Cucumber Jelly

Recently I revisited the very first recipe I ever created, my cucumber and ginger tea sandwich. I had forgotten how much I loved that flavor combination. The next day I found myself trying to come up with a new way to present those same flavors together. A way that I could pull something out and have those flavors instantly available.

Cucumbers are by nature very juicy. Which sounds a little strange to say considering they are a vegetable, but it's true. Although, if you can't get on board with juicy, maybe you can agree that they are watery. Either way it is a very easy thing to get juice from cucumbers. It is also easy to get juice from ginger. So I started thinking jelly, and this is what I came up with:

Cucumber Jelly

(Makes 4-5 half pints)

Ingredients:

• 2 English cucumbers; peeled and chopped into medium sized chunks
• 3 inch piece of ginger; peeled and chopped into small chunks
• 4 Tbs. lemon juice
• 4 Tbs. white vinegar
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 packet of liquid pectin (Half a box)

Directions:

1. In a blender, puree the cucumber, the ginger, the lemon juice, and the vinegar until no chunks are left.
2. Strain the cucumber juice through a fine mesh sieve to remove any pulp. I also strained it a second time through some cheesecloth to remove extra pulp.
3. Put 2 cups of the cucumber juice and the sugar in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. When it is at a rolling boil add the pectin. Stir constantly until the jelly returns to a boil. Remove from heat, skimming off any foam.
4. Ladle jelly into prepared jars. Follow the water bath method to process the jars.

*Get a printable version of this recipe here.*

***Since posting this it was brought to my attention that I had screwed up my math on this recipe. If you were going to make it with just 2 TBS. each of the lemon juice and the vinegar the PH would have been just a tad low to can it safely using the hot water bath method. I have adjusted the recipe above so it is now correct. I apologize profusely for my oversight.

This is a very unusual jelly. It has an equal balance of cucumber and ginger. There is a slight tang from the vinegar and the lemon juice. I liked it but found myself wondering if it was just me. However, I had a few other people try it (including my husband who was a tad skeptical of this idea at first) and everyone liked it, so I decided it was worth sharing. It's a new way to use up some of that bumper crop of cukes this year.

My oldest daughter likes it on some homemade bread with slices of fresh cucumber, lettuce, and sharp cheddar cheese. I have to agree that it is a good way to use it.

Another possibility for this is to not add in the pectin and simply to can it as a syrup. I have a hunch that it would be a great addition to a gin and tonic. Or just some seltzer water for a cool afternoon drink on a hot summer day.

Update: Last night my husband and I added a tablespoon of the syrup to each of our gin and tonics. It was really good, like a new favorite summer drink kind of good. I also think if you did a gin and seltzer with a tablespoon of the syrup it would be equally good and more of the flavor of the syrup would show through.

Beauty Shots and the First Fruits of the Harvest

Now that I've gotten the "how I set up my garden" blog done I can move into the fun stuff. As I mentioned before, the garden is really taking off. I've been harvesting lettuce, and now I'm starting to get cucumbers and zucchini too. Plus my flowers are blooming all over the place. I felt like sharing some pictures of it all, and maybe a couple of recipes too.

 Hollyhocks

The first sunflower

 Zucchini

We planted blueberry bushes this year. We won't be getting much fruit but the little that we will get is looking promising.

The chive blossoms were perfect this year. I saw a recipe for Chive blossom vinegar from Food In Jars. I had wanted to start making some flavored vinegars this summer anyway so I threw together a batch of this and let it sit in my basement for a couple of weeks. When it was done it was the most vibrant shade of purple. It was almost an electric purple. Gorgeous.

Just when the chive blossom vinegar was done, it was time to thin the lettuce patch. So it only seemed to make sense to use some of the vinegar in a mustard vinaigrette.

Mustard Vinaigrette

(Makes one pint)

 Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chive blossom vinegar
• 1 1/2ish Tbs. honey
• 1 1/2 Tbs. Dijon or homemade mustard
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper; freshly ground
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cloves of garlic; minced
• 1/4 tsp. or so of hot sauce
• 1 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in a mason jar and shake. Store in refrigerator. Just as an FYI the only things I actually measure here are the oil and the vinegar. The rest is really to taste.

