Category: Recipes in SC

Bits and Pieces

Yesterday while waiting for son Mike, DIL Tami, and granddaughter Mina to pick me up for an outing to see the building lot they have purchased south of Charleston, on the Kiawah River, I saw this strange and awkward insect on front porch wall.

It is a Crane Fly and is said to be a very timid little insect.

https://citybugs.tamu.edu/2016/03/15/crane-flies/

There is a farm on the greater property where the new building lot is located. We stopped in to visit the farm animals: laying chickens, milk goats, donkeys, and “Oreo” cows (Belted Galloways).

The chickens come right up to everyone’s feet, illustrating how very social chickens are.

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The goats, too, love to be petted and come to the fence seeking attention:

Some goats have two “wattles” on their throat. These appendages apparently serve no apparent purpose. It is thought that perhaps they once served a purpose, but one that goats no longer need.

We had a picnic in one of the development’s club house areas, all of which are right on the river.

It was a lovely outing, and I could see what is drawing Mike and Tami in this direction. Their Isle of Palms current house is now for sale. It is a big, wonderful house and has served them well. But their children are fast fledging from the nest, so this is a good time to downsize.

I cooked “pink” grits the other day–from the Marsh Hen Mill brand of grits, a farm on Edisto Island. The pinkness comes from the type of corn used. They cooked faster than the Anson Mills rough cut grits, but they were also much milder. And, not organic. (Organic corn is a hard act to raise, actually.) Marsh Hen Mill has several types of grits and also raises the Carolina Gold rice so special to this Low Country area.

Here, leftover grilled flank steak, roasted sweet peppers/carrots, spinach and garlic sautéed in butter, and the “pink” grits:

Marsh Hen ships their products if you are interested. Here’s a screen shot from their web site:

Enjoy this holiday Monday!

A Busy Weekend

And a fun weekend too.

On Saturday morning I was the host for the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild monthly Sit and Sew as the usual member who organizes this event had another commitment.

We meet at a local quilt shop, Five Eighth Seams, which so generously shares their sewing/gathering space with us once a month,

This store is so colorful and lively. It is a pleasure to visit it. All over the store are so many beautiful hanging quilts.

This picture looks into the main part of the building where most of the fabrics live. And I somehow didn’t get a picture of that main room

This picture below shows the size of the meeting room–which on Saturday morning was divided into two sections by that purple divider. Tables with plugs are set up everywhere toward the back of this room. There are also several cutting tables and ironing boards. It’s a perfect place to “sit and sew.”

It rained Saturday morning, so my granddaughter’s tennis matches were cancelled.

But Sunday morning, the play commenced again. My granddaughter won this US Tennis Association (USTA) competition for 12 and under girls just before a gully washer rain hit us hard. And after, in the semi-final match (a nail biter), defeating the number 1 seed.

Between matches, I dashed home to fix some food–as the week was busy, and I had to cook something.

I’ve never grilled a steak and roasted veggies so fast!!

And now I have food for today.

The gully washer put down 4 inches of water in about an hour! And the rain continued lightly into the early evening, so I sewed and missed my daily 1-mile walk, which has only happened twice this month.

Tomorrow the whole house water filtration system gets installed, with reverse-osmosis water in the kitchen.

And today I have some food errands to run, among some other housekeeping chores. And there will be sewing. There is always sewing.

Let’s Make Chicken Salad

I have been so hungry for some fresh chicken salad for days now. So, Wednesday I came home around noon from the very fun Patchwork Gals monthly meeting so hungry and longing for chicken salad. So, instead of making a quick omelet, I started making a fresh chicken salad.

What do you need? Chicken meat (freshly cooked and warm is best as it absorbs the mayo better), homemade mayo, an assortment of veggies, and herbs and salt. It doesn’t hurt to have a base to put the salad on either, like lettuce.

The chicken takes the longest, so I put it in a big pot, covered it with water, added onion, celery, carrots, garlic cloves, and some herbs and salt and started it to cook–as that part would take about 40-45 minutes. I was able to cook it covered so that helped cook it faster–and the veggies in the broth meant I’d have a nice broth when I was done that could be used for soup, a stew, or to cook a grain.

Meanwhile, I prepped the veggies I wanted: grated carrots, chopped celery, onion, red and yellow sweet peppers, and I put some frozen little petit peas in a small pot to cook. The amounts of each totally depends on what you like and how much of it you like. I like a lot of crunchy celery and the sweetness of the carrots. And, for me, the little peas are a must–they provide the pretty green color and are delicious.

