Bread Baking Buddies:Brioche Snowflake

When I saw this incredible bread I knew I had to try it.  I haven't baked with the group Bread Baking Buddies for ages, but this bread was too good to pass.  Plus it is so festive!   It is not for the inexperienced bakers, the brioche is not a beginner bread and the rolling and chocolate spreading were not that simple.  However, the end result is so beautiful!  In Italian we say "anche l'occhio vuole la sua parte", which means that even the eye has to be pleased.

You can find all you need to know in Lien's blog, and the original recipe with photos here.

Waiting for the snowflake to bake to take a final photo.

Few things...

• I rolled the sections really thin in order to be able to create a nice layering effect, and in retrospect I should have chilled the circles before spreading the nutella since they were quite soft (even after   softening the spread in the microwave). 
• I cut the staked circles to have a perfect circle before the twist.  The leftover made a  tasty although misshapen morsel. 
• I used the top of the spread in the center of the bread before cutting, this made sure the cuts were even in the center.

 Can't wait to try it!

Turkey and Kale Salad

At the risk of committing a heresy, I confess that I don’t like turkey meat.  I find it bland in taste, and always dry, this year's Thanksgiving leftovers were not different.  Despite my finicky taste buds, I wouldn’t want to waste any food, the turkey and the people who raised it deserve better.  This turkey salad used ingredients I had at home and used up the leftovers, it was delicious and very nutritious.  This is just a starting recipe, change the nuts or any of the other ingredients according to your taste.  I threw in some cut grapes towards the end and it was even better, chopped apples would work as well.

Leftover Turkey Salad 

2 cups chopped turkey leftovers

1 cup chopped Tuscan kale

2 stalks of celery, chopped fine

A handful of dried cranberries

A handful of walnuts, chopped

1 big spoon of mayonnaise

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Toss all the above ingredients and adjust the seasoning. 

Enjoy!

No-Knead Chocolate Bread-Bread Baking Buddy

I can't remember the last time I baked as a Bread Baking Buddy, let alone the last time I baked bread.  First my gluten intolerance, then being burnt out by my professional baking kept me away from one of my the greatest satisfactions, getting my hands in some yeast dough.  Lately I have  started baking again to my family's happiness.

I saw this bread when it was chosen as bread of the month by the Bread Baking Babes, and I decided to make it for my family since they love bread and they are all serious chocoholics.   Plus I was also up at 2 due to jet lag so why not bake some bread?

I followed the recipe to the letter, except that I omitted the chocolate chips in the dough and did some extra mixing since the dough didn't come together easily. 

I used the gluten developing technique I learned from my friend and mentor DMG, which works great with very wet doughs and when a mixer is not available.  I know this is a no-knead bread but the recipe warned that the dough works better when chilled, I figured I would get some gluten going to make it easier to handle.

After the initial mixing, I transferred the dough onto lightly floured surface, and by hand pulled the dough and folded it few times until it looked more homogeneous.  After a 10 minute rest, I pulled and refolded it again.  After another 30 minute rest, I pulled and folded it a final time.  The dough was left to rise in a warm spot for another hour and thirty minutes.

The recipe was chosen by Jamie of Life's a feast blog and can be found in Jamie's post, to find the recipe in a printed friendly link check Lien's post.

I left out the prunes, and tried two versions, a chocolate roll inspired by Ilva of the blog Lucullian Delights, and a loaf. 

For the loaf, I cut a pound and a half off the main dough, covered with chips and pat it down into a rectangle, rolled it tight as long as my loaf pan. I transferred the loaf, seam down, into the loaf pan and let it rise for 90 minutes in a warm place.  I then brushed it with the egg wash and covered it with sugar.  

For the chocolate roll bread I used the remaining dough, rolled the dough into a thin rectangle, brushed it with egg wash (one egg beaten with one yolk), sprinkled some granulated sugar and enough chocolate chips to cover most of the rectangle (leaving one long edge free of chips to seal it).  I then rolled the dough into a tight roll, cut about 2 inch sections and arranged them into a buttered 8" pan (the type with a 2" edge).  I let the shaped breads rise for 90 minutes, and baked it until the internal temperature reached 200F.

