Brunch in Shanghai

My daughter Katie and I enjoying brunch at Madison's in Shanghai on our recent trip.

Kale Chips

Kale


Wash the leaves


Tossed in oil


Baked chips

I made some kale chips this afternoon. They are delicious! And very easy to make.
I bought two kale plants for decoration outside and decided to start eating them. If you pick off a few leaves everyday to eat, buying the plant works out to be much cheaper than buying a bunch at the grocery store. Next year I need to plant them in the garden.
If you need to eat more leafy greens this is a good way to do it.

Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tahini sauce
2 cloves garlic minced
dash salt
dash cayenne pepper

Wash and dry the kale. Tear into pieces and put in a mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients and toss together. Spread the leaves out on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

Making Crackers

Homemade crackers


Mix the flour, water and oil


Add the cheese


Roll out the crackers


Swiss garlic, swiss pepper, and cheddar pecan crackers

These crackers are light and delicious! And very easy to make. Here is the recipe:

Homemade Crackers

3 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c water
1/3 c oil
1 1/2 c shredded cheese
sea salt

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. If you want to add any herbs or pepper add it now (eg. 1 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp dill, 1 tsp oregano, etc.)
Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the water and oil. You can use different kinds of oil for more flavor. I used Walnut oil. Stir with a wooden spoon. Then mix the cheese in by hand. Roll out very thin on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with sea salt. I found it easier to roll out strips of dough than to roll out the whole mass.
Bake for 10 minutes (or until brown) at 350. Break into pieces to serve. Great with soup!
I added pecans to one batch - you can add 1/2 c of any kind of nuts for more crunch.

You'll be amazed at how simple and addictive these are.

Sweet Potatoes and Sage

I made this dish today for lunch and it was yummy!


Sage from my mother's garden


Sweet Potatoes


Saute


Steam


Serve

My son was over for lunch and he is a vegetarian so I made this dish for him. It's really good so you might want to try it.

Sweet Potatoes and Sage

1 large sweet potato
6 sage leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 c water
2 tbsp butter

Shred the sweet potato - I like to use my food processor. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute the sage leaves. Add sweet potatoes to the pan and saute about 10 minutes. Boil some water in a tea kettle. Make a well (a space in the middle) in the sweet potatoes and pour about a cup of the water in the middle. This will steam the potatoes. Stir around until the water evaporates. Then add the butter and serve with the sage leaves. 2 servings

This is a great fall dish.

Rose Hips

Rose hip jelly

I just finished canning a batch of rose hip jelly. It has a sort of appley taste and a pretty amber color.

Wild Grapes

Wild grape jam


Delicious!

We found some wild grape vines in the park and brought home a bag full to make jam.
The grape flavor is so intense and reminds me of the beautiful fall day we looked up and saw all those grape clusters growing on the vines in the willow tree by the creek.
Go out and look for wild grapes in your neighborhood. If you find some make some jam. Here is the recipe:

Wild Grape Jam

1 bag of grapes (5 c juice)
7 c sugar
1 box of pectin

Pick as many grape clusters as will fill a plastic grocery bag. Don't worry about the stems, you will strain them out later. Put the grapes in a big bucket and cover with water. Let this sit over night, it will kill the bugs and they will float to the top. Pour off the water and rinse them again. Pick out any green grapes and the large stems.
Take a large stock pot and put the grape clusters in it, and just cover with water. As you go, pick out any grapes that are damaged or shriveled.
Bring to a low boil and mash with a potato masher for 10 minutes. Let this cool. Strain the grape juice into a bowl. Use the masher to try to get all the juice out. Discard or compost the stems, skins, and seeds.
Measure 5 cups of the grape juice and put in a stock pot. Stir in the box of pectin and bring to a boil. Measure 7 cups of sugar into a bowl and have it ready to pour into the pot all together. When the pectin and juice is all mixed together, pour the sugar in and bring to a rolling boil while stirring. Boil for exactly one minute, then remove from heat. Pour into clean sterile jars and process in a water bath for 10 minutes. This will make 8 or 9 half pint jars of jam.

Fall Foraging

Fall is here and it is foraging season! My sister and I have been out in the fields and hedgerows looking for fruit to make into syrups and jellies.


Elderberry syrup

We found a lot of elderberries and made syrup. It has a beautiful garnet color.


Boiling elderberries for syrup


Mashing the berries

The syrup can be used in many ways. Over pancakes and waffles, added to club soda for a sparkling drink, added to white wine for a fruit punch, and I will make some of it up into jelly.
I used it in the Spicy Pear dessert I made for my daughter when she came for a visit and it was delicious! This is based on a medieval dish I read about. Here is the recipe:

Spicy Elderberry Pears

4 pears
3 c red wine
3 tbsp elderberry syrup
1 cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
3 peppercorns

Peel and core the pears and place in sauce pan. Pour wine and syrup over them. Add the cinnamon, cloves, and pepper corns. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the pears begin to soften. Serve them hot and the pears will be pink, or let them cool and put them in the refrigerator overnight and the pears will absorb more wine and be dark purple. I like to serve them over Greek yoghurt.


Spicy elderberry pears

We also found a lot of crabapples and made them into jam.


Crabapple jam


Crabapple jam

This stuff is yummy! We found several different types of crabapples and mixed them all together. This jam is a pretty pinky peach color and tastes very appley.
We also picked wild grapes, highbush cranberries, and rose hips. Those will all be made into jams and jellies too.

Eggplant Dinner

I have lots of eggplants now so I decided to try some new recipes for them.
Spicy Eggplant Rolls
Eggplant Stir Fry
Eggplant Bruschetta


Eggplants, plums and parsley


I grilled slices for the eggplant rolls


Eggplant rolls with spicy tomato sauce


Fried eggplant for the stir fry


I roasted the eggplant and a head of garlic for the bruschetta


Roasted plums

Everything was delicious! For dessert I roasted plums with a little olive oil and brown sugar and served it over greek yoghurt.

Peach Pie

Pie

My daughter made a peach pie and sent me this picture.
Doesn't it look delicious? I can tell she was sitting out on her balcony overlooking a row of Oak trees.

Visit

Walk in the woods

My daughter came for a visit and we had a lovely time. We went for a walk in the woods, collected wild blueberries, went antiquing, and had a dinner party.


Ghost flower


Blueberry bush


Delicious!


Drinks

We made Watermelon Basil drinks and threw in a few of the blueberries. Very yummy!
It was over much too soon.

Container Garden

Mint and Red Runner Beans


My little Garden

I started a little container Garden on the side deck. I have tomatoes, basil, mint, cilantro and beans. So far having it next to the house has helped to keep night nommers away. I also put some eggplant in the back garden. Hopefully the bunnies will leave me some!