The House Smells Amazing: How to Roast Garlic

 

Roast garlic is milder and sweeter than raw garlic, with a nutty flavor and none of the burn. It's ever so easy to do! You don't need a garlic roaster, but if you have one you can cook & serve in the same dish. 

Roast Garlic

You'll need:

A head of garlic

A teaspoon of water

A tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

A tiny pinch salt

Aluminum foil or a garlic roaster

If using foil, lay flat a square large enough to completely wrap around the garlic head. Bend up the sides to make a bowl shape.

Remove as much of the paper skin as you can without taking apart the head

Cut off the tips - not the root end! - of the cloves

Put a teaspoon of water in the roaster (or foil bowl.)

Place the head root end down in the water.

Drizzle oil over head. Sprinkle the tiny bit of salt. 

Place in cold oven; turn up to 400°. Roast for 45 minutes

Remove from oven. Scoop soft cloves out with tip of knife to spread on bread, or use in dressings or sauces. 

Sugar Cookies for Christmas

I'm not much a baker. I do love sweets but honestly the world conspires to put cakes and brownies in my path; I don't need to go to all the effort of baking them. Anyway who has time for stuff like that? But I'm a potter, and the pandemic has fucked with my livelihood most truly - all my holiday events have been cancelled. The lemonade from those lemons? This year I have the time.
I have fond memories of making sugar cookies with my sister, as a child. Here's the thing about most sugar cookies: they exist to be beautiful. For the fun of decorating them, for the pleasure in admiring their icing. As a general rule they taste...fine. 

If you are using buttercream frosting, they are a vehicle for getting that to your mouth in the prettiest way possible. If you are using royal icing, well, that hasn't got an amazing flavor usually, either. 

In my usual fashion, I am leaping right in with alterations before I have even tried the standard way, because I want to make cookies that taste great and look amazing. I really want the experience of decorating them - that's the fun of it - but that's not a satisfying experience if the cookies are only ok. 

2 things are wrong with sugar cookies: too dry, and insipid flavor. I added a little more butter, and some almond extract which also serves to add some moisture. They taste like those almond horseshoes that fancy-schmancy bakeries sometimes have. 

Almond Sugar Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

3 cups flour (plus a little for the rolling board)

1 teaspoon baking powder

You'll need a rolling pin, a smooth surface to roll on, some parchment paper, some cooking spray, and a cookie sheet.

Cut the butter into 1/2 inch slices & put in a bowl with sugar. Mash together with a mixing spoon or potato masher until well combined. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend together well. A stand mixer is super helpful at this point. Add the baking powder to the flour & stir it in. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and mix thoroughly. 

Divide the dough in half.

Spread a very little flour on your rolling surface, and roll out one of the halves of your dough to a quarter inch thick. Flip it frequently while rolling. Place the rolled sheet of dough on a piece of parchment paper. 
Do the same for the other half. 

With a sheet of parchment paper between them, put your rolled sheets of dough in the refrigerator to chill for 1/2 an hour. Preheat the oven to 375° f. 

After the dough has chilled, bring it out and cut your cookie shapes from it. Spray some cooking spray onto the cookie sheet & place the cut shapes onto the cookie sheet. 

Bake for about 12-14 minutes. Cool on rack. Tops will be pale, bottoms will be lightly browned. Makes about 20 3-inch cookies. 

The cookies are only half the battle! Here is the recipe for Better Royal Icing. 

Better Royal Icing

6 tablespoon pasteurized egg whites (The eggs you get at the grocery store are already pasteurized, or you can get a carton of just egg white.)

4 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Paste food coloring. 

This will make a lot, so you can make several colors, and have some of each at the runnier flood consistency & some at piping consistency. Once it's mixed, separate into smaller bowls & make your colors. The ones you plan to "flood" just need to be thin enough that they will smooth out, so you will add egg white to those a tiny bit - like a 1/4 teaspoon - at a time, until it flows off the mixing spoon. 

