Ain't Life Just Peachy...

From the City...

Laura got a great deal on peaches from her farmer friend last week.  The day that she picked them up they were rock hard so we thought we wouldn't have to rush to get them done but little did we know that by the very next day, after 1 night of sitting in the van, they would be 100% ripe and ready to go.  So it was pretty much decided that the holiday monday would be spent peaching and peaching we did.   My sister Rosemary and I made 13 jars of canned peaches, 16 bags of puree for our babies and two freezer bags full for cobblers and pies.

1 bushel of ripe and ready to go peaches

Peach Puree for Babes

Trays of blanched peaches everywhere....

So good.

Long Weekend Bake-Fest

from the city...

I seem to be baking a lot lately.  I don't know if it's because I realized I could get away with eating it because I'm constantly feeding babe or if it's because there seems to be no shortage of people that want something sweet to eat, nevertheless, I am completely loving it.   

 This is my mother in law's pantry drawer.  I happen to believe that good things always come from the pantry, especially someone else's.  

 Before 

 After

World's Best Oatmeal Cookies 

(don't mess 'em up with chocolate chips or raisins because they are perfect, just the way they are)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups quick cooking oats

• 
  
• 1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
• 
  
• 2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar.
• 
  
• 3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

After that I was off to the farm for some hangouts with the boys.  I got to spend the whole day with Luc while Nate was off fishing with his bubba (grandpa in our family).  Luc had a cold so we made it a pretty low key day.  A walk down to Auntie Ann's, a game of Snakes Climbing Ladders (as Luc calls it) and some baking.  There are no shortage of giant zucchini at the farm so it was an easy decision to make a zucchini bread.  

 Never too young to start 'em on dishes.

 Wet Ingredients

 Dry Ingredients 

 Mixing

 The goods.

 Not fast enough.

Here's the recipe; it makes two loaves but it freezes well...but really, when are two loaves of anything a bad thing?

Zucchini Bread 
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until done.

Hope everyone had something sweet to eat for the last weekend of summer 2011.  I know I sure did.  

ab

Some Pics from my Week

From the City...

 Cherry tomatoes from Diane's tomato patch.  I roasted them as per Laura's directions in a previous post. They are delicious.  We had roasted tomato grilled cheese for lunch.  

 Simon singing to Theo whilst Theo sits in his new big boy chair.  This is his permanent facial expression these days.

 My little kitchen.  It may be small but it cranks out some good food.

We borrowed a bike and a helmet and took T for a ride.  He loved it.  He also didn't mind the pink helmet.  

Hope everyone is having a lovely week.

ab

A Friday Ritual

From the City... 

Borrowed from Soulmama; 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Hot Child in the City...

From the City...

We just got home from the farm yesterday and the city is a smolderin. So so hot. We've been sitting around our apartment in our underwear for most of the day and Theo diaperless, enjoying the cool fan breeze on his buns. Aside from the puddles of pee, it's a pretty lovely way to spend a hot day.

The visit at the farm was great, as usual. Laura and I took all of the babies and kids to fireworks on Friday and while Laura was at market, I hung out with the kids and we puttered around the farm. Sunday was french toast and watching the kids run through the sprinkler.

A pretty good start to the summer.

Our dinner tonight.

From the City...

I frequent this butcher shop near my house called Vince Gasparro's meat market, at least once a week and I just love it. It's completely family owned and run and on a good day you'll see the older generations making fresh sausages (all sausages are made in house). All the meats are ontario grown on small scale farms, grain fed, good quality stuffs and Matt Galloway, a local toronto CBC celebrity, shops there and plugs it as one of his favorite spots in Toronto. Deep down, I also shop there in hopes that one day we'll both order the last sausage and have to share it a la Lady and the Tramp. A girl can dream can't she?

So I bought this incredible 2lb pork tenderloin and found a recipe online that sounded pretty delicious. Here is it:

2 cloves garlic, minced

juice of one lemon

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

Mince garlic and add to cumin. Rub well over tenderloin.

In a separate bowl add lemon juice, honey and a little salt and pepper. Glaze the tenderloin during the last ten minutes of cooking.

Barbeque tenderloin for about 20 minutes or until just a hint of pink remains on the inside.

I served it with ontario asparagus that I also barbecued with a little salt/pepper and olive oil and a potato salad with avocado (not local but still delicious). Here's the recipe for the salad.

1 lb.Cooked potatoes, cooled and cubed

1 half an avocado

2 tbsp mayonaise

1/3 cup plain yogurt

whatever herbs you have and love, on hand (I had rosemary and chives)

1 clove of garlic

salt and pepper taste

Throw everything except the potatoes in the food processor. Blend and season to taste.

Pour over potatoes and allow to chill in the fridge.

enjoy.

Dead Beat Blogger Returns!!!

Whoa, whoa whoa. As you can tell Laura and I have been finding it increasingly difficult to blog, life is busy, there is always something on the go and I'm even finding it hard to cook and create

recipes. Brutal, I know.So here's just a tidbit of what I've been up to:

Camping with the girls on the long weekend

Robyn's Sweet Potato Salad

Camping Feet

Raspberry Bran Muffins: Recipe here

Ruby sunning herself

Tam's chocolate chip cookies

Breakfast

Breakfast

Ali and her gold coat

Of course

Spinach Salad

Black Bean Burritos : recipe here Made without Meat

The View

Robyn

Ali

Amy and Hayley

New Potato

Salad: Recipe Down Below

Grilled Zucchini

Tam in the Sun

Fire Roasted Chicken

New Potato Salad:

1 1/2 quarts new potatoes, washed but of course with the skins, boil gently until slightly soft not mushy, 15-20 min.

