We Be Jammin'

Sunny chopping peaches and cherries for her jam

Here's a great end of summer thing to do with your friends:  a canning party!  My friend and fellow white trash Sunny had never canned anything before and wanted a tutorial.  We met up at Toni's kitchen (hers is the largest):  Sunny, Toni, Stacey, and me.  We all brought cans enough for us and to share, plenty of produce to pickle and can.  We spent about 4 hours and came away with quarts, pints and half pints of peach/cherry jam, drunken cherries, drunken peaches, pickled jalapenos, sriracha pickles, dilly beans, lemon curd, and pickled onions.  The sriracha pickles were an experiment.  I added sriracha sauce (hubby's favorite all time condiment.  It finds its way onto everything from huevos rancheros to chili) to pickle brine.  The brine came out pink, and smelled nice, but they need to set a while before I open them.  All the other recipes we found on the web and they all turned out great, as far as we can tell!

Stirring the lemon curd

The end result!

Floating Down the Guadalupe River: White Trash Vacay

We decided to grab one more get away before school starts and chose to head to the Texas Hill Country to go tubing down the river.  Tubing down the Guadalupe in an inner tube with a beer is a Texas tradition, and one, believe it or not, I have never participated in. We loaded up a cooler, packed some cut-offs, put the kids in the mini van and headed to our cabin rental at The Lazy R & R Cove in Canyon Lake.  We pulled in and Sugar Snap immediately voiced her disapproval.  She has not yet come to terms with her WT roots.  She firmly believes a grievous mistake has been made somewhere along the way and the Royal family will be showing up at our doorstep any day now to reclaim her.  In her defense, I did not expect the cabins to be quite so rustic.  First of all, you have to ring a bell attached to a chain and the manager descends from his trailer nearby to check you in.  The cabins are tiny.  They sleep 4 - there is one double bed and a fold out couch, and when the couch bed is open you cannot walk between the two.  There is a separate bathroom and a kitchenette which includes a small fridge, a microwave, and a coffee maker.  And, blessedly, there is an air conditioner.  To call it a cabin is slightly  misleading.  They are tiny shacks.  But, we didn't expect much for the price - it was $70/ night during a weeknight.  It was quiet, and we got to see a few deer, which was nice, and a few scorpions, which was not.    They will rent you inner tubes, if you can get someone to answer when you ring the little bell.  They are a little inconsistent with the prices, however.  The website says inner tubes rent for $1/day, one manager told us she thought it was $10/day, and the other manager said no, rentals were $5/day.  They wound up charging us $2/day per inner tube.  There was a place to enter the river that's about a 10 minute walk from the cabins.  The river was moving, albeit slowly, and it was deep enough that we could not touch the muddy grody bottom.  Overall, the website is pretty difficult to navigate, but is fairly honest about what to expect.  The only real surprise was there was NO hot water in the shower.  It was a hot day, so it was livable, but really???  In this day and age no hot water?  I guess I should just be grateful the toilet flushed.

A Tightwad Granola Recipe

4-6 ingredients:  Easy homemade granola!

Cereal is crazy expensive.  We are talking around $3.00 a box on average and they have a dozen ingredients that you can't even pronounce.  Almost all of them have high fructose corn syrup, which is a no-no, and what the hell is  tripotassium phosphate?  When you get into the organics section things may get healthier, but they also get pricier.  My kids eat homemade granola.  The cheap version.  You can add wheat germ (which I have done), flax seed (which I have not done) and a whole host of sticks and twigs to make this granola as healthy as you want.  I am posting the scaled down tightwad recipe.  Play with it as you like:

Set oven to 375 degrees
In a roasting pan or baking sheet with sides pour 5 c. regular (not quick) oats,  a pinch of salt, and 1/2 c. nuts (optional)  if you are using wheat germ add 1/4 c.
In a saucepan combine 2/3 c. brown sugar, 2/3 c. canola or vegetable oil, and 1/3 c. honey (here's a tip - use a 1/3 measuring cup and measure out the sugar first, then the oil and then the honey.  The oil will prevent the honey from sticking to the cup.)  Cook until the sugar is dissolved.  Pour honey mixture over the oats and mix to coat the oats.  Bake for 10 minutes, stir, and bake another 10 minutes.  Once the granola is cool add 1/2 c. raisins (cheap) or other dried fruit (not so cheap).

Here are some other options:

Fruit - Nut:  Dried cranberries/pecans, dried apricots/pistachios, dried cherries/hazelnuts, dried blueberries/almonds
Banana-Nut:  Add 1/2 c.  dried banana chips and 1/2 c. chopped walnuts and 1 tsp. cinnamon before baking
Almond Joy:  Add 1/2 c. chopped almonds and 1/2 c. sweetened coconut before baking, add 1/2 c. chocolate chips after granola has cooled.
Tropical:  Add 1/2 c. sweetened coconut and 1/2 c dried mango, pineapple and papaya
Rocky Road:  After granola has cooled add 1/2 c. mini marshmallows and 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Use your creativity and create a granola to suit your taste.  You can also put this in a quart size mason jar and tie it with raffia to make a nice hostess gift!

Blueberry Posting #2: The Recipes!

