Photography: Victoria Pearson

What a dream job! Being able to photography food regularly...and get paid to do it. Mmmmm.
I think Victoria's images are so wonderful. Don't you?

See more of her fine photos here.

and happy weekend!

Ghee!

image via www. ayushveda.com

this morning i am going to be making ghee for the very first time. i learned how to make it a couple weeks ago when i attended an ayurveda workshop here. it's the yummiest thing ever! you can use it for EVERYTHING (even for a massage oil!), and it's been around for thousands of years. below is a little excerpt from a recent yoga journal article.

Ghee, or clarified butter, is a simple, powerful tonic used to nourish and heal the body.

It is difficult for most Americans to believe that a little fat in their diets can be healthy, let alone be considered good medicine. In Ayurveda, however, pure clarified butter, known as ghee, is one of the most powerful tonics. It is used to heal wounds, improve digestion, fight free radicals, and boost the immune system. Ghee is also believed to enhance one's ojas, or "life energy."

see the rest of the article here.

The best part is, is that it is VERY SIMPLE to make. The bummer part is that I couldn't just write the instructions down. Making it requires listening, watching, and smelling. If you're ever around and want to make some, I'd be happy to show you! Or, for now, you could get an idea by watching this video here.

Spring Break!

I finally have some time to cook as well as having access to my own kitchen, appliances, and ingredients! Hip, hip hooray!

lunch

I've been eating homemade hummus, avacados, and cucumbers on a toasted tortilla. Here's the hummus recipe:

lemon cilantro hummus

1 16 oz. can of organic garbanzo beans

3-5 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 Tbsp tahini (a sesame seed paste)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp salt

2Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cilantro

blend all ingredients together in a blender OR mash it all up by hand (I prefer the latter-it gives it a thicker consistancy).

Maybe I ate one of those cupcakes in the background after I ate my lunch!


I'm back to making my almond milk.

almond milk

1 cup raw almonds

4 cups water (+ more for soaking almonds)

1/4 cup agave nectar or honey

1 drop almond extract (optional)

soak the almonds for 4 hours or overnight in some water.

once soaked, drain the water out of the bowl of almonds.

mix almonds in a blender with 4 cups of water.

strain the almond bits out by using wire mesh strainer or a cheesecloth.

put the "milk" back into the blender and add the agave nectar and almond extract. mix. store in refrigerator. keeps for 1 week.

real milk!

happy to be back in Sacramento where i can get straus dairy products. their cows are able to roam freely about eating grass near the coast...and they get massages! happy to be having milk, butter, and yogurt that is so tasty and happy!

cupcakes!

chocolate-chocolate cupcakes

(the best part about these is the batter...it's so light and fluffy!)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

for the glaze:

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 Tbsp confectioner's sugar, sifted

3 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes.

Add the egg, then the yolk. beating for 1 minute after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear.

Scrape down the bowl and add the buttermilk, mixing until incorporated, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.

Scrape down the bowl, add the melted chocolate and mix it in with a rubber spatula. Divide evenly among muffin molds.

Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350 degrees.

for the glaze:

melt the chocolate in heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

then transfer bowl to counter and let stand 5 minutes.

Use a whisk to stir the sugar into the chocolate, followed by the cold butter.

boxties!

a traditional Irish dish.

boxty pancakes

Ingredients
8 ounces (225 grams) freshly cooked potatoes
8 ounces (225 grams) peeled raw potatoes
8 ounces (225 grams/ generous 1 1/2 cups) white flour
1/4 American teaspoon baking powder (1/2 Irish teaspoon bread soda), sifted *see note
8 to 12 fluid ounces (225 to 300 millileters/1 to 1 1/2 cups) buttermilk
Pinch salt (optional)
Butter, for frying
*Note: an Irish tablespoon is the same quantity as an American tablespoon plus a teaspoon
Directions
Peel the cooked potatoes while they are still hot, drop into a bowl and mash immediately. Grate the raw potatoes, add to the mashed potatoes with the flour and sifted bread soda. Mix well, and add enough buttermilk to make a stiff batter.
Heat a frying pan, grease with butter and cook large or small pancakes in the usual way. Eat them straight from the pan with butter, crispy rashers or pure Irish honey.

delicious sugar cookies!

