A Lovely Tomato!

I just discovered Picnik for photo editing. Look what it did for this tomato!

What do other food bloggers use for photo editing tools?

What does a Nutritionist Eat? - Homecoming Brunch

If you were a nutritionist, what would you eat for brunch?

Here's what this nutritionist had today, after a crazy day/night of air travel...

Coffee with Silk soymilk, 1 small muffin with almond butter, a small peach (carried 2,000 miles from Colorado in my pack), 1 fried egg, and a Stonyfield low-fat Vanilla yogurt.

To improve upon this, I could have added in some fresh carrot juice. Or, even thrown in some finely chopped veggies (peppers, onions) in my egg, topped with salsa. 

How does your breakfast size up? 

Tomorrow starts this blog's first month-long contest for all you followers to cash in on! Check in tomorrow!

"Tasty Travels" - WWOOFing, Day 6 & 7

Day 6: I've taken a voluntary vacation this week from serious cardio. As a result, I was feeling a bit sluggish. Claire said she had a perfect hike that would certainly break the no-cardio streak. We drove over to the Liberty Cap trail, only a few miles from Claires. As we begun our ascent, Claire casually mentioned that this hike was her "outdoor stairmaster". She was right! We make it to the base of the "cap" in about 45 minutes.

Then it occurred to me that I'd be doing a bit of rock climbing to get to the peak. At this point, I realized I had a serious fear of heights. Even thinking now of the "Spiderman Scaling" we did to get to the top, I get butterflies in my stomach. Talk about an adrenaline rush! It definitely felt amazing to make it to the top, but I was quickly ready to get on steadier ground. 

After the hike down and some stretching, we went back to Claire's, did some watering, ate a yummy lunch of local bread, scrambled eggs, and fresh fruit. In the afternoon, we planned on visiting a 3rd farmers market in Colorado's Western Slope, in the fair city of Palisade.

Conveniently, a distillery and a score of wineries were within walking distance! So, the lovely ladies of WWOOF and Friends embarked on a seriously awesome wine tasting tour (gave Napa/Sonoma a run for its money)!

First, we moseyed on over to the Peach Street Distillery. This rustic watering hole makes a kind of artisanal vodka called GOAT (Greatest of all time?) Vodka. (Which is slightly coincidental, as you'll read about another goat run-in in a moment). They serve most of their drinks in copper mugs, which means a clean and delicious product. I was treated to a Peach Punch drink with peach juice, vodka, and ginger beer. It was so refreshing and a perfect way to cool off on a warm Colorado Sunday afternoon. 

I could have lounged around all afternoon drinking this Peach Bliss, but we had to move onward to wine.

We went to Carlson's Vineyards next for peach wine, plum wine, and a bottle of Carlson's Reisling we all shared. A fellow group of wine tasters that we'd seen at the distillery showed up at this winery. With a goat. And not just any goat. A metal-built, ornamental-lawn-style, anatomically-correct goat. Apparently they bring this goat to wineries, parties, etc.

We were asked if we wanted to give the goat a drink. Sure! 

Apparently the winery's resident cat was afraid of fake goats. 


We stopped in at the Canyon Wind Winery next. Everyone bought a bottle for sharing at dinner. They make a red called "47-Ten" that's delicious. Here's the view from Canyon Wind Winery!

It was quitting time and the wineries were closing, so we took our bottles and went back to Claire's. For dinner, we made whole wheat pasta with a mushroom marinara sauce and a spinach salad. It took less than 30 minutes and is a great, healthy go-to meal if you're in a hurry!

Spaghetti, Sauce, and Salad

Whole Wheat pasta (Barilla and Trader Joe's are both tasty brands)

Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cups button mushrooms, quartered
1 Tbsp of Italian herb seasoning

1 jar marinara sauce (we used Trader Joe's)

6 cups baby spinach, chopped
1/2 avocado, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
Good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing

Boil pasta until al dente. Drain. Put back in pot and drizzle with olive oil. Mix well.

