How to Roast Chestnuts

This article has been moved to tiramipursuit's new website. Find it here.

The Brussels Sprout~ A Tragically Misunderstood Veggie

This post has been moved to tiramipursuit's new website. You can now find it here.
Thank-you!

Peas and Sorrel

I went to the Stein's today and Suyin offered me lots of greens from their garden!
Here are some pictures of the green peas and sorrel Melody and I picked this afternoon.

I tried making Jordan a sorrel broth, from blended sorrel, fennel and parsley broth, green peas, garlic. It turned out as a tart, salty broth: Not one of my best creations,  but he said he liked it!

The end of a wonderful day!

Oatmeal Cookies and Bay Leaf Tea

Today my siblings and I took a long walk to get the mail and observe nature. We saw lizards, ant hills, yellow-faced birds, rescued a moth and collected lots of acorn caps ( : When we got home, we made a little display of our findings and brewed some Bay Laurel leaf tea. I have a book called "Kashaya Pomo Plants" that has natural remedies in it from Northern California plants. I will add this book to my book list for your convenience.

Bay Laurel Tea
Made from the leaves of the California Bay Laurel or "Peppernut" tree, this tea can be used to wash sores or taken internally to treat colds and sore throats.
Brew 3-4 leaves per cup of water to make a dark tea.
We found that when we brewed it briefly the resulting liquid was strong enough to make us sneeze! So, we drank it rather weak, but we're hoping it will help clear up some of the colds around the house.
(NOTE: It's important when making teas or using the zest or peel from fruits that you make sure they are organic and have never been sprayed with pesticides, or you could become ill.)


After the tea, Amani and I made up our own recipe for oatmeal cookies!

Mixing! This is the only one that wasn't 100% blurred, he's a very dedicated mixer!

Waiting for the cookies to be done: Licking apples always helps.

They're done!

Olivia approves

Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbs maple syrup

1 egg

1 cup instant oats

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 salt

1/2 Tbs baking soda

1/2 cup chopped, dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Cream butter and sugars together. Add syrup, egg and oatmeal. Add dry ingredients. Chop cherries and stir into dough. It should hold together.

Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball and slightly compress onto oiled cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. The edges should be golden and crisp, but the middle may still be a bit wet. That is actually perfect! Let them cool for a few minutes on the sheet and then transfer to a wire cooling rack. The edges will be slightly crispy while the center of the cookie will stay soft and chewy! (:

This was an experiment that worked for us today, but it has only been tested once. I'll try it again another day and make sure it still works well!
Bon Appetit!

~Carrot Cake~

I made this cake last Easter and had people asking for the recipe! It is the best carrot cake I've ever had and I thought it was about time I shared the recipe!

Queen Anne's Cake
from "A World of Cake" by Krystina Castella
The original recipe also has 1 20-oz can of crushed pineapple and 3/4 cup golden raisins, which I omitted when I made this cake, but you can add them at the same time as the carrots if you wish!

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
5 eggs
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups corn oil
2 1/2 cups finely grated carrots
1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts

2 cups cream cheese frosting
(recipe follows)


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 8-inch fluted, round cake pans.

 Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate medium bowl, beat the eggs, granulated sugar and brown sugar until thick, about 2 minutes, then stir in the vanilla. Slowly mix the oil until blended. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in the carrots and walnuts and mix until evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and set on a rack to finish cooling.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
6 tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioner's or "powdered" sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Makes about 4 cups

Cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly sift in the confectioner's sugar, and continue beating until all the lumps are gone. Add the vanilla and mix until fully blended and smooth.

Be sure to share this cake with your friends, they will thank you for it! ( :
Find a link to the cookbook in my book section here.

messin around with the camera

I decided to take the camera and try to capture some fall spirit outdoors. I took some Shone farm organic apples with me as props and wandered off into the yard.
Enjoy!

My grandpa and dad used to keep parrots in this little barn.

Three little apples.

My brother looking at the mushroom.

Cutie

Fall, aka Autumn

This post has been moved to tiramipursuit's new website, www.tiramipursuit.com. Thank-you!

Gratitude Bowl

This article has been moved to tiramipursuit's new website. Find it here.
Thank-you!

Currant Scones with Lemon Curd

This post has been moved to my new site. Find it here!

Quinoa Patties

I had a pot of quinoa on the stove when I decided to look in Heidi Swanson's "super natural every day" for a quinoa recipe. It included a recipe for quinoa patties. I didn't feel in the mood for them until I saw that she recommended drizzling them with hot sauce. I caught the bottle of Tapatio out of the corner of my eye and I knew it was meant to be.

As I said, I adapted Heidi Swanson's recipe on the fly, because once you have the idea of mixing eggs and cheese with quinoa, you can create these a hundred different ways with whatever is in the kitchen. She recommends adding any vegetables and serving them with a variety of condiments.

Recipe:

I took 2 cups of the cooked, drained quinoa and mixed it with white cheddar cheese. The quinoa was still hot, so the cheese melted and helped to hold it together. Then I added 1 egg, some flour, salt, freshly cracked pepper, paprika and a spoonful of crushed garlic. Then, you simply drop spoonfuls of dough into a hot frying pan with a little bit of oil. When you flip them, be sure to flatten them out so that they get cooked through.