When life gives you lemons....

............giant, Mother of All Lemons......you make Limoncello!

Deborah and the Giant Lemon!

Next to a Valencia orange for scale:

"That's as big as my head!" ~Danger

Many thanks to my aunt and uncle, Susan and Don Taylor of Fernandina Beach, FL.

They picked this mutant Meyer lemon this weekend for me out of their backyard. ONE Mega lemon has enough zest to make a liter of limoncello! There is enough juice in one of these to make a pitcher of lemonade!

Here is the recipe I like to use for Limoncello, thanks to Giada De Laurentiis

I do, however, make it as "Florida" as possible. I am not aware of any vodka being made in Florida, so I usually use Stolichnaya.

I'm going to make another batch this weekend with Firefly Straight Vodka, from Wadamalaw Island, SC. This delight from Capri is going to be as Southern as it can be!

Modifications to the recipe for a superior product:

I use organic Florida Crystals granulated sugar, and I use 1/2 the water, and 1/2 the sugar that this recipe calls for. The final product is sharper, tangy and just sweet enough.

I also zest the lemon with a microplane instead of peeling it.

I find I get a better final product when I let the lemon zest steep in the vodka at room temperature for 3-5 days instead of overnight. The alcohol has more time to extract the delicious essential oils of the lemon, according to another recipe.

Don't let this stuff sit at room temperature for too long once the simple syrup is mixed in, otherwise bacteria and fungi will move in!

You can use regular lemon zest for this too, in case you don't have access to home-grown Chernobyl lemons!

Chill the final product for at least overnight before serving. It is so refreshing on a warm summer day! (If it lasts that long)

Getting ready for spring....Compost!

Did you know that 40% of the fruits and vegetables produced in the USA is thrown away un-used and un-digested in American kitchens? A lot of these foodstuffs are "kitchen scraps", while others are items that we buy and have intentions of eating...but they go bad first.

So what do you do with all of this waste that ends up needlessly in the landfill?

COMPOST!

A lot of people think that compost is.....yucky. After all, it is decomposing organic matter. But it really does not smell that bad, and is easy enough to do even in an apartment.

Many cities in the US, like Seattle, provide commercial composting opportunities, alongside traditional trash and recycling services. It was exciting and inspiring to go to a small "taco stand" near the University of Washington (the "Dub") that requires it's patrons to separate compost-ables from recycling and regular waste. It was easy! Scrape your food waste and paper napkin into one bin, put your glass beer bottle in the recycling, and put the plate/flatware in the stack to be washed and used again. Minimal waste!

Compost is also good, inexpensive organic fertilizer. The commercial composting in Seattle provides organic gardeners and farmers with a product that makes good economic and environmental sense.

If you don't live in a town like Seattle that provides curbside compost pick-up, do not fear! You can do it EASILY at home, never smell it, and it won't drive your neighbors crazy. It also helps prevent you from having to buy that expensive Miracle-Gro stuff for your flower beds.

Please take a look at my photos below of my backyard composting operation. Doug and I have a 3-bin system in our home. One for compostables, one for landfill trash, and one for recycling. Yes, you have to buy two more trash cans, and its a little more work, but its worth it! We empty our compost bin in the kitchen every 2 days or so....and we keep the lid on! :)

We want to prevent contamination of E. coli and Salmonella in our compost, so we only compost vegetables, fruits, paper products and egg shells. NO MEAT, NO FISH, NO CHEESE

The commercial composters do allow ALL waste, including meats. But their methods allow the compost to reach temperatures that help to "sterilize" the compost

(think Black Kow manure compost).

So......our process of making beautiful, useful compost! The final picture below is the finished product, ready to go on the garden. It is a 50-gallon trash can full of about 8 months of composting: shredded junk mail, paper napkins, egg shells, and fruits/veggie waste. I also added in some chicken fecal matter from our yard chickens and their used wheat straw bedding.

Our chickens are very healthy and do not live in cramped conditions, so I trust their feces more than I trust the surface of raw commercial meat products.

