White Acre Peas and Butter Beans: A Southern Summer Treat
Peas and beans please. Not your ordinary English peas, green beans or even the popular snap peas with their edible pods. These are Southern peas and butter beans, with creamy texture and smooth taste. They are both cooked the same way here.Southern peas are also called field peas or cowpeas, and if you're lucky, you can find them fresh off the vines and shelled. Serving up a delicious mouthful perfect with hot cornbread, White Acre Peas are a treat from well below the Mason-Dixon ...
Old Country Herb Braised Green Beans
When I was a girl, there was such a thing as the Old Country – the place where the world still operated with magic and must. Small old men with thick accents knew languages that had intensity, a depth of experience that ordinary talking could never meet. The ancient women’s eyes smiled with secret ways. Communities felt close and happy even without modern luxuries.While the world has shrunk, these are Old Country beans. Cooked slowly over the lowest flame (ok, it’s a ...
Yellow Indian Woman Herb Bean Dip
Yellow Indian Woman beans, from Rancho Gordo, sound earth-centered and soulful somehow. Truthfully, you can probably substitute any flavorful beans and enjoy a tasty dip but the name alone makes this recipe seem way more exotic. This bean was originally grown by Native Americans -- likely by women -- in Montana.Beans are a wonderful source of nutritious deliciousness, and heirlooms bridge us to the past. In fact, a bean thought to be left by the Anasazi Indians was found in a cave in New ...
Violets are Blue… Food and Medicine for You
Violets are not the stuff of bouquets, with their delicate purple, blue and white tops and heart-shaped leaves barely peeking through the Spring landscape for just a few short weeks. Yet, both the flowers and the leaves are not only edible, they are loaded with nutrients, including Vitamins A and C, as well as minerals.Make sure you collect from a spot that has not had any chemicals applied (such as lawn fertilizers, fungicides, etc.). We add the flowers and leaves to our salads and ...
Revenge of the Giant Veggies: Sas-Squash Zucchini Soup
This time of year, the zucchini is out of control. Enormous fruits that seem to grow 6 inches or more each day, even of the delicious Costata Romanesco heirloom variety, that reputedly produces lower yields than hybrids. What to do? Soup, cake, pancakes, gratins, and raw "pasta" all beckon.This soup was inspired by The Veggie Queen, one of today's leading pressure cooking experts and is helping us cope with the Sas-Squashes that threaten to take over the garden! Simple to prepare, ...
It’s Time! Easy Roasted Tomatoes
We've reached the height of summer , the time when the tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat them fresh, the garlic has been mostly harvested and the basil is abundant. That means it's the beginning of Tomato Roasting Season.A cross between fresh and sun-dried, roasted tomatoes have an intense flavor and residual juiciness, making them perfect on their own, in salads or as ingredients in other dishes (say zucchini stuffed with roasted tomatoes and pine nuts). Another bonus - even ...
Dishing Up Sparassis (Caulifower Mushroom)… on Toast
Mushrooms that come from “the wild” taste different – better – than their cultivated brethren. Foraged mushrooms taste of the Earth, with a depth and complexity that shrooms grown on compost, straw or other sterile media lack. From our experience, mushroom foraging is also exciting, especially when we come upon a favorite variety, fresh and unmistakable. Of course, it bears repeating: DO NOT eat any mushrooms that have not been positively identified.So, we were pretty excited ...
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa – Just Add Chips
This slightly spicy green salsa really hits the spot on a hot day, along with a bowl of chips and a cold drink. The charred, tangy taste of the tomatillos with the just-right heat of jalapenos makes an addictive combination and a nice alternative from tomato-based salsas. We like to make it in the morning so it’s chilled by day’s end when we’re ready to kick back. Great with tacos too.Tomatillos, in their neat little husks, need to be de-husked then washed well before using ...
Red Hot Sauce For Now and Later
We've got something of a spicy addiction and this hot sauce is just the fix. You can make any size batch - from a single bottle to a case or more. It ages well (we have some aging for years) but can be enjoyed immediately.Depending upon your tolerance, dare to experiment with all hots or, for those born to be mild, try a mix of sweet and hot peppers. Don't be afraid to experiment -- this "recipe" is hard to get wrong. Thickness, flavor and saltiness are all a matter of personal ...
Love Your Plants & They’ll Love You Back
It's mid-August, height of the garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, peppers, beets, tomatillos, celery, garlic, a variety of beans and herbs plus berries. No matter how many years we've planted, we are always amazed and delighted just like garden virgins when we get to enjoy the garden's bounty.The Wake Up and Eat garden is all the more awesome this year because it has thrived through the hottest July EVER as well as the fact that it has been left unattended several times for 3-6 ...
