Saturday Dinner

This is part of our dinner Saturday evening.  In the warmer months I really like to take advantage of grilling on my  Big Green Egg.  This meal included: t-bones, from our 1/2 cow we purchased in the late spring, grilled vegetables all from our garden (zucchini, eggplant. red pepper and fresh herbs) and our favorite sage butter pasta.  My husband and I also enjoyed Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon with the meal as well.  This is a great inexpensive, under $12, cab that holds up well to flavorful piece of beef. As for the sage butter pasta here is  the recipe.

Bring your choice of pasta to a boil.  I use about 10-12 oz for 5 people as a side dish.

While the water is coming to a boil melt 6 Tbs of butter in a small sauce pan.  When the butter is melted add a large handful of shredded sage.  Let the sage and butter simmer on super low heat.  The butter will start to turn brown.

When the pasta is done drain it and return it to the cooking pan.  Add the butter and top with shredded fresh Parmesan cheese and a little freshly ground pepper.

Pound Cake

I think of pound cake as the LBD of the dessert world. Everyone should have a recipe for pound cake. You can keep it simple or dress it up many ways.  Yesterday I made a blueberry and time sauce for the cake.  It was delightful.  My daughter, who hates fruit, always dresses her's up with chocolate sauce and whip cream if I've made some recently.  My husband almost always has his plain.   Sometimes I like to cut it super thin and make a "short cake" out of it with whatever fruit is in season.  If it is the middle of winter I'll take out my peaches I canned in the summer.  As I said there are so many ways you can dress up this simple, delicious and easy to make dessert.  

My recipe comes from Michael Ruhlman's Ratio. I've adapted it slightly in terms of the extracts used to our tastes.  We love coconut!

This makes one cake.  All of the measurements are in ounces. I highly suggest you buy a scale if you don't already have one.  They come in quite handy.  

8 oz softened butter

8 ounces sugar

1 tsp salt 

8 ounces of eggs

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1 tsp vanilla

8 ounces flour

Preheat oven to 325 and butter a 9" loaf pan.  

Beat butter ( a standing mixer works great) for 1 minute and then add the sugar and salt.  Continue for about 2-3 minutes until the mixture becomes a light yellow.  Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat.  Add the extracts at this point.  Add the flour and blend until the ingredients are just incorporated.  Pour  the batter into the pan and bake about 1 hour.  Allow the cake to rest about 5-10 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.  

Planning Meals

 Usually on Sunday I plan our week's dinners. This process has saved me a lot of time over the years.  I also go to the grocery once a week, unless I forget something crucial or I decide to make a special dessert.   

This is how I go about deciding what is for dinner. 

I print out a paper calendar of the month.  Yes paper this way my family can see what is for dinner.

Next I look at my calendar to see what we have going on in the evening.  Sometimes I have more time sometimes the meal has to be quick.

After that I look through my fridge and freezer and see what has to go.  My family gets 1/2 a cow and 1/2 a pig from a local farmer so we always have meat. 

Then I go through my binders of tried and true recipes.  If time permits I also go through my cookbooks and magazines.  I try to cook one new thing a week, but honestly there are weeks when we are happy that the 5 of us are just sitting down for a family meal.  I also like to include one meal that is either vegetarian or fish based.

After I've decided on the menu for the week or next 5-6 days, I pull out all of my recipes and create my grocery list. (My husband made a map like list of our grocery store so most things are in order.   This really helps me when I am shopping.)  After I have my list I put my recipes in my recipe holder for the week.  That way I don't even have to find the recipe; I just cook dinner.    

I've been doing this process for many years and it has saved me so much time. There is no need to pay for a service that does this electronically for you. You just need a little time on the front end for a much smoother week later on.  Please give this a try even for 3-4 days at a time and see if it works.  

My basic calendar for the start of August.

Beth 

New cookbook

Every once in a while I purchase a new cookbook.  I love cookbooks. I really do.  I read them like books.  I've been enjoying watching Jacques Pépin in PBS lately.  He has such an easy style.  So I thought I'd give the companion cook book a try.  As you can see by the photo I've marked with orange notes what recipes to try.  I can't wait to try his Rice Paper Rolls with Avocado and Sun-dried Tomatoes as well as well as Pumpkin Gratin and Corn Parfait.

What are some new cookbooks you've tried recently?

Beth 

Mindfulness

As I mentioned before I am also a yoga teacher and student.  Today, in yoga class, we were discussing mindfulness. I was sent home with the homework of being mindful every time I opened the door.  It really makes you come out of auto-pilot every time you do a mundane task.  Today I've take this a bit further and practiced mindful eating. This practice involves chewing slowly, not talking to anyone or doing anything else when I  eat.  I don't usually multi-task when eating but not talking is hard.  However this really makes you think about what you are putting in your mouth.  And shouldn't we always?  Today I challenge you to make a mundane chore "mindful".  If it is washing the dishes notice the water on your skin and how the dish feels. Perhaps when you are preparing a meal really be mindful when you are chopping or stirring. Try not to think about anything else when you do that task. As for me, I'm still trying to be mindful today when I open doors.  

Let me know what how you were mindful today.

Beth 

Zucchini

Zucchini!

I love to garden and am lucky enough to have space for 13"x 20" garden. This supplies our family with plenty of veggies for the summer and early fall.  When I went out to pick the other day there were several zucchini waiting for me.  I love this because then the possibilities are endless of what to do with the harvest.  I decided to make one of my favorite lunches and zucchini bread.

The zucchini fritter recipe is adapted from Deborah Madison's  Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone .  This is a great book even if you are not a vegetarian.  The zucchini bread is my recipe.  It is relatively healthy so I feel it is okay to eat everyday.

8 cups of shredded zucchini just waiting for me.

The start of one of my favorite summer meals zucchini fritters

Fritters and tomatoes from my garden.

My family's favorite zucchini bread, ready for the freezer.

Zucchini Fritters

1 1/2-2 lbs of zucchini shredded and squeezed dry
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs slightly beaten
Fresh herbs - I like basil, parsley and mint -also from my garden
handful of grated cheese or pesto or both
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Mix the zucchini, oats, breadcrumbs, eggs and seasonings in a bowl.  Form the mixture into patties.  They will stay together.  Fry until golden brown about 5 minutes per side.  I like to eat mine with tomatoes or tomato sauce or jam.

Leftovers will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Zucchini Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Spray 2 loaf pans.  Mix all the ingredients together and bake for 50-55 minutes.  When I make this I usually double the recipe since I'm already baking.  I love this in the morning with peanut butter.

3 eggs
1 3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups of grated zucchini
1 T vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 T cinnamon

Sourdough Bread

A disclaimer I'm not always going to post about bread, but it was really a start in my kitchen for playing around.  I love sourdough bread! Several years ago I started my own starter.  The recipe calls for just water and flour.  It is amazing how hard it is to get water and flour to make sourdough starter.  Many of my efforts went bad, skunky smell and pink starter, yuck!  My sister-in-law mentioned Rose Levy Beranbaum's  The Bread Bible.  I followed her directions and it worked.  I've used the same starter since 2008 and her name is Caroline after Ma Ingalls in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Series.

I'm not going to share the recipe here, but please consider this book if you ever thought about making other breads as well.  I usually make sourdough every 3 weeks or so. If I let it go too long it gets a little sticky, but it still makes a great bread.  The loaf is small so I usually make 2. One for now and one in the freezer for later.

This is what the bread looks like the first day sitting in a 1 cup plastic bowl.

This is day 2 almost ready to bake.

The final product.