This Cake has Balls!

So today, my girlfriend Christina is on my mind as I embark on my first attempt at Red Velvet Cake Balls -- The pictures of the apple pie are on my cell phone -- awaiting upload (soon, I swear)..  and I'll have pictures and instructions on the Cake Balls (which will eventually, actually, be Cake Pops.. found on Bakerella's website -- also to follow).

The thing I like about these (aside from the fact that they are.. in fact balls made of delicious red velvet cake) is that they are appropriate serving sizes.. You can have one.. even if it's decadently decorated and topped with an oreo cookie -- and satisfy your sweet tooth without enraging your waist line!

Stay tuned!!

November is here, you know what that means...

That's right.

Pie.

I have a really hard time with this for a couple of reasons.  First, DUH.. pies are usually loaded with sugar and to be perfectly honest, I tend to like my sweets chocolate flavored and not quite so sweet.  Sort of like, chocolate... with almonds on it.. that's my speed of sweet.  But in the fall, okay, I likes me some pie!  But because they are usually loaded with sugar, I dump after just a few bites and that SUCKS.  Second is, well.. unless I get a piece of pie at the beginning of Thanksgiving feast, there just is no room.. not for a while and by the time there IS room.. all the other piggies in the house have gobbled down all the good stuff and I'm left with the burnt side of the blueberry pie (and I hate blueberry pie).. so I just skip it.

This year, I decided to try something new.

Wisconsin, and specifically this area of Wisconsin where I live, is sort of famous for a fall sweet treat called a Taffy Apple Sundae -- basically, at apple harvest time, you can go to an orchard and pick apples but they almost always have a booth set up somewhere with an apple corer, hot melted caramel and crushed peanuts -- they will slice you up a crisp, fresh tart beauty, smother it in hot caramel sauce and ladle on some chopped peanuts and you eat it just like that.

It is, of course, delicious.  It is also incredibly NAUGHTY and high on the list of things we should consider NOT eating -- ever.

In lieu of actually HAVING a Taffy Apple Sundae, I decided to give baking a Taffy Apple pie a try.. but I decided to start with a plain old apple pie recipe and run wild with it.

It all started with a batch of about 8 or 9 large (about 6 1/2 cups) Jonagold apples which I peeled, cored and sliced then tossed with lemon juice.

THEN it got interesting.. I wanted a caramel sauce that wasn't too sticky, but also not too watery.. so I combined a packed 1/2 cup of Splenda Blend brown sugar blend with a Tablespoon of cornstarch, 1/4 c. water, 1/3 cup of half & half, 2 Tablespoons of light Karo corn syrup and 1 Tablespoon of butter over medium heat until it got all bubbly and brown looking (don't worry the lumps will work themselves out).. but you gotta stir it the whole time or it'll scald so get your ingredients all ready beforehand.  When the caramel sauce starts to look like it's curdling, cook it for two minutes more, then remove it from heat and add about 1/2 teaspoon of really good vanilla.  Once you're done with that, you can leave it for a bit...

Now take about a fist-full of that Splenda Blend and throw it on top of the apples, grate some fresh nutmeg on there (if you must measure, I think I used about 1/4 teaspoon), toss on some cinnamon and about two or three pinches of salt...  add about 2/3 c. chopped or ground peanuts (unsalted, if you grind them yourself -- use that old coffee grinder you never grind coffee with anymore.. that should do the trick) and use your hands to mix that all up really good.. coat the apples with that stuff as much and as evenly as you can..

Pile the apples into a pre-made pie crust in a 9" pie plate.. pile it high!  (don't worry they cook down).. use them ALL !  and don't worry if you have to sort of smash them down a bit.. they'll forgive you.

now..  light some candles.. turn on some Barry White.. slip into something sexy and grab that pan of caramel sauce and drizzle it aaaaalllll over those apples..  yeahhh.. that's right..   keep it comin..   just like that.. yum! while you're drizzling, keep murmuring to yourself..  "that's right, baby.. I made it with Splenda...."

If you need to take a break to cool off, it's okay.. no one has to know.. when you come back, put the second pre-made pie crust over the top of the apples, seal and flute the ends, cut vents in and pop that baby in the oven on 425 for 40 to 45 minutes.

What comes out the other side should be a golden brown, deliciously decadent but not too sweet Thanksgiving delight that won't break your heart OR your waistline.. just be sensible with portions! (pictures will be added at my next break)

Enjoy!

Festa Italiana, part 2 -- the meat!

Okay.. next up.. prepping for dinner,  We didn't really have much idea of what we wanted to make -- just some random ingredients and a few ideas.

So, the soup.  Christina had found this great recipe online and we did our very best to follow it but you know, I think we have RDD -- recipe deficit disorder.  We start out with ALL the best intentions .. but we get led astray so quickly.  She had bought a bunch (about 10 - 12 of them, a little bigger than golf balls) of little vine tomatoes at the Italian grocery and the recipe called for us to roast those, a sliced onion, garlic cloves and some carrots in the oven til they were nice and soft.  We drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled a little salt on them (and added a little more granulated garlic, just for good measure) and roasted them for about 45 minutes.