Organic Texas Blueberries

On a recent trip to Moorehead Blueberry Farm in Conroe, Texas, we picked 10 pounds of blueberries at $2/lb.  We should have doubled that.  Berries freeze very well (spread them on a cookie sheet until they are frozen hard, then put them into gallon freezer bags).  Here are a few recipes:

Blueberry sorbet
In a saucepan combine 3 c. blueberries and 1 c. sugar and 1/2 c. water.  Cook until berries are soft and sugar is dissolved.  Cool and put in a blender on high until smooth.  If you want super smooth sorbet, strain the mixture through a fine sieve.  If you don't mind the tiny seeds don't worry about it.  Pour into a shallow lidded plastic container and put in the freezer for about 4 hours.  Remove from freezer.  It should be slushy.  Put back into the blender and blend with 1 Tbsp. creme de cassis (that's booze) until smooth.  Put back into the freezer.  You can put it through the blender again after another 4 hours for a smoother sorbet, or you can eat it when it is frozen.  I serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a crushed graham cracker on top as a sort of mock blueberry cobbler.

Blueberry bars
These are delicious and healthy - I cut them big and give them to the kids for breakfast or an afternoon snack:  Heat oven to 350.  In a bowl combine 1 1/2 c. oats, 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1/8 tsp salt, and 6 Tbsp melted butter.  Combine until oats are coated.  Reserve 1/2 c. of the mixture.  Coat an 8 inch square pan with spray oil and pour the mixture into it, gently pressing it down to form a crust.  Bake for 12 minutes.  While that is baking, in a saucepan combine 1 1/2 c. blueberries (frozen are fine) 3 Tbsp sugar, 2tsp cornstarch, and 1 tsp lemon juice.  Simmer for 2 minutes and pour over the crust mixture.  Top with the remaining crumb mixture and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Blueberry/banana smoothie
 In a blender combine 1 frozen banana, a handful of frozen blueberries, 1 c. plain yogurt, and 1/2 c. milk, and 1/4 c. honey (or to taste).  Add a little more milk if necessary to get it to the preferred consistency.  Serves 2.

Blueberry muffin

WT Day Trip...Moorehead Blueberry Farm

Sweet Potato picking blueberries.

Seriously.  What a deal.

June is blueberry season on the Texas Gulf Coast, and if you are anywhere near the area you must drive out to Moorehead Blueberry Farm and pick your own blueberries.  We arrived early on a Sunday morning (yes, we skipped church to pick blueberries.  Don't judge me.)  At about 9am the heat was just beginning to creep in.  We found the place, thanks to good signage, at the end of a bumpy dirt road, parked the car and headed toward the gate.  We were greeted by two young men who handed us buckets and directed us to the best picking area.  Upon entering the orchard I marveled at the acre upon acre of tall bushy blueberry shrubs loaded with berries.  We staked out a spot and started picking.  Sugar Snap gathered the berries closer to the ground, while Sweet Potato and I held our own in the middle, and hubby snagged the upermost berries.  We were soon joined by a family with a small (I'd say three year old) boy, and enjoyed some casual conversation.  It wasn't long, however, before Sweet Potato became indignant.  Her sister was picking the berries, and popping more of them in her mouth than in her bucket.  In her defense, the berries were big and juicy and sweet.  I was doing my best to fill my bucket, but I, too, was giving in to temptation.  We decided that we would 'fess up when it came time to pay that we had probably eaten a pound or so berries in the field and would be happy to pay for them (at $2 a pound!)  Satisfied with that, we continued to pick berries.  Our goal was 10 pounds, and judging by the size of the bucket, we could tell we were getting close to that amount.  Let me tell you, it was soooo hard to walk away from the berries that were still on those bushes.  It must be some sort of latent hunter/gatherer thing because we all felt it.  There's always one more perfect berry just begging to be picked.  We  managed to tear ourselves away and walked back to the covered area where they have the cash registers and scales.  Sure enough, we had picked 10 pounds.  $20.  What a bargain!  Sweet Potato proceeded to explain that we figured we had eaten about a pound or so in the field and would like to pay for them.  The man behind the register wouldn't hear of it.  He explained that it was part of the deal - they fully expect and hope that their customers will sample the berries, and are happy about that.  That eased Sweet Potato's conscience.  He turned out to be Sid Moorehead, the son of  Albert, the gentleman who started the Blueberry Farm.  It's a rather quaint story:  some time in the 1970's Mr. Moorehead attended a presentation hosted by Texas A&M Agriculture Dept. in Overton, Texas.  The purpose was to introduce blueberry farming to Texas farmers.  Apparently, the idea appealed to Mr. Moorehead, who planted 20 plants the first year and expanded with his success every year into what is now the 20 acre farm with 20 different varieties of blueberries.  His son Sid now runs the business.  We chatted briefly before shopping the little jam and pickle booth that was set up right outside the gate.  We bought the kids a sno cone to cool off, also for sale right near the front gate (genius!).  We continued to nibble on blueberries all the way home to Pearland.

When we got home I froze most of the berries for future use, I turned some into blueberry sorbet, dried some for granola, and turned some into blueberry cobbler.  Our only regret - we should have picked 20 pounds.

Berry pickers!

