tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56296913719475760052024-03-04T23:56:12.289-08:00The Picnic and Stitch SocietyThe High Life for the Lowdown: A Primer for making the most of the New EconomyYou can call me Betty, or Bethany, or Beth ...Just don't call me late for dinner.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04105440452868506777noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629691371947576005.post-39172797823324880512013-02-04T14:04:00.000-08:002013-02-04T14:04:05.460-08:00When Life Gives You Lemons? Preserve!Okay Here's what we have so far:<br />
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Friday February 1st:<br />
Cereal,<br />
Leftovers<br />
Scallop potatoes with smoked salmon (my own recipe)<br />
and<a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/10/cumin-seed-roasted-cauliflower-with-yogurt/"> cauliflower roasted with cumin seed, yogurt and pomegranate</a><br />
from Smitten Kitchen<br />
<br />
Saturday:<br />
Cereal<br />
Bread and cheese and fruit<br />
Tuna casserole re-engineered with artichoke tapenade and lemon zest (winged it.)<br />
Broccolini sauteed with garlic<br />
<br />
Sunday:<br />
granola and yogurt<br />
more bread and cheese<br />
Egg and smoked salmon sandwiches with apple salad ... ( I was tired... and it was so tasty!)<br />
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I think the key to my happiness in the kitchen is to have some ingredients that I just toss in to make it look like I tried harder.<br />
For gourmet homemade condiments I like:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>candied pecans ( on salads-on top of mashed sweet potatoes-with cocktails..YUM)</li>
<li>Lime and cumin pepitas (More salads toppings, snacks with beer and popcorn, but great mixed with grain salads as well)</li>
<li>Reduced orange and rosemary infused balsamic vinegar (drizzled on roasted beets, yummy with beef, instant salad dressing)</li>
</ul>
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I will have all those recipes on here very soon!<br />
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Today I made:<br />
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I used 5 Meyer lemons <a href="http://mariquita.com/events/BuyingClub.html">from my Mystery Box</a></div>
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and a lot of kosher salt (almost a 1/2 a cup)</div>
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Clean lemons and cut off ends and quarter them.</div>
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Layer in the jar:</div>
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salt- lemons- salt- lemons. Start and end with salt.</div>
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(use Kosher or sea salt to avoid any chemicals added to table salt)</div>
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Wait for the lemons to juice up. The salt should draw the juice out.</div>
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Eventually you want enough juice to cover the lemons.</div>
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After a few hours, add extra juice if you need it.</div>
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This is what it looked like while I waited. I added juice to cover later.</div>
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Now I'm keeping it in a bag in the coolest part of my little kitchen</div>
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(all the recipes/ forums said keep it in a dark cool place and refrigerate after a couple of weeks)</div>
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and shaking it a couple times a day, tucking down floaters,</div>
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to keep all the salts and acids preserving away</div>
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Easier than pie and in a couple of weeks of shaking I will have another luxury condiment that will fancy up soups, stews roasts and marinades, basically reinvent tuna salad... not to mention be the basis some of your trendy cocktails.</div>
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I'll let you know how it turns out. Tonight I think a potato leek or cream of broccoli soup as we have some Acme sourdough bread and three different dinnertimes to contend with.</div>
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Chow!</div>
<br />You can call me Betty, or Bethany, or Beth ...Just don't call me late for dinner.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04105440452868506777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629691371947576005.post-80940057989698248792013-01-31T18:22:00.000-08:002013-01-31T18:22:05.171-08:00The Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So tomorrow we start a new month. February. The short month. And I'm starting a new blog, a new project... And what better to make sure I have something to talk about than to challenge myself to a mini resolution?<br />
<br />
Food from Home February. For a whole month I plan to eat meals from home. This is a pretty serious adjustment for my household. I think on an average week we probably eat an average of 4 (or so) meals out or take out. Which doesn't even count solo lunches and snacks... an addition number which can and does give me pause. That is quite a bit.<br />
<br />
So we talked about cutting back... and I, in a delusional moment, thought that I might more impactfully hit the reset button on my blissfully self indulgent lifestyle choices if I went Cold Turkey. So I suggested that for one month we eat every meal and snack from home. (I hear the screams...wait.. was that me?)<br />
<br />
Seriously, the mind reels. What a concept. We could save money...get healthier...do the whole family togetherness thing. Ya think? What could go wrong? I guess I can find out!<br />
<br />
It actually intimidates me a little, but no one is in a better position to succeed at this than I am. I get amazing ingredients from <a href="http://mariquita.com/">the farm I work for.</a> ( see the picture? YUM...) I work part time and I'm living in central California, an amazing place to shop, cook and eat. I will primarily combat only my own inertia and catch as catch can method of menu planning.<br />
<br />
Anyway it will be interesting for me. Hopefully somewhat interesting to someone out there in the world wide web. ( Mom?) I'll link to recipes for anything I cook that I like, share my inspirations and tools and all that good stuff. And hopefully I will try to and eat some pretty yummy stuff.<br />
<br />
<br />Back Feb. 1st with some planning and menus for day one!<br />
Bear with me, I haven't been writing much lately and I'm hoping it will get better as we go!You can call me Betty, or Bethany, or Beth ...Just don't call me late for dinner.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04105440452868506777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629691371947576005.post-3557344601855131762013-01-30T09:46:00.000-08:002013-01-30T15:30:33.741-08:00Testing Testing 123<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm finally trying to get this project up and running!You can call me Betty, or Bethany, or Beth ...Just don't call me late for dinner.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04105440452868506777noreply@blogger.com0