The Secret to Organic Strawberries

In a previous post, I posted a photo of a small bowl of freshly picked strawberries just before I handed the bowl over to Hubby so he could enjoy their juicy yumminess.

Since that post, I've thought a lot about strawberries and how they start in this world--as a humble non-assuming little white blossom. And if they get pollinated correctly by the bees and other flying critters, those blossoms become strawberries.

I've also thought a lot about the use of the word "organic" that has become so popular in describing how food is grown or produced. After maintaining an organic kitchen garden (potager) for over 7 years now, I have to let everyone in on a big secret. "Organic" is really easy! It was the non-organic method that was much harder.

Early on in my foray into growing organic fruits and vegetables for our own consumption, I read an article about the centuries old method of companion planting that is now gaining a resurgence starting as a grass-roots level. The premise is that certain plants are planted next to one another so they benefit each other based on what bugs they attract or repel, what nutrients they use, they're growing habits, and even the essence of their pollen in the case of companions like basil and tomatoes (tomatoes take on a wonderful taste with the essence of basil if planted next to it). This concept means that a vegetable and fruit garden not only looks better with flowers intermingled in it, but it is healthier.

My own experience has been that I have not needed to use pesticides for 7 years. That's right... NONE! Why? Because of the flowers and plants I purposefully planted in the vicinity of the strawberry plants that grow in pots right next to the 1200 gallon pond in the near center of my garden (you can see the strawberry pots in the background of the photo below).

Now what are these "magical" plants that grow next to the strawberries? Simple bright red canna lilies, lemon balm, and fennel. Well, those don't seem all that special, right? But they are to the strawberries. Here's why...

The bright red canna lilies and fennel attract lots of large predator insects that eat the smaller insects that would otherwise dine on the strawberries. The red canna lilies also attract hummingbirds. Hummingbirds, although partial to the sugary nectar of flowers, get most of their calorie intake from small insects like spiders, mites, gnats and mosquitos. The strawberries benefit again. The lemon balm that's great on sauted chicken breasts, also helps in the same way and gives off a strong enough odor that it camoflages other more vulnerable plants around it. A lot of herbs do this.

See how easy "organic" can be? I just plant things next to each other, water them, and they take care of each other. Really amazing, isn't it?!?! Don't let all the hype or the higher prices of "organic" fool you into believing that you can't grow things this way yourself. If you haven't, just trust me a teensy bit and take the plunge... grow some of your own produce. It's easier on the pocketbook, tastes phenomenal, and it's good for you.

From Grammy's recipe box: Vintage Sunkist Recipes

This is another contribution from Grammy's recipe box. I inherited this recipe box as a young girl when my Grammy passed away from ovarian cancer. Over the years, I have cherished its contents. Some recipes date back to my Grammy's mother El and Grammy's aunt Esther in the 1910-20's. If you use a recipe or cooking tip from Grammy's recipe box, I'd love to hear about it.

To see more of Grammy's recipes, click on the "Grammy's recipe box" label at the end of this post.

I don't know about everywhere else, but here the temps are soaring into the triple digits. I just can't think about food all that much when it's this hot.

But heat like this does make me think about tall cool glasses of refreshment! In my Grammy's recipe box, I found these three practically pristine vintage Sunkist recipes.


I don't know if it's the recipe that I love more or if it's the vintage illustrations. Ever since I was a very little girl, I loved the illustration style of the mid-20th century. There was (and is) something about the shading, the colors, and the printing that makes me feel all twittery inside (that's that best way I can describe it). These illustrations that are included on these recipe cards are a perfect example of what I mean.Well done colored pencil drawings do the same thing to me. I know... I'm weird... Moving on...

These cards were originally printed on recipe card stock in the standard recipe card size. But they don't have any copyright or publishing information on them. And like I said, they are practically pristine which means my Grammy probably put them in the recipe box when she first got them and then never took them out again.

This has to have been a Sunkist promotional of some sort. I wonder if Grammy sent for them with labels. It's hard to say. What I like most about these is the recipes are classics. The drinks would still be as popular, easy to make, and refreshing now as they were over 50 years ago. You gotta love that!

