Meanwhile, on Hellobee...

This week on Hellobee, I posted my favourite recipe for guilt-free chocolate.

I also shared how little A is killing me with the sleep deprivation, I'm convinced it's part of some evil baby plot.  And if you want a peek into my living room, I re-baby proofed it to keep A from climbing the bookcases, amongst other things.  Of course, while I was typing just now she took a tumble while pulling her toy basket out, so clearly my system isn't perfect...

Oh Pinterest

5 recipes from my Pinterest foodie board that I recommend you make.  Soon.  Because they are yummy.

Shrimp and Grits

Source: joythebaker.com via Hanna on Pinterest

Salt and Vinegar Roasted Chickpeas

Source: ohsheglows.com via Hanna on Pinterest

Crash Hot Potatoes

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Hanna on Pinterest

Quinoa Patties

Source: eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com via Hanna on Pinterest

Wonton Chips

Source: dashingdish.com via Hanna on Pinterest

#16

Perfect cupcakes anyone? I was at Alpine Grind the other day and had the best cupcake ever. I have since been trying to replicate it. I started with this recipe but while the raspberry buttercream was awesome, the chocolate cupcakes turned out rather...well they shrunk. Tragic. But I still had some yummy frosting left so I had a do-over with my favourite chocolate cake recipe. I think it was my grammas. Not sure. But if you want to make amazing cupcakes, here you go!

Classic Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

cupcakes:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salk
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Beat for 2 mintues at medium
Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes
Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes

Raspberry Buttercream (from Completely Delicious):
1 cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup raspberry puree, seeds removed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Beat until smooth.

Happy Pi Day!

In honour of Pi Day (the 3.14th) here is a secret family recipe for you. This is my grandmothers fool proof pie crust. Perhaps I shall make a batch today. If the baby ever naps.

Pie Crust
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups butter

Crumb

Beat 2 eggs in a 1 cup measure, add 2tbs vinegar then fill with cold water.

Mix wet into dry.

Makes 7 balls of dough (so 7 pies if you are just doing a bottom crust).

Or for a fat free version, you could go with the felt pies above by Little Cricket

#29

Bagels! This was #29 on my 30 before 30 list. I used the recipe from Peter Reinhart's Bread Bakers Apprentice. Total success, so yummy! And pretty easy too, I will definitely make these again.

#30

Lasagna! Another thing off my 30 before 30 list (of which I need to get more crossed off...or it will be a 30 before 40 list)

I made this at my parents over Christmas. And it was really to dark to take photos, but this is Canada and it is winter.

It was so so good. I made the noodles (ala Betty Crocker, but noodles are super easy, use any pasta recipe) and the ricotta (my mom has instructions here). I didn't make the mozza. And I used this recipe. Also I used homemade roasted tomato sauce in it.

I highly recommend.

I wish I had some more to eat right now.

Stareos

If you are thinking that you want to make some amazing cookies that taste...amazing and look adorable, make Stareos. They are my favourite Christmas Cookies this year. Also last year.
I got the recipe from Hostess with the Mostess. Trust me on this one, they are fully awesome.

Autumn Apple Love

We spent a sunny tuesday last week down on my parent's farm pressing apple cidar. I also dried a bunch and of course have been eating plenty (My favourite, Honeycrisp, is available this time of year). I love apples! I love Autumn!







In other news. I planted my garlic. The rest is up to God. Now if I could just remember exactly where I planted it...

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Here's my recipe for sandwich bread. I decided to start making my own sometime around Christmas and haven't bought bread since. I had some flops, but this version is working well and tastes great. I had some criteria for it:

- It had to be 100% whole wheat. A lot of sandwich bread recipes are half white. A lot of whole wheat bread flour is half white. I say no.

- It had to taste yummy. Obviously.

- It had to be moist and rise well. Many of my early attempts met the first two requirements but didn't rise much.

This is what I came up with. It's a variation of this recipe. I'm making this as detailed as possible, to give beginner bread makers confidence. I'll give you the how to first, and then explain it later. With footnotes. Eeeexcellent.