While pasta is cooking, saute onions, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms in olive oil, over medium heat. Once vegetables are soft (about ten minutes) add tomato sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Chop spinach and avocado and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy with a glass of wine!

Day 7: The day started with some locally bought bread (toasted) slathered in peanut butter and jam. I sliced up a peach and spooned out a 1/2 cup of Wallaby plain yogurt with a few drops of maple syrup. After doing a couple hours of weeding, I packed up my stuff, said goodbye to my WWOOFing family, and was off to the airport.

WWOOFING IN REVIEW:

This was a great experience that people should take advantage of. Granted, I had a wonderful host who was pleasant and open to new ideas. My host offered peaceful accommodations and well thought-out meals (all vegetarian, as a teaching point to WWOOFers). Above all, she has a passion to teach women the joys of organic farming and organic gardening. She shared the tools and wisdom to create a place that supports and enhances the land and life around it. For this, I am thankful. A big thank you to Claire and Three Sisters Harvest!

"Tasty Travels" - WWOOFing, Day 4 & 5

Day 4- It started out as a rainy day (the rain followed me from Mass. to Colorado!) and we did 150 square feet of sheet mulching. The weather quickly changed and we were able to transplant some lavender. We made an amazing dinner and then saw an even more amazing rainbow! The curry recipe came from one of my favorite cookbooks by Deborah Madison called "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone".

Malaysian-Inspired Tofu Curry

1, 1-lb package firm tofu
1, 15-oz can unsweetened coconut milk (try Trader Joe's version!)
1 cup water
2 tsp light brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp tamarind paste (what's this? SEE below)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 scallions, chopped
juice of 1 lime
cilantro, chopped, for garnish
3 cups brown rice, cooked

Drain and dice the tofu into 1/2-inch cubes. Combine the coconut milk, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, spices, tamarind paste, garlic and ginger in a large skillet. Boil for 1 minute, then add tofu. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and scallions and simmer for about 10 minutes more. Add the lime juice and taste for salt. Serve garnished with chopped cilantro.

We gobbled ours up with some roasted cauliflower (tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper).

NOTE: Tamarind paste: Tamarind paste is made up of the inner fruit of a tamarind pod. If you close your eyes and take a bite, it tastes just like a Sour Patch Kid!

While preparing dinner, Anna made "magic" brownies. :-) The recipe in the cookbook was wrong. Instead of 1 1/2 sticks of butter, 3 were added. The lavender was just subtle enough and makes a great alternative to regular brownies!

Q: Know what makes these brownies "magic"?
A: LAVENDER (and butter)!

"MAGIC" BROWNIES

1 tsp dried culinary lavender buds (get from your local health food store)
3 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 13x9 inch baking dish. Place lavender in a spice grinder w/ 1 Tbsp sugar. Pulse until it is finely ground. Transfer to a large bowl. Add flour, cocoa, salt, coffee powder, and the remaining sugar. Mix well.

Place butter in a medium bowl and microwave on high power for 1 minute at a time until melted. Let cool for a few minutes. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter mixture. Using a wooden spoon, mix until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Dessert was enjoyed while gazing at the most amazing rainbow I've ever seen!
Day 5: Saturday! We ate a quick breakfast and made the road trip out to ASPEN! We went up to see the Maroon Bells, which are two of the 54 peaks in Colorado higher than 14,000 feet!

We ate our lunch of chicken tamales, pretzels, and fig newtons, and then ventured into town for a sweet surprise. I got to go to another farmers market!


The Aspen Farmers Market

As we explored downtown, we found some interesting things:


Claire and I found hula hoops.


Anna found a beloved pink fur coat.

It was fun.

Looking forward to tomorrow's hike up Liberty Cap and a wine tour!

