warmer days?

Well, today we got up to 96 degrees up here in Rochester.  As is becoming a sort of custom, the kids and I got loaded up in the car to run some errands and let mommy stop at some yard sales.  It is a bit of an addiction, I admit.  Thankfully, the littles are quite amenable and have found ways to keep themselves amused.

On the way home, I looked back to find Jude shirtless because it was "sooo hot."  These temperature jumps make it hard for little (and not so little) bodies to adjust.

So, I decided to put out some water play... The boys had fun despite the water still being chilly.   The neighbor boys came out to play.  Jude and Ethan rolled down a hill.  And when they were done in our yard, they hopped the fence to the neighbor's and used their hose to create a water slide.   Carefree, childhood days.  Does it make you nostalgic?  

Ezra does love the water, but the cold direct spray was a bit much, so I set him up his own little area to splash away.

And then I realized.  Oops, what about dinner?  This is a common occurence during the summers around here.  Am I alone?  I had thought about making some fish since we've had so much chicken and so on.  Well, some cod, calimari, scallops, tomatoes, portabellos, capers, spinach, and spaghetti later... we had our meal. 

It stretched the boys a bit, but I'm all for that.  I think overall, they got what they needed and we had an enjoyable home-made, nutritious meal.  I'm trying to encourage myself to do this more in lieu of calling the mister and asking him to pick something up.  Now, if only I had written down how I made it.

the little red hen... sort of.

unlike the little red hen, i have lots and lots of helpers from start to finish.  and unlike the little red hen, we haven't started with seeds (yet).

there is something so simple and so rewarding in the art of bread making.    i can assure you it's not just the littles who oooh and ahh when we check and see the dough swelling under the wet towel. 

"protecting the bread"

and there are so many interested in sampling the nicely (i think) misshapen bread as soon as it comes out of the oven. 

there's so much more to try and learn, but little by little we are doing more bread making at our house. 

just for fun

Every once in a while, we'll take the time to deck the table.  The boys really enjoy setting the table including bringing out all the silverware and linens that we rarely end up needing.  We light candles which never ceases to entertain the littles, who would much prefer to dine only by candlelight, and we all sit down and enjoy a meal together.  On this particular night, we had salad, roasted trout, roasted asparagus, and vegetable rice.

in the kitchen: off the beaten path

Given all the fresh produce of the season from our garden, the CSA, and of course the grocery store, we've been trying out some different ingredients and different recipes.

Beets are quickly moving up my favorite list. I really enjoy them steamed, but we've also tried out a very colorful beet root yogurt dish called pachadi in Malayalam. It's really not as intense as it looks.   It's in fact a mild yogurt dish to accompany rice and such.

Kohlrabi -- a new ingredient to me.  Very tasty prepared as thoran, a typical South Indian dish. 

And, we've had lots of watermelon over the past few weeks.  I saw a recipe in this cookbook for pickled watermelon rind and my sister and I made it.  It's quite refreshing - a little sweet, a hint of ginger and star anise, and a nice cold crunch. 

making butter

put whipping cream in a container and shake...

then shake some more...

and even more until... the sound changes.  yeah!

creamy, butter ready.  i wish i had the foresight to prepare some home-made bread alongside but store bought was just fine. 

and i think the boys agree.  so yummy and a perfect activity for little hands with lots of energy.

celebrating

Today we celebrated my sister's birthday.  We haven't lived in the same state for seven years now, so I count it a privilege to have had her living with us since baby Ezra's birth. 

The boys were so excited last night planning what they would do.  Nathaniel is hugely into surprises, so he just wanted to hide somewhere and then come out and say happy birthday.  They also decided to have a dance party for Giftychechi because she likes to dance.  And they put their daddy in charge of the "games."  

So far birthdays have been simple in our home.   It's a day that we usually spend together enjoying each other's company and a special meal taking time to celebrate the special birthday person.  Today was just that way.

N woke up earliest and had my parents on the phone so that when G woke up we could all say happy birthday to her together.  We had a special breakfast ready and much to the boys' delight there was more for them too.  Breakfast was light with lots of fruit, yogurt, granola, fresh juice, and cranberry-orange scones (one of my all time favorites).