My neighbor brought over about oh, about 10 flats of vegetables and flowers left over from a sale at the high school. There was Brussels sprouts, cabbage, hot peppers, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and cauliflower. I guess they figured that since we had a garden, we could handle a crop like that. I wasn't expecting this, so after I had used up every spare inch in my garden I started planting them in the gaps in my herb garden. I looked up my list of companion plants and tried to accommodate them as best as I could. Herbs and vegetables grow very well together. The only reason I didn't merge my herb garden and my vegetable garden was due to my want of a formal herb garden. Once the herb garden was filled I turned to the flower beds. I think our yard is going to look a little strange this year. I planted as much as I could and gave the rest to my mom and the Chapel we go to.

The cucumbers are going to be bountiful this year. I've never seen so many flowers. Everywhere you look the vines are sprawling and the baby cukes are growing. I'm predicting a lot of pickles and relishes in my near future.

After I harvested the first cucumber I remembered the very first thing I ever made. I really don't know why this memory popped into my mind, this isn't my first garden or my first cucumber.Yet there it was as fresh as the cucumber I held in my hands. I was about 6 or 7 when I came up with this recipe. I remember my mom was sick. I don't remember how sick, just that she was, and I wanted to do something for her. While she was resting in bed I went into the kitchen and rooted around the refrigerator. This is what I came up with:

Cucumber and Ginger Tea Sandwich

(makes one)

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of good sandwich bread
• Mayonnaise
• 1/4 of a cucumber; sliced thin
• Pickled ginger (This is the stuff you get when you have sushi. My mom loves it, and always had a jar on hand when I was a little girl. You can find it in the international isle in your grocery store)

Directions:

1. Lightly toast the sandwich bread.
2. Spread a light layer of the mayonnaise on each side of the toast.
3. Layer the cucumber and then the pickled ginger. You just want a thin layer of the pickled ginger. Serve and enjoy.

*You can get a printable version of this recipe here*

I remember that my mom adored this tea sandwich. I made it for her over and over again. It's simple, and I still enjoy it now as an adult. It's perfect for a hot summer day. The cool cucumber and the spicy ginger blend perfectly together for a light summer lunch or tea.

Do you remember the first recipe you created?



With Silver Bells and Cockle Shells

I know so little about growing things that I almost didn't write this. When people give me an indoor plant I bury my face amongst its leaves and apologize for the certainty of its short life under my care. Unless it is a plant that can survive long periods of drought followed by short monsoon seasons it is not a plant for me. And even under those circumstances its chances are at best ify. I've killed cacti...enough said.

To date the only plant I have that has withstood my abuse and neglect is the aloe plant in my kitchen. Sometimes I think it is literally drawing in moisture from the air. Still, after a decade it is there, waiting to save me from a scrape or a burn.

When it comes to outdoor plants I am not a whole lot better. I have a tendency to plant something and walk away. In the past I would not even water the plant to help with its transition from pot to soil. My husband says that the way I garden is one of the ways I show my faith in God.

It seems that when it comes to taking care of plants the only time I am truly successful is when it benefits me and my family to do so. So when it comes to my vegetable and herb gardens I have a little more success. In the past I have grown the herbs I use the most. This would include basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, dill, rosemary, and sage. Then in my vegetable garden I have always grown tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, and squash. Nothing fancy, nothing extreme. However, since I began canning within the past several years I have had an itch to grow more. To bigger and better my garden. To commit, and put a fence around it. So last year when we bought our first house I was eyeing out the back yard. I was building mental plans.

Last summer I took my time and built my first formal herb garden. I found plans for one I liked here. This garden worked especially well for me because I had the perfect cast iron bird bath for the center. I built it right out my back door so everything would be easily accessible when I was cooking. It took me most of the summer but I fell in love with it.

This was once it was completed in the fall. In the beginning of the summer I had finished the circle which I filled with basil and chamomile. I got the bricks for free off of freecycle and I got the arbor from Craig's List for $15. But now everything was good to go for the spring.

