelled delicious though. This recipe is from my Little Jars, Big Flavor book.
Three kinds of pickles were made. Garlic Chips and regular dill spears.
I also made one jar of kohlrabi pickles which are a fridge pickle. I havenāt tried them yet, but will soon. I also have no picture of them.
Tomorrow Iām making salsa verde and I have some more jams I wanted to make, so there should be a second canning post. It doesnāt feel like Iāve made much this year yet, but seeing it all written out, I guess I have after all!
Oh, and an update to the Squirrel War Chronicles! I was dismayed to find out that I may owe the squirrels a tiny apology, as I discovered a certain dog munching on my tomatoes the other day. She was going through the plants happily slurping the ripe ones right off the vine! Then when I yelled at her and started to go out to chase her off, she started eating them faster! She even hopped into the garden to snack in there! š¤Ø
Weāre not going to tell the squirrels though, because they stole a bunch of other items. Or did they?! Piggy has no shame, of course, and is peacefully sleeping the sleep of the pure hearted. Dogs, man.
Anyway, enjoy the canning goodness and Iāll share the rest as soon as I have it done.
Currently hungry for more fruit smoothie, but Iāll hold off until the morning. I used the last of my yogurt tonight. We had waffles, chicken breakfast sausage, and a fruit smoothie with oatmilk, yogurt, and berries. The Husband likes a little bit of sweetener in his smoothies, so I added a tablespoon or so of one of the simple syrups in my fridge. I had whipped cream and maple syrup on mine.
I tried a new breakfast recipe as well and discovered that my stomach gets super duper rumbly if I eat that much dairy right away, so may not make it again. It was a breakfast cheesecake cup!
I just went to link to the recipe and the website said the account had been suspended, but basically itās a block of softened cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt. Blend them together, add sweetener and flavoring of your choice and a crust or granola on the bottom. This is it with plum cardamom jam. It was alright, but I think I might try another recipe. I would also add some more protein powder to these, if I was to make them again. They didnāt quite have the staying power I needed.
Speaking of staying power, my younger brother had been inspiring me to eat more protein with breakfast. I have made eggs a couple of time along with some muffins. I canāt always eat eggs for breakfast, occasionally they make me really sick.
We had a special weekend treat of baked banana bread donuts with chocolate glaze. They obviously needed sprinkles! I really want to make a bunch of baked goods with sprinkles and experiment with pictures of them for practice. It would be super cute, I think! Just look at how yummy these donuts look.
I used 5 Spice sugar in them for an extra twist and they were yummy. Very subtly spiced. The Brother approved, although the Husband didnāt eat them. He doesnāt like bananas.
Speaking of the Brother, we had some tasty dinners while the Husband was out of town for business. I think they were all Middle Eastern or Indian based foods and oh man… First up is beef kafta over pearl couscous and a cucumber tomato parsley salad. The salad had Zaāatar spice in it. All the components were yummy!
He made falafel as well one night and they were so light and delicious. We had them with another tomato cucumber and herb salad. The recipe was apparently terrible and seemed to leave out some steps. It was from The Wizardās Cookbook which the Husband recently bought me.
Donāt they look scrumptious? In the same cookbook, there was a recipe for āRed Dragon Inn Spicy Brothā and it was basically a curry coconut broth.
We had it with cooperatively made naan breads. Gosh, Iām going to miss having an extra cook in the house! The following picture should help explain why.
When I came home the next day, he was in the kitchen heating up naan, having cooked up some chicken, reduced the curry soup into a sauce and chopped up more romaine and parsley. I added yogurt on mine. It was so comforting and yummy! I will definitely make it again. Now that the Husband is traveling occasionally, Iām starting to plan more meals that he doesnāt like.
More Brother made meals included Blackberry BBQ beef ribs and Spanish Spiced chicken. They were both excellent.
The salad has a couple garden tomatoes and arugula in it.
I donāt have pictures of it, but the boys made themselves pork a couple of times. I had dahl and rice one night (Thanks Jeanne!) and made this ridiculously delicious chickpea curry that I would know like to eat about once a week.
The curry had chickepeas, butternut squash, carrots, green onions, and spicy, spicy fresh cayenne peppers from the garden. I had, I think, five little slices in the whole pot and had to pull two of them back out. It was making my nose run!
Weāve had some delicious favorites, pasta salad, chicken pot pie over noodles, and caprese salad with garden tomatoes and basil.
