Early last week, I went to visit Coral & she sent me home with a ton of leftovers from the wedding, including several pounds of plum tomatoes (7 1/2 lbs.) & Anaheim peppers (4 1/2 lbs.). They sat in our basement for a couple days, while I wondered what I should make with 'em. I finally decided to make canned diced tomatoes & pickled Anaheim slices. For the peppers, I used a basic pickling brine, & added garlic, mustard seeds, peppercorns & a hot pepper to each jar. I have to wait about a month to try them (so they can develop their flavor), but I hope they're good! The tomatoes are just lemon juice, salt & tomatoes, so they'll be pretty versatile.
Before pickling:
After pickling:
Smels was gone all last week. Coral's sister, Laurel, had to head back to school in Wyoming after the wedding festivities were over, so Smels went with her & they had a fun road trip. All four of us: Coral, Laurel, Chelsea (Smels) & me, have been friends since we were toddlers. Their mom is like my second mother, & they're all such dear friends. <3 <3 <3
Thankfully, Smels is back. She got me this beautiful bowl in an antique store. I love it! It feeds my bowl habit & matches my tiered candy dish thingy too. :)
Yesterday, before work, my sister & I went to the King Farmers Market. I got some basil & Walla Wallas, & a treat from the Grand Central stall. Plus we each got a free bag at the Farmers Market, which was cool:
After that, we decided to go on a bike ride to the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant, then the Smith & Bybee Wetland area. Whoa...going to a stinky sewage place, for fun?! Well, there are both the Peninsula Crossing Trail & 40-Mile Loop around there, & Smels knows some good blackberry-picking spots nearby. We picked 4 quarts of them, so she can bake a pie or two.
We also saw three Western painted turtles! They were far away, sunning on a floating log, so forgive the blurriness:
After our berry picking, we rode to Kenton & went to an antique store, the library, & then got iced mochas at Posies Bakery & Cafe. Tasty!
Now for something sugary: the other night, I whipped up some raspberry crisp for a dinner at Smels' house, so I made a behbeh portion for myself too, mwa ha ha. I used the same filling as this raspberry pie, but cut down on the sugar, since the topping is sweet, unlike (most) pie crust.
This happens to be my favorite-est crisp topping in the Universe...
Fruit Crisp Topping
- 1 cup flour (white whole wheat is my favorite)
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Mix everything together until combined. Just lightly sweeten & thicken your favorite fruit by tossing it with some sugar & either cornstarch or flour, then put it in a casserole dish, generously layering a bunch of this topping over it. Bake at 350*F until the fruit is bubbling & the top is brown, around 45-55 minutes. I usually lightly cover mine towards the end of baking, to prevent over-browning. Don't cover tightly though, or you'll steam your crisp, making it pasty & sad. :(
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Ooh, I also made some Pad Thai today, using Pim's guide, but substituting vegetarian fish sauce for the real deal. I got mine at Fubonn, but it's probably available at larger Asian grocery stores. The resulting dish was pretty tasty. I made it with ingredients I had around (carrots, basil, tofu, egg, cilantro, Walla Walla onion, jalapeno, etc.), so it was far from authentic, but I was satisfied with it nonetheless.
I've got this big list of goals & fun things I want to do before school starts back up, & making fresh pasta was one of them. Little did I know that my mom would spot this awesome Ampia pasta machine at Goodwill! It's really heavy-duty.
We think that the ravioli attachment, on the right, doesn't actually go with the base part, since there is no way to attach it---it was just sort of piled on top of the pasta maker, so we got it. Maybe another brand? It doesn't say Ampia on it...oh well. I may try to use it as is, but didn't attempt ravioli this time. I'm going camping tomorrow & don't have a lot of tasty filling options on hand.
I used the recipes from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman & they worked really well. I ended up making 6 pounds of pasta---24 main course servings! I figured I might as well make as much as I could, since I had the house to myself & could freeze it all.
First I made spinach pasta:
It wanted to become fettuccine, so I obliged:
Then I made black pepper fettuccine, which I'm super excited to try:
Next, I made some plain ol' spaghetti:
I froze some of the plain pasta sheets for lasagna, then made tomato fettuccine, flavored with tomato paste:
The only kind I've tried so far was the tomato. I put a little pesto on it (not the best color combo!) & it was heavenly---so light & tender. I'll post some pictures when I make something that looks somewhat appetizing! Traditional Egg Pasta Dough- 10 ounces all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- a few drops of water, if needed
You basically just mix these ingredients together, adding a little water, if necessary, then knead for 1-2 minutes. If it's too sticky, add a bit more flour. For best results, let rest for at least an hour. Divide dough into 6 pieces, then roll it out according to your pasta machine.
*Spinach Variation---use 2 more ounces of flour (12 ounces total), add 1/4 pound frozen chopped spinach (cook, mince, & squeeze out all water)
*Black Pepper Variation---add 1 tablespoon of freshly ground pepper
*Tomato Variation---add 3 tablespoons tomato paste
I stumbled upon a delicious combination for smoothies that I never would have tried, had I not had an abundance of nectarines floating around...nectarine-pineapple! So amazing.
Here's a tasty tofu scramble (w/red peppers & green onions) with toasted, buttery Dave's Killer Bread, roasted potatoes, & a behbeh strawberry from our garden. This is one of my favorite meals. YUM!
Now...a few things I've made recently at work. Jumbo-sized Peanut Butter Pillows from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. People were raving about them, so I'll definitely make them again soon!
And these amazing Hazelnut Caramel Bars, from here.
The recipe is from Sweet Pea Baking Co., here in Portland. They know their treats, that's for sure! I have made these with many kinds of nuts & they're always decadent.
Here are some simple Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies that are a variation on this recipe. No one would know any of these treats were vegan!
Lastly, some roasted tomato fettuccine that I just made for Ethan & I. We've been getting so much good produce, so in order to use up the cherry tomatoes, I made this...
The recipe is from Bon Appétit & is available here on Epicurious. I highly recommend it because it practically cooks itself & seems super fancy, heh heh. P.S. It is raining again here. So weird.