First photo: "young" compost, made up of shredded paper, soiled chicken bedding.

Second photo: "young" compost, made up of kitchen waste.

Third photo: these two combined into 50-gallon composter #1, where it is turned, and soil from my backyard is added for 3-4 months. It is then transferred to "mature" in the second 50-gallon composter.

Fourth photo: The final product. Once the stuff at the bottom of the "young" compost starts to look like dirt, its ready to be in the "finisher" composting bin. I then let it continue to "mature" and I turn it once a month.

It's really not that hard. Two 50-gallon trash cans, with lids, with holes drilled in the sides for air flow. Turn the "young" compost once a month, and excavate the stuff on the very bottom once a month and put it in to the "mature" compost bin. It is a WORKOUT to do it this way. I work up a sweat with the shovel every time.

Please try composting the way my Mother does it:

There are larger commercially available composters from Rubbermaid, like the one my mother has. It makes things MUCH easier; one bin, and you take out the "mature" stuff from the bottom every few months. The "new" stuff is put into the top, and you turn it with a shovel or pitchfork every month or so. Someday....I will have one!

Composters can be made very easily with old trash cans, wooden boxes, etc. If you live in an apartment, you can have a worm-box that you can put kitchen waste into. The worms really love coffee grounds and tea leaves!

Next blog.......getting the garden ready for planting, I'm planting everything this week now that the compost is all put out! I did have to buy some extra Black Kow compost since my little kitchen didn't produce enough to cover the whole garden. I do what I can!

The Saga of the SBCs

For my faithful blog followers, I want to apologize for not writing much this fall. I have been VERY blessed and VERY busy in my new adventures as a relief veterinarian.

This doesn't mean that I haven't been eating new things and trying to grow a fall-winter garden.....but the lack of blogging is also directly correlated to our chickens: Parmesan, Tandoori and Kebab.

As you can see from previous photos, our chickens used to have full access to our backyard. We have a 7 foot solid privacy fence that they never once tried to scale, even though their sister Piper does it regularly.

Once my collards, bok choy, brussels sprouts and lettuce went into the ground, the chickens went to work destroying them. Basically, most vegetation that is tasty to a human is also tasty to chickens. This made me very upset, since I had spent a lot of time and money getting the plants into the ground. To make matters worse....the chickens had not started laying at this point.

Out of frustration, we soon began calling the destructive non productive little she-devils the "SBCs" or STUPID BABY CHICKENS! AARRRRGGHHH!

So despite erecting complicated mesh fencing around our raised beds, somehow they kept breaking in and enjoying my fresh salad. We had to come up with a solution. They now have their OWN yard along the back few beds of our garden that are mostly in the shade. Now that they are completely sequestered, we can go back to calling them "Silly Baby Chickens" or "Sweet Baby Chickens" especially since they've been laying since late November.

I was concerned that the chickens would hit puberty at the wrong time of the year, since most chickens lay less during the short-days of the year and when its cold. Thank goodness for Rhode Island Red hens....nothing phases these little egg factories! They're not called "cold hardy" for nothing!

We are now getting 2-3 eggs per day. During the freezing weather and snow flurries they did stop laying for a few days. Their eggs are delicious, and once they are consumed, the shells go into the compost to help supplement our now chicken-free gardening endeavors.

Cupcakes

Baking Adventure 01.06.2011

I don’t often bake sweet things in my kitchen, so all I had for baking a last-minute batch of chocolate cupcakes was Anson Mills Red Fife bread flour and the Farina Di Pizzaiolo Pizza Maker’s flour.

Being lazy, I did not want to go out in the rain to Publix to buy the commercial “all-purpose flour” that Ina Garten’s recipe called for, so I decided to experiment. I also did not have light brown sugar on hand, so I made my own with molasses and granulated cane sugar.

The eggs in the recipe are compliments of my own Rhode Island Red hens: Parmesan, Kebab and Tandoori. All brands of products used, and other modifications are noted below.