Also some delicious desserts. This is the strawberry cheesecake pie that I made for our anniversary. Side note, the Husband had stuck with me for 8(!) years! Well, married years, we were together for about five years before that too. I think he sticks around for the food mainly. š
I experimented with a no bake cheesecake as well. We tried chocolate and key lime flavors. We ate the key lime before I could take a picture, but it had toasted coconut on top.
I made cookies to take to work with me and shared with the CNA class that shares the other side of our building. They made me a picture Thank you with all of them holding cookies. š I was so embarrassed. I just wanted to me the cookie fairy! I made white chocolate lime coconut and chili chocolate cookies. Both were excellent! The lime cookies came from a Food Network insert and the chili chocolate cookies were here: https://localmilkblog.com/2013/03/salted-spicy-double-chocolate-chili-cookies.html
They were well received. The Brother had to sample many, but I think decided the lime cookies were his favorite.
Homemade pizza made an appearance. This time it had turkey Italian Sausage, mushrooms, and onions. I made a quick red sauce and actually managed to cook the dough for long enough this time.
I didnāt go too crazy for Shark Week this week. I only made three themed meals and two more shark themed clothing items. Well, five, if you count masks separately, I guess.
We did have Shark fin quesadillas and taco salad on Monday.
We had Shrimp Scampi on our actual anniversary.
And I had homemade arugula parsley pesto over shark themed noodles.
Oh my goodness, was the pesto good! Iām planning on making spinach and herb pesto tomorrow and freezing it all in tiny jars so I can pull it out in the winter and eat it when missing green things. I really enjoyed the pepperiness of the arugula. I can credit my friend K with helping me figure out that I like pesto. She sent us home the last time we visited with a couple of jars of different kinds of pesto and inspired me to make my own.
I think thatās all so far. I may be making an octopus cake for the end of Shark Week tomorrow, possibly a marble bundt cake. Also, I need ideas to use up the enormous thing of ricotta in my fridge. One of my planned recipes is cannoli filling ice cream. It looks really good, but Iāll have to make some other things too. I have a ricotta pancakes recipe too, so maybe Iāll try that. Wish me luck and drop me recipes if you have them!
Isnāt the starry bowl pretty? My Mom was sweet and sent us two of them after I had mentioned that I wanted them, but couldnāt justify getting them right now. I had cereal, yogurt, and fruit salad leftovers in it and it was the perfect breakfast size.
They didnāt get here in time for the 4th of July breakfast (that I have rechristened āIce Cream for Breakfast Dayā to better explain it to people.). We couldnāt find good blueberries this year. The ones in our shopping order were sneakily moldy, so I had to throw them out. I like breathing and mold makes that stop pretty regularly. We didnāt have time to try and find more of them. We just used blue bowls instead!
Cereal on the bottom as is correct. Donāt listen to my older brother!
We had strawberry shortcake with homemade āBusy Day Cakeā from the Better Homes and Gardens book for the 4th of July dessert with my in-laws. We sat in their gazebo in the yard and had delicious burgers and sides. I, of course, brought dessert.
My younger brother is staying with us for a bit and is an excellent cook, so heās made us a couple of good meals. I donāt have a picture of the Instant Pot pulled pork, but have it on good authority that it was delicious. He made his own BBQ sauce and I believe added hard cider to it.
I do have a picture of the yummy chicken, potato wedges, and salad that he made. Yesterday he made jambalaya with smoked turkey sausage and shrimp. Weāre going to miss him when he moves out.
We used a Chophouse spice mix from the Pepper Palace. We bought that on our California trip forever ago. I had forgotten how yummy it is. I even mixed my meat with my potatoes! I will definitely be making this again. The Instant Pot has been getting more use, since itās ridiculously hot.
One Instant Pot recipe that I was very disappointed in was a Moroccan Lentil Soup from I heart vegetables. It was so bad that Iām not even going to link the recipe. Also, it wonāt let me link it for some reason, so it worked out. It was so watery and bland. I felt like I was just eating water with some weirdly cooked lentils in it. Blech. Even adding more spices at the end didnāt help and I ended up wasting a lot of it. I accidentally added carrots and celery and even that didnāt help. We had extra basmati rice from the pork that the boys ate that night, so I added those on the bottom.
I will not be making this again, although I would like to find a good lentil IP recipe.
Luckily, I redeemed the lentils by making IP Korean beef from Damn Delicious. Recipe is here, although Iāve probably shared the recipe several times. We have it about once a month because itās that good. https://damndelicious.net/2018/02/21/instant-pot-korean-beef/
I made a fruit monster salad too! Basically any fruit in my house gets tossed together. I love summer.
