Make it Bake it Buy it Fake it

Brick Walls, Vintage Computers, and Cherry Flavored Birdseed

2013-02-14T13:04:00.001-08:00

Just when everything looks like it's starting to get back on track and within sight, when things start going your way (or going again at all)... well, that's when a brick wall suddenly materializes right in your path. Kapow. A cheerful thought, I know. Our computer died last week. D.E.A.D. Miraculously, I was able to get everything off the hard drive before it's last gasping breath. I had

Sweet Potato & Cous Cous Breakfast Hash

2013-01-28T11:51:00.001-08:00

We all know by now how very healthy sweet potatoes are, right? Deeply orange all the way through... that's all good. It's nothin' but good. The problem is, we don't eat them all that often (in other words, I don't cook with them all that often). Well I knew that needed to change, so back in November we bought the BIG BAG of sweet potatoes at Costco. Since then we've been learning to love

Rip It Out and Re-do It! (embracing the do-over)

2013-01-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, and something wasn't going my way, I'd call out, "Do over!" The slate was immediately wiped clean and I would start again. Somewhere along the way to adulthood though, I forgot about the beauty of do-overs and began resenting anything I had to start over or do more than once. Perhaps as I grew older I became more aware of time passing... of the limited time we all have, and I

Tempus... Fuhgedaboudit

2013-01-04T05:21:00.000-08:00

Holy holly-berries, Batman! It's winter already? Tempus Fugit! (whether you're blogging or not)... Time Flies. I'm rather stunned that my last post was about tomatoes way back in October, and here we are wading in up to our knees in Winter. Sigh. Well, enough about that. I won't bore you with what transpired between then and now, frankly because there was no single dramatic absence-causing

End-Of-Season Misfit Cherry Tomato Paste

2012-10-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over. For us anyway. Tomato season is officially done. We plucked the last hangers-on off, and there won't be any more until next summer. Do you still have tomatoes where you live? Some years have found us picking them into November, but that was an exceptional year in a backyard that got oodles of sunlight. This was not such a year, and this is not such a yard. Alas. Waste not...

Simply Cilantro Salad Dressing

2012-10-18T08:13:00.001-07:00

One of the last things I did before my second cilantro plant bolted, was to make a simple dressing with it. A simply delicious dressing. If you are one of the many people that don't like cilantro, you probably won't find this tasty in the least. The rest of us, who do like cilantro... will love it. Simply Cilantro Salad Dressing Adapted from: simplefoodhealthylife 1/3 cup olive oil 1/

Happy Kefir-versary!

2012-10-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

And just what ever happened to that half-gallon of murky Concord grape juice that I threw in the freezer last month? Well, part of it went into making some kefir soda. It so happened that we were out of store-bought juice and there was all that leftover grape juice just sitting there. I introduced it to my water kefir and SHAZAM! As you can see in the photo, water kefir loves raw organic

Farm Fresh Harvest Pasta Sauce

2012-10-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

Just days before our trip, while I was in fact hip deep in Concord grapes, cherry tomatoes, and other fresh produce that wouldn't wait for our return, we stopped to chat with a neighbor while on a walk through the neighborhood.... This neighbor, who has a small farm, was busy that day harvesting everything she possibly could before they moved. They were being forced out, not by a giant food

Concord Grape Jelly (and the errors of my ways)

2012-10-05T00:20:00.004-07:00

So.... I mentioned having a ton of grapes the other day. Well, it wasn't really a ton... it was 13 pounds. I exaggerated. I can't even say that it seemed like a ton of grapes. I've actually had hands-on experience with what an actual ton (or twenty) of grapes is like when Hubby and I help with the wine crush at our favorite winery each autumn. Our harvest of Concord grapes was like a drop in

Capturing The Last Bites Of Summer

2012-09-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

I had to go out of town recently and had a dilemma... what to do with all the fresh produce on the counter before I leave? There were tons of grapes, a whole lot of two different kinds of tomatoes, and 5 peaches. On our budget, this stuff is like gold. I had to make the best use of it that I could, and I only had a few days to do it. It wouldn't keep until I got back. First up... the five

How Marriage Is Like A Toaster

2012-09-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

(or... How we kept 4 toasters out of the local landfill) Last year for our anniversary, our toaster died. For the fourth time. Or, should I say... for the last time. I'd better start from the beginning. One year and one month after receiving our lovely big toaster as a wedding gift, it stopped toasting. It, of course, had a one-year warranty. Our newly-married budget would not allow for

Freezer Jam Of The Golden Sun

2012-09-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

Forget the moonbeams and butterflies, or catching falling stars that will fit in your pocket... that's just the stuff of sappy love songs. You can however, catch the summer sunshine and keep it in a jar. At least that's what this jam tastes like to me. Tomato sunshine. Picture yourself in the middle of winter... it's cold, it's wet, the weather is miserable. You take a jar out of the

Refresh With Lemon Cucumbers

2012-09-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a gift from a gardening friend last spring, our garden has been giving us lovely Lemon Cucumbers this summer and fall. I for one, couldn't be happier. Cucumbers have to be one of the most refreshing snacks ever. With their slight hint of citrus-ness, Lemon Cucumbers are even more so. They've been really easy to grow; we have them in a pot with a bit of trellis propped in it.

