Pesto!

I have heard complaints that I haven't been blogging.  Sorry about that, kids.  No excuses, I just haven't really felt like it.  But today I made pesto using my own home-grown basil.  It's pretty simple:

3/4 cup of basil leaves
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons pine nuts (thanks Susan!)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Start with everything except the oil in your blender or food processor (more on that later).  Grind 'em up, then start drizzling in the oil until everything's the right consistency.

Mmm, goopy green stuff.

Now, the trouble for me started when I discovered that my blender (which I got free from the pawn shop when I bought my bicycle) leaks.  Not a lot, but there's a small crack near the blade assembly, probably due to someone (possibly me) over-tightening the screw-on base.  This is not a big deal, except that it requires cleaning afterward and I lost some oil along the way.  Since I'm moving soon anyway, I think I'll give this one to goodwill and get myself a spanking-new blender or food processor.

Here's my question for you, dear readers: which should I get?  Black & Decker makes both a blender and a food processor.  The blender has something like 12 speeds and a pulse function, and is tall and skinny, as blenders often are.  The food processor has a pulse/off button and an on button, and is more bowl-like in shape with one of those special multi-use blades.  Both run $29.99 at Target.  I'm tempted to go for the FP, because I think the larger bowl would be easier to clean than the tall blender jar.  What's your experience with such things?

Strawberry Jam

Seven pints of strawberries, from Lorence's Berry Farm near Northfield.

Guest post from SB!

Note: SB won the farmer's market contest, so she gets to guest post today.  I'm hoping to sponsor more guest posts in the future, so if you want one, let me know!  -- LMC

So just because it's more fun then providing a promo for my blog (http://sab023.wordpress.com) that I rarely update ... I decided to guest blog on LMC's Wild, Wacky, Wonderful Wanderings! Normally I blog about things I believe in as well as my adventures traveling but I'm going to take LMC's lead on this one.

Sunday night after church LR and LC came to my house for dinner. I had put a meatloaf (beef and pork) in the oven before I left for church. LR wanted asparagus and mashed potatoes so that would need to be prepared when we got home. The asparagus was prepared on the grill with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. The potatoes were prepared with garlic (obviously and unfortunately not enough).

So the asparagus was delicious but there was about 1 serving left (probably because LH :( is "vacationing" and not with us). I asked LC, "What can I do with left over asparagus?"

LC replied "Make soup!"

"and I would do that how?"

"throw it in the blender and blend it with a bit of cream."

So I didn't have cream but I had half and half. When I got home from work I warmed the asparagus just a bit, threw all but 3 pieces in the blender and added what was left of the half and half. I transferred it to a bowl and stuck it in the microwave to warm it up a bit, then placed the 3 asparagus tops as garnish before I enjoyed it with left over meatloaf and some semi-mashed potatoes.

It was all delicious and one way to use left over asparagus that I would never have thought of before. I probably would have just thrown that serving of asparagus down the disposal. (Sorry LMC no compost!) If LMC lets me maybe I'll share another guest post in the future sometime and share my family recipe for a Vegan Chocolate cake! that is my Grandma's recipe from before Vegan was the thing!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Pie and I have a love-hate relationship.  I love to eat it, I love to help other people make it, but when it comes to making it myself, I hate it.  Not all of it, actually, but just making the crust.  I can never seem to get the right balance between wet-enough-to-clump-together and too-wet-so-it-sticks-to-everything.  Then there's the rolling; mine never come out round or close to round and I never know how thin or thick to make them.

Despite these challenges, I decided to make pie yesterday.  And since it's in season, I decided to make Strawberry Rhubarb pie.

Let's play a game...

It's called "guess what Laura bought at the farmer's market!"

This morning I purchased five items at the St. Paul Farmer's Market.  The first person to guess all five (or if no one gets all five, whoever gets the most) wins a chance to promo their blog here on W4.  Submit your entries in the comments, one comment per person.  Contest ends Sunday at 8pm; results will be posted Monday morning.

If no one's close by Saturday evening, I might post some clues.  Stay tuned, and good luck!

Radishes

News flash: radishes are not nearly as gross if you cook them.

Easter Egg radishes from my farm share.  We already composted the tops, because we didn't like them.

Happenings around the house

Yesterday I planted some new things in my garden.  The spinach had pretty much run its course, so I pulled out about half of it and planted beans.  I have no idea if they will grow well with the limited sunlight I get here, but we'll see.  They're from Seed Savers Exchange, a bi-color variety called "Painted Pony".  I also may have gotten a little carried away, and planted tomato seeds and cucumber seeds, also from SSE, in varieties called "Isis Candy Cherry" and "Bushy", respectively.

My favorite way to eat asparagus

Complete recipe here.

Ingredients:
red potatoes (skins on)
asparagus
garlic
rosemary
thyme
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt
ground pepper

and just for this time, I added some chopped parsnips, because I had bought them at the farmer's market and didn't know how else to use them up.

Adventures with Rhubarb

Confession time: before tonight, I had never cooked rhubarb before.  I had never knowingly eaten it.  Before last weekend, I had never bought it.  But it was at the farmer's market, so I decided to try it.  It's one of those early spring vegetables (wait, it is a veggie, right?) that some people rave about.

Food with Friends

There are no pictures of dinner tonight, but it was wonderful.  After church, LH, LR, and SB came over to my house for dinner.  First we made Greek salad:

Lettuce (Farmer's Market)
Green onion (FM)
Spinach (my balcony)
Feta cheese
Cucumber
Greek dressing (LH made it without a recipe!  Way to go!)

Then it was time for the main course.  Pork tenderloin, asparagus (FM), and garlic-Parmesan mashed potatoes.  SO.  GOOD.  The tenderloin came out of the oven perfectly-- moist, but thoroughly cooked, thanks to LH's skills with a meat thermometer.  We hadn't even put any fancy spices or sauce on it-- just salt and pepper.  The asparagus we cooked in a pan with some oil, then sprinkled salt and lemon juice over it.  I have to say I did a good job cooking it for the right amount of time; it was neither too crunchy nor too mushy.  The potatoes were easy, although the garlic was kind of old and so didn't cook or mash exactly right.  Oh well.  DELICIOUS.

Then for dessert we had Choco-tacos and What-the-FUDGE? bars (made by Klondike, in case you're wondering).  I know, dessert sounds kind of lame after that amazing meal, but it's what I had, and they were quite tasty.

Then, the best part (IMO) of the evening occurred.  LR did ALL of my dishes.  Not just the ones we'd used tonight.  Oh no.  She did all the ones that have been piling up in my sink making me crazy.  She wins the gold star, blue ribbon, best-in-show prize of all time!