WT Get Away... The TX Lavender Festival

If you have just one opportunity to visit Texas, you should go to the Hill Country.  Skip Houston, and by all means skip Dallas - go straight to one of the small towns in the Hill Country like Boerne,  Fredericksburg, Wimberley, San Marcos, Gruene, even San Antonio or Austin,  - but for God's sake, don't go in July or August.  The heat will make you think you've gone to hell.  Texans are slowly realizing that crops which grow in Provence also do well in the Texas Hill country.  As a result, we get to enjoy Texas grown almonds, olives, wine, and lavender!  This year Hubby and I found ourselves at the annual Texas Lavender Festival in Blanco.  We arrived at lunchtime and rather than eating at one of the many food vendors set up on the courthouse square, we opted to eat at a local restaurant:  The Uptown Blanco Restaurant.  Given how busy the square was I was surprised to be seated within 10 minutes.  The cafe is the cutest place - charm out the wazoo with quilt wall hangings and high ceilings.  There were several lavender inspired items on the menu in honor of the festival.  We ordered the lavender lemonade, which was good, it was delicately flavored with lemon and lavender, and not too sweet.  I ordered the fried goat cheese salad with an orange/lavender vinaigrette.  The lavender was subtle, and the salad was a nice mix of greens topped with mango slices and pecans.  Hubby had the lavender smoked chicken plate, and the lavender was so subtle as to not be detected.  Still, a good meal, and we could say we had lavender for lunch.

Lavender lemonade.

What I love the best is the dedication to the Lavender that this small town has.  First of all, Blanco is totally quaint, and very small, and every single business and local person was gung-ho for all things lavender.  We took our time and looked at the craft booths set up on the square, even made a few purchases before heading to the park to listen to some great live music.  We walked the square a while before getting in the car and heading to one of the lavender farms about 15 minutes away - The Wimberley Lavender Farm.  Sadly, the lavender plants took a hit during last year's brutal drought and are still recovering, so there was not lavender to cut, as there has been in years past.  We did buy a couple of lavender plants and there were many other items in the gift shop:  soaps, sachets, even books.  Several other lavender farms were open for visits, but we only went to the one.  Then we continued on to Wimberley, another charming Texas town, where we were staying for the night.  It was a great way to spend the day.  Next year when June rolls around go check out the Lavender Festival in Blanco - it was worth the trip!

Yes, the officer directing traffic is wearing a lavender cowboy hat.

Even the port-o-john is lavender!

Making Pickles: My New Obsession

I have a whole bookcase full of cookbooks, and I will read a cookbook from cover to cover.  People who know me know that a great or interesting cookbook is a great gift for me.  I especially enjoy vintage cookbooks because they can give us a real insight as to the foodways of the past.  I recently had an abundance of green tomatoes that had developed on a rapidly dying vine.  In search of some green tomato recipes I pulled out a couple of my favorite oldies - one is a Menonite Cookbook published in 1950.  The other is the Little House Cookbook, which is a newer book that features recipes for many of the dishes mentioned in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House book series.  I found my tomato recipes - one for green tomato pickles, (meh)  the other for green tomato preserves (fantastic).  Here's the other thing I discovered:  at some point along the way in our change from a primarily agricultural/  rural society to urban, one where our food is grown and sold to us by a handful of corporations, a decision was made that "pickles" means pickled cucumbers.  There are rows and rows of pickled cucumbers at my local grocery and little else.  There are a couple of jars of pickled beets, one brand of pickled okra, and one brand of pickled green beans ($7 for a small jar!)  Going through the books I was astonished at not only all the different pickle recipes - some with dill, some with mustard, some with curry, etc. - but the variety of fruits and vegetables that were pickled or preserved was amazing.  Yes, cucumbers, okra, and beets, but also squash, tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, peaches, plums, beans, peppers, onions, even watermelon rind.  I compost watermelon rind.  I consider it to be garbage.  They were pickling it!  One of my favorite recipes was for "End of Garden" pickles.  Basically, you take whatever's left over from a harvest - a few okra, some green beans, one gangly squash, etc. and you bung it in a jar and pickle it together.  Brilliant.  I recently bought a big bag of green beans on sale for $1 a pound.  I haven't done the math yet, but with vinegar costing mere pennies and if I use garden herbs a quart of pickled green beans are bound to come in for less than $7!   Here's how to do it:

Green tomato pickles. Meh.

Pick your veggie and pick your recipe.  Do you want sweet pickles, dill, or spicy?  There are loads of pickle recipes all over the Web.  Here's the recipe I used for sweet and sour sugar snap pea pickles. They were addictive. I only had enough sugar snap peas to make one jar of pickles since the kids go out and munch on them while they are outside playing.  Sterilize your jar(s) and lids.  Remember jars and rims can be reused, but you need to purchase new lids each time you do any canning.  Once jars are sterilized stuff them with the sugar snap peas that have had their strings removed, add some red pepper flakes, and 1 clove garlic per jar.  In a saucepan combine 1 1/4 c. white wine vinegar, 1 1/4 c. water, 1 Tbsp salt, and 1 Tbsp sugar and bring to a boil.  Pour hot vinegar into the jars, seal with lids and rims and place in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes to seal.  Make sure the water fully covers the jars.  Remove and let cool.  Check the lid for a proper seal.  If the lid pops it didn't seal.  Put any that don't seal in the fridge.  You are supposed to let them sit for 10 days to let the flavors meld.  Good luck with that.  I broke into mine the next day and they were gone within the hour.

Dilly beans.  Oh.Yeah.

For dilly beans, follow the same procedure, only omit the sugar and add 1 sprig of dill to the jars before putting in the liquid.  Truly addictive.  Great with martinis!  Happy pickling!
For more on canning click here.