This bread was delicious, best eaten warm, but it makes a lot of dough so next time I will either make half of the recipe or freeze the dough after the first rise.  Loved the challenge!

Best Buttermilk Scone Recipe

It would be crazy to know how many scones I have baked in the past ten years, don't you agree?  This recipe was probably the first one I tried when I needed few morning pastry recipes for my very first job.  Joy of Baking was one of the first internet sites that offered a huge array of recipes, all of which were really good.  The recipe I use has been slightly modified from the original but it is such a good recipe I never felt the need to find another one.  At my second job in a tiny restaurant that was open for breakfast for its first 5 months two sweet ladies came in almost everyday just for the scones, and when I was selling them at a local farmers market, the ginger scones were among my best sellers.

The first time I had a scone was in Ireland, the morning after we camped on one of the Aran Islands.  We woke up early, started walking and stopped at a farm house that was converted into a restaurant.  The place  was not open for breakfast, but the lovely owner, a woman in her late 20's, invited us in and served tea and a delicious triangular pastry that must have been a scone.  The dried fruit and seeds made them delicious, I wish I could try her recipe, that was one of the most wonderful breakfasts of my life.  I suspect that the butter had a lot to do with the incredible taste.

I have made these scones with currants, dried cherries and anise seeds, chocolate chips, or crystallized ginger, and everyone who has tried them raved about them, so go ahead and try them, you will never go back.

The trick to light and flaky scones is to use cold ingredients and handle the dough as little as you can.  Once cut, they store for weeks in the freezer so double the recipe us and freeze some to keep for a moment's notice.

Buttermilk Scones
Adapted from The Joy of Baking

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 oz butter, cubed and chilled
2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375F.  Mix all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer.  Add cold butter, mix with the paddle attachment until the butter pieces are pea size.  Add the chocolate chips or any other dry ingredients, mix for few seconds.  Add the buttermilk and mix just until incorporated. Transfer the dough onto a floured surface, finish the mixing by hand to avoid overworking the dough, form a ball and flatten it to a disk 1.5" high.  Cut the disk in eighths, brush with cream, sprinkle with crystal sugar (optional), and bake until golden, 15-20  minutes (turn the temperature down to 350 half way).   Variations:  1 cup chocolate chips, or 1 cup currants.   Add other ingredients to taste, like anise or caraway seeds.  For ginger scones add 1 tsp ginger powder to the dry ingredients, and 2/3 cup crystallized ginger chopped in 1/4" pieces.

A New Career and a Diagnosis

It has been cold in the Bay Area!

I disappeared once again, I needed to regroup, so much has changed since my last post, I am still processing it, but as of April I am no longer baking professionally.  It has been a long and sad process to give up the pastry chef profession, but it was no longer sustainable for me to work in professional kitchens, physically and financially, so it was time to move on.  I have loved the incredible creativity, the many challenges, the ups and downs, the many people I met, especially the wonderful Mayan and Guatemalan cooks I have worked with, they have brightened many long and tiring days.  Besides the hundred wonderful recipes I have tried, and the skills I have mastered, the best thing of all was meeting my mentor and pastry chef extraordinaire Darren, whom I can't thank enough for the incredible work ethics he instilled in me.   Cooking and baking will always be part of my life, and I look forward to baking a lot of cookies for the Holidays.

These flowers are stunning even frozen

So now what?  About two years ago I started thinking of an alternative career, and becoming a Master Gardener in May 2012 pushed me past my indecision and fears and I decided that plants, soil, sustainable gardens, edibles, and getting my hands dirty were in my professional future.  After taking few classes in sustainable landscaping I launched my new career, I now work as a sustainable landscape designer, I have a handful of steady clients, one beautiful yard installation, an ever increasing collection of books, and still lots of learning to do.  I am now in the process of finishing my web site, so stay tuned...

As I close one door and open another, I have been trying to figure out which direction to take this blog, I want it to be about food, but sugar has become my enemy so baking is much harder.  In the hope to help other people with similar issues I feel the need to talk about some health issues which have taken six years to figure out (talk about failure of the western medicine to find a diagnosis!).  