Forming "The plan":
I spent the better part of fall and early winter reading up on herbs, vegetables, and different methods of gardening. There were two problems I had to keep in mind when planning the design of my garden. The first problem was the soil. Here in Pennsylvania or at least in my little corner of Pennsylvania the soil is a heavy clay type. This means that you have a lot of tilling and adding of soil ammenders to get it good for planting. That's a lot of back-breaking work. The second problem I noticed when digging out my herb garden, no worms. I mean like, NO worms. How is that even possible?? Is there some underground "no trespassing" sign that I haven't seen keeping them at bay? And worms aren't like birds, I can't hang worm feeders and watch them flock to my yard. Perhaps I need to form  a worm relocation program?

By mid winter my plan was formed. I was going to combine three different forms of gardening to *fingers crossed* get the best results with the least amount of work.

Method #1: Lasagna gardening. Lasagna gardening requires no digging, no tilling, and little weed if done properly. Instead of digging into the ground, you build up on top of it using layers of organic materials (hence the lasagna name). By layering you don't even have to dig up the grass, because the layering kills anything underneath and just builds amazing soil on top. I got the book Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza from my local library. I instantly recognized it as a valuable resource of information that I would go back to more than once so I asked for it for Christmas and now own a copy. This method of gardening would take care of the clay soil problem. Plus as I already mentioned, I'm a lazy gardener so the lowest maintenance method is best for me.

Method #2: Square foot Gardening. The one drawback to lasagna gardening is you need to be able to stay off of the garden beds. The layers compost into a rich, loose soil and you don't want to compact it down by stepping on it. You see, I'm learning here. The best way around this is to keep the beds not much more than 4 ft. wide. That way you can weed and harvest from both sides without compacting the soil. So if you only have a 4 ft. wide bed, you need to plan what to grow by how big it gets. This is where square foot gardening helps. And there are a bunch of websites that have figured it all out for you. The one site I found myself using the most was My Square Foot Garden . I wrote out a list of the vegetables I wanted to grow and then I wrote down how many square feet each of them used. Things were really starting to come together.

Method #3: Companion planting. I honestly couldn't even tell you where I heard about this method. I've read a lot of books and articles over the winter. Perhaps the gardening fairy came and whispered it into my ear while I was sleeping. Apparently there are plants that benefit from being planted near each other. Likewise there are plants that stunt each others growth and harvest if they are planted near each other. Again the Internet was very helpful with what went with what. The Golden Harvest website has a ton of information another really good one is Gardens Ablaze. I took my list of vegetables with the square foot information and started adding in which plants played well with others and which ones were mortal enemies or had restraining orders on each other.

 When I was done, I realized something. I was in over my head. I had a couple of pages of incomprehensible scribbles. I needed to organize this mess into a way I could visualize it so I could plan out my garden. This might seem a little over the top for some people, but I'm a visual person, so this is how I did it.

I made one of these cards for each plant whether vegetable or herb that was going to be included in my plan. This way I could see who could bunk with who and what rooming situations I should avoid. In the bottom right hand corner is the suggested square feet that each plant would take up. Once I had done this putting together the layout of my garden was easy. Sort of like a puzzle. In the end I had four different rows to plant things in and space between each row to work the beds. It was also easy to figure out how much fence I was going to need to go around the whole thing.

Collecting "The goods":
I was excited. My garden was going to be...epic. I ordered a bunch of heirloom seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. By the end of January I had all my seeds and was ready to go. I had ordered hot peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant, bush beans, spinach, squash, zucchini, carrots, strawberries, and asparagus, plus a bunch of herbs. I set up a grow table in the basement under a workshop light that I had put a warm and cool light bulb in to make a mock full spectrum light. Then I went online and found out my areas average last frost date, which is essential if you are planning on starting seeds indoors. I took out the calender and marked on it when to start each type of seed counting back from the last frost date. I have come to the realization that I am either seriously organized about things or a complete slob. There doesn't seem to be much of a grey area between the two extremes for me. So I decided that since it was just for a few months that I would be totally type A about this project.

The Beginning:

Mid February rolled around and it was time to start the seeds. I poked holes in the bottom of plastic Dixie cups. I filled them with seed starter soil and labeled everything.