Not knowing the protein content, chemical characteristics, etc of the Red Fife vs. commercial all-purpose flour, this could have been a disaster. The cupcakes turned out very well, light and airy, with a rich flavor. A delightful cupcake that “grown-ups” will love. I know that oven temperature varies from one home to another, and that barometric pressure, humidity and magnetic deviation from true north can make each batch come out differently….but please give this a try! J

· 2 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (Publix brand), at room temperature

· 2/3 cup granulated sugar (Florida Crystals Florida Natural Cane Sugar)

· 2/3 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon room temperature molasses

· 2 large eggs, at room temperature (from the back yard is best)

· 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

· 1 cup whole buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature

· 1/2 cup (home-made) Greek-style fat free yogurt, at room temperature

· 2 tablespoons brewed espresso (we buy green coffee beans and roast ourselves)

· 1 3/4 cups Anson Mills Red Fife Flour

· 1 cup Ghirardelli Natural Unsweetened Cocoa

· 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

· 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

· Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing, recipe follows

· Chopped salted peanuts, to decorate, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, and espresso. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it's completely blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frost each cupcake with Peanut Butter Icing and sprinkle with chopped peanuts, if desired.

Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing:

· 1 cup confectioners' sugar (I pulsed the Florida Crystals sugar in the food processor to get super fine sugar)

· 1 cup Smucker’s Natural Creamy peanut butter

· 5 tablespoons unsalted butter (Publix brand), at room temperature

· 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

· 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

· 1/3 cup skim milk

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

Here is the link to the original recipe—Ina Garten Chocolate Cupcakes

Chanterelles

September 4, 2010

Chanterelles! What a find at today's farmer's market! It is the tail-end of the local mushroom season here, and soon it will become too dry for these little guys.

Captain Woody (who makes his own fresh pasta, sells his own hen's eggs, and grows three varieties of cultivated mushrooms) instructed me to use them within 2 days and that they are fantastic in risotto.

http://www.portroyalfarmersmarket.com/vendor_list.html

I forgot to take a picture of them in their raw state, so please take a look at another South Carolina blog about local mushrooms and foraging....he's got some great pics!

Mushroom Mountain

I love how they just marched out of the woods and into Mellow Mushroom Pizza in Greenville and had them put their wild mushrooms on the pizza!

Since our closest Mellow Mushroom is 40 miles away....I just made my own.

Pizza dough: recipe can be found at www.ansonmills.com

I topped the pizza with a roasted local tomato and red bell pepper sauce that contained a little of our own Charleston Hot Cayenne pepper from the backyard.

The greenery on the pizza is home-grown basil, and we added a small amount of Sweetgrass Dairy Eden goat cheese and also a dusting of Parmesan cheese.

The risotto was pretty good with the chanterelles. I added lots of parsley from our garden and of course, Parmesan cheese. The saffron adds a nice luxurious smokey quality. Here is my favorite risotto recipe! I just substituted the chanterelles for the morel and cremini mushrooms, and substituted local rice for the Arborio.

The best kind of rice for risotto is a round or semi-round short-grain rice such as Arborio. This is the most common rice you see in this dish in restaurants. However, in the Lowcountry, I can just use Carolina Gold Rice. It is a semi-round medium grain rice that puts out plenty of starch for a creamy risotto.

From Carolina Plantation:

"In 1685, a distressed merchant ship paid for repairs in Charleston with a small quantity of rice seed from Madagascar. Dr. Henry Woodward planted the seed in South Carolina, beginning the state’s 200 year history as the leading rice producer in the United States. At the turn of the century, rice cultivation ended in the Low Country South because of a weak market, inadequate machinery, and competition from the Gulf States.

Until recently, most of the “Carolina Gold” on the market, unfortunately has been grown in the Gulf States, not in South Carolina. Because of our commitment to providing authentic Carolina-grown products, Carolina Plantation Rice has devoted a portion of it’s rice acreage to the cultivation of true “Carolina Gold” Rice. Your purchase of this home-grown product keeps South Carolina growing."

