Spring

If you've been a reader here for long, you know that my favorite season is Fall, but Spring is right behind it. We are having such a lovely spring, full of days with sun, days with rain and everything in between.

Because it's been cooler than average, the seedlings are still in the sunspace waiting for the soil to warm up a bit for planting time. They are getting bigger and the squash are, in a misguided abundance of hope, flowering already. I do hope to get them planted out soon. The irrigation system and lots of pots are almost ready, too. Our gopher and weasel populations make it impossible to plant them out directly in the soil.

Flowers have been great this year. The bulbs have produced beautiful daffodils (see photo at top of post), tulips and even a couple of hyacinths. The lilacs are at their peak right now. Some of the roses, like bright red Altissimo,

have bloomed and more are just starting. 

The calla lilies have been blooming for a few weeks.

Yesterday I saw the first poppy bloom, but there are a bunch of those almost ready. I planted a seed mix in the winter that included poppies and it looks like they did well, so sometime soon I'll post photos of those. Today the first iris of the season bloomed and it's just gorgeous!

We had rain when the plums bloomed, so there won't be many of those stone fruits this year to eat. Had some rain during the time of the early apple blossoms, but the largest and youngest tree is blooming now and the weather is fine, so fingers crossed that we get lots of Red Gravenstein apples. Hard to tell with the pears, quince and persimmons because there was some rain but not much during their bloom. We'll see.

The olallieberries are just starting to bloom down by the road. They bloom and produce fruit a few weeks before the regular blackberries, so I always get a thrill when I see their lovely white flowers decorating the shrubs.

I wish I could say that I've been getting eggs from neighbors, but here are some like I got a few weeks ago.

For those who celebrate it, Happy Easter!  Happy Passover!  Happy Earth Day (in a few days)!

XO Elle  

Sweetie's Pi Day Pie

Sweetie really enjoys pies and this year on Pi Day we were also remembering our beloved black lab Pi who left us in the fall. We still miss him, a lot, as you might expect since he was the best dog we've ever had...and that's difficult because we've been blessed with a number of great dogs. Here is a photo of our Pi dog when he was young:

Usually I would bake a sweet pie, but this year I went for a quiche...basically a savory cheese, veg and custard pie. We had it for dinner on March 14th and Sweetie had more today for lunch.

If you use pre-made pie crust dough for this, it all comes together fairly quickly. You can go with the filling ingredients I chose, or use your own mixture. This one had sweet breakfast sausage as the meat, and not a lot of that, so mostly the vegetables were the stars. Onions, mushrooms, potato and asparagus were also my fillings but I think if I made this again I would skip the potato. It made the pie so dense that it took longer to bake and there was less of the delicate creamy egg custard, too. There was too much custard because of all the filling, so some dripped off and cooked on the baking sheet I had under the pie and some drips got between the pie dough and the pie tin, so the crust stuck a bit. Note to self: use less solid filling to allow room for more custard filling.

If you are planning this for dinner, do remember to start a little early since you need to blind bake the crust and let it cool a bit before putting in the fillings.

Spring Quiche with Asparagus and Swiss Cheese  and Mushrooms and Onion
Serves 4 - 6

1 9-inch pie shell, blind baked at 425 degrees F for 10-12 minutes (see notes)
1/3 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup Swiss cheese, cut into ¼ inch dice
1/2 baked potato, peeled, thinly sliced
2 small, cooked Breakfast Sausage patties, each cut into 6-8 pieces 
3 eggs (or equivalent egg substitute)
1 ½ cups evaporated milk or light cream or 1 1/4 cup whole milk
¼ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
dash pepper
Dash nutmeg
3-4 spears asparagus, tough bottoms trimmed off and sliced in half through the length of the spear
4 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small skillet, sauté the onion  in the olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the sliced mushrooms, stir and cover. Turn heat to low and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle the bottom of the pie shell with the sautéed onion-mushroom mixture and Swiss cheese, distributing evenly. Top with the sliced potato. Sprinkle sausage pieces evenly over that. Set aside.

In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then add the milk and beat with a fork to combine, add the salt, thyme, pepper and nutmeg and beat with a fork or whisk to combine.

Arrange the half asparagus spears in a nice pattern on top of the onions, mushrooms, potatoes, sausage and cheese in the pie shell. 