We had lava cakes again, although I made them in the oven this time. It makes 3 tiny cakes, so the perfect size for our dessert. Really, you canāt go wrong with ooey gooey chocolate. Mmmmm…
I have made a couple of fun breakfasts. I used rhubarb from the garden for this rhubarb pecan bread. Itās good, but needs a little more flavor.
Weāve eaten a couple of fun fried dinners. I made chicken tenders with my own recipe. Penzeyās Cajun seasoning in the flour/panko mix breading and salt and pepper in the flour step. 3 step dredge and fry. Baked frozen fries and some fruit as well. They turned out pretty good. My brother looked at me with big eyes when I asked him how many chicken tenders he would want and said āALL OF THEM.ā He had visions of a fried chicken sandwich the next day for lunch. š
Before my brother was here, we tried tempura fried shrimp and veggies, from Jet Tilaās cookbook.
The dipping sauce I had was just some sweet chili sauce. It was fun to try and pretty good. Pretty messy though! I especially enjoyed the zucchini. The Husband liked the shrimp and mushrooms, but spurned the other veggies, of course. We would make this again! It wasnāt as scary as I thought it might be and fun to have a different sort of dinner.
The Brother doesnāt eat a lot of dairy, so we had chicken sausage pasta. It was good, as usual. The sauce wasnāt as thick as it normally is. I used our last jar of homemade garlic pasta sauce. Iām waiting for tomato canning season to start so I can make more sauce. Hopefully make all the jams I didnāt finish last year too. This year, I will pick cooler weekends though. Our air conditioning is super cranky and old.
We had a veggie filled beef stir fry too. No recipe, just threw together everything until it looked good. I cheated and used hoisin in the sauce, so it had a good flavor.
Weāve been craving comfort foods lately, so the Husband requested a pot roast. It turned out very tender and yummy. I used basil and some seasoned salt along with the pepper and Wochestshire sauce.
I tried to make puff pastry, but ended up kneading it too much in the food processor and ended up with the flakiest pie crust ever.
We used it for chicken pies. They were yummy and now I know the secret for super flaky pie crust. Hint- itās tons of butter. š
I think a good buttery recipe is a good way to end this post, so I hope I made you hungry! As Penzeyās says āLove people, cook them tasty food!ā
Piggy has started chasing squirrels! This is very exciting for two reasons. 1- The squirrels were eating all the started veggies off my plants before I could get them! And 2- Weāre most likely keeping Piggy! Sheās captured the Husband with her ridiculously goofy snorts and many dog kisses. Sheās quite serious in this picture, as she was supervising the rearranging and cleaning of my sewing space. Iāll do that update in a few days, when I can get things put away. Itās still messy. Itās in a better spot though, I think, so thatās good.
She does like to be outside and we were super excited when she started treeing squirrels. Sheās not quite fast enough to catch them though, at least so far. Tonight she stalked one across the yard while it was on the cinder blocks for the garden and then charged until it was up a tree. I approve quite hardily!
I learned an interesting fact this year. Tomatillos grow the husk first and then the fruit grows after that and into the husk! So cool, but I was a little confused at first. Hereās a picture.
I have two orange Juliet cherry tomatoes starting to turn and a lot of green ones on other plants. My homemade cages are mostly working. I am pleased with them, so Iāll set them up next year too.
I have eaten my second produce from the garden too! A little radish! We had one lonely strawberry this year. I think they need some extra compost in the fall to keep them better over the winter.
I also used some of the rhubarb in a fun new quick bread recipe. It was pretty good. I have also been excited about having arugula in my salads. Itās fun to have something to make the salads a little less boring.
My hot peppers are growing, the squirrels stole one, but abandoned it in the garden, as usual. My other peppers keep getting eaten before they can grow.
My zucchini has a lot of flowers, but they keep getting eaten, so I donāt know how many zucchini Iāll get this year. It bums me out, I was going to make more squash pickles to share with Dad.
I made a scare bag to put in the garden, but I might need a few more. My Grandpa Ed used to put them in his garden and he was a fantastic gardener, so Iām hoping some of his garden luck will rub off on me. My rhubarb is planted in his memory as well, so I was excited to use it this year.
Some of my herbs are growing and I need to replace a couple of them. Itās been too hot and I havenāt been able to water them enough. I also transplanted a couple of the volunteer tomato plants into pots instead of in the middle of the cucumbers/carrots/etc.
We have a couple of interlopers that we are going to work on getting rid of. These are American Pokeweed and these are we think, Poison Oak.
