Pumpkins and Fudge

Happy Halloween!! 
My son is in first grade. His teacher's husband grows pumpkins competitively. Of course his class had a special field trip to the otherworldly pumpkin patch. It really did take my breath away as we rounded the corner and the mountainous pumpkins came into view rising above a vast sea of equally impressive sprawling green vines. The children were beside themselves with wonder.

One of the pumpkins was grown to compete for sheer size/weight. At the height of the growing season it was putting on over 30 pounds a day! It ended up weighing in at an impressive 1115 pounds which earned it 12th-place in a northstate competition in Sacramento. The 1st-place pumpkin was around 1600 pounds. The bright orange one pictured above, although substantially smaller, got best of show for attractiveness and won a $650 prize.

I took lots of photos and made a poster for the class. I'm so thankful that I have the time to do whimsical projects such as this if the urge strikes.

Oooooh.....Scary

And then there is pumpkin fudge. In our quaint little downtown there is a drug store. It has been there since the 1800s. It does not have a soda fountain but it does have a "fudgery" (corner where fudge is made). This time of year they offer some seasonal flavors, one of which is pumpkin fudge. My parents first tried it 7 years ago while housesitting for us and they LOVE it. I make sure they get a slice of it each year which they say they can devour in just one evening. 

I don't know how they do it. I definitely have a sweet tooth but to me fudge has always just been too much, almost sickeningly sweet. And now with a diet free from gluten and virtually dairy-free, traditional fudge would be out of the question anyway. 

How about some healthy vegan fudge - a Halloween treat for the gluten and dairy sensitive? Don't worry it is still rich and creamy and chocolatey and sweet, just not tooth-achingly so. This recipe uses coconut cream concentrate and coconut oil in place of butter and cream. (I've been using a lot of coconut oil recently. Subject of another post.) If you look at this blog's October posts, you would think me a chocolate fanatic. Chocolate hasn't really played all that big a part in my life - until recently. I'm pretty into chocolate right now. Dark chocolate. Christmas is coming. Bring it on.

 Vegan Fudge
Ingredient list:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup warm water
3 T. coconut cream concentrate
1 T. coconut oil
1 cup chopped walnuts*

Mix all ingredients together except the chopped walnuts and stir for a couple minutes until smooth. Add walnuts and stir to combine. Pour into a small dish or pan. Mine was a 4" x 8" ramekin. Chill until set. Cut into squares and store on waxed paper in the refrigerator.
*walnuts can be raw or lightly toasted

Note/Update: I have made this fudge a few more times now and have taken to adding 1/8 t. cayenne pepper, 1/8 t. ancho chili powder, and 1/4 t. cinnamon, and a pinch of sea salt for a delectable spicy Mexican chocolate twist! Oh my, you should try it.

Enjoy!

Yes on Proposition 37

California has a proposition on the ballot this election cycle that would require the labeling of foods sold to consumers that contain genetically modified organisms. Typically when I receive my vote-by-mail ballot and pamphlet, it is the first time I have heard of many of the propositions requiring my consideration. Not so for Prop. 37. I can proudly say that I helped get it on the ballot through the initiative process, along with thousands and thousands of other California consumers and voters to whom this is an important issue. We circulated and signed petitions. We donated money. We are insisting on the simple right to information.

Last weekend, I was wearing my "Yes on 37" button when I ran into some friends. Our isolated mountain town is full of "Yes on 37" yard signs. I have NEVER seen a sign or a button saying no. My friends joked that they were starting a "No on 37" movement since there really didn't seem to be one; at least at the level of the people. Remember, corporations are NOT, in fact, people. We stood on the street in front of our food cooperative inventing slogans for the no campaign. "Ignorance is Bliss!" "I Don't Want to Know" "Keep Me in the Dark" "Treat Me Like a Mushroom (Keep Me in the Dark and Feed Me Sh*t)" "No on 37 - TMI!" We laughed and laughed at the thought of it.

