Quinoa 

 

I was struggling with Q...then it came to me when I woke up this morning. 

We have been eating lots more good grains lately. Quinoa is one of my favorites.

Made this the other night. It's a real keeper. A little labor intensive, but worth it. 

This gals food site has nice inspiration.

Roasted veggies (your choice, just clean out the fridge). Marinated Chick Peas,

Pomegranate molasses is my new favorite addition. 

Feta on top.

The cooked then roasted Quinoa is what makes it so good!

 

have a nice week end. Maybe make something yummy & healthy to eat. 

 

 

Lemons

When life gives you lemons...

Make preserved lemons!

I have wanted to do this for some time. 

Finally bought a bag of Meyer lemons & started the process.

  All it takes is Kosher salt, lemons, & time. 

Here are mine hangin' out & doin' their thing. 

All the recipes I've saved for just this event. 

Now I can play with the results in some dishes.

What's your favorite condiment, preserve, unusual ingredient?

Kitchen Utensils My Faves

In our house cooking takes up a lot of my time. Even more so over the past year. The fact that we moved to more vegetarian meals added more time. Finding new recipes. Investigating techniques. Adding lots of new spices to my arsenal.

 This Danish dough hook is so simple but effective. Cookie dough, meat loaf, thick mixtures for casseroles. This baby gets it done with much less stress to the hand. The thick handle & sturdy metal loops allow you to cut through stuff like a dream.

I needed a flat meat pounder. I use it on chicken quite a bit. This one has been perfect.

While making my Mojo I thought this would be better than using the side of a knife to whack garlic cloves. It is does an amazing job with little effort & no chance of slicing my hand.

 

 If you want to smash garlic get a meat pounder.

 

I'm always on the hunt for utensils that make my life in the kitchen easier. Not electric gadgets. I rather use my own power. I find slicing & dicing meditative. Do you? 

 

I've wanted a scale for some time. Finally came up with this one. 

It fits the bill for measuring pasta, beans, whatever is in the recipe 

that goes by weight. The "tare" feature really helps. I can also use this scale

for my fiber creations that I need to mail.

 

It's a small thing but a big upgrade from the old cheap hardware store brush

I used to use. The bristles are natural & don't fall out. the handle is curved so when you lay it n the counter the oil doesn't slop all over.

Finally got a grinder. I buy all my spices in bulk & like grinding them as I need them.

So much fresher & more pungent. Of course it will do coffee as well.

I have sung the praises of my zester before. Nothing smells better that

lemon & lime zest. Grating a block of Parmesan cheese is another constant.

I requested a nice large roasting pan for Christmas. 

My newer vegie lasagne recipe as well as some other dishes needed more room 

than the good ole Pyrex 9 X 13. 

 

Have you indulged in any new kitchen items as you have cooked more at home?

What's in your cupboard?

Vegivore is the Way We Eat It's a Thing

Vegivore

I mentioned in my O post our diet has changed. Quite a bit. 

Best guess 60-70% of our meals are Vegetarian. 

We love meat & refuse to give it up entirely.

 Vegivore is what we are.

Researching the chemistry of eating vegetarian & the reported (?)

health effects on the body felt like a long rabbit hole.

You can find support for whatever way you'd like to eat: high fat, 

vegan, keto, intermittent fasting, Mediterranean, the list goes on & on. 

I'm a firm believer in common sense being the winning approach in most things.

I turned to the library to skim books recommended by my husband's 

doctor & friends. After I'd had enough of the research I went for the recipes 

& settled on few cook books that keep me going. 

Isa Moskowitz has an interesting story. 

Her book (one of many) has great tasting recipes. 

Her command of spices for flavor is the best I've found.

 Inside the book is visually wonderful. 

I'm a sucker for hand lettering & doodles.

This Test Kitchen book is loaded with info & reasons why a recipe works.

The cover veggie burger is the best!

Once you get familiar with the science it's easier to be improvisational 

with recipes & riff. There is a book for that too.  I've had this book for years. Once you get the hang of any cuisine the recipes become variations on a theme. 

You can get comfortable with swapping out ingredients, amounts, & flavors. 

Sally Schneider also authors 

A newsletter I have followed for ages. So much inspiration from her.

The Thug Kitchen books are a riot. You have to be comfortable with profanity as

their language is peppered with it. Pun intended. I find it hilarious. 

I'm so glad we started down this new food path awhile ago. Sheltering with these newer books has given me the opportunity to try lots of new meals that keep us well fed, healthy, and interested. 