Then came the dangerous part. At that point these would be what I would consider "indoor plants". I already explained how that usually goes for me.  I forced myself to be diligent. I checked the soil twice a day to make sure it was moist, I spritzed the top with water when it needed it. An amazing thing happened...things started to grow. Apparently in my excitement I forgot to photograph the rest of the indoor phase. So just picture things growing, and me smiling. I spritzed and I sprayed, I watered from the bottom, I over did it and got...mold. No one ever told me that being too type A would result in that. I was so sad. Distraught, I poured over the Internet looking for help from someone with a thumb less black than my own. I found a few discussion groups that suggested sprinkling cinnamon on the soil with the affected plants. The chances were still likely that I was going to lose the plants with the mold (which was half of them), but it was all I had. Incredibly it worked. My seedlings pulled through my over-zealousness. Then we waited for it to get warmer...

The plan comes to life:
Mid-March I started collecting the layers for my lasagna garden. I got as much as I could for free. The newspaper I got from the library before recycling day. The compost I had been doing for a couple of years so I had some of that. I found a horse farm with what I would call a mountain of manure, that had been composting down since the end of the previous summer. Our town has a compost center where I got leaf mulch as well as tan bark to lay down on the rows in between the beds. The only things I had to buy were peat moss and the fence. At this point I was wishing I had a truck instead of a minivan, but we work with what we have. As I say to my kids, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit". Many trips were made in all kinds of weather to gather the supplies. I think it was about the end of April when Lily learned to roll her eyes at me. Oh well. I will say that it took a while, but in the end I had laid out a garden and was ready to plant. We waited some more...

April 23rd the average last frost date:
It was eviction day for my seedlings. Time to face the world on their own. Finally the chain was off my ankle, I wouldn't have to dote on them anymore. The gardens were ready. I spent the day planting all my vegetables and herbs.

I even put mulch in the herb garden to make mowing easier. I heaved a sigh of happiness, now it was going to be easier...now I could relax.

Trouble with a capital "T":
There was one thing I had forgotten about, the fence kept out the rabbits, but not...the birds. The Starlings to be specific. To my horror, within two weeks those *$!# starlings had ripped out half of the seedlings I had been so careful with. I was sick. Was this some cruel joke? I would see them from the kitchen window and run out the back door screaming at them. No, I am not a person who cares what my neighbors think of me. I am a mom, I have no pride anymore. If I could save one of those plants by blasting out the back door in my jammies with my morning bed head then that was what I was going to do. More researching online gave a few good ideas to try. I went to the dollar store and bought rubber snakes and pinwheels. I waited. I don't know if the Starlings were done building their nests or if my patriotic pinwheels had worked their wonders but my plants stopped being snatched. So I replaced the ones I couldn't start over from seed and direct sowed the new seeds that I could. I moved on with my life.

My plants also moved on with theirs. The weather got warmer and things continued on. The weeds have been minimal and easy to pull since the soil is so loose. The weather has gotten warmer. Everyday I have gone out to check things and make sure things were coming along. Here are some of my beauty shots:

 Apples

 Baby carrots

Babies in their beds

 And then these little buggers came to rain on my parade. Theses are Mexican Beetles. They showed up in the beginning of June and enjoyed an all you can eat buffet on my bush beans. The most useful information I could find about them was to go out from 12-4 in the afternoon and squish them. I guess they enjoy the warm sun while they are munching my plants into oblivion. Well, I worked too hard! So I went out during their lunch hour and squished as many as I could. Worms I have not, troubles I have many. Just when I had sent the Mexican beetles packing a new pest moved in.

 This was my eggplant all happy and growing.

 The next day. And I mean literally the next day all the leaves looked like this. The flea beetles had moved in next door to the Mexican beetles. They were all lined up doing carnage to my eggplants.

Fortunately these guys were an easy fix. I got some organic spray and moved them out that evening. They started to show up again this week but now I know what to do to get rid of them.

Apparently to have a successful garden I'm going to have to put in a little more effort. But it's worth it, I've already started to harvest lettuce, cucumbers, and zucchini. I even got one bean from my bush bean plants.

I apologize that this was so long, it's been a year long project covered in one post. A bunch of people have been asking me about all of this so I hope I covered everything I've been up to. If not just let me know. I'm about as far from an expert as you can get but I've been putting in my time, doing my research, and educating myself. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years I will even be sporting a green thumb.

Summertime S'mores

This past week we did a staycation with my mom. There is lots to do near where we live so it was more about picking the best and the closest, instead of scratching our heads trying to figure out how to fill the days. On Tuesday we went to Hershey Park. It's great for kids of all ages. From my 11 year old to my almost 2 year old, fun was had by all.

