Living a Handmade Life

Archive for the ‘Cuisine’ Category

Three ingredients :  fresh asparagus, sea salt, olive oil

Take the asparagus coat with olive oil and sprinkle sea salt. You can, grill, bake, or broil these.  Just cook until they look a little dehydrated and the ends are crispy. They are great with BBQ  or add them to you favorite dish like quiche.  Note:  Fresh Green Beans are great  this way too!

I love Beets they are just an amazing superfood here is how I cook my beets from the Farmer’s Market

First I cut the  leaves and the tiny root bottom, and then gently wash the beet bulbs and put then in a casserole dish that has a cover.  Add water to the bottom just so it cover the bottom of the dish and then bake at 350 degrees.

 Depending on the size will depend on how long they need to bake usually at 15 to 20 min I take the beets out and poke with a fork if it is really easy to insert then they are done.  Take each beet wash under cool water and peel the top layer of the beet and then store the beets and liquid for fresh salads.

Here is an easy recipe I like to make with fresh ingredients from my farmer market

I have to first  say that I don’t usually measure things especially when I create my own recipes. So have fun with creating reciepes and go with your instincts

In this recipe I used farm fresh organic products: milk, eggs, asparagus, and goat milk cheddar cheese.

• Butter or oil the dish well  that you will use so that the egg mixture will not stick

 

• Eggs (this depends on how many you are feeding and the dish you plan to cook it in.  I used a small dish that was for two) I recommened 2 or three eggs per person

 

• Dash of milk ( enough to make the eggs milky white)

 

• pepper and salt to taste

 

• grate your favorite melting cheese ( I used about a half of a cup for two people and then melted some more cheese on top after it was almost done)

 

• favorite in season vegetable ( I had some aparagus that I made earlier so I added that ) recipe for my grilled aspargus to come.

 

Bake at 350 degrees until the  quiche seems solid and turn golden around the edges.  Then enjoy!

I have to say my favorite part of summer is the Farmer’s Market.

I encourage everyone to find their local farmer market, or local farm.  Here is a link to Local Harvest.org to find the closest  Farmer Market .

I will be posting some of my simple recipes I create with my farmer’s market purchases this summer and fall.

1.  My new favorite thing to make is cupcakes. I never really liked them until I got my own cupcake book and now I make everything from scratch and all organic. I bought these cupcake liners for my housewarming party next month from CupcakeSocial

2. Tofu- I recently have started eating Tofu again. I really love that it is a protein that can asorb any flavoring you want. My favorite is a veggie stir frywith tofu, where I usually mix fresh garlic and ginger with low sodium soy sauce.

3. Bok Choy- I decided to start trying new veggies, I had bok choy in chinese food before but never thought to actually cook it. So recently, I started making stir fry’s with cabbage and the bok choy and other veggies with whatever protein I prefer at the time.

4. Crate and Barrel catalog- The new catalog made me want to order like half of the items in it. Ok maybe not half but there were alot of items and I have added them to my inspiration board and I hopefully will have a few of them sometime soon.

1. WoodElements 2. purposedesign 3. MrPS 4. palumba 5. sweettidings 6. firewoodfurniture

1. GneissSpice 2. KitchenStories 3. bayberrymeadowherbs 4. purposedesign 5. JannaWemmer

In many cultures cusine starts with the herbs and spices.  Growing herbs is easy, all you need is a few pots, and a sunny window and you can enjoy fresh herbs every day.

Here are a few herbs that are commonly used and can grow great indoors.

• Oregano
• Basil
• Sage (Nana is the best for indoors)
• Thyme
• Rosemary(Blue Boy is best for indoor)
• Parsley
• Chives
• Mint

All these herbs need good light, soil that drains well, and  attention to each herbs watering need. Pay close attention to the packaging that comes with the herb for best way to care  for them. Also pay attention to grown height, and spacing that is needed not to over crowd the herbs. For examples;  Basil can grow up to 2 ft, and Chives grow dormant in the winter so they  need to be move to a cooler spot.

Have fun growing and cooking with you fresh herbs

Here is a brief list of August fresh produce. There are many ways of finding what is fresh and your local area. Here is one site that goes by state is the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)

                                                                                    

 

•   cucumber
• corn
• eggplant
• tomatoes
• summer squash
• green beans
• lettuce
• watermelon
• strawberries
• cantaloupe
• blueberries
• peaches
• apricots
• kiwi
• raspberries
• plums

So take a stroll to your local farmer market buy a few ingredients and make a meal for friends, or famiy, while supporting your local community. Then relish in the fact that you made something handmade.