Pour the egg/milk mixture over the ingredients in the pie shell. Place in the preheated oven and bake 30-45 minutes, or until set and lightly browned. I find that setting on a parchment-lined small baking sheet is a good idea in case some of the filling spills over. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting to serve.

Note: Use your favorite one crust pie dough, rolled for a 9-inch pie pan, or a package of pre-made dough like Pillsbury ReadyCrust (you'll have one pack of dough ready for another pie) at room temperature. Fit the dough into a 9-inch pie pan, crimp the edge, put in baking parchment and weigh with pie weights or beans, then bake for 10-12 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven. Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes, remove the pie weights/beans and let pie shell, now blind baked, cool for another 10 minutes before adding the filling ingredients.

Happy Spring & a Blessed Easter to each of you.

Sticky Buns - Now In Lemon

Well, the roller coaster ride is almost over. It's been fun and thrilling, but it's impossible to blog when you are up in the air and down. Besides, when you are thrilled but also a bit scared and waving your hands at the top, but gripping hard to the grab bar on the way down and in the curves, a girl gets preoccupied.

Over a week ago I ended a post with a photo of the lemon sticky buns I made. At last I'm going to be able to share the recipe with you. Why lemon? Well, spring always makes me want to cook and bake with lemon for some reason. Probably it the zing of lemon. Spring is a kind of zingy season. Another reason is my usual thinking...if cinnamon and brown sugar and cream make awesome sticky buns, what else could you substitute for at least some of those ingredients that would also make awesome, but really different, buns? So my lemon sticky buns are about as far away from cinnamon ones as you can get.

I started with my favorite sticky bun dough, which is the one I use for the awesome sticky buns. When I rolled out half the dough I spread on some softened cream cheese because lemon and dairy are a great combo. Then I spread on some lemon curd. I like buns with lots of filling. Then I sprinkled on some coconut. It's another end of winter/early spring flavor to my mind and goes great with lemon. The dough was then rolled up in the usual fashion and cut into buns, which I froze on a parchment lined baking sheet.

The recipe for the sticky part was trickier. I started with some melted butter, just like the awesome cinnamon recipe, then added both lemon juice and lemon zest. Regular sugar instead of brown seemed right, but I kept it to a smaller amount so that the sauce would be tart. Finally, after I put the buns on top of the sauce, I poured on some heavy cream and then let it all sit overnight in the fridge, so all the ingredients could get to know each other and the dough.

These were not quite as awesome as the cinnamon ones...it's pretty hard to beat good cinnamon sticky buns...but they were delicious and the sauce was really, really good. Sweetie licked his fingers to get every bit of it.

This would make a welcome addition to your Easter breakfast or Spring morning feast.The recipe makes a pan of 10-12 buns, plus 10-12 more buns for the freezer. When you are ready to bake them, just make up another batch of the sauce and be sure to let the pan sit until the buns both thaw and puff up a bit. When you bake them it will be hard to tell that you were using frozen buns. Need Lemon Sticky Buns for a crowd? Make up another batch of the sauce and bake two pans with 10-12 buns in each. You will be the hit of the party!

Lemon Sticky Buns
makes 20-24 rolls

1 package yeast (1/4 oz / 7 grams)
1 1/2 cups warm water (about 108-110 degrees F)
1 teaspoon sugar
Place yeast, water and sugar in a small bowl. Let stand 5 minutes to proof the yeast.

1 cup all-purpose flour, whisked with 1 cup water until smooth
1/2 cup melted butter, cooled (1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
Add the yeast mixture to the flour/water mixture. Mix in the melted butter, sugar, eggs and salt.

6-8 cups all-purpose flour
Add enough flour to make a soft dough (6 - 8 cups). Oil a large bowl or rising container. Add the dough and turn to coat, cover and let rise until doubled.

Divide the dough in half. Work with each piece separately.

Roll the first piece of dough to a 12" x 10" rectangle.

4 oz. softened cream cheese
Spread dough with 4 oz. softened cream cheese, leaving a 1/2 inch rim around the edges plain.

1/2 cup prepared lemon curd (recipe can be found here or purchase good quality lemon curd)
Spread the lemon curd evenly over the cream cheese on the dough rectangle.

1/4 cup shredded coconut (or to taste)
Sprinkle the coconut evenly over the lemon curd.

