Tag: fruits

Garden Plan

As soon as my seeds arrived from Botanical Interests, I sorted them out in order of when they need to be planted. I also included seeds I bought last year, and seeds we’ve been saving all year. I came up with a rough garden plan. It went through several revisions once we started working and sowing in the garden. It’s important to keep track of what was planted where so that next year we can mix it up and make sure each plant gets to know a whole new part of the garden. Keeps the soil healthy and happy.

Shade Garden

First in are all the seeds that love cold weather and would grow with at least 3 hours of sun a day. I picked a spot behind the house. It’s the only shady place on the whole property, and it’s close to a faucet and garden hose. While tilling the soil, we found old rusty nails and parts of rusty tools, an indication that at some point in the distant past, someone had a garden there too.

Advantages of growing these plants in the shade: I don’t have to water as much. The shade keeps the plant bed moist for a longer period of time. The leaves don’t get torched by the sun, especially important to leafy green vegetables such as spinach and lettuce.

What I planted in my Shade Garden: peas, sugar snap peas, spinach, lettuce, radish, beets and broccoli. We’re expecting harvest starting mid-March through the rest of spring.

Herb Garden

Next up are cool season herbs. These herbs like full sun to partial shade, so I’m planning on sowing them in front of the house, which faces south, but is given partial shade by large evergreens. We have raised beds surrounding the house and a couple of small ones in front.

Going in the Early Spring Herb Garden: parsley, cilantro, sage, chamomile, lavender, calendula.

Adding to the Herb Garden after Spring has sprung: thyme, oregano, basil.

Sun Garden

After last chance of Spring frost is over, we’ll be starting the Sun Garden: basil, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (basil and tomatoes are best companion planting buddies), corn, carrots, cucumber, green beans, zucchini, summer squash, sweet peppers, red bell pepper, watermelon, cantaloupe, and sunflowers.

Pumpkin patch: My daughter is a Halloween baby, so we want our pumpkin patch to be a big celebration. Three different kinds of pumpkins: Jack O’Lantern pumpkins for carving, sugar pie pumpkins for yummy treats and Jack Be Little pumpkins for decorating.

Fruit Trees

I save all seeds from fruit we eat. I’m planning on sprouting these seeds and growing them in pots until they’re big enough to transplant into soil. It could take years, but I have to start sometime. Apricot, different kinds of apples, lemon, cherries, tangerine, plums, pear, pine.

We also have grown trees that are sprouting babies at their roots. Olive and various other evergreens. I wonder if I could grow them from cuttings.

I don’t know if I’ll get to everything. I certainly have a full plate. I’ll be updating these garden plans as we go along. This is going to be an amazing year!

February 21, 2013
Cranberry Apple Crisp

It’s Christmas Eve, the wee one is asleep and we’re finishing up the last of the presents. Time for a little midnight snack. This Cranberry Apple Crisp makes kissing by the Christmas tree taste so good!

Ingredients:
3 organic granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/2 inch strips
6 oz fresh cranberries
1/4 cup organic sugar
3/4 cups organic brown sugar
1/2 cup organic all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup organic butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rub a pie pan with butter wax paper covers (I save them in the freezer for greasing baking sheets and pie pans and such). Add apples and cranberries to the pie pan. Sprinkle with sugar and toss until coated.

Combine brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, nutmeg, cinnamon and butter in a medium bowl until well incorporated. Sprinkle on top of the fruit.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

You can serve it hot with ice cream. I like it warm by itself on a cold winter night.

December 25, 2012
Garlic Lemonade

It’s inevitable. Every year my daughter gets the sniffles after Halloween, the effect of a combination of moldy leaves on the ground, sudden cold wet weather, and too much candy.

Garlic Lemonade is my go-to remedy for coughs, cold and the flu. I found the recipe in Dr. Aviva Jill Romm’s book, “Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide: How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives.” All three ingredients: lemon, garlic and raw honey are great for boosting the immune system. It’s also delicious. My daughter loves it.

Garlic Lemonade

3 medium-sized garlic cloves, chopped
(blogger’s note: instead of chopping, I pounded the garlic in a mortar and pestle)
Juice of 1 lemon
Raw honey to taste.

Place the garlic in a 1-quart jar and fill the jar with boiling water. Let the garlic steep for 20 minutes and then strain it out. Add the lemon juice and sweeten with raw honey.

Give 1/2 to 2 cups daily, the lower dose to prevent illness and for younger children and the greater quantity for older kids who feel like they are coming down with a cold.

Don’t give the lemonade every day; just use it as needed.

Previously posted on Lemon Garlic Tea.

November 11, 2012
Halloween Party Food Menu

Every year we throw a Halloween party to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. We have a big family with many young cousins, so that alone makes the parties pretty big. In addition, my daughter likes to invite her whole class to the parties as well. Not everyone comes, of course (whew!) but we usually get at least 20 children at these parties.

Children are the most difficult people to keep still long enough to eat. We’ve thrown parties in the past when the kids refused to eat anything and insisted only on playing the whole time they were over. So I’ve decided to serve mostly finger foods, snacks they can swipe as they go past the buffet table on their way to some fun game they are playing. Here is my menu:

Mini Pumpkin Pies. I got the idea from Bakerella’s Pumpkin Pie Bites, but I used my own recipe for Pumpkin Pie. It yielded 48 little pumpkin pies.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. We took the pumpkin seeds from carving out the Jack O’ Lantern and roasted them until brown and crunchy.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. This Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is a family favorite that has been passed down from generation to generation, tweaked slightly to make it healthier while keeping it just as delicious as ever.

Apples, Apple Cider, Chips with Salsa and Guacamole. We were serving so many sweets so I decided on just having apples, and not caramel candy apples. Chips with Salsa and Guacamole as the savory complement to all the sweet treats. Apple cider for drinks.

