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Midsummer Garden

The front yard garden midsummer

Our garden this year is thriving! My neighbor generously gave us the tomato plants this spring. I was not sure what they were going to turn out like. They are all yellow this year! We have yellow cherry tomatoes, yellowish orange and huge yellow ones. We were also gifted some lemon basil from another friend that is so wonderful in asian style dishes. Never before have I grown so much Genovese basil. The plants are so healthy and the flavor is so wonderful. Fresh pesto is a summer pleasure that if buying basil fresh it can get costly. Unfortunately I let my green beans get too tough, they matured it seemed overnight. They were tiny one minute then they suddenly, huge! (read more)

Wild Rice Salad with Blood Orange and Pomegranate Balsamic Vinaigrette

My Mom gave me some wild rice from that she got from a friend in Minnesota, and I have been meaning to experiment with making some dishes with it. When reading a caption from the package of Singing Pines wild rice, I learned a little about the origin of this rice, and it peaked my curiosity.

August is called “manominikegississ” the month of the rice making moon. Traditionally, the Ojibway and Sioux Indians of Minnesota harvested the “mahomem” or wild rice with two people in a canoe. One person poled the boat through the rice bed, while the other, using sticks, knocked the rice kernels into the boat. The rice was then parched; the hulls removed and using a birch bark winnowing basket, the rice was separated from the chaff. The native peoples considered the mahomem a sacred gift from the Great Spirit or Creator. (read more)

Scotch Eggs

A decadent treat for breakfast

Scotch Eggs are one of those classic dishes that I had always wanted to try. Partly because of the way they look, and because I am a fan of eggs any style for breakfast. This is most definitely not what your doctor would recommend, eggs swathed in breakfast sausage, breaded then deep fried. I hope Dr. Miller doesn’t see this post. I pan fried mine but you can use a deep fryer too. I would also recommend baking after deep frying to make sure the meat is cooked through. To accompany these we made biscuits and country gravy. (read more)

Smoked Gouda, Avocado and Tomato Panini

Smoked Gouda, Avocado and Tomato Panini…with a Stella

This simple meal really hit the spot on a Friday evening after a long work week. The girls were with their Dad, and it was time to unwind and relax. Makayla was the one who originally made this yummy sandwich for her home economics class last year. I happened to have a good crusty loaf of Italian herb bread and the other ingredients on hand. We have one of those little indoor grills that works great as a panini maker. You could add bacon to this to make it more decadent, or keep it vegetarian, which is what I did. Pair it with a nice cold beer and you have your own little happy hour of peace and quiet…ahhhh… (read more)

Our 2013 Garden

Here is our potager vegetable and herb garden in early June. I will be updating with more recent pictures soon. It has taken off nicely with the addition of purple kale, swiss chard, romaine, spinach, purple leaf lettuce. We also have 2 kinds of basil, 2 kinds of tomatoes, green beans, cucumber, 3 kinds of peppers and eggplant. I have also been cutting the ends off the scallions and leeks and replanting them. they keep coming back! I am a fairly new gardener and discovering all kinds of things like that make it so fun! (read more)

Parmesan Cheese Potato Stacks

These Parmesan Cheese Potato Stacks are delicate and rich at the same time. The addition of fresh thyme gives them an added zing. I used fresh thyme from our garden. Rosemary might be good too. They are not low cal, but with their petite size make them a moderate indulgence if you can limit yourself to just a couple.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and generously grease a muffin tin with butter

4 medium russet potatoes peeled and sliced into approximately 1/8 inch slices

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream (read more)