I have been struggling with joint and back pain for the past 6 years, I was told to take anti-inflammatory drugs to control the arthritis.  Considering my age I felt that I was doomed to not being able to get out of bed by the time I turned 60, and I refused to think that that was my future.  Gluten made it worse so I gave up gluten three years ago, but that didn't completely solve all my symptoms, I still couldn't get off the couch without feeling frozen in my joints.  Many tests ruled out an array of autoimmune diseases but I knew deep inside that my GI and joint symptoms were correlated, and I suspected that certain foods were causing the joint inflammation, my primary doctor was clueless.  

At last, and paying out my own pocket, a stint with a nutritionist, and my incredible chiropractor helped me to finally get a diagnosis.  It turned out I have SIBO, or small intestine bacterial overgrowth, probably the result of the damage that gluten caused in my body.   SIBO causes inflammation, my body was/is trying to fight it, and genetically I am sensitive to inflammatory responses (my maternal grandmother had horrible joint pain all her life too).  Carbohydrates are my enemy, avoiding all carbs for 3 months made me lose weight, feel finally normal, and to my complete surprise, I am now pain free!  After feeling able to finally move without pain I realized how much the constant joint pain was controlling my life and my mood, so I am mentioning it here in the hope of helping others who deal with multiple symptoms that don't seem related.

Stay tuned for an amazing sorbet recipe!

I am now trying to figure out how to heal my body, medicines for SIBO are not covered by my health insurance (!), and although eating a no carb diet is not feasible, reducing my sugar intake is now my life style.  So now you understand how baking is no longer a simple pleasure for me, I can't bake the cake and eat it too, right?   Even if the cake is gluten free.  Turning this blog into a gluten free/paleo blog is not something I want to do either, so stay tuned while I figure it out.  I still want to bake for my family, my kids have been begging for a while, I need to get my hands dusted in flour again.

There are many amazing bloggers that made the switch to gluten free baking and few that went grain free, here are just a few.

Tartlette
Cannelle et Vanille
La Tartine Gourmande
The Art of Gluten Free Baking
and the most comprehensive of all...Gluten Free Girl 
And a grain free/paleo site Deliciously Organic

 

Refrigerator Chicken Soup

No need to go to the grocery store if you normally are well stocked.

I have been away too long!  Lots has happened, a change of career (yes, again!), few dietary changes, but I am still cooking and baking for my family so more recipes to come.....

When the weather is really gloomy like today a hot soup is what I want to eat.  Knowing I had some frozen chicken broth and lots of vegetables in the fridge I opened the door and pulled all the things that I thought would work in a tasty soup.  In just 20 minutes I had a delicious and nutritious soup.

The recipe below is just a guideline, if you don't have chicken broth use water or a vegetable broth. Beans or quinoa can be used if you are vegetarian.  If you really like ginger add more, or use parsley instead of cilantro, be creative!

Refrigerator chicken soup
serves two


2 cups chicken broth
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 shallots, chopped fine
1 scallion, sliced thin
1 medium carrot thinly sliced
1 stalk of celery thinly sliced
1 garlic clove
1 small piece of ginger, sliced
1/4 finely sliced napa cabbage
half bunch cilantro, chopped fine
1 cup water
4 oz chicken thigh, cut in small cubes
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan heat up the olive oil, add the sliced onions, celery, carrot, and garlic and cook until translucent. Add the ginger, the broth, the cabbage, and a cup of water.  Cook for 10 minutes, add the cilantro, the meat and cook for 5 more minutes.

For the Children and the Staff of Sandy Hook

With unbelievable grief and sadness, I pay tribute to the children and the teachers lost in this horrible tragedy.   My heart breaks for their families and friends.

