Hooray for Snow Cream!!

Last year we never got the chance to make this, so today we got busy on making a batch right after lunch!

Vanilla Snow Cream

Freshly scooped snow from the backyard...

Snow Cream

1. Scoop up a big bowl of clean snow from your backyard, and bring it inside.
2. Take a cup of cream, half-and-half or whole milk, a couple Tbs. of sugar, 1 tsp (or so) of real vanilla (and 1/2 tsp of real peppermint extract if you have it). Mix it all up until the sugar dissolves.
3. Scoop snow into dessert bowls and pour "cream" on top!
4. Enjoy!! Delish! (Can also top with whipped cream and sprinkles or crushed candy canes for an over-the-top snow cream sundae!)
5. **I'm also tempted to try eggnog snow cream... doesn't that sound fabulous?!

Plum Cardamom Kuchen

I love the Smitten Kitchen blog — fabulous recipes, inspiring stuff, really. And, as Deb always has the best recipes, and I'm always looking for a plum recipe this time of year to accomodate the bounty of our tree... I made her Plum Kuchen tonight (and roasted some zucchini and did my fave chard recipe too... harvest time in our garden!)
Uh-MAZE-ing!! Amazing depth of flavor, perfect tart-sweetness of plums, light but hearty... really. I didn't have lemons to zest, so I ground up some cardamom to throw in. Fab. Try it.

A Side of... Rainbows

Rainbow chard has been my fave veggie this summer, and I created a really easy recipe that is delicious and a power-house of nutrition!

Rainbow Chard Saute

1/2-1 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 large bunches of Rainbow Chard, ribs removed
1 can S&W Pinquinto beans (pre-seasoned with cumin, garlic, etc.)
4-6 oz. of crumbled goat cheese

Chop the chard into small pieces (maybe 1/2-inch square), then toss in preheated olive oil - in a saute pan. Wilt it down fairly well, then dump in the can of beans. Toss and cook a couple minutes more, then remove from heat. Sprinkle goat cheese of top and toss once. Serve immediately.

Plum Crazy

I'm doing all sorts of wonderful things with the bounty of Italian Plums off our tree in the backyard. The preserves I did last night are the most gorgeous color and they are delicious!! As the plums cook, the beautiful purple of the skins burst into the orange-ish yellow fruit pulp and mix into this pretty and vibrant red. At one point in the cooking, it looks like foamy raspberry and orange sherbet punch! I canned Plum Marmalade with Rum a couple years ago, and it's wonderful. Everyone that I shared it with loved it. It's amazing on crepes, vanilla, ice cream, waffles, or even toast.
Plum Marmalade With Rum (modified from Anne Gardon's recipe in Preserving For All Seasons)

2 pounds of Italian plums (pitted and coarsely chopped)
2 large organic oranges, sliced thin on a mandolin (use your guard!)
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
1/2 cup rum (or 3 tsp. rum extract)

Soak sliced oranges in the water overnight, then dump into pot the next day. Add sugar and plums and bring to a boil. Then, stir occasionally and cook over moderate heat until mixture thickens up. Remove from heat and add vanilla and rum. Seal in hot, sterilized canning jars and store in a cool, dark place. For best results wait at least one month before using.
"End of Summer Custard Pie" (strawberries, plums - from our yard, and blackberries - from our hike), and Plum Upside-Down Cake (3 Tbs butter, 1/4 c. brown sugar melted and poured into the bottom of a greased 9x9 cake pan; add halved plums in rows to fill bottom on pan then pour Jiffy yellow cake mix on top - with cinnamon and vanilla added. Easy. Delish).

Plum-a-licious!

Our plum's are ready! I only felt slightly crazy as I was picking a bag full by flashlight last night (hey, the whole family was with me, so I'm not the only crazy one right?).

Anyway, what better inaugural dish than Jerrie's Rhubarb Custard Pie recipe, as Plum Custard Pie! I used nine plums in the pie (about 2 cups chopped), so technically I could make a lot more of these pies... I'd have to give them away though because I'm seriously addicted to this recipe!