Ingredients:
3 cups warm water
2 packages or 4.4 tsp active dry yeast*
1/3 cup honey
6Tbs vital wheat gluten**
4 cups whole wheat flour***

3Tbs butter, melted (you can also use olive oil)
1/3 cup honey
1 tbs salt
3-5 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:
1) Get a big bowl and add 3 cups of warm water. Not hot, you'll kill the yeast, feel it on your wrist. Add the yeast, 1/3 cup honey, 6 Tbsp of gluten and 4 cups of flour. Stir to combine. It will look something like this:



2) Cover it with a damp tea towel**** and let it rise in a warm place for about half an hour or until big and bubbly. My warm place is next to my radiator. You can also put it in the oven with the light on. If it's cold it'll take the yeast a longer time to get to work.


Big and bubbly:


3) Mix in the 3 tbsp melted butter 1/3 cup of honey and salt. Here's where it gets tricky if you've never worked with yeast. You need to add the right amount of flour. Start with 2 cups and start kneading it in. Keep adding flour a bit at a time as you go until it is still a bit moist but not too sticky. You will figure this out with a bit of practice. Some people turn the bread out onto a floured surface to knead. I don't know why. I just knead in the bowl. If you've never kneaded bread...I dunno, look it up on youtube? Pretty much you just keep pushing it around and folding it over. This might take...10 minutes? You will be done kneading when the bread feels smooth and elastic. So they say. You'll notice that it feels different.


Another way to tell is to take a bit of dough and stretch it into a square between your fingers. If you can make a little window transparent enough to see light through without the dough breaking, it's done. Try doing this with one hand and taking a picture with the other hand. I dare you.


4) Either wash your bowl or switch bowls at this point. Put a bit of olive oil in the bottom of the bowl and grease it. Then put the dough in and give it a turn before flipping it over so the greased side is up. This helps prevent it getting a skin as it rises.


5) Cover with a warm, moist towel again and let it get back to rising. It rises until doubled. Or until you poke it with your finger and it the hole doesn't fill back in.


6) Divide into three equal parts. Take each part one at a time and throw it repeatedly onto the counter/table as hard as you can. This is good fun. And great for working out your anger issues. Oh, and for getting out air bubbles.

7) Preheat oven to 350.

8) Grease***** three loaf pans. Use steel. You'll hate yourself if you use glass. Trust me. Form three loafs. You kinda flatten the bread, then fold/roll the sides over to make a loaf shape. Pinch the bottom together and put it in the pan.



9)Cover and rise again, until the dough is about an inch over the top of the pan. If you over-rise at this point they can collapse in the oven.


10) Bake for 25-30 minutes until nice and brown. Also until the bread sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of the pan. I haven't mastered this. The hollow sound I mean, but that's what they say. (I hijaked a third to make cinnamon buns...there should be three loaves)


11) Turn the loafs out onto a cooling rack and wait until cool to slice. I always end up cutting the crusts off and eating them hot because I love them sooooo much. But if you wait it's easier to slice. Apparently cutting into it too early disrupts the loaf structure. So don't be like me (but it's soooo good).


12) Enjoy! I recommend pre-slicing and freezing two loafs as the shelf life is shorter than store bought bread. Because we didn't add any weird chemicals.


Footnotes:

* I buy my yeast in a jar and keep it in the freezer so that it stays good for longer.

** Vital wheat gluten is extra protein. Whole wheat flour has less protein than white. This is why it doesn't rise as well. The gluten helps the yeast along and makes it rise better. I get an inch more rise at least with the gluten and a fluffier texture. Cheating? Kind of. But so is yeast if you think about it. I buy mine at the health food store and keep it in the fridge. Add 2 Tbsp per loaf. My mom swears by using vinegar, by the way. I can't make it work...I've heard that it works better with sugar and I prefer honey.

*** Your flour is very important. As in, don't buy a huge bag until you know it works for you. It has to do with the grind, and the type of wheat and a bunch of things. Here is what I use and love. It's what my mom and gramma both swear by, and they are more knowledgeable than me by far in these matters. We get it from Cosco.


**** You should have a tea towel just for bread, cause it can get oil stained and such. Some people swear by potato sacks (which you can buy at Canadian tire...you don't need to get potatoes :P) and some people use plastic wrap. But I say boooo to plastic.

***** You can use Pam. But I think Pam is for weenies. It's only fat free if you spray for 1/3 of a second? And has propellant? Aerosol? Use olive oil with a pastry brush. Barely takes any. Or use your butter wrapper. That's what it's for.

That's all! (and maybe too much, but what can you do?) My main recommendation is not to be scared, just give it a go. If you fail...well...try to eat it while it's still warm. Even doorstop worthy bread is good with butter when it's still warm. Let me know if you try it!

