Fresh Garden Harvest

Aren't these beautiful? If you like green zucchini, I suppose.

This is the first of a batch of zucchini the squash plants have put out the last week or so. We steamed these and had them at a family dinner. Fun!

This is another batch I just picked from the garden on Sunday.

There is a cucumber, some beans and one more zucchini.

I have four kinds of beans growing, including a yellow pod bean. I think I'll cook them all up together and have a little pot of home grown green beans.

This is the second cucumber we've pulled. We ate the first one with rice wine vinegar on it. 

I'm still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen and turn red, but in the meantime, I'm happy to much down on these veggies!

French Treats

I've read on other folks' blogs about the adventure of making french macaron cookies.

It sounded like a lot of work, and yet made me curious about how they might taste, and what the texture would be.

I found a cookbook on making macaron cookies, and I studied it for several days, wondering if I could make it work.

Yesterday, after stocking up on eggs, gel food coloring, butter and almond meal, I decided to give it a try.

If you're like me, once you've heated up the oven and gotten out the mixing stand, you figure you may as well make a bunch of stuff before you put everything away again.

I made a batch of plain, peach colored macaron with cherry filling.

And a batch of lemon flavored, mint colored macaron with lemon buttercream filling.

Not to mention two dozen mini-cupcakes, but that's another post.

I was experimenting, learning how to make them in my oven and my kitchen. I found that the heavier weight baking sheets worked better than my thin, air-filled ones. But they had to be watched on the heavier baking sheets, so they didn't overcook.

French style macaron are supposed to be light and airy, with a smooth round top and little feet on the flat bottom of the cookie where it rises when it's baked.

My first batch of peach-colored macaron didn't have feet. I may not have let them sit long enough after I piped them out of the frosting bag, they are supposed to sit for 30 minutes. And since they were the first batch, I slightly over cooked them.

But if you look at the mint colored ones, they have the pretty little feet and smooth tops. and the bottoms are flat, without sticking to the parchment paper or cracking.

But I promise that, no matter if they have no feet, are cracked or don't have flat bottoms, they are ALL YUMMY when you eat them.

They have a crisp outside, a melty-meringue interior, flavored with the filling.

And .... they're pretty, too.

If you've never made them, try them, they're not really that hard to do. Here's a website with some links, if you want to learn more, and a very PERKY video tutorial.

Cooking Homegrown From Venice

I've been reading a series of books, mysteries by author Donna Leon. Her stories are set in Venice, Italy, although she is an American. 

I learned that she co-authored a cookbook also, titled "Brunetti's Cookbook."

Her books are very evocative of beautiful Venice, and her main character in them is Commissario Guido Brunetti. 

So many of her stories include descriptions of meals, home cooked and at restaurants, and they sound so tasty. There are also coffee, pastries, wine. So I was happy to learn about the cookbook.

Look at all that ripe produce on the cover in the picture of the market. Zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce and lemons, just gorgeous.

Not to mention the beautiful picture of Venice at the top of the book's cover. The light, the water and the colors of the houses. Makes me want to travel and taste in person.

But if I can't do that, maybe I can prepare some recipes from the book using my own home grown produce soon, and get a taste of Venice that way.

If you like mystery stories with a slow pace, and set in idyllic Venice, try her books. Very inspirational.And likely to make you hungry!

Two Bites Are Just Right

On Saturdays I go to the library. It's my weekly treat to myself. And helps keep me from buying lots of books, too.

I got this cupcake cookbook on Saturday, called "Two-Bite Cupcakes" and it's very cute.

I love to make cupcakes. And there are lots of fun new ideas in this book.

It uses the little mini-cupcake pans. And there are savory as well as sweet recipes. 

I've got to try some of these. I have the book for two weeks. How many dozens of tiny cupcakes could I make in that time, I wonder.

If you love cupcakes too, check out this fun book.

Fat Tuesday Treat

My daughter shot this photo, it's a Mardi Gras Cupcake.

Yes, today is Fat Tuesday.

When I lived in Saint Louis they had a huge Mardi Gras celebration, the second largest in the country.

But I never got the day off work for Mardi Gras before.

Um Hm. Bet you can guess where the first largest is???

This is a great place! Long live the purple, green and gold, just like the Mardi Gras Sugar on the cupcake.

The cupcake didn't last long, though.

It came from a local place called "Little Cakes" or in french

Petite Gateaux.

Geaux Cajun Feat! Little cakes with big attitude. 

