The Fruits of Summer ~ & THE CORN REPORT!

Sorry for the delay in this post. Life in Pixie-land has been rather busy.  However, I must go straight to THE CORN REPORT! (Always in all capitals, and always followed by an exclamation point, in my mind now). Let us see....

The tomatoes are booming....

The "Rainbow" Swiss chard is living up to it's name...

The corn has finally taken a stand, and decided to grow...

The broccoli is a brockin' (hahaha)....

And this giant, mutant vine that is taking over my fence is a type of squash called "buttercup". Now, truth be told....I bought these seedlings accidentally, as some helpful consumer placed them on the "cucumber" shelf. This may be one of those "happy accidents" as it is large, healthy, and as you can see toward the middle left of the photo, already producing these amazing-looking squash!

The yellow squash is a squashin'.......

The bell peppers are a-ringing (why no, I don't get carried away with this)....

The Petunias....well, I don't know is 15 BLOSSOMS on one plant a GOOD thing? Teehee.....

And the peas, well they are a-um, well, you get the drift!  I'm really happy with the Pixie-patch this year, and it is the culmination of the dreams I had as a sixteen-year old girl, reading my organic gardening magazines, and dreaming of an actual vegetable garden of my own! It was a long time to wait.....but boy, is it worth it! On to the fruits of summer.....

During our latest trip to the produce stand, I found these!

Ah, life is just a bowl of...well, you get it. The problem is this; Whenever I get a load of cherries, I want to make cherry pie...however, Dear Husband and I cannot finish it all, before it turns into a watery, less-than-appealing mixture of crust and fruit....in less than a week. The solution? Cherry "hand pies". Go here for the recipe I used...First, as always, get your ingredients together. Clockwise from bottom left, confectioners' sugar, salt, flour (all-purpose), sugar, baking powder, vegetable oil and butter. Not shown: cinnamon and a lemon.

Then, the hard part...pitting all those cherries! I tried the method (you can use a straw for this I'm told), of pushing a chopstick through the cherry to pit it, and it worked. Truth be told, though, it just took too long, and my tendancy to stab myself in the other hand with the chopstick necessitated me just resorting to my usual method. Which is to say, grabbing my small paring knife, and cutting the cherries in half to pit them. 

I had to let that project go for the moment, because we must get our dough together...it has to chill. Put your flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into your food processor (or in a large bowl with a whisk), and buzz or mix until combined...

Have your ice water, butter, and vegetable shortening or oil ready to go. Keep all as cold as possible, this is pastry making 101....

Add your butter and vegetable shortnening to the flour mixture, and buzz, combining gradually with the ice water until the mixture begins to hold together in the processor...if you can smash the sides of it with your hands (like in the next photo - look at right side of dough), and it holds together, it is ready.

Now, dump it out onto a sheet of plastic wrap....it will not look like a dough yet....don't panic...

Gather up all four sides of the plastic wrap, and form the dough into a disk....it will NOW look like a dough ;)

Place in the fridge, and go pit those cherries! After your fingers, countertops and shirt are purple, and you are cursing the day you were born, you will have....this!

You can, however, relax now....the hard part is over.  Place the fruit in a sauce pan with the cinnamon and the sugar, and bring up to a simmer...

Mix the cinnamon and sugar in until the sugar is dissolved, and the cherries are warming, and starting to produce some juice...

Mix the juice with the cornstarch in a small bowl...

Pour this back into the saucepan with the cherries...and bring back to a simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, until thickened and juicy...

When thickened, empty into a bowl to cool (with the lemon juice), and get your dough out. Score your dough like a pie, to make four equal sections, like so....

Then, score it again to make eight seperate pieces....roll those eight pieces into balls...(make your own joke)...

Then, working quickly, roll each one out into an approximately 6-inch diameter circle. I did not happen to have any parchment paper handy, so I placed each one between sheets of plastic wrap to chill again...it works just as well.

Continue on until all eight are basically small-scale pie crusts!

Wrap this all up, and refrigerate for another 30 minutes. I used this time to de-purple my kitchen. Um, yeah....on to the (finally) fun part!

When they have chilled again, take two Tablespoons of your cherry filling, and place in the center of each little crust, like so...

Then, fold them in half...

Fold the bottom part of the crust over the top like so...

Then, take a fork and crimp the edges. This not only looks attractive, but it helps keep the cherry filling from blowing out all over your cookie sheet/oven/etc.

Poke holes in the top to let the steam escape...

And place on a well-greased baking sheet. Beat an egg with some milk, and paint the tops, so that they get a nice, golden brown...

And bake in a 350 degree oven for about a half an hour - or until golden brown. This is where I deviated from the recipe, by not frying the hand pies. The result is not as sweet as regular pie, so that choice is yours to make.  My results?

Cherry-licious! AND they freeze well, too! So instead of having a whole pie that turns into a watery mess, we have our individual pies that can be warmed (microwave, hot oil, or in oven), and eaten individually. I'm going to freeze the rest of them so that we can have this little taste of summer for dessert, whenever we like! Note: yes, this is "project level" cooking, and takes the better part of a day (broken up, of course) to accomplish. This is not a recipe you want when you have errands to run, or a busy day. I will say this though.....worth it!

