pause

i freely admit i'm a blog surfer. i read a lot of different kinds of blogs, but lately my favorites have been cheesy housewife blogs. i don't quite fit into any of the typical housewife boxes (not the least of which is that i'm not married), but they crack me up, provide tips, and on occasion, horrify me. like this one, with this picture:



i think maybe there might be some produce in the back right corner, but i can't quite tell. the blog was all about how frugal and great it can be to go shopping and save kaboodles.

there isn't a damned thing in this picture i'd have bought anyway.

a pinch of salt for luck

life hasn't always been this lucky. there are times you can believe in myths and faiths and promises and other potentially untrue stuff, and times when luck is really just perseverance.

i made something a few days ago. it came out too salty (more on that later), but beautiful. i know how to do it better next time.

cheese snowflakes

use parchment paper, non-stick cookie sheet, or grease it up. 350 degrees preheat. two sheets are better than one.

grate about 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese. you can either add something interesting at this point (i added fennel seeds, but you could try caraway? or poppy seeds?), about 1/4 cup.

put 1 1/2 tablespoons of the mixture on the cookie sheet, and spread evenly to about 4" diameter. space like cookies, about 2" between.

bake: depending on your oven, either really only about 2 minutes, or up to about 4.

remove from oven, remove from pan while still warm. you can drape them on a rolling pin for curved versions, or just on paper towels for flat ones. they look like lacy chips.

if you used salty cheese like i did, you'll get salty snowflakes. we used them to add to hot soup - they looked really cool melting into it.

not quite but like

i live in a house with ghosts. some of them are still alive. we only get half-glimpses of them in passing, sometimes in town sometimes in our heads and sometimes just around the corner of something we thought we saw.

hazelnut "pesto"

2 cups parsley, packed

3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts (you can do this yourself -makes the house smell fantastic, and has the added bonus of making the house feel more like yours again. dry-roast/bake at 350 for about 10 minutes)

2 cloves garlic

half-lemon rind, in bits

juice of one lemon

2/3 cup olive oil

everything goes in the food processor except the oil. pulse on low until mixture becomes thick and pasty (you may need to use your spatula to push it all back in a few times). with food processor running, slowly pour olive oil into mixture. i think it's ready when it becomes slightly "splashy" on the sides of the container, but not "splattery" - that's too oily.

vegging out

i have this dorky rectangular tupperware container, and in it goes mostly-intact okay-looking scraps of vegetables. and sometimes fruit. and sometimes the water that leaked from the steamed-whatever. and sometimes - beer.

i used to buy cans of the stuff. i don't - because it gives me heartache to see all the stuff go into the compost. i know the compost is a good cause, planning for next year, yadda yadda. once the garden actually kicked in this summer, i started keeping it all in one place. once a week or so i brew up a vegetable broth from all the bits. sometimes i have some chicken to throw in it, making (voila!) chicken broth instead. but more commonly it's just the vegetables.

we've been eating a lot of peppers, 'cause that's what's been growing. long, thin, twisty-turny shapes of green. i think they were supposed to turn red, but with the weather and the lack of sunshine, they didn't. we're eating them now, since a whole lot have been lost to either the bugs or touching the soil, where they start to rot.

roasted sweet peppers, any variety

set your oven to broil.

cut up your peppers, removing the seeds and membranes (you can reserve this for your aforementioned stock pot, if you'd like). heavily coat a roasting pan with olive oil, and arrange the peppers in general slices so none cover. flip them around so both sides are coated with oil, re-arrange back into the uncovered layer with skin sides up. sprinkle with kosher salt.

place roasting pan in the oven. check occasionally (the timing will depend on how many peppers you've got in there), but not more than about 7 minutes. the tops of the peppers should be turning black/brown and maybe blistering - this is good.

there's a sweet spot for your peppers as far as timing goes. you don't want to burn them, but the more they broil the better. after about 10 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and try them out. some people like them crispier than others - we like ours with still a little crunch to them.

courageous chicken

i don't know lots about cooking and stuff. there's a running joke in our household about when D. and i first met, and the conversation went something like this:

j: what are you eating?

D: chicken tacos with lime salsa, a little [insert fancy name of fancy cheese i can't remember] seasoned rice and a glass of [fancy wine i can't remember either]. what are you having?

:::::very long pause:::::::

j: defrosted chicken dinosaurs.

:::::very long pause:::::::

D: oh.

he liked my roasted chicken. that much is true. he hadn't had much experience with poultry, and as it turned out, i didn't either, but i had the right idea. this is the much, much improved version, even minus the under-cooked potatoes i initially served.

roasted chicken with vegetables

3-4 lb chicken: doesn't have to be an intact one. you can use parts, or even just legs if you only like legs, etc. but make sure the skin is on, otherwise you'll have dried up chicken jerky.

one large yellow onion

assorted fall and winter vegetables you've got lying around in the kitchen or pantry

3 lemons

salt, pepper, and ideally a mix of "italian-ey" seasonings (you know. oregano. thyme. whatever. if you're lucky, you might have herbes de provence - it has lavender in it!)

olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350. Now, if you have an oven like mine which requires a relationship management process, you may need to think about whether that's really 325 or 375 or really 350.

