EcoMommyo's blog

Fridge Archology : Harnessing the Power Within...My Freezer!

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I surely would be seeing the back of my freezer by now except a box of frozen treats appeared courtesy of EcoGrandma and EcoKiddo. However, I did work down two of my tougher freezer challenges. I made Melissa Clark's Sheet Pan Paprika Chicken this past week and she called for duck fat on some potatoes that accompany on the sheet pan. Ms. Clark has been all over the sheet pan dinners lately. Apparently she wants to pretend that she's a harried career women trying to get dinner on the table quickly after a commute rather than a food writer who works from home. Whatever works for ya sister.

Fridge Archeology : Harnessing the Power Within ... My Pantry!

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I wish I could say I made something virtuous with the last of the buckwheat flour. You know something like...porridge. But I made gluten-free chocolate waffles and maybe you should too. In fact, it was a two-fer. I pulled down the bag of random bags of flour because yes, I live and die by the zip-top freezer gallon size bags. I dig for the buckwheat and I look inside and go hmmmm. Not quite enough for the recipe but have no fear! I have yet another random whole grain flour with which to supplement.

Fridge Archeology : Harnessing the Power Within ... My Refrigerator

Ok, I'm serious this time. After one too many times slamming the freezer door closed and hoping it stayed closed, I'm going to start using things. I was hunting for some frozen tidbit and noticed, like an archeological dig, the freezer has strata. Like the line of dark debris round the world formed after the Chicxulub asteroid impact, there is a definite line of demarcation in the freezer. Before I swore to label everything and after. The mysterious before labeling stuff is getting long in the tooth because "label things in the freezer" was my 2016 New Years resolution.

La Historia de Una Abeja

Empty Throne

Readers, let me tell you of my bee woes. One of my hives has been a regular telenovela.

Round about this time last year, we noticed one of our two hives was quiet … too quiet. It turned out as we feared. The whole colony had departed for greener pastures after a wet, cold winter. It was tragic inside the hive. I found several bars of bees frozen in place with a comb full of honey not that far away. I wasn't in the market for a new colony so it just sat there empty.

Really Making The Apples Last

Apples 2014

As we settled down for some PBS Christmas special last night, I reflected on the winter. A sneak snow storm was dusting the roads outside and it appears that winter has finally arrived, technically and meteorologically. While the apples in Santa Fe are well past their peak, once again we have put some up.

30 minutes Or 75 minutes, whatevs...

Kitchen Timer

Mark Bittman, you're killing me. I made your Spaghetti and Meatballs with hope in my heart and I made it in 30 minutes! (times 2.5)

I completely understand your argument that mise-en-place is an overly fussy step for home cooks. The only time a home chef needs to have everything ready is for stir-fries where everything comes together rapidly. The preparation of the mise-en-place works well in a restaurant where a cook is moving all the time and has several different dishes going. If a restaurant chef has a moment after something has started, they better get going on the next order. If I prep everything ahead of time that means I'll have small six to ten minute breaks between recipe steps which sounds terribly annoying. I could either do a few six minutes chores and forget to stir the onions or I could prep along the way.

The Four Day Cocktail

This past week, I spent four days making a cocktail.

If you saw the picture in Bon Appetit, you might drop everything and make it too. Its marbled beauty reminiscent of an Italian cathedral.... Oh sorry! Back to the cocktail.

This craziness started on Sunday with a special trip to our local 'Swapper Jacks' for a stout beer. I did not want a whole six pack because, for lord's sake, it's 90 degrees outside ... who drinks stout when it's that hot? Beer acquired.

Help Me Obi Kalenobi, You're My Only Hope!

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Young Kale in our cold frame

Happy New Year! Have you bought your collards yet? They are the New Kale and you will be eating lots of leafy green vegetables this year, right?????? Welcome to your annual reset: Bon Appétit's 2014 Food Lover's Cleanse.

L'air du vinaigre

Hey kids! Would you like your house to smell like vinegar? Have I got the recipe for you!

We had a surprisingly good tomato year this year in our garden. This is extra amazing considering we had a massive hail storm in early July which reduced many of our plants to sticks. The tomatoes bounced back and, boy howdy, did they produce. However, the cold descended before all the tomatoes could ripen. So, we had lots of green tomatoes and didn't have the heart to toss everything on the compost pile.

EcoMommyo Reads Michael Pollan's "Cooked"

Cooked by Michael Pollan

Oh how I wish I was a highly paid journalism professor at UC-Berkeley. Then I would be blissfully unaware that people have accents in this great nation of ours and have long Sundays of no errands to stand around watching meat braise. AHHH, that would be the life.

Instead we ate leftover fish tonight and roasted vegetable salad and cleaned a few more things out of the refrigerator. Now I'm sitting here watching Glee, thinking about eating graham crackers for dessert and reveling in the fact that we got EcoBaby to eat brussel sprouts. Life's little victories.

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