Honey-Sweetened Ice Cream

I'm experiencing technical problems with the new blog so I'll keep posting here until those are worked out.

My parents came over for the 4th of July and I really wanted to make homemade ice cream for everyone. Since my dad is diabetic, I needed a recipe with no refined sugar. He can tolerate honey in moderate amounts so I made the recipe below.

To my great surprise, it was the hands-down favorite of the two kinds I made. If you're not a honey-flavor fan, fear not. This is vanilla ice cream. So delicious!!

1 c milk
1/2 c honey
2 c heavy whipping cream
1 t vanilla extract

Mix honey and milk together until honey is completely dissolved. Stir in vanilla and cream. Pour into ice cream maker and mix 20-25 minutes or according to manufacturer's directions.

Chocolate Cake

If there's one thing we take seriously around here, it's chocolate cake. This is our current favorite. We all like it's rich, almost brownie-like consistency. I like that I can use such a high ratio of whole grain flour.

If I Could Only Bake One Thing...

...it would have to be cornbread. I think I may love it more than chocolate and that's really saying something. Considering my great fondness for it, I'm amazed I've never posted the recipe before.


Perfect Cornbread 
   (Yes, that's the name listed in the cookbook...)

1 c whole wheat flour
1/8 - 1/4 c honey (or sugar), according to taste
4 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 c yellow corn meal
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/4 c oil (I use olive or coconut)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in cornmeal. Add eggs, milk and oil. Beat until just smooth. Pour into lightly greased 9x9 pan (or muffin tins). Bake at 425˚ for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy with lots of real butter or, my favorite, crumbled in most any soup, chili or stew.

This Week's Meal Plan

A telltale sign of seasonal eating is repetition. It's a necessity, really. If you find something you love, you better have it as often as you want because veggies come and go all too quickly!

This week's trip to the market yielded a nice surprise - garlic scapes! I discovered them last year and, due to house construction, wasn't able to put in my own garlic bed in the fall to ensure my supply.

Chocolate Syrup

1 c cocoa powder
2 c sugar
1 c water
1/4 t salt

Combine sugar and cocoa in a saucepan. Mix in salt and water. Place pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and stir constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let cool.

Add two tablespoonfuls to a glass of milk. Stir vigorously and enjoy!

NOTE: This doesn't make the milk as dark brown as commercial syrups but the flavor is great.

Farmer's Market Finds

Here's what we bought this week and what we plan to do with it...

Black Bean Burgers
Broccoli-Spinach Omelettes with biscuits
Carrot Top Soup
Spinach Garden Salad with Pineapple Dressing
    and Chapati
Fresh Pea Soup
Nova Scotia Hodgepodge
Radish Top Soup (which we will undoubtedly eat at least once a week until radishes are gone. We love this soup!)





It might be hard to top our Memorial Day supper, though....

Burgers on these delicious, easy-to-make buns, lightly steamed veggies, deviled eggs, freshly-squeezed lemonade and these cookies for dessert.

Eat

The recipe page is up (see 'Eat' above). So far, I've got all the existing recipes on the blog linked but have many more to add...

Farmer's Market Finds

Broccoli, sprouted lentils, summer sausage, radishes
asparagus, basil, lettuce mix, early peas, raw goat milk
cottage cheese and strawberries

Here's my meal plan for this week based on what the girls and I bought. I'm adding a page to my blog as an index for all the recipes I write about. It's going to take a few days to get them all listed but, hopefully, it'll help if something sounds yummy to you!

Supper...

• Radish Top Soup with Honey-Oat Rolls (Tessa has been stalking the farmers' tents on Saturdays in anticipation of radishes for this soup!)
• Black bean and corn fajitas, salad
• Salad with lentils, toasted baguette with pesto
• My Random Skillet Supper -- I came up with this Hamburger Helper-style dish one evening when I had little time and no game plan. It's easy to adjust to whatever I have on hand and is a family favorite. The general 'recipe' is a pound of ground beef or chicken, pasta (from our CSA which I'm trying desperately to use up), home-canned tomatoes or tomato juice and my homemade chili or taco seasoning. 
• Black Bean Burgers on wheat rolls, steamed broccoli

I split a pound of sausage for:

• Sausage-spinach-swiss omelettes with roasted asparagus 
• Homemade pizza with sausage and fresh basil

Lunch...

• Radish Spread sandwiches
• Honey-Oat Rolls with summer sausage and goat cottage cheese, blanched peas
• Leftover pizza (which is the kids' favorite lunch!)
• Egg salad sandwiches
• Fresh Pea Soup

Breakfast...

