Coconut Cake, like Gramma used to make!

My gramma made the most amazing coconut cake.  Light cake in thin layers almost (but not quite) dripping with a soft coconut moisture and a delicate icing that formed a crust on the outside...it always reminded me of the rare West Tennessee "sticking" snow on the first morning after it fell: dry and light with a thin layer of sleet on the top that crunched softly when your foot broke through.

My gramma, Marvene Tucker, made this cake at least once a year (sometimes twice), for a big family get-together, usually Christmas.  She was a lady who could take a bit of this and a touch of that and turn it into something not just palatable, but delicious.  She and my Grandpa Leon were farmers who made do with what they had and made it good.  But this cake, this Coconut Layer Cake, was a masterpiece worthy of the finest table.  It was beautiful to look upon, with its pure white towering goodness softly mottled with mounds of fresh coconut.  But it was even better to eat.

Two years ago, I decided to make a coconut cake for my dad for his birthday.  I tried tracking down the recipe from my dad's sisters but no one could remember the specifics since gramma never used a written recipe.  My mom recalled a "boiled icing of some sort."  For once, the intertubes were no help at all.  Recipe after recipe called for cream cheese or sweetened coconut or canned this or that.  I was at a loss and finally hit upon the brilliant idea of asking my neighbor, a True Southern Cook if ever I've met one.  My description of the icing hit home and Charlyn immediately said, "oh, that's Seven Minute Icing."  The cake is another story.  That year, I used a boxed white cake mix and moistened it with canned coconut "milk" and was forced to top the whole thing with sweetened coconut because I couldn't find unsweetened anywhere.

My dad, God love him, appreciated the effort.  And that cake was tasty.  But it wasn't THE cake.  When pressed, Dad noted how sweet the coconut tasted.  Yeah, I noticed it too.  I know Gramma only and ever used real coconut and somehow turned that into this cake, but had no clue how it worked until my husband caught an Alton Brown show about making an "old-fashioned" coconut cake.  Armed with this link and my memories (and parents' memories) of gramma's process, I pressed onward to coconutty delight.  I consider it part of my heritage, after all!

My dad with his authentic, totally from-scratch, like-mama-used-to-make Coconut Cake.

First of all, let me warn you that this cake is delicious.  Truly, truly delicious.  It is also a lot of work.  I did it over three days, which is a great way to tackle a project like this when you are unable to spend an entire day baking a cake.  Since you have the recipe already via my Alton Brown/Food Network link, I'll just note the things I did differently or found interesting enough to photograph.

Day One: Break down coconuts.  Make coconut cream, coconut milk.  

Day Two: Make Cake, soak with coconut water.

Day of service: Make icing, frost cake, refrigerate!

Per my husband's suggestion, I used a drill to make three holes in the coconut to access the coconut water.  This picture shows one coconut still with the hard shell and one (on the right) with the thin, brown "undershell."

Alton Brown recommends using a serrated vegetable peeler, which I do not have.  The regular peeler worked just fine for me.

Coconut freed from the shell, ready to be rinsed.

Now, here I'll note that I followed the directions on the link to make coconut milk and coconut cream.  However, I later watched the actual Alton Brown episode and really like the method he uses in his show better.  It's a little fussier really, but if you're going all out, then go all out, right?

From l-r: coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream

Frugal tip here: clean and save a few smallish jars.  They work much better for storing liquids, like sauces or stock, than a square saver.  They're nice to have around to mix up a vinaigrette without dirtying the blender.  I don't have many...I try to edit so I don't become a hoarder.  I probably have 5-6 jars in a 3-cup and under capacity and they come in handy frequently.  I can use Mason Jars for anything with more volume.

Day Two: Make Cake

My way to cut parchment to fit -- I made a line in the corner with my fingernail.  Alton has a neat technique but mine works just fine.

See?  Perfect circle for cutting.

Finished pans await batter.

Learn to get out and, if convenient, measure all ingredients before beginning.  Trust me, it makes it soooo much easier.  And then you never have to hunt for something with egg on your hands or realize to your horror that you don't have the very last ingredient you need.

I do not own a stand mixer. I'm sure it would be nice to have one, but I really don't have the space for it right now anyway.  I just mix a little higher speed and a little longer with my hand-me-down hand mixer.  Just like June Dye says, it comes out just fine.