Once cooked, we dropped them into the blender with about 2 1/2 cups of milk and 2 cups of water and a few leaves of basil.  Blend, blend blend, into the bowls, add a dollop of greek yogurt and a sprig of parsley.  Done!!

Christina had this gorgeous little fragrant muskmelon, about the size of a large softball.  We sliced it and wrapped some fresh, thin prosciutto around it, topping it off with a slice of cherry cheddar cheese.

This was one of those discoveries from the fridge -- not on the plan at all but came up really delicious.  The muskmelon was sweet but subtle and no one flavor overpowered the others.. the cherry cheddar gave us a little sweet and a little tang and the prosciutto gave just a teensy bit of salty.  It was like the perfect bite.

Next we sliced a small baguette and brushed extra virgin olive oil on top.  We popped that into the oven at 400 to toast while we started to prep the meat-a-balls-a.

Now, this occurred organically -- and I don't mean we got it all from the fields.. I mean we found a recipe that told us how long and at what temp to cook meatballs, and we made up the rest.

We started with about 4# of meat -- a combination of beef and pork that's usually sold as "meatloaf" at the store. You could certainly use any ground meat for this, but I think I would shy away from using turkey or chicken and in fact I might have preferred to use a combination of beef and lamb or even beef and venison.  These meatballs were hearty chunks of meat.  In the bowl, we combined one egg, a mixture of different spices that included parsley (1/4 c. fresh), dill (1TB), garlic powder (3 tsp), chopped onions (one small onion), rosemary (2tsp) , sage (2tsp), salt (pinch/dash -- you don't need very much), white pepper, italian breadcrumbs (3/4c), paremesan cheese (1/4c), olive oil (drizzled over top) and spinach (a good sized handful, shredded by hand as shown on the left).

Now, you have to know, you gotta use your hands to mix this all together and it's messy so if you aren't one who likes to gets their hands messy or get food under your fingertips, wear latex gloves.. there's no other way to do this effectively. You won't get all the spices mixed in well enough. Once they're all mixed together, roll the meat into balls, about the size of your palm when you cup your hand.  Yeah, I have man hands, my meat-a-balls-a gonna be BIG!

Lay them on a baking sheet (you might want to put down some tin foil to help with cleanup, as we learned, this will create some mess) about an inch apart from each other.  They go into the over for about 25 to 30 minutes at 425 .. but you have to watch them.  They'll turn a gorgeous color of dark golden brown and they'll get firm when they're done - but you're still going to have to take one out and bust it open to test it -- don't worry, you won't regret it.

So the bread comes out of the oven and we put a small amount of triple cream brie on top, then pop them back in quickly to get the brie to melt down a little.  Meanwhile, we sliced some fresh figs thinly and when the brie had melted for about two minutes, we pulled the bread and placed a slice of fig on top.  The heat mellowed the brie considerably -- it was like rich butter, but the fig on top gave it just enough tart and sweet.  It was the hit of the night.  I could have made a meal of just these little bruschettas.  There wasn't a thing missing.

While the meat-a-balls-a were baking, we boiled up a package of pasta, al dente.  We heated the sauce I brought down from home and set the table for the festa! 

I can't believe I actually forgot to mention dessert!  In fact, dessert was SO delicious, and gobbled down SO quickly, there was no time to get the camera out before there was nothing left but crumbs.  Once again, the mystical combination of salty and sweet has found its way onto my table again (big surprise, right?)  We basically took a square container of ice cream and cut it into slices, then quartered it.  Each of those little quarters was pressed between a pair of saltines.  Yes, that's what I said; a pair of saltines.  Ed wasn't convinced of the potential for scrumptiousness of this combination and asked for ice cream between graham crackers instead.  I liked my two little sammiches so much, I bequeathed my graham cracker sammich to Ed without even trying it.  This is ingenious and delicious -- and the size is just right, too!

So this was Festa Italiana, folks.  Please let me know if you need or want clarification on any of the dishes we made -- I'll be happy to give you what you need or if you have an idea or a question about what I think might work as a substitute.

Festa Italiana, Part 1

WOO!  It's been a long couple of weeks for me, kiddos!  Drum corps season ended (abruptly leaving a BIG HOLE in my life..  when's audition camp again?) and then I started my new job so .. not much time for food (WHAT??).

That all changed last night.  Christina, Ed and I decided to have a "party" which consisted of she and I cooking, and all three of us eating.. Ed helped by reading one of the recipes aloud so we could work and chatter without having to stop and look at the recipe (right.. like we actually USE recipes!)

