picnic weather

We have had a cool spring (which translated into Michigan weather is a warm spring). Perfect weather for enjoying picnics. I've been  making my salad pretty by adding edible flowers. Yum!

birthday splash

 On my birthday Jay didn't have any work. He took me, Mama Donna and Victoria to Oregano's for lunch. The guacolome with cheesy pizza bread was the highlight of the meal....except for the free birthday half-baked cookie with ice cream desert. Yum.

Afterward we walked to the splash pad and I got to play in the water without sharing it with the little ones that frequent the pad during the summer months.

juice day

Today I've invited a friend over to do juicing together.

Sara and her husband want to start eating healthier and hopefully loose some weight in the process. We'll spend the morning working with her juicer (that she has never used) my faithful Hurom Slow Juicer along my newest kitchen gadget, the Nutribullet. 


I stopped at the fruit market yesterday and grabbed some fruits and veggies to add to those already in my kitchen. We have berries and leaves, nuts and seeds, heads and bunches, roots and recipes all waiting to we whipped and squeezed into yummy healthy creations.

pink fluff

It's toasty....108 degrees (feels like 105) at two in the afternoon. We got up early to beat the heat and Jay was working outside before 6:30 AM. I made eggs and we ate on the patio (where he had been creating a foam insulation for the swamp cooler). Afterward, we both worked in the greenhouse until noonish when we were both well salted and ready for some cool. I had seen a recipe on facebook for Watermelon Slushies and this seemed the perfect opportunity to try them out. Although neither of us are huge watermelon fans be both thought the drink was pretty good.

the floating gourmet

This post is dedicated to:
Julie for our joy of sharing recipes
and
Amy for our mutual need to photograph food

The photos pretty much tell the story.

Well, with the exception of the
Melting Chocolate Cake
of which photography cannot capture what the
taste buds experienced.

duck

pumpkin/squash bake

warm spinach artichoke dip

peas porridge

Snap peas happily blooming away in my greenhouse.

Not really porridge, it's cauliflower soup. Got the recipe from a facebook friend. I found the recipe intriguing for several reasons, one because it was posted by a former Silver Dollar City coworker and current professor on Russian at ASU, secondly, because this friend is a male and was posting recipes on facebook, and also because I had never heard of cauliflower soup. It turned out surprisingly tasty but Jay said it made him feel like we were poor, eating a bowl of white mush for dinner.

three bags full

Jay came home with three large bags of rosemary bread from his favorite discount grocery store. Two bags went into the freezer. The third became dinner. Yum!

California Grilled Veggie Sandwich

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (Miracle Whip works too)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (raw garlic-good for health)
  
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (I used lime instead)
  
• 1/8 cup olive oil (or a tablespoon if you don't read closely)
  
• 1 cup sliced red bell peppers (yellow does well also)
  
• 1 small zucchini, sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced (or perhaps two green onions)
  
• 1 small yellow squash, sliced (unless you don't have any)
  
• 2 (4-x6-inch) focaccia bread pieces, split horizontally (Rosemary bread if ya have tons)
  
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or Provolone)
• spices to taste (I added this one)
  

Recipe credit: allrecipes.com and Julie Cook

happy pancake day

Banana Pecan Pancakes with homemade pear sauce for dinner. Yum!

what to do...

when you find your cup over flowith with grapefruit....

Dehydrate!

only two

"There are only two kinds of pie I like" was the oft repeated phrase my dad would tell guests before desert was served, "hot and cold".

In honor of my father's birthdays (December 8th according to his mother and December 9th, the date listed on his birth certificate) I ate hot (pear) pie yesterday and cold pie today.

Happy Birthday Dad. I sure miss sharing pie and jokes with you. <3

5 green days

Foam on the top of my "green" drink

Today was day five of my annual 21 day detox. Day one was miserable as my body reacted to all the toxins breaking loose and being flushed out of my system. Day two was somewhat better. Today I felt good enough to make the trek up Silly Mountain (our first climb since Lily's surgery and triple digit temperatures).

hopi food

Although our goal for cooking during the four day tent meeting was to keep it simple so that no one would be stuck in the kitchen, we did plan the first meal with traditional Hopi foods including Fry Bread, Nukuivi and blue marble soup. I tried to get some close up shots of two of the Hopi Women as they worked with the fry bread dough but their hands moved so quickly it was a challenge.

kitchen inspiration

For Julie:

Individual white veggie pizza; it all started with the discovery of a package of square flat bread at the discount store....




and ended with four happy tummies.

how to....

make four people, three dogs, thirteen chickens, and one rooster happy on a hot summer day...