My younger brother is staying with us for a little while and as it turns out, heās immune to poison ivy! Weāre all hoping this also applies to poison oak, although he will be wearing the necessary protective gear of course. Heās going to dig out the area by the apple tree that we had planned to turn into another garden space anyway. Iām thinking weāll put two narrow beds in it to grow herbs or things that can be trellised. For now though, after he digs it all out, weāre going to cover it with landscape fabric and set up the blocks to hold it down. Hopefully itās not gotten too far away from that area and into the ground cover a little ways over.
Piggy has been getting very itchy after coming in from outside and we suspect that might be why. Weāve got an itch relief spray for her and some wipes that seem to help.
We did have a nice interloper though. A big toad! Piggy found it and was sniffing it until I made her leave it alone. It hopped off into the bushes. Being so close to the river, we do get a lot of toads and frogs. I think itās fun!
I think thatās all the garden updates recently. Everything seems to be taking a long time to grow and produce. I think we need to add some compost for next year to get the extra nutrients into the soil. Hopefully I will have some more updates soon!
Sometimes looking back at my food pictures makes me hungry again. š The Husband starts traveling for work shortly, so you might see a few more vegetarian meals and thinks like barley and lentils. I thought I might be lonely, but Piggy is turning out to be goofy and so lovable that I might be less lonely than I think. She came with me to a new and beautiful park today for my outdoor staff meeting and charmed everyone. She mostly snoozed after saying hello.
We donāt think she has had much people food. She doesnāt even seem to get excited about peanut butter! Thatās fine with me, itāll be more peanut butter for me! I havenāt made any blog worthy pb recipes lately though. Iāll have to work on that.
Tonightās chicken dish was good. I made tequila lime chicken with cilantro rice. We had chips and salsa on the side.
I made chocolate chip pecan muffins for breakfast that were pretty yummy. They were just my standard recipe with add ins.
Instant Pot Korean beef made an appearance. Itās super quick and delicious, so works well for work nights.
We had steak and potatoes on a sheet pan as well. I donāt remember where I got the recipe though. We used round steaks.
We needed some quick and easy comfort food one night after both of us were missing Fancy, so I made delicious caramel apple waffles with homemade caramel and whipped cream. Mmm… I made everyone jealous at work when I brought them for lunch the next day. I also cannot find this recipe, but you can use your favorite waffle recipe and store bought caramel for easier waffles. I just peeled and cooked down three or four apples with butter, cinnamon, and sugar.
On one of our nicer days, we grilled these chicken tenderloins and had them with a Mexican rice side and fresh pico. They were yummy!
And last, but not least, pasta salad with transportation shaped noodles. Hey now, I know what youāre thinking, but adults need whimsy and fun noodle shapes too! š
Weāre trying to get back in the habit of meal planning again. Our days have been messed up, so we have taken our 3 month dive into on the fly dinners again, but itās not super relaxing, so are trying to get structure back. I took all next week off from work, so am going to try to experiment with some new dishes. I may also can or bake, but weāll see how lazy I feel.
Iām headed off to bed. I do have a new recipe to write up, but got a little too much sun today resulting in heat hives, so am super sleepy from the allergy meds. I think you probably want the recipe to actually make sense. š¬ So have a lovely night!
So first off, I was left unsupervised at a local garden store and I discovered their magical backyard area for the main greenhouse. Plus, I definitely want to support my local small businesses. So yes, I did need all these plants. š
I ended up running out of potting soil for my last two herbs and my little fairy garden replacement plants because I had a lot of plants, but Iām excited to get the garden going.
I did plant seeds on Tuesday and next year I swear I will actually sort markers out, not just assume Iāll remember where things are. Itās going to be a squash and melon battle royale in the corner of one of the beds this year. I have two zucchini plants, a watermelon, and a pumpkin, I think…. May gourd have mercy.
Hereās the bed in question. I switched them this year, since I have had the tomatoes in the same bed for two years.
I have discovered that a true friend is one who will take extra zucchini plants off your hands, by the way. I could only get a pack of 4 plants, but would kind of like to have other things in the garden bed, so only wanted two. Sheās also taking some sugar snap peas. The peas are getting their own tripod.
Iām using the same little trellis cage I used last year for beans and have three sets of cucumber seeds ready to go on a trellis, if they actually grow. All the vining things are on the right side of the bed, next to the path. I figured that would make it easy to reach them.