For dinner, we planned:

Home-a-made-a Meat-a-balls-a

Fresh Marinara Sauce

Tomato, Carrot and Basil Soup

Prosciutto Wrapped Melon

Fig and Brie Bruschetta

Yes.  All of it.  We also had two bottles of red wine:  von Stiehl's Naughty Girl and Cedarburg Winery's 2007 Hillside Red.

I KNOW they say "you shouldn't drink after surgery" but you know what?  It's going to happen.  Depending on your situation, wine may be a part of your life after surgery.  I drink it with a good meal because I think it adds a flower to the flavor bouquet of the whole experience but you know, that's just me.  I realize there are people who can't drink it and I realize there are people who SHOULDN'T drink it (hello!!  ex-boyfriend, anyone?) but if you decide you will add wine to your post-op life, I hope you'll explore all the beauty and complexity that can be found in a wonderful vintage paired with a delicious meal.

In this case, the Naughty Girl was a blend of delicious grape and brightly fruity raspberry wines tied up with a bow of grape brandy. The initial taste is almost like candy - it fills your entire face with flavor and touches all points on your palate.  The finish is much darker and dry at the front of your tongue -- very naughty, indeed!!  I will be obtaining more of this delicious red blend, for sure! I'll talk more about the pairing with the food further on.

Hillside Red is a longtime favorite of mine because I think it's robust, grapey body makes it very easy to drink and it doesn't sit on your palate like a linebacker waiting for the next play.  Unfortunately, we opened this bottle second and in comparison, it came up a little flat.  Taken in solo accompaniment to the meal, it would have been fine and in fact quite nice.

The festa began on Thursday at my house up in Wisconsin as I took about 20 of those deliciously plump and sweet hybrid Roma tomatoes out of my garden and let my mom chop and marinate them (and no it's not slave labor to employ your mom to do your dirty work in this!) in red wine overnight.

We also pulled fresh basil, flat leaf parsley and red basil for the party.  I had picked up three different varieties of garlic at the farmer's market last Saturday as well and those were incorporated.  What kind?  Couldn't tell ya.  They smelled great and one of them is supposed to be a "red" garlic -- either way.. delicious.  I chopped up two cloves of each plus a couple of cloves of my standard, store bought garlic.

It all started with the garlic onions and shallots in olive oil.  I probably used about 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, half a white onion, four stalks of scallions, and my gorgeous little shallots from the garden (about 6 cloves worth) and a dash of salt -- by dash I mean a few pinches til I could just smell it in the mix.  Let that saute in the bottom of the large pot while I prepped the rest of the tomatoes.  I do usually add San Marzano tomatoes to the mix.  If I can find them fresh, without a doubt, that's going in.
In 99% of my attempts, though, grocers look at me with puzzled expressions and I end up in the "Italian" aisle, loading up my cart with cans of stewed, whole or chopped San Marzano tomatoes.  For this batch, I used an entire #10 (industrial sized) can of whole stewed tomatoes.  I used my Martha Stewart Pastry cutter to chop them up in the bowl.  Nobody ever said you have to use your tools for only the thing they're named after!

You'll learn that I'm not a fan of everything being all chopped up perfectly.  I prefer everything rough chopped so that the flavor varies with every bite.  You still get the overall experience, but the food LOOKS more interesting to me when it's laid out on the plate.

I stirred the onions and added some fresh parsley and basil to the mixture to let the flavors simmer together.  This is the base of your sauce and the more flavor you give it now, the better I think it holds up when you start layering in the other fresh ingredients.  As soon as those fresh leaves were wilted and dark from the heat, I added the chopped tomatoes marinated in wine.  Stir, stir, stir!!  Get those flavors all wrapped around each other!  Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally to let those tomatoes cook down.  Don't take the cover off too often as you don't want to lose much of that juice to steam just yet.

When it's good and boiled down, add the smashed San Marzano's, more wine, olive oil and more salt and pepper.  You're going to need to taste this as you go because even if you're opposed to cooking with salt and pepper, you NEED to or the sauce won't develop the way it should.  Have some plain bread to dip if you can't eat it right off the spoon.  Continue to taste and add basil, garlic and parsley -- again, FRESH IS BEST.. the flavors are brighter and will infuse more flavor with less volume.

You can leave this to simmer, covered for a while more -- maybe 30 or 45 minutes on med low.  If you're using a copper or copper bottom pot, the heat is already in the metal, you don't need more.  Stir periodically to make sure you're not overcooking and getting stuff sticking to the bottom.  If you notice that you are, reduce the heat.

As a side note, I don't add ANY water to this sauce.  The water that has reduced out of the tomatoes should suffice.  I DO add wine -- a lot of it.  I usually use at least half a bottle.  Don't worry about the alcohol as it cooks right off, leaving you with that delicious robust flavor.  Not a bad idea to have two bottles of whatever you cooked with.. one to cook, one to drink with dinner.  If you're not sure what kind of wine to use, go with a hearty Italian red -- you can never go wrong with a Chianti or a Sangiovese for cooking, even if you drink something else.  Try to stay away from overly oaky reds (I wouldn't use a Cabernet, for instance.. you want more fruit, less wood).