Pizza Night

As you may have figured out by now. I'm big on food, and I'm big on making it from scratch. I've especially been focusing on perfecting bread recipes lately. I'll share my whole wheat sandwich bread recipe with you later, but tonight is Friday. And Friday night at my house is Pizza Night.

We love pizza. Craig would eat it everyday if I let him. When I started doing Pizza Night I often bought shells or used pita's just to save time. I started doing real dough in October sometime and while it was yummier, it took a long time. Like, two three hours to get to dinner, and that doesn't work every Friday.

Last week I found the perfect solution. I've been using the Homemade Thin Crust Pizza recipe from The Kitchn. I love this crust, it's really fast because it doesn't need to rise, and it's fairly foolproof. You don't need to understand yeast breads to pull it off. Most importantly it's super yummy and doesn't get soggy. Easy pieces to hold in your hand.

Tonight we had pizza with homemade pesto sauce, sundried tomatoes (courtesy of my mom), little panfried chicken bits, frozen spinach and farmer's cheese. I don't know exactly what farmer's cheese is, but it's replaced mozza as my favourite pizza cheese.

I usually whip up the crusts while Craig prepares all the toppings. It's a fun night in the kitchen. And now we must do dishes.

Inspired? Go forth! Make pizzas!

My computer is here!

Hooray of hoorays, my computer came home from the computer doctor today! There was a bit of concern as it was sent to my old place...I was afraid it would get sent back. But happily I was able to pick it up downtown. Hooooooray.

In other news:

We went to Nelson this morning. Craig had a gift card from me to spend and he got some climbing shoes and a chalk bag for Chrisymas. He also got some winter boots as apparently school is less fun when you have cold wet feet (he's in the forest all day). I got a couple books from the used bookstore (Pippi Longstocking and a Georgette Heyer book) and tried to get makeup...but I have to wait for my pretty organic mineral foundation...no dice for a couple weeks. We also had breakfast at Sidewinders (mmmm coconut chai and white chocolate scone...what, it's healthy!) and stopped at the co-op for some veggies and Green and Blacks chocolate and some of my favourite cheese. Oh and we got a green tea ginger vinaigrette dressing that's made in the Okanagan. Mmmm for food.

At work today we had a lady pass out on deck, she went all unconscious, and blue-lipped and bloody foreheaded. It was crazy. The first excitement I've had since working here actually. Nail polish massacres not withstanding.

Time to eat and then I'm switching computers!

Missing the garden...

Missing the sunshine. Missing summer. Fall was amazing this year but winter...it's getting me down.

Anyway, I'm going to ramble about food for a bit. If you wonder why I'm so obsessed about local food, first read Animal Vegetable Miracle, then read In Defense of Food...and then google Monsanto. That's about all you need to know. Other than that I love food. A lot.

First off, my New Years resolution of eating Canadian produce only is going quite well (I know I know, it's only been 2 weeks...). Partly because as it turns out, I like all those vegetables. Wonder what's available in BC this winter?

- Squashes (and I could use some advice on butternut, because it always turns out dry for me...but I loooove spaghetti squash)
- Carrot, parsnips, beets, potatoes. Amazing roast veggie mix, let me tell you.
- Green leaf lettuce (greenhouse grown), sprouts. Makes a good salad, especially with a bit of feta crumbled on top.
- Cabbage. Good in stir fries (with carrots and parsnips :P). Fried up with sausage. Yep.
- Apples. I happily don't tire of apples.
- Mushrooms.

I miss bell peppers, but that's about it. Everything else tastes nasty this time of year anyone, so why bother?

Anyone think of something I didn't list? I'm buying American garlic and shallots, because I haven't found Canadian ones. I'd like to grow some...if I ever live in one place long enough. Oh to have a house and a garden and a root cellar... I'm counting veggies and fruits frozen in Canada, although I haven't bought any yet, because I still have my own.

Which brings me to my next update. How my food stored from the garden this summer is holding up:

I more than one years worth of:
-Pickles, asparagus and beet. I need to stop hording them and eat them more! But seriously I have tons.
-Pasta sauce. I'm mostly using it for pizza and that doesn't use a ton at a time. Next time I'm going to use smaller jars too.