I have a row of carrots down the middle, since they grew so well last year. I added rainbow carrots, because you know I couldnāt resist. Across the front of the bed is arugula and little gem lettuce. There may also be swiss chard and a broccoli? Next year, I promise to label everything.
The peppers are in this bed as well. Nothing fancy, a salsa mix from seed, a poblano, a jalepeno, and a long cayenne pepper. Thereās also a couple of bell peppers, one plant and a seed mix.
Now the tomato bed, is as usual, where things get interesting. š Itās also where I find another definition of a true friend, one who shares heirloom tomato seeds with me! She sent a Better Buy Yellow, a Casspian Pink, a Black Prince, and a German Ruby Green. I planted them all and am hoping they will all grow. I wasnāt able to get myself together to try seed starting again this year, so I have no idea if they will even grow in time, but I might as well try, I thought. Maybe, like the radishes, I might get some surprises.
I will admit that I buy tomato plants by name, not necessarily by whatās actually best for my garden or space. Kind of like my mother when she buys wine actually, so that must be where I got it from. š So in interesting tomato names this year, I have Mortgage Lifter, Lemon Boy, Pink Brandywine, Green Zebra, and once again, Mr. Stripey! Iām definitely going to try to save seeds this year, in case I canāt find him again. I have a couple of beefsteak and Sweetie cherry tomato seeds planted somewhere in the garden. Possibly next to the extra radishes. I also bought a tomatillo plant! Iāll be excited to try some slasa verde too!
I canāt forget my herbs, of course! I think I need more of them though. My thyme survived a little, but then when it froze again, it was no more. So far, I have flat leaf parsley, Greek oregano, spearmint, lemon verbana, lemon balm, and two kinds of sage, varigated golden sage and garden sage. I havenāt used all my dried herbs from last year, so thought I should try to go easy this year, but I really want more fresh ones to use. I get such a kick out of just stepping out to cut fresh herbs. Makes me feel all sorts of fancy!
My tea pot and the empty pot is basil
The strawberries mostly survived. The ones in the specific strawberry tower did not survive, oddly enough. I think they may have been too dry. The others are growing very well, although I still need to weed them. We even have some berries started already!
I also bought some fairy garden plants to fix my fairy gardens from last year, a succulent to take to my office (hooray for windows!) and some flowers to go in the empty front bed so it looks like weāre doing something in there. I donāt have a good picture of the bed, as it doesnāt look pretty yet, but hereās some of the flowers.
We do have some glorious iris starting to appear. My friend gave us a bunch last year and Iām excited to see the different colors. Hereās the purple one thatās open right now!
So other than the sunburn Iāve accquired, things are looking good for the garden. The Husband rigged a sprinkler temporarily up to water the beds for us and itās one of the shooting and turning ones and it looks hilarious. We need to get new hose couplings to make the other ones work. Weāre going to venture out for mulch and more herbs tomorrow. I will attempt to be good, but you know once I get in the plants, the garden haze descends upon me and I have no idea how all those plants just jump into my cart. Honestly, itās almost spooky! š Yeah, the Husband doesnāt believe me either, but he sure likes the salasa that we have all summer.
I hope youāre able to grow some fun things this summer. I know itās perking me up to plant and sow some hope for the future. Happy Gardening!
Well, hello from day eleventy-hundred of social distancing! My birthday celebrations have been extended, as part of the Husbandās gifts for me came later in the month. He bought me some fun books, as is now Tradition. These books, he paid full price for, not book sale bag day prices. š Feel free to skip down a couple paragraphs if you just want cookbook review.
One was a flamingo coloring book, which I have already started using. I forget if I have shared the picture I have colored or not, so forgive me if itās a double.
I used watercolor pencils, so thatās why it looks wet. He also bought me a book about Pibbles! Itās called āIām A Good Dog!ā Itās an overview of pibbles and the prejudice against them. Of course I adored it. It has lovely pictures of the dogs being their best, lovey, dopey selves. I mean, look at Fancy! Can you even believe people are scared of her?
The other book was a Dim Sum cookbook! Dim Sum has a special place in our relationship. I met the Husbandās parent for the first time at a dim sum place and we introduced my family to the same place right before our wedding. I also planned a dim sum surprise birthday party for the Husband a couple years after getting married. We have it for it for various family celebrations with my inlaws at a couple of the local restaurants too.