For the last 15 minutes of simmer time, I take the lid off.  I like a very thick sauce so allowing some of the water to boil off is a good thing. If it's not thick enough, at this point, I generally will add about 16oz of tomato sauce to thicken and add some more tomato-y goodness.

Now for some photos of the dinner to come...

More to come!!

Tiny Wedges of Heaven

So, I went to a drum corps show last weekend and stopped at an all-night diner afterwards.  Okay, we all know that the all-night diner is best known for three things:  Coffee you can peel wallpaper with, the finest pie you have ever tasted and fried food. 

Should any of those things be on a foodie blog.. much less a post-op gastric bypass foodie blog?

I say YES!!  Maybe not in the traditional kind of way, but this is at the very base level of my goal here -- to show you how food can still TASTE good and be good for you, even post op (or NON-op, for those of you reading who aren't surgically enhanced eaters).

Anyway, there's no recipe yet, but I'm letting you know I'm working on something unbelieveably delicious.. so good, you may sell your first born for it.  I tried to sell my cat but nobody wanted him. awww.. I'm KIDDING!!  I want him!!

There it is.  The Big Tease.  It's comin..  oh, it's comin..

and just an FYI, I'm out of town for about a week, then home for a week, then gone for another week so blog posts may be sparse..  but don't give up on me!  I'm slaving away over a hot stove just for you (and me, let's be honest). 

Salsa Dancing

Okay.. before I jump into this salsa thing, I would like to report that the tomato has been harvested.  Still needs a little ripening on the windowsill, but it's done!  I pulled a couple of cucumbers, too but haven't tried one yet.  My mom gobbled one right down though..  so I guess they're good.

Okay, I think I mentioned before that one of the things I love to do is make salsa -- LOVE fresh salsa.. and I like it chunky as opposed to runny so I'm going to give you my top secret recipe here.. and I'll be honest -- it changes all the time.  The basics are there, but I'll switch up the type of pepper.. or the type of onion.. the type of citrus or the seasonings.  To be COMPLETELY honest, I think you can't make a bad salsa if you start with the basics. These are the basics:

Tomato. Onion. Pepper. Lime. Salt. Garlic. (the salt and garlic were busy and were late to the photo shoot.  both were fined and reprimanded). In my opinion, it doesn't matter what kind of anything you use, combining these basics is going to give you a delicious salsa.

As you can see, I prefer to chop all my ingredients by hand but you may prefer a salsa that is more dip-like and so I would recommend using a blender or a Magic Bullet on pulse -- you don't want complete liquid, after all. I'm sometimes fond of using my smash chopper.  That's the gadget that you put large chunks of things inside and then smash down on the handle and it chops for you.. though I do find that chopping by hand is really very satisfying.  Like doing it all by hand means I did it with love or some schmaltz like that.  Really, I just enjoy the occupation of my time on something like this.

So I start with the tomato -- and I use very firm tomatoes.  I am fond of meaty tomatoes so I almost always use Romas.  In this case, for whatever insane reason, our local grocer was out of Romas except for TWO.. so I also took some vine tomatoes as well.  Then I de-mush them.  This is the one thing I will not concede -- you need to de-mush your tomato.

I mean it.  No Tomato Mush. Blech!

I used two large romas and two medium sized vine tomatoes for this batch.  As I explained, I like a chunky salsa so I chop my tomatoes in somewhat large chunks -- I prepare my salsas as Pico de Gallo but you can feel free to adjust to your own taste.  Once the tomatoes are de-mushed and chopped, I sprinkle a generous pinch of salt onto them and mix it in.

The onion I used today was Vidalia -- but I actually prefer to use sweet red onion or shallots.  I tend to stay away from white onions because I think the flavor overpowers everything else.. but you may disagree or prefer a very oniony salsa.  it's all up to you.  I chopped up a little less than half of the medium sized onion I picked and mixed that in with the chopped tomato.

Crush a clove of garlic and mix in.

Now, here's where it starts to get good.  Do not fear the peppers.  For the simplest salsa, I use a combination of Jalapeno and Serrano peppers.  I like some heat in anything that can have it so I tend to be heavy handed and use hotter peppers in my cooking.  I like to let my Jalapenos age because they actually get hotter the older and redder they get.  Mine have just barely started to go soft from green.  If you're not familiar with the different peppers out there, you can always use a pepper guide like this one or even this one.  To give you an idea of how they are rated for heat, a Pepperoncini is rated at 100 to 500 Scoville Heat units, whereas a Habanero pepper will rate between 100,000 and 300,000 Scoville units.  Aye Caramba!  To limit the heat you get from the pepper you choose, you can also devein and deseed it.  The less vein and seed you include, the less heat you'll get from the pepper.  And please PLEASE remember to wash your hands thoroughly before you accidentally touch your eyes.  There is no pain as intense and inescapable as pepper juice in your eye.. speaking from experience.  So, chop up those peppers and toss 'em in.  Then wash your hands.