"Tasty Travels" - WWOOFing, Day 3

Day 3 was filled with more weeding, planting, chatting, and laughing. While weeding, I noticed how each one of us approached it differently. My fellow WWOOFer Anna made herself comfortable cross-legged while taking those weeds to their death. She was very calculated and neat with her weeding. Every few feet, there would be an equal-sized pile of wilty weeds. She meandered her way down the furrow until every last stem was pulled.

I, on the other hand, struggled. First I tried squatting. After having flashbacks of FitCamp and eternal air squats, I decided to try kneeling. However, the hot black weed block burned up my exposed knees. I stood up. I half-squatted. I stood-kneeled. Finally, I dragged the Adirondack chair down into the lavender field and made myself comfortable. I knew this drew a quiet chuckle from Claire and Anna. I looked like a fool sitting on a chair in the middle of the field pulling weeds, but I didn't care. The weeds I pulled were strewn about on the weed block, unlike Anna's neat piles. And I always thought I was one for order and organization...

Last night, we headed into downtown to check out the farmers market. We were awed by all the strange sights unbeknown to the likes of most farmers markets. We smelled cotton candy, sampled kettle corn, read pamphlets being handed out by religious die-hards and posed for pictures in front of a 10 foot tall plastic chicken. It felt more like a carnival than a farmers market.

We finally found a farm stand and a bread baker. I bought some delicious cherries from Z's Orchard, located in Palisade, CO. Their produce was, by far, the most beautiful of them all. Look at these beautiful bing cherries!













Or how about this hot-house heirloom tomato?











Or feast your peepers on these outrageously cute onions!












Next we bought some bread from a slightly pushy yet charming Austrian baker with the best t-shirt and delicious bread!


The most peculiar buy of the night was from Pappardelle's homemade pasta company. How does dark chocolate linguine sound? The owner suggests cooking it like you would normal pasta, and serve with mashed strawberries and whipped cream. I'll tell you how this one goes!

The weekend update: Aspen and a tour de Colorado wine country! Stay tuned!

"Tasty Travels" - WWOOFing, Day 2

Let me start off by saying my favorite part of the day was sitting under the apricot trees, in the Adirondack chair, facing beautiful Colorado mountainside. The horses next door were going through their daily neighing routine, and I was reading an American classic; all was good.


We started off the day by filling in the raised bed we were double-digging yesterday. We poured in about 400 lbs of compost, and planted corn, beans and zinnias. We admired our sexy raised bed for a minute, and moved on to weeding the established vegetable and herb beds. I also harvested about 5 bunches of cilantro, which we used to make a delicious Cilantro Pesto for our dinner meal of pan-fried tofu, steamed broccoli, and brown rice.


Claire's Cilantro Pesto

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
2 cups of chopped cilantro (about 1 bunch)
1 Tbsp jalapeno chile, seeded and chopped
1 small garlic clove
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 Tbsp lime juice

Puree ingredients in blender until smooth. May be made one day ahead. Cover and chill.


We decided this pesto would also go well with many Mexican-style dishes (i.e. certain meats, burritos, etc.) as well as with certain grains (i.e. mixed with rice, pasta, etc.). The original recipe from epicurious.com paired this pesto with roasted beets and baby greens, but the beets were not yet ready to be picked. I think this combination would have worked, and I feel the greens that would work best would be spicy ones.

Tomorrow will be filled with more weeding (which I must say is therapeutic and way cheaper than going to a therapist!) and planting a newly-cleared out vegetable bed complete with peppers and herbs. On the way home from the garden center my host and I were dreaming up future WWOOFing projects like building a solar oven and creating a cacti garden. The possibilities of a WWOOFer are endless!

Tomorrow evening is the Grand Junction farmers market, too! Can't wait to see what other local farmers will be growing and selling.

Enjoy two more amazing photos from yesterday's trip to the Colorado Monument National Park.

