Posts filed under ‘Recipes’
Homemade Herbal Lemonade
The heat is on, woowhee! Really, it’s the humidity that’s pumping here in Philly right now. I was wringing my clothes out this morning in the garden. Still, a quick chug out of my icy jug of Homemade Herbal Lemonade was so cool and delicious that I was able to keep at the weeding for five whole hours! Well, I did take a break to pick some blueberries and raspberries somewhere in the middle there…recipes to come for those. In any case, this is a mighty refreshing beverage to have on hand on a hot summer day.
If (when) I get married, I think I’d like to have one of my close friends make several dozen of these beautiful bottles of lemonade to have scattered around in ice-filled tin tubs and on the long communal tables laid out with a farm fresh feast {I guess I’d better buy stock in a lemon company that year}. There’s just something about the way these jars gather condensation in the heat that makes me want to pour a glass and kick back with my flip flops off and the skirt of my sundress hiked up just a little higher. A jar would make a great addition to a picnic basket for an outdoor concert in the park or a drive-in movie. Bonus: add a shot of vanilla vodka and get a nice little buzz with your cool down. Perfect for a sultry summer night.
Like this:
Rhubarb & Strawberry Ice Cream
Summer came screaming in like an out-of-control freight train around here. We had our first official heat wave (three days or more in a row with 90+ degree temperatures) in the first week of June which is some sort of record, I believe. The beautiful fragrant old garden roses have already come and gone. Last summer was cold and wet. This summer apparently is lining up to be hot and dry (except for today’s lovely soft rain). Me thinks the ice cream churner is going to be getting a lot of use these next few months. What a shame. It is a burden I will try to bear with grace.
First stop on the seasonal scoop tour is Rhubarb & Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream. I realize these two wonderful earl summer ephemerals may be slipping away from the farmers market stalls, but hopefully you can find a pint of berries and a bunch of stalks to give this recipe a go. It’s so creamy and fruity; the perfect early summer cool-down.
On another note, I have to say thank you to several of you who have really been so good to reach out to me - via lovely comments in the last post, thoughtful emails, or even in-person visits at the farmers market – letting me know how much you appreciate the blog. It’s been a challenge keeping up with all my passions (turns out there is a bottom to the creative juices in this vessel) and having your words of encouragement has meant a lot to me. I feel rejuvenated and already have several new recipes in the works to keep us all well-fed as the summer progresses. Thank you, dear friends!
Rhubarb Macarons
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately {I have a lot of time to do that when weeding the garden} about what defines success in a person’s work. I spent many years working in an intense corporate job where I earned a decent wage. By most accounts, I was quite successful, being good at my job and making enough money to pay all the bills, occasionally treat myself to a few nice things, and beef up my savings account. But I was so unhappy doing that work that I quit and started a whole new career tract, going back to school and becoming a poor student when I most certainly was at an age where being such was just barely do-able and certainly not desirable. Can you really be that “successful” if you are at a place in your life where you need to take such risks to regain balance and even {if I dared to dream} some really happiness and satisfaction?
And now here I am on the other side of that leap of faith, a little out of breath from the effort, but really quite pleased with my progress towards establishing my own business and doing something that I find extremely gratifying. My savings account is not nearly as beefy, and I find myself stuttering when I describe my “income” when I attempt to find some health insurance that would be even remotely affordable for the new entrepreneur. I work 12 hours a day , six days a week, trying to make my well-laid plans a reality. And I’ve been a bit saddened to have to let go of some hobbies I really loved {namely food blogging on a regular basis}. But at the end of the day, I have a smile on my face. A real, broad, toothy, genuine smile on my face. I’ve never felt so healthy and creative. I’m not able to give myself a paycheck yet, but I sure as hell feel rewarded and “successful”. Is this enough though? Frankly, I don’t think I can answer that question just yet.
Chocolate Rhubarb Pots de Creme
What a whirlwind of a spring it has been this year. My life has changed so much in just a few short weeks, just like the weather. I’ve always been in the garden as much as possible, but it was after work or on the weekends. Now being in the garden is my work and my whole day, from dawn to dusk, mothering all my cut flower seedlings and transplants.
After many weeks of waiting, the sweet peas, sweet williams, calendulas, and yarrow are rocketing up to put out their first tender buds. I’m battling the slugs like an angry mama bear to keep them from eating the baby shoots of my dearest dahlias. And my back is nearly broke from hours of bending over to weed the beds of larkspur, poppies, and nigella I directly sowed into what appears to be a bottomless batch of weeds. All this in the name of making beautiful bouquets for farmers markets and weddings. I think it’s well worth it. I know I couldn’t be happier than working in the garden and with flowers all day, especially those gloriously romantic pink peonies that are bursting into bloom right about now. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that I get to snack on just-picked sugar snap peas that are scrambling up the garden fence too.
Speaking of things well worth it, Dark Chocolate and Rhubarb Pots de Creme, are really quite something to be savored. I tend to be a little leery of anything that involves scalding milk. Doesn’t it seem too much like tempting fate to burn the bejeezus out of the milk? I just can’t usually see my way past this scary step to the final dish, but the thought of silky dark chocolate creme folded with that oh-so-versatile rhubarb coulis was enough to get me past my fear. And the scalding bit really wasn’t all that bad.
The rhubarb whipped cream that tops these little pots is quite worth a try for donning any number of delightful dishes. The coulis and cream are a match made in heaven, like the fragrance of lilies of the valley and a warm spring breeze. Its subtle pink blush just made me love it all the more. Goodness, when did I become such a fan of girly pink? So unlike me! Perhaps it’s the bushels of ruby rhubarb rubbing off on me.
Rhubarb Lemon Sponge Pie
Rhubarb has been piling up in my fridge as the plants in the garden go bonkers this spring. It is absolutely amazing how fast these plants grow. The crimson stalks seem to appear overnight and if left to their own devices for a week, they’ll triple in size! Since I can’t possibly keep up with the harvest in “real time”, I have taken to making big jars of the rhubarb coulis that I included in the last post’s recipe. The coulis lasts in the fridge for quite some time (so far three weeks) and is wonderful for so many dishes, including drizzled over a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. Mmmm….
Strawberries have somehow always been the most common pairing for rhubarb, but I would argue this is an injustice to the rhubarb since the strawberries really tend to mask the tart complexity of the rhubarb. Still, having all this rhubarb around the house got me in the mood for pie. At first I was going to settle for straight rhubarb pie, but as I was writing out my shopping list, I started thinking more about my favorite kinds of pie and why I like them. I don’t particularly like pies with a crust on top; nor do I really like pies that have chunks and juices that act like strangers once you cut a slice. My favorite pies all seem to be dense and custardy, probably thanks, at least in part, to growing up with my Grandmother’s amazing pumpkin pie.
So, once I realized that a straight rhubarb pie was going to yield a pie that wasn’t, on principle, really to my liking consistency-wise, I decided to think about using the rhubarb coulis in some sort of custard pie instead. Unlike strawberries, lemons seemed a good teammate for this pie project since they compliment the rhubarb’s natural flavors. Lemon sponge pie is my go-to pie for any time I need a quick dessert to take to a potluck or to have on hand for company. Adapting it to add the rhubarb coulis was easy…as pie.
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