I made just enough of (I think...):
- Jam, I made a lot and we're eating a lot. We love jam.
- Canned fruit. Like the pickles I need to stop hoarding so much. I'm just used to stealing from my mom, so I forget that I have lots.
- Frozen summer squash. I did quite a bit, and mostly use it for stir fry.
- Pesto. I have enough...I would eat more though...
- Frozen herbs. Although I'd like more dill...

Next year I'll do more of:
- Frozen fruit. I'm almost out. I've been having breakfast shakes pretty regularly. I need to double or triple the amount of fruit I do next year if I want to eat it all winter. And I do, it's soooo yummy and a good way to get your vitamins all winter.
- Asparagus, but I knew that, asparagus season ran away on my last year and I've been rationing.
- Ratatouille. I can't tell you how much I love this stuff. With sausage. I need to post the recipe. I only have one meal left of it and that makes me soooo sad.

And I'll run out of soup probably, but I can do more this winter.

What I didn't do and want to next year:
- Frozen green beans. I want some.
- Canned veggie broth. I made some asparagus broth, and it's great. I want to make a big batch of general veggie broth next year, so much cheaper and happier than buying organic chicken broth.
- Dried fruits and veggies and herbs. Stealing my parent's dehydrator for a bit if I live nearby.
- Apple juice. I just wanted juice when I was sick. And most juice gives me heartburn anyway. I miss home squished apple juice.
- More kinds of pickles...haha because I don't have any? But seriously, pickles are so fun! I want to do green beans...and maybe cauliflower.
- Maybe freeze some spinach. And Kale.

So how about you guys? Any of you do some preserving this year? How's it holding out? This local/sustainable eating thing would be a lot less fun without ratatouille and frozen raspberries, I'll tell you that!

I could talk about food all day long...but it's time to go eat!

New Years Goals

A bit behind the crowd on this I know, but it's still the first week of the year :)

Last year my goals were:

To beef up my portfolio to the point where I could start sending it out.
I did and I did and I got one freelance job out of it.
I could have done more promo work then I did but it's always hard to balance life out. I did however get more design work than I had anticipated.

To keep my house clean, flylady style.
This worked just dandy until the end of April. Too much moving, not living in a real house, moving again...moving again...and then the craft fair madness and all. I fell off the wagon. I did maintain being much better at keeping on top of my dishes and laundry however, so that's a partial win.

To get my art forum up and running
that was a fun, but ultimately not sustainable project.

I was also playing around with the idea of becoming more crafty and starting up on Etsy by January last year. And that has been a success, although not overwhelmingly so.

Oh oh, and I should mention that I'm about 10 lbs lighter than I was last year this time. I credit pacing more at work and eating as much whole food as I can manage.

For this year my goals are (and some are things I've already been working on, but what the heck, might as well post them now):

- To adapt the flylady system to my tiny place and get it under control again!

- To continue to grow my creative business ventures, illustration, design and toy making. Specifically to do at least 4 portfolio email promos this year.

- To make a firmer effort to eat local. It's harder to do in winter, but I've stopped buying any produce from outside Canada. And I'm aiming for BC whenever possible. I've been trying to do this overall, but produce is the biggest deal for me. The globalization of food makes me crazy. It's scary, unsustainable and completely unnecessary. Happily we like apples a lot.

- To worry less about...you know the entire planet and all of humanity. And to trust God more. I'm having trouble with that these past couple months. And let me tell you it doesn't make for a happy Hanna.

How about you guys? Did last year shape up like you hoped? Any goals for the coming year?

World's Best Artichoke Dip

1 can artichoke hearts, drained (NOT marinated, just canned)
1 cup mayo (NOT miracle whip...it turns out nasty)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (NOT the powdered kind, real cheese)
1 tube (500g) unripened goat cheese
2 cloves garlic, crushed (microplaned in my world)
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix together, bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Eat with crackers, chips or best of all toasted baguette rounds. Leave no leftovers, they don't reheat well. It won't be hard to leave no leftovers.

I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't love this. I would eat it every day, but then I'd be obese and Craig would have to roll down the street. Like the kid in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, only not blue. So it's only for Christmas.

You should make this for your next holiday party or movie night. Do it!

Books Books Books

So for those of you who don't know, I'm a crazy reader. I read 2-4 books a week on average and often finish a book in a day. I always try to keep track, and I've tried making a spreadsheet for it...and the facebook group and so on. Right now I'm on Goodreads, mostly because Kait is on it, and she's the one I discuss books with the most anyway. It's pretty cool, it's a social networking thing but you add the books you're reading and can rate them and write reviews. You can recommend books to your friends and join book clubs. It's fun times. If you decide to hop on board and share your reading fun you should add me as a friend. I only have five friends. It's kind of embarrassing actually. (I'm here).

