On one recent day, I pan sautéed baby bok choy and added some radicchio leaves. I love sautéing the baby bok choy and just cook it until it is barely fork tender; otherwise it gets too limp.
But this mixture was so, so not good. The sweet bok choy did not compensate for the bitterness of the radicchio. Not an all. I love radicchio raw in salads, and it is good grilled in chunks, but this mixture is a hard no.
This cabbage and carrot and garlic (with other herbs) was a much nicer mixture. I used either beef tallow or duck fat; I forget which.
And here was my meal that day. Air fried French Fries and sweet peppers, the cabbage, and a grilled loin steak. I’ve moved to a sunny spot on the porch on the cooler days. The plant is a Croton Petra.
And yesterday I cooked a lot, so have food for a few days.
I made oven roasted chicken, cauliflower and carrot, red peppers, and asparagus–paired with leftover cold green beans with some sweet onion and dressed with dill and good olive oil.
There was too much food on this plate!! The green beans went into my salad last night. And that’s how that goes.
It’s cloudy and cool with some gentle rain off and on, but with no appreciable amount of water. The bulk of the storm is just skimming the SC coast and mostly missing my thirsty grass and plants.
I will take ANY moisture I can get. And tomorrow is another day.
I ran errands–returning a book to the library and food shopping at Costco and Whole Foods. I have not bought meat with which to stock the freezer as I wasn’t sure about a possible hurricane and the loss of power to my freezer. But I believe that we are over the danger zone now. So off I went to Costco, followed by a weekly trip to Whole Foods for organic veggies as Whole Foods has a much bigger selection and their produce is so fresh.
And then…I cooked.
And on the lower shelf:
I put sage leaves under the chicken’s skin–after I spatchcocked it. And THIS butternut squash was ripe and sweet–I use fresh rosemary from the garden, fresh garlic, salt, and a good olive oil.
And now there is food for a few days:
Many of you have said you like to see my meals as doing so gives you some ideas, so here’s some from earlier in the week:
Lamb chops with roasted red peppers, kale, leftover air fryer green beans, and Carolina gold rice (more on this rice later). I cut up my meat when it goes into the bowl so I can read while I eat.
Here’s a hamburger air fryer roasted (with decadent Annie’s organic tomato ketchup), roasted spaghetti squashed dressed with butter, roasted red peppers (did you know they have A LOT of vitamin C?), and frozen broccoli crowns cooked in the microwave in their own bag.
Steak I grilled, leftover spaghetti squash and broccoli, and pan sautéed (in beef tallow) baby bok choy, carrots, and red peppers.
*I wrote this post last week, and this week has been so busy. I’m at the 11-month occupation of my new home, and the builder sends in various subs to fix things that got missed in the first inspection. Sometimes you don’t see things at first, but you do after living in a new home for almost a year. And there are things that range from the simple to the more problematic that need fixing or adjusting.
Grilled lamb chops, baby bok chop with onion and sweet peppers cooked in the air fryer, and rice I froze and defrosted.
Leftovers!
Meatloaf, okra with butter, and roasted butternut squash with fresh garlic and rosemary dressed with olive oil.
Here’s the herb garden these days. The tall plat on the right is lavender, and there is some chive between the sage and the lavender. The oregano is going wild, so I trimmed it back and am drying those stems in the kitchen. When dried, I’ll strip off the stems and save the leaves for winter use.
So…
That butternut squash…
Normally roasted it would have a dense candied sweetness to combine with the garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. I have always looked forward to this dish in the fall.
But this squash was absolutely tasteless. Likely it was picked green and had not had time yet to develop its sugars. It’s hard to tell before one cuts into one of these winter squashes. Maybe if I had held it longer it would have “ripened.” This squash is a good keeper. But I’ll pay more attention next time. An over-ripe one is too mushy. So, I guess it is a bit of a crap shoot.
Last Sunday we gathered at Mike and Tami’s to celebrate Debbie’s birthday (Tami’s mother). Mike and Tami had been hard at work with various garden projects, which resulted in this kind of “beggar’s lice” sticking to their pants. And, to the dogs, which took some days to rectify once the seeds got wound up with the dogs’ hair.
“Beggar’s Lice” are seeds that a “weed” plant produces. The seeds have POWERFUL gripping power if one brushes up next to the host plant. I grew up with the name “Beggar’s Lice,” but there are other regional names for this seed. And, several plant species that produce this kind of seed.
While Michael was organizing our dinner, we women gathered to try to get the “lice” off of the various clothing items. Tami had already spent about three hours the night before trying to get the lice off a pair of her pants. (Debbie is on the left and granddaughter Mina, on the right.). We tried the flat edge of knives, spoons, and a carrot peeler to scrape off the seeds. It was easier to get them off the jeans than the knit-type fabric in the above picture.