Since these are so beautifully illustrated I thought you might like to download hi-res versions of the above recipes to print out for your own recipe box. I've made them available online at Flickr. The instructions for downloading the hi-res version will be on each recipe at that site.

Click here for Grape Juice Lemonade
Click here for Sunkist Lemonade
Click here for Sunkist Orangeade

Kettle Korn With Only 100 Calories!

That's right... 100 calories! If you didn't already know, Orville Redenbacher makes a "Smart Pop!" popcorn with the wonderful sweetness of kettle-corn popcorn without the guilt. Each mini bag is 94% fat free and is perfect for a one-person snack.

I like to have mine in the evening while I'm watching TV or a DVD when I feel a need for something crunchy and/or something sweet.

It pops up very evenly in the microwave. I use the pre-set for a small bag of popcorn, and I have yet to have a torched batch.

The Smart Pop! Kettle Korn is also available in bigger bags if you want to pop up some for more than one person (of course it'll be more than 100 calories).

Here the nutrition breakdown for a mini bag straight from the product site:

Nothing Better Than...

...freshly picked homegrown organic strawberries from the garden. Yum!

Not Brave Enough for Homemade Marshmallow

This is another contribution from Grammy's recipe box. I inherited this recipe box as a young girl when my Grammy passed away from ovarian cancer. Over the years, I have cherished its contents. Some recipes date back to my Grammy's mother El and Grammy's aunt Esther in the 1910-20's. If you use a recipe or cooking tip from Grammy's recipe box, I'd love to hear about it.

To see more of Grammy's recipes, click on the "Grammy's recipe box" label at the end of this post.

Okay, I admit it... I'm not brave enough to try to vintage recipe for home marshmallow that I found in my Grammy's recipe box. There. I said it.

Not to make excuses, but I have visions of me in the kitchen creating more heat than is sane (considering the August heat we're having) and ending up with a mess akin to the attach of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on New York City.

I love to Twitter and one of the people I follow both on her blog and on Twitter is Emiline at Sugar Plum. She mentioned the other evening on Twitter that she was considering making some homemade marshmallow. I asked her later if she had and admitted my lack of bravery in trying Grammy's recipe. This was her reply, "I didn't try :( I decided it was too much work -might try in a few minutes. Need to find a recipe. Wish I had Grammy's recipe."

Well, Emiline, ask and ye shall receive! Here's the recipe. May you be braver than I.

This is typed exactly how the recipe reads:

Marshmallow

Soften the following ingredients well:

• 2 T gelatine
• 1/2 c cold water

Cook the following ingredients to 236 degrees F or until it threads about the length of the arm:

• 2 c sugar
• 3/4 c boiling water
• 1/8 t salt

Pour syrup slowly over gelatine, beating constantly until thick and cool (about 20 min.). Flavor as desired. Color. Butter a shallow pan slightly and dust with powdered sugar. Turn the mixture out on this and smooth top evenly. Dust with powdered sugar. Let stand overnight. Cut in squares. Roll in sugar.

Variations:
Chopped nuts, figs, raisins, or candied cherries may be added to the recipe. Plain marshmallow may be cooled in cocoa-nut before dipping in sugar, or dipped in melted chocolate.

From Blossom to Cuke

The cucumber vines are in full swing here in our garden. I think what I love most about gardening is the chance it gives me to see the cycle of life in all its forms. My cucumber vines are affording me that delight right now. Early blossoms have now formed into cucumbers of all sizes while the vines still put out delightful yellow blossoms. From beginning to end, I find the cucumber a fascinating and beautiful thing.

And Hubby doesn't know yet that this is now in the fridge. He'll be so happy!

Breakfast of this "Champion"

First off, although this post isn't going to be a "bare all" post per se, it is going to be a post that is brutally honest. You have now been fairly warned...