Stay tuned for another Something From Nothing post, and what Summer hijinks the Kitchen Angels are up to!

Love and kindness to all,

Pixie

Something From Nothing ~ Week 18

Before I show you what I made from "nothing" this week, I'd like to address a problem some of you may have with a less-than-healthy-eating partner. Although I usually will partake, in some form, wherever he is eating, sometimes what Dear Husband is having just will not do it for me.  Case in point: we frequently travel to Dear Husbands' home town. Although we always have fun, and are treated like royalty, the food choices are sometimes not for me. Dear Husband usually proceeds straight to yonder hot dog joint, for a dog with chili and onions....and while that is sometimes alright with me....this time, I saw it coming, and I was prepared.

I remember back in Alaska, when I was practicing at least partial vegan and vegetarianism, that I went to lovely Genas' site which discussed making a meal-sized salad. I was intrigued! By the first time I made a salad with the smooth but filling squash, combined with the crunch of vegetables and seeds...I was SOLD! I am very good at listening to my body (even yes, when it is screaming YOU NEED CHOCOLATE.....NOW!), and I must have needed some beta carotene or other element, because I could not get to the store and buy an acorn squash fast enough!  Here was the plan.....bake the squash the morning of our trip, make the meal-sized salad, and take along to resist the fast-food-death dogs that always leave me feeling A: a little sick, and B: horribly guilty.  So....first I coated the squash with oil, poked a few holes in it, and baked it for 45 minutes at 375...

Then, I wrapped one half (for later squash cravings), and got the other half ready...

Then, I got it together with some choice salad ingredients...

Clockwise from bottom, carrot, celery, scallion, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, green leaf lettuce, red bell pepper, iceberg lettuce, and the baked and cooled half of an acorn squash.

I got my little "fit and fresh" (I certainly hope I am both...tee-hee) container and layered the iceberg and green leaf lettuce into the bottom...

Then, added and tossed shredded carrot, chopped cuke, sliced bell pepper, celery and scallion into it...

Already looking munch-tacular! I cubed the squash, and layered on top of the salad...

Then, put the dressing and the pumpkin seeds into the two little containers that come with the "fit and fresh" system.

These containers fit right into the main box, for easy transport and chilling...

All ready to put into the cooler....and it is not even ten in the morning, yet!

The verdict? A great, healthy and (thanks to the squash), filling picnic lunch for me, whilst Dear Husband happily munched on his lunch.

In case you are wondering about the whole "squash with salad" thing - let me persuade you to try it. Just once, I promise! I was actually borderline grossed out by the thought of such a thing, when I first saw the recipe - but something about it just made me have to try it. Let me be the first to tell you, that once you get hooked on the silky texture of a squash.....with some salty, crunchy pumpkin seeds, crunchy vegetables, and your dressing of choice.....there will be no going back! I'm addicted to it, now...(the real reason the other half of the squash went into the fridge.....so I could hoard it for next time)!  On to this weeks' Something From Nothing. THIS...is what I had to use up, or risk tossing into the trash....and at $2.99 a pound - that's sort of waaaaaay against anything I believe to be right in this world....

I know....beautiful, right? However, they were going South....and fast! What to do? Well, when it comes to using up anything in the produce realm, I turn to my old friend...

And when I say old....I'm not kidding - yes, that IS tape attempting (and failing) to hold the cover on!Oh well, it's what is inside that is most important...namely "Pepper Slaw". I tried to find a link to the actual recipe...but could not.  This does not have many ingredients...so just follow along...

From left to right...cabbage, the bell peppers (use any kind you have), garlic, celery seed, pepper & salt, olive oil, brown mustard and pickled jalapeno.  Not shown: vegetable oil, and red wine vinegar.  First, slice your peppers as thinly as possible...think coleslaw here...

This salad is as pretty as it is tasty and crunchy!  Then, slice about one half of a small cabbage into thin shreds and add to the bowl. Add in the celery seed and pickled jalapeno, or hot peppers...to taste..

then...get the dressing together...

In the salad cruet to the left, I mixed one pressed clove of garlic (next time, I will only use a half a clove), 5 Tablespoons olive oil, 4 Tablespoons vegetable oil, a teaspoon of brown mustard, two Tablespoons of red wine vinegar, and some salt and pepper. Shake well to emulsify...

Toss the slaw in it, and place in the fridge for a few hours to blend. I also went into the fridge to taste-test, um.....stir the slaw every now and again. The results?

Colorful, crunch-tastic...and a great side dish for our supper that night! All from those three bell peppers that were about to turn to water....and a few pantry/fridge ingredients. Yes, next time I will only use a half a clove of garlic, as I want the slaw ingredients to take priority in the flavor profile...but, yes, a winner that I will make again!

What is your go-to recipe for bell peppers?

Eat well, my friends...and in a few days we'll spy on those Kitchen Angels, and more importantly....see about the CORN REPORT! 

Love and kindness to all,

Pixie