While we “persevered,” Mike made us a beautiful dinner. Here’s my bowl–which is missing the beautiful sliced heritage tomatoes dressed with minced herbs, avocados, and fresh mozzarella balls. Mike grilled the chicken breasts, zucchini, and sweet peppers. The grain salad is barley and contains more diced veggies. It was dressed with olive oil. (You could add an acid, like lemon juice or vinegar.) Mike’s salads are always fun: this one had radicchio included, which I love. And the hard boiled eggs are a colorful and nice inclusion.
I can say that we were “eating the rainbow” with this meal.
I was down to a few choices: the leftover roast chicken, a small Delicata squash, a small zucchini, a few sweet peppers, a small head of radicchio, and a handful of the leftover roasted broccoli rabe.
Here’s what evolved…
…a chicken salad made while the air fryer cooked zucchini rounds, sweet peppers, and delicata squash rings. The chicken salad had the last of the broccoli rabe cut into small pieces, some diced onion and grated carrot, some dried herbs, and some homemade mayo. I put the chicken salad over some radicchio leaves.
Delicata squash are known for their candy sweetness. I cut mine in half, seeded it, then cut it into narrow rings. I left the skin on, but this squash was a bit old, so the skin was fairly tough, but it was easy to slide off the sweet, sweet meat. Mainly, I just ate the skin–good fiber, you know. Delicatas are not really good “keeper” squashes, so use them now if you can get them where you live.
Last night’s supper was a reprise of dinner. And today, for my noon dinner, I had these various dishes alongside some fresh asparagus quick cooked in the microwave and dabbed with some of the mayo. I sat on the porch and thoroughly enjoyed this meal.
I have enough of the salad to make a supper–alongside the asparagus. I’ll enjoy a bowl of fresh berries with a tiny bit of maple syrup.
And now I’m going upstairs to trace out the tunic pattern and, hopefully, to get it cut out.
Tomorrow the Patchwork Gals meet, and I’m looking forward to that meeting.
Saturday afternoon, DIL Tami and her mother Debbie visited the Medway Community Garden in Charleston. I was invited and couldn’t go, so Tami took pictures and the little video below of this pollinator garden.
A reminder, Tami is the Director and Co-Founder of The Bee Cause. She texted me with this message: “A beautiful afternoon at Medway Community Garden. The pollinators were plentiful in this beautiful pollinator habitat donated by The Bee Cause and installed by Charleston Parks Conservancy. We also got to meet and chat with the author of The Ark of Taste.” There was also a potluck supper.
A video of the garden.
And the new book:
From a review on the Slow Food USA web site: “The Ark of Taste is a living catalog of our food heritage and a movement to preserve gastronomic treasures passed down for generations—some rare, some endangered, all delicious. Created by Slow Food, the Ark illuminates the history, identity and taste of these unique food products, many of which were revived or saved from extinction by their Slow Food champions.”
And: “The Ark of Taste book features the stories of how some of these American products almost didn’t reach our table, with recipes from Slow Food chefs and profiles of growers from around the country.”
As you know from this blog, I have planted pollinator plants in my new garden. And Tami has been working hard in her garden in recent days. She is developing a space where she would like to plant a pollinator garden–and that space is near her bee hive.
On a very happy note, Tami recently harvested some honey from that hive, and she generously gave me 12 jars of that beautiful honey–which I am busily lapping up.
The dried blooms are from the Panicle Hydrangea “Limelight.” In Maine, these big blooms would turn a gorgeous deep red color; here with the heat, they just turn brown. I clipped these blooms when they were just starting to show flecks of red in the petals, but before they started to turn brown. I put them in this vase with no water and let them further dry out inside. They will hold their color through most of the winter.
Drying hydrangea blooms is tricky. I’ve found it best to wait until they are starting to dry on the plant before clipping them. And even then, they might shrivel up once inside.
I took the above pic and the little video below from inside the house. I love the way this plant moves in the wind. It was “quiet” all summer, and then, overnight, it burst into bloom, and it has been blooming for weeks now.
AND I’m in love with the new air fryer.
Look at the gorgeous brown, crisp skin on the chicken thighs below. And on the roasted zucchini squash and roasted sweet peppers. The chicken meat is so juicy and tender too.
And look at the 15-minute, or less, French fries with their skins left on. Plus, more roasted peppers. That’s leftover grilled steak and asparagus cooked in the microwave. I only use a very tiny bit of soft duck fat to coat the fries.
AND, I’m in love with bowl suppers.
These bowls are very inexpensive on Amazon and are just the right size. The gentle slope of the bowl sides keeps thing INSIDE the bowl. As I often eat a meal on the porch or in the little tv room (at night), the sloped bowl is a good choice.
This meal was cooked in the new oven: roasted whole chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli rabe, carrots in butter (stove top), warmed leftover asparagus and red peppers, and for dessert, raw apple and an espresso. It’s a feast–with great leftovers so I have time to do other things.