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves fresh garlic

a whack of rosemary (large bunch)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Puree everything except the potatoes in your food processor.

Pour over cooled potatoes and allow to chill for atleast two hours.

Enjoy!

CSA Share #5

From the City (temporarily in a small town)...

My CSA share this week:

Stir fry greens

2 cucumbers

1 quart currants

1 bag basil

1 quart snow peas

1 bunch garlic scapes (sadly the last of the season, on to fresh garlic for us!)

2 heads of lettuce

1 dozen eggs

1 purple pepper (which Simon ate all of before I could even have a bite)

1 large pork shoulder

Small town living is goooooooood. I've been having the best time these past two weeks totally relaxing and spending lots of time with fam, both mine and Simon's. Its these times that you really have to, not to sound like a total cheese or whatever but, cherish. We really do have the best families.

The last two weeks in my life have consisted of:

• swimming at least once every day
• mini road trips to see family
• playing cards in the sun
• big walks/hikes
• waking up on our time (never with an alarm clock because I think that it is one of the worst, most unnatural things to do ever, but we also never sleep past 8 am because we've really started to enjoy the cool early summer mornings)
• gardening
• playing with our nieces and nephews who are wonderful and adorable and exciting and fun and exhausting all at the same time
• cooking
• eating
• baking pies
• picking raspberries
• going to the farmers market down the street
• eating dinner all together
• being part of a family book club/reading in the shade in the hot afternoons

I know right...it totally pays to take summers off, just not monetarily of course.

So I had big big plans to make pulled pork sandwiches. My SIL sent me her amazing recipe, I had the ingredients, I had the ambition, I was ready to go. Then I got side tracked. Simon said, "let's not cook, it's too hot, let's order pizza tonight instead" and so, knowing my weakness for things doughy and cheesy I ditched the idea to make it. Something similar happened the next day. So instead I roasted it and it wasn't nearly as good, still delicious but definitely no pulled pork. So I say, if you buy the pork shoulder, don't get lazy, don't listen to the ramblings of a certain someone, make the sandwich.

Here's the recipe if you prove to be a better person than myself.

Pulled Pork for the Slow Cooker/Crock Pot

1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. ground mustard
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt and pepper
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
3 pounds(ish) pork shoulder

Mix all ingredients in slow cooker, add pork. Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

I still did manage to eat most of my share last week. We had amazing salads with a basil vinaigrette, sauteed garlic scapes, scrambled eggs with leftover ham and stir fried greens with soy and sesame sauce.

Basil Vinaigrette

1 cup olive oil

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1 bunch basil

salt and pepper

Puree the whole mess in your blender, bullet, food processor or whatever other fancy tool you have on hand.

"a little of what you fancy does you good"

A Greasy, yet delicious, Holiday Monday

From the City in the Country...

Fresh cut chip truck fries with malt vinegar and salt. It really is the beginning of summer.

Sunday Deliciousness

From the City:

Simon loves pancakes, like loves pancakes. Whenever we go out for breakfast, he always orders a standard breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast) with a side of pancakes. For him, this is the perfect combination of sweet, salt and fat.

So in order for our relationship to be long lasting (7 years this September) certain things had to be mastered:

• I had to learn the art of tickies. This is a family term for tickling the head, arms or back and occurs mainly in the evenings
• Learn the art of multi- tasking by watching a movie while also working on a laptop and carrying on conversation
• Make a mean stack of blueberry pancakes

Here are some tips to making perfect pancakes:

1. Before you ladle on the pancake batter, wipe access butter off the griddle with a folded paper towel. This will make sure you have perfectly browned pancakes.

2. Use all purpose flour in the batter. Cake flour can turn soggy when you top it with syrup. Experiment with different flours like buckwheat or whole wheat just substitute half of the all purpose for any of these.

3. Never whisk batter until it's smooth. Lumps are a good thing and will result in fluffier pancakes.

4. Flip pancakes just as the surface bubbles begin to burst. Flipping them after makes for flatter pancakes.

5. When adding blueberries, bananas or chocolate chips (only some of the many additions you can make) sprinkle them over the batter right after they have been poured on the griddle. This will make sure they are distributed evenly and it also makes them look prettier on the plate, which can sometimes be just as important as how they taste.

6. Warm pure maple syrup before serving. It makes for a certain extra little bit of specialness to the morning (or evening, whatever, no judgement here)

Here's a good (basic) recipe that should keep 'em coming for more:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, or vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Assorted toppings, such as butter, maple syrup, confectioners' sugar, honey, jams, preserves, sweetened whipped cream, or chocolate syrup
• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees; have a baking sheet or heatproof platter ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter (or oil), and egg. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not overmix; a few small lumps are fine).
3. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel.
4. For each pancake, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 2 to 3 in a large skillet).
5. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter; cover loosely with aluminum foil, and keep warm in oven. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (You'll have 12 to 15 pancakes.) Serve warm, with desired toppings.

Side note:

These are some pics from the summer when Laura and I took the kids and went blueberry picking. It's a great, really economical way to stock your freezer with juicy berries for the long winter months.

Have a nice Sunday everyone!