Gluten-free Zucchini Muffins

My zucchini plants produced an obscene amount of zucchini this year. Fortunately, my youngest child has been on a zucchini muffin bender the whole time, so figuring out what to do with it (besides grilling it with olive oil and salt) hasn't been an issue.

And, when the muffins weren't being consumed or made fast enough, I was shredding the zucchini into 12 ounce servings and freezing it for use after the garden stopped producing. I didn't do any other preparation besides shredding and freezing so I wasn't sure if it would work as well as using it fresh.

Well, lucky for us, we have about seven 12-oz bags of frozen zucchini to alternate with gluten-free pumpkin muffins (another favorite). And, so far, using the frozen, shredded zucchini has turned out the same as using it fresh.

This recipe, adapted from King Arthur Flour, results in a muffin that you can't tell is even gluten-free. Why gluten-free you ask? Well, my kiddo has IBS and has less of a problem with non-wheat foods. And the fiber from the zucchini helps as well. This recipe calls for the King Arthur Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour, but we prefer to use the America's Test Kitchen blend.

Also, if you are looking for uncoated, Teflon-free muffin pans, I highly recommend the Chicago Metallic Commercial II Uncoated 12-cup Muffin Pan. If you have questions about this type of steel, Kitchen Boy does a great job of explaining it. We have two of these muffin pans and use them frequently.

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini (about 1 small/medium zucchini)
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F; lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan (or use compostable, unbleached muffin liners).
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, honey, oil, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Add the flour, salt, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon, mixing until well combined.
4. Stir in the zucchini and let the batter rest for 15 minutes, then stir to redistribute.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan.
6. Bake the muffins for 30 minutes, rotating halfway, until the muffins test done (a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean).
7. Remove the muffins from the oven, and let them cool for 10 to 15 minutes before turning them out of the pan onto a rack.

*Warning - this post contains a link to an affiliate program that might make me money, wherein I use said $ for giveaways and suchlike.

Collard Greens Gratin. With Bacon. And Cornbread.

Collard greens gratin

We're getting to that time of year where the collard greens I over-planted decide they want to produce more than we can possibly and reasonably eat (apparently four plants is too much for two people and the kids aren't interested). So, what is one to do? Turn those giant leaves into a meal, that's what.

I occasionally pick up this magazine called Southern Cast Iron (where I got this recipe from) which, I hate to admit, I really love. It pairs cast iron with a lot of garden-centric meals that tend to be not so much on the lighter end of the spectrum. But, then again, pork fat is good for you, right?!

Anyway, this recipe is a great combination of lots of collard greens, onions, garlic, milk, cheese and a little bacon. Oh, and some cornbread. Which really seals the deal for me. You cook it on the stove top in a cast iron skillet, but it gets baked in the oven for a really amazing, golden, crunchy finish. It's a nice alternative to the standard sauteed greens and it's a meal in itself.

If you're looking for an inexpensive cast iron skillet, we love our 12 inch Lodge pre-seasoned skillet that we use not only for making things like this, but for making cornbread as well.

Ingredients

1. 11⁄2 pounds chopped collard greens, stems removed
2. 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 2-inch pieces
3. 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
4. 3 cloves garlic, minced
5. 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6. 2 cups whole milk
7. 1 cup shredded sharp white Cheddar cheese, divided
8. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
9. 1⁄2 teaspoon ground mustard
10. 1⁄8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
11. 1⁄2 cup crumbled cornbread

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add collard greens; cook for 4 minutes. Immediately drain, and rinse with cold water. Drain again; squeeze dry.
3. In a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon; let drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet.
4. Add onion and garlic to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in flour; cook for 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk; cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add 3⁄4 cup cheese, salt, mustard, and red pepper. Add collard greens, stirring until combined. Top with bacon, cornbread, and remaining 1⁄4 cup cheese.
5. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

What's your favorite way to cook greens?