The last of the staples is Lime -- well, technically citrus.  I like lime because I enjoy that tart, mouth-wateringly bright flavor.  I like it so much, I don't just squeeze in the juice, I include pulp AND zest.  If you've never tried it, do zest and pulp your citrus.  It pumps the flavor up about 10 notches and will make the tomato flavor absolutely pop.  You could also use lemon and, depending on the salsa you're making, even orange. Don't be afraid to give sweet a try!

Once all these things are mixed in, I like to add whatever is handy from the spice cabinet.  I'm not particularly fond of dried spices in most cases -- especially if I have fresh available -- but today I was lazy and just tossed in a little dried mint and some dried cilantro.  Mix and mix and..  voila! It's so bright and fresh and crisp.  If I had thought a little further ahead, I might have tossed in some cucumber, too.. maybe even a little celery tops..   mental note for next time.

So give it a try and let me know what you think -- how did you alter it?  What would you do different next time?

I know you'll love it, though.  Trust me!  I've been eating all my life!

Garden Tour

I didn't make anything delicious today but I'm going to take you on a tour of my garden to introduce you to some of the blog-stars-to-be...  Now, my yard isn't very big and my garden is also not very big but I have big dreams so I have a lot of stuff crammed into a little bit of real estate.  Hang onto your hats, kiddies.. away we go!

This is my surprise plant.  I'm not exactly certain what it is, but I suspect, from the shape of that little fat bottomed blossom in the middle of the frame, that this is going to give me a bunch of butternut squash.  This is actually a plant I started from seed and then we got frost and I thought it died.  Apparently, it was more determined than I was to make it to the big time so I'm just kind of grateful that it made the trip.  Thanks, little guy!  Butternut Squash has become a real source of joy and comfort to me since moving to the Midwest.  It's better than mashed potatoes (no, really, it is!) and I could make a meal of one squash, some butter, salt and a fork.  I can even make it in the microwave (though I'll admit they're so much tastier in the oven).  I'm looking forward to finding new ways to incorporate this delicious gourd into my fall harvest diet.  I've got THREE of these things and they all have a ton of blossoms on them so I'll have lots to work with!

I also have two cucumber plants that are trying to take over the whole garden  One is a regular cucumber plant and one is supposed to be a "bush" style plant that doesn't vine all over the place.  Don't ever trust a cucumber plant.  THEY LIE!  They vine and spread all over the place.  If' you're considering putting in cucumbers, give them room to stretch their legs.  They need it and if you don't give it to them, they'll take it anyway.

Just for the record, I can eat cucumbers like apples.  Sometimes I'm so excited about that crispy, cold, sweet deliciousness, I don't even bother to slice it and I especially don't bother to peel it -- though I've discovered that you SHOULD brush off the stickers cause they're like little cacti and can really poke you good.  Last year's plant took blood.  I really do have a ton of blooms between the two plants and am starting to get a little nervous in the face of this harvest.  I hope I can keep up!  They are also going to become more than a garnish or a crunchy salad addition this year.  I don't know how, maybe I'll make a soup out of them -- ooohhh..  Cucumber and Basil soup? mmmm.. this has some potential..   Somebody remind me of this later..

This is my one, lonely (and now I notice, deformed) tomato.  I have three tomato plants and I'm not much of one for beefsteak style tomatoes.  I don't like the goop in the middle.  I prefer a fleshy tomato and if I'd started earlier, I would have mail ordered a whole yard full of San Marzano Romas just to keep me happy -- but I didn't.  So this is the only tomato I have in ground (the other two are in topsy turvy planters).  This is also the only FRUIT this plant has borne yet and it's July.  Come on little guy, we're running out of time!!  Anyway, this tomato is supposed to be a hybrid of a beefsteak and a roma so because it doesn't LOOK like a roma, I'm going to presume it is meaty like one.  It only just started to turn red this week and it's been on the vine since early June so as soon as it can be picked, i'll use it for something yummy and we'll see what kind of a hybrid we have.

Also, part of the reason why I have had no fruit coming out of this plant was that we were infested with some kind of creature.  I couldn't see them.  I couldn't hear them, but all the leaves were curled up like some of the ones you can still see in the picture.  I have had to spray a few times and only once I sprayed did I start to get more blooms. With any luck, we'll have more tomatoes soon as I do have lots more blooms coming out now.