This is what I consider to be "stiff peaks."  I add the egg whites to the batter in thirds, folding carefully each time.

Again, Alton has a neat way of cutting the cake evenly (this is why I sought out the video on the first place).  Unfortunately for me, my cooling rack did not fit into any rimmed pan I own, so I was forced to eyeball it.  This is fine; just be sure to try to assemble it so that the short sides butt up to the longer sides.

Four layers ready. 

Here I must share an important deviation from Alton Brown and his wussy spritzer bottle.  I love Alton Brown, truly, but a spray bottle?  No way!  A real coconut cake (like my gramma made) is almost dripping with moisture.  I used three coconuts and procured quite a bit of coconut water, so I reserved 1/3 cup to make the icing, leaving me with 1 1/4 cups coconut water.  After making the cake, I had some milk  and some cream remaining.  I mixed this all together and brushed it ALL over the cake.  Then I froze it.

Here's my freezer setup: cake layers separated by wax paper and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. 

Theoretically, you could make this several days before.  Just be sure to pull it out of the freezer with plenty of time to defrost (if serving for dinner, put in the refrigerator the day before or that morning).

Serving Day!

Making icing.  Again, all ingredients are assembled beforehand.  Please don't skip this step!!  It makes cooking so much more fun, especially if you are doing it with children around.

Have a discriminating critic taste-test the icing to be sure it is acceptable.

Ice the cake, alternating icing and coconut.  This icing does tend to be a little runny, so having cold layers helps keep everything where you want it.  Do not be afraid to secure the layers with a toothpick here or there; just try to keep count of how many toothpicks you use so you can remove them before serving to toddlers.

This came out wonderfully!  After eating it, my dad requested another for Christmas because, after all, that was his mother's tradition and if I wanted to be true to tradition then it was obvious.....

When I stopped laughing, I reminded him that she didn't make this masterpiece only a few weeks apart.  Since half of the cake was left, he recommended freezing it "like she used to" and we'd have it after our Christmas fondue.  Aha!  That was the freezing I remembered; however I like freezing the layers after soaking them and think it makes for a softer cake due to the freezing/thawing process.  If you wanted to just refrigerate, that would probably be fine too.  

I'll update in a few days to let you know how the cake makes it after a few weeks in the freezer.

Update: The second half of the cake froze beautifully and tasted great several weeks later. It actually reminded me more of my grandma's cake because she'd do that with her leftover cake. She'd often transfer it from the freezer to the fridge in the morning if she expected us to visit in the afternoon and sometimes the cake was still slightly frozen in the middle. It's definitely a bonus to freeze part when you make a cake requiring this much labor (speaking as a fairly basic baker here).

Garlic Bread

Homemade garlic bread

I've been making No-knead Artisan Bread for a while now and really love having homemade wheat bread at the dinner table.  The only problem with the artisan bread is that I can't make it at the last minute.  If I've got dough in the fridge, no problem, but if I haven't mixed some up yet and it's 4 p.m., then I'm out of luck for dinner.  

Finished loaf

Enter Messy Mommy's Basic Bread Dough!  This is a soft bread dough that I imagine would be easy to use to make rolls.  I made a full loaf and used 1 cup unbleached white flour, 1 cup white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.  And...it makes lovely garlic bread.  For my garlic bread, I first slice the loaf almost, but not quite, through.  Then mince a few cloves of garlic and simmer it gently in a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Use a fork to mix this with a few tablespoons of butter (mashing well) and slather it over the sliced bread.  Wrap in foil and bake in a 350-degree oven until everything is melted and the garlic bits on the top begin to toast.

Tonight, I made a half loaf (cut the recipe in half) to go with the carrot soup.  It was wonderful!  The more I try different breads, the less I want a bread machine.  

Tea Time

Chilly weather calls for warm beverages!  My kids love having tea sometimes instead of a typical snack.  This day, it was pomegranate tea and artisan bread spread with cream cheese and strawberry preserves.  Espresso cups are ideally-sized for toddler hands, though my two-year-old preferred her "real" cup from the china tea set they play with.  