*Warning - this post contains a link to an affiliate program that might make me money, wherein I use said $ for giveaways and suchlike.

Vanilla Bourbon Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Get inside mah belly!

Phew! That's a mouthful for a muffin recipe title, but just "banana chocolate chip muffins" doesn't do this recipe justice. In fact, I wouldn't even bother posting a recipe for such a simple thing if it weren't for the extra flavors in these muffins.

In any case, I adapted a Bon Appetit recipe to accommodate all the black bananas we had sitting around, begging to be ingested. The base recipe sounded pretty bland, so I thought a little doctoring was in order. Since we had so many bananas, I made a huge batch. If you don't want to make this many, feel free to halve it. And, try to use organic ingredients as much as you can!

Vanilla Bourbon Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Yield: Makes 26

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 5 medium)
2 large eggs
1 cup unsalted butter, melted*
2 teaspoons vanilla (use homemade or high quality vanilla)
2 teaspoons bourbon (use something decent - I used Bulleit)
1/2 cup milk (scant)**
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/8 cup turbinado sugar

*I substituted out 1/4 cup butter for 1/4 cup of my Courvoisier Applesauce cause that's a lot of butter.
**I put the vanilla and bourbon in the measuring cup and then added the milk to make 1/2 cup.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 1/3 cup muffin cups with liners (or grease the bejeezus out of the muffin tins).

Mix flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, eggs and butter, vanilla, bourbon and milk in a medium bowl.  Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over the top of each muffin. Don't be shy - this gives the finished muffin a nice crunch.

Bake muffins until tops are golden and tester comes out clean, about 32 minutes. I generally turn and rotate about the halfway mark.

Transfer muffins to rack to cool. And then commence stuffing in face.

Frugal Foodies - Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I've been falling in love with our slow cooker and plan on using it more often. Since my husband has a new work schedule for fall, I'm going to be managing picking up the kids from school, doing homework and making dinner all before he gets home. Since I'll have been at work all day up until I get the kids, I won't have much time to do any prep work.

Which is where using the slow cooker will come in handy. Unfortunately, I've found that a lot of the recipes I've seen using a Crock Pot look, well, less than flavorful. I guess that may come par for the course when you dump a bunch of food in a pot and leave it be. So, I've been on the lookout for recipes that still fall in line with my "foodie" approach to cooking and baking and, as I find them, I'll be sharing. (Note: I really dislike the term, foodie, it sounds really pretentious, but I have a soft spot for alliteration.)

Here's the first one I made this week, with some heavy doctoring for flavor. The goal is to have enough food to last two dinners and require minimal work during the actual dinner time. Since we'll also be making large dinners on Sunday for leftovers, this will only require that I scurry last minute one night a week to get something on the table. And, most likely it will be something easy, like eggs.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat
2 Tablespoons olive oil (optional)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb small Crimini mushrooms (cut in half if large)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/8 cup dry red wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
2 Tablespoons butter (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
You have two choices. You can either put all the above ingredients in your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or you can sauté some of the ingredients first to give it a more complex flavor and crust.

If you do the latter, sauté the onions and mushrooms in olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat until they start getting soft (about 5 minutes), add in the garlic, red pepper flakes and tomato paste and cook until brown (about 3 minutes). Add in the red wine vinegar and soy sauce to heat. Place cooked ingredients in the slow cooker. Add the beef to the pan, searing the outside to give it a crust (a few minutes per side). Put sauteed beef into your slow cooker. Add the red wine to the pan to deglaze it and then put the wine, chicken stock, and thyme into the cooker. Commence with the slow cooking. This additional prep took me about 20 minutes.

This recipe was inspired by the Slow Cooker Beef & Mushrooms recipe over at Sweet Anna's.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday!

Blackberry, Hatch Chile and Tequila Jam

On Saturday, I dragged the kids down to their school for our annual pillaging of the blackberry bushes. Well, basically, I pillage while they play on the equipment. The slope is too steep for them and is composed mainly of sand and, this year, I had the added bonus of the grass being cut and left to dry. So, it was slippery slope covered in slippery hay on slippery sand.