"Tasty Travels" - WWOOFing, Day 1

Day 0: I arrived in Colorado at my WWOOFing site yesterday (see previous post for definition:WWOOF). I had the day to get to know the host, my fellow WWOOFer and the wonderful 3.5 acre farm where I was about to get my hands dirty. Part of the agreement was that I would volunteer to do farm things, and I would get room and food. Well, the food has been excellent! As a blog post bonus (yes, you've hit the lottery!), I'm posting my amazing experiences AND two vegetarian dinner recipes, both of which were excellent and I plan to make again.

Last night, we had a group dinner. My host (who is fabulous and very well-organized) planned out the dinner meals. We cooked up a Cream of Curried Vegetable and Split Pea Soup. (Recipe from the "Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, by Julie Sahni).

Cream of Curried Vegetable and Split Pea Soup

4-5 Tbsp usli ghee or unsalted butter
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1 cup water, 1/4 cup pureed fresh tomatoes
3 cups cooked split peas (or, we used yellow lentils)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2-1/4 cup light cream or milk
Chopped coriander or cilantro for garnish

Heat the butter in a deep pot over medium high heat. When melted, add curry powder, onion, carrots, and celery. Saute, stirring often until vegetables are soft (about 5 minutes). Add 1 cup of water, tomatoes, split peas (or lentils), pepper, and salt. Cover and cook at low heat for 10 minutes. Add enough light cream/milk to "mellow and velvetize the soup (as well as thin it)". Serve with chopped cilantro. We served this over brown rice, accompanied by a salad.

During dinner, we saw 5 deer prance through the back. They were all so fat and happy. The feeling was mutual.

My host is designing her property such that she is growing her own vegetables and fruits, but she is also considering the habitats and needs of the animals and other plants that live here, too. I think this is a noble and often forgotten part of farming. As a result, her property is filled with birds, deer, rabbits, and other furry friends, like her cat Rusty.

Day 1: My host decided that today's task was to double-dig a 300 square foot area for a biointensive bed that would be filled with corn and beans. For four hours, the three of us dug one cubic foot holes, one after another, until we had "double-dug" the whole 300 square feet. We've all become certified grave-diggers as a result.


Joking aside, I have a new appreciation for moving earth. After lunch, I took a drive to the Colorado National Monument. After seeing this majestic work of God, I was humbled by the fact that it took me 4 hours to move 100 square feet of dirt, while millions of billions of square feet of dirt and rock stood before me. Independence Monument, in particular, is 450 feet high, made of solid sandstone. Peculiar how in the picture it is about the same size as my head. Oh, depth perception.



But this is just a pebble compared to the vast amount of rockage going on in Colorado National Monument.



After the monument, I took a quick walk through the downtown area, only to be lured in to a gelato stand selling pomegranate gelato. Seriously, who could turn that down?


I was so excited to get back to my host's home, because I was sure she had a great vegetarian recipe awaiting us. She didn't disappoint.







From "Sharing the Table at Garland's Lodge" by Amanda Stine and Mary Garland, we made a Fresh Carrot Soup.

Fresh Carrot Soup

1 Tbsp each butter and olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow onion
5 cups sliced, peeled carrots
1 tsp each thyme and marjoram
1 tsp curry powder
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp basmati rice
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup half and half
salt and pepper, to taste

In a 4-6 qt stockpot, warm the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and stir well, cover, and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the herbs, curry powder, salt, honey, stock, and water, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add the rice, cover, and cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool 10 minutes. Puree in a blender in batches to very smooth texture. Transfer to a clean stockpot, and add orange juice, lemon juice, and half and half. Add salt and white pepper, to taste.

We also had a sun-dried tomato and basil pasta dish. Recipe on this one to come, but the mouthwatering picture is here!

It was a pretty amazing day filled with the knowledge of a new skill (double-digging), a new appreciation for nature, and two kick-butt vegetarian dinners to add to my repoire.

Can't wait to see what day 2 holds!