Garden Emergency! The Tomato Plants are Dying: Two Recipes for Green Tomatoes

My tomato plants are absolutely loaded down with green tomatoes of all sizes.  The Better Boys are big with attractive ridges, the Yellow Pears and Sweet 100s each have multiple fruits on each branch.  Alas, they won't make it to the ripening stage.  For some reason I have yet to identify (most likely a creeping fungus) every single tomato plant is dying.  The leaves and branches are turning brown from the bottom heading up.  Gardening is like that sometimes.  You win some, you lose some.  I am grieving the fact that I won't be able to indulge in my favorite summer lunch, the tomato sandwich.  I'll have to cry into my pillow later, though, because I have to save the green tomatoes, and time is of the essence.  I looked up two green tomato recipes in an old Mennonite Cookbook published in 1950, and tweaked them to suit our modern taste.  One is for green tomato pickles and one is for green tomato jam.  Remember to follow good canning practices .  Here are the recipes:

Green tomato pickles in a brine of vinegar, salt, sugar, and tears.

Green Tomato Pickles:  Wash and slice 1 gallon green tomatoes.  In a large bowl layer these with 10 thinly sliced onions, cover with 2 pints vinegar, 1/4 c. salt, 1 c. sugar and 1 tbsp mustard seeds.  Let stand overnight.  The next morning, pack mixture into sterilized jars and boil to seal for 10 minutes.  We used yellow pear tomatoes for this project, and I didn't like the texture, although the flavor was good.  Hubby liked them.   I also used this recipe for sugar snap peas, which I loved.

Green Tomato Jam: Wash 8 c. green tomatoes and cover with boiling water for 5 minutes.  Drain and slice, or use whole if they are cherry types.  In a bowl layer tomatoes and  2 sliced lemons, top with 1/4 c. vinegar and 4 c. sugar.  Let stand over night.  In the morning, cook over medium heat in a saucepan with 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground cumin and 1/2 tsp. ground cloves.  Cook for about 2 hours, or until a fork dipped in the mix becomes coated.  Pour into sterilized jars and seal in boiling water for 10 minutes. This turned out great.  I served it over goat cheese with crusty bread.

Garden Fashion: The Bonnet

I am in my early 40's and my skin still looks great (if I do say so myself).  For one thing, I live on the Gulf Coast and although I complain bitterly about the heat and humidity it does have its benefits.  The humidity means that our skin is continuously moisturized, so we Southern gals age slower.  The other reason:  I wear a hat whenever I plan to be outside.  At the beach, I have a huge cute bright blue hat.  I have lots of wide brim straw hats to wear to any outside event, picnics, farmer's market, sporting events (just kidding - I don't go to sporting events).  And when I garden I always wear a bonnet.  An old fashioned, Little House on the Prairie - type bonnet.  My cousin Val makes my bonnets, my great grandmother wore one, and I have yet to find a garden hat that I prefer.  They really work to keep the sun off your face and easily dangle down my back when I am going inside and outside.  I think I look adorable in it, but I am willing to concede that I may  be the only one thinking that.  At any rate, whenever you see me out in the garden you will see me in my bonnet.  It isn't uncommon for me to be outside and catch stares or honks and waves and laughs and I know it's the bonnet that is garnering so much attention.  It's irritating, but what can you do?  It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, seeing as how a face lift is not in our budget.  We live on an acre in a suburban/rural area due south of Houston.  We are on the corner of a fairly well traveled street, and because we live in a small community where we are quite active, and Hubby has run for public office, we know a lot of people.  Hubby is well know as the neighborhood lawyer and it's not unexpected to have a knock at the door after dinner and there will be a neighbor, sometimes bringing a bag of sweet potatoes or fresh caught trout, in need of some legal advice.  Inevitably, when we go out to dinner in our small town we run into friends and neighbors.  That is what happened when Hubby took me out for a date night to one of the nicer restaurants recently.  As we were leaving we saw one of Hubby's business clients sitting with his wife.  As usual, we stopped at their table to say hello.  After a bit of idle chit chat the client looks at me and says:
"I was driving by your house the other day and you were out in your garden.  You were wearing your bonnet.  I honked and waved."
"Oh," I replied, "did I wave back?"
"No,"  he got a small smirk on his face "you flipped me off."
I almost choked but managed to say "Sorry.  I thought you were bonnet honking."

So, after a brief and well deserved lecture from Hubby I have decided to get a better attitude about my bonnet.  I love it, it suits me, and I will wear it with pride.  Grab your bonnets, girls!  Who's with me?

Me in my bonnet.  "Come at me, Bro!"

When to Plant What...A TX Gulf Coast Planting Guide for Vegetables

One of the biggest mistakes new gardeners make is not knowing when to plant what.  A lot of rookies assume that early Spring is the best time to plant anything, so they plop in their seeds and plants and expect them to thrive when the truth is, precious little survives our summer heat.  If, like me, you live in the Greater Houston area your best gardening days are in the fall.  You can't trust the big box stores to sell you plants that are appropriate for our seasons, either.  They will sell you the same kinds of plants that they will sell my cousin in Seattle and my girl friend in New Mexico.  Just because they stock Brussel sprouts seedlings in March doesn't mean you should plant them then.  Here's a guide for Gulf Coast planting month by month.  I have put in the ideal date for planting each item, but you can nudge a bit in either direction.  Note that some plants, such as tomatoes, have two planting dates.  The tomatoes I plant in July usually produce better for me than the ones I plant in March.  Happy planting!