Needless to say, I fell a few times. In order to keep the blackberries from spilling all over, I landed rather inconveniently on my knees. Which is not a good thing, falling into blackberry bushes. When will I learn to not wear shorts while doing this? Anyway, I picked a minimal amount to make jam, mostly because I figured if I kept at it I'd really injure myself.

Sunday morning, I fired up the canner and went to work making this year's blackberry creation. If you recall, last year I was all proud of myself with my Blackberry, Black Pepper and Aged Rum recipe. I thought I had peaked out with that one, it was so good.

But, this year. We have grilled Hatch chiles. And, I thought why not throw some in the jam? I don't need to tell you how amazing this jam is. It's like a blackberry margarita with a hint of smokiness. If you want it spicy, double or triple the number of Hatch chiles and/or leave in the seeds.

Blackberry, Hatch Chile and Tequila Jam

Ingredients:

5 cups packed (not crushed) blackberries, preferably organic
1 Tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 grilled Hatch chile, pureed (skin and seeds removed)
1 package Ball (or SureJell) natural fruit pectin
7 cups sugar
1/4 cup top-shelf tequila (I used a blanco, but a reposado or anejo would work well)

Makes 9 half-pints.

Instructions

Rinse and measure blackberries and add them to a large, non-reactive pot. In the meantime, sterilize 9 half-pint canning jars and lids in a water bath canner.

Heat the berries over high, adding in the grated lemon peel, pureed chile and blend. As the berries reduce, gradually stir in the fruit pectin.

Bring mixture to a full boil until it cannot be stirred down. Add the entire amount of sugar and stir. Return to full boil and boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Immediately take mixture off the heat and add in the tequila. Stir until the tequila is well incorporated and the alcohol is cooked off from the residual heat (it will reboil when you add in the tequila).

Fill your canning jars with jam, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Apply lids and process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (adjusting for altitude as per the instructions that come with your pectin).

Remove jars and allow to cool unmolested for 24 hours and store.

Blackberry, Rum and Black Pepper Jam

We just ran out of homemade jam. It is quite a terrible thing and I'm wondering if I should bust out the frozen berries to make more jam.

Last summer we didn't do as much canning as we normally do because we were out of town for almost a month during prime canning season. This year, I'm sure I'll more than make up for it, but I wanted to let you all know about my favorite jam that I've come up with so far. It's a fantastic mix of blackberries, spices and complex flavors.

When I made this last year, I was trying to figure out what additional flavors would go well with blackberry and decided to give fresh ground black pepper and barrel aged rum a try. I was not at all disappointed.

Blackberry, Aged Rum and Black Pepper Jam

Ingredients:

5 cups packed (not crushed) blackberries, preferably organic
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 package Ball (or SureJell) natural fruit pectin
7 cups sugar
1/3 cup aged rum*

Makes 9 half-pints.

Instructions

Rinse and measure blackberries and add them to a large, non-reactive pot. In the meantime, sterilize 9 half-pint canning jars and lids in a water bath canner.

Heat the berries over high, adding in the grated lemon peel and blending. As the berries start to reduce, freshly grind in about 2 teaspoons black pepper on a medium or coarse grind. As the berries further reduce, gradually stir in the fruit pectin.

Bring mixture to a full boil until it cannot be stirred down. Add the entire amount of sugar and stir. Return to full boil and boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Immediately take mixture off the heat and add in the rum. Stir until the rum is well incorporated and the alcohol is cooked off from the residual heat (it will reboil when you add in the rum).

Fill your canning jars with jam, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Apply lids and process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (adjusting for altitude as per the instructions that come with your pectin).

Remove jars and allow to cool for 12 - 24 hours and store. Assuming you don't eat it all as soon as it's cool.

*For the rum, I used Barbancourt Rhum Reserve Speciale, aged 8 years in oak.