Here’s the homemade mayo, which is dead easy to make in a blender. Break at least one egg into the bottom of the blender (I used two today–you could also just use the yolk in the second egg), add 1 or 2 tablespoons of something acid (lemon juice, mustard, vinegar), add salt and if you like some herbs, and have on hand EVOO olive oil for the next step. Turn on the blender (low is best) and start adding the olive oil in a thin stream until the whole mixture congeals, which just takes less than a minute. You could make a double batch, actually, and having homemade mayo on hand to drizzle over foods and this salad is a good thing. (Note to self!)

I also had on hand some baby bok choy that needed cooking, so I cleaned it and rough chopped it and dropped the bits into my simmering broth. It only takes a very few minutes to cook bok choy until the bottom thicker parts are still not totally soft. Remove with a slotted spoon and put aside. Here’s the base for my salad.

Before chopping, isn’t it pretty? So green. And using what I had on hand that needed cooking is how I like to cook.

When the chicken is deemed to be done–remove it to a big bowl and cut the carcass into parts so it will cool faster. If any parts are not quite done, drop them back into the simmering broth. Take the meat off the bones.

Then tear or cut (kitchen scissors) the chicken meat into chunks. And while I did this part, I allowed the broth to cook itself down a lot so it would be really concentrated and would take up less room in the freezer.

Next, just mix up all the ingredients and taste to see if you have enough salt.

AND, now YOU CAN EAT. For me, that’s porch time. Fruit is delicious with this savory chicken salad. Cantaloupe might be my favorite, but it isn’t quite in season yet.

Don’t forget the broth on the stove! I almost did.

And now I have delicious food for a few days, which frees me up to do other things.

Stuffed Peppers, South Carolina Heirloom Gold Rice, and A Specimen Magnolia Tree

I got hungry for stuffed peppers. So, six for me now and six for the freezer.

That’s one pound of organic beef hamburger and a package (not sure how big) of local grass-fed beef hamburger mixed with liver, heart, and gizzards. That’s a great way to eat these important organ meats that can be strong tasting.

This meatloaf type batch has a handful of rolled oats, an egg, some grated mozzarella cheese, some chopped onion, a grated zucchini (adds moisture), a splash of milk, some saved lamb fat, and some dried herbs and salt. I topped each stuffed pepper with some ketchup, which is about the closest I can get to tomato.

I cooked a batch of the Anson Mill’s organic Gold rice–only I didn’t do their method of boiling it, draining it, and drying it in the oven on a parchment covered cookie tin. This rice is naturally starchy, but this boiling/drying method takes away from the flavor of the rice in my opinion. I just cooked it and let it steam a bit.

I roasted some fresh green beans with added garlic and had some “asset” roasted sweet peppers and carrots.

On Sunday, I watched a granddaughter’s tennis match and saw this glorious magnolia tree.

The trunk was especially interesting–a child’s invitation climb up in the branches. And sure enough, when I got back to my car, there were children nestled along the limbs.

It’s a rainy day today, so I’m doing rainy-day home events.

I Nailed The Grits

It required attention and patience, but the third time was the charm with cooking these Anson Mills “rough cut” ORGANIC grits.

I soaked them overnight in milk and stirred them for the first 8-10 minutes and then didn’t leave their side until I was sure covering and cooking slowly wasn’t going to make them overflow. It takes about 40-50 minutes adding bits of water (or more milk) about every 10 minutes so the grits don’t burn on the bottom and cook very, very, very slowly until the chunkier bits are soft.

But oh my heavens! They are so delicious. I will be ordering again, but will drop down to the finer cut version, which is still chunky and slower to cook.

Here was my noon dinner on the porch–made with assets and the grits: roast chicken and roasted sweet peppers and carrots (with garlic), sautéed spinach (butter and more garlic), and sliced Honey Crisp apple and an espresso.

And I look at this view while I eat. My neighbor pulled out her struggling gardenias and put in these pink “Knock Out” roses–which are a hybrid made with landscape roses, tea roses, and maybe other roses. They will be smaller than my red landscape roses and will grow wider I suspect.

The taller plant on the corner of the house is a tea olive, which I would love to have, but I don’t have the right spot for one. They get tall over time, but have the sweetest fragrance when blooming. They are a quintessential Southern plant.