January     1:  Sugar snap peas, leeks
               15:  beets, broccoli raab, arugula (although you can plant this year round successfully),                                                      
                      potatoes, radishes, green onion, lemon balm, fruit trees

February 15:  chicory, Swiss chard, mustard greens, kale, fennel, parsley, radishes

March      1: tomatoes, radishes
              15: cucumbers, green beans, eggplant, pole beans, peppers, summer squash/zucchini, watermelon,
                 cantaloupe, sage, corn, thyme, rosemary, beans for drying - limas, black, pintos, etc.

April      15:  basil

May        1: okra
             15:  sweet potatoes



June     Have a beer and harvest your tomatoes!

July       15:  tomatoes

August    1: Brussels sprouts, green beans/bush beans, summer squash, winter squash, sweet potatoes
             15: broccoli, cabbage

September 1: parsnips
                  15: cauliflower, beets, dill, carrots

October     15: chicory, garlic, lettuces, nasturtium, onions, fennel, spinach, cilantro, mint, radishes, arugula

November   1: sweet peas, sweet potatoes, radishes
                   15: strawberries, radishes

If I missed your favorite veggie it either doesn't grow well here, or I don't like it.  Do a little research to find out which is the case.  Oh, and by the way, the best time to plant any kind of roses is Valentine's Day, February 14!

For more on gardening in the Texas Gulf Coast check out this post:   Gardening 101

Glorious Greens: 3 Great Recipes to Use Greens

Sugar Snap peeking through the greens.

I came to appreciate the glory of greens late in life.  Neither of my parents, apparently, liked any sort of leafy green - kale, mustard, chard, spinach, collard, turnip, arugula or broccoli raab.  And I can understand.  My grandfather did the cooking in my father's house, and while he was a fantastic gardener, he wasn't the world's best cook.  I seem to remember him cooking collard greens in a saucepan on the stove for hours with lumps of greasy fatback floating in it.  The aroma was less than appetizing, and filled the house entirely.  So, I get it.  If your only experience with greens is stinky, greasy and overcooked, it would be enough to turn you off forever.  As a result, it wasn't until I was an adult that I discovered delicious garlicky greens at a chi chi Houston restaurant called  Catalan.  Hubby knows the chef, Chis Shepherd, who we see at the Urban Harvest Farmer's Market on Saturdays buying local produce.  We went there for my birthday several years ago, and Hubby ordered the Gulf shrimp with grits and garlicky local greens.  I don't remember what I ordered.  It doesn't matter, because once I tried the shrimp, grits and greens I wasn't going back.  Hubby generously swapped plates with me (it was my birthday after all) and I will never forget cleaning my plate  - just short of picking it up to lick it.  I asked the waiter what, exactly, the greens were.  They were mustard.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  My only other experience with greens is from when we first moved to Memphis.  At the local farmer's market there was a table loaded down with all kinds of greens - mustard, turnip, and collard.  I bought one of each, took them home and made a salad with a nice light vinaigrette.  One bite in and it was clear I had done something wrong. We sat there, Hubby and I, looking at each other and chewing and chewing and chewing.  Clearly clueless as to how to handle greens, I abandoned them altogether.  I never tried to cook them, never ordered them at restaurants, and never even tried them when we were in someone's home for dinner, which is a shame, because I'm sure they would have been very good.  Then, BAM, on my 37th birthday I get introduced to garlicky mustard greens and I went berserk.  I started buying them, growing them and really experimenting with them.  My favorite is broccoli raab.  It tastes nothing like broccoli, it is one of the more bitter greens, and I bought some on a whim at the farmer's market.  I now grow it every year.  My favorite lunch is a soft boiled egg with a side of gently sauteed greens with garlic.  Greens are really good for you  - they are high in iron, calcium and potassium as well as vitamins K, C, E and many B vitamins as well as small amounts of Omega 3.  Make sure when you use them they are clean, soak them in a bowl of water to get the sand and dirt off.  Here are just a few ideas for serving greens:

Kale chips  (Sugar Snap loves these)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Clean and dry a bunch of kale - use a salad spinner or pat dry with towels.  Remove the tough stems, using only the leaves.  Spray on both sides with Olive Oil Pam and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Bake on a baking sheet in a single layer until edges are just brown - 10 minutes or so.

Sauteed greens w/ garlic and lemon
Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, add 2 cloves chopped garlic.  Cook until garlic is hot, but not brown.  Add a couple of big handfuls of clean greens - kale, spinach, broccoli raab, etc.  Toss until covered with oil.  If you are using Chard, spinach or arugula you can remove from heat when the greens are just wilted and eat them.  For the tougher greens like kale or mustard you will want to add a 1/4 c - 1/2 c water and cover.  Cook the greens down until tender, adding more water if necessary.  Right before serving squeeze the juice of one lemon over the top and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Serves 2.

Cream of Swiss Chard Soup
In a saucepan put a couple handfuls of washed Swiss Chard, 1/2 chopped onion and just enough chicken stock to cover.  Cook until chard is tender.  Allow to cool just a bit.  Put mixture in a blender and blend until smooth. Add 1/3 c. sour cream and whisk until blended.  Season with a sprinkle of nutmeg and salt and pepper.  For hot soup put back into the saucepan and heat gently.  For chilled soup after adding sour cream and spices do not return to the heat, put in a bowl and chill in the fridge until ready.  Serves 4.