Photo courtesy of Outdoor Blogging

Salted Chipotle Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Okay, I promise this is the last recipe I post for the year, but I just finished putting together the gift bags for my kids' teachers and some parent friends from their school and I wanted to throw something else in there. So, I made some cookies. But these aren't your ordinary cookies. These are complex cookies with character. The kind that makes your taste buds report in waves of flavors.

First, I took a standard, chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've had success with in the past (and, more importantly, was quick - I was strapped for time). In this case, it's the Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip cookie recipe. And then I doctored it up with some spices, most notably chipotle, cinnamon and cayenne and then sprinkled some sea salt at the finish for a sweet, salty, spicy (with a hint of smoky) flavor profile.

I recommend getting Ghiradelli bittersweet bars and chopping them into chunks or you can use Scharffen Berger chocolate chunks (it ends up being cheaper than the bars). Just make sure you use good quality chocolate. I would have used Guittard, but didn't want to wrestle with chopping up the bulk chocolate. For the rest, I used all organic ingredients, house made vanilla extract and eggs from our backyard chickens.

These end up being mildly spicy. If I weren't baking these for other people (and eating them myself), I would increase the chipotle and the cayenne. So, if you like things spicy, feel free to double the cinnamon, chipotle and cayenne!


Salted Chipotle Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/4 cup unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chunks
fleur de sel (or fine sea salt)

Directions
Heat oven to 375º F.

Stir flour with baking soda, salt and spices and set aside.

In large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, one at a time. Mix on low speed until incorporated.

Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle fleur de sel or sea salt on each unbaked cookie.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for three minutes and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. Then stuff into mouth.

Raspberry Lime Rickey recipe

I was going to do a wrap-up for Pioneer Week, but I guess there isn't much more to be said than I've already mentioned in previous posts. We didn't drive much, ate almost all homemade food, did a lot of foraging for blackberries, camped out back, line dried clothes, used minimal water and energy and, overall, had a super fun, relaxing week.

One person did ask for the recipe for the raspberry syrup I made so here it is (from Cook's Country):

Raspberry Lime Rickey

Ingredients:
3 cups frozen raspberries
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
4 teaspoons grated lime zest
1/2 cup juice from 4 limes

Directions
Heat raspberries, sugar, and water in saucepan over medium heat until raspberries begin to release their juices, about 5 minutes. Mash with potato masher until berries break down, then stir in lime zest and juice. Simmer until mixture is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Pour raspberry mixture through fine mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract liquid (you should have about 2 1/2 cups). Discard berry solids. Refrigerate syrup until completely cool, at least 30 minutes or up to one week.

To serve
Combine 2 tablespoons syrup in tall, ice filled glass, adding sparkling water to fill. Stir and enjoy.

Spicy sweet relish recipe

I've got a new recipe up over on Crunchy Chicken Cooks for Spicy Sweet Relish if you are looking to do some canning this weekend and/or you have a crapton of pickling cucumbers and don't know what to do with them.

Indian Masala Strawberry Jam

I've been canning strawberry jam today - we are getting a bunch of late season strawberries in from a local farm and I've got a whole flat to work with. And, since you know I don't like making plain, straight-up jams I've added a little bit of flair to this one.

So, come check out the recipe for my Indian Masala Strawberry Jam over on Crunchy Chicken Cooks.

Tomorrow I'll be making a Chocolate Rum Strawberry Jam, so look for that recipe as well!

Eco friendly protein - eat your bugs

Greenopia has an article about the best sources of protein for you. Well, if bugs are your thang.

Apparently, the 8 best bugs to eat for protein include grasshoppers, edible stinkbugs, scorpions, hornet larvae, giant silkworms, witchetty grubs, casu marzu and tarantulas.

