by gingerskeeper

Cook the Book Fridays: Artichoke Tapenade with Rosemary Oil

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(Disclaimer! I’m a little rusty. I’ve taken a two year break from blogging, and I think I’ve forgotten how to write. Bear with me while I try to find my writer’s voice again. It will probably take me a few posts to get rid of the choppy sentences and dull word choice.  I’ve started this post about five times so far and scrapped it each time. Now with my “deadline” looming, I’m just going for it! So please read and enjoy, but be a bit forgiving for a few weeks while I find my writing feet!)

I’ve joined the blogging group called Cook the Book Fridays. Every other Friday we will be cooking a recipe from David Lebovitz’s book, My Paris Kitchen.  The goal is to cook through the entire book–yes, everything from appetizers to desserts! I’m new to French cuisine, but after delving into the cookbook, I’m excited to get cooking.

Each month the group votes on and chooses two recipes to cook. We then blog and link up to Cook the Book Fridays. If you want to see other renditions of this week’s recipe, a delicious Artichoke Tapenade with Rosemary Oil, click on over.

We won’t be publishing the recipes on our blogs in order to encourage those interested to go out and buy a copy of the book.  I’m just providing a little commentary of the steps to make this below.

I made this tapenade for Easter as an appetizer. I’m a firm believer in having artichokes whenever they are offered.  If it’s on a menu, in any form, I will order it. If I see artichokes in the store in the spring, I will buy them. No questions asked.  In order to enjoy artichokes to their utmost, they must be accompanied with butter and a good glass of buttery Chardonnay.  Hey, I don’t make the rules!

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The method to the tapenade was pretty simple. Just gather the ingredients, pictured above, and throw them into a food processor.  In addition to being a little rusty as a writer, I’m also a little rusty as a recipe follower (well maybe just lazy), so I eyeballed everything. It was a bit on the salty side, so I added more lemon!  I was worried about serving it for Easter the next day, but things mellowed out over night, and it tasted delicious.

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The second part of the recipe is rosemary oil. I boiled rosemary and parsley together and then after an ice cube bath, I pulverized them along with some olive oil in the food processor.

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A cool, yet cloudy green oil resulted.  The recipe said to drizzle the oil on top of the tapenade, but I used a pastry brush to layer the oil on the bread first before adding the artichoke tapenade.

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I did enjoy it with a glass of Chardonnay, and it was delicious of course!

by gingerskeeper

Easter Egg Rhyme Time

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Happy Easter!

We have about a million plastic Easter eggs lying around from yesterday, and I saw this idea on I Can Teach My Child. Just write the ending on one half of the egg, and a letter on the other. Turn the egg and have the child sound out the word.

Once she caught on to the rhyming, Julia was able to ” read” the words. She liked holding it and doing it herself too–perfect for a quiet time activity.

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Probably the best egg activity so far today has been hiding the eggs all over the yard and taking turns finding them. We were no fun on Easter, and only hid hard boiled eggs yesterday. So far, the kids haven’t missed the fact that candy is usually in the eggs! I wonder how long we can get away with that trick! He He He.

by gingerskeeper

Elbow Room

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Today we transplanted a few sunflowers and corn plants. I’m not sure if either will make it, but it was fun to enjoy the nice weather.

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The sunflowers are looking kind of droopy, so I hope they enjoy their new spacious homes.

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We also thinned out the basil and onions, which is always a heartbreaking task. Everything was tucked back into the greenhouse to grow until May. Perhaps we got a little seed happy a few weeks ago. My assistant watered everything like a champ!

I hope you get to enjoy this beautiful spring day!

by gingerskeeper

Little Sprouts

It’s been less than a week, and there’s already excitement in our greenhouse garden!

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Overnight, our sunflowers, corn, tomatoes, basil, and onions have sprouted! 

I always get sentimental this time of year, as Julia gets ready for another birthday. No, it doesn’t seem like she was just born and sprouted up overnight. To me it seems she’s been in our lives forever. I get so confused when moms say, “you blink, and it’s over.” Maybe that’s because we’re in the thick of it now and without the perspective that a decade or so brings.  