Update:  Chef Chris Shepherd is no longer at Catalan, he is now the Executive Chef at Underbelly on Westheimer.

Sweet Potato picking arugula for lunch after church.

Repurposing: Vintage Apron Curtains

Here's another decorating idea.  I am a collector...(just this side of a hoarder).  I collect vintage papers, vintage clothes/hats/purses/shoes/sunglasses, vintage clocks, old teapots, colored glass bottles, maps, vintage salt and pepper shakers, and Fiestaware, among other things.  We also unwittingly collect snow globes.  My sister travels all over the world for her job, and when Sweet Potato was about two (and a very verbal two-year-old she was), my sister took a trip to London and sent us a snow globe from there.  "Cute," I thought.  Then my sister took a trip to India and sent us another snow globe from India (is it snowing often, at the Taj Mahal?)  I laughed aloud when we opened it.  "What is it?" asked Sweet Potato.  "Well," I answered her, "apparently your Aunt Julia thinks we collect snow globes."  The very next time my sister flew to Houston for a visit we picked her up at the airport.  The first thing out of Sweet Potato's mouth was "We do not collect snow globes!"  My sister took that as some sort of challenge.  "You wanna bet?" she said.  Hence, the snow globe collection on the bar just beneath the Velvet Elvis.  Of course when you have lovely, or in this case, interesting collections the challenge becomes how to use and display these items.  For a long time my  vintage apron collection sat in a drawer and I would pull one out now and again to wear.  When we moved to a new (old) house in 2003 a clear opportunity arose to display a few of the aprons - as curtains in our dining room.  I used the clip-on rings and hung them from a tension rod, so no sewing was required, and no aprons were harmed in any way.  I can change them out if I like, but the ones in the photos are my favorites.

How to: Recover a Dining Chair

None of my dining chairs match.  They have all been salvaged from (usually) a trash heap in front of someone else's yard.  I took four very different chairs and using vivid paint colors and some oilcloth turned them into a bright and fun dining set.  Here's what I did:
Pick your chairs.  They need to be sturdy, but other than that you can work with almost anything.
For wooden chairs, sand them lightly,
 Next, wipe all of them down with a wet cloth and allow to dry completely.
 For metal chairs I use spray paint, and for wooden ones I used acrylic craft paint.  It's super cheap at any craft supply store, and comes in a huge variety of colors. I chose four different colors, but obviously you can have a more matched look by using the same color.
Next apply a couple of coats of polyurethane to protect them.
For the seats, I removed them and covered them in oilcloth which I found by the yard at Casa Ramirez on 19th in the Houston Heights.  I did not remove the original covering except in one case, where it was badly torn and would not have laid smooth under the oilcloth.  It's pretty easy to recover the seats if you take a look at them.  Some of them require a screwdriver, some a hammer, and some just pop out.  Fiddle with it long enough and you'll get it.  Fold the oilcloth tightly over the seat and secure with tacks on the bottom of the seat, and replace it.

Voila!

New life to old chairs.  

Grab a Bucket! The Blackberries are Ripe!

Sugar Snap with a basket for of blackberries, also known as dewberries here in the South.

Sweet Potato and Hubby in the brambles.

It's that time of year here on the Texas Gulf Coast that is anticipated by those of us who pride ourselves on being tightwads.  Blackberry season.  The old timers call them dewberries, and if you grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast you know exactly what I'm talking about.  Free wild berries are in abundance in ditches, culverts and open fields all over our area.  In the evenings you will see folks walking along the ditches wearing long sleeves, gloves, carrying a bucket and big stick (to scare away the snakes).  Yes, the berries grow underneath a tangle of spiky vines that will try to attach themselves to you with their prickles, and the berry juice will absolutely stain forever whatever you wear to pick in, but it's all worth it!  The thrill of the hunt somehow overcomes the fear of the snakes in that moment where you pull back the vines and see the ripe berries shining like jewels, free for the taking.  The berries themselves are plump and a glossy deep purple.  We live on an acre of land just due south of Houston.  We have fenced off part of the acre and outside of the fence more or less sits dormant.  We mow it every now and again, although in the past year we have been in an extreme drought and there has been no need to mow, so we didn't.  Finally, a year goes by, we get a little rain (thank God) and it's time to start getting ready for Easter, which we host outside at our place.  Hubby decided the outside acre (or back 40 as we call it) needed a good mow.  Papa came over with his tractor, and started up and then stopped.  He realized that a huge area in the center of the back 40 was covered in flowering blackberry vines.  We let the vines be, and now the berries are ripe.  We went out last night when it was cool and filled a couple of baskets in under an hour.  The kids were classic: "One for me (pops berry in mouth), one for the basket (puts berry in basket)."  After filling our baskets but by no means picking all the berries that were out there, we came inside, mouths purple.  There will be more for days so the girls can run out there after school for a snack.  Once inside I whipped up a blackberry pie in no time with Sweet Potato's help and guess who's having blackberry pie for breakfast?  Don't judge me.

Breakfast.

The Top 10 Things You Must Grow in Your Garden

These are my garden favorites.  If you live on the Texas Gulf Coast and have limited space, consider growing these:

#1  Green onions, also known as walking onions.  These will grow all year long, will survive drought, heat, and cold.  I planted mine 6 years ago, and they are still producing.  You will never buy green onions again.

