Sweet Potato Pie

I'm really against wasting food, and now that I can afford to just buy more food, I'm trying extra hard to not be wasteful.  So, what to do with 2 extra sweet potatoes in your fridge?  Well you could bake them, or you could bake them into a PIE. This was my first attempt at sweet potato pie, and my first pie for at least six months.  The crust is an all-butter recipe.  Its crispy and I like it, but it might be worth it to try one with shortening in the future.  The recipe is much like pumpkin pie, but working with fresh sweet potatoes is much more managable than either a pumpkin or a butternut squash.  Easy to make in an evening with ingredients you probably have already, great for the holiday weekend.  Happy 4th of July!

 

Cat on a leash

Furball is currently exploring on our new acquisition:  a cat leash!  

Amaranth

While shopping in my favorite place today (Whole Foods bulk section) I found yet another unusual grain:  Amaranth.  According to the label at the store, while it is revered elsewhere in the world, its usually considered a weed here in the states and nobody likes it.  The grain itself looks like an even smaller version of quinoa. And, according to multiple sources, one serving has anywhere from 20-80% of your daily iron and a third of your daily calcium.  Awesome.

When I got home, I began searching for some delicious recipes to make with my new mystery grain.  I found two:  Amaranth tabbouleh and a treat from mexico called "Alegria".  Its a "candy" similar to rice krispy treats, made with honey, butter, dried fruits, and nuts.  Zach is leaving for Houston tomorrow, so I figured he could take these with him.

While the tabbouleh was a fairly standard recipe(and frickin' delicious), making the Alegria was a unique experience.  First you have to pop the Amaranth.  It pops fairly easily, just like tiny, tiny popcorn but you have to be extremely careful not to burn it.  Three seconds can be the difference between toasty popped amaranth and a pan of burned crap.

here are the popped amaranths.  They smell and taste like 

classic puffed wheat cereal, just smaller.

While the recipe called for half corn syrup or molasses and half  honey, I didn't have any of the first two so I used all honey.  This made the bars softer than they should have been, but not too bad.  I cut some up and wrapped them in plastic wrap for Zach's journey.  

Here are the recipes mentioned in the post and some Amaranth resources:

Tabouli  I skipped the whole lettuce leaf thing.  The vitamin C from the lemon juice will help you absorb all that Iron!

Alegria

Wikipedia Amaranth

Nutrient data

Summer is here!

After three weeks of cold rain, the weather finally broke and the dry summer season has begun.  I have actually been experiencing some allergy sneezing and sniffles, and a local told me its allergy season!  I have never before actually had outdoor allergies, but I've always heard local honey is a good remedy for that.  And now that I think about it, I had been eating (or drinking) local honey back in Pittsburgh for a very long time.  Local honey was always purchased at the fair or Schramm's farm, and it may have been the reason I've never really had an outdoor allergy problem before.  Now if someone could only make indoor honey...

Portland Saturday market honey guy to the rescue!  At 3 dollars, this jar of honey is a lot smaller than it looks.  But I'm sure said honey guy's blood, sweat and tears went into it.  Actually, ew...I hope not.  It tastes pretty good though.

So besides sneezing, what am I doing with my life?  Short answer: nothing.  No job yet, and no word back from my interview.  But that's okay for now, being unemployed in the summertime is Childhood version 2.0.  Except nobody tells me when to go to bed, and I can have all the beer I want.

Enter kiddie crafts.  Lately, I've been making friendship bracelets among other things (things which I cannot post yet since I'm sending two of them off to Texas as a gift and I don't want to spoil the surprise).  I loved making bracelets when I was a kid, and the fun is not lost on me at 24 1/2.  Today, patterns for bracelets can be found all over the internet, not just in books, though my favorite still comes out of the original Klutz Friendship Bracelets book (by Laura Torres):

Double Chain Knot.  Not too intricate but you can make 5 in an hour

and wear them all at the same time.  Like, for instance, while watching

90's sitcoms at 3AM because you don't have a job.