We don't watch television at our house so I have not seen any of the ads either way but today I came across this video on YouTube that takes the same tack as my friends and I did the other day. It is less than 2 minutes long and great. Watch it here:

Enjoy and remember to vote Yes on 37 if you are a California voter!

Channelling My Inner Baking Goddess

I started baking as a girl. It was like magic to me. I could mix a few cupboard ingredients together and transform them into a warm-from-the-oven delicacy with minimal effort. If I am honest, I know that my love of baking has been rooted in my love of eating really good bakery. When I first discovered that I had developed a problem with digesting gluten (hmmm.......which maybe isn't so surprising considering my love-affair with flour), I went on a baking spree. For a month I baked like crazy, experimenting with different flours and trying to recreate all of my bakery favorites without the gluten. Some things came out great, even better than their gluten-ous counterparts. Other things, not so much... I think I just needed to reassure myself that I would still be able to bake and to enjoy bakery even without gluten in my life. 

At one point I went to a gluten-free workshop here in town. An uber-healthy woman in attendance made the comment that, "You know, you don't HAVE to try to replace all of that bakery stuff just because it's what you grew up with." Oh. Yeah. I think she is right. You don't have to. A move away from gluten can be a move towards a healthier diet if you don't. I've noticed that many of the gluten-free cookbooks out there focus on recreating those flour-based treats of our childhood. Many of them have cupcakes on the cover.  

I seem to have retained a love of baking that extends beyond wanting to indulge in bakery. When my dear friend requested that I bake her a cake for her birthday recently, I immediately replied, "Yes! And can it have gluten in it?" Gluten-containing wheat flour really is wonderful to work with. Gluten is great stuff as long as you can digest it uneventfully. She asked for chocolate.

High quality, fair trade, dark, rich, real, chocolate is good. I try to eat a little bit every day for my health. ;-) But other than that, I don't consider myself a chocolate person. For instance, I would always choose vanilla over chocolate ice cream and oatmeal raisin cookies over chocolate chip ones. I'm usually not a chocolate cake fan but once or twice in my life I've had a chocolate cake that was so moist and rich and delicious that I loved it. So when asked to bake a chocolate cake, I began a search for a death-by-chocolate kind of a cake that might possibly rival those I've enjoyed in the past.

Guess what? The most promising recipe I found in my collection of cookbooks did not contain any flour!! Yippee! I would be able to bake my cake and eat it too!! 

I had a wonderful time baking it and decorating it and tasting it and presenting it to the birthday "girl". This is really a yummy chocolate cake. Even if you don't like chocolate cake, you might like this cake. There aren't many ingredients but I'm not saying it is super simple to make. Excellent paired with port.

Chocolate Cake (Gluten-free!)
from Vineyard Seasons by Susan Branch

Ingredients:
16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Guittard and Ghirardelli)
1 cup unsalted butter (you can try a vegan alternative here such as Earth Balance)
9 eggs separated
1 cup of sugar
cocoa powder for dusting

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350º. 
Butter a 9" springform pan; line the bottom with buttered wax or parchment paper; dust pan with cocoa powder. Slowly melt chocolate and butter together in a heavy saucepan over low heat; cool. Meanwhile separated eggs into two large bowls. Beat the yolks for about a minute; slowly add sugar and continue beating till thick and lemon-colored. Beat egg whites until they just begin to peak. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg yolks and blend thoroughly. Pour the chocolate and yolk mixture into egg whites and fold gently until completely blended. Remove 1/3 of the batter to refrigerator and cover. Pour rest of batter into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes. Cool 1/2 hour before turning out onto serving plate. Remove paper and frost with remaining batter. Decorate as you see fit.

Enjoy!