Here’s a link to the Knock Out roses: https://www.knockoutroses.com

There are now lots of colors–this hybrid has been around 20+ years now.

Here’s one up close. They are so adorable!

The 4th and final quilt in the 1920-30’s reproduction fabrics series is off the longarm and has been trimmed and bound. Yeah! I’ve called it “Four Stars.”

We, hopefully, will get some rain today. But NOT a tornado as we are under an alert until 7 pm. A nasty system is moving toward us. Just rain please and thank you.

I’m sewing together the blocks from this year’s online block class with Tara Faughnan into what I hope will make an interesting improv quilt. Certainly it will be a memory quilt for me. So far, so good.

And, at night I’m sewing down the binding on “Four Stars.”

Sunday: Some Moments of Joy From This Past Week

There have been many, but here are a few that leap into my mind as I sit to write.

There was a morning coffee visit with my backdoor neighbor Patti, where her two beautiful cats were happy to see me. (I took care of them months ago while Patti was away.) This time, surprise, the shy female wanted to love on my bare feet and play.

My neighbor Teri is feeling much better after a bout with something that made her quite sick for about a week.

The magnolias are blooming. We have a number of the small, dwarf “little Gem” versions in our neighborhood. These big blossoms are mildly fragerant. A regular magnolia is a big tree. Way back in the day, my first cousin who lived in rural Virginia (Lovingston) near the mountains, carried a magnolia blossom in her June wedding in a beautiful little rural Episcopalian church. I was in her wedding at a young age–15 or 16–and my parents flew me from Omaha, Nebraska, to be in Elizabeth’s wedding, which would have been a big expenditure for them at that time. My Uncle Jimmy (Elizabeth’s dad) picked me up in a small plane at a DC airport (maybe the early Dulles) and flew me to Lovingston.

A wonderful neighbor has her house here in Moore’s Landing on the market as their dream house is up for sale on Isle of Palms. She included this drone pic of the upper part of OUR neighborhood in the pictures of her house. (She is a realtor.) The lower part of the picture truncates the little cul-de-sac where our development backs up to a pond and woods that separate us from houses that lie beyond.

I marked my house with a tiny black arrow (it is on the right)–and that is the back of the house and my screen porch “outdoor room.” The street leading out of the development on the top leads to the big street where I walk daily (2 miles today). We are NOT this close to the sound and the barrier islands, but we aren’t far either. That would be Isle of Palms on the right side of the picture, beyond the mainland. We get to the barrier islands via 2 “connector” roads that go over the water.

Noon dinners on the porch have been wonderful this past week. Here, roasted chicken; roasted sweet peppers, carrots, and garlic; baked sweet potato; sautéed baby bok choy; sliced Honey Crisp apple; and an espresso.

And some days later, grilled flank steak, roasted sweet peppers and steamed carrot (assets), steamed broccoli, air fryer French fries, sliced Honey Crisp apple, and an espresso.

With FaceTime help from Jimmy at Carolina Quilt Studio (a wonderful and patient man), I was able to switch out the ruler billet foot on Innova with the “quick change” standard foot that can also use the same foot adapter. And now I have now the last of the 4 quilts using the 1920-30’s reproduction feed sack fabrics on the longarm. All looks well. Big sigh.

My name tag for the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild is almost finished. Maybe some hand quilting on the front before adding the back? I do a lot of hand quilting, so that seems to be a good idea.

I’m moving steadily through the last two rows of “Happy” with the hand quilting!!!! This quilt has taken me SIX YEARS to finish it.

A dental procedure involving replacing a bridge involving 3 upper jaw teeth knocked me back for a bit last week, but I have my energy back.

I had good time with Bryan and Corinne’s three girls Saturday, ending with a lamb chop dinner last night cooked by Bryan. (Corinne is in Philly for the weekend.) There was also a visit on his front porch while dinner cooked–which is always good. We have fun talking about ideas and life.