#2  Tomatoes.  Duh.  The difference between a home grown tomato and a grocery store tomato is the difference between an aged Bordeaux and Boone's Farm Wine.  Choose varieties that do well in our area - Celebrity is a good performer, Big Boy and Better Boy get good reviews.  I like Yellow Pear (they look like small yellow pears) for the color and shape on the plate.  I recommend staying away from "heirloom" varieties.  They tend to be poor performers.  A great place to get a grand variety of tomatoes and lots of advice is the Urban Harvest Farmer's Market in midtown on Saturdays.  The key to great tomatoes is great supportive cages.

#3  Arugula  Like tomatoes, the difference in the way this green tastes out of the garden and how it comes in a bag at the store is huge.  Out of the garden it is nutty and spicy.  You can plant the seeds in a row and be harvesting baby greens in mere weeks.  A month later plant another row.  You can have fresh arugula all year.   I don't even bother to thin the plants, and they still thrive.  

#4 Sugar Snap Peas  I have never managed to harvest enough of these to turn into a meal because my kids snap them off in the garden and pop them into their mouths while they are playing outside.  That, to me, is garden magic.

Sugar snap peas on the vine.  

#5 Lettuce mix  I plant this the way I plant the arugula, I sow a row and let them come up, and clip the leaves as I need them.  I plant a variety of leafy lettuces - red, green, chicory, etc.  These get planted in October and have fresh salad all winter long.  

#6 Brocolli Raab  I plant this leafy green because it is so delicious and not easy to find in our local markets.  I love the bitter green flavor sauteed with garlic and a little kosher salt.  Plant in October.

#7  Basil  I have planted basil in the Spring ever since I first started gardening, and it always thrives.  Hubby and I both love it.  The first year I was clearing an area for our garden, and I showed Hubby the 4 ft X 4ft area reserved for basil and Hubby's comment was:  "That's not enough."  It was plenty, and at the end of the summer when the basil was going to seed we invited friends to bring pesto ingredients (we supplied all the basil) and had a pesto party.  We made dozens of jars and sent everyone home with pesto to enjoy and freeze (it freezes well!)  We had garden pesto well into the winter.

#8 Lemon Balm  This, in my opinion, is an underused herb.  Here on the Coast, it will thrive in all seasons and even survived the drought.  In the dead of winter it is still green and growing.  It is in the mint family but with a distinct bright lemon flavor.  I use it in muffins, tea, lemonade, salads, pasta, chicken salad, mojitos, and more.  

#9 Squash  My kids and husband will eat it, I have lots of recipes for it, it grows well here, and you can grate it, put it in a baggie in the freezer and use it in zucchini bread (the kids will never know!)  There are all sorts of interesting varieties - patty pan squashes that are shaped like UFOs, eight balls, which are green and round, calabaza, which get HUGE if you let them grow, although they get too tough to work with.  Plant a variety!

#10 Sweet Peas   I believe in nurturing the body as well as the soul, and for me the scent of Sweet Pea blossoms is intoxicating.  They are so pretty in vases all through the house, filling our home with their aroma, and last a good while as cut flowers.  Plant them early, like October, and they will be sure to reward you with armloads of colorful blooms.

What about you?  What are your garden must-grows?

Toe Mopping (if Toni does it, it must be OK)

I am a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM).  My kids are both in school, so my job every day is to do the laundry, cook the meals, pack the lunches, garden, fix broken things around the house, help with homework, and keep the house clean.  I love gardening and cooking, I enjoy helping the kids with their homework, although at about 4th grade my math skills started to fail me.  I don't even mind laundry.  The rest of the housekeeping I, let's face it, suck at.  It's just relentless.  I keep the house more or less clean and free of clutter, but my heart is not in it.  If I could afford a maid I would have one. I am forever seeking short cuts to those tedious endless chores.  So imagine my delight when I walked into Toni's kitchen door and caught her toe mopping.  My friend Toni is also a SAHM, but she is actually good at it.  Whenever Sugar Snap decides to run away she tells me she's moving in with Toni.  She is a professional decorator and her home is tasteful, smells good,  and is put together.    Not to mention, always clean.  ALWAYS.  I would rather eat off Toni's floor than my Fiestaware.  And there she was, mopping her kitchen floor using a damp rag and her pedicured toes!  I have used this half-assed method of floor mopping for years in shame, and here was Toni, the Queen of Clean, using this same method unabashedly.  Apparently, she does it all the time.  She wipes down the kitchen counters with a rag, and then drops said rag on the kitchen floor and using her feet, mops it up.  I realized hey, we are all just trying to get through the day with our sanity intact, and any little trick we use to help us out that isn't illegal is OK.  I'd love to hear your housekeeping shortcuts!