These leafy beauties are my peppers, Anaheim and Jalapeno.  I'm ALWAYS making salsa in the summer and I would much prefer to use my own fruits and vegetables to do it -- though I'm sorry guys, I just don't think a mango tree is going to survive a Wisconsin winter so I'll have to keep buying those.  I had the same delay of produce on the peppers, which are at the foot of my tomato, behind the ever-spreading cucumber infestation.  Whatever was taking a big steamy dump all over my tomato was also working on my peppers.  Now I am beginning to see some blooms so with any luck, we'll have a few yummy peppers to use for cooking very soon.  Obviously, I don't ONLY like them for salsa but they are so flavorful and give heat without burning your face off, I love to use them whenever and where ever I can.  I think I'll do some research on paella and see what I can come up with for you.

Let us not forget our leafies -- yellow cabbage and butter lettuce.  My yellow cabbage, after a little bit of a rocky start, has been going gangbusters.  I have gigantic fronds of cabbage all along the front sideline of my little garden.  They're starting to form heads so I think I'll have some lovely crisp cabbage for stir fry and cole slaw later.  If I'm really lucky, I'll also have enough for swedish meatballs with dilled potatoes and cabbage.  Oh yes.

The butter lettuce did not fare as well as the cabbage on the first try.  This is actually attempt #2 on the year.  I had a row of hopefuls in the ground just after Memorial Day but they didn't survive beyond a couple of weeks.  So with my head hung low, I skulked back into the garden center and bought six more frighteningly wilty looking little butter lettuce plants, with some not so high hopes of their success.  Thankfully, they seem to be doing better than I expected.. though I didn't know they would get so tall.  I like butter lettuce because it seems to be more to chew on.  Don't get me wrong, I still eat and enjoy iceberg and romaine (and even once in a while, I'll guiltily enjoy some red leaf lettuce, too) but, well, there weren't any of those at the garden center this year and I'm not skilled enough with seeding to start my own... not yet anyway.  maybe next year.

In the same section as the lettuce, I have some spindly, pathetic little soybean plants.  I was very excited about the soybeans because, if you didn't know, they're farmed by the acre here.. and they're full and green and bushy and gorgeous.. plus they give me Edamame so I was all ready to put in my own little harvest.  Unfortunately, they nearly died and are only just now beginning to give me teeeny, tiny little purple flowers, which, I must presume will one day be soybeans -- only, I can count the blooms on one hand so maybe I'll have better luck next year? these aren't the only beans in my garden.  I also have five pea pod plants.. they have some delicious looking snow peas on them right now but only a few and not enough to harvest so I'll let them keep going and see what they do.  I had planned to have long green beans, too, but they were among the seeded plants that died in the late frost.  Next year FO SHO!!  I loves me some green beans!

Now, behind the in ground tomato plant, I have a raised planter against my mud porch window.  In this planter, I've got a number of different things but one of the first things I put in a few years ago were strawberries.  I can eat strawberries morning, noon and night.  I love them.  So these plants are supposed to provide fruit all summer -- an early and a late harvest -- to keep me well stocked of my obsession.  Unfortunately, this is the first year I've gotten anything more than a few blossoms out of them.  They've SPREAD all over the dang place and I'm sure the squirrels are having a field day because I always find what little fruit I DO have half eaten and left to taunt me on the edge of the planter. I got a few berries out of the first harvest but recently I noticed a BUNCH of new blossoms and now I'm starting to see some fruit, as well.  We have another couple of plants in a topsy turvy as well but they're not doing nearly as well as these.  I also like having them in the raised planter because I can harvest them without squatting for an hour like at the pick your own berries place.

The other things I have in this raised planter are some herbs.  This is where my dill grows wild and big as trees.  I have plenty of Italian Parsley and some Spearmint and this year, I took my first venture into roots when I planted Shallots and Garlic -- which I use in EVERYTHING.  Right now, I'm using the shallot chives along with a generous handful of parsley and some dill in my tuna salads and will be experimenting with the garlic chives next week sometime -- not sure in what..  here are the pictures of those lovelies:

First is the messy, hillbilly layout of my Garlic and Chives section -- it looks like a hillbilly front lawn.  Only thing missing is an old Ford up on blocks.













I love this picture with the benevolent frog watching lovingly over my Italian Parsley.  The leaves on this stuff are HUGE -- I had to put more of it up in my herb topsy turvy (pictures in the next batch)















This wispy, unassuming yellow flowered thing is my wild dill.  I intentionally planted ONE DILL PLANT, three years ago.  It grew into a tree with a 4inch diameter trunk.  I pulled it out.  Since then, there have been dill plants popping up EV-ER-Y-WHERE... in the planter, next to the planter, in the cracks of the sidewalk, in my neighbor's driveway cracks, I even found one growing in a gutter!  Seriously.  It's fine with me, though, I use fresh dill in just about everything I can.  It's so much more savory fresh than it ever is dried.  I can't wait to try using it in some pickling this fall!