I'm not gonna try to teach you how to flood cookies or pipe decoration; I am an absolute amateur at this & you'd be better off to watch videos from My Little Bakery or Sweet Amb's.  

Here are some of my steps in the process: 

The piping was actually the hard part! The trees came out pretty much
as I envisioned; the little churches, not so much. 

Last step: cake paint. Might skip this step next time. Also, gotta work on those little churches. 
Those are kinda janky. 

My First Pie!

2020: a year like none other. If this were a normal year I would be preparing to host my family right now: cleaning, moving furniture around, chopping vegetables. It's not a normal year, and we decided to atomize our Thanksgiving this year: each household celebrating separately. Normally I make the hearty foods, my sister & brother-in-law bring the salad, and my sister-in-law makes pies. 

Well, I'm skipping salad; I love it but Doug has no interest, and it's really only good the first day, so there would be a ton of waste. It's not like I could freeze it! We're having a turkey (it's 12.5 lbs, and it actually a bit comical to look at; it's like a miniature), stuffing, potatoes, brussels sprouts...and pumpkin pie. 

I've never made a pie of any kind before. People keep telling me it's easy, but then there are all these confusing things like, you have to bake it 3 different ways? But it just didn't seem like Thanksgiving without it, so I decided to give pie a chance. 

I decided store-bought crust would have to do, because pastry is notoriously tricky to get right. I bought a box of pre-rolled rounds. That actually turned out to be the troublesome part - I didn't know it would shrink! So after I had partially baked the crust I noticed it was now too small for the pan & tried to slap on some patches. Good thing this pie will not be entering any beauty contests! 

Here'd the filling recipe, from my sister-in-law, the reigning queen of pies in our family: 

Aces High Farm Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 can (1 lb.) pumpkin (One Pie is best, from just up the road in Fairfield, Maine)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger 
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 c. evaporated milk or light cream


Preheat oven to 425F. Prepare pastry. Beat eggs slightly, then beat in  remaining ingredients. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes. *Then, reduce heat to 350F and bake 45 minutes more or until a toothpick inserted into the filling comes out clean. Serve each slice with a dollop of whipped cream on top if desired.

Important notes:

*It's a good idea after the first 15 minutes of baking to cover the
 pie crust with strips of aluminum foil to prevent burning.

So, it's out! Boy is this an ugly pie. Smells good, though! I'll report back tomorrow on the important bit: how it tastes. 

An Embarrassment of Spuds

 When you think fall in Maine, you might think of apple picking. (And you wouldn't be wrong! It is a fun fall activity and fresh-fresh-fresh apples are just incredible.) Another fall harvest is just as plentiful, though. The French name translates to "apples of the earth:" potatoes.

There are no pick-your-own potato farms that I know of, it being a messier and less picturesque activity, but farm stands are full of native potatoes, and in the grocery store the prices can't be beat. 

How to take advantage of all this bounty, when the two of us can only eat so many potatoes? (Especially when the apples are beckoning, as well!) In the past when I have tried to freeze stews or soups that contain potatoes, the results have been...not great. The potato chunks have a weird spongy texture. Trying to freeze raw potatoes has not gone any better - those were somehow both grainy and mushy. 

I knew I must be doing something wrong, because frozen french fries and hash browns are a thing. I can't flash-freeze, but I can blanche, which, it turns out, is the secret to home freezing potatoes. Here's how:

Cut the potatoes into wedges. It doesn't have to be exactly this size and shape, but you don't want your chunks too small, because you don't want them to get too thoroughly cooked before freezing. 

Put a big pot of water on the stove on high. Set a timer for 2 minutes. 

While waiting for the water to boil, fill a bigger pot with cold water & ice cubes. This is the ice bath to stop the potatoes from continuing to cook after you drain them. 

Once the water on the stove boils, put in the potatoes and start the timer. 