From The South To My Mouth

2012-09-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a real southern-style praline? You'd know it if you had. Buttery, rich, nutty and sweet, with a bit of snap and a touch of grit... sounds like the type of person I wouldn't mind being, actually. As some of the roots anchoring my family tree pass through southern soil, I find myself wondering if my affinity for pecans, ripe peaches, bourbon and bluegrass has been

Lavender & Apricot Breakfast Rolls

2012-09-07T12:55:00.002-07:00

From the recipe files: Made these the other day on a whim and we really liked them... they actually went together pretty fast too (no yeast!). The lavender in the dough is just right, not overpowering, and the apricot filling pairs with it perfectly. Looking a bit like cinnamon rolls but with a biscuit-y texture, they were especially tasty alongside a pot of vanilla scented black tea.

Strawberry Mint Lemonade

2012-09-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last time on As The Strawberry Turns we saw the husband make garden pallet-craft for his loving wife, even though he really really doesn't like pallet-crafting... we shared their hopes and dreams of a bounteous strawberry-filled summer... we saw 15 strawberry plants survive neglect and abuse at the hands of the sweet but forgetful couple... By the start of September however, the girl was

Twig Tea (on the rocks)

2012-08-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Saving can be good: saving lives, saving money, saving endangered species, saving time, saving the document you've worked so hard on... But saving can also be bad: saving used staples, saving bellybutton lint, saving junk mail, saving every issue of Underwater Basket Weaving Weekly since 1967. I like to think that I fall somewhere in between. Although truth be told, I probably skew a

The Seven Year Stitch

2012-08-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

See the quilt in the photo? Does it look familiar? Maybe it looks a little like my blog header up there? Well, there's a reason for that. They are the same quilt, just at different stages of completion. Like a magazine tear-out of a swimsuit model taped on the fridge (horrid thought) might remind someone about their goal of getting in shape for summer, I very cleverly used a photo

Dr. Franken-Cilantro, I Presume?

2012-08-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

My cilantro bolted. Actually, it is currently bolting. What does it even mean, to bolt? It sounds like something in Dr. Frankenstein's notes: ...don't forget bolting: Add contact points to monster [sides of neck?] for attachment of jumper cables; crucial for next phase in reanimation of creature. Bwah-ha-ha-hah! "It's Ali---ive!!!" In this instance however, it describes what

Vertically Challenged: A Love Story

2012-08-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is a story about a girl who loved strawberries. This girl grew strawberries in a pot on her patio one summer and having had such a lovely time of it, decided she wanted to grow eighty-seven times as many strawberry plants the following year. Well, as these types of stories go, the girl, who spent way too much time on Pinterest, had a very handsome and handy husband. This husband

Mea Culpa, Pituophis Catenifer

2012-08-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

I was going to write about basil yesterday... or cilantro... or maybe strawberries. I hadn't decided, but as you can see, fate intervened... After breakfast, I'd wanted to putter a bit amongst the herbs on the back patio before it got too hot. As soon as I stepped outside though, I saw a distinctive shape behind the lounge chair. Retreating behind the the safety of the sliding-glass door I

The State Of My Tomatoes (2012)

2012-08-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

It's time for my annual "state-of-the-tomato address". Actually, I don't remember if I did this last year or not. I do know that I've talked about my love of homegrown tomatoes before, and that has not changed. If anything, that love just grows deeper with each passing year. Now, while I can't imagine that anyone else could be all that interested in how our plants are doing, at the very

A Potato Salad Summer

2012-08-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

When I promised to bring the potato salad for a BBQ we were invited to last month, I forgot that my usual go-to recipe called for red-skinned spuds and all we had were russets. Oops. So off I went to look online for another recipe, because I just love making something for the first time at the last minute... don't you? (that was just the tiniest bit of sarcasm) Martha Stewart came through

Simply Simpler Simple Syrup

2012-08-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

I kind of love recipes that are expressed as ratios; where any unit of measure will work regardless of whether you use metric, Imperial, or an old chipped teacup. You know: one part of this to three parts of that, where the "part" can be anything from a thimble to a 5-gallon drum. Super simple. Well, the other day I needed to make a small amount of simple syrup for a batch of iced tea I

Banana Split… In A Glass… For Breakfast

2012-07-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

It wasn't until taking the last few sips of my breakfast smoothie the other day that I realized just how much it reminded me of a banana split. Up until that point I just kept thinking, "This tastes gooooood! Maybe too good for something that's supposed to be breakfast?… Nah!" Just like a real banana split it's got dairy, bananas, strawberries, vanilla, and chocolate (yum!). The only things