Roll up from the long side and cut into 1" to 1 1/2" slices (cut 10-12). I used dental floss to cut them, which works well. Just slip a length of clean dental floss under the roll, cross the ends and pull quickly. One bun cut and ready to be laid on the parchment paper (for freezing) or the pan.

Repeat  with the second piece of dough, with the rolling out, spreading with cream cheese, lemon curd, coconut, rolling and cutting into buns.

If making buns right away, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2 sticks melted butter
8 lemons
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups heavy cream

In a 9" x 13" pan, place 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter.
In a small bowl combine 1 cup granulated sugar, the zest from one lemon and the juice from four lemons. Whisk to combine, then pour over the melted butter in the pan, pouring in a thin stream all over the pan.
Place 10-12 of the buns, cut side down, over the lemon butter mixture, leaving space between the buns. Pour 2/3 cup heavy cream over and around the buns. Repeat with the second set of buns, using another stick of butter, more lemon zest and juice and sugar and heavy cream. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft free place for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until the buns fill the pan and puff up a bit. 

Bake in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Tops will be golden brown and the sauce will be bubbly. Let pan rest on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then loosen the sides by running a knife around the sides. Taking extreme care not to touch the hot buns or sauce (which can burn you), turn the pan over a sheet pan with sides, so the bottom is on top. Scrape off any of the sauce that sticks to the baking pan. Let cool until just warm before serving. Serve with the sticky side up, with a bit of sauce.

Want to do the frozen buns? Place freshly cut buns, cut side down, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze until firm, then put frozen buns in a zip closing sealed freezer bag. I usually make up the frozen buns by starting the night before so that they can thaw in the fridge overnight. Put the melted butter into the baking pan, mix up and pour on the lemon mixture, put in the frozen buns, being sure to leave lots of room around them in the pan, pour on the heavy cream, then put plastic wrap over the pan and put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning take the baking pan out of the fridge and let it sit to warm up while you preheat the oven. Bake in the usual way. You may need to allow another five minutes for the buns that were frozen, but they should be ready for breakfast and you will be the clever one who didn't have to get up at 4 in the morning to start them!

Ouch

I thought that a kidney stone was painful. Well, it was, but at least there wasn't a true wound.

OK, this is primarily a food blog...talk about wounds isn't usually on the menu. Still, on occasion I just let you know what is going on in my life, even if it isn't food related. This is one of those times.

There has been no blogging going on because most of my attention has been toward keeping the usual stuff rolling during Sweetie's healing period. He had a run-in with a table saw just a little over a week ago. He still has all his fingers, but a couple of them were injured enough for a visit to the ER, stitches, x-rays, dressings, visits to the hand surgeon (who didn't actually need to do any surgery! Yay!), and the hand OT, too. He is doing better every day and can now drive. Guess who has been doing all the shopping, laundry, cleaning and most of the cooking? Not Sweetie.

Hope to be back to posting food again soon. In the meantime I am counting our blessings; that his injuries weren't worse, that we have supportive friends and family, and that my health improved just in time. I hope recent history is no par for the course for getting old. Too many medical problems. Time to just be healthy and enjoy the wonders of spring, like the beautiful magnolia in the photo.

Happy spring dear reader.

The Gifts of Spring

Spring shows her face in different ways around the world. In the Northern hemisphere it can be cold, windy, rainy, snowy, warm, foggy, or even hot. We started out this spring with duck weather; a good half inch fell today and is greatly appreciated since our weather since January has been drier than normal. I love it that I can go out tomorrow and have an easier time weeding. Since I keep talking about it you probably think that I've weeded acres by now, but the truth is I can only do about an hour of weeding a day (still getting my strength back) so it is ongoing.

One of the gifts of spring is asparagus. We have been eating it almost daily now that the price is reasonable. Usually we just steam it or put the spears on the grill for quick cooking. Today I used two other gifts of spring to make a stunning composed salad. Our across-the-street neighbors gifted us with fresh, pale blue shelled chicken eggs from their own chicken coop. Sweetie could tell you a tale about herding chickens for them and low hanging eaves in the coop, but since he survived to tell the tale, you'll have to ask him what happened. The same neighbors gave us a bag of freshly picked mixed salad greens. All of these combined to make a lovely salad.