I will not be sharing this recipe...it's my secret!

but these photos below might give you some hints...

happy cooking!

Temporary Merge

Until further notice, I will be blogging about any food on my every-day blog for a while...at least until I a) get a new camera to document things better or b) have more time to cook interesting things. Click here to visit my other blog.

Simple, Yummy, and Pretty

This morning I made Cranberry-bran muffins. Vegan. Ate them with raw honey, and a French Butter pear. Mmmm. If you'd like the recipe for my muffins leave a comment. If you want to simply comment, please do!

Butternut Squash Soup

Last week I made butternut squash soup for the first time. It's my favorite soup, but I have been afraid to try making it because I've had amazing butternut squash soup at some great restaurants. I was afraid my homemade version wouldn't be as gourmet and delicious! But it turned out great. I really didn't do too much measuring, so the measurements given below are approximates. Try it out. You'll love it.

1 3-lb. butternut squash
4 Tbsp. olive oil (plus a little more)
1 large shallot chopped fine
6 cups water
salt
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp nutmeg

Step 1: bake the butternut squash with the shallot in a glass 9x13 pan 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes (drizzle a bit of olive oil in the pan).
Step 2: peel the squash when it has softened.
Step 3: Bring to boil in a large pot the squash, olive oil, water, shallot, salt, milk. Then let it simmer for 25 minutes.
Step 4: Blend the mixture in blender in portions.
Step 5: add sugar and nutmeg.

Done.

Back!

Today we went to Apple Hill farms and sampled apples, nectarines, pies, donuts, cider, and veggie burgers. I would have loved this outing, BUT the lines were unbelievable. It turned out to be a stressful day of waiting in line for EVERYTHING. Boo. Wish it wasn't so very crowded.

I haven't posted much on this blog for two reasons. First, I've been out of town for such a long while. Second, I am without our beloved camera which was stolen from us, and it's hard to post when I can't take decent photos of what I'm makin' in the kitchen. I'll try to post more often though. I apologize for crappy photos or the use of stock photos.

Slow

I'm trying to eat Raw as much as I can. It's a little tricky when you don't have a dehydrator or specialty food stuffs. Yesterday went pretty well. I was especially pleased with the banana chocolate shakes we had. Mmmm. I hope I can come up with some more things today...it's hard for me to get a variety when I need so many things. But I'll keep at it. Eventually I need to revamp my entire kitchen, as far as what I keep around.

Favorite Raw Salad

Lately I've been making this salad at least once a day. It's just so so so yummy! Here's the lovely ingredients:

1 avocado
1 medium tomato
3 leaves of Romaine lettuce, chopped
1 large spoonful of homemade basil pesto

So simple and so good!

Hooray For Beets!

I have been enjoying beets all summer long. I love how sweet they are. Yesterday for lunch I made a green bean and beet salad...just added a little olive oil and salt. So yummy. I like the Italian's motto in cooking: keep it simple.

White Figs

Yesterday at the farmer's market I bought an over-flowing pint of white figs. They are oh so yummy and sweet. I will be buying more next week for sure!

Ceej In the Kitchen!

Last night Ceej wanted to put to use the leftover almond meal that I have after I make almond milk. So he combined the almond meal with oats, honey, dried cranberries, and orange zest. He baked it at 300 degrees for about 40 minutes. It turned out quite yummy, and I had some for breakfast this morning with some strawberries!! I think we will be perfecting this little recipe for sure.

Old Mother Hubbard = No Cooking

My kitchen has been void of a lot of food the past few days as I am leaving on vacation tomorrow. Sorry for the lack of food posts...I'll try to keep it up daily the next two weeks while I'm in SLC.