Meanwhile, while Dill is taking over the universe, my little spearmint plant is just doing it's own thing over here, hiding out behind the "plant I can't identify but can't manage to bring myself to pull up" that you can see growing behind the wild dill in the last picture.  (I think it might be oregano, but it's not very strong).

The last thing in my planter is my watermelon.  Yes.  I went on a gourd kick this year -- I will have seven billion butternut squash in fall, and I have ONE watermelon plant that is making a go at it.  it looks like I'll have a couple of blooms on it soon so we shall see.  I think it might even be seeded (like the old fashioned kind!!)

This is the other topsy turvy, filled with genovese basil, gorgeous purple Thai basil and more of that titanic flat leave Italian Parsley. I can't get enough of it.  Dried parsley is useless.  I don't know why anybody ever uses it.  There's no flavor in it except the flavor of dust and old age.  Throw away your dried parsley and ONLY use fresh -- please.  For the sake of the children.

Finally, I have one last plant.  I know this is another of those little guys I started from seed before the late frosts we got, and when it's little brothers died, I gave up on it.  Suddenly, this started to grow. Right there, next to my mom's gardenia.  I know it's something I intended to plant.  I'm sure it's something edible.  For all I know, it's my fourth butternut squash plant and I'll never want to see another butternut squash as long as I live.  Thank goodness my boyfriend loves those things as much as I do.  He's gonna have as many as he can put his hands on this fall.  Just don't tell him that.  Let's let it be a surprise!

You want me to put WHAT on my peanut butter sammich?

Today, I'm going to challenge you.  It's a little challenge but it's a good one and if you trust me, you might just start to open yourself up to what I'm trying to get across here.

Good food is good food, even if you never thought you could put those things together that way before.  This was one of those experiences for me when I had it.  I found it compellingly ingenious and I hope you'll give it a try.

Thanks to the #HarmonyCafeFV in Appleton for the sandwich idea.  I'm not much of a sandwich eater but this one, I think I could live on.  It's got two of my favorite snacks in the whole world -- Granny Smith Apples/Peanut Butter..  and Bacon.

That's right, I said Bacon.

You can use regular bacon, maple smoked, thick cut, prosciutto grilled up nice and crispy, pre-cooked, turkey bacon .. if you are really hardcore, I think you could probably use tofu-bacon (though that I haven't tried and can't vouche for)

So, the Cafe calls is a Diversity Sandwich.  I just call it delicious.. In fact I try not to tell people what's on it til they've had it.. something about the play of sweet (peanut butter), tart (apples) and salty (bacon) all crunchy and smashed together like that makes my mouth positively water. 

Here's how you do it:

Start with toasted, whole grain or multi grain bread -- get the real hippie style bread with seeds and twigs sticking out of it because you don't want a bread to cave on you during this project.  You need it to be delicious and full of good things but it has to have the consistency of concrete to hold all that good stuff.

Once it's toasted, add a schmear of peanut butter.  As any good bagel eater will tell you, a "schmear" is a unit of measure that is somewhere between 1 and 5 tablespoons -- obviously, use your good judgement on this.  I typically use enough to cover the bread and it ends up being about 2TB worth.  I prefer smoothe PB but crunchy might also be really yummy.

Wash and slice your crispy granny smith apple into thin, but not transparent slices.  Pile it on that peanut butter.  I usually end up using about half my apple for this.  The rest I slice and eat alongside my sammich if I have room.

Now.. the bacon.  Add about two or three slices to the sammich.  Check your package and see how many slices are considered a serving and that's what you'll want to use.. but make sure it's good and crisp.  You don't want soft bacon on this.  Soft bacon will only end up pulling the whole delicious thing apart on your first bite.  Crisp, crunchy, delicious bacon.  *wonders secretly if there's any left in the fridge right now*

Top the whole thing off with a handful of alfalfa sprouts.  You might be tempted to leave these off, if you're altering the recipe at all but I encourage you to leave them on.  Or if you're allergic or can't stand them, try using regular bean sprouts.  You need something that tastes vaguely herbaceous to kind of wrap it all up in a tidy bow.  I've tried it with and without and I much prefer it with.

Now top it with your second slice of hippie wheat bread and EAT THAT SAMMICH!  Or try to, at least.  I find that I'm about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through one of these monsters and I'm doing the sigh.  I started cutting it like a club sandwich so I'd have a neat piece I could wrap up for later.

Trust me on this.. I've been eating my whole life.

Lemon Garlic Yummus

Okay, so I wasn't expecting my first post to come so soon but a good friend of mine came over today and we took a nice walk in Buttermilk Creek Park -- where we were attacked and chased (and bitten) by a WILD DINGO!  But that's beside the point --

Before we went out, I made us a little lunch.  I didn't have a lot of interest in cooking anything because it's been so hot but I wanted something with decent protein and, of course.. it had to be delicious.  I don't follow recipes very often and this was no excuse so what I'm going to give you will be approximations.  Lunch ended up being a couple of falafel, some whole grain crackers and homemade lemon garlic hummus.. or Yummus as I like to call it.