WATERMELON

c is for carrot

Last week was O week. I purchased 4 bags of onions, already sliced, from a discount food store in Mesa that sells excess food from restaurants. It was so easy to dehydrate them, just rinse, throw on the trays, and wait.

When I went back this week the onions were gone but they had 5 pound bags of sliced carrots for a dollar each.

Funny thing was as I was placing the carrot slices on the trays I was reminded of a game we used to have. I don't remember the name but it had round pieces that fit closely in low wooden box. One end of the box had a slide with a spring that would push against the disks. The object was to remove as many round pieces as possible without the spring snapping. I thought it was strange how I would not have thought about that game except for the action of placing carrots on the dehydrator.

the morning after...

The kitchen counter, piled high with dirty dishes, was the reminder I encountered upon rising this morning....a reminder of how blessed we are with friends and food and fellowship...and a very full life together.


What a wild and crazy day!

It started out with a trip into the city with Lura to a discount fabric store to purchase supplies for decorating at the wedding. Thirty two silk flowers, 4 purple turkey feathers, 3 bolts of cloth, 2 rolls of ribbon, 1 spool of thread, and innumerable decisions later we were headed back to AJ feeling like very successful shoppers.

The clock was already into the afternoon hours, the time I had planned on making the birthday dinner, when we rolled into town. About a mile from home I got a call from our friends who live up the mountain. They were in the valley running errands and looking for a cool place to eat their lunch. They arrived at our house shortly after I did and the plans for the birthday dinner expanded from 5 to 7.

As they ate lunch, I unloaded the dishwasher then we all headed out the door, Rob and Sue to run more errands and me to grab the remaining ingredients needed for the cake. By the time I arrived home, just in time to start the rice cooking, Jay was home. He headed to the backyard to work on the raised beds he is making in the greenhouse. After setting the rice to cook, I thew the remaining ingredients in the cake batter and put it in the oven to bake then started on browning the chicken and putting together the stew. Once the stew was on the stove I started on the broiled cake frosting for the coconut cake, all the while adding to a stack of dirty pans and bowls accumulating in the kitchen sink.

Our guests arrived just in time to help with final preparations. While Sue started cleaning up some of dishes overflowing in the sink, Lura cut oranges, strawberries, bananas, and grapes and I set the table and added bowls of peanuts, coconut, and Craisins to the condiment selection.

The stew and cake, along with the green salad, Rosemary Olive bread and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream provided by our guest was a feast fit for an African king.

Our merrymaking was cut short by our impending departure time and we blessed our guests and sent them on their way long before any of us ran out of words. We threw food in the fridge and left the counter piled with dirty dishes then headed out of the house for my second trip into Phoenix that day. Jay wanted to attend a Rosh Khodesh (new moon) service with our friends Pam and Joseph. While we dove Jay tried, unsuccessfully, to call his twin sister and wish her a happy birthday. We would have almost been on time for the 7 PM service if we hadn't hit a traffic back up. As it was, we arrived about 15 minutes late, missing the major portion of the teaching Pam was sharing but in time to join the worship. After the service we headed to Pam and Joseph's house to spend some time visiting with them. It was 11:30 by the time we left and I agreed to drive home giving Jay a head start on getting some sleep since he had todrive to Tucson in the morning.

12:30 AM. We fall into bed, tired to our toes, but stuffed full of blessings.

orange preserves

Along with the box loaded with juicy little oranges that Jay brought home last week was a handful of "ornamental" oranges. When we discovered these I decided I would slice them and leave them outside my kitchen window with the hope that they would lure the hummingbirds that frequent the Rosemary on the East side of the house to my more frequently viewed West side view.

As they have baked in the ever-more-summer-feeling sunshine I haven't observed any winged visitors but I did note their interesting change into a sticky candy-like substance worthy of their own mini photo session.


And that's the West of the story.

healthy new year to you

a fresh start to 2011

goldilocks and the three...

breads

banana bread for party on Sunday....worship, shared meal, and hiking

new favorite

My new favorite way to eat cranberries (that are currently 3 bags for a dollar at the local fruit market)...cranberries, walnuts, zest of lime and honey. Yummy!