project 52: week 3

What is Project 52? It's a little like Project 365, but instead of the goal of posting a photo each day, I'll post a photo or two each week along with a short update. Really I just need a little push to post something every week. Since I like to keep this space positive, posting every week forces me to look back and find something shiny to talk about (ten points if you get that reference). Some weeks that's a piece of cake. Other weeks it's more of a challenge, and those weeks give this task true meaning.

Looking through my classroom window at the signs of autumn.

The final harvest of tomatoes from my garden.

 What's New?
This past weekend I was super productive at home, mainly in the kitchen. I picked all the remaining tomatoes off of my plants, roasted them, and then made tomato sauce. I ended up with two 16 oz freezer containers full. I cut back and composted my tomato plants, as well as much of the rest of my garden, because it has suffered from a white fly invasion this summer. I made boozy applesauce cake, breakfast muffins, chicken stock, butternut squash soup, washed all the dishes, then washed all the dishes again (funny how that works). I also put my clean clothes away (what!?!). Shocking, I know.

I try to do so much on the weekends because I'm basically useless during the week. I come home from teaching, eat dinner, take a shower, and then relax in my pjs in front of the TV with my knitting. Sometimes I cook dinner, but if I can get away with it I just eat leftovers. That's one of the beautiful things about cooking a recipe meant for 4-6 people when there are only 2 people living in your house.

Currently Reading
Yes, I am reading 4 books at once. What that really means is that I've started all four books, and I trade off which one I'm reading. Sometimes I read one consistently for many days in a row, and sometimes I read a different book each day. My mother (and many others) often seem confused by this approach, but I find it fulfilling. Think of it like watching a different show each night. You are still "caught up" on the story from each show. You never confuse Walking Dead with Orphan Black (those are completely different stories, of course). Likewise, I don't confuse the different books I'm reading.

• The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
• The Midwife's Tale by Sam Thomas
• Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
• The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans and Heretics by Elaine Pagels

On the Needles
Progress on the Wood Hollow Vest is slow, for sure. I haven't knit very much since my last post (thanks to a sharp kitchen knife, a stubborn package of sausage, and my fingertip). But I have been making progress - one stitch, one row, at a time. Slowly, very slowly, I am turning yarn into a vest.

Looking Forward To

1. attending a Town Hall Event about climate change
2. picking up eleventy-billion pounds of apples for sauce and pie

potstickers & teaching

What's New?
While I've been away from this space, I've been experimenting with making dumplings. I started with Smitten Kitchen's Spring Vegetable Potstickers and I've branched out to more traditional pork & cabbage stuffed wontons. I like how quickly they come together, and how quickly they cook. It's made weeknight meals so much easier.

The other news is that school is almost out! Next week is a 4-day week, with Thursday being the last day of school. I know I say this all the time, but I really don't know where April and May went. I swear March was just a few days ago. Part of that, I know, is that I've had a student-teacher the past couple months. The other part of that is how busy life gets in the Spring, especially when you're a teacher.

Currently Reading

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Why is Milk White? & 200 Other Curious Chemistry Questions by Alexa Coelho & Simon Field

On the Needles
I started a green Leaflet cardigan with my new birthday yarn (Thanks Marya & Alex!). Even though I try to do smaller projects, I just love knitting cardigans. I'm using Berroco Ultra Alpaca Tonal yarn, which is not single-ply (I'm swearing off single-ply yarn - it just doesn't show stitches as well). The Leaflet pattern is another by Cecily Glowik MacDonald, who is quickly becoming my favorite cardigan designer.

Looking Forward To

1. finishing up this school year
2. cleaning and organizing my classroom for next year

autumn = soup!

Our weather in Seattle has quickly become colder, alternating between soggy wet and surprisingly crisp. In my mind, weather like that demands snuggling on the couch under a blanket, knitting with wool, and eating soup. This year, even though we are barely into autumn, I have found myself trying new soup recipes at an astounding rate (at least for me). Here are a few recipes I've found:

Over at Collecting the Moments I found a great do-ahead strategy and a simple and delicious chicken noodle soup recipe. Joe and I both caught colds last week and this simple soup was the best of both worlds: quick and easy to prepare, and warm and filling.