Even if the future doesn't look like Cormac McCarthy's The Road, we should probably start thinking of eating bugs as a source of protein, since "it takes 869 gallons of water to produce a third of a pound of beef, about enough for a large hamburger. By contrast, you supply a pretty minimal amount of water to a quarter pound of crickets. The rest of the world has long eaten up insects – in Thailand, food markets are stocked with commercially-raised water beetles and bamboo worms."

So, if you feel like limiting your carbon footprint when it comes to your protein needs, sink your teeth into some insects. Roasted grasshoppers with gray sea salt and olive oil anyone? No? What about yummy fried tarantulas with a paprika aioli? Mmmm. Crunchy.

Healthy food porn carnival - Garden scramble

Since Ruchi sort of, kind of, accused me and others of specializing in high-fat food porn, I'm taking her up on the challenge to present to you, my reading audience, a most delicious, yet healthy recipe. In the comments of her post I, and others, argued that there was no such thing as healthy food porn - that most of it looks like a steamy dung pile when photographed.

I wrote the following recipe post months ago when there was little growing in my garden and decided against posting it since the pictures looked, well, gross. But, to participate in Ruchi's Healthy Food Porn Carnival, I'm digging it up for your reading enjoyment. Unfortunately, I can't find the original pictures of the end result - probably because I deleted them since it looked like a steaming pile of crap.

Garden Scramble

Sure, this might not sound appealing to most people but it's what I've got growing in the garden this time of year. In other words, it's pretty slim pickings out there. I went out back last weekend since it looked like my napa cabbage had grown about 3 feet skywards underneath the floating row covers and I couldn't really tell what was going on in there. Needless to say, it had decided to flower, but there were quite a few tasty leaves growing along its girth. While I was out there I noticed that a few turnips were looking ripe for the picking (I planted all of this in the fall), so I pulled one, leaving the rest to get bigger, and clipped some sage.

I was planning on sauteeing the whole lot but, since I'm still in reclaiming food waste mode (from my Food Waste Reduction Challenge), I wanted to use up some of the leftover rice in the fridge. And what better matrix to hold it all together but some local eggs? My son, who was drawn to the pan by the pungent smell of cooking cabbage, exclaimed after looking at it, that it looked "like a mess". Well, he was right. But it was a delicious, and very healthy mess, nonetheless.

The whole point of this recipe is not that I'm expecting you to follow it exactly, since the ingredients are totally interchangeable, but that you can make a meal out of random garden vegetables and eggs. Just don't be shy about what you throw in there.

Garden Scramble

Napa cabage, chopped (about two fistfuls)
1 Turnip, grated
Turnip leaves from 1 turnip, chopped
1 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs (or more depending on how much egg you want)
2 T tamari soy sauce
Black pepper to taste
1/2 cup cooked rice (optional)

Sautee the first three ingredients in olive oil that has been heated on medium in pan. Cook vegetables for about 5 minutes or until they look soft. Add in garlic and sautee for additional 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add eggs (you can just break them directly into pan) and scramble until eggs are mostly cooked through. Add leftover rice and heat through, the eggs should finish cooking during this time. Add black pepper to taste.

Going agave: an alternative to sugar

I've been hearing a lot about agave nectar lately and have been eyeballing it in the store for the last few months, but wasn't sure if it was worth purchasing. Basically, agave is more fructose than glucose and, as such, has a relatively low glycemic index which is important if you have special diet considerations.

In addition, the agave nectar products (at least the ones I've seen) are organic and kosher and pretty much give you the sweetness of sugar, but impart none of its own flavor. So, if you like the sweetness of honey, but don't like the way it makes everything taste like honey, then you'll like agave. How do I know this? Well, I had the opportunity to give it a try at my favorite tea bar in Ballard. I was impressed how much it tasted like sugar, went into the solution fairly quickly, but didn't leave an aftertaste or other flavor.

One other cool thing is that it has a long, stable shelf life and will not solidify. It pours quickly even when cold and it blends and dissolves readily in or on all foods. The claim is that it has approximately 1.4 times the sweetening power of white sugar, but I've found that it's more like 1:1.

