WWDVD

First day of school:
That's right, the little chicklets are starting to follow us around and listen to every word we have in the old brain bank.

It just amazes me that the wisdom from one teacher is sometimes soundly trounced and contradicted the next year, but I'm in the lucky position that no one cares too much what I teach, so no one tries to impart their wayward ways over the jewels of knowledge I impart.

In this vein, I had a WWDVD day today as daVinci is going to be our artistic go-to player this year. I say "Mona," you say "Lisa."

Beet Greens and Mint Chutney

This may be a bit oxymoronic, but the beet greens turned out very tasty, simple as they were, with a rosy red pot-liquor to boot. No need to make them into soup, though they would be a good soup add-on. I think beet greens are my favorite of all greens! Who'd-a-thunk-it.

Beet salad: extremely red and just the right amount of seasoning. We will see in the morning if we have an energy boost as advertised. Had lots left for another energetic supper tomorrow and the next day too. We should be leaping tall buildings by Wednesday, which is very lucky as that is my first day with kidos and I always need a little something extra until I get swinging.

Made mint chutney as well using all three kinds of mint from the herb garden, where it is trying like mad to take over. Experimented two ways: one with yogurt and one with red onions. Found a nice spice mix at the Indian Market, so that made it quite easy. Used the mortar and pestle to blend the rough chopped leaves. After watching the Julia movie, thought it only right to go at things the traditional way, even though I sort of cheated with the mix. Jack liked the oniony one, so that is probably the way to go. Keep the troops happy is my motto.

Raw Beet Salad

Ever since we read on the BBC site that beetroot juice can increase stamina, Jack and I have been trying to find this rare commodity. We haven't tried too hard as we have only been to the Farmer's Market (closes Sept. 5th) and three different grocery stores, so it may be available at the healthy food store. That place is just a little off my normal shopping route, so I will have to make a special trip.

In the meantime, I finally found fresh organic beets, with the greens attached at the "good" Kroger. "Good" meaning the one in the strip mall in the middle of the higher rent section of town. After managing to find beetroot and educating the staff that radishes were not just really small beets, brought the beets home, trimmed the greens and set them to cook independently in a bit of water with salt and pepper. I think this will be all they need. I really hate to throw things away. If this doesn't work, they will definitely be part of the next pot of vegi soup. All good!

I peeled the beets, though if it were just me, I would have probably just scrubbed them really well and grated the whole. There were three in the bunch which was a big bit for salad so we will have plenty. Then I grated a carrot and some ginger. To this I added fresh squeezed lemon and a drizzle of olive oil. Salt and pepper topped the whole off. It is marinating in the fridge just now, all ready for supper.

I'll see if we have extra energy for tomorrow's run, and if the greens and salad are up to JACK'S STANDARDS.

Edward Cooks

No more figs, thank goodness. I will be sorry about that soon I'll bet.

The good news is that Edward, the twenty year old, soon to be legal, son at school down in Natchitoches, is learning to cook; well teaching himself more exactly.

Last week he picture-texted me twice. The first time he made lasagna and the next stuffed manicotti. Pasta all the way.

By the time he graduates (one more year) he will have a whole recipe book. Wonder if you can do them short enough for twitter. That would be a good trick.

Respectable Doings with Figs

Here is the best one yet:

Fig, rosemary and goat cheese spread on Market bread.

Slice the tomato-basil bread from the market thinly and toast. Mix mashed figs with chopped rosemary and goat cheese. Spread on the toast and broil for a few.

Lovely.

The fig chutney turned out great by the way! Very nice with chopped fresh ginger. I have a small container in the fridge and several small freezer baggies for a time when figs are not taking over.

Fig bread, on the other hand, not so good. Pudding again...

Going Figgy

I have given away almost as many figs as my friends can stand, and still count them among my friends, so I'm thinkin' of ways to save figs for the future...

Ideas:
Dry them. My state of the art oven has a drying feature and they will be ready in a day or two. Oven isn't really state of the art, but I'm trying to keep the oven on my good side.

Fig bread. But not too much, and follow the recipe closely. Sometimes I play just a bit too much and it turns out more like pudding. Maybe some muffins, too.

Fig Chutney. This sounds really good to me. I'm not much of a canner, but I'm a-thinking I can get some of those little freezer bags and freeze up a few batches.

We will see what happens.

Figs for the Future. Has a certain ring.

Squash Soup

I read lots of soup recipes and have a couple of twists to make your soup life easier.

Firstly, use what ever sort of squash you can find at the market. I don't even know the names of all of the squash I used this time. There is a turban squash, something that looks like an acorn squash, but with a white flesh, zucchini, and some sort of yellow squash that looks like butternut, but with a different shape.

Secondly, cut the big seeded squash in half, take out the seeds and rub the inside with olive oil. Put these cut side down in a roasting pan. Add the quartered onions, garlic cloves, carrots, zucchini, celery ribs including the leaves and drizzle a bit of olive oil over the whole. Roast in a hot oven until the big squash is tender and the rest of the veggies are getting a nice brown color around the edges.

I used a frozen container of chicken stock with all of the fat skimmed off. You don't have to do this in advance. The fat will be frozen on top and you can just scrape it off. Easy.

Dump all of the roasted veggies except the big squash on top of the frozen lump of stock. Before you dump in the big squash, cut off the stem ends, but you don't have to peel the squash. This is a real time and energy saver.

With a slotted spoon take out all of the veggies (putting them on the frozen stock cooled the veggies quickly and melted the stock at the same time!) and put them in the blender. Blend until very smooth. Stringy squash will not be stringy; skins will not be a problem but will add some color and fiber.

It will be so smooth that added cream will not be necessary. Salt and pepper are really the only things necessary to spice it up, but if you have some other things you make want to play. Some recipes call for cinnamon and brown sugar. I think a bit of hot sauce would be nice, but then I do live in Louisiana and we do hot sauce with ice cream. It depends on what you like.

Many recipes call for a spoonful of sour cream on top, but what about plain yogurt instead?