Saturday, neighbors Teri and Mike took some of their family in their boat to Capers Island where Boneyard Beach is located (off the coast of Awendaw, SC) and had a great time exploring. So I learned all about that place after Teri told me all about it. Here is a link that has some pictures.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=boneyard+beach+sc&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&lqi=ChFib25leWFyZCBiZWFjaCBzY0ikoNjrgbWAgAhaJRAAEAEYABgBGAIiEWJvbmV5YXJkIGJlYWNoIHNjKgYIAhAAEAGSARJ0b3VyaXN0X2F0dHJhY3Rpb26qATkQATIeEAEiGqhHmVTDha-vtunJ-PMVO5J5UZEEmLy9KEyHMhUQAiIRYm9uZXlhcmQgYmVhY2ggc2PgAQA#rlimm=15922024207442797517&lpg=cid:CgIgAQ%3D%3D,ik:CAoSLEFGMVFpcE16a2FoNUREak9SeXdXLWYzakdseGpFa29SNFNXNVF3UFo5ZFU5

And now it is time to go upstairs to sew! That’s my happy time too.

Building Meals and Anson Mills Grits

First of all, yesterday I cooked the Anson Mills organic heritage grains low-country grits I ordered. Oh my!

I had ordered the coarser version–not realizing there was a finer version–but it wouldn’t have really made much difference in cooking time I don’t think. I soaked a cup of the grits in raw whole milk overnight first.

The cooking, using the Anson Mills recipes, is long and slow and “fiddly,” with needed extra water added from time to time. There was nothing difficult at all–it just required time and patience.

But OH MY HEAVENS!! I have never tasted anything so good. I could have eaten the whole pot. I stored the leftovers in the refrigerator and took some out, heated them in the microwave that I use but don’t like, and paired the grits with some scrambled egg for my supper. (I remember both my mother and her sister making grits for breakfast as a treat. And grits would also get paired with fried ham for a supper meal.)

I can’t wait for my noon dinner today: a roasted spatchcocked whole chicken, fresh green beans roasted with other veggies, and MORE GRITS, with some fresh fruit and my espresso for dessert.

The Anson Mills web site has lots of heritage recipes for these special grains: https://www.ansonmills.com. Next up for me, cooking some of the heritage rice I also ordered.

But back to the original topic at hand. I LOVE having refrigerator assets in place, and I use them to create meals each day. Or, I cook up more assets. I usually assemble both dinner and supper at the same time as I like to come down from sewing to a meal all ready to eat. On this day, there was a roasted chicken and many veggies. I made a bowl of food to be warmed for dinner, and a salad for supper.

Here’s a close-up.

I love to drizzle a bit of maple syrup over raspberries mixed with blackberries and blueberries for a special dessert. But organic raspberries are in short supply right now in my area. So I bought some of these big and very sour strawberries. I got so spoiled in Maine with my own strawberries, picked when ripe, or bought locally when ripe. These big and highly colored commercial strawberries arrive green, really. I spread them out and put them in some diffused sun and then left them on the counter overnight. They were better, but tend to mold if not refrigerated and never really ripen well.

It makes me so sad to know that most people have no idea what a ripe strawberry tastes and smells like. Their perfume alone can make one’s kitchen sing, never mind one’s mouth. The sweetness is almost overwhelming.

An Improv Quilt?

The last block in the Tara Faughnan online class “Blocks” is called “Wheels.” I made 4, and the last one is this little guy below. This block draws on other blocks we explored: the curves in Serpentine, the lines in Lines, and the 6-minute inset method of Squircles.

Here are the other three “Wheels” blocks. The aqua and red “Wheels” used the inset method, and I hand appliquéd the lavender block as I was a little afraid to try on of the big blocks with the inset method first. I do prefer the inset method, having tried both, and it proved to be quite easy.

Here’s where my design wall is now. I only had one triangle block that didn’t want to play here–and it can become a big table-top hot pad gift for someone’s kitchen I think.

Is this arrangement going to be an improv quilt, or shall I break it up? When I chose what colors to use in a new block, I often did that while thinking where the new block would go in an improv quilt and what it would be near.

I have a light grey Kona in my stash–so maybe I’ll start to link up the blocks on the upper top left using it and just see how that goes.

This class was–and is–so much fun. I have really enjoyed the time for play and creativity–and an improv quilt would capture this 6 months of my life.

Meanwhile, I bought a whole cabbage and cut big slices out of it and roasted them in the oven. There were some beautiful dark green outer leaves, so I blanched those and cut them into thin strips. And with the smaller ends of the cabbage, after cutting the thick slices, I made a fresh salad–by pounding the finely cut pieces with a bit of salt to melt out the juice.

A grilled flank steak, some refrigerator “asset” roasted peppers and carrots, and some potatoes smashed with raw butter rounded out this delicious meal. I did, however, overcook the flank steak. I do like it much more rare. It’s hard to tell sometimes with flank steak just how done it is–and they do have thick and thin areas.