Canning Apple Sauce and It's Looking More and More Farmy Around Here

The score is 2-nothing Reds

No, those are not our chickens but yes, that is our backyard. Our neighbors acquired some chickens this year and now they are regular visitors to our yard. I'm curious to see how they will fare over the winter. Perhaps we can learn from their successes/failures and try keeping chickens ourselves one day. They had intended to purchase 6 hen chicks but one turned out to be a rooster, much to their dismay. Now there is even cock-a-doodle dooing in the neighborhood. Very farmy indeed.

It is the first day of October. While the nights have been appropriately chilly, it is predicted to hit 98 degrees in Quincy today! And this at 3500 feet above sea level. It has been over 100 in the valley. Some people are complaining, but not yours truly. I know the cold is on its way so I continue to steep myself in the heat, letting it permeate through my body and penetrate my bones, as if by doing so it may help carry me through the winter to come.

Similar to the grape harvest this year, our apples had to be stripped from the tree all in one go due to bear activity. The perfect ones were saved for eating and the rest were cooked into sauce and canned.

Y'all know how to make and preserve apple sauce right? Again, I was so impressed with the amount of traffic to my peach salsa canning post that I wonder if there isn't a resurgence in interest in canning. I myself am a beginning and rather lazy canner but apple sauce is truly simple. The most time consuming and labor intensive part is peeling and coring all the apples. This can also be a nice relaxing activity if you allow time for it. I have great memories of an apple sauce making day with friends last fall. We sat around an outdoor table peeling away the afternoon.

Warning: This is a basic method, not a recipe.
-Once your apples are peeled and quartered squeeze a lemon over them. 
-Put them in a large pot with an inch or two of water and put over medium high heat on the stovetop. Add more water if necessary.
-Cook, stirring occasionally until the apples are tender. 
-Let cool down to warm from hot. 
-Ladle cooked apples and juices into a blender in batches and blend until smooth. 
-Return to pot or saucepan and bring to a simmer. 
-Add sugar and cinnamon to taste. 
-Turn off heat and ladle apple sauce into clean jars. 
-Place lids that were sitting in warm water onto the jars and tighten gently (oxymoron?)
-Lower jars into boiling water and "process" for 10 minutes.
-Remove from water and place on a rack to cool. 
-Wait for popping sounds to indicate the lids have sealed. 
-When the jars have cooled, check that the lids are concave, indicating a good seal.
-Store in cupboard until needed on pork or pancakes or whatever.

Enjoy!

2012 Stephan Way Chardonnay

If you have been following my blog you know that last year our neighbor Marilyn's grape vines produced such a profusion of grapes that I was persuaded to try making wine from them. You can read about last year's wine making adventures here and here. Mistakes were made and lessons were learned but the project was enough of a success that I was more than happy to give it another go this year if the grapes cooperated. Well, they did. It was another abundant year for the chardonnay grapes. See photos.

This year there was competition for the grapes from a neighborhood bear. Marilyn called with the news that it was now or never. The bear was visiting nightly and soon all the grapes would be eaten and the vines destroyed if we didn't pick now. I came the next day with my black bucket and we spent 2 hours doing our best to empty the vines of grapes before the bear could. 

It was a month earlier than we harvested them last year. At first I was worried that we were hurried into a premature harvest but I don't think that was the case. This year's weather was much different than last year's with an early warm spring rather than the extended winter of 2011. In fact, later, when I checked the specific gravity (SG) of the juice it was slightly higher than last year's, indicating a higher sugar content.

We ended up with 84 pounds of grapes from the four old vines. This yielded over 6 gallons of juice. Last year I stomped them to free their juices from the skins. This year I borrowed a small fruit press. After one awkward attempt with a few pounds of grapes in the press, I returned to the tried and true stomping method. It is actually quite sensual and enjoyable as well as being efficient. I chatted with my mother on the phone as the grapes relinquished their nectar underfoot.

Five and a half gallons of juice was set to fermenting and today was racked to a secondary carboy where it will remain for the next six weeks until it will be racked again. Racking is simply siphoning the wine off of the lees (sediments) into a clean container.