There were lots of spinning rides for the kids.

There were rides that went up and down.

I think Lily went on this ride about four times while my husband and my mom photographed her. I was off taking Naiya on her first loop roller coaster. It was Naiya's first time at the park and that roller coaster was her first ride.

There was a sea lion show.

And we took some time to feed the ducks too.

As we wandered around amongst the rides and the food stands there was a particular food stand that caught our eye. It was a s'more stand. Now there's a good idea we thought. But then we read the menu. On it were all different types of s'mores. It's Hershey so they have a lot of candy sitting around waiting for someone to come up with a good idea to use it. I can't remember all the different ones (it was a busy week), but the one that caught our eye was a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup s'more. Hello! 

I don't know about you, but I don't need to pay $4.50 to try that treat. So tonight for Father's day we gathered the ingredients to make

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup S'mores

(Makes one)

*Totally stolen from Hershey Park*

Ingredients:

• 1 graham cracker broken in half
• 1 Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
• 1 marshmallow; toasted to your preference

Directions:

1. Come on now...everyone knows how to make a s'more!

But here are some pictures to refresh your memory:

I call this your "mise en place". In s'more making it is imperative to the success of your s'more to have the graham cracker as well as the peanut butter cup in place, awaiting the arrival of the marshmallow goodness.

Toasty marshmallow happiness. Almost there, but not quite yet...

That there is one finely toasted marshmallow. Just the underside to go.

In s'more lingo this move is called "the squish". It is where everything comes together in one perfect summer moment. It's the ooey gooey instant where the crust on the toasted marshmallow breaks to release it's molten insides, which in turn melt the peanut butter cup and hold the graham cracker together.

This is my new favorite s'more. It is everything I ever wanted from a s'more. I like it so much better than it's more traditional counterpart. While enjoying the summer night and the smells of the fire we came up with a few other possible contenders:

1. Chocolate S'mint: A chocolate mint s'more. Take a chocolate graham cracker, a peppermint patty, and a toasted marshmallow.

2. South Sea S'more: A Mound bar s'more. Take a graham cracker, a Mound's section, and a toasted marshmallow.

3. The "There now it's good for you" S'more: A fruity take on the classic. Take a graham cracker, fresh seasonal berries e.g. sliced strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries, dark chocolate, and a toasted marshmallow.

 I think the possibilities are endless here. It's so simple. Why hasn't this been done before? And If it has, why didn't anyone tell me?

Italian Sausage...Bow Chica Wow Wow

For June's Charcutepalooza challenge we were asked to make sausages. I had a good idea for a turkey sausage but in the end I opted to make Italian sausage. I went with sweet Italian sausage because it is my favorite and is the type of sausage I use the most in our house. I wanted to compare the taste difference between store bought and homemade. I pretty much knew what the outcome was going to be but I had to try anyway.

This is where I must warn you.  Let's call it a parental advisory of sorts. It is really hard to talk about making sausages without it coming out all kinds of dirty. In fact, I've been mentally putting this posting together in my head for awhile now and I still haven't come up with a completely "clean" way to do it. Perhaps there is a part of me that enjoys the double entendres a little too much. If you'll get offended by that sort of thing, then this isn't the post you should be reading. I'm sure that almost everyone who is involved in this challenge had the same problem this month. Either way, you have now been warned.

It all started with a call to my butcher. I ordered the 5 lbs. of pork shoulder and 10 feet of hog casings that I would be using. Needless to say, I was both excited and nervous about this challenge. Using real pig intestines can make anybody a bit squeamish. I also wasn't sure how strong intestines were and if I would be blowing holes in the casings when I stuffed them with the meat. But hey, what can you do? Sometimes you just have to dive right in.

Since last month I made a merguez bulk sausage, I felt confident in my skills for making the actual sausage. While the kids were in the backyard playing with the hubby I ground out 5 lbs. of sweet Italian sausage following the directions laid out in Charcuterie: the Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. When I was done making the bulk sausage, I sauteed a few test patties for the family. The reactions I got ranged from "mmmm" to my daughter Naiya coming and wrapping her arms around me to give me a hug. That's right, I managed to render a pre-teen girl speechless. Now if that doesn't speak volumes for how good this sausage is, I don't know what will.