Little People like to grow too

At breakfast one morning, my four-year-old asked me if he could plant a seed from his kiwi.  I explained that kiwis need more warm days than we have here and then mused that perhaps we could try to plant some when his grandparents build their greenhouse.  That got his attention and he was fascinated by the whole concept of a greenhouse and growing things from other places.  I told him about when my own gramma had a greenhouse installed outside her kitchen door and how much I loved the smell of it in there, kind of humid and clean and earthy, even in winter.

He listened intently, then paused for a moment and said, "I think our Little People need a greenhouse."  We looked at each other and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing because we both started laughing and I said, "I think we can do that!"

First, we laid out our popsicle-stick grid.  We decided to make three sides, with the fourth side open, like the Little People house.

Next, we cut out some clear plastic from a bit of packaging in the recycle bin.  My plan had been to use a milk jug for that slightly-opaque effect.  After looking at some picture of greenhouses online, Tucker decided he preferred the clear look.  The plastic was glued to the frame with a combination of Elmer's glue and glitter glue for decoration.

Once the glue dried, we taped all the sides together and asked Little People mommy to do a final inspection before we put the roof on.

And here is the final product installed just west of Casa Little People.  As you can see, it now houses a variety of exotic and colorful plants that don't normally grow here this time of year.  I hear that one of them is a kiwi.

Death and Color in the Autumn Garden

I've noticed that my garden looks very different since I began to look at it as my own Bit of Earth instead just a flowerbed.  I expect both beauty and nourishment from my labors in the soil, so it is not quite as "perfect" as the "professionally landscaped" look to which I formerly aspired.  I find much more beauty in it though.  Nothing in nature is perfect and what grows around my house is much more organic than ever, both in form and in fact.  This, I like.

Color is rampant in the fall garden and many flowers continue to do well despite some frost.  I think being close to the house gives plants like the Sweet Alyssum (in the first picture) a little more protection from freezing temperatures.  I did not plant pansies for the first time ever this year, but plan to mulch over in December and plant early spring lettuces instead.

We had our first frost this weekend....and our first fire crackling in the fireplace!  Before the frost, the pineapple sage was a riot of color, but alas it is now withering quickly; I will cut all this back in January and have a wonderful, herby shrub by the front steps.

This year, we made our first scarecrow as a Halloween/Autumnal decoration.  Next to him, you can see the paper bag scarecrows that were a fun craft for the toddlers in the house.  They loved making them despite my inability to locate googly eyes.

After the dry heat of August, I cut back all of my tomato plants and, lo and behold, they sprang to life again!  Most of these were harvested green and I'll use them for some fried green tomatoes.  These Cherokee tomato plants are done for the year, but I do have lots of seeds for next year.  Even my children know that inside a seed is a whole living organism, a miracle, just waiting for us to plant and nurture it.  

The square-foot gardens still had quite a lot of flowers and herbs growing last week, but I think the Genovese and Thai basil will not make it much longer.  I do have some broccoli and snap peas growing (my first fall crop ever), and we'll see if we get to harvest them in a few more weeks.

The cherry tomatoes continue to grow in the front flower bed.  Perhaps they derive heat and shelter from the large holly that also supports them to a degree.  I plan to leave them as long as possible since my four-year-old loves to pick and eat them whenever he passes by.  This is the beauty of fall.  The savoring of the last moments of life as we watch all the leaves fall and all the flowers wither.  We see the world die, but we know that it just a stage before it is born again into something new and wonderful.

I used to dread fall, to dread the coming cold and darkness and bareness it heralded.  Those bright colors on the trees didn't fool me!  Now I welcome it.  Life is full of those cold and bare spots, but without them, we could never enjoy the spring.  So now I welcome fall and winter and even the dying of the light, because it offers a chance for rest and, ultimately, rebirth.

Impatiens in Pilsners

What, no Octoberfest?

Inspired by self-proclaimed Farmgirl, Mary Jane Butters, this year I am saving my impatiens from a frosty death and plan to re-plant them next spring.  Since I apparently missed the Farmgirl directive to stock up on Mason jars, I've resorted to using our pilsner glasses, much to my poor husband's chagrin.  This will soon be rectified, I can assure you!  Since I usually purchase at least a flat or so of impatiens annually, this should provide some color throughout the winter and also save some money come spring.  I also plan to try this with begonias.