Carolina Plantation, found along the Pee Dee River in South Carolina, also produces long-grain aromatic rice, processed into both standard white rice and brown rice.

The Carolina Gold rice is about the same price as an imported Arborio pound-for-pound, so order some and give it a try sometime!

Stone fruit season

The chickens are getting gigantic! They are now 9 weeks old! When we are home we let them run about in the garden, but they rather enjoy the condo that Doug built for them. They love their multi-height roosting system and their shredded junk-mail bedding. When the bedding gets changed, it goes right into the compost! Laying boxes will be installed in September.

I've been working on the late July blog for a while, and I think its time to post!

It has been incredible how many wonderful things are growing just a few miles from my house. Now that I'm working closer to home, I can spend more time seeking out local, fresh and healthier foods. I think Doug likes me cooking almost every night too!

Sadly though, late July means that much of the summer season is coming to a close and we'll be transitioning to fall veggies in our own garden.

We got some of our plants in the ground a little late this year, but we will still have cucumbers and tomatoes on into September if we are lucky.

A few wonderful things that I have come across this July in the Lowcountry have been:

- Plums

- Peaches

- Figs

- Tomatoes

- Sweet corn

- Sweet and hot peppers (chiles)

The pic to the right are local cayenne peppers, I like to dry my own, then grind them into powder I can use all year long.

- Melons

- ETC, ETC, ETC

After a few pictures, I'll share some recipes I either found on the internet, got from the guy at the roadside stand, or just made up myself!

Peach Tart

The easiest pastry recipe of all time, and yes, I modified this recipe from Food Network
Thank you, Ina Garten!

Follow this recipe to the letter, the only changes/substitutions I made:

-Peaches instead of apples (be sure that the peaches are very firm. Most people think that peaches that are firm are not ripe. WRONG! As long as the peach has a nice "blush" on the skin and it's in the store, its ready to go for pies and tarts. For eating raw, its nice to have them a little softer)
-South Carolina golden rum instead of Calvados.
- Orange marmalade instead of apricot preserves (I had good French orange marmalade on hand)

I made this tart for an elderly neighbor who recently lost her husband. I actually gave it to her without testing it....she offered me a slice with coffee and it was VERY GOOD! :)

Local Rockfish with soba noodles

- Rockfish is also known as Striped bass. It is on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch BEST CHOICE list for sustainability in the Southeast region. About 10 years ago numbers were in serious decline in the Chesapeake Bay area, but it has made a remarkable comeback. My fish market, Sea Eagle, carries local South Carolina long-line caught rockfish. They''ll even show you where the hook was in the fish's mouth!

1/2 pound of Rockfish fillets--serves 2 people very well, I even had leftovers
oilve oil
salt and pepper.
- salt and pepper the fish, sautee skin side UP in oilve oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. remove fish from the pan.

If you have "fond" or little bits of fish stuck on the bottom of the pan, deglaze pan with juice of 1 lemon and 1/2 cup of white wine. Take your wooden spoon and pry those bits up!

THEN add to the pan, sautee until soft and sauce reduced on medium heat:

- chopped red bell pepper, medium dice

- medium Vidalia onion, medium dice

- dash of cayenne pepper powder

-1 large fresh tomato, chopped

Add right before you put the fish back in the pan:

- tablespoon of fresh basil, fennel fronds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed), fresh parsley.

- 1 tablespoon drained capers.

Put the fish back in the pan skin side DOWN with the veggies on LOW, then cook until the fish is flaky and cooked through but not falling apart.

I'm sure you could do this recipe with cod, grouper, flounder, etc.

Cook SOBA noodles to desired doneness: Soba noodles are a Japanese buckwheat noodle. If you cant find them at your grocery or local Asian market, use whole wheat spaghetti.

Remove fillets to serving dish. Put cooked hot soba noodles into the veggies in the pan, toss with tongs, then place with the fish on serving dish. YUMMY!
Serve with your favorite white wine.

