Perfect Potato

The potato is a perfect food, along with the egg.  Seriously, what can't you do with a potato?  Grill, bake, fry, broil, boil, & then you know the rest...mash, slice, make a soup, throw some butter, sour cream, bacon (oh, that is another perfect food), scallions.  You get the idea.  It is even superior when you can go down to your basement in the off gardening season and grab some beauties, clean them up and cook away!  I love my garden potatoes, but I don't think we grew enough for the winter.  I told my husband tonight we need to grow some more next summer.
Here are some accordion potatoes I threw together tonight, made with my thyme, parsley, & chives.

Aged Pizza Dough

I made some pizzas the other night, one cheese and one steak & potato (I'm in the midwest and we are in meat & potato country).  Really, who doesn't like steak & potatoes?  Isn't that the perfect marriage?  Ok, all you vegetarians no need to comment.  I made my own homemade crust, because well it's just better.  Trust me.  It's aged pizza dough.  It was really, really good.  Try it.  Now I have to work on my circles.

Ooey Gooey Sandwich

Here is what I made for supper (or dinner for the rest of you) tonight.  It has a delicious sauce that I made all homemade; mayo & pesto mixed together.  Then is is layered with more deliciousness; lettuce, bacon, tomatoes (from the garden of course), cucumbers (not from the garden, bummer), basil, eggs, & lots of cheese.  It was very good, except dare I say...it was too gooey.  I should have counted how many napkins we all used!  I'll make it again & alter my ooey gooey sauce.

Double Batch This!

We went to this apple orchard last Sunday.  It is a fairly young orchard so we couldn't pick our own apples.  The owners were more than helpful and knowledgeable about their apples.  I didn't get their names, but the man took us on a hay ride around the place.  I will be curious to see this place again when the trees are more mature.

We bought some Haralson apples.  The whole idea is to eat them whole, and bake crisp and pies.  When we got home I made some crisp, a single batch.  What a horrible idea!  Between the 5 of us that was gone in one sitting.  So, today I made a double batch.  Half of it was gone, and I am thinking that was only because the kids have church activities so not too much was eaten before they left.  There is some left for tomorrow.  My husband was pleading with me tonight to save at least one little part of it for him.

Maybe I should go to the fridge and have a bite or 7.  What do you think?  Everyone is sleeping here, they'd never know!

A word to the wise, make a double batch triple batch of apple crisp.  Trust me everyone will be much happier.

Summer Herbs

This past summer I had 3 gardens, one in our backyard, and two at our community garden.  My gardens put out a great crop.  We grew; tomatoes, peppers, chilies, carrots, lettuce, corn, beans, peas, pumpkins, gourds, onions, cucumbers, potatoes, broccoli, melon, squash, and our son grew one massive sun flower!

I am also a huge herb gardener.  This summer I grew; basil (I had an over load of that!), parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary (that didn't grow), dill, cilantro (thanks to one of my garden buddies!), and tarragon.  For some reason this year I was a master basil grower!  I had tons of it and gave lots away and also dried it.  I can honestly say that I have dried basil for two years!

The kids grew all of our tomatoes by seed last winter, and also a lot of the peppers.

Now we are going to reevaluate our gardens and do some planning for next spring!

Here is a couple pictures of one load of basil.

Happy winter garden planning!

Chicken My Way

I made this chicken the other night.  My own breading, which had to be delicious as all 5 members of my family ate it!  I made an evoo based sauce that included my home grown basil and parsley & then topped it off with my backyard tomatoes.   Delicious!

Food For Thought

In the past 5 years I have made changes in the way our family thinks about food, what we eat, & where it comes from.  This actually started with my husband.  He thought he was over weight, so he starting eating 'better', going to the gym, & subscribing to Men's Health.  That's where our families healthier lifestyle came to be.  He was borderline annoying with his frequent flyer miles to the gym, 'healthier' recipes, & feeling and looking better than I was.  He was winning this one!  We are a tad competitive so I had do some something, anything to win this one.  Fast forward about 5ish years, we are both on the same page....we both won that race!  We realized our new 'healthier' lifestyle, which included what we put into our mouths, how we cooked it, where it came from, & frequent reading of the ingredient labels we would be ahead of the game.

This past summer I had 3 gardens & grew loads of fresh food.  I did a lot of canning and freezing.  We are in the process of raising our own chickens, but that most likely will not happen until this spring.  A local farmer has offered for us to purchase beef from him, so we are trying to make that work.  FYI..we have purchased beef from a farmer in the past & let me tell you it is about 783 times better (taste, nutrition, flavor, & local!) than anything you can buy at a grocery store.  Note, not that you shouldn't buy from a grocery store but for me fresh, local beef is a no brainer.    Now to find a pork farmer.  Can you say bacon?  Seriously, bacon is one of the perfect foods.  Sliced, chunked, salty, crunchy, fry it, bake it, or grill it.  It's perfect on potatoes, chicken, top of green beans, Sunday   any day brunch, eggs...all right I think you get the idea.

Sorry Service Food, I still love you & somehow frequent your store almost daily,  I've grown accustomed to growing and loving my own food.

My mouth is dreaming of some bacon.   Must go to the fridge.

Just A City Girl

I've always lived in the city so I'm known as a City Slicker.  As I've grown older (also known as wiser) I have longed to live in the country where I can roam free, build a tree house for our kids (ummm, I mean my husband will do that job),  smell the fresh air, look at the stars at night with out any power lines or city lights blocking my view, have a huge glorious garden, & raise some animals.  I believe I am ready for the move, my husband on the other hand thinks I'm a City Slicker for good.  He says my daily trips to the store, having neighbors close by, and all the conveniences of city life are too good for me to give up.  I am working on him though & think I will win this one!