Howdy! And thanks for checking in again! It’s Tuesday, so let’s see what’s up in the Lazy W kitchen.
What we’re eating a lot of these days: EGGS. So many eggs, in so many wonderful incarnations. The hens are laying maniacs this week! Yesterday I collected 22. That’s a lot for us. So we are compelled to find more and more ways to eat our weight in these little nutritious miracles. Fried, hard-boiled, cheesy breakfast sandwiches, mushroom omelettes, Quiche, eggs cooked hot and runny over kale, you name it. Liquid chickens are on the menu! Handsome may or may not be getting tired of this.
Speaking of kale, I am still eating lots of that, too. Although, and maybe you’ve noticed this yourself, the grocery store offerings are starting to taste a little drab and bitter as the season progresses. So I’m relying more heavily on what the raised beds provide. Fresh baby kale to the rescue!! Last night I found a bunch and a half of not great grocery store kale in the refrigerator plus half a bag of languishing clementines. (How long have we had those?) Together these two nearly expired food stuffs comprised a really delicious salad base.
Try this salad:
As always, just wash the kale, remove the “bones” (do any other veggies have bones?), slice it up really skinny, and massage those kale ruffles with just 2 teaspoons of your fave olive oil. Toss all of that with freshly squeezed clementine juice then some black pepper and sea salt. Add a plain roasted sweet potato and chicken breast if you want. The clementines made it all much sweeter than normal, a great flavor combination with the roasted sweet potato. Do you like those salads with chicken and strawberries? Not at all unlike that deliciousness. And supremely filling.
Okay, now on to a few recipe experiments and reviews of each:
Bacon-Cheddar Scones: I made this recipe, with a few minor tweaks, for my Mom for Mother’s Day. She is taking her diabetes and health very seriously, yay Mom! So I feel guilty loading her up with desserts no matter the special occasion. A double-protein treat seemed better. (I used oven-cooked bacon instead of ham, by the way.) She really seemed to liked these, so this recipe is a keeper. Sometimes don’t you crave a dense, buttery scone instead of a more delicate pastry? I do. So on a special brunch day I’ll make it for us here at the farm. Bacon and cheddar scones. Oh, quick tip! Freeze your stick of butter at least partially then grate it into your dry ingredients, and don’t overdo it with the mixing!
Turkey Burgers: I was a huge fan of this recipe, but Handsome was decidedly not. No offense to the recipe itself; the ground turkey is just not a texture he could handle. He barely gagged down half of his, so we won’t be sharing this meal again. Like, ever. But since I have more ground turkey in the freezer, I’ll make a batch of these for myself once in a while, only with less dark mustard next time. Also, in the spirit of use what you have, I added a little shredded mozzarella instead of fancy cheese. Plenty good enough for a weeknight or for a healthy lunch. Turkey Burgers
Roasted Garlic Humus: Okay, this recipe we agreed was wonderful. This is good news, too, because a craving for humus was the main reason I spent $10 on a jar of tahini. (Yikes!) Next time for the sake of my husband’s stomach health I’ll use less (or zero) roasted garlic, and eventually I’ll invest in a food processor. My trusty blender did an okay job of destroying the tender beans, but the finished product was slightly chunkier than I would expect humus to be. Overall, easy and so good! Really good with whole wheat pita bread and celery. Roasted Garlic Humus
Iron Skillet Focaccia: Oh man, friends, I am a sucker for good focaccia. It has got to be the loveliest of all homemade breads, right? Especially with fresh rosemary, some olive oil, maybe a splash of vinegar. Or nothing at all! It’s so good naked, and the whole baking process imparts a cozy sexiness to your home. But sometimes the day is too full and the kitchen counter is too crowded for rolling out the heavy dough, kneading it, allowing it to rise seven million times, etcetera. I mean… Those things are satisfying and worthwhile, just not always possible. Well, I happened upon this recipe last week on just such a day and was thrilled with the results! We don’t eat bread much these days, so when we do I want it to be pretty gangbusters. This was a success. Try it. You will not be sad. Easy No Knead Skillet Bread
Okay that’s it for now! I’m reading my way into an appetite for food by Elizabeth David, but that’s for another day. Tell me something you have tried cooking lately. I’d love to hear. Over and out!
“Calvin: Why are you crying mom?
Mom: I’m cutting up an onion.
Calvin: It must be hard to cook if you anthrpomorphisize your vegetables.” *
~Bill Watterson, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
XOXOXOXO
*LOL
Oooh! Love the thought of kale, clementine and sweet potato! If those DARN cabbage moths leave mine alone, I’ll have to try that! I think we have them conquered with netting for now. Also, the focaccia sounds wonderful! Happy gardening Marie ! Wish I could take some of those eggs off your hands!