Marilyn, who turns 80 this year, is delighted with the process and with the prospect of sipping 2012 Stephan Way (our cul-de-sac's name) Chardonnay in the spring sunshine of 2013, as am I!

Cheers and enjoy!

Got Zucchini? Just Add Sausage!

Hi there. I haven't posted for a while. I figured traffic would have decreased to my site since I haven't been as prolific. A couple days ago I logged on to the statistical side of my blog to check my theory. Boy, was I surprised. Traffic is up and it's all about one post. Canning Peach Salsa and the Seduction of Real Life has received more pageviews than any other post on the blog by far. I can attribute this only to the timeliness of the post; right at the height of peach season. When people do a google search for "canning peach salsa" up comes a link to Farm Girl Blog.

It was with this in mind that I titled this post. Perhaps people are wondering what to do with a surplus of zucchini this time of year. Ours are actually on the decline as the nights grow cooler. One of my favorite meals this summer is super simple and goes as follows: Sauté an onion for 5 minutes in an iron skillet in some olive or coconut oil. Add a couple cups of chopped zucchini and a clove or two of chopped garlic and sprinkle with just a little salt. After another 2 minutes add two of your favorite quality sausages sliced into rounds. They can be spicy or sweet. Sauté for 8 more minutes until the zucchini is tender and the sausage begins to brown. Serve in a shallow bowl topped with chopped fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Serves 2+.  I probably made this 6 or 7 times this summer but never took a photo. Zucchini also tastes great stuffed with a sausage mixture and baked. 

Next post coming soon: 2012 Stephan Way Chardonnay 

Enjoy these last days of summer!

The Fire Rages On

The "Chips" fire from our front window

And on another day.....

The Chips Fire began in the Feather River Canyon NW of Quincy on Sunday, July 29th. When fire personnel arrived on the scene, the fire was 15 acres in size. The fire has now burned over 50,000 acres and it is still burning. Check out a NASA satellite photo of it here. When I worked for the Forest Service at Lake Tahoe, I saw the Fire Management Officer (FMO) pull out all the stops when a fire started in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Those first hours of a fire a crucial and this man was fearless in his conviction. In a world-renown tourist destination full of million dollar homes, a large scale wildfire is unthinkable. In South Lake Tahoe in 2007, the 3100 acre Angora Fire destroyed 242 residences and 67 commercial structures, and damaged 35 other homes. It was among the top half-dozen most costly fires in the U.S.

Now that the Chips Fire has grown so large and cost so much in dollars and habitat destruction, etc., it is tempting to be critical of the early management of the fire but in all fairness, conditions were not on the side of the fire fighters. We had a light winter and the fuels out there were dry to begin with. Add to that high temperatures, steep terrain, extremely low humidity, and afternoon winds and you've got yourself a problem.

The communities to the north of us have bore the brunt of the smoke but we have had our share as well. There are good days and bad days depending on the winds. On the bad days ash rains down, the sun is cranberry colored, and we keep all the windows closed to avoid breathing the thick, particulate-filled air. It can be rather surreal and oppressive. On good (for us) days the smoke stays to the north as seen in the photos above and we are in the clear.

On clear days, I hike when I can. Here is a photo of the fire from the top of Spanish Peak off the PCT:

Another day the smoke moved in during my hike up and when I got to Spanish Peak, I was in a white fog of smoke with hardly any visibility.

A clear day at Gold Lake

Seaweed snack

So life goes on, despite the fire. Our stream of house guests has come to an end for the time being. Below is an image from our last set of friends' visit. A truly summer scene.

Sandals left by the back door in between trips to the creek and strolls to town

And this last image from our back patio of mead and wild blackberries, geraniums and a new yard sale table in use. Speaking of blackberries, they are coming on strong here now; earlier than in most years. Leo and I go blackberry picking every other day or so. Sweetness......

Enjoy and if you have clean air, take a deep breath and be thankful!