Bits and Pieces, January 31st, 2024

Good morning all!

Tomorrow Block 5 in Tara Faughnan’s “Block” class will arrive. It’s “triangles.” How fun is that?

I’ve walked 5 miles in the past three days–2, 1, and, yesterday, 2. What will today bring? It’s rainy, so whatever will happen will happen when things dry out a bit. But it is cool and that makes for wonderful walking. I play music and sing along some of the time.

I finished this top yesterday, and I love the secondary patterns. There is a feeling of, I don’t know, lace, in this top. I’ll back and bind with the neutral–so next I have to put together the backing and put her on the longarm to be basted so she stays straight while being quilted–and so I don’t have to worry about the needle apparatus catching wrong in a loose edge. I have no idea what pantograph to use on this quilt.

I would not choose to buy these 1920-30 reproduction fabrics today–but as you know, I’m on a mission to use up fabrics in my stash. And I do think these fabrics have worked well in this quilt.

I have a fair amount of fabric left over in all the colors I have–so, I’m playing with blocks on the design wall. When I attended my first Charleston Modern Quilt Guild meeting last week, five or six members showed their 3 quilts each in a challenge to “riff” on fabrics and layout choices in a series. Is that what is playing in my head? Maybe… Those series of 3 quilts were really fun and inspiring.

BTW, the talent in this modern group is fabulous. One member has two quilts accepted into the big modern QuiltCon meeting in late February, held this year in Raleigh, NC. And, she had quilts in last year’s show as well. This member is a MASTER quilter–and it was so, so fun to see her work. Plus, she is so generous with her time with fellow members–and has a suggested project for our next Sit and Sew for an upcoming Saturday morning. I can’t wait.

I never get tired of seeing bright vegetable colors combined in a pan and ready to be roasted.

Here’s my main meal yesterday–which I didn’t get to until about 2 pm.

The potatoes with dill, salt, and drizzled with the nuevo olive oil from Organic Roots were leftovers and are now gone. So today I have to cook something starchy to go with the roasted veggies and chicken. Maybe French Fries in the Air Fryer. Now, there’s a treat! But maybe only if I walk 2 miles.

And, later, I’ll play more upstairs with those developing blocks. And still later, I’ll finish season 5 of Fargo and hand quilt on “Happy.” I’m assuming most of you know Fargo is funny, funky, and can be violent. It’s the Coen brothers and Noah Hawley, so be warned.

A Holiday Monday

We have a cold period coming into town.

I’ve wrapped my outside faucets and will drip water inside when temps fall below 30, which is coming soon. These houses are NOT set up for really cold weather. Recall that the water heaters are on the OUTSIDE of one’s house down here in coastal South Carolina. And unlike Maine, outside water faucets are not the kind that can take freezing temps without breaking.

Many in Maine have sent pictures and links to pictures of the really bad and damaging coastal flooding there. Poor Maine. It’s had a LOT of rain all summer and now, every storm we get here in South Carolina moves right up the coast to Maine. There are many pictures of coastal buildings floating out in the water.

I cooked a lamb rack yesterday, after walking 1.6 miles. ( I added a loop and then went back with the car to clock how far I had walked.) The two added loops–at each end of my big outside road–will add up to a little over 3 miles, which I’ll do one of these days. One loop plus the normal 2 miles would be a little over 2.5 miles. I’ll try that right after my leg muscles–following a whole string of walking days now–stop complaining.

Lamb rack, which I so love, and leftover roasted red peppers, quick-boiled Brussel sprouts topped with raw butter, and more air fryer sweet potato fries–followed by the apple slices and my noon espresso. 

Then, I tackled the Serpentine quilt with my domestic machine where I keep a walking foot installed. I’ll do the grid the other way too.

I’m listening to William Forstchen’s sobering trilogy that starts with One Second After and scaring myself to death, LOL. Civilization can disappear…so quickly…especially in this digital age which requires a lot of infrastructure. And then what? It’s not pretty, that’s for sure.

And at night while hand quilting I’m watching Harlan Corben’s murder mysteries–there are 8 of them on Netflix–and each is 8 episodes. I am having fun guessing “who done it” and what happened and why. I’m on the third one now. On the first 2, I only guessed part of what happened on 1 of them before the end. So that’s fun.

Have a great day everyone.