So, if you are concerned about your consumption of sugar and/or glucose, you might want to give agave syrup a try. And, since it's basil time of the year, I thought I'd throw in a recipe mixing in a flavorful combination, a Basil Gimlet made with agave syrup.

This recipe was adapted from Rye in San Francisco and it is one of their most requested cocktails:

Basil Gimlet

6 fresh basil leaves
3 ounces Gin (I use local Dry Fly or Aviation)
3/4 ounce agave nectar
1 small lime, cut into eighths (or about 1 ounce fresh lime juice)

Method: In a shaker, muddle the fresh basil and the lime pieces. Remove the lime, squeezing out the remaining juice. Add in agave nectar, gin and ice. Shake vigorously and strain into martini glass. Garnish with fresh basil leaf.

Enjoy.

Related books:
Baking with Agave Nectar
Sweet!: From Agave to Turbinado, Home Baking with Every Kind of Natural Sugar and Sweetener
BabyCakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York's Most Talked-About Bakery

Make your own mascarpone

I don't know about you, but I love foods made with mascarpone, even though I inevitably always mispronounce it. It's that triple-cream cheese that's used in making tiramisu and a whole host of very tasty sweet and savory Italian dishes. You can also serve it with fruit or it can be mixed with cocoa or coffee.

Unfortunately, it's also very expensive to buy, that is, if you can find it in stores. However, luckily for us, it's actually quite easy to make yourself*.

Homemade mascarpone

Ingredients:
16 ounces (not ultra-pasteurized) organic whipping cream
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preparation:
Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the water in the skillet.

Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. It will take about 15 minutes of gentle heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. The whipping cream will become thicker and will cover the back of your spoon thickly.

When the cream reaches temperature, keep it at temperature for 5 minutes, then remove the bowl from the water and let the mixture cool for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Pour the mixture into the lined sieve. Once it is cooled completely, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate in the sieve overnight or up to 24 hours. Transfer to a sealable storage container. Or your mouth, whichever comes first.

Yield: about 12 oz

*Based on this recipe.

Asparagi alla Milanese

I've been busy reading this great book, In Late Winter We Ate Pears: A Year of Hunger and Love - Seasonal Recipes and Stories From an Italian Kitchen, and have already run across a couple of fantastic recipes.

Last night I started off making Asparagi alla Milanese and was delighted with the result. I'm usually not a runny fried egg sort of gal, so I cooked them a tad more thoroughly than is probably expected. I also decided to roast the asparagus rather than pan steam them. Since we are up to our ears in asparagus this time of year, I'm always happy to come up with new recipes for it.

Here's my version of the Italian classic:

Serving: One

Ingredients
2 inch thick bundle of fresh asparagus
2 to 3 teaspoons butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 eggs
Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions
Heat oven to 425 degrees. While the oven is heating up, snap the tough ends off the asparagus, rinse and pat dry. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt to taste. Roast in oven until cooked but still crisp (about 8 minutes).

In the meantime, heat a skillet on medium-low, adding butter when skillet is hot. Crack eggs into butter and season with salt and pepper. Heat until cooked to your preference.

Place the roasted asparagus on a plate and slide cooked eggs directly on top. Top with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and serve immediately.

Lavender honey lemonade

We spent last weekend toodling around Poulsbo on the Kitsap Peninsula, just a short ferry ride from Seattle. We started out at the Poulsbo Marine Science Center and checked out their great touch tank and this amazing Giant Pacific Octopus.

It was the most active octopuddy I've ever seen in captivity. Usually they are just hiding in the rocks, but this two-year-old was pissed off (he was going to be released into the bay this week) and chasing after crabs and generally tormenting them. I can see why he was ornery, the tank was pretty small for him so I was happy to hear he would be released. But, also extremely glad I had the chance to watch him up close and personal.

