Burrow House

one local summer, week 5

Wow.  How is it already week 5!?!  

This is a little quickie post.  I've just gotten home from taking the boy to camp.  Again.  It POURED rain the entire way.  I mean, you-can-barely-see-the-road-in-front-of-you rain.  Like, your-wheels-slip-as-you're-trying-to-climb-a-hill-and-scare-the-crap-out-of-you rain.  Slightly frazzling, and I REALLY need a little nap.

Okay, here goes:

Braised Short Ribs

Roasted Potatoes

Sauteed Green Beens

For the ribs:

Preheat oven to 350

3 lbs. trimmed short ribs

rub with oil and season with salt, pepper, and fresh chopped sage

brown and remove from pan (I use a cast iron skillet)

In drippings, cook 2 onions until translucent.  Add 1 1/2 or 2 cups beef stock and bring to a boil.  Place the ribs back in the skillet, cover, and bake until tender.  About 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Pour off the juices, and top with barbeque sauce.  Broil for just a couple of minutes until the sauce crisps a bit.

For the potatoes:

This is my FAVORITE way to have potatoes.

Wash and cube as many potatoes as you will need (I like small red ones).  Toss in oil, then salt and pepper generously.  

Normally I would cook these at 400 for an hour or so, but since I'm making ribs at 350, I'll just stick them in at the same time. I like them pretty crispy!

I'm pulling oodles of green beans off of my bush plants.  WOO HOO!  We've had the first of our own carrots too, by the way.  But those never made it to the pan.

For the beans:

Clean green beens

lightly tossed in butter

and a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup

Saute until tender.

Still haven't made pasta this week.  Soon.  Very soon.

one local summer, week 4

I'm starting to fall into my local rhythm.  It feels good.  I am getting to know some of the people who are helping to provide for my family, and in return, I am helping to provide for theirs.  We chat.  We talk cooking techniques. We offer each other support.  It is good.

I thought today I'd give you a snack option.  Or breakfast.  This my friends, is peach toast.  Now, I need to give you a little background story about my Uncle Pete's peach toast.

See, Pete's mama is a southern belle.  And the lady knows her peaches. When Uncle Pete was growing up, as soon as the peaches started to come on, it was time for peach toast.

Uncle Pete married my aunt later in life and moved to Oregon, her home. He had no biological children of his own (that we know of-sorry Pete, I couldn't resist). But being a big kid himself, he still loves peach toast.  And making it for my kids when we are there.  Now, if you haven't had Oregon peaches in August, well, I'm sorry.  But any locally grown, tree ripened peach is a pretty darn good substitute.

I've adjusted the "traditional" way of making this to local-style...

Sliced No Knead Bread made with local flour.  Toasted and buttered.

Top with fresh, sliced peaches, and drizzle with honey (traditionally, this is brown sugar)

Oh. my.

We are on the go so much, many days I do knock-together meals.  And by knock-together I mean fast and uncomplicated.  That, by NO means, translates to bland and boring.

Carrots are ready!  WOO HOO! I like them very simple.  Thinly sliced and lightly sauteed in butter or olive oil and salt until WELL browned so their sugars come out and caramelize. I barely get any because the kids eat them so quickly.

These, I served with

sausage and cabbage.  My sausage and egg man had bratwurst this week.  Man it was good.  I can't remember if I've ever shared this recipe before, but it's one of my staples.  It was my grandfather's recipe and he made it regularly.  Just the smell of it transports me back to his kitchen.

(local version)

Brown a pound of sausage (whatever kind you want) in a large iron skillet. Do not drain.

Add about 1/2 a head of thinly sliced cabbage 

and 1/2 cup of water.

Cover and cook until cabbage is tender.

(non-local version)

follow above directions, but only cook for about 5 minutes after you add the cabbage.

Then add 8 oz. of thin spaghetti, broken into 1-2 inch pieces.

Add another 1/2 cup of water.