And we ended the day with dinner and a quasi-dance performance by the boys.  G likes hors d'oeuvres, so I decided to do an around the world tapas style dinner.  So, we had smoked salmon on herb toast, shrimp spring rolls, chicken saltimbocca, uzhunnu vada, and steak ssam.

Our favorite was the smoked salmon followed closely by the spring rolls and hoisin-peanut sauce. 

Instead of making a cake, I ordered a variety of mini-cakes from the local bakery that the mister picked up on his way home.  As for favorites, G and I debated between the dark chocolate cake of the ice cream sundae vs the cherry center of the torte.  The mister was a fan of the red velvet as was N.  E liked the orange chocolate and J couldn't get enough frosting. 

**edited** The boys helped me create cards on the computer and then they colored them in.  The twins always seem to be in character so E signed off as Giftychechi's baby spinch (don't ask) and J signed off as Rufus the dog (I heard him wrong and typed Ruford).  N was sticking with the dancing theme and thought the dancing skeleton was hilarious.  They were quite proud of their contribution.  As E said, "I did a great job coloring"  At least we're building confidence, right?

All in all, I hope G had a good day.  I know I'm blessed to have her as a sister and I'm thankful for all God has done for her and for every promise and blessing that awaits her in Him.

in the kitchen

Since tomorrow brings another farmer's market with more vegetables, I thought I would recap what's been made this past week.  Does anyone else struggle with making sure nothing spoils in the back of the fridge or the bottom of a drawer?  I know it's happened to me more often than I would like to admit... so here's last week's recap:

Tossed Salad  (lots of it)

Steamed Bok Choy with Ginger

Asian-style Lettuce Wraps

Dhal with Methi (fenugreek leaves)

Guacamole and Chicken Roast used up the cilantro

Russian Kale Thoran (Malayalee sauteed vegetable)

A little bit about Thoran.  This is a common way to prepare vegetables in Kerala cooking - it's simple, healthy, and tasty.  To prepare, you first fry mustard seed, then add in onions, grated coconut, green chilis, curry leaves, and turmeric.  In the case of dark green vegetables, I like to add in some cooked masoor dhal, a couple cloves of garlic, a little bit of cumin and chili powder.   I mash all these ingredients into a coarse paste and add it to the mustard seed.  Once your onions are cooked through and the coconut is toasted, you add in your chopped vegetables.  Season with salt.  Cover the mixture and let it cook through.

 While making the thoran, I just had to take some pictures of my little assistant. He really likes to be in the middle of all the action which in this case means he's on the kitchen floor playing on his activity mat with his little birdie. 

incoming

I think we're going to be inundated with fresh produce this summer.  I took the plunge and signed up to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  I'm excited to be bringing all this fresh, organic, local goodness into our home.  I'm also excited to see what kinds of dishes we can prepare with all the various veggies from the CSA as well as our garden.  I hesitated initially because I'm just not sure how much of the produce fits our mix of American and Indian cooking.  I finally figured that I could adjust and I think it will be a fun little game to play with myself this summer.

This Saturday was our first pick-up.  So, the kids, my sister and I headed over to the Farmer's Market to pick up our box.   The twins were less than easy to herd, so there's some training that needs to be done there.  They kept bringing me things - heads of lettuce, plants, baked goods.  Ayy! 

But we made it home with all the littles in tow, despite the rain, and with many goodies.  We've already made a salad and I'm thinking of chicken lettuce wraps with the bibb and some dhal curry with the methi and cilantro.  We'll see what becomes of the rest.

bibb lettuce, wild spinach, cilantro, methi, bok choy, red and green leef lettuce, white turnips, russian kale

flavor-full strawberries that quickly met their fate

do they look guilty or what?

looks like they enjoyed it

strawberry jammin'

It's been a couple years since I've made homemade jam but since there have been bunches of strawberries in the markets, how could I not?  Not to mention, it's so very yummy!

Aren't strawberries lovely - just to look at?  Who could resist taking a few pictures?

At our last home, I had a strawberry patch for making jam (if I could get to the berries before my boys ate them all).  But this year, we just bought several pounds.  This has been a longer process than I remember which probably has something to do with having a teeny one in the house and big brothers who are constantly on the go. Kudos to those that end up with 52 jars of jam for the year!