Charlotte Bacon 6

Daniel Barden 7 

Olivia Engel 6

Josephine Gay 7 

Ana M. Marquez-Greene 6

Dylan Hockley 6

Madeleine F. Hsu 6

Catherine V. Hubbard 6

Chase Kowalski 7

Jesse Lewis 6

James Mattioli 6

Grace McDonnell 7

Emilie Parker 6

Jack Pinto 6

Noah Pozner 6

Caroline Previdi 6

Jessica Rekos 6

Avielle Richman 6

Benjamin Wheeler 6

Allison N. Wyatt 6

Rachel Davino

Dawn Hochsprung 

Anne Marie Murphy

Lauren Rousseau

Mary Sherlach

Victoria Soto

Walnut Sponge Cake-Flourless and Delicious

I made this wonderful cake at work as a base for the gorgonzola gelato I wrote about here, it is one of those cakes I can't stop eating and it gets better the next day, so it deserves a post of its own.  The recipe comes from Pure Desserts, written by one of the Bay Area most accomplished cookbook authors, Alice Medrich, and you can see the original picture of the cake on her website.  Her recipes are amazing, and she uses some of my favorite ingredients like cocoa nibs, buckwheat flour, saffron, cardamom, you name it.  

Now that I know I am gluten intolerant and work in a restaurant I always try to have one or two desserts on the menu that are gluten free.  This cake was first suggested to me years ago by a coworker as we were talking about the Pure Dessert book and some of our favorites recipes.  I liked it then, but when I made it recently I realized how truly outstanding this recipe is.  This cake surprised me for its simplicity and amazing taste, and it is so light and the lemon flavor intensifies the next day, you can serve it simply sprinkled with some powder sugar or with some whipped cream.  Alice Medrich suggests to make it with pecans as well.

Walnut Sponge Cake
from Alice Medrich

2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) walnut pieces
5 large eggs, separated
Zest of one lemon
1 tbs vanilla extract
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 325F.  Line an 8" springform pan with parchment paper.
Coarsely chop 1/2 cup of the nuts.  In a food processor process the remaining nuts until fine.  Combine the nuts and set aside.
Whip the yolks with 1/3 cup of sugar until pale yellow, add the lemon zest, vanilla, and salt.
Whip the whites until foamy, then gradually add the 1/4 cup of sugar until soft peaks form.
Add half of the whites to the yolks, then cover with half the nuts.
Gently fold the ingredients until incorporated, then fold in the rest of the nuts and egg whites.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and cook in the pre-heated oven until a toothpick comes out clean, 50-55 minutes.
Cool 5 to 10 minutes then remove from the cake pan.

Enjoy!

Gorgonzola Gelato

I have been aching to write a post for weeks but I don't always have a recipe that is worth presenting here.   I actually wrote a post on a dessert I created but I lost the whole thing in one wrong click, so frustrating.   I love to have a semi-decent photo to go with the recipe and not always I have the time to set up the whole thing nowadays.   Yesterday I brought home the components of the dessert, quickly set up the plate, and took few photos before the ice cream melted in the late season heat the Bay Area is experiencing.

Savory desserts are my passion, a little trickier than the classic, but once I get a good combination, it is hard not to lick my fingers.  This ice cream recipe was passed to me by the executive chef I worked for, and I was very skeptical while making it.  See, I don't care for gorgonzola, I think my system revolts to the mold so I can't eat it at alll.  When he asked me to make this I thought it was going to be a very weird ice cream but when I took my first taste I was hooked!  Savory ice cream indeed, delicious!

I was shown the recipe on an i-pad and I quickly wrote it down on my to do list so I am not sure where the chef found it, but a quick search revealed an identical recipe here.  We decided to use slightly less sugar than the original recipe after we made it the first time.

I paired the ice cream with a flourless walnut cake that deserves its own post, it is delicious.

Gorgonzola Gelato

135 gr Gorgonzola dolce
60 gr heavy whipping cream
550 gr whole milk
225 gr granulated sugar
3 g salt

Remove the cheese rind, and cut it in small pieces.  Bring the cream, milk, sugar and salt to a simmer.  Pour the heated milk onto the cheese and mix until melted.  To ensure that the ice cream stays nice and white do not use an immersion blender or the "mold" part will turn the ice cream an off white color.  Chill completely and freeze according to your ice cream maker instructions.

Postcard from the Garden

I wish I had a recipe for you.  I only have time for a photo from my garden, which is buzzing with bees.