(photo from Collecting the Moments)

SophistiMom posted a great recipe for curry pumpkin soup. I do like me some curry, so I ended up doubling all the spices. It was a great soup, and it made my kitchen smell heavenly.

(photo from SophistiMom)

Tonight I'm trying another new recipe: udon noodle soup with bok choy and poached egg from TheKitchn blog. I'll let you know how that goes.

(photo from TheKitchn)

busy baking weekend

Yesterday I baked, and baked, and baked.











All the cookies (and the brownies) are for a care package to my cousin in Iraq.

On top of all my cookie baking, I decided to make pizza for dinner.



Today I made Smitten Kitchen's breakfast apple granola crisp. I'm so beat from all this cooking and baking that I didn't get any pictures of the apple crisp. Oh well. Such is life.

roasting a pumpkin

I've recently realized that many people I talk to have never roasted a pumpkin before. While I certainly appreciate the convenience and flexibility of canned pumpkin, I think that using fresh pumpkin is something that everyone should at least try once. I remember thinking that it must be the hardest thing in the world - turning a hard vegetable like squash into that smooth puree for pies. Once I tried it I realized how easy it really is.


Start with a pie pumpkin (or sugar pumpkin, as they are sometimes called). The only grocery store I can always count on to carry these around here is Trader Joe's. Safeway, Albertsons and the like seem to only carry other varieties of winter squash. Don't forget your local farmer's market.


Remove the stem, cut in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy bits (clean and roast the seeds if you like).


Having an orange cat around as "helper" is entirely optional.


Some people like to put their pumpkin halves cut-side down. I prefer cut-side up, so they don't stick to the foil.


After roasting at 350 degrees for an hour or so, they should be easily pierced with a fork. The time really does vary, so check and adjust.


It's best to let them sit for awhile, to prevent burning your fingers as you handle them, and then scoop out the flesh from the skins.


A quick pulse in the food processor turns it from this...


... into this. A smooth puree ready for pie, cookies, or whatever else you like to make with pumpkin.

One trick I learned for dealing with leftover pumpkin puree - measure 1-cup amounts into a sandwich size Ziploc. Smooth flat and lay in the freezer. Next time you need a cup of pumpkin puree just take out a bag and let it defrost on the counter.

enchiladas

I love trying new recipes.

I especially love trying new recipes from ThePioneerWoman.

Ree takes great photos of every step, so I never have to worry if I'm doing things right. And so far, everything I've tried has turned out great.

I recently made enchiladas again, using her recipe. I made a few changes (subbing ground turkey and green sauce), but I honestly like the original version best. I think it would have been just as tasty with the ground turkey, but changing from red sauce to green sauce just didn't do it for me.

So, if you like enchiladas, give this recipe a try, exactly as it's written. You won't regret it.

beet pizza

I found some beets in my CSA box this week, and wasn't sure what to do with them. I've cooked beets before, as part of my desert tortoise's food, but I had never eaten them myself (as far as I can remember). So I decided to give them a try. Only problem was that I had no idea how to prepare them.



So I headed over to the Pioneer Woman's food blog, Tasty Kitchen, and searched for "beet." What I found, among other recipes, was the bloody beet and goat cheese pizza. This seemed a no-brainer. I love pizza. I love roasted garlic. I love goat cheese. Seemed a good way to introduce my taste-buds to beets.



Besides, cut beets are so pretty, don't you think?



Anyway, I modified the recipe a bit. We like to make our pizza dough in the bread machine instead of by hand. It's still tasty, but that way I can prepare the toppings while the bread machine takes care of the dough. And, bread machine pizza dough turns out well every time, whereas pizza dough by my hands sometimes is a flop. I also didn't pay attention to the amount of goat cheese that the recipe called for. I just added cheese until I was satisfied. Here's the finished product:



The roasted garlic and goat cheese was a great combination. The beets added a sweet touch that I enjoyed. I'd definitely consider making this combo again.

homemade sorbet

We restarted our CSA subscription with Full Circle Farm and picked up our first box last week. Inside there was, among other things, a fresh cantaloupe and a recipe for "Homemade Cantaloupe Sorbet." How could I resist that?