I'm been reading a lot of fluff lately, but here's some of my favourite reads from September:


In Defense of Food: an Eaters Manifesto by Micheal Pollan
This was my nonfiction for the month. To prevent brain rot. This is an excellent book if you care at all about the food you eat. His basic premise is that you should eat real food and not buy into the nutritional hype that puts omega 3's in our margarine and whatever crap it is they're putting in yogurt these days. And that being as real food has the nutrition we need to start with, we'll be happier and healthier. There's more to it than that, but I'll just let you read the book.

I would recommend to Jen and Kari. And maybe Barb.


Splitting Harriet by Tamara Leigh
This is a Christian Chicklit/Romance about an ex-rebel pastor's kid who's too afraid of falling back into her old ways to take any risks in her life. For example she lives in the church owned seniors trailer park. This book managed to be funny, have a message (a non-annoying message...nothing makes me crazier than a preachy book), and still satisfy my need for luuurve in a book.

I would recommend to Kait, Barb, Mom...and Aunt Kathy.


Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
There's a lot of werewolf/paranormal fiction out there, and most of it is not that great. Patricia Briggs has great characters and just writes and interesting story. I enjoyed this book a lot, even though I haven't read the novella that is the official starting point to the series. And you gotta love covers by Daniel Don Santos. Well, at least I do. (this is what happens when an artist reads too much, most of my favourite artists do cover art)

I would recommend to Kait.

Any of you guys read something lately that you loved or think I would enjoy? Let me know!

The Good the Bad and the Tasty

The Good:
I got into the Nelson Winter Carnival Artisans Market (phew is that a mouthful)! I'm pretty excited as it will be my first real event to debut my new toy line that you've been witnessing the birth of. So if you are in Nelson on the weekend of Nov 28-30, stop by and say hi.

The Bad:
We've been given two months notice to find a new place to live. This makes me very cranky. I like our place. And we juuuust moved in! Also, I will be busy sewing for the craft fair, I have no time to pack! We have to be out by Nov 30th. That date ring a bell? Re-read the first paragraph. Oh that's right I'm screwed.

The Tasty:
Mom and Dad came up on Sunday to take me out for an early birthday dinner (my b-day is the 4th) and brought some garden bounty for me. I'm currently baking and freezing homemade fries. Part of my need to have lazy food while not buying prepackaged junk. I'm also making 4 little plum crostasas, one for desert and three to freeze. I need to do something with the rest of the plums too before the fruit flies eat them alive. Suggestions?

My computer is supposed to arrive soon. The tracking site says it arrived in town at 9:34am. It's 5:08. Where are you computer? UPS probably ran away with it...

Chocolate Chipy Goodness

(photo from stock.xchng)

For Kait, here is my chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's from my Betty Crocker Cookbook. It's the recipe my mom, my aunt and my cousin all swear by. In my mind, there is no other recipe. Barb makes them tiny and undercooks them just a touch for chewy goodness. I make them a touch bigger (but still small) and get them just brown on the bottom. I also add less chocolate then it calls for. These stay nice and soft, but don't melt into the bendy puddles that some cookies do.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Evah!
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips


My adjustments are:
add 1 tsp vanilla
a bit more salt (I just prefer salty sweetness)
Instead of the chips I take a good bar of dark chocolate and chop it up. I love the bittersweetness and you don't need as much this way.

It makes about 4 dozen cookies they say. I sometimes eat a cookie or so worth of dough (bad I know, but I'd rather risk getting food poisoning someday for the years of yummy dough eating I have enjoyed). You bake for 10 min at 375.

Saucy

Sorry for ditching you guys again! I anticipate my life becoming normal again next week :P I've escaped my partially moved in house this week to visit my parents (because it's just been so long?). No really, the pool is shut down this week, Craig is away catching small mammals, dipping them in flourescent powder and then following their footprints around the woods at night. I'm not kidding. And I'm kinda jealous. But anyway I'm canning pasta sauce, roasted tomato soup, and pickled beets.