Concerning Land & Gardens: Hasenpfeffer Writes

I have a good friend named Hasenpfeffer. He writes. He's very good at it. Last November he wrote something that was witty and smart (well, he always does that), but the following prose has been running through my brain the past couple of days. It's long, but it reads fast because it is crafted so well...be prepared to laugh outloud and to think.

I put a lot of work into my garden. It's mine. It's mine. Not because a piece of paper says I own the land. I mean, can a person really own land? Just because I stick a flag in a pile of dirt—dirt that was there for thousands and millions of years before my great-grandparents were born and will still be there for thousands and millions after my great-grand kids are dead and buried in it.

Dirt that will eat me like a cowboy eats beef...like a poet eats life...like an empire eats the cowboy and the poet and then eats itself.Just because I stick a flag in a pile of dirt, does that make it mine? Did I create that dirt? Did I earn the dirt? Was I given the dirt by some all wise dirt-distributing genie that looks over the deeds of everyone great and small, then deems them fit or unfit to have dirt? What? The bank? The bank gave me the dirt? Who gave the bank the dirt? I can't make dirt. My great-great-grandpa Orville Redenbaucher “Dirt Head” Thatcher, a prominent rancher and corn farmer in the young days of the West, could not make dirt. Chief Wabi Sabi Oatmeal Pie Head who walked these Salt Lake streets 2000 years ago, could not make dirt. Neither Adam, nor Eve, nor Steve could make dirt.

I think, generally speaking, if I make something then I can have it. If I make a sandwich, I can usually eat it. If I make a joke, I can claim it as my own. If I make a bust sculpture of the president's head, I can keep it. Unless that bust is made from a petroleum-based substance, in which case the president will surround me with armed soldiers and confiscate that bust. He will then take it to his Oval Bathtub, melt it down, swim in it, and then drink it down until there isn't a drop left. Not one drop.But otherwise, generally speaking, if I create something then I can have it.

I can't create dirt. I can't make land. So when I say that this garden is mine, I don't mean that I own it. I mean that it is mine like a friend is mine. Like a song I used to listen to growing up is mine. I mean it is mine in the sense that I have spent hours working in it, with it, inside of it. As I have covered it, it has covered me. Its fruit has entered my mouth, turned in my stomach, spread through my veins, and come out as energy that I have used to till its surface, plant its rows, harvest and eat its fruit. It is mine AND I AM ITS.I am this garden, and this person is mine. This person is me. This garden is me. I am this garden and I have spent hours working this man. I have opened up and swallowed his shovel, his water, his seeds.

I've covered him in my dirt. I've planted in him my fruit so he would have the energy to plant in me his. I've planted in him peace, when he couldn't find it elsewhere. I've planted in him a sense of pride and accomplishment and work and rest. I have fed him like a baby, and he has fed me. My seeds are in him and his seeds are in me. We are one and we are married—but not legally.

This garden is mine. This neighborhood is mine. I grew up here. I swam in the canal, I crashed my bike on the hill, I made a dirt fort in the field. I played with every kid on ever block. I kissed some of the girls, ate dinner with some of the neighbors, door-bell ditched thousands of houses and played football at every park. This neighborhood has made me, has raised me. It is mine and I am it. THIS NEIGHBORHOOD IS MY GARDEN.These mountains are mine, and if you have spent enough time in them to know what I am talking about, then they are yours. WE belong to them.And I don't want Energy Solutions to build a huge sports arena on top of my favorite backcountry ski peak, even if it brings in millions. Millions of what? Who cares? I don't want to put an electric vending machine in my garden. I don't want a shiny, neon-lit with metal stuffed-animal grabbing claw, filled with plastic wrapped waxy chocolate and unnaturally bright and colorful candy pellets, eternally humming box in my garden. I don't want to hear Louis Armstrong play covers of all of Britney Spears' songs BECAUSE THEY GOT NO SOUL. THEY GOT NO SOUL!They have no soul. They don't have any soul. They have no breath. If they do, then it's bad breath. They don't come from a garden, a neighborhood, a mountain.I don't care if they will bring in MILLIONS of dollars. They are without SPIRIT. They are shells without turtles. They suck and drain and pretend to give back. They are the turkey dinner from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Remember what happened when Chevy Chase cut into the turkey?No. This garden is mine and I am its. I will plant only seeds that will bring only beautiful delicious healthy fruit that will make me an my family and my neighborhood and my mountains beautiful and delicious and real and healthy.