Another thing we've been working on is our patio garden.  Not too much has sprouted yet, but when they do, I'll be swimming in cilantro.  Which will get made into pesto.  And frozen.  Tomatoes (I hope they don't get blight), jalapeno peppers, petunias, catnip (for guess who!), lemon balm, rosemary, and cilantro should soon be sprouting on our balcony.  Time will tell.

Cats love balconies

Furball journeyed across the country with us.  And he got what he was promised:  A balcony.

Lounging; tummy's gettin' leafy.

Hmm, what is this forcefield?

Now, how do I escape?!

Black Rice Pudding - Say Whaaaat?

I really love rice pudding, but I can no longer have dairy, especially milk.  My favorite recipe called for lots of it, so I stopped making it a few months ago.

A few days ago while shopping at Whole Foods in the bulk section I noticed some unusual black rice.  Its called "Forbidden Rice", supposedly because it was forbidden for anyone except the Emperor to eat (according to Wikipedia, anyway).  I had to have some, and besides, it was on sale.  But the main problem:  what does one make with black rice?  Originally I was looking for a savory recipe to serve with salmon, but when I saw one for black rice pudding I couldn't say no.

Uncooked black rice.  Soak 1 hour in water before you cook it!

The recipe for black rice pudding calls for very few ingredients, using coconut milk instead of dairy. With just the rice, coconut milk, sugar, salt and water, you can whip up an easy and delicious pudding for yourself in about 2 hours.  

Topped with some coconut milk-yum!

The resulting pudding is purplish-black in color.  Its very chewy, filling and slightly sweet.  High in saturated fat, but also high in minerals including iron, this pudding can be eaten for dessert or even breakfast.  I can tell that this recipe would also be great with other kinds of rice, like brown or even white or sticky rice.  Next time I might add a touch more sugar because I think puddings should be a tad sweeter than this was.

Ugh I haven't finished any knitting projects recently.  I really need to get going with them, I have a few started already that I'm looking forward to finishing but its so very hard to knit when its not cold out...

The Artichoke Experience: My first dinner in a new kitchen.

So you're a hockey fan and your favorite team has already been eliminated from the finals.  If you're like me, that means your favorite time of the year is over, right?  WRONG!  Why?  Because its the end of May and its ARTICHOKE season.

Artichokes are a fascinating item.  They are a member of the Asteraceae family along with thistles, sunflowers, asters, and gerber daisies and it is actually the flower of the plant that you are eating.  Since I now live in a zone 8 climate, I can't wait to grow some, they actually get really gorgeous when you let them bloom:

Source: Wikimedia commons.

I have to admit that before today, I'd never had one, other than in dips and canned ones in salads, but as of tonight I am in instant convert.  Blatantly ripping off of Ms. T, I used this recipe and roasted some artichokes this very evening.  (I put them directly in the oven with the foil on, but I should have put them in a dish because they dripped all over my brand new oven and caused the whole place to be smoky.)

Ugh these granite counter tops are ugly.

The whole meal was very filling, but I have to admit I started with some impressively large artichokes, so you might need more than one per person.  Each one of mine was about the size of a softball.  Zach described eating them as being "like the crab legs of vegetables."  In a way they really are like eating crab legs.  Time consuming, messy and they do leave a lot of "bones".  But, served with a side of walnut quinoa (recipe follows) and garlic butter to dip, my first artichoke experience won't be my last!

You can really only eat the bottom of each section and then the center.  Be sure to cut off more of the tips toward the center than I did, it got a little sharp in there.  

Mr. Z chowing down on his artichoke and quinoa.  

And now for the Quinoa Recipe, which is very easy and fast becoming my favorite side dish:

1 1/2 c. Quinoa (Red is fine, so is white)
2 c. Broth
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 c. walnuts. chopped
salt
pepper
butter or olive oil

Sautee the onion in some butter or olive oil. Near the end add the walnuts and toast them.  Turn up the heat and add the broth.  Bring it to a boil and add the previously rinsed quinoa.  Cook according to package directions, approximately 15 minutes.  Serve and Enjoy!