Once that part was done, my husband and I re-read the directions in Mrs. Wheelbarrow's blog on how to stuff the sausage into the casings, which I found to be absolutely essential to my success in this venture. And no, I'm not brown nosing here. Even if you are stumbling into this blog a year from now and want to attempt to make a cased sausage on your own, she gives great tips and wonderful pictures to go along with her explanation of the process. One suggestion was to freeze the bulk sausage for 1/2 an hour prior to stuffing. So, I formed the meat into sausage shapes and put it in the freezer to firm up before I stuffed it in the casings. As I was preparing the casings, my daughter Naiya wandered into the kitchen. It was one of those times as a parent that I knew without a doubt what was about to occur. And I was right.

"Whatcha doin'?" She asked as she sauntered over to the kitchen sink.
"I'm getting the casings ready for when Dad and I make the sausages tonight." I was hoping this would be enough information for her and she would leave it alone. But, no.
"What are they made of? Plastic?" She inquired.
You have to understand something about me as a parent. If one of my children asks me a question, I answer it. It's just how I roll. So I answered.
"No, they are not plastic, they are pig intestines." At this point I could feel her recoil next to me. She wanted to believe that I was lying, kidding, trying to gross her out, but she knew by my matter-of-fact tone that I was completely serious, and she was horrified. She took a step back, her lip curled slightly in her disgust.
"Like, real pig intestines!! EWW!!! Couldn't you just order some of the plastic ones?!" (She was trying to find a way out.)
"I suppose I could have, but I didn't." I decided at this point that I would attempt to appeal to the side of her that is always talking about how our society is so wasteful and how she wishes that she could live like the Indians did. "Naiya, I thought not wasting things is important to you."
"It is...but mom.."
"Well I'm not wasting here. We are using all the parts of the animal that we can." At this point she realized there was no way out; she would have to endure putting a pig intestine into her mouth and swallowing it. I think she was hoping to die before the next night's dinner. Fortunately, it was bedtime and the conversation came to an end.

After all the kids were in bed, and my husband and I had fortified ourselves with a good drink, we headed into the kitchen to make the sausages. Everything was prepped and ready to go. With a grin and a giggle we lubricated the stuffer attachment for the Kitchen Aid. In the next hour there were a lot of "That's what she said" comments until I literally had tears rolling down my face and my sides hurt from laughing so hard. What can I say? We have fun together. I would get the casing ready as he lubed the stuffer. Then I would slide the casing on the stuffer and he would feed the meat into the stuffer as I directed it into the casing. In the end, our efforts paid off - the longer we did it the more confident we got, and the better the sausages came out.

I think making stuffed sausages really is a two person job. I can't imagine what it would have looked like if I had tried to do all of it by myself. I just wish there had been a third person to photograph everything. Video would have been even better.

Regardless, you can see the finished product.  I was surprised that we were able to pull it off so well our first time out. There were hardly any air pockets, and the few that were there were very small and located at the ends of the sausages, so they were a cinch to get out. None of the casings tore or were loose. I thought the marbling in the meat from the fat looked spot on. I already knew how good they tasted. Plus, the cost! It cost a dollar less per pound of sausage to make them at home. It is important to note that I am comparing the cost to standard store bought sweet Italian sausages, not a specialty sausage. While the meat I used in making ours was from a local pig farmer that raised his pigs organically. Plus, we have so much more than I would have bought. So, I froze them in layers separated by parchment paper.

My next challenge was what to do with them. I have a ton of recipes that use Italian sausage. All of them are great, but none of them are mine. I really wanted to come up with something special for all the hard work we had put in. I tried to come up with another fusion recipe, but in my mind, the seasonings that go into sweet Italian sausages are hard to mix with other ethnic foods. Italian sausage is...Italian. So I embraced it. I decided for the first go around to do something we've probably all had before, Sweet Italian Sausage sandwiches, on a homemade roll, slathered with homemade mustard, and piled high with sauteed peppers and onions. Oh yeah.

And those were good. Like, really really good. But I still wanted to come up with something that was a bit... more. I started rolling ideas around in my head and this is what I came up with...

