Easy as Pie Test Kitchen

File this under weird stuff

 

A co-worker brought me a lemon from his neighbor's tree. His neighbor claims this is what California lemons used to look like back in the day. Pretty ugly, but it tasted good on the inside!

Quick cole slaw

There are a few foods I'm not crazy about unless I make them myself. Orange juice is one. (I'm not sure why, since it's not like it has a lot of complex ingredients.) Cole slaw is another. I'm not a huge fan of store-bought or restaurant slaw. Maybe because I know how fatty it is. Here's my slimmer version:

Cole slaw
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 can crushed pineapple
2 tablespoons pineapple juice (from the can of pineapple)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (vegan if you're avoiding eggs like me)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon pure stevia extract

You can chop the cabbage and radishes in a food processor. I got a mandolin for Christmas, and it requires less work to wash the the processor, so I used that instead. Combine the cabbage, radishes, and pineapple in a salad bowl. In another smaller bowl, stir or whisk the pineapple juice, mayonnaise, cumin, and stevia until the mayonnaise is dissolved in the dressing. Pour the dressing over the top of the veggies and toss the salad.

Broccoli the best way

I adapted a recipe for Broccoli and Roasted Pepper Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette from the best veggie cookbook of all time, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I ate an entire head of broccoli myself one evening a few weeks ago because I like it so much prepared this way. Honestly, I always feel like it's a little too crunchy when it's raw, and a little too soft when it's steamed (even steamed carefully). Her recipe called for blanching it (boiling it briefly in salted water) which was just right. My main change from her recipe was to take out the marjoram (who uses marjoram? It's probably better with it, and I actually have some in my cupboard, but I forgot since I never, ever use it.) I also added oregano and chives, since that's what I have in my little garden, and I dramatically reduced the amount of olive oil. I can't wait to try it with the tomatoes I have ripening outside my dining room door...

Ingredients:

1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano, or 2-3 leaves fresh oregano, cut in small pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoons chives, chopped
1 bunch broccoli
2 roasted red peppers, peeled and chopped (I buy them canned, in which case they are already peeled)
1 ounce crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Directions:

Put the tomatoes, vinegars, olive oil, oregano, garlic, and chives in a bowl together to let the tomatoes soak up the flavor. Separate the broccoli into small florets and cut up the stalk into small pieces as well. Bring some salted water to boil in a large pot and boil the broccoli in it for 1-2 minutes. Drain the broccoli. You can keep it hot, or cool it. I prefer it cool.

Mix the broccoli, tomato mixture, and red peppers in a large bowl. Serve topped with feta cheese.

Home depot has stevia!

My own seedlings finally failed, so I was stoked to see stevia plants for sale at Home Depot!

Not my idea, but it's so cute I have to share

Okay, okay, I realize this is a food blog, and maybe garden decorations aren't an *entirely* appropriate subject. But, they are in my kitchen garden and made from kitchen implements, so isn't that close enough? In any case, I saw this idea in Real Simple last month, and I just had to try it. I got some old, neat-looking utensils at Goodwill and wrote the names of plants on them. I love them. Now I just need some more utensils so I can do the rest of my plants.

Ode to my little garden

I planted some organic, heirloom herbs seeds a few weeks ago because I'm a glutton for punishment. Oh, and because I LOVE being able to just grab whatever seasonings I like from just outside the door. Even though I planted them too deep, 9 of my 12 seed types managed to sprout. Two of them promptly withered because I put them in direct sunlight for at least 8 hours on a particularly hot day. I'd actually given up hope on two more (peppermint and stevia). I decided to do a post-mortem on the seeds that didn't sprout by digging through the dirt looking for roots, and found two little sprouts clinging to the sides of the cup. They're really, really tiny and fragile-looking, so I moved them to the window sill. Can you see the stevia plant at on the left?? It's the lone seed of 20. Brave little stevia plant!

A few days ago I moved my bigger sprouts to pots. I think it was a little too early for some. The dirt crumbled around them and they wound up all tilty and falling over, like the parsley below. It's been like that a few days but doesn't appear to be dying yet...

Some look really good, though. Especially the stuff I bought at Home Depot. :) 

 

I'm particularly excited about my pineapple sage, since I fell in love with it at first bite.

Here's my itty bitty basil:

I followed some signs for a plant sale down the street a few weeks ago, and found myself at a suburban home that doubles as a nursery and goat farm. Now I know why we hear goats at night sometimes. I don't know what kinds of plants these are, but one of them is not doing so well. I love the succulent, though. The flowers are so bright the camera couldn't quite handle them. See if you can guess which of the plants below is the one that is thriving under my black thumb and which is the one that is not doing so well.

 
 

Then there are the Home Depot plants, which I've managed to keep looking good since Saturday. There's even a mini strawberry already growing on the strawberry plant. I can't take credit for that one since it was already there when I bought it.

 

Some kind person even left me a gift for my garden by the dumpster the other day. I'm not sure who left it. But apparently he or she is the of person who likes to make the afternoon of someone who gets excited about things like cat hair-covered bakers racks abandoned next to dumpsters. Must be a secret admirer. That's the only reasonable explanation.

Why ask why?

Today is my mom's birthday, so this post is dedicated to her. I grew up learning how to do all kinds of things you would normally think of the Pilgrims doing, like making butter in a jar, crafting oil lamps out of milk jug lids (okay, maybe the Pilgrims didn't do that), and making applesauce by squeezing apples through a giant metal grinder. We grew our own pumpkins and popcorn in the back yard a few times. As a result, I often have an irresistible urge to do things myself. I see something at the store and think, "Psh. I could do that better myself. And cheaper, too." This inclination has been proven wrong more often than not, but for some reason I feel more satisfied when it's done anyway. Maybe the reason is as simple as enjoying working with my hands. As part of this inclination, I have inherited my mother's love of gardening, as well as what she calls her "black thumb" talent for it. In spite of our black thumbs, we have both managed to grow some passable edibles. I have always had some kind of herbs growing on my porch, they just tend to have a shorter life expectancy than they might have elsewhere.

Since we have a nice big new porch, I'm getting really ambitious. Today I planted about a dozen varieties of seeds to germinate, including some stevia. Faithful readers will remember that I blogged about growing my own stevia, oh, well, awhile ago. I'm finally doing it. Or trying to. Here's my box o' seeds, soon to be a box o' plants. I put them in a box in case we have more cold weather or torrential downpours, so I can bring them inside.

The box says gifts because that's what it used to hold, not because I am getting some kind of unrealistic, grand view of my gardening capabilities.

I also have a compost bin complete with worms, and I get a kick out of thinking of myself as a worm wrangler. (Thanks, Miranda, for the worms! See below.) I have some pots, some dirt, and a spreadsheet for keeping track of all of the soil, sun, and water needs of my plants. Wish me luck!