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Pretty soon, these little veggie sprouts will need to be transplanted to larger containers, and then eventually, if raised with enough care, planted into the ground so they can nourish our family.

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Mommy Julia helps Grant eat breakfast, although he's fully capable of doing it himself.

My own little sprouts, 3 and 1, are growing so slowly in my eyes, easing out of nap time, graduating out of toddler clothing, and becoming more curious about this great big world. With lots of love and nurturing, they too will blossom! (But we won’t eat them. This is where the metaphor breaks down.)

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Such potential in little sprouts.

by gingerskeeper

Plum Preserves

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I broke a hard rule last week and canned something I bought at the grocery store. Let me explain! There were these giant organic plums. And they were on sale for 1.99 per pound.  I couldn’t resist filling up a bag of about twenty plums and taking them home to see what we could do with them.

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Our family ate about nine of them in the first few days, until I finally decided to make some plum preserves, suitable for placing on top of ice cream, on cheesecake, as the cookbook recommends, or atop waffles, like we did this morning.

The process was simple: chop, heat with water and sugar, can.

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Here’s a more detailed narrative of what I did, from the classic Ball Book of Home Preserving, pg. 66, 2006.

Plum Preserves

  • 5 cups pitted halved tart plums
  • 4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup water

1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids (this made just under three pints for me.)

2.  In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine plums, sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Increase heat to high and boil hard, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and test gel. If gel stage has been reached, skim off foam.

3. Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot preserves. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tight.

4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool adn store.

These turned out great, and I can’t wait to try them again later this year. Oh! And a certain mother-in-law of mine is going to get one of these beauties to mix in with her Greek yogurt.  I think she’ll like that.

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by gingerskeeper

CSA Season is Here!

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This week’s CSA bounty!

Saturday felt like Christmas in June because I got to pick up our very first CSA share from Steele Faith Farm.  I know it’s strange to get excited about vegetables, but these are farm fresh and naturally grown.  I even got to shake the farmers’ hands!

Our first share was small because it is so early in the season, but we have a good sampling of salad greens, a spicy diakon radish, Swiss chard, kale, and komatsuna.  We’ve already eaten the lettuce and radish as part of Sunday’s meal.

I am planning to use the chard, kale and komatsuna in tortellini soup. It usually calls for spinach, but I’ve used chard before, and I think it tastes even better than with spinach. I think it would probably taste good with this combination, and think how nourishing! Here is the recipe for tortellini soup with greens.

I couldn't resist a throwback to 2011 when we took the babe and the beans and kale on a picnic. We forgot a plate for Julia, but she made do.

I couldn’t resist a throwback to 2011 when we took the babe and some kale and orzo on a picnic. We forgot a plate for Julia, but she made do.

I had quite a stubborn (or prolific, depends on how you look at it) crop of kale a few years ago, so I had to get creative with my kale recipes.  Here are some kale dishes I’ve made before:

by gingerskeeper

Happy Blogiversary to Me

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Two years ago This Bountiful Backyard was born!  The hardest part was choosing a name, and after that the hardest part was trying not to sound like an idiot to my closest friends and family. In the last two years, my modest blog has remained, well, pretty modest. Two years ago, I didn’t really even know what a blog was, outside of my two favorites: Little House in the Suburbs, and Cold Antler Farm. Truly, they were the only blogs I ever read, and they, along with the prodding of my husband, were my inspiration for starting a blog in the first place.

It’s strange, because I remember when I started this blog, Julia was about the same age that Grant is now. I was blogging about purple porridge, and Father’s Day.  Julia was a new walker, and Grant was a distant dream. Now Julia is a bona fide Terrible Three, while Grant is just about the sweetest emerging walker I’ve ever met. (I’ve learned that with two or more kids you have to use qualifiers like “just about” in order to avoid future jealousy.) Yes, he took his first step last weekend, on Father’s Day!  Just one step, but a step nonetheless.