Recently I wrote about my intention of changing career, which is still in the making.  However, a pastry chef job landed on my lap and it was too good to pass.  I am working four days a week, having fun working at a restaurant, working with a super funny and talented chef who was born in a town an hour north of Venice.  We speak the same language, both literally and figuratively, and he makes a killer trippa, or tripe!

Spanish lavender and a very happy honey bee

I am slowly changing the dessert menu, the dessert of the week is roasted peaches, with port zabaglione, lemon verbena ice cream, and pistachio streusel.   Can't wait to go in tomorrow to find out how it sold the first night.

A better post with recipe soon....

Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Shallots and Thyme

This is by far one of the easiest and most delicious dishes I have made  in a long time.  Roasting concentrates the flavor of many vegetables, and it is a quick and easy way to cook them.

I wish I had taken a photo of the carrots before preparing them, they were so beautiful, the colors so intense and appetizing.  I found them at the Point Reyes Farmers' market, which is held on Saturdays during the spring and summer months, such a special spot.  I also saw this beautiful chard but didn't buy it. 

 

This recipe will work with any carrots.   I have used butternut squash before, in which case you can use sage instead. The amounts are just and indication, if you like more thyme feel free to add more.

Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Shallots and Thyme

Two bunches of rainbow carrots

4 medium shallots

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme

salt to taste

 

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.  Peel the shallots, leaving the root side intact, and cut them in thin sections.  Peel and cut the carrot in half lengthwise.   Toss the vegetables with the oil, thyme, and salt.  Cook on a baking pan lined with parchment paper until soft, 15-20 minutes, stirring few times.

Blueberry Tart-Without the Crumb

Remember the blueberry tart from few days ago?  Well since I had dough for another tart shell I used it to make a version of this wonderful apricot tart from Elra's baking, one of my favorite food bloggers.  I figured that most summer fruit will work in this tart, but since I had an over abundance of blueberries you get another blueberry tart.  Cherries would work as well, so would plums.

The crust can be any sweet tart dough of your choice, Elra's recipe, or the recipe I used, which is adapted from Sherry Yard.  The filling is a modified version of Elra's, I used lemon zest to flavor it and I used GF flour in mine.

Delicious!

Blueberry Crumb Pie

For the Crust:
2 cups a/p flour, or GF mix of your choice
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
8 oz cold butter, cut in 1" pieces and chilled
Zest of two lemons
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream

Pie Crust:

Mix the yolks and the cream together, set aside.  Mix the first four ingredients, either in a food processor bowl or a mixer bowl.  Add the chilled butter pieces and the lemon zest, pulse or mix with a paddle attachment until the mixture contains only small pieces of butter.  Add the yolks and cream mixture and pulse or mix just until incorporated.  Roll half of the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for an hour.  This recipe makes two pie crusts.

Filling:

4 TBS (50 g) unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup (30 g) sugar

Zest of one lemon

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/4 cup (50 g) all-purposed flour or G/F flour

1/8 tsp baking powder

1 cup blueberries or fruit of your choice

Cream butter and sugar together, add the zest, mix.  Add the egg and mix until smooth.  Add the flour and baking powder and mix well.  Spread onto the chilled crust shell, distribute the blueberries on top and bake at 375F  for 25 minutes, or until golden.

NOTE:  For tarter fruit like plums I would increase the amount of sugar to maybe a 1/3 cup since the filling is not sweet at all, which is how I like it.

Blueberry Crumb Pie for Pie Day

I thought I had all week, then I realized Pie Day 2012 is today!  GASP!   I had the ingredients and the fruit so I was able to pull it off, however this will be published late, oh well.

I saw some pretty amazing pies in the internet, click here to go to the Facebook page of the event, the most stunning I saw was made by Irvin of Eat the Love.  I made mine with blueberries since I had some organic ones waiting to be used, and then I got the idea of the crumb topping from Irvin.  Et voila', a pie is made.

I wanted to try a new pie dough recipe, so I consulted one of my favorite books, The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard, and found this delicious sounding pie crust recipe.  I made it gluten free using Jeanne's mix.