Two Yummy Salads

I have two different salad recipes to share today. The first is a sweet and greasy German potato salad recipe passed down from my grandma. My dad used to make it when I was a kid. Something made me think of it recently and I called him for the recipe. He said he would get back to me. He had to dig and riffle for it. When he called back he expressed delight at what he encountered in the process of the hunt. Handwritten recipes on cards through the generations. Recipes written by me as a small child. Recipes my father carefully recorded after a particular success in the kitchen but maybe never replicated again. Difficult to read recipes scrawled in wavery cursive by aging grandmothers. Ahhhh, good stuff indeed. Among them all, it was there: German Potato Salad from Lydia's Kitchen.

We have harvested the small new potatoes from our potato container twice so far. There is nothing like the treasure hunt of digging for potatoes. Ours were red gems in the brown dirt. I used a mix of the new red potatoes with a few yukon golds I found in the fridge. The recipe called for sliced hard-boiled eggs on top. Because our eggs had just been delivered and were too fresh to successfully hard-boil, I fried a few over-easy in a bit of the left-over bacon grease and topped the salad with those. I modified the dressing slightly to accommodate the gluten-free me and voila. It was like I remembered it and a hit with our guests.

Look at that yummy greasy mess! Mmmmmm.....

Sweet and Greasy German Potato Salad
Ingredient List:
1 large red onion finely chopped
1/2 pound of good bacon
3 or so lbs of small to medium potatoes
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 T. cornstarch
3 eggs
Instructions:
Boil, peel, and slice the potatoes. Fry bacon until it is crisp. Save the grease. Boil gently 1 cup of water, the vinegar, and the sugar. Mix the cornstarch in 1 T. water and add to simmering dressing. Stir for a minute until you see it begin to thicken. Add 3 or 4 T. of the bacon grease to the dressing. Let thicken for a couple more minutes while stirring.
Pour the dressing over the potato slices in a serving dish. Top with chopped onions and crumbled or chopped bacon pieces. Fry eggs over-easy. Place on top of salad and break yolks. Serve warm. Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

***************************************************************
The second salad I encountered at a Mexican-themed birthday party I attended a couple weeks ago. It is a simple slaw with colors that say, "Eat me and thrive!". The whole dinner was like that actually. If I'd had my camera, you can bet I would have taken pictures. The hostess worked at a cafe in Chico, Ca in her college days and they served a salad similar to this. She's been making it ever since. It goes something like this:

Colorful Mexican Style Slaw
Salad:
1 small purple cabbage
4 carrots
1/4 cup chopped parseley
Shred the cabbage and carrots in a food processor. Place in a large bowl and stir in chopped parsley.
Dressing:
Combine:
1/4 cup canola oil
1 T. olive oil
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. rice vinegar
(Note: fresh squeezed lime juice would be a good substitution here for either or both of the vinegars)
3/4 t. ground cumin
3/4 t. ancho chili powder
1/2 t. salt
Optional: 1 small clove pressed garlic
Pour over salad and stir to combine.

Eat your colors and enjoy!

Canning Peach Salsa and the Seduction of Real Life

This is what I expected and even hoped would happen at the peak of summer. I have been carried away by the activity of the season and consequently carried away from my computer. I do love my computer but like in any healthy relationship it is nice to have some time apart once in a while. Yesterday I had a choice to finally sit down and write a post or climb a mountain with a friend. Blog or climb mountain, blog or climb mountain, hmmmmm..... The views along the trail of granite and lakes, trees and wildflowers, were inspiring. My brow was sweaty, my legs dusty, and our bodies, happy to be put to use, moved us through actual space as opposed to cyberspace. There was lovely conversation, human connection. So, dear beloved computer, sometimes real life proves even more seductive than you, thank goodness. 

We've been blessed with house guests every weekend for the past month. More are on the way. We love it. It helps us appreciate our surroundings when we can share it with others. We love the company, the stimulation, and the excuse to stop doing chores for a spell and just enjoy...