When the timer goes off, drain hte potatoes in a colander and put them immediately into the ice bath. Leave them in the ice bath for a few minutes, them scoop them back into the colander with a slotted spoon. Let them drain completely, then divide them into freezer bags and pop them into the freezer. 

Frozen potatoes will stay good for about a year - not that I need to worry about that, I expect we will eat these sometime in the bleak midwinter. That's the point of buying lots while they are cheap - then you save on shopping when you have less money. 

You Can Pickle Anything!

 

It wasn't a great year for gardening - too dry - but the trusty Sun Golds did come through in a big way. They are extra-sweet cherry tomatoes that produce continuously from early August right up until frost. 

I recently learned that you can pickle pretty much any vegetable. (Probably other stuff, too but ew.) I decided to give it a try. These are refrigerator pickles - I didn't get in the whole boil-the-jars-like-our-ancestors-did stuff. 

Pickled Sun Gold Tomatoes 

About 20 Sun Gold or other sweet variety cherry tomatoes

1 cup red wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon tarragon

2 cloves garlic, peeled

Fill Mason jar with cherry tomatoes. Fill jar with a 1/2 inch to an inch of space. Mix vinegar, sugar, tarragon and salt in a saucepan; bring to light boil. Boil for 1 minute. Let cool about 10 minutes; pour over tomatoes. Push garlic cloves under the surface of the vinegar. Screw on lid & let sit in refrigerator for a week before using. 

Fresh herbs make the meal. #mymainegarden #wickedcozy

via Instagram http://bit.ly/2IIR924

Berry Season: Homegrown is Alright with Me

A land baron I am not (or baroness, I guess.) I live on a double city lot. Nevertheless, my husband and I manage to grow quite a lot of food on our small parcel. This busy lady favors easy things to grow - tomatoes, hot peppers, pole beans - but by far the easiest, and my favorite, are raspberries.

They grow like the proverbial weeds - and sometimes they are the quite-literal weeds, as it's easier to grow them than it is to root them out where you don't want them. The don't even need to be weeded or watered. You just need a sunny-ish patch (I put mine on a difficult-to-mow western slope.) and to wait a year after they are planted, for the canes don't produce fruit their first year. I chose a variety that does all its fruiting early in the season, because once the tomatoes & beans start coming I can barely keep up with processing them, so I feared all-season raspberries would be wasted.

The fruit, of course, is amazing, but the leaves also make a nice tea, which is a gentle treatment for menstrual cramps or diarrhea. Less reliably, raspberry is said in lore to strengthen the bonds of marriage and ensure fidelity, and the bushes to protect a homestead against lost spirits. I can attest to this latter property - I have yet to see a ghost here!

Raspberries are delicious all by themselves. They are also yummy additions to cereal or salad; or here is a simple dessert preparation:

2 cups fresh raspberries, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream

In a mixing bowl, bruise the fruit lightly with a potato masher. Sprinkle the sugar on top, mix briefly then let sit for an hour. Add the sour cream, stir thoroughly, and spoon into bowls.  A summer dessert soup!

Chocolate Bowls Update

If you, like me, find it encouraging to read about other people foibles, to know that other people are fuck-ups just like you are but they muddle through (so you can, too!) you should read the first entry on my chocolate balloon bowls. That one is all about the fuck ups. This is the got-it-figured-out part!
Lookie:

So, the quick-&-dirty is:

• Use good balloons! Like, go to the Party Store and pay $5 for a bag of SHINY (but not mylar! use latex) balloons. Get the 5" ones. 
• Use good chocolate, and melt only half of it. Then add the unmelted part & stir until it's all melted. This will cool the melt so it won't pop the balloons. 
• Put a little blob of chocolate on wax paper to be the "stand" for the balloons to sit on. Forget the pizzelle cookies, they didn't work out. 
• Rinse the balloons (obvs), dry them, and then spray the very bottoms only with cooking spray. I did one without this, and it worked but it was alot dicier. 
• Plan to dip a second time, after the chocolate has cooled  completely, for thickness. Do not try to get them as thick as you need with one dip! (BANGSPLAT. Guaranteed.)