So here is a stroll down memory lane, and some of my favorite posts:

I enjoy blogging so much because it gives me a chance to write and express what’s on my mind. By taking a few minutes this evening to review the past two years, I realize I have a nice little scrapbook of memories. I think that going forward I will include more photos of the kids, and family fun, and probably fewer pictures of bread and such.  I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

As always, thanks for reading!

by gingerskeeper

My June Perennial Garden

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Let me start by saying I know green beans aren’t perennials, but I couldn’t resist choosing this spot for a green bean tee pee. Eventually these pole beans will climb the frame and make a nice little home for my sole backyard chicken. Maybe my three year old will even be brave enough to climb inside come August.

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Here is the rest of my perennial garden, full of irises, columbine, cone flowers, and more I can’t remember the names of. Most if them are native plants.

Reader, I need your advice! What do I need to do here to create one of those interesting, welcoming gardens? Should I make a fence? Add a bench? Plant more flowers? Right now it looks like I just plopped some plants in the ground.

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On another note, here’s another something wonderful about June. You can eat outside and literally hose down the mess! Hooray for clean high chairs!

How are your June gardens coming along?

by gingerskeeper

My June Vegetable Garden

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Oh Wow!  It’s the middle of June already, and I haven’t posted anything about our gardens.  With cooler temperatures than last year, and lots of rain, it feels like we’ve had a true spring.  The plants have had a chance to grow nice and slowly without getting the shocking hundred degree temperatures like we had last year.  All the plants are thriving, and I haven’t really done anything with them other than plant them.  Well, maybe I watered them once or twice.

I decided to keep things simple in terms of vegetables this year because we will be receiving a weekly basket of veggies from our CSA, which should start up very soon. I wanted to grow what my family would love as well as what experience has taught me will grow successfully in this little patch of earth.

Julia and Grant built me a raised bed for Mother’s Day.  Aren’t they strong?  I love how they even thought to reinforce it with steel poles so the boards would last for many years. Aren’t they smart?

So, here’s a little tour for you…

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Let’s start with the tomatoes. I bought them from a new nursery near my parents’ house. They were all started from seed at the nursery, with lovely romantic heirloom names like Polish Giant, Indigo Rose, and ‘Anas noire’ (zebra tomato). I lost the other marker, so I don’t remember what my fourth plant’s name was.  june3

I decided to go for color and beauty for my tomatoes this year, resigning myself to the fact that my garden will never produce 30 pounds of canning tomatoes at the same time.  Less is more in this case, when thinking about all the delicious BLTs, tomato tarts, bruschettas, or caprese salads that will come from these beauties in August.   june4I know you’re supposed to rotate your crops every year, but this is the only place in my garden where I’ve ever been able to grow eggplant successfully. It’s the sunniest part of my garden, so maybe that has something to do with it.  I am trying something new this year by panting ‘Dairyu ichiban’ (Japanese eggplant) instead of my tried and true black beauties.  These should be smaller and longer. Hopefully still good for grilling. June5

Our garden also needed a few jalapeno peppers. We like to use them in salsas, and for pickling.  We also planted four banana peppers this year, hoping to make some more mild salsas and pickles.

Of course, our garden would be incomplete without several marigolds interspersed throughout the garden as a natural bunny repellent.  However, the rabbits were impervious to it when it came to the irresistible lure of Japanese eggplant. Wascally wabbits.

How does your garden grow? What are you doing differently this year?

Next post:  June Perennial Garden!

 

by gingerskeeper

First Farmer’s Market Haul of the Season

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Our local farmer’s market was bustling today, even though it’s not even sixty degrees out. Most of the same vendors were back, and it was wonderful to have that familiarity and sense of community restored after a long winter break.

We were on a quest for strawberries, and found some from Southern Illinois, picked yesterday. I am hoping to turn those into jam today, as long as the kiddos take good naps.

We also bought some crimini mushrooms for our grilled burgers tonight, and a few bunches of asparagus that I want to roast with olive oil and balsamic. I’m the only one in my family who likes asparagus, so more for me!

The best find this week was a stand selling prewashed greens with the slogan, “If we don’t grow it, we don’t sell it.” I love that we will know right where it came from.  I bought a big bag of leafy spinach and some beautiful red radishes from them.

I think there are about twenty more weeks of farmer’s markets and fresh eating. I can’t wait!