Are you eating healthy while cooped up at home? Can you send me some cookies? 

Salt Letter S A to Z Challenge

Do you know the history of salt? Interesting commodity.

 

Salt plays a vital role in food & our health.

Meet Samin Nosrat. It all started when a friend told me about her Netflix 4 part series:

 Salt Fat Acid Heat. Watched them all, loved her personality, where she traveled to dive deep into each element, & the cooking. The chemistry of cooking is very important. 

That is what she explains in detail in her own style.

I'm guessing if you like to cook & look up stuff on the web at all 

you have heard of her, the series, & the book of the same name. 

My older son who loves to cook was also taken with her. I got this fancy embossed 

version of the book for Christmas from him!

Notice the mention of Wendy MacNaughton as the artist. 

More on her on  "W" day.

 

 I use this salt almost exclusively, for everything. Samin's advice is 

if you have the iodized old style version we all grew up with, throw it out. 

This salt & it's cousins from the same company are nice for sprinkling on appetizers, desserts, more special things, or just  your hard boiled egg in the morning. We all deserve something special. 

What's in your garden?

It's the time of year when everything in the garden looks wonderful. 

This guy was on the side of our home the other day. Stick bugs are

such a strange product of evolution.  

My two pots of basil have been great this year. 

I've made several batches of my "pesto pucks" already.
The link to my post with the recipe & process I use.

Another pot holds a mass of herbs that have made it for a few years.

The Sage had gotten quite large so I decided to try some preserving techniques.
The Kitchn had some ideas. I hung some to dry,
did some in the microwave, froze some in water & did some sage butter.
Next clipping I want to try the sage honey.
 Should be great in home made dressing as the sweetener.

Zester A to Z Challenge

 Z is for Zest

My entire A to Z challenge could be about food. Maybe a year in the future. 

In the meantime, I see food & cooking as a big part of my creative life.

 Not a bad way to end the challenge.

The aroma in the kitchen when zest hits the heat in a pan, heaven.

 Current favorite recipes with lemon zest:

 Shrimp with Pesto & Lemon Zest

Tuna casserole

 

I made it! A to Z  2017. Can I have my survivor badge now? 

See you next year. Hope you visit before then as well. 

It's been a pleasure cruising around to see what others are up to. 

Blasts from the Past

 

My own personal collection of things from the Past I use almost daily that have a connection to my own history.   Some functional some decorative. I especially like the functional ones. They get handled frequently and remind me that simple things are the best in may cases. 

 Believe it or not these were in the kitchen I grew up in. Wooden spoons I use every day in my own cooking. The patina they have taken on is gorgeous.  Being able to use them on any kind of cooking surface makes them indispensable. They are 3 different lengths. The longest can be used when I'm stirring a "vat" of home made spaghetti sauce or soup. Whenever I see hand carved kitchen spoons at art markets I want to buy them, they are beautiful, but I have my own with all their little nicks and aquired defects I'm intimately familiar with. Why mess with well seasoned and familiar?

 These are aluminum serving pieces. The little tray sits on our counter top to catch sticky notes, paper clips, those little things you use all the time. Keeps them in reach but with an artful flair. The bowl on the right is my go to for chips & crackers for a get together. Love the flared shape of the one on the left and the grape cluster motif. Can you tell I'm a visual person? Always noticing the details. 

These take a little explaining. A friend of my father's made these. He melted lead and poured it into muffin cups...kinda scary don't  you think?  Then he painted them with enamel. I'm assuming that protects me from handling the lead! There is a screw embedded in each one so the knob of choice could be screwed onto the top. They are weights. There is a piece of felt glued to the bottom of each so they won't scratch anything they are set on. They come in SO handy in paper & book arts. That pesky rolled paper needs to be tamed, flat metal rulers need to be held in place, piles of small pieces of paper need to be contained on the table. These always get comments when I pull them out to use at work shops. Artists are envious of little gems like this.

I'm sure I could use them as a weapon as well, they are HEAVY. 

               Who doesn't appreciate a good ole' compass? I have about 7 of these in various sizes.

These bracelets are strictly decorative. I posted not too long ago in "Telling Stories" about these.  If you are curious about the back story check it out. I love wearing them in bunches of 3-5-7 or if I'm feeling really spunky 11 or so. 

When you look around your home what old treasures do you see that have a special place in your memory?  I'd love to see what others hold dear.