Let's Eat
"Let's eat!" was always something I loved to hear growing up. I knew that whatever was going to be on the table would be prepared with love by my mother or grandmother and would be delicious. And suddenly, I had a family of my own. I must confess that I have put things on the table and said "Let's eat" with far less enthusiasm. What had changed? I was doing the cooking for one thing. Cooking alone can be a balm for the soul, but it can also feel isolating if everyone else if in the living room visiting. Cooking together has been a favorite pastime for my husband and me. We even went through a period where we were cooking our way through a Cajun cookbook. We couldn't eat it all by ourselves. We started inviting friends over and called it "Friends in our Kitchen". That was fun and when it was time to call "Let's Eat!", the joy had returned. So, for cooks who like to cook and for people who don't have time to cook but still want to eat, I get it. I tend to be both of these depending on the amount of time, energy, and interest I have at any given moment. One thing is for certain, I keep great recipes and get rid of the ones that aren't. I am also pretty good at taking a ridiculous recipe and simplifying it without loosing any of the yumminess. Eating well is one of life's great joys. Slaving in the kitchen is not.
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Homemade Spaghetti Sauce From the Garden
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce From the Garden Our garden is bursting. It has overrun its beds like a river rises out of its banks after heavy rains. Ironically, those heavy rains are what has caused the garden to be so productive. We are firm believers that, even though it was “free” food, we don’t want to waste it. Our new favorite meal from the garden is homemade spaghetti sauce with grilled eggplant. Of course, the Italians call it sugo con melanzane e pomodori. That sounds so fancy. Making the Homemade Spaghetti Sauce I usually grab the tomatoes that are the ripest and blanch them so that removing the skins is easy. …
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Mustang Grape Jelly: A Family Tradition?
They Grow Wild and Free As far as wild ideas go, the decision to make wild Mustang grape jelly fits the bill. Wild idea. Wild grapes. Texas is blessed with abundance, usually, and I do wonder about what my great, great, great grandparents thought about Texas when they emigrated here from Scotland in 1851. They had been promised that Texas was a land where things grew easily. Where life would be easy. Abundance. You know, the typical stuff you would say in order to get people to move half way around the world. My great, great, great grandmother, Isabella Wood, wrote a letter back to Scotland and told a different…
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Wine Making Class – Step by Step
First, It Isn’t Difficult or Complicated When I made an offhanded comment back in 2009 that I wanted to learn how to make wine, I really did mean I wanted to learn. I thought I would watch some You-Tube videos. Maybe read a book. My husband had other ideas. He got online and purchase all the equipment I needed to get started and suddenly, with no preparation or warning, I was making wine. It is a good thing that he did this because if I had been left alone, I might have gotten around to watching a video or two. I probably wouldn’t have purchased a book. I would never…
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Bread Pudding Recipe
I blew it. I should have taken a photo of the bread pudding in the serving dish before we dove into it. Honestly, I wasn’t thinking blog. I was thinking dinner and how the day had been insane. We just needed to get through the meal, you know? The bread I made this weekend didn’t all get eaten. We are trying to be mindful of what we are cooking and eating in order to minimize waste. For those in the future who may stumble across this post, we are in isolation due to the COVID 19 pandemic. (That sounds terrible…) I knew I had made a big mistake when Jerry…
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1st World Problems at the Homestead
Ha! It makes me laugh when my “worlds” collide. Back in Virginia, I kinda got on a subsistence life-style kick. I learned how to make wine, can vegetables from our garden. We even had goats so I could milk them and make cheese. It was fun and it was a lot of work. I loved the forced routine. When it was time to milk the goats…it was TIME. When the vegetables needed picking, we were out gathering. I loved the routine and the order it brought to my life. I had things that absolutely had to be done and it was fun to pretend that there weren’t grocery stores. …
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Christmas Food at the Homestead
I have been dreaming about my grandma house for a long time. I was disappointed that we weren’t in the Homestead last year, but the joy that we experienced this year certainly made it worth waiting for. First, we had the a great Thanksgiving which ends with us putting up the Christmas tree. That was an adventure in and of itself. We had a new tree this year and so, it was our first time to put it up in a new house where we had never had a Christmas tree before. Lots of firsts means lots of learning. The Cookie Exchange We hosted the first (hopefully) annual Cookie Exchange.…
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Pied Piping and a Cookie Exchange
A Bit of Bragging… I have been called a “Pied Piper” by my husband and others. Ric Hertless may have been the first to proclaim this in a work setting. I didn’t know how I felt about the moniker. It sounded to me like all I did was try and get people to do what I wanted and that smacked of manipulation. However, upon reflection, I think that I just get board and when I do, I try and get people I love and enjoy to come play. So far, we have come up with some interesting reindeer games… Burch Beach Like the time we built a beach in our…
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Thanksgiving Food and Traditions
Besides twinkling lights and the look of amazement on children’s faces, is there anything more wonderful than holiday food? I don’t think that much can compete with the thrill I get planning a holiday menu and thinking about sitting around the table with my favorite people visiting and celebrating. Traditions are important and food as a holiday tradition is probably one of my favorites. As traditional as we are, we have broken with some old ones and are establishing some new ones for our family. Here are a few of my favorite things (cue the Sound of Music soundtrack…): I want to tell you that I love Christmas above…
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Instant Pot: Poached Pears in a Mulled Wine Reduction
First Time Amazement I am not a huge fan of cooked fruit. Pineapple on a pizza? Nope. Apples and pork? No, thank you. Fruit pies are hit or miss with me as well. I do love a cobbler, though. I just made poached pears in mulled wine in my Instant Pot. They were incredible and didn’t remind me of any of the cooked fruits I had had before. They were super sweet. The mulled wine reduction was what made them so good. The spices (cinnamon, bay leaf, and cloves) did their job by adding depth and complexity to the wine. The wine gave the dish an extra level of fruitiness. …
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Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons
Preserved Lemons I had never heard of preserved lemons until I wanted to make a Moroccan chicken recipe. Of course, the recipe called for preserved lemons and the cookbook helpfully included the recipe for the lemons. Some would say that I am a planner. I make lists and I use sticky notes, but doesn’t everyone? I do not however, plan my meals three weeks out. And that is how long it takes to preserve lemons. The recipe called to me though and I had continued to put off making it because of those danged lemons. There was only one thing to do. Make the lemons and have them ready and…