Delicious!


Blueberry Crumb Pie

For the Crust:
2 cups a/p flour, or GF mix of your choice
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
8 oz cold butter, cut in 1" pieces and chilled
Zest of two lemons
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream

Pie Crust:

Mix the yolks and the cream together, set aside.  Mix the first four ingredients, either in a food processor bowl or a mixer bowl.  Add the chilled butter pieces and the lemon zest, pulse or mix with a paddle attachment until the mixture contains only small pieces of butter.  Add the yolks and cream mixture and pulse or mix just until incorporated.  Roll half of the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for an hour.  This recipe makes two pie crusts.

Filling:
4 cups blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 TBS corn starch
juice of one lemon

Crumb Topping
100 gr all purpose flour, or GF mix of your choice
80 gr cold butter, cut in 1/2" cubes
80 gr sugar
1/2 cup  almond meal
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Salt, a pinch
2 TBS heavy cream

In the bowl of a food processor, mix the dry ingredients together.  Add the butter and pulse until it is in small pieces.  Add the cream and pulse until the mixture turns crumbly. 

To assemble the pie:

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.  Roll half of the pie dough into a circle, line a pie dish, add the filling, then cover with the crumb topping. Bake until the crust is nicely browned and the fruit starts bubbling, about 50 minutes.  Cool slightly and serve with your favorite ice cream.

Breathing Deeply

Lady beetle resting on parsley flowers

Every time I start a new job I get really excited at the prospect of learning new things, doing what I love, being creative.  Unfortunately I had many mediocre jobs, only one stood out to be the best, I was working with a tremendous mentor, he taught me so much, it lasted more than a year.  After that, my job history has been spotty, working here and there, I was laid off twice.  I had grand hopes for my last job, I thought there was great potential, lots of room for growth, but it all came to a screeching halt once again.  I wasn't learning enough, which for me is the most important thing in a job, I was never given the money I wanted, and waking up at 4 was physically exhausting, so once again I quit.

Legion poppy, so delicate but stunning

Unfortunately I had to come to the conclusion that this career I have been trying for more than 8 years, that of a pastry chef, has to come to an end, it is no longer feasible for me, my life style, my family.  I don't seem to find my ideal place, so obviously I am doing something wrong, or maybe there isn't an ideal place.  It is really sad to realize that I will never able to have my own bakery, where I could make the desserts and pastries I love, tasty, rustic, unique, which are not found anywhere where I live.  I am not sure why but most pastries and desserts I see around my town are mediocre, either because there is no demand (i.e. people don't buy enough), or because people don't have the sophistication and keep buying bad examples of pastries.  Even restaurants have the same boring, uninspired selections, once I was asked to put a carrot cake on the dessert menu, really?  Needless to say, nobody bought it.

Enough complaining....my last day at work was Tuesday, so I have been home for a week, still processing and catching up.  I want to keep the blog going, something I seriously neglected for lack of time, and because I had so many things left undone I hadn't had time to update it.  In the past four months I also haven't had the chance to cook or bake anything worth blogging about, but I know I will get inspired soon, my favorite fruit to bake with, the stone fruits are coming to season in few weeks.

I also need to concentrate on my next move, which won't include pastries, but plants, as I am planning on becoming a garden consultant.  I just got a certificate as a Master Gardener, which is not much in terms of education, but I have learned so much, and more importantly I realized that I want to keep learning about horticulture, and make garden design and maintenance my new career.   I want to specialize in edibles, native plants, habitat gardens, and low water use gardens.  I also plan on finding work in existing landscaped gardens to help maintain them, not just as a gardener but as an expert.   I have two friends who want to hire me, so wish me luck!

The above pictures were taken in my garden, a source of relaxation, a place to learn through experimentation, and a great font of edibles.  Peas are the next crop, followed by tomatoes.  I need to plant some basil soon.

Black and White Wednesday #30

No much to add to this photo, I love the curls of the cinnamon sticks, I find geometry in food fascinating, and black and white photos work to enhance it.  I am submitting this photo to the fun event Black and White Wednesday, created by Susan, the master mind behind The well seasoned cook.  Brii of Briggishome is hosting this week's event.

