Posts from the ‘Food’ category

Midweek Breakfast

Last evening, neighbor Melanie … of the new chicken yard neighbors … phoned to see if I’d like some eggs fresh from those chickens? I said yes, but hesitated about going right then because it was 7:00 p.m. … the time I start winding down, thinking about getting in my jammies and taking a book to bed – hopefully with Bear and Auggie for company.

Thankfully, I bucked up and walked over. I was greeted by Brewster (dog) and Jesse (Mel’s husband). Jesse showed me the finished chicken yard and explained how it all went together. It is beautiful and I hope to get some photos! They also have the most gorgeous chickens I’ve ever seen – truly beautiful. And chickens are funny. Mel brought out 3 tomatoes and threw them in the yard one at a time. As she says, they are like football players the way they go for the treat like it’s the football, blocking and tackling each other – too funny!

A bit more visiting and then into the garden where Mel dug up potatoes and I picked green tomatoes. We are to have a hard freeze maybe tonight and probably Thursday night.

And I got eggs, too!

First thing this morning, I made my cup of turmeric tea: water, lemon, turmeric, cayenne, pepper and honey. Spicy hot and “cures what ails ya'”. I started this last winter (Turmeric Cayenne Eye Opener) … took a break during the heat of the summer, but now it is back on the menu.

While I sipped, I looked up “green tomato” recipes. I know…fried green tomatoes and I will do that, but I also wondered if there were other things to do with them and there are:
Green tomato salsa
Green tomato marmalade!!
Green tomato chutney
Roast and grilled green tomatoes with fresh mozz for a green tomato caprese!!!

So, I’m thinking of proposing a mega green tomato day where we consolidate forces and put up those green tomatoes. If no takers, I’ll make small batches on my own, but I’m kind of excited about trying the different options.

Back to breakfast.

Those eggs – look at the gorgeous orange yolk.

The eggs are small so I poached three, but “OH MY!” – so good.

I also roasted one of the potatoes.

Fresh eggs, a just picked roast potato, bacon and a slice of my own bread…

A bit of Dixon (Dixon, MT) cantaloupe for dessert = a wonderful midweek breakfast.

The green tomatoes, one almost ripe tomato and fresh basil…visions of a caprese salad dance in my head.

Happy Wednesday!

A beautiful Monday

It was one of my favorite kind of days weather-wise: it started at a cool and crisp 41F, clear skies which turned sunny, a light breeze and the high topped out just under 70F at my house.

I had windows open all day.

Bear and Auggie were out most of the day.

We had several wonderful walks

I had a good work day…

and a delicious supper of stuffed pasillo peppers.

A lovely, beautiful Monday.

Zoodles for Zupper and the Montana August Singularity

Zoodles = zucchini noodles, i.e. zucchini shredded/spiralized into “noodles”.

There are various implements available to “noodle” a zucchini. I tried a $6.00 spiralizer and got what I paid for …junk that fell apart at the first zucchini.

I did not want to buy a medium-largish thing…

….then, I saw a post about a julienne peeler.

THAT was that. I found one on Amazon and ordered…

The peeler and the zoodles.

The “scraps” I saved and chopped and blended with the sauce.

Zoodles: actually, I used a summer squash and some sweet red pepper – sautéed the lot in olive oil …briefly until all was tender.

A bit of chipotle-tomato-ground beef sauce and fresh grated parmesan on top…with a side of toasted bread.

Zoodles for Zupper!

Weather-wise…

My kind of weather.

NOAA will not cotton to the term, but it is the Montana August Singularity. A weather singularity is a weather phenomenon that regularly happens around a certain date.

Search (Google, Bing or your favorite search engine) “Montana August Singularity”.

Yep.

It is true – more often than not the 20 years I’ve lived here.

Pffht – NOAA! ( I emailed them and commented and ZERO reply or acknowledgement )

Stuffed shells and other weekend stories

Saturday was wonderfully cool, clear and beautiful…

BUT.

At the construction site to our East there was grading and ??? and hauling of dirt.

It was noisy outside.

Bear, Auggie and I stayed mostly inside.

It was warm enough to close the house and run the A/C and so have none of the heavy equipment noise.

And early Saturday morning, I prepped a mix of swiss chard/onion/garlic and other spices, a ricotta-egg-parmesan mix and cooked some jumbo pasta shells.

Auggie had his usual.

But I had stuffed shells.

With Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce. (tomatoes, butter, salt and an onion…slow simmered for 45 minutes, then remove the onion – HEAVEN!)

Jumbo pasta shells filled with the ricotta-chard mix, nestled on a bit of the tomato sauce, drizzled with the tomato sauce, baked and then under the broiler with some fresh grated parmesan.

Major deliciousness!

Meanwhile, some progress on the plumbing issue – washing machine drain – a temporary solution is in place with a permanent solution to be determined before Winter.

And I uncovered a bit of firewood that is ready to be split – it has been covered for 2 years and I was a little leery about what else might be living under the tarp… nothing scary and the wood looks good!

After 3 or maybe 4 weeks of procrastinating, I took up all of the little rugs, dust mopped, vacuumed and EVEN damp mopped the floors. And I dusted. It is relatively clean in the house!

…Speaking of Winter. We are now half-way through Summer. In Montana, that is getting close to Fall: another 7-10 days and the visitor traffic will diminish substantially. It might still get warm-hot but daylight is decreasing/dark time is increasing…it gets more and more difficult to be uncomfortably hot for more than a short bit of the afternoon. The light at the end of the summer tunnel is in sight. Hoo..I say HOO-RAH!

Crustless Quiche

4 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon flour
2 Tablespoons melted butter
Pinch of salt
Pinch of nutmeg
2 cups cheese: I used 1 cup Monterrey Jack, 1 cup cheddar and a little pecorino

Beat all the ingredients – through cheese – together with a whisk until blended. Butter a pie dish and scatter a mixture of the cheese over the bottom of the pie dish. I then added 1 zucchini (grated), 1/2 small sweet onion sliced thin and some roasted red pepper diced. Pour egg mixture over top. Sprinkle nutmeg. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes until the custard is firm, puffy & slightly brown.

Good out of the oven and even better cold the next day.

Beating the heat

As I write this, it is actually cooler: 79F vs 89F.

But, it is VERY smoky from wildfires in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.

VERY smoky as in today, in addition to looking smoky, it smelled smoky.

And I pray for those who have lost homes (100 in Washington) and also for the wildland firefighters. I still often think about the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots that lost their lives last year. …and the families they left behind. Wildland firefighting is super dangerous business.

Blech.

But part of Western Summers.

At my house, we must live and deal.

Several things to beat the heat:

Agua Fresca. Fresh Water. With some fruit and a teeny-tiny bit of sweetener. For my purposes agave nectar.

My current favorite: cantaloupe, lime juice and red raspberries.

It is like Hawaiian Punch, the light version.

I usually fill 1/3 of a mug with the fresca and top with my own sweet carbonated well water.

Srsly good and refreshing!

Early May, I started making my own popsicles.

Yum, but recently, I saw something about Zipzicle bags…kind of Ziploc bags but thin and tall with the zip at the top of the tall.

I bought some to try.

Kind of fun.

And easy.

And I can think of other ways to use these: bits of sauce…think chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for one.

The company also sells neoprene sleeves for the popsicles so that one does not freeze one’s fingers while eating the ice treat.

SO much fun!

And last, but certainly not least.

I’ve been drinking my cold brew ( Cold Brew ) for weeks.

It turns out that chocolate ice cream in place of the maple syrup and cocoa, makes a VERY delicious iced mocha.

Beating the heat!