Here's the balloon removal process, the part that gets skipped in all the videos:

Put a piece of tape where you are going to piecer the balloon with a pin, to prevent popping. 

Balloon shrinks as air escapes. You may have to gently pry balloon away from chocolate.

Lightly squeeze and tug on the balloon to release it from the bottom of the bowl.

That's it! That's all. Well: they need to be filled, in this case with frozen yogurt & fresh raspberries, and whipped cream. I learned something new and I got to eat lots of chocolate mistakes, so I'm happy.

Update to the update: Here's what they looked like full. I assembled slices of raspberry frozen yogurt, whipped cream, nuts, and fresh berries. Putting the shapes, textures, and colors together is the best part, right after eating it. :)

The Chocolate Balloon Bowl Adventure

First let me tell you: there are about a zillion videos on youtube on how to make chocolate balloon bowls. If you want to try it, you should definitely watch those! And then you should come back here, and I will tell you all the difficulties that you are going to encounter, that those videos sorta gloss over.

I decided to make these after a heavenly experience with chocolate balloon bowls at the Portland Pottery Cafe. I suspected it would be harder than it looks, but at first I thought I was pleasantly mistaken:

I knew it couldn't be that easy

Waffle cookies for the base: check.
Ghiradelli chocolate, because it's more chocolate and less...not-chocolate, I guess? Check. Melt, dip, place on cookies...all so easy, all so neat! Who knew?

Except...um, how do you get the damn balloon out of the bowl? I mean, deflate it, obviously, I did that; but the balloons just tore and the part inside the bowls stayed inside the bowl. No amount of persuasion would get them out of the chocolate bowl, and the bowls are fragile, so they fell apart with my efforts. Fell apart with the balloon shreds still stuck to them! Also where it did come loose it left a gross balloon residue, even though I washed them.
I asked the chef at the PP Cafe, and she said, I dunno, I just popped mine & the came right out.

I got another bag of chocolate for Take 2. This time I washed the balloons thoroughly with soap and water, rinsed them, and before dipping each one in the chocolate, sprayed them with cooking spray. I tried to make a thicker layer of chocolate on each one...that was a mistake. I also, when I ran low on chocolate, added some white chocolate baking chips so I could keep trying; also a mistake!
Both the thicker bowls and the added white chocolate caused the balloons to pop and  splatter chocolate  all over the kitchen, which was not entirely unexpected - I was sort of surprised when that didn't happen the first time through. It was sort of hilarious and experiential, the first few times. After about the fourth one it was less amusing.

I did get four useable bowls, which is fine because I only have one mother.

The four good bowls

All the videos just gloss right over getting the balloons out of the bowls, where as in real life it is possibly an absolute fucking deal-breaking disaster! Use the spendy balloons that are meant to be water balloons, wash & dry them, and spray them with cooking spray.

Use the good chocolate, and only the good chocolate! I think the cheaper chocolate has to get hotter to melt, maybe? Which pops the balloons. You don't want the gooey chocolate-covered balloon to pop in your kitchen, or anywhere else. Melt half the bag of chocolate melting discs, then add the other half to them, to get the temperature you need. If you use the microwave (which, don't) be very attentive! A few seconds, check, mix, a few more seconds...or get this:

A burned mess on one side, and not even melted on the other!

Anyway! This might look like a disaster, but it was actually a fun learning experience. I kind of want to try it again - call me crazy - but I can't afford more chocolate! If I remember I'll take photos of the assembled desserts so you can see what all this effort was for.

An Amazing Thing Happened on the Way to Project Kitchen Island

To refresh your memory, yesterday I started a new project: transform Maine's Ugliest Dresser into a kitchen island. I had to empty the drawers to get started.