Halloween Sugar Cookies. Halloween cookie cutter shapes + this Butter Cookies recipe + cookie icing = Fun colorful Halloween cookies!

Jello AB Normal Brain. Green jello set in brain mold the night before the party, set up next to cut carrots for a fun color contrast.

Bone Pretzels. I love my breadmaker, and this Breadmaker Pretzel recipe is one of the reasons why.

October 30, 2012
Banana Crumb Muffins

I love bananas, but sometimes a bunch of them start turning brown in the fruit basket and they have to be rescued, stat! If I have only two bananas left, I make Banana Bread or this basic Banana Muffins recipe. If I have at least three bananas, this is what I do:

Ingredients for Muffins:
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup organic sugar
3 bananas
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for Crumb Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter the muffin pan or put muffin paper liners into muffin cups.

Cream softened butter and organic sugar together. Beat in the egg until smooth. Add mashed bananas and mix well together.

Add the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix all together until smooth. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles crumbs. Sprinkle crumb topping over muffins.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Look at how beautiful the center of the muffins looks. I love the brown slivers of banana in there.

September 6, 2012
Apricot Sorbet

A few days ago I was visiting my aunt and found her apricot tree heavy with fruit. My daughter and I helped ourselves to the ripest ones. “If you touch it and it just gives itself to you, then it’s ready.” We came home with a shopping bag full of ripe apricots. Here’s what I did with them:

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup organic sugar
4 cups pitted and mashed apricots
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Whisk occasionally to help dissolve sugar. Once sugar is completely dissolved in the water, remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool. Cover and refrigerate. While cooling, pit and mash the apricots. Put the mashed apricot in a blender and puree until smooth. Once the syrup is cold, remove from refrigerator. Pour the apricot puree through a mesh sieve into the bowl of syrup. I used a whisk to help the apricot go through the sieve faster. When only the tough skins remain on the sieve, discard. Add lemon juice and whisk together until smooth.

Prepare ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Churn the apricot syrup concoction until thickened into a soft serve consistency. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze overnight to ripen into a firm sorbet.

This apricot sorbet is so rich and smooth on the tongue. Enjoy this summertime treat!

July 5, 2012
Lemon Sorbette

What do you do with an abundance of lemons in the summer? Lemon Sorbette!

I tried this recipe from The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto: Bold, Fresh Flavors to Make at Home. Here’s my version:

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups organic sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed organic lemon juice (from about 6 large lemons), strained and chilled
1 tablespoon finely chopped grated organic lemon zest

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil water and sugar over medium-high heat. Whisk often to dissolve the sugar. Simmer on medium-low for 4 minutes, still whisking to dissolve the sugar completely. Remove from heat and cool. Transfer to a bowl or container, cover and chill for at least an hour.

Prepare ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Combine lemon juice, sugar syrup and lemon zest in the ice cream machine. Let it churn until the sorbette is of the desired consistency. I spent an hour at least letting it churn. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

I sprinkle a little bit more lemon zest on top when serving.

Enjoy this excellent palate cleanser after your meal!

June 15, 2012
Banana Bread
Ingredients:

5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup organic sugar
1 large egg
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease bottom and sides of a bread loaf pan with butter.
2. Beat butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat well. Add egg, egg whites and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Add mashed banana until incorporated.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix well with walnuts.
4. Pour batter evenly into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
5. Cool bread before slicing and serving with butter and jam.
May 28, 2012
Banana Muffins

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups firmly packed organic sugar
2 eggs
2 very ripe bananas (peeled and mashed)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cashews

Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat eggs, bananas and vanilla into the mixture. Add flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix together until it forms a smooth batter. Fold cashews into the batter. Pour into greased muffin pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Yields about 18 muffins.

May 15, 2012
Farmers Market Finds

Our local farmers market is back! The Coastside Farmers Market at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica, California is the best source of locally grown produce from May through November. Today was the first farmers market day of the year.

It was great to see my favorite vendors again. There’s the Indian food stall, the only seller who accepts credit card payments. He also offered to give me cash back today, because everyone else at the farmers market takes cash only. Santiago has the sweetest fruit! He charms me with his rhymes and adds free fruit to my bag after what I selected has been weighed and paid for. Manang and Manong are organic farmers from Fresno who gives my daughter fruit in exchange for a Filipino song.

I was also glad to see something new: springtime fresh local honey from nearby Montara, and the coveted honeycomb (my husband’s favorite!) from San Mateo. Honey grown locally is the answer to springtime pollen allergy. Honey from far away just does not have the same elements as what we are surrounded with, and therefore cannot do its job of providing our immune system with the key to dealing with the pollen in our environment.

Sometimes we have eggs at the farmers market, but sometimes we don’t. Today we had some farm fresh eggs from free range chickens fed only organic feed and rainwater in Half Moon Bay.

I mentioned to the farmer lady that my daughter’s kindergarten class kept eggs in an incubator and they recently hatched! The farmer lady gave my daughter a lesson about chickens and eggs: Did you know that you can tell what color eggs a chicken will lay by looking at the color of its ears? Fascinating, isn’t it?

There are so many reasons to buy our food from the Farmers Market. We support locally grown food that has a smaller carbon footprint than those grown and transported from far away. We support our local farmers and put the money straight into their hands instead of funneling it through large faceless corporations. We support family farms and organic farmers. We get to talk to the people who grow our food, and learn firsthand from them about where our food comes from.

Most of all, when we sit at the dinner table with our families, bless the food we are about to eat and bless the hands that made them, we can visualize the very people we are blessing before we enjoy the food they grew for us.

May 4, 2011