A couple of years ago I read a recipe by our excellent local food writer, Michele Anna Jordan, where she used softly cooked eggs to top lightly dressed salad greens. She also combined asparagus and scrambled eggs. I sort of took those and mixed them together and cooked the eggs as over-easy ones. You still get the runny yolks like the soft cooked eggs, but now it is running over both the greens and the cooked and warm asparagus. I threw in some roasted golden beets that were waiting in the fridge and made a very simple vinaigrette. I kept the shaved Parmesan and really liked the interplay of soft with crunchy, warm with cold and the variety of flavors, too. I plated the salad into big, red soup bowls and it make quite an impressive presentation.

I think the trick to making this recipe work is timing...and excellent ingredients. If possible, use farm fresh eggs, high quality salad greens, and fresh asparagus that still have tightly closed tips. Have the asparagus ready to steam or microwave, the salad greens washed and dried, the chunk of Parmesan ready to shave, and the beet slices and dressing ready to go. Have the pan, butter, and eggs ready at the stove. It all goes together quickly after that, so have everyone ready to sit down to this dish as soon as possible after it is plated. I only made two servings. I think one could make four and still get it all plated quickly. Beyond that things that should be warm might get cold.

Spring Salad with Asparagus, Beets and Fried Egg
serves 2

6-8 spears asparagus, ends trimmed
3-4 cups fresh mixed salad greens, washed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
one beet, roasted until tender, skin removed, sliced into at least 6 slices and chilled
2 eggs, farm fresh if possible
a chunk of Parmesan cheese to shave about 1 tablespoon from
vinaigrette - recipe below

Place prepared asparagus in a steamer or microwave steamer. Set aside.

In a medium bowl toss the mixed greens with 2/3 of the vinaigrette to lightly coat. Add the beet slices and toss to coat them with the vinaigrette. Portion half of the dressed greens in each of two large salad plates or bowls. Top with the dressed beet slices, at least 3 per portion.

Fry the two eggs in a skillet or cast iron frying pan, using a bit of melted butter to keep them from sticking. While the eggs are cooking, steam the asparagus until barely tender.

Flip the eggs to cook the tops of the yolk briefly. Place the steamed asparagus on top of the dressed greens in the middle of the plate or bowl, dividing them between the servings. Top the asparagus with the eggs, one egg per serving. Use the tip of the spatula to break the yolk so it runs over the asparagus. Shave some Parmesan over each salad (about 1/2 tablespoon each). Serve at once.

Simple Vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon type mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake to emulsify and combine completely. Taste and adjust to your taste (you might want more lemon juice for instance, or more pepper).

The Strawberries of Spring in Scones

Last Saturday Sweetie and I celebrated our anniversary with a road trip south along the coast. A seafood lunch was followed by some hiking and cheese buying and the views of the spring countryside along the way were wonderful! Shortly before reaching home we found a farm stand selling fresh strawberries, so fresh that their sweet fragrance was intense. The vendor said that they were picked right next door and, sure enough, when we looked across the dirt parking lot we saw dark green rows of plants not far away. Few things are more welcome in the kitchen than fresh, first-of-spring, local strawberries!

Naturally most of the strawberries were eaten fresh after a quick rinse. I did put a few into some scones and I had a hard time getting photos of them before they were eaten up.

One of the secrets to having tender scones, instead of hard hockey puck lumps that often pass for scones, is to handle the ingredients gently and as little as possible. I was lucky enough to have some unsalted butter in the freezer. Instead of cutting it in to the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, I used the shredding disc on my food processor and shredded the frozen butter, then cut it in. I think I learned that trick by reading Julia Child's method for quick puff pastry. Anyway, it works really well.

I also used my spread apart fingers for mixing in the last of the buttermilk with the final bits of dry ingredients because it was easier to be gentle that way. A quick pat of the dough into a rough round and it was time to cut the round into 8 pieces with the bench scraper and into the oven they went. The oven heat made the strawberries smell even more wonderful than when we bought them. These scones are amazing! They are buttery, only slightly sweet, and bursting with bits of delicious strawberry. A sprinkle of sanding sugar on top gives them a nice crunch on the outsides which contrasts with the softness of the insides.

Fresh Strawberry Buttermilk Scones
a variation on Blueberry Buttermilk Scones from Baking in America by Greg Patent
Makes 16 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons golden raisins
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, plus a bit more for glazing the top
1 tablespoon sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with cooking parchment or a silicone liner; Set aside.