Hereās the book. Dim Sum: The Art Of The Chinese Tea Lunch by Ellen Leong Blonder
Hereās a quick overview of Dim Sum, in case you havenāt had the experience. Which if you can ever try it, I would highly recommend it. Not all Chinese places have it and the hours can vary. We have gone anywhere from 11 AM to 11 PM at different restaurants. Thereās always tea, but you can also get water or other drinks normally. Itās about the only time Iāll drink jasmine tea.
Thereās no menu, instead food items come around on little carts and you point to what you want. The foods will be different, depending on where you are too. Sometimes thereās a soup or two, be sure to check whatās in it. One of the more common soups has tripe in it. Most of the orders are small little metal tins, containing 3-4 of each dish. When you request one, theyāll add it to your little check at the table. Itās best to plan for a large budget, as itās hard to resist just getting one more thing.
Some of our most ordered dim sum items include steamed dumplings. Typically pork dumplings and shu mai, a translucent shrimp dumpling called har gao, steamed pork buns, steamed shrimp and chive dumplings (my newest favorite,) fried taro dumplings (my MILās favorite,) tea leaf steamed rice packets with delicious things inside, steamed Chinese broccoli, these rice noodles with soy sauce, and surprisingly a flash fried squid dish thatās crispy and spicy. (Iād fight someone for the squid, itās that good.) If we can, we also get fried noodles. Now that may seem like a lot, but itās very small portions of all of them. Last time we went, I also tried a sweet steamed bun with egg custard in it.
Itās a really fun experience and Iām very glad itās now part of my family traditions! Now, on to the cookbook and recipes!
I immediately went overboard and planned a ridiculous number of dishes. š In the end, I narrowed it down to just a few things, split over two days. The first day we had pan fried bao, fried noodles, and beef meatballs.
The bao was tricky. This first set burned on one side. I should have probably used my cast iron, as it recommended a non-stick pan. I donāt own one, other than the cast irons. They looked much prettier before they were cooked!
They were filled with ground turkey, instead of pork. We enjoyed them and I would probably make them again, but this time with a different pan. The book included multiple recipes for different types of bao, both sweet and savory. I would like to try some more of the recipes, especially the coconut buns.
We didnāt like the meatballs very much. They had citrus in them and it was just a little off putting. They were interesting to make though, as they steamed instead of fried, they looked pretty raw because of the steaming, but were actually cooked through. I donāt think weāre going to making the meatballs again.
For the noodles, we just added precooked angel hair pasta to probably a little too much oil, fried them, flipped them, and added a slurry at the end of chicken stock and cornstarch. They were okay, but we havenāt mastered the techniques yet. The Husband took care of the noodles while I was working on the bao.
The second night, we had a dumpling feast with three different types of dumplings. Oh, and because I, 1) have a problem with my brain being missing, and 2) couldnāt find dumpling wrappers at either store we got groceries delivered from, made my own wrappers. š±
The book also has multiple recipes for dumplings and homemade wrappers. It even has flavored wrappers. We also went super fancy and ground our own chicken, although, if we could have found some, we would have used that. The Husband was extremely grossed out by the squishy noise the meat grinder attachment makes. Iāve made sausage before, so,was expecting it. We will most likely keep doing that. Itās a lot cheaper than buying it pre ground, I think, and definitely easier than trying to find it at the stores right now.
We tried mushroom wontons, scallop dumplings, and curry chicken potstickers. The mushroom and scallop dumplings technically needed wheat starch wrappers so they would be translucent after being cooked, but I could not get my hands on wheat starch in time. They were still good.
We ate the mushroom wontons in a 5 spice beef broth.
The scallop dumplings were steamed and the potstickers I fried and then steamed. And they actually worked! Iāve had trouble with potstickers before.
Look how crispy they were! The curry ones were my favorite and the Husband liked the scallop ones better. The mushroom ones were okay, but I donāt know if we would have them again.
I also tried a sweet from the book. Almond Pudding- itās pretty much milk jello with almond flavoring and sugar. Slightly strange and I attempted to inhale it and choked myself on it the first bit I took. It was super scary. Itās good with fruit though. The Husband got weirded out after trying a bite and declined to eat any more.
I especially liked that it gave pork subs for a bunch of the dumpling and bao recipes. Since I canāt eat pork, we tend to use chicken for most of the recipes, so it was nice to see that offered as an option. It included the authorās stories and memories of dim sum too, so that was nifty. The book is a nice size and has drawings, rather than photos of the foods, which lends extra charm. It also suggests teas to go with the foods.
Overall, the cookbook is delightful and will make an excellent addition to our Lunar New Year feasts. Of course, there are a lot more recipes waiting to be tried, so Iām sure youāll see it again.