Next up was some pastries at Sluys Bakery and, after checking into our accommodations, a stroll down the boardwalk, stopping to check out some kids fishing off the side. The water was a few feet deep under the boardwalk and we were amazed to see how far out the tide was the following afternoon.

On Sunday we hung out at a local beach on Hood Canal, enjoying some low tide action followed by a quick stop in Port Gamble to visit the "largest private shell collection in the U.S.". And eat some saltwater taffy.

During one of our stops, at the Poulsbohemian Coffeehouse, I had this great Lavender Honey Lemonade. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I found a recipe for lavender lemonade from a local lavender farm and tweaked it to recreate what I had over the weekend:

In sum, a great time was had by all!

Lavender Honey Lemonade

1 cup honey
1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender (or 1/4 cup fresh lavender blossoms)
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, strained
Ice cubes
Lavender sprigs for garnish

Combine honey with 2 1/2 cups water in a medium pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the honey.

Add the lavender to the honey water, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand at least 20 minutes (and up to several hours).

Strain mixture and discard lavender. Pour infusion into a glass pitcher. Add lemon juice and another 2 1/2 cups cold water. Stir well.

Pour into tall glasses half-filled with ice or refrigerate until ready to use.

Snappy salted potatoes

My brother came over on Sunday for dinner and whipped up a batch of fingerling potatoes.

Okay, "whipped up" is definitely not the correct description to use because he used a technique his friend Leonardo showed him for cooking salted potatoes that requires very little effort. The end result is that you have salty, snappy potatoes that are cooked to perfection.

Curious? Well, I was too. Basically, you just place your fingerlings (or other small) potatoes in a saucepan and fill the pot with water until the potatoes are just covered. Huck in a handful of salt (anywhere from a few teaspoons to a tablespoon depending on how many potatoes you are rocking) and simmer/boil uncovered until all the water is boiled away and there's nothing left but potatoes and salt. I guess this method is similar to papas arrugadas, which are popular in the Canary Islands.

The potatoes will squeal for life as the water evaporates away, but do not fear. This is part of the process that will result in fabulous potatoes. All in all, it takes about 45 minutes to cook. What you get in the end are creamy potatoes with a skin that snaps when you bite into them.

Serve with creme fraiche (or sour cream) mixed with chopped chives and pepper. Do not add any additional salt as the potatoes themselves are good n' salty. I guarantee you won't be able to stop eating them. Which is a good thing.

Crunchy Chicken Cocktail

We have a bunch of oranges left over from guests we had at Christmas and they are looking kind of peaked. I'm not quite sure they are still good to eat straight up, but juicing them seemed like a good option.

In the spirit of the upcoming food waste challenge, I wanted to make something out of one instead of continuing to ignore them in my fruit bowl. So, for dinner I decided to juice an orange and add something to it for flavor, but not knock me out.

And, henceforth, I present to you:

The Crunchy Chicken Cocktail

Juice from one large orange
1.5 oz gin (Hendrick's is always a good choice, but Dry Fly is local-ish to us)
1 Tablespoon simple syrup
3 teaspoons Galliano

Add ingredients to ice, stir and enjoy!

Anyone else getting a jump start on the food waste challenge by using up food you'd normally compost or throw out?

More News from Mother Earth

I've gotten a few new posts up on Mother Earth News that I forgot to mention to you:

Supereasy Homemade Cream Cheese and Sour Cream

Nuts for Peanut Butter (how to make homemade peanut butter)

Feel free to go check 'em out!

For all my posts over there, check them out here.

Mother Earth News post

For those of you recovering from watching the debates last night (especially those of you playing the drinking game every time John McCain said "my friends"), here's some lighter fare for you.

So, please check out my post over on Mother Earth News, Grilled Pumpkin with Rosemary and Sea Salt. I'm happy to announce that I'll be posting over on the Mother Earth News blogs about once a week.

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that Mother Earth News is one of my favorite magazines that I reference frequently, so I'm pretty excited to help contribute to their online presence.