My doctor says that I have "classic OCD depression". That was probably a contributing factor to me developing an eating disorder at about the age of 10 years old that was anorexic/bulimic in nature as it involved starvation/extreme dieting (for more of the story click here).

Even at the age of 41 years old, I still find myself shunning food throughout the daylight hours just because I'm completely interested in something else that seems more "fun". And trust me... this behavior hasn't made me skinny AT ALL. In fact, quite the opposite, because my metabolism has slowed down so dramatically from decades of being in "starvation mode". It is a sad fact (confirmed by my doc) that I probably will never see my ideal weight. Despite great strides on my part over the past 2 years to eat nutritiously and to eat the proper amount of food throughout the day, I have lost only a fraction of the amount of weight that I would need to lose to be my "ideal" weight. It's a reality that I'm still coming to grips with.

Even though my intelligent mind knows all of this, I struggle with my OCD as soon as I wake up in the morning. All the possibilities for the day race through my head at lightning speed. And none of those possibilities includes eating breakfast or lunch. If I'm not careful, I could go until about 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and then come to the realization that the reason why I feel nauseated is because I haven't eaten anything all day. Interestingly, the only time I'm interested in eating food is after 5 o'clock in the evening (still haven't figured out that one).

Anyway... for me, breakfast has to be as quick as possible or it won't get consumed. Fortunately, there is something wonderful called "Carnation Instant Breakfast". I can mix it and drink it in less than 5 minutes and still get the nutrients I need for the beginning of my day. It would be much better if I would sit down and have a healthy whole-grain "something" with an organic "something" on the side and maybe a cup of nutritious "something" as a chaser but I know myself better than that. I know that if I self impose that sort of requirement I'll just end of "forgetting" to eat in lieu of going off and doing something else more "fun"--gardening, art, design, writing, computer geek stuff, vacuuming... anything but eating.

Now if only someone made "instant lunch" then I'd be set. ;)

"Yummy" In A Different Way

I've been completely submerged in design work as of late so the kitchen has been Hubby's territory for the past couple of days. That means no "sinful" treats are getting made and photographed. I call Hubby my "personal chef" because he makes dinner every night, and culinary creations are always amazingly delicious as well as very healthy. He's a Type 2 diabetic and I have high cholesterol so he's really good about cooking foods that are good for us. The food is so delicious you'd never know it.

So the "yummy" things I have to share today come from my design world where I can design and paint all the "sinful" treats I want and not worry at all whether it's healthy or not.

Like these scrumptious looking maraschino cherries on Keds sneakers (click on the image to see it larger):

Or the decadent goodness of this calorie-free chocolate candy (click on images to see larger):

There are perks to be a designer. I can indulge in all the treats without dealing with the aftermath. It's great!

Good Enough to Eat

A new collection of my photographs is on display at the Rosehaven Cottage Art Gallery entitled "Beautiful Produce".

Being a photographer as well as gardener who grows produce in my garden has opened my eyes to the simple beauty of produce on the branch or vine and produce that has been been harvested. I regularly walk my gardens at various times throughout the year, as our climate allows us to have a year-round produce garden. As I walk the garden looking for the minute changes from one day to the next, it always fascinates me how beautiful nature can be in its simple colors, textures, and forms. In particular, what I find striking is the beauty of the produce that we eventually eat. The phrase "looks good enough to eat" has takes on new dimensions for me as I have realized that what we do end up eating has an amazing beauty all its own.

In this collection, I have tried to capture the beautiful simplicity of fruit and vegetable produce without post-production enhancement in order to show the subjects as they appeared in reality when photographed. The light I've used is always available light. When I've shot these photographs, it's been just me, my camera and the beautiful produce.

When A Zucchini Gets Away From You

This is another contribution from Grammy's recipe box. I inherited this recipe box as a young girl when my Grammy passed away from ovarian cancer. Over the years, I have cherished its contents. Some recipes date back to my Grammy's mother El and Grammy's aunt Esther in the 1910-20's. If you use a recipe or cooking tip from Grammy's recipe box, I'd love to hear about it.