Roots develop quickly!

The other plants to come inside for winter include some dracena, shamrock, aloe, a spider plant or two and a rubber plant with which I cannot bear to part.  These offer some comfort during the cold winter when it's easy to forget that things are still growing underneath, where we cannot see them.

Easy Date Night

Make food.  Make love.  Live well.

If I were a pessimistic type of gal, I might think the stars had aligned quite dramatically against a Date Night.  The entire family came down with a short-lived, but still nasty, cold (a first for all of us to be sick) which forced us to abandon our plans for a child-free, cavorting date night listening to music with friends under the stars.  Did I mention a bonfire?  C'est la vie.

As all parents know, you absolutely must carve out time together.  It is essential to survival.  So we put the kids to bed early and made the best of things.  Nothing too fancy, but good food and lots of time to sip wine and talk.

Whet the appetite

First up: crostini, which is possibly the easiest first course ever...but always satisfying.  You can make them with bread and anything you have on hand.  Tonight, we toasted the thinly-sliced baguette (brushed with olive oil) for about 3-5 minutes, then topped it with goat cheese, fresh tomato, sea salt and another drizzle of olive oil.  This is very subjective, but I think a good rule of thumb is to broil until the cheese bubbles slightly, but before the bread gets too brown.  Yummy bites.

The Butter Steak

Next up is the Butter Steak.  We had a NY Strip in the freezer, so that's what we cooked.  Basically, you sear off the fatty side, add butter and huge chunks of garlic, then add well-seasoned steak and allow it to cook  (relatively) slowly, over medium heat, basting with butter.  I could blame the wine or the talk, but we neglected to render the fat first.  It mattered not.  The steak was deliciously medium rare and The Crust was still quite amazing.

Spinach is the amazing shrinking leaf.

While the steak was resting, we poured off most of the butter and added some spinach, more garlic (this time finely chopped) and a little salt and pepper.  I like to cook spinach until it wilts by about half and turns a darker, but brighter green; then it's time to plate and eat.

I only put a tablecloth on half the table -- the half we ate on.  For Easy Date Night, candles swiped from the mantle and daisies from the hallway are perfect.  The steak was sliced and placed artfully atop the spinach, then butter-roasted garlic was tossed on that. 

This was a great meal.  More important than the meal itself is the time spent preparing.  Talking.  Laughing.  Connecting.  Life is too short to let a Date Night slip through your fingers.  Make it Easy.  Make it this weekend.  Make it fun.  Make it Real.

Bon Appetit!

Garlic: good for what ails you

Begone, sniffles and sneezes!

Our house is infested.  For the first time ever, we have all succumbed to one of the earth's most ancient maladies: the common cold.  To battle the onset of coughing and sneezing I called upon one of the earth's most ancient medicines: garlic.  One note, I've read that it's best to chop garlic just prior to cooking to receive the most benefit from allicilin, a compound known to kill 23 types of bacteria, including salmonella and staphylococcus.  Take that!

This is quite easy to make, even when you can barely move.  My husband was fairly skeptical that I could manage any cooking in my condition and assured me that leftover chili would be wonderful, but I'd already decided that nothing but garlic would do.


Garlic Tourin
 adapted from "White Garlic Tourin, A Classic French Soup"

1 TBSP duck fat (if you don't have it, use butter/olive oil)
1/2-2/3 sweet onion, minced
1 large head garlic, roughly chopped
6 cups water (or water/chicken stock), boiling
large bunch fresh thyme
salt/pepper, to taste
1 fresh egg, separated
1/2 TBSP red wine vinegar
 optional: crusty bread, vermicelli or fine egg noodles, cheesy croutons, chopped parsley....or cheese toast


In a medium saucepan, fry the minced onion in duckfat on med-high until it begins to brown.  I actually have duckfat in my freezer, saved from last Thanksgiving.  How very French.  While the onion fries, roughly chop garlic and bring water/stock to boil.  I boiled 4 cups in my electric kettle and another cup + frozen chicken stock cubes in a small saucepan.  Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently -- be sure not to allow garlic to burn.