Summer peaches are still in full swing. Last week we bought a whole box (lug) from "the fruit guy" who brings them up from the valley to sell out of his truck once a week. There were 60 peaches in the box. That is a lot even with company. I decided to try making a peach salsa. I worked off an internet recipe and canned 12 half-pint jars of salsa. It works great with meat; think chicken, pork, and fish. I love it on fish with diced avocado! Diced avocado is a great addition to the salsa when you are ready to serve it. It is also good with salted corn tortilla chips. There was a lot of chopping involved. I did it all by hand but if you try it you may want to employ a food processor for some of it.

Peach Salsa (Adapted from a recipe posted by William Anatooskin on food.com)
These are directions for making a peach salsa for canning. A bowl of fresh peach salsa is easy to throw together and could include such ingredients as: red onion, jalapeno, orange juice, mango, corn, cilantro, lime juice, red and/or yellow bell pepper, garlic, fresh mint, cayenne pepper, cumin, and salt mixed with your chopped peaches.

Ingredient List
7 or 8 cups chopped peaches 
3 large chopped fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped red onion
4 medium jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 small sweet red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 small sweet yellow pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid honey
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions

-Sterilize 12, 1/2 pint jars or 6 pint jars, then place upside down in a 250F oven for about 15 minutes.

-Blanch peaches, cool in cold water, peel, pit and chop to measure 7 to 8 cups.

-Blanch tomatoes and cool with cold water, peel, remove seeds and cut into chunks.

-In a large stainless or enamel cooking pot, combine peaches, tomatoes, onion, jalapeno peppers, sweet bell peppers, cilantro, vinegar, honey, garlic, cumin and cayenne pepper.

-Bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. If the mixture is too sloppy or soupy you can pour off some of the liquid through a sieve. 

-Add salt last and adjust seasonings to taste.

-Ladle salsa into hot jars to within 1/4 inch of top for headspace.

-Wipe jar rim to remove any stickiness.

-Center lid on top of jar; apply screw band just until finger tight.

-Place jars in a hot bath in a canner and process for 10 minutes.

-Remove jars and place on a towel, then cover with another towel to cool slowly.

-Jars are sealed when the lids pop and are curved down, (concave).

-Label jars and store in a cool, dark place.

Quickly blanching the peaches causes the skins
to slide right off.

Enjoy your days!

The PCT Thru-Hikers!

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a 2,663 mile hiking trail that stretches all the way from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon, and Washington. Some intrepid souls attempt to hike the entire length in one season. These amazing people are called "thru-hikers". This summer my cousin Evan is among them. Although he isn't called Evan anymore. Within a few weeks on the trail most hikers are christened with a new name; their trail name. My cousin Evan is now Spud. Spud is blogging about his experiences on the trail when he gets a chance. It is good reading and can be found here: Spud's Blog


The PCT runs very close to Quincy. Just 15 miles west of town the trail crosses the road at Buck's Summit. Then it crosses Hwy. 70 down the Feather River Canyon at Belden. When you reach this point in the trail you are nearly half-way along. 1289 miles to be exact. The four-day High Sierra Music Festival was in town on July 5-8. There were a lot of "rock stars" but they all travelled here by car. The real rock stars are people like my cousin and his three hiking friends who walked 1289 miles to get here. And guess what? They are here! Check out this gorgeous bunch! This is after showers and laundry. Should have taken a before and after.

From left: Spud, Oasis, Honey Bear, and Histo

If you are curious about their trail names as I was, I'll illuminate you. Food is a big topic of conversation out on the trail. Spud kept talking about how much he loved and missed potatoes. Oasis is known for carrying a surplus of water. Honey Bear, well, she loves honey. Once she bought one of those honey bears full of honey for the trail but it didn't last long. Histogram (Histo) got his name because he was making graphs of trail progress (math geek). So there you have it.