To see more of Grammy's recipes, click on the "Grammy's recipe box" label at the end of this post.


It's my fault. I was the one on "zucchini watch", and I failed in my duties. I failed to check the zucchini yesterday, and it got too big (as zucchini will do).

So what do you do if your zucchini gets away from you?

We decided to try a vintage recipe, "Stuffed Zucchini", out of my Grammy's recipe box. The recipe had been cut out of a magazine and looks like it's circa 1960s-1970s.

Hubby did the preparing on this one and found the recipe to be very easy to follow (which is a pleasant bonus when making a vintage recipe).

Here's what the recipe says (with our editorial comments in red italics):





Stuffed Zucchini
No browning or boiling, just bake and serve.

2 pounds zucchini [obviously, we just had one BIG one!]
1/2 pound ground beef
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons dehydrated onion flakes [Hubby used French's Fried Onions instead]
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon salt [definitely needed more]
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2/3 cup spaghetti sauce [Hubby used Prego traditional]

Halve zucchini. Scoop out centers leaving 1/4-inch shell; place in shallow baking dish. Coarsely chop zucchini centers; mix with next 8 ingredients. Spoon into shells. Top with sauce. Bake in 350 degrees F in oven for 30 minutes. Serves 4. [If you use 2 pounds of zucchini]


In the future, Hubby suggests that browning the ground beef would be better. Why? Because brown food tastes better!!!! And it would also reduce baking time.

Hubby said that the baking aroma brought back memories of his grandmother's kitchen because culinary creations of this kind were common during the 1960s. After baking was over, Hubby let it cool a bit since it came out of the oven the temperature of "hot magma".

Once it had cooled a bit, the tasting commenced. The flavor of the sauce against the filling mixture was good, but it definitely needed more salt. Once Hubby pumped up the salt, the flavor came alive. Hubby said it's not something that he would be addicted to, but it is most definitely a great quick meal option for using up zucchini from the garden--particularly zucchini that's gotten out-of-control huge!

Got Leftover Mashed Potatoes? Bake A Cake!

This is another contribution from Grammy's recipe box. I inherited this recipe box as a young girl when my Grammy passed away from ovarian cancer. Over the years, I have cherished its contents. Some recipes date back to my Grammy's mother El and Grammy's aunt Esther in the 1910-20's. If you use a recipe or cooking tip from Grammy's recipe box, I'd love to hear about it.

To see more of Grammy's recipes, click on the "Grammy's recipe box" label at the end of this post.


Despite the outside temperature being close to 100 degrees F today, I decided to embark on baking a vintage recipe from my Grammy's recipe box that I'd never seen made up before.

This recipe is written in fountain pen in my great-great-aunt Esther's handwriting with her name on the top right corner. The title is written simply "Potato Cake".

Okay...

Well, let's see what the recipe says (my editorial comments are in red italics):

2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup mashing potatoes (warm)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons chocolate [Ahhhh! So it's a chocolate cake?!?!]
1 teaspoon each of ground cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts [Can't put those in because Hubby is allergic.]

Cream fat [I guess this means the butter], sugar, yolks, and potatoes. Add milk and dry ingredients. Add stiffly beaten whites and bake in layers. Temp 350 degrees 15 min., 400 degrees 3 min., 350 degrees 30 min. [HUH?] Serve with chocolate fudge filling and walnuts. [Can't find the recipe for the chocolate fudge filling... darn!]

The first thing I did was discard the baking times because I decided it was easier to make this into cupcakes. Then I realized I was out of cupcake wrappers, so I went to the store to buy some. That's when I found the mini cake pans by Wilton that let you put filling inside the mini cakes. Bingo! That's what I wanted!

Everything went smoothly once I got back into the kitchen. I used unsweetened cocoa powder for the chocolate that the recipe called for. Once the batter was made up, I filled the cupcakes and the mini cake pans and baked according to the instructions for the cake pans. The cupcakes baked for about 15 minutes. The mini cakes baked for a little over 20 minutes.