Add boiling stock, thyme and s&p and simmer at least 15-20 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes and adjust seasoning.  Fish out the thyme and discard.  If you are making this when well, pull the itty bitty leaves off the thyme, but hey....if you're sick don't sweat it.  I hit it with my immersion blender and let it simmer 10 more minutes. 

At this point, I realized we had no crusty bread or cheesy croutons in the house and briefly planned to top this soup with grated cheddar and parsley, but rallied enough to make two slices of cheese toast (wheat bread/cheddar cheese) while the soup was simmering.  Once the toast was out of the oven, I whisked the egg white until slightly fluffly and added slowly to the soup, whisking constantly.  You can temper it a bit if you wish, but I really did not have the energy to do this.  Cover the soup and continue to simmer about 5 more minutes.  While you do this, beat the yolk and vinegar together. Remove soup from heat and whisk in yolks -- I added a handful of fine egg noodles at this point and then covered it and let it stand for a few minutes while I chopped parsley and cheese toast.

To serve, I cut the cheese toast into cubes, placed those in the bottom of a bowl, ladled the soup over that and topped with some freshly chopped parsley.  Sadly, I was too hungry and weak to get a final shot, but it was delicious.  This made two bowls each for the two hungry adults.  Follow with a nip of medicinal whiskey and go to bed.  Sleep well!

Notice the Change

It's starting to look a bit like Fall here in the Southeast.  Thought the days are still quite warm, the nights are chilly, darkness falls earlier and bits of bright color are easily spotted in the green tree canopy.  Today, we scouted all round the yard to find interesting things and then made a fall collage with our favorites.  Despite the extravagant use of "Big Elmer" (as the kids call the white stuff) and a lesser use of glitter glue, this is still a budget-friendly project that entertained my toddlers for the better part of two hours!

Never peel a tomato again

These?  I'm gonna be eating in January with some fresh Amish pasta from my CSA.

Don't you hate peeling tomatoes?  And then seeding them?  It's a lot of messy, messy work.  But it's worth it for homemade marinara, right?  I thought so....until I received a harvest bounty from my father of several pounds of cherry tomatoes.  I really wanted to make marinara, but how could I peel all those teeny, tiny tomatoes?  

I thought, "Well, I have a 'puree' option on the blender."  I could not believe how easy it was to make a tomato puree with whole tomatoes, a blender and a strainer.  I just had to see if it worked with big tomatoes as well, and am happy to share the delicious results!  Just half/quarter or roughly chop the larger ones and leave the babies whole, as shown in the photo above.

Puree till smooth in blender, then press through medium strainer.

Fill the blender about 1/3 full and add a splash of water.  Pulse until tomatoes are well-chopped and moving freely (add more water sparingly, if necessary).  It can be helpful to stir or shake the blender between pulses.  Once it's going, hit puree. And let it go and go -- I probably left it on for a good minute or two.  Then set a medium or med/fine strainer in a bowl and pour.  You can see my setup above.

Push the tomatoes through the sieve with a spatula.  I think I ended up with a lot less tomato in my compost bin this way.  But also, I didn't heat the stove (for this portion anyway). I didn't use ice cubes.  I had minimal cleanup.  Judging by what's left in the sieve, I think this marinara has more fiber, though it is lovely and smooth in texture.

Looks like the makings of a "marinara mix" seed drying operation, no?

It took me about a half hour to garner a gallon of tomato puree this way.  That's barely enough time to get your water boiling and the first batch of tomatoes peeled with the traditional method.  Granted, I added some water, so I have to let it cook a bit longer, but that doesn't require my constant attention....just good smells and occasional stirring.

Before you start the whole puree process, go ahead and chop a few cloves of garlic (to taste -- I used a good half a head) and mince an onion.  Let those cook slowly on LOW/MED heat while you handle the tomatoes.  Just before I added my tomato puree, I tossed in 1/4 tsp of chipotle chili pepper powder.  You could also add some red pepper flake as the onion/garlic cook.  I also added 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and grated in some nutmeg.

The puree will be pinkish-red and foamy.

Raise the heat a bit since the tomatoes are cool and, well, there's quite a large volume being added to the pot.  I had about a gallon of tomato puree.  What you want is a nice gentle simmer and you should stir regularly.  If you come to stir after 15 minutes away and the surface is smooth and unbroken, then raise the heat a bit.  If you come to stir after 15 minutes away and it's bubbling actively, then lower the heat (I might even pull it off the burner for a minute or two).  I put the lid on after adding the tomatoes to help it come to a higher temperature more quickly.  Then I removed the lid so it could reduce.  I found that my "blender puree" seemed to have a pinkish foam on the top for an hour or two until it reduced. 