Want my amaaaazing pasta/pizza sauce recipe? Of course you do. I invented it last week. This makes one 5 Quart crock pot full...which is 3-4 3 cup jars. Which each make one good 2 person meal...so this recipe would serve...8-10 if you just ate it fresh.

Roast 4 or 5 sweet bell peppers. Just throw them in the BBQ until they're all charred, then throw them in a bag for a bit to steam. The skins will just flake off leaving yumminess beneath. Deseed and mince

Mince:
4 cloves garlic
4 smallish shallots

Fry in olive oil with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
Add a splash of cooking wine at the end (white wine is yummy in it)

Throw in the crock pot with the peppers and about 1/4 wine.
Mince a 1/2 cup or more fresh basil and oregano. You can use dried, but only use a tablespoon or so.



Blanch and peel tomatoes. fill the crock pot with diced tomatoes.
Salt to taste.

Let it simmer for a few hours, we leave it overnight to the next afternoon.
If it's still soupy add a couple small cans of tomato paste halfway through.

Enjoy!

I am doing my second and third crock pots today.


Also I got my amazon order! Hooray! I got a bunch of novels but I am really excited about these two books:

Little Stitches for Little Ones by Amy Butler, has some great sewing projects for babies. Considering the amount of babies in my life it seemed wise.

Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin is a great modern resource for handprinting, it covers stenciling, stamping and silk screening. My mind is buzzing with the possibilities!

Well, gotta go, I've got beets to pickle with Gramma :)

One last garden update...

I leave for Castlegar in three days and leave the gardeness behind...so sad. I will be back in a couple weeks to can diced tomatoes, pasta sauce and roasted tomatoes. At that point I'll also rip out the basil and freeze and dry what remains of it. Frozen herbs are the next best thing to fresh.



So with my mother this weekend I made 4 kinds of soup and canned them...I have about...30? jars of soup...40? Need to count later. Then yesterday I blanched and froze a big bag of diced yellow zucchini and a big bag of patty pan squash. I also made 4 packages of ratatouille and froze.



My freezer also contains much strawberries, raspberries and asparagus. Oh and cherries. And dried cherries. And I have three kinds of jam made.



I know that Barb thinks she wins Domestic Goddess of the Year because she produced a child and all, but I think I'm definitely in the running here.



I currently have 24 packages of pesto...I think I can make 30. If you all were wondering about my pestoness, here's what do (it's from Anne Lindsay's Lighthearted Cookbook). You could add pine nuts as is traditional but it cuts the fat down without and I don't miss them. Sometimes I toast them and toss them with the pasta though.



1)Pick as much basil as you can, measure how many cups you get of lightly packed leaves. One cup=One recipe. However if you do more at once it blends easier.

2)Blanch the basil by submerging it in boiling water then immediately removing it and running it under the tap. I use a colander. This step can be skipped but it makes the pesto a rich beautiful green.

3)In your blender add the basil, 2 cloves of garlic per cup of basil and some olive oil. 2 tbps per cup of basil. Ish.

4)Blend the crap out of it. For longer than I do because I had half a garlic clove floating around in my last batch. I mean, I could micro plane the garlic first. But I am too lazy.

5)Pour into small ziplocks. One recipe makes a decent 2 person meal. They say it's for 4 but I like my pasta pestoy. Squish the pesto around until the bag is as flat as possible, this way they stack nice in the freezer and thaw quickly.

6)Label ziplocks with the following: "PESTO - add 1/2 cup Parmesan and 1/2 cup pasta water" Because that's what you do when you want to eat it this winter. I don't like to freeze the cheese in because it goes all lumpy if you overheat it while thawing.

Pesto! Fun for everyone!

Want my Ratatouille recipe?



Oh oh, and my heritage corn is starting! We had the first of it last night for dinner. Mmmm Indian Blue Hookers Corn...



Well I must be off, I'm on a mission to find Organic peaches to can and jam!

Summertime...

Is nearing it's end. And for once I'm actually sad. Not too sad though, I looooove fall. Anyway the garden is still going strong. We're eating squash and beans pretty regularly although the tomatoes are taking their time. I've made 14 batches of pesto so far with the basil and I should do some more today...


Yesterday I finished drawing Annette and printed her and Elliot out. Now they sit and await washing. George is keeping them company.



And today I'm getting back to painting my furniture. Fun times.

Oh and I made lamb kabobs, lemon rice, greek salad and tzatziki yesterday. Pretty stinking good if you ask me.