I am having a day off and looking forward to catching up with my favorite blogs, and get some gardening done, yeah!

Organic Gardening and Few Recipes

Aquilegia formosa propagated from seeds from Big Sur

This post is related to food in a way, but I am also in the process of creating a gardening site so I will keep the two creative aspects of my life separated.

Salvia involucrata aka Rose bud salvia propagated by cuttings

I am almost done with my Master Gardener certification, and I am busy applying all I have learned and more.  When we bought the house I live in, the garden was partially landscaped with drought resistant plants, and since then I have been adding a vegetable garden, and more plants in spots where some plants didn't flourish.   Initially I used aesthetic to select plants, and I had lots of failure, now I know why, either the conditions were not right for the plants or the soil wasn't amended well.

Bumble bee, and excellent pollinator

I have been using organic principles, composting, avoiding the use of pesticides, etc, but it wasn't until I heard all the wonderful lectures of the past 18 weeks that I deeply understood the practices of growing organically, and the importance of feeding the soil and maintaining beneficial insects. 

Soldier beetle in action

Insecticides will kill an unwanted pest but also a wide variety of beneficial insects.  Sometimes waiting a little will allow beneficial insects to find the pest, arrive in droves, multiply, and completely rid the plant of aphids. I haven't sprayed insecticides once in my garden, and recently added lots of plants that are beneficial to insects, plants that both feed the predator insects or attract pollinators.  Yesterday I was so excited to see an army of soldier beetles attacking the many aphids on my red russian kale, I also saw a beautiful lacewing and that is a sign that the beneficial insects are hard at work eating away unwanted aphids.   Some insects have a complete metamorphosis, like butterflies, the larva looks nothing like the adult form, so know your beneficial insects and their larval forms so you don't run the risk of killing them.

Bees love this thorny plant, not sure of its name

I am also turning my garden into a mini farm, we already have chickens, and inch by inch I am expanding the vegetable garden in the most sunny spot of the property.  I have added herbs, grow annual vegetables, and also planted some uncommon edible plants like hops, and nettles.  Borage is a wonderful and tasty edible, normally used to attract bees.  It can reseed itself, to the point of becoming invasive, but all I have to do is keep only the seedlings that took in good locations and eat the rest.  A win-win situation.

Stinging nettle, for food and infusions

I love stinging nettles in frittatas, risotto, and stuffed in ravioli, but I also infuse it in boiling water for 5 minutes, steep it for an hours, strain it and drink the water chilled.

Now for few recipes using ingredients grown in a garden...

Borage frittata
Rose geranium lemonade
Pizza with kale and ricotta salata
Kale frittata
Frittata with beet greens

Super Easy Fruit Crumb Bars

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month.  I can't even start describing how busy I have been, I don't even have time to check my favorite blogs, so frustrating!  Work is ridiculously busy since my co-worker hurt her wrists so I am working almost every day to do the morning baking.  I can't seem to catch up with sleep and when I get home there are millions things to do, blogging is the last thing in my mind, sadly.  I am in survival mode when it comes to cooking, so nothing fancy or remotely interesting has been made recently.  I catered a huge party two weeks ago and that was such a big undertaking but it went so well.  I made these bars for the party and they were a huge success, tasty, simple, and super fruity.  They were so good I had to make them gluten free so I could eat them too.  The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen, who in turn adapted it from allrecipes.com.

The second time I made them I changed the recipe a little, adding almond meal, but the regular recipe it tasty as well.  I used Jeanne's gluten free mix, and I couldn't tell the difference, I tested this mix in few recipes and it is so wonderful.  Be warned though, these bars are addictive!

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour of Jeanne's GF mix
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries or cherries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and line a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, the flour, the almond meal, salt, and baking powder.  Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg, or use an electric mixer. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares. 

These bars come together so easily and I used frozen blueberries and small tart cherries.  They store well in the fridge and it is better to cut them in the desired size once chilled.

And now a photo of my new love, my sweet puppy,  isn't  she sweet and adorable?  We couldn't have asked for a better dog. 

Basking in the sun