2. you don't have to peel the potatoes. but if you decide to do skin on, clean them really well. i've made this mistake. it kinda ruins the dish when you find you're eating grit.

3. wash off the chicken, inside and out. this will remind you to take the guts out of the middle cavity. also an important step i have, in fact, forgotten. although i only did that once.

4. slice the lemons in quarters, and stab 'em a little bit to break the pith. that way the flavor will leak out better when they're cooking. stuff them inside the now-empty chicken. you can also include other items if you'd like to mess with the flavoring - onions are nice, i've also tried orange instead of lemon. just remember that you can't eat whatever you put in there - it has high potential for bacteria being the lowest temperature of a cooked chicken. add enough lemon to make the chicken plump up to it's original-ish shape.

5. pour enough olive oil in your roasting pan (you have one, right?) to cover the bottom of the pan. not just grease it a little but enough to coat it. this is important, because you'll add vegetables later and they'll dry out if you don't have enough oil in there. not too much. just - you know. anyway.

6. it helps to par-boil the potatoes. that way (ahem) you won't get undercooked potatoes when you're done. par-boiling is basically quick-boiling. not totally. just enough to un-toughen them. you do not need to do this to sweet potatoes. (sweet potatoes, btw, aren't really even potatoes. but that's another day.)

7. cut up the rest of the vegetables you want to put half of them in there. greens don't work. carrots, onions, turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, beets, even apples will work. not greens. it's gross - don't try it. mushrooms don't work that great either - the roasting time is too long and they'll end up looking like tiny turds, although they won't taste bad.

8. pour some more olive oil, making sure to cover the visible skin of the chicken. ignore the remaining feather-things sticking out of the skin unless the gross you out. dole out your spices and herbs. watch it with the salt. add more pepper than you think you should. make sure you get the chicken skin and the vegetables.

9. mix the vegetables around, getting them all spiced up. add the rest of the vegetables and add more spice and herbs and salt and pepper. yes, you can stuff it all in. in fact, make sure there's enough so that it's pretty tight in there - otherwise they'll lose moisture and dry out.

10. rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound. if you're nervous about undercooked poultry, that's okay. i still get this wrong, so i always add about 10 extra minutes. but at the time you think it should be ready, pull it out and stick a fork in it and cut into it. it's okay. gauge what to do then.

11. when it's done, it's done. all you need is a salad.

summer stock

it's just about the end of summer, although you'd never know it, because it feels like late autumn. the slugs have returned and are i'm now waging war among the red cabbage - i lost too much broccoli to those minions of satan to give up now. i found a late term green caterpillar hoping for lunch deep in one of the heads, but my handy garden-tag-cum-spike took care of it.

hell hath no fury like a born again vegetable gardener.

i've been pruning the yellow squash leaves back - i'm not sure if you're supposed to do that. but they were slowly creeping around my precious cinnamon basil stalks, (yes, yes, i planted them too close together. now i know.) and i forgot to train the growth up the fence, so i've got a ton of baby squash just now starting.

anyway, the last of the full-grown yellow squash was sitting in my garden basket. three of 'em.

adapted from lesa heebner's "cooking with the seasons" zucchini and cashew cream soup (i'll note what i changed from the recipe):

summer squash and cashew cream soup

3.5 cups chicken broth (i used three. i don't see why you can't use vegetable broth. we had only chicken broth made from our smoked chicken the previous week, so it gave it an interesting smoked kind of undertone.)

1-2 (to make 3 cips diced) potatoes, diced

4 zucchini, dice 2 and slice 2 (i had only three medium-ish summer squash. hence the change.)

1 large yellow onion

3 cloves garlic, finely minced (yeah. right. try five.)

2 TB chopped parsley

1 1/2 dried basil (i used about 5 fresh leaves instead, minced.)

1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne (no way in hell is this going to go down the gullet of a 6 year old and an 8 year old who claim regular ol' pepper is "spicy". i went with paprika. i think the cayenne would have tasted better, but the paprika let me enjoy my meal.)

3/4 cup raw cashews (here's where it gets interesting. my partner in crime had unknowingly consumed almost the entire stash of cashews. so - i went with half cashew and half macadamia nut. the end result was probably sweeter than it would have been otherwise, but whatever.)

1/2 cup water

soy sauce to taste

1. Place chicken stock, potatoes, diced zucchini, onion, and garlic in saucepan. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes (or until partner-in-crime deems you have stacked enough wood to get out of the rain and back into the kitchen).

2. Add the sliced zucchini, parsley, basil, and cayenne. Cook about 10 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

3. Meanwhile, make cashew cream by grinding cashews in food processor or blender to a powder. With machine running, add water to make the "cream". (note to self: by god, this is genius.)

4. Add cashew cream to soup. Stir and heat thoroughly. Add soy sauce to taste and serve.

a mistaken attempt

take one.