Cover, and cook until pasta is tender, stirring often and adding bits of water as needed. (if you don't add enough water, the pasta will begin to stick to the bottom of the skillet)

On tap for this week:

Homemade pasta.

Exciting local finds:

white flour

whipping cream

makin' butter

So, I went down to the farmer's market today, hoping that TODAY was the day the butter would be back. Um. No. Apparently the sissy-pants cows don't like all this heat, and aren't producing enough milk for my source to feed his family milk, make his own butter, AND bring me mine.

I knew this was a distinct possibility, so I was fully prepared to start skimming so I could make my own. fyi, this is also how I've been getting my cream for ice cream making. It's great, but you only get between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup per bottle. For some odd reason, it is very difficult to find packaged local cream.

Then today I saw THIS.  (And this is the only size available.)

So I made this.  Oh. my.

If you've never made your own butter before, DO IT.  It's amazingly easy, and takes less than 10 minutes.  Well, if you have a standing mixer that is.

Dump a couple of cups of room temperature whipping cream into the mixer's bowl.  Add a generous amount of salt if you want, or don't. With the whisk attachment, turn on high.  Yes, it's EXACTLY like making whipped cream. But you are going to beat it until the cream turns yellow and "breaks." Meaning, you will see yellow butter, and whitish milk (buttermilk). Butter is really just over-beaten whipped cream.

When it is breaking, switch to the paddle attachment and clean out the whisk. Paddle it for a minute or two, then press the butter together with a rubber spatula on the side of the bowl and pour off the buttermilk to reserve.

Pour about 1 cup super cold water into the butter bowl, and paddle for another minute.  Drain and discard murky water, and repeat rinsing process until water is clear. About 2 more times.  

There you have it!  Shape and refrigerate. Enjoy!

on letting go

I've been making jokes about being glad to be rid of a couple of kids for a while.  Truth is, I'm starting to miss them like crazy. Less than 48 hours in. I'm not an overprotective parent.  Wait, I take that back. I am an overprotective parent who consciously forces herself to allow her children to explore and grow into their own people.  In a safe environment.  I hope. (anxiety sets in)

Anyway, it reminds me of this Nickel Creek song.  It's always been one of my favorites. But on my way home from dropping the boy off in the boonies, with no radio signal, I clicked over to CD.  This was the song that came on, and now it won't leave my head. Pretty appropriate. And just enough to keep my chest completely constricted and my eyes watery.

You've got to leave me now, you've got to go alone.

You've got to chase a dream, one that's all your own.

Before it slips away.

When you're flying high, take my heart along.

I'll be the harmony to every lonely song

that you'll learn to play.

When you're soaring through the air I'll be your solid ground.

Take every chance you dare, I'll still be there

when you come back down.

I'll keep looking up awaiting your return.

My greatest fear will be that you will crash and burn

and I won't feel your fire.

I'll be the other hand that always holds the line.

Connecting in between your sweet heart and mine.

I'm strung out on that wire.

I'll be on the other end to hear you when you call.

Angel you born to fly and if you get to high,

I'll catch you when you fall.

Your memory's the sunshine every new day brings.

I know the sky is calling.

Angel, let me help you with your wings.

When you're soaring through the air, I'll be your solid ground.

Take every chance you dare, I'll still be there

when you come back down.

Geez.  Is it Friday yet?

hear the musical version here.

one local summer, week 3

This, is the cookout edition. (late, as usual!)

Ribeye steak on the barbie

Squash, grilled (see below)

Slaw (recipe below)

Tomatoes, plain and sliced, still warm from my garden

Kale chips.  Oh, the kale chips.  This recipe is making the rounds.  Here is the original. So. good. But I feel I must warn you not to eat the entire batch by yourself as it will cause a fairly substantial tummy ache.  Ahem.

Grilled squash (or anything else you might want to grill):

Slice lengthwise about 1/4 inch thick. Toss in olive oil and salt generously.  Grill until quite toasty.  I mean toasty.  It caramelizes the natural sugars.  Mmmm.