Sift the flours, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Grate the butter using the shredding disc on your food processor if butter is frozen, or cut the butter (which has been cut into tablespoon-sized pieces) into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two knives. Be gentle. Use your finger to work the butter rapidly into large flakes. Add the strawberries and raisins and toss with your fingers to coat evenly.

Pour the buttermilk into the strawberry mixture and stir and fold gently with a rubber spatula. Use your fingers, spread out, to gently work the last bit of very moist dough into the last dry bits. The dough will be thick. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface and dust it lightly with flour. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each piece gently into an 8-inch disc. Brush a bit of extra buttermilk over the discs and sprinkle on the sanding sugar, if using. Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut each disc into eight pieces.

Transfer each piece carefully to the prepared pan, setting the scones slightly apart. Bake in the preheated oven 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to cooling racks with a large spatula and serve warm or at room temperature. These are great without any additional embellishments, but do taste good with butter, jam or lemon curd added.

Eggs for the Easter Basket

I'm putting together a family recipe book and one of the recipes I've included is how to hard boil and color eggs for the Easter basket.

My Dad was a kid at heart and loved holidays like Easter and Christmas. He was a religious man, too, so we went to church before having the fun of hunting for Easter eggs or opening Christmas presents but I like to think that his ability to embrace the things a child loves was partly due to his faith which stressed love as well as duty.I think he loved marshmallow chicks just as much as any of his children!

 This recipe is an easy one to do if you have food colors in your pantry. I used the liquid food colors, so I'm not sure if gel or paste or powdered ones would work for this recipe. I like the fact that you are using traditional food dyes that have been used for a long time rather than some fizzy tablets with who-knows-what chemicals in them. You can also boil onion skins and/or red onion skins, strain the liquid and add that to some vinegar for an even more natural dye.

Dad's Easter Eggs Bring to a boil in cold water as many dozens of eggs as you wish to color.

Once water has come to a boil, simmer for ten minutes. Turn off heat and cool, or turn into a colander and run cold water over until eggs are cool. (Dad used to add a little Borax -- ½ t. probably -- to the water before boiling. It takes some coating off the eggs for better coloring.)

Bring a tea kettle full of water to a boil. Set out one custard cup for each dye color. Place 1 T. cider vinegar into each custard cup. Add 3-4 drops food color to a cup for each color. Fill custard cups half way up with boiling water, and dye eggs. Spoon can be used to lift eggs out of dye bath. We used to write and draw on dry eggs with crayons or plain wax right before we put them into the dye bath.

Store in refrigerator in the cartons the eggs came in. Figure out how to use so-o-o-o many hard boiled eggs!

MOM’S NOTES: Dad loved to do the Easter eggs, just as he loved to prepare for Christmas. Sometimes he would use the fizzy tablets instead of food colors. Even when the children grew up, he would make colored hard boiled eggs with names on them for those who would be visiting at Easter.

If you prefer to have scrambled eggs and egg shells to dye, you can pierce a hole at either end of fresh eggs, blow the contents into a bowl, run some water through the empty shells to rinse them, then dye them in the dye bath like the eggs below. The eggs in the bowl can be turned into fine scrambled eggs.

Third Spring Bread

Wouldn't you love to wake up to a pan of these? Warm soft hot cross buns, dotted inside with rum-soaked currants, fragrant with lemon zest and yeast, with a sweet cross of icing on top. Heavenly!

This is the third recipe that I made for my friends on our Baking Day, so it started with thawed frozen bread dough, too. I kneaded in the lemon zest which turned out to be harder than I thought it would. Freshly grated lemon zest has lemon oil and the lemon oil kept the dough sort of in layers as I kneaded it. Again it just takes patience and persistence and remembering to let the dough sit for five minutes if it becomes too hard to handle. Once the zest is kneaded in the dough is more willing to have you knead in the rum-soaked (but drained) currants. After that it's just a matter of dividing the dough and shaping the pieces into buns. Once the buns have proofed in the buttered pan they bake up as pretty as any dough you would have made yourself from scratch.

By the way, any of these recipes can be made with a dough you make yourself from scratch. Although the frozen bread dough is pretty plain, you could make a dough that is sweeter, richer from extra butter, milk, and/or eggs, or made with other flours than white. I'm not sure how to do a gluten free yeasted bread successfully, but I'm sure someone has figured it out, so that's a possibility, too.