Deconstructed Pesto with a Saute of Sausage, Peppers, and Onions

(Serves 6)

Ingredients for basil pasta (makes one pound):

• 1 1/2 Tbs. of olive oil
• 1/3 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup semolina flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 3 eggs; at room temperature

Directions for basil pasta:

1. In the bowl of a food processor puree the basil leaves and the olive oil. Set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl combine the semolina flour, all purpose flour, and salt. Mix until well Incorporated. Make a well in the center of the flours. Crack the eggs into the well and add in the basil puree. Using a fork, blend the ingredients in the well, slowly drawing in the flour until everything is combined into a dough.
3. Dust a clean work surface with flour and transfer the dough to that surface. Knead the dough until it feels smooth, about 8- 10 minutes.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temperature for 1/2 an hour.
5. Using either a pasta machine or a rolling pin roll out your pasta and cut it into fettucini width noodles.
6. At this point the pasta can be used or frozen for later use.

Ingredients:

• Basil pasta
• 1 Tbs. of butter
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 a cup of half & half
• 8 cloves of garlic; roasted and mashed in a bowl with a fork
• 1 egg yolk; slightly beaten
• 4 oz. parmesan cheese; grated. Plus more for topping
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 yellow onion; sliced thin
• 1 red pepper; sliced thin
• 4 sweet Italian sausage links; sliced into 3/4 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup pine nuts; toasted. For topping

Directions:

1. Set a large pot of salted water over high heat and bring it to a rolling boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Add the heavy cream, the half and half, and whisk in the roasted garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the cream is reduced by 1/4, about 10 minutes.
3. Stir a generous spoonful of the cream into a bowl with the egg yolk, , then return the mixture to the saucepan with the rest of the cream, mixing well. Add in the parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set on a back burner with a lid on to keep warm.
4. In a large saute pan over medium heat warm the oilve oil. Once the olive oil is heated add in the sweet Italian sausage. Once the sausage is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove the sausage from pan with a slotted spoon, to a plate and set aside. In the same saute pan now add the pepper and onion. Saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Put the sausage back in the pan and mix it into the pepper and onion.
5. While the pepper an onion are sauteing cook the basil pasta. Remember that since you are using fresh pasta it will only take a couple of minutes for the pasta to cook.
6. Drain pasta and place it in a serving bowl. Mix half of the roasted garlic cream sauce into the pasta then pour the remaining half over the pasta. Top with the sausage, pepper, and onion saute. Finish with a sprinkling of parmesan and pine nuts. Serve immediately.

Get a printable version of this recipe here.

For those of you that have ever scratched your heads wondering what a deconstructed meal is, my deconstructed pesto is a good example. I took a dish's ingredients (in this case pesto), broke them apart, and prepared them separately and in a new and different way. Then I put them back together on the same plate to form a new dish.

This is a really good, really special meal. If you make the pasta ahead of time and freeze it, then this is not a  very difficult meal to put together, though no one will guess that when they sit down at the table. And Naiya didn't seem to have any troubles getting over her "casing phobia."

Summer Street Festivals: Beignet Blunders and Popcorn Wonders

Where we live in Pennsylvania there are four street festivals every summer. It's a big thing here. I look forward to them. I love walking up and down the street smelling the foods, looking at art, and letting the kiddos get their faces painted. We have good times eating funnel cakes and wandering around covered in powdered sugar while slurping down fresh squeezed lemonades. We always find ourselves trudging back to the car at the end of the day carrying the soon to be dead goldfish in the bag, and of course, the biggest bag of freshly popped kettle corn still warm in our arms.

Next Thursday is the second street festival of the summer called Jubilee Day. The black and white pictures shown here I took several years ago on Jubilee Day. In town they close down the main street for the entire day. The bank parking lot will be transformed into a small carnival. Vendors will set up their stands. I'm particularly excited because for the past few years we have been out of town for Jubilee day on family vacations. This year however, we are having a "staycation" so we will be here to enjoy the festivities.

My mom, who will be joining us on our staycation, grew up in this town. I think she is the most excited because she hasn't been to a Jubilee Day since she was a kid. She has fond memories of my Grandmother entering the flower arrangement contest, usually bringing home a prize. Jubilee Day has been going on here since 1923...you know, since the dinosaurs roamed the streets. So this year there will be three generations of my family strolling the town.