I was warned about the appetites of PCT thru-hikers. Spud and his friends average from 20 to 30 miles per day. They eat everything they can get their hands on and still lose weight. My cousin weighed in this morning. He was shocked to see that he has lost nearly 30 pounds since setting out on the trail months ago. For dinner last night I made potatoes, of course. I mean Spud was going to be here! I found some fine looking freshly dug organic russets at our co-op. I baked those and had garden chives, and cheddar, and butter, and sour cream for topping. If I had been cooking just for our family, that would have been dinner. But we also grilled corn and zucchini and onions and chicken and sausages. And, of course, there was beer. Then for dessert there was homemade ice cream and warm cherry compote. I'm pretty sure they got enough to eat. This morning was a different story. I made them all French toast with yogurt and various toppings. They all licked their plates clean and then sat at the table as if waiting for the second course. I sent them to the donut shop. : )

Spud cradling a baked potato

The hikers eating dinner on the patio. Our son made sure he was
right in the middle of them. He is so excited to have them here!

Histo's plate minus the piece of corn he is eating.

Surely one of the bonuses of being a thru-hiker is a genuine appetite born of physical exertion. Another is the potential to develop lifelong friendships with fellow hikers. These four are like a family and their bond strengthened by shared experiences is palpable. They are enjoying a "zero day" (no miles hiked) today and we'll drop them back in Belden tomorrow so they can continue the trek north. We are envious of their adventure but maybe also a tad relieved that it is they and not us who have set such an ambitious goal for the summer, even if our appetite does suffer.


Enjoy!


P.S. A few people have told me that they have been unable to leave comments on this blog lately. Sorry about that. If it doesn't resolve itself soon, I will contact Google for advice.

Peaches in the Summertime.......

Apples in the fall. If I can't have you all the time I won't have none at all. -Gillian Welch

I couldn't help but lead with a fruit photo again. Our visiting friends from Mississippi stopped at Tony's on the way here and brought more gorgeous stone fruit from the valley below. Peaches were diced and baked into an old favorite (non-gluten-free) coffee cake. They were eaten creek-side in the sunshine with juice dripping all the way to elbows. They were grilled on the left-over coals from a BBQ dinner until caramelized and insanely sweet and topped with homemade honey vanilla ice cream. They were sauteed in coconut oil and put atop crepes. They were diced and drizzled with rosemary honey. They were devoured within a few days with no canning required. 

We love the musician Greg Brown in this house. His lyrics are so down-homey, so farm-girl, so Americana. His voice is so deep and rich. One of my favorite songs is called "Canned Goods". If you have a spare 4 minutes you can listen to an older version of it with a delightful little slideshow by clicking the arrow below.

We are in the middle of a week of 100 degree daytime temperatures. This is when our house shines. The towering pines at the rear of our property provide afternoon shade. We close the windows during the heat of the day and open everything up in the evenings and through to the morning. This effectively keeps our house comfortable 24/7. We've been swimming everyday, either in the creek or the community pool or both. Swimming and eating ice cream!

Leo designed a drying rack for his swim suit after I mentioned that we should probably have a set spot that we hang it each time we return from the pool. He literally drew up the plans for it and we built it together. Then he directed me on how he wanted it painted (light blue waves against a white background). It was a fun project and, yet again, I was impressed with my 6-year-old's creativity and design sense.

We have a bright red Cuisinart electric ice cream maker. It has been working hard lately to keep up with our taste for sweet frozen goodness. We've been making all kinds of frozen concoctions. I am still avoiding cow's milk products for the most part and so I experimented with a coconut milk ice cream and was pleased with the results. I will share my simple recipe here:

Coconut Milk Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

You will need:

1 can (15 oz.) of full fat coconut milk

1/2 cup of pure honey

1 cup of almond milk (unsweetened, sweetened is fine too just reduce honey slightly)

1 T. pure vanilla extract

Do the first part in the morning so you are ready to make the ice cream in the afternoon. Place honey and coconut milk in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until honey is dissolved. Remove from heat and add almond milk. Lastly stir in vanilla. Place pan in refrigerator and let chill 6 hours or more. Stir before adding to frozen ice cream maker canister. Follow directions for your ice cream maker. Our takes 25 minutes. Scrape ice cream into a lidded container and freeze till firm (approximately 2 hours).

