SUMMER DAYS

After a very wet spring, I've been savouring each and every day of sunshine that has come our way.  The apple trees have blossomed, and now we watch and wait for the apples to grow.  The vegetable garden is full of greens in various stages of growth.  Scott has staggered the planting of salad greens and it is a delight to harvest fresh leaves each afternoon for our supper.  I pick from the larger plants, and watch the younger plants grow bigger each day.  As always, the arugula grew quickly and in abundance, and is now going to seed.  No wonder it's other name is rocket, that stuff shoots out of the ground and reproduces in a very short time.  

     Thank goodness our garlic plants have sprouted their scapes, because locally grown garlic is very hard to come by these days, and I can't live without garlic in my food.  They tasted very delicious in the garlic butter I drizzled on baby new potatoes at supper tonight. 

     As I was gathering fresh oregano for our chicken marinade, I harvested an extra bouquet of it for drying.  I can't believe how tall the oregano plants are this year!  To my surprise, I also discovered that my chamomile plants from last year must have self seeded, because my herb garden is full of lovely chamomile blossoms.  I am harvesting some of those for drying as well.  The bunches of herbs look so charming hanging in the most unexpected places in our kitchen.

I kept thinking I would wait until we had some guests over to use the nasturtium blossoms in a salad, but then I realized tonight was as a good at time as any.  They are in radiant full bloom in the garden.  The bees and butterflies are in abundance right now as well, dancing amongst the flowers.  The herb garden is so beautiful, a symphony of healing goodness.  I can't wait to get in there and do some serious weeding.  I'm not sure why, but the clover really seems to like the soil in the herb garden and are becoming a bit of an herbal threat. 

 

     I've also been having a lot of fun making frozen summertime treats for Faegan (oh let's be honest, I eat just as many of them as he does!)  I came across a really delicious recipe for Banana Cream Pops in a cookbook I took out of the library called Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon.  I adapted it a bit to omit the refined sugar and cumin!, (which I replaced with coconut sugar and cardamom) and we've been eating them non-stop all week.  I had to make an emergency trip to the supermarket to pick up some more bananas for another batch.  I am currently using some Baby Cubes with wooden popsicle sticks for molds, but certainly intend to invest in some stainless steel popsicle molds in the very near future.  I am also experimenting with Fudgsicles, which I have yet to perfect, but am enjoying nonetheless.  I will wait until they are awesome to share the results with you.  I hear that freezing pudding makes tasty treats, so I am going to try that next....

BANANA CREAM POPS

4 very ripe organic bananas

1 cup organic plain yogurt ( I was so excited to use our very own raw organic goat milk yogurt!)

1/2 tsp organic ground cardamom

1 tsp organic ground cinnamon

1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract

1/4 cup local honey

1/2 cup organic coconut sugar

pinch of sea salt

Method:  Combine all ingredients in a blender then pour into molds.  Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

Sunday Night Dinner Party

We invited our neighbours Terry and Serena over for dinner tonight.  I had some wild shrimp from the Farmer's Market and thought they'd be great in some Pad Thai noodles.  I still haven't perfected my pad thai recipe so I am not going to post it yet, but my Thai Salad Rolls are pretty awesome, as was the dessert of Thai Fried Bananas.  There were lots of laughs and a good time was had by all.

THAI SALAD ROLLS with Peanut Chili Dipping Sauce

Rice papers

Organic lettuce

Organic cilantro leaves

Organic carrot, very finely sliced in matchsticks

Organic green onion, thinly sliced

Organic tofu

Organic tamari

Organic sesame oil

Method:  Cut the tofu into long chunks, toss with a bit of tamari and sesame oil and broil in an oven until they start to brown.  Remove and cool.

     Fill a bowl with warm tap water.  Take one of the rice papers and soak in the water for a couple of minutes, or when they just start to soften.  Lay it on a flat surface and fill with a bit of each of the veggies and tofu.  Roll like a burrito and place in an airtight container until ready to eat.  These are best made not too long before they will be consumed, as the papers dry out easily.

PEANUT CHILI DIPPING SAUCE

3/4 cup organic peanut butter

1/2 Tbsp organic tamari

1/4 cup sweet thai chili sauce (the kind for dipping)

1/4 cup warm water

2 tsp thai hot chili sauce ( i think it's called saracha chili sauce)

Method:  Mix all ingredients together and serve with the Salad Rolls.

FRIED BANANAS with Coconut Ice Cream and Crystalized Ginger

4 organic banans, cut in half and then into four pieces

1 cup rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp organic sugar

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup organic unsweetened coconut

1 cup water

1 organic egg, lightly beaten

organic palm oil for frying

4 pieces crystalized ginger, cut into tiny pieces

So Delicious Coconut Milk Vanilla Ice Cream

Method:  Heat the palm oil in a deep fryer to 375*.  Mix all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Slowly add the water and then the egg.  Dip 4 pieces of banana into the batter and deep fry until the bananas are golden.  Serve with some of the ice cream and sprinkle with the ginger.  Repeat.