drought and water transportation #thirdworldproblems

This past March was the driest on record for Boulder county. The water doesn't get turned on at our garden plot for another week, so for the past month, we've been hauling water there (2 blocks) every day or so, to try to get our seeds to germinate.

Last year we lugged water with arms and backpacks; this year we discovered the wheel—we've been using our bike trailer as a wagon to carry the water. It isn't perfect. We use a ski pole stick to steer. It would be really nice to add a third wheel. Maybe next year. Maybe we could hitch it up to the dog and make him a working dog.

variegated marinated olives

More than a year ago, I started curing olives that I picked while in Tempe, AZ. After water-curing, then brine-curing, they sat in the fridge. You could eat them, but they were pretty bland. I finally got around to marinating them. I did five varieties: Greek, Italian, Spanish, Curry, and Hot, based on these recipes.

Greek: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, oregano, thyme
Italian: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns
Spanish: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, paprika, cumin, peppercorns
Curry: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, curry powder
Hot: olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes

garden plot update

I've been negligent about posting about our garden plot this spring. Here it is as of today. In mid March we double-dug and added 3 bags of compost/manure plus worm castings. At that time, there were some survivors from fall plantings of arugula and lettuce, including enough arugula for one delicious arugula wrap.



We switched from a path to two stone spots, which I think will give us more maneuverability while taking up less space.

Here is our master plan:



Note the coordinate system... A3... you sunk my radicchio!

So far we have planted: arugula, radicchio, dill, lettuce, leeks, beets, radishes, carrots, red onion, kohlrabi, chard, kale, echinacea, chamomile, spinach, and parsley.

And are enjoying our perennials, some of which were gifted to us last fall: hyssop, chocolate mint, echinacea, thyme, oregano, sage, chives.

The exploding chives bring joy to the early spring—their strength is admirable.

coffee can chimney grill starter

It's grilling weather! I've struggled getting good coals for grilling, but not anymore. Most of the time when I grill, I only need a small amount of coals for grilling veggie sausages on our mini-grill (it doesn't take much). A chimney grill starter is a great way to heat up a small amount of charcoal. I made one out of a coffee can, just by opening both sides. I have not yet tried making holes in the bottom to improve air flow, though I hear that helps.

This time I actually just cooked the sausages on a grill on top of the can. After they cooked in a minute or two, I threw some potatoes in foil in the can and covered and a few hours later I had some nice baked potatoes.

Tip: look for a can that isn't painted, otherwise you'll get noxious fumes until it all burns away.

alternative transportation of gardening supplies

We acquired a hops transplant!  We are going to put it on our sunny back porch.  Clearly we had to pick up some necessities - 2 bags of potting soil and half of an old whiskey barrel. You know how it's trendy these days for mirco-breweries to have a beer that was aged in some sort of other alcohol vessel?  Well, with our next homebrew, we can include in its paragraph long description that the hops were grown in a whiskey barrel, adding delightfuly nuanced characteristics!!  And yes, we are most definitely oddballs for hauling this stuff around on our homemade bike trailer, but I enjoyed the adventure and I really can't complain about my first world problems. 

curried hominy yogurt pasta sauce

Just whipped this mexican/indian/italian mash mash-up up.

Ingredients:
Hominy, lemon juice, yogurt, hot curry powder, masa flour, oil, ghee, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, chives

Fry hominy in oil until it is getting crispy. Add all other ingredients and water if necessary. Serve on linguine, next to balsamic baked tofu. 

beet and carrot cake for breakfast

We're generally savory breakfast lovers here at d.i. wine and dine, but we decided to go the sweet route for this week's Dark Days Challenge: Breakfast. But not too sweet. I adapted the recipe from "Kitchen M", who says that "90% of carrot cakes that I've tasted had too much sugar in them." I agree. I also used more beets than carrots, since we found local beets but not carrots. I made the recipe vegan by using egg replacer and soy yogurt. I also used 100% whole wheat flour (local), which I think works really well in this recipe—the beets, carrots, and frosting keep the cake very moist.

Look at those pretty beets; they look like skeleton hands!