I really wanted a recipe with less sugar than the typical 4-7 cups, so I tried Stephinie's recipe and it turned out very well!  I did pulse the berries a bit in the food processor so that brought the berries down to a little over 8 cups.    For my own sake - when I'm looking for recipes for next year, I've summarized it below.  

- 8 cups crushed strawberries (slightly over 4 lbs)

- 1/4 c lime juice

- 1 c water

-  2 c sugar

- 1 box (1.75 oz) low/no-sugar pectin

Bring strawberries, lime juice, water and 1.5 c of the sugar to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure your mixture doesn't boil over.   

Mix pectin with remaining .5 c sugar and pour into boiling strawberries.  Stir to make sure everything mixes well and you don't end up with lumps at the bottom.

[While you're stirring, be sure to take a nice deep breath and enjoy that sweet syrupy smell that I'm sure would make a hummingbird swoon.]

Cook additional 5 minutes and remove from heat. Skim off any foam. 

Then pour into hot jars and seal as instructed by manufacturer.  I did go ahead and process my jams for 10 minutes in a water bath which is also why I reduced the cooking time from the original recipe. 

And there you have it, homemade soft-set reduced-sugar jam. Each batch made about 9 cups of jam.

  

I'll make another batch tomorrow with a bit more sugar for gift-giving and such.

back to basics: homemade yogurt

I grew up with homemade yogurt.  My mom would make a big pot of it at least once a week and would use it for a variety of dishes.  In fact, if my mother read this post I think she would find it hilariously simple and somewhat odd.

But I digress... As I've gotten busier, I've just relied on picking up a tub of yogurt at the store.  But a couple weeks ago, I had a lot of milk in the fridge and decided to make yogurt before the milk spoiled. I kept some of that batch as a starter and made my second batch today. 

I took the lid off this morning and was pleased to find a nicely set dish of yogurt.  It's always an exciting surprise.  This afternoon, I scooped some out and just ate it plain.  So delicious!  Maybe it's that in this 37th week of pregnancy, heartburn is really bothering me.  But, it was cooling and perfect just the way it was.  I also tried it with a drizzle of honey, dried crandberries, and almond slivers.  So good!

I can't believe I ever stopped making yogurt.  It is so SIMPLE and definitely cheaper than buying it from the store.  All you do is boil milk (whatever fat content), let it cool, and then add in the starter.  [I'm sure there's a perfect temperature for this -- but I just do it to the touch]  I then keep mine overnight in a warm (but not actively on) oven.  And there you have it.  Keep a small part aside (something like a cup) as starter.  The more you make it, the better the starter gets.

Chicken Curry

Chicken curry is one of those staple dishes we typically make once a week at our house. Today, we'll have it with rice, a dal curry, and an indian vegetable. Tomorrow, I'll probably make chappatis. I don't follow a recipe, so it usually tastes different from batch to batch. Perhaps one of these days I'll write down a real recipe, but in the interim this is the basic method for our (south indian) curry:

Heat some oil in a heavy pot

Fry mustard seed. Once popped, add in your whole spice. Today, I used 3 dry red chilis, 2, 1-in. cinammon sticks, 3 cardamom pods, 4 cloves, 1 star anise, 1/2 tspn of fennel seeds, and 3 bay leaves

Once you can smell the aroma, add in your onions (2 medium). I like to put this in first and let it caramelize well before I add in the garlic (10 cloves) and ginger (2 inches)

 

Once brown (but not burned), add in a tomato or a couple spoons of tomato paste

Add in ground spices. I use coriander powder (2 heaping tspns), chicken masala powder (3 heaping tspns), red chili powder (3/4 tspn), and turmeric (1/4 tspn) and fry well

Add cut chicken* and salt and black pepper to taste. Mix well. Once it begins to boil, lower heat and let simmer

When almost done, add in a couple tspns of garam masala and a tspn of red pepper flakes. Stir and finish cooking

Add chopped cilantro and serve

* I don't have a good estimate on the pounds.  Today I used 4 split chicken breasts and 5 drumsticks.