Another thing I enjoyed SO MUCH this summer were Rainier Cherries from Washington State. Yeah, I know they're not local, but, since Doug loves them so much and they were buy one get one free at the Publix....we ate them as snacks and even dried some to eat with granola during the wintertime!

I was planning on making a pie with them, but they were eaten before that could happen. Oh well! Maybe I could soak the dried ones in rum and sugar and then make them into a tart sometime this winter!

NEXT BLOG........August, AVMA and Atlanta! :)

4th of July

Hello all,

I have taken a rather long break from blogging since I have been so busy lately! I have changed jobs and am now enjoying the freedom of part-time and relief veterinary medicine. My new job will keep me rooted in Beaufort, SC and allow for some traveling in the Great State of South Carolina.

I am hoping that the new traveling, especially in the Charleston area, will allow me to source some of my local favorites right from the farms in that area! I was able to pick my own blueberries on my way home from an interview last week.

I have finally gotten around to posting baby chicken pictures! They are now 3 weeks old. The top picture to the right is them at 2 days old. We got 3 Rhode Island Red hens in the mail through http://www.mypetchicken.com/. They should start laying at about 20 weeks of age or so. Their names are Tandoori, Parmesan & KeBab!

This 4th of July I woke to the sounds of boats racing up the Beaufort River and of the chicks peeping away on the porch for their breakfast.

After a breakfast of "Deconstructed French toast" (In honour of the French and their dedication to the Colonists quest for Independence)---recipe to follow---Doug set to work on the chicken's outdoor coop and I took the chicks for a garden outing!

I'm actually writing this sitting on one of Ivy's saddle pads (that needs washing) next to the bird bath in the center of our garden. I have to make sure that the chicks are staying safe since Danger isnt much of a chicken-shepherd. He mostly sits next to me and watches the chicks run by!

We received enough gift cards at the wedding from our loved ones (THANK YOU!) that we were able to buy the Dyson vacuum AND a nice bread & baguette maker. I tried out the baguette maker yesterday and made 4 individual-sized loaves with an extra crisp crust. This morning I figured there was nothing left to do with the leftover bread than make FRENCH TOAST!

"Deconstructed" French Toast...for those of you who find you have too much custard left over!

~ Remember ~ LOCAL and FRESH ingredients are best!

4 eggs

3 tablespoons of honey

1/2 cup milk (we used skim)

pinch of sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cardamon (this makes it extra-exotic tasting!)

Whisk all these ingredients together the night before and store in the refrigerator.

Remember to put your bread in the microwave overnight to let it go stale. If you're like me, you may just skip this step since fresh, homemade bread that contains no preservatives goes stale in 1 day anyways, often even if refrigerated!

Morning: Pre-heat your oven to 375 F. Turn on your griddle and let it heat up while your bread is soaking. I do this on my double-sided cast iron griddle/indoor grill that I set directly on the gas burners. Don't forget to lube up with butter or non-stick cooking spray. A frying pan is great too.
Take out custard, whip one more time and soak your bread in it--1 minute on each side.

Move directly onto the hot griddle, let cook until golden on both sides.

Place on a cooling rack. When all slices have been on the griddle, put the whole cooling rack into the heated oven for 5-7 minutes.

I THEN took the leftover custard and cooked it like scrambled-eggs on the still hot griddle. I had turned the heat off at this point.....still enough residual heat to do the job nicely.

~ Remove the toast from oven, top it with the scrambled eggs "Bruschetta-style" and enjoy with whipped cream, fruit and maple syrup on top. (Grade B is my fave or that smoked maple syrup my Dad gets from Indiana...awesome awesome awesome!)

Yes, it is OK to use your knife and fork, especially if you used soft Wonder Bread or Challah. Our French bread French toast still had enough crust on it so it was stable for eating "Bruschetta-style."

~ We also love to put fresh fruit on ours....this morning it was SC Peaches from Barnwell County!

Next blog.....SUMMER FRUITS and other BOUNTY!