Hubby wandered into the kitchen after the cupcakes had cooled for over a half an hour. He said, "Mmmmm! These smell good!" I told him to try one of the cupcakes without any icing on it. These are his exact unedited words:

"They sure knew what they were doing back then... Nice chocolate flavor and then you get the cloves... That's good! The cloves thing kinda stays with you... And now I want more... And they're fluffy and moist... It tastes very autumnal!"

The cake is a hit! It is a very dense cake although moist and fluffy (and Hubby said). I'm sure that it would work well in a bundt pan best. The cupcakes have the weight of light muffins.

Now what to do about an icing and filling...

I dug through the recipe box and found another recipe for "Caramel Icing & Frosting". It sounded like a possible match. The recipe reads:

• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon butter
• Put sugar in saucepan, add milk and stir until dissolved. Boil 3 minutes. Take from fire, add butter. Turn into a cold bowl and beat until creamy. Add vanilla. May add chopped nuts.

I followed the recipe as written. Everything was going along fine until I started beating the mixture to make it creamy. The mixture started to cool and become more of the consistency of real caramel candy!

Thinking quickly, I decided to add a little more milk and a little more butter. That solved the problem but it was more of the consistency of a glaze then the filling I needed. Realizing that the fat content of our 2 % milk is almost assuredly lower than the fat content of the milk Aunt Esther used, I added a bit of half-and-half, whipped it for a few minutes, and then I added a full cup of powdered sugar. That made the consistency more like a filling I could use with the mini cakes.

With the mini cakes cooled and the caramel icing/filling fixed, I filled the wells of the mini cakes, stacked the two layers, iced the whole little cake, and then put it in the refrigerator to chill. Then I garnished it with whole walnuts (Hubby can easily pick those off).

Both Hubby and I agree that the combination of the flavors, spice and caramel, are a perfect match. Yum! But I'm sure that there are a lot of other combinations you could think up for this classic vintage recipe. Let me know if you come with one and make it. I'd love to hear what you paired Aunt Esther's "Potato Cake" with. I still can't believe it has leftover mashed potatoes in it.

Call for Pomegranate Recipes

We are going to have another wonderful crop of pomegranates this year off our very prolific bush. As you can see in the photo at left, the fruit is beginning to blush nicely and soon it will be time to harvest.

Here's the problem...

We've never made anything with the pomegranates before! We usually just give them away whole to my mom, my niece, and my nephew who just eat them straight from the fruit (they love the sour little punch). But there's only so many pomegranates they can eat.

So we're putting a call out to all of you for any great pomegranate recipes that you just love. Help us make the most of our fresh pomegranates that will be ripening in a month or so. We'll be making up the best recipes and featuring them here with a link back to the contributor of the recipe.

If you'd prefer to email your recipe offline just send it to rosehaven_cottage @ yahoo dot com.

In the Mood for Chocolate Candy

I must be in a very chocolate-y mood today because I've got chocolate on my mind in a serious way! So much so, that I created a new dimensional art piece devoted to chocolate candy.

Great! Now I want to go to See's and get a box of caramels!

This piece of shadowbox art
is currently on sale at my Etsy store.

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An Unexpected Harvest

Hubby and I ventured out into the garden this evening as the sun was setting. Hubby had just arrived home from working late. I hadn't gone out in the garden all day because I was avoiding the oppressive heat. I wasn't anticipating finding anything to harvest. I had just been out there day before yesterday and taken all the good stuff in--or so I thought.

I am on self-appointed "zucchini watch" and still didn't expect to find a zucchini that was big enough to harvest. Then I found the overly large cucumber that appeared from who-knows-where. And where in the world did all these pole beans come from?

While I harvested the green things, Hubby went around the tomato plants picking sun-ripened tomatoes--his favorite treat of all time, I think. I'm not quite sure how many Sweet 100 tomatoes ended up in his mouth and how many made it inside.

Regardless, there will be fresh veggies on the menu this evening and that makes my sweet husband very happy. Being a Type 2 diabetic is a real downer unless he has something to look forward to and fresh veggies fit the bill.