Pete's Beets

Thanks to Pete for these gorgeous beets from his garden, and to Jamie & John who delivered them. I gave them a wash, a peel, and mandolined them up (I always use the guard now... learned my lesson), and Erik HAD to "help" I also sliced his apple with the mandolin. He was a safe little apprentice too. We shook the beets in a Ziploc with olive oil and S&P, then roasted at 425-degrees F for about 20-ish minutes... or maybe less. The time it took to put the baked macaroni and cheese together and get it in the oven for about 10 mins, and sautee the shrimp in a little butter and a lot of garlic. Delish. And fitting since today felt very Autumnal.

Tempura Squash Blossoms

Just Tempura batter mix from the grocery, and assorted pumpkin, zucchini and other squash blossoms from our garden. They were delicious. I didn't stuff them, just dipped and fried in some peanut and canola oil. They were surprisingly sweet and very tasty. Erik declared them "dee-li-sus!"

Summer Gold

I Love The Swiss Chards!

So, tonight I cooked up come of our recent farm-collected greens (rainbow chard, totsoi and some red mustard) with a little turkey kielbasa for dinner (washed, chopped and sauteed in a little olive oil and butter 1 tbs. each, crushed garlic, lemon pepper, sliced light kielbasa and a little low-sodium chicken stock to simmer). M was interested in the "salami," but eyed the greens suspiciously. When I tasted mine and deemed them delicious, she looked over at a box on the edge of the table and pointed to some words on the side, "Mama, it said right here that I should not put that stuff in my mouth." Oh, yeah, really? I replied. Well, it's delicious, you should try it. "I don't like it." says M. How do you know, huh? Sam I Am, Green Eggs and Ham - it might be your new favorite thing. Try one bite. And, so she did. "Wow! I love it! It tastes salty. Yum!" (she loves salty things and the kielbasa did indeed make it taste salty). When Joel came home she said, "Papa, I LOVE the Swiss Chards! They are salty and buttery and delicious in my rumble tummy!"
E tasted a bite, but after that was quite clever about avoiding any greens completely, including flicking them off his fingers. Ah, well. I'll just have to chop the next batch up and bake it into some quiche... Bwahahahaaha!!

And, in other news... M ate our first golden raspberry today. There are a lot more on the canes ready to ripen. Come on sun!

Better Than Birthday Cake

Cherries and Cream and Lest Zest roses from Jamie and John for my birthday in May... they're blooming beautifully now!

Just Plum Good!

We've got great Italian Plums on a tree in the back, and I've been looking for a good little recipe for them for awhile... this one does the trick. It's pretty easy, very tasty and oh, so summer-licious! It reminds me of something you'd get from a little patisserie...

Rustic Plum Tart

Single-crust pie dough (your favorite recipe)

5 oz. almond paste

9-10 smallish Italian plums, sliced

about 3 T. sugar (depending on tartness of fruit) mixed with

1 t. finely ground cardamom

Put the rolled out pie dough on a cookie sheet (about 12-inch circle), then roll the almond paste into an 8-inch circle between plastic wrap. Lay the almond-paste circle on top of the pie dough—centered—then start arranging the sliced plums however you'd like. Fold up, and crimp, the sides of the dough (brush the edges of the dough with milk if you'd like) then sprinkle the cardamom sugar over the fruit and a little on the edges of the dough.

Bake at 425-degrees F for 10 mins. then reduce temp and bake at 375 for about 20 mins or until fruit is soft and a little juicy. Cool on rack and eat warm or at room temp. Excellent with vanilla ice cream.

Apple Of My Eye

I love this apple bread. Jen gave me a small loaf of it last winter and it was the one thing that I had a really hard time resisting while on the GDM diabetic diet. I made muffins with the recipe and had to give most of it away. It's pretty quick and very tasty. Moist, dense and apple-icious, and a great way to use our apples from the tree in the backyard! Try it: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Bread/Detail.aspx.