For the slaw:

4 cups shredded cabbage

Dressing:

1 1/2 c. yogurt

3 T. honey

1-2 T. red wine vinegar

LOTS of pepper (or to taste)

Mix dressing and toss with cabbage.  Use more or less dressing depending on how saucy you like it.

You'll notice that I substitute yogurt for MOST recipes that call for mayo.  I started doing that because the yogurt gives it a much lighter zing.  It's an added bonus that yogurt is locally available.  Feel free to use mayo, or half mayo half yogurt.

This is about what we go through in a typical week.  All local.  Everything you see here is from my CSA box, the farmer's market, my garden, or the little locally-owned Value Market that is so innovative as to mix local and organic things on the shelves with the Oreos and Jif (not that I don't darken the doorways of Whole Foods or Kroger when need be). We'll run out of milk.  Twice.  I forgot to throw in the bread.  And coffee.  Although, it's probably best that you don't see how much coffee I go through in a week.

Now, I'm off to enjoy a quiet house before I go pick up child #3.  Numbers 1 and 2 are gone until Friday. Woo hoo!  Boo hoo!  Then, I have to figure out how to cook for 3 rather than 5.

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

C

craft swap: june edition

We were supposed to meet in May, but we just couldn't get there.

(start with a piece of 4 x 4 plywood, and sketch whatever it is you want to make)

Swap is tonight.

(drill holes the same diameter as your jigsaw blade at all the end points)

In fact, this post is on a delay, so I should be starting on my first beer right about....now.

(carefully connect the dots)

It may take me a couple before I'm able to let this guy go.

(prime)

I love him.

(add corner brackets at the base to act as a support)

He's the rooster I'll never have.

(paint whatever colors strike your fancy)

By the way, have I mentioned that I'll be getting chicks next spring?

(seal with polyurethane. Twice.)

I hope he likes his new home.

(decide more than 3 hours before you are giving him away if you are going to attach him to a stand or not because the polyurethane won't have time to dry. ahem.)

Fly away my fine feathered friend.  You may have a brother in my immediate future.

a fisheye view

I walked out onto the ridge.  Just me, my camera,

and my walking companions.

They don't walk with me, but rather around me. Protectively.

Because we aren't the only ones out walking.

In the absence of conversation, the ridge is a wonderous place, falling away to the shadowy woods on either side.  The only sounds are the birds and the crunching of my feet on the shorn path.

Suddenly, I hear a huffing and puffing, and I see the white of her tail as she bounds, crashing into the woods.

I've disturbed her vigil over her newly born fawn.  She stomps and snorts in the valley trying to draw me, the predator, away from her babe.

My quest, however, is to satiate the spirit, not the belly.

He sits patiently for his portrait, the wide angle lens almost touching him. 

I passed a thicket, covered in the most beautiful butterflies of which I had never seen before.  I counted at least thirty.  As I stepped closer to capture their image, they flitted into the sky in thirty different directions. Red confetti.  Floating up instead of down.

Pondering all that is, lost in my thoughts of the Peeps overhead. I came upon the pond which erupted at my passing.  I think I may have jumped as hard as the frogs who were now safely nestled in the plant growth under the water, leaving no trace but the occasional ripple of an airbubble.

I am by no means the first person to love this place, nor am I close to being the last.

There is an ancient magic here that draws you in and tethers your heart.

But the sun grows heavy in the sky.

And so I find the road that will take me home.

10.2mm Nikon lens on loan by Murphy's Camera.

one local summer, week 2

I'm off kilter this week. I should have posted this on Monday.  But here it is, already Wednesday.  Better late than never, right?

Here's the thing.  We're trying to eat as local as possible EVERY day.  So I thought I'd share a day instead of just a meal. 

BREAKFAST

No, I don't make pancakes every day. But I do make them at least once during weekends.