The CSA and Local Food Challenge

Today was the official start of my CSA pickups. Back in January, immediately after the terrible power outages central Massachusetts experienced for upward of 5 days (to three weeks, depending on where you lived and if you are serviced by Unitil) I decided I needed to take action and invest in local food from a farmer who I could trust. I researched local CSA programs to find one that would fit my needs. Stillman's in Lunenburg was my final choice. Reasonably priced, long season, fruits included, and the product of a UMass Alumni, I decided to send in my check and support my local farmer.

Well, today was the big day.

However, in the excitement of making my number one dad a man-friendly pancake brunch (complete with TC as the "baconator") and visiting my inherited other lovely dads, I completely forgot to pick up early. Luckily, my mom saved the day (gotta love moms!) and picked up our share before they closed.

Here's the loot:


















I was so happily surprised when I saw the pint of fresh, ripe strawberries. I admit, I've been stopping at almost every farm stand I pass to buy strawberries lately, so this was a nice addition to the otherwise vegetable-laden CSA half-share.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to immediately enjoy the CSA delights, because I'll be WWOOFing for the next week. What is WWOOFing, you ask?

Well, WWOOFing stands for WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms and is "voluntouring". The volunteer commits to giving her time and talents to a farmer, and in exchange, the farmer agrees to host the volunteer with room and food. I'm WWOOFing in West Colorado at a lovely farm. I'm hoping I'll learn from this farmer where food REALLY comes from, and how farming methods (i.e. permaculture, composting) can improve the organic yields and contribute to a closed loop ecosystem. You'll be sure to hear more about this soon...

In honor of this trip and the skills I'll be learning about growing food (and eating it), I have set a challenge for myself and others.

The CSA and local food challenge is as follows:

"I pledge to eat (or save, as in freeze or can) my CSA goodies and waste none. I also pledge to take care of my community garden using the skills I have learned in Colorado and to eat (or save, as in freeze or can, or give to unsuspecting neighbors and friends) the produce I grow. I will refrain from buying fruits or vegetables from the supermarket unless absolutely necessary."

Please take the local food challenge with me. Even if you can pledge to buy one item a week from a farmers market, or you can start a compost bin with your food scraps, or you can donate your extra produce from your garden to a local food pantry, or you can freeze some strawberries for later in the season, please pledge to do SOMETHING, and tell me what you've chosen to do by commenting below.

Here's what I did tonight: even though I won't be enjoying these hardy greens this week, I promptly chopped and froze them for a later time.

If we can get ourselves, our friends, and our neighbors to begin to think more about where our food comes from and begin to support our local farmers with more vigor and zest, our land, animals, plants, bodies, and wallets will be thanking us.

So take the pledge and do what you can. Thanks!

What do parrotheads and fiddleheads have in common?

,Well, probably not much, save that both are eclectic (and it made for a catchy title); I'm sure if fiddleheads could talk, these foraged edibles would be Jimmy Buffet fans.

The first time I saw a fiddlehead was at Atkin’s Farm out by Amherst. I thought, “what a peculiar-looking thing” and “how do you eat this?” At the time, my lesser-adventurous self was not willing to buy some and sauté them in a college dorm kitchen. It’s been 5 years since fiddleheads have made their reappearance, but they have. And I loved them.

Fiddleheads are most popular during the spring months. They are what I call the "bean sprout equivalent of the fern world". Almost all ferns have fiddleheads, but the ostrich fern is really the only one that is harvested for eating. This weekend, amongst the throngs of mosquitoes who decided to accompany us on a hike, I searched for fiddleheads. I was quite unsuccessful, as I hoped in vain that the cold weather we've had would have allowed some of the fiddleheads to be out, yet their foraging season is really late April/May. Oh well.

Fiddleheads are great when sautéed with some garlic and olive oil. I added them to my veggie stir fry for an extra dose of New England spring! Get them while you can, because they are only in season in April/May/early June!