It makes me nostalgic. Which in turn makes me creative. This week on Food 52 the contest was "Street Food". How fitting. I immediately thought of all my favorite street festival foods. The first thing that came to my mind was the funnel cakes. The only problem I have with funnel cakes are how big they are. Even when we split them amongst our family I find myself feeling a little sick. Too much grease, too much sugar. So I wandered over to their daintier French counterpart; the beignet. These little morsels are a perfect one bite snack.

Oh and I had an idea for the perfect beignet. It was going to be flavored with rhubarb and covered with a strawberry glaze. So I took a couple of recipes from online and rearranged them to make my own. I was so excited. Can you feel where this is going? Can you sense the impending doom looming over my good intentions? Yeah, so the first thing that happened was that even though the recipe said it was only going to make 36 it ended up making over 100. And the sad thing is, I knew it was going to do that. I make our bread so I know how big a pile of dough you will end up with on your counter top when you use 6 cups of flour. I always seem to make the biggest mistakes when I shove that little voice in my head under some mental carpet. When it's screaming at me I should really trust it and follow the advice it gives. But once again I did not so I ended up with over 100 beignets that did not taste how I wanted them to. They did not taste how I wanted them to because I couldn't add in the amount of rhubarb puree that I needed to without compromising the texture of them. *Sigh* So I had over 100 beignets that were very good but didn't taste a thing like rhubarb.

Most of them I dusted with powdered sugar and about 3 dozen of them I put the strawberry glaze on. The glaze was really good and inspired by a recent post from tigress in a jam on her rhubeena recipe. I made a strawbeena that is delicious. So I took some of it, mixed in some cornstarch and dunked the top of each beignet until it was properly coated. They tasted like an inside out jelly doughnut. My husband was in love. My family was devouring them and hot on my heels for more. I was glum and disappointed and feeling the crunch of a contest deadline that I had held such high hopes for that were now slipping through my glaze covered fingertips. *Sigh again*

That there on the left was supposed to be the picture that went with the recipe.

Feeling dejected I footslogged back to the kitchen sink to face the mountain of dishes that had piled up under my efforts. Here's the thing about me. I am a professional procrastinator. I overcame this affliction during  my college days as an art student when I learned that no matter how hard I willed it, paint only dries at a certain rate. And finals that were painted had to be timed out to account for that. But I work well under pressure. Actually, I thrive under pressure. And while no life changing event would occur if I didn't enter this contest I really wanted to. I felt it was a good one for me. I started retracing my memories of street food as I scrubbed the pots and pans.

That's when it came back to me. Tired and worn out heading back to the car after a long day with that bag of still warm freshly popped kettle corn in my arms. Mmmmm popcorn. My other favorite street food. You smell it from a 1/4 mile away and follow the smell to it's source. So I continued with that train of thought. When I come up with a recipe I usually try to combine things I like to get a new flavor. I think most people like to enjoy ice cream on a hot summer day. Rocky Road is my favorite ice cream. I have fond memories of visiting my Grandparents during the summer and there would always be that container of Rocky Road waiting for me in the freezer. Well, what if I put the two together and added a little kick of spice for fun?

Kickin' Rocky Road Popcorn

(Makes 10-12 cups)

adapted from sueb's recipe

Ingredients:

• 8 cups freshly popped popcorn; no salt (I popped 1/3 cup of kernels)
• 1 1/2 cup unsalted almonds; chopped
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Oil two 10x14 baking dishes.
2. Place popcorn and chopped almonds into a large bowl and set them aside. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar, corn syrup, cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, cinnamon, salt, cayenne pepper, and butter. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for two minutes, until the sugar is melted. Stir in the vanilla, then pour the mixture over the popcorn and almonds. Mix it up until everything is evenly coated. Spread the popcorn into the prepared pans.
3. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and mix in the mini marshmallows. Allow to come to room temperature. Break it into small clumps, and store in an airtight container.

Get a printable version of this recipe here.

One word: addictive. I had to put it away and up on top of the refrigerator to stop us from eating it all. The cayenne gives it a heat without being overly spicy. Lily was feeling the heat and was saying "It's hot". So I told her she could stop eating it if she didn't want it. "NO mommy!" as she shoved several more fist fulls into her mouth. This from the girl that won't even eat a grilled cheese sandwich without a fight. And I got to hang up my apron and not have to do the walk of shame when I left the kitchen.