From Grammy's Recipe Box: "Chocolate Creams"

This is another contribution from Grammy's recipe box. I inherited this recipe box as a young girl when my Grammy passed away from ovarian cancer. Over the years, I have cherished its contents. Some recipes date back to my Grammy's mother El and Grammy's aunt Esther in the 1910-20's. If you use a recipe or cooking tip from Grammy's recipe box, I'd love to hear about it.

To see more of Grammy's recipes, click on the "Grammy's recipe box" label at the end of this post.


In my continuing exploration in creating vintage recipe dimensional art shadowboxes, I decided today to make up an old recipe out my Grammy's recipe box. This is the first of many recipes I will be making in order to photograph the finished result and then illustrate it in watercolors for the art pieces.

I inherited my Grammy's recipe box at her passing when I was 10 years old. It's a lovely wooden box with her maiden name initials on the front (she didn't marry until her late 20's). The box is full of recipes that span from around 1910 through the 1970's. The older recipes, written in fountain pen, are yellowed with a wonderful aged patina. Some have splatters of batter on them. Some are missing corners or the ink is smudged. Some recipes are actually dated with the name of the person who introduced the recipe, and I was pleased to find a few that belonged to my great-grandmother and must have come from her recipe box.

Very few, if any, of the recipes are illustrated. And I think I've only witnessed a handful of them being made in my presence. Most of them are for foods that I've never seen or tasted. So this culinary and artistic journey proves to be quite an adventure... and today's experience was no exception.

I decided to start with the handwritten recipe for "Chocolate Creams". They seemed simple enough. But as I have discovered with many of the recipes in the box, the measurements on the ingredients are a bit vague--like exactly how much confectioners' sugar goes into the "cream" to make it a stiff paste. As Hubby pointed out, one was probably supposed to learn how to make it from watching someone else do it again and again. So I had to experiment a bit and tweak a little.

The results are these decadent candy delights that feel "sinful" to even have in the kitchen. Hubby did try some of the "oops" candies and deemed them officially "sinful" in every way that a chocolate-covered almond and vanilla flavored sugar-paste ball can be. Of course I had to taste as I mixed to get the flavoring just right. All the recipe said was "6 drops of flavoring" (see what I mean by vague). The tasting alone gave me a sugar buzz that I'm still feeling as I write this over an hour later.

But I have to admit that the many of the finished candies are promising subjects for the watercolor illustrations I'll be painting. I'll be sharing the finished art piece here as soon as I have it illustrated and constructed. In the meantime, if you want to see the other completed pieces that make up the debut collection of my vintage recipe dimensional art, just click here.

This is how the recipe is written (I did some tweaking that I'll note after):

Chocolate Creams
1 egg white
2 T cold water
Confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
6 drops flavoring
1/4 lb. sweet chocolate

Beat the egg and water together only til mixed; add the sugar til the ingredients form a stiff paste (about 1-1 1/2 cups). Work in flavoring with sugar; then form into small balls. Grate the chocolate and put in a cup over hot water to melt. Dip the balls into it one at a time; using a fork for the dipping. Lay separately on waxed paper and, if necessary, dip a second time.

Now for my tweaks and tips:

• It took more than 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar to create a paste that could be rolled. I just kept adding until it was stiff enough then rolled the centers using powdered sugar to keep it from sticking.
• I used almond extract AND vanilla as a flavoring and it took way more than just 6 drops to fit my taste.
• I used semi-sweet chocolate chips but I think that next time I'll use an even darker chocolate since the centers are so sweet that the darker chocolate would work. It took more than only a 1/4 lb. to have a deep enough bowl of dipping chocolate. Once I had a deep enough reservoir the dipping was really easy with a fork, and it only took one dip to coat the centers nice and thick.
• I suppose you could flavor the centers with about anything that you can think of. You could even color the center paste to make it different too.
• These need to be kept refrigerated (especially in warmer weather). I had some little Wilton's treat bags that I packaged them in to give away to friends.