The falafel we got at Costco -- for three pieces, I think there was something like 11gms protein.. easy prep.. heat in the microwave.  The crackers.. a serving was 9gms protein.  The Yummus, I don't know the exact protein content but I'll tell you what i know from the can of garbanzo beans -- and NO I didn't measure how much I put on my plate.  I'm trying to determine how much I eat by when I feel full -- so when you're eating, are you checking yourself for that deep breath?  The one you take in the middle of the meal that most of us ignored our whole lives?  Yeah.. when you're in the middle of eating a meal, pay attention to when you take a deep breath.. like a sigh..  that's a signal from your body that you're getting full.  When you do that, set your fork down and let what you've eaten settle.  If you're STILL hungry, then have some more.. but you have to teach yourself (or re-teach yourself) to recognize when you're full.

So.. this was a great use for my baby food grinder that I bought for my first months post-op.. ideally, I would have used my Magic Bullet food processor but I couldn't find the right blade.

here are the ingredients I used:

1 regular size can of garbanzo beans
1 large clove of garlic
a dollop of Tahini (if you don't have this -- and I know you probably don't -- just grind up some sesame seeds, olive oil and salt til it's smooth)
1 lemon *juice AND zest*
about a 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
large pinch of salt

I usually start out grinding the sesame seeds if I don't have tahini.. then I add the garlic and about 1/3 of the garbanzo beans.  Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the mixture and blend some more, grate the zest directly into the mixture then add in some olive oil and more garbanzo beans until all the beans are blended in.. the mixture should be the consistency of a thick pudding.  TASTE it.  Add salt to fit your taste. 

I also like to add fresh herbs.  I grow parsley, dill, chives and basil in my yard so if it's in season, I'll pull a few sprigs of each, chop them up and add them but this stuff is great even without the herbs.  I recommend you  try it both ways and don't be afraid to try different things -- if you want to add onions or you really like rosemary, try it!  Savory flavors will go well in this dish.  You can also substitute plain water for the lemon if you're not a fan. 

Part of the key to finding peace with your food is to make what you put into your mouth more satisfying and full of FLAVOR so you don't have to satisfy yourself with quantity.  Discover what flavors go well together on your pallate.. find what makes your mouth water.. open your jars of spices and sniff them.  Taste what you're cooking and immediately sniff a spice you might like to try with it..  above all, don't be afraid of flavors you've never had before.  I'm not going to make you go try chocolate covered bacon (though, it's pretty dang good even if it sounds gross).. but I will challenge you to taste new things and make your own flavor combinations.  You will surprise yourself.

Trust me! I've been eating my whole life!!

Take it from the top

Well, here we go.  A few weeks ago, the idea came to me to start this blog.  Why?  I guess it all really started about six years ago when I was preparing to undergo a life saving, lifestyle changing surgery called a Proximal Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.  For the uninitiated, that's stomach stapling.  It's for extremely obese people and in most cases (like mine, for instance), it's a last ditch attempt to resolve a life-long battle against obesity.

For the record, these are my "then" and "now" pictures.  I'm the one in the red shirt and the one in the black dress.  There's no doubt I fit the profile -- though, that's about all I fit back then.. I'm almost six years post-op, now and as you can see, I've seen a degree of success.  I consider myself a lasting success because I've maintained my weight loss.

That's not why I'm doing this, though.  I'd like to prove to myself (and I guess everybody else) that you can still love food -- not in the vast quantity, caloric-orgy kind of way I did before my surgery, but in the grandly-delicious, flavor-intense way food was meant to be loved.  I want to know that, while I was and am required to change my relationship with food (seriously?  a "relationship" with food?), that doesn't mean I'm relegated to a life of bland, boring, small portions of beige food that simply sustains and does not excite, entice or delight.

Food was given flavors for that exact purpose -- to excite, entice and delight us.  In some cases bold, surprising and unexpected.  In others, delicate, subtle, aromatic and inviting.. but like flowers, why be beautiful if not to draw us in?  As animals, we would have discovered their nutritional value even if they had no extra special anything, but their flavor.. that's like the vibrant petals of a voluminous bloom.  It makes you stop and go, "Oooohh!" and it makes you want more.

I'm here to tell you, right here and right now, food is not your enemy.  Unlike every other addict, your addiction can't be given up.  You must still draw life from it every day.  So what are your choices?  Make it unappealing, pedestrian and boring.. nothing more than just plain old sustenance?  Live on liquids the rest of your life?  I'm sorry but I couldn't imagine a less attractive life.  It would be like living in two dimensions.

So I'd like to offer a solution that isn't pedestrian, unappealing or boring.  I don't have the magic balm that will make food calorie-less but come along with me while I navigate my way through the forest of flavors and maybe at the other side, we'll have both made our peace with food at last!

So..  you in?