The thing that ties these three breads together is the 'spring' theme and the idea of shaping the dough in nice ways. The frozen bread dough makes it easy, too, if you are not too sure of your skills in making yeast doughs, plus it speeds up the dough to table process a bit.

I would love to know if you tried any of these recipes and how it worked for you. I'm going to go back to making dough from scratch, but it's nice to know that I can turn out a stunning bread in quick time if I have frozen bread dough on hand.


Hot Cross Buns

Thaw frozen bread dough, flatten on a lightly floured board. Sprinkle on finely shredded zest of one medium orange or one large lemon, plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Roll up and knead. Flatten again and sprinkle on 1/4 cup currants which have been soaked in 1/4 cup rum. (Discard rum and drain currants before adding to dough). Roll up dough and knead fruit in.

Divide dough into pieces of equal weight. With floured hands, shape into 8 smooth rounds. Evenly space rounds in a buttered 8- or 9-in. square or round pan.

Cover loosely and let rise in a warm place until doubled and puffy, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°. Brush buns with beaten egg. Bake until deep golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool in pan at least 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together until smooth 1 teaspoon lemon and enough powdered sugar to make a pipe able icing. Spoon into a small, heavy-gauge plastic bag, snip a hole in a corner, and squeeze icing onto cooled buns to form large Xs.

Spring Thanks

It's May! It's May! the lusty month of May!

And finally we are getting sunshine and warmer weather. Sweetie's SF sister generously gave me some lovely bulbs. Due to the injured knee they went into the ground later than usual, but have now put forth cheerful, delightful blooms. First were the tiny white narcissus that have at least two and sometimes three flowers per stalk. They start out with a pale yellow glow but turn pure white in time.



Just yesterday the first of the daffodils arrived and I love its pale apricot trumpet and pure white petals. A big 'Thank You' to her. Flowers and May just seem to go hand in hand, don't they.

We also bought the first local strawberries of the season, which will get eaten neat. Sorry, no recipes right now because they need no adornment they are so perfect as is. Later there will surely be strawberry recipes and probably rhubarb recipes, cherry recipes and so on as the season unfolds. Happy May dear reader!

Siren Song

Looking back at this blog in years gone by I see a pattern every April...although sometimes it starts in March...the siren song of the garden starts limiting the number and, perhaps, interest of the posts.

I've been an avid gardener since I was a very little girl. Before I was out of the second grade I had a 'business' of selling hollyhock seeds to the neighbors. Being an observant sort I noticed that hollyhocks formed a nice seed head after the flower finished and that when it dried out, if you kept track of it and got to it just as it dried out, you could harvest the seeds before the drying seed head spewed them all over the place. We had some lovely old fashioned hollyhocks, including dark purple ones, so I was actually able to sell a few waxed paper packets of seeds...and enjoy it when they could be seen the next year in neighbors yards.

My Dad was the vegetable gardener. I learned a little from him but he wasn't interested in a chatty child when gardening...I think it was more a meditative occupation for him. With so many noisy little kids in the house I can't blame him.

I learned more about gardening from my Mom. She showed me how to plant spring bulbs and how to prune roses and lots more. Just as I really only wanted to bake cookies and cakes when young, I really was far more interested in flowers anyway. Now I love, and grow, both. The seedlings that are taking up my time at the moment are for flowers like sweet peas and morning glories and for veggies like zucchini, tomatoes and chard. I like to direct sow the green beans and cucumbers so those seed have to wait a week or so until the soil warms a bit.

If you, too, are a gardener, you may want to know of my experience this year with Baker Creed Heirloom Seeds. Never tried their seeds before but this time I started one variety of their tomato seeds. The germination rate was almost 100%...unheard of with most of the seeds you get at the big box stores or even most drug stores or hardware stores. Now I'm busily asking friends if they would like to try this new-to-me tomato...and the seedling is free. How else will I get rid of them? No way do I need something like 38 Purple Russian tomato plants. Baker Creed Heirloom Seeds are on the web and do mail order...and have a huge number of heirloom seeds available.

So, no food post this time...but there are some photos of seedlings...Think Spring!