My cantaloupe sorbet is still firming up in the freezer, so I can't tell you yet how yummy it is. But in case you'd like to find out on your own, here's the recipe, paraphrased a bit:

Handmade Cantaloupe Sorbet from Full Circle Farms

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 cup 1-inch pieces peeled, seeded cantaloupe (I just used the whole melon, however much that was)

Heat sugar and water in saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and water boils. Pour into medium bowl and allow to cool. Puree cantaloupe in food processor until smooth (mine was a little chunky, but mostly smooth). Mix pureed cantaloupe with sugar water mixture and stir until well blended. Freeze until almost firm, stirring occasionally, at least 3 hours or overnight. Using a heavy whisk, beat air into mixture until fluffy. Return to freezer until firm without stirring, at least 3 hours or overnight. Keeps for about three days. Serve with mint.



I'm still working on the "freeze until firm" part (pre-whisking).



You could use the same recipe with any fruit. I think peach would be good, too.

Since I had the food processor out, and we were running low, I decided to make some more peanut butter using a recipe from The Tangled Nest.



Yum.

Perfect start to my summer vacation.

Breakfast Pizza

Breakfast Pizza. Now doesn't that sound wonderful? Two amazing ideas, breakfast and pizza, combined to make an excellent meal. Strangely, I've made this twice now, and both times I ate it for dinner and breakfast the next day.



I cheat a little bit, and make my pizza dough in the bread machine. I've made it by hand as well, but in my busy life the bread machine can be a savior.



The only thing I changed in the recipe was the addition of mushrooms. I love mushrooms, and firmly believe that just about anything can be made better with mushrooms. And so you have it.



I think it was the combination of cheeses. Or maybe it was the cheese plus the herbs. I don't know. What I do know was that the first bite was heavenly. As was the second, and third, and so on.



If you'd like the recipe, head on over to Smitten Kitchen and check it out.

Donuts!

Today Joe and I made donuts, following Pioneer Woman's recipe.


First I have to show you my new deep fry thermometer. I didn't have one, and Pioneer Woman was very specific about the oil temperature, so I went down to City People's and found this one.


When I opened the package I realized that it has an adjustable clip that hooks onto your pot so the thermometer stays upright. Brilliant!


Okay, here's what you really want to see. Glorious donuts. And they are yummy!

We have three of those containers full, but not for long. I think I ate five or six throughout the deep-fry process.

Making Pesto

Yesterday I headed up to South 47 Farm in Redmond, WA and brought home an $8 bag of fresh basil.

From cooking & baking

The smell alone was worth the trip. Today I turned that basil into pesto for the freezer. I used their pesto recipe (below), with two changes: I substituted sunflower seeds for pine nuts, and I omitted the Parmesan cheese since I planned to freeze the pesto. After defrosting, and before serving, I will add the cheese. I've had plenty success freezing cheeses by themselves after shredding them (mostly cheddar and mozzarella), but I didn't want to risk my pesto batch by freezing a cheese mixture. Anyway, here's their recipe:

2 cups firmly packed fresh basil
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts (I used sunflower seeds)
3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

I washed the basil, after pulling the leaves off their stems, combined everything into my food processor and blended until smooth.

From cooking & baking

From cooking & baking

I bought some Ball plastic freezer containers for the first time, and managed to fill all 5 (they are 8 oz each, so 1 cup) and have enough pesto left over to fill an ice cube tray. I used extra virgin olive oil for about half the pesto I made. I ran out of extra virgin so I used pure olive oil for the remaining pesto. I labeled each freezer container with the type of olive oil used (I am curious to see if I can taste the difference) and instructions about how much cheese to add.

From cooking & baking

From cooking & baking

I can't wait to try out my homemade pesto. While I love pesto, I don't eat it often, as the price at the grocery store can be a deterrent. I plan on using it for pasta, pizza sauce, and anything else I can think of.