There are many non-local ingredients in here, which I'm not very excited about, but most of the bulky ones are local and/or seasonal. In hindsight, I would have tried using honey instead of sugar to make this even more local.


Ingredients:
3 med Beets (local)
2 med Carrots
2 1/2 c. whole wheat Flour (local)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
3 eggs worth of egg replacer
1/4 c. Packed Dark Brown Sugar
3/4 c. Granulated Sugar
3/4 c. Plain Yogurt (dairy or non-dairy)
3/4 c. Vegetable Oil
1/2 c. Coconut Flakes
1/2 c. Chopped Walnuts

Frosting (makes 2/3 cup):
2 Tbsp Butter/Margarine
1 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar, Sifted
2 Tbsp Milk (dairy or non-dairy)
1 tsp  Vanilla
1/2 tsp Almond Extract or Lemon juice

Cook beets in microwave for 3 minutes. Chop beets and carrots into small pieces using food processor and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt) and set aside. Mix the egg replacer, sugars, yogurt, and oil. Then add in beets, carrots, coconut flakes and walnuts. Then add in the mixed dry ingredients and mix until evenly wetted. Bake at 350ºF in a greased cake pan (8" diameter by 2.5" tall) for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.

To make the frosting, melt the butter and beat in the ingredients until smooth.

françois dines

I made Julie these local haystack goat cheese ravioli in sage brown butter with almonds and garlic chips. François decided it was good enough for him and deigned to eat with us.

peanut butter ginger chews

 

We were in Austin last weekend for Eric's birthday, and while I was tempted to see if I could get a birthday cake through airport security, I instead decided to surprise him with a knock-off of his favorite candy these days: Reed's Peanut Butter Ginger Chews.  I thought it would be pretty straight forward since their ingredients are just sugar, peanut butter, tapioca starch, and ginger, but when I looked online for a clone recipe, I couldn't find anything that matched.  I ended up modifying a taffy recipe.  So while these chews do not match Reed's, they are still mighty tasty! 

Ingredients:

2 T. minced ginger

1/4 c. water

- - -

2 c. sugar

1 c. water

3/4 c. brown rice syrup

2 t. olive oil

1 t. salt

 - - -

1/4 c. peanut butter

2 T. vegetable shortening

Cut about 75-3"x3" pieces of wax paper in advance.  Cook the minced ginger in water over medium-low until the water is evaporated.  Then in a large pot cook the sugar, water, brown rice syrup, olive oil, and salt over medium-low until the temperature of the mixture reaches 260° F.  This takes awhile.  When it finally reaches temp, remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, shortening and cooked ginger.  Then the pushing and pulling begins.  I did my best to follow the directions on eHow. Basically while it is still liquid you pour the mixture onto an oiled sheet and keep pushing the flowing edges to the middle. Once it quits spreading, let it cool until you can touch it.  Then you pull the ball into a rope, fold, pull, fold, pull, until it gets difficult.  Then grab chunks of taffy and wrap up in the wax paper squares.  If you don't plan to eat all of them in the next 2 weeks, you can freeze some.

dilly bean potato salad with garlic miso aioli

This is the best potato salad I've had.  There was recently a dilly bean potato salad recipe in Bon Appetit magazine. However, mayonnaise is pretty gross and I can't bring myself to make it. So I used our recipe for miso mayo (vegan) instead, but used olive oil, lemon juice, and lots of garlic; and then I called it aioli to make it sound fancy.

Even though I think of potato salad as a summer picnic food, our canned dilly beans and local potatoes make this a hearty wintertime treat!

(makes 6-8 servings)

Ingredients:
3 lbs potatoes
1 c. dilly beans 
1 T. brown mustard seeds
few dashes paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Garlic Miso Aioli:
1 c. olive oil
10 T. white/yellow miso
2 T. lemon juice
2-5 cloves garlic
2 t. soy sauce

Boil the potatoes and let them cool to room temperature or colder. Make the aioli by adding all ingredients and mixing with a whisk, fork, food processor, or immersion blender. Add aioli to potatoes until salad is desired consistency. Then mix in cut dilly beans and mustard seeds and add paprika, salt, and pepper.