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Solar Cherry Crisp....Bear-ly

Ahhh...July is upon us. Did I already mention that summer is my favorite season here at the 40th parallel north? Well, it so is. Fifteen hours of light a day, warm temps, and the fruits of summer all contribute to my exuberance this time of year. I've been busy, busy but in an indulgent, uni-tasking kind of a way. 

I've been creating a lot of stuff in the kitchen but not writing anything down. I've realized that I'm not the best food blogger. I occasionally use a recipe but far more often I am adding a little of this and a little of that and in the end I am hard-pressed to come up with a complete ingredient list, much less accurate quantities. Most things simply come out a little differently every time I make them which keeps things interesting. I expect that is the way most cooks cook but it can make it difficult to share an actual recipe here on the blog. 

I mentioned our neighbor's amazing Bing cherry tree in one of my earlier posts over the winter. This is because I was still surfing the wave of utter summer bliss that the tree (and our neighbors) bestowed upon us. In the past there has been competition for the cherries between birds, and bears, and people. Last year the tree was laden with cherries but for some reason the bear did not come to the tree and the birds left it almost alone. So last year the lucky people were swimming in cherries. Each one was like a jewel and cherished as such. The photos below will give you an idea of what the tree looked like last summer:

Me on ladder with grin

This year was a different story. The tree was again laden with cherries but before they could fully ripen a bear began to visit the tree. She or he would come at night, climb up into the tree, and gorge on the cherries. Then I imagine her back up in the woods during the day sleeping and dreaming about the juicy sweetness of her nighttime exploits. She returned night after night until every last cherry was gone and the tree stood pathetically mangled and broken. I was too sad when I saw it to think of photographing it. Rude bear. No manners whatsoever. The neighbors tried banging pots and pans and telling it in no uncertain terms to skedaddle but the cherries proved too big of an allure. One day my neighbor called to say if I wanted any cherries I better come and get some, so I did. At that point there were still thousands of cherries. I filled a large colander with almost ripe cherries. A few days later the tree was devastated. 

I made a gluten-free nectarine cherry solar crisp with a cardamom cashew custard. Mostly though, we just eat one each time we walk by them. We have a little bit more restraint than the ill-mannered bear. 

I love my Sun Oven! More about it later.

Cherry/Nectarine Almond Crisp
A gross approximation of a recipe:
Cut up about 4 cups of white nectarines and cherries and place them in a baking pan or dish. Melt about a quarter cup of butter or butter alternative (I've been using Earth Balance) in a bowl. Add 3/4 cup of almond flour and 2 T. each of white rice and tapioca flour. Add 1/4 cup of muscavado or other brown sugar. Stir well to combine. Lastly add 1 t. vanilla, 1/4 t. almond extract, and a pinch of salt. Sprinkle over fruit and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. The topping crisps up nicely and tastes like marzipan. Great on its own or topped with vanilla ice cream or you can try the dairy-free custard below.
Cashew Cardamom Custard
From Whole Living Magazine, July 2012 issue
Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 cups, plus 1 Tbsp plain rice milk
Pinch coarse salt
1 Tbsp maple syrup
5 cardamom pods, crushed
1 1/2 tsp arrowroot or cornstarch
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions:
In a blender, process cashews, 2 cups milk, salt, and syrup for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a saucepan, add cardamom, and bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk remaining Tbsp milk and the arrowroot until smooth. Add to saucepan and thicken mixture over medium heat, whisking, 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Strain custard into a bowl and let cool slightly, then transfer to refrigerator. Serve chilled.

Enjoy the summer!