Signs of Late Spring

One of the signs of spring would be Mothers Day gifts. My lovely and talented daughter is quite creative with pottery painting. I enjoy the tea set she painted for me for Mothers Day last year so much! She has a way with color and pattern.

This year she surprised me with two delightful plates one yellow with purple polka dots and one purple with yellow polka dots! They will be a great way to display some of my Daring Baker and Daring Cook creations and other delights. Sometimes it's difficult for talented people to realize that one of the best gifts they can give is something they made themselves. I know that I will treasure these plates for a long time.

Another sign of late spring is a roomful of seedlings ready to plant. Our sunspace, part of the passive solar design of our home, is a great place to grow seedlings. Year before last I grew six kinds of heirloom tomatoes. This year I stuck to three heirloom varieties, but I'm also growing three kinds of summer squash, eggplant, cucumber, chard, and green beans.

Spring is when a young at heart man's fancy turns to poetry. An unexpected gift was the following poem, dedicated to the lovely tomato. Since Poss was the recipient of some of those sunspace grown tomato seedlings, it should be fun to match up the poem with the fruits of his labors later in the season.

To May 'Toes

A gift that grows
in leafy bower,
With daily hose,
Voila! A tower.

Steadfast weeding
of the plot,
Constant heeding
Yields a lot.

Spaded soil,
A sunny sky.
Upwards toil
'Til late July.



Then gently pick,
rinse, cut, chill.
Serve up quick
Dash'd with dill

Dress up spicey,
Vinegars, oregano.
Sweet orbs slicey,
BLT, extra mayo!

Of perfect veggies
Most wishful
Home-grown 'Maters
are most blissful!

Poss Pragoff, May 09

Happy late spring to you! Hope you are finding your own signs of the season!!

Early Spring

April, here at last.

The apple blossoms have just begun to open their pale pink petals around the countryside. The winds have been pretty strong, so the pear blossom petals, always earlier than the apple blossoms, fly by the window like a shower of snow. The Easter candy is on sale at the grocery store, so it must surely be SPRING! After autumn, spring is my favorite season.

This salad is one that can be enjoyed year round, but seems sprightly, like spring. The crisp greens, juicy orange segments and kiwi slices contrast nicely with the chopped, toasted almonds and sweet dried cranberries and golden raisins. Use your favorite raspberry vinaigrette as dressing, or even a creamy one with blue cheese.



Early Spring Fruit Salad
6 cups mixed greens…I used romaine and butter lettuces
1 can mandarin orange segments in water, drained
1 ripe kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced thinly
¼ cup almonds, toasted, cooled, and chopped
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
2 tablespoons golden raisins
In a large salad bowl place the greens, orange segments, and kiwi slices. Toss gently. Put salad on plates and sprinkle with the almonds, cranberries and golden raisins. Drizzle with dressing. Serve cold. Serves 4.

Flavors of Spring

The first wild iris are blooming at work in the woods, the birds are singing up a storm most mornings and the forsythia bush is beginning to have branches with bright yellow flowers dancing up and down. Driving around and about lots of daffodils are seen and our ancient cherry tree is putting on it's short annual floral show. Spring...official starting today.

One of my favorite flavors of spring is asparagus. Those green spears which turn brighter green when cooked are crisp and somehow taste green to me. Grandma L brought us some Meyer lemons, too. Although I think of winter as the citrus season, there are lots of Meyer lemons around when spring arrives.

A great dinner using these two ingredients and a few others was a hit this week with Sweetie. Chicken breasts can be pretty bland on their own, but perk up a lot when covered with a layer of thinly sliced lemons, splashed with some chicken broth, then set to cook over low heat until cooked through and browned a bit as the broth evaporates. We don't usually eat the lemon slices, but they look pretty on the plate with the chicken and a wonderful pasta and asparagus dish.

The asparagus dish is a little more complex. Pasta, usually linguine but this time angel hair style, is cooked and some of the cooking water is mixed with ricotta cheese to make a sauce. While that is happening, asparagus pieces are cooked until al dente and bright green. It all gets mixed together, seasoned, and topped with fluffy drifts of grated real Parmesan Reggiano.

Enjoy the flavors of spring in any way you can, even if there is still a nip in the air and snow on the ground in places. Spring is partly a way of relating to the world as much as a true season. Happy spring to each and every one of you.