Imagine my surprise when I discover this:

That's right, a gift card...a wedding gift card, to be exact. From twelve years ago. For almost enough to cover the project! I checked it out to make sure it was still valid, and yes indeed it is! In fact I already used part of it to buy some tongue & groove bead board for the facing of the island.

The rest of my materials list looks like this:

• ¾" plywood, for top
• Ardex Feather Finish, a skim-coat concrete surface. 
• Dex-o-tex 2-part epoxy sealer
• Primer (already have!)
• Antique White paint (I think my sister & her boyfriend have some left over from a project)
• Corbels, to support the wider countertop, so stools can fit under. 

I think that's all! This is going to be easier than I thought...and it paid for itself! Almost.

The Morning Monkey

The Morning Monkey

Everybody knows about Chunky Monkey Smoothies, right?

1 banana
1 tsp cocoa
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup coconut milk

While this version is delicious, it has one drawback: I have to buy coconut milk for it, which I don't use in anything else: by itself, or in other smoothies, it tastes like soap. (Turns out it is high in lauric acid, which is a saponin.) And, frugalista that I am, I noticed there was often a bit of coffee left over every morning - sometimes more than a bit. It's about impossible to guess exactly how much we are each going to want! I started saving it in a pitcher, to maybe drink as iced coffee later in the day, but then got a better idea.

I switched out the coconut milk in the Chunky Monkey with leftover coffee, and man is it delicious! Now I often have this in place of my morning brew. Wakes me up and gets breakfast out of the way at the same time. The slight bitterness of the coffee is the perfect balance to the sweetness of the peanut butter.  Not only do I use my leftover coffee, I can remove an item from my shopping list. This is a very satisfying breakfast. It's a little on the caloric side - 382, but who's counting? - but between the protein, fat, and fiber, I find I don't get hungry until mid-afternoon. Frugal and fabulous, a winning combination.

Morning Monkey Smoothie

1 banana
1 tsp cocoa
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup plain ypgurt
1/2 cup cold coffee

I put away the dishes in the rack while the blender is whirring.

Pumpkin Breakfast Smoothie

The familiar One-Pie label has not changed in half a century. It reminds me of childhood holiday baking, literally the only time cans of pumpkin puree were found in my mother's shopping cart. One-Pie has been canned in West Paris, Maine for 50+ years.

Pumpkin is having something of a resurgence, though: not just for pie, anymore! Pumpkin soups are often found on menus at trendy restaurants throughout the cold weather months, and I see pumpkin bread & muffins everywhere. Not to mention the so-trendy-it's-comical Pumpkin Spice Latte.

While I like my pumpkin pie and bread and muffins as well as anyone, I am something of a smoothie fanatic. Thick, sweet, creamy smoothies make healthy breakfasts seem like dessert. One of my requirements for my breakfast smoothie is that it not have any weird-ass ingredients like chia seed or pollen or spirulina (what even is that?) Nothing, in short, that I would have to make a special trip to Lois's for. (Nothing against Lois's - I just don't want to have to plan ahead that much.) So my version of a pumpkin smoothie is pretty simple:

Lori's Mostly-Maine Pumpkin Smoothie
1/2 cup One-Pie pumpkin puree (West Paris!)
1/2 cup apple cider (from The Apple Farm, in Fairfield)
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 tsp honey (from a beekeeper friend in Southern Maine)
1 good shake of cinnamon

So good, and good for you!

Jubilee

I'm a tomato gardener.Not in a truck-garden, farmer's-market kind of way, but we plant four raised beds, and the largest - 10" x 6" - is full of tomatoes. I usually get short season varieties: Sun Golds, Oregon Springs, Consmonaut Volkovs. But I get my seeds from Fedco, and I always check the box that says if you re out of the variety I ordered, send me something else.

