Consider the dandelions

So there I sat one night, sucked totally into some mindless show in TV.  I was totally drawn into this amazingly lovely shot of a girl, about to blow the white, puffy dandelion..  A Perfect Childhood Moment.  Inhale and.....

And then....
Then it ended abruptly, with her father running out (ineffectively, I might add) to try to stop her from enjoying that moment, so that his perfect, green-blade grass would not be destroyed with.....(oh hold your horses)...flowers. You can see the slo-mo "glory shot" of him yelling "noooooooooo."

Well, I was bothered by the whole concept of that commercial.

My kids love dandelions. They love to pick them.  They love to blow them. And they love to eat them (well, that varies, but they do eat them more than I would imagine).  If you had a country gramma, you must know that you can eat them in a pinch.  I've never done it, but I like knowing that I can.  They are incredibly nutritious. So there!  But mostly, they like to pick them and/or blow them.  I've always loved this myself.  The dandelion has adapted itself really beautifully for things we like to do.

Dandelions are one of the first flowers to sprout in the spring and they are so very welcome.  They are heralds of growth. They pop out with the daffodils and provide In-Your-Face evidence that Our Earth keeps on keeping on.  Then, when you're distracted by the other bulbs or flowering trees other things you might want to plant, they can grow big and green and cover the ground if there's nothing else there.  But really those dandelions would rather to just chill out and let the clover have its day -- to hide down there and meditate under the fragrant flowers and soft leaves (and the honeybees)...and the occasional lawn mower..  The word "weed" is very subjective, truly.  It just means "a plant that grows well in a place I don't like it."

So think about letting the dandelions grow.

Thai Basil Chicken

My favorite spot for cut herbs is my kitchen window or the dining room table.  They smell great and look lush and lovely and are accessible for snipping for dishes.  Pictured here: thai basil, genovese basil and purple clover (picked from the side of the road by the 3-year-old).

So this is my very first food/recipe post.  I needed to trim up my basil and figured it was a good time to pull out a favorite family recipe.  I've never actually followed the recipe for this Thai Chicken with Basil Stir Fry, but all the variations I've made are great.  It's a fragrant, sweet/spicy, fresh tasting dish that is pretty easy to throw together.  The wonderful thing about stir fry is that it doesn't really matter.  You have fresh ingredients and toss in whatever you have on hand.  Let's see how it goes tonight.

Here are the ingredients I used tonight.  I've got rice, garlic, ginger, sweet onion, chicken, coconut milk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, green onions and a bunch of basil.  When I'm doing stir fry, I do like to chop up most things beforehand and pull out any spices/condiments I might need.  Usually I would put all the garlic/ginger/onion in one bowl since it all goes in at the same time, but I was aiming for a fancy "foodie" shot.  Now that I have uploaded this picture, I can see that it is necessary to note that I had about  a 2:1 ration of ginger to garlic.

The dark purple herb leaves are a thai basil which tastes (to me) like the italian basil with a licorice note.  This is actually the first time I've ever had thai basil for this dish, and it came out of my garden, so that's a reason for celebration in my kitchen!  As you can see, I'm using brown basmati instead of jasmine rice.  The kids like it and it's really nutritious in the event that they decide the thai chicken is not their speed tonight.  I tend to prefer to add veggies to the white rices, so we'll save the jasmine for another night.

I cook the onion, garlic and ginger for a few minutes, then add the chicken.  If you are compelled to add a grind of pepper here, it's a good time for it.  Hopefully you can see the size of strips.  I used chicken thighs because that's what I had.  I think this would be lovely with pork or shrimp or probably tofu.  I am honestly nervous about tofu based on a bad experience with my mother's tofu chili in my formative years. I promise that my future adventures with that soy product will be fodder for upcoming posts.

While the chicken cooks, I make up the "sauce" in a pyrex cup.    I forgot when I took my ingredient picture that I'd wanted to sub some of this thai chili garlic paste for some of the red pepper flakes.  I used about 1/4 tsp red pepper and 1/2-3/4 chili paste.  If you are not familiar with the condiments/spices I mention, my best advice is to buy them and try them!  You have to use it and taste it to know whether or not you like it.  Just remember if you have a low spice tolerance (like me): you can always add, but it is difficult to take away.  Start out with no red pepper and 1/4 tsp. chili sauce if you're nervous.  You can add more next time if you like it.

I don't cook the chicken totally through before adding the sauce.  It's going to cook while that sauce reduces, so I'd say it's about 75-80% "legally" cooked when I add the coconut milk sauce mixture.

While the sauce reduces, I chop the green onions  and basil.  Do you see that little glass dish?  I used to toss those root trimmings in the compost, but after seeing this blog post I now stick them in the garden.  You only need a teensy bit of the white root bulb left and soon....new onions!

So, once the sauce reduces, toss in the onions/basil and you're ready to go.  I did not have mushrooms tonight, but if you have some, slice and toss in.

This is how I serve it.  I have a better shot, but then you cannot see my sweet child looking out the window waiting for dinner and I could not deprive you of such loveliness.  Forgive the garish tablecloth; it is cheery in the room, but not terribly photogenic. I have toddlers so we use the canvas  indoor/outdoor cloths for easy cleanup. I put the rice in a ring around the outside so that the kids can have "plain rice" if they so desire.  They snacked on frozen green beans during dinner prep, so lieu of other veg I served cantaloupe and grapes.  Also on table are parmesan for the kids' rice, sweet chili sauce for me and sriracha for my heat-loving husband.

Critics reviews

2-year-old: loved rice plain, rice with chicken sauce, rice with parmesan and cantaloupe

3-year-old: liked cantaloupe best but also enjoyed rice with parmesan and grapes

Husband: declared it a company-worthy dish

Me: agreed

(full recipe after the break)

Using less water

How ironic!  Water rises in the streets and yet there is not enough to drink.  With Nashvillians being asked to cut water usage by 50% and in my county even more than that, life has been more odoriferous than ever before.  

This is a great opportunity to develop new habits of using less of this precious resource.  We have always tried to instill a sense of scarcity with this for the kids.  We always turn off the water while brushing teeth or soaping up our hands.  But a restriction of necessity has shown me that there is a lot more we could be doing every day.

I have been running some soapy water in the sink and instead of rinsing dishes under the tap, I scrape them and toss them in the sink.  At the end of the day, I rinse some (like knives that need to be used for the next day) and put the rest straight into the dishwasher.  We've run the dishwasher about every third day with this method and NO stuck-on food bits.  We've been using paper plates and cups too, of course, but this simple change dramatically cuts down on the amount of water I normally use for kitchen cleanup through the day.

And yes, we are letting it mellow if it is yellow.  I think this may be our new household system.  We are potty training and I am now wondering if the many, many extra flushes are contributing to our recent higher water bill.

It started raining this morning and I ran and picked up all the pots that were not too heavy and moved them off the porch.  I set out buckets to catch the water.  I would never have done this two weeks ago; it would have seemed like too much trouble.  Now I think perhaps that is just sheer laziness on my part!

I have been sparingly watering my plans with a bucket of collected rainwater.  I think we really need a rain barrel!  We've talked about getting one, but this water restriction has highlighted how useful it would be, even in normal circumstances.  

The most fun thing about the water restrictions?  Family bath!  A perfect treat for 2 and 3-year olds if you have a big tub.  Also a perfect treat for a mom and dad who have not had a proper shower all week!