Fresh Apple Mint Tea

"Yum" just doesn't cut it on this one. I tried it earlier in the year and it didn't really have an apple taste. But when I tried it right before it's going to bloom, there's definitely an apple note in there! Fabulous stuff. I'm going to ice what's left and see how it tastes then.

Bagels!

After waffling about it for much too long, I finally made bagels today. Why did I wait so long? They aren't complicated at all! Sheesh.

Okay, so they don't look absolutely perfect, but this was my first time. They taste yummy, though!

Next up: Walnut Rye bread (hopefully.)

Vegetable Bean Soup... with a twist

I wanted to make minestrone today, but I ended up making vegetable bean soup instead.

Ingredients:

1 qt. tomato juice (I used frozen fresh from the garden)
6 cups water (or thereabouts)
1/2 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup green peppers, chopped (I used frozen from the garden)
1 cup leftover Christmas Lima beans (mine were already cooked, of course, but you could prepare them as you would to cook them, and then add them in.)
1 cup various other beans (I used frozen from the garden; not quite dried enough to be dried beans and I did not soak them beforehand.)
3 medium potatoes, cut up (I didn't peel them.)
2 cups frozen chopped spinach (This was the experiment, and it worked wonderfully.)
2 tsp. each dried rosemary, thyme, and basil or to taste. (Fresh: use quite a bit more, I'd think.)
3 tsp. chili powder (or more; the potatoes do soak up some of the flavor, so to taste.)

Put all ingredients into a 6 qt. crock pot (you can easily halve this recipe if needed) and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until beans and potatoes are done. On high, I'd say this should be done in 4-6 hours, easily.

The spinach really did it for this recipe. The spinach flavor complemented the other flavors, and really tied everything together. I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

I also made three seed bread to go with it--two loaves. YUM!

Turkey and Mushroom Chili and Italian Bread

I made Turkey & Mushroom chili for supper tonight, along with Italian Bread (two small loaves), garlic & rosemary cheese bread, and garlic cheese bread. (I figured you've all seen my garlic cheese bread before, so I didn't take a picture of it.)

It's the best chili I've ever made. Not too sweet, not too spicy; just perfect.

Turkey & Mushroom Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb. turkey sausage, browned
1 c. slow roasted tomatoes, chopped (they were frozen)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can black-eyed peas, drained
1/2 qt. beans from the garden (there are about 6 varieties in the bag)
1/4 c. dried mushrooms, chopped (or 1/2 c. fresh mushrooms, chopped)
1 qt. tomato juice, thawed
6 c. water (or less, depending on how thick you want your soup)
dried rosemary to taste (about 1/2 tsp.)
chili powder to taste (about 1 1/2 tsp.)
dried thyme to taste (about 1/2 tsp.)
1 tsp. honey (or to taste)
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients into 8 qt. pot or dutch oven. Cook over low heat 4-5 hours, or in slow cooker 6-8 hours. Feel free to experiment with other beans or even add veggies; I only had those types of beans on hand.

Definitely a delicious supper!

One Local Summer Meal #1

Potato, Swiss Chard, and Beet Leaf Scramble

Meal #1 for One Local Summer.

Ingredients:

1 small head of garlic, or 4 cloves
2 tbsp. olive oil (this was not local, obviously)
6 baby carrots
1 small onion
approximately 1/4 cup fresh basil (I used three kinds--Genovese, Petra, and Sweet)
8 small or new potatoes (I had yellow, red, and white)
Approximately 2 cups of swiss chard leaves and beet leaves, or spinach, or other dark leafy greens
Approximately 1 cup of swiss cheese, or your favorite local cheese (I used Amish swiss cheese from the local Amish community.)


You'll need to use a deep skillet or a shallow dutch oven or whatever you call the thing I used. :)
Over medium heat, put 2 tbsp. (or less) of olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Let it get hot, then add chopped garlic (I microwave the cloves first to get them peeled easily), the chopped onion, and chopped baby carrots. Cook this mix while you're slicing the potatoes, then add the potatoes.

Chop up the basil, and add it to the mix. Cover, and cook until potatoes are soft. Wash the swiss chard and beet leaves, and then roll them up into tubes and slice them into curls. I don't know how else to describe it! Add the swiss chard and beet leaves to the mix, and cover.

Cook for approximately 1 1/2 minutes, or until the swiss chard and beet leaves are slightly cooked but not completely wilted, if that makes sense. They'll change colors a bit too, and the potatoes will probably have little pink spots because of the beet leaves.

Add the shredded swiss cheese, cook until the cheese melts, and then serve hot. Makes 2 servings.

Very easy, very yummy, and I'm glad I made this instead! I'm definitely going to make it again. Maybe even tomorrow night. ;)

More pictures here.

Whye Bread and Salad

Earlier this week, I made four loaves of bread. Actually, five, if you count the one in the bread machine. Two white, and three (I'm not really sure what to call them--white with rye flour? Oh, I know!) Whye. :)



I made the Whye bread in my hand-crank bread maker from 1904. Three loaves at a time was a snap for it; I could have easily done five, at the very least. I'm probably going to have to freeze one loaf at least; there are two left, since I brought one to work.

Anyway, the Whye bread is absolutely scrumptious. Here is the recipe:

Whye Bread

4 1/2 cups of warm water
10 cups of bread flour
1 1/2 cups of dark rye flour
4 tsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste; I never put much salt in my bread)
2 tsp. sugar, honey, or other sweetener

If you're using a mixer like mine, follow the directions on the lid, which are liquids first, then dry. Crank for 3 minutes or thereabouts; the dough will form a ball and clean the sides of the bucket. Either let rise in the bucket or transfer to a large bowl. Set in a draft-free spot for about an hour, or until doubled in size. (It really depends on the temperature.)

When it has risen, punch down, form into large oblong, and cut with a sharp knife into three pieces. Form those three pieces into loaf forms, or freeform if you wish. Slash the top with a sharp knife. Be creative. Most of the books say 'slash three times' or whatever, but really, do what you want. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 30-35 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

I made a small personal pizza to go with this, since one of my loaves was a big large. It was yummy!

Tonight for supper I had a salad from my garden. The only thing not from my garden that was on the salad were the sunflower seeds and the salad dressing.

What you see:

Turnip, baby carrots, beet leaves, curly lettuce, deer tongue lettuce, the other lettuce I have in the lettuce bed, and baby peas.

It was quite delicious!

Mozarella! And more!

I am currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, et. al., and thoroughly enjoying it. In the book, she mentions Ricki Carroll, aka the "Cheese Queen". Of course I had to check it out, since I had been wondering just how difficult it is to make cheese. (Or not.)

WELL.

Some of these (especially the 30-minute Mozarella) are going on my to-do list for vacation.

Cup Cheese. Farmer's Cheese. And more! And even more!

Wow. What a great resource! And it doesn't seem so terribly difficult, either!

Evidently, Creeping Charlie (also known as ground ivy) is a source for vegetable rennet used in cheese. Now all I have to do is find out how to make that, because I have lots of ground ivy around the garden. Lots and lots and lots.