This year they sent me Jubilees. Wow, what a beautiful tomato! Large, smooth, yellow-orange fruit, a little seeter than a regular tomato...and still producing. It's late October, and I just plucked this beauty. My freezer is full of bruschetta, salsa, and tomato sauce by now, so all Ocotber fruit are sliced and eaten. On BLTs, in omelets, in salads, or just by themselves.

My Sun Golds are still fruiting, also. This was one fantastic year for tomatoes.

Apple Picking Time!

October in Maine is apple picking season. Local fruit can be had for a pittance at stands and grocery stores, and many people go apple picking as a fun family activity. The benefits of picking your own apples are obvious: being outside, enjoying the weather while you can, getting some excercies and a break from the ordinary. The trouble is you end up with alot more apples than you likely need before they start to get soft. Frugalistas will turn that into a plus, however: though raw apples don't freeze well, and preserving is a pain in the ass, it's easy to bake sliced apples for freezing. Like so:

3 small Mac Apples
3 tbsp honey
1/4 cup brown suggar
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter

Slice the apples in 1" bits and place in 2-quart covered casserole. (Pyrex or commercial stoneware would work but handmade is always best. Anyway I think so, but I am biased.) Dump the honey, sugar, and spices in; cut the butter into pats and dot the top. Bake for 20 minutes at 350°. Remove, uncover, and stir contects of casserole; replace in oven and bake for 10 minutes more.

Allow to cool before spooning into freezer bags. Or enjoy right away!

What to do with all those CUKES!

When they come, they come by the dozens! Cucumbers are in season in Maine. Even if you don't have a garden, chances are someone is trying to give you cucumbers. Take them! Great for salads and sandwiches, and now salsa! try this one.

Crisp Cucumber Salsa:


2 cups finely chopped seeded peeled cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped seeded tomato
... 1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped
4-1/2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1/4 c reduced-fat sour cream
1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
Tortilla chips

In a small bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In another bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, lime juice, cumin and seasoned salt. Pour over cucumber mixture and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately with chips.

Tomatoes and Zucchini, Made for Each Other

Pretty sure it's a sign from God that all of these things are in season at the same time.

1 Medium Tomato
1 Medium Zucchini
1 Medium Summer Squash
1 T snipped garlic greens
1 T snipped chives
3 T olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan cheese

I chop all the vegetables into 1 to 2 inch chunks, toss everything together, and then place it on some foil. I use enough foil that I can crumple the sides into a makeshift bowl which will then go on the grill. I cover the top with more foil to hold the moisture in, and let the lot steam in its own juice.

I admit, unfashionable as it may be, I like my grilled vegetables cooked; hot-raw just doesn't do it for me. So I put them over a medium-high flame for about 12 -15 minutes. So fresh! I want to take a mental sanpshot of the taste and remember it in January.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

I spent great chunks of my childhood summers in Cherryfield, Maine, the blueberry capital of the world. My grandparents had some blueberry barrens; in their high school years, my mother and her cousin worked at the Wyman's factory, picking the sticks and bugs out of the harvested fruit. My mother was even the Maine Blueberry Queen of 1950!

Wyman's is still there, and they process all sorts of fruit - dried, canned, or frozen. That's great for winter, but in August, there's no shortage of fresh blueberries anywhere in Maine. Fresh berries make everything better! Think of pancakes; and then think of blueberry pancakes. See what I mean?

In the summer heat, there's no better way to enjoy blueberries than a cold smoothie. Banana makes it thick and creamy, ice makes it frosty-cool.

Fresh Maine Blueberry Smoothie

1 cup blueberries
1 banana, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 cup orange juice
2 ice cubes

Place all in blender and pulse-blend until smooth. Enjoy immediately, Makes enough for two.

Want to pick your own? Check out picking farms here.

Periwinkles for Dinner?

