What's for Dinner?

Direct from the garden: Stir Fry.

We were meeting friends at the pool late this afternoon, and I was fretting a little about dinner earlier in the day. I wanted to have it ready when we got home because the kids are usually fried after swimming and I didn't want to cook in the evening anyway. Our CSA box hadn't arrived yet, either, which was where I was planning to get the veggies for dinner. It finally occurred to me that we have a rather large garden right out the back door! I'm also pleased to say it's starting to produce nicely. Above is what I harvested in about 4 minutes in the garden: Japanese eggplant, some carrots, an onion, peas, and a pattypan squash. I could have also picked a zucchini, dug some potatoes, picked kale or Swiss chard, and even picked the very first string beans. And had I needed herbs, I could have gotten flat leaf parsley, curly leaf parsley, one of four kinds of basil, rosemary, chives, thyme, oregano or mint. And in a couple of weeks we'll have tomatoes, too.

Maybe I should start thinking about canceling our CSA box. We love getting the fruit, though!

This is what the above harvest turned into:

My dad introduced us to Tofu Pockets. He keeps us in good supply, which is handy because Rhys loooves them. I make rice and a vegetable stir fry (sometimes with fried tofu), and we fill our pockets at the table. It's one of the meals at which I can pretty much guarantee Rhys will eat vegetables. Yay for the garden and tofu pockets!

Dinner

I harvested several things from our garden for dinner last evening: red beets, golden beets, a purple onion, chard, lettuce, radishes and peas. With the addition of potatoes and sausage from the farmers' market, we had a delicious meal.

Cookin' in the Kitchen

 

Continuing my adventures in hippie-dom..... Above is yogurt cheese smeared on rosemary bread (from a bakery in Pagosa) and (almost) yogurt. 

The yogurt cheese is soooo tasty, I can't imagine how we've managed to get this far in life without constantly having some on hand. It's also very easy to make: just dump a couple of cups of plain yogurt (fat free, lowfat, or whole) into the middle of 4 to 6 layers of cheesecloth. Gather the sides and secure with a rubber band or twist-tie on top, as if you're making a hobo bag. Place in a colander inside of a bowl (to collect the water that will be squeezed out), put a couple of heavy bags of beans or rice on top, and put it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, dump out the extra water and put the cheese in an airtight container. Enjoy! I've seen recipes adding herbs and spices before leaving it in the fridge, but haven't yet tried them. I'm sure that's really tasty, too.

The (almost) yogurt is really tasty on cereal, but is not quite yogurt. I've now tried three times to make yogurt– heat the milk, stir in the yogurt, keep in a warm place overnight– but haven't been able to get it to thicken up. It tastes like a very rich milk that's just slightly thicker than usual, but it's definitely not yogurt. I need to do more research and practice, I guess.

Awakening My Inner Hippie

Aaron has told me title of this post should actually be "Reawakening My Inner Hippie." I've suppressed this particular aspect of my persona for a few years– I think because of the intervention of "modern western" medicine in Rhys's premature birth (which brings up so many emotions I really can't express them in an online blog). I'm now moving back to my mostly vegetarian, shampoo-is-merely-a-money-making-conspiracy, aromatherapy anyone?, mmmmmm-patchouli-smells-yummy self. So: I prefer eating vegetarian, although I've found my son is a willing and ready carnivore; yup, I'm not using shampoo at the moment (with mixed results, but it bears more study– I'm using baking soda and a vinegar rinse, if you're interested); with the colds going around the house we've been using steamy tea tree essential oil for treatment of stuffy noses and coughs; and, well, I do love the smell of patchouli. Above is my homemade beeswax-olive oil-honey lip balm and the horehound lozenges (also for treatment of colds) I made yesterday. Our cleaning supplies have mostly consisted of vinegar and baking soda for a while, but now they're pretty much exclusively those two ingredients, with the addition of a general purpose cleaner I got from a friend (below). I'm even cutting out high fructose corn syrup (which isn't too difficult since we don't consume much of that anyway) and already make my own laundry detergent. I'll be donning flip-flops as the weather gets warmer, and I'm growing my hair out long again. I don't plan to go bra-less, encourage dreadlocks, or smoke pot. Does that make me only a hippie wanna be?

Oh, and, I'm planning to start making my own granola....


.....
Here is the all-purpose cleaner recipe:

2 TB salt
1/2 cup vinegar
*60 drops orange essential oil
*30 drops lemon essential oil
*30 drops grapefruit essential oil
water
2 TB eco-friendly dish soap

Start with an empty quart-size spray bottle. Add 1 cup of warm tap water. Use a funnel to add salt. Swish the water until the salt dissolves. Use funnel to add vinegar. Remove funnel and carefully add essential oil. Fill bottle with water to one inch from the top. Finally, add dish soap. Replace sprayer and shake gently.

*You can use ~120 drops of whatever oil you have or like. I (my friend) use a combo of bergamot and lavender because they are inexpensive and I like the smell. I (Britton) used lavender and tea tree oil.

November Images

...Alanna splashing in the bath...


...sticking out her tongue...

...and eating blueberries...

...Rhys helping Mommy make peroshkis (stuffed dough pockets)...

...and being silly...

...and generally having fun...