When I roast sweet potatoes, I cook several, smash them with butter, and freeze portions for future meals. I do the same for my sprouted brown rice: I cook the whole bag at one time.
I filter my water and use a glass and a glass straw. I have a glass for the car as well. I clean these glasses and straws daily. After researching when I moved here, I use “Clearly Filtered” to filter my water.
I have many things I am “in love” with, for sure. I’m feeling lucky this morning, and I’m grateful.
So I thought I’d share some recent air fryer endeavors.
I cooked the asparagus in the picture below in the microwave for about two minutes–in a glass shallow pan covered with a cloth. The chicken tenders I put into a bowl with a little melted duck fat and then coated each one with the gluten-free panko I bought and ground finer–so there is just a light coating here.
They were good–but maybe cooked just a bit too long, which made them be a bit dense. I used the roasting feature–but I think I’ll try a shorter time next (maybe 6-8 minutes, turn them over halfway) and then finish with the air broil to brown the coating. I had enough left over to top a supper salad–which I make while cooking my noon dinner.
For the next meal, I cooked the broccoli in hot water until tender–in a pot on the stove top. The cod fillet I thawed, coated with some melted ghee using a brush, then patted the top with the panko mix. I cooked on air fryer for about 10 minutes as this fillet was thick. I think I checked it at about 8 minutes.
It was flaky and DELICIOUS. This one was a win-win. Hmmm, a dollop of tartar sauce, or, for me, some homemade mayo, would be a nice addition.
I had a meeting Thursday morning, and when I got home I was so hungry. I had bought this little loin steak, so thought I’d try it in the air fryer as I was feeling lazy about the outside grill or pan-frying it. (I reheated my leftover broccoli in the microwave.) I cut up one small russet potato and did not soak it in ice water for 30 minutes, which does make the browning more even I think. I tossed the slices in a tablespoon of melted duck fat in a bowl. The potatoes cooked in under 15 minutes (I shake them every few minutes and almost burned them this time–at under 15 minutes.) And the steak cooked on roast in about 10 minutes.
The potatoes were delicious. The steak was fine, but felt a bit tough. I had enough steak to top my supper salad–which is always nice. So, steak in the air fryer works fine, but isn’t as nice as the grill.
I like asparagus roasted in the air fryer. But I don’t really like broccoli cooked that way–it is tough. Maybe if one par-boiled it until almost tender and then air broiled it? But that seems like way too much trouble.
So, the air fryer is a learning curve, but one I’m enjoying. And I’m feeling more confident with using it to its best potential. And it is so easy to clean up. There is no grease all over the stove top from pan-frying something. Yes, I could easily have fried the potatoes in a pan with some duck fat–but the air fryer does use much less fat–and the texture of the air fryer potatoes, unfortunately for my body, is awesome!
The big red blocks (10 inches) are getting sashed. Four rows are done, and sets of two are sewn together. I have to use a ladder to reach the top of the design wall, so I won’t sew those two top rows to the others until the last rows are done and connected.
I looked at some of the selvages more closely while cutting, and not all of these fabrics are Kaffe Fasset, which is ok. Remember that I bought two kits 18 or 19 years ago in Maine as I wanted to make a big red quilt, but never made the kits. I am using most of the kit fabrics, but not following the kit plan. I wanted something more modern–and I think I have a “modern traditional” quilt going here. The label doesn’t matter to me really as I am liking the quilt.
I’m really liking the soft lavender sashing–and I learned a way to set a long sashing strip so that the vertical lines match from videos on the Modern Quilt Studio web site via their Summer Camp mystery quilt. (They have a you-tube channel for their videos and these videos are very helpful for all levels of quilt competency.) I will bind with the lavender (Kona Thistle). And I have a soft grey wide-back for the backing and can use a medium grey to quilt.
Oh my! I am in huge trouble diet wise. I tried air frying French fries yesterday –I cut my own russet potatoes, soaked them in ice water for 30 minutes, dried them in a towel, and used a little duck fat which I melted for the fat coating, and salted them. I had preheated the air fryer–and 15 minutes later, and after shaking the drawer hard a few times, I had these DELICIOUS fries.
In the other drawer, I reheated a hamburger patty and the zucchini rounds I air fried the other day. I over-cooked the hamburger pattyies I made and should have paid attention to my own instincts. But the reheating went well and didn’t ruin either the zucchini rounds or the hamburger patty by cooking them more beyond warming them. LOL, ketchup helped. (I don’t like well-done meat.)
We got about an inch of rain here in two nights and with a shower yesterday. And the temps are now falling into the 70s at night–with daytime temps in the 80s and low 90s. Still, I will water the new little tree out front later today–just to make sure. It is looking ok for now.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I am hoping for a beach walk, but the high tide is now in the morning, and I sew late afternoon.
Louisa Enright's Blog 