I bet you didn't know periwinkles are edible! They are a bit of work, since each provides only a tiney morsel, but have a delicate flavor somewhat like mussels. It makes for a fun day, collecting periwinkles to bring home for dinner.

Here's how to prepare them, from cooks.com:

Steamed Periwinkles
1/2 c. salted water
1/4 tsp. thyme
1 clove garlic, mashed
1/2 c. beef bouillon or dry white wine
4 dozen well-scrubbed periwinkles
4 tbsp. butter 

Rinse the periwinkles thoroughly; put all ingredients in pot and bring to a boil; add periwinkles and steam until they can be easily extracted from the shell, about 4 minutes. Serve with melted butter.

Go Ahead and Eat the Daylilies!

July is when I am most satisfied with my garden. Monarda is blooming, brilliant red; also Black-Eyed Susan, Echinachea, and the ubiquitous daylily. I have several different hybrid varieties, but I think my favorite is the classic orange tiger lily, for its exuberant abundance.

I learned something new this season: daylilies are edible! My friend Kim, an artist with Carriage House Arts & Design in Norridgewock, makes daylily jam! You can also sauté the blossoms for a nutritious side dish. Here are a couple of recipes to try.

Daylily Stir Fry (from Spatulatta.com)

A 1 inch piece of ginger root 3 tablespoons of corn oil 1 small can of water chestnuts 2-3 cups daylily buds 1 tablespoon of soy sauce 1 teaspoon of sugar 1 tablespoon of corn starch 3 tablespoons of water

1. Peel and grate ginger.
2. Mix sugar, corn starch and water. Set aside.
3. Warm pan and add the oil. Get the oil quite hot; a haze will appear.
4. Add ginger. Sauté about 30 seconds; don't let it oil brown.
5. Add water chestnuts and daylily buds. Stir fry!
6. Pour the mixture over the lily buds and turn quickly but gently until all the flower buds are coated with a sauce.
7. Serve immediately with rice or as a side dish. 

Or, if you've a sweet tooth, try this Daylily Jam, from Tastebook.com:

• 2 1/2 cups apple juice or white wine
• 4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 oz. liquid pectin (Certo-1 pack)
• 1 cup fresh petals or buds. Cut off the stems and take out the stamens and pistils

Bring juice to a boil and pour over petals, cover and steep until liquid has cooked. Strain out petals, leaving only liquid. Combine 2 cups of the flower infusion with the sugar, lemon juice and food coloring. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as sugar is dissolved, stir in pectin. Return to a rolling boil stirring and boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Let cool slightly and add more flower petals.Pour into sterilized jars. If flowers don’t stay suspended, stir jelly as it cools until petals stay in place. Process in hot water bath (5 minutes) or seal with paraffin.

Fresh Berries Are Here!

Strawberries peaked early this year, but we still have wild berries growing our yard. They are tiny but abundantly sweet, and grow with no care at all. Berry-picking is a summer tradition here, and pick-your-own farms abound. Here are a few nearby:

• Chipman Farms, Mechanic Falls
• Ricker Hill Orchard, Turner
• Stevenson's Strawberries, Wayne
• Roaring Brook Nurseries, Wales

You can find lots more at this link.

Nothing beats berries, all by themselves, but sometimes I dress them up a bit for special occasions.  This cool dessert makes a sweet and healthy treat for your summer entertaining.

It's best to assemble this dessert just before serving. You'll need:

2 32 ounce tubs of vanilla yogurt
1 pint of strawberries
1 squirt can or about 3 cups of whipped cream
Package of vanilla Pizzelle cookies

Rinse and slice your berries. Scoop about a cup of vanilla yogurt into some pretty dessert bowls (like these!) layer sliced berries on top, about 1/2 a cup per serving. Squirt or spoon whipped cream over top.

Break four Pizzelle wafer cookies in half, and tuck two halves side by side into each bowl. Place them points down for a leaf-like decorative shape. Serve immediately. Yummy, healthy, couldn't be better!