Spring Stir Fry

2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
½ lb fiddleheads
1 head of baby bok choy, chopped
2 real baby carrots
½ lb sugar snap peas

1 cup pineapple, cubed
soy sauce or a sweet marinade
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp cayenne pepper

3 cups whole wheat pasta, cooked

Rinse all vegetables. Soak fiddleheads in 3 changes of cool water to remove all dirt. Over medium heat, sauté olive oil, garlic, an onions for 5-10 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add fiddleheads, bok choy, carrots, sugar snap peas, pineapple, and sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add spices and cooked pasta and simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy fiddleheads for a limited time! And a note of courtesy: NEVER ask the forager where he/she found and foraged the fiddleheads. It would be like asking a cook what her secret ingredient is!

The Artichoke and Anasazis

One of the best ways to save money in your food budget is buying in bulk. This is why I love the bulk bins at the grocery store or health food store. At the Artichoke co-op, you can get the staples (like steel cut oats, my favorite!) for about $1-3/lb. At a supermarket, you may pay over $3/lb. I usually buy a little of a lot of different items, and then I go back to my cookbooks (see the “Must-Have” cookbook list below) for recipes using these unique foods.

I picked up a pound of these beautiful brown- and white-swirled beans called Anasazi beans. I had seen them before at the Rancho Gordo stand at the San Francisco Farmers Market (when I lived there and could go every Saturday…weep). The owner of Rancho Gordo published a cookbook entitled “Heirloom Beans” which is as much of a piece of artwork as it is a cookbook for the usage of a variety of beans. I’m amazed that there are scores of varieties of beans, each with their own unique aesthetic and nutritional composition.




Anasazi beans are similar to pinto beans in their texture, size and composition. These beans are named after an ancient Indian tribe that lived in the Southwest, with dwellings dating back to 500 A.D. Strangely enough, in the 13th century, the Anasazi disappeared, and archaeologists have yet to determine the cause of this sudden loss of an entire tribe of people...

I digress…

So I’ve never been one for the overnight-bean soak, but in the interest of “walking the walk” and discontinuing my bad habit of spending over $3 for organic, no-sodium canned beans, I submerged these babies in a big bowl and let them soak it all in. The next afternoon, I rinsed them off and sent them on their way to the boiling pot of water. After only 45 minutes, they were cooked to perfection. To my surprise, the unique shell colors were gone, and now were plain tan-colored.

In a big fry pan, I sautéed chopped onions and carrots, added a whole jar of Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde, green chiles, a healthy dose of cayenne pepper, a bit of cumin, and the beans. I let this simmer for 10 minute or so, and served over 1 cup of brown rice.

“Gringa” Rice & Beans

1 cup anasazi beans, dry

3 cups brown rice, cooked

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, diced
1 white onion, chopped
16 oz. salsa verde
1 can green chiles
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin

Soak dry beans overnight. Rinse beans, and add to boiling water. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until beans are soft.
Cook brown rice according to package’s directions.
In a large fry pan or wok, sauté carrots and onions in olive oil. Add 2 cups of salsa verde, green chiles, spices, and cooked beans. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve over brown rice.



My “gringa” rice & beans got the thumbs up from TC! I also had enough left over for about 3 more leftover lunches.


Stay tuned: I’m looking forward to blogging about my next bulk bin purchase experiment with amaranth.

The Community Gardenator

So as a Community Garden co-coordinator, I was faced with a debaucle last Sunday. A fellow gardener was smoking in his plot while picking rocks and planting seedlings. There is not a "No Smoking" sign, but common courtesy and knowledge of the potential infection of baby tomato plants by tobacco mosaic virus (scary!) which is a real and serious concern, should be enough for a CG'er to abstain. The University of Minnesota Extension has this to say about the spread of tobacco mosaic virus:

"The most common method of transferring the virus from plant to plant is on contaminated hands and tools. Workers who transplant seedlings should refrain from smoking during transplanting and wash their hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water. Tools used in transplanting can be placed in boiling water for 5 minutes and then washed with a strong soap or detergent solution. Dipping tools in household bleach is not effective for virus decontamination. Any seedlings that appear to have mosaic symptoms or are stunted and distorted should be removed and destroyed. After removing diseased plants, never handle healthy plants without washing hands and decontaminating tools used to remove diseased plants."