Herbs outside today include basil, parsley, oregano and thyme.

You can add whatever herbs you like and/or have on hand.  I cut what you see above and ended up with about 2-3 Tbsp parsley, 3Tbsp or so of basil, about 1.5 Tbsp oregano and 1 Tbsp thyme.  I also grated in a small carrot.  After it simmered for an hour or so, I tasted, then added salt, pepper and a combination of agave nectar and white sugar.  All seasonings are "to taste," but keep tasting as it reduces and add a bit here and there.  Oh, and you really do need to add the sugar to counter the acidity of the tomatoes.  If you want less refined sugar, you could add some more carrot or grated beet, but be sure to *taste* as you go and after another half-hour.

Halfway done.  I added more basil toward the end.

Stir it regularly.  Once it's getting close to the consistency you want, hit it with an immersion blender.  My goal is to wind up with something that coats a spoon nicely with small flecks of onion or herb, but I want a well-integrated sauce with a smooth consistency.  

Before the immersion blender, my marinara almost seemed "separated," perhaps because of the extra fiber from the bits of skin that made it through.  It was nice immediately after a stir, but heavy on the bottom after about 10-20 minutes.  However, after using the immersion blender, it was a smooth texture, dotted with bits of tomato or onion or herb.  Perfect!

Now, if you don't have an immersion blender, you can always blend it in batches.  It really makes a big difference in the texture of the finished product, so if you're at all unsure, just do it  After blending, if you want a "chunky" sauce, you'll need to add in some diced (skinned/seeded) tomatoes, but I didn't do that because I am okay if I never have to skin another tomato again.

Weekly Fridge Pic - August 16

Taken on Monday, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of the blog.  We have lots of tomatoes, so a new thing I tried this week was my own homemade, very basic, marinara.  I used all those cherry tomatoes and some large ones.  Instead of trying to peel the wee cherries, I tossed them in the blender with a splash of water, hit Liquefy and let it go to town.  Then I pressed them through a mesh strainer until nothing was left but seeds and skin (total time here: about 30-40 minutes, so not bad).  It did take a bit longer to cook down because of the extra water, but came out really tasty!

Also on the menu this week is stuffed pattypan squash (tonight), eggplant parmesan (with that homemade marinara), butternut squash linguini with bacon and goat cheese and Friday Night pizza with fresh tomato, mozzarella, basil and pepperoni.  I'm also thinking of making a hot pepper sauce with those red peppers as a gift to my heat-loving spouse.

Here's last week (August 9).  We got a monster bag of mozzarella at Costco that I separated for storage in the deep freeze.  I've begun making Friday night "Pizza Night" since I found a terrific pizza dough recipe that I'll share soon.  Last week's menu included fresh country ham, scalloped potatoes, eggplant lasagna (try adding pesto to your ricotta for a veggie summer delight!), squash/tomato cassserole with ground beef (mini burgers for the kids) and icebox pickles, which have become a summer standard around here.

Since joining a CSA, we naturally eat a lot less meat and instead have lots of great fresh veggies, veggie sides and rice/quinoa, fresh bread on our table.  It's really a wonderful way to be connected to the cycle of nature.  And here, all this time, I though salads with lettuce were natural summertime food!  Not so in our home these days.  "Salad" in summer means tomato, cucumber, basil and maybe some squash.  Try some fresh cucumber on your sandwich next time -- the crunch and flavor is far superior to lettuce that was picked weeks ago.

Extremes in a Rectangle

Celebrate Summer Squash

,

Summer Squash and Sweet Corn Soup (with a kick)

adapted from Alice Waters

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

pinch saffron

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander seeds (crushed if possible, just some dried coriander)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (go to 1/2 or more if you like it hot)

2-4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly

5 medium green or yellow summer squash

3 cups chicken broth

3 cups water

1-2 ears fresh sweet corn

Heat oil in stock/soup pan.  Add onion, spices and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring often.  Cook until very soft, but not brown.  While this cooks, slice squash into fairly thick slices (3/4").  When the onions are done, add squash and salt to taste.  Cook for a few minutes, then add stock and water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until squash is tender.  Cut the corn off the cob and add half at this point and cook for a few more minutes.  Let it cool a bit and then puree in batches in a blender until smooth.  Add second half of corn, then taste, adjust seasoning and serve hot with a swish of Yogurt and Mint (recipe below).