• Strawberry Bread
• Whole Wheat Waffles
• Strawberry-Cream Cheese Granola
• Banana Bread (because everyone suddenly stopped eating the bananas lying around...)

And, last but not least, this divine dessert...

Strawberry Shortcake with
freshly whipped cream - YUM!

Nova Scotia Hodgepodge

Source: Simply In Season

2 T butter
1 onion (or a handful green onions or onion tops)
2 c vegetable broth
1 c green beans
10-12 small new potatoes
4-6 carrots
1/2 c peas
2 c milk

Melt butter, then add onion and sauté until soft. Add broth, beans, carrots and potatoes. Simmer until vegetables are just tender.

Stir in peas and cook until bright green (about a minute). Add milk and gently heat until hot. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Serve with chopped fresh herbs such as oregano, thyme or chives.

Fresh Pea Soup

Oh my...this is spring madness in a bowl. Love, love, love.

Source: Simply In Season
1 onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 potato
3 1/2 c water
1-2 t salt
3 c peas
Sauté onion in olive oil until golden. Add potato, water and salt and cook over medium heat until soft (10-15 minutes).
Add peas and cook until bright green. Purée in blender. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Serve warm.

Pineapple Dressing

Source: Simply In Season


1/2 c pineapple juice
2 T vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 t lemon juice
1 1/2 t poppy seed
1/4 t dried basil

Place all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well.

Hamburger Rolls

The original recipe is here but this is what I did...

2 c warm milk

1/4 c melted butter

1/4 c water

1/4 c honey

4 t yeast

2 t salt

6 c flour, as needed (1:1 whole wheat and unbleached white)

Combine milk, butter, water, yeast and honey in a large bowl and let stand for five minutes. 

Stir in the salt. Gradually mix in the flour until a soft dough forms. Divide dough into 25 pieces and form into balls. Place 2-3" apart on cookie sheets. Let rise for 20 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 375˚ oven for 15 minutes. Cool slightly before slicing. 

Lemonade

Here's our favorite recipe...

Lemonade

1 3/4 c turbinado
8 c water
1 1/2 c lemon juice

Bring sugar and 1 c water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir until sugar is dissolved and let cool. Mix with remaining water and lemon juice. Chill and enjoy!

Black Bean Burgers

Source: Climb Nashville Cookbook


Black Bean Burgers

1 1/2 c cooked black beans (or one 15 oz can drained)
1/2 c cooked brown rice
1/2 red onion
1/4 red pepper
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
1 slice whole grain bread, frozen
1 1/2 T fresh ground flaxseed (opt)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
Oats (opt)

Mash beans with a fork, leaving a few of them while. Very finely chop onion, red pepper and celery. Grate carrot and bread.
Combine all beans and vegetables with rice. Add flaxseed and Worcestershire sauce. Mis well. Add 1-2 T oats, if desired, to help burgers stick together better.
Form 6-8 patties and place on a  greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes in a 350˚ oven. Remove, turn patties over and bake 10 more minutes. Serve as you would a regular burger.

Unbaked, these freeze very well. Separate burgers with wax paper.

Chapati

Source: Climb Nashville Cookbook


Chapati
a Kenyan staple

2 c flour - white, whole wheat or a combination thereof
1 t salt
warm water
olive or coconut oil

All ingredients should be allowed to come to room temperature if they have been refrigerated. Mix flour and salt. Slowly mix in enough water to make a thick dough. Mix in one spoonful oil. Knead dough on a cool surface for a few minutes, adding a few spoonfuls of dry flour.
Preheat a lightly greased skillet. Divide dough into orange-size balls. Flatten them into 6-inch circles. Fry them in the skillet or griddle, turning once, until each side is golden brown and spotted.
Cover the finished chapatis and place them in a warm oven until they are all done. Serve with butter and any curry, soup, stew or beans.

Purple Hull Peas

Our winter CSA shares this year often included purple hull peas. I've never eaten or prepared them before and I've just been lazy in not dealing with them.

I finally Googled for recipes and found not just recipes but an entire website dedicated to purple peas -- a dance, pageant, parade, and even tiller races -- wow.

In the end, I used this recipe, omitting the pork. They were a hit all the way around, with the kids going back for seconds and thirds. Good thing I have a lot more in the freezer.

Homemade Pizza

Every woman who aims to cook supper everyday needs a few tricks up her sleeve. We all have days where everything seems to go awry and dinner needs to be something you can make without too much focus. For me, those days mean one of two things...breakfast-for-supper (which revolves around hot biscuits) or pizza. Fortunately, those are sure-fire crowd pleasers around here. 

What I like most about making homemade pizza is that I can make the dough right after school and move on to other things while it rises. I got this recipe from my mom. Growing up, we always loved pizza night!