So if this isn't bad enough, I went to a local farm stand today to buy just-picked strawberries, asparagus, and new potatoes. The potatoes come in a bag with this label affixed on the front:

What's wrong with this picture?

I guess I'll be flexing my community garden organizer muscles in the name of my fickle infant plants.

Bottom line: Spread the love (not the smoke) to our baby tomato plants. Oh yeah, and kick the habit. It's bad for your health.

Canto 6 Creations

WARNING: This is not a low-calorie, butter-less blog post. Rather, I’m dishing on butter and baking, passion for pastry, and Canto 6’s creative creations that were on the menu for this Slow Food Boston cooking event.

TC and I traveled to Canto 6 bakery in JP last night for one of the many Slow Food Boston events. As we walked in, the aroma made me think of petite French bakeries, filled with baguettes, croissants, and the smell of fresh, strong coffee. I knew I was in the right place. As we sipped fresh-squeezed lemonade infused with mint and fresh strawberries and blueberries, we listened to Willow explain all the great upcoming events Slow Food Boston is offering. For details on these events, visit Slow Food Boston.

Then we got to work. TC and I were assigned to work on the fruit galettes. Galettes are free-form pastries stuffed with a sweet or savory filling. For this class, we were making strawberry-rhubarb, apple, carrot, and asparagus galettes.

First, we rolled out the dough. Evange, the pastry chef and owner, demonstrated how to roll out dough so it forms a perfectly round shape. (TC and I need to practice).The key to keeping the dough on the table (and not stuck to the rolling pin) is to keep it chilled. Oh yes, and lots of unsalted Cabot butter. Lots.

(Dietitian cringes inside.)

Once we were finished rolling out our galette dough (also known as pate brisee, or “broken pastry”) the flat circles went back to the refrigerator to chill.

Pate Brisee

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup cold cubed unsalted butter
¼ - ½ cup ice cold water (don’t add too much!)

1. Mix dry ingredients. Cut in the butter. Do not overmix!
2. Add water slowly, 2 Tbsp at a time and mix with hands until the dough comes together.
3. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape them into patties, wrap in saran wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. After dough has chilled, place on lightly floured surface. Gently roll dough out to 1/8 inch thick in a large circle. Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to shape galettes.

We then prepped our fruit ingredients, including the strawberry, rhubarb, and apples. We had to give TC some basic knife skills lessons to avoid chopping off tips of fingers. No injuries were reported.

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling & Crumb Topping

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
4 cups sliced fresh rhubarb
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss gently.
2. Assemble Crumb topping (see “Rhubarb Rocks!” post for recipe)

Once all the ingredients were ready to go (also known as “mise en place” for the French-speaking crowd), we took the pate brisee out of the refrigerator and assembled. On parchment paper, we filled the pate brisee with a generous mound of fruit filling, added some crumb topping, folded the dough around the edge of the mound, and set onto the baking sheet. TC likened these piles of butter, fruit, and flour to “volcanoes”. We baked these volcanoes until they bubbled over and the crumb topping toppled down the sides like lava rock, or about 50 minutes.

In the meantime, we sampled each of these galettes, which had been pre-assembled and baked off by Evange and Alex. Just like the French style of enjoying super-rich food, we each got a tiny sliver that was enough to taste the richness and seasonal flavors that the rhubarb, strawberries, asparagus, and spring carrots had to offer.

We all took home one sweet and one savory galette to remind us of the great time we had at Canto 6 Bakery. These rustic-looking galettes would be a great item to take to a potluck or dinner party. You could even make the pate brisees smaller for miniature galettes! Visit Canto 6 in Jamaica Plain and taste these creations for yourself!

Thanks Evange, Alex, Willow, and Slow Food Boston!