(baking powder and salt are NOT local in this recipe)

1 1/2 C. flour (I use straight local whole wheat)

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 C. milk (or however thin/thick you like your batter)

3 T. melted butter

2 large eggs

Whisk dry ingredients in one bowl.  Whisk wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk together. Serve with local maple syrup.  Mmmm. Oh, and a cup of locally roasted coffee.  By the time pancakes are finished, I'm usually on my second cup.  Or third. But who's counting?

LUNCH

I like hot lunches.  It's just how I grew up.  The largest meal of the day (dinner) was served around 1:00.  Supper was a much lighter deal later in the day.  I've sortof combined the two into fairly even meals, but lunch is always a hodgepodge.

Beets are fantastic right now, and we are just about to finish off the end of my yield.  I like them sweet.  No vinegar.  Like so:

 preheat oven to 350.

trim beets down leaving 1 inch of stem (don't trim the roots)

put them in a baking dish with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water

seal the pan tightly with foil and bake until tender (about an hour- more for large beets)

Slip the skins off, slice, and toss with butter, fresh dill, and salt and pepper.

Handfuls of sugar snap peas, right off the vine.  They've lasted a really long time this spring, because it hasn't been as hot as it normally is.

Piles of whatever berries happen to be lying around.  These are all jammed now, but my raspberry bushes are having their best year ever.

My lunch protein of choice is cottage cheese.  I LOVE cottage cheese.  I haven't found a local cottage cheese yet, so no cottage cheese for me.  That's alright.  Eggs are a good pinch hitter.  And HOW could you pass up an egg in one of these egg cups?  They are from Melissa.  And I think they are just about the cutest things ever!

DINNER:

I actually made this quiche twice this week.  Once when Erin and Tracy came to dinner. It's more like a frittata with crust than a quiche.  Mister doesn't like it TOO rich.  (unlike me!  HA!)

First, make a single crust:

1 1/4 c. local flour (I'm using whole wheat)

8 T. room temp butter (yes, I'm a cheater)

1/8 t. salt (or a tad more if you like)

approx 3 T. COLD water

With a pastry knife, cut flour, butter, and salt together until the pieces are pea sized.  Add water. Then roll to fit a 9 inch pie pan (I roll mine between two pieces of waxed paper.

Then:

Grate 4 oz. of whatever cheese you want to use. I've been partial to a local basil/tomato cheddar.

Decide what veggies you are going to put in.  For this one, I used spinach, zucchini, and yellow crookneck. But the sky's the limit, use whatever you want.

Clean and slice all veggies.  Now, you can saute them, but I put them in a microwave save bowl covered with plastic wrap and nuke for 5 minutes. Then drain.

Whisk:

6 eggs

1 1/2 C. milk

Stir in veggies and cheese.

Pour into crust.

Bake 375 until center is set.

I think salad can consist of just about anything.  All of this is straight from my garden, although we have been eating lots of radishes from our CSA.  Dressings, on the other hand can get limited being strictly local.  Vinegar is a "gimme," so that helps!

Blue Cheese:  

1 c. yogurt

1/2 c. milk

2 or 3 oz. crumbled blue cheese (I don't like it overly potent)

1 clove garlic (IF you have it)

1 T. red wine vinegar

lots of pepper

I'm not giving you a dessert recipe today, as I figure the apple pie I made this week was cheating since I used sugar.  Don't know why I didn't think to use honey! I will be experimenting with cookies/whole wheat flour.  Keep your fingers crossed.

one local summer. burrow style.

Last year I missed the deadline to officially be part of One Local Summer. I played along anyway. From June to September, I bought no produce, dairy, meat or eggs that did not come from a local source.  It was fantastic.  Hard at first, but fantastic. I learned A LOT.  I made the deadline this summer for OLS, and I will also be posting weekly over at Heather Jane's place.

The challenge is to create at least one meal a week entirely of local goods and then blog about it.  They give us freebies on oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.  But that's it. Fine by me.  I truly believe that the best meals are also the most simple, with a couple of nice undertones and without "crowded" flavors.