Pizza Crust

makes 2 regular or 3 thin crusts

1 1/2 c hot water

3 1/2 - 4 c flour

2 t yeast (or one package)

1/2 t salt

Mix half the flour, yeast and salt. Add water and mix for three minutes. Gradually add flour and mix four minutes. Turn out dough into greased bowl and let rise until double in size - about an hour. (To hasten the rising a bit, I place the bowl of dough in the oven with a small pan of boiling water on the rack beneath.)

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and cut into 2 pieces (3 for thin crusts). Roll out onto lightly greased stones or cookie sheets. Add sauce, toppings and cheeses of your choice*. Bake at 350˚ for about 20 minutes or until cheese begins to brown. 

*Instead of tomato sauce, I melt three tablespoons of butter and spread it on the crusts. I sprinkle generous amounts of whatever spices I'm in the mood for (usually sage, oregano, black pepper, pressed garlic and parsley as well as fresh basil leaves) and whatever chopped veggies I have on hand. If I have leftover taco beef or sausage, I'll throw that on, too. With all those flavors, I've really cut back on how much cheese I use. I used to put 8 ounces on each pizza but, these days I'll only do four of mozzarella and add a couple grater turns of fresh parmesan.

If your gang likes cold pizza, the leftovers are great for lunches. It's my kids' favorite!

Honey Wheat Pan Rolls

I'm not a fan of television and have maintained a fairly strict policy with the kids over years. Now that they're older, there are a couple of evening programs we (more or less) enjoy watching together. So eating dinner in front of the TV one night a week has become a habit since C gets home to late to sit down together before primetime. 

Last night was the last straw for me. With a sick child in the house, preparing dinner took a bit more effort than usual and included two new things I knew everyone would like. As we sat in the living room, the food was left to cool on the kids' plates as they focused on the program. Now I'm not one to expect  praise for making a meal because the act of nourishing my family is reward enough but I believe that food provides adequate sensory stimulation. To shovel food in one's mouth and not enjoy what we eat is just wrong. 

So the pain of forced changed is ahead for my brood. That's okay, though, they'll gain much more than they lose...

Here's one of the new things I tried. They were delicious with freshly-made honey butter!

Honey Wheat Pan Rolls

    makes two dozen

1 c water

1/4 c honey

1/4 c butter

3/4 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c old-fashioned oats, uncooked

4 t yeast

1 t sea salt

1 large egg

2 1/4 - 2 1/2 c all-purpose flour

• Combine water, honey and butter in small saucepan: heat until butter melts. Remove from heat and cool to 120˚.
• Combine wheat flour, oats, yeast and salt in mixing bowl. Stir well. Gradually add hot mixture. Beat at low speed for 1 minute. Add egg. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Gradually add enough flour to make a soft dough. 
• Turn dough out onto a heavily-floured surface. Knead dough until smooth and elastic (about eight minutes.) Shape into 24 balls and place in a lightly-greased 13X9 pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place (85˚) until double in size (about an hour). 
• Bake at 375˚ for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Okra - Indian-Style

I made this with the okra I got from the CSA last week. It was such a hit that T loaded handful after handful of okra into a bag at the farmers' market on Saturday.

Indian-Spiced Okra

3 T butter

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 lb fresh okra, sliced

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t ground cumin

1/2 t coriander

1/4 t black pepper

sea salt 

Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and sautée over medium heat until tender. Stir in the okra, then seasonings. Cook and stir for a few minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low and cover pan. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until okra is tender. 

(Note: I'm out of cumin so I substituted garam masala which was delicious. Also, we thought the called-for amounts of seasoning was too little. So, if you like strongly-flavored foods, add more. )

Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad

My sister-in-law hosted a tomato-canning workshop last night and asked attendees to bring a seasonal dish to share. I found this easy and delicious recipe over at Smitten Kitchen and adapted it. It went over well and is so pretty. As usual, I forgot to take a picture. I'll have to add that later...

Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad


1 lb green beans
1 lb cherry tomatoes
1/4 onion
2 T red wine vinegar
1/3 c olive oil
2 ounces fresh mozzarella (optional)
salt and pepper


Trim and cut beans into 2" pieces. Parboil until just tender, about five minutes. Remove promptly from water and spread on cookie sheet to cool. Halve tomatoes. Cut mozzarella into small cubes.


For the vinaigrette, mince the onion and place in a bowl with the vinegar, salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil. Taste and adjust to your preference. 


Tomatoes and cheese can be tossed with the vinaigrette ahead of time but the beans should be added just before serving as the vinegar can discolor them. 


Optional: Garnish with fresh herbs such as basil, parsley or chervil.