Here's a link to Toni's decorating blog:
The Half Assed Decorator

White Trash Holiday - Galveston Island

The Galveston Gulf

Sugar Snap enjoying mint chocolate chip at La King's

It's Spring Break!  If you are looking for an inexpensive holiday, you really can't beat Galveston Island, especially if you are in the Greater Houston area.  Even if you have to travel a bit to get there, it's worth it.  It's at the same time an hour away and a century away from Houston.  While Houston knocks down any building more than 20 years old to build something new and modern, Galveston values and maintains its history and architecture, both of which are colorful.  Pirates made their home there, after all!  Galveston is a long skinny island, but it's easy to spend time there, and the island is mostly recovered after being devastated by Hurricane Ike in 2008.  Some buildings will never return.  Sadly, the historic Balinese Room which hosted the likes of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Duke Ellington, and many more - ZZ Top even wrote a song about it - is now resting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.  RIP.  Many other historic treasures have survived and are thriving once again thanks to the dedication of the island residents.  The Galvez Hotel is a beautiful historic hotel that sits across the street from the beach, other historic places to see would be the Garten Verein, an old German beer garden on 0 street,  The Grand Opera House, (see what's playing - it's always something good!) The Bishops Palace, Moody Mansion, and Ashton Villa are all on Broadway, the main street running through the town.   The Strand is a historic shopping district.  Park the car and get out and walk around - it's bound to be a gorgeous day!  Some of our favorite shops are the Fiestaware shop (I collect) and an antique store crammed with great and affordable finds.  Around the corner is Hendley Market (it has odd hours since the hurricane, but please stop in if they are open). It's a fun and funky boutique with items from all over the world.  The Old Strand Emporium is great for the old collection of calliopes, some of which still work.  Buy a beer and a po boy for lunch and enjoy these great old automatic music boxes.  Keep heading toward the Railroad Museum (another fun thing to do) and you will pass Colonel Bubbies military surplus shop.  It's worth going in whether you are a military buff or not.  There are plenty of souvenir shops and kitschy boutiques and cafes along the Strand, but you must stop in and get some ice cream at La King's confectionery.  They make and sell their own ice cream and candy and if you are lucky the candy man will be making taffy on the ancient taffy puller and tossing odd pieces to the crowd that gathers.  They also have an old time soda fountain and coffee bar.   My only complaint with the Strand is that finding a public restroom can be a real challenge.  They are few and far between and as any parent knows if you have a kid who says they have to go, they mean right NOW, so go before you get there.  For eating on the island there is a lot to choose from.  My grandfather's favorite (and he was a foodie before that term was coined) is Gaido's on the Seawall.  They have a giant crab sculpture out front and they have been around forever.  It's a white tablecloth place and a bit pricey, so save it for your special night out.  My favorite are the soft shell crabs.  For more casual dining you might like Fisherman's Wharf on the bay side.  You can dine out over the water which has a not-so-great view of oil rigs, but you can glimpse an occasional dolphin.  You can get an up close look at another of Galveston's gems, the Elissa, a beautifully restored 3 mast sailing ship from the 1870's.          If you are in the mood for Greek, try Olympia Grill - there is also excellent Italian food at Marco's.  There are numerous chain restaurants as well, if you are so inclined.  There are plenty of places to stay right on the seawall from way upscale to downright gross, so suit your budget! Though you might have to contend with a few crowds over Spring Break, you will still find plenty of parking, which is still free along the seawall, and plenty of beach.  Have a great trip!

The Garten Verein

White Trash Sunday: The Superbowl!

It's the happiest of all WT holidays...a time for all our favorite high fat, high cholesterol, low quaility foods - hot wings, seven layer dip, nachos, pizza pockets, pigs in a blanket, chips, dips, and of course, beer.  While I actually do not watch football like, ever, I attend a Superbowl party every single year.  I tune in for the ads and halftime show and  hang out with the ladies in the kitchen eating my weight in cheese dip (the classic version made in the microwave from Velveeta and Rotel tomatoes).  This year's hostess, Alice, asked me specifically to bring something sweet.  What to make that is cute, clever, but also super tasty?   Finally it dawned on me.  Hubby said I literally had a lightbulb over my head - cake balls shaped like footballs!  Here's how I did it:    

Bake a cake according to box directions.  Allow to cool.  

Crumble into a bowl until it is crumbs and add 1 can of frosting, mix well.

Freeze until firm but not frozen, about 15 minutes.

Form into football shapes,  chill again.

Using a spoon, coat each "football" in melted chocolate chips.  This is the hard part, and it is tedious, no matter what.  I put a schmeer of chocolate on a plate, top with a cake ball, and then use a spoon to coat the rest.

Allow to cool.  Once the chocolate is firm, make an icing using 1 c. powdered sugar and a very small amount of milk or water.  Add the liquid by the 1/4 tsp. unit it's the right consistency.  Icing should be thick,  but not too thick so you can pipe it.  You don't want it runny.  Put icing into a baggie and cut the tip off of one corner of the baggie.  Pipe icing onto each one to make the football "stitches".  Allow to dry.  These came out super cute and they are really tasty, much better than store bought cupcakes.

See also the Chocolate Bacon Cake Balls from a previous post for more cake ball ideas!

Mac N Cheese Cupcakes w/ Pink Sour Cream "Frosting"

Try these - a fun way to serve mac n cheese.  You can use homemade mac n cheese, or you can do what I did,  (the lazy way) and used Kraft.   Make the macaroni and cheese according to the instructions on the package.  Spray a muffin tin with oil spray, heat the oven to 350.  Once mac and cheese is cooked on the stove top, spoon into the muffin cups.  Top with a little grated cheddar and some bread crumbs, bake until cheese is bubbly, about 15 minutes.  Allow to cool.  They will pop out easily.  Top each "cupcake" with some sour cream tinted with red food coloring.  I served these for Sugar Snap's birthday and they were a huge hit!

Step 1: prepare mac n cheese

Bake in muffin tins

Cupcake!