Pasta with Ricotta and Asparagus
from the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook

3/4 lb tender young asparagus
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil
(optional - 2 tablespoons fresh mint, minced)
1 pound long pasta - fettuccine, linguine, spaghetti, angel hair are all good
6 quarts water
1/2 pound fresh creamy ricotta (or mild goat cheese)
dash nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper to taste (I like a lot)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Trim tough ends off asparagus. Cut tender parts into 2 inch lengths. In a saute pan, gently stew the garlic and asparagus in the oil until the vegetables are tender, but not brown (about 15 minutes). Stir in mint if using. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in lightly salted water. While pasta cooks, extract 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and mix it in a small saucepan with the ricotta. Set saucepan over low heat and gently cream the ricotta and cooking water. When the ricotta is warm, taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Add nutmeg and1 tablespoon grated cheese. Stir to combine.

Drain the pasta and combine immediately with the cheese sauce, tossing to mix well. Arrange on a warm platter and pour asparagus and oil mixture over the top. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and serve at once.

Serves 6

Waiter There is Something in My...Easter Basket

Easter is only a short while away and Johanna at The Passionate Cook invites us to blog about Easter, Easter baskets, Spring, Passover and all the other ways that we celebrate the end of winter and the coming of new life. Well, that's the theme of Waiter There is Something in My...Easter Basket, but the focus is food. My basket holds brightly colored hard cooked eggs.

In my house, it wouldn't be Easter without Easter eggs. I love the chance to play with color and the egg is such a beautiful shape. After my recent fun with red food dye, I really thought that it would be a while before I ventured into food dye territory again, but I just had to make these eggs. So, with slightly blue and green splotches of dye on my fingers, I bring you the recipe for Easter Eggs, with comments and a series of photos to help you along the way. Hope you have fun with it!

You can also make a bread that looks like colored Easter eggs...perfect for someone who doesn't like real eggs...or sweet Easter treats. Check it out HERE.
Easter Eggs

Bring to a boil in cold water as many dozens of eggs as you wish to color. Once water has come to a boil, simmer the eggs for ten minutes. Turn off heat and cool, or turn into a colander and run cold water over until the eggs are cool. My Dad used to add a little Borax, about a ½ teaspoon) to the water before boiling. I think it was to keep the eggs from cracking.

Bring a tea kettle full of water to a boil. Set out one heat proof small cup…we used custard cups…for each dye color. Place 1 tablespoon cider or white vinegar into each custard cup. Add 3-4 (or more if you are daring) drops food color to a cup for one color. Do the same for the next color in another cup. Repeat until you have different dyes in each cup. Fill custard cups half way up with boiling water.

To dye the eggs, place gently in the cup which has the color you want to dye the egg. You can also use a spoon to lower the egg into and lift the egg out of the dye. You can also use the spoon to swirl some the the dye bath on the part of the egg that sticks out of the dye, or turn the egg while it is dying for a more even color. You can dye the egg lightly in one dye, then slip it into another dye to make things like spring green, gold, or purple.


My Mom notes that my Dad used to love to do the Easter eggs, just as he loved to prepare for Christmas. Even when the children grew up, she says, he would make colored hard boiled eggs with names on them for those who would be visiting at Easter.


You can write or draw on dry eggs with crayons or plain wax right before you put them into the dye bath. The wax will resist the dye where you wrote or drew.

Store the eggs in the refrigerator in the cartons the eggs came in. Figure out (after the Easter egg hunt) how to use soooo many hard boiled eggs!

For Easter we would have an Easter egg hunt every year, either inside or out in the yard depending on the weather. When we were little, my Dad would hide them in the house late at night so we could find them first thing in the morning, sort of like coming down on Christmas morning to presents. My Dad always kept in touch with his inner child. After church and breakfast, he would hide them in the yard. Some would be easy to find, like on a car bumper, others would be well hidden. When some of us were older, we would do some of the egg hiding for him. It was always fun to see the expressions on the faces of the children as they found an egg…pure delight. When I had my own kids, I kept up with the tradition. We dyed eggs together, decorated them, at times, to within an inch of their life, and hid them for an egg hunt on Easter. If you have little ones around the house, give it a try. It’s sort of messy, so put down newspaper to catch the drips and wear aprons or old clothes, but have fun with it. You’ll never smell vinegar again without thinking ‘Easter eggs’.