Amen, Hasen! Didn't I tell you he's good?

photo via: ryan mahoney, flickr, see it here.

Truly Enjoying

Local Flavors written by Deborah Madison is a very useful, informative, and charming cookbook. It shows you how you can make meals from food you buy at the farmer's market...this might seem like a 'no duh', but sometimes it's hard to know how to put everything together into something that will be yummy and nutritious. It's very good for teaching you about which veggies and fruits are in season when. Here's a couple of excerpts that I really enjoyed, one about how important farmer's markets are, and one about children's experiences at farmer's markets.

“When you think about it, the farmer’s market is really about the only place left in our lives where we can interact with someone who makes something we use. And it’s hard to imagine what is more vital or intimate than the food we consume, for it becomes our health, our pleasure, our nourishment, who we are, in fact. Today it is farmers who are providing the fragile connection that binds us in a meaningful way to our own humanity. In this sense, they are selling far more than tomatoes.

"You won’t find children nagging their mothers for candy and junk food…Children, those so-called recalcitrant consumers of vegetables, can become good eaters when they see the connection between the farmer and the food they eat. This is especially true if they have a chance to participate in some kind of farming experience, such as picking strawberries or gathering eggs at a farm stand, learning about honey at the market, visiting a farm or farmers’ market. They won’t know it, but they’re learning good eating habits by developing a taste for truly fresh, delicious food when they’re young, which will inform their food choices and affect their health over a lifetime."

Almond Scones

Last night I made these yummy almond scones. I love that they aren't very sweet at all, just good and flaky. We ate them for dessert...with some very sweet yellow nectarines.

Another Summer Dinner

This last weekend I was quite busy, and, therefore, not up to much cooking. Even if I had wanted to there was simply no time. So Saturday evening CJ and I went to a local sushi restaurant. We both ordered some veggie sushi rolls and a wakame salad. So so so so good. I've got to learn how to make my own. Have any of you ever tried it? I'll let you know when I do and how it goes.

photo via: www.us-sushi.com

Iced

Lately I've been drinking a lot of tea. Every now and then I add some soy milk...and viola! Tea latte. These days I've been having it iced as it is very hot in the afternoon around here. An iced mint green tea latte soothes everything!

photo via www.gourmetgold.com.au

Fruit Smoothies

Smoothies make for a good snack or a full meal. I love them because they are sweet and take care of any cravings I might have. They are also packed with fiber (depending on the fruits you use) so they fill you up. They just feel so clean and fresh. I had one for breakfast today.

1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries

1 medium banana, sliced

1/2 cup almond milk

Blend it all up. Easy.

Summer Dinners

Last night's dinner was perfect. Light, filling, and fresh. Here's the details:

This picture is a little misleading...I acutally made Orange-Raspberry muffins. For my first try at this recipe I followed the book to a "t". Next time I make them I will swap out the white flour for whole wheat or another whole grain flour. They turned out super yummy!

For this recipe you need the zest and juice from one whole orange!

Mmmm. "Fay, are these oranges hand-squeezed?". Yup.
Buttermilk. Definitely not vegan. Next time around I'll try my almond milk.
Fresh raspberries.

Our pretty table. Look at all the color!
Eating raspberries always takes me immediately to my Grandma's backyard...Grandpa picks the raspberries fresh from the bush for us to taste. So, so good. I hope the raspberries are ready when I visit home next month!
All food (except the orange) from the farmer's market. This corn was amazing, truly. No need for butter, salt, or pepper. Just good.