Yogurt and Mint

Pick a handful of mint.  Pick off the leaves and julienne.  In a small mortar, pound 2/3 of the mint to a paste, then stir in the remaining mint, about 1/3 cup yogurt, 1 TBSP olive oil and salt to taste.  If you like sweet with spicy, add a squish of agave nectar.  Enjoy!

Fruit Fly Fix

Organic, effective, inexpensive: Cider Vinegar.

Fresh produce and warm, humid summer air means fruit flies.  Since we've begun composting, I've dreaded them.  I read an article that mentioned using cider or red wine vinegar in a small bowl with a dot of dish soap to control flies of all kinds.  The sweet vinegar lures the flies even more than fruit sugars and the soap breaks the surface tension, so they land to eat and drown.  

I've been keeping a small bowl on the kitchen window sill near the compost bin.  I was fairly sure this was helping immensely this summer since we hadn't had a fruit fly problem....but without a problem in the first place it's hard to be sure.  Luckily (?) upon returning from vacation, we realized that we'd neglected to take out our kitchen trash.  We had hordes of fruit flies in the kitchen.  I set out two bowls immediately and, by the next morning, there were almost no fruit flies anywhere.  Today is Wednesday and I can say for sure that this is a terrifically effective technique for controlling flies.

Now, each year in the first or second week of August we seem to be inundated with buzzy, slow-moving flies.  So slow, in fact, that I can suck them off windows with my Dustbuster.  They only seem to be around for a week or two, but they are incredibly annoying (and, honestly, kind of gross).  Will Cider Vinegar save the day?  Here's to hoping!

Braised Cukes: Adventures in Slimedom

Well, I'm not a Top Chef.  I'm not even a Middle Chef.  I'm a pretty good home cook, even on the fly, and can make food that is tasty for adults and possibly children, depending on their mood-of-the-day.

Tonight, I tried something new....Braised Cucumbers  which is apparently from Julia Child's cookbook, which I must admit, I do not own. But I have the internet, right?

My husband challenged me: did I have time to do this before he left for his night shift?  I followed the directions precisely.  It smelled wonderful.  We were both excited to taste. And  then, slippery...greasy...slimey cucumber.  I was devastated.  I'd put on an apron over my nightgown, for God's sakes!!  My poor husband was disappointed too.  He'd hoped for the best, and hoped I could deliver.

Now that I had the stove fired up, something very primal wasn't going to let me allow my dear husband to leave without something fresh and tasty for his supper later.  So I crushed up and tore up (yes, ripped and tore!) a few cloves of garlic.  Didn't I say primal?

Indeed, my man must be fed. I tossed that garlic in the pan with the leftover cucumber-braise butter and, while it started to simmer, sliced up the squashes and zucchini I harvested this morning while I was battling/squishing squash bugs.  Oh yes, I am now a bug-squisher, though I do wear gardening gloves to do it.  I think this makes me a wimp-ass, but my mother begs to differ and is just glad that I am not resorting to pesticides.

At any rate, once the garlic starts to smell really, really good, it's time to add any fresh farm veggies you have in the fridge.  Mine was that squash and zucchini, which I browned for a few minutes before adding a hefty splash of chicken stock and covering the pan for a few minutes.  Let this simmer, covered, for about as long as it takes to uncork and pour a glass of wine and have a nice sip or two. This is the perfect time to remember that sweet corn from Avalon Acres and take about 30 seconds to slice it right off the cob.  Toss that in with some halved cherry tomatoes and some torn basil leaves and you've got a tremendous side dish (or main dish with some rice/quinoa).

So, obviously, an amazing dish.  Alll grown/picked today or within a day or so (for the corn).  

Here's what I have learned from my adventures in Slimedom: Don't be afraid to try something new...but be prepared to improvise!!

Recipe after...