Of course, by the time I was finished cooking, things were scarfed down at a miraculous speed and I only ended up with photos of the ice cream making!

Menu:

Main Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

Roast Chicken w/New Onions Mushrooms & Sage

Dessert Honey Lavender Ice Cream

For the salad:

Fresh, washed spinach

2 hard boiled eggs

6 slices of bacon, cut in 1" pieces

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 C red wine vinegar

2 T ketchup (I actually made my own last summer, and am      on my last jar)

1/2 t salt

1/8 t pepper

Brown bacon, then place on paper towel to drain.  Stir fry scallions in drippings until tender, then mix in remaining ingredients and heat for about 5 minutes.  Pour hot dressing over spinach and toss in bacon pieces and egg.

For the chicken:

1 whole/cleaned chicken

2 bunches new onions, cleaned and trimmed

1/2 pound mushrooms (whatever you can get at the farmers market is fine!)

2 or 3 WHOLE bulbs of garlic with the tops cut off (I'm ashamed to say, these were still in my fridge from the fall)

sage. and lots of it.

1 T oil

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 450.  Put the bird in a roasting pan (I use a cast iron WITH LID) and rub with the oil. Salt and pepper the surface generously, and then cover with the sage. Fill the cavity with as much sage as you have left. Surround the bird with the onions, garlic and mushrooms. (if it was later in the summer, I would have also added potatoes, carrots, and any other root crop I could get my hands on)

Cover tightly and bake for 1 hour. Slice, and serve with the veggies.  Scoop the individual cloves of garlic out of the bulb and serve on top of the chicken.

And the ice cream.  Oh, the ice cream. I absolutely adore cooking with lavender.  If you don't overheat during the cooking process, the oils will linger on your tongue for minutes.  Heaven.

3 C light cream

2 T dried lavender flowers (I used 3 T fresh)

2/3 C honey

4 large egg yolks

2 t all purpose flour (I omitted this, and it set just fine)

1 t rose water (optional. I didn't have any, but MAN would it be good with it)

Combine the cream and lavender in a heavy saucepan.  Bring to a simmer, remove from heat, cover, and let steep 20 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until pale, then mix in honey (and flour, if you are using it)

Strain flowers from the cream and mix SLOWLY into the eggs. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and cook on low heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens slightly.  If you let the mixture boil, the eggs will scramble.  DO NOT let the mixture boil.  Once it has thickened, pour through a strainer into container (now is the time to add the rose water if you are using it) and chill overnight, or until cold. Then freeze using your ice cream makers directions, then place in the freezer for 2 hours.

One lesson I learned from last year:  Buy every jar of maple syrup they have left at the farmers market

One lesson I've learned this year:  As soon as the wheat flour is ready, I will buy every bag they have.

scenes from a life

Hi friends.  I've been a bit MIA lately.  Mostly because I just don't feel very funny right now. A couple of things have happened in my world, and honestly, it's taken the mickey right out of me.  Not to worry, it's nothing that's happened TO me exactly.  Just around me. I'll get it together soon. But enough of that!

I thought I'd share a bit of what goes on around my house.  You know, so you can see a bit of how we roll around the Burrow.

This is Syd, my super sweet treasure of a dog.  We adopted him from an amazing rescue organization called GRRAND about 4 years ago. This dog is perfect in every way.  Except one.

When he sees a brush, he flips.out.  We think that whoever had him before us must have hit him. A lot. So I don't brush him.  I have him bathed and shaved with a groomer.  But we lost our groomer, and had to use a new one.

He had been there for about an hour when they called me and told me to come get my dog.

This was about the point they got to when he went ballistic and started screaming and trying to bite everything within a 5 foot radius. 

And oddly enough I find this absolutely hilarious. The haircut, that is. So now, I figure I'll just call him an Irish Setter.

But no matter what, I wouldn't trade him for the world.