YUM!

Part 2, Not a Uni-Tasker

Here's the cover of the cookbook I got from the library.

I found it at Amazon for less than $9.00. I may have to make it a permanent part of my cookbook library.

You have one of those, don't you? Your special pile of cookbooks that you always turn to, when you want to cook something special, but can't decide what that might be on any given day.

This one is written by someone from Louisiana.

Now, in my book, that makes it extra authentic.

Especially for a cookbook with "jambalaya" on the cover.

The neat thing about the rice cooker is that it has three speeds.

Unplugged - OFF.

Cook.

Warm.

What else do you need? 

Put this together with the bread machine, and the meal's practically on the table all by itself.

Rosette Sundays

Holiday baking is a tradition, and fun.

Since the mid-1980's I occasionally make rosette cookies at Christmas.

This year I've been making them and sending as gifts, taking them in to the office.

And I tried making some savory ones, instead of sweet. Sort of like homemade corn chips.

With a tangy, salty finish. YUM!

Tuesday Tips and the Ices of Summer

You may have noticed that I pick out things I find that inspire me from Etsy and showcase them on the left sidebar of the blog. I might be poking around and accidently find something wonderful, or I might be looking for something specific. Occasionally I put in a word that's on my mind just to see what fun things might come up in the search under Handmade on Etsy.

There's a clever lady named Lisa at EverydayGourmet, who makes miniature food and beverages that look real and good enough to eat! The photo is of her Lemon Granita Dessert and Limoncello Liqueur. Those are tiny miniature food replicas ... Don't they look luscious!

So for my Tuesday Tip this week I thought I'd include some easy recipes for real, life-sized granita. If you're on a diet and don't want to cool off from the hot summer weather with the real thing, at least tempt yourself with Lisa's miniature versions.


GRANITA or ITALIAN ICES

Don't have an ice cream maker? Love fruit juices and slushy yummy coolers?

How about fruit ices? They're easy to make, you don't need much equipment, and for this time of year when it's hot, and you want something cool and soothing, they're just the thing. With a frozen, grainy and coarse texture, they're different from ice cream or gelato.

Here are a couple of easy recipes.

COFFEE GRANITA
3 C hot brewed espresso or flavored coffee
1/3 C
1/2 C heavy cream, whipped (or store bought whipped cream spray)

Dissolve sugar in bowl using hot brewed coffee, cool to room temperature. (or if you're like me and you make cold brew coffee, use the sweetened concentrate out of the refrigerator)

When cool, transfer to shallow pan that fits in the freezer (test this first, before you try to put a too-large tray full of liquid and find out it won't fit - or make a level space in your chest freezer to do this)

Every 30 min stir using a fork, scraping the sides and bottom so all liquid freezes evenly.
Do this, freezing and breaking up crystals until completely frozen, about 3 hours, keeps in freezer up to 2 days.
Put serving in cooled ice cream bowl and top with whipped cream, either homemade or store bought whipped topping spray


LEMON GRANITA
4-5 large lemons
2 C water
1 C sugar
Take long strips of zest without the rind off the lemons, then cut in half and squeeze to get 1 C juice each (or use store bought bottled lemon juice, undiluted)
Combine water and sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil, then simmer and add lemon juice to dissolve sugar.
Add lemon zest and allow to cool to room temperature.

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and transfer to shallow pan and put in the freezer. (see note above about checking for fit of pan in freezer first)
Stir with a fork, breaking up the ice crystals, every 30 min until completely frozen, about 3 hours, keeps in freezer up to 2 days.

MORE GRANITA TIPS AND HINTS:

You can make the simple syrup with water and sugar and keep it on hand, mixing together with raspberries, peaches, strawberries or other summertime fruits. Even watermelon!

Don't let the ice form heavy blocks or lumps of ice. The texture should be grains and flakes of ice, but not liquid.

The smaller the pan, the longer it takes to freeze, so use the largest shallow metal or glass pan you have, to make it go more quickly.

Don't forget to test for room in your freezer with the shallow metal or glass pan before you fill it with liquid and try to put it inside.

Be sure to scrape and re-mix frequently to get the right texture.

I've heard that substituting Splenda or another sugar-based sweetner for the sugar works also, but I haven't tried that and don't know if it will make the same simple syrup with the fruit - try it if you prefer that and let